[ {"source_document": "", "creation_year": 1849, "culture": " English\n", "content": "Produced by Mark C. Orton and the Online Distributed\nfile was produced from images generously made available\nby The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries)\n\"Entered according to Act of the Provincial Legislature, for the\nProtection of Copy-rights, in the year one thousand eight hundred and\nfifty-six, by P. SINCLAIR, Quebec, in the Office of the Registrar of\nthe Province of Canada.\"\nTHE RISE\nOF\nCANADA,\nFROM\nBARBARISM\nTO\nWEALTH AND CIVILISATION.\nBY\nCHARLES ROGER,\nQUEBEC.\n Una manus calamum teneat, manus altera ferrum,\n Sic sis nominibus dignus utrinque tuis.\nVOLUME I.\nQUEBEC: PETER SINCLAIR.\nMontreal, H. Ramsay and B. Dawson; Toronto, A. H. Armour & Co.; London,\nC. W., Andrews & Coombe; Port Hope, James Ainsley; New York, H. Long &\nBrothers, D. Appleton & Co., J. C. Francis; Boston, Little & Brown;\nPhiladelphia, Lindsay & Blakiston; London, Trubner & Co.\nST. MICHEL & DARVEAU, JOB PRINTERS,\nNo. 3, Mountain Street.\nTO\nJOSEPH MORRIN, ESQUIRE, M. D.,\nMAYOR OF QUEBEC,\nThis Volume\nIS DEDICATED, AS THE ONLY MONUMENT, WHICH CAN BE RAISED\nTO ACKNOWLEDGED WORTH,\nBY HIS OBLIGED AND FAITHFUL\nFRIEND AND SERVANT,\nTHE AUTHOR.\nQuebec, December, 1855.\nCHAPTER I.\n Cartier's Arrival in the St. Lawrence 5\n Quebec Surrendered to the English 14\n The Restoration--Death of Champlain 15\n The Effect of Rum upon the Iroquois 17\n Arrival of Troops--A Moon-Light Flitting 18\n Swearing and Blasphemy--The Earthquake 19\n The Physical Features of the Country 20\n The First Governor and Council 21\n First Settlement of old Soldiers 22\n The Small Pox--De Frontenac--Sale of Spirits 25\n Marquette--Jollyet--The Sieur La Salle 26\n The First Vessel Built in Canada 27\n Voyage of the Cataraqui--Tempest on Lake Erie 28\n Mouths of the Mississippi--Murder of La Salle 29\n Indian Difficulties--Fort Niagara 30\n De Frontenac's Penobscot Expedition 35\n New England Expedition to Canada 37\n Gen. Nicholson--Peace of Utrecht 38\n Social Condition and Progress 39\n Louisbourg--Shirley's Expedition 40\n The New Englanders' Convention 44\n Surprise and Defeat of Braddock 45\n Incompetent Generals--Change of Ministry 48\n Abercrombie's attack on Ticonderoga 49\n Quebec Act--Taxation without Representation 58\nCHAPTER II.\n Representation in the Imperial Parliament 59\n The American Siege--Death of Montgomery 62\n Independence Refused by the Catholic Clergy 63\n Western Canada divided into Districts 67\n Divisions of the Province of Quebec 68\n The Royal Institution Founded 72\n Cultivation of Hemp--Land Jobbing 73\n The Lachine Canal--The Gaols Act 74\n Trinity Houses Established--An Antagonism 75\n Upper Canada--The Separation Act 77\n Governor Simcoe and his Parliament 83\n London Founded--Simcoe's Prejudices 86\n Selection of a Seat of Government 87\n First Parliament of Upper Canada 90\n Collectors of Customs appointed 94\n Lower Canada--Importance of Parliament 97\n Romanism seriously threatened 101\n No Roman Catholic Bishop of Quebec 102\n Mr. Plessis and Mr. Att'y. Gen'l.--Explanation 103\n The Dissenters and Episcopacy 108\n Gift of \u00a320,000 to the King--Spencer Wood, &c. 109\n Garrison Pipeclay--the Habitants 110\n The Chesapeake Difficulty Settled 113\n Governor General Sir James Craig 117\n Ryland's Love for the New Governor 118\n Parliament Angrily Dissolved 128\n French Hatred of the British Officials 129\n Craig's Opinion of the French Canadians 130\n Vilification of the \"Gens en Place\" 132\n The First Steamboat on the St. Lawrence 134\n No Liberty of Discussion in the United States 136\n Washington Diplomacy--A new Parliament 139\n An Antagonism--Parliament Dissolved 146\n Sir James' upon Obnoxious Writings 149\n The Red-Tapist and the Colonist 154\n Why Mr. Bedard was not liberated 159\n Disqualification of the Judges 160\n Brocke--Prevost--The \"Little Belt\" 165\nCHAPTER III.\n Declaration of War by the United States 169\n United States unprepared for War 173\n Army Bills--Prorogation of Parliament 175\n The Commencement of Hostilities 177\n Surrender of Michillimackinac 178\n General Hull.--Proclamation--Amherstburgh 179\n Offensive operations by the British 180\n Surrender of H.M.S. \"Guerri\u00e8re\"--The Fight 185\n The Northern States clamorous for peace 188\n The Battle of Queenston--Death of Brocke 189\n The Victory--The Burial of Brocke 190\n The \"Macedonian\" and \"United States\" 193\n Capture of the \"Java\"--Spirit of \"The Times\" 196\n Meeting of the Lower Canadian Parliament 202\n The Prevalent Feeling--Mr. Jas. Stuart 203\n Imperial Misapprehension of Canadian Resources 210\n The Affair of Sacketts Harbour 216\n Indecision of Sir George Prevost 217\n Unsuccessful Assault upon Sandusky 218\n Stupidity of the English Military Departments 219\n Capture of two War Vessels at Isle Aux Noix 220\n Wisdom thrust upon the Admiralty 222\n \"Argus\" & \"Pelican\"--\"Boxer\" & \"Enterprise\" 225\n Travelling--The Thousand Islands 226\n York--Capture of the \"Julia\" & \"Growler\" 228\n Engagement on Lake Ontario--The Mishap 229\n The Battle--The Americans victorious 231\n Proctor's Retreat-Kentucky Mounted Rifles 232\n Death of Tecumseh--Flight of Proctor 233\n General Proctor reprimanded and suspended 234\n The intended attack upon Montreal 235\n De Salaberry and his Voltigeurs 236\n Wilkinson's Descent of the Rapids 240\n The Attack on Montreal abandoned 242\n Assault and Capture of fort Niagara 244\n Nocturnal Attack on Black Rock 245\n Prosperity of Canada during the War 248\n The Parliament of Lower Canada 250\n Mr. Ryland and the Provincial Secretary 253\n Mr. James Stuart and Chief Justice Sewell 254\n Resolutions aimed at Jonathan Sewell 256\n Chief Justices Sewell and Monk 259\n The Prorogation--Russian Mediation 261\n \"Frolic\" & \"Orpheus\"--\"Epervier\" & \"Peacock\" 263\n The Killed and Wounded--Plunder 267\n Recaptures of Plunder at Madrid 268\n A British Fleet on the American Coast 276\n Admiral Cockburn & General Ross 277\n The Legislative Capital of the U.S. captured 278\n The Destruction of the Libraries 279\n Moose Island taken possession of 284\n The British Fleet defeated in Lake Champlain 287\n The Retreat--Sir George Prevost 289\n Character of Sir George Prevost 290\n Accusation of Prevost by Sir Jas. Yeo 291\n Nature of the Defences of New Orleans 294\n The Defeat--Thornton Successful 297\n Capture of Fort Boyer--The Peace 298\n Meeting of Parliament in Lower Canada 303\n Service of Plate to Sir George Prevost 305\n Character of Prevost as a Governor 306\n Close of the Session--the Lachine Canal 307\n Progress--Recall of Sir George Prevost 308\n State of Parties in Upper Canada 310\n The Newspaper a Pestilence in the Land 311\n The Brock Monument--Gore's Return 312\nCHAPTER IV.\n Drummond Administrator-in-chief 313\n The French Canadian character 315\n General Wilson Administrator 320\n Information for the Colonial Secretary 321\n Suspension of Mr. Justice Foucher 324\n The Banks of Quebec and Montreal 328\n Persecutions for Opinion's sake 332\n Acts of the Upper Canada Legislature 334\n Foreign Protestants--Prorogation 337\n Durand Imprisoned--Wyatt _vs._ Gore 339\n Adjudication of Impeachments 342\n The Estimates--St. Peter Street, Quebec 345\n Disinterment of Montgomery--Richmond 346\n His Grace the Duke of Richmond's Speech 347\n Rejection of the Civil List--Lachine Canal 348\n Some Feeling evinced by the Legislative Council 350\n Rideau Canal--Population--Banks 353\n Gourlay's ejectment--Parliament 357\n Governor Maitland and the Convention 358\n Antagonism--Maitland and the L.C. Assembly 360\n Dalhousie's opening parliamentary speech 363\n Facilities for manufacturing in Lower Canada 364\n Honorable John Neilson--Appearance and Character 365\n Quarrel of the Houses about the Civil List 366\n Mr. Andrew Stuart--The Supplies, &c. 367\n The Lachine Canal--Sinecure Offices 368\n Additions to the Executive Council 369\n Mr. Marryatt, M.P.--Stoppage of the Supplies 371\n The Honorable John Richardson 372\n Despotic conduct of the Assembly 374\n Effect of cutting off the supplies 375\n The Prorogation--Ryland's Advice 376\n Legislative Union of the Provinces 377\n Agriculture and commerce in distress 378\n Antipathies--Increasing Difficulties 381\n Sir F. Burton--District of St. Francis 383\n \"Times\" Libel--Emptiness of the Public Chest 385\n The Finances--the Receiver General 386\n The Lachine and Chambly Canals 387\n The prorogation--Union of the Provinces 388\n The Public Accounts of Upper Canada 389\n Construction of Ship Canals recommended 391\n Realization of a Dream--Mr. Merritt 392\n John Charlton Fisher, LL.D., King's Printer 393\n The defalcation--Tea Smuggling 396\n Free navigation of the St. Lawrence demanded 397\n Pettishness of the Lower Canada Assembly 398\n Occupations Taxed in Upper Canada 399\n Parliament Closed--Tyranny of Maitland 402\n The Bidwells and Brodeurs of U.C. 403\n W. L. Mackenzie--Appearance and Character 404\n Sir J. Robinson--Patience and Oppression 407\n The Literary and Historical Society 411\nPREFACE.\nThe beauty of a book, as of a picture, consists in the grouping of\nimages and in the arrangement of details. Not only has attitude and\ngrouping to be attended to by the painter, and by the narrator of\nevents, but attention must be paid to light and shade; and the same\nsubject is susceptible of being treated in many ways. When the idea\noccurred to me of offering to the public of Canada a history of the\nprovince, I was not ignorant of the existence of other histories.\nSmith, Christie, Garneau, Gourlay, Martin and Murray, the narratives\nof the Jesuit Fathers, Charlevoix, the Journals of Knox, and many\nother histories and books, were more or less familiar to me; but there\nwas then no history, of _all_ Canada from the earliest period to\nthe present day so concisely written, and the various events and\npersonages, of which it is composed, so grouped together, as to\npresent an attractive and striking picture to the mind of every\nreader. It was that want which I determined to supply, and with some\ndegree of earnestness the self-imposed task was undertaken. My plan\nwas _faintly_ to imitate the simple narrative style, the\nconciseness, the picturesqueness, the eloquence, the poetry, and the\nphilosophic spirit of a history, the most remarkable of any\nextant--that of the world. As Moses graphically and philosophically\nhas sketched the peopling of the earth; painted the beauties of\ndawning nature; shown the origin of agriculture and the arts;\ndescribed the social advancement of families, tribes and nations;\nexhibited the short-comings and the excellencies of patriarchal and of\nmonarchical forms of government; exposed the warrings and bickerings\namong men; told of the manner in which a people escaped from bondage\nand raised themselves on the wreck of thrones, principalities, and\npowers, to greatness; published the laws by which that most chosen\npeople were governed; and dwelt upon the perversity of human nature;\nand as other men, divinely inspired, have sublimely represented the\nhighest stages of Jewish civilisation, so did I propose to myself to\nexhibit the rise of Canada from a primitive condition to its present\nstate of advancement. My first great difficulty was to obtain a\npublisher. There could only be a very few persons who would run the\nrisk of publishing a mere history of Canada, even with all these\nfanciful excellencies, produced by one unknown to fame. But \"where\nthere is a will, there is a way,\" and about the middle of the month of\nJune last, I had succeeded in disposing of a book, then scarcely\nbegun, to Mr. Peter Sinclair, Bookseller, John Street, in the City of\nQuebec. That gentleman, with characteristic spirit and liberality,\nagreed to become my publisher, and until the 17th day of September, I\nread and wrote diligently, having written, in round numbers, about a\nthousand pages of foolscap and brought to a conclusion the first\nrebellion. Then the work of printing was begun, and the correction of\nall the proofs together with the editorial management of a newspaper,\nhave since afforded me sufficient occupation. Mr. McMullen, of\nBrockville, has, however, produced a history of this country from its\ndiscovery to the present time, almost as if he had been influenced by\nmotives similar to those which have influenced me. His pictures,\nhowever, are not my pictures, nor his sentiments my sentiments. The\nbooks--although the facts are the same and necessarily derived from\nthe same sources--are essentially different. He is most elaborate in\nthe beginning, I become more and more particular with regard to\ndetails towards the close--I expand with the expansion of the country.\nIn the first chapter of this first volume, the history of the province\nwhile under French rule is rapidly traced, and the history of the New\nEngland Colonies dipped into, with the view of showing the\nprogressional resemblance between that country which is now the United\nStates and our own; in the second chapter the reader obtains only a\nglance, as it were, at the American war of independence, when he is\ncarried again into Canada and made acquainted with the many\ndifficulties in spite of which Upper and Lower Canada continued to\nadvance in wealth and civilisation; in the third chapter a history of\nthe war between England and the United States is given with\nconsiderable minuteness; and the fourth chapter brings the reader up\nto the termination of that extraordinary period of mis-government,\nsubsequent to the American war, which continued until the Rebellion,\nand has not even yet been altogether got rid of. There are without\ndoubt, errors, exceptions, and omissions enough to be found--an island\nmay have been inadvertently placed in a wrong lake, a date or figure\nmay be incorrect, words may have been misprinted, and, in some parts,\nthe sense a little interfered with--but I have set down nothing in\nmalice, having had a strict regard for truth. I have creamed Gourlay,\nChristie, Murray, Alison, Wells, and Henry, and taken whatever I\ndeemed essential from a history of the United States, without a title\npage, and from Jared Sparks and other authors; but for the history of\nLower Canada my chief reliance has been upon the valuable volumes,\ncompiled with so much care, by Mr. Christie, and I have put the\nessence of his sixth volume of revelations in its fitting place.\nFor valuable assistance in the way of information, I am indebted to\nMr. Christie personally, to the Honble. Henry Black, to the Librarians\nof the Legislative Assembly--the Reverend Dr. Adamson and Dr.\nWinder--and to Daniel Wilkie, Esquire, one of the teachers of the High\nSchool of Quebec.\nC. ROGER.\nQuebec, 31st December, 1855.\nTHE RISE\nOF\nCANADA\nFROM\nBARBARISM TO CIVILISATION.\nCHAPTER I.\nThere have been many attempts to discover a northwest passage to the\nEast Indies or China. Some of these attempts have been disastrous, but\nnone fruitless. They have all led to other discoveries of scarcely\ninferior importance, and so recently as within the past twelve months\nthe discovery of a passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans has\nbeen made. It was in the attempt to find a new passage from Europe to\nAsia that this country was discovered. In one of these exploring\nexpeditions, England, four centuries ago, employed John Cabot. This\nItalian navigator, a man of great intrepidity, courage, and nautical\nskill, discovered Newfoundland, saw Labrador, (only previously known to\nthe Danes) and entered the Gulf of St. Lawrence. To Labrador he gave,\nit is alleged, the name of Primavista. But that he so designated that\nstill rugged and inhospitable, but not unimprovable, region, is less\nthan probable. The name was more applicable to the gulf which,\ndoubtless, appeared to Cabot to be a first glimpse of the grand marine\nhighway of which he was in quest, and with which he was so content that\nhe returned to England and was knighted by Henry the Seventh. Sebastian\nCabot made the next attempt to reach China by sailing northwest. He\npenetrated to Hudson's Bay, never even got a glimpse of the St.\nLawrence, and returned to England. Fifty years afterwards, Cotereal\nleft Portugal, with the view of following the course of the elder\nCabot. He reached Labrador, returned to Portugal, was lost on a second\nvoyage, and was the first subject of a \"searching expedition,\" three\nvessels having been fitted out with that view by the King of Portugal.\nSeveral other attempts at discovery were subsequently made. Two\nmerchants of Bristol, in England, obtained a patent to establish\ncolonies in Newfoundland and Labrador, and in 1527, Henry the Seventh,\nfor the last time, despatched a northwest passage discovery fleet. The\nformation of English settlements, and the exploration were equally\nunsuccessful. These facts I allude to, rather with the object of\naccounting for the name of \"Canada,\" applied to the country through\nwhich the St. Lawrence flows, than for any other purpose. In the\n\"_Relations des Jesuits_,\" Father Henepin states that the Spaniards\nfirst discovered Canada while in search, not of a northwest passage,\nbut of gold, which they could not find, and therefore called the land,\nso valueless in their eyes, _El Capo di Nada_--\"The Cape of Nothing.\"\nBut, the Spaniards, who possibly did visit Canada two years before\nCabot, whatever the object of their voyage may have been, could not\nhave done anything so absurd. Quebec, not Canada, may have been to them\nCape Nothing, and doubtless was. It was the _way_ they looked for. That\nwas as visible to them as to Cabot, and a passage, strath, or way is\nsignified in Spanish by the word Canada. It was not gold but a way to\ngold that English, Spaniards, Italians, and French sought. It was the\ncashmeres, the pearls, and the gold of India that were wanted. It was a\nshort way to wealth that all hoped for. And the St. Lawrence has,\nindeed, been a short way to wealth, if not to China, as will afterwards\nbe shown.[1]\n [1] The title of Henepin's book is \"Nouveau Voyage d'un pa\u00efs plus\n grand que l'Europe, avec les r\u00e9flections des enterprises du Sieur\n de la Salle, sur les Mines de Ste. Barbe, &c., * * * et des\n avantages qu'on peut retirer du chemin racourci de la Chine et du\n Japon, par le moyen de tant de vastes contr\u00e9es et de nouvelles\n colonies,\" (published at Utrecht in 1698.)\n In the commissions granted to Champlain, on the 15th October,\n 1612, and 15th February, 1625, the same objects are adverted\n to:--\"_pour essayer de trouver le chemin faite pour aller par de\n dans le dit pays au pays de la Chine et Indes Orientales_.\"\nPassing over the exploration of what is now the Coast of the United\nStates, by Verrazzano, I come to the discovery of Gasp\u00e9 Basin and the\nRiver St. Lawrence, by Jacques Cartier, of St. Malo, in France. With\nships of one hundred and twenty tons, and forty tons, Cartier arrived\nin the St. Lawrence--as some spring traders of the present day\noccasionally do--before the ice had broken up, and found it necessary\nto go back and seek shelter in some of the lower bays or harbours. He\nleft St. Malo in April, 1534, and arrived in the St. Lawrence early in\nMay. Returning to Gasp\u00e9, he entered the Bay Chaleur, remained there\nuntil the 25th July, and returned to France. Next year, Cartier arrived\nin the St. Lawrence, after various disasters to his three vessels, and\nviewed and named Anticosti, which he called L'Isle de L'Assomption;\nexplored the River Saguenay; landed on, and named the Isle aux Coudres,\nor Island of Filberts; passed the Isle of Bacchus, now Island of\nOrleans; and at length came to anchor on the \"Little River\" St. Croix,\nthe St. Charles of these times, on which stood the huts of Stadacona.\nCartier chatted with the Indians for a season. He found them an\nexceedingly good tempered and very communicative people. They told him\nthat there was another town higher up the river, and Cartier determined\nupon visiting that congregation of birch bark tents or huts, pitched on\na spot of land called Hochelaga, now the site of Montreal. At Hochelaga\nthe \"new Governor\" met with a magnificent reception. A thousand natives\nassembled to meet him on the shore, and the compliment was returned by\npresents of \"tin\" beads, and other trifles. Hochelaga was the chief\nIndian Emporium of Canada; it was ever a first class city--in Canada.\nCharlevoix says, even in those days this (Hochelaga) was a place of\nconsiderable importance, as the capital of a great extent of country.\nEight or ten villages were subject to its sway. Jacques Cartier\nreturned to Quebec, loaded his vessels with supposed gold ore, and Cape\nDiamonds, which he supposed were brilliants of the first water, and\nthen went home to France, where he told a truly magnificent tale\nconcerning a truly magnificent country. Expeditions for Canada were\neverywhere set afoot. Even Queen Elizabeth, of England, sent Frobisher\non a voyage of discovery, but he only discovered a foreland and tons of\nmica, which he mistook for golden ore. Martin Frobisher was ruined. His\nwas a ruinous speculation. Talc or mica did not pay the expense of a\nnine month's voyage with fifteen ships. But all that was then sought\nfor is now found in Canada--and more. To obtain much gold, however, the\nsettlement of a country is necessary. It is the wants of the settlers\nwhich extract gold from the ground for the benefit of the trader. The\nonly occupiers of Canada, no farther back than two hundred years, were\nIndians. The Montagnais, the Hurons, the Algonquins, the Iroquois, the\nOutagomies, the Mohawks, the Senecas, the Sioux, the Blackfeet, and the\nCrowfeet red-faces, were the undisputed possessors of the soil. They\nheld the mine, the lake, the river, the forest, and the township in\nfree and common soccage. They were sometimes merchants and sometimes\nsoldiers. They were all ready to trade with their white invaders, all\nprone to quarrel among themselves. The Iroquois and Hurons were ever at\nwar with each other. When not smoking they were sure to be fighting.\nThe first white man who opened up the trade of the St. Lawrence was M.\nPontgrave, of St. Malo. He made several voyages in search of furs to\nTadousac, and the wealthy merchant was successful. With the aid of a\nCaptain Chauvin, of the French navy, whom he induced to join him,\nPontgrave attempted to establish a trading post at Tadousac. He was,\nhowever, unsuccessful. Chauvin died in 1603, leaving a stone house for\nhis monument, then the only one in Canada.\nIt was now determined by the French government to form settlements in\nCanada. And the military mind of France attempted to carry into effect\na plan not dissimilar to that recommended a few years ago by Major\nCarmychael Smyth, the making of a road to the Pacific through the\nwilderness by means of convicts. The plan, however, failed, though\nattempted by the Marquis De la Roche, who actually left on Sable Island\nforty convicts drawn from the French prisons. A company of merchants\nhaving been formed for the purpose of making settlements, Champlain\naccepted the command of an expedition, and accompanied by Pontgrave,\nsailed for the St. Lawrence in 1603. They arrived safely at Tadousac,\nand proceeded in open boats up the St. Lawrence; but did nothing. The\neffort at settlement was subsequently renewed. In 1608, Champlain, a\nsecond time, reached Stadacona or Quebec, on the 3rd July, and struck\nby the commanding position of Cape Diamond, selected the base of the\npromontory as the site of a town. He erected huts for shelter;\nestablished a magazine for stores and provisions; and formed barracks\nfor the soldiery, not on the highest point of the headland, but on the\nsite of the recently destroyed parliament buildings. There were then a\nfew, and only a few, Indians in Stadacona, that Indian town being\nsituated rather on the St. Charles than on the St. Lawrence. Few as\nthey were, famine reduced them to the necessity of supplicating food\nfrom the strangers. The strangers themselves suffered much from scurvy,\nand after an exploration of the lake which yet bears the name of its\ndiscoverer, Champlain returned to France. Two years later the intrepid\nsailor set out for Tadousac and Quebec with artisans, laborers, and\nsupplies for Nouvelle France, the name then given to Canada, or the\nGreat \"Pass\" to China. He arrived at the mouth of the Saguenay on the\n26th of April, after a remarkably short passage of eighteen days. He\nfound his first settlers contented and prosperous. They had cultivated\nthe ground successfully, and were on good terms with the natives.\nChamplain, however, desirous of annexing more of the territory of the\nIndians, stirred them up to strife. He himself joined an hostile\nexpedition of the Algonquins and Montagnais against the Iroquois. What\nsuccess he met with is not now to be ascertained. Deficient in\nresources, he again returned to France, and found a partner able and\nwilling to assist the Colony in the person of the Count de Soisson, who\nhad been appointed Viceroy of the new country--a sinecure appointment\nwhich the Count did not long enjoy, inasmuch as death took possession\nof him shortly afterwards. The honorary office of Viceroy, which more\nresembled an English Colonial Secretaryship of the present day, than a\nviceroyalty, was, on the death of Soisson, conferred on the Prince de\nCond\u00e9, who sent Champlain from St. Malo for the Colonial Seat of\nGovernment, on the 6th March, 1613, as Deputy Governor. Champlain\narrived at Quebec on the 7th of May. The infant colony was quiet and\ncontented. Furs were easily obtained for clothing in winter, and in\nsummer very little clothing of any kind was necessary. The chief\nbusiness of the then colonial merchants was the collection of furs for\nexportation. There were, properly speaking, no merchants in the\ncountry, but only factors, and other servants of the home Fur Company.\nThe country was no more independently peopled than the Hudson's Bay\nTerritory now is. The actual presence of either governor or\nsub-governor was unnecessary. Champlain only made an official tour of\ninspection to Mount Royal, explored the Ottawa, and returned to France.\nHe was dissatisfied with the appearance of affairs, and persuaded the\nPrince of Cond\u00e9, his chief, to really settle the country. The prince\nconsented. A new company was formed through his influence, and, with\nsome Roman Catholic Missionaries, Champlain again sailed for Canada,\narriving at Quebec early in April, 1615--a proof that the winters were\nnot more intense when Canada was first settled than at present. Indeed\nthe intense cold of Lower Canada, compared with other countries in the\nsame latitude, is not so much attributable to the want of cultivation\nas to the height of the land, and the immense gully formed by the St.\nLawrence, and the great lakes which receive the cold blasts of the\nmountainous region which constitutes the Arctic highlands, and from\nwhich the rivers running to the northward into Hudson's Bay, and to the\nsouthward into the great lakes and the St. Lawrence, take their rise.\nThe icy breath of the distant north and northwest sweeps down such\nrivers as the Ottawa, the St. Maurice, and the Saguenay, to be gathered\ninto one vast channel, extending throughout Canada's whole extent. And,\nclear the forest as we may, Canada will always be the same cold,\nhealthy country that it now is. Lower or rather Highland Canada, will\nbe especially so, without, however, the general commercial prosperity\nof the country suffering much on that account. There are lowlands\nenough for a population far exceeding that now occupying the United\nStates. But this is a digression. Champlain's Missionaries set\nthemselves vigorously to the work of christianizing the heathen, while\nChamplain himself industriously began to fight them. He extended the\nolive branch from his left hand, and stabbed vigorously with a sword in\nhis right hand. The Missionaries established churches, or rather the\ncross, from the head waters of the Saguenay to Lake Nepissing.\nChamplain battled the Iroquois from Mont Royal to Nepissing. Rather he\n_would_ have done so. He did not find them until he reached, overland\nand in canoes, Lake Huron, the superior character of the land in that\nneighbourhood attracting his particular attention. He found his \"enemy\"\nentrenched by \"four successive palisades of fallen trees,\" says Smith,\n\"enclosing a piece of ground containing a pond, with every other\nrequisite for Indian warfare\"--a very Sebastopol, upon which Champlain\ndischarged his fire-arms, driving the Iroquois back to their camp. The\nplace was, however, impregnable, and the siege was reluctantly raised.\nThe Algonquins would only fight as they pleased. They were sadly in\nwant of a head. They would not use fire-arms, but \"preferred firing\ntheir arrows against the strong wooden defences.\" Champlain was twice\nwounded in the leg, and his allies, making the non-arrival of\nreinforcements an excuse, retreated. Champlain insisted upon going\nhome, but transport was wanting, and he was compelled to winter, as\nbest he could, in a desolate region, with his discomfitted allies. In\nthe following year he got away, and made haste down his Black Sea of\nOntario, to his Golden Horn at Tadousac, from thence, on the 10th of\nSept., 1616, returning to his native country to find his partner, the\nPrince of Cond\u00e9, in disgrace and in confinement, for what the historian\nknows not. The Prince had possibly been playing Hudson, for we find\nthat the Marshal de Themines was prevailed upon to accept the office,\non condition of sharing the emoluments. But he too became involved in\n\"controversy with the merchants,\" and after only two years presidency\nof the Company, resigned, when the Duke de Montmorenci obtained the\nViceroyalty from Cond\u00e9, for eleven thousand crowns. The Duke was Lord\nHigh Admiral of France, and Champlain was exceedingly glad. Another new\ncolonizing company was formed. Seventy-seven artisans, farmers,\nphysicians, or gentlemen, three friars, horses, cows, sheep, seed-corn,\nand arms were collected at Rochelle for exportation in 1619. But the\nlaymen, partly Protestants and partly Roman Catholics, began to\nsquabble about the immaculate conception, or something else, equally\nstupid and unimportant, until Champlain himself got into trouble and\nnearly lost his Deputy Governorship, and the expedition was delayed. In\n1620, Champlain, however, set sail, and on his arrival at his capital,\nin July, was agreeably surprised to find that a missionary, named\nDuplessis, had got so far into the good graces of the Hurons, at Trois\nRivieres, that he had discovered and frustrated a plan for the massacre\nof the French colonists. At Tadousac affairs were not at all\nflattering. The colonists had neglected cultivation. Only sixty white\npeople remained, ten of whom were religiously engaged in keeping\nschool, or were engaged in keeping a religious school. At this period\nof time it is difficult to say which. Worse than this scurvily\ndecimated condition of the people, was the intrusion of some\nunprincipled and unprivileged adventurers from Rochelle, who had been\nbartering fire-arms with the Indians for the Company's furs. Champlain\nwas very wroth, but moderated his anger somewhat on ascertaining that\nan _enfant du sol_--a real French-Canadian baby was in the land of the\nliving. Who was the father of the child or who the mother, is neither\nmentioned by Hennepin nor Charlevoix, and the office of Prothonotary,\nor Registrar of Births, Marriages, and Deaths had not been instituted.\nIt is not even in the chronicles that Champlain was at the christening,\nnor is the ceremony alluded to at all. This great, and most interesting\nevent happened on some hour of some unmentioned day in the year 1621.\nIt is possible the mother was of a distinguished Huron family. It is\ncertain that the Hurons were about that time in close alliance with the\nFrench, for the Iroquois began to be jealous of the alliance between\nthe Hurons, Algonquins, and the French, and declared war with the view\nof destroying the settlements. The Iroquois succeeded in burning some\nHuron villages, but were repulsed by the French both at the Sault St.\nLouis and at Quebec. Quebec was now a fortified town. There were\nwooden, but not very extensive, walls around the barracks and the huts.\nChamplain had, on the whole, great reason to be thankful. His power and\nauthority seemed to be undisputed. He had seen the first of a new world\ngeneration, and the means of wealth were seemingly at his feet. But he\nmet with disappointment. The association of merchants who had fitted\nout his expedition, and from whom he obtained his supplies, were\nsuddenly deprived of all their privileges of trade and colonization, by\nMontmorenci. The Duke, determined on doing as he pleased with his own,\ntransferred the supremacy of the colonists to the Sieurs de Caen, uncle\nand nephew. The one de Caen was a merchant, the other a sailor. The\nsailor was soon at Tadousac. Before Champlain had well known, by a\nletter of thanks for past services, that he was re-called, or rather\nsuperseded, his successor had arrived at the head quarters of Nouvelle\nFrance--Tadousac. De Caen solicited an interview with Champlain, which\nwas conceded. Smarting with indignation, Champlain was too polite. His\ncourtesy was so excessive, that De Caen became exacting as if to show\nwho he was. He wanted to seize all Champlain's trading vessels. They\nbelonged, he said, to a company whose privileges had been transferred\nto him as the representative of another company. The furs with which\nthey were laden belonged to Montmorenci and the De Caens, as his\nGrace's agents. Champlain demurred, and Captain De Caen peremptorily\ndemanded Du Pont's vessel. Champlain, no longer courteous, flew into a\nviolent passion. Du Pont was the favourite agent of his company, and\nhis own particular friend. Champlain's rage was of no avail. Nor was\nthe sympathy of the colonists of any value. De Caen was supreme, and\ndid as he pleased. The colonists, however, excessively indignant,\nresolved to leave in a body, unless their opinions were allowed some\nweight, and a number did take their departure. Although De Caen had\nbrought eighteen new settlers, the colony was reduced to only\nforty-eight. Champlain, however, remained in Canada. He felt himself to\nbe the chief colonist, and only removed to Quebec, where he erected a\nstone fort. The fort was partly on that part of the present city on\nwhich the old Church of Notre Dame stands, in the Lower Town, and\npartly where the former Palace of the Roman Catholic Archbishop stood.\nChamplain pitched his tent outside the walls, which were almost\nrectangular, under the shadow of a tree, which, until six years ago,\nthrew its leafy arms over St. Anne Street, from the Anglican Cathedral\nChurch yard. While this fort-building, vessel seizing, and unchristian\nfeeling were rending the infant colony to pieces, interfering with\ntrade, and proving vexatious to all, a union had been formed in France\nbetween the old and new companies. The coalition was not productive of\ngood. There was so little cordiality and so much contention between the\nparties, that Montmorenci threw up his viceroyalty in disgust, that is\nto say, he sold out to the Duke de Ventadour. Ventadour was in a world\nof difficulties. France was then half Protestant and half Catholic.\nVentadour's chief object in purchasing Canada was to diffuse the\nCatholic Religion throughout the new world. With much energy of\ncharacter, he was singularly pious. He attended mass regularly at an\nearly hour every morning. His bedroom was religiously fitted up; the\nsymbol of redemption hung constantly over the head of his bed. He was\nno bigot. He was thoroughly in earnest. He was only not wise. The man\nwho had caused Champlain so much annoyance was himself a Huguenot, and\nnot that only,--to the Duke's mortification, he had taken to Canada\nchiefly Protestants, and had even caused the Roman Catholic emigrants\nto attend Protestant worship on shipboard. Two thirds of the crews of\nhis ships were Protestants. They sang psalms on the St. Lawrence. The\nnew viceroy was much annoyed on ascertaining that De Caen had permitted\nsuch a state of things. The exercise of the Protestant religion, he had\ngiven orders, should be barely tolerated, and he had been disobeyed.\nChamplain did not trouble himself about religious squabbles. He made\nhimself difficulties with the Indians, leaving religious dissensions to\nbe made by his would be superior. Amid all these difficulties the fur\ntrade languished, and the celebrated Cardinal Richelieu, who knew the\nadvantages to be derived from Ventadour's pious missionary effort,\nrevoked the privileges of De Caen's new company, and established a\nnewer company called the Hundred Associates. The associates were not\nonly to colonize, but they were amply to supply necessaries to the\ncolonists. They were to send out a large number of clergymen. Those\nclergymen were to create churches and erect parsonages. They were to be\nsupported by the Associates for fifteen years. They were to have\nglebes, or reserved lands, assigned to them for their sufficient\nsupport. At a blow the wily cardinal had extinguished psalm singing on\nthe St. Lawrence for at least a century. In 1627 the Hundred Associates\nwere formed. But plans cannot be always carried into effect as soon as\ndetermined upon. War was proclaimed by England against France in the\nfollowing year, 1628. The weakest and the meanest of English kings had\ncaused the Puritans, previously persecuted by Elizabeth, to leave their\ncountry. The Puritans, in November, 1607, had settled in New England.\nThe year in which the first Franco-Canadian saw the light of day,\nGovernor Carver, of Plymouth Colony, had entered into a league of\nfriendship, commerce, and mutual defence with Massassoit, the great\nSachem of the neighbouring Indians. Some years previously (1619) the\nColony of Virginia had received her first Governor General from\nEngland, who had instructions to convoke a general legislature. With\nall his impotent stammering, slobbering, weeping, buffoonery, and\npedagoguism, James had an indistinct idea that it was as necessary to\nhear the voice of the people as the voice of the king. He chose rather\nto direct than to suppress the expression of opinion. But the Governor\nGeneral of Virginia was appointed by the London Company, whose\nprivileges were taken away by James on the year preceding his death,\nwhich occurred in March, 1625, after the company had expended \u00a3100,000\nin the first attempt to colonize America. James appointed a viceroy or\ngovernor and directed him how to govern. New France, at the breaking\nout of such a war, had something to dread from New England, so much\nfurther advanced in colonization. Cardinal Richelieu's plan of Canadian\nsettlement was roughly interfered with, by the capture of his first\nemigrant ships by Sir David Kerk, who afterwards proceeded to Tadousac,\nburned the village, and proceeded to Quebec to summon Champlain to\nsurrender. The brave Frenchman refused and Kerk retreated. But Kerk\ncame back again. He again appeared before the walls of Fort Quebec, and\nsummoned it to surrender. Reduced to great distress by famine,\nChamplain surrendered, and the whole settlement was taken captive to\nEngland. With the exception of a few houses, a barrack, and a fort at\nQuebec, and a few huts at Tadousac, Trois Rivieres, and Mont Royal,\nCanada was again as much a wilderness as it ever had been since the\nAsiatics had stepped across Behring's Straits to replenish the western\nhemisphere. The great curiosity, the first Franco-Canadian baby, now\neight years old, was doubtless carried to the tower, and caged as a\ncuriosity, near the other lions and tigers of London. It was not until\nthe restoration of peace in 1633, that Champlain was reappointed\nGovernor of Canada, which, by the treaty of 1632, was surrendered back\nto France, on the supposition that it was almost worthless. This time\ncolonization was systematically undertaken by the Jesuits, who only\narrived in Canada in time to supply the loss of Champlain, a man of\nexemplary perseverance, of ambitious views, and of wonderful\nadministrative capacity, for a layman of that day, who died in\nDecember, 1635. The foundation of a seminary was laid at Quebec. Monks,\nPriests, and Nuns were sent out from France. The Church was to settle\nin the wilderness to be encircled by the godly. If Admiral Kerk had\ncarried off a settlement, Mother Church was to produce other\nsettlements. A new governor was named--Montmagny. Business, however,\nbegan to languish. The Indians became exceedingly troublesome. And the\nIroquois had subdued the Algonquins, and had nearly vanquished the\nHurons. To defend the settlement from these fierce warriors, Montmagny\nbuilt a fort at Sorel, at the mouth of the Richelieu, down which river\nthe savage enemy usually came. The construction of the fort had the\ndesired effect. Peace with the Indians soon followed, and the colony\nbecame happy and contented. The effect of Jesuitical tact and judgment\nsoon began to exhibit itself. An Ursuline Nunnery and a Seminary were\nestablished at Quebec, through the instrumentality of the Duchess\nd'Aiguillon. The religious order of St. Sulpice, at the head of which\nwas the Abb\u00e9 Olivier, proposed to the King of France to establish a new\ncolony and a seminary at Mont Royal, bearing the name of the order and\ncomposed of its members. The proposal was entertained, and the Island\nof Montreal conceded to the religionists for their support. The Sieur\nMaisonneuve--a name admirably chosen--was placed at the head of the\nfaithful emigrants, and invested with its government. The third regular\ngovernor of Canada was M. d'Aillebout. He succeeded Montmagny, whose\nterm of office had expired. On the death of Champlain, no Governor of\nCanada was to hold the reins of government longer than three years.\nD'Aillebout was an exceedingly able man. He was firm, and, on the\nwhole, just. He was left entirely to himself in the management of\naffairs, and he left the conversion of the Indians to peace and\nChristianity, to the missionaries, who labored well and earnestly,\nestablishing the Hurons, and even the Iroquois, in villages. The\nlatter, who were never to be trusted, only feigned semi-civilization,\nand unexpectedly renewing the war, they fell upon their old enemies,\nthe Hurons, with diabolical fury. In the Indian village of Sillery,\nwhile a missionary was celebrating mass in the Catholic Church, and\nnone but old men, women, and children were present, a terrible and foul\nmassacre occurred. The Iroquois rushed into the chapel with tomahawk\nand scalping knife, murdering all the congregation, nor stayed their\nhands until upwards of four hundred families, being every soul in the\nvillage, were slain. About this time our friends south of the line 45\u00b0,\nfirst began to dream of the annexation of Canada. An envoy from New\nEngland visited Quebec, and proposed to the French governor the\nestablishment of a peace between the two colonies of New France and New\nEngland, which was not to be broken even should the parent states go to\nwar. Governor Montmagny consented, on condition that the Iroquois were\nto be put down. He was so willing that he sent an envoy to Boston to\nratify a treaty. But the New Englanders would not quarrel with the\nIroquois, and no treaty was effected. A more hopeful international\ncommercial alliance, of which the Boston Jubilee of 1851 was\nindicative, has lately been entertained. Compared to the Iroquois, or\neven the Algonquins, the Huron tribe of Indians were mild in\ndisposition and peaceably disposed. The French missionaries obtained a\npowerful hold over them. Great numbers became christianized, and even,\nto some extent, civilized. Descendants of Nimrod though they were,\ntheir wandering habits were partially subdued, and very many began to\ncultivate the ground. As if there was something in the climate of\nQuebec to produce such an effect, they were naturally inclined to be\nsupremely tranquil. And notwithstanding the recent horrible massacre\nthey soon sank back into their ordinary state of lethargy. They were\nfearfully aroused from their lethargy, however, by another series of\nattacks on the part of the Iroquois. The latter ferocious red men made\na descent upon the village of St. Ignace, killing and capturing all the\nHurons there. They next attacked St. Louis, and though some women and\nchildren managed to escape, both missionaries and Hurons were carried\noff for the torture. The Huron nation, terribly damaged, seemed to be\nat the mercy of their more savage enemies. They scattered in every\ndirection. Their settlements were altogether abandoned. Some sought\nrefuge with the Ottawas, some with the Eries, and not a few attached\nthemselves to missionaries, who formed them into settlements on the\nIsland of St. Joseph, in Lake Ontario. Unable, however, to find\nsufficient subsistence on the island, they were compelled to form\nvillages on the main land, where they were again slaughtered by the\nIroquois. So inferior had they become, physically and intellectually,\nif not numerically, to the Iroquois, that they resolved to put\nthemselves altogether under French protection. This protection the\nmissionaries procured for them, and a new settlement was formed at\nSillery. The Iroquois now did what they pleased. They were in full\npossession of the whole country. The French were literally confined to\nQuebec, Three Rivers, and Montreal. But that which neither French nor\nHurons could do by force, they were made to do themselves. They were\ndestroyed in hundreds by rum. The French appealed to their appetites.\nIroquois independence was broken in upon by a mere artifice of taste.\nFurs were now bought, not with pieces of tin and strings of beads, but\nwith plugs of tobacco and bottles of spirits. Intoxication had its\nordinary effect. It caused these naturally hot-blooded, quarrelsome,\nfreemen to butcher each other, and it made them the slaves of the fur\ntrader, whose exertions increased as the favorite narcotic lessened the\nexertions and weakened the energies of the hunter. So injurious was the\neffect of the \"fire water,\" and so obvious was the injury to the\nIndians themselves, that the Chief of the domesticated Indians\npetitioned the Governor, their great Father, to imprison all drunkards.\nWhether or no D'Aillebout granted the request is not recorded. Probably\nit was not then granted. Among the _Edits, Ordonnances Royaux,\ndeclarations, et arr\u00eats du Counsel d'etat Roi concernant le Canada_,\nnothing concerning Indian intoxication is to be found. D'Aillebout\nceased not long afterwards to be governor. In 1650 he was succeeded by\nMonsieur de Lauzon. So hostile, however, had the feelings of the\nIroquois now become, that M. de Lauzon returned to France for a\ndetachment of soldiers. He brought out 100 men in 1653. Then the\nIroquois were disposed for peace. They begged for it. Might is right.\nThe power of the new Governor was acknowledged by the Iroquois. One\nhundred muskets was a powerful argument against even 6,000 bows and\narrows. Frenchmen were sent among them. An Iroquois Roman Catholic\nChurch was founded. For two years all was tolerably quiet, but at the\nend of that time the spirit of insubordination was so great that the\nFrench, anticipating massacre, made a moon-light flitting to Quebec.\nM. Lauzon was superseded as Governor of Canada, in 1658, by the\nViscompte d'Argenson. On the very morning of his arrival a large party\nof Algonquins were menaced under the very guns of Quebec by the\nIroquois, who were driven off, but not captured, by a _posse_ of French\ntroops. In the following year Monseigneur l'Eveque de Petree, arrived\nat Quebec, to preside over the Catholic Church. Fran\u00e7ois de Petree, a\nshrewd, energetic, learned prelate, was not, however, appointed to the\nSee of Quebec, by \"Notre Saint P\u00e9re le Pape Cl\u00e9ment X,\" as he himself\ntells us, until the 1st October, 1664. In 1663 he established the\nSeminary of Quebec, and united it with that of the du Bac, in Paris, in\n1676. The education of young men for the ministry seemed to be his\ngreat object. Trade would develop itself in time. The country could not\nfail to become great with so much deep water flowing through it. But\nreligion must be provided for, and the Catholic, the most consistent,\nif not the most enlightened, of any system of Christianity existing,\nwas his religion, and he paved the way for its extension. Four hundred\nmore soldiers had been added to the garrison before Fran\u00e7ois de Laval\nwas even Bishop of Quebec, and they accompanied de Monts, as the Guards\ndid Lord Durham, who was also sent out to enquire into the condition of\nCanada. In de Mont's time, Canada must have been in a very\nextraordinary state. In 1668, an edict of the king prohibited swearing\nand blasphemy. The king ruled that officers of the army had no\nacknowledged rank in the Church. And in 1670, an arr\u00eat du Conseil\nencouraged \"_les marriages des gar\u00e7ons et des filles du Canada_.\"\nOne of the most remarkable earthquakes of which we have read occurred\nin Canada, soon after the arrival of the Bishop of Petrea. It happened,\ntoo, in winter. On the 5th of February, 1663, at half-past five o'clock\nin the evening, the earth began to heave so violently, that people\nrushed in terror into the streets, only to be terrified the more. The\nroofs of the buildings bent down, first on one side, then on the other.\nThe walls reeled backward and forward, the stones moving as if they\nwere detached from each other. The church bells rang. Wild and domestic\nanimals were flying in every direction. Fountains were thrown up.\nMountains were split in twain. Rivers changed their beds or were\ntotally lost. Huge capes or promontories tumbled into the St. Lawrence\nand became islands. The convulsion lasted for six months, or from\nFebruary to August, in paroxysms of half an hour each, and although it\nextended over a range of country, 600 miles in length by 300 in\nbreadth, not a single human being was destroyed. Beyond question this\nearthquake altered entirely the features of the country from Montreal\nto the sea; but, that it did not produce that rent, as some will have\nit, through which the Saguenay flows, is evident from the fact that the\nSaguenay existed on Cartier's first visit. It did not even produce\nthose numerous islands with which the Lower St. Lawrence is studded,\nfor some of them are also mentioned by the same daring and skilful\nnavigator. But for the sake of science it is to be regretted that the\nparticular rivers, whose beds were changed or which were entirely\nobliterated, have not been mentioned. The greater depth of the Saguenay\nthan the St. Lawrence is easily accounted for by the greater height of\nthe banks of the one river than of the other. In the St. Lawrence a\nlarge body of water finds an outlet through a chain of mountains\nforming the banks of a river which is the outlet of a series of lakes\nor inland seas, in which the rains or snows of a great part of North\nAmerica are collected, as the Caspian, the Sea of Azof, and the Euxine\nare the rain basins of Europe and of Asia, and which spreads its waters\nover breadths of land, great or small, as its shores are steep or\notherwise. If Canada is high above the ocean, and on that, as well as\non other accounts, intensely cold in winter, it is some consolation to\nknow that that latitude, which is in some sense to be regretted, has\nproduced a river and lake navigation for sea-going ships of upwards of\na thousand miles, more valuable than ten thousands of miles of\nprairie-land. A prairie country might have produced a Mississippi\nfilled with snags, but only a mountainous country could produce such\nrivers for navigation as the Saguenay and St. Lawrence, and such rivers\nfor manufacturing purposes as the St. Maurice and the Ottawa. But\nCanada is not all mountainous. There are vast steppes, extensive\nplains, through which numerous streams roll sluggishly into the great\nlakes. There are tracts of country of extraordinary extent capable of\nproducing the heaviest crops. There are garden lands around most of the\nwestern cities, on which these cities of yesterday subsist and have\narisen. And even in Lower Canada there are straths of wonderful\nfertility. Canada, with any government which will permit trade, cannot\nfail to become pecuniarily rich, even with the drawback of the towns of\nLower Canada being rendered inland for half the year by means of ice.\nLower Canada has been crippled by the policy of Cardinal Richelieu,\nwho, by that policy, paradoxical as it may appear, was her first\nbenefactor. A theocratic government, no doubt excellent for the taming\nof Indians, is not by any means well adapted for an intelligent people.\nSo long as the trade of Canada was confined to furs the Jesuitical\npolicy of Richelieu was advantageous, but now that the Indians are\nnearly exterminated--two millions of acres under cultivation--millions\nof feet of pine, birch, oak and other timber used or exported\nannually--and manufactures abounding--a somewhat more self reliant\nspirit is requisite than the establishment of Churches under the\nextraordinary control of a single mitred head will permit. Such a\nspirit is being gradually aroused, and the more gradual the more\npermanent will it be. Violence begets violence. Example is more\npersuasive than force.\nDe Monts, or rather de Lauzon, was succeeded by the Baron D'Avaugour,\nthe last of the Fur Governors, a weak, stupid man, who had almost by\nhis imbecility and vacillation suffered the business of his employers\nto be extinguished. The Iroquois most vigorously waged war during his\ntime upon every other tribe of Indians. They altogether exterminated\nthe Eries, and in their very wickedness, did good in rendering their\ncountry more susceptible to colonization by Europeans. D'Avaugour was\nrecalled. The Hundred Associates resigned their charter into the hands\nof the French king, who transferred the company's privileges to the\nWest India Company. M. de Mesy was appointed governor by the Crown, and\nfor a council of advice he had a Vicar Apostolic and five others, one\nof whom was a kind of Inspector General, and another a Receiver\nGeneral. To this Governor and Council the power of establishing Courts\nof Justice, at Three Rivers and Montreal, was confided. Courts of Law\nwere established soon after De Mesy's arrival, and four hundred\nsoldiers were obtained from France to enable His Excellency to cause\nthe law to be respected. De Mesy, of a proud and unbending temper,\nquarrelled with his Council, sneered at the settlers, and governed with\na rod of iron. He cared neither for Vicar Apostolic, nor for Finance\nMinisters. Nay, he went so far, after quarrelling with the Jesuits, as\nto send two members of the Company to France, a mistake for which he\npaid the penalty by being himself recalled. De Mesy was succeeded by\nthe Marquis de Tracy and was the second Chief Crown Governor, or\nViceroy. He was not fettered with a Council of Advice, but he was more\nabsurdly hampered with almost co-equals in the shape of assistants. The\nSeigneur de Courcelles was appointed Governor of the Colony, and Mon.\nDe Talon, Intendant. De Tracy brought with him as settlers the then\nnewly disbanded regiment of Carignan-Salli\u00e8res, which had returned from\nfighting, not for the Turks in Hungary, but against them. They had been\nextraordinarily successful. And France had acquired great influence by\nher successful efforts to stay Mahometan encroachment. The Turks were\nthen the oppressors not the oppressed. But France then, as now, was\nplaying the balance of power game. The men of the Carignan-Salli\u00e8res\nRegiment were admirably adapted for settlement in a country in which\nconstant fighting was being carried on. They were to have a deep\ninterest in subduing the Iroquois. They were some protection against\nthe Round-Heads of Massachusetts. Sixteen hundred and sixty-five other\nsettlers, including many artisans, accompanied them. Cattle, sheep, and\nhorses were for the first time sent to Canada. More priests were sent\nout, for whom the West India Company were, by their charter, bound to\nprovide churches and houses. The most Christian king had determined\nupon at least christianizing the country, and upon so retaining it.\nWithout priests and churches the Hungarian Heroes would have been of as\nlittle value to France as the cattle, sheep, and horses which\naccompanied them to Canada. It was a condition of the West India\nCompany's Charter that priests were to be carried out, and parsonages\nand churches erected. Like most companies chartered for similar\npurposes, the stock of this company was transferable, but only the\nrevenue, or profits of the revenue could be attached for the debts of\nthe stockholders. The company had a monopoly of the territory, and the\ntrade of the Colony for forty years. Nor was this all. His most\nChristian Majesty conferred a bounty of thirty livres on every ton of\ngoods imported to France, a kind of protection similar to that still\nextended by the French government to the Newfoundland fisheries. The\ncompany had the right to all mines and minerals--had the power of\nlevying and recruiting soldiers in France--had the power of\nmanufacturing arms and ammunition--had the power of building forts in\nCanada--and had the power of declaring and carrying on war against the\nAmerican Indians, or, in case of insult, the Colonial Englishmen of New\nEngland, or the Manhattanese Dutch. Justice was to be administered\naccording to the Custom of Paris. All Colonists of, and converts to the\nRoman Catholic faith, had the same rights in France as Frenchmen born\nand resident in France had. And for four years the king himself agreed\nto advance a tenth of the whole stock of the company, without interest,\nand to bear a corresponding proportion of any loss which the company,\nin the course of four years, might sustain. These were certainly\nliberal and prudent privileges, but more ultimate good, or in other\nwords, good would have been sooner realized had the conditions been\nless liberal and less prudent. These conditions were of too liberal a\nnature to cause any desire for change to be entertained for a great\nlength of time, and the consequence is that even now Lower Canada is\ngoverned according to the \"Cotume de Paris,\" and cultivated as France\nwas cultivated two hundred years back. A year after the Marquis'\narrival, the Council of State granted to the Canadian Company the trade\nin furs on payment of a subsidy of one fourth of all beaver skins, and\nof one tenth of all Buffalo skins. The trade of Tadousac was excepted.\nFort building and church building went on vigorously. The fur trade was\neasily attended to. Three forts were erected at the mouth of the\nRichelieu-Sorel. The Indians made sorties repeatedly down this river,\nalways doing much mischief, and the forts were intended to prevent the\nmischief. But the Iroquois were not to be foiled. They found means to\nreach the settlements by other roads. Nor was De Tracy to be annoyed.\nHe sent out war parties who did not, however, effect much. The Viceroy,\nan old man of some seventy summers, took the field himself. With the\nview of exterminating the Indians, he set out on the 14th Sept., 1666,\nwith a considerable force consisting of regular troops, militia, and\nfriendly Indians. Unfortunately the Commissariat Department was badly\nconducted, and the exterminating force were nearly themselves\nexterminated by starvation. They had to pass through a large tract of\nforest land to meet their foes, and they frequently lost their way. The\nhaversack was soon emptied, and the starving army was only too happy to\nbreakfast, dine, and sup on chestnuts gathered in the bush, until some\nIndian settlements were reached. They came upon almost a forest of\nchestnut-trees, and fell upon them like locusts. They ate and filled\ntheir haversacks, and it was well that they did so, for the Iroquois\nhad adopted the Russian expedient of abandoning their villages, and\nsuffering the enemy to march through a country altogether wanting in\nthe bare necessaries of life. M. De Tracy marched and countermarched\nwithout effecting anything beyond capturing some old men, and one or\ntwo women with their children. Luckily he fell in with supplies of corn\nin one of the abandoned settlements which he took possession of for the\nbenefit of his army. Still more luckily he got to Quebec again safely,\nbut so thoroughly disgusted with the state of affairs, that he resigned\nhis government into De Courcelle's hands, and returned to France. De\nCourcelle was a man of some address. He cajoled the Iroquois and\nprevented war. He was the founder, but not the builder of Fort\nCataraqui or Kingston, on Lake Ontario. He settled Hurons at\nMichillimacinac. Both fort and settlement were intended to benefit the\nfur trade. The new settlement was in fact a new hunting ground, and the\nnew fort was for the protection of the hunters. De Courcelle visited\npersonally Cataraqui. He was dragged up the Lachine, the Cedars, and\nother rapids of the St. Lawrence, in an open boat, but suffered from\nmoisture and exposure to such an extent that, on returning to Montreal,\nhe solicited his recall to France, and was recalled accordingly.\nIn 1669, the Indians encountered, in the shape of smallpox, a more\nterrible foe than the musket, the sword, the arrow, or the \"firewater.\"\nWhole tribes were exterminated by this loathsome disease, which appears\nnot to have been imported, inasmuch as the most distant and least\ncivilized tribes were first attacked and most severely suffered. The\nAtlikamegues were completely exterminated. Tadousac and Trois Rivieres\nwere abandoned by all the Indians. Fifteen hundred Hurons died at\nSillery, and yet the Huron suffered less than any other nation. The\nremnant of the tribe was collected by Father Chamounat, who established\nthem at Lorette, where some half-breeds are yet to be found.\nThe Count de Frontenac was the third Viceroy of Canada. He succeeded De\nCourcelle in 1692, and soon after his arrival erected the fort which\nhis predecessor had decided upon erecting at Cataraqui, giving it his\nown name--a name which still distinguishes the County, the chief town\nin which Kingston or Catarqui is. De Frontenac was a man of astonishing\nenergy. His self will and self esteem were only compensated for by\nability and a spirit of independence and honesty. It was not to be\nsupposed that such a man could long submit to the whims of his\nco-equals, as far as governing was concerned. Nor did he. The\ntriumvirate--the Viceroy, the Bishop, and the Intendant--each with an\nequal vote, were soon at loggerheads. Chesnau, the Intendant, without\nFrontenac's ability, had all his bad qualities. The Intendant and\nViceroy were soon violently opposed to each other, and to make matters\nworse, the Bishop, supported by his clergy, was annoyed with both. The\nBishop considered the sale of spirits to the Indians abominable; De\nFrontenac thought it profitable; and Chesnau did not think at all. An\nappeal was made by the clergy to the home government, and both De\nFrontenac and Chesnau were re-called with censure, and the profitable\nsale of spirits to the Indians was prohibited by a royal edict. De\nFrontenac ruled Canada for ten years, and during his administration La\nSalle discovered the mouths of the Mississippi. Only the year after De\nFrontenac's arrival in Canada, the Indians reported that there was a\nlarge river flowing out to the Atlantic, to the southwest of the\ncolony, and the Reverend Messire Marquette[2] and a merchant of Quebec,\nwere sent on an exploring expedition. Starting in two canoes, with only\na crew of six men for both, they found themselves, after an exceedingly\ntedious voyage, on the Mississippi, and, rejoicing at their success,\nreturned back immediately to report progress. At Chicago, Marquette\nseparated from his companion. In that Indian village of Lake Michigan,\nnow a populous commercial town, the missionary remained with the Miami\nIndians, while Jollyet went back to Quebec for further instructions. Of\ncourse Jollyet was highly communicative at Quebec. The multitude could\nnot travel by steam in those days from Gasp\u00e9 to Lake Michigan. It was\nno easy matter at that period to paddle over those great seas, the\ninland lakes, in a birch-bark canoe. Jollyet had much to boast of and\nmight, without chance of detection, boast of more than either his\nexperience or a strict adherence to truth could warrant. Jollyet was a\ncuriosity. Jollyet was the lion of Quebec, and he was toasted and\nboasted accordingly. The Sieur La Salle was in Quebec when Jollyet\nreturned. He heard of the merchant's adventures with deep interest. La\nSalle, a young man of good family, and of sufficient fortune, had\nemigrated to Canada in search of fame, and with the further view of\nincreasing his pecuniary resources. He expected, like Cabot and some\nothers, to find a passage through Canada, by water, to China, imagining\nthat the Missouri emptied itself into the north Pacific. The narrative\nof Jollyet made La Salle more sanguinely credulous, that he had the\n\"way\" before him. First he gained the sanction of the governor to\nexplore the course of that river, and then he returned to France for\nsupport in his enterprise. So plausible a story did he relate, that\nmeans were soon forthcoming. The Prince of Conti most liberally entered\ninto La Salle's views, and assisted him to prepare an expedition. The\nChevalier de Tonti, an army officer, with one arm, joined him, and on\nthe 14th July, 1678, De La Salle, and De Tonti sailed for Quebec from\nFrance, with thirty men. It was two months before they reached Quebec;\nbut no sooner did they arrive than they hastened to the great lakes,\naccompanied by Father Hennepin. Father Hennepin was the historian of\nthe voyage. He tells a wonderfully interesting story. La Salle built a\nvessel of 60 tons, and carrying 7 guns, above the Falls of Niagara,\nhaving laid the keel in July, 1679. There are always difficulties\nattending new enterprises, and La Salle's shipbuilding operations were\nfrequently and annoyingly interfered with. The carpenter was an\nItalian, named Tuti, and he occupied seven months in building the\ncraft. One day, an Indian, pretending to be drunk, attempted to stab\nthe blacksmith, but that worthy son of Vulcan, like Bailie Nicol\nJarvie, successfully defended himself with a red hot bar of iron. Again\nthe savages tried to burn the ship, but were prevented by a woman. A\nsquaw gave La Salle's people warning of the Indian's intention. Alarms\nwere frequent, and only for Father Hennepin's exhortations,\nshipbuilding would have been abandoned to a later period, on the lake.\nBut carpenter Tuti persevered, and amid enthusiastic cheering, the\nchanting of a _Te Deum_, and the firing of guns, she was safely\nlaunched. The \"Cataraqui\" was square rigged. She was a kind of\nbrigantine, not unlike a Dutch galliot of the present day, with a broad\nelevated bow and a broad elevated stern. Very flat in the bottom, she\nlooked much larger than she really was, and when her \"great\" guns were\nfired off, the Indians stared marvellously at the floating fort. With\nthe aid of tow-lines and sails the Niagara River was with difficulty\nascended, and on the 7th of August, 1679, the first vessel that ever\nsat upon the lakes entered Lake Erie. The day was beautifully calm, and\nthe explorers chanted _Te Deums_, and fired off guns, to the no small\nconsternation, perhaps amusement, of the Senecas. In four days they\nsailed through the lake, and entering the River Detroit they sailed up\nit to Lake St. Clair, and in twelve days more Lake Huron was entered.\nIn that lake storms and calms were alternately encountered. On one\noccasion the wind blew so strongly, that La Salle's man of war was\ndriven across to Saginaw Bay. But worse weather was yet in store for La\nSalle. A tempest swept over the lake, and topmasts and yards were let\ngo by the run. There was neither anchorage nor shelter, and La Salle\nand all his crew, now terribly frightened, prayed and prepared for\ndeath. Only the pilot swore. He anathematized the fresh water. It was\nbad enough to perish in the open ocean, but something terrible to be\ndrowned in a nasty fresh water lake, to be devoured, perhaps, by an\nichthyosaurus. Prayers and curses seemingly had produced the desired\neffect; indeed, the pilot's anathematizing was prayer; but such prayer\nis not by any means to be recommended. It would be as well to curse as\nonly to pray when fear is excited. Prayer, doubtless, often is, but\nnever ought to be, the effect of fear. Prayer should be the holy\noffering up of reasonable desires to the Creator, and in times of\ndanger there should be confidence in the Creator as all powerful, and\nin ourselves as the instruments of the Creator. However, favored with\nless adverse winds, the exploring expedition reached Michillimacinac,\nand anchored in 60 fathoms, living on delicious trout, white fish, and\nsturgeon. From thence entering Lake Michigan, they proceeded to an\nIsland at the mouth of Green Bay, where La Salle loaded his ship with\nfurs and sent her back to Niagara. The cargo was rich. It was valued at\n50,000 livres. The blaspheming pilot and five men were sent off with\nthe vessel, but whether the craft foundered in Lake Huron or was\npiratically visited by the Indians, she was no more heard of. Two years\nelapsed before La Salle or Father Hennepin learned the fate of the\n\"Cataraqui\" and her blasphemous pilot. They perseveringly pushed their\nway down the Mississippi and reached the Atlantic, thus discovering the\nmouths of a stream which has been a great source of wealth to our\nenterprising neighbours. In two years he turned his steps to Quebec,\nand going home to France was appointed Governor of the territory he had\ndiscovered. He was the first Governor of Louisiana, a territory ceded\nby Napoleon I. to the United States, in 1803. The unlucky Governor was\nnot destined to reach his government. La Salle, in command of four\nships, with settlers, sailed from Rochelle, on the 24th of July, 1689.\nHe was ignorant of the exact geographical situation of the mouths of\nthe Mississippi, but passing through the Antilles, reached Florida,\nwhere he was murdered by his own people--a melancholy and lamentable\nfate for one of whom all Frenchmen may justly boast. Canada now\nnumbered 8,000 souls, including converted Indians; and French America\nextended from Newfoundland, and Nova Scotia through the St. Lawrence\nand the great lakes to the Pacific, and from the great lakes again to\nthe ocean through the Mississippi, all the westward of even that stream\nbeing French soil. Yet it was only nominally so. The Indians were\nvirtually the owners of the soil, those spots on which forts or trading\nposts had been erected or established, only excepted.\n [2] The able American Historian, Jared Sparks, in a letter to a\n friend at Quebec, speaking of the early missions in Canada,\n says;--\"For heroic struggles and great sacrifices, the world\n affords few examples to be compared with those of the early\n Missionaries in Canada.\"\nM. De La Barre now (1682) succeeded Frontenac as Viceroy. The new\nGovernor was of a restless and overbearing disposition. He required, or\nsupposed that he required, a strong government. He certainly needed an\nable one. The idea of drawing off the trade of the St. Lawrence had\nfirst occurred to the English colonists on the Hudson. The Iroquois\npreferred trading with the \"down south\" English to trading with the\nFrench. Their furs were chiefly carried down the Hudson, to the no\nsmall annoyance of the French exporter. De La Barre had no idea of\ntolerating such a mode of doing business. The furs of Canada were\nFrench furs. The Indians were merely hunters for the French, and had no\nright whatever to dispose of their goods in the dearest market, and buy\ntheir necessaries in the cheapest market. De La Barre, weakened though\nhe was in the number of his troops, many men having converted their\nswords into ploughshares, and their guns into reaping hooks, resolved\nupon punishing the free-trading children of the woods. He obtained two\nhundred additional soldiers from France, and proceeded up the St.\nLawrence on his labor of love. The Indians only laughed at him. They\nthought he was in a dream when he pompously required them not to war\nupon each other, or permit the English to come among them. His troops\nwere sick and starving, and were at the mercy rather of the Indians\nthan the Indians at their mercy. M. De La Barre was compelled to\nwithdraw his troops. The blustering, pompous, mischief-loving De La\nBarre was recalled by his government, for incompetency, and in 1685 was\nsucceeded by Denonville.\nThe Marquis Denonville was only more cunning than his predecessor, and\nperhaps more decided. No sooner had he set foot in the colony, than,\nwith the assistance of the missionaries, he persuaded the Iroquois\nchiefs to meet him on the banks of Lake Ontario. Denonville and the\nIndians did meet, and no sooner had they met, than Denonville\ntreacherously caused a number of them to be seized and put in irons, to\nbe sent as prisoners to the King of France, for service in his gallies.\nDenonville erected a fort at Niagara, became more violent and\noverbearing to the Indians, treated the remonstrances of the English of\nNew York, concerning the erection of Fort Niagara, with contempt, and\nat last brought upon himself, as the arrogant generally do, defeat and\ndisgrace. This fort, to which the North West Fur Company of Quebec had\noffered to contribute 30,000 livres annually, in consideration of a\nmonopoly of the fur trade, was destroyed by the Iroquois, who followed\nthe now retreating French to Cataraqui, made themselves masters of the\nwhole country west of Montreal, and, to crown all, appeared before that\ncity with proposals of peace. Denonville was required to restore the\nchiefs who had been sent to France, and he was either in a position not\nto resist, or wished to gain time. He consented to negotiate. The\nHurons, his allies, were not now so peaceably disposed. For the first\ntime, they seem to have evinced a warlike spirit. They attacked the\ndeputies, and insinuated to their prisoners that the French Governor\nhad instigated them to do so. The prisoners were allowed to depart; a\nlarge party of the Five Nations heard their tale, descended upon\nMontreal, carried off two hundred of the inhabitants, and retired\nunmolested. The fort at Cataraqui was blown up, and for a time of\ncourse abandoned. Thus, in 1686, French Canada was again virtually\nreduced to Montreal, Three Rivers, Quebec, and Tadousac.\nIt was in 1689 that the Count de Frontenac returned to Canada a second\ntime, as Viceroy, to succeed the incompetent Denonville. He took out\nthe captured chiefs, and attempted to conciliate the Iroquois. But the\nIndians had been too frequently deceived by his immediate predecessors.\nThey would have nothing to do with him, unless he restored, without\nstipulation, their captured chiefs. De Frontenac complied. He complied\nthe more readily because he feared an alliance between the Ottawas and\nthe Iroquois. The Ottawas were quite indifferent to French friendship,\nbecause the gain, in their estimation, was altogether in favor of the\nFrench, whose protectors the Ottawas considered themselves to be. So\nfar from provocation being now given to the Indians, a policy extremely\nopposite was pursued. The English and Dutch of the New England\nsettlements coveted the Indian trade in furs, and the Indians were more\nfavorably disposed towards the English and Dutch traders than towards\nthe French, because from the former a larger consideration was\nreceived. It was De Frontenac's policy to prevent such a union, which\nwould, as he conceived, have injured the trade of the St. Lawrence, and\nhave injured the revenue of the Fur Company. De Frontenac induced the\nOttawas to assist him against the English of New England, whom he had\nresolved to attack, France and England being then at war. He fitted out\nthree expeditions, one against New York, a second against New\nHampshire, and a third against the Province of Maine. The party against\nNew York fell upon Schenectady, in February, 1690. The weather was\nexceedingly cold, and the ground deeply covered with snow. It was never\neven suspected, that, at such a season, a campaign would be begun. Yet,\nat the dead of night, while the inhabitants of Schenectady were asleep,\nand not a sentinel was awake to announce the danger, the war-whoop was\nraised, every house in the village was simultaneously attacked,\nbuildings were broken into and set on fire, men and women were dragged\nfrom their beds, and even mothers, with their sleeping infants at their\nbreasts, were inhumanly murdered. Sixty persons were massacred; thirty\nwere made prisoners, and such as escaped, almost naked, fled through\nthe deep snow, many perishing with the extreme cold, and the most\nfortunate being terribly frost bitten. At Salmon Falls, the party sent\nby Frontenac against New Hampshire, killed thirty of the inhabitants,\ntook fifty-four prisoners, and burned the village. At Casco, in Maine,\nthe third party killed and captured one hundred persons. Such was the\nbusiness of colonists in those days. In Canada the majority had no\nvoice in popular affairs. Governors, Intendants, Seigniors, and\nPriests, controlled the colonists as they willed. However much the\nGovernor may have despised the Intendant, the Intendant the Seignior,\nor the Priest all put together, the merchant, artisan, and peasant\nwere of no account. Wealth without title was only a bait for extortion.\nThe peasantry were serfs, and the nobles uneducated despots. Education\nwas in the hands of the clergy, while power was solely vested in the\nHeads of Military Departments. But if ignorance was particularly\ncharacteristic of the Canadians, the New Englanders could lay little\nclaim to superior enlightenment. Harvard's College, in Massachusetts,\nhad apparently done no more for the New Englanders, in 1692, than the\nSeminary of Quebec, in the way of diffusing a knowledge of letters\namong the people, from which the desire for freedom invariably springs,\nhad done for Canada. The people of Salem, Andover, Ipswich, Gloucester,\nand even Boston, were accusing each other of witchcraft. A \"contagious\"\nmalady, which affected children of ten, twelve or fifteen years of age,\nit was, oddly enough, said by the learned physicians of the period, was\nthe result of witchcraft. A respectable merchant of Salem, and his\nwife, were accused of bewitching children; the sons of Governor\nBradstreet were implicated in the divinations; and the wife of Sir\nWilliam Phipps was not above suspicion. One man, for refusing to put\nhimself on trial by jury, was pressed to death. Nor was Giles Correy\nthe only sufferer:--nineteen persons, \"members of the Church\", were\nexecuted, and one hundred and fifty persons were put in prison. It was\nsometime before the conviction began to spread, that even men of sense,\neducation, and fervent piety could entertain the madness and\ninfatuation of the weak, illiterate, and unprincipled. A disbeliever in\nwitchcraft was an 'obdurate sadducee.' That conviction did at last\npossess men. The disease which affected the supposed bewitched children\nsomewhat resembled St. Vitus' Dance. It was an involuntary motion of\nthe muscles. The affected were sometimes deaf, sometimes dumb,\nsometimes blind. Oftentimes, they were at once deaf, dumb, and blind.\nTheir tongues were drawn down their throats, and then pulled out upon\ntheir chins to a prodigious length. Their mouths were forced open to\nsuch a wideness, that their jaws went out of joint, only to clap again\ntogether, with a force like that of a spring lock. Shoulder-blades,\nelbows, wrists, and knees were similarly affected. Sometimes the\nsufferer was benumbed, or drawn violently together, and immediately\nafterwards stretched out and drawn back.\nDe Frontenac set earnestly to work to pacify his old enemies of the\nFive Nations. A new and more dreaded enemy had to be encountered. The\nPuritans of Massachusetts, provoked by De Frontenac's aggressions,\nresolved to attack Canada, in self-defence. Sir William Phipps,\nafterwards the first Captain General of Massachusetts, born on the\nRiver Kennebec, a man of extraordinary firmness and great energy, who\nhad raised himself to eminence by honesty of purpose, a strong will,\nand good natural ability, was appointed to the command of an\nexpedition, consisting of seven vessels and eight hundred men. The\nobject of the expedition was the reduction of Port Royal, or Annapolis,\nin Nova Scotia, which Sir William speedily and easily accomplished. A\nsecond expedition, under Sir William, was resolved upon, for the\nreduction of Montreal and Quebec. Two thousand men were to penetrate\ninto Canada by Lake Champlain, to attack Montreal, at the same time\nthat the naval armament, consisting of between thirty and forty ships,\nshould invest Quebec. The expedition failed. The Commissariat and\nPontoon Departments of the land expedition, were sadly deficient, and\nthe naval expedition did not reach Quebec until late in October. The\nweather became tempestuous, and scattered the fleet, while the land\nforce to Montreal mutinied through hunger. Sir William, on the 22nd of\nOctober, re-embarked the soldiers which he had landed, and sailed,\nwithout carrying with him his field pieces or ammunition waggons.\nHumiliating as the repulse was to Massachusetts, it was highly\ncreditable to De Frontenac, who now easily succeeded in winning over\nthe Five Nation Indians. Indeed, matters had so very much changed, that\nthese enemies of his most Christian Majesty solicited the Governor to\nrebuild the fort at Cataraqui, which was accordingly done. The Indians\nwere not, however, unanimous in their desire for peace. There was a war\nand a peace party. To show his power, De Frontenac conceived the idea\nof a great expedition against the Indians. He collected regulars,\nmilitia, and all the friendly Indians to be procured, and, marching to\nCataraqui, passed into the country of the Onondagos. On entering a\nlake, it was ascertained by the symbol of two bundles of rushes, that\n1,434 fighting men were in readiness to receive them. De Frontenac\nthrew up an earthwork, or log fort, to fall back upon, and proceeded.\nDe Calli\u00e8res, Governor of Montreal, commanded the left wing; De\nVaudreuil the right; and De Frontenac, now 76 years of age, was\ncarried, like Menschikoff at Alma, in the centre, in an elbow chair.\nThe Indians fell back, and as they did so, pursued the Russian policy\nof destroying their own forts by fire. The French never came up with\nthe Onondagos or Oneidas, but contented themselves with destroying\ngrain, and returned to Montreal.\nDe Frontenac's next expedition was to join Admiral, the Marquis\nNesmond,--who had been despatched with ten ships of the line, a\ngalliot, and two frigates,--with a force of 1,500 men at Penobscot,\nwith the view of making a descent on Boston; to range the coast of\nNewfoundland; and to take New York, from whence the troops were to\nreturn overland to Canada, by the side of the River Hudson and Lake\nChamplain. The junction was not effected, and the expedition failed. A\ntreaty of peace, on the 10th of December, 1697, concluded between\nFrance and England, at Ryswick, in Germany, put an end to colonial\ncontention for a short time. By that peace, all the countries, forts,\nand colonies taken by each party during the war, were mutually given\nback. De Frontenac, an exceedingly courageous and skilful officer, now\nbecame involved with his government at home. The French government\nbegan to perceive that advanced posts for the purpose of trading with\nthe Indians for furs, were of little, if, indeed, they were of any\nadvantage, while they were a continued source of war. It was proposed\nto abolish these stations, so that the Indians might, to the great\nsaving of transport, bring in their furs themselves, to Montreal. De\nFrontenac demurred. These forts were the sign of power, as they were a\nsource of patronage. The fur trade was a monopoly, carried on by\nlicenses granted to old officers and favorites, which were sold to the\ninland traders as timber limits are now disposed of. Profits of 400 per\ncent were made on successful fur adventures, under a license to trade\nto the extent of 10,000 crowns on the merchandize and 600 crowns to\neach of the canoemen. Beaver skins, at Montreal, were then worth 2s.\n3d. sterling a pound weight. The first fishery was formed at Mount\nLouis, on the south shore of the St. Lawrence, about half way between\nthe mouth of the Gulf and Quebec, in 1697. A company formed by the\nSieur de Reverin, was tolerably successful. Canada was even now\nbeginning to look up, in a commercial point of view. De Frontenac died\nin November following, in the 78th year of his age, and the Governor of\nMontreal, De Calli\u00e8res, succeeded him. De Calli\u00e8res died suddenly, a\nfew years after his elevation, (1703) when the people of Canada\npetitioned for the appointment of the Marquis De Vaudreuil to the\nViceroyalty, and the king granted their prayer. The death of De\nCalli\u00e8res occurred one year after a new declaration of war between\nFrance and England. This war was the result of unsettled boundaries, by\nthe peace of Ryswick. England declared war against both France and\nSpain. Again Canadians and New Englanders suffered severely. The French\nof Canada, especially, allowed their Indians to perpetrate the most\nhorrible atrocities. Women prisoners were inhumanly butchered in cold\nblood, before the very eyes of their husbands, only because they were\nunable to keep pace with other prisoners, or their captors. Both the\nFrench and the English colonists were permitted by the parent states to\nfight almost unaided, to fight on imperial account, at colonial expense\nof blood and treasure. To Canada, nearly altogether a military colony,\nfighting was particularly agreeable, and yet the population had not\nreached 15,000, while Massachusetts contained 70,000 souls;\nConnecticut, 30,000: Rhode Island, 10,000; New Hampshire, 10,000; New\nYork, 30,000; New Jersey, 15,000; Pennsylvania, 20,000; Maryland,\n25,000; North Carolina, 5,000; South Carolina, 7,000, and in all\n142,000 souls. The difficulty of land transport confined hostilities to\nthe border States, and preserved a balance of power between the\ncontending colonists. Indeed, the St. Lawrence afforded a comparatively\neasy means of communication for the French to that afforded by the\nmountain passes of Vermont to the New Englanders. The French could more\neasily pounce upon the outposts of Lake Champlain than the New\nEnglanders could march to defend them. The English colonists resolved\nupon making a great effort. Massachusetts petitioned Queen Anne for\nassistance, who promised to send five regiments of regular troops,\nwhich, with 1,200 men, raised in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, were\nto sail from Boston for Quebec. The fleet, with the five regiments on\nboard, never came to hand, having been sent to Portugal; but 1,800\ncolonists marched against Montreal, by way of Lake Champlain, and\npenetrated as far as Wood Creek, where the news of the altered\ndestination of the fleet reached them and caused them to return. The\nFrench Governor acted on the defensive. He made extraordinary\npreparations for defence, which were needless, as the Iroquois Indians,\nhaving quarrelled with the English, on the ground that Iroquois safety\nconsisted in the jealousies of the French and English, would not fight,\nand the invaders retreated. Another application being made to the Queen\nof England for protection, on the part of the New Englanders, Colonel\nNicholson came over with five frigates and a bomb ketch, and having\nbeen joined by five regiments of troops from New England, he sailed\nwith the frigates and about twenty transports, from Boston, on the 18th\nSeptember, for Port Royal, which he captured and called, in honor of\nhis Queen, Annapolis. Animated with his success, Nicholson sailed for\nEngland, to solicit another expedition to Canada. His request was\ngranted. Orders were immediately sent to the colonies to prepare their\nquotas of men, and only sixteen days after the orders to that effect\nwere received, a fleet of men of war and transports, under Sir Hovenden\nWalker, with seven regiments of the Duke of Marlborough's troops, and a\nbattalion of marines, under Brigadier General Hill, arrived at Boston.\nThe fleet had neither provisions nor pilots, but by the prompt\nexertions of the colonists, 15 men of war, 40 transports, and 6\nstoreships, with nearly 7,000 men, sailed from Boston for Canada, while\nColonel, now General Nicholson, marched at the head of 4,000\nprovincialists, from Albany towards Canada. The fleet arrived in the\nSt. Lawrence on the 14th of August, (1710) but in proceeding up the\nriver the whole fleet was nearly destroyed. The pilots were ignorant of\nthe channels, and the winds were contrary and strong. About midnight of\nthe 22nd, a part of the fleet were driven among islands and rocks on\nthe north shore, eight or nine transports were cast away, and nearly\n1,000 soldiers were drowned. The attempt to take Quebec was again\nabandoned. The ships of war sailed directly for England, and the\ntransports, having provincial troops on board, returned to Boston.\nGeneral Nicholson remained at Fort George until he heard of the\nmiscarriage of the St. Lawrence expedition, when he retraced his steps\nto Albany. The Canadians had made extensive preparations for defence.\nThe greatest possible enthusiasm prevailed in Quebec. The merchants of\nQuebec, in 1712, raised a subscription and presented the Governor with\n50,000 crowns, for the purpose of strengthening the fortifications of\nthe town. The peace of Utrecht was, however, concluded, in 1713, and\nCanada was left to contend only with the Outagamis, a new Indian enemy,\nwho, in conjunction with the Iroquois, had determined upon burning\nDetroit, the limit of civilisation to the north west. The French soon\ncaused their Indian enemies to bury their hatchets.\nAt the peace, Quebec had 7,000 inhabitants, and the population of all\nCanada amounted to 25,000, of whom 5,000 were capable of bearing arms.\nAlready the banks of the St. Lawrence below Quebec were laid out in\nseigniories, and the farms were tolerably well cultivated. Some farmers\nwere in easier circumstances than their seigneurs. The imported\nnobility had dwindled down to the condition of placemen or traders. The\nBaron Be\u00e7ancour held the office of Inspector of Highways, and Count\nBlumhart made ginger beer. Three Rivers contained 800 inhabitants. A\nfew farmers lived in the neighbourhood of the mouth of the St. Francis.\nMontreal was rising rapidly into importance, having obtained the fur\ntrade of Three Rivers, in addition to its own, and the island having\nbeen carefully cultivated, through the well directed efforts of the\nJesuits. Above Montreal there was nothing but forts--Fort Kingston or\nCataraqui, Fort Niagara, Fort Detroit, and Fort Machillimakinac.\nThe Marquis de Vaudreuil having ruled Canada for twenty-one years, died\non the 10th of April, 1725. He was succeeded by the Marquis de\nBeauharnois, under whose judicious management of affairs, the province\nbecame prosperous. Cultivation was extended. The Indians were so much\nconciliated, that intermarriages between the French and Indians were\nfrequent. And there was nothing to excite alarm but the growing\nimportance and grasping disposition of the New Englanders and New\nAnglo-Hollanders. The Governor of New York had erected a fort and\ntrading post at Oswego, on Lake Ontario, with the view of monopolizing\nthe trade of the Lakes. Beauharnois followed the English Governor's\nexample, by building an opposition fort in the neighbourhood of\nNiagara. Another fort was erected by the Marquis, at Crown Point, on\nLake Champlain, and yet another at Ticonderoga. The English very soon\nhad a more reasonable pretext than a monopoly of the fur traffic, for\nmore active demonstrations against the French. War was again declared\nin 1745, between France and England, by George II.; and Governor\nShirley, of Massachusetts, without waiting for instructions from\nEngland, determined upon attacking Louisbourg, then considered to be\nthe \"Gibraltar of America.\" Louisbourg, on Cape Breton, was fortified\nby the French, after the peace of Utrecht, at an expense of $5,500,000.\nThe fortifications consisted of a rampart of stone, nearly 36 feet in\nheight, and a ditch eighty feet wide. There were six bastions, and\nthree batteries, with embrasures for 148 cannon and 6 mortars. On an\nisland at the entrance of the harbor was another battery of 30 cannon,\ncarrying 28 pound shot, and at the bottom of the harbour, opposite the\nentrance, was situated the royal battery of twenty-eight forty-two\npounders, and two eighteen pounders. The entrance of the town, on the\nland side, was at the west, over a draw-bridge, near which was a\ncircular battery, mounting 16 guns of 24 pounds shot. And these works\nhad been 25 years in building. Louisbourg was a place of much\nimportance to the French. It was a convenient retreat to such\nprivateers as always annoyed and sometimes captured the New England\nfishing vessels. And the manner of this attack upon it is exceedingly\ninteresting. It was determined on in January, 1745. Massachusetts\nfurnished 3,250 men; Connecticut, 510; Rhode Island and New Hampshire,\neach 300. The naval force consisted of twelve ships, and in two months\nthe army was enlisted, victualled, and equipped for service. On the\n23rd of March, an express boat, which had been sent to Commodore\nWarren, the Naval Commander in Chief in the West Indies, to invite his\nco-operation, returned to Boston with the information, that without\norders from England he could take no share in a purely colonial\nexpedition. Governor Shirley and General Pepperell nevertheless\nembarked the army, and the colonial fleet sailed the next morning. The\nexpedition arrived at Canso on the 4th of April, where the troops from\nNew Hampshire and Connecticut joined it. Here, Commodore Warren, with\nhis fleet, very unexpectedly joined the expedition. Shortly after his\nrefusal to join, instructions which had been sent off from the British\nGovernment, approving of the attack upon Louisbourg, as proposed by\nGovernor Shirley, and which Pepperell had gone to attack, without\nwaiting for Imperial approval, had reached Commodore Warren, and\nwithout loss of time he proceeded direct to Canso, whither it was\nreported the Colonial fleet had gone. His arrival was the cause of\ngreat joy among the colonists. After a short consultation with General\nPepperell, the Commodore sailed to cruise before Louisbourg, and was\nsoon followed by the colonial fleet and army, which, on the 30th April,\narrived in Cap Rouge Bay. It was not until then that the French were\naware that an attack upon them was meditated. Every attempt was made to\noppose the landing. They sent detachments to the landing places. But\nGeneral Pepperell deceived them. He made a feint of landing at one\npoint, and actually landed at another. The story reminds us of\nSebastopol. Next morning 400 of the English marched round behind the\nhills, to the north west of the harbour, setting fire to all the houses\nand stores, till they came within a mile of the Royal Battery. The\nconflagration of the stores, in which was a considerable quantity of\ntar, while it concealed the English troops, increased the alarm of the\nFrench so greatly, that they precipitately abandoned the Royal battery.\nUpon their flight, the English troops took possession of it, and by\nmeans of a well directed fire from it, seriously damaged the town. The\nmain body of the army now commenced the siege. For fourteen nights they\nwere occupied in drawing cannon towards the town, over a morass, in\nwhich oxen and horses could not be used. The toil was incredible, but\nmen accustomed to draw the pines of the forests, for masts, could\naccomplish anything. By the 20th of May, several fascine batteries had\nbeen erected, one of which mounted five forty-pounders. These\nbatteries, on being opened, did immense execution. While the siege was\nbeing proceeded with, Commodore Warren captured the French ship of war\n\"Vigilant,\" of 74 guns, with her 560 men, and a great quantity of\nmilitary stores. This capture was of very great consequence, as it not\nonly increased the English force and added to their military supplies,\nbut seriously lessened the strength of the enemy. Shortly after this\nimportant capture, the English fleet was considerably augmented by the\narrival of several men of war. A combined attack by sea and land was\nnow determined on, and fixed for the 18th of June. Already the inland\nbattery had been silenced; the western gate of the town was beaten\ndown, and a breach effected in the wall; the circular battery of\nsixteen guns was nearly ruined; and the western flank of the King's\nbastion was nearly demolished. The besieged were in no condition to\nresist a joint attack by sea and land. The preparations for such an\nattack altogether dispirited them. A cessation of hostilities was asked\nfor, on the 15th, and obtained. On the 17th, after a siege of\nforty-nine days, Louisbourg and the Island of Cap Breton surrendered.\nStores and prizes to the amount of nearly a million sterling fell into\nthe hands of the conquerors. Nor was this the only advantage. Security\nwas given to the colonies in their fisheries; Nova Scotia was preserved\nto England; and the trade and fisheries of France were nearly ruined.\nThe successful General, a New Englander by birth, was created a baronet\nof Great Britain, in recognition of his important services to the\nState. Sir William Pepper(w)ell rose on the ruins of Louisbourg. On\nFrance the blow fell with great severity. The court, aroused to\nvengeance, sent the Duke D'Anville, a nobleman of great courage, in\n1746, at the head of an armament of forty ships of war, fifty-six\ntransports, with three thousand five hundred men, and forty thousand\nstand of arms for the use of the French and Indians in Canada, to\nrecover possession of Cape Breton, and to attack the colonies. Four\nvessels of the line, forming the West India squadron, were to join the\nexpedition, and Canada sent off 1,700 men with the same view. The\ngreatest consternation possessed the English colonists, as part of this\nimmense fleet neared the American coast. But there was, in reality, no\ncause for fear. The tempest had blasted the hopes of France. Only two\nor three of the ships, with a few transports, reached Chebucto Bay, in\nNova Scotia. Many of the ships of this once formidable expedition were\nseriously damaged by storms, others were lost, and one was forced to\nreturn to Brest, on account of cholera among her crew. On arrival at\nChebucto, where Halifax is now situated, the Admiral became so\ndespondent that he poisoned himself, and the Vice Admiral, no more a\nRoman than his superior, ran himself through the body with his sword.\nSo died both these gallant but unfortunate men, whose moral courage\nquailed before what they knew must be public opinion in France. Nor\nwere the disasters of the Duke d'Anville's armament yet over. That part\nof the fleet which had arrived in America, sailed for the purpose of\nattacking Annapolis, only to be dispersed by a storm, in the Bay of\nFundy, and to return to France crest-fallen. Another expedition was\nhowever, determined upon. Six men of war, of the largest class, six\nfrigates, and four East Indiamen, with a convoy of thirty merchant\nvessels, set sail from France, with the Admiral de la Jonquiere\nappointed to succeed de Beauharnois as Governor of Canada. But a\nBritish fleet, under Admiral Anson and Rear Admiral Warren, dispatched\nto watch, and, if possible, intercept it, fell in with the French fleet\non the 3rd of May, and before night all the battle ships had\nsurrendered. The new Governor of Canada found himself a prisoner. The\ndisagreeable intelligence of this second failure reached France on the\nsomewhat sudden and unexpected return of a part of the convoy, which\nhad escaped capture, as night fell, on the day of the surrender of the\nfleet. Another Governor for Canada was appointed, the Count de la\nGallisoni\u00e8re, who arrived safely. De la Gallisoni\u00e8re took an\nintelligent view of the position of affairs. He saw the folly, in a\nmilitary point of view, of keeping the frontier a wilderness, and\nrecommended that a large number of settlers should be sent from France,\nwho, by being located on the frontier, would act as a check upon the\nBritish. His advice was, however, unheeded, and de la Jonqui\u00e8re having\nbeen released from captivity and conveyed to Canada, the Count resigned\nhis trust to the Admiral, and returned to France. De la Jonqui\u00e8re was\nexceedingly active and able. Shortly after, or about the time of his\nrelease from captivity, the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle was signed, and\nall conquests--Louisbourg included--made during the war, were mutually\nrestored. But de la Jonqui\u00e8re hated the English cordially, and by his\nhostile acts against the English fur traders, of the Ohio Company, he\nbrought on that war between France and England, known as \"The French\nand Indian War.\" Several English traders were seized and carried to a\nFrench port, on the south of Lake Erie, and fortifications, at\nconvenient distances, were erected and occupied by French troops,\nbetween Fort Presqu'isle and the Ohio. War was ultimately declared, and\nColonel George Washington, afterwards President of the United States,\nwas sent, at the head of a regiment of Virginians, by the British\nGovernor Dinwiddie, to put a stop to the fort building, which, although\njoined by nearly 400 men from New York and South Carolina, he failed to\naccomplish, having been compelled by De Villiers, at the head of a\nforce of 1,500 French soldiers, to capitulate, with the privilege of\nmarching back to Virginia unmolested. In Canada, De la Jonqui\u00e8re was by\nno means a favorite. Terribly avaricious, while the Intendant sold\nlicenses to trade, the Governor and his Secretary sold brandy to the\nIndians. De la Jonqui\u00e8re became enormously wealthy, but his grasping\ndisposition so annoyed the people of Quebec and Montreal, that\ncomplaints against him were loudly made, and he was recalled. He died,\nhowever, at Quebec, before his successor, the Marquis du Quesne de\nMenneville, was appointed. The Anglo-Indian French War now raged\nfuriously. The English colonists were recommended by the British\nGovernment to unite together in some scheme for their common defence. A\nconvention of delegates from Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode\nIsland, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, with the Lieut.\nGovernor and Council of New York, was accordingly held at Albany, in\n1754, and a plan of a federal union adopted. The plan was simply\nthis:--a Grand Council, to be formed of members chosen by the\nprovincial assemblies, and sent from all the colonies; which Grand\nCouncil, with a Governor General appointed by the Crown, having a\nnegative voice, should be empowered to make general laws, to raise\nmoney in all the colonies, for their defence, to call forth troops,\nregulate trade, lay duties, &c. It met, however, neither with the\napprobation of the Provincial Assemblies nor the King's Council. The\nAssemblies rejected it because it gave too much power to the Crown, and\nthe King's Council rejected it because it gave too much power to the\npeople. Nevertheless, the Assemblies unreservedl declared, that, if it\nwere adopted, they would undertake to defend themselves from the\nFrench, without any assistance from Great Britain. The mother country\nrefused to sanction it. Another plan was proposed, which met with\nuniversal disapprobation. A convention was to be formed by the\nGovernors, with one or more of their Council to concert measures for\nthe general defence, to erect fortifications, to raise men, &c., with\npower to draw upon the British Treasury to defray all charges, which\ncharges were to be reimbursed by taxes upon the colonies, imposed by\nActs of Parliament. The English colonies, however, vigorously attempted\nto repel the encroachments of the French from Canada, and ultimately\nsucceeded, notwithstanding the blundering incompetency of General\nBraddock and Colonel Dunbar, the afterwards celebrated Washington being\nAid-de-Camp to the former on the Ohio. Braddock, in proceeding against\nFort du Quesne,[3] with upwards of 2,200 men, one thousand of which\nwere regulars, suffered himself to be surprised by only five hundred\nFrench and Indians, had five horses killed under him, was himself\nmortally wounded, and his troops were defeated. Nay, out of sixty-five\nofficers, sixty-four were killed and wounded, and of the troops\nengaged, one half were made prisoners, through the ungovernable folly\nof a man, who advanced without caution, and attempted to form a line\nwhen surrounded in a thicket. It was at this time, when the English\ncolonists, not only contemplated a federal union, but had determined\nupon expeditions--one against the French in Nova Scotia, which\ncompletely succeeded; a second against the French on the Ohio; a third\nagainst Crown Point; and a fourth against Niagara. The Marquis du\nQuesne organized the militia of Quebec and Montreal; minutely inspected\nand disciplined the militia of the seigneuries; and attached\nconsiderable bodies of regular artillery to every garrison. Tired of\nthe continual fighting between Canada and the English colonies, the\nMarquis du Quesne solicited his recall. His request was conceded. His\nmost Christian Majesty appointed the Marquis de Vaudreuil de Cavagnac,\nson of a former Governor to succeed him. De Vaudreuil de Cavagnac\nsailed for the seat of his government with Admiral La Mothe, who was in\ncommand of a fleet newly fitted out, at considerable cost, at Brest.\nThe sailing was not unnoticed by the English Channel fleet. Admiral\nBoscawen gave chase. He had eleven ships of the line, and with these he\ncame up with the French fleet off Newfoundland. A battle ensued, and\ntwo French vessels fell into the hands of the British, the remainder of\nthe French ships escaping under cover of a fog. Quebec was reached\nwithout further molestation, and Governor De Vaudreuil de Cavagnac was\ninstalled. All Canada was, on his arrival, in arms. Every parish was a\ngarrison, commanded by a captain, whose authority was not only\nacknowledged, but rigidly sustained. Agriculture was, consequently,\nentirely neglected. Provisions were scarce; the price of food was\nenormously high; and the fur trade was rapidly declining.\nNotwithstanding this, the Intendant, Bigot, shipped off large\nquantities of wheat to the West Indies, on his own account. The Marquis\nde Vaudreuil de Cavagnac sanctioned the avaricious exactions and\ndealings of Bigot. Practices the most dishonest and demoralizing were\nwinked at or excused. The Governors positively enriched themselves on\nthe miseries of the governed. A high standard value was given to grain\nin store. It was studiously reported that the farmers were hoarding up\ntheir stocks, and prejudice was so excited against them, that it was no\ndifficult matter to confiscate their corn, on pretence that it was\nabsolutely necessary for the city and the troops. De Cavagnac and Bigot\nbought cheaply and sold extravagantly dear. As the Russian officials\ncheat the Russian government, so did the French officials cheat both\nthe people and the government of France. But it was little wonder. The\nGovernor had only a salary of \u00a3272 sterling, out of which he was\nexpected to clothe, maintain, and pay a guard for himself, consisting\nof two sergeants and twenty-five soldiers, furnishing them with firing\nin winter, and other necessary articles. A Governor was compelled to\ntrade to be on a pecuniary level with the merchant.\n [3] Now called Pittsburg, and the chief manufacturing town in the\n United States.\nThe hostilities between the colonists of English and French extraction\nfor the two preceding years had been carried on, without any formal\ndeclaration of war. It was not until June, 1756, that war was declared\nby Great Britain against France, and operations were determined upon on\na large scale. Lord Loudon was appointed Commander in Chief of the\nEnglish forces in America, and General the Marquis de Montcalm was\nappointed Generalissimo in Canada, in room of Dieskau, who was disabled\nat Lake George. The English commander matured a plan of campaign,\nformed by his _locum tenens_, General Abercrombie, which embraced an\nattack upon Niagara and Crown Point, still in possession of the French,\nthe former being the connecting link in the line of fortifications\nbetween Canada and Louisiana, and the latter commanding Lake Champlain,\nand guarding the only passage at that time to Canada. Loudon was as\nhesitating and shiftless, as Abercrombie had been an improvident\ncommander. The expedition against Crown Point was unaccountably\ndelayed. General Winslow, at the head of 700 men, was not permitted to\nadvance. Montcalm, as energetic, able, and enterprising as his\nopponents were indecisive, with 8,000 regulars, Canadians, and Indians,\nmade a rapid descent upon Oswego, at the south-east side of Lake\nOntario, and captured it. Sixteen hundred men, one hundred and twenty\npieces of cannon, fourteen mortars, two ships of war, and two hundred\nboats and batteaux, fell into the conqueror's hands. Lord Loudon, prone\nto inactivity, instead of vigorously pushing forward upon Crown Point,\nto retrieve this great disaster, made the disaster an excuse for\nrelinquishing the enterprise. The failure of the campaign of '56 much\nannoyed the British Parliament and people, and great preparations were\nmade in the following year to prosecute the war to a successful issue.\nIt was in vain, while Lord Loudon was in command of the colonial army.\nA fleet of eleven ships of the line, and fifty transports, with more\nthan six thousand troops, arrived at Halifax, for the reduction of\nLouisbourg, and Lord Loudon ordered a large body of troops, designed to\nmarch upon Ticonderoga and Crown Point, to co-operate. But so dilatory\nwas his Lordship, that before the expedition from Halifax was ready to\nsail, a French fleet of 17 sail had arrived at Louisbourg, with\nreinforcements, making the garrison nine thousand strong--and this fine\nspecimen of a hereditary commander deemed it inexpedient to proceed,\nand abandoned the expedition. Montcalm, again profitting by the\nweakness and indecision of his adversaries, made a descent on Fort\nWilliam Henry, situated on the north shore of Lake George, with nine\nthousand men. The fort, garrisoned by three thousand men, was commanded\nby Colonel Munroe, who obstinately defended it. Nay, had it not been\nfor the silly indifference of General Webb, who was in command of Fort\nEdward, which was within only fifteen miles of Fort William Henry, and\nwas garrisoned by 4,000 men, the French General might have been unable\nto make any impression upon it. But Webb, although solicited by his\nsecond in command, Sir William Johnston, to suffer his troops to march\nto the rescue, first hesitated, next granted permission, and then drew\nback. In six days the garrison surrendered, Munroe and his troops being\nadmitted to an honorable capitulation. Reverses such as these,\ninvolving great misery, inasmuch as the Indians too frequently\nbutchered their prisoners in cold blood, could not fail to have an\neffect upon a ministry which had appointed such incapables to command.\nA change of ministry was loudly demanded, and most fortunately for\nthe honor of the British arms, and for the salvation of the colonies,\nthere was a change. The great Pitt, afterwards Lord Chatham, was the\nPalmerston of that day. Placed at the head of the administration,\nhe breathed into the British Councils a new soul. He revived the\nenergies of the colonies. He gave new life to dependencies, whose\nloyalty was weakened, and whose means were exhausted by a series of as\nill-contrived and unfortunate expeditions as were ever attempted. He\naddressed circulars to the colonial Governors, assuring them of the\ndetermination of the ministry to send a large force to America, and\ncalled upon the colonies to raise as many troops as possible, and to\nact promptly and liberally in furnishing the requisite supplies. The\ncolonies nobly responded. Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New England\nunitedly raised 15,000 men, who were ready to take the field in May. An\nexpedition to Louisbourg, a second to Ticonderoga, and a third against\nFort du Quesne were determined upon. The tide of success was on the\nturn. Admiral Boscawen, with a fleet of twenty ships of the line,\neighteen frigates, and an army of fourteen thousand men, under the\ncommand of General Amherst, his second in command being General Wolfe,\nsailed from Halifax, for Louisbourg, on the 28th of May. Louisbourg\nresisted vigorously, but on the 26th of July this important fortress\nwas a second time in the possession of Great Britain. 5,735 men, 120\ncannon, 5 ships of the line, and 4 frigates were captured. Isle Royal\nand St. John's, with Cape Breton, fell, also, into the hands of the\nEnglish. Against Ticonderoga the English were not so successful. This\ncentral expedition was conducted by General Abercrombie, who had\nsucceeded Lord Loudon as Commander-in-Chief in America, that nobleman\nhaving returned home. He had with him 16,000 men and a formidable train\nof artillery. Ticonderoga was only garrisoned by 3,000 French. The\npassage of Abercrombie across Lake Champlain was only a little less\nsplendid than that of the British and French armies over the Black Sea,\nfrom Varna to Eupatoria, in September, 1854. The morning was remarkably\nbright and beautiful, and the fleet moved with exact regularity, to the\nsound of fine martial music. The ensigns waved and glittered in the\nsunbeams, and the anticipation of future triumphs shone in every eye.\nAbove, beneath, around, the scenery was that of enchantment. It was a\ncomplication of beauty and magnificence, on which the sun rarely\nshines. But General Abercrombie was unequal to the command of such an\narmy. He left to incompetent Aides-de-Camp the task of reconnoitering\nthe ground and entrenchments, and without a knowledge of the strength\nof the place, or of the points proper for attack, and without bringing\nup a single piece of artillery, he issued his orders to attempt the\nlines. The army advanced with the greatest intrepidity, and for upwards\nof four hours (the duration of the battle of the Alma) maintained the\nattack with incredible obstinacy. Nearly two thousand of the English\nwere killed or wounded, and a retreat was ordered. On reaching Lake\nGeorge, his former quarters, the defeated and mortified Abercrombie\nyielded to the solicitations of Colonel Bradstreet, who desired to be\nsent against Fort Frontenac, (now Kingston) on Lake Ontario. Three\nthousand provincials were detached on this expedition, and in two days\nthe fortress had surrendered, and 9 armed vessels, 60 cannon, and\nsixteen mortars, and a vast quantity of ammunition were taken\npossession of. Fort du Quesne was evacuated on the approach of General\nForbes, with 8,000 men, and was re-named Pittsburg, in honor of the\nPrime Minister of England, Mr. Pitt.\nElated by success, the entire conquest of Canada was now determined\nupon by the English. Three powerful armies were simultaneously to enter\nthe French Province by three different routes--Ticonderoga and Crown\nPoint, Niagara and Quebec were to be attacked as nearly as possible at\nthe same time. On the 22nd of July, 1759, the successor of Abercrombie,\nGeneral Amherst, attacked, first, Ticonderoga, and then Crown Point,\nboth places being evacuated on his approach, the French retiring to\nIsle Aux Noix, where General Amherst could not follow them, for want of\na naval armament. On the 6th of the same month, Fort Niagara was\ninvested by Sir William Johnston, who succeeded to the command of the\nNiagara division of the army on the death of General Prideaux, an able\nand distinguished officer, unfortunately killed, four days previously,\nby the bursting of a cohorn. A general battle took place on the 24th,\nwhich decided the fate of Niagara, by placing it in the hands of the\ninvaders.\nThe intended campaign of 1759, was early made known to General\nMontcalm: that on Quebec was made known to him on the 14th of May, by\nM. de Bougainville, appointed on the Marquis' staff, as Aid-de-Camp. In\nJanuary, a census of those capable of bearing arms in Canada was taken,\nwhen 15,229 were reported as available for service. Montcalm went\nenergetically to work to preserve the country to France. A council of\nwar was held at Montreal, and it was decided that a body of troops,\nunder Montcalm, the Marquis de Levi, and M. de Jennezergus, should be\nposted at Quebec; that M. de Bourlemaque should hasten to Ticonderoga,\nblow up the works at the approach of the English, retire by the Lake to\nIsle-aux-Noix, and there stubbornly resist. With 800 regulars and\nmilitia, the Chevalier de la Corne was directed to hold the rapids\nabove Montreal, to entrench himself in a strong position, and hold out\nto the last. It is, therefore, obvious, that the evacuation of\nTiconderoga was determined upon; and that the retention of Niagara was\nnot much desired. The intended march upon Quebec, by a large force from\nEngland, caused the greatest uneasiness. Montcalm, hastening to Quebec,\npushed on the defences of the city and its outposts vigorously. The\nbuoys, and other marks for the safe navigation of the St. Lawrence were\nremoved. Proclamations, calling upon the people to make a determined\nresistance, were issued. The people were reminded that they were about\nto contest with a powerful and ruthless enemy of their religion and\ntheir homes. The Church urged the faithful to resist the heretical\ninvaders.\nGeneral Wolfe was in the harbour of Quebec before either Ticonderoga or\nNiagara had fallen. Eight thousand men had been embarked at Louisbourg,\nunder convoy of Admirals Saunders and Holmes. The expedition arrived\nwithout accident off the Island of Orleans, where the troops were\ndisembarked, on the 25th of June. General Wolfe, three days afterwards,\nissued an address to the colonists. He appealed to their fears. General\nAmherst was approaching in one direction, Sir W. Johnston in another,\nand he (Wolfe) was at their very doors. Succour from France was\nunobtainable. To the peasantry he, therefore, offered the sweets of\npeace, amid the horrors of war. The French colonists, however, were\nignorant of the English language as of English customs. They saw no\nsign of fine feeling towards themselves in so large a fleet and so\nconsiderable an army. Every obstacle that could be placed in the way of\nan invading force, the French colonists patriotically placed in the way\nof General Wolfe. They readily formed themselves into battalions for\ndefence. They hung about the skirts of that part of the army which had\nbeen landed, cutting off foraging parties, and otherwise harassing it.\nThey prayed in the churches for the preservation of their country. The\nmost noble spirit animated the Canadians. General Monckton was sent to\ndrive the French off Point Levi, opposite Quebec, and take possession\nof the post. He succeeded. Batteries were thrown up and unceasingly\nworked. The firing was, but however, of little use, only the houses of\nthe town being injured. The fortifications were not only uninjured,\nthey were being rapidly strengthened. More energetic measures were\ndetermined upon. Wolfe crossed the river and attacked the enemy in\ntheir entrenchments, at Montmorenci. But, some of the boats in which\nthe soldiers had crossed, unluckily grounded, and the attacking party\ndid not all land together. The grenadiers rushed impetuously forward,\nwithout even waiting to form, and were mowed down by the enemy's close,\nsteady, and well directed fire. Montcalm's force now advanced to the\nbeach, and the contest waxed hotter. A thunder storm was approaching,\nand the tide was setting in. Wolfe, fearing the consequences of delay,\nordered a retreat, and returned to his quarters, on the Island of\nOrleans. He lost six hundred of the flower of his army in this unhappy\nencounter, and left behind him some of his largest boats. The condition\nof the invaders was far from enviable. Sickness prevailed to an\nalarming extent in the camp. They had been already five weeks before\nthe city, and many lives had been lost, not only in skirmishes, but by\ndysentery. Wolfe himself fell sick. Depressed in spirits by the\ndisastrous attempt to land on the Beauport shoals, and worn down with\nfatigue and watching, he was compelled to take to his bed. It was while\nlying ill that the plan occurred to him of proceeding up the river,\nscaling the heights by night, and forcing Montcalm to a general\nengagement. On his recovery he proceeded to carry his plan into\nexecution. A feint of landing again at Beauport was made. The boats of\nthe fleet, filled with sailors and marines, apparently made for the\nshore, covered by a part of the fleet, the other part having gone\nhigher up the river. At one hour after midnight, on the 12th September,\nthe fleet being now at anchor at the narrows of Carouge, the first\ndivision of the army, consisting of 1,600 men, were placed in flat\nbottomed boats, which silently dropped down the current. It was\nintended to land three miles above Cape Diamond, and then ascend to the\nhigh grounds above. The current, however, carried the boats down to\nwithin a mile and a half of the city. The night was dismally dark, the\nbank seemed more than ordinarily steep and lofty, and the French were\non the _qui vive_. A sentinel bawled out, \"_Que vive_,\" who goes there?\n\"_La France_,\" was the quick reply. Captain Macdonald, of the 78th\nHighlanders, had served in Holland, and knew the proper reply to the\nchallenge of a French sentry. \"A quel regiment?\" asked the sentry, \"De\nla Reine\" was the response. \"Passe\" said the soldier, who made the\ndarkness vibrate as he brought his musket to the carry. Other sentinels\nwere similarly deceived. One was more particularly curious than the\nothers. Something in the voice of the passing friend did not please his\near. Running down to the water's edge, he called \"Pour quoi est-ce que\nvous ne parlez plus haut,\" why don't you speak louder? \"Tais toi, nous\nserons entendu!\" Hush, we shall be overheard and discovered, said the\ncunning highlander, still more softly. It was enough, the boats passed.\nWithin one hour of daylight a landing was effected, and the British\narmy began to scale the heights, the base of which was then washed by\nthe St. Lawrence. By daylight, the army was drawn up in battle array,\non the \"Plains of Abraham.\" The ground was somewhat undulating, and\nwell calculated for manoeuvring. Every knoll was taken advantage of.\nEvery little hillock served the purpose of an earthwork. For the\ninvaders it was victory or death. To retreat was impossible. The\nposition of the British army was speedily made known to Montcalm. There\nwas not a moment to be lost. The French General rapidly crossed the St.\nCharles, and advanced with his whole army, to meet that of Wolfe.\nFifteen hundred Indians first ascended the hill, from the valley of the\nSt. Charles, and stationing themselves in cornfields and bushes, fired\nupon the English, who took no notice of their fire. Between nine and\nten o'clock, the two armies met, face to face, and when the main body\nof the French, advancing rapidly, were within forty yards, the English\nopened their fire, and the carnage was terrible. The French fought\ngallantly, but under a galling and well directed fire, they fell, in\nspite of the exertions of their officers, into disorder. The British\nGrenadiers charged at this critical moment. The Highlanders rushing\nforward, with the claymore, hewed down every opponent, and the fate of\nthe battle was no longer doubtful--the French retreated. Wolfe had just\nbeen carried to the rear, mortally wounded in the groin. Early in the\nbattle, a ball struck him in the wrist, but binding his handkerchief\naround it, he continued to encourage his men. It was while in the\nagonies of death, that he heard the cry of \"they flee,\" \"they flee,\"\nand on being told that it was the French who fled, exclaimed, \"Then I\ndie happy.\" His second in command, General Monckton, was wounded and\nconveyed away, shortly after assuming the direction of affairs, when\nthe command devolved upon General Townshend who followed up the\nvictory, rendered the more telling by the death of the brave Montcalm,\nwho fell, mortally wounded, in front of his battalion, and that of his\nsecond in command, General Jennezergus, who fell near him. Wolfe's army\nconsisted of only 4,828 men, Montcalm's of 7,520 men, exclusive of\nIndians. The English loss amounted to 55 killed and 607 wounded, that\nof the French to nearly a thousand killed and wounded; and a thousand\nmade prisoners. Montcalm was carried to the city; his last moments were\nemployed in writing to the English general, recommending the French\nprisoners to his care and humanity; and when informed that his wound\nwas mortal, he sublimely remarked:--\"I shall not then live to see the\nsurrender of Quebec.\" On the 14th he died, and on the evening of the\n18th the keys of Quebec were delivered up to his conquerors, and the\nBritish flag was hoisted on the citadel. French imperial rule had\nvirtually ended in Canada. Not so, French customs. By the capitulation,\nwhich suffered the garrison to march out with the honors of war, the\ninhabitants of the country were permitted the free exercise of their\nreligion; and, afterwards, in 1774, the Roman Catholic Church\nestablishment was recognized; and disputes concerning landed and real\nproperty were to be settled by the _Coutume de Paris_. In criminal\ncases only was the law of England to apply.\nAdmiral Saunders, with all the fleet, except two ships, sailed for\nEngland, on the 18th of October, Quebec being left to the care of\nGeneral Murray and about 3,000 men. After the fleet had sailed, several\nattempts were made upon the British outposts at Point Levi, Cape Rouge,\nand St. Foy, unsuccessfully. Winter came, and the sufferings of the\nconquerors and the conquered were dreadful. The Frazer Highlanders wore\ntheir kilts, notwithstanding the extreme cold, and provisions were so\nscarce and dear, that many of the inhabitants died of starvation. The\nMarquis de Vaudreuil, the Governor General of His Most Christian\nMajesty, busied himself, at Montreal, with preparations for the\nrecovery of Quebec, in the spring. In April, he sent the General De\nLevi, with an army of 10,000 men, to effect that object. De Levi\narrived within three miles of Quebec, on the 28th, and defeated General\nMurray's force of 2,200 men, imprudently sent to meet him. The city was\nagain besieged, but this time by the French. Indeed, it was only on the\nappearance of the British ships, about the middle of May, that the\nsiege was raised. De Levi retreated to Jacques Cartier. The tide of\nfortune was again turning. General Amherst was advancing from New York\nupon Montreal. By the middle of May, that city, and with it the whole\nof Canada, including a population, exclusive of Indians, of 69,275\nsouls, was surrendered to England.\nMontcalm, who was not only a general, but a statesman, is said to have\nexpressed himself to the effect, that the conquest of Canada by England\nwould endanger her retention of the New England colonies, and\nultimately prove injurious to her interests on this continent. Canada,\nnot subject to France, would be no source of uneasiness or annoyance to\nthe English colonists, who already were becoming politically important,\nand somewhat impatient of restraint. How far such an opinion was\njustifiable, is to be gathered from the condition of Canada and the\ncolonies of Great Britain in America, at this hour.\nCanada was, in 1763, ceded by His Most Christian Majesty, the King of\nFrance, to His Britannic Majesty King George the Second. Emigration\nfrom the United Kingdom to Canada was encouraged--not to Canada only,\nbut to Nova Scotia, which then included the present Province of New\nBrunswick. By the treaty of 1763, signed at Paris, Nova Scotia, Canada,\nthe Isle of Cape Breton, and all the other Islands in the Gulf and\nRiver St. Lawrence, were ceded to the British Crown. Britain, not only\npowerful in arms, but, even at this period, great in commerce, was\nabout to change, though almost imperceptibly, the feelings of her new\nsubjects. The old or New England colonies, which had so largely\ncontributed to the subjugation of Canada, were already largely engaged\nin trade. They had not made much progress in agriculture. They had made\nno progress in manufactures. It was six years later before their first\ncollegiate institution, at Hanover, New Hampshire, was founded. But,\nwhile Canada, perhaps, only loaded a couple of vessels with the skins\nof the bear, the beaver, the buffalo, the fox, the lynx, the martin,\nthe minx, and the wolf, to prevent the total evaporation of heat from\nthe shoulders of the gentler sex in Paris or London, or to fringe the\nvelvet robes of the courtiers of St. James and the Tuileries, the New\nEnglanders employed, annually, about one thousand and seventy-eight\nBritish vessels, manned by twenty-eight thousand nine hundred seamen,\nwhile their whale and other fisheries had become of great\nimportance.[4] To change the military character of the sixty-nine\nthousand inhabitants of Canada ceded by France to England, could not be\ndone immediately. That was as impossible as to make them abjure by\nproclamation, their religion. All changes, to be lasting, must be\ngradual, and the government of Great Britain only contemplated a\nlasting change, by the introduction into Canada of her own people,\nimbued with somewhat different ideas, religiously, legally, and\ncommercially, from those which actuated the conquered population.\n [4] In 1771, however, 471,000 bushels of wheat were exported from\n Canada, of which two-thirds, it was computed, were made in the\n Sorel District. _See the Journal of Charles Carroll, of\n Carollton, page 77._\nCHAPTER II.\nFor some years after the conquest, the form of government was purely\nmilitary. It was, indeed, only in 1774, that two Acts were passed by\nthe British government, one with the view of providing a revenue for\nthe civil government of the Province of Quebec, as the whole of Canada\nwas then termed, the other, called \"The Quebec Act,\" defining the\nboundaries of the Province, setting aside all the provisions of the\nRoyal proclamation, of 1763, and appointing a governing Council of not\nmore than twenty-three, nor less than seventeen persons. And whatever\nmay have been the motive for this almost unlooked for liberality on the\npart of the mother country, it is not a little singular that only a\nyear later, England's great difficulty with her old colonies occurred.\nThe Parliament of Great Britain had imposed, without even consulting\nthe colonists, a tax for the defence and protection of the colonies, on\nclayed sugar, indigo, coffee, &c., and the colonists resisted. The\nAmerican colonies contended that taxation and representation were\ninseparable, and that having no voice in the administration of affairs,\nthey were free from any taxation, but that which was self-imposed, for\nlocal purposes. So far, however, from paying any heed to the\nremonstrances of the colonists, the Imperial Parliament became more\nexacting and tyrannical. Not only were the necessaries of life taxed in\nAmerica, for the benefit of the red-tapists and other place-holders of\nthe Imperial government, but a stamp Act was passed through the\nImperial Parliament, ordaining that instruments of writing--bonds,\ndeeds, and notes--executed in the colonies, should be null and void,\nunless executed upon paper stamped by the London Stamp Office. It was\nthen that a coffin, inscribed with the word \"_Liberty_\" was carried to\nthe grave, in Portsmouth, Massachusetts, and buried with military\nhonours! Had the views of Governor Pownall, of Massachusetts, with\nregard to the representation of the colonies in the British Parliament,\nbeen adopted, no umbrage could have been taken at the imposition of\ntaxes, because the colonies would have been open to civil and military\npreferment in the state equally with the residents of the United\nKingdom. It was, and is, an unfortunate mistake to look upon colonists\nwith contempt. Colonists, more even than the inhabitants of old\ncountries, inhale a spirit of independence. Often, lords of all they\nsurvey, they call no man lord. They are the pioneers of their own\nfortunes. They make glad the wilderness. They produce more than they\nthemselves require. But Great Britain was, at the time of which we\nspeak, perfectly infatuated. On the 4th of Sept. of the very year in\nwhich the Quebec Act was granted, 1774, a Continental Congress was\nheld, of which Peter Randolph, of Virginia, was President, to\nsympathize with the people of Boston, on account of their disabilities,\nby reason of the tea riot.[5] But such Congresses produced no effect in\nEngland. On the contrary, Massachusetts was more rigorously punished,\nand was prevented from fishing on the Banks of Newfoundland. Is it\nwonderful that the battles of Lexington, Concord, and Bunker's Hill\nfollowed? Is it wonderful that those who had assisted Wolfe in taking\nCanada from the French, should have afterwards attempted to conquer\nCanada for themselves? Is it wonderful that, on the 3rd of November,\n1775, one of Washington's Brigadier Generals, Montgomery, should have\nreceived the surrender of 500 regular British troops, at St. John's,\nCanada East; the surrender of one hundred Canadians, of thirty-nine\npieces of cannon, of seven mortars, and of five hundred stand of arms?\nIs it wonderful that Montreal, then so thinly inhabited and\nindifferently garrisoned, should have capitulated, or that Quebec\nshould have been invested by Arnold, who sailed down the Chaudiere on\nrafts, and by Montgomery, to whom Montreal had capitulated? It is only\nwonderful that Quebec was successfully defended, and that General\nMontgomery perished under her walls. Canada, notwithstanding the\ntemporary annexation of Montreal, was true to Great Britain, feeling\nthat whatever might have been the injustice of Britain to the old\nColonies, Canada had nothing then of which to complain. Indeed, the\nattack upon the newly ceded province of Canada, was amongst the\nearliest demonstrations of a disposition on the part of the old\nColonies to resort to violence. \"The Quebec Act\" was in itself a cause\nof offence to them. On the 21st of October, 1774, the following\nlanguage was made use of by the Congress, in reference to that Act, in\nan Address to the people of Great Britain:--\"Nor can we suppress our\nastonishment, that a British Parliament should ever consent to\nestablish in that country, a religion that has deluged your Island in\nblood, and dispersed impiety, bigotry, persecution, murder, and\nrebellion through every part of the world.\" And \"That we think the\nLegislature of Great Britain is not authorized by the Constitution to\nestablish a religion fraught with sanguinary and impious tenets.\" The\nattack was of a two-fold nature. Both the sword and the pen were\nbrought into requisition. It was supposed by the discontented old\ncolonists, that the boundary of the lakes and rivers which emptied\nthemselves into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and had formed the natural\nbarrier between two nations, until the peace of Paris, in 1763, when\nCanada passed from the dominion of France to that of the British Crown,\nformed no boundary to British rule, as the sway of the Anglo-Saxon race\nwas now fully established over the whole of the northern part of the\ncontinent; and it was further supposed, that it was, therefore, proper\nto detract, if possible, from the power of Great Britain, to harm the\nrevolutionary colonists on the great watery highway of the lakes and\nrivers, or to prevent such a united force of Colonial and Provincial\ninhabitants as might counterbalance, in a great measure, the\npertinacious loyalists who were to discountenance American appeals for\njustice,--the warfare, before the declaration of American Independence,\nbeing \"neither against the throne nor the laws of England, but against\na reckless and oppressive ministry.\"[6] Efforts were, for such reasons,\nmade to obtain possession of the keys of the Lakes and of the St.\nLawrence at Quebec and Montreal. The old colonists were to make a war\nof political propagandism on Canada and they resolved upon the\nemployment of both force and persuasion. Generals Montgomery, Arnold,\nand Allen invaded Canada, and, to a certain point, with complete\nsuccess. After the successes of the two latter officers at Ticonderoga\nand Crown Point, Arnold pushed on towards Quebec, through the\nwilderness, and had ascended the heights of Abraham before Montgomery,\nwho had proceeded towards Quebec from Montreal, had arrived. Under\nthese circumstances, Arnold retired about twenty miles above Quebec, to\nwait for Montgomery. Meanwhile, the Governor of Canada, Sir Guy\nCarleton, had escaped, through Montgomery's army, in the dead of night,\nin an open boat, rowed with muffled oars, and guided by Captain\nBouchette, of the Royal Navy, and was now safely lodged in the chief\nfortress of America. On the 1st of December, Montgomery effected a\njunction with Arnold, and the siege of Quebec was commenced, although\nthe besiegers were most indifferently provided with camp equipage, and\nwere poorly clad. Their cannon, too, was of so small a description, as\nto be almost useless. The design evidently was to carry the town, which\nwas not then nearly as strongly fortified as now, and was only\ngarrisoned by a few troops, militia, and seamen, by assault, in the\nfull persuasion that the Canadians would be only most happy to be\nidentified with the American struggle for liberty, or by being neutral,\nwould show to the ministry of England the formidable animosity of a\nunited continent, by which the ends of the old colonists would be\ngained, and the war nipped in its ripening bud.[7] This, Generals\nMontgomery and Arnold were unable to do. The attempt was made on the\n31st December, but signally failed. Arnold proceeded with one division\ntowards Sault-au-Matelot Street, by way of St. Roch's, and succeeded in\nestablishing himself in some houses at the eastern extremity of that\nstreet, but being attacked in the rear, by a part of the garrison,\ndirected by General Carleton to make a sortie from Palace Gate, only\na remnant of the assailants, with considerable difficulty, managed\nto get back to camp. Montgomery approached by the road under the Cape,\ncalled Pr\u00e8s-de-Ville, with another division, but was stoutly resisted,\nand fell mortally wounded. After the attack, Montgomery's body was\nfound embedded in the snow, together with the bodies of his two\nAides-de-Camp, Captain McPherson and Captain Cheeseman. Arnold now\nretired about three miles from Quebec, where he encamped during the\nwinter.\n [5] People are sometimes in the habit of making light of a\n tempest in a tea pot. This tea tempest was no laughing matter.\n [6] See the Journal of Charles Carroll, of Carollton, published\n by the Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore--page 6.\n [7] U.S. Catholic Magazine, vol. 4, p. 251, and Brent's Biography\n of Archbishop Carroll, p. 69.\nOn the 15th of February, 1776, the American Congress appointed Dr.\nBenjamin Franklin, Samuel Chase, and Charles Carroll, of\nCarrollton--the last mentioned gentleman being requested to prevail\nupon his brother, the Revd. John Carroll, a Jesuit of distinguished\ntheological attainments, and celebrated for his amiable manners and\npolished address, to accompany them--to proceed to Canada with the view\nof representing to the Canadians that the Americans south of the St.\nLawrence, \"had no apprehension that the French would take any part with\nGreat Britain; but that it was their interest, and, the Americans had\nreason to believe, their inclination, to cultivate a friendly\nintercourse with the colonies.\" They were to have religious freedom,\nand have the power of self-government, while a free press was to be\nestablished, to reform all abuses.[8] The Committee, or, more properly\nspeaking, the Commission, were, however, far from being successful in\ntheir attempt to negotiate Canada into revolt. The clergy of Canada\ncould not be persuaded that, as Roman Catholics, they would be better\ntreated by the Revolutionary colonists than they had been under the\nBritish government, after the expression of such sentiments as those\naddressed to the people of Great Britain, on the 21st of October, 1774.\nThe Americans, uncouth in manners, were, in truth, most intolerant of\npapacy. In the \"Cradle of American Liberty,\" a dancing school was not\npermitted. While in Boston a fencing school was allowed, there were no\nmusicians permitted to exist, and the anti-papal character of the\npeople was even more evident from the fact, that the first thing\nprinted in New England was the Freeman's Oath! the second an almanac;\nand the third an edition of the psalms.\n [8] It is not a little odd, that Franklin should have been a\n member of this Committee, seeing that he was the very man who\n urged upon the British Minister, in 1759, the expediency of\n reducing Canada, as the most serious blow which could be\n inflicted on French power in America.\nOn the day after the Reverend Mr. Carroll had failed in his part of the\nmission, joined Dr. Franklin, and returned to the South, Chase and\nCarroll of Carrollton had been busy with the military part of their\nembassy. At a council of war held in Montreal, it was resolved to\nfortify Jacques Cartier--the Richelieu Rapids, between Quebec and Three\nRivers--and to build six gondolas at Chambly, of a proper size to carry\nheavy cannon, and to be under the direction of Arnold. But disasters\nthickened around the insurgents. The small pox had broken out among the\ntroops, and was making deep inroads upon their scanty numbers. To crown\nthe whole, the worst news was received from the besiegers at Quebec,\nfor out of 1,900 men, there were not more than 1,000 fit for duty, all\nthe rest being invalids, chiefly afflicted with the small-pox. On the\n5th of May, 1776, a council of war was held at Quebec, and it was\nresolved to remove the invalids, artillery, batteaux, and stores higher\nup the river; but, on the evening of that day, intelligence was\nreceived in the American camp, that fifteen ships were within forty\nleagues of Quebec, hastening up the river; and early next morning, five\nof them hove in sight. General Thomas immediately gave orders to embark\nthe sick and the artillery in the batteaux, whilst the enemy began to\nland their troops. About noon, a body of the British, a thousand\nstrong, formed into two divisions, in columns of six deep, and\nsupported with a train of six pieces of cannon, attacked the American\nsentinels and main guard. The Americans stood for a moment on the\nplains, with about 250 men and _one_ field piece only, when the order\nfor retreat was given, and the encampment was precipitately deserted.\nIn the confusion, all the cannon of the besiegers fell into the hands\nof the British, and about 200 invalids were made prisoners. Following\nthe course of the river, the broken army of the Americans fled towards\nMontreal, and halting for a while at Deschambault, finally retreated\nalong the St. Lawrence, until they made a stand at Sorel, with the view\nto an \"orderly retreat out of Canada.\"[9] By the 18th of June, the\nBritish General, Burgoyne, was close behind Arnold, who now, with the\nwhole of the American army, had quitted Canadian soil, and was\nproceeding somewhat rapidly up the Richelieu, into Lake Champlain.\n [9] Carroll's visit to Canada, p. 27.\nIn the very year that Arnold retired from Quebec, on the 4th of July,\n1776, the thirteen now confederated colonies, on the report of Thomas\nJefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Phillip\nLivingston, dissolved their allegiance to the British Crown, declaring\nthemselves to be free and independent. The lions, sceptres, crowns, and\nother paraphernalia of royalty were now rudely trampled on, in both\nBoston and Virginia. Massachusetts, and, shortly afterwards, New York,\nwere, indeed, in the possession of rebels, commanded by Washington. It\nwas then that, in 1777, the execution of a plan of attacking the New\nEnglanders, by way of Canada, was entrusted to General Burgoyne, who,\nwith some thousands of troops, a powerful train of artillery, and\nseveral tribes of Indians, proceeded down Lake Champlain, to cut\noff the northern from the southern colonies of the rebellious\nconfederation. Burgoyne chased the American General St. Clair out of\nTiconderoga; hunted Schuyler to Saratoga; destroyed the American\nflotilla on Lake Champlain; demolished bridges, and reduced forts. He,\nnevertheless, met with a severe check at Bennington, Vermont. Being at\nFort Edward, he sent Colonel Baum, with a detachment of the army to\nseize a magazine of stores at Bennington. When within a few miles of\nthat place, however, Baum learned that the Americans were strongly\nentrenched. He, therefore, halted, and sent to Burgoyne for a\nreinforcement. But the American General Stark, who had a large body of\nVermont Militia under his command, in addition to his ordinary New\nHampshire corps, now determined to be the assailant. With only 500\nregulars and 100 Indians, Colonel Baum did not consider it prudent to\nfight a body vastly superior in numbers, and he retreated. Assistance\nreached him at this critical moment, which seemed to make a battle, if\nnot expedient, a point of honour. Unfortunately the sense of honour\nprevailed, Baum gave battle, and was himself slain and his men\ndefeated, the British loss being 700 in killed and wounded, while that\nof the Americans was only about 100. It was a pity that Baum had not\nthe moral courage to retire, even when reinforced, for his defeat much\nembarrassed Burgoyne, and made an attempt at a general retreat even\nnecessary, as the courage of the enemy had so increased by the moral\neffect of a victory, that Burgoyne was in danger of being surrounded by\nthe hordes of State Militiamen who, on all sides of him, were taking\nthe field. Burgoyne was, nevertheless, still on the advance, with the\nmain body of his army, and was approaching Saratoga, when he heard of\nthe defeat of Baum. Unwilling to retreat, and yet unable to advance, he\nhesitated, but ultimately decided upon returning. That, however, was\nnow impossible. He had hardly turned his face towards the place from\nwhence he came, than he fell in with General Gates, losing about 600\nmen; and he had hardly realized his loss, when he learned that Fort\nEdward, which stood between him and Canada, was in the possession of\nthe enemy. No avenue of escape appeared open, and this fine army from\nCanada, consisting of five thousand seven hundred effective men, with\nGeneral Burgoyne at their head, laid down their arms to the American\nGeneral Gates, at Saratoga. Even according to the testimony of Lady\nHarriet Ackland, Burgoyne, though sufficiently brave for anything, was\nquite incompetent for command. He had neither resources nor strategy.\nHe knew neither what to do nor what he was doing. He neither knew when\nto advance nor when to retreat. It was all haphazard with him. Through\nhis very stupidity an army was positively sacrificed. Lord Cornwallis,\nafterwards, easily defeated Gates. And in the campaign of 1780,\nWashington was himself in straits. His commissariat was wretchedly bad.\nFor days the medical department of his army had neither sugar, coffee,\ntea, chocolate, wine, nor spirituous liquors of any kind; and the army\nhad not seen the shadow of money for five months. A junction cleverly\neffected between the two British armies might have changed, or rather\nchecked the destinies of the Confederated Colonies. But, by the\nawkwardness, carelessness, and want of prudence of Burgoyne, in the\nfirst place, Cornwallis got also hemmed in, being intercepted on one\nside by the French fleet, and on the other by the army commanded by\nWashington, and he capitulated after his defeat at Yorktown, in\nSeptember, 1781. Had a line of communication northward been maintained\nfor the British army, even seven thousand men might have escaped the\nblockade of the sixteen thousand militia, under Washington, to whom the\nconqueror of Charleston was compelled, by the fortune of war, to\npresent his sword. The stupidity of the British Generals, combined with\nthe previous stupidity of the Imperial administrations, led to the\nevacuation of those colonies by Great Britain, to which she was in a\ngreat measure indebted for the acquisition of Port Royal and Louisbourg\nin Nova Scotia, and for Niagara, Frontenac, Montreal, and Quebec in\nCanada. The prediction of Montcalm had come to pass. The United States\nwere independent. But, however much the war in America, between Great\nBritain and her own old colonies, had temporarily interfered with, it\nhad paved the way for a more extended, commerce in Canada. There were\nmen in New England who would not, on any account, be rebels. Many of\nthese, with their families, sought an asylum in Canada, and the\nadvancement of the Far West, on the British side of the lines, is, in\nno small degree, to be attributed to the integrity and energy of those\nhighly honourable men. Canada was then entirely, or almost entirely,\nunder military rule. It could not well be otherwise. The necessities of\nthe times required unity of action. There was no room for party\nsquabbling, nor were there numbers sufficient to squabble. The\nprovince, the population of which did not extend beyond Detroit, a mere\nIndian trading post, and beyond which it was expected civilisation\ncould not be extended for ages, was divided into two sections, the\nwestern and the eastern. Sir Guy Carleton, afterwards Lord Dorchester,\nhad divided all west of the monument of St. Regis into four districts,\nafter the manner of ancient Gaul, which he termed Lunenburg,\nMecklenburg, Nassau, and Hesse; and the Seminary of Quebec had cut up\nthe eastern section into parishes, distinguished by cross roads. In the\nlower section of the province, the _bonnets rouges_ and _bonnets bleus_\nwere on the increase, but the increase was like that of the frogs: it\nwas multiplying in the same puddle, with the same unchanging and\nunchangeable habits. The peaweeting, the whistling, the purring, and\nthe whizzing, were only the louder, as the inhabitants became more\nnumerous. There was no idea of change of any kind. Language, manners,\nand knowledge were the same as they ever had been: only the pomp of the\nchurch had succeeded to the pomp and circumstance of war. There was no\nmore industry, no more energy, no more scientific cravings, and no\nearnest pursuit of wealth. All was contentment. Even by the\nauthorities, no desire to awaken the Franco-Canadian from his slumber,\nwas entertained. On the contrary, the restless United Empire loyalists\nwere to be separated from them. The isolation of Lower Canada from the\nrest of the world was to be as complete as possible.\nNot very long after the declaration of American Independence, Canada\nwas divided, by Act of the Imperial Parliament, into two distinct\nprovinces, called Upper Canada and Lower Canada. Mr. Adam Lymburner, a\nmerchant of Quebec, not being particularly anxious for isolation,\nappeared at the bar of the House of Commons on behalf of himself and\nothers. He was against the separation. The united province was not even\nin a condition to maintain a good system of government. Oppressed by\nthe tyranny of officials, industry and improvement had been neglected,\nand a state of languor and depression prevailed. The public buildings\nwere even falling into a state of ruin and decay. There was not a Court\nHouse in the province, nor a sufficient prison nor house of correction.\nNor was there a school house between Tadousac and Niagara. The country\nupon the Great Lakes was a wilderness. Lymburner did not, however,\nprevail. The British government desired to put the United Empire\nloyalists upon the same footing with regard to constitutional\ngovernment as they had previously enjoyed before the independence of\nthe United States in that country, a condition about which a certain\nclass of merchants in Quebec have always been indifferent. Lord\nDorchester was appointed Governor-in-Chief in Canada, and administrator\nin Lower Canada, while General Simcoe was named Lieutenant Governor of\nUpper Canada. General Simcoe selected for his capital Niagara,[10] and\nresided there at Navy Hall. On the site of Toronto, in 1793, there was\na solitary wigwam. That tongue of land called the peninsula, which is\nthe protection wall of the harbour, was the resort only of wildfowl.\nThe margin of the lake was lined with nothing else but dense and\ntrackless forests. Two families of Massassagas had squatted somewhere\nin the neighbourhood of the present St. Lawrence Hall when General\nSimcoe removed to little York with his canvass palace, and drew around\nhim the incipient features of a Court. The progress in material\nimprovement in this country may be guessed at from the then condition\nand the present state and appearance of Toronto. The revenue of the\ncountry between 1775, and 1778, was not over \u00a310,000. The salary of the\nGovernor-in-Chief was only \u00a32,500.\n [10] Then called Newark.\nDuring the American War, the Canadians, though they exhibited no signs\nof disaffection to Great Britain, did not ardently lend a helping hand\nagainst the enemy. Being appealed to by Middleton, the President of the\nProvisional Congress of Rebel States,--who told them that their Judges\nand Legislative Council were dependent on the Governor, and their\nGovernor himself on the servant of the Crown in Great Britain; that the\nexecutive, legislative, and judging powers were all moved by nods from\nthe Court of St. James; and that the Confederated States would receive\ntheir ancient and brave enemies on terms of equality--the Canadians\nstood firm in their new allegiance. It is more than probable, indeed,\nthat the bombastic state paper never reached the ears of those for whom\nit was intended. There was no press in Canada at that period, and only\none newspaper, the \"Quebec Gazette,\" established by one Gilmore, in\n1764. Unable, as the majority of the French were, to read their own\nlanguage, it was not to be expected that they could read English. Still\nless is it to be supposed that His Excellency Lord Dorchester\ncirculated it in French. Lord Dorchester was exceedingly prudent in his\nadministration of affairs, and,--unlike Governor Murray, who, by the\nway, was succeeded in the administration of the Government by Paulus\n\u00c6milius Irving, Esquire, with Brigadier General Carleton for Lieutenant\nGovernor, obtained the affection of one race and the resentment of the\nother,--conciliated both races. His lordship, in one of his speeches\n\"from the throne,\" tells us that he \"eschewed political hypocrisy,\nwhich renders people the instruments of their own misery and\ndestruction.\" There was, in truth, no Parliament, in the proper sense\nof the term, then. Such artifices as are now necessary for good\nlegislation, had not therefore to be resorted to.\nOn the political separation of the two sections of Canada, it was\nagreed that Lower Canada should be permitted to levy the duties on\nimports. Of all imports, Lower Canada was to receive seven-eighths, and\nUpper Canada one eighth, and the revenue for the year following the\nseparation was \u00a324,000, including \u00a31,205, the proportion of the duties\nbelonging to Upper Canada. In those days, a week was consumed in the\ntransport of the mail from Burlington in Vermont, via Montreal, to\nQuebec; but yet there must have been wonderful progress from Governor\nMurray's time,--during which a Mr. Walker, of Montreal, having caused\nthe military much displeasure, by the imprisonment of a captain for\nsome offence, was assailed by a number of assassins of respectability,\nwith blackened faces, who entered his house at night, cut off his right\near, slashed him across the forehead with a sword, and attempted and\nwould have succeeded in cutting his throat, but for his most manly and\ndetermined resistance--for on surrendering the government of Lower\nCanada into the hands of General Prescott, previously to going home to\nEngland, in the frigate \"Active,\" in which he was afterwards wrecked on\nAnticosti, he was lauded in a most obsequious address, by the\ninhabitants both of Quebec and Montreal, the latter place then\nnumbering a little more than 7,000 inhabitants, for his \"auspicious\nadministration of affairs, the happiness and prosperity of the province\nhaving increased in a degree almost unequalled.\" General Prescott, not\nlong after Lord Dorchester's return home, in a frigate from Halifax,\nafter the wreck of the \"Active,\" was raised to the Governor\nGeneralship. During the three years of this Governor's rule, nothing,\npolitically or otherwise, important occurred in Canada. Great Britain\nwas successfully engaged in war with both France and Spain, and in the\nformer country a revolution had occurred which preceded one of the most\nterrible periods on the page of history. In Quebec, a madman named\nMcLane, a native of Rhode Island, fancying himself to be a French\nGeneral, conceived the project of upsetting British authority in\nCanada. He intended, with the co-operation of the French Canadians, to\nmake a rush upon the garrison of Quebec. His imaginary followers were\nto be armed with spears, and he dreamed of distributing laudanum to the\ntroops. Unfortunately for himself, he made known his plans to all and\nsundry, and was rewarded for his indiscretion by being hanged on\nGallows Hill, as an example to other fools.\nThe next Governor of Lower Canada was Robert S. Milnes, Esquire. Under\nhis sway, something akin to public opinion sprang up. So soon as the\nlast of the Jesuits had been gathered to his fathers, it was the\npurpose of the Imperial government to seize upon the estates of \"The\nOrder.\" Mr. Young, one of the Executive Council, had, however, no\nsooner informed the House of Assembly that His Excellency had given\norders to take possession of these estates as the property of George\nthe Third, than the House went into Committee and expressed a desire to\ninvestigate the pretensions or claims which the province might have on\nthe college of Quebec. The Governor was quite willing to suffer the\nAssembly to have copies of all documents, deeds, and titles having\nreference to the estates, if insisted upon, but considered it scarcely\nconsistent with the respect which the Commons of Canada had ever\nmanifested towards their sovereign, to press the matter, as the Privy\nCouncil had issued an order to take the whole property into the hands\nof the Crown. The House considered His Excellency's reply, and\npostponed the inquiry into the rights and pretensions alluded to. The\nnext thing which this slightly independently disposed Assembly\nundertook, was the expulsion of one of its members, a Mr. Bouc, who had\nbeen convicted of a conspiracy to defraud a person named Drouin, with\nwhom he had had some commercial transactions, of a considerable sum of\nmoney. He was heard by Counsel at the Bar of the House, but was\nbelieved to have been justly convicted, and was expelled. Again and\nagain he was re-elected, and as often was he expelled, and at last he\nwas, by special Act of Parliament, disqualified. Whether or not he was\nthe object of unjust persecution by the government, the moral effect\nupon the country of the expulsion and disqualification of a person in\nthe position of Mr. Bouc, cannot be doubted. The number of bills passed\nduring a parliamentary session in those days, was not considerable.\nFive, six, or eight appear to have been the average. The income of the\nprovince was about \u00a320,000, and the expenditure about \u00a339,000. Under\nsuch circumstances, corruption was nearly impossible.\nIn the next session of parliament an attempt was made to establish free\nschools, and the Royal Institution, for the advancement of learning was\nfounded. Nor was this all, an Act was passed for the demolition of the\nwalls that encircled Montreal, on the plea that such demolition was\nnecessary to the salubrity, convenience and embellishment of the city.\nThey were thrown down, and in seventeen years after it was impossible\nto have shown where they stood. The parliament did more. At the\ndictation of the Governor, it assigned three townships for the benefit\nof the officers, non-commissioned officers, and privates, who had\nserved during the blockade of Quebec, in 1775-6. Field officers were to\nbe entitled to 1,000 acres; captains to 700 acres, lieutenants and\nensigns to 500 acres, and non-commissioned officers and privates to 400\nacres each. Still another bill, of no mean importance, was carried\nthrough the three branches of the Legislature, the second branch being\npositively a House of Lords, composed, as it was, of Lord Chief\nJustices and Lord Bishops,--the mind, capacity, and education of the\ncountry. No picture of the legislature of this time can be made. There\nwere no reporters nor any publication of debates. Newspapers were in\ntheir infancy. Radicalism had not got hold of its fulcrum, and the\nlever of public opinion was, consequently useless. Nay, in\nanticipation, as it were, of the unruliness that afterwards exhibited\nitself, the Governor, now Sir Robert Milnes, recommended the culture of\nhemp in the province, and the Assembly voted \u00a31,200 for the experiment.\nAn Agricultural Bureau, of which the Governor was himself the\nPresident, was established, but the cultivation of hemp was not more\nagreeable to the farmer of Lower Canada then than it is now. The\nexperiment did not succeed. Jean Baptiste would raise wheat, which he\nknew would pay, and would not raise hemp, which might or might not pay.\nHe was a practical, not a theoretical farmer. Like the \"regular\"\nphysicians of every period, and in every country, he practised\n_secundum artem_, and eschewed dangerous theories and unprofitable\ninnovations.\nAbout this period, 1802, land jobbing began. Vast grants of territory\nwere made to favourites and speculators, only to lie waste, unless\nimproved by the squatter. To obtain a princely inheritance, it was only\nnecessary to have a princely acquaintance with the government, and, in\nsome cases, the Governor's servants. Land was not put up to public\ncompetition, but handsomely bestowed upon the needy and penniless Court\nattendant. A Governor's Secretary, a Judge's nephew, or some Clerk of\nRecords was entitled to at least a thousand acres; the Governor's cook\nto 700 arpents. There was no stint, and no income or land tax.\nIn 1803, Parliament \"better regulated\" the militia; the revenue had\nincreased to \u00a331,000; the expenditure had increased to \u00a337,000, and the\ntwo Governors' salaries to \u00a36,000; war re-broke out with France; the\nfeeling of loyalty throughout the province was enthusiastic; and offers\nto raise volunteer corps were freely made.\nDuring the next Session of Parliament, measures of some importance\noccupied the attention of the Legislature. A bill was passed, making\nprovision for the relief of the insane and for the support of\nfoundlings. In all thirteen bills were passed, and the revenue had\nincreased one thousand pounds. It was the last session of the third\nParliament. In July the election of members for the fourth Parliament\ntook place. They were conducted, on the whole, quietly, but were,\nnevertheless, vigorously contested. Strong party feeling did not then\nrun high, and there were no prejudices against persons of respectable\nstanding in society, whatever might be their origin. Quebec had four\nrepresentatives, two of whom were of French extraction and two,\napparently of Scottish descent. Montreal was similarly represented. If\nthere were as representatives of Quebec a Grant and a Panet, a Young\nand a De Salaberry, Montreal was represented by a Richardson and a\nMondelet, a McGill and a Chaboillez. The Parliament was convened for\nthe despatch of business on the 9th, and having disposed of some\ncontested elections proceeded energetically to work. The idea of a\nCanal to overcome the difficulties of the Lachine Rapids or Sault St.\nLouis suggested itself; and the consideration of the expediency of its\nconstruction engaged the attention of the House. The construction of a\ncanal was not considered within the means of the province, and a sum of\nonly \u00a31,000 pounds was voted for the removal of impediments in the\nrapids. A Seigniorial Tenure Bill, not dissimilar in character to that\nwhich so very recently has become law, was introduced, but fell\nthrough. The Gaols Act, imposing a duty of two and a half per cent on\nimports, for the erection of common gaols at Quebec and Montreal, was\nadopted. The trade was dissatisfied, and, as has been too frequently\nthe case, when the merchants of this province have been dissatisfied\nwith the Acts of a Legislature, of whose acts, unless in so far as\ntheir own business interests have been concerned, they have been\naltogether indifferent, the trade petitioned the Imperial authorities\nagainst the Act, representing with all the force of which they were\ncapable, the serious injury inflicted by it upon bohea, souchong,\nhyson, spirits, wane, and molasses. The gaols were, however, built,\nwithout direct taxation having been resorted to. Another act of very\nconsiderable importance became law: that for the better regulation of\npilots and shipping, and for the improvement of the navigation of the\nRiver St. Lawrence between Montreal and the sea. By this Act the\nTrinity Houses were established, the abolition of which has lately\nengaged the serious attention of the Hon. William Hamilton Merritt. The\nfourth Parliament, like its predecessors, possessed within itself, some\nmen of enterprize, energy, and independence. However willing it might\nhave been to treat the Governor with respectful consideration, there\nwas no disposition in it to become a mere tool in the hands of those\nwho took upon themselves to guide His Excellency. They conceived that\nthey had the power of appropriating the revenue, of voting the\nsupplies, and of paying their own officers such salaries as they\npleased. The French Translator to the Assembly having applied for an\nincrease of salary, it occurred to the Assembly that the translator,\nMr. P. E. Desbarats, was a very efficient officer and worthy man, and\nthat it was within their province to pay him such a sum as they\nestimated his services to be worth. But they did not arbitrarily do\nthat which it seemed to them they might have done. With extreme\ncourtesy, they addressed the Governor, begging that His Excellency\nwould make such addition to the salary of this officer as to His\nExcellency might seem fit. So far, however, from complying with a very\nreasonable request, Sir Robert regretted the absence of some\nobservances, the nature of which was never ascertained, and felt\ncompelled to resist a precedent which might lead to injurious\nconsequences. The Assembly were staggered. With very considerable\nreason they were offended at the Executive, who pretended to the right\nof money grants in the Assembly. The House went into committee, by a\nmajority of one, and were about to consider His Excellency's\nconsiderate message, when the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod\nappearing at the Bar, commanded the attendance of the Commons at the\nBar of the Upper House, where His Excellency, somewhat bombastically\nprorogued the Parliament. About to return to England, he was perfectly\nindifferent to the censure of the Commons of Canada. He cared nothing\nfor the effect of a _coup d'etat_. He never dreamed of the possibility\nof a misunderstanding between a Governor and his Legislature. It was\nthe first of the kind that he had known, and it was a duty which he\nowed to his sovereign to nip it in the bud. Sir Robert, Mr. Christie\nsays, was not a popular Governor. Had that been his only misfortune, it\nwould have been well. He was, evidently, something worse, in being only\nthat which might emphatically be expressed in a single word. A few\ngrains of common sense in one or two Governors of colonies would have\nsaved England some millions of pounds. Sir Robert Shore Milnes having\nruled, or having been ruled, for a period of six years, set sail for\nEngland, on the 5th of August, in H.M.S. Uranie, leaving Mr. Dunn, the\nSenior Executive Councillor of Canada, to administer the government.\nLower Canada, however politically insignificant, with only some \u00a347,000\nof revenue, was yet gradually rising into something like commercial\nimportance. In the course of 1805, one hundred and forty-six merchant\nvessels had been loaded at Quebec, and another newspaper, the _Quebec\nMercury_, still existing, and published in the English language, was\nestablished by Mr. Thomas Cary. Montreal, only second in commercial\nimportance to Quebec, had also its newspapers, and already began to\nexhibit that energy for which it is now preeminently conspicuous.\nToronto, the present \"Queen City of the West,\" was yet only surrounded\nby the primeval forest, and thirty years later could boast of but four\nthousand inhabitants, although, in 1822, \"Muddy Little York\" was not a\nlittle proud of its \"Upper Canada Gazette,\" and Niagara of its\n\"Spectator.\" Kingston had only twenty wooden houses, while Detroit was\nthe residence of but a dozen French families. Upper Canada, indeed,\ncontained scarcely a cultivated farm, or even a white inhabitant, sixty\nor seventy years ago.\nAllusion has already been made to the division of Canada into two\nprovinces. A more particular allusion to that circumstance will not be\nout of place. Already, General Simcoe, the Hon. Peter Russell, and\nLieut. General Hunter have ruled over the Upper, and not the least\ninteresting of the two provinces. The object of the separation may have\nbeen to keep the Lower Province French as long as possible, to prevent\nthe consummation devoutly anticipated by Montcalm, and the Duc de\nChoiseul, and to raise up a conservative English colony in the Far\nWest, to counteract the growing power of the now United States. By the\nUnion, constitutions very distantly related to the British constitution\nwere conferred upon the two provinces. The 31st Act of George the Third\nconstituted a Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly for each\nprovince. The Council was to be composed of at least seven members,\nappointed by writ of summons, issued pursuant to a mandamus under the\nsign manual of the Sovereign. The tenure of appointment was for life,\nto be forfeited for treason or vacated by swearing allegiance to a\nforeign power, or by two years continual absence from the province\nwithout the Governor's permission, or four years of such absence\nwithout permission of the Sovereign. The King could grant hereditary\ntitles of honor, rank or dignity. The Speaker of the Council was to be\nappointed by the Sovereign or his representative. The Assembly was to\nbe elected by persons over twenty one years of age, subjects of the\nBritish Crown, by birth or naturalization, possessing property of the\nyearly value of forty shillings sterling, over and above all rents and\ncharges, or paying rent at the rate of ten pounds sterling per annum.\nHere were, undoubtedly, three legislative branches; but as the\nLegislative Assembly could, at the most, only be composed of thirty\nmembers, many of whom would be half pay officers, the Crown, through\nits representative, had a direct and overwhelming preponderance. Yet,\nhowever unsuited such a Parliament would be for the present time,\nhowever uncongenial it might have been to the feelings of a Cobbett or\nHunt-man, escaped from Spa Felds ten or twenty years afterwards, it\nundoubtedly well represented the conservative, semi-despotic feelings\nof the military settler, or United Empire loyalist, a kind of\nprivileged being, whose very descendants were entitled to a free grant\nof two hundred acres of land. When the Separation Act was before the\nBritish Parliament, the public mind in England was to some not\naltogether inconsiderable extent contaminated by the spurious\nliberty-feeling of the French Revolution, and by the consequences of\nthe American strike for independence. \"The Rights of Man,\" as\nenunciated by Paine, had infected many among the lower orders in\nsociety, and not a few among the higher orders. Edmund Burke, Mr.\nChancellor Pitt, and Charles Fox, were members of the British\nParliament. By the Act, a provision for a Protestant Clergy, in both\ndivisions of the province, was made, in addition to an allotment of\nlands already granted. The tenures in Lower Canada, which had been the\nsubject of dispute, were to be settled by the local legislature. In\nUpper Canada the tenures were to be in free and common soccage. No\ntaxes were to be imposed by the Imperial Parliament, unless such as\nwere necessary for the regulation of trade and commerce, to be levied\nand to be disposed of by the legislature of each division of the former\nProvince of Quebec. On the 9th of April, 1791, the Separation Bill was\nsomewhat unexpectedly offered for the acceptance of the House of\nCommons. Mr. Fox declared that he had not had time to read it, and felt\nunwilling to express an opinion upon its merits. On a motion by Mr.\nHussey, \"that the Bill be recommitted,\" Mr. Fox, however, remarked,\nthat many clauses were unexceptionable. The number of representatives,\nin his opinion, were not sufficient. An assembly to consist of 16 or 30\nmembers seemed to him to give a free constitution in appearance, while,\nin fact, such a constitution was withheld. The goodness of a bill,\nmaking the duration of Parliaments seven years, unless dissolved\npreviously by the Governor, might be considered doubtful. In Great\nBritain, general elections were attended with inconveniences, but in\nCanada, where, for many years, elections were not likely to be attended\nwith the consequences which ministers dreaded, he could not conceive\nwhy they should make such assemblies, not annual or triennial, but\nseptennial. In a new country the representatives of the people would,\nfor the most part, be persons engaged in trade, who might be unable to\nattend Parliament for seven consecutive years. The qualifications\nnecessary for electors in towns and counties were much too high. It\nseemed to him that ministers intended to prevent the introduction of\npopular government into Canada. While the number of the members of the\nAssembly were limited, the numbers of the Council, although they could\nnot be less than seven members, were unlimited. He saw nothing so good\nin hereditary powers or honours as to justify their introduction into a\ncountry where they were unknown. They tended rather to make a good\nconstitution worse, than better. If a Council were wholly hereditary,\nit could only be the tool of the King and the Governor, as the Governor\nhimself would only be the tool of the King. The accumulation of power,\nconfirmed by wealth, would be a perpetual source of oppression and\nneglect to the mass of mankind. He did not understand the provision\nmade by the Bill for the Protestant clergy. By Protestant clergy, he\nunderstood not only the clergy of the Church of England, but all\ndescriptions of Protestants. He totally disapproved of the clause which\nenacted that, \"whenever the King shall make grants of lands, one\nseventh part of those lands shall be appropriated to the Protestant\nClergy.\" In all grants of lands made to Catholics, and a majority of\nthe inhabitants of Canada were of that persuasion, one seventh part of\nthose grants was to be appropriated to the Protestant clergy, although\nthey might not have any congregation to instruct, nor any cure of\nsouls. If the Protestant clergy of Canada were all of the Church of\nEngland, he would not be reconciled to the measure, but the greatest\npart of the Protestant clergy in Canada were Protestant dissenters, and\nto them one seventh part of all the lands in the province was to be\ngranted. A provision of that kind, in his opinion, would rather tend to\ncorrupt than to benefit the Protestant clergy of Canada. The Bill,\nwhile it stated that one seventh of the land of Canada should be\nreserved for the maintenance of a Protestant clergy, did not state how\nthe land so set aside should be applied. With regard to the Bill, as it\nrelated to the regulation of Appeals, he was not satisfied. Suitors\nwere, in the first instance, to carry their complaints before the\nCourts of Common Law in Canada, to appeal, if dissatisfied, to the\nGovernor and Council, to appeal from their decision to the King in\nCouncil, and to appeal from His Majesty's decision to the House of\nLords. If the Lords were a better Court of Appeal than the King, the\nLords ought to be at once appealed to. By such a plan of appealing,\nlawsuits would be rendered exceedingly expensive, and exceedingly\nvexatious. He did not like the division of the Province. It seemed to\nhim inexpedient to distinguish between the English and French\ninhabitants of the province. It was desirable that they should unite\nand coalesce, and that such distinctions of the people should be\nextinguished for ever, so that the English laws might soon universally\nprevail throughout Canada, not from force but from choice, and a\nconviction of their superiority. The inhabitants of Lower Canada had\nnot the laws of France. The commercial code of laws of the French\nnation had never been given to them. They stood upon the exceedingly\ninconvenient \"_Coutume de Paris_.\" Canada, unlike the West Indies, was\na growing country. It did not consist of only a few white inhabitants\nand a large number of slaves. It was a country increasing in\npopulation, likely still more to increase, and capable of enjoying as\nmuch political freedom, in its utmost extent, as any other country on\nthe face of the globe. It was situated near a country ready to receive,\nwith open arms, into a participation of her democratic privileges,\nevery person belonging to Great Britain. It was material that a colony,\ncapable of freedom, and capable of a great increase of people, should\nhave nothing to look to among their neighbours to excite their envy.\nCanada should be preserved to Great Britain by the choice of her\ninhabitants, and there was nothing else to look to. The Legislative\nCouncils ought to be totally free, and repeatedly chosen, in a manner\nas much independent of the Governor as the nature of a colony would\nadmit. He was perfectly desirous of establishing a permanent provision\nfor the clergy, but could not think of making for them a provision so\nconsiderable as was unknown in any country of Europe, where the species\nof religion to be provided for prevailed.\nIt is impossible to do other than admire the farsightedness of that\ngreat statesman, Charles Fox, with his blue coat and yellow waistcoat,\nin this manly, sensible, and telling address. Time has nearly brought\nround the state of things that he desired to see, and if disembodied\nspirits can take an interest in things earthly, it will be no small\naddition to his present state of bliss to discover almost the\nrealization of suggestions made sixty years ago, before the Browns of\nthis period were conceived, and while the Rolphs were puling infants.\nMr. Chancellor Pitt did not join issue with Mr. Fox, but did not\nconsider it expedient to flash legislative freedom upon a people. He\nthought that if the Assembly were not rightly consolidated by the Bill,\nlittle harm was done, because there was nothing to hinder the\nParliament of Great Britain from correcting any point which might\nhereafter appear to want correction. He did not like the elective\nprinciple of democratic governments, and with respect to the land\nappropriated to the clergy, like every thing else provided by the bill,\nit was subject to revision. Where land had been given in commutation of\ntithes, the proportion of one seventh had grown into an established\ncustom. The Bill was re-committed. Next day the clauses of the Bill\nbeing put, paragraph by paragraph, Mr. Burke eloquently defended its\nprovisions, ridiculed the \"Rights of Man,\" and almost extinguished the\nlight of the new lantern, which exhibited in the academies of Paris and\nthe club-rooms of London, the constitutions of America and France as so\nmuch superior to that of Great Britain. The distinguished orator was\ncertainly more declamatory than argumentative, and he was repeatedly\ncalled to order. It was alleged that Mr. Burke had no right to abuse\nthe governments of France and America, as the \"Quebec Bill\" only was\nbefore the House. Nay, there was something like a scene. Mr. Burke\ncomplained of having been deserted by those, with whom he formerly\nacted, in his old age, and Mr. Fox, with tears in his eyes and strong\nemotion, declared that he would esteem and venerate Burke to the end of\ntime. The same cries of \"order,\" \"order,\" \"chair,\" \"chair,\" \"go on,\"\n\"go on,\" that are heard in our most tumultuous debates, in the\nAssembly, were frequent in the course of the debate, and Mr. Burke was\nunable, on account of the tumult, to proceed with his account of \"the\nhorrible and nefarious consequences flowing from the French idea of the\nrights of man.\" The debating continued for a number of days, and the\nBill was read a third time on the 18th of May. When the report of the\nBill in Committee was brought up, on the 16th of May, the House divided\nupon an amendment by Mr. Fox, to leave out the clause of hereditary\nnobility, which amendment was lost by an adverse majority of\nforty-nine. It was then moved, in amendment to the Bill, by Mr.\nChancellor Pitt, that the number of representatives in the Assemblies\nshould be fifty instead of thirty, but that motion was also lost by an\nadverse majority of fifty-one.\nThe government of Upper Canada was assumed by General Simcoe, on the\n8th of July, 1792. He carried out with him to Upper Canada the Act\nconstituting it into a province, and on the 18th of September he was\nenabled to meet his Parliament. The capital of the Province was at\nNewark, now Niagara. The seat of Government, according to the Duke de\nla Rochefoucault Liancourt, who visited it in 1795, consisted of about\na hundred houses, \"mostly very fine structures.\" Governor Simcoe\napparently did not occupy one of them, but a \"miserable wooden\nhouse,\"--formerly occupied by the Commissaries, who resided there on\naccount of the navigation of the lake,--his guard consisting of four\nsoldiers, who every morning came from the fort, to which they returned\nin the evening. It is difficult even to guess at the appearance of the\nParliament building. Assuredly it did not require to be of great size.\nWhen the time arrived for opening the Session, only two, instead of\nseven members of the Legislative Council were present. No Chief Justice\nappeared to fill the office of Speaker of the Council. Instead of\nsixteen members of the Legislative Assembly, five only attended. What\nwas still more embarrassing, no more could be collected. The House was,\nnevertheless, opened. A guard of honour, consisting of fifty soldiers\nfrom the fort, were in attendance. Dressed in silk, Governor Simcoe\nentered the hall, with his hat on his head, attended by his Adjutant\nand two Secretaries. The two members of the Council gave notice of his\npresence in the Upper House to the Legislative Assembly, and the five\nmembers of the latter having appeared at the Bar of the two Lords, His\nExcellency read his speech from the throne. He informed the honorable\ngentlemen of the Legislative Council and the gentlemen of the House of\nAssembly, that he had summoned them together under the authority of an\nAct of Parliament of Great Britain, which had established the British\nconstitution, and all that secured and maintained it to Upper Canada;\nthat the wisdom and beneficence of the sovereign had been eminently\nproved by many provisions in the memorable Act of Separation, which\nwould extend to the remotest posterity the invaluable blessings of that\nconstitution; that great and momentous trusts and duties had been\ncommitted to the representatives of the province, infinitely beyond\nwhatever had distinguished any other British Colony; that they were\ncalled upon to exercise, with due deliberation and foresight, various\noffices of civil administration, with a view of laying the foundation\nof that union of industry and wealth, of commerce and power, which may\nlast through all succeeding ages; that the natural advantages of the\nnew province were inferior to none on this side of the Atlantic; that\nthe British government had paved the way for its speedy colonization;\nand that a numerous and agricultural people would speedily take\npossession of the soil and climate. To this speech the replies of the\nCouncil and Assembly were but an echo. The seven gentlemen legislators\nproceeded actively to business. An Act was passed to repeal the Quebec\nAct, and to introduce the English law as the rule of decision in all\nmatters of controversy relative to property and civil right; an Act to\nestablish trials by jury; an Act to abolish the summary proceedings of\nthe Court of Common Pleas in actions under ten pounds sterling; an Act\nto prevent accidents by fire; an Act for the more easy recovery of\nsmall debts; an Act to regulate the tolls to be taken in mills (not\nmore than a twelfth for grinding and bolting); and an Act for building\na Gaol and Court House in every district within the province, and for\naltering the names of the said districts, the district of Lunenburg to\nbe called the Eastern District; that of Mecklenburg, the Midland\nDistrict; that of Nassau, the Home District; and that of Hesse, the\nWestern District.\nParliament was about a month in session, when it was prorogued by His\nExcellency. On the 15th of October he gave the assent of the Crown to\nthe Bills passed, and in the prorogation speech, made on the same day,\nhe intimated his intention of taking such measures as he deemed prudent\nto reserve to the Crown, for the public benefit, a seventh of all lands\ngranted or to be granted; and he begged the popular representatives to\nexplain to their constituents, that the province was singularly blest\nwith a constitution the very image and transcript of the British\nConstitution! There being only thirty thousand inhabitants in the whole\nprovince, small as the Parliament was, the people, if not fairly, were\nat least sufficiently represented. It is somewhat doubtful,\nnevertheless, that a constitution which gave only a quasi-sovereign to\nUpper Canada, neither directly, nor, as the Governors of Canada now\nare, indirectly responsible to the people, could have been the very\nimage and transcript of the British Constitution. There was a misty\nresemblance to that celebrated and unwritten form of government, in the\nerection of three estates--King, Lords, and Commons--and no more. But,\nas it is sometimes expedient to be thankful for small favors, it may\nhave appeared to Governor Simcoe that the new constitution of the\ncolony was superior to that of England before _magna charta_.\nUndoubtedly the Governor was an honest man, a good soldier, a prudent\nruler, liberally educated, and of considerable mental capacity. He\nappears to have been a member of the Imperial Parliament at the time of\nthe passage of the Separation Act, for when the report of the Bill was\nbrought up in the Commons, on the 16th of May, 1791, it appears by the\ndebate, that a Colonel Simcoe spoke in favor of the adoption of the\nreport, pronounced a panegyric on the British Constitution, and wished\nit to be adopted in the present instance, as far as circumstances would\nadmit. Aware of the advantages which such a colony as Upper Canada, if\nit attained perfection, might bring to the mother country, he accepted\nthe government of a mere wilderness, to adopt means adequate for that\npurpose. Independent in means, high in rank, possessed of large and\nbeautiful estates in England, Governor Simcoe, in the opinion of the\nDuke de la Rochefoucault Liancourt, could have had no motive of\npersonal aggrandizement in view when he accepted the government of\nUpper Canada. The General, however, loathed the Americans of the United\nStates. He had been with Burgoyne. He had tasted of that officer's\nhumiliation. It was impossible for General Simcoe to speak of the\n\"rebels\" calmly. A zealous promoter of the American war, as well as\nparticipator in it, the calamitous issue of that unfortunate and most\ndeplorable struggle increased the intensity of his bitterness. Although\nhe did not hope for a renewal of the strife, he trusted that if it were\nrenewed, he might have the opportunity of laying the country in waste,\nand of exterminating the canting, hypocritical, puritanical,\nindependents. He soon perceived the folly of the Seat of Government\nbeing situated on the very frontier, the more especially as Detroit was\nto be surrendered to the very people whom he most detested. York, from\nits security, situation and extent, seemed, at first glance, to be the\nmost desirable place. Determined, however, to do nothing rashly,\nGeneral Simcoe weighed the matter well in his mind. It seemed to him\nthat a town might be founded on the Thames, a river previously called\nDe La Trenche, which rises in the high lands, between Lakes Ontario,\nHuron, and Erie, and flows into Lake St. Clair, which would be most\nsuitable, and in process of time, most central. He even selected the\nsite of a town upon the river, which he had named the Thames, and\ncalled the site London. Indeed it is somewhat astonishing that this\nexcellent Anglo-tory, as the Americans, south of 45\u00b0, doubtless,\nesteemed him, did not call Sandwich, Dover; Detroit, Calais; and the\nthen Western and Home Districts of the western section of the Province,\nwhich is almost an Island, England. The garden of Upper Canada, almost\nsurrounded by water, Governor Simcoe did intend, that as England is\nmistress of the seas, so her offshoot, Canada, should be Queen of the\nLakes. Whatever might have been, or may yet be the natural advantages\nof London, Canada West, for a seat of government, the Governor General\nof British North America, Lord Dorchester, not then on the best\npossible terms with General Simcoe, would not hear of it, and he,\nnotwithstanding the boast of the Lieutenant Governor that Upper Canada\nhad obtained the exact image and transcript of the British\nConstitution, exercised a powerful influence in the state. Lord\nDorchester insisted that Kingston should be the capital of the Upper\nProvince. He was determined, moreover, that if he could not prevail on\nthe Imperial Government to convert Kingston into the provincial\ncapital, that the seat of government should not be at the London of\nGeneral Simcoe. He was not favorable to York. A muddy, marshy,\nunhealthy spot, it was unfitted for a city. Lord Dorchester, peevish\nfrom age, was, to some extent, under the influence of the Kingston\nmerchants, and was inclined, by a feeling of gratitude, to grant the\nwishes of Commodore Bouchette, who resided at Kingston, with his\nfamily, and to whom Lord Dorchester was indebted for safe conduct\nthrough the American camp, after Montreal had fallen into the hands of\nMontgomery. Kingston, as a town, was then inferior even to Newark, but\nthe back country was in a more advanced state, as far as cultivation\nwas concerned. The number of houses in the two towns was nearly equal,\nbut the houses in Kingston were neither as large nor so good as those\nof Newark. Many of the houses in Kingston were merely log-houses, and\nthose which consisted of joiners work were badly constructed and\npainted. There was no Town Hall, no Court House, and no Prison. The\ntrade consisted chiefly in furs, brought down the Lake, and in\nprovisions brought from Europe. There were only three merchant ships,\nthat made eleven voyages in the year. In the district, three or four\nthousand bushels of corn were raised, and the surplus of that required\nfor the feeding of the troops and inhabitants was exported to England,\nthe price of flour being six dollars per barrel. In 1791, a thousand\nbarrels of salt pork were sent from Kingston to Quebec, at a price of\neighteen dollars a barrel. In selecting a site for the seat of\ngovernment, then, as now, local interests were brought into play, but\nGeneral Simcoe ultimately succeeded in obtaining the permission of the\nImperial authorities to fix it at York.\nThe revenue of Upper Canada, in 1793, was only \u00a3900, and the pay of the\nmembers of Assembly was $2 a day. There was a Chief Justice and two\nPuisne Judges, the members of the Executive Council, five in number,\nbeing a Court of Appeal; and the Governor, with an assistant, formed a\nCourt of Chancery. Murders were of more frequent occurrence than other\ncrimes, and were rarely punished. There were Quakers, Baptists,\nTunkers, Presbyterians, and Roman Catholics without places of worship.\nThe ministers of the Episcopal Church in connection with the Church of\nEngland, were the only clergymen paid by government.\nGovernor Simcoe's schemes for the improvement of the country and the\ndevelopment of its resources, are worthy of notice, as being \"extremely\nwise and well arranged.\" The central point of the settlements he\ndesigned to be between the Detroit River and the plantations previously\nestablished in Lower Canada, within a square formed by Lake Ontario,\nLake Erie, Detroit River, and Lake Huron. He conceived that Upper\nCanada was not only capable of satisfying all the wants of its\ninhabitants, but also of becoming a granary for England. He did not\ndoubt but that the activity of Upper Canada, in agricultural pursuits,\nwould operate as a powerful example in regard to Lower Canada, and\narouse it from its then supineness and indolence. He conceived that the\nvast quantities of sturgeons in Lake Ontario would afford a successful\ncompetition with Russia in the manufacture of isinglass or fish-glue.\nThe corn trade was, in his opinion, preferable to the fur trade, which\nthrew the whole trade of a large tract of territory into the hands of a\nfew. He detested military government without the walls of the forts. To\nthe Lieutenants of each county he deputed the right of nominating the\nmagistracy and officers of militia. A justice of the peace could\nassign, in the King's name, two hundred acres of land to every settler,\nwith whose principles and conduct he was acquainted. The Surveyor of\nthe District was to point out to the settler the land allotted to him\nby the magistrate. He did not care to enlarge his territory at the\nexpense of the Indians. It appeared to him that a communication between\nLakes Huron and Ontario might be opened, by means of the St. Joseph's\nriver, which would relieve the fur traders of the Far West from the\nnavigation of the Detroit River, of Lake Erie, of the Niagara River,\nand of a great part of Lake Ontario, and would disappoint the United\nStates in their hope of receiving, in future, any articles across the\nLakes, situated above Lake Huron. He was further of opinion, that a\ndirect communication, the idea now entertained by the Honble. John\nYoung, of Montreal, might be established between Lake Huron and the\nRiver St. Lawrence. Unfortunately for the Province, Governor Simcoe did\nnot remain long enough in it to put his admirably conceived projects\ninto execution. These schemes when conceived, could not be very easily\nbrought under public notice. There was in all Upper Canada only one\nnewspaper, and that very far from being an organ of public opinion. The\nNewark Spectator, or Mercury, or Chronicle, or whatever else it may\nhave been, was but a loose observer of men and manners, printed weekly.\nHad it not been supported by the government, not a fourth part of the\nexpenses of the proprietor would have been refunded to him by the sale\nof his newspaper. It was a short abstract of the newspapers of New York\nand Albany, \"accommodated\" to the anti-American principles of the\nGovernor, with an epitome of the _Quebec Gazette_. It was the medium\nthrough which the Acts of the Legislature, and the Governor's notices\nand orders were communicated to the people. It was _par excellence_ the\ngovernment organ.\nThe Second Session of the First Provincial Parliament of Upper Canada\nwas held at Niagara, on the 31st of May, 1793. There is no copy of the\nspeech from the throne to be found, unless it may have been in the\nNewark _Spectator_, which is not within reach. Its contents may be\ngleaned from the nature of the Bills passed during the Session, and\nassented to by the Lieutenant Governor. An Act was passed for the\nbetter regulation of the militia; the nomination and appointment of\nparish and town officers were provided for; the payment of wages to the\nmembers of the House of Assembly, at a rate not exceeding ten shillings\nper diem, was authorized and provided for; the laying out, amending,\nand keeping in repair the public high roads was regulated, the roads\nnot to be less than thirty nor more than sixty feet wide; marriages\nsolemnized by justices of the peace, before the separation, were to be\nvalid, and in future justices of the peace were empowered to marry\npersons not living within eighteen miles of a parson of the Church of\nEngland, the form of the Church of England to be followed; the times\nand places of holding Courts of Quarter Sessions were fixed; the\nfurther introduction of slaves was prevented, and the term of contracts\nfor servitude limited; a Court of Probate was established in the\nProvince, and a Surrogate Court in every district; Commissioners were\nappointed to meet Commissioners from the Lower Province, to regulate\nthe duties on commodities, passing from one Province to the other; a\nfund for paying the salaries of the officers of the Legislative\nCouncil, and for defraying the contingent expenses thereof, by a duty\nof four pence a gallon on Madeira, and two pence on all other wines\nimported into the Province was established; the destruction of wolves\nand bears was encouraged by a reward of twenty shillings for a wolf's\nhead, and of ten shillings for a bear's head; returning officers were\nappointed for the several counties; and a further fund for the payment\nof the House of Assembly and its officers was created, by an\n\"additional\" duty of twenty shillings to be levied on all licenses for\nthe retail of wines or spirituous liquors. In the third Session of the\nParliament, convened on the 2nd June, 1794, an Act was passed for the\nregulation of juries; a Superior Court of Civil and Criminal\nJurisdiction was established, and a Court of Appeal regulated; a Court\nwas established for the cognizance of small causes in every district;\nthe Lieutenant Governor was empowered to license practitioners in the\nlaw; fines and forfeitures reserved to His Majesty for the use of the\nProvince were to be accounted for; the Assessment Act for the payment\nof wages to the Assembly was amended; the militia was further\nregulated; horned cattle, horses, sheep, and swine were not to run at\nlarge; the Gaols and Court Houses Act was amended; a duty of one\nshilling and three pence per gallon was laid upon stills, and the\nmanner of licensing public houses was regulated.\nThe Fourth Session of the First Parliament of Upper Canada having met\nfor the despatch of business, on the 6th July, 1795, the practice of\nphysic and surgery was regulated; an Act was passed to ascertain the\neligibility of persons to be returned to the House of Assembly; the\nagreement between Upper Canada and Lower Canada, by which the latter\nwere to collect all the duties on goods, wares and merchandize arriving\nat Quebec, giving the former one eighth of their nett produce, was\nratified, approved, and confirmed; the Superior Court Act of the\nprevious Session was amended and explained; and Registry Offices were\nestablished for the enregistering of deeds, lands and tenements. There\nwere no private Bills. The measures for Parliamentary consideration\nwere all of a public nature, and the legislation was eminently\njudicious and peremptory. Mr. Attorney General White was the great man\nin the Commons, and Mr. Speaker Chief Justice Powell in the Lords. The\nfirst Parliament died a natural death, and the members of it went\nquietly to their respective places of abode.\nThe second Parliament met at Newark, after a general election not\nproductive of any very great degree of excitement, on the 16th of May,\n1796, opened by the Governor in person, with the usual formalities.\nCertain coins were better regulated; the juries Act was amended; the\nQuarter Sessions Act was amended; the public houses Act was amended;\nthe wolves and bears destruction Act was partially repealed, by the\nrewards for killing bears being withdrawn; the Lieutenant Governor was\nauthorized to appoint Commissioners to meet others from the Lower\nProvince, about duties and drawbacks on goods passing from one Province\nto the other; and the assessment Act was amended.\nThis Session of the second Parliament was hardly concluded, when\nGovernor Simcoe was required to relinquish his Government and proceed\nto St. Domingo, in a similar capacity, the government of Upper Canada,\nuntil the arrival of a regularly appointed successor, devolving upon\nthe Hon. P. Russell, President of the Council. Mr. Russell convened the\nsecond Session of the Provincial Parliament, at the new capital of\nYork, selected by his predecessor, and in which a gubernatorial\nresidence of canvass had been erected. The first Act passed during his\nvery quiet reign of only three years, was one for the better security\nof the Province against the King's enemies. It provided that no person\nprofessing to owe allegiance to any country at war against the King,\nshould be permitted to enter, remain, reside, or dwell in the province.\nThe second Act was one to enable the inhabitants of the township of\nYork to assemble for the purpose of choosing and nominating parish and\ntownship officers; an Act for securing the titles to lands; an Act for\nthe regulation of ferries; an Act to incorporate the legal profession;\nthe word \"clergyman\" in land grants to signify clergy; felons from\nother Provinces to be apprehended, and the trade between the United\nStates and the Province to be temporarily provided for, by the\nsuspension of an Act repugnant to the free intercourse with the United\nStates, established by treaty of 1794. Several amendments to Acts and\nother Acts were passed, when the Session was prorogued in due form.\nOn the 5th of June, 1798, the third Session of the second Provincial\nParliament met, and seven Acts received the gubernatorial assent. Among\nother things, the boundary lines of the different townships were to be\ndetermined, the ministers of the Church of Scotland, Lutherans or\nCalvinists, were authorized to celebrate marriage; and the method of\nperforming statute labor on the roads was altered.\nThe fourth and last Session of this second Parliament of Upper Canada\nmet at York, on the 12th June, 1799, and six Acts were assented to,\namong which was one providing for the education and support of orphan\nchildren; and another enabling persons holding the office of Registrar\nto be elected members of the House of Assembly, a member of which body\naccepting the office to vacate his seat, with the privilege, however,\nof being re-elected.\nOn the 17th August, 1799, General Hunter appeared and assumed the\nLieutenant Governorship to which he had been appointed by the King. He\nwas not, however, simply Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada; but also\nthe Lieutenant, General commanding-in-chief, in both of the Canadas. He\ntook possession of the Government of Upper Canada about a fortnight\nafter the general government of British North America had been\nentrusted to His Excellency Robert Shore Milnes, Esquire. The\nLieutenant General was well advanced in years. He had seen fifty-three\nsummers, and it was not to be expected that his previous education and\nhabits would give way to the new ideas of younger men in a new country.\nGeneral Hunter was, nevertheless, connected with a highly talented\nfamily, his brother being the celebrated Dr. Hunter of London, and his\ntalents for government were possibly better than the bills passed\nduring his reign would indicate. There was, indeed, little, if any,\nadvance in legislation. The Acts of former Sessions, relative to\nduties, the administration of justice, and to the militia, were patched\nand repatched, made more stringent, less liberal, and more complicated.\nIn the first Session of the third Parliament, which met at York, on the\n2nd June, 1800, six Acts of revival, regulation, or amendment were\nassented to, one of which, making a temporary provision for the\nregulation of trade between Upper Canada and the United States,\nestablished ports of entry. The second Session of the third Parliament\nwas held on the 28th of May, 1801, at the now established capital. The\nParliament, as usual, was recommended to look after the King's enemies,\nthe militia, the Quarter Sessions, the Customs Duties, the Roads, and\nthe payment of the Assembly and its officers. There was no change in\nthe matters legislated upon, worthy of note, with the exception that\nCornwall, Johnstown, Newcastle, York, Niagara, Queenston, Fort Erie\nPassage, Turkey Point, Amherstburgh, and Sandwich were declared to be\nPorts of Entry, collectors being appointed by the Governor to receive a\nsalary of \u00a350 per cent on duties, till the same amounted to \u00a3100, above\nwhich sum there was to be no advance, and having the privilege of\nappointing their own deputies; the Governor was authorized to appoint\nFlour and Ashes Inspectors, who were to receive three pence for every\nbarrel of flour they inspected, and one shilling for every cask of pot\nand pearl ashes; and an Act was passed preventing the sale of\nspirituous or intoxicating drinks to the Moravian Indians, on the River\nThames. The third Session of the third Parliament met on the 25th of\nMay, 1802, when five Acts only were passed. Titles of lands were to be\nbetter ascertained and secured; the administration of justice in the\nNewcastle District was provided for; the rates which the Receiver\nGeneral should take and retain for his own use out of the monies\npassing through his hands, subject to the disposition of the Province,\nwas to be declared and ascertained; one or more ports of entry were\nestablished, and one or more collectors of Customs appointed; and an\nAct for applying \u00a3750 to encourage the growth of hemp, and \u00a384 0s. 8d.\nfor stationery for the Clerks of Parliament was adopted. On the 24th of\nJanuary, 1803, the Parliament being again assembled for the despatch of\nbusiness, an Act was passed, allowing time for the sale of lands and\ntenements by the Sheriff; a fund was established for the erection and\nrepair of light-houses; the rights of certain grantees of the waste\nlands of the Crown were declared; married women were enabled to convey\nand alienate their real estate; attornies were enabled to take two\nclerks and \"no more,\" the Attorney and Solicitor General excepted, as\nthey could take three each, and \"no more;\" the swine and horned cattle\nrestraint Act was extended; members of Parliament, having a warrant\nfrom the Speaker of attendance, were, for their own convenience,\nenabled to demand from justices of the peace, ten shillings a day, to\nbe levied by assessment. After this, Parliament was prorogued, unless\nit be that a second fourth Session of the Parliament was held, which is\nnot very probable, although Mr. Gourlay, in his account of Canada,\ngives two fourth Sessions to the third Parliament, and afterwards\ncomplains that the business of the first Session of the sixth\nProvincial Parliament was nowhere to be found.\nParliament next assembled on the 1st of February, 1804. Sedition was\nprovided against; persons who should seduce soldiers into desertion\nwere to be exemplarily punished; fees, costs, and charges were to be\nregulated by the Court of Kings Bench; the swine Act was amended, so\nthat sheep might run at large, and rams only be restrained between the\n1st December and 20th December; \u00a3300 was appropriated to the printing\nof all the Acts of the Province, and \u00a380 a year was allowed for the\nannual printing of the laws, which were to be distributed among members\nof Parliament, judges, and militia officers; \u00a3100 was granted for the\nbuilding of bridges and repairing old roads and laying out new ones;\nthe Customs Act was explained; \u00a3175 was granted for the purchase of the\nStatute Laws of England; \u00a3400 per annum was granted to be applied in\nthe erection of Parliament Buildings; \u00a3303 11s. 10-1/2d. was voted for\nthe clerks and officers of the Parliament, including stationary, and to\nthe government commissioners appointed to adopt means to encourage the\ngrowth of hemp a sum of \u00a31,000 was granted. The Session of the fourth\nParliament, next bent on the despatch of business, came together on the\n1st February, 1805. It altered the time of issuing tavern and still\nlicenses; afforded relief to heirs or devizees of the nominees of the\nCrown, entitled to claim lands in cases where no patent had issued for\nsuch lands; regulated the trial of contested elections; continued the\nDuty-Commissioners Act for four years; altered certain parts of the\nNewcastle-District administration of justice Bill; made provision for\nthe further appointment of parish and town officers; relieved insolvent\ndebtors, by an Act which enabled a debtor in prison to receive five\nshillings weekly from his creditor during his detention, if the\nprisoner were not worth five pounds, worthlessness being, in this\ninstance, to a man's advantage; the curing, packing and inspection of\npork was regulated by the appointment of inspectors, whose fees were to\nbe one shilling and six pence per barrel, exclusive of cooperage, with\nsix pence a mile to the Inspector, for every mile he had to travel; \u00a345\n9s. 8d., advanced by His Majesty, through the Lieutenant Governor, for\nthe purchase of hemp seed, and \u00a3229 8s. 6d., advanced for\ncontingencies, clerks of Parliament and so forth, were to be made good\nout of a certain sum applied to that purpose; and for the further\nencouragement of the growth and cultivation of hemp, and for the\nexportation thereof, it was by law determined that \u00a350 per ton should\nbe paid for hemp.\nLieutenant General Hunter died at Quebec on the 21st August of the same\nyear, (1805) at the age of 59, and was buried in the English Cathedral\nat Quebec, where a monument in marble has been erected to his memory,\nby his brother, the physician. It is recorded on his tombstone, that\nGeneral Hunter's life was spent in the service of his King and country,\nand that of the various stations, both civil and military, which he\nfilled, he discharged the duties with spotless integrity, unwearied\nzeal, and successful abilities.\nThe Honorable Alexander Grant, as President of the Council, succeeded\nGeneral Hunter in the administration of affairs. Mr. Grant reigned only\none year, when he was succeeded by His Excellency Sir Francis Gore.\nDuring Mr. Grant's short rule, \u00a350 a year each, was provided for eight\nyears, to six Sheriffs; an Act was passed to regulate the practice of\nphysic and surgery; \u00a3490 was appointed for the purchase of instruments\nto illustrate the principles of natural philosophy, to be deposited in\nthe hands of a person employed in the education of youth; \u00a31,600 was\ngranted for public roads and bridges; the Acts for the appointment of\nParish officers, for the collection of assessments, and for the payment\nof the wages of the House of Assembly were altered and amended; the\nCustom Duties' Act was continued; and \u00a3498 8s. 5d. was made good to the\nCommissioners treating with Lower Canada, and to the Clerks of\nParliament.\nThe Governments, of both Upper and Lower Canada, were administered by\nresidents of the country at the same period of time. While Mr. Grant,\nthe administrator of Upper Canada, had convened the parliament of the\nprovince on the 4th of February, 1806, Mr. Dunn had convoked the\nparliament of Lower Canada for the 22nd of the same month in the same\nyear. On opening the parliament of Lower Canada Mr. Dunn tellingly\nalluded to the important victory of Lord Nelson at Trafalgar and to the\nsubsequent action off Ferrol, recommending the renewal of the acts\ndeemed expedient during the previous war for the preservation of His\nMajesty's government and for the internal tranquillity of the province.\nBy the address, in reply, he was assured that these acts would be\nrenewed. Shortly after the assembly had met it occurred to them that\ntheir peculiar privileges, as an offshoot of the Commons of England,\nhad been assailed. The proceedings of a dinner party given to the\nrepresentatives of Montreal in that city had been printed and\ncirculated in the Montreal _Gazette_ of the 1st April, 1805. The dinner\nwas given in Dillon's tavern, and the party were particularly merry\nwith the abundant supply of wines. Mr. Isaac Todd, merchant, presided.\nAfter the customary toasts on all such occasions had been given, the\npresident proposed:--\"The honorable members of the Legislative Council,\nwho were friendly to constitutional taxation as proposed by our worthy\nmembers in the House of Assembly;\"--\"Our representatives in parliament,\nwho proposed a constitutional and proper mode of taxation, for building\ngaols, and who opposed a tax on commerce for that purpose, as contrary\nto the sound practice of the parent state;\"--\"May our representatives\nbe actuated by a patriotic spirit, for the good of the province, as\ndependent on the British empire, and be divested of local\nprejudices;\"--\"Prosperity to the agriculture and commerce of Canada,\nand may they aid each other, as their true interest dictates, by\nsharing a due proportion of advantages and burthens;\"--\"The city and\ncounty of Montreal and the grand juries of the district, who\nrecommended local assessments for local purposes;\"--\"May the city of\nMontreal be enabled to support a newspaper, though deprived of its\nnatural and useful advantages, apparently, for the benefit of an\nindividual.\" It is difficult to perceive where any breach of privilege\nwas involved, but the assembly looked upon these aspirations and upon\nthe compliments to the Montreal representatives as a false and\nscandalous and malicious libel, highly and unjustly reflecting upon His\nMajesty's representative and on both Houses of the Provincial\nParliament, and tending to lessen the affections of His Majesty's\nsubjects towards the government of the province. A committee of inquiry\nwas appointed, and reported that the libellers were the printer of the\n_Gazette_, Edward Edwards, and the president of the dinner party, Isaac\nTodd. Nay, the libel was reported to be a \"high\" breach of the\nprivileges of the Assembly and Messrs. Todd and Edwards were ordered to\nbe taken into custody. But the Serjeant-at-Arms, or his deputy, could\nnot lay his hands upon these gentlemen and the matter was no more\nthought of until the editor of the Quebec _Mercury_ ridiculed the whole\nproceedings, when it was ordered that Mr. Cary should be arrested. Mr.\nCary was afraid that such unpleasant investigations might give rise to\nother unpleasant investigations with regard to the powers of the House.\nHe intimated that in France it was customary to tie up the tongue and\nlock up the press, and for so doing he was compelled either to submit\nto be himself locked up or apologize. On being arrested he apologized\nat the Bar of the House and was released. The time of the House was\nfrittered away by empty discussions and wordy addresses upon the gaol\ntax, previously mentioned, which the king did not disallow as required\nby the mercantile community. Indeed the administrator of the government\nin his prorogation speech remonstrated with the Assembly for the\nnon-completion of the necessary business. The civil expenditure of the\nyear came to \u00a335,469 sterling, including \u00a32,000 to General Prescott,\nwho was then in England, and \u00a33,406 to Sir Robert Shore Milnes, with\nthe addition of \u00a32,604 currency, for salaries to the officers of the\nLegislature, the expenditure exceeding the revenue by \u00a3869.\nGeneral Prescott, the Governor General, absent in England, was yet in\nthe receipt of \u00a32,000 a year, and the year before he had \u00a34,000; Sir\nRobert Milnes, the Lieutenant Governor, also absent, had received the\nsalary above mentioned, while Mr. Dunn received \u00a3750, as a judge of the\nKing's Bench, \u00a3100 for his services as administrator of the government,\na pension of \u00a3500 sterling a year, on relinquishing the administration,\nand an additional allowance of \u00a31,500 a year while he had administered\nthe government. Beyond question their \"Excellencies\" and \"His Honor,\"\nwere amply remunerated. The Governor General and his Lieutenant were\nabsent on business. Indeed, while the Legislative Assembly, in defence\nof imaginary privileges, were cutting such fantastic capers before high\nheaven, the confidential secretary of Lord Dorchester and of his\nsuccessors so far, the Honorable Herman Witsius Ryland,--who, having\nbeen Acting Paymaster General to His Majesty's Forces captured by the\nAmericans, went to England, when His Lordship, then General Sir Guy\nCarleton, evacuated New York, and returned with him to Canada, when\nthat officer was appointed Governor-in-Chief in 1793, full of the\nsympathies, antipathies, prepossessions, and prejudices of the English\nconservative of that day,--had devised a scheme, which, had it been\ncarried out, would have rendered their privileges not very valuable. He\nonly designed to \"anglify\" the French-Canadians by compulsion. Before\nthe separation of the province into Upper Canada and Lower Canada it\nwas a matter of consideration whether all the Roman Catholic churches\nin the Province could not be converted into Reformed Anglo-Episcopal\nchurches. The contemplated plan of doing so was to take from the\n\"Vicaire du Saint Si\u00e9ge Apostolique\" the power of nominating and\nappointing the parish priests; the appointment of subsequent bishops\nwas to be given to the king; and the Popish Bishop then living, was to\nbe succeeded by a Protestant Bishop, who would find an easy method of\nturning Cardinal Richelieu's church extension schemes to excellent\naccount in a new mode of ordaining new \"catholic\" priests, who might be\ndisposed to abandon, at least, some of the doctrines of Rome and\nembrace, at least, some of those of the Protestant religion. The\nreligious principle involved in this interesting scheme would have done\ncredit to the eighth Henry. It would have had the effect of erecting on\na Popish foundation, of building up on the sainted Rock, a church\nmilitant as a more powerful safeguard to English influence and power in\nCanada than the citadel of Quebec has been. Together with the creation\nof a Provincial Baronetage, in the persons of the members of the Upper\nHouse, the honor being descendible to their eldest sons in lineal\nsuccession, and the raising of the most considerable of these eldest\nsons at a future period to a higher degree of honor, as the province\nincreased in wealth, together with the recognition of Mr.\nDeBoucherville's old noblesse, it would have most certainly much sooner\nproduced that state of things which Sir Francis Bond Head and the\n\"family compact\" so ably brought to a crisis. The secretary of all the\ngovernors Lower Canada had yet had, corresponded, most confidentially,\nwith his home masters, somewhat, perhaps, to the prejudice of his honor\nthe administrator. As general Simcoe loathed the nasal twang,\nattenuated appearance, and the vulgar republicanism of a downeast\nAmerican, so Mr. Witsius Ryland abominated Romanism. Speaking of the\nRoman Catholic clergy of Canada, he says:--\"I call them Popish to\ndistinguish them from the clergy of the Established Church and to\nexpress my contempt and detestation of a religion, which sinks and\ndebases the human mind, and which is a curse to every country where it\nprevails.\" Nay, he laid it down, as a principle, to undermine the\nauthority and influence of the Roman Catholic Priests. It was or should\nbe the highest object of a governor to crush every papist scoundrel.\nFollowing the line of conduct which had so widely established the\nauthority of the Popes of Rome, it was the duty of governors to avail\nthemselves of every possible advantage, and never to give up an inch\nbut with the certainty of gaining an ell. He lamented that the seminary\nand perhaps some other estates had not been taken possession of by the\ncrown, incorporated, and trustees appointed, out of which incorporated\nestates a handsome salary might have been paid to the King's\nSuperintendent and Deputy Superintendent of the Romish Church! but the\nproceeds of which should principally have been applied to the purposes\nof public education. And he was deeply mortified that \"a company of\nFrench rascals\" had momentarily deprived the country of any hope of\nsuch a destiny of these estates. The private and confidential remarks\nof the secretary were not altogether without effect. His Grace of\nPortland, then His Majesty's Secretary for the Colonies, peremptorily\nordered Governor Milnes to resume and exercise that part of the king's\ninstructions requiring that no person whatever was to have holy orders\nconferred upon him, or to have cure of souls, without license, first\nhad and obtained from the Governor, and Lord Hobart, the Duke's\nsuccessor in the Colonial Department, intimated to Sir Robert Milnes\nthat it was highly proper that he should signify to the Catholic Bishop\nthe impropriety of his assuming any new titles or exercising any\nadditional powers to those which he had as the Vicar of the Holy\nApostolic See. The French Priests were also to be reminded that their\nresidence in Canada was merely on sufferance, and that it was necessary\nfor them to behave circumspectly, else even that indulgence would be\nwithdrawn. Greatly alarmed at these proceedings the Bishop of Rome\nrespectfully remonstrated. He humbly reminded His Most Excellent\nMajesty, the King, that nineteen-twentieths of the population were of\nthe Roman Catholic religion; that the humble remonstrant was himself\nthe fourteenth bishop who had managed the church since Canada had\nhappily passed into the hands of the Crown of Great Britain; that the\nextension of the province was prodigious, requiring more than ever that\nthe superintending bishop should retain all the rights and dignities\nwhich His Majesty had found it convenient to suffer the bishops to have\nat the conquest; and that in the Courts of Justice there should be no\nroom to doubt their powers. It was indeed no wonder that the\nsuperintendent of the Church of Rome was alarmed at the aspect of\naffairs. The Attorney-General Sewell reported with regard to the\nnomination of Laurent Bertrand to be cur\u00e9 of Saint L\u00e9on-le-Grand, by\nthe titular Roman Catholic Bishop of Quebec, in the case of one\nLavergne, who having refused to furnish the _pain b\u00e9ni_, was prosecuted\nin the Court of King's Bench, that it was a usurpation in the bishop to\nerect parishes and appoint cur\u00e9s. He went farther and said that there\nwas no such person as the Roman Catholic Bishop of Quebec. The title,\nrights, and powers of that office had been destroyed by the conquest.\nNay, there could not, legally, be any such character, as, if he\nexisted, the King's supremacy would be interfered with, contrary to the\nStatutes of Henry the Eighth and of Elizabeth. Not only was there a\nquiet but arbitrary denial of the right of the Roman Catholic Bishop to\nmanage the affairs of his diocese, the possibility of negotiating the\nReverend Coadjutor Plessis out of his influence was entertained. Mr.\nAttorney-General ultimately waited upon that ecclesiastic to explain\nhis own private sentiments to him. The bishop was studiously guarded\nand significantly polite. The Attorney-General thought that a good\nunderstanding ought to exist between the government and the ministers\nof religion. Mr. Plessis was quite of that opinion. Mr.\nAttorney-General thought the free exercise of the Roman Catholic\nreligion having been permitted the government ought to avow its\nofficers, but not at the expense of the Established Church. Mr.\nCoadjutor Plessis said that position might be correct. Mr.\nAttorney-General thought that the government could not allow to Mr.\nPlessis that which it denied to the Church of England. Mr. Plessis saw\nthat the government thought that the bishop should act under the King's\ncommission, and could see no objection to it. The Attorney-General was\nstrongly of opinion that the right of appointing to cur\u00e9s, which no\nbishop of the Church of England had, must be abandoned. Mr. Plessis\nthought that even Buonaparte and the Pope had effected a compromise on\nthat matter. Mr. Attorney-General had no faith in Buonaparte and was\nbut an indifferent Catholic, but the Crown only could select from a\nBishop's own Priesthood, and a Bishop, once acknowledged, would be the\nhead of a department. That said Mr. Plessis would be a departure from\nthe Romish doctrine of church discipline. To some extent it would, but\nyour clergy would be officers of the Crown, and you would obtain the\nmeans of living in splendour, said the Attorney-General. Splendour,\nsaid Mr. Plessis, is not suitable to the condition of a bishop;\necclesiastical rank and a sufficient maintenance is all he needs. The\nAttorney-General meant that a bishop should have the income of a\ngentleman. Mr. Plessis meant the same thing, but it was a delicate\nmatter to pension a bishop, for relinquishing his right of nominating\nto the cures, as the public would not hesitate to say he had sold his\nchurch. Never mind, said the Attorney-General, if the matter is viewed\naright, you have none to relinquish. I do not know, replied Mr.\nPlessis. Whatever is to be done must now be done, intimated the\nAttorney-General. You speak truly, was the modest reply, something must\nbe done, and though we may differ in detail, I hope we shall not in the\noutline.\nNot very long after this conversation Bishop Denaud died. Now was the\ntime for Mr. Witsius Ryland to act or never. He did act most\nenergetically. He ear-wigged Mr. President Dunn, concerning his proper\nline of conduct on the occasion. He attempted to dissuade Mr. Dunn from\na formal acknowledgement of Mr. Plessis, as Superintendent of the\nRomish Church, till His Majesty's pleasure should be declared. He\nthought an order should be immediately issued from home, prohibiting\nthe assumption, by a Roman Catholic prelate, of the title of Bishop of\nQuebec. It occurred to him that a French emigrant bishop, if one could\nbe found, would be more easily managed than Mr. Plessis. But Mr.\nPlessis was too much for Mr. Ryland, and found favor in the President's\nsight. Mr. Dunn would not listen to the representations of his\nsecretary, and the wrath of his secretary was kindled. He wrote to Sir\nRobert Milnes on the subject, and to \"My dear Lord,\" the Right Reverend\nJacob Mountain, D.D. Not only was Mr. Dunn determined upon formally\nrecognizing the new Roman Catholic Bishop but he was determined to\nsuffer the Reverend Mr. Panet to take the oath as Coadjutor, without\neither waiting for His Majesty's pleasure, or for any other sanction\nwhatever. It was most distressing, but \"where was the layman, free from\nvanity, who, at seventy-three years of age, would let slip an\nopportunity of making a bishop?\" It was dreadful. His contempt and\nindignation rose to a height that nearly choked him. As an apology for\nthe recognition of Mr. Panet, it was all very well to say that his\nbrother was a mighty good sort of a man. A mighty good sort of a man!\nHow devoted were such mighty good sort of men, those very loyal\nsubjects, to His Majesty! From the Speaker himself, down to the\n\"fellow\" who held a lucrative office in the Court of King's Bench, and\nwho had sent his son to join the banditties of Mr. Buonaparte, who was\nnot, to suit his purpose, brimfull of loyalty! Things were wretchedly\nmanaged, but the wisest thing to be done under present circumstances\nwas nothing.\nThe Home Government anxious to build up in some manner a Protestant\nChurch establishment had appointed the Right Reverend Jacob Mountain,\nDoctor in Divinity, to the Diocese of Quebec. At the expense of the\nImperial Government, a Cathedral was built in Quebec, which was\nconsecrated in 1804, on the ruins of the Recollet Church of the\nJesuits. To this day it is possibly the most symmetrical in appearance\nof any church of the Church of England in Canada. Exteriorly, it is 135\nfeet in length and 73 in breadth, while the height of the spire above\nthe ground is 152 feet, the height from the floor to the centre arch,\nwithin, being 41 feet. The communion plate, together with the altar\ncloth, hangings of the desk and pulpit of crimson velvet and cloth of\ngold, and the books for divine service, was a private present from\nGeorge the Third. There was then also a Rector of Quebec, having a\nsalary, from the British Government, of \u00a3200 a year, such a sum as,\nBishop Mountain reported to His Excellency the Governor, no gentleman\ncould possibly live upon! a Rector of Montreal with the same salary,\nand \u00a380 additional per annum made up by subscription from the parish; a\nRector of Three Rivers with a like salary of \u00a3200 from home; a Rector\nof William Henry receiving \u00a3100 from home and \u00a350 from the Society for\nthe Propagation of the Gospel; an evening lecturer at Quebec, receiving\n\u00a3100 from the Imperial Treasury; the incumbent of Missisquoi Bay,\nobtaining \u00a3100 from government, \u00a350 from the Propagation Society, and\n\u00a330 from the inhabitants; and two vacancies in the \"new settlements,\"\nrequiring \u00a3150 to be paid to each. The building of a stone church in\nMontreal was commenced, but the structure which promised to be \"one of\nthe handsomest specimens of modern architecture in the province,\" was\nnot finished, for want of funds, ten years afterwards. In Upper Canada,\nso late as 1795, no church had been built. Even in Newark, it is\nquaintly added by the Duke de la Rochefoucault Liancourt, in the same\nhalls where the Legislative and Executive Councils held their sittings,\njugglers would have been permitted to display their tricks, if any\nshould have ever strayed to a country so remote. His Grace, quite\ncorrect with regard to Newark, was at fault in speaking of the whole\nprovince. At Stamford there was a Presbyterian Church, built in 1791,\nand another church built for the use of all persuasions, a kind of free\nand common soccage church, in 1795, which was destroyed in the\nsubsequent war. It was in this year that one of the most remarkable\nmen, and one of the most able and indefatigable of the colonial clergy,\nwas strolling about Marischal College, in Aberdeen, studying\nphilosophy. He was a very plain-looking Scotch lad and very cannie.\nAltogether wanting in that oratorical brilliancy so necessary for an\nefficient preacher of the great truths of Christianity, Mr. John\nStrachan had diligently acquired a dry knowledge of the humanities, to\nfit himself for a teacher of youth. He was, in a limited sense, a\nclassical scholar. Greek and Latin, Hebrew and the Mathematics, were at\nhis fingers' ends. Not long after leaving college, he obtained the\nplace of a preceptor to the children of a farmer in Angus-shire. The\nsituation of schoolmaster of Dunino, a parish situated foury miles\nsouth of St. Andrews, in Fifeshire, and six miles north of Anstruther,\nthe school taught by Tennant, the orientalist, professor of Hebrew and\nother oriental languages in St. Mary's College, St. Andrews, and the\nauthor of the Poem of Anster Fair, became vacant, when Mr. John\nStrachan made application for the fat berth, the salary being nearly\n\u00a330 a year, and obtained it. Mr. Strachan taught quietly at Dunino,\nattending St. Andrews College, in the winter, until he received the\noffer of \u00a350 a year, as tutor to the family of a gentleman living in\nUpper Canada. He accepted it, left Dunino, and went to the wilderness.\nMr. Strachan taught as a private tutor for some time and subsequently\nestablished a school for himself, when he married a widow possessed of\ncash and respectably connected. The Church of Scotland, in Canada, was\nthen at a very low ebb. Even in Quebec, although there had been a\nregularly ordained clergyman of the church officiating since 1759,\nthere was only, from 1767 to 1807, an apartment assigned to the Scotch\nChurch for the purpose of divine worship, by the King's representative,\nin the Jesuits' College. Nay, in 1807, the Scotch Church was entirely\nsent adrift by Colonel Brock, to be afterwards permitted to meet in a\nroom in the Court House. Until 1810 there was no Scotch Church in\nQuebec. What inducement was there for a progressive Scotchman to remain\nin connection with such a church? Mr. Strachan clearly perceived that\nthe road to worldly preferment ran through the Church of England, and,\nhaving a wife, and the expectation of a family, he recognised the\nexpediency of obtaining orders as a descendant of the apostles. It was\nnot long before he obtained permission to officiate as a minister of\nthe Church of England, and he abandoned the birch for the surplice. Mr.\nStrachan justified every expectation that may have been formed of him.\nHe became a most zealous churchman, and a very short time elapsed until\nthe Scotch schoolmaster was the Hon. and Revd. Dr. Strachan, Rector of\nYork, now Bishop of Toronto, and he may go to the grave satisfied that\nhe has done more to build up the Church of England in Canada, by his\nzeal, devotion, diplomatic talent, and business energy, than all the\nother bishops and priests of that church put together.\nSome idea will now have been formed of the state of the Church of\nEngland \"establishment,\" in Canada, about a time, when it was intended\nto amalgamate with it the fabrics of Rome. Bishop Mountain had a seat\nit in the Legislative Councils of both provinces. He only was the\nembodiment of Church and State.\nMr. Secretary Ryland, anxiously active against the Church of Rome, was\nvery favorably disposed towards the Church of England. His creed with\nregard to the \"Protestant Church Establishment,\" in the provinces, was\nfor it to have as much splendour and as little power as possible. His\nchief desire was to make episcopalianism fashionable. He would have\ngiven to the Bishopric of Quebec a Dean, a Chapter, and all the other\necclesiastical dignitaries necessary for show, and he would have\nendowed the See with sufficient lands to support the establishment in\nthe most liberal manner. But not a grain of civil power beyond their\nchurches and churchyards was he inclined to give to the clergy. He even\nthought that in regard to the particular case at Montreal, and in any\nother case where a church should be, or was about to be built by\nprivate contribution, the bishop would exhibit infinite discretion, if\nhe did not do more than wish to advise and to consecrate. The same\nrights, privileges, prerogatives and authority as bishops enjoy under\nthe common Law of England could not safely be given to colonial\nbishops, nor could it be possible to obtain them. A more worldly view\nof church extension could not well be conceived, but the suggestion was\nnot by any means an imprudent one. Bishops, being but men, are too apt\nto abuse power, and it is surely well that too much of it should not be\ngranted to experiment upon.\nWhile all this was quietly going on, _sub rosa_, in Lower Canada, the\nMethodists, Baptists, and Presbyterians, were quietly taking hold of\nthe public mind in Upper Canada. Although the meeting houses were only\nfew and far between, and churches and chapels were extremely rare, the\nmost illiterate of the sects were itinerating, hither and thither, with\nwonderful success.\nAbout this time there was also a disposition to diffuse education. His\nMajesty, the King, gave directions to establish a competent number of\nfree schools in the different parishes, to be under the control of the\nExecutive, but the project was strenuously opposed by the Roman\nCatholic clergy, and only grammar schools in Montreal and Quebec were\nprovided for, which have languished and died. It was feared by Bishop\nMountain that the want of colleges and good public schools would render\nit necessary for parents to send their children to the United States,\nto imbibe, with their letters and philosophy, republican principles. It\nwas at his suggestion also that the idea of free schools was\nentertained. The Canadians were deplorably ignorant, and their\nchildren, it was designed, should be free from that reproach. It is\nonly now, however, that they are emerging from the most debasing state\nof mental darkness, into something like enlightenment. Example has done\nthat which force would have failed to accomplish.\nAs illustrative of the saying \"there is nothing new under the sun,\" it\nis worthy of remark here that upon the arrival of the intelligence in\nCanada, respecting the breaking out of the war with France, in 1798,\nsome of the leading members of the House of Assembly, which was then\nsitting, proposed to levy the sum of \u00a320,000 sterling, by a tax on\ngoods, wares, and merchandize, to be applied, as a voluntary gift to\nHis Majesty, from the province, to enable the King the more effectually\nto prosecute the war. This was proposed by Mr. Attorney-General, Mr.\nYoung, and Mr. Grant, and as far as the House was concerned, the\nmeasure was found practicable. But General Prescott, the Governor,\nhaving been informed of the matter, did not think it expedient to\nencourage a scheme which Lord Elgin would have jumped at.\nIn 1805, the whole revenue of the province was only \u00a337,000, yet, it\nappears that Sir Robert Milnes, the Governor, did not think that he\ncould sufficiently entertain to gain a due consideration from the\nprincipal persons in the province, on \u00a34,000 a year. He sent a whining\nletter to Lord Hobart on the subject, begging for an increase of\nsalary. \u00a35,000 was not a sufficient sum to keep up the hospitality of\nGovernment House. It would hardly support the summer residence at\nSpencer Wood. He had said nothing about so delicate a matter, while the\nwar lasted, though he had expended \u00a31,000 a year out of his own private\nincome. And he would rather resign than sacrifice the comforts and\nwaste the means of his family.\nCanada, now, continued steadily to advance, both politically and\ncommercially. Neither her political advancement nor the extent of her\ncommerce was great, but both were yearly becoming greater. During the\nsummer of 1806, one hundred and ninety-one vessels, 33,474 tons of\nshipping, entered at Quebec. Coasters were in full and active\nemployment, and shipbuilding was to some considerable extent carried\non. The military of the garrison were still antiquated. The army made\nno perceptible progress, soldiers still plastered their hair, or if\nthey had none, their heads, with a thick white mortar, which they laid\non with a brush, afterwards raked, like a garden bed, with an iron\ncomb; and then fastening on their heads a piece of wood, as large as\nthe palm of the hand, and shaped like the bottom of an artichoke, they\nmade a _cadogan_, which they filled with the same white mortar, and\nraked in the same manner, as the rest of the head dress.[11] The army\nwore cocked hats, knee breeches and gaiters. The _habitants_, or\npeasantry, had retrograded, and Volney found that, in general, they had\nno clear and precise ideas: that they received sensations without\nreflecting on them; and that they could not make any calculation that\nwas ever so little complicated. If asked how far the distance from this\nplace to that was; a French-Canadian peasant would reply:--\"it is one\nor two pipes of tobacco off,\" or \"you cannot reach it between sunrise\nand sunset.\" But the better classes, in close contact with the upper\nclasses among the English, were rapidly improving, and began to\nentertain the idea that they had political rights. They even started\na newspaper called \"_Le Canadien_\" and began most vigorously to\nabuse \"les Anglais\" and the government. The \"_Canadien_\" published\nentirely in French, first appeared in November 1806. Had it been less\nanti-British, possibly, it would have been less disagreeable; but\nthe idea had strongly taken possession of its supporters that\nFrench-Canadians were looked upon, by the government and its\nsatellites, as mere serfs, and they agitated accordingly. Not only\nthat. They began to exhibit some sparks of independence. Their\nwatchword became:--\"_Nos institutions_, _notre langue_, _et nos lois_.\"\nThey branded the British immigrants and the British population as\n\"_\u00e9trangers et intrus_.\" Mr. Crapaud's temper was fairly up. There was\ncause. The worm will bite when trodden upon. Unless there had been\nsubstantial grievances, the _Canadien_ could not by any possibility\nhave become so popular as to have given not only umbrage, but\nuneasiness to the government. Yet it did cause such uneasiness and\nwas peremptorily checked. It was impossible then for a native-born\nCanadian, whether of English or French extraction, to look a\nhome-appointed government official in the face. \"_Tempora mutantur et\nnos mutamur in illis._\"\n [11] See Duke de la Rochefoucault's Liancourt's travels through\n North America.\nOn the 21st January, 1807, Mr. President Dunn again met the Legislature\nof Lower Canada. That invaluable constitution enjoining on the ruler to\nmeet his parliament once a year, rendered it imperative upon him to\nsummon the Council and Assembly for the despatch of business. He\nrecommended to the assembled wisdom before him the propriety of\ncontinuing several temporary acts then in force; congratulated them on\nthe brilliant success of His Majesty's arms; alluded with pride to the\nconquest of the Cape of Good Hope; and touched upon the repeated\nvictories obtained by Sir John Stuart in Calabria. The Assembly replied\nin terms most flattering to the President personally, promising to do\nas he required. On proceeding to business, the first subject which\nengaged the attention of the House was the propriety of defraying the\nexpenses of members of the House residing at a distance from Quebec.\nThe House was disposed to defray such expenses, but nevertheless, the\nfurther consideration of the matter was postponed by a majority of two.\nThe expediency of having a Provincial Agent or Ambassador, resident in\nLondon, to look after the interests of the province at the metropolis\nof the empire was discussed, and it was resolved in the affirmative.\nThe Alien Act was passed, and that for the better preservation of His\nMajesty's government continued for another year, together with several\nother acts, and on the 16th of April, the parliament was prorogued.\nSerious apprehensions of a war between England and the United States\nnow began to be entertained. American commercial interests were\ngrievously affected by the war in Europe, and a kind of spurious\nactivity, in the hostile preparations which would surely follow a\ndeclaration of war against England, on which country in peace the\nmerchants of New York, Boston, and the other seaports of the United\nStates principally depend, seemed to be the only incentive for such a\nwar. But while the filibusters of \"the greatest nation in creation,\"\nwere looking for any cause of war, a good cause, in American eyes,\narose. The American ships of war were mostly manned by British seamen.\nMen were greatly in demand for British war vessels, and it was\nconceived that the right to impress a British sailor anywhere on land\nor water belonged to His Majesty's naval officers. It having reached\nthe ears of Admiral Berkeley, the Naval Commander in Chief, on the\nHalifax Station, that the American frigate \"Chesapeake,\" was partly\nmanned by British seamen, the Admiral, unthinkingly ordered Captain\nHumphreys, of the \"Leopard,\" to recover them. The men on board of the\n\"Chesapeake\" were indeed known to be deserters from H.M.S. \"Melampus.\"\nWilliam Ware, Daniel Martin, John Strachan and John Little, British\nseamen, within a month after their desertion, had offered themselves as\nable seamen at Norfolk, in Virginia. Their services were accepted, and\nthe \"Chesapeake,\" on board of which they were sent, prepared for sea.\nBeing made aware of the enlistment of these men, the British Consul at\nNorfolk, formally demanded their surrender by the Captain of the\n\"Chesapeake.\" Their surrender was refused. Application for them was\nthen made to the American Secretary of the navy. But he did not\nconsider it expedient to give them up. Three of the men were natives\nof America, two had protection, and the other had merely lost his\nprotection. The \"Chesapeake\" sailed on the 22nd of June, and on the\nsame day was intercepted by the British frigate \"Leopard,\" of 50 guns,\noff Cape Henry. Captain Humphreys, of the \"Leopard,\" stepping on board\nof the \"Chesapeake,\" demanded the muster of the crew of the American\nfrigate. Captain Barron, in command of the American frigate, refused\ncompliance. The British Commander returned and both vessels got ready\nfor action, the American frigate only, it is said, anticipating\nhostilities. Then the Leopard fired upon the Chesapeake and, in thirty\nminutes, so disabled her that she struck, when Captain Humphreys\nboarded her and took, from among her crew, Ware, Martin, and Strachan,\ntogether with one John Wilson, a deserter from a British merchant ship.\nThe United States now burned with indignation. Their outraged\nnationality could never brook such an insult. Every British armed\nvessel was ordered to leave the waters of the United States by the\nPresident. A special meeting of Congress was held. And the American\nMinister at the Court of St. James was ordered to demand satisfaction.\nHe did do so. Mr. Canning, the British Minister, at once offered\nreparation, but he objected to any reference to the general question of\nimpressments from neutral vessels being mixed up with an affair so\nunfortunate. Mr. Munroe was not authorized to treat these subjects\nseparately, and further negotiation between the two ministers was\nsuspended. Great Britain then sent a special minister to the United\nStates, empowered to treat concerning the special injury complained of.\nBefore he arrived most ample preparations were being made in the United\nStates for war. Millions of dollars were appropriated towards the\nconstruction of 188 gun-boats, and the raising of horse, foot, and\nartillery. It was not until 1811 that this huge mistake was settled,\nwhen the British Minister communicated to the American Secretary of\nState that the attack on the Chesapeake was unauthorized by His\nMajesty's government; that Admiral Berkeley was recalled; that the men,\ntaken from the Chesapeake, should be restored; and that suitable\nprovision for the families of the six American seamen killed in the\nfight should be made. But, settled as this gross and deplorable mistake\nwas to the perfect satisfaction of the President, the trading community\nof the United States were every day becoming more dissatisfied with the\nstate of affairs in Europe and the consequent state of affairs at home.\nThe situation of affairs, on this side of the Atlantic, was indeed\ngloomy and critical. France and England were fiercely at war, and were\narraying against each other the most violent commercial edicts to the\ndestruction of the commerce of neutral nations. There was the British\nblockade from the Elbe to Brest; Napoleon's Berlin decree; the British\nOrder in Council prohibiting the coasting trade; the celebrated Milan\ndecree; and the no less celebrated British Orders in Council, of\nNovember the 11th, 1807, together with the American Government's edicts\nrespecting non-intercourse with Great Britain and France to set on edge\nthe teeth of a people now little scrupulous as to what they did,\nprovided money could be made, or power be obtained. Strife had\nintroduced a disposition to intrigue; political cunning had become\nfashionable; and political duplicity had lost much of its deformity in\nthe United States. The finger of derision was no longer pointed at\nmeannesses; the love of honor, and manliness of conduct, was blunted;\ncunning began to take the place of wisdom; professions took the place\nof deeds, and duplicity stalked forth with the boldness of integrity.\nThe American people wanted a quarrel that the whole boundless continent\nmight be theirs. They had badgered France out of Louisiana, and they\nwould badger England out of Canada and the West Indies. In New York and\nBoston, Philadelphia and Baltimore, it was customary to talk of walking\ninto Canada and squat a conquest, as was afterwards carried into effect\nwith regard to Texas. Mr. Dunn, the President of the Canadian\ngovernment, looked upon the state of feeling in the adjoining republic\nwith suspicion. He conceived it expedient to feel the public pulse in\nCanada. Like a skilful physician he approached the patient cautiously\nand good humouredly, to prevent flurry or agitation, and in putting his\nhand on the pulse of public opinion, he found it to be healthily strong\nand regular. He prescribed only a draft of one-fifth part of the whole\nmilitia of the province. The draft was taken immediately. The Roman\nCatholic Bishop of Quebec, or rather the yet only Superintendent of the\nRomish Church in Quebec, Mr. Plessis, now rapidly rising into favor\nwith the Colonial Court, promptly issued a _mandement_ to the faithful,\nconcerning the war, and a \"_Te Deum_\" was sung in all of the churches\nunder his control in Lower Canada. The Canadians turned out with great\nalacrity. His Honor the President and Commander-in-Chief expressed his\nsatisfaction in general orders. Burn's artillery company volunteered.\nIn ballotting, young bachelors procured the prize tickets of the\nmarried men. Some that were not drawn purchased tickets from some that\nwere drawn, and there were not a few married people who refused to sell\nout, if all that is stated in a Quebec paper of that period can be\ncredited. No doubt the glories of war were uppermost in men's minds. It\nis possible to make war popular and the braggart tone of the Americans\nhad doubtless contributed considerably to its popularity with the\nCanadians.\nColonel Brock was then Commandant at Quebec. He was a man of much\ndecision of character and of strong natural sense. With the President\nhe made the most vigorous exertions to discipline the militia and to\nput the fortifications of Quebec into a good state of defence. Night\nand day men labored at the fortifications. Every addition that\n\"science, judgment and prudence could suggest,\" was made.\nThe income this year was \u00a336,417, and the civil expenditure \u00a336,213.\nIn Upper Canada, Francis Gore, Esquire, it has been previously\nintimated, was Lieutenant-Governor. He first met Parliament on the 2nd\nof February, 1807. Twelve Acts were passed, the most remarkable of\nwhich were the Act to establish Public Schools in every district of\nthe Province, \u00a3800 having been appropriated for that purpose, with the\nview of giving to each of the eight districts of the Province, a\nschoolmaster having a salary of \u00a3100 a year; the Act imposing licenses\non Hawkers, Pedlars, and Petty Chapmen,--to the amount of three pounds\nfor every pedlar, with twenty shillings additional for a hawker with a\nhorse; eight pounds for every chapman sailing with a decked vessel\nand selling goods on board;--five pounds for the same description\nof traders sailing in an open boat; and eight pounds on transient\nmerchants; and the Act for the Preservation of Salmon, which permitted\nthat fish to be taken with a spear or hook, but prohibited the use of a\nnet in the Newcastle and Home Districts.\nWhen next the Parliament met, on the 20th January, 1808, the same fears\nthat were felt in Lower Canada, being felt in Upper Canada, an Act was\npassed to raise and train the Militia; \u00a31,600 was granted towards the\nconstruction of roads and bridges; \u00a3200 of yearly salary was granted to\nan Adjutant-General of Militia; \u00a375 additional was given to the Clerks\nof the Assembly; \u00a362 10s. per ton was to be the price of hemp purchased\nunder an Act of Parliament for the encouragement of its growth in the\nProvince; an Act for the more equal representation of the Commons was\npassed; and Collectors of Rates were to enter into bonds of \u00a3200\nsecurity.\nOn the 2nd February, 1809, the Parliament of Upper Canada was again\nconvened. An Act was adopted for quartering and billeting the Militia\nand His Majesty's troops on certain occasions. Householders were to\nfurnish them with house-room, fire, and utensils for cooking. Officers,\nin case of an invasion, having a warrant from a Justice of the Peace,\ncould impress horses, carriages, and oxen, on regulated hire. Upper\nCanada was evidently preparing for an expected struggle, as well as\nLower Canada. \u00a31,045 was this session granted for the Clerks of\nParliament and contingencies, including the erection of a Light House\non Gibraltar Point; Menonists and Tunkers were permitted to affirm in\nCourts of Justice; \u00a3250 was appropriated for a bridge across the Grand\nRiver; and \u00a31,600 was granted for bridges and highways. In the next\nsession of the Fifth Parliament, which Governor Gore assembled at York,\non the 1st of February, 1810, \u00a32,000 were granted for the roads and\nbridges; the Common Gaols were declared to be Houses of Correction for\nsome purposes; a duty of \u00a340 a year was set upon a Billiard Table set\nup for hire or gain; \u00a3606 were applied to printing Journals, Clerks of\nParliament, and building Light Houses. The Act establishing a Superior\nCourt of Criminal and Civil jurisdiction, and regulating a Court of\nAppeals, was repealed; and \u00a3250 additional was granted for the erection\nof a bridge across the Grand River.\nTo return to Lower Canada, Lieutenant-General Sir James Henry Craig\narrived at Quebec in the capacity of Governor General, on the 18th\nOctober, 1807, in the frigate Horatio, and relieved Mr. President Dunn\nof the government, on the 24th of October. Mr. Secretary Ryland was\nvery busy at the time. He was flattering himself, he told the Bishop of\nQuebec, that the Secretary of State would have received from him a\nseries of despatches which would \"give that functionary a general and\nuseful knowledge of the state of things in Lower Canada.\" There were\nsome who had exerted themselves to defame and injure the President,\nwith a view to their own private interests. He particularly alluded to\nthat contemptible animal, Chief Justice Alcock; to his worthy friend\nand coadjutor, of whose treacherous, plausible, and selfish character,\nhe had never entertained a doubt; and to that smoothfaced swindler,\nwhom the Lieutenant-Governor had taken so affectionately by the hand,\nas the man, who, of all others, came nearest in point of knowledge,\nvirtue, and ability, to the great Tom of Boston. He would add to these\nworthies a pudding-headed commanding officer (General Brock!) who, if\nthe President had given in to all his idle \"Camelian\" projects, would\nhave introduced utter confusion into the whole system, civil and\nmilitary. He anxiously expected Sir James Craig, whose established fame\nassured him that a better choice could not have been made. And he\nthought it probable that if his dear, dear Lordship, should not have\nhad an opportunity of honoring him with a recommendation to His\nExcellency of established fame, his services would be dispensed with,\nand then he could join his family in England. But should he remain as\nSecretary to General Craig, he had it in contemplation to lay before\nhim a copy of his letter to Lord S., concerning ecclesiastical affairs,\nthough it would not be prudent to do so until he had ascertained how\nfar the General's sentiments accorded with his own. In a postscript to\nhis letter to the dear Lord Bishop, Mr. Ryland goes into raptures. He\nhad just received a message from Mr. Dunn, telling him that the\nGovernor General had arrived. He dressed himself immediately and got on\nboard the frigate with Mr. Dunn's answer to the General's despatch,\nbefore the ship cast anchor, and before any of the other functionaries\nknew even that the Governor General was at hand. He found the General\nill in bed, but was so politely received, that the General begged that\nhe would do him the favor to continue his secretary. He never was so\npleased with any person at first sight. Although he saw him to every\ndisadvantage, the General appeared to be a most amiable, a most\nintelligent, and a most decided character. He, (the General,) landed\nabout one o'clock, but was so unwell that he begged to be left alone,\nand Mr. Ryland only saw him for an instant. But that curious beast, the\nChief Justice, after intruding himself with unparalleled assurance,\nupon the General, before he landed, forced himself again upon him, at\nthe Chateau, when every body but the President had withdrawn, and most\nimpudently sat out the latter. He did so for the purpose of recommending\nas secretaries, his father-in-law, and a young man named _Brazenson_,\nor some such name, whom he had brought out with him from England, but\nhis scheme entirely failed, and his folly would fall upon his own pate!\nMr. Ryland had transacted business with the Governor every day since\nhe had landed, and had even drawn up a codicil to his will, the poor,\ndecided Governor, who had adopted Mr. Ryland, was so ill. Nay, Mr.\nRyland, for the love of this one honorable and just man, could have\nalmost forgotten that he was surrounded by scoundrels, and would bury\nin oblivion the mean jealousies of a contemptible self-sufficiency, and\nthe false professions of smiling deceit. But should it please Almighty\nGod to remove the incomparable man, and should there be a chance that\nthe civil government of the province should be again disunited from the\nmilitary command, he did hope that the dear, dear Lord, would favor him\nwith his utmost interest towards enabling him to make the exchange\nwhich Mrs. Ryland would tell his dear Lordship, the Bishop, her husband\nhad in contemplation.\nSir James Craig was an officer of good family. He was one of the Craigs\nof Dalnair and Costarton, in Scotland, but was born in Gibraltar, where\nhis father had the appointment of Civil and Military Judge. He had seen\nmuch service in the camp and in the field. In 1770 he was appointed\nAid-de-Camp to General Sir Robert Boyd, then Governor of Gibraltar, and\nobtained a Company in the 47th Regiment of the line. Having gone to\nAmerica, with his regiment, in 1774, he was present at the battle of\nBunker's Hill, where he was severely wounded. In 1776, he accompanied\nhis regiment to Canada, commanding his company at the action at Trois\nRivi\u00e8res, and he afterwards commanded the advanced guard in the\nexpulsion of Arnold and his \"rebels.\" He was wounded at Hubertown, in\n1777, and was present at Ticonderoga in the same year. He was wounded\nagain at Freeman's Farm, and was at Saratoga with Burgoyne, and after\nthat disastrous affair was selected to carry home the despatches. On\nhis arrival in England, he was promoted to a majority in the 82nd\nRegiment, which he accompanied to Nova Scotia, in 1778, to Penobscot,\nin 1779, and to North Carolina, in 1781, where he was engaged in a\ncontinued scene of active service. He was promoted to the rank of Major\nGeneral, in 1794, and the following year was sent on the expedition to\nthe Cape of Good Hope, where, in the reduction and conquest of that\nmost important settlement, with the co-operation of Admiral Sir G. K.\nElphinstone and Major General Clarke, he attained to the highest pitch\nof military reputation. Nor were his merits less conspicuous, it is\nsaid, in the admirable plans of civil regulation, introduced by him in\nthat hostile quarter, when invested with the chief authority, civil and\nmilitary, till succeeded in that position by the Earl of Macartney, who\nwas deputed by the King to invest General Craig with the Red Ribbon, as\na mark of his sovereign's sense of his distinguished services. Sir\nJames served, subsequently, in India and in the Mediterranean, where he\ncontracted a dropsy, the result of an affection of the liver. This was\nthe officer, of an agreeable but impressive presence, stout, and rather\nbelow the middle stature, manly and dignified in deportment, positive\nin his opinions, and decisive in his measures, though social, polite,\nand affable, who was sent out to govern Canada because a rupture with\nthe United States was considered probable. Sir James on arrival at\nQuebec did not, however, consider hostilities imminent. Nor did he\nimmediately organize the militia. But he lauded the Canadians for the\nheroic spirit which they had manifested. One of his first acts was to\nrelease from prison a number of persons convicted of insubordination,\nand sentenced to twelve months' imprisonment in the gaol of Montreal.\nThe militia of the parish of L'Assomption, in the district of Montreal,\nhad formed a painful exception in the spirit which they exhibited on\nbeing called upon to enrol for service, to that which had been\nexhibited everywhere else. But the rioting had been immediately\nsuppressed, and the rioters punished by the ordinary Courts at\nMontreal. In gaol the rioters manifested contrition, promised good\nbehaviour for the future, and Sir James, overlooking the faults of the\nfew in consideration of the general merit, set the prisoners free. On\nthe 29th of January, 1808, he convened the Legislature. He regretted,\nin his opening speech, that there was little probability of a speedy\ncessation of hostilities, in Europe. He congratulated the \"honorable\ngentlemen,\" and \"gentlemen,\" on the capture of Copenhagen and the\nDanish fleet, defending the morality of the offensive measures against\nDenmark. He lamented the discussions that had taken place between His\nMajesty's government and that of America. He hoped that the differences\nwould be so accommodated as to avert the calamities of war between two\nnations of the same blood. He intended that no means should be\nneglected to prepare for the worst. Though the militia had been\nselected, he did not think it necessary to call them together, no\nimmediate circumstance seeming to require it. He had appointed\ncommissioners for the erection of new gaols in Quebec and Montreal. And\nhe expected perfect harmony and co-operation between the legislative\nbodies and himself, as the representative of the sovereign. All that\nSir James wished to be done the Assembly promised to do.\nIn those days not only was the Chief Justice a member of the Upper\nHouse, but the Judges of the King's Bench were not ineligible for\nelection to the Lower House, and some, or all of them, contrived to get\nseats there. It does not appear that the Chief Justice was in the Upper\nHouse a mere government tool, for Sir Robert Milnes most bitterly\ncomplained to the Duke of Portland, of the opposition to certain\nmeasures, which he had met with, from Chief Justice Osgoode, who, even\nin public, treated him contemptuously. But it is yet probable that some\nof the judges in the Assembly, were less the representatives of the\npeople who had elected them, than the mouth-pieces of the government,\nto whom they were indebted for their appointments to the Bench, and on\nwhose good pleasure, their continuance on the judgment seat, depended.\nBe that as it may, the Assembly were jealous of their presence in the\nHouse, and accordingly, this session of Parliament, a motion was\nintroduced into the Assembly, declaring it to be expedient that the\nJudges of the Court of King's Bench, the Provincial Judges of the\nDistricts of Three Rivers and Gasp\u00e9, and all Commissioned Judges of any\nCourts that might afterwards be established, should be incapable of\nbeing elected, or of sitting, or of voting in the House of Assembly.\nThe motion was adopted, and a bill framed upon the resolution, passed\nthe Assembly. Unfortunately, heedless of the pressure of public\nopinion, the Legislative Council threw out the bill! The Assembly were\ngreatly incensed, and the idea of expelling the judges was entertained;\nbut for a while relinquished.\nMr. Ezekiel Hart appeared at the Bar of the House to take his seat for\nThree Rivers, Mr. Lee, the previous representative of that town, had\ndied in the course of the previous session, and Mr. Hart had been\nelected to succeed him. Mr. Hart was a merchant of good standing. Of\nthe most spotless private character, he stood in high esteem with his\nneighbours and fellow townsmen. But Mr. Hart was not faultless. He was,\nby birth, education, and religion, a Jew. When he prayed, he placed the\nten commandments next his heart. In him, those devoted members of the\nSociety of Jesus, found neither a sympathizer nor a persecutor. A\nChristian Legislative Assembly, like that of Canada, of which Sir James\nCraig afterwards privately expressed an opinion so ludicrously high,\ncould not be contaminated with the presence of a Jew. By a vote of\ntwenty-one to five, it was resolved:--\"That Ezekiel Hart, Esquire,\nprofessing the Jewish religion, cannot take a seat, nor sit, nor vote\nin this House.\" Ezekiel departed. The word \"_baruch_,\" was on his\ntongue, the signification of which, like that of the French word\n\"_sacr\u00e9_,\" may signify, according to the humour of the utterer, either\nan anathema or a blessing. The Assembly being, however, ignorant of the\nHebrew tongue, Mr. Hart was not sent to gaol for breach of privilege,\nnor was he even required to apologize. These were the chief topics of\ndebate, and much time was occupied with them. A sum was voted to repair\nthe Castle of St. Louis then tottering to decay. The Militia and the\nAlien Acts were continued for another year. A bill for the trial of\ncontroverted elections was passed, and in all thirty-five bills were\ncarried through, all of which His Excellency, the Governor, sanctioned,\nexcept that relative to gaols in Gasp\u00e9, which, though afterwards\nsanctioned, was reserved for the pleasure of the King to be expressed\non it. On the 14th of April the Parliament was prorogued. The speech\nwas somewhat lengthy, and on the whole, it was a good one. Sir James\nwas induced to put a period to the session that he might be enabled to\nissue writs for a new House. The critical situation of affairs made him\nanxious for legislative assistance, under circumstances, that would not\nbe liable to interruption from the expiration of the period, for which\none of the branches was chosen. He was glad that so much attention had\nbeen paid to business. He was very much pleased to find that a sum of\nmoney had been granted for the repair of the Chateau. Events of great\nmagnitude had taken place in Europe. Napoleon had succeeded in exciting\nRussia, Austria, and Prussia, to hostilities, against England, and the\nMinisters of those Courts had demanded their passports to retire from\nthe Court of St. James. Napoleon had done more than that. The disturber\nof mankind had subverted the government of Portugal, but that\nmagnanimous Prince, Don Pedro, had emigrated with his Court to the\nBrazils, rather than submit to the degrading chains of such a master.\nHis Majesty, the King of Great Britain, had offered the Americans\nreparation, immediately and spontaneously, for the unauthorised attack\nupon the _Chesapeake_, but the American government taking advantage of\nthe state of affairs in Europe, were endeavoring to complicate the\ndifficulty, to the injury of that power which alone stood between it\nand an inevitable doom to the worst of tyranny. And in conclusion, he\nbegged the representatives of the people to instruct their\nconstituents, by the influence of their education and knowledge; to\npoint out to them a sense of their duties in due subordination to the\nlaws; to advise them to be faithfully attached to the Crown; to let\nthem into the knowledge of their true situation; to conceal not the\ndifficulties by which the empire was surrounded, but, at the same time,\nto point out the miseries Britain was combatting to avoid; and to\nassure them that while Britons were united among themselves, there was\nno dread of the result of the present struggle between liberty and\ndespotism.\nThe war had had its effect upon the trade of the country. The revenue\nhad fallen off nearly \u00a31,000, being only \u00a335,943, while the civil\nexpenditure had increased to \u00a347,231.\nIn May the general election took place. The contests were not marked by\nmuch bitterness. As before, in the larger towns, the two origins were\nequally represented. Even in the counties, several gentlemen of English\nextraction, were returned to the Assembly. Mr. James Stuart, the\nSolicitor General, now no friend to the Governor nor to his _sub rosa_\nadviser, Mr. Ryland, was returned for the East Ward of Montreal. Mr.\nStuart, a lawyer of excellent acquirements, of great independence of\nspirit, and of extraordinary mental capacity, instead of being raised\nto the Attorney-Generalship, on the elevation of Mr. Sewell to the\nChief Justiceship, in the room of Mr. Chief Justice Alcock, who had\ndied in August, had been superseded by Mr. Edward Bowen, a barrister\nof very limited acquirements, and, being then only a young man,\nprofessionally, very inexperienced. Nay, he was soon afterwards\ndismissed from the Solicitor-Generalship, by the Governor, to whom he\nhad, in some mysterious way, given offence. The Honorable Mr. Panet,\nSpeaker of the Assembly for the four previous parliaments, was\nnominated for the Upper Town of Quebec, and went to the hustings. He\npresided at an election meeting, at which there was something like\nplain-speaking, a particular kind of speaking most distasteful to the\nActing Paymaster General of Burgoyne's army, an army with which even\nSir James Craig had himself served. All the official class of the city,\n\"including the resident military officers, and _dependents_ upon the\nCommissariat, Ordnance, and other departments in the garrison,\"\nentitled to vote, voted in favor of another French gentleman, more\nacceptable to the government. The _Quebec Mercury_ was strongly opposed\nto the Speaker, who, by his plainspeaking, had become offensive to Mr.\nRyland, the _confidant_ of Sir James Craig. Mr. Panet lost his election\nfor Quebec, but was returned to the Assembly for Huntingdon. The\nGovernor and his Secretary were very much displeased, and the _Mercury_\nwas inspired to speak against the bilious spleen of the triumphant\nPanet, who was connected with that vile print, the _Canadien_. During\nthe election for Quebec, a handbill had appeared, calling the\ngovernment feeble. Those who issued that handbill, the _Mercury_\nexultingly remarked, would have felt that they were not quite under the\ngovernment of King Log. The _Canadien_ was, in abuse, the freest of any\npaper in the province. It was licentious. It no more consulted that\nwhich it was expedient for a free press to do, than did the House of\nAssembly consider that which was suitable to it, a few years past, on\nthe article of privilege. Mr. Ex-Speaker Panet was connected with the\n_Canadien_. He was also a Colonel of Militia. It occurred to Mr. Ryland\nthat the position of a militia officer was incompatible with the\nproprietorship of a newspaper. Accordingly, a few days after the return\nof Mr. Panet for Huntingdon, Mr. \"H. W. R.\" the Private Secretary of\nthe Governor General, was directed to inform Messrs. J. H. Panet,\nLieutenant-Colonel, P. Bedard, Captain, J. T. Taschereau, Captain and\nAid-Major, J. L. Borgia, Lieutenant, and F. Blanchet, Surgeon,\nproprietors of the _Canadien_, that the Governor-in-Chief considered\nit necessary for His Majesty's service to dismiss them from their\nsituations as Colonel, Captain, Aid-Major, Lieutenant, and Surgeon, of\nthe Militia. With regard to the Honorable Mr. Panet, in particular, His\nExcellency could place no confidence in the services of a person whom\nhe had good reason for considering as one of the proprietors of a\nseditious and libellous publication, disseminated through the province,\nwith great industry, to vilify His Majesty's government, to create a\nspirit of dissatisfaction and discontent among his subjects, and to\nbreed disunion and animosity between two races. Had it been the purpose\nof the _Canadien_ and of its proprietors to breed discord between the\ntwo races of settled inhabitants, the censure of Sir James Craig would\nhave been deserved. But that was not its purpose. It aimed only at\nequality of privileges, and complained of the sway of officials having\nno abiding interest in the country. It was a war between the imported\nofficial class and the native-born or naturalized classes which the\n_Canadien_ waged. Doubtless, it went, occasionally, too far. Doubtless,\nit forgot to make such distinctions between the officials and the\ntraders or agriculturists of British origin. Doubtless, it did remember\nthat the French Canadians had been captives at the conquest, and their\nsouls revolted at the idea of being lorded over still, though no longer\ncaptives, but British subjects, anxious for the honour of their King,\nand ready to defend him from his enemies.\nThe new Parliament met on the 9th of April, 1809. The Assembly were\ndirected to choose a Speaker. Out of doors and indoors, in the\nGovernor's Castle, at the official desk, in the merchant's counting\nroom, in the baker's shop, in the Council, and in the Assembly itself,\nthe choice of a Speaker by the Assembly, was a matter of interest. It\nwas whispered that Mr. Panet had incurred the Governor's displeasure,\nand that all the toadies would vote against him. It was blandly hinted\nthat Mr. Panet having been dismissed from the Militia, the House,\nhaving, regard to its own dignity, could not call him to the Chair. It\nwas said in conversation that Mr. Panet was an excellent and most\nimpartial Speaker, and it was a pity that he had suffered himself to\nhave been connected with the seditious and libellous _Canadien_. Only\nfor Mr. Panet's unfortunate position, no more suitable person, for the\nhighly honorable office of Speaker, could have been thought of. But he\nmust not be Speaker under present circumstances. The Assembly thought\notherwise and, acting independently and fearlessly, elected Mr. Panet\nas their Speaker. His Excellency the Governor did not much relish the\nchoice. He did not, however, refuse to confirm Mr. Panet as Speaker of\nthe Assembly. It was thought that he would be refused confirmation. But\nwhen he appeared at the Bar, with the House at his heels, and supported\nby the Mace, the Honorable the Speaker of the Legislative Council was\nonly commanded to tell Mr. Panet, that having filled the Chair of\nSpeaker, during four successive Parliaments, it was not on the score of\ninsufficiency that he would admit an excuse on Mr. Panet's part, nor\nform objections on his own part. He had no reason to doubt the\ndiscretion and moderation of the present House of Assembly, and as he\nwas, at all times, desirous of meeting their wishes, so he would be\nparticularly unwilling not to do so, on an occasion, in which they were\nthemselves principally interested. He, therefore, allowed and confirmed\nMr. Panet to be Speaker. His Excellency, though somewhat ironical in\nhis mode of confirmation, acted liberally and prudently. In His\nExcellency's speech from the throne, allusion was made to the\nunfavourable posture of affairs with America; to the revolution in\nSpain and to the generous assistance afforded that country by Great\nBritain; again to the emigration of the Royal Family of Portugal to\nBrazil; to Wellington's victory at Vimeira, by which Portugal had been\nrescued from the French; he cautioned the members of the Legislature\nagainst jealousies among themselves, or of the government, which could\nhave no other object in view than the general welfare; and alluded to\nthe non-intercourse and embargo policy of the United States, which, so\nfar, had operated favourably for the Canadian trade, particularly in\nthe article of lumber, which, owing to the exclusion of British\nshipping from the Baltic, had become a staple export. The House was not\npleased at the hints about jealousies, nor very much pleased with His\nExcellency's remarks in confirming their Speaker. The reply was not\nquite an echo of the speech. It was more. It was a quiet remonstrance\nagainst governmental insinuation. On proceeding to business, the\npropriety of expelling the judges was again discussed. A motion to\nexpel them was even made, but it was negatived. Some even who were\naverse to the judges having seats in the Assembly were not prepared to\ngo the length of expelling them from the House. All that was wanted was\nthat, in future, judges should be ineligible for seats in the Assembly.\nTo this end, a committee was appointed to inquire into the\ninconvenience resulting from the elections of judges to the Assembly,\nwith orders to report to the House. The committee inquired and\nreported, and of course, reported unfavourably to the judges. A bill to\ndisqualify the judges was re-introduced and read a first time. Mr. Hart\nagain appeared at the Bar to take his seat for Three Rivers. He had\nbeen re-elected. He was still a Jew, and showed no disposition to\nrecant his error. Nor would the House recant their error. The\nresolution which had been adopted against Mr. Hart's taking his seat in\nthe previous Parliament was repeated in this. The House of Assembly\nwent still farther. A bill to disqualify all Jews from being eligible\nto seats in the Assembly, was introduced and read twice. Five weeks had\nelapsed and the public business had not begun. The Governor was very\nmuch annoyed. The refractory spirit of the House, as regarded the\njudges, was most distasteful to him. Suddenly, on the 15th of May, he\nwent down to the Legislative Council, assented to five bills, and\nsummoned the attendance of the Commons. \"When I met you, said the now\nirate Sir James, at the commencement of the present session, I had no\nreason to doubt your moderation or your prudence, and I therefore\nwillingly relied upon both. I expected from you a manly sacrifice of\nall personal animosities. I hoped for a zealous dispatch of your public\nduty. I looked for earnest endeavours to promote the general harmony. I\nlooked for due and indispensable attention to the other branches of the\nLegislature. It was your constitutional duty. It was due to the\ncritical juncture of the times. I have been disappointed in every hope\non which I relied. You have wasted in frivolous debates, or by\nfrivolous contests on matters of form, that time and those talents to\nwhich the public have an exclusive title. You have abused your\nfunctions. In five weeks, you have only passed five bills. You have\nbeen so intemperate in debate that moderation and forbearance is\nscarcely to be looked for without a new Assembly. Gentlemen, Parliament\nis dissolved. A new Parliament will be convened as soon as convenience\nwill permit. My object in thus acting, _is to preserve the true\nprinciples of the free and happy constitution of the Province_.\" He\nturned with peculiar satisfaction from lecturing to the Assembly, to\noffer his acknowledgements to the gentlemen of the Legislative Council,\nfor their unanimity, zeal, and unremitting attention to the public\nbusiness, manifested in their proceedings. They were not to blame for\nthe waste of time and for the little that had been done for the public\ngood. The Assembly were surprised. It never entered the head of a\nsingle member that Sir James Craig, who, on first meeting a Canadian\nParliament, had been so courteous, would have been so abruptly\ncensorious. A prorogation was anticipated, when the Usher of the Black\nRod commanded, by order of His Excellency, their presence at the Bar of\nthe Upper House, but the possibility of a dissolution of Parliament\nnever occurred to any one. The constitution, boasted so much of, was\ncertainly a happy one. The representatives of the people were suddenly\nsent back to their constituents as unfitted for their business. And for\nsome time, the country, tickled with the bluntness of the Governor,\napplauded the act. Had Sir James desired to be absolute, the country,\nbefore it had had time to consider, would have assisted His Excellency\nin a _coup d'\u00e9tat_. It was not until the _Canadien_ had taken the\nmatter up energetically that any of the discarded legislative materials\ncould obtain a hearing from their constituents. After the _Canadien_\nhad criticised the speech from the throne, and had commented on the\nBill of Rights, in allusion to the Governor's measures, with respect to\nthe Assembly, and as applicable to the existing circumstances of the\nProvince--\"_Nos institutions_, _notre langue_, _et nos lois_,\"--public\nopinion gradually turned round in favor of the Assembly.\nSir James Craig's opinion of the Canadians had undergone a very\nconsiderable change for the worse. In a despatch to Lord Liverpool,\nsome short time afterwards, on the state of affairs in Canada, which\nMr. Ryland was sent to London with, Sir James speaks of Canada as\n_being a conquered country_, a fact _never to be put out of view_. He\nspoke of a colony usually estimated to contain a population of 300,000\nsouls. Of these, 20,000, or 25,000 only, might have been English or\nAmericans, and the remainder were French. They were in language,\nreligion, in manners, and in attachment, French. They were bound to the\nEnglish (officials) by no tie, but that of a common government. They\nlooked upon the government of the province with mistrust, jealousy,\nenvy, and hatred. He was certain his opinion of them was well founded.\nThere were very few French Canadians in the country who were not\ntainted with the sentiments he had imputed to them generally. Common\nintercourse hardly existed between the French and English. The lower\nclass, to strengthen a word of contempt, added the word _Anglais_ to\nit. The upper classes, who formerly associated with the English upper\nclasses, had entirely withdrawn themselves. The Canadians, generally,\nwere ignorant, credulous, and superstitious. He did not perceive that\nthey had any great vice except one. Drunkenness was the prevailing\nvice. When drunk they were brutal and quarrelsome. Like other people,\nsuddenly freed from a state of extreme subjection, they were apt to be\ninsolent to their superiors. They were totally unwarlike and averse to\narms or military habits, though vain to an excess, and possessing a\nhigh opinion of their prowess. They had been so flattered and cajoled\nabout their conduct, in the year 1775, that they really believed they\nstood as heroes, in history, whereas no people, with the exception of a\nvery few individuals, behaved worse than they did on that occasion. Now\ncame the teachings of Mr. Secretary Ryland, which that gentleman did\nnot think it prudent to bore Sir James with until he had ascertained\nhow far the incomparable man's sentiments accorded with his own. The\nSuperintendent of the Church of Rome in Canada, had been designated\nRoman Catholic Bishop, by other Governors, which was both dangerous and\nwrong, in view of the Queen's supremacy. The Bishop did as he pleased,\nin the appointment of cur\u00e9s. His patronage was at least equal to that\nof the government. The Bishop was cautious not to perform any act that\nmight be construed into an acknowledgement of His Majesty's rights. He\nwould not obey a Proclamation of the King for a fast or thanksgiving,\nbut issued a \"_mandat_,\" of his own, to the same effect, but without\nthe least allusion to His Majesty's authority. The arms of Great\nBritain were nowhere put up in the churches. With the cur\u00e9s no direct\ncommunication with the government existed. The church selected its\necclesiastics, the Governor knew not why, from the lower orders. The\nBishop was the son of a blacksmith. The Coadjutor was brother to a\ndemagogue, the Speaker of the Assembly, an \"avocat.\" The cur\u00e9s saw in\nBuonaparte the restorer of the Catholic religion. The Legislative\nCouncil, an object of jealousy to the Lower House, was composed of\neverything that was respectable in the Province. There were about\n300,000 French inhabitants to 25,000 English and American, yet there\nnever had exceeded fourteen or fifteen English members in the House of\nAssembly, while then there were only ten, and it was desired to get rid\nof the judges! The interests of certainly not an unimportant colony,\nwas in the hands of six petty shopkeepers, a blacksmith, a miller, and\nfifteen ignorant peasants, a doctor or apothecary, twelve Canadian\n\"avocats\" and notaries, and four people respectable so far as that they\ndid not keep shops, together with the ten Englishmen, who composed the\nLegislative Assembly. Some of the _habitants_ could neither read nor\nwrite. Two members of a preceding Parliament had actually signed the\nroll by marks, and there were five more whose signatures were scarcely\nlegible, and were such as to show that to be the extent of their\nwriting. Debate was out of the question. A Canadian Parliament did not\nunderstand it. The _habitant_ M.P., openly avowed that the matter,\nwhatever it was, had been explained to him. The \"moutons\" were crammed\nat meetings held nightly for the purpose. There was one singular\ninstance, of a _habitant_, who, in every instance, voted against the\nprevailing party. But that was the solitary exception to a general\nrule. The Canadians voted _en masse_, as directed--not by the\ngovernment. The government was entirely without influence. The Assembly\nwas the most independent in the world, for the government could not\nobtain even that influence which might arise from personal intercourse.\nHe could not be expected to associate with blacksmiths, millers, and\nshopkeepers. Even the _avocats_ and notaries he could nowhere meet,\nexcept during the actual sitting of Parliament, when he had a day in\nthe week expressly appropriated to receiving a large portion of them at\ndinner. The leaders in the House were mostly a set of unprincipled\n_avocats_ and notaries, totally uninformed as to the principles of the\nBritish constitution, or parliamentary proceedings, which they,\nnevertheless, professed to take for their model. Without property to\nlose, these men had gradually advanced in audacity, in proportion as\nthey had considered the power of France as more firmly established by\nthe successes of Buonaparte in Europe. They were obviously paving the\nway for a change of dominion. Without one act by which to point out\neither injury or oppression, the people of the Province had been taught\nto look upon His Majesty's government with distrust, and they publicly\ndeclared, while avowing such distrust, that no officer of the Crown was\nto be elected into the House. The English in general and their own\nseigneurs were entirely proscribed. Except in the boroughs or cities\nthese classes had no chance of election. A paper called the _Canadien_,\nhad been published, and industriously circulated in the country, for\nthree or four years, to degrade and vilify the officers of government,\nunder the title of _gens en place_; and to bring the government itself\ninto contempt, by alluding to the Governor as a _minist\u00e8re_, open to\ntheir animadversions. Nothing calculated to mislead the people had been\nomitted in this vile print. The various circumstances that brought\nabout the abdication of James the Second, had been pointed out, with\nallusions, as applicable to the government here. \"_La nation\nCanadienne_,\" was their constant theme. Religious prejudices, jealousy,\nand extreme ignorance, forbade the expectation of any improvement in\nthe Assembly. Questions before the Houses were always viewed as\naffecting or otherwise some temporal right of their clergy, or having\nsome remote tendency to promote the establishment of the Protestant\ninterest. How the Act for the establishment of Public Schools had\npassed had always been matter of surprise to him. There was much\njealousy at the progress of the Eastern Townships, which were settled\nby American loyalists. The country was beginning to look up to the\nmembers of the Assembly as the governors of the country. Formerly the\ncry was--\"_La Chambre_ to the devil!\" He thought that the only remedy\nfor the state of things which he had described was to deprive the\nprovince of its constitution, as the provincialists termed their\ncharter. The people were unfitted for liberty. And here are the\nGovernor's reasons for saying that a people were incapable of free\ninstitutions. \"That spirit of independence, that total insubordination\namong them, that freedom of conversation, by which they communicate\ntheir ideas of government, as they imbibe them from their leaders, all\nwhich have increased wonderfully within these five or six years, owe\ntheir origin entirely to the House of Assembly and to the intrigues\nincident to elections. They were never thought of before.\" One really\nwonders that even a general officer could have ventured upon sending to\nEngland such trash, a country which had produced a Charles Fox, who\ntook at the passing of the Separation Act so opposite a view of human\nnature. Doubtless, the _habitants_ are precisely, even at this day, as\nSir James represented them to be. But it was superlative impudence in a\nman of plebeian extraction to say that he could not associate with\nmembers of Parliament, who followed the occupation of shopkeeping for a\nliving. It surely was enough for Buonaparte to have stigmatized England\nas a nation of shopkeepers. Sir James might have left it alone, after\nhaving experienced the independent energies of a nation of wooden clock\nand wooden nutmeg makers. The \"_gens en place_\" had badly advised him,\nand he was too blind to see it. Sir James was an Indian Governor with a\nvengeance.\nThe fortifications of the City of Quebec had been much improved during\nthe summer of 1808, and the foundations of the four martello towers,\nwhich now stand outside of the fortifications, on the land side, at the\ndistance of nearly a mile, were laid.\nAfter the dissolution of the Parliament, about the middle of June, the\nGovernor set out on a tour through the Province. He was attended by a\nnumerous suite, travelled in great state, and was well received\nwherever he halted. At Three Rivers, Montreal, St. Johns, and William\nHenry, addresses were presented to him. He was applauded and even\nthanked for having stretched the royal prerogative so far as to\ndissolve the House without any sufficient reason. What was gained by\nthe fulsome adulation is not particularly apparent, unless it be that\nthe _Canadien_ had an opportunity afforded it for not very flattering\ncriticisms. The opportunity was not by any means lost. The _Canadien_\ngrinned at the _gens en place_, and even ventured to laugh at the royal\nprerogative himself. But the _gens en place_ were not to be laughed out\nof countenance by a vile print, which only could appeal to French\npassions and Romish prejudices. They only waited until His Excellency\nreturned to Quebec, to renew their congratulations. The citizens of\nQuebec, on Sir James' return to the Chateau, waited upon him with an\naddress. They approved of his judicious and firm administration. Sir\nJames, perfectly elated, expressed, in a particular manner, his\nsatisfaction. It was most gratifying to have received such an address\nfrom those whose \"situations\" afforded them the more immediate\nopportunity of judging of the motives by which he might be actuated on\nparticular occasions.\nIn November of this year, the first steamer was seen on the St.\nLawrence. At 8 o'clock on the 6th of that month, the steamboat\n_Accommodation_ arrived at Quebec, with ten passengers from Montreal.\nShe made the passage (180 miles) in sixty-six hours, having been thirty\nhours at anchor. In twenty hours, after leaving Montreal, she arrived\nat Three Rivers. The passage money was only eight dollars for the\ndownward trip and nine dollars for the trip upward. Neither wind nor\ntide could stop the _Accommodation_, and the _Accommodation_ was\neighty-two feet long on deck. The accommodation afforded to passengers\nwas not, however, very great. Twenty berths were all that cabin\npassengers could be accommodated with. Great crowds visited her\nsaloons. The _Mercury_ told its readers that the steamboat received her\nimpulse from an open, double-spoked perpendicular wheel, on either\nside, without any circular band or rim. To the end of each\ndouble-spoke, a square board was fixed, which entered the water, and by\nthe rotatory motion, acted like a paddle. The wheels were put and kept\nin motion by steam, which operated in the vessel. And a mast was to be\nfixed in her for the purpose of using a sail, when the wind was\nfavourable, which would occasionally accelerate her headway. After the\n_Accommodation_ had made several trips, Upper Canada began to \"guess\"\nabout the expediency of having \"Walks-in-the-Water.\" The\n_Accommodation_ was built by Mr. John Molson, of Montreal, an\nexceedingly enterprising man of business, and for a number of years,\nhis enterprise secured to him a monopoly of the steam navigation of the\nlower St. Lawrence. He died an \"honorable,\" only a few years ago.\nDuring 1808, 334 vessels, or according to the Harbour Master's\nstatement, 440 vessels, arrived at Quebec from sea, making up 66,373\ntons of shipping, in addition to which, 2,902 tons of shipping were\nbuilt at the port. The revenue was \u00a340,608, and the civil expenditure\n\u00a31,251 sterling. The salaries and contingencies of the Legislature\namounted to \u00a33,077. The salary of the Governor-in-Chief was \u00a34,500\nsterling, and that of the Lieutenant-Governor, who had been three years\nabsent in England, \u00a31,500. On the 28th of November, in this year, Sir\nFrancis Nathaniel Burton, whose brother was Marquis of Cunningham,\nsucceeded Sir Robert Shore Milnes, in the now sinecure office of\nLieutenant-Governor, where he remained to enjoy the _otium sine\ndignitate_.\nA continuance of the peace between His Majesty's government and that of\nthe United States was, in the beginning of 1810, considered less\nprobable than ever. After the death of Washington, which occurred on\nthe 4th December, 1799, during the Presidency of Mr. Adams, political\nexcitement ran high in the United States. At the expiration of Mr.\nAdams' term of office, there were, as candidates for the Chief\nMagistracy of the Union, and for the Vice-Presidency:--Mr. Jefferson\nand Mr. Burr, on the one side, and Mr. Adams and Mr. C. D. Pinckney, on\nthe other. Mr. Adams, elected by the Federalist or Tory party, had\ngiven much offence to the Democratic party, by his law against\nsedition, designed to punish the abuse of speech and of the press. By\nthis law a heavy fine was to be imposed, together with an imprisonment\nfor a term of years, upon such as should combine or conspire together,\nto \"oppose _any_ measure of the government.\" No one, on any pretence,\nunder pain of similar punishment, was to write or print, utter or\npublish, any malicious writing against the government of the United\nStates, or against either House of the Congress, or against the\nPresident. In a word, the liberty of discussion was annihilated. A more\nextraordinary law could not possibly have been put upon the Statute\nBooks of a country, where every official, being elective by the people,\nhis conduct, while in office was, in a common sense point of view, open\nto popular animadversion. As far as producing the effect contemplated\nwas concerned, the law was altogether inefficacious. The people met and\ntalked together against their President, the Senate, and the House of\nRepresentatives. Nay, Mr. Adams lost what he designed to secure, his\nre-election, by it. The Democrats were furiously opposed to him. While\nMessrs. Jefferson and Burr got each seventy-three votes, the opposition\ncandidates for President and Vice-President, Messrs. Adams and Pinckney\nonly got, for the former, sixty-five votes, and for the latter,\nsixty-four. Messrs. Burr and Jefferson having each an equal number of\nvotes, it became the duty of the House of Representatives, voting by\nStates, to decide between these pretenders to the chief power in the\nState. The constitution provided that the person having the greatest\nnumber of votes should be President, and that the person having the\nnext highest number of votes should be Vice-President. For several days\nthe ballot was taken. The Federalists or Tories supported Mr. Burr, and\nthe Democrats Mr. Jefferson. At last the choice fell upon the latter,\nand Mr. Burr was elected to the Vice-Presidency. It is well to know\nthese circumstances in connection with subsequent events. Mr. Jefferson\nannihilated the minority of the republic. He had as much contempt for\nthem as Sir James Craig or Mr. Ryland could have had for the conquered\nCanadians. He swept them from every office of profit or emolument under\nthe State. When remonstrated with, by the merchants of New Haven,\nrespecting the removal of the Collector of Customs at that port, merely\nbecause he was a Federalist or tory, the President quietly replied,\nthat time and accident would give the Tories their just share. Had he\nfound a moderate participation of office in the hands of the Democratic\nparty with whom he acted, his removals and substitutions would have\nbeen less sweeping. But their total exclusion called for a more prompt\ncorrective. And he would correct the error. When the error was fully\ncorrected then he would only ask himself concerning an applicant for\noffice, these questions:--\"Is he honest?\" \"Is he capable?\" and \"Is he\nfaithful to the Constitution?\" The Tories were almost inclined to burn\nthe White House.\nOhio was admitted into the Union in 1802; in 1804, Colonel Burr, the\nVice-President of the United States, killed General Hamilton in a duel;\nMr. Jefferson was re-elected President in 1804, and Mr. George Clinton,\nof New York, instead of Burr, now deservedly unpopular with all but the\nfilibustering classes, Vice-President; in 1805, Michigan became a\nterritorial government of the United States; and in the autumn of 1805\nthe outcast President Burr was detected at the head of a project for\nrevolutionizing the territory west of the Alleghanies, and of\nestablishing an independent empire there, of which New Orleans was to\nbe the capital, and himself the chief. To the accomplishment of this\nscheme, Burr brought into play all the skill and cunning of which he\nwas possessed. And it was not a little. He had his design long in\ncontemplation. He pretended to have purchased a large tract of\nterritory, of which he conceded to his adherents considerable slices.\nHe collected together, from all quarters where either he himself, or\nhis agents, possessed influence, the ardent, the restless, and the\ndesperate, persons ready for any enterprise analogous to their\ncharacters. He also seduced good and well-meaning citizens, by\nassurances that he possessed the confidence of the government, and was\nacting under its secret patronage. He had another project, in case of\nthe failure of the first. He designed to make an attack upon Mexico and\nto establish an empire there. He failed. Before his standard was\nraised, the government was made aware of his designs, and he was\nbrought to trial, at Richmond, on a charge of treason, committed within\nthe district of Virginia. It was not proved, however, that he had been\nguilty of any overt act, within the State, and he was released. It was\nprobably to find employment for that restless and desperate class of\npersons, with which the United States even then abounded, that the\ngovernment of America sought cause of quarrel with Great Britain, as\nwell as to produce that spurious activity among the industrial classes,\nwhich is ever the result of warlike preparations.\nIn 1809, Mr. James Madison was elected President of the United States.\nDuring Mr. Jefferson's administration, commercial intercourse with\nFrance and Great Britain had been interdicted. When, however, Mr.\nMadison was fairly established in the Presidency, he showed a\ndisposition to renew intercourse, and was seconded in his endeavours by\nMr. Erskine, then British Minister at Washington. Mr. Erskine\nnon-officially intimated to the American Secretary of State, that if\nthe President would issue a Proclamation for the renewal of intercourse\nwith Great Britain, that it was probable the proposal would be readily\naccepted. It was done. But the British government refused to rescind\nthe Orders in Council of January and November 1807, so far as the\nUnited States were concerned, which would have given the benefit of the\ncoasting trade of France to the Americans, recalled Mr. Erskine for\nhaving exceeded his instructions, and sent Mr. Jackson to Washington in\nhis stead. A correspondence was immediately after Mr. Jackson's arrival\nat the American seat of government, opened with Mr. Madison's Secretary\nof State, and was as suddenly closed. Mr. Jackson was, as a\ndiplomatist, rather blunt. Repeatedly, he asserted that the American\nExecutive could not but have known from the powers exhibited by Mr.\nErskine, that in stipulating, as he had done, he had transcended those\npowers, and was, therefore, acting without the authority of his\ngovernment. The American Executive deemed such an assertion equivalent\nto a declaration that the American government did know that Mr. Erskine\nhad exceeded his instructions. Mr. Jackson denied that his language\ncould be so interpreted. The American Executive at once replied that\nMr. Jackson's tone and language could not but be looked upon as\nreflecting upon the honor and integrity of the American government, and\nthe correspondence was closed. The British government, not considering\nMr. Jackson's diplomatic efforts as particularly happy, recalled him.\nHe escaped, however, more direct censure.\nThese events had just occurred, across the line '45, when Sir James\nCraig, now more anxious than ever, to obtain legislative assistance,\nunder circumstances that would not be liable to interruption from the\nexpiration of the period for which one of the branches was chosen,\nordered the writs to be issued for a new general election. The\nelections took place in October, 1809, when, contrary to the\nexpectation of His Excellency, most of the gentlemen who held seats in\nthe parliament which, in the previous May, had been so unexpectedly\ndissolved, were again returned. There were some substitutions. But\nthose only who halted between two opinions, in fearing the government,\nwhile representing the people, were supplanted by men who would echo\nthe _vox (populi) et preterea nihil_, in the Chamber of Deputies. They\nwere called together on the 29th of January, 1810. They were told to\nelect a Speaker, which they did, by selecting the former Speaker, Mr.\nPanet. They were told to appear at the Bar of the Upper House. And they\ndid appear in the confusion usual on all similar occasions. The\nGovernor, graciously confirmed their choice of a Speaker, and Mr. Panet\nhaving bowed his acknowledgments, His Excellency expressed his concern\nthat, far from an amicable settlement of the existing differences,\nbetween the British and American governments, as was anticipated from\nthe arrangement agreed upon by His Majesty's Minister at Washington,\ncircumstances had occurred that seemed to have widened the breach, and\nto have removed that desirable event to a period scarcely to be\nforeseen by human sagacity; the extraordinary cavils made with a\nsucceeding minister; the eager research to discover an insult which\ndefied the detection of \"all other penetration;\" the consequent\nrejection of further communication with that minister, and indeed every\nstep of intercourse, the particulars of which were known by authentic\ndocuments, evinced so little of a conciliatory disposition, and so much\nof a disinclination to meet the honorable advances made by His\nMajesty's government, while these had been further manifested in such\nterms, and by such conduct, that the continuance of peace seemed to\ndepend less on the high sounded resentment of America, than on the\nmoderation with which His Majesty might be disposed to view the\ntreatment he had met with; he felt it to be unnecessary to urge\npreparation for any event that might arise from such a condition of\nthings; he persuaded himself that in the great points of security and\ndefence one mind would actuate all; he assured the country of the\nnecessary support of regular troops should hostilities ensue, which\nwith the \"interior\" force of the country would be found equal to any\nattack that could be made upon the province; the militia would not be\nunmindful of the courage which they had displayed in former days,\n(when, of course, they behaved worse, with the exception of a few\nindividuals, than any people ever did![12]) the bravery of His\nMajesty's arms had never been called in question; he congratulated the\nlegislature on the capture of Martinique, and triumphantly alluded to\nthe battle of Talavera, which had torn from the French that character\nof invincibility which they had imagined themselves to have possessed\nin the eyes of the world. He recommended the renewal of those Acts\nwhich were designed to enable the Executive to discharge its duty\nagainst dangers, which could not be remedied by the course of common\nlaw; he drew attention to the numerous forgeries of foreign bank notes,\nand recommended a penal statute for their suppression; and he remarked\nthat the question of the expediency of excluding the Judges of the\nKing's Bench from the House of Representatives had been, during the two\nlast sessions, much agitated, and that, although he would not have\nhimself interdicted the judges from being selected by the people to\nrepresent them in the Assembly, had the question ever come before him,\nhe had been ordered by His Majesty to give his assent to any proper\nbill, concurred in by the two Houses, for rendering the judges\nineligible to a seat in the Assembly.\n [12] Sir James' letter to Lord Liverpool.\nThe Assembly, very naturally, entertained the opinion that the Imperial\ngovernment had not approved of the conduct of Sir James Craig in\ndissolving the previous Parliament. Indeed, even before taking the\nspeech from the throne into consideration, the Assembly resolved that\nevery attempt of the executive government and of the other branches of\nthe legislature against the House of Assembly, whether in dictating or\ncensuring its proceedings, or in approving the conduct of one part of\nits members, and disapproving that of others, was a violation of the\nstatute by which the House was constituted; was a breach of the\nprivileges of the House, which it could not forbear objecting to; and\nwas a dangerous attack upon the rights and liberties of His Majesty's\nsubjects in Canada. There were, not ten only, but thirteen members of\nBritish origin now in the House of Assembly, and the vote, for the\nadoption of the resolution, exhibited a wonderful degree of unanimity\nof opinion with regard to the right of freedom of opinion and the\nfreedom of debate. There were twenty-four affirmative to eleven adverse\nvotes, and, among those who voted with the minority, were some\nofficials of French origin. In reply to the address from the throne,\nthe House expressed its unalterable attachment to Great Britain, they\nwere grateful and would be faithful to that sovereign and nation which\nrespected their rights and liberties; it was unnecessary to urge them\nto prepare for any event that might arise, they would be prepared; and\nthe militia, not unmindful of the courage which they had, in former\ndays, displayed, would endeavour to emulate that bravery, natural to\nHis Majesty's arms, which had never been called in question. Nay, the\nHouse was exuberant with loyalty. No sooner was the address in reply\npresented to the Governor than an address, congratulating the King on\nthe happy event of having entered upon the fiftieth year of his reign,\nwas unanimously adopted, and transmitted to the Governor for\ntransmission to England. The expediency of relieving the Imperial\ngovernment of the burthen of providing for the civil list of Canada was\nnext discussed. It was considered that the sooner the payment of its\nown government officers devolved upon the province, the better it would\nbe for all classes inhabiting it. Ultimately, the province would be\nrequired to defray the expenses of its own government, and the sooner\nit did so the less weighty would the civil list be. The minority were\nvery much opposed to the proposed change. Some, who, twenty-seven years\nbefore, were most anxious to present \u00a320,000 to the King, by a tax on\ngoods, wares, and merchandise, to assist in enabling His Majesty to\nprosecute the war against France vigorously, now that the province was\nmore than paying her expenses, could not see the necessity of saddling\nthe country with a burthen which would make it, as they alleged,\nnecessary to impose duties to the amount of fifty thousand pounds a\nyear. At first, the very ignorant[13] country people, not knowing that\nwhich was going on, became alarmed at the startling information\nconveyed to them by the majority. They expressed their fears that their\nfriends were betraying them. They were soon pacified. Their members\ninformed them, or they were informed by the _Canadien_, that when the\nHouse of Assembly had the entire management of the civil list, they\nwould not fail to reduce the sum necessary to keep up the hospitality\nof Government House, and only, _consequently_, consideration for the\nGovernor-in-Chief; nor would they fail to retrench the several\npensions, reduce the heavier salaries of the employees, cut off the\nsinecurists, and, in a variety of ways, lessen the public burthens. The\nhabitants were no longer alarmed at the additional taxation of \u00a350,000\na year, with which they were threatened. A series of resolutions passed\nthe Assembly, intimating that the province was able to supply funds for\nthe payment of the civil list. The province was able to pay all the\ncivil expenses of its government. The House of Assembly ought \"this\nsession\" to vote the sums necessary for defraying the expenses of the\ncivil list. The House _will_ vote such necessary sums. And the King,\nLords, and Commons of England, were to be informed that the Commons of\nCanada had taken upon itself the payment of the government of the\nprovince and that they were exceedingly grateful to England for the\nassistance hitherto afforded, and for the happy constitution, which had\nraised the province to a pitch of prosperity so high that it was now\nable and willing to support itself. Ten gentlemen of British extraction\nvoted against these resolutions and only one Canadian. The address to\nthe King, pursuant to the resolutions, was carried by a vote of\nthirteen to three. Many members appear to have been afraid of\nthemselves or rather of the consequences to be apprehended from the\noffence which the adoption of such resolutions was calculated to give\nthe Imperial advisers of the representative of the King in a colony.\nNay, the Governor-in-Chief did not much relish the resolutions. He\nturned them over in his mind, again and again. There was something more\nthan appeared upon the surface. He disrelished the idea of getting his\nmeat poisoned by its passage through Canadian fingers. He was sure the\nKing, his master, would pay him well, but, as for the Canadians, they\nmight stop the supplies. The Assembly waited upon His Excellency with\ntheir addresses. They requested that His Excellency would be pleased to\nlay them before His Majesty's ministers for presentation. Sir James\nhesitated. The addresses were so peculiarly novel as to require a\nconsiderable degree of reflection. The constitutional usage of\nParliament, recognised by the wisdom of the House of Commons of the\nUnited Kingdom, forbade all steps on the part of the people towards\ngrants of money which were not recommended by the Crown, and although\nby the same parliamentary usage all grants originated in the Lower\nHouse, they were ineffectual without the concurrence of the Upper\nHouse. There was no precedent of addresses to the House of Lords, or\nCommons, separately, by a single branch of the Colonial Legislature. He\nconceived the addresses to be unprecedented, imperfect in form, and\nfounded upon a resolution of the House of Assembly, which, until\nsanctioned by the Legislative Council, must be ineffectual, except as a\nspontaneous offer on the part of the Commons of Canada. The resolutions\nwere premature. He regretted that he could not take it upon himself to\ntransmit these addresses to His Majesty's ministers. In his refusal he\nwas impressed by a sense of duty. But, besides the sense of duty, His\nMajesty's ministers, unless commanded by His Majesty, were not the\nregular organs of communication with the House of Commons. Even were he\nto transmit those addresses, he could not pledge himself for their\ndelivery, through that channel. He would have felt himself bound upon\nordinary occasions to have declined any addresses similar to those then\nbefore him, under similar circumstances. He would on the present\noccasion transmit to the King his own testimony of the good\ndisposition, gratitude, and generous intentions of his subjects. He\nthought it right that His Majesty, \"by their own act,\" should be\nformally apprised of the ability and of the voluntary pledge and\npromise of the province to pay the civil expenditure of the province\n_when required_. He then engaged to transmit the King's address to His\nMajesty, with the understanding that no act of his should be considered\nas compromising the rights of His Majesty, of his Colonial\nRepresentative, or of the Legislative Council. He significantly hoped\nthat the House of Assembly might not suppose that he had expressed\nhimself in a way that might carry with it an appearance of checking the\nmanifestation of sentiments under which the House had acted. A\ncommittee of seven members were, on the receipt of His Excellency's\nanswer, appointed to search for the precedents and parliamentary usages\nalluded to by the Governor-in-Chief, with instructions to report\nspeedily. And, that there might be no excuse, with regard to the\nimproper introduction of a money matter, for a refusal to sanction any\nbill that the Assembly might think proper to pass, a resolution was\nadopted by the Assembly to the effect that the House had resolved to\nvote, in the then session, the sums necessary for paying all the civil\nexpenses of the government of the province, and to beseech that His\nExcellency would be pleased to order the proper officer to lay before\nthe House an estimate of the said civil expenses. The practice of these\n_avocats_, shopkeepers, apothecaries, doctors, and notaries, was\ntolerably sharp. The House went again to work upon the expediency of\nappointing a Colonial Agent in England, and introduced a bill with that\nobject, which was read. A bill to render the judges ineligible to sit\nin the Assembly passed the Assembly; but the Council amended the bill,\nby postponing the period at which the ineligibility was to have effect,\nto the expiration of the parliament then in being, and sent it back to\nthe Assembly for concurrence. Indignant at this amendment, the Assembly\nadopted a resolution to the effect that P. A. DeBonne, being one of the\nJudges of the King's Bench, could neither sit nor vote in the House,\nand his seat for Quebec was declared to be vacant. The vote was\ndecisive. There were eighteen votes in favor of the resolution and only\nsix against it, the six being all English names. McCord, Ross,\nCuthbert, Gugy, and such like. If the practice of the _avocats_ was\nsharp, the practice of the Governor was yet sharper. Down came the\nGovernor-in-Chief in two days after the search for precedents had begun\nin the Assembly, in not the best of humour, to the Legislative Council\nChamber. On the 26th of February, the uncontrollable Assembly were\nsummoned before the representative of royalty. He informed the two\nHouses that he had come to prorogue the legislature, having again\ndetermined to appeal to the people by an immediate dissolution. It had\nbeen rendered impossible for him to act otherwise. Without the\nparticipation of the other branches of the Legislature the Assembly had\ntaken upon themselves to vote that a judge could not sit nor vote in\ntheir House. It was impossible for him to consider what had been done\nin any other light than as a direct violation of an Act of the Imperial\nParliament. He considered that the House of Assembly had\nunconstitutionally disfranchised a large portion of His Majesty's\nsubjects, and rendered ineligible, by an authority they did not\npossess, another, and not inconsiderable class of the community. By\nevery tie of duty, he was bound to oppose such an assumption. In\nconsequence of the expulsion of the member for Quebec, a vacancy in the\nrepresentation of that county had been declared. It would be necessary\nto issue a writ for a new election, and that writ was to be signed by\nhim. He would not render himself a partaker in the violation of an Act\nof the Imperial Parliament, and to avoid becoming so he had no other\nrecourse but that which he was pursuing. He felt much satisfaction\nwhen the Parliament met, in having taken such steps as he thought\nmost likely to facilitate a measure that seemed to be wished for, and\nthat, in itself, met his concurrence; but as, in his opinion, the\nonly ineligibility of a judge to sit in Parliament arose from the\ncircumstance of his having to ask the electors for their votes, he\ncould not conceive that there could be any well founded objection to\nhis possession of a seat in the Assembly, when he was elected. He\nbelieved that the talents and superior knowledge of the judges, to say\nnothing of other considerations, made them highly useful. He lamented\nthat a measure, which he considered would have been beneficial to the\ncountry, should not have taken effect. But he trusted that the people,\nin the disappointment of their expectations, would do him justice, and\nacquit him of being the cause that so little business had been done.\n [13] Sir James' letter to Lord Liverpool, accompanied by the\n explanatory Mr. Ryland.\nSuch is human nature, that, on leaving the Council Room, Sir James\nCraig was loudly cheered. His manliness, combined with stupidity, and\nhis real honesty of purpose, had its temporary effect upon those who\nadmire pluck as much in a Governor as in a game cock. Not only was His\nExcellency cheered on leaving the Parliament buildings, addresses\npoured in upon him from all quarters. Quebec, Montreal, Terrebonne,\nThree Rivers, Sorel, Warwick, and Orleans, complimented Sir James. A\nmore cunning man would have flattered himself that he had acted\nrightly. But there was to be a day of retribution. The late members of\nthe late House of Assembly were not idle. Nor was the _Canadien_\nsilent. Every means that prudence could dictate, and malevolence\nsuggest, were resorted to, with a view to the re-election of the\ndismissed representatives. The \"friends\" of the government suggested\nthat there were plans of insurrection and rebellion. It was insinuated\nthat the French Minister at Washington, had supplied the seditious in\nCanada with money. It was even broadly stated that the plenipotentiary's\ncorrespondence had been intercepted by the agents of the government.\nAnd that which was not said is more difficult of conjecture than that\nwhich was said.\nThe revenue was this year \u00a370,356, and the expenditure \u00a349,347\nsterling; 635 vessels, consisting of 138,057 tons, had arrived from\nsea; and 26 vessels had been built and cleared at the port.\nAt this time there were five papers in Lower Canada. The _Quebec\nGazette_, the _Quebec Mercury_, _Le Canadien_, the _Montreal Gazette_,\nand the _Courant_. The three former were published in Quebec, the other\ntwo in Montreal. The _Gazettes_ were organs of the government, the\n_Mercury_ and _Courant_ were \"namby-pamby,\" and the _Canadien_ was as\nthe voice of _le peuple_.\nThe elections were, in the month of March, again about to take place,\nand the government conceived the magnificent idea of carrying a\nprinting office by assault. When everything was prepared, then was the\ntime to act. Headed by a magistrate, a party of soldiers rushed up the\nstairs leading to the _Canadien_ printing office. The proprietor\nreceived them with a low bow, and much annoyance was felt that no\nopposition was offered. The premises were searched. Some manuscripts\nwere found, and, \"under the sanction of the Executive,\" the whole\npress, and the whole papers of every description, were forcibly seized,\nand conveyed as booty to the vaults of the Court House. In this action\none prisoner was made. The printer was seized, and \"after examination,\"\nwas committed to prison. And, as if an insurrection were expected, the\nguards at the gates were strengthened, and patrols sent in every\ndirection. The public looked amazed, as well it might. The _Mercury_\ndid not know whether most to admire the tyrannical spirit or the\nconsummate vanity of the Canadians, and of No. 15, of the _Canadien_,\nwhich contended that the Canadians had rights. As a striking proof of\nCanadian tyranny, the _Canadien_ would not allow any but the members of\nthe Assembly to be a judge of the expediency of expelling Judge\nDeBonne! and it was even said that of all those who signed the address\nto His Excellency, presented in the name of Quebec, not one was capable\nof understanding the nature of the question. In a _dependence_, such as\nCanada, was the government to be daily flouted, bearded, and treated\nwith the utmost disrespect and contumely? \"He\" expected nothing less\nthan that its patience would be exhausted, and _energetic measures_\nresorted to, as the only efficient ones. From any part of a people\nconquered from wretchedness into every _indulgence_, and the _height of\nprosperity_, such treatment, as the government daily received was far\ndifferent from that which ought to have been expected. But there were\ncharacters in the world on whom benefits have no other effect than to\nproduce _insolence_ and _insult_. The stroke was struck, the _Mercury_\nwould say no more. The greatest misfortune that can ever happen to the\npress is for it to be in the possession of invisible and licentious\nhands. It said no more, because \"the war was with the dead!\"\nSir James was not very sure that he had acted either wisely or well. He\nthought it necessary to explain. Divers wicked and seditious writings\nhad been printed. Divers wicked and seditious writings had been\ndispersed throughout the province. Divers writings were calculated to\nmislead divers of His Majesty's subjects. Divers wicked and traitorous\npersons had endeavoured to bring into contempt and had vilified the\nadministration, and divers persons had invented wicked falsehoods, with\nthe view of alienating the affections of His Majesty's subjects from\nthe respect which was due to His Majesty's person. It was impossible\nfor His Majesty's representative longer to disregard or suffer\npractices so directly tending to subvert His Majesty's government, and\nto destroy the happiness of His Majesty's subjects. He, therefore,\nannounced, that with the advice and concurrence of the Executive\nCouncil, and due information having been given to three of His\nMajesty's Executive Councillors, warrants, as by law authorised, had\nbeen issued, under which, some of the authors, printers, and publishers\nof the aforesaid traitorous and seditious writings had been apprehended\nand secured. Deeply impressed with a desire to promote, in all\nrespects, the welfare and happiness of the most benevolent of\nsovereigns, whose servant he had been for as long a period as the\noldest inhabitant had been his subject, and whose highest displeasure\nhe should incur if the acts of these designing men had produced any\neffect, he trusted that neither doubts nor jealousies had crept into\nthe public mind. He would recall to the deluded, if there were any, the\nhistory of the whole period during which they had been under His\nMajesty's government. It was for them to recollect the progressive\nadvances they had made in the wealth, happiness, and unbounded liberty\nwhich they then enjoyed. Where was the act of oppression--where was the\ninstance of arbitrary imprisonment--or where was the violation of\nproperty of which they had to complain? Had there been an instance in\nwhich the uncontrolled enjoyment of their religion had been disturbed?\nWhile other countries and other colonies had been deluged in blood,\nduring the prevalent war, had they not enjoyed the most perfect\nsecurity and tranquillity? What, then, could be the means by which the\ntraitorous would effect their wicked purposes? What arguments dare they\nuse? For what reason was happiness to be laid aside and treason\nembraced? What persuasion could induce the loyal to abandon loyalty and\nbecome monsters of ingratitude? The traitorous had said that he desired\nto embody and make soldiers of twelve thousand of the people, and\nbecause the Assembly would not consent, that he had dissolved the\nParliament? It was monstrously untrue, and it was particularly\natrocious in being advanced by persons who might have been supposed to\nhave spoken with certainty on the subject. It had been said that he\nwanted to tax the lands of the country people, that the House would\nonly consent to tax wine, and that for such perverseness he had\ndissolved the Assembly. Inhabitants of St. Denis! the Governor General\nnever had the most distant idea of taxing the people at all. The\nassertion was directly false. When the House offered to pay the civil\nlist, he could not move without the King's instructions. But in despair\nof producing instances from what he had done, the traitorous had spoken\nof that which he intended to do. It was boldly said that Sir James\nCraig intended to oppress the Canadians. Base and daring fabricators of\nfalsehood! on what part of his life did they found such assertions?\nWhat did the inhabitants of St. Denis know of him or of his intentions?\nLet Canadians inquire concerning him of the heads of their church. The\nheads of the church were men of knowledge, honor, and learning, who had\nhad opportunities of knowing him, and they ought to be looked to for\nadvice and information. The leaders of faction and the demagogues of a\nparty associated not with him, and could not know him. Why should he be\nan oppressor? Was it to serve the King, the whole tenor of whose life\nhad been honorable and virtuous? Was it for himself that he should\npractice oppression? For what should he be an oppressor? Ambition could\nnot prompt him, with a life ebbing slowly to a close, under the\npressure of a disease acquired in the service of his country. He only\nlooked forward to pass the remaining period of his life in the comfort\nof retirement, among his friends. He remained in Canada simply in\nobedience to the commands of his King. What power could he desire? For\nwhat wealth would he be an oppressor? Those who knew him, knew that he\nhad never regarded wealth, and then, he could not enjoy it. He cared\nnot for the value of the country laid at his feet. He would prefer to\npower and wealth a single instance of having contributed to the\nhappiness and prosperity of the people whom he had been sent to govern.\nHe warned all to be on their guard against the artful suggestions of\nwicked and designing men. He begged that all would use their best\nendeavours to prevent the evil effects of incendiary and traitorous\ndoings. And he strictly charged and commanded all magistrates, captains\nof militia, peace officers, and others, of His Majesty's good subjects\nto bring to punishment such as circulated false news, tending, in any\nmanner, to inflame the public mind and to disturb the public peace and\ntranquillity.\nCould anything have been more pitiable than such a proclamation? The\nexistence of a conspiracy on the part of some disaffected persons to\noverthrow the King's government was made to appear with the view of\ncovering a mistake. The proclamation was the apology for the illegal\nseizure of a press and types used in the publication of a newspaper, in\nwhich nothing seditious or treasonable had in reality been published.\nIt was true that the _Canadien_ upheld the Assembly and criticised the\nconduct of the Executive, with great severity. It was true that the\n_Canadien_ complained of the tyranny of \"_les Anglais_.\" It was true\nthat the _Canadien_ strenuously supported the idea of the expenses of\nthe civil list being defrayed by the province and not by the Imperial\ngovernment. And it was true that it contended for \"_nos institutions_,\n_notre langue_, _et nos lois_.\" It did nothing more. No hint was thrown\nout that Canada would be more prosperous under the American, than under\nthe English dominion. It was not even insinuated that Canada should be\nwholly governed by Canadians. All that was claimed for French Canadians\nwas a fair share in the official spoils of the land they lived in,\nfreedom of speech, and liberty of conscience. Governor Craig asked the\ninhabitants of St. Denis or any of the other inhabitants of the\nprovince to remind him of any one act of oppression or of arbitrary\nimprisonment. And at that very moment the printer of the _Canadien_ was\nin prison. Nor was he there alone, there were Messrs. Bedard, Blanchet,\nand Taschereau, members of the recently dissolved House of Assembly,\ntogether with Messrs. Pierre Laforce, Pierre Papineau, of Chambly, and\nFran\u00e7ois Corbeille, of Isle J\u00e9sus, to keep him company, on charges of\ntreasonable practices, concerning which there was not, and never had\nbeen, even the shadow of proof, on charges which the government did not\nattempt even to prove, and on charges which were withdrawn without the\naccused having ever been confronted with their accusers. Base and\ndaring fabricators of falsehood! Fran\u00e7ois Corbeille, an innocent man,\nthe victim only of unjust suspicions, on the one hand, and of\ndiabolical selfishness, on the other, died in consequence of the injury\nhis health received in that prison where tyranny had placed him. But he\ncould issue no proclamation. His voice was not loud enough in the tomb\nto reach the Court of St. James, surrounded as that Court was, by an\nimpenetrable phalanx of Downing Street Red-tapists. Canada was only\nmis-governed because England was deceived, through the instrumentality\nof Governors, honorable enough as men, but so wanting in administrative\ncapacity, as to be open to the vile flattery and base insinuations of\nthose who were, or rather should have been at once the faithful\nservants of the Crown and of that people who upheld it, who were\nvirtually taken possession of, on arrival, by the \"_gens en place_,\"\nand held safely in custody, until their nominal power had ceased. And\nwhen power had passed away, then only did many of them perceive, as Sir\nJames Craig is reported to have done, the deception, the ingratitude,\nand the almost inhumanity of man. There is some excuse to be offered\nfor the extraordinary course of policy pursued by Sir James Craig; and\nan apology even can be made for the crooked policy of those voluntary\nadvisers who had hedged him in. Great Britain was at war with France.\nThe name of a Frenchman was unmusical in the ears of any Englishman of\nthat period, and it sounded harshly in the ears of the British soldier.\nIt was France that had prostituted liberty to lust. It was France that\nhad dragged public opinion to the scaffold and the guillotine. It was\nFrance that held the axe uplifted over all that was good and holy. It\nwas France that was making all Europe a charnel-house. It was General\nBuonaparte of France, who only sought to subdue England, the more\neasily to conquer the world. Many an English hearth had cursed his\nname. Many a widow had he made desolate, and many an orphan fatherless.\nThe \"conquered subjects\" of King George spoke and thought in French.\nThey held French traditions in veneration. There could only be a\njealousy, a hatred, a contempt entertained of everything seeming to be\nFrench, in the heart of an Englishman. And these sentiments were\ndoubtless reciprocated. But, still the French of Canada, were only,\nnow, French by extraction. They had long lost that love of the land of\ntheir origin, which belongs to nativity. Few men in the province had\nbeen born in France. Few Canadians knew anything about the new regime,\nor took any interest in the \"_Code Napol\u00e9on_.\" And few even cherished\nflattering recollections of Bourbon rule. The Canadians wanted English\nliberty, not French republicanism. The Canadians wanted to have for\nthemselves so much liberty as a Scotchman might enjoy at John O'Groats,\nor an Englishman obtain at Land's-End. And for so desiring liberty they\nwere misrepresented, because of English colonial prejudices, and\nbecause of official dislikes and selfishness. When the first\nAttorney-General of Canada, Mr. Mazzeres, afterwards Cursitor Baron of\nthe Exchequer, in England, of whom Mr. Ryland was but a pious follower,\nproposed to convert the Canadians to Anglicism in religion, in manners,\nand in law, assuredly little opposition could have been made to the\nscheme. Then, the pursuance of Cardinal Richelieu's policy would, in\nafter ages, have exemplified that the pen had been mightier than the\nsword. Then the whole population of the province could have been housed\nin one of the larger cities of the present time. But when the province\nhad increased in numbers to 300,000, partially schooled in English\nlegislation, the exercise of despotism was only as impolitic as it was\nobviously unjust. It was feared by the officers of the civil government\nof Canada, when this despotism was practised, that the legislature\nmight have the power, which has since been conceded, of dispensing with\nthe services of merely imperial officers, and of filling, with natives\nto the manor born, every office of profit or emolument in the province.\nIt was feared if the exclusive power were granted to the Colonial\nLegislature of appropriating all the sums necessary for the civil\nexpenditure of the province, that it would give the Legislature\nabsolute control over the officers of the empire and of the colony, and\nannihilate, if not actually, potentially, the _imperium_ of Great\nBritain over her colony. A distinction was drawn between the privileges\nof a colonist and of the resident of the United Kingdom. While every\nmunicipality in the latter was permitted to pay and control its own\nofficers, the voice of a colonist was to be unheard in the councils of\nthe nation to which he was attached, and he was to have no control over\nthe actions of those who were to make or administer the laws, under\nwhich he lived. He was patiently to submit to the overbearing\nassumptions of some plebeian Viceroy, accidentally raised to a\nquasi-level with the great potentates of the earth, and inclined to\nride with his temporary and borrowed power, after that great\nimpersonage of evil, which, it is alleged, the beggar always attempts\nto overtake when, having thrown off his rags and poverty, he has been\nmounted on horseback. It is admitted that at this time the province was\ncontrolled by a few rapacious, overbearing, and irresponsible\nofficials, without stake or other connection with the country, than\ntheir offices,[14] having no sympathy with the mass of the inhabitants.\nIt is admitted that these officials lorded it over the people, upon\nwhose substance they existed, and that they were not confided in, but\nhated. It is admitted that their influence with the English inhabitants\narose from the command of the treasury. And it is admitted that, though\nonly the servants of the government, they acted as if they had been\nprinces among the natives and inhabitants of the province, upon whom\nthey affected to look down, estranging them from all direct\nintercourse, or intimacy, with the Governor, whose confidence, no less\nthan the control of the treasury, it was their policy to monopolise. To\nthe candidates for vice-regal favors, their smiles were fortune, and\ntheir frowns were fate. The Governor was a hostage in the keeping of\nthe bureaucracy, and the people were but serfs.\n [14] Christie's History of Lower Canada, vol. 1, page 347.\nNothing has been left on record to show that when Sir James Craig\nissued his absurd proclamation, treason was to have been feared, unless\nit be that the clergy were required to read the proclamation from the\npulpits of the parish churches, that Chief Justice Sewell read it from\nthe Bench, that the Grand Jury drew up an address to the Court and\nstrongly animadverted upon the dangerous productions of the _Canadien_,\nand that the _Quebec Mercury_ expressed its abhorrence of sedition, and\nchronicled the fact that 671 _habitants_ had expressed their gratitude\nto the Governor, for his \"truly paternal proclamation.\"\nIn the April term of the Court of King's Bench, the release of Mr.\nBedard from gaol, was attempted, by an attempt to obtain a writ of\n_Habeas Corpus_. But the Bench was not sufficiently independent of the\nCrown. The writ was refused. The State prisoners were compelled to\nremain in prison, indulging the hope that whatever charges could be\npreferred against them would be reduced to writing, and a trial be\nobtained. It was hoping against hope. Some of the imprisoned fell sick,\namong whom was the printer of the _Canadien_, and all in the gaol of\nQuebec, with the exception of Mr. Bedard, were turned out of prison.\nMr. Bedard refused to be set at liberty without having had the\nopportunity of vindicating his reputation by the verdict of a jury.\nConscious of the integrity of his conduct, and of the legality of his\nexpressed political opinions, he solicited trial, but the September\nsession of the Criminal Term of the King's Bench was suffered to elapse\nwithout any attention having been paid to him. Three of the prisoners\nwere imprisoned in the gaol of Montreal, and were not only subjected to\nthe inconveniences and discomforts of a damp and unhealthy prison, but\nto the petty persecutions of a relentless gaoler. They were one after\nthe other enlarged without trial, Mr. Corbeil only to die.\nIn the course of the summer the government had been occupied with the\nregulation and establishment of a system of police, in Montreal and\nQuebec, and, with that view, salaried chairmen were appointed to\npreside over the Courts of Quarter Sessions. The government also\ndetermined upon opening up a road to the Eastern Townships, which would\nafford a direct land communication between Quebec and Boston.\nCommencing at St. Giles, on the south shore of the St. Lawrence, that\nroad to the township of Shipton, which still bears the name of Governor\nCraig, was completed by a detachment of troops.\nOn the 10th of December, Parliament again met. The House of Assembly\nre-elected Mr. Panet to the Speakership, and the Governor approved of\nhis election. In his speech from the throne, Governor Craig had never\ndoubted the loyalty and zeal of the parliaments which had met since he\nhad assumed the administration of affairs. He was confident that they\nwere animated by the best intentions to promote the interests of the\nKing's government and the welfare of the people. He looked for such a\ndisposition in the tenor of their deliberations. He called their\nattention to the temporary Act for the better preservation of His\nMajesty's government, and for establishing regulations respecting\naliens or certain subjects of His Majesty, who had resided in France.\nNo change had taken place in the state of public affairs, that would\nwarrant a departure from those precautions which made the Act\nnecessary. He did not mean that it should be supposed that he meant to\ndivide the interests of His Majesty's government from the interests of\nthe public, for they were inseparable. But the preservation of His\nMajesty's government was the safety of the province, and its security\nwas the only safeguard to the public tranquillity. He therefore\nrecommended those considerations together with the Act making temporary\nprovision for the regulation of trade between Canada and the United\nStates to their first and immediate consideration. He entreated them to\nbelieve that he should have great satisfaction in cultivating that\nharmony and good understanding which must be so conducive to the\nprosperity and happiness of the colony, and that he should most readily\nand cheerfully concur, in every measure, which they might propose,\ntending to promote those important objects. And he further intimated\nthat the rule of his conduct was to discharge his duty to his\nsovereign, by a constant attention to the welfare of his subjects, who\nwere committed to his charge, and these objects he felt to be promoted\nby a strict adherence to the laws and principles of the constitution,\nand by maintaining in their just balance the rights and privileges of\nevery branch of the legislature. Sir James Craig's attempts at\nmaintaining a balance of power were the chief causes of all his\nblundering. He did not himself know the proper balance of power between\nhimself and the governed. He could not possibly perceive when his\nbalance-beam was out of its centre, and if he had seen a slight leaning\nto one side, and that side not his own, he could not have conceived\nthat the scales of justice would have been very much affected. It never\noccurred to him that the displacement of it, only to the extent of\none-sixteenth half of an inch, on the side of Government and Council,\nwould weigh a quarter of a century against the Assembly, the people and\nprogress. But so it was. The beam with which Sir James Craig would have\nand did weigh out justice, was one-sided, and, to make matters still\nworse, the Governor threw into the adverse scale a host of his own\nprejudices, and of the prejudices of his secret councillors. He would\nhave been glad, had the House expelled Mr. Bedard, one of its members,\non the plea that it was prejudicial to its dignity that a\nrepresentative of the people should be kept in durance, while the House\nwas in session, and still more discreditable that that member should be\ncharged with treason. Hardly had he delivered his speech, and the\nAssembly returned to their chamber, when the Governor sent a message to\nthe House intimating that Mr. Bedard, who had been returned to\nParliament, as the representative of Surrey, was detained in the common\ngaol of Quebec, under the \"Preservation Act,\" charged with treasonable\npractices. The House most politely thanked the Governor-in-Chief for\nthe information. The House resolved that Mr. Bedard was in the common\ngaol of Quebec. The House resolved that Pierre Bedard was, on the 27th\nday of March, returned to Parliament, as one of the Knights\nRepresentative of Surrey. The House resolved that Pierre Bedard, was\nthen one of the members of the Assembly, for the existing Parliament.\nThe House resolved that the simple arrest of any one of His Majesty's\nsubjects did not render him incapable of election to the Assembly. The\nHouse resolved that the Government Preserves Act, guaranteed to the\nsaid Pierre Bedard, Esquire, the right of sitting in the Assembly. And\nthe House resolved to present a humble address to His Excellency,\ninforming him that his message had been seriously considered, that\nseveral resolutions had been passed, which they conceived it to be\ntheir duty to submit to His Excellency, and that it was the wish of the\nHouse that Pierre Bedard, Esquire, Knight Representative for the County\nof Surrey, might take his seat in the House. The vote in favor of the\nresolutions was expressively large. There were twenty-five members\npresent, and twenty voted for the resolutions. Messrs. Bourdages,\nPapineau, senior, Bellet, Papineau, junior, Debartch, Viger, Lee, and\nBruneau, were named a committee to present an address to the Governor,\nfounded on the resolutions, but they managed to escape that honor. When\nit was moved to resolve that an enquiry be made as to the causes which\nhad prevented the messengers from presenting the address, as ordered by\nthe House, Mr. Papineau, senior, moved that nothing more should be said\nabout the address, and the motion was carried. Nor was anything more\nsaid about the unfortunate gentleman who was imprisoned, as the\nGovernor himself afterwards stated, only as a measure of precaution,\nnot of punishment, until the close of the session, when he was\nreleased. He was kept in Ham because he might have done mischief, on\nthe principle that prevention is better than cure, and, when Mr. Bedard\ndesired to know what was expected of him, the Governor sent for his\nbrother, the cur\u00e9, and authorized him to tell Mr. Bedard that he had\nbeen confined by government, \"only looking to its security and the\npublic tranquillity,\" and that when Mr. Bedard expressed a sense of\nthat error, of which he was ignorant, he would be immediately enlarged.\nMr. Bedard replied courteously, but declined admitting any error, which\nhe had not made, or of confessing to any crime of which he was not\nguilty. The Governor had heard of the resolutions of the House, and\nexpected the presentation of the address embodying them, when he\nreceived an application from the elder Papineau, one of the committee,\nrequesting a private conference on the subject of the resolutions. That\nconference only drew from His Excellency the remark that:--\"No\nconsideration, Sir, shall induce me to consent to the liberation of Mr.\nBedard, at the instance of the House of Assembly, either as a matter of\nright, or as a favor, nor will I now consent to his being enlarged on\nany terms during the sitting of the present session, and I will not\nhesitate to inform you of the motives by which I have been induced to\ncome to this resolution. I know that the general language of the\nmembers, has encouraged the idea which universally prevails, that the\nHouse of Assembly will release Mr. Bedard; an idea so firmly\nestablished that there is not a doubt entertained upon it in the\nprovince. The time is therefore come, when I feel that the security as\nwell as the dignity of the King's government, imperiously require that\nthe people should be made to understand the true limits of the rights\nof the respective parts of the government, and that it is not that of\nthe House of Assembly to rule the country.\" And Mr. Bedard, sensible of\nhaving done no wrong, remained in gaol until the Parliament was\nprorogued, as an example to the people that there was no public opinion\nworth heeding, in the province, and that the power of the Governor was\nsomething superior to that of the Assembly. The Assembly went to work\nafter having made the fruitless attempt to liberate Mr. Bedard, and\npassed as many bills as were required. The \"gaols\" bill was temporarily\ncontinued: the repairs of the Castle of St. Lewis having cost \u00a314,980,\ninstead of \u00a37,000, as contemplated, the additional outlay was voted;\n\u00a350,000 were voted towards the erection of suitable parliament\nbuildings. The Alien Act and that for the Preservation of the\nGovernment were continued, together with the Militia Act, to March\n1813; the bill to disqualify judges from being elected to the Assembly\npassed both Houses, and to these the Governor assented, proroguing the\nParliament afterwards with great pleasure. Communication with Europe\nhad been difficult during the winter, on account of the impediments\nthrown in the way of American commerce. The Princess Charlotte had\ndied, and the sovereign himself had become alarmingly indisposed. A new\nAct of non-intercourse had been passed in the American Congress. He had\nseen among the Acts passed, and to which he had just declared His\nMajesty's assent, with peculiar satisfaction, the Act disqualifying the\njudges from holding a seat in the House of Assembly. It was not only\nthat he thought the measure right in itself, but that he considered the\npassing of an Act for the purpose, as a complete renunciation of the\n_erroneous principle_, the acting upon which put him under the\nnecessity of dissolving the last parliament. The country was becoming\nluxuriantly rich, and he hoped that all would be harmony and tolerance.\nHe would be a proud man who could say to his sovereign that he found\nthe Canadians divided and left them united.\nOn the 19th of June, 1811, Lieut.-General Sir James Craig embarked for\nEngland, in H.M.S. _Amelia_. Previous to his departure he received\naddresses from Quebec, Montreal, Three Rivers, Warwick, and Terrebonne,\nand when he was about to leave the Chateau St. Louis, the British\npopulation, who admired the old General more perhaps than they did the\nconstitutional ruler, exhibited considerable feeling. The multitude\ntook the place of His Excellency's carriage horses and popularly\ncarried away, to the Queen's wharf, His Majesty's representative. Nay,\nthe old soldier, who really had a heart, almost wept as he bade\nfarewell to men, some of whom he had first met with in the battle\nfield, and had since known for nearly half a century. Sir James too was\nill. It was not indeed expected that he would have lived long enough to\nreach England. His dropsy was becoming not only troublesome but\ndangerous.[15]\n [15] Sir James did reach England, but died shortly afterwards.\n He expired in January 1812, aged 62.\nSir James was succeeded in the administration of the government of\nCanada by Mr. Dunn.\nThe Canadians had, during the administration of Governor Craig,\nearnestly pursued Junius' advice to the English nation. They had never,\nunder the most trying circumstances, suffered any invasion of their\npolitical constitution to pass by, without a determined and persevering\nresistance. They practically exhibited their belief in the doctrine\nthat, one precedent creates another; that precedents soon accumulate\nand constitute law; that what was yesterday fact becomes to-day\ndoctrine; that examples are supposed to justify the most dangerous\nmeasures, and that where they do not suit exactly, the defect is\nsupplied by analogy. They felt confident that the laws which were to\nprotect their civil rights were to grow out of their constitution, and\nthat with it the country was to fall or flourish. They believed in the\nright of the people to choose their own representatives. They were\nsensibly impressed with the idea that the liberty of the press is the\npalladium of the civil, political, and religious rights of a British\nsubject, and that the right of juries to return a general verdict, in\nall cases whatsoever, is an essential part of the British constitution,\nnot to be controlled, or limited, by the judges, nor in any shape to be\nquestionable by the legislature. And they believed that the power of\nthe King, Lords, and Commons, was not an arbitrary power, but one which\nthey themselves could regulate. In a word, they believed that, whatever\nform of government might be necessary for the maintenance of order, and\nfor putting all men on an equality in the eye of the law, the people\nthemselves were the source of all power, and they acted accordingly.\nMr. Peel, (afterwards Sir Robert Peel,) Under Secretary of State,\ncondemned the conduct of Sir James Craig, as Governor of Canada. Mr.\nRyland, himself, informed Sir James, by letter, from London, whither he\nhad been sent with despatches, that when he observed to Mr. Peel that\nSir James Craig had all the English inhabitants with him, and,\nconsequently, all the commercial interest of the country, Mr. Peel\nremarked that the Canadians were much more _numerous_, and he\nrepeated the same remark more than once, in a way that indicated a fear\nof doing anything that might clash with the prejudices of the _more\nnumerous_ part of the community. And when Mr. Ryland ventured to\nsuggest that the decided approbation of the Governor's conduct could\nnot fail to have a _desirable_ effect on the minds of the\nCanadians, and that the best way of expressing such approbation, was by\nsuspending the constitution, as Sir James Craig had recommended, Mr.\nPeel thought that a reunion of the provinces would be better than a\nsuspension of the constitution of Lower Canada. Lord Liverpool thought\nthat it was not very necessary to imprison the editors of the\n_Canadien_. He quietly asked if they could not have been brought\nover to the government? Mr. Ryland said that it was not possible, that\nMr. Bedard's motive for opposing the government, was possibly to obtain\noffice, but he had acted in such a way as to make that impossible. At\ndinner with the Earl of Liverpool, at Coombe Wood, Mr. Ryland seems to\nhave had a combing from Mr. Peel. He writes to Sir James Craig that, in\na conversation with Mr. Peel, before dinner, concerning the state of\nthings in Canada, he was mortified to find that he had but an imperfect\nidea of the subject. He expressed himself as though he had thought that\nSir James Craig had dissolved the House of Assembly on account of their\nhaving passed a bill for excluding the judges. He endeavored to give\nMr. Peel a clear and correct conception of these matters, but God knew\nwith what success! He recollected Governor Craig's advice, and kept his\ntemper, but it was really very provoking to see men of fine endowments\nand excellent natural understanding, too inattentive to make themselves\nmasters of a very important subject, which had been placed before them,\nin an intelligible manner. When Mr. Peel asked him if the English\nmembers of the House were always with the government, Mr. Ryland said\nthat in every case of importance, with the exception of Mr. James\nStuart, formerly Solicitor-General, the English members always\nsupported the views of the government. And, indeed, the\nAttorney-General of England, Sir Vicary Gibbs, reported against the\ndespotic intentions of Sir James Craig, and, at the suggestion of his\nsecretary, further expressed his official opinion that the paper\npublished in the _Canadien_, and upon which the proceedings of the\nExecutive Council of Canada had been founded, was not such as to fix\nupon the publishers, the charge of treasonable practices, and that it\nwas only the apprehensions that had been in Canada entertained, of the\neffects of the publication of the paper in the _Canadien_, that\nmight have made it excusable to resort to means, not strictly\njustifiable in law, for suppressing anticipated mischief. The truth was\nsimply that a stupid old man, filled with the most violent prejudices,\nagainst change of any sort, had been sent to govern a new and rapidly\nrising country, and knew not how success was to be obtained. His mind\nwas full of conspiracies, rebellions, and revolutions, and nothing\nelse. When he retired to rest, and had drawn the curtains of his bed,\nthere sat upon him, night after night, three horrible spectres:--the\nRebellion in Ireland, the Reign of Terror in France, and the American\nrevolution. He slept only to dream of foul conspiracies, and he was\ndreaming how they best could be avoided, when in broad daylight he was\nmost awake.\nUpper Canada had not yet become sufficiently populous to require much\nlegislation. Indeed, the legislature of that province hardly transacted\nany business more important than now devolves upon some insignificant\ncounty municipality. There was as yet no party. There were as yet no\ngrievances. Parliament was annually assembled by Governor Gore, rather\nbecause it was a rule to which he was bound to attend, than because it\nwas required. He met his parliament again, on the 1st of February,\n1811, and business having been rapidly transacted, the royal assent was\ngiven to nine Acts, relative to the erection and repair of roads and\nbridges, to the licensing of petty chapmen, to the payment of\nparliamentary contingencies, to the regulation of duties, to the\nfurther regulation of the proceedings of sheriffs, in the sale of goods\nand chattels, taken by them in execution, to assessments, to bills of\nexchange, and to the raising and training of the militia.\nOn the 30th of September, in the same year, Lieutenant-Governor Francis\nGore resigned the government into the hands of Major-General, Sir Isaac\nBrocke, and returned to England, Mr. Dunn, having, on the 14th of the\nsame month, been relieved of the government of Lower Canada, by\nLieutenant-General Sir George Prevost, Baronet, the Lieutenant-Governor\nof Nova Scotia, and now appointed Governor General of British North\nAmerica, in consideration as well of his administrative ability, as of\nhis distinguished reputation as an officer in the army. No sooner had\nSir George arrived at Quebec, than he set out on a tour of military\nobservation. War was now more than ever imminent. Another difficulty\nhad occurred at sea. A British sloop of war, the _Little Belt_,\nhad been fired into by the American frigate, _President_, and, in\nthe rencontre which followed, had suffered greatly in her men and\nrigging. The British Orders in Council had not been rescinded, American\ncommerce was crippled, the revenue was falling off, and there was that\ngeneral quarrelsomeness of spirit which, sooner or later, must be\nsatisfied, pervading the middle States of the American Union. Congress\nwas assembled by proclamation, on the 5th of November, and the\nPresident of the United States indicated future events by a shadow in\nhis opening \"Message.\" Mr. Madison found that he must \"add\" that the\nperiod had arrived which claimed from the legislative guardians of the\nnational rights, a system of more ample provision for maintaining them.\nThere was full evidence of the hostile inflexibility of Great Britain.\nShe had trampled on rights, which no independent nation could\nrelinquish, and Congress would feel the duty of putting the United\nStates into an armour and an attitude, demanded by the crisis, and\ncorresponding with the national spirit and expectation. Congress did as\nthey were recommended to do. Bills were passed having reference to\nprobable hostilities, one of which authorized the President to raise,\nwith as little delay as possible, twenty-five thousand men.\nIn Canada every man held his breath for a time.\nCHAPTER III.\nGeneral Prevost was the very opposite of Sir James Craig. While the\nlatter considered force the only practical persuasive, the former\nlooked upon persuasion as more practicable than force. He was\ndetermined to be conciliatory, to throw aside unjust suspicions, to\nlisten to no tales from interested parties, to redress such grievances\nas existed, and to create no new causes of discontent if he could avoid\nit. He was made acquainted with all the steps that had been taken by\nhis predecessor, and he entered on the administration of the government\nof Lower Canada, with a determination to pursue a very opposite policy.\nA few weeks after his assumption of office he remodelled, or rather\nrecommended to the Imperial ministry, the expediency of remodelling the\nExecutive Council. He caused seven new members to be added to it, and\nhe further offended the officers of the principalities or departments,\nby preferring to places of trust and emolument, some of the demagogues\npersecuted by Sir James Craig. Sir George Prevost met the parliament on\nthe 21st of February, 1812. He congratulated the country on the\nbrilliant achievements of Wellington, in the deliverance of Portugal\nand the rescue of Spain from France. Notwithstanding the changes, so\nastonishing, which marked the age, the inhabitants of Canada had\nwitnessed but as remote spectators the awful scenes which had desolated\nEurope. While Britain, built by nature against the contagious breath of\nwar, had had her political existence involved in the fate of\nneighboring nations, Canada had hitherto viewed without alarm a distant\nstorm. The storm was now approaching her. The mutterings of the thunder\nwere already within hearing. All was gloomy, still, and lurid. It was\nnecessary to be vigilant. To preserve the province from the dangers of\ninvasion it would be necessary to renew those Acts which experience had\nproved essential for the preservation of His Majesty's government, and\nto hold the militia in readiness to repel aggression. The renewal of\nthe \"Preservation Acts,\" was not that which the Assembly very much\ndesired. They had had enough of such \"Preservation\" of government Acts\nalready. They would much rather have been preserved from them than be\npreserved with them. On the principle of self preservation, the\nAssembly would rather be excused from continuing any such Act as that\nwhich had been so abused as to have afforded a licence for the\nimprisonment of three members of the Assembly, on vague charges, which\nthe ingenuity of the public prosecutor could not reduce to particulars.\nHad it not been from a conviction of the goodness of the new Governor,\nthe Assembly would not have renewed any such Act. Sir George regretted\nthat the Parliament had thought it necessary to revert to any of the\nproceedings of his predecessor, under one of the \"Preservation Acts,\"\nand he earnestly advised the gentlemen of the House of Assembly to\nevince their zeal for the public good, by confining their attention\nsolely to the present situation of affairs. But the House thought it\ndue to the good character of His Majesty's subjects that some measure\nshould be adopted by the House, with the view of acquainting His\nMajesty of the events which had taken place under the administration of\nSir James Craig, its late Governor, together with the causes which such\nevents had originated, so that His Majesty might take such steps as\nwould prevent the recurrence of a similar administration, an\nadministration which tended to misrepresent the good and faithful\npeople of the province, and to deprive them of the confidence and\naffection of His Majesty, and from feeling the good effects of his\ngovernment, in the ample manner provided for by law. Nay, this was not\nall. It was moved that an enquiry be made into the state of the\nprovince, under the administration of Sir James Craig, and into the\ncauses that gave rise to it, and the resolution was carried, two\nmembers only voting against it. A committee was appointed, but no\nreport was made. The bill for the better preservation of His Majesty's\ngovernment, and the Alien bill were both lost, not by ill intention,\nbut by awkward management. But the loss of these bills was amply\ncompensated by the militia bill, authorizing the Governor to embody two\nthousand young, unmarried men, for three months in the year, who, in\ncase of invasion, were to be retained in service for a whole year, when\none-half of the embodied would be relieved by fresh drafts. In the\nevent of imminent danger, he was empowered to embody the whole militia\nforce of the country, but no militiaman was to be enlisted into the\nregular forces. For drilling, training, and other purposes of the\nmilitia service, \u00a312,000 were voted, and a further sum of \u00a330,000 was\nplaced at the disposal of the Governor-in-Chief, to be used in the\nevent of a war arising between Great Britain and the United States.\nSir George Prevost prorogued Parliament on the 19th of May, well\nsatisfied with the proofs which had been exhibited to him, of the\nloyalty of the parliament and people of a country so very shortly\nbefore represented to be treasonable, seditious, disaffected, and\nthoroughly imbued with hatred towards Great Britain. He shortly\nafterwards re-instated, in their respective ranks in the militia, such\nofficers as had been set aside by Sir James Craig, without just cause,\nand indeed spared no exertion to make the people his friends, well\njudging that the office, or place men would, of necessity be so. On the\n28th of May, he levied and organised four battalions of embodied\nmilitia; and a regiment of voltigeurs was raised, the latter being\nplaced under the command of Major De Salaberry, a French-Canadian, who\nhad served in the 60th regiment of foot.\nThere was need for this embodiment of troops. Already, dating from the\n3rd of April, the American Congress had passed an Act laying an embargo\nfor ninety days on all vessels within the jurisdiction of the United\nStates. The President, Mr. Jefferson, had recommended the embargo. He\nhad long intended to gratify the lower appetites of the worst class of\nthe American people, who were now more numerous than that respectable\nclass of republicans of which that great man, Washington, was himself\nthe type. The measure was preparatory to a war with Great Britain. And\nwar was very soon afterwards declared. On the 4th of June, a bill\ndeclaring that war existed between Great Britain and the United States\npassed the House of Representatives by a majority of seventy-nine to\nforty-nine. The bill was taken to the Senate, and there it passed only\nby the narrow majority of six. The vote was nineteen voices in the\naffirmative and thirteen in the negative. Mr. Jefferson assented to the\nbill on the 18th of June. The grounds of war were set forth in a\nmessage of the President to Congress, on the 1st of June. The\nimpressment of American seamen by British naval officers; the blockade\nof the ports of the enemies of Great Britain, supported by no adequate\nforce, in consequence of which American commerce had been plundered in\nevery sea, and the great staples of the country cut off from their\nlegitimate markets; and on account of the British Orders in Council.\nThe Committee on Foreign relations believed that the freeborn sons of\nAmerica were worthy to enjoy the liberty which their fathers had\npurchased at the price of much blood and treasure. They saw by the\nmeasures adopted by Great Britain, a course commenced and persisted in,\nwhich might lead to a loss of national character and independence, and\nthey felt no hesitation in advising resistance by force, in which the\nAmericans of that day would prove to the enemy and the world, that they\nhad not only inherited that liberty which their fathers had given them,\nbut had also the will and the power to maintain it. They relied on the\npatriotism of the nation, and confidently trusted that the Lord of\nHosts would go down with the United States to battle, in a righteous\ncause, and crown American efforts with success. The committee\nrecommended an immediate appeal to arms. The confidential secretary of\nSir James Craig was not a little to blame for the terrible state of\nfermentation into which the representatives of the sovereign people of\nAmerica had wrought themselves. Without the knowledge of the Imperial\ngovernment, Mr. Secretary Ryland had received the concurrence of Sir\nJames Craig to a scheme for the annexation of the New England States to\nCanada. A young man named Henry, of Irish parentage, and a captain in\nthe militia of the American States had come to Montreal with the view\nof remaining in Canada. He studied law and made considerable\nproficiency. Indeed, he was a young man possessed of some talent and of\ngreat assurance. And as there was another suspicion haunting the minds\nof Sir James Craig and of Mr. Secretary Ryland, Mr. John Henry, late\ncaptain in the American service, and now Barrister-at-law, was\nintroduced to Governor Craig, as a gentleman likely to inform the\ngovernment of Canada, whether or not, the suspicions of the Governor\nand of the Governor's Secretary, were correct, these suspicions being\nthat the North Eastern States of the American Republic desired to form\na political connection with Great Britain. Mr. Henry appeared to be the\nvery man for such a mission. He was immediately employed as a spy, and\nwent to Boston, where he did endeavour to ascertain the public mind, in\nthose places in which it is most frequently spoken. He lingered about\nhotels and news rooms. He visited the parks and the saloons. He went to\nchurch, or wherever else information was to be obtained, and he sent\nhis experiences regularly to Mr. Ryland, who furnished him with\ninstructions. But Captain Henry required to be paid for all this\ntrouble. He applied to Governor Craig to find that excellent gentleman\nhad no idea of their value. He then memorialized Lord Liverpool, asking\nfor his services only the appointment of Judge Advocate of Lower\nCanada, to which the salary of \u00a3500 a year was attached. The noble\nLord, at the head of the government, knew nothing about Captain Henry,\nand recommended him, if he had any claim upon Canada, to apply to Sir\nGeorge Prevost, the Governor General. Captain Henry would do no such\nthing. He went to the United States, and, for the sum of fifty thousand\ndollars, gave up to the American government a very interesting\ncorrespondence between the Secretary of the Governor General of Canada,\nMr. Ryland, and himself. Congress was so transported with rage, at the\nattempted annexation, that a bill was brought into the House of\nRepresentatives, and seriously entertained, the object of which was to\ndeclare every person a pirate, and punishable with death, who, under a\npretence of a commission from any foreign power, should impress upon\nthe high seas any native of the United States; and gave every such\nimpressed seaman a right to attach, in the hands of any British\nsubject, or of any debtor to any British subject, a sum equal to thirty\ndollars a month, during the whole period of his detention.[16] The\nfederalist Americans were somewhat favourably disposed towards England.\nThe minority in the House of Representatives, among which were found\nthe principal part of the delegation from New England, in an address to\ntheir constituents, solemnly protested, on the ground that the wrongs\nof which the United States complained, although in some respects,\ngrievous, were not of a nature, in the then state of the world, to\njustify war, nor were they such as war would be likely to remedy. On\nthe subject of impressment they urged that the question between the two\ncountries had once been honorably and satisfactorily settled, in the\ntreaty negotiated with the British Court by Messrs. Monroe and\nPinckney, and that although that treaty had not been ratified by Mr.\nJefferson, arrangements might probably again be made. In relation to\nthe second cause of war--the blockade of her enemies' ports, without an\nadequate force, the minority replied that it was not designed to injure\nthe commerce of the United States, but was retaliatory upon France,\nwhich had taken the lead in aggressions upon neutral rights. In\naddition it was said, that as the repeal of the French decrees had been\nofficially announced, it was to be expected that a revocation of the\nOrders in Council would follow. They could not refrain from asking what\nthe United States were to gain from war? Would the gratification of\nsome privateers-men compensate the nation for that sweep of American\nlegitimate commerce, by the extended marine of Great Britain, which the\ndesperate act of declaring war invited? Would Canada compensate the\nmiddle States for New York, or the Western States for New Orleans? They\nwould not be deceived! A war of invasion might invite a retort of\ninvasion. When Americans visited the peaceable, and, to Americans, the\ninnocent colonies of Great Britain, with the horrors of war, could\nAmericans be assured that their own coast would not be visited with\nlike horrors. At such a crisis of the world, and under impressions such\nas these, the minority could not consider the war into which the United\nStates had, in secret, been precipitated, as necessary, or required by\nany moral duty, or any political expediency. The country was divided in\nopinion, respecting either the propriety or the expediency of the war.\nThe friends of the administration were universally in favor of it.\nThat there was no just cause for a declaration of war on the part of\nthe United States, it may be sufficient to state that the news of the\nrepeal of the obnoxious Order in Council, reached the United States\nbefore England was aware of the declaration of war. But the American\ngovernment wanted a war as an excuse for a filibustering expedition to\nCanada, which was to be peaceably separated from Great Britain, and\nquietly annexed to the United States. Then existing differences would\nhave been speedily patched up to the satisfaction of all parties, the\nLower Canadians being, in the language of Sir James Craig, treasonable,\nseditious, and attached to the country with which the United States was\nin alliance, France. The United States were not prepared for war. While\nGreat Britain had a hundred sail of the line in commission, and a\nthousand ships of war bore the royal flag, the Americans had only four\nfrigates and eight sloops in commission, and their whole naval force\nafloat in ordinary, and building for the Ocean and the Canadian Lakes,\nwas eight frigates and twelve sloops. Their military force only\namounted to twenty-five thousand men, to be enlisted for the most part,\nbut the President was authorised to call out one hundred thousand\nmilitia, for the purpose of defending the sea coast and the Canadian\nfrontiers. The greatest want of all was proper officers. The ablest of\nthe revolutionary heroes had paid the debt of nature, and there was no\nmilitary officer to whom fame could point as the man fitted for\ncommand. With means so lamentably inconsiderable had America declared\nwar against a country whose arms were sweeping from the Spanish\nPeninsula the disciplined and veteran troops of France. It was\nmarvellous audacity. And it was a marvellous mistake. Canada, it is\ntrue, had only 5,454 men of all arms, who could be accounted soldiers,\n445 artillery, 3,783 infantry of the line, and 1,226 fencibles. She had\nonly one or two armed brigs and a few gun-boats on the lakes, but the\nUpper Canadians were not prepared to exchange their dependency on Great\nBritain for the paltry consideration of being erected into a territory\nof the United States, and the Superintendent of the Church of Rome, in\nLower Canada, hardly thought it possible that a new conquest of Canada\nwould make her peculiar institutions more secure than they were. The\nmilitia of both sections of Canada were loyal. They felt that they\ncould, as their enemies had done before, at least defend their own\nfiresides. There was no sympathy with the American character, nor any\nregard for American institutions then. Those feelings were to be\nbrought about by that commercial selfishness which time was to develop.\nThe declaration of war by the United States was only known in Quebec on\nthe 24th of June. A notification was immediately given by the police\nauthorities to all American citizens then in Canada, requiring them to\nleave the province on or before the third of July. But Sir George\nPrevost afterwards extended the time to fourteen days longer, to suffer\nAmerican merchants to conclude their business arrangements.\nProclamations were issued, imposing an embargo on the shipping in the\nport of Quebec, and calling the legislature together, for the despatch\nof business. Parliament met on the 16th of July. The Governor-in-Chief\nannounced the declaration of war, expressed his reliance upon the\nspirit, the determination, the loyalty and the zeal of the country.\nWith the aid of the militia, His Majesty's regular troops, few in\nnumber, as they were, would yet gallantly repel any hostile attempt\nthat might be made upon the colony. It was with concern that he saw the\nexpense to which the organization and drilling of the militia would put\nthe province. But battles must be fought, campaigning had to be\nendured, and true and lasting liberty was cheap at any cost of life or\ntreasure. The reply was all that could be desired. While the House\ndeplored the hostile declaration that had been made against Great\nBritain, and seemed to shrink from the miseries which war entails, they\nassured the Governor that threats would not intimidate, nor persuasions\nallure them from their duty to their God, to their country, and to\ntheir king. They were convinced that the Canadian militia would fight\nwith spirit and determination, against the enemy, and would, with the\naid of the tried soldiers of the king, sternly defend the province\nagainst any hostile attack. As far as spirit went there was no\ndeficiency, but Canada was worse off for money than the United States\nwas for soldiery. There were forty thousand militia about to rise in\narms, but where was the money to come from necessary to keep them\nmoving? Congress intended to raise an immediate loan of ten millions of\ndollars. It was essential Canada should immediately replenish her\nexchequer, as those not being the days of steamships, funds from\nEngland could not be soon obtained. Sir George Prevost resolved to\nissue army bills, payable either in cash, or in government bills of\nexchange, on London. The House of Assembly assented to the circulation\nof any bills, and granted fifteen thousand pounds annually for five\nyears, to pay the interest that would accrue upon them. Bills to the\nvalue of two hundred and fifty thousand were authorised to be put in\ncirculation; they were to be received in the payment of duties; they\nwere to be a legal tender in the market; and they were to be redeemed\nat the army bill office, in any way, whether in cash or bills, the\nGovernor-in-Chief might signify. Nothing could have been more\nsatisfactory to Sir George Prevost. He prorogued the Parliament on the\n1st of August, with every expression of satisfaction. And well he might\nbe satisfied. The men who were, according to the representations of his\npredecessor, not at all to be depended upon, in a case of emergency,\nhad most readily, liberally, and loyally, met the demands of the public\nservice. The men who feared martial law, and could not tolerate the\nwithholding of the Habeas Corpus, came forward nobly to defend from\noutward attack the dominions of their king. The whole province was\nbursting with warlike zeal. A military epidemic seized old and young,\ncarrying off the latter in extraordinary numbers. Montreal, Quebec, and\neven Kingston and Toronto teemed with men in uniform and in arms. The\nregular troops were moved to Montreal, and Quebec was garrisoned by the\nmilitia. At Montreal, even the militia turned out for garrison duty.\nAnd on the 6th of August, the whole militia were commanded to hold\nthemselves in readiness for embodiment. A little of the zeal now began\nto ooze out. There never yet was a rule without an exception. In the\nParish of Ste. Claire, some young men, who had been drafted into the\nembodied militia, refused to join their battalion. Of these, four were\napprehended, but one was rescued, and it was determined by the\nable-bodied men of Pointe Claire to liberate such others of their\nfriends as had already joined the depot of the embodied militia at\nLaprairie. Accordingly, on the following day, some three or four\nhundred persons assembled at Lachine. They had not assembled to pass a\nseries of resolutions censuring the government for illegally and\nwantonly carrying off some of the best men of the Parish of Pointe\nClaire, nor did they express any opinion favorable to Mr. Madison and\nthe Americans, but they had assembled to obtain, by force, the liberty\nof their friends about to be subjected to military discipline. It\nseemed to have been a misunderstanding, however. The infuriated\nparishioners of Pointe Claire, who would not be comforted, on being\nappealed to, to go to their homes, frequently raised the cry of \"Vive\nle Roi.\" It might be supposed that the Ste. Claire people meant to wish\na long and happy reign to His Imperial Majesty Napoleon, as Mr. Ryland\nshrewdly suspected. But that supposition was not entertainable for any\nconsiderable length of time, inasmuch as the people without any\nprompting intimated that they had been informed that the militia law\nhad not been put into force, but that if the Governor should call for\ntheir services they were ready to obey him. The magistrates assured the\npeople that the militia law was really to be enforced, and advised them\nto disperse. They refused to budge. Two pieces of artillery and a\ncompany of the 49th regiment, which had been sent for, to Montreal, now\nappeared at Lachine. Still the mob would not disperse. Accordingly, the\nRiot Act was read, and the artillery fired a ball high over the heads\nof the stubborn crowd, which, of course, whizzing harmlessly along,\nproduced no effect upon the crowd, except that the eighty, who were\narmed with fusils and fowling pieces, somewhat smartly returned the\ncompliment, proving to the satisfaction of the soldiers the possession\nof highly military qualities, in a quarter where it was least expected.\nIn reply, the troops fired grape and small arms, but without any\nintention of doing mischief. The rioters again fired at the troops, but\nnot the slightest harm resulted to the troops. It was a kind of sham\nbattle. The military authorities began, however, to tire of it, and the\nmob was fired into, when one man having been killed, and another having\nbeen dangerously wounded, the mutineers dispersed, leaving some of the\nmost daring among them, to keep up a straggling fire from the bushes!\nThe military made thirteen prisoners and, as night was setting in, left\nfor Montreal. Next day, four hundred and fifty of the Montreal militia\nmarched to Pointe Claire, and from thence to St. Laurent, which is\nsituated in the rear of the Island of Montreal. There, they captured\ntwenty-four of the culprits, and brought them to head quarters. Thus,\nthere were thirty-seven rebels, prisoners in Montreal, when the United\nStates had declared war against Britain, and the first blood shed, in\nconsequence of the declaration of war in Canada, by the troops, was,\nunfortunately, that of Canadians. But the Pointe Claire\n_habitants_ bitterly repented the resistance which they had made\nto the militia law, and many of them came to Montreal, craving the\nforgiveness of the Governor, which they readily obtained. The\nringleaders alone were punished.\nHostilities were commenced in Upper Canada. No sooner had General\nBrocke learned that war was proclaimed, than he conceived a project of\nattack. He did not mean to penetrate into the enemy's country, but for\nthe better protection of his own, to secure the enemy's outposts. On\nthe 26th of June, he sent orders to Captain Roberts, who was at St.\nJoseph's, a small post, or block house, situated on an island in Lake\nHuron, maintained by thirty soldiers of the line and two artillerymen,\nin charge of a serjeant of that corps, under the command of the gallant\ncaptain, to attack Michillimackinac, an American fort defended by\nseventy-five men, also under the command of a captain. He was further\ninstructed to retreat upon St. Mary's, one of the trading posts\nbelonging to the North West Fur Company, in the event of St. Joseph's\nbeing attacked by the Americans. General Brocke's instructions reached\nCaptain Roberts on the eighth of July, and he lost no time in carrying\nthe first part of them into execution. Communicating the design, the\nexecution of which he had been entrusted with, to Mr. Pothier, in\ncharge of the Company's Post, at St. Joseph's, that gentleman\npatriotically tendered his services. Mr. Pothier, attended by about a\nhundred and sixty voyageurs, the greater part of whom were armed with\nmuskets and fowling pieces, joined Captain Roberts with his detachment\nof three artillerymen and thirty soldiers of the line, and in a\nflotilla of boats and canoes, accompanied by the North West Company's\nbrig _Caledonia_, laden with stores and provisions, a descent was\nmade upon Michillimackinac. They arrived at the enemy's fort, without\nhaving met with the slightest opposition, and summoned it to surrender.\nThe officer in command of the American fort at once complied. He had\nindeed received no certain information that war had been declared. Very\nshortly afterwards two vessels, laden with furs, came into the harbour,\nignorant of the capture of the fort, and were taken possession of,\nthough subsequently restored to their proprietors, by Major-General\nDeRottenburgh, the President of the Board of Claims. Unimportant as\nthis achievement was, it yet had the effect of establishing confidence\nin Upper Canada. It had an excellent effect upon the Indian tribes,\nwith whose aid the struggle with the Americans, was afterwards\nefficiently maintained.\nUpon the declaration of war, the government of the United States\ndespatched as skilful an officer, as they had, to arm the American\nvessels on Lake Erie, and on Lake Ontario, with the view of gaining,\nif possible, the ascendancy on those great inland waters, which\nseparate a great portion of Canada from the United States. The\nAmerican army was distributed in three divisions:--one under General\nHarrison called \"The North Western Army,\" a second under General\nStephen Van Rensellaer, at Lewiston, called \"The Army of the Centre,\"\nand a third under the Commander-in-Chief, General Dearborn, in the\nneighbourhood of Plattsburgh and Greenbush. As yet the armies had not\nbeen put in motion, but on the 12th of July, General Hull, the\nGovernor of Michigan, who had been sent, at the head of two thousand\nfive hundred men, to Detroit, with the view of putting an end to the\nhostilities of the Indians in that section of the country, crossed\nto Sandwich, established his head-quarters there, and issued a\nproclamation to the inhabitants of Canada. He expressed the most\nentire confidence of success. The standard of union, he alleged, waved\nover the territory of Canada. He tendered the invaluable blessings of\nliberty, civil, political, and religious, to an oppressed people,\nseparated from, and having no share in the Councils of Britain, or\ninterests in her conduct. And he threatened a war of extermination if\nthe Indians were employed in resisting the invasion.\nGeneral Brocke met the Parliament of Upper Canada, at York, on the 28th\nof the same month, and issued a proclamation to the people, in which he\nridiculed General Hull's fears of the Indians. He then despatched\nColonel Proctor to assume the command at Amherstburgh, from Fort St.\nGeorge.\nSo confident was the American General of success that, as yet, he had\nnot a single cannon or mortar mounted, and he did not consider it\nexpedient to attempt to carry Amherstburgh, which was only situated\neighteen miles below, by assault. But, as his situation, at Sandwich,\nbecame more and more precarious, he, at length, did resolve upon\nattacking Amherstburgh, if he could get there. He sent detachment after\ndetachment, to cross the Canard, the river on which Amherstburgh\nstands. The Americans attempted thrice to cross the bridge, situated\nthree miles above Amherstburgh, in vain. Some of the 41st regiment and\na few Indians drove them back as often as they tried it. Another rush\nwas made a little higher up. But the attempt to ford the stream was as\nunsuccessful as the attempts to cross the bridge. Near the ford, some\nof those Indians, so much dreaded by General Hull, lay concealed in the\ngrass. Not a blade stirred until the whole of the Americans were well\nin the stream, and some had gained the bank, on the Canadian side, when\neighteen or twenty of the red children of the forest, sprang to their\nfeet, and gave a yell, so hideous, that the Americans, stricken with\npanic, fled with almost ludicrous precipitancy. So terror-stricken,\nindeed, were the valiant host, that they left arms, accoutrements, and\nhaversacks, behind them. No further attempt was made by General Hull,\non Amherstburgh. It would have been captured with great difficulty, if\nit could have been captured at all. At the mouth of the river Canard, a\nsmall tributary of the Detroit, the _Queen Charlotte_, a sloop of\nwar, armed with eighteen twenty-four pounders, lay at anchor, watching\nevery manoeuvre.\nOn the 3rd of July, Lieutenant Rolette, commanding the armed brig\n_Hunter_, at ten o'clock in the forenoon, succeeded in capturing\nthe _Cayuga_ packet, bound from the Miami river to Detroit, with\ntroops, and laden with the baggage and hospital stores of the American\narmy. He made a dash at the _Cayuga_ in his barge, and, with only\nsix men, secured her.\nColonel Proctor now assumed the offensive. He sent Captain Tallon, on\nthe 5th of August, with an inconsiderable detachment of the 41st\nregiment, and a few of the many Indians, who were flocking to his\nstandard, to Brownstown, a village opposite Amherstburgh. Captain\nTallon energetically carried out his instructions, by surprising and\nrouting more than two hundred of the Americans, who were under the\ncommand of Major Vanhorne. The captured detachment were on their way\nfrom Detroit to the river Raisin, in the expectation of meeting there a\ndetachment of volunteers, from Ohio, under Captain Burr, with a convoy\nof provisions for the army. General Hull's despatches fell into the\nhands of the captors. The deplorable state of the American army was\ndisclosed, and, without loss of time, Colonel Proctor sent over a\nreinforcement, consisting of one hundred men, of the 41st regiment,\nwith some militia and four hundred Indians, under the command of Major\nMuir, their landing being protected by the brig _Hunter_. Nor were\nthe American General's misfortunes yet to be ameliorated. While these\nthings were taking place, a despatch reached him from the officer\ncommanding the Niagara frontier, intimating that his expected\nco-operation was impossible. On every side, General Hull was being\nhemmed in. His supplies had been cut off. Defeat had befallen him so\nfar and death, sickness, fatigue and discomfiture had its depressing\neffect upon his soldiery. There was no insurrection in Canada. The\npeople of the backwoods had not the slightest desire to be territorially\nannexed to that country over which the standard of union had waved for\nthirty years. On the contrary, they were bent upon doing it as much\nmischief as possible. They had no idea of transferring their allegiance\nto a power who had visited them with the miseries of war, for no fault\nof theirs. Hull was dismayed. When it was announced that General Brocke\nwas advancing against him, he sounded a retreat. Unwilling that his\nfears should be communicated to the troops under him, General Hull\nretreated ostensibly with the view of concentrating the army. After he\nhad re-opened his communications with the rivers Raisin and Miami,\nthrough which the whole of his supplies came, he was to resume\noffensive operations. That time never came. On the 8th of August,\nSandwich was evacuated. Two hundred and fifty men only were left\nbehind, in charge of a small fortress, a little below Detroit. When\nagain in Detroit, General Hull sent six hundred men under Colonel\nMiller, to dislodge the British from Brownston. Major Muir, who\ncommanded at Brownston, instead of waiting for the attack, quixotically\nwent out to meet his adversaries. The two opposing detachments met at\nMaguago, a kind of half way place, where a fight began. It was of short\nduration, but, considering the numbers engaged, was sanguinary.\nSeventy-five of the Americans fell, and the British were compelled,\nthough with inconsiderable loss, to retreat. On the water as on the\nland, the chief mischief fell upon the Americans. Lieutenant Rolette,\nwith the boats of the _Queen Charlotte_ and _Hunter_, intercepted,\nattacked, and captured eleven American batteaux and boats, which were\n_en route_ for Detroit, under the escort of two hundred and fifty\nAmerican soldiers, marching along the shore, the boats and batteaux\nhaving on board fifty-six wounded Americans and two English prisoners.\nGeneral Brocke, who had prorogued his Parliament, now appeared at the\nseat of war. He had collected together a force of seven hundred of\nBritish regulars and militia and six hundred auxiliary Indians. And he\nvery coolly determined upon obtaining the surrender of His Excellency,\nGeneral Hull, and his whole force. Knowing from his absurd proclamation,\nhow much in dread he stood of the Indians, General Brocke intimated\nthat if an attack were made, the Indians would be beyond his control;\nthat if Detroit were instantly surrendered, he would enter into\nconditions such as would satisfy the most scrupulous sense of honor;\nand that he had sent Lieutenant-Colonel McDonnell and Major Glegg with\nfull authority to conclude any arrangement that might prevent the\nunnecessary effusion of blood. General Hull replied very courteously in\nthe negative. Captain Dixon, of the Royal Engineers, had thrown up a\nbattery in Sandwich, on the very ground so recently occupied by the\nAmericans, to act upon Detroit. In this battery there were two five and\na half inch mortars, and one eighteen and two twelve pounder guns, and\nit was manned by sailors under the command of Captain Hull. For upwards\nof an hour the cannonade was terrific, the fire of the enemy being very\nfeebly maintained, from two twenty-four pounders. On the morning of the\neighteenth, the cannonade recommenced, and General Brocke crossed the\nriver with his little army, unopposed, at the Spring Wells, three miles\nbelow Detroit, the landing being effected under cover of the guns of\nthe _Queen Charlotte_ and _Hunter_. General Brocke formed his troops\nupon the beach, into four deep, and flanked by the Indians, advanced\nfor about a mile, when he formed this miniature army into line, with\nits right resting on the river Detroit, and the left supported by the\nIndians. He then made preparations for assault, and was about to\nattack, when to the surprise as much, it is said, of the American as of\nthe British regiments, a flag of truce was displayed upon the walls of\nthe fort, and a messenger was seen approaching. It was an intimation\nthat General Hull would capitulate. Lieutenant-Colonel McDonnell and\nMajor Glegg were accordingly sent over to the American General's tent\nwhere, in a few minutes, the terms of capitulation were signed, sealed,\nand delivered in duplicate, one copy for the information of His\nBritannic Majesty, and the other for that of Mr. President Madison, the\nchief of the authors of the war. To Mr. Madison, the information that\nGeneral Hull had capitulated to the Governor of Upper Canada, with two\nthousand five hundred men, and thirty-three pieces of cannon, and that,\nin consequence, the whole territory of Michigan had been ceded to Great\nBritain, could only have been as disagreeable as it was animating to\nthe people of Canada. So entirely indeed were the Americans unprepared\nfor a blow of such extraordinary severity, that no one could be brought\nto believe in it. It seemed an impossible circumstance. It was felt to\nbe a delusion. It seemed as if some one had practised a terrible hoax\nupon the nation. Until officially made known to the sovereign people,\nthe disaster was looked upon as a lying rumour of the enemy. Another\nHenry had been at work, tampering with the New England States, or the\nfederalist minority had set it afloat. True it could not be. It was\nindeed something to excite surprise. The trophy of a British force,\nconsisting of no more than seven hundred men, including militia, and\nsix hundred Indians was the cession of a territory and the surrender of\na General-in-Chief, a strong fort, the armed brig _John Adams_, and the\ntwo thousand five hundred men, who were designed not to defend their\ncountry only, but to wrest Upper Canada from the Crown of Great\nBritain. To General Hull's fears of the savage ferocity of the Indians,\nthis bloodless victory must, to some extent, however trifling, be\nattributed. General Hull was evidently superstitiously afraid of an\nIndian. While asking the inhabitants of Upper Canada to come to him for\nprotection, he could not help entreating, as it were, protection for\nhimself against the Indians. If you will not accept my offer, the\nGeneral seemed to say, either remain at home or cross bayonets with\nAmerican soldiers, but turn into the field one of the scalping savages\nof your forests, and we shall kill, burn and destroy, everything that\ncomes before us. With his regular troops, the unfortunate man was sent\na prisoner to Montreal. He was led into that city, at the head of his\nofficers and men, and was at once an object of pity and derision. But\nthe Commander-in-Chief received his prisoner with the courtesy of a\ngentleman, and with every honor due to his rank. Nay, he even suffered\nhim to return to the United States on parole, without solicitation.\nIn his official despatch, to the American government, Hull took pains\nto free his conduct from censure. His reasons for surrender, were the\nwant of provisions to maintain the siege, the expected reinforcements\nof the enemy, and \"the savage ferocity of the Indians,\" should he\nultimately be compelled to capitulate. But the federal government so\nfar from being satisfied with these excuses, ordered a Court Martial to\nassemble, before which General Hull was tried, on the charges of\ntreason, cowardice, and unofficerlike conduct. On the last charge only\nwas he found guilty and sentenced to death. The Court, nevertheless,\nstrongly recommended him to mercy. He was an old man, and one who, in\nother times, had done the State some service. He had served honorably\nduring the revolutionary war. The sentence of death was accordingly\nremitted by the President, but his name was struck off the army list,\nand this republican hero, who had forgotten the art of war, went in his\nold age, broken-hearted and disgraced, to a living grave, with a worm\nin his vitals, gnawing and torturing him, more terribly than thousands\nof Indians, practising the most unheard of cruelties could have done,\nuntil death, so long denied, came to him, naturally, as a relief.\nThe circumstance is not a little curious that only three days after\nGeneral Hull had surrendered to Governor Brocke, Captain Dacres,\ncommanding H.M.S. _Guerri\u00e8re_, had surrendered to Captain Isaac Hull,\nafter a most severe action with the American frigate _Constitution_.\nThe _Constitution_ was most heavily armed for a vessel of that period.\nOn her main deck she carried no less than 30 twenty-four pounders,\nwhile on her upper deck she had 24 thirty-two pounders, and two\neighteens. In addition to this, for a frigate, unusually heavy\narmament, there was a piece mounted, under her capstan, resembling\nseven musket barrels, fixed together with iron bands, the odd concern\nbeing discharged by a lock--each barrel threw twenty-five balls, within\na few seconds of each other, making 145 from the piece within two\nminutes. And she was well manned. Her crew consisted of 476 men. The\n_Guerri\u00e8re_ mounted only 49 carriage guns, and was manned by only 244\nmen, and 19 boys. On the 19th of August, the look-out of the\n_Guerri\u00e8re_ noticed a sail on the weather beam. The ship was in\nlatitude 40\u00b0., 20 N., and in longitude 55\u00b0. W., and was steering under\na moderate breeze on the starboard tack. The strange sail seemed to be\nbearing down upon the _Guerri\u00e8re_, and it was not long before the\ndiscovery was made that the stranger was a man-of-war, of great size\nand largely masted. Her sailing qualities, under the circumstances,\nwere considerably superior to those of the _Guerri\u00e8re_, and it became\nconsequently necessary to prepare for an action, which it was\nimpossible to avoid. At three o'clock, in the afternoon, Captain\nDacres, the commander of the British frigate, beat to quarters. An hour\nlater and the enemy was close at hand. She seemed to stand across the\n_Guerri\u00e8re's_ bows and Captain Dacres wore ship to avoid a raking fire.\nNo sooner had this manoeuvre been executed than the _Guerri\u00e8re_ ran up\nher colours and fired several shots at her opponent, but they fell\nshort. The stranger soon followed the example set to him, and, hoisting\nAmerican colours, fired in return. Captain Dacres now fully aware of\nthe size, armament and sailing powers of his opponent, wore repeatedly,\nbroadsides being as repeatedly exchanged. While both ships were keeping\nup a heavy fire, and steering free, the _Constitution_, at five\no'clock, closed on the _Guerri\u00e8re's_ starboard beam, when the battle\nraged furiously. Twenty minutes had hardly elapsed when the mizen mast\nof the _Guerri\u00e8re_ was shot away, bringing the ship up into the wind,\nand the carnage on board became terrific. The _Constitution_, during\nthe confusion, caused by the loss of the _Guerri\u00e8re's_ mast, was laid\nacross the British frigate's bow, and while one or two of the bow guns\nof the _Guerri\u00e8re_ could only be brought to bear upon the _Constitution_,\nthat vessel scoured the decks of the British ship, with a stream of\nmetal. \"At five minutes before six o'clock, says Captain Hull, when\nwithin half pistol shot, we commenced a heavy fire from all our guns,\ndouble shotted with round and grape.\" On board the _Guerri\u00e8re_, Mr.\nGrant, who commanded the forecastle, was carried below, the master was\nshot through the knee; and I, says Captain Dacres, was shot in the\nback. At twenty minutes past six the fore and mainmasts of the\n_Guerri\u00e8re_ went over the side, leaving her an unmanageable wreck. The\n_Constitution_ ceased firing and shot a-head, her cabin having taken\nfire from the _Guerri\u00e8re's_ guns. The _Guerri\u00e8re_ would have renewed\nthe action, but the wreck of the masts had no sooner been cleared than\nthe spritsail yard went, and the _Constitution_ having no new braces,\nwore round within pistol shot again to rake her opponent. The crippled\nship lay in the trough of the sea, rolling her main deck guns under\nwater. Thirty shots had taken effect in her hull, about five sheets of\ncopper down; the mizen mast, after it fell, had knocked a large hole\nunder her starboard quarter, and she was so completely shattered as to\nbe in a sinking state. The decks were swimming with blood. Fifteen men\nhad been killed and sixty-three had been severely wounded, when Captain\nDacres called his officers together and consulted them. Farther waste\nof life was useless, and the British colours were dropped in submission\nto those of America. But the result of the contest, though it could not\nfail to cause great exultation in the United States, reflected no\ndishonor upon the flag of Britain. A more unequal contest had never\nbefore been maintained with such spirit, zeal, skill, or bravery. The\nbattle had lasted for nearly three hours and a half, and the result was\nthe sure effect of size, as all things being otherwise equal, the\nheavier must overcome the lighter body. When the _Guerri\u00e8re_\nsurrendered, it was only to permit her gallant commander, her other\nofficers, and the men, the wounded and the untouched, to be transferred\nfor safety from a watery grave to the _Constitution_. Captain Hull, the\nconqueror, told his government that the _Guerri\u00e8re_ had been totally\ndismasted and otherwise cut to pieces, so as to make her not worth\ntowing into port. With four feet of water in her hold, she was\nabandoned and blown up. The _Constitution_ had only the Lieutenant of\nMarines and six seamen killed, and two officers, four seamen, and one\nmarine wounded.\nOn each side there was now something to be proud of and something to\nregret. If the British exulted over the fall of Detroit and the\nsurrender of General Hull, and the United States viewed these\noccurrences with indescribable pain and a sense of humiliation, the\nAmericans could now boast of the success of their arms at sea, while\nBritain regretted a disaster upon that element, on which she had long\nheld and yet holds the undisputed mastery. There was now no room for\nthe American government, on the ground of having been too much\nhumiliated, to refuse peace if it were offered to her. Yet peace was\nrefused. Soon after these occurrences the news of the repeal of the\nOrders in Council reached this continent, and the ground of quarrel\nbeing removed, peace was expected, and an armistice was agreed to\nbetween the British Governor of Canada, Sir George Prevost and General\nDearborn, the American commander-in-chief, on the northern frontier.\nBut the American government, bent upon the conquest of this province,\ndisavowed the armistice and determined upon the vigorous prosecution of\nthe contest. It was then that the Northern States of the American\nUnion, who were the most likely to suffer by the war became clamorous\nfor peace. The whole brunt of the battle, by land, was necessarily to\nbe borne by the State of New York, and the interruption of the\ntransatlantic traffic was to fall with overwhelmingly disastrous\npressure upon Massachusetts and Connecticut. Addresses to the President\nwere sent in, one after another, from the Northeastern States,\nexpressing dissatisfaction with the war and the utmost abhorrence of\nthe alliance between imperial France and republican America. They would\nhave none of it, and if French troops were introduced into their\nStates, as auxiliaries, New England would look upon them and would\ntreat them as enemies. Nay, the Northern States went still further. Two\nof the States, Connecticut and Massachusetts, openly refused to send\ntheir contingents or to impose the taxes which had been voted by\nCongress, and \"symptoms of a decided intention to break off from the\nconfederacy were already evinced in the four Northern States,\ncomprising New York, and the most opulent and powerful portions of the\nUnion.\"[17]\n [17] Alison's History of Europe, page 662, vol. 10.\nGeneral Brocke, ignorant of the armistice, and indeed it did not affect\nhim, for General Hull had acted under the immediate orders of the\nAmerican Secretary at War, and was consequently irresponsible to\nGeneral Dearborn, with the aid of the Lilliputian navy of the Lakes,\nwas maintaining the ascendancy of Great Britain in Upper Canada and\nMichigan. He was about indeed to make an attempt upon Niagara, to be\nfollowed by another upon Sackett's Harbour, with that daring,\npromptitude and judgment, which was characteristic of the man, when he\nreceived instructions from the Governor General to rest a little.\nFollowing the advice of the Duke of Wellington, Sir George Prevost had\nwisely determined not to make a war of aggression with the only handful\nof troops that could be spared to him from the scene of prouder\ntriumphs and of harder and more important struggles. But the American\ngovernment, indifferent to the menaces of the Northern Provinces of the\nUnion, and mistaking for weakness the conciliatory advances of Sir\nGeorge Prevost, soon disturbed the rest of the gallant Brocke. Early on\nthe morning of the 13th of October, a detachment of between a thousand\nand thirteen hundred men, from the American army of the centre, under\nthe immediate command of Colonel Solomon Van Rensellaer,[18] crossed\nthe river Niagara, and attacked the British position of Queenstown. It\nwas when Van Rensellaer having himself crossed, and the British had\nbeen driven from their position, that General Brocke, and about six\nhundred of the 49th regiment, in the grey of the morning, arrived at\nthe scene of conflict. The Americans being about the same time\nreinforced by the addition of regulars and militia. General Brocke put\nhimself at the head of the 49th's Grenadiers, and while gallantly\ncheering them on, he fell mortally wounded, and soon after died. His\ntrusty aid-de-camp, the brave Colonel McDonell, fell beside him, almost\nat the same moment, never again to rise in life. The 49th fought\nstoutly for a time, but, discouraged by the loss of the General, they\nfell back and the position was lost. But the fortune of the day was not\nyet decided, although Van Rensellaer, with the aid of Mr. Totter, his\nLieutenant of Engineers, had somewhat strengthened the recently\ncaptured position on the heights. Reinforcements, consisting partly of\nregular troops, partly of militia, and partly of Chippewa Indians, in\nall about eight or nine hundred men, came up about three in the\nafternoon, to strengthen and encourage the discomfitted 49th, under\nGeneral Roger Sheaffe, who now assumed the command. A combined attack\nwas made on the Americans by the English troops and artillery, in front\nand flank, while Norton, with a considerable body of Indians, menaced\ntheir other extremity. It was entirely successful. The Americans were\ntotally defeated, and one General Officer, (Wadsworth, commanding in\nthe room of General Van Rensellaer, who had re-crossed the river to\naccelerate the embarkation of the militia, which, though urged,\nentreated, and commanded to embark, remained idle spectators, while\ntheir countrymen were, as the American accounts say, struggling for\nvictory,) two Lieutenant-Colonels, five Majors, and a corresponding\nnumber of Captains and subalterns, with nine hundred men, were made\nprisoners; one gun and two colours were taken; and there were four\nhundred killed and wounded, while the loss on the side of the British\ndid not exceed seventy men. Thus was the battle won. It had cost\nEngland an excellent soldier, a man who thoroughly understood his duty,\nand felt his position in whatever capacity he was placed. He died at\nthe age of 42, and the remains of this gallant defender of Upper Canada\nwere buried at Fort George, together with those of his aid-de-camp,\nColonel McDonell. One grave contained both. General Brocke was buried\namidst the tears of those whom he had often led to victory, and amidst\nthe sympathetic sorrowing of even those who had caused his death.\nMinute guns were fired during the funeral, alike from the American as\nfrom the British batteries. Thus it was with the Americans on land. It\nwas, as has been seen, very different on the sea. And the first\nrencontre took place on the latter element. When war was declared it\nwas with the intention of intercepting the homeward bound West India\nfleet of British merchantmen. Three frigates, one sloop, and one brig\nof war, under the command of Captain Rogers, of the American frigate\n_President_, were despatched on that errand. It was about three on\nthe morning of the 23rd of June, that Captain Rogers was informed, by\nan American brig, bound from Madeira to New York, that four days before\na fleet of British merchantmen, were seen under convoy of a frigate and\na brig, steering to the eastward. Captain Rogers accordingly shaped his\ncourse in pursuit of them. At six o'clock in the morning, a sail was\ndescried, which was soon discovered to be a frigate. The signal was\nmade for a chase, and the squadron made all sail on the starboard tack.\nThis being perceived by Captain Byrn, who commanded the British frigate\n_Belvidera_, protecting the convoy, he tacked and made all sail,\nsteering northeast by east. It was now eight o'clock in the morning,\nand the _President_ seemed to be gaining on the _Belvidera_,\nleaving her consorts, however, far behind her. About half past three in\nthe afternoon, the _President_ fired three guns, the shot from one\nof which was terribly destructive. Two men were killed, and Lieutenant\nBruce and four men were more or less severely wounded. Broadside after\nbroadside was fired by both vessels soon afterwards, and the\n_President_ at last bore off. Each party lost about twenty-two\nmen, but the British frigate had the advantage. Her guns were pointed\nwith great skill, and produced a surprising effect, as the American\nsquadron failed in taking the single English frigate, and the whole\nmerchantmen escaped untouched. Indeed after a cruise of twenty days and\nbefore the declaration of hostilities was known at sea, the American\nsquadron returned to port, having only captured seven merchantmen.\n [18] Alison says under the command of General Wadsworth, but\n Christie speaks of Brigadier-General Van Rensellaer, while the\n American accounts speak of Colonel Solomon Van Rensellaer. In\n this case Mr. Christie and the Americans are to be preferred to\n Alison.\nThe action between the _Constitution_ and the _Guerri\u00e8re_ occurred\nafter this event, the result of which has been already stated, somewhat\nout of place, it is true, but, with the design of exhibiting how a\npeace might have been effected, had it been desired by the Americans,\nwithout loss of honor on either side. The simultaneousness of the\nadvantages gained by the British on the land, and of the advantages\ngained by the Americans on the sea, is not a little remarkable, nor is\nit less remarkable that after the tide of battle had slightly turned\nwith the British on land, towards the close of the war, the naval\nactions at sea were nearly all to the disadvantage of the Americans. It\nwould seem that providence had designed to humble the pride of the\nunnatural combatants.\nAbout the exact time of the surrender of General Wadsworth, at\nQueenston, an engagement occurred between the English sloop of war\n_Frolic_, and the American brig of war _Wasp_, which proved disastrous\nto the former. As far as the number of guns went, both vessels were\nequal. Each had eighteen guns, nine to a broadside, but while the sloop\nhad only 92 men and measured only 384 tons, the brig had 135 men and\nmeasured 434 tons. The _Frolic_, on the night of the 17th of October,\nhad been overtaken by a most violent gale of wind, in which she carried\naway her mainyard, lost her topsails, and sprung her maintopmast. It\nwas, while repairing damages, on the morning of the 18th, that Captain\nWhinyates, of the _Frolic_, was made aware of the presence of a\nsuspicious looking vessel, in chase of the convoy, which the _Frolic_\nhad in charge. The merchant ships continued their voyage with all sails\nset, and the _Frolic_, dropping astern, hoisted Spanish colours to\ndecoy the stranger under her guns and give time for the convoy to\nescape. The vessels soon approached sufficiently to exchange\nbroadsides, and the firing of the _Frolic_ was admirable. But the\nvessel could not be worked easily, and the gaff braces being shot away,\nwhile no sail could be or was placed upon the mainmast, her opponent\neasily got the advantage of position. To be brief, the storm of the\nnight before had given the _Wasp_ an advantage which, neither nautical\nskill, nor undaunted resolution could counteract, and the _Frolic_, an\nunmanageable log upon the ocean, was compelled to strike. Undoubtedly\nthis was another triumph to the United States, although, materially\nconsidered, the gain was not much. In only a few hours after this\naction, both the _Wasp_ and the _Frolic_ were surrendered to H.M.S.\n_Poictiers_, of seventy-four guns.\nSeven days afterwards, another naval engagement occurred, more\ntellingly disastrous to Great Britain. The _United States_, a frigate\nof fifteen hundred tons burthen, carrying 30 long 24-pounders, on her\nmain deck, and 22 42-pounders, with two long 24-pounders, on quarter\ndeck and forecastle, howitzer guns in her tops, and a travelling\ncarronade on her deck, with a complement of 478 picked men,[19] was\nperceived by H.M. frigate _Macedonian_, of 1081 tons, carrying 49 guns,\nand manned by 254 men and 35 boys. The _Macedonian_ approached the\nenemy and the enemy backed her sails, awaiting the attack, after the\nfiring had continued for about an hour, at long range. When in close\nbattle, Captain Carden perceived that he had no chance of success, but\nhe was determined to fight his ship while she floated and was\nmanageable, hoping for, rather than expecting, some lucky hit, which\nwould so cripple the enemy as to permit the _Macedonian_, if no more\ncould be done, to bear off with honor. But the fortune of war was\nadverse. Every shot told with deadly and destructive effect upon the\n_Macedonian_, and even yet, with nearly a hundred shots in her hull,\nher lower guns under water, in a tempestuous sea, and a third of her\ncrew either killed or wounded, Captain Carden fought his ship. To\n\"conquer or die,\" was his motto, and the motto of a brave crew, some of\nwhom even stood on deck, after having paid a visit to the cockpit, and\nsubmitted to the amputation of an arm, grinning defiance, and anxious\nto be permitted the chance of boarding with their fellows, when Captain\nCarden called up his boarders as a _dernier resort_. But boarding was\nrendered impossible, as the fore brace was shot away, and the yard\nswinging round, the vessel was thrown upon the wind. The _United\nStates_ made sail ahead and the crew of the _Macedonian_ fancying that\nshe was taking her leave cheered lustily. They were not long deceived.\nHaving refilled her cartridges, the _United States_, at a convenient\ndistance, stood across the bows of her disabled antagonist, and soon\ncompelled her to strike. While the _Macedonian_ had thirty-six killed\nand sixty-eight wounded, the _United States_ had only five killed and\nseven _hors de combat_.\nIt was such advantages as these that induced the Americans to continue\nthe war. The Americans were inflated with pride. In their own\nestimation they had become a first rate maritime power, and even in the\neyes of Europe, it seemed that they were destined to become so. The\ndisparity in force was justly less considered than the result. However\nbravely the British commanders had fought their ships, the disasters\nwere no less distressing, politically considered, than if they had been\nthe result of positive weakness or of lamentable cowardice. These\nadvantages even compensated in glory to the Northeastern States for the\nlosses which their commerce had sustained, and would, had they\ncontinued very much longer, have stimulated them to forget their\nselfishness, their bankruptcies, and their privations, though perhaps\nthey tended on the other hand, to cause less vigorous efforts to be\nmade for the acquisition of Canada, than otherwise would have been the\ncase, by rivetting the public attention of America more on the\nsuccessful operations by sea than on their own disastrous operations by\nland. There was yet another disaster to overtake Great Britain. And it\nwas little wonder. The Lords of the Admiralty, wedded to old notions,\nunlike the Heads of the Naval Department of the United States, were\nslow to alter the build or armament of the national ships. They seemed\nto think that success must ultimately be dependent upon pluck, and that\nthere could be again few instances in which a sloop could be so\ndisabled by a storm as to be unable to cope with a brig, better manned,\nbetter armed, and in good sailing trim. They continued to send\nslow-sailing brigs and ill-armed sloops-of-war, for the protection of\nlarge fleets of merchantmen, with valuable cargoes, while the frigates\nof the enemy, in search of them, whether in the calm or in the storm,\nwere faster than British seventy-fours, and were equal to British ships\nof the line in armament. It was after the loss of the _Macedonian_ that\nthe British Admiralty commissioned and sent to sea the frigate _Java_,\nof the same tonnage, with the same deficiency of men, and, worse than\nall, half of whom were landsmen, and of exactly the same armament as\nthe _Macedonian_, only that her weight of metal was less, to cope with\nsuch frigates as the _United States_, the _President_, and the\n_Constitution_. On the 12th of November, the _Java_ sailed from\nSpithead, the remonstrances of Captain Lambert against the inadequacy\nand inexperience of his crew being of no avail with the authorities. He\nwas told, when he insisted that he was no match for an American, even\nof equal size, that \"a voyage to the East Indies and back would make a\ngood crew.\" The difficulties in the way of getting to the East Indies,\nto say nothing of coming back again, never entered into the heads of\nmen, who had long been laid up in ordinary, and were dry-rotting to\ndecay. These were the men who sent the water casks to contain the fresh\nwater of His Majesty's vessels afloat on our fresh water lakes. Then,\nas now, were the wrong men in the wrong places. Men, who should have\nbeen in Greenwich Hospital, talking of times gone by, or living in\ndignified retirement, were entrusted with the management of affairs in\na new age, the country rather losing than gaining by their individual\nexperiences. And the British public stung to the quick, were aware of\nit. The correctness of Captain Lambert's judgment was too soon brought\nto the test. The _Java_ fell in with the _Constitution_ on the 28th of\nDecember, when the latter stood off as the former approached, to gain a\nfirst advantage by firing at long range. But as the _Java_ was fast\ngaining upon her, the _Constitution_ made a virtue of necessity, and\nshortened sail, placing herself under the lee bow of the _Java_, so\nthat in close action, the crew of the _Constitution_ might fight like\nmen behind a rampart, while the crew of the _Java_ stood at their guns\n_en barbette_. The action immediately commenced, and the effect of the\n_Java's_ first broadside, on the enemy's hull, was such that the\nAmerican wore to get away. Captain Lambert also wore his ship, and a\nrunning fight was kept up with great spirit for forty minutes. The\n_Java_ had, as yet, suffered little, but the vessels coming within\npistol shot, a determined action ensued. Captain Lambert had resolved\nupon boarding his enemy, if it were possible in any measure to effect\nit. With that view he was closing upon his antagonist, when the\nforemast of the _Java_ fell suddenly and with a crash so tremendous as\nto break in the forecastle and cover the deck with the wreck. Only a\nmoment later and the main topmast also fell upon the deck, while\nCaptain Lambert lay weltering in his blood, mortally wounded.\nLieutenant Chads, on whom the command now devolved, found the _Java_\nperfectly unmanageable. The wreck of the masts hung over the side, next\nto the enemy, and every discharge of the _Java's_ own guns set her on\nfire. Yet, Lieutenant Chads continued the action for three hours and a\nhalf, until the _Java_ was felt to be going down. It was then that the\n_Constitution_ assumed a raking position, and it was then only that\nLieutenant Chads struck. The _Java_ was no prize to the victors of\ngreat value, for her crew were no sooner taken out than the American\ncommander blew her up. In this desperate engagement the _Java_ had\ntwenty-two killed and one hundred and two wounded; the _Constitution_\nhad ten killed and forty wounded. Captain Lambert's worst fears had\nbeen realised, and the death of that gallant and skilful sailor aroused\na tongue which, in Great Britain, has a potency and influence, such as\nofficial insolence cannot withstand, nor official incapacity escape\nfrom. The spirit of the \"Times\" was up. The voice of the many loudly\ncondemned the incompetency of the few. The conduct of the war had now\nbecome a matter of moment, and reforms, in the marine department at\nleast, were imperative.\n [19] Captain Carden's despatch to Mr. Croker.\nBy the fall of Gen'l. Brocke, the civil governorship of the Upper\nprovince devolved upon Major Gen'l. Roger Sheaffe, the senior military\nofficer there, and to him, Gen'l. Smyth, the new American commander at\nNiagara, applied for an armistice, which was granted, and which lasted\nfrom the battle of Queenston until the 20th of November. Nothing could\nhave been more silly than this consent to an armistice on the part of a\ngeneral so very fortunate as General Sheaffe had been. He needed no\nrest. He could gain nothing by inactivity. Delay necessary to the enemy\nwas of course injurious to him. Without any molestation whatever the\nAmericans were enabled to forward their naval stores from Black Rock to\nPresque Isle, by water, which, had hostilities been active, would have\nbeen impossible. This truce, not to bury the dead, or preparatory to\nsubmission, was obtained with the view of gaining time, so that a fleet\nmight be equipped to co-operate with the army, by wresting from the\nBritish their previous superiority on the lakes. General Smyth had,\nwith the true trickery of the diplomatist, rather than with the blunt\nhonesty of the soldier, exerted himself during the armistice, in the\npreparation of boats for another attempt to invade Upper Canada.\nAlexander Smyth, Brigadier-General, in command of the American army of\nthe centre, though a rogue, in a diplomatic point of view, was not\nnecessarily a fool. He had shrewd notions in a small way. Like a true\ndowneast Yankee, he knew the effect of soft sawder upon human nature.\nLike the unfortunate Hull, before taking possession of a territory so\nextensive as Upper Canada, he thought it necessary to assure the\nstranger that he was, on submitting to be conquered, to become \"a\nfellow citizen.\" He proclaimed this interesting fact to his own\ncompanions in arms. If the stranger citizens behaved peaceably, they\nwere to be secure in their persons, as a matter of course, but only in\ntheir properties so far as Alexander's imperious necessities would\nadmit, and how far that would have been, time was to unfold. He\nstrictly forbade private plundering, but whatever was \"booty,\"\naccording to the usages of war--\"booty and beauty,\" doubtless\ncombined,--Alexander's soldiery were to have. Appealing to the\ntrader-instincts of his hordes, he offered two hundred dollars a head\nfor artillery horses, of the enemy, and forty dollars for the arms and\nspoils of each savage warrior, who should be killed, and every man, who\nshould shrink, in the moment of trial, was to be consigned to \"eternal\ninfamy.\" The watchword of the \"patriots,\" was to be \"the cannon lost at\nDetroit or death.\"\nDuring the truce, in Upper Canada, there was some skirmishing in Lower\nCanada. At St. R\u00e9gis, four hundred Americans surprised the Indian\nvillage. Twenty-three men were made prisoners, and Lieutenant Rolette,\nwith Serjeant McGillivray, and six men were slain. But to\ncounterbalance this affair, a month later, some detachments of the 49th\nregiment, a few artillery, and seventy militiamen from Cornwall and\nGlengary, surrounded a block house at the Salmon River, and made\nprisoners of a Captain, two subalterns and forty men; four batteaux and\nfifty-seven stand of arms, falling also into the hands of the captors.\nIn no way discouraged, however much they may have been irritated by\nthese repeated failures, which had not even the excuse of inferiority\nin numbers, or in any want of the materials of war, if the want of\nvessels on the lake be not considered, the American government\nenergetically exerted itself to augment their naval forces on the lakes\nand to reinforce General Dearborn. Indeed, that officer was now at the\nhead of ten thousand men, at Plattsburgh, and the American fleet on\nLake Ontario was already so much superior to that of the British, as to\nmake it necessary for the latter to remain inactive in harbour. The\nBritish ship _Royal George_, was actually chased into Kingston channel,\nand was there cannonaded for some time. It was only when the American\nfleet came within range of the Kingston forts that they hauled off to\nFour Mile Point, and anchored, the commander taking time to reflect\nupon the expediency of bombarding Kingston. Next morning, having come\nto an opposite conclusion, he stood out with his fleet into the open\nlake and fell in with the _Governor Simcoe_. A chase was commenced, and\nthe _Governor Simcoe_ narrowly escaped by running over a reef of rocks,\nand making for Kingston, which, like the _Royal George_, she reached\nmore hotly pursued than she had bargained for. It was late in the\nseason, and the weather becoming more and more boisterous, the\nAmericans bore away for Sackett's Harbour, in making for which they\ncaptured two British schooners, taking from one of them, Captain\nBrocke, the paymaster of the 49th regiment of the line, who had with\nhim the plate which had belonged to his gallant deceased brother, the\nlate Governor of Upper Canada. But the American Commodore Chancey,\ngenerously paroled him, and suffered him to retain the plate.\nUnable to remain longer inactive, General Dearborn, in command of the\nAmerican army of the north, approached Lower Canada. On the 17th of\nNovember, Major DeSalaberry, commanding the Canadian Cordon and\nadvanced posts, on the line, received intelligence of Lieutenant\nPhillips, that the enemy, ten thousand strong, were rapidly advancing\nupon Odelltown. There was no time to be lost and he set about\nstrengthening his position as speedily as he could. Two companies of\nCanadian Voltigeurs, three hundred Indians, and a few militia\nvolunteers were obtained from the neighboring parishes, and there was\nevery disposition manifested to give the intruders a warm reception.\nThe enemy, however, halted at the town of Champlain, and nothing of\nmoment occurred until the 20th of November, when the Captain of the\nday, or rather of the night, as it was only three in the morning,\nnoticed the enemy fording the river Lacolle. Retracing his steps, he\nhad only time to warn the piquet of their danger, when a volley was\nfired by the Americans, who had surrounded the log guard-house, at so\ninconsiderable a distance that the burning wads set fire to the birch\ncovering of the roof, until the guard-house was consumed. But long\nbefore that happened, the militia and Indians had discharged their\nguns, and dashed through the enemy's ranks. It was dark, and the\nposition which the Americans had taken, with the view of surrounding\nthe guard-house, contributed somewhat to their own destruction. In a\ncircle, face to face, they mistook each other in the darkness, and\nfought gallantly and with undoubted obstinacy. Neither side of the\ncircle seemed willing to yield. For half an hour a brisk fire was kept\nup, men fell, and groaned, and died; and the consequences might have\nbeen yet more dreadful had not the moon, hidden until now by clouds,\nrevealed herself to the astonished combatants. The victors and the\nvanquished returned together to Champlain, leaving behind four killed\nand five wounded. From the wounded prisoners, whom, with the dead, the\nIndians picked off the battle field, it was learned that the\nunsuccessful invaders consisted of fourteen hundred men and a troop of\ndragoons, commanded by Colonels Pyke and Clarke.\nUnfortunate to the Americans as this night attack had been, it was\nsufficient to lead the Governor General of Canada to the conclusion\nthat it would not be the last. Nay, he was persuaded that a most\nvigorous attempt at invasion would be made, and having no Parliament to\nconsult, nor any public opinion to fear, he turned out the whole\nmilitia of the province for active service, and ordered them to be in\nreadiness to march to the frontier. Lieutenant-Colonel Deschambault was\ndirected to cross the St. Lawrence at Lachine, and from Caughnawaga, to\nmarch to the Pointe Claire, Rivi\u00e8re-du-Ch\u00e8ne, Vaudreuil, and Longue\nPointe. Battalions upon L'Acadie, and volunteers from the foot\nbattalions, with the flank companies of the second and third battalions\nof the Montreal militia, and a troop of militia dragoons, crossed to\nLongueil and to Laprairie. Indeed the whole district of Montreal, armed\nto the teeth, and filled with enthusiasm, simultaneously moved in the\ndirection from whence danger was expected. General Dearborn quietly\nretreated upon Plattsburgh and Burlington, and, like a sensible man, as\nhe undoubtedly was, abandoned for the winter, all idea of taking\npossession of Lower Canada.\nOn the 28th of November, the armistice being at end, General Smyth\ninvaded Upper Canada, at the foot of Lake Erie. With a division of\nfourteen boats, each containing thirty men, a landing was effected\nbetween Fort Erie and Chippewa, not however unopposed. Lieutenant King,\nof the Royal Artillery, and Lieutenants Lamont and Bartley, each in\ncommand of thirty men of the gallant 49th, gave the enemy a reception\nmore warm than welcome. Overwhelmed, however, by numbers, the artillery\nand the detachment of the 49th, under Lamont gave way, when Lieutenant\nKing had succeeded in spiking his guns. Lamont and King were both\nwounded, and with thirty men, were overtaken by the enemy and made\nprisoners. Bartley fought steadily and fiercely. His gallant band was\nreduced to seventeen, before he even thought of a retreat, which his\ngallantry and tact enabled him to effect. The American boats had, while\nBartley was keeping up the fight, returned to the American shore with\nthe prisoners, and as many Americans as could crowd into them, leaving\nCaptain King, General Smyth's aid-de-camp, to find his way back, as\nbest he might. He moved down the river shore with a few officers and\nforty men, followed, from Fort Erie, by Major Ormsby, who made them all\nprisoners with exceedingly little trouble. Unconscious of any disaster,\nanother division of Americans, in eighteen boats, made for the Canada\nshore. Colonel Bishop had now arrived from Chippewa, and had formed a\njunction with Major Ormsby, the Commandant of Fort Erie, and with\nColonel Clarke and Major Hall, of the militia. There were collected\ntogether, under this excellent officer, about eleven hundred men,\ntaking into account detachments of the 41st, 49th, and Royal\nNewfoundland regiments, and in addition, some Indians. The near\napproach of the Americans was calmly waited for. A cheer at last burst\nfrom the British ranks and a steady and deadly fire of artillery and\nmusketry was opened upon the enemy. The six-pounder, in charge of\nCaptain Kirby, of the Royal Artillery, destroyed two of the boats. The\nenemy were thrown into confusion, and retired.\nGeneral Smyth again tried the effect of diplomacy upon the stubborn\nBritish. He displayed his whole force of full six thousand men, upon\nhis own side of the river. Colonel Bishop ordered the guns which had\nbeen spiked to be rendered serviceable, and the spikes having been\nwithdrawn, the guns were remounted and about to open fire, with the\nview of scattering the valiant enemy, when a flag of truce brought a\nnote from General Smyth. It was simply a summons to surrender Fort\nErie, with a view of saving the further effusion of blood. He was\nrequested to \"come and take it,\" but did not make another attempt until\nthe 1st of December, when the American troops embarked merely again to\ndisembark and go into winter quarters. Murmur and discontent filled the\nAmerican camp, disease and death were now so common, and General\nSmyth's self-confidence was so inconsiderable that the literary hero,\nwho had spoken of the \"eternal infamy\" that awaits him who \"basely\nshrinks in the moment of trial,\" literally fled from his own camp,\nafraid of his own soldiery, who were exasperated at his incapacity.\nThus ended the first year of the invasion. The Americans had learned,\nthe not unimportant lesson, that, as a general rule, it is so much more\neasy successfully to resist aggression, than, as the aggressor, to be\nsuccessful. The invasion of any country, if only occupied by savages,\nrequires more means than is generally supposed.\nSir George Prevost, somewhat relieved from the anxiety attendant upon\nanticipated and actual invasions, now summoned his Parliament of Lower\nCanada, to meet for the despatch of business. He opened the session on\nthe 29th of December, and in his speech from the throne, alluded to the\nhonorable termination of the campaign, without much effusion of blood,\nany loss of territory, or recourse having been had to martial law. He\nproudly alluded to the achievements in Upper Canada, and feelingly\nalluded to the loss sustained by the country, in the death of General\nBrocke. He spoke of the recent advantages gained over the enemy in both\nprovinces, and recommended fervent acknowledgements to the ruler of the\nuniverse, without whose aid the battle is not to the strong nor the\nrace to the swift. And it was not alone for such advantages, great as\nthey were, that the country had to be thankful; the Marquis of\nWellington had gained a series of splendid victories in Spain and\nPortugal. In Spain and Portugal British valour had appeared in its\nnative vigour, encouraging the expectation that these countries would\nsoon be relieved from the miseries which had desolated them. His Royal\nHighness, the Prince Regent, had directed him to thank the House for\ntheir loyalty and attachment. His Royal Highness felt not the slightest\napprehension of insidious attacks upon the loyalty of a people who had\nacted so liberally and loyally as the Canadians had done. Sir George\nspoke of the beneficial effects arising from the Army Bill Act, and\nrecommended it to their further consideration. The militia had been\ncalled out and had given him the cheering satisfaction of having been a\nwitness of a public spiritedness, and of a love of country, religion,\nand the laws, which elsewhere might have been equalled, but could not\nbe anywhere excelled. He recommended a revision of the militia law and\nurged upon the legislature the expediency of concluding the public\nbusiness with dispatch.\nSir George had aroused the better feelings of the country. His words\nfell gratefully upon the ear. The Canadian people and their\nrepresentatives felt that they were treated with respect and were proud\nin the knowledge of deserving it. All that the Assembly wanted was the\nconfidence and affection of their sovereign. No longer treated with\nsuspicion and looked upon with aversion they were ready to sacrifice\neverything for their country, and the reply of the House of Assembly\nwas an assent to his every wish.\nAs soon as the House had proceeded to business, Mr. James Stuart, one\nof the members for Montreal, with the view of embarrassing the\ngovernment, and with no purpose of creating uneasiness in England,\nmoved for an enquiry into the causes and injurious consequences that\nmight have resulted from the delay incurred in the publication of the\nlaws of the Provincial Parliament, passed in the previous session. His\nassigned object in making the motion was to palliate the conduct of the\nPointe Claire rioters. The motion carried and the Clerks and other\nofficers of the Upper House were summoned to attend at the Bar of the\nAssembly. The Upper House, seemingly, considered that their officers\nhad equal privileges with themselves, and at first refused to allow\nthese gentlemen to attend, but, seeing the Assembly resolute, and being\nanxious not to throw any obstacle in the way of the speedy despatch of\nthe public business, they permitted their attendance under protest. The\nresult of the enquiry amounted to nothing, and the House proceeded to\nother business. The subject of appointing an agent to England was again\nconsidered, but postponed until a more suiting time, when the propriety\nof an income tax was discussed. It was indeed resolved in the Assembly\nto impose a tax upon persons enjoying salaries from the government, of\nfifteen per cent upon such as had \u00a31,500 a year, twelve per cent upon\nsuch as had \u00a31,000 and upwards, ten per cent upon \u00a3500 and upwards, and\nfive per cent upon every \u00a3250 and upwards. The bill was, of course,\nrejected by the Council. The Assembly, however, firmly convinced of the\nloyalty of the people, were neither to be cajoled nor brow-beaten out\nof their rights, and they proceeded to other business of a singularly\nunpleasant character to the higher powers. Mr. Stuart, the leader of\nthe opposition, was a man of extraordinary capacity and of great\nfirmness of purpose. Those who had made Sir James Craig do him an\ninjustice still held their appointments, and he was determined to bring\nabout a change without the slightest regard whatever to the\nconsequences of change. He moved for an enquiry into the power and\nauthority exercised by His Majesty's Courts of Law, with a view to put\na stop to such trifling with justice as had been exhibited in the\narrest and imprisonment of Mr. Bedard and others. It was asserted by\nMr. Stuart that under the name of Rules of Practice, the Chief Justice,\nin league with the government, had subverted the laws of the province,\nand had assumed legislative authority, to impose illegal burthens and\nrestraints upon His Majesty's subjects, in the exercise of their legal\nrights, which were altogether inconsistent with the duties of a Court\nand subversive of the rights and liberties of the subject. The House\ngranted the enquiry sought for, and proceeded to other business. But it\nis here worthy of note that Mr. Bedard, who had been so unjustly\ntreated by Sir James Craig, in virtue of these Rules of Practice, had\nnow triumphed over his enemies. He, who only two years back, had been\npresented, at the instance of the government, by the Grand Juries of\nQuebec and Montreal, was now seated upon the Bench as Provincial Judge\nfor the District of Three Rivers, and thus, says his secret enemy, Mr.\nRyland, is he associated with the Chief Justice of the province, who,\nin his capacity of Executive Councillor, had concurred in his\ncommitment to the gaol of Quebec, on treasonable practices. It was to\nsecure the independence of the judges by freeing them from executive\ntrammels, that Mr. James Stuart himself, afterwards Chief Justice of\nthe province, and a Baronet of the United Kingdom, moved for an enquiry\nconcerning their Rules of Practice, rules obviously incompatible with\nthe liberty of speech and with the freedom of the press. The enquiry\nhad an excellent indirect effect. It seemed to some extent, to have\nsecured the liberty of the press. From the time, says Mr. Ryland, that\nthe Assembly began its attacks on the Courts of Justice, the\nlicentiousness of a press, (the _Gazette_,) recently established at\nMontreal, has appeared to have no bounds. Every odium that can be\nimagined, is attempted in that publication, to be thrown on the memory\nof the late Governor-in-Chief, on the principal officers of government,\nand on the Legislative Council. The people's minds are poisoned and the\ndisorganizing party encouraged to proceed. Thus is it led to hope that\nany future Governor may be deterred from exercising that vigor, which\nthe preservation of His Majesty's government may require. A higher\ntribute to a free press no man ever paid than that. The hope has been\nrealised, the trials have all been passed through, and persecutions for\nopinion's sake must now be cloaked, at least, by something more than\nexpediency.\nThe Assembly next proceeded to the consideration of the expediency of\nlegally enlarging the limits and operation of martial law, as\nrecommended in the speech from the throne, and reported that such\nenlargement was inexpedient. The House then renewed the Army Bill Act,\nauthorised the sum of five hundred pounds to be put in circulation, and\ncommissioners were appointed to ascertain the current rate of exchange\non London, which holders were entitled to recover from government.\nFifteen thousand pounds were granted for the equipment of the militia,\nand \u00a31,000 additional for military hospital. Towards the support of the\nwar \u00a325,000 were granted. \u00a3400 were granted for the improvement of the\ncommunication between Upper and Lower Canada. A duty of two and a half\nper cent, for the further support of the war was placed upon all\nimported merchandize, with the exception of provisions, and two and a\nhalf per cent additional on imports by merchants or others not having\nbeen six months resident. A motion was made by one of the most\nindependent members of the Assembly, for a committee of the whole, to\nenquire whether or not it was necessary to adopt an address to the King\nconcerning the impropriety of the judges being members of the\nLegislative Council. But the motion was not pressed. This gentleman,\nthough very desirous of as much liberty as it was possible to obtain\nfor himself, was not particularly disposed to give an undue share to\nothers. He took umbrage at an article communicated to the _Mercury_,\nably written, and perhaps, at the time, strikingly true, relative to\nthe conduct which Mr. Stuart had been and was pursuing, since he had\nbeen stript of his official situation by the late Governor. It was\nhinted that the discontented legislator was actuated in his opposition\nto the government by no unfriendly feeling to the United States. It was\nasked if he were not determined to be somebody. He was a man not unlike\nhim who fired the temple of Ephesus. He was sowing seeds of\nembarrassment and delay, and picking out flaws, with the microscope of\na lawyer, in the proceedings of the government. And he was prostituting\nhis talents and perverting his energies. The House resolved that the\nletter of \"Juniolus Canadensis,\" was a libel, and perhaps it was, but\nif so, Mr. Stuart had the Courts of Law open to him, and therefore the\ninterference of the House was as silly as it was tyrannical. Mr. Cary,\nthe publisher of the _Mercury_, evaded the Sergeant-at-Arms, and\nlaughed at the silliness of the collective wisdom afterwards. The House\nwas prorogued on the 15th of February. The war had not so far produced\nany injurious effect on the commerce of the country The revenue was\n\u00a361,193 currency, and the expenditure, which included the extraordinary\namount of \u00a355,000 granted towards the support of the militia, was only\n\u00a398,777. The arrivals at Quebec numbered 399 vessels of 86,437 tons,\nand in 1812, twenty vessels were built at the port of Quebec.\nThe first operations of the next campaign, in 1813, were favorable to\nthe British. On the 22nd of January, a severe action was fought at the\nRiver Raisin, about twenty-six miles from Detroit, between a detachment\nfrom the north-eastern army of the United States, exceeding seven\nhundred and fifty men, under General Winchester, and a combined force\nof eleven hundred British and Indians, under Colonel Proctor. General\nHarrison, in command of the north western army of the United States,\nwas stationed at Franklintown. Anxious, at any cost, to afford the\ndiscontented and sickly troops under him, active employment, he\ndetached General Winchester with his seven or eight hundred, or, as it\nis even said, a thousand men, to take possession of Frenchtown. This,\nGeneral Winchester had little difficulty in doing, as he was only\nopposed by a few militiamen and some Indians, under Major Reynolds. The\nintelligence of the capture of Frenchtown had, however, no sooner\nreached Colonel Proctor than he collected his men together and marched\nwith great celerity from Brownston to Stoney Creek. Next morning, at\nthe break of day, he resolutely attacked the enemy's camp and a bloody\nengagement ensued. General Winchester fell into the hands of the chief\nof the Wyandot Indians, soon after the action began, and was sent a\nprisoner to Colonel Proctor. The Americans soon retreated, taking\nrefuge behind houses and fences, and, terribly afraid of the Indians,\ndeterminedly resisted. The Americans blazed away; every fence and\nwindow of the village vomited a flame of fire; but the British, with\ntheir auxiliary Indians, were still driving in the enemy, and about to\nset the houses on fire, when the captured General Winchester,\nstipulated for a surrender. On condition of being protected from the\nIndians, he assured Colonel Proctor that the Americans would yield, and\nthis assurance being given, General Winchester caused a flag of truce\nto be sent to his men, calling upon them to lay down their arms, which\nthey were only too glad to do. The Americans lost between three and\nfour hundred in killed alone; while one brigadier-general, three field\nofficers, nine captains, twenty subalterns, and upwards of five hundred\nrank and file, were taken prisoners.[20] Comparatively considered, the\nBritish loss was trifling. Twenty-four men were killed, and one hundred\nand fifty-eight were wounded. Colonel Proctor was raised to the rank of\nBrigadier-General, in reward for his successful gallantry.\n [20] Alison mixes up Colonel McDonell's capture of Ogdensburgh,\n which is below Kingston, and opposite Prescott, the scene of the\n Wind Mill fight in '37.\nAs if to counterbalance the effect of this success, another naval\nengagement occurred at sea, on the 14th of February, between the\nBritish sloop of war _Peacock_ and the American brig _Hornet_. The\nfight was long continued, bloody and destructive. The _Peacock_, after\nan hour and a half of hard fighting was in a sinking state. The effect\nof the enemy's fire was tremendous, but the men of the _Peacock_\nbehaved nobly. Mr. Humble, the boatswain, having had his hand shot\naway, went to the cockpit, underwent amputation at the wrist, and again\nvoluntarily came upon deck to pipe the boarders. The _Peacock_ was now\nrapidly settling down, and a signal of distress was consequently\nhoisted. The signal was at once humanely answered. The firing ceased\nimmediately, the American's boats were launched, and every effort\npraiseworthily made to save the sinking crew. All were not, however,\nsaved. Three of the _Hornet's_ men and thirteen of the crew of the\n_Peacock_ went down in the latter vessel together. The _Hornet_ carried\ntwenty guns, while the _Peacock_ had only eighteen, and the tonnage of\nthe former exceeded, by seventy-four tons, that of the latter.\nThe Americans now gathering up their strength, irritated by their\nrepeated failures on the land, and disheartened, but yet not\ndiscouraged by their original weakness on the lakes, were about, in\nsome degree, to be compensated more suitably for their inland losses\nthan by the capture or rather by the negative kind of advantage of\ndestroying at considerable cost and risk, frigates and sloops of war at\nsea, inferior in every respect, the bravery of the sailors and the\nskill of the officers excepted, to the huge and properly much esteemed\nAmerican double-banked frigates and long-gunned brigs. The command of\nLake Ontario had devolved on the Americans. New ships of considerable\nsize, and well armed, under the superintendence of experienced naval\nofficers, were built and launched day after day. Troops were being\ncollected at every point for an attack, by sea and land, upon either\nYork or Kingston. It was now exceedingly necessary that some activity\nof a similar kind should be displayed by the British. The forests\nabounded in the very best timber; there were able shipbuilders at\nQuebec; the Canadian naval commanders had distinguished themselves\nfrequently; there was a secure dockyard at Kingston; and, indeed, there\nexisted no reason whatever, for the absence of that industry on the\nCanadian side of the rivers and lakes, dividing the two countries, but\none, and a more fatal one could not have been listened to. It was\nsimply that the British had been hitherto able to repel the invader\nwherever he had effected a landing, and would be, under any\ncircumstances, quite able, as they were willing, to repel him again.\nAnd there was an ignorance about Canada, on the part of both the heads\nof the naval and of the military departments in England, as\ndisgraceful, as it was inexcusable. It was believed that there were\nneither artisans to be found in the country nor wood. It seemed to be a\nprevalent opinion that the country was peopled only by French farmers,\na few French gentlemen, and some hundreds of discharged soldiers, with\na few lawyers and landed proprietors, styled U.E. Loyalists, besides\nthe few naval officers resident at Kingston, and the troops in the\ndifferent garrisons. In Upper Canada, during the winter, nothing, or\nalmost nothing, was done in the way of building ships for the lakes.\nSir George Prevost, it is true, made a hurried visit to Upper Canada,\nafter having prorogued the Parliament. He was a man admirably adapted\nfor the civil ruler of a country having such an elastic and very\nacceptable constitution as that which Canada has now had for some years\npast. He was one of those undecided kind of non-progressive beings, who\nare always inclined to let well alone. He was well meaning, and he was\nable too, in some sense. He was cautious to such a degree that caution\nwas a fault. He was not, by any means, deficient in personal courage,\nbut his mind always hovered on worst consequences. If he had hope in\nhim at all, it was the hope that providence, without the aid of\nGovernor Prevost, would order all things for the best. He had a strict\nsense of duty and a nice sense of honor, but he always considered that\nit was his duty not to risk much the loss of anything, which he had\nbeen charged to keep, and his moral was so much superior to his\nphysical courage, that he never considered it dishonorable to retreat\nwithout a struggle, if the resistance promised to be very great. An\ninstance of this occurred while Sir George was on his way to Upper\nCanada. On the 17th of February, Lieutenant-Colonel Pearson, commanding\nat Prescott, proposed to him an attack upon Ogdensburgh, which was then\nslightly fortified, and was a rallying point for the enemy. Indeed, an\nattack had some days previously been made upon Brockville, by General\nBrown, at the head of some militia from Ogdensburgh, and Colonel\nPearson thought that the sooner an enemy was dislodged from a position\nexactly opposite his own and only separated by a frozen river, three\nquarters of a mile in width, the more secure he would have felt himself\nto be, and the less danger would there have been of the communication\nbetween the Upper and Lower provinces of Canada, being interrupted.\nGeneral Prevost would not consent to an attack, but he allowed a\ndemonstration to be made by Colonel McDonnell, the second in command at\nPrescott, so that the enemy might exhibit his strength, and his\nattention be so much engaged that no attempt would be made to waylay\nthe Governor General, on the information of two deserters from\nPrescott, who would, doubtless, have informed the commandant, at\nOgdensburgh, of Sir George's arrival and of his chief errand. Colonel\nMcDonell moved rapidly across the river, and on landing, was met by\nCaptain Forsyth and the American forces under him. A movement designed\nfor a feint, was now converted into a real attack. Colonel McDonell, as\nhe perceived the enemy, still more rapidly pushed forward, and, in a\nfew minutes, was hotly engaged. The Americans were driven from the\nvillage, leaving behind them twenty killed and a considerable number\nwounded. On the side of the British, the loss of Colonel McDonell,\nseven other officers and seven rank and file had to be deplored, while\nforty-one men were wounded. The attack was most successful however.\nEleven cannons, several hundred stands of arms, and a considerable\nquantity of stores fell into the hands of the victors, while two small\nschooners and two gun-boats were destroyed in winter quarters.\nRecruiting and drilling were being briskly carried on about Quebec and\nMontreal. Some troops began to arrive, about the beginning of March,\nfrom the Lower Provinces. The 104th regiment had arrived overland from\nFredericton, in New Brunswick, by the valley of the St. Johns River,\nthrough an impenetrable forest, for hundreds of miles, to Lake\nTemiscouata, and from thence to River-du-Loup, proceeding upwards along\nthe south shore of the St. Lawrence.\nA month later and the Americans were ready to resume the offensive in\nUpper Canada. The American fleet, consisting of 14 vessels, equipped at\nSackett's Harbour, situated at the foot of the lake, and not very far\nfrom Kingston, in a direct line across, sailed from the harbour under\nCommodore Chancey, with seventeen hundred men, commanded by Generals\nDearborn and Pike, to attack York, (now Toronto.) In two days the fleet\nwas close in shore, a little to the westward of Gibraltar Strait. A\nlanding was soon effected at the French fort of Toronto, about three\nmiles below York, under cover of the guns of the fleet, but the enemy's\nadvance was afterwards stoutly opposed. Six hundred militia men\naltogether, including the grenadiers of the 8th regiment of the line,\ncould not long withstand seventeen hundred trained troops. They\nwithdrew and the schooners of the fleet approaching close to the fort,\ncommenced a heavy cannonade, while General Pike pushed forward to the\nmain works, which he intended to carry by storm, through a little wood.\nAs General Sheaffe, in command of the British, retired, and as General\nPike, in command of the Americans, advanced, a powder magazine exploded\nwhich blew two hundred of the Americans into the air, and killed Pike.\nOf the British, fully one hundred men were killed, and the walls of the\nfort were thrown down. The Commodore was now in the harbour. And\nGeneral Sheaffe seeing that not the remotest chance of saving the\ncapital of Upper Canada, now existed, most wisely determined to retreat\nupon Kingston. He accordingly directed Colonel Chewett, of the militia,\nto make arrangement for a capitulation, and set off with his four\nhundred regulars for Kingston. By the capitulation, private property\nwas to be respected, and public property only surrendered. The gain was\nnot great, if the moral effect of victory be not considered. The\nvictors carried off three hundred prisoners, and the British, before\nretreating, had considered it expedient to burn a large armed ship upon\nthe stocks, and extensive naval stores.\nThe Clerk of the House of Assembly of Upper Canada, a volunteer, fell\nduring the struggle. In all, the British loss was one hundred and\nthirty killed and wounded.\nIt is said that General Sheaffe suffered severely in the public\nestimation, because he retreated. The public had forgotten that he had\nkilled and destroyed more Americans than had fallen on the side of the\nBritish. Nor did it occur to them that had their general not retreated,\nand capitulated, an armed fleet was in the harbour, which it was\nimpossible to drive out, even had the fort been standing, or had there\nbeen great guns, with which earth batteries could have been formed. It\nhad not occurred to the public of Lower Canada that if York had been\nburned, Sheaffe's retreat to Kingston, would have been no less\nimperative than it was. He was, however, superseded in the command in\nchief of Upper Canada by Major General De Rottenburgh.\nThe American fleet landed the troops at Niagara after this success, and\nthen sailed for Sackett's Harbour for reinforcements. The Commodore, an\nenergetic, clearheaded sailor, sent two of his vessels to cruise off\nthe harbour of Kingston, vigilantly, and then sent vessel after vessel,\nat his convenience, with troops, up the lake to Michigan. There he\nconcentrated the whole of his ships, including his Kingston cruisers,\nfor an attack upon Fort George, in combination with the land force\nunder General Dearborn. The British were under the command of General\nVincent, who could not muster above nine hundred soldiers. It was early\non the morning of the 27th of May, that the enemy began the attack. The\nfort was briskly cannonaded, and during the fire, Colonel Scott, with a\nbody of eight hundred American riflemen, effected a landing. But they\nwere promptly met by the British and compelled to give way, in\ndisorder. The Americans retreated to the beach and crept under cover of\nthe bank, from whence they kept up a galling fire, the British troops\nbeing unable to dislodge them, on account of the heavy broadsides of\nthe American fleet, formed in Crescent shape, to protect their\nsoldiers. Indeed, under cover of this fire from the fleet, another body\nof the enemy, numbering ten thousand men, effected a landing, and the\nBritish were reluctantly compelled to retire. General Vincent blew up\nthe fort and fell back upon Burlington Heights, every inch of ground\nbeing stoutly contested. Flushed with success, Dearborn, the American\nGeneral-in-Chief, now confidently anticipated the conquest of the whole\nof Upper Canada, and pushed forward a body of three thousand infantry,\ntwo hundred and fifty horse, and nine guns. But General Vincent having\nlearned of the enemy's advance, sent Colonel Harvey, with eight hundred\nmen, to impede their progress. Harvey, an experienced and brave\nofficer, was not long in discovering that the enemy kept a bad look\nout. He resolved upon surprising them. Accordingly, he waited for the\ndarkness of night, under cover of which, a sudden attack was made so\nsuccessfully, that he made prisoners of two generals and a hundred and\nfifty men, besides capturing four guns. It was now the enemy's turn to\nretreat, and they did so in admirable confusion. Arrived at Fort George\na halt took place, but a fortnight elapsed before General Dearborn had\nsufficiently recovered from the effect of this surprise to send out an\nexpedition of six hundred men to dislodge a British picquet, posted at\nBeaver's Dam, near Queenstown. The dislodgement was most indifferently\neffected, inasmuch as the expedition was waylaid on their passage\nthrough the woods, by Captain Kerr, with a few Indians, and by\nLieutenant Fitzgibbons, at the head of forty-six of the 49th regiment,\nin all, less than two hundred men, but so judiciously disposed as to\nmake the Americans believe that they were the light troops of a very\nsuperior army, the approach of which was expected, and they, to the\nnumber of five hundred, surrendered, with two guns and two standards.\nIt now became the turn of the British to invade, and early in July,\nColonel Bishop set out on an expedition to Black Rock, at the head of a\nparty of militia, aided by detachments of the 8th, 41st, and 49th\nregiments of the line. He was perfectly successful. The enemies'\nblock-houses, stores, barracks, and dockyard were burned, and seven\npieces of ordnance, two hundred stand of arms, and a great quantity of\nstores were brought away. But it was at great cost. While employed in\nsecuring the stores, the British were fired upon, from the woods, by\nsome American militia and Indians, and while Captain Saunders, of the\n41st, dropped, severely wounded, Colonel Bishop, who had planned, and\nso gallantly executed the assault, was killed.\nWhile these things were happening in the Far-Civilised-West of that\nday, the British flotilla on Lake Champlain, had captured two American\nschooners, the _Growler_ and _Eagle_, of eleven guns each, off\nIsle-aux-Noix.\nAfter it had become apparent that the Americans had the command of Lake\nOntario, and could visit to burn and destroy every village or\nunfortified town, held by the British, some slight and very inadequate\nexertion was made to remedy so distressing a state of affairs. In May,\nSir James L. Yeo, with several other naval officers and 450 seamen\narrived at Quebec, _en route_ for the lakes. Captains Barclay, Pring,\nand Finnis, had been some time at Kingston, and were doing something in\nthe way of preparing for service the few, vessels at Kingston, by\ncourtesy called a fleet. Sir George Prevost and Sir James L. Yeo lost\nlittle time in reaching Kingston together. The American fleet was off\nNiagara, bombarding Fort George. It occurred to the two commanders that\nan attack upon their naval station at Sackett's Harbour would not be\namiss, and it was resolved upon. About a thousand men were embarked on\nboard of the _Wolfe_, of 24 guns, the _Royal George_, of 24 guns, the\n_Earl of Moira_, of 18 guns, and four armed schooners, each carrying\nfrom ten to twelve guns, with a number of batteaux. The weather was\nvery fine. Everything was got in readiness for an expeditious landing.\nThe soldiers were transferred from the armed vessels to the batteaux,\nso that no time might be lost in the debarkation. Two gun-boats were\nplaced in readiness, as a landing escort, The boats were under the\ndirection of Captain Mulcaster, of the Royal Navy, and the landing\nunder the immediate supervision of Sir George Prevost and Sir James L.\nYeo. It was expected that, in the absence of the American fleet and\narmy, the growing and formidable naval establishment of the enemy would\nbe temporarily rendered worthless. And the expectation was not an\nunnatural one. It was, indeed, in a trifling degree, realised. There\nwas some injury done to Sackett's Harbor, but not of such a nature as\nto produce a strong effect upon either Canadian minds or American\nnerves. A number of boats, containing troops, from Oswego, were\ndispersed, while doubling Stoney Point, and twelve of them, with 150\nmen on board, captured. But the loss to the British was the delay\ncaused by such an unlucky acquisition. The landing was deferred by it.\nGeneral Brown was put on the alert. He had time to make arrangements\nand to collect troops. He planted 500 militia on the peninsula of Horse\nIsland, which is a sort of protection wall for the harbour. He ordered\nthem to be still and close, keep their powder dry, and reserve their\nfire. And they did their best, in accordance with these instructions,\nuntil the fleet opened a heavy cannonade to cover the landing of the\ninvaders, when General Brown's militiamen quaked exceedingly. When the\ntroops had landed, and the American militia had lost, by death, their\nimmediate commander, Colonel Mills, they fled with the utmost\nprecipitation. But it was the conduct of these very cowards that\nafterwards alarmed, the ever suspicious Sir George Prevost, and caused,\nto a very considerable extent, the almost failure of the expedition.\nThe British columns were advancing somewhat rapidly towards Fort\nTomkins, when they were met by Colonel Backus, at the head of 400\nregulars, and some militia, hastily assembled from the neighboring\ntowns. A sharp contest ensued. Colonel Backus was mortally wounded. His\nregulars still maintained their ground, but a serious impression had\nbeen made upon his line. On the militia, so strong an impression had\nbeen made that before General Brown could bring up, to the assistance\nof Backus, 100 of the party dispersed at the landing, these irregulars\nfled by a road leading south westwardly, through a wood. The regulars\nstood firm. Captain Gray, commanding the British advanced corps fell,\nand the suspicious mind of Prevost fancied a snare. He saw the regular\nsoldiery of the enemy standing unmoved; he had learned that a regiment\nof American regulars, under Colonel Tutle, were marching at double\nstep, to the scene of action; and he fancied that the retreating\nmilitia were not at all afraid, but brilliantly executing a circuitous\nmarch to gain the rear of the British line, and cut off their retreat.\nIt was true Fort Tomkins was about to fall into British hands. Already\nthe officer in charge of Navy Point, agreeably to orders, and supposing\nthe fort to be lost, had set on fire the naval magazine, containing all\nthe stores captured at York; the hospital and barracks were\nilluminating the lake by their grand conflagration; and a frigate on\nthe stocks had been set on fire, only to be extinguished, when Sir\nGeorge Prevost's mind became unsettled, concerning the ulterior designs\nof the enemy. In the very moment of fully accomplishing the purpose of\nthe expedition, he ordered a retreat; the troops were re-embarked\nwithout annoyance; the fleet returned safely to Kingston, and the\nCanadian public suspected that Sir George Prevost, as a military\ncommander, had been weighed in the balance and found wanting. They\nfelt, indeed, most acutely, that Major General Isaac Brock was dead,\nand that he was not replaced by Sir George Prevost.\nIn the west, the Americans, under Harrison, exerted themselves to\nrecover Michigan. They were blockaded, it is true, and inactive within\nFort George, but, on Lake Erie, the war was vigorously prosecuted.\nGeneral Proctor was kept particularly busy. The Americans were\ninconveniently near. They showed no disposition to move. They had\nsettled down and were practicing masterly inactivity at Sandusky.\nProctor determined upon disturbing them. He moved rapidly upon Lower\nSandusky, and invested it with five hundred regulars and militia, and\nupwards of three thousand Indians. The Indians were commanded by\nTecumseh. Having battered the fort well and made a breach Proctor\ndetermined upon carrying the place by assault. The Indians, however,\nwere worthless for the assault of a fortified place. Concealed in the\ngrass of the prairie, or hidden in the trees of the forest, they could\nfire steadily and watch their opportunity to rush upon the foe, but\nthey had a horror of great guns and stone walls. They kept out of range\nof the American cannon. Nothing could induce them to consent even to\nfollow their British allies up to the breach. The assault was,\nnevertheless, determined upon, and Colonel Short led the storming party\nof regulars and militia. Under cover of the fire of cannon the gallant\nband reached the summit of the glacis and stood with only the ditch\nbetween them and the fort. The heavy fire of the enemy upon men in a\nposition so exposed at first produced some confusion; but the storming\nparty soon rallied and leaped into the ditch. It was then that they\nwere smitten with such a fire of grape and musketry as no men could\nlong withstand. The assailants retreated, leaving Colonel Short, three\nofficers, and fifty-two men dead in the ditch, and having forty-one of\ntheir number wounded.\nGeneral Proctor, finding his force inadequate to carry the fort by\nassault, raised the siege and retired to Amherstburgh.\nAlthough it was all important to have and maintain the command of the\nlakes, very little was done by the British with that view. It was\nespecially necessary to obtain the command of Lakes Erie, Ontario and\nChamplain. No great aggressive movement could have been easily effected\nwhile the British had the command of the lakes. But on Lake Ontario the\nBritish fleet was inferior to that of the American, the American\nCaptain Perry had almost established himself on Lake Erie, and on Lake\nChamplain the British had not a single vessel larger than a gun-boat,\nand very few of them. The excuse was that every vessel cost a thousand\npounds a ton; that timber, nor iron, nor anything required for\nshipbuilding was obtainable in a province which was even then\ncompensating for the check in the Baltic timber trade, in a province\nwhich abounds in iron, and was then quite capable of building large\nsea-going craft at Quebec. While it was in truth no more difficult for\nEngland to cover the lakes with cannon than it was for the United\nStates to do so, England kept sending out, at great expense, timber,\npitch, materials in iron, water casks, and such like to Quebec and\nKingston, with some thirty or forty shipwrights, and less than a\nhundred sailors to man the flotillas of three lakes. Neither the\nAdmiralty nor the Ordnance had time to make enquiries concerning\nCanada, or even to think of the American war. All eyes were upon\nWellington in Spain. The attention of the people of England was not\ndirected towards Canada. A wide sea rolled between the two countries,\nand, besides, there was an indistinct notion that Canada was wholly\ninhabited by Frenchmen, who might take care of themselves or not, as\nthey pleased. The two first vessels belonging to the British on Lake\nChamplain, were built by the Americans. The British were contented with\ntheir fort at Isle-aux-Noix, and rejoiced in the luxury of two\ngun-boats. It was on a lovely morning very early in June, that a sail\nwas seen stretching over a point of land, formed by a bed in the river\nChambly, and about six miles distant from the fort. Another sail\nfollowed closely, and the shrewd suspicion seized upon Colonel Taylor,\nof the 100th foot, commanding the garrison, that the visitants were\nvessels of war. He determined to war with the two strangers, _per mare\net terram_. He converted some of his soldiery into marines, manned his\nthree gun-boats, and placing three artillerymen in each boat, proceeded\ntowards the enemy. But he took the additional precaution of sending\ndown both shores of the river a few detachments from the fort. The\nsloops of war came up majestically, the star-spangled banner waved\ngracefully in the gentle morning air, and the American commanders were\nguessing the effect of their first broadside upon Isle-aux-Noix, when\nthey were met by a heavy and well directed fire of grape from the\ngun-boats, and by a steady torrent of bullets from the shore. Still\nthey tacked shortly from shore to shore, and every time they were in\nstays, a shower of bullets swept the decks, while the grape of the\ngun-boats whistled through the rigging. From half past four in the\nmorning until half past eight, the battle raged, but then it was\nnecessary to run one of the sloops ashore, to prevent her from sinking,\nand both surrendered. The _Growler_ and the _Eagle_ were worth the\ntrouble incurred in capturing them. Each mounted eleven guns. They had\nlong eighteens upon their forecastles, and their broadside guns were\ncomposed of twelves and sixes. The crew of each vessel consisted of\nthirty-five men and between the two vessels there was a company of\nmarines, who embarked on the previous evening at Champlain. Nor was the\ncost to the captors very great. No one was killed and only three men\nwere severely wounded, while the enemy suffered severely in killed and\nwounded, and a hundred men were made prisoners.\nThese vessels now called the _Shannon_ and the _Blake_, as\nforget-me-nots of an action recently fought, but not yet noticed, in\nChesapeake Bay, were speedily turned to excellent use. It was conceived\nexpedient to destroy the barracks, hospitals and stores at Plattsburgh,\nBurlington, Champlain, and Swanton, if possible, and an expedition was\naccordingly fitted out at Isle-aux-Noix. The two captured sloops of war\nwere repaired and made ready for the lake. Captain Pring, from Lake\nOntario, was promoted to the rank of commander and sent to take\ncommand, but the sloop of war _Wasp_, having shortly afterwards arrived\nat Quebec, Captain Everard, with his whole crew, were sent to\nIsle-aux-Noix, and as senior officer assumed the command of the two\nvessels and the three gun-boats. The squadron sailed on the 29th of\nJuly, with about nine hundred men on board, consisting of detachments\nof the 13th, 100th, and 103rd regiments of the line, under Lieutenants\nColonel Taylor and Smelt, some royal artillery under Captain Gordon,\nand a few militia, as batteaux men, under Colonel Murray. The\nexpedition was altogether successful. At Plattsburgh, the American\nGeneral, Moore, made no opposition to the landing of the British, but\nretired with fifteen hundred soldiers, Murray, meanwhile, destroying\nthe arsenal, public buildings, commissariat stores, and the new\nbarracks, capable of accommodating five thousand men. Neither did the\nsquadron lie idly by. Captains Everard and Pring, in the _Growler_ and\n_Eagle_, proceeded to Burlington, and threw the place into the utmost\nconsternation. Gen'l. Hampton, who was encamped there with four\nthousand men, was unable to prevent the capture and destruction of four\nvessels. And the two ships did not linger there either unnecessarily.\nThey went back to Plattsburgh, re-embarked the troops, and proceeded to\nSwanton, Colonel Murray sending a detachment to Champlain to destroy\nthe barracks and blockhouse. At Swanton the object of the expedition\nwas accomplished, and the expedition returned without casualty.\nPublic opinion had its effect upon the Admiralty, notwithstanding the\nstubborn resistance of the old Lords, who still privately persisted in\nthe notion that an old tub, manned by monkeys, if commanded by an\nofficer in the royal navy, was a match for the best American frigate\nthat ever floated. There had for some time back been considerable\nactivity in the English dockyards. Several vessels were commenced on\nthe model of the American frigates, and the commanders of frigates and\nsloops of war, on the American coast, were cautioned not to expose\nthemselves to certain destruction by attacking large and heavily armed\nvessels, only nominally of the same rank or class as themselves. There\nwas to be a real, not an apparent equality. There was to be an equality\nin tonnage, an equality in the number of guns, an equality in the\nweight of metal, an equality in the thickness of a ship's sides, and\nabove all an equality in men, so far as such equality could be\nascertained. Equality in sailing power was of great importance, but\nwhere it was wanting, the superior sailor, if superior in metal and men\nhad an advantage which nothing but a calm or a lucky hit aloft could\ndestroy. The crews of every ship on the North American Station were to\nbe exercised in gunnery. Wisdom had been luckily forced upon the\nAdmiralty. And the result was good. Sir John Borlase, the naval\ncommander, in North America, blockaded every harbour in the United\nStates. American commerce was ruined. The carrying trade of the\nAtlantic was no longer in American hands. The public revenue sank from\ntwenty-four millions of dollars annually, to eight millions. Even had\nthe Americans possessed the means of building new frigates, the\nexpenditure would have been useless, while Sir John Borlase had the\ncommand of the sea. Congress did authorise the commencement of four new\nseventy-fours, and of four forty-four gun frigates, with six new sloops\nfor the ocean, and as many vessels of every description, as\ncircumstances would show the necessity for, on the lakes.\nAdmiral Cockburn, at the head of a light squadron, was most annoying to\nthe Americans. Not only did he blockade the Chesapeake and Delaware\ninlets, but he scoured every creek and river. Every now and then\ngun-boats were sent on excursions, and marines landed to damage naval\nstores and arsenals. He was a kind of legalized pirate, who darted in\nto a harbour, bay, or port, doing every imaginable kind of mischief and\nrunning off.\nAbout this time there were cruising off Boston two ships of equal\nstrength, the _Shannon_ and the _Tenedos_. Captain Broke, the commander\nof the _Shannon_, was the senior officer, and having determined upon a\ncombat, if it were possible to effect it, between the American frigate\n_Chesapeake_, then in Boston harbour, where she had passed the winter,\nand his own vessel, he sent the _Tenedos_ to sea, with instructions not\nto return for three weeks. Captain Broke had laboriously and anxiously\ndrilled his men. He had sighted his guns and used them often. In a\nword, he had by long continued training brought his crew to the highest\nstate of discipline and subordination. They could fire ball to a\nnicety. At sea and in harbour he had kept his men at great gun\npractice. He was in a position to cope with any forty-four gun frigate,\nbelonging to the United States, for, though the _Shannon_ was only\npierced for 38 guns, she carried 52. When the _Tenedos_ had put to sea,\nCaptain Broke sent in a challenge to Captain Lawrence, of the\n_Chesapeake_, entreating him to try the fortunes of their respective\nflags in _even combat_. The _Chesapeake_ had 49 guns. Captain Broke\nimmediately lay close into Boston Light House, and the _Chesapeake_ was\nquickly under weigh. It is said that Captain Lawrence had not received\nthe challenge of his opponent when he stood out of the harbour, but,\nhowever that may be, the _Chesapeake_ was escorted to sea by a flotilla\nof barges and pleasure boats. Victory, indeed, was considered certain\nby the Americans. Nay, so very certain were the inhabitants of Boston\nthat the _Shannon_ would either be sunk or towed into port that,\ncounting their chickens before they were hatched, they prepared a\npublic supper to greet the victors on their return to the harbour, with\ntheir prisoners. It was otherwise. Captain Broke saw with delight, from\nthe masthead of the _Shannon_, that his challenge was to be satisfactorily\nreplied to. The _Shannon_ was cleared for action, and waited for the\n_Chesapeake_. She had not long to wait. The _Chesapeake_ came bowling\nalong with three flags flying, on which were inscribed--\"Sailors,\nrights and free trade.\" The _Shannon_ had her union jack at the\nforemast, and a somewhat faded blue ensign at the mizen peak. There\nwere two other ensigns rolled into a ball ready to be fastened to the\nhaulyard and hoisted in case of need. But her guns were well loaded,\nalternately with two round shot and a hundred and fifty musket balls,\nand with one round and one double-headed shot in each gun. The enemy\nhauled up within two hundred yards of the mizen beam and cheered. The\n_Shannon_ cheered in return, and then the bravest held his breath for a\ntime. A moment more and the _Shannon's_ decks flashed fire. With\ndeliberate aim each gun along her sides was discharged, and the enemy,\nin passing, fired with good effect his whole broadside. The _Shannon's_\nshot, however, told upon the rigging of the _Chesapeake_, and upon her\nmen, and after two or three broad sides, the _Chesapeake_ in attempting\nto haul her foresail up fell on board the _Shannon_, whose starboard\nbower anchor locked with the _Shannon's_ mizen chains. The great guns,\nwith the exception of the _Shannon's_ two aftermost guns ceased firing.\nThe _Chesapeake's_ stern was beaten in, and her decks swept. There was\nnow a sharp fire of musketry from both sides, but Captain Broke\nperceiving that the _Chesapeake's_ men had left their guns, called up\nhis boarders, at the same time ordering the two ships to be lashed\ntogether. And Mr. Stevens, the _Shannon's_ boatswain, set about the\nexecution of the latter order. His left arm was hacked off by the\nenemy's marines, and he was mortally wounded by a shot from the\n_Chesapeake's_ tops. He proceeded, nevertheless, in fastening the two\nships together, and then dropped in death between the vessels. Captain\nLawrence was wounded and carried below, when Captain Broke, at the head\nof his boarders, leapt upon the _Chesapeake's_ quarter-deck. The\nenemy's crew were soon overpowered and driven below. Forcing his way\nforward, the _Shannon's_ men shut down the _Chesapeake's_ hatches and\nkept up a fire on the men in the tops, while the _Shannon's_ men at the\nsame time, under Mr. Smith, forced their way from the foreyard to the\n_Chesapeake's_ mainyard, and soon cleared the tops. Captain Broke was\nat this time assailed furiously by three American sailors, who had\npreviously submitted, and was knocked down by the butt end of a musket,\nbut as he rose he had the satisfaction of seeing the American flag\nhauled down and the proud old British union floating over it in\ntriumph. Fifteen minutes had only elapsed and the _Chesapeake_ was\nentirely in the hands of the British. There was one lamentable mishap.\nLieutenant Watt, who hauled down the enemy's colours was, with two of\nhis men, killed by a discharge of musketry from the _Shannon's_\nmarines, in the belief that the conflict still continued. The\n_Chesapeake_ had forty-seven killed and ninety-eight wounded, and the\n_Shannon_ lost in killed twenty-four, while fifty-nine had been\nwounded. It was so ascertained that on equal terms England still held\nthe supremacy of the seas, and the exultation in England was so great\nthat every right-minded man went with the government when they made\nCaptain Broke a baronet. The broadside guns of the _Shannon_ were 25,\nof the _Chesapeake_ 25; the weight of metal in the former was 538 lbs.,\nand of the latter 590 lbs.; while the _Shannon_ had 306 and the\n_Chesapeake_ 376 men.\nThe _Chesapeake_ was carried into Halifax, where her gallant,\ngentlemanly, and ill-starred commander died and was buried, with full\nmilitary honors, in the presence of all the British officers on the\nstation, who uncovered themselves as they laid into the grave all that\nwas earthly of their noble foe.\nThe tide of fortune on the sea had now turned in favor of Great\nBritain. On the 14th of August, the _Argus_, of twenty guns, employed\nin carrying out Mr. Crawford, the American Minister to France, was met\nafter having landed the minister off St. David's, at the mouth of the\nIrish channel, by the British brig _Pelican_, of eighteen guns, more\nheavily armed, though carrying fewer guns, and better manned than the\n_Argus_, so that, everything considered, the vessels were tolerably\nwell matched. As a matter of course they fought, and the _Pelican_, one\nof the improved brigs, soon out-manoeuvred and raked her antagonist.\nCaptain Allen, of the _Argus_, fell at the first broadside. The _Argus_\nwas ultimately obliged to surrender with a loss of six killed and\nseventeen wounded, her opponent having only three killed and five\nwounded.\nIt was not long after this that the British brig _Boxer_, of only\nfourteen guns and sixty-six men, fell a prize to the American brig\n_Enterprise_, of sixteen guns and one hundred and twenty men, but\nafterwards, throughout the war, single combats, where there was even an\napproach to equality, terminated in favor of the British. Captain\nBlythe, of the _Boxer_, and the commander of the _Enterprise_,\nLieutenant Burrows, were buried in one grave, at Portland in Maine,\nwith military honors.\nThus were the favors of Mars still balanced with tolerable fairness\nbetween the combatants.\nBetween Upper and Lower Canada the communication by either land or\nwater, in summer, was very imperfect, during the war. There was then no\nRideau Canal, connecting Kingston with the Ottawa and the St. Lawrence.\nAnd there was neither the Lachine, the Beauharnois, the Cornwall nor\nany other canal by which the dangers and difficulties of the St.\nLawrence rapids might be avoided. Only batteaux and canoes plied\nbetween Upper and Lower Canada. A kind of flat-bottomed boat, of from\n35 to 40 feet in length, and about six feet beam in the centre,\ncarrying from four to four and a half tons, was only available for the\ntransport of passengers, goods, wares, and merchandise. The boat was\nworked by oars, a mast and sail, drag-ropes for towing, and long poles\nfor pushing them through the rapids, while the bow was kept towards the\nshore by a tow line held by the boat's crew or attached to horses. From\nten to twelve days were occupied in the voyage from Montreal or Lachine\nto Kingston. To convey stores from Lachine to Kingston, during the war,\nrequired some tact. On one side of the river were the British\nbatteries, while exactly opposite was an American fort or earthwork,\nwhich as the batteaux poled past Prescott or Brockville, could throw a\nround shot or two in their immediate vicinity without very much\ntrouble. Indeed the Americans did very quietly send one or two cruisers\nand privateers to dodge about that marine paradise, the Thousand\nIslands, forming the delta of Lake Ontario, and covered to this day\nwith timber to the water's edge, islands of all sizes and of all forms,\ngently rising out of the limpid rippling stream, or boldly standing\nforth from the deep blue water, presenting a rugged, rocky moss-clad\nfront to the wonderstruck beholder. On the 20th of July, some cruisers\nfrom Sackett's Harbour, succeeded in surprising and capturing, at\ndaybreak, a brigade of batteaux laden with provisions, under convoy of\na gun-boat. They made off with their prize to Goose Creek, which is not\nfar from Gananoque. At Kingston the loss of the supplies was soon\nascertained, and Lieutenant Scott, of the Royal Navy, was despatched\nwith a detachment of the 100th regiment, in gun-boats, to intercept the\nplunderers. At the lower end of Long Island, he ascertained the retreat\nof the enemy, and waited patiently for the morning. In the evening,\nstill later, a fourth gun-boat with a detachment of the 41st regiment\ncame up, and having passed the night in bright anticipations of glory,\nthe rescuing gun-boats proceeded at three in the morning to Goose\nCreek. The enemy had gone well up and had judiciously entrenched\nthemselves behind logs, while they had adopted the Russian plan of\nblocking up the entrance to their harbor where the Creek became so\nnarrow that the attacking gun-boats found it necessary to pole up even\nthat far. Lieutenant Scott set his men to work, to remove the barriers\nto his ingress, but a brisk fire soon caused him to desist, and indeed\nhe was very nearly disabled. The only gun-boat that could be brought to\nbear upon the enemy was already disabled, and the consequences might\nhave been disastrous but for the gallant conduct of the soldiers, who\nleaped from the sternmost boats, up to their necks, carrying their\nmuskets high overhead, and charged the enemy on landing, causing them\nto retreat with precipitation behind their entrenchment. While this was\nbeing done, the gun-boats were got afloat and put to rights, and the\nsoldiers expeditiously re-embarking the re-capture of the provisions\nwas abandoned. Captain Milnes, a volunteer aid-de-camp to the Commander\nof the Forces, was killed.\nA second boat expedition from Kingston failed, Sir James Yeo, conceived\nthat he might out cut of Sackett's Harbour the new American ship\n_Pike_, the equipment of which Commodore Chancey was superintending. He\narrived at the mouth of the harbor, but the enemy having accidentally\nheard of his errand, Sir James abandoned a scheme that could only have\nbeen effected by surprise. In July, the American fleet appeared on the\nlake with augmented force. Colonel Scott, with a company of artillery\nand a considerable number of other soldiers was on board, _en route_\nfor Burlington Heights. He was most anxious to destroy the British\nstores there, the more especially as the place was only occupied by\nMajor Maule, at the head of a small detachment of regulars.\nLieutenant-Colonel Harvey, the Deputy Adjutant-General of the army,\nshrewdly suspecting the design of the enemy, despatched Colonel\nBattersby from York, who arrived in time to re-inforce Maule. Scott\nmade no attack, but with the advice, or at all events, the concurrence\nof the commodore, did a much wiser thing. The expedition sailed upon\nYork, which Lieutenant-Colonel Battersby had evacuated to save\nBurlington. A landing was effected at York, of course, without\nopposition; the storehouses, barracks, and public buildings were\nburned, and such stores as were worth carrying away, taken. In Lake\nChamplain, on the same afternoon, Colonel Murray and Captains Everard\nand Pringle were retaliating at Plattsburgh, Burlington, Champlain, and\nSwanton. Commodore Chancey having effected his purpose sailed for\nNiagara, whither he was followed by Sir James Yeo, and looked in upon\non the 31st of July. Chancey, without loss of time, raised his anchors\nand stood out of the bay, bearing down upon the British squadron. Sir\nJames manoeuvred, keeping out of range, and indeed coquetted with the\nenemy, until he had an opportunity of pouncing upon two of his vessels,\nthe _Julia_ and _Growler_, which he cut off and captured. He still\npursued the same tantalizing course of action, and Commodore Chancey\nbecame completely disheartened, when the _Scourge_ of eight, and the\n_Hamilton_ of nine guns, in endeavouring to escape from the British,\ncapsized under a press of sail, and went down, all hands perishing,\nexcept sixteen who were picked up by the boats of the opposing\nsquadron. Immediately after this disaster he stood off for Sackett's\nHarbour, and arrived there on the 13th of August. He merely took in\nprovisions, however, and again sailed for Niagara, arriving there early\nin September. On the 7th the British fleet appeared off the harbour,\nand Chancey stood out into the lake. The two fleets manoeuvred as\nbefore, avoiding close quarters, and indeed, for full five days, hardly\nexchanged a shot. But on the 28th of September, the fleets approached\neach other, and a sharp engagement ensued between the two flag ships.\nThe _Wolfe_, in which Sir James Yeo's pendant was hoisted, lost her\nmain and mizen topmasts, and only that the _Royal George_ ran in\nbetween the _Wolfe_ and the _Pike_, enabling the former to haul off and\nrepair, the British flag ship would have been captured. As it was, Sir\nJames Yeo made off with his fleet to take refuge under Burlington\nHeights.[21] Soon after, the American fleet took troops from Fort\nGeorge to Sackett's Harbour, from whence an expedition was being fitted\nout, in the way, capturing five out of seven small vessels, from York,\ncontaining 250 men of DeWatteville's regiment, intended to reinforce\nthe garrison at Kingston.\n [21] The fleet consisted of the _Wolfe_ 23; the _Royal\n George_ 22; the _Melville_ 14; the _Earl Moira_ 14;\n the _Sir Sydney Smith_ 12; and the _Beresford_ 12.\nOn the lakes of Upper Canada, the fair face of fortune was turned away\nfrom the British. As yet the capricious lady had only frowned, but now\nshe was positively sulky. A serious and indeed dreadful disaster, which\ncould not be afterwards repaired, but entailed loss upon loss to the\nBritish, occurred on Lake Erie. The British provinces were indeed\nexposed by it to the most imminent danger. At one blow all the\nadvantages gained by Brocke were lost. On Lake Erie as on Lake Ontario,\nboth the British and the Americans exerted themselves in the\nconstruction of war vessels. The great drawback to the British was the\nwant of seamen. Captain Barclay, when appointed to the command on Lake\nErie, in May, took with him fifty English seamen, to man two ships, two\nschooners, a brig and a sloop, the rest of the crews being made up of\n240 soldiers and 80 Canadians. Captain Perry, the American commander,\nhad two more vessels, an equal number of guns, double the weight of\nmetal, and was fully manned by experienced seamen. Captain Barclay\nsailed from Amherstburgh and stretched his little squadron across the\nentrance to Presque Isle. The American squadron, under Perry, was\nriding at anchor, unable to put out, because the bar at the entrance of\nthe harbour prevented it from crossing, except with the guns out, an\noperation not considered perfectly safe when done in the face of an\nenemy. Captain Barclay was under the necessity of momentarily leaving\nhis station, and his opponent, Perry, crossed the bar. Barclay in turn\nbecame the blockaded party. He made with all haste for Amherstburgh and\nwas shut in by Perry. Barclay practiced his soldiers at the guns, and\nlearned his Canadians how to handle the ropes. He was indefatigable in\nhis exertions to render his crew as efficient as such a crew could be\nmade on shipboard. He yet feared to meet Perry and his picked crews,\nbut his provisions fell short, and he was compelled to put out. The\nresult was a battle, the last thing to have been desired, where so much\ndepended on the issue. Victory was stoutly contested for on both sides.\nAt 11 o'clock, on the forenoon of the 10th of September, the American\nsquadron, consisting of nine vessels, and the British squadron,\nconsisting of six vessels, formed in lines of battle. At a quarter\nbefore 12, Captain Barclay's ship, the _Queen Charlotte_, opened a\ntremendous fire upon the _Lawrence_, the flag ship of Commodore Perry.\nThe _Lawrence_ was torn to pieces. She became unmanageable. Except the\nCommodore and four or five others, every man on board was either killed\nor wounded. Perry abandoned her, and the colours were hauled down; but\nhe only left one ship to rehoist his flag in another, as yet untouched.\nHe boarded the _Niagara_, of twenty guns, and a breeze springing up\nbehind his ships, which as yet had not been in action, he obtained the\nweather gage of the British, and made it necessary for them to wear\nround. It was in the endeavour to execute this manoeuvre that Barclay\nlost the advantage. His inexperienced and, therefore, somewhat awkward\nsailors, became flurried, and the vessels fell foul of each other. They\nwere for the most part jammed together, with their bows facing the\nenemy's broadside. Captain Perry saw his advantage and raked the\n_Detroit_, the _Queen Charlotte_, and _Lady Prevost_, at pleasure. The\n_Chippewa_ and _Little Belt_ had been separated from the other ships,\nand were hotly engaged by the Americans. The British line was, in a\nword, broken. The carnage was now dreadful, and the result awfully\ndisastrous to the British. Barclay fell, severely wounded. Every\nofficer was either killed or wounded. And two hundred out of three\nhundred and forty-five men were in a like condition. For three hours\nthe battle raged, but at the end of that time the British squadron was\ncapsized, and Perry, in imitation of Julius C\u00e6sar, sent the message to\nWashington:--\"We have met the enemy, and they are ours.\" Of the\nAmericans, twenty-seven were killed and ninety-six wounded.\nThis was a sore blow and terrible discouragement to Canada. Supplies of\nprovisions were no longer obtainable by General Proctor from Kingston,\nand Michigan was, consequently, untenable. The speedy evacuation of\nDetroit, and a retreat towards the head of Lake Ontario, became\ninevitable. Commodore Perry could, at any moment, land a force in\nGeneral Proctor's rear, and entirely cut him off from Kingston and\nYork, and the lower part of Upper Canada. General Proctor at once\nretreated, abandoning and destroying all his fortified posts, beyond\nthe Grand River. He dismantled first Detroit and then Amherstburgh,\nsetting fire to the navy yard, barracks, and public stores, of the\nlatter place. And he had just done so in time. As soon after the\ndestruction of the British fleet, as circumstances would permit,\nCommodore Perry transported the American forces, under General\nHarrison, from Portage River and Fort Meigs, to Put-in-Bay, from whence\nthey were conveyed to Amherstburgh, which they occupied on the 23rd of\nDecember. Proctor retreated through woods and morasses, upon the\nThames, hotly pursued by Harrison. The brave Tecumseh, at the head of\nthe Indians, endeavored to cover his retreat. But on the 4th of\nOctober, the enemy came so close upon the British rear as to succeed in\ncapturing all their stores and ammunition. Destitute of the means of\nsubsistence, worn down with fatigue, and low-spirited by misfortune,\nProctor came to the determination of staking all on the hazard of a\ndie. He resolved upon bringing the enemy to an engagement, and took up\na position near the Moravian village upon the Thames. Tecumseh and his\nIndians assumed a position, well to the British right, in a thicket.\nPrescott drew out his right in line on a swamp, and supported it by a\nfield piece, while his left stretched along, towards the Thames,\nsupported by another field piece. The ground was not well chosen.\nBetween Proctor and his enemy there was a dry or rather elevated piece\nof ground, covered with lofty trees, without underbrush. On the\nfollowing day the enemy came up. Harrison drew up his army in two\nlines, the cavalry in front, and ordered the Kentucky Riflemen,\ncommanded by Colonel Johnson, to charge the British, which they could\nnot so easily or effectually have done, had the British been either on\nthe summit of the wooded knoll or some distance behind the swamp. The\nKentuckians slowly advanced through the wood, receiving two vollies\nfrom the British line, before they were out of it. It was then that\nthey dashed forward at full speed, broke the British ranks, and wheeled\nabout. Taken, as it were, suddenly, in the rear, Proctor's men became\nconfused. To resist or to retreat was equally impossible. They could\nonly retreat by forcing the American infantry, in front, and they could\nonly resist by facing the Kentucky Riflemen in the rear, who had\nalready ridden through them and had now raised their rifles to decimate\nthem. The British threw down their arms and the Indians, with the\nexception of Tecumseh and a chosen few fled, yelling, through the\nwoods. Tecumseh fought desperately, even with the mounted rifles. He\nsprang upon their leader, Colonel Johnson, wounded him and pulled him\nto the earth. But, at this moment, Johnson's faithful dragoons spurred\nto his rescue. Tecumseh was surrounded and pierced with bullets.\nRaising his hands aloft, to the great Father of all, this faithful ally\nand courageous savage, gave one last, stern, defiant look, at the foe,\nand breathed no more. General Proctor and his personal staff, with a\nfew men, had previously sought safety by flight to Ancaster. And this\nremnant of the right division, including Proctor and seventeen\nofficers, amounting to only two hundred and forty-six men, arrived at\nAncaster on the 17th of October.\nHarrison was greatly superior in numbers, and had cavalry, which\nProctor was entirely without. The Kentucky cavalry were accustomed to\nfighting in the forest, and were expressly armed for it. Proctor did\nnot exhibit ordinary judgment in his selection of ground. He had hardly\ntime to cut down trees and to entrench himself, and the probability is\nthat he was not aware of the enemy's possession of cavalry, and\ntherefore was less prudent in his choice of ground than otherwise he\nwould have been. Harrison, the American commander, had no less than\n3,500 men with him, and as he captured only 25 British officers and 609\nrank and file, all that surrendered, while two hundred and forty-six in\nall only escaped, the mishap to Proctor who was personally a brave\nofficer, as he had repeatedly proved, ought not to have excited\nsurprise. But the disaster following as it did, and as should have been\nexpected, the calamity on Lake Erie, the Governor-in-Chief was highly\nincensed, and nearly sacrificed Proctor to public opinion. He abused\nhim and his army in no measured terms, in general orders. He contrasted\nthe conduct of the soldiery with that of Tecumseh and his Indians. He\ncharged the Adjutant-General Reiffenstein with gross prevarication. He\nsneered at the captured, few of whom had been rescued by an honorable\ndeath from the ignominy of passing under the American yoke, and whose\nwounds pleaded little in mitigation of the reproach. The officers in\nretreating from Detroit, Sandwich and Malden, seemed to have been more\nanxious about their baggage than they had afterwards been about their\nhonor. The enemy had attacked and defeated Proctor and his right\ndivision without a struggle. He could not indeed fully disclose to the\nBritish army the full extent of disgrace which had fallen upon a\nformerly deserving portion of the army. Sir George Prevost who had\nhimself behaved so well at Sackett's Harbour, and who afterwards acted\nso honorably towards Commodore Downie, at Plattsburgh, did not spare an\nofficer whom he had himself raised to the rank of Brigadier-General for\nprevious gallantry in the field, and for distinguished success. Nay, he\nbrought him to a Court Martial. The Court found that he had not\nretreated with judgment and had not judiciously disposed of his force,\nconsidering the extraordinary difficulties of his situation; but it\nfurther found that his personal conduct was neither defective nor\nreproachable. He was sentenced to be suspended from rank and pay for\nsix months. George the Fourth, then Prince Regent, was still more\nsevere upon the unfortunate Proctor. He confirmed the sentence and\ncensured the Court for mistaken lenity.\nThere was this difference between Sir George Prevost and General\nProctor:--Prevost was excessively cautious: Proctor was incautious to\nexcess.\nAll Western Canada, with the exception of Michillimackinac, was now\nlost to the British. The Americans had not only recaptured Michigan,\nbut the issue of one battle had given them a long lost territory, and\nthe garden of Upper Canada. Harrison did not move against\nMichillimackinac, being persuaded that it would fall for want of\nprovisions, but went to Buffalo and from there went to Niagara and Fort\nGeorge, abandoned by General Vincent, who had fallen back, on hearing\nof Proctor's discomfiture, on Burlington Heights. In retreating,\nVincent sent his baggage on before him, followed by the main body of\nhis army, some three or four thousand sickly men, and kept his picquets\nin front of Fort George to deceive the enemy: seven companies of the\n100th and the light company of the 8th regiment, and a few Indians,\nmore men than Proctor had altogether, constituted the rear guard, and\ncovered the retreat. The guard was closely pressed by 1,500 of the\nenemy, under Generals McClure and Porter, from Fort George, but the\nguard managed to keep them in check and enabled Vincent and Proctor to\neffect a junction at the heights of Burlington. The rear guard halted\nat Stoney Creek, but the enemy refused to give battle.\nThe result of these operations, in the northwest, so flattered the\nAmericans as to induce the government at Washington to attempt a more\neffectual invasion of Canada. General Dearborn had been replaced, on\naccount of ill-health, in the chief command of the army of the north,\nby General Wilkinson. The force intended for the contemplated invasion\nof Canada amounted to twelve thousand men. There were eight thousand\nstationed at Niagara and four thousand at Plattsburgh, commanded by\nHampton, in addition to which, the forces under Harrison, were expected\nto arrive in time to furnish important assistance. It was in pursuance\nof this policy that Harrison suddenly left Fort George for Sackett's\nHarbour. General Wilkinson was concentrating his forces at Grenadier's\nIsland, which is situated between Sackett's Harbour and Kingston, at\nthe foot of Lake Ontario, and the plan was to descend the St. Lawrence,\nin batteaux and gun-boats, passing by the forts and forming a junction\nwith Hampton, to proceed to the Island of Montreal. The plan was not by\nany means an injudicious one, and its failure was almost marvellous.\nThe expeditions were checked, and indeed annihilated by petty\nskirmishes, and that lack of decision, so fatal to military commanders.\nHampton advanced on the 20th of September. At Odelltown he surprised\nthe British picquet, and from thence he took the road leading to\nL'Acadie. He had, therefore, to pass through a swamp, covered with\nwood, for upwards of five leagues, before reaching the open country.\nColonel DeSalaberry had done his best with the aid of his Voltigeurs to\nmake the road a bad one to travel on. In the preceding campaign he had\nfelled trees and laid them across it, and he had dug holes here and\nthere, which soon contained the desired quantity of swampish water and\nkept the road as moist as could be wished. It was on the advance of\nHampton, guarded by a few of the Frontier Light Infantry and some\nIndians, under the direction of Captain Mailloux. To strengthen\nMailloux, Colonel DeSalaberry with his Voltigeurs and the flank\ncompanies of a battalion of militia, under Major Perrault, took up a\nposition on both sides of the road among the trees, after the manner of\nthe Indians. Hampton did not like the general appearance of matters and\nturned off the road, moving with his whole force towards the head of\nthe river Chateauguay. DeSalaberry, with his Voltigeurs, also moved\nupon the Chateauguay. He was ordered, by the Commander of the Forces,\nto proceed to the enemy's camp at Four Corners, at the head of\nChateauguay, create an alarm, and, if possible, surprise and dislodge\nhim. He had only with him one hundred and fifty Voltigeurs, the light\ncompany of the Canadian Fencibles, and a hundred Indians, in charge of\nMr. Gaucher. The Four Corners were reached unobserved. But an alarm was\ninstantly given to the camp by the forwardness of an Indian, who\ndischarged his musket without necessity, and without orders.\nDeSalaberry could now only close up his men and push forward. In a few\nminutes his brave band were in the midst of the enemy, numbering about\nfour hundred, whom they drove before them, like sheep. His weakness, in\nnumbers, for only fifty men and a few Indians had come up, was,\nhowever, soon apparent, and the enemy came to a halt, and another\nsection of the foe made a movement with the view of out-flanking the\nassailants. DeSalaberry wisely fell back upon the position, from which\nhe had emerged, upon the camp, at the skirt of the wood, and shortly\nafterwards the Indians having all fallen back, he retired altogether.\nThe loss was very trifling, but the effect was excellent, both upon the\nenemy and upon the hitherto untried Voltigeurs. The enemy perceived or\nsupposed that he perceived great preparations made to dispute his\nadvance, inch by inch, while the Voltigeurs perceived that men are\nhardly aware of how much they are capable of doing until they try.\nDeSalaberry returned to Chateauguay, breaking up the road in his rear,\nand having ascertained the road by which Hampton was determined to\nadvance, he judiciously took up a position in a thick wood, on the left\nbank of the river Chateauguay, two leagues above its confluence with\nEnglish river. Here, he threw up breastworks of logs, and his front and\nright flanks were covered by extended abattis. His left rested on the\nriver. In his rear the river being fordable, he covered the ford with a\nstrong breastwork, defended by a guard, and kept a strong picquet of\nBeauharnois militia in advance on the right bank of the river, lest, by\nany chance, the enemy should mistake the road which DeSalaberry\ndesigned him to take, and crossing the ford, under cover of the forest,\nshould dislodge him from his excellent position. Fortune favors the\nbrave, when judicious. Hampton, having detached Colonel Clarke to\ndevastate Missisquoi Bay, prepared to advance. He sent General Izzard,\nwith the light troops and a regiment of the line, to force a militia\npicquet at the junction of the rivers Outaite and Chateauguay, and\nthere the main body of the Americans arrived on the 22nd. Two days\nlater the enemy repaired DeSalaberry's road and brought forward his ten\npieces of artillery to within seven miles of DeSalaberry's position. He\nhad discovered the ford, and the light brigade, and a strong body of\ninfantry of the line, under Colonel Purdy, were sent forward on the\nevening of the 25th, to fall upon DeSalaberry's rear, while the main\nbody were to assail in front. Purdy's brigade lost themselves in the\nwoods. But Hampton himself appeared in front, with his brigadier,\nIzzard, and about 3,500 men. A picquet of twenty-five was driven in,\nbut it only fell back upon a second picquet, when a most resolute stand\nwas made. Colonel DeSalaberry heard the firing and advanced to the\nrescue. He had with him, Ferguson's company of Fencibles, and Chevalier\nDuchesnay's and Juchereau Duchesnay's companies of Voltigeurs. He\nposted the Fencibles, in extended order, every man being at an arm's\nlength from his neighbor, in the night, in front of the abattis, the\nright touching the adjoining woods in which some Abenaquis Indians had\ndistributed themselves. Chevalier Duchesnay's company, in skirmishing\norder, in line extended from the left of the Fencibles to Chateauguay,\nand Juchereau Duchesnay's company, and thirty-five militia, under\nCaptain Longtain, were ranged, in close order, along the margin of the\nriver, to prevent a flank fire from the enemy. The Americans advanced\nsteadily, in sections, to within musket shot, and DeSalaberry commenced\nthe action by discharging his rifle. The greatest possible noise was\npurposely made by buglers, stationed here and there,--on the wings, in\nthe centre, and in the rear. It was indeed difficult to say whether the\nnoise of the bugles or of the firing was the most terrific. The enemy\nwheeled into line and began to fire in vollies, but threw away their\nbullets, as the battalions were not fronting the Voltigeurs or\nFencibles, but firing needless vollies into the woods, much to their\nright where they suspected men to be. So hot was the fire of the\nVoltigeurs, however, that the enemy soon found out his mistake, and\nbrought his vollies to bear, as well as he could, in the right\ndirection. Now, some of the skirmishers, under DeSalaberry retreated,\nand the enemy cheered and advanced. Again the buglers sounded the\nadvance, and the sound of martial music echoed through the woods, so\nthat it seemed as if 200,000 men were being marshalled for the fight.\nIt was at this crisis that Colonel McDonell arrived with\nreinforcements, and the ardour of the enemy was checked. Purdy, long\nlost in the woods, was now guided towards the ford by the firing and\nthe music. He drove in Captain Brugueire's picquet, which was on the\nopposite side of the river, and was pushing for the ford. DeSalaberry\nsent Captain Daly with the light company of the 3rd battalion of the\nembodied militia to cross the river and take up the ground abandoned by\nthe picquet. He did so gallantly, driving back the American advanced\nguard, but was afterwards compelled to retreat. The enemy, as Daly\nretreated, appeared on the verge of the river. DeSalaberry gave the\nword to Juchereau Duchesnay to up and at them, and his men, rising from\ntheir place of concealment, poured in a fire upon Purdy's Americans,\nwhich was as unexpected as it was effectual. The Americans reeled back\nand then turned and ran. Hampton seeing Purdy's discomfiture, slowly\nwithdrew, leaving Colonel DeSalaberry, with less than three hundred\nCanadians, in possession of his position, and with all the honors of\nvictory. The loss was not great on either side. Of the Americans, forty\nwere found dead. The Canadians lost five killed and twenty wounded. For\nthis nicely managed skirmish DeSalaberry was justly loaded with honors,\nhis officers and men were publicly thanked, and five pairs of colours\nwere presented to the five battalions of Canadian embodied militia, by\nthe Prince Regent.\nHampton retired upon Four Corners, and afterwards retreated to\nPlattsburgh, instead of co-operating with Wilkinson, as intended.\nSimultaneously with Hampton's advance upon Chateauguay, or nearly so,\nWilkinson proceeded down the St. Lawrence, with a flotilla of upwards\nof three hundred boats, protected by a division of gun-boats, until he\nwas within three miles of Prescott, when he landed his troops, and\nmarched down with them, by land, to a cove two miles below Fort\nPrescott, so as to avoid the British batteries. The boats having past\nduring the night, without suffering any material injury from the\ncannonading of the fort.\nSo soon as the American movement was ascertained at Kingston, General\nDeRottenburg sent the 49th regiment, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel\nPrenderleath, the 89th regiment and some Voltigeurs after them. At\nPrescott, they were reinforced by a party of Canadian Fencibles, and\nthe whole amounting to about eight hundred rank and file, was commanded\nby Colonel Morrison, of the 49th regiment, aided by the Deputy Adjutant\nGeneral. Colonel Harvey, Under the escort of a small division of\ngun-boats, commanded by Captain Mulcaster, R.N. This corps of\nobservation continued in pursuit of the enemy, and on the 8th of\nNovember, came up with them at Point Iroquois. Twelve hundred of the\nenemy, under Colonel Macomb, had landed on the previous day on the\nBritish side of the river to drive off the Canadian militia, who were\ncollecting together in considerable numbers, at the head of the Long\nSault. On the 18th, General Browne's brigade, with a body of dragoons,\nalso landed on the British shore; and the remainder of Wilkinson's\ntroops were landed at the head of the Sault, under the command of\nBrigadier-General Boyd.\nColonel Morrison, of the 8th British regiment, had landed at Hamilton,\non the American side, on the 10th, took possession of a quantity of\nprovisions and stores for the American army, and also of two field\npieces. Nor was Colonel Harvey idle. He kept close upon the heels of\nthe enemy. Seeing them one evening emerging from a wood, he tried the\neffect of round shot upon them. They did not at all relish it, and went\nback again. On the same evening, the opposing gun-boats came into\ncollision and some rounds were fired without any important result. Next\nday Colonel Morrison pressed the American General Boyd, so closely that\nhe was compelled to stand and give battle. Boyd's brigade consisted of\nbetween three and four thousand men, and a regiment of cavalry,\nMorrison's entire force only numbered eight hundred rank and file. At\ntwo in the afternoon, the Americans moving from Chrystler's Point,\nattacked the British advance. The British retired slowly and orderly\nupon the position which had been marked out for them. The flank\ncompanies of the 49th, the detachment of the Canadian with one field\npiece, somewhat in advance on the road, were on the right; the\ncompanies of the 89th, under Captain Barnes, with a gun formed in\nechelon, with the advance on its left supporting it; the 49th and the\n89th thrown more to the rear, with a gun, formed the main body and\nreserve, extending to the woods, on the left, which were occupied by\nVoltigeurs and Indians. In half an hour the battle became general. The\nartillery behaved nobly. They kept up a most steady and destructive\nfire, and when the American cavalry attempted to charge, they were\nliterally mowed down and were compelled to wheel about. The infantry\ncharged the enemy's guns and captured one at the point of the bayonet.\nThe Americans had not, apparently, room to act. They were too much\ncooped up. They attempted to turn the British flank, but the Voltigeurs\nand Indians, secure behind the trees, poured forth a deadly fire and\ndrove them back. The enemy then concentrated his forces with the view\nof pushing forward in close column, but the royal artillery,\nconcentrating their fire upon the solid mass, the Americans retreated,\nleaving the British to pass the night without molestation, on\nChrystler's Farm. Indeed, the American infantry, after leaving the\nfield, re-embarked in great haste, while the dragoons trotted after\nGeneral Browne, who was on his way to Cornwall, entirely unconscious of\ndisaster. At the battle of Chrystler's Farm, the enemy lost in killed,\nBrigadier-General Carrington, who fell at the head of his men, and\nthree other officers, and ninety-nine men, and they had one hundred and\ntwenty-one men wounded.\nOn the side of the British, Captain Nairne, of the 49th regiment,\nLieutenants Lorimier and Armstrong, and twenty-one men were killed, and\neight officers and one hundred and thirty-seven men were wounded, while\ntwelve men were missing.\nGeneral Wilkinson proceeded down the Sault and joined Browne, near\nCornwall. Hampton was confidently expected. The commander-in-chief had\npositively instructed his general of division to form a junction with\nthe army from Sackett's Harbour at Cornwall, and he had not come.\nWilkinson, sick in body, and not a little mortified by the late defeat,\ndid not know very well what to do. To retreat by the way he came was\nnot quite so easy as to advance. The rapids presented innumerable\ndifficulties in the way of ascent, with an enemy lining the banks of\nthe river. And that which was more annoying forced itself strongly upon\nhis mind--the Canadians were both loyal and brave. His agony was most\nexcruciating when he received a letter from Hampton to the effect that\nthe Plattsburgh-Grand-Junction-Invading-Army was marching as\nexpeditiously as circumstances would allow out of Canada; that, in a\nword it had been defeated and was in full retreat upon Champlain. An\nanathema was about to be coupled by the worthy and much irritated\ncommander-in-chief with the name of Hampton, when Wilkinson recollected\nthat he too had been checked in the most extraordinary way, in the very\noutset of a scheme so well calculated to subdue a country, only\noccupied by three thousand soldiers, scattered over a frontier of\nupwards of a thousand miles, and numbers of militia, formidable enough\nin the woods, but no match for a well disciplined, well provided, and\nnumerous army, in the open field. The British regulars, elated with\ntheir late success, were in his rear. A kind of highland glen was not\nfar in advance. He was fairly puzzled, and altogether wanting in that\nenergy and decision so necessary for success in war. He called a\ncouncil of his officers and communicated to them his fears. It was\nunanimously resolved that, for the present season, the attack on\nMontreal should be abandoned and that the army should cross the river\nto the American side and go into winter quarters. And accordingly the\nattack was abandoned. The Americans embarked again, and were taken to\nSalmon River. The boats and batteaux were immediately scuttled; the\ntroops were made comfortable in long log huts or barracks, with\nastonishing celerity, and the camp, at French Mills, was as speedily as\npossible entrenched. Thus ended a campaign for which the Americans had\nmade extraordinary preparations, and of the success of which high\nexpectations had consequently been formed. The failures of Hampton and\nWilkinson were indeed so disgraceful and so humiliating to the\nAmericans that they were only compensated for, in kind, by the no less\nstupid, disgraceful, and humiliating failures of the British at\nPlattsburgh and New Orleans, with which the American war was, for both\nAmericans and British, unfortunately concluded. All chance of invasion,\non a grand scale, being now completely gone, the Canadian militia were\ndisbanded for the winter.\nIn December, Lieutenant-General Drummond assumed the command of Upper\nCanada. He at once proceeded to the head of Ontario, with the view of\nregaining possession of Fort George. He ordered Colonel Murray to\nadvance, which the gallant colonel did, and the American General,\nMcClure, prepared to evacuate the fort. McClure set the village of\nNewark, the ancient capital of Upper Canada, on fire, agreeably to his\ninstructions from the American Secretary at War, with the view of\ndepriving the British army of comfortable winter quarters. He was\nindeed ordered to lay waste the country as he retreated, if retreat\nbecame necessary. It was on the 10th of December, a bleak, cold winter\nday, that McClure fulfilled his instructions. One hundred and fifty\nhouses, composing the flourishing village of Newark, were reduced to\nashes, and four hundred women and children were left to wander in the\nsnow or seek the temporary shelter of some Indian wigwam in the woods.\nOn the 12th of December, the British troops occupied Fort George, there\nbeing only five hundred men in all, militia and Indians, and not long\nafterwards the gratification of revenge presented itself to the British\nand vengeance was taken accordingly. General Drummond followed up the\noccupancy of Fort George by an attack upon the American fort at\nNiagara. On the night of the 18th of December, a detachment of the\nroyal artillery, the grenadier company of the 1st Royals, and the flank\ncompanies of the 41st and 100th regiments, under Colonel Murray,\ncrossed the river Niagara, and were very quietly put on shore at the\nFive Mile Meadows, the name of the landing place indicating the\ndistance from the fort. All was still. Every order was conveyed in a\nwhisper. Neither musket clattered nor sabre clinked. The 100th regiment\nwent off in two divisions, one under Captain Fawcett,[22] and the\nother, under Lieutenant Dawson, stealthily. They seemed to be creeping\npast the trees, with the softness of a tiger's tread. The wormlike\nthread of men wound round picquet after picquet, and throttled the\nsentries on the glacis, and at the gate. The hearts of the sentries\nsank within them. They had hardly breath enough left, so\nterror-stricken were they, to reveal the watch-word, or nerve enough to\npoint out the entrance to the fort. But the watch-word was obtained;\nthe entrance was pointed out; and the 100th regiment were inside of\nFort Niagara before a single drum had rolled or a bugle sounded. By the\ntime indeed that the garrison were alarmed the whole British force were\nin the fort, and, after a show of resistance, the Americans\nsurrendered. Only one officer and five men on the part of the British\nwere killed and two officers and three men were wounded in this\nadroitly managed assault. The enemy lost in killed two officers and\nsixty-five men, and twelve rank and file were wounded. Three hundred\nmen were made prisoners. In this affair the colonel of the 100th\nregiment, Hamilton, behaved with distinguished gallantry.\n [22] A rather interesting anecdote is told of Captain Fawcett.\n About the end of the war he had been wounded in the heel, and was\n staying, in 1815, at Mrs. Matthew's boarding house, in Montreal.\n At the table d'h\u00f4te there was a raw-boned young English merchant,\n who remarked that Fawcett, to have been wounded in the heel, must\n have been running away. Fawcett's Irish blood rose to his\n forehead, and on the spur of the moment he felled the thoughtless\n Englishman with his crutch.\nThe rule of General Drummond in Upper Canada had auspiciously\ncommenced. This affair was not only brilliant but well managed. The\nfort was a prize of no ordinary worth. It contained an immense quantity\nof commissariat stores, three thousand stand of arms, a number of\nrifles and several pieces of dismounted ordnance. On the works were\ntwenty-seven heavy guns.\nThe greatest possible precautions were adopted to secure success.\nMajor-General Riall followed Colonel Murray, with the whole body of\nWestern Indians, stout, athletic, brave men, inured to fighting, the\n1st battalion of the Royals, and the 41st regiment to support him, in\ncase of need. Success had been achieved without the general's aid; but\ninstead of resting satisfied with that which had been already\naccomplished, Riall wisely pushed on before the news of the capture of\nthe fort could be spread about, on Lewiston, where the enemy, in some\nforce, had erected batteries, with the view of destroying Queenston.\nSeeing Riall coming up in their rear, the enemy were compelled to\nretreat, and they abandoned their position with such precipitation,\nthat two field pieces, with some small arms and stores fell into the\nhands of the British. It was now that the burning of Newark was to be\nrevenged. The Indians and the troops were let loose upon the enemy's\nfrontiers and Lewiston, Manchester, and the country around were laid in\nruins. Determined to follow up his success, Drummond proceeded to\nChippewa. He fixed his head-quarters there on the 28th of December, and\non the morning after was within two miles of Fort Erie. Without loss of\ntime, he reconnoitred, and finding the enemy's position at Black Rock\nassailable, he determined upon a second nocturnal attack. General Riall\naccordingly crossed the river, with four companies of the King's\nregiment and the light company of the 89th, under Colonel Ogilvy, and\ntwo hundred and fifty men of the 41st regiment, and the grenadiers of\nthe 100th regiment, under Major Frend, together with about fifty\nmilitia volunteers and a body of Indians. The landing was effected\nabout midnight. As before the advanced guard proceeded cautiously but\nwere not quite so successful as before in preventing alarm. They\nsurprised a picquet and captured not the whole, but the greater part of\nit. They did still more. The bridge over the Conguichity Creek was\nsecured in spite of the repeated efforts of the enemy to dislodge the\nassailants. But all did not yet go well with the British. The boats\nrequired to bring over a second division had necessarily to be tracked\nup the river as high as the foot of the rapids below Fort Erie.\nUnfortunately they took the ground and could not be got off for a long\ntime. Indeed, morning had dawned before the royals, intended to turn\nthe enemy's position by attacking above Black Rock, while Riall's\ndivision attacked below, suffered so severely from the fire of the\nenemy that a landing was not effected in sufficient time for the full\naccomplishment of General Drummond's purpose. Riall, nevertheless,\nmoved forward and attacked the Americans. They were strongly posted and\nin considerable force, but Riall drove them out of their batteries at\nthe point of the bayonet, turning the enemy's one twenty-four, three\ntwelves, and a nine pounder upon the now retreating foe. Riall,\nfollowing up his successes, pursued the fleeing enemy into Buffalo.\nThere they rallied, but it was only for a moment. They drew out a large\nbody of fresh infantry, exhibited some cavalry, and fired a few rounds\nfrom a field piece, unlimbered on a height commanding the road. The\nBritish still pushed on and the enemy again gave way. They retreated\nnotwithstanding their reinforcement so hurriedly that the six pounder\nbrass gun on the height, an iron eighteen, and an iron six pounder were\nleft behind. At last they reached the woods and Riall considered that\nfor one day he had done enough, on land. But not yet fully satisfied,\nhe detached Captain Robinson with two companies of the King's regiment\nto destroy three armed vessels, part of Perry's squadron, and their\nstores, if it were possible to do so. These vessels were at anchor a\nshort distance below Buffalo, and Captain Robinson did as he was\nordered to the letter.\nFrom the time of the landing at Black Rock until the full\naccomplishment of the object of the expedition, with one, not\nunimportant, exception, the Americans lost from three to four hundred\nmen in killed and wounded, and one hundred and thirty men taken\nprisoners, while the British loss was thirty-one men killed, and four\nofficers, sixty-eight men wounded, and nine men missing.\nThe exception to the full accomplishment of the object of the\nexpedition, that is to say, the burning of private property, was an\nexception to the general rule of the British army. But as evil, in some\ncases, must be done that good may follow, the rule, now laid down by\nGeneral Drummond, was to pillage, burn, and lay waste, in retaliation\nfor Newark. In accordance with this new rule, therefore, General Riall\nset about doing the only thing which he had left unaccomplished; the\ndestruction of private property. Buffalo and Black Rock, previously\ndeserted by their inhabitants, were set on fire and entirely consumed.\nClothing, spirits, flour, public stores, and, indeed, everything which\ncould not be conveniently carried off, fell a prey to the flames.\nThus was the campaign of 1813 terminated.\nIt might not unnaturally be supposed that during all this fighting,\nbusiness would have been nearly at a stand. But so far from such being\nthe case, the war had contributed in no small degree to bring Canada\nand its capabilities into notice. And it could not be otherwise. So\nlarge an expenditure as that required for the maintenance of the\nregular soldiery and militia must have made money plentiful, and such\nas were engaged in trade, whether in Quebec or Montreal, undoubtedly\nprofitted by an expenditure almost necessarily profligate. On account\nof the militia alone, the province expended \u00a3121,366, and the\nexpenditure of the commissariat department must have been enormous. But\nthe grand source of wealth was the establishment of a kind of National\nBank, with specie, to redeem its paper, in the vaults of the Bank of\nEngland. The circulation of fifteen hundred thousand pounds worth of\narmy bills, all redeemable in cash, with interest, could not have\nfailed to enrich a country in which there were not more than 350,000\ninhabitants, the greater number of whom were actually in the pay of\nGreat Britain, while they had the privilege of attending, unless in\nextraordinary cases, to their private pursuits. That Canada prospered\nduring the war is undeniable. There was a considerable falling off in\nthe number of vessels cleared at Quebec in 1813, in comparison with the\nprevious year, and which was in some degree attributable to the risk\nattendant upon crossing the Atlantic, while the great frigates of the\nUnited States were permitted to prowl about, but the provincial revenue\nhad, nevertheless, increased in the course of one year to the amount of\n\u00a330,006, while the provincial expenditure alone was nearly \u00a3200,000.\nIndeed, Montreal, the temporary head-quarters of the commander-in-chief,\nand literally alive with troops, who all ate and drank heartily, was\nmaking rapid progress in the way of commercial advancement. Mr. Molson\ngave some indication of the general prosperity by placing upon the St.\nLawrence a second steamer. On the 4th of May, 1813, the arrival of the\n_Swiftsure_ is noticed by the Quebec newspapers. The _Swiftsure_ had\ntwenty-eight passengers, besides a serjeant with six privates of the\nroyals, having three Americans, prisoners of war, four deserters from\nthe 100th regiment, and one deserter from the American army, in charge,\non board, and had been twenty-two hours and a half in running down. She\nhad a good engine with a safety valve for blowing off surplus steam.\nThe ladies' cabin had eight reposing berths. The gentlemen's cabin was\nthirty feet in length by twenty-three in breadth, and contained ten\nberths on each side, and two \"forming an angle with the larboard side.\"\nThe cabin was capable of lodging forty-four persons, and the steerage\ncould accommodate about 150. The _Swiftsure_ was in length of keel 130\nfeet, her length upon deck was 140 feet, and her breadth of beam was 24\nfeet.\nLower Canada was then a wheat growing and even wheat exporting country.\nSo early as 1802, Lower Canada exported 1,010,033 bushels of wheat,\nbesides 28,301 barrels of flour, and 22,051 cwt. of biscuit. In 1810,\nthe value of the exports from the St. Lawrence was \u00a31,200,000 sterling.\nAnd the farmer of Lower Canada profitted in 1814 by the presence of the\nfloating army population almost to as great an extent as the merchant.\nBoth animal and vegetable foods were largely in demand.\nSir George Prevost, as soon as the temporary cessation of active\nhostilities, in his immediate neighbourhood, would permit, called a\nmeeting of the Parliament of Lower Canada, for the despatch of\nbusiness. Two sessions of parliament had been held in Upper Canada,\nsince the commencement of the war, one was opened by Major General\nBrock, on the 3rd of February, 1812, when eleven Acts were passed, and\nthe other by Major General Roger Hale Sheaffe, during which other\neleven Acts became law. They show the temper of the times. An Act was\npassed in General Brock's ruleship, granting a bounty for the\napprehension of deserters from the regular forces; another granted\n\u00a32,000 for the repair of roads and bridges; a third amended the militia\nlaw; a fourth regulated the meeting of sleds on the public roads; a\nfifth allowed \u00a3502 for clerks and the contingent expenses of\nparliament; a sixth granted \u00a35,000 for the purpose of training the\nmilitia; a seventh extended an Act granting a certain sum of money to\nHis Majesty; an eighth granted \u00a31,000 for the purchase, sale, and\nexportation of hemp, and \u00a3423 for the purchase of hemp seed and payment\nof bounties; a ninth afforded relief to certain persons entitled to\nclaim lands; a tenth amended an Act for the laying out of highways; and\nan eleventh provided for the appointment of returning officers. While\nGeneral Sheaffe was President of Upper Canada, an Act was passed to\nfacilitate the circulation of the Lower Province Army Bills. They were\nto be received in payment of duties and at the office of the Receiver\nGeneral. A second Act was passed to empower Justices of the Peace to\nfine and, in the event of non-payment, to distress the properties of\npersons offending against the militia laws; a third Act prohibited the\nexportation of grain and other provisions and restrained the\ndistillation of spirituous liquors from grain; a fourth gave a pension\nof \u00a320 a year to such persons disabled in the war, as had wife or\nchild, to be continued to the widow or the fatherless, in the event of\nthe death of such disabled persons, and disabled bachelors were to\nobtain, so long as they were unable to earn a livelihood, \u00a312 a year; a\nfifth prevented the sale of spirituous liquors to the Indians; a sixth\ncontinued the Act to provide means for the defence of the province; a\nseventh repealed the Hemp Encouragement Acts; an eighth continued the\nDuties Agreement Act; a ninth amended an Act for the better regulation\nof town and parish officers; a tenth amended and repealed in part the\nAct for quartering and billetting the soldiery; and the eleventh\ngranted for the clerks of parliament \u00a388 1s. 9d. The debates of course\nwere neither animated nor of particular interest.\nIn 1814, the parliament of Lower Canada was opened by the Governor\nGeneral, on the 13th of January. Sir George could meet the legislature\nwith heartfelt satisfaction and pride. The Canadians had acted nobly,\nboth in the field and out of it, while they entertained for himself,\npersonally, a feeling of respect, which he had done his utmost to win,\nand which it was his aim to preserve. In the speech from the throne, he\ncongratulated parliament, particularly on the defeat of the enemy at\nChateauguay. He alluded triumphantly to the brilliant victory over\nWilkinson at Chrystler's Farm. He rejoiced that, notwithstanding the\nvarious events of the past summer, by which the enemy had gained a\nfooting in the Upper province, the theatre of war had recently been\ntransferred to American soil, and that Niagara, Black Rock, and Buffalo\nhad been wrested from the enemy by British enterprise and valour. He\nwas proud beyond expression, at the determination manifested by the\nCanadians to defend to the last extremity one of the most valuable\nportions of His Majesty's dominions. He trusted to Canadian loyalty and\npatriotism in the expectation that the sacrifices which the war might\nyet require would be patiently submitted to. And he would faithfully\nrepresent to His Royal Highness, the Prince Regent, the loyalty, zeal,\nand unanimity of His Canadian subjects. The Houses trembled with\nemotion. A thrill of intense satisfaction ran through every vein. Sir\nGeorge had touched that chord in the human heart, which was never\ntouched in vain. He had spoken of patriotism; he had acknowledged that\nthe brave were brave indeed; and he had admitted that those who had\nbeen represented as treasonable were loyal to the core. The House of\nAssembly expressed their sincere acknowledgements. They felt themselves\nto have been rescued from most unfounded imputations that had been\nindustriously attempted to be fixed upon them. They were grateful to\nHis Excellency for the good opinion he had formed of them. They would\ncheerfully co-operate with His Excellency in maintaining the honor and\npromoting the service of their gracious sovereign. And they further\ngratefully acknowledged that His Excellency, in his anxious desire to\nforward the prosperity and to preserve the integrity of the province,\nhad been guided by a just and liberal policy towards His Majesty's\nCanadian subjects, by which their loyalty, zeal, and unanimity had been\ncherished and promoted, and they were so impressed with the sense of it\nthat, when His Excellency should withdraw, which they hoped would never\nbe, from the administration of the government of Lower Canada, he would\ncarry with him the good opinion and affection of the people over whom\nhe had ruled so conscientiously, so honorably, and so justly. Sir\nGeorge Prevost could not be otherwise than well satisfied with the\naddress in reply to his speech. Kindness and conciliation had not been\nthrown away, but had been met with respect and affectionate regard.\nThe House proceeded almost immediately to business, and had not been\nlong so employed, when His Excellency sent a secret message, asking for\nan increased issue of army bills, to meet the public requirements. The\nHouse at once authorised an issue to the extent of fifteen hundred\nthousand pounds. Afterwards the Assembly adopted a bill to amend the\nmilitia laws, which the Legislative Council refused to concur in; then\na bill was passed to disqualify the judges for sitting or voting in the\nLegislative Council, which the Council also refused to concur in, on\nthe plea that the bill was an interference with the Prerogative of the\nCrown, and with their privileges; next a bill was passed in the\nAssembly and negatived by the Council, to grant His Majesty a duty on\nthe income arising from civil offices, and on pensions, to be applied\nfor the defence of the province, in the war with the United States;\nagain the Assembly adopted a bill for the appointment of a provincial\nagent in Great Britain, which the Council also set aside. Surprising as\nso obvious an antagonism between the Legislative Council and\nLegislative Assembly may seem, it is easily accounted for. The Council\nwere, many of them, placemen, and indeed the immaculate and\nconfidential secretary to Sir James Craig, Mr. Witsius Ryland, also\nClerk of the Executive Council, had himself a seat in the Upper House,\nalthough Mr. Robert Peel, differing in opinion with Sir James Craig,\ndid not think that the situation which Mr. Ryland held was quite\ncompatible with a seat in the Legislative Council. Mr. Ryland has\nfavored the present generation, through the instrumentality of a near\nrelative, with a brief review of the political state of the province of\nLower Canada, from which some interesting facts can be gathered. He\nstates that the Assembly knew that their bill for disqualifying the\nChief Justice and Justices of the Court of King's Bench from being\nsummoned to the Legislative Council, would be thrown out in the Upper\nHouse, but that the introduction of such a bill in the Assembly served\nthe purpose which the party who introduced it had in view: it impressed\nthe mass of the people with a disrespectful idea of the judges,\npreparatory to a grand attack upon the whole judicature of the\nprovince. In the bill for appointing an agent to Great Britain, Mr.\nBedard, the person who had been under confinement on a _charge_ of\ntreasonable practices, had been named as such agent, and a salary of\n\u00a32,000 per annum assigned him. Mr. Ryland knew that the Council would\nthrow out the bill. But, says that gentleman, the Council were\nthwarted, as Sir George Prevost acceded to a request of the Assembly\nfor the appointment of two such agents, whom he accredited to His Royal\nHighness, the Prince Regent, and the Legislative Council passed several\nresolves expressive of their astonishment. The Council humbly\nconsidered His Excellency's acquiescence with the wishes of the\nAssembly to be an unequivocal abandonment of the \"Rights\" of the\nLegislative Council, and a fatal dereliction of the first principles of\nthe constitution. And with regard to the income tax, proposed by the\nAssembly, Mr. Ryland states that the whole saving that would have been\neffected by it, would only have been \u00a32,500 a year, and that the\nofficers of the government who had the utmost difficulty in subsisting\non their salaries, would have been, by such a measure, reduced to\nextreme distress! Now, it is a noticeable fact, in connection with this\nmatter, that the Provincial Secretary, at the period alluded to, was an\nofficial in the Colonial Office, and had never seen Canada, although he\nafterwards received from the province a pension of \u00a3400 a year, in\nconsideration of his long and valuable services; and it is in a high\ndegree amusing to find Mr. Ryland informing this functionary\n\"decidedly\" and \"frankly\", that he had acted wisely in not asking for\nan increase of salary, although it was a different thing to solicit\nadditional assistance in an office where the public business was\nconstantly increasing! Mr. Ryland and a few other such cormorants could\nnot tolerate the impertinent interference of the House of Assembly with\ntheir means of subsistence. Nay, it will even appear that Mr. Ryland\ntook it upon himself to privately lecture Sir George Prevost's\nsuccessor upon the impropriety of following a certain course of action,\nand that he actually succeeded in dissuading the Governor from his\noriginal purpose.\nThe Assembly, thwarted as it had been by the Council, still pursued its\nreformatory course. Much time, indeed, did not elapse until Mr. Stuart\nagain brought forward his motion to take into consideration the power\nand authority exercised by the Provincial Courts of Justice, under the\ndenomination of Rules of Practice. His motion was almost unanimously\ncarried. And who this Mr. Stuart was, Mr. Ryland tells. About 1813,\nsays the Clerk of the Executive Council, \"Mr. Bedard, the judge, came\nto Quebec, for the purpose of advising the measures to be pursued, but\nnot having a seat in the Assembly, the principal management was left to\nan Anglo-American Barrister, named Stuart, who had been a pupil of the\npresent Chief Justice, (Sewell) when he held the situation of\nAttorney-General. This gentleman obtained from Lieutenant-Governor\nMilnes the appointment of Solicitor-General, from which he was\ndismissed by Sir James Craig, in consequence of his pursuing a line of\nconduct, which the latter considered utterly inconsistent with his duty\nas a servant of the Crown.\" What the particular line of conduct pursued\nby Mr. Stuart was, that so much offended Sir James Craig, even time and\nMr. Ryland have not yet revealed. Perhaps \"the Anglo-American\nBarrister\" did not bow sufficiently low to confidential Secretaries and\nExecutive Clerks. He would have found such obsequiousness difficult.\nMr. Stuart was both vigorous in mind and body, and was very far from\nbeing a common man. He stood more than six feet high, and was built in\nproportion. His shoulders were broad, his chest ample, and his arms\nlong. His head was immoderately large. His countenance was commanding\nand his bearing dignified. He spoke with great fluency and with\nastonishing conciseness. His eye was large, his forehead prominent,\nlofty and broad, with great depth between the brow and the occiput, his\nnose was long and aquiline, with the nostrils open; his mouth was\nlarge, but the lips were thin; and the chin was square and somewhat\nprominent; viewed, in profile, the whole head was wall-sided. He was no\nman to be trifled with, and none other than a fool would at any time,\nhave thought of doing so. The Chief Justice Sewell, also an\nAnglo-American, was also an exceedingly talented man, but still a man\nquite of another stamp of mind, to that of Mr. Stuart. Mr. Sewell was\nthoroughly polished. No man could so well bow to power or so well bend\nan inferior to his will as Mr. Chief Justice Sewell. To see him in the\nstreet was to see him in the least, the lowest, and, consequently, the\nworst point of view. He was knowing, well read, and well bred. He could\nbecome sarcastic, but never condescended to be furious. If he was at\nall sycophantic, it was his will rather than his nature to be so. On\nthe bench, he loomed large, being long in body, and looked stately and\nagreeable. He could be stern, but sternness was less natural to him\nthan concealment. He never told all he knew, nor did his face ever\nbetray the innermost recesses of his heart. On the whole, Mr. Sewell\nwas a good man, and he was an excellent Chief Justice. Such are the\ncharacters of the complainant and the defendant in this cause. Mr.\nStuart carried great weight, when on the right side, in a House of\nAssembly, steadily bent upon fair legislation. Not only did he carry\nhis motion about taking into consideration the power and authority\nexercised by the Courts of Justice, through the medium of Rules of\nPractice, at variance with the law and the liberty of the subject, but\nthe House ordered the Clerk of the Court of Appeals, and the\nProthonotaries of the Courts to produce the Rules of Practice, or\ncertified copies of them, for the immediate use of members. The House\nwent into committee and talked the matter over, then rose, and reported\nprogress. The Rules of Practice had not been very long in use. They\nwere made for the Court of Appeals so recently as 1809, and the example\nwas so excellent that the Court of King's Bench followed it. The\nLegislative Assembly not only considered the rules an infringement upon\ntheir privilege of law-making but an infringement upon the civil rights\nof His Majesty's subjects and subversive of the laws of the province,\nrendering the enjoyment of liberty and property altogether insecure and\nprecarious, and giving to the judges an arbitrary authority. And the\nAssembly without further ceremony proceeded to impeach the Chief\nJustices of Quebec and Montreal, at the instance of Mr. Stuart, the\nAnglo-American Barrister. It was said that Jonathan Sewell, Chief\nJustice, had traitorously and wickedly endeavored to subvert the\nconstitution by the introduction of an arbitrary, tyrannical government\nagainst law; that the said Jonathan Sewell had disregarded the\nauthority of Parliament, and usurped its powers by making regulations\nsubversive of the constitution and the laws; that Jonathan Sewell had\nlibellously published such Rules of Practice; that Jonathan Sewell had\nsubstituted his own will for the will of the legislature; that Jonathan\nSewell being Chief Justice, Speaker of the Legislative Council, and\nChairman of the Executive Council, had maliciously slandered the\nCanadian subjects of the King and the House of Assembly, and had\npoisoned and incensed the mind of Sir James H. Craig, the\nGovernor-in-Chief, and had so misled and deceived him that he did on\nthe 15th of May, 1809, dissolve the parliament, without any cause\nwhatever to palliate or excuse the measure, the said Governor-in-Chief\nhaving been at the same time advised to make a speech in gross\nviolation of the rights of the Assembly, grossly insulting to its\nmembers, and misrepresenting their conduct; that to prevent opposition\nto his tyrannical views the said Jonathan Sewell had counselled and\nadvised Sir James Henry Craig to remove and dismiss divers loyal and\ndeserving subjects, from offices of profit and emolument--now the head\nand front of Mr. Sewell's offending has come nebulously to\nlight--without the semblance of reason to justify it; that to mark his\ncontempt for the representatives of the people and for the\nconstitution, he had procured the dismissal of Jean Antoine Panet,\nEsquire, who then was, and for fifteen years preceding had been Speaker\nof the Assembly, from his rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in the militia,\nwithout any reason to palliate or excuse the injustice; that he had\ninduced P. E. Desbarats, the law printer, to establish a newspaper\nstyled the \"Vrai Canadien,\" for the purpose of vilifying such members\nof the Assembly as were obnoxious to him; that with the view of\nextinguishing the liberty of the press, and destroying, therefore,\neffectually, the rights, liberty, and security of His Majesty's\nsubjects in the province, and suppressing all complaint of oppression,\nhe had, in March, 1810, advised and approved the sending of an armed\nforce to break open the dwelling house and printing office of one\nCharles Lefran\u00e7ois, there to arrest and imprison him, and seize and\nbring away a printing press, with various private papers, which measure\nof lawless violence was accordingly executed, the said press and papers\nbeing then in the Court House of Quebec, with the knowledge and\napprobation of the said Jonathan Sewell; that Jonathan Sewell had\nadvised the arrest of Messrs. Bedard, Blanchet and Taschereau, upon an\nunfounded pretext; that Jonathan Sewell had instigated the oppression\nof the old and infirm Fran\u00e7ois Corbeil, by which the old man lost his\nlife; that Jonathan Sewell had instigated Sir James Henry Craig to\nissue a proclamation causing the public to believe that Mr. Bedard had\nbeen guilty of treason, and that the province was in a state\napproaching to open rebellion; that Jonathan Sewell had read the wicked\nproclamation in the Court House, to influence the Grand and Petty\nJuries; that Jonathan Sewell had abused his powers simply with the view\nof paving the way for American predominance in Canada; that with the\nview of annexing Canada to the United States he had entered into a base\nand wicked conspiracy with one John Henry, an adventurer of suspicious\ncharacter, for the purpose of sowing dissension among the subjects of\nthe government of the United States, and producing a dismemberment of\nthe Union; and had given artful advice to Sir James Craig, inducing him\nto send Henry, the adventurer, on a secret mission, which had exposed\nHis Majesty's government to imputations reflecting on its honor, and\nthat he had labored to promote disunion between the legislative Council\nand Legislative Assembly, and had fomented dissensions in the province\nto prevent a reliance on the loyalty and bravery of His Majesty's\nCanadian subjects. Mr. Chief Justice Monk was impeached as an\naccessory.\nWith the view of effectually prosecuting the impeachment, the House\nappointed Mr. Stuart its agent, and directed him to proceed to England,\nto press upon His Majesty's ministers the necessity of giving heed to\nthe business. \u00a32,000 were awarded for the payment of the expenses of\nMr. Stuart, but the Council expunged the award from the revenue bill,\nand there was no more about it, until the House went to the Castle with\ntheir Speaker, who presented an address to the Governor General,\nrequesting him to transmit the impeachments, and suggested the\npropriety of the Chief Justices being suspended from the exercise of\ntheir powers until the pleasure of the Prince Regent could be\nascertained. Sir George Prevost was somewhat taken by surprise. He was\nin an exceedingly delicate or rather interesting situation. It was an\nunpleasant, if not a disagreeable part, which he was required to play.\nIt was, in a word, to make complaint to the Prince Regent of his\npredecessor. Sir George, however, blandly said that he would take an\nearly opportunity of transmitting the address, with the articles of\naccusation against the Chief Justices, to His Majesty. With regard to\nthe suggestion of the Honorable House of Assembly, concerning the\nsuspension of the Chief Justices, he did not consider it necessary to\ngo to that extreme. The Legislative Council had not even been consulted\nwith regard to the articles of accusation; and he could not think of\nsuspending two officers of such rank, on the complaint of only the\nthird branch of the legislature.\nIn the Assembly, when the Speaker had returned to the chair, there were\nmurmurs, both loud and deep. Mr. James Stuart, seconded by Louis Joseph\nPapineau, both determined men, and of consummate ability, moved that\nthe charges exhibited by the Assembly against Jonathan Sewell and James\nMonk, Esquires, were rightly denominated, Heads of Impeachment; that\nthe House had the right to advise the Governor General without the\nconcurrence of the Legislative Council; that the House in pointing out\nthe existence of gross abuses, had performed the first and most\nessential of its duties; that in framing and exhibiting the heads of\nimpeachment referred to in the address to His Excellency, the House had\nexercised a salutary power, vested in it by the constitution; and that\nHis Excellency, the Governor-in-Chief, had violated the constitutional\nrights and privileges of the House, by his answer to the address. But\nafterwards, to show that a feeling of respect was yet felt for His\nExcellency, greater than any of his predecessors had ever experienced,\nthe House resolved, notwithstanding the wicked and perverse advice\nwhich he had received, that His Majesty's faithful Commons of Canada\nhad not, in any respect, altered the opinion they had ever entertained\nof the wisdom of His Excellency's administration, and they were\ndetermined to adopt the measures deemed necessary for the support of\nthe government and the defence of the province.\nThe Governor-in-Chief was, however, not by any means pleased with the\npertinacity of the Assembly. There were evidently men in the House, who\nwould neither be forced nor persuaded out of certain measures. He\nhardly knew how to act in the emergency, and with his usual caution he\ndid nothing. The Chief Justice Sewell went to England for the purpose\nof repelling the accusations against him, and as he was only the\ninstrument of, not under any circumstance the author of a wrong,\nEnglish public opinion, of course, went strongly with him. The\nExecutive Councillors, the merchants, and the other principal\ninhabitants of Quebec presented addresses to His Honor, intimating the\nhigh opinion in which he was held, and alluding to his conspicuous\nability, comprehensive knowledge, patient candour, liberal respect for\nthe opinion of others, and his equality and gentleness of temper,\npointedly and flatteringly. Mr. Chief Justice Monk was similarly\ntreated by the influential inhabitants. The Assembly continued,\nnotwithstanding the war exigencies of the times, in their factiousness,\nas their persistence in some measures was considered. They again passed\na bill appointing a provincial agent to Great Britain, who was to\nreside in London, after the manner of an ambassador. Mr. Bedard, the\nJudge of Three Rivers, who had figured somewhat conspicuously in Sir\nJames Craig's time, was named as the agent in the bill. It was sent up\nto the Legislative Council for concurrence. And it had not been long\nthere when it occurred to the House of Assembly that two agents would\nbe better than one, as the Council, desirous of sending one of their\nown members to England, would thereby be induced to concur in the\nexpediency of despatching agents to London. But the Council begged that\nthe Assembly would mind its own business and not interfere with any\nbill before the Upper House, unless a conference was officially asked\nfor by the Legislative Council, when any suggestion from the Assembly\nwould be attended to. The Upper House never encroached upon the\nprivileges of the Lower House. The agent was not appointed. The Houses\ncould not agree upon a messenger, and although the Governor promised to\nsend two messengers to London, at the public expense, if the Assembly\ndesired it, no one is to this hour very certain whether the address of\nthe Legislative Assembly, to the Prince Regent, ever reached his royal\nfingers. These were the principal matters with which the time of the\nHouse was occupied, but the opportunity was not overlooked of voting\nthe thanks of the House to Colonel DeSalaberry and his officers and men\nunder him, for their distinguished conduct at Chateauguay, and to\nColonel Morrison, of the 89th regiment, and to the officers and men\nunder him, for their exertions at Chrystler's Farm, in the defeat of\nWilkinson.\nOn the 17th of March, the parliament was prorogued, and so ended the\nseventh parliament of Lower Canada. Sir George Prevost in his closing\nspeech, was not so flattering in his allusions as in opening the\nsession. He had seen with regret a want of unanimity and despatch, and\na want of confidence in himself, which had been attended with serious\ninconveniences to the public service, in both Houses. He lamented the\ncourse of proceeding adopted by the Assembly, which had occasioned the\nloss of a productive revenue bill, to wit, tacking to the bill the\nclause for the payment of a London agent, which had caused its\nrejection by the Upper House, and a consequent misunderstanding by\nwhich the bill had been lost. He regretted that in sacrificing the\nliberal appropriations for the defence of the province they had been\nswayed by any considerations, which seemed to them of higher importance\nthan the immediate security of the province or the comfort of those\nengaged in its protection. He earnestly entreated the gentlemen of the\nLegislative Council, as peace was not obtained, to impress on all\naround them, by precept and example, a respect for the laws by which\nthey were governed, as well as a just confidence in those who\nadministered them, and to cherish and encourage that spirit which had\nhitherto proved the firmest barrier against all the attempts of the\nenemy. And as the parliament was about to expire, and he should avail\nhimself of an early opportunity of appealing to the sense of the people\nfor the election of a new Assembly, he recommended the honorable\ngentlemen and gentlemen to give the inhabitants of the province a true\nidea of the nature and value of the constitution which they possessed,\nso that their choice of representatives might fall on those who would\nendeavour faithfully to uphold it, and so promote the safety, welfare,\nand prosperity of the province.\nSir George Prevost evidently threw out some hints to the Legislative\nCouncil, which could not have been particularly palatable.\nIn Sir George's speech there was an allusion to peace not being at\nhand. Sir George made that reference doubtless in connection with the\nfact that Russia had offered to mediate between the contending powers,\nwith reference to an amicable settlement of their differences. Indeed\ncommissioners were appointed to negotiate, by the United States.\nMessrs. Gallatin, Adams, and Bayard were named. But Great Britain\ndeclined the proposal, though the Prince Regent offered a direct\nnegotiation either at London or Gottenburg. The offer was accepted, and\nMessrs. Henry Clay, Jonathan Russell, and Albert Gallatin, were added\nto the commissioners already in Europe, and sailed soon after for\nGottenburg. Lord Gambier, Henry Goulburn, and William Adams were\nappointed on the part of the Court of St. James, to meet them. The\nplace of meeting was subsequently changed to Ghent, in Flanders, and\nthe conference met in August. But while the conference sat the war was\ncarried on.\nThe first fight of moment in 1814, occurred on the Pacific Coast. The\nAmerican Commodore Porter had been cruising in the frigate _Essex_, for\nsome time, in the Pacific, with wonderful success. He had with him as a\nconsort, a captured whaleship, which he had armed with twenty guns, and\nnamed the _Essex, junior_. Captain Hillyard, in the British frigate\n_Phoebe_, accompanied by the sloop of war _Cherub_, had been sent in\nsearch of the successful cruiser, and on the 9th of February, gained\nintelligence to the effect that with two of her prizes she had put into\nValparaiso. The American was no match, even with the aid of the whale\nship, for two such vessels, and kept in port, the British vessels\nkeeping up a strict blockade for six weeks.[23] At length, on the 28th\nof March, tired of the blockade, Porter attempted to escape, when\nCaptain Hillyard succeeded in bringing her to action, in the roads of\nValparaiso, before she could get back, and without the aid of her\nlesser consort. The American ship, in the hurry to escape, had spread\nevery stitch of canvas, to run past the _Phoebe_, and as she was\ndoubling the point a squall struck her, carrying away the main topmast.\nBoth ships immediately gave chase, and being unable to escape in his\ncrippled state, Porter attempted to regain the harbor. Finding this to\nbe impracticable, he ran into a small bay and anchored within pistol\nshot of the shore. The contest, which was a most unequal one, now\ncommenced. Both the attacking vessels at first got into raking\npositions, and did great execution. Nevertheless, Captain Porter fought\ngallantly. Hillyard's ship having sustained serious damage in her\nrigging, and having become almost unmanageable, on that account, hauled\noff to repair damages, leaving the _Cherub_ to continue the action.\nHillyard manoeuvred deliberately and warily. He knew that his\nantagonist was in his power, and his only concern was to succeed with\nas little loss to himself as possible. Hillyard again attacked, and the\n_Essex_ hoisting her foresail and lifting her anchor, managed] to run\nalongside of the _Phoebe_. The firing was now tremendous, and the\n_Essex's_ decks were strewed with dead. Both attacking ships then edged\noff, and fired into the _Essex_, at convenient range, until she struck.\nThe _Cherub_ raked the _Essex_, while the _Phoebe_ exchanged broadsides\nwith her. The _Essex_ had twice taken fire during the action. The loss\non board the _Essex_ was fifty-eight killed, thirty-nine wounded\nseverely, twenty-seven slightly, and thirty-one missing. On board both\nBritish vessels only five were killed and ten wounded. It is said that\nthere were nearly a hundred sailors on board the _Essex_, when the\nengagement commenced, who jumped overboard, when it was likely she\nwould be taken; that of these forty reached the shore, while thirty-one\nwere drowned, and sixteen picked up when on the point of drowning, by\nthe British. On the other hand it is alleged that when the _Essex_ took\nfire aft, a quantity of powder exploded, and word was given that the\nfire was near her magazine. It was then that Captain Porter advised as\nmany as could swim to make for the shore, which they did, or tried to\ndo, while those who could not swim exerted themselves to extinguish the\nflames, which having done, the action was renewed, until fighting was\nimpossible. When Porter summoned a consultation of his officers, only\none appeared--Acting Lieutenant McNight.\n [23] So say the Americans. Mr. Alison says three weeks.\nEarly in February, the American sloop of war _Frolic_, of 22 guns, was\ncaptured by the British frigate _Orpheus_, after two shots had been\nfired. But by way of compensation, the British brig _Epervier_, of 18\nguns, towards the close of April, surrendered to the American sloop of\nwar _Peacock_, of 22 guns, and on the 28th of June, a most desperate\nencounter took place between the British sloop of war _Reindeer_,[24]\nof 18 guns, and the American sloop, _Wasp_. The preponderance of force\nwas here, in a most extraordinary degree, in favor of the Americans,\nbut, notwithstanding this advantage, Captain Manners, of the\n_Reindeer_, one of the bravest officers who ever trod a quarter deck,\nthe moment he got sight of the American vessel gave chase, and as soon\nas it was evident to the American captain that he was pursued by the\n_Reindeer_ alone, he hove to and the action commenced. Never were\nvessels more gallantly commanded and fought on both sides. The\nengagement lasted, yard arm to yard arm, for half an hour, at the end\nof which time the _Reindeer_ was so disabled, that she fell with her\nbow against the larboard quarter of the _Wasp_. The latter instantly\nraked her with dreadful effect; and the American rifles, from the tops,\npicked off almost all the officers and men on the British deck. But\nCaptain Manners then showed himself indeed a hero. Early in the action\nthe calves of his legs had been shot away, but he still kept the deck;\nat this time a grape shot passed through his thighs, but though brought\nfor a moment on his knees, he instantly sprang up, and though bleeding\nprofusely, not only refused to quit the deck, but exclaiming, \"Follow\nme, my boys; we must board!\" sprang into the rigging of the _Reindeer_,\nintending to leap into that of the _Wasp_. At this moment two balls\nfrom the American tops pierced his skull, and came out below his chin.\nWith dying hand he waved his sword above his head, and exclaiming, \"Oh\nGod!\" fell lifeless on the deck. The Americans immediately after\ncarried the British vessel by boarding, where hardly an unwounded man\nremained, and so shattered was she in her hull, that she was\nimmediately after burned by the captors. Never, says Alison, will the\nBritish empire be endangered while the spirit of Captain Manners\nsurvives in its defenders.\n [24] Taken verbatim from Alison. The _Wasp_, whose Captain,\n Blakeley, was an Irishman, was lost in the same year, during a\n cruise, and no trace of her gallant captain or crew was ever\n obtained.\nThere was some correspondence in the early part of 1814, relative to\nthe prisoners captured at Queenston, supposed to be British subjects,\nand therefore sent to England to be tried for treason. The American\ngovernment confined an equal number of British prisoners, who were to\nbe retaliated upon, unless the British government consented to exchange\nthem the same as other prisoners, and the Canadian government confined\nGeneral Winder and a number of other officers and men, as hostages for\nthe forthcoming of the British prisoners, and in retaliation for their\nconfinement. The whole matter ended in smoke. The traitors were not\nmade examples of, and negotiations and retaliations ceased. During the\nwinter, stores of every kind were forwarded to Kingston, from Quebec\nand Montreal. In February, the 8th regiment, and two hundred and twenty\nseamen, arrived overland from Fredericton, New Brunswick. The Indians,\nOttawas, Chippewas, Shawnees, Delawares, Mohawks, Saiks, Foxes,\nKickapoos, and Winebagoes, came to Quebec to inform the Governor\nGeneral that they were poor and needed arms, but would fight to the\nlast drop of blood for the British against the Americans, who had taken\naway their lands, General Prevost was, of course, exceedingly glad to\nhear it, and having expressed his regret for the death of Tecumseh, he\nloaded them with presents, entertained them for two days, and then sent\nthem off to prepare for the campaign.\nThe Americans had not by any means been idle during the winter. They\ntoo had been making preparations, and when General Macomb crossed Lake\nChamplain on the ice, with his division, from Plattsburgh, about the\nend of March, serious doubts began to be entertained in Canada, with\nregard to the probability of another invasion. The general soon removed\nall doubts. He crossed to St. Armand and remained there unmolested,\nwhile General Wilkinson prepared to assault Odelltown and Lacolle\nMills. As soon as Wilkinson was fully prepared for the assault, Macomb\njoined him, and the Americans, numbering about five thousand men,\nentered Odelltown. Despatches were immediately sent off by the officer\nin command of the stone mills at Lacolle, to Isle-aux-Noix for aid, and\nCaptain Broke with a picquet of the 13th regiment, was sent to him.\nMajor Handcock set about making such preparations as he could for the\ndefence of his temporary block-house, or rather stone tower, at\nLacolle. Wilkinson did not immediately advance, but halted to\nreconnoitre. He made a feint too, upon Burtonville, which he suffered a\nfew grenadiers and some light infantry to check. He wanted possession\nof Lacolle town, and accordingly, early in the afternoon, he determined\nupon taking it by assault. The Americans got into the woods with the\nview of surrounding the blockhouse and of simultaneously assaulting it\non all sides. Lacolle opened fire, but the Americans only replied by a\ncheer, and continued to advance. But the cheering was not of long\nduration, as the effect of Major Handcock's fire was not by any means\nelevating to the Americans. It was so heavy and so hot, and so well\ndirected that the effect was most depressing, and the enemy retreated,\nin some confusion, back to the woods, from which they had emerged. Thus\nrepulsed the gallant Americans thought of battering a breach in the\ntower of Lacolle, with the aid of a naked 12-pounder, or battering gun,\nunprotected by an earthwork. The result was that the artillerymen being\nwithin musket range, were picked off with great facility, and with such\nmarvellous rapidity, that it was no easy matter for the enemy to load\nand fire. The cannonading was, nevertheless, kept up for two hours and\na half, but as little attention was paid to aim, under the exciting\ncircumstances, only four round shot struck the mill, doing no harm at\nall. It would have been prudent for the gallant Handcock to have kept\nthe enemy for some time longer, in the snow and cold, keeping up so\nharmless a fire of artillery. But it occurred to him that the gun might\nbe spiked, and he ordered the flank companies of the 13th regiment to\ncharge the enemy, in front. The trees stood still, and the Americans\nretired a little, pouring a deadly fire upon the 13th, as they advanced\nin line through deep snow, as well as they could, which was not by any\nmeans very well. As the Americans still pertinaciously kept in the\nwoods, the 13th could not, by any possibility, charge. They might have\npursued the enemy individually, and the dodging and twining and\ntwirling of the combatants would have been something extraordinary. But\nthe 13th thought better of it and wisely retired, in good order, upon\nthe mill. At this moment, however, the grenadiers of the Fencibles and\na company of the Voltigeurs, arrived from Burtonville, and were ordered\nby Major Handcock to support the retiring 13th, and charge again. The\nwhole now advanced in columns of sections upon the gun, which the\nAmericans had spiked during the first charge, and on which the\nAmericans in the woods were ready to concentrate their fire. The enemy\ndid not pull a trigger until the 13th, Voltigeurs, and Fencibles were\nwithin twenty-five yards of their centre, when the further advance of\nthe sortie was checked by the fire of musketry so hotly poured in upon\nthem on all sides. They were instantly recalled. But the Americans\nbeing by this time wearied, cold, and hungry, and now deficient in\nartillery, while they were as unable to carry the mill by storm, as the\nBritish were to charge in the woods, retreated about five in the\nafternoon, unmolested, and afterwards fell back upon Champlain and\nPlattsburgh. The Americans lost in this attempt to carry a stone tower,\nbravely defended, 13 in killed, 123 in wounded, and in missing 30. The\nBritish lost 10 killed, 4 missing, and 2 officers and 44 men wounded.\nThe Americans, while they were near Cornwall, under Generals Brown and\nBoyd, in the autumn previously to re-crossing the river, plundered some\nmerchants of all their goods, wares, and merchandise, found _en route_\nfor Upper Canada. But the American government had stipulated for their\nrestitution with Colonel Morrison, of the 89th, and Captain Mulcaster,\nof the Royal Navy. Whether the repeated checks that they had lately\nreceived from the British, in consideration of their unwelcome, but not\nlooked for, visits, had soured the authorities, south of 45\u00b0., or no,\nit was now intended to sell the plunder for the benefit of the\ngovernment of the United States, as British goods being rare in the\nAmerican market, high prices would undoubtedly have been obtained. To\nprevent a consummation, not in the least devoutly wished for by the\nBritish merchants, Captain Sherwood, of the Quarter Master General's\nDepartment, suggested the idea of plundering them back again.\nAccordingly, Captain Kerr, with a subaltern, twenty rank and file of\nthe marines, and ten militiamen, crossed the ice on the 6th of\nFebruary, during the night, from Cornwall to Madrid, on Grass River,\nwith horses and sleighs innumerable. The merchandise, or a great part\nof it, was secured, packed in the sleighs, and carried off. Indeed the\ninhabitants of Madrid made no opposition to Captain Kerr, but on the\ncontrary, looking upon the expedition as rather smart, were\nconsiderably tickled, and positively helped the British to load their\nsleighs and be gone. Jonathan, fully alive to the ludicrous, chuckled\nas he thought upon the astonished countenances of the United States'\nofficers, who were charged with the sale of the goods, when they should\nhave ascertained their unlooked for disappearance. The inhabitants\nwere, of course, not molested, and indeed living but a few hundred\nyards from the British shore, were only very moderate Americans.\nThere was also, during the winter, a skirmish at Longwood, in which the\nBritish, who were the assailants, retired with a loss of two officers\nand twelve men killed.\nThe campaign opened with the opening of the navigation, in May. Sir\nJames Yeo, with the co-operation of that talented, skilful, and\nexcellent officer, General Drummond, planned an attack upon Oswego,\nwith the view of destroying the naval stores, sent by way of that town\nfor the equipment of the American fleet in Sackett's Harbour. The\nBritish fleet having been strengthened by two additional ships, the\n_Prince Regent_ and the _Princess Charlotte_, General Drummond sent on\nboard of it six companies of DeWatteville's regiment, the light\ncompanies of the Glengary militia, and the second battalion of the\nRoyal Marines, with a detachment of Royal Artillery, and two field\npieces, a detachment of a rocket company, and some sappers and miners.\nThis expedition left Kingston on the 4th of May, and arrived off Oswego\nabout noon on the day following. It was then however, blowing a gale of\nwind, from the northwest, and it was considered expedient to keep off\nand on the port, until the weather calmed. It was the morning of the\n6th, before a landing could be effected, when about one hundred and\nforty men, under Colonel Fischer, and two hundred seamen, under Captain\nMulcaster, Royal Navy, were sent ashore, in the face of a heavy fire of\ngrape and round shot from the enemies' batteries, and of musketry from\na detachment of the American army, posted on the brow of a hill and\npartially sheltered by an adjoining wood. The British, nevertheless,\ncharged the battery and captured it, the enemy leaving about sixty\nwounded men behind them, in their hurried retreat. The stores in the\nfort were taken possession of, the fort itself dismantled, and the\nbarracks were destroyed. In this successful assault, Captain Holtaway,\nof the Marines, was killed, Captain Mulcaster was severely and\ndangerously wounded in the head, and Captain Popham was wounded\nseverely, two officers of the line and two other naval officers were\nwounded. Eighteen rank and file of the army and marines were killed,\nand sixty wounded, and three sailors were killed and seven wounded. The\nnaval stores, however, were not captured, as they had been deposited at\nthe Falls of the Onondago, some miles above Oswego. The troops were\nre-embarked and the fleet sailed for Kingston on the 7th of May.\nSir James Yeo being still very anxious about the naval stores which the\nenemy were so industriously collecting at Sackett's Harbour, determined\nto try if possession of at least a part of them could not be obtained.\nAccordingly, he blockaded Sackett's Harbour, and on the morning of the\n29th of May, a boat belonging to the enemy, laden with a cable large\nenough for a ship of war, and with two twenty-four pounders, forming\none of a flotilla of sixteen boats from Oswego, containing naval and\nmilitary stores, was intercepted and captured. Captains Popham and\nSpilsbury, having with them two gun-boats and five barges, were\nimmediately sent in search of the other boats. They soon learned where\nthe missing boats were. Fearing capture, the Americans had taken\nshelter in Sandy Creek. It was resolved to root them out, if possible,\nand accordingly the British gun-boats and barges entered the Creek.\nCaptains Popham and Spilsbury immediately looked about them, and found\nthe enterprise to be rather hazardous. The creek was narrow and\nwinding. An attack was, nevertheless, determined upon. For about half a\nmile the assailants proceeded cautiously up the creek, when, as they\nturned its elbow, the enemy's boats were in full view. The troops\nimmediately landed on both banks and were advancing when the\nsixty-eight pounder carronade in the foremost boat was disabled, and it\nwas necessary to bring the twenty-four pounder in the stern of the boat\nto bear upon the enemy. But no sooner had an effort been made to get\nthe boat round than the enemy took it into their heads that the\nattacking party designed to make off, and advancing hastily in\nconsiderable numbers, rifles, militia, cavalry, regular infantry, and\nIndians, the British, unable to retreat, were overpowered, the captured\nbeing with difficulty rescued by their humane American enemies, from\nthe tomahawks and scalping knives of the Indians.\nOn Lake Champlain an attempt was made on the 14th of May, to capture or\ndestroy two new American vessels building at Vergennes, by Captain\nPring, of the Royal Navy, but finding the enemy prepared to receive him\nmore warmly than courteously, Captain Pring desisted and returned to\nIsle-aux-Noix.\nAbout the end of June, the Americans concentrated at Buffalo, Black\nRock, and other places, on the Niagara frontier, for the invasion of\nUpper Canada, only waited for the co-operation of the fleet, which had\nnot, as yet, come out of Sackett's Harbour. The army was commanded by\nGeneral Brown, however, an officer, of considerable judgment, and now\nnot by any means inexperienced in the art of war, who could not remain\nlong inactive. On the 3rd of July, he despatched Brigadiers Scott and\nRipley, with their two strong brigades, to effect a landing on the\nCanada shore. They landed from boats and batteaux, at two different\npoints. One brigadier landed above Fort Erie, and the other below it,\nthe brigades being two miles apart, and the fort in the centre. Captain\nBuck, of the 8th regiment, was in command of Fort Erie, and, oddly\nenough, although he had put it in a tolerably good state for defence,\nhe at once surrendered it, and his garrison of seventy men, to the\nenemy. Scott and Ripley now marched on Chippewa, and were making\npreparations to carry that post when they were met by General Riall,\nwith fifteen hundred regular troops, and a thousand Indians and\nmilitia, and offered battle. The offer was no sooner made than\naccepted, and at five in the afternoon, a battle was commenced, which\nproved disastrous to Riall. The enemy were overwhelmingly numerous.\nRiall's militia and Indians attacked the American light troops\nvigorously, but they were unable to cope with Kentucky riflemen,\nsheltered behind trees. Death came with every rifle flash, and the\nmilitia and Indians must have given way, had not the light companies of\nthe Royal Scotts and 100th regiments come to their relief. Now came the\nmain and, on the part of Riall, ill-judged attack. He concentrated his\nwhole force, while the Americans stretched out in line. He approached\nin column, attempting to deploy under a most galling fire, and the\nresult was, as might have been anticipated, fearfully disastrous. With\n151 men killed and 320 wounded, among whom was Lieutenant-Colonel, the\nMarquis of Tweedale, the British were compelled to retire. Riall's\nobject in retiring was to gain his intrenched camp, but General Brown,\nwho now commanded the Americans, discovered a cross road, and Riall,\nabandoning Queenston, fell back to Twenty Mile Creek. The loss of the\nAmericans was 70 killed and 9 officers and 240 men wounded. This was\nthe most sanguinary of any battle that had been fought during the war,\nand the enemy, gaining courage, advanced gradually, and made\ndemonstrations upon Forts George and Mississaga. On the 25th of July,\nBrown, not considering it expedient to advance and, unsafe to stand\nstill, retreated upon Chippewa, the village of St. David's having been\npreviously set on fire, by a Lieutenant-Colonel Stone, whom Brown\ncompelled to retire from the army for his barbarity. General Riall now\nagain advanced, when the enemy wheeled about and endeavoured to cut him\noff from his expected reinforcement. But he failed in doing so, General\nDrummond having come up with about three thousand men, of whom eighteen\nhundred were regulars. The enemy was five thousand strong, but General\nDrummond seized a commanding eminence which swept the whole field of\nbattle. Nothing daunted, however, by this superiority of position, the\nAmericans resolutely advanced to the charge, and the action, which\ncommenced about six in the evening, soon became general along the whole\nline, the brunt of the battle falling, nevertheless, upon the British\ncentre and left. General Riall, who commanded the left division of the\narmy was forced back with his division, wounded, and made prisoner. The\ncentre firmly maintained their ground. It was composed of the 89th, the\nRoyals, and the King's regiment, well supported by the artillery, whose\nguns, worked with prodigious activity, carried great havoc in the\nenemy's ranks. Brown soon perceived that unless the guns were captured,\nthe battle was lost; and he consequently bent all his energies to the\naccomplishment of that object. He ordered General Millar to charge up\nthe hill and take the guns. The order was vigorously obeyed and five\nguns fell into the hands of the Americans, the British artillerymen\nbeing positively bayoneted in the act of loading, while the muzzles of\nthe American guns were within a few yards of the English battery. It\nwas now night and extremely dark. During the darkness some\nextraordinary incidents occurred. The British having, for a moment,\nbeen thrust back, some of the British guns remained for a few minutes\nin the enemy's hands. They were, however, not only quickly recovered,\nbut the two pieces, a six pounder and a five and a half inch howitzer,\nwhich the enemy had brought up, were captured by the British, together\nwith several tumbrils; and in limbering up the British guns, at one\nperiod, one of the enemy's six-pounders was put, by mistake, upon a\nBritish limber, and one of the British six-pounders was limbered on one\nof the enemy's. So that although American guns had been captured, yet\nas the Americans had captured one of the British guns, the British only\ngained, by the dark transaction, one gun. It was now 9 o'clock, and\nthere was a short intermission of firing. Apparently the combatants\nsank to rest from pure exhaustion. It was a terrible repose. The din of\nbattle had ceased, to be succeeded by the monotonous roar of the Great\nFalls. The moon had risen and at intervals glanced out of the angry\nblackish looking clouds, to reveal the pale faces of the dead, with\nstill unrelaxed features, and some even yet, as it were, in an attitude\nof defiance. The field of strife was one sea of blood, and the groans\nof the wounded and the dying sent a shudder through the boldest.\nOccasionally the flash of a gun or a few bright flashes of musketry\nrevealed more strikingly than even the moon's pale rays, the living,\nthe dying, and the dead. Short as was the respite, the enemy was not\nidle while it lasted. Brown was busily employed in bringing up the\nwhole of his remaining force, and he afterwards renewed the attack with\nfresh troops, to be everywhere repulsed, with equal gallantry and\nsuccess. Drummond had not neglected to bring up Riall's wing which had\nbeen previously ordered to retire. He placed them in a second line,\nwith the exception of the Royal Scots, with which he prolonged his\nfront line, on the right, where he was apprehensive of being outflanked\nby the enemy. The enemy's efforts to carry the hill were continued\nuntil about midnight, when he had suffered so severely from the\nsuperior steadiness and discipline of the British that he gave up the\ncontest and retreated with great precipitation to his camp, beyond the\nChippewa, which he abandoned on the following day, throwing the\ngreatest part of his baggage, camp equipage, and provisions, into the\nrapids. He then set fire to Street's Mills, destroyed the bridge at\nChippewa, and, in great disorder, continued his retreat towards Fort\nErie. General Drummond detached his light troops, cavalry, and Indians,\nin pursuit, to harass his rear.\nThe Americans lost, in this fiercely contested struggle, at least 1,500\nmen, in killed, wounded, and prisoners: among the wounded were the two\ngenerals commanding, Brown and Scott. There were 5,000 Americans\nengaged, and only 2,800 British. General Drummond received a musket\nball in the neck, but, concealing the circumstance from his troops, he\nremained on the ground until the close of the action. Lieutenant-Colonel\nMorrison, of the 89th regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Pearson, Captain\nRobinson, of the King's regiment, in command of the militia, and\nseveral other officers were severely wounded. The British loss, in all,\nwas eight hundred and seventy men, including forty-two made prisoners,\namong whom were General Riall and his staff.\nThe Americans, now under the command of General Ripley, retreated upon\nFort Erie, and intrenched themselves in its neighborhood. Gen'l. Gaines\nthen assumed the command at Fort Erie, having come from Sackett's\nHarbour, in the fleet which was to have co-operated with the army, now\ncooped up in Fort Erie and altogether indifferent to such co-operation.\nThe fleet went back again.\nStill following up his successes, General Drummond laid siege to Fort\nErie and the intrenched camp near it, and while he was doing so, three\narmed schooners, anchored off the fort, were captured by a body of\nmarines, who pushed off in boats during the night, under Captain Dobbs,\nof the Royal Navy. General Drummond did not simply sit down before Fort\nErie and the entrenchment, he did his best to effect a breach, and with\nthat view kept up a constant fire from the two 24-pounder field guns\nwhich had proved more than ordinarily useful at the battle of Chippewa.\nIt was not long indeed before he considered an assault practicable. He\nmade the necessary preparations, and on the fourteenth, three columns,\none under Colonel Fischer, consisting of the 8th and DeWatteville's\nregiment, and the flank companies of the 89th and 100th regiments, with\na detachment of artillery, a second under Colonel Drummond, of the\n104th regiment, made up of the flank companies of the 41st and 104th\nregiments, with a few seamen and marines, in charge of Captain Dobbs,\nand the other under Colonel Scott, consisting of his own regiment, the\n103rd, and two companies of the royals. Colonel Fischer's column gained\npossession of the enemy's batteries at the point assigned for its\nattack, two hours before daylight, but the other columns were behind\ntime, having got entangled by marching too near the lake, between the\nrocks and the water, and the enemy being now on the alert, opened a\nheavy fire upon the leading column of the second division which threw\nit into confusion. Fischer's column had in the meanwhile almost\nsucceeded in capturing the fort. They had actually crept into the main\nfort through the embrasures, in spite of every effort to prevent them.\nNay, they turned the guns of the fort upon its defenders, who took\nrefuge in a stone building, in the interior, and continued to resist.\nThis desperate work continued for nearly an hour, when a magazine blew\nup, mangling most horribly nearly all the assailants within the fort.\nOf course there was a panic. The living, surrounded by the dying and\nthe dead, the victims of accident, believed that they stood upon an\ninfernal machine, to which the match had only to be placed. No effort\ncould rally men impressed with such an idea. There was a rush, as it\nwere, from inevitable death. Persuasion fell on the ears of men who\ncould not hear. Persuasion fell upon the senses of men transfixed with\none idea. Persuasion would have been as effectual in moving yonder\nblackened corpse into healthy life, as in moving to a sense of duty to\nthemselves, men who could see nothing but the deadness around them, and\nwhose minds saw only, under all, the blackness of immediate\ndestruction. Those who were victors, until now, literally rushed from\nthe fort. The reinforcements of the British soon arrived, but the\nexplosion had again given the defenders heart, and they too, having\nreceived reinforcements, after some additional straggling, for the\nmastery, the British withdrew. The British loss amounted to 157 killed,\n308 wounded, and 186 prisoners, among the killed being Colonels Scott\nand Drummond. The American loss was 84 in killed, wounded and missing.\nA reinforcement was shortly afterwards obtained from Lower Canada. The\n6th and the 82nd regiments came in time to compensate for previous\nlosses, but General Drummond did not consider it expedient to make\nanother attack. His purpose was equally well, and perhaps better\nobtained by keeping the whole American army of invasion prisoners in a\nprison selected by themselves, on British territory, and from which it\nwas impossible to escape.\nWhile these things were transpiring in Upper Canada, public attention\nwas irresistibly drawn in another direction. About the middle of\nAugust, between fifty and sixty sail of British vessels of war arrived\nin the Chesapeake, with troops destined for the attack on Washington,\nthe capital of the United States, Britain having now come to the\ndetermination of more vigorously prosecuting the war. Three regiments\nof Wellington's army, the 4th, 44th and 85th, were embarked at Bordeaux\non the 2nd of June, on board the _Royal Oak_ seventy-four, and\n_Dictator_ and _Diadem_, of sixty-four guns each, and, having arrived\nat Bermuda on the 24th, they were there joined by the fusiliers, and by\nthree regiments, from the Mediterranean, in six frigates, forming\naltogether a force of three thousand five hundred men. General Ross\ncommanded the troops; Admiral Cockburn the fleet. Tangier's Island was\nfirst taken possession of, fortifications being erected, structures\nbuilt, and the British flag hoisted. The negroes on the plantations\nadjoining were promised emancipation if they revolted, and fifteen\nhundred did revolt, were drilled, and formed into a regiment. They were\nuseful but exceedingly costly, for on the conclusion of peace the\nproprietors of the negroes were indemnified, and His Imperial Majesty\nthe Emperor of Russia, than whom no one better knew the value of a\nserf, being the referee, awarded the enormous sum of \u00a3250,000, or\nnearly \u00a3150 for each negro that had gained his freedom, as the\ncompensation adequate to the injury which the urgency of war made it\nnecessary to inflict upon the cultivators of human farm stock.\nThe troops under General Ross were landed at Benedict, on the Pawtuxet\nriver, forty-seven miles from Washington. On the 21st they moved\ntowards Nottingham, and on the following day they reached Marlborough.\nA flotilla of launches and barges, commanded by Admiral Cockburn,\nascended the river at the same time, keeping on the right flank of the\narmy. There are two rivers by which Washington may be approached--the\nPotomac, which discharges itself into the upper extremity of the bay of\nChesapeake, and the Pawtuxet. The object which the British military and\nnaval commanders had in view when the Pawtuxet was decided on for the\nroute by which a dash was to be made on the capital city of the\nAmerican republic, was greater facility of access, and the destruction\nof Commodore Barney's powerful flotilla of gun-boats, which had taken\nrefuge in its creeks. This flotilla, snugly moored in a situation only\ntwelve miles from Washington, was fallen in with by Admiral Cockburn,\non the 23rd. The Americans then seeing that it must be captured set\nfire to it and fled. Out of sixteen fine gun-boats, fifteen were\ntotally consumed, but one gun-boat missed destruction and it, with\nthirteen merchant schooners, was made a prize of. The troops now\nmarched rapidly forward. There were about 3,500 men, with 200 sailors\nto drag the guns, to oppose General Winder, who, with 16,600 men, had,\non the faith of a hint received from Ghent, taken measures to protect\nthe capital. When the British approached, however, General Winder had\nonly 6,500 infantry, 300 cavalry, and 600 sailors to work the guns,\nwhich were twenty-six in number, while the British had only two. He\ntook up a position at Bladensburg, six miles from Washington, so as to\ncommand the only bridge over the little Potomac, by which it could be\ncrossed, and the highway to Washington being directly through his\ncentre. He directed all his artillery upon the bridge. But the men now\nopposed to the Americans knew well how to carry bridges. General Ross,\nhaving formed his troops into two columns, the one under Colonel\nThornton, and the other under Colonel Brooke, ordered the bridge to be\ncrossed. Hardly was the order given, when in spite of artillery and\nmusketry, Thornton's column had dashed across, carried a fortified\nhouse at the opposite side, and being quickly followed by the other\ndivision, had spread out sharpshooters on either flank. The militia of\nthe United States soon got into confusion, and soon after fled. Indeed\nCommodore Barney and his sailors made the most gallant resistance, but\nhe was soon overpowered, wounded, and with a great part of the seamen\nunder him fell into the hands of the British. Ten guns were taken, the\nwhole army was totally routed; and the enemy were fleeing past\nWashington, to the heights of Georgetown, horse and foot, as fast as\nfear could carry them. The day was oppressively hot, and the British\narmy uninfluenced by fear were not able to continue their advance until\nthe cool of the evening. They had not \"suffered\" at all. The entire\nloss was only 61 killed and 185 wounded. By eight at night they were\nwithin a mile of Washington, and the main body halted. With only seven\nhundred men General Ross and Admiral Cockburn were in the capital of a\nrepublic numbering eight millions of inhabitants, and proud of having\nin arms the inconsiderable number of eight hundred thousand men, to do\nwith it as Commodore Chantey and General Dearborn had done to York, the\ncapital of a territory containing ninety-five thousand inhabitants,\nman, woman, and child! half an hour afterwards, or pay a ransom. The\nransom was refused and the torch was applied to arsenals, store-houses,\nsenate house, house of representatives, dockyard, treasury, war office,\npresident's palace, rope walk, and the great bridge across the Potomac.\nIn the arsenal 20,000 stand of arms were consumed. A frigate and a\nsloop of war, afloat, were burnt, 206 cannon and 100,000 rounds of ball\ncartridge were taken and destroyed, and General Ross and Admiral\nCockburn went back at their leisure to Benedict. In connection with\nthis most extraordinarily successful enterprise reflecting the highest\ncredit on General Ross, there had been some outcry about extending the\nravages of war to pacific public buildings. Indeed the barbarity of\ndestroying the legislative buildings, the White House and the public\nlibraries of Washington has been harped upon most sentimentally and\ninjudiciously. The destruction of some books, scraped together by a new\ncountry and, therefore, of no very great intrinsic value, is looked\nupon by the literati of this and of a past age, as a crime, and one of\ngreater magnitude than the destruction of a village in Canada, on the\n20th of December, with the thermometer at zero, and the snow two feet\nin depth upon the ground, women and children even being left to gather\nfood and gather warmth where best they might. It is not considered that\na palace or even a church or parliament building may be converted into\na barrack or that, in some cases, even the destruction of a city may be\nnecessary. The Americans had burglariously entered upon a war with the\nview of stealing Canada from its lawful owner, and being caught and\nstayed in the act, were fined, but refusing to pay, were distressed by\nthe loss of public goods. The Americans, who were the sufferers, very\nnaturally represented an act, which had so humiliated them, as\nbarbarous, but how any other person could object to such a proceeding\non the score that it was only worthy of a Goth, is difficult of\nconjecture. It is certainly a pity that fine edifices should be\ndestroyed, and it is no less a pity that thousands of young men should\nbe destroyed or mutilated, and that hundreds of thousands of their\nrelatives should mourn because of war; but so long as war is possible,\nand possible it ever will be, until the amalgamation of the different\nspecies of the different nations, of the different tribes, and of the\ndifferent tongues who inhabit the earth takes place, at the millennium;\nsoon after which this great globe itself is to be dissolved with\nfervent heat, and all its magnificent palaces, gorgeous temples, and\nstupendous towers are to pass away for ever, will there be a waste and\ndestruction of life and property at which extreme civilisation\nshudders. Educated men will doubtless mourn the loss of fine libraries\nand of grand cathedrals. English taste doubtless regrets that churches,\nthe remains of which are yet so striking, should have been destroyed by\nindiscriminating fanaticism, but the man of sense will recollect the\nidolatry that has passed away with them, as with the Parthenon, and he\nwill weigh the gain to a people with the loss sustained by merely men\nof taste. And, beyond question, men of peace can paint the horrors of\nwar vividly, and deny its necessity, but the man of ordinary\nunderstanding will not scruple to say that as war in the elements is\nsometimes necessary for a healthy atmosphere, so war among men is\nneedful for the preservation of even a shadow of liberty to the\nindividual, and that injury to public buildings, to trade and commerce,\nmust result from it, for a time.\nImmediately after the capture of Washington, Captain Gordon, in the\nfrigate _Seahorse_, accompanied by the brig _Euryalus_, and several\nbomb-vessels, entered the Potomac. Without much difficulty he overcame\nthe intricacies of the passage leading by that river to the metropolis,\nand on the evening of the 27th, the expedition arrived abreast of Fort\nWashington. The Fort which had been constructed so as to command the\nriver was immediately bombarded, and the powder magazine having\nexploded, the place was abandoned, and with all its guns, taken\npossession of by the British. Proceeding next to Alexandria, the\nbomb-vessels assumed a position which effectually commanded the\nshipping in the port, and the enemy were compelled to capitulate, when\ntwo and twenty vessels, including several armed schooners, fell into\nthe hands of the British, and were brought away in triumph. There was\nsome difficulty, however, in bringing off the prizes. To cut off the\nretreat of the British squadron, several batteries had been erected by\nthe Americans, and these, now manned by the crews of the Baltimore\nflotilla, opened fire upon Captain Gordon and his prizes. The\nexpeditionary and the captured vessels were, nevertheless, so skilfully\nnavigated, and the fire from the bomb-vessels was so well directed that\nnot a single ship took the ground, and the Americans were driven from\ntheir guns, the whole squadron being thus permitted to emerge from the\nPotomac, with its prizes, in safety.\nAn expedition was next fitted out against Baltimore, and the fleet\nmoved in that direction, reaching the mouth of the Patapsco on the 11th\nSeptember. The troops were landed on the day following the arrival of\nthe fleet, and, while the ships moved up the river, marched upon\nBaltimore. For the first six miles no opposition was offered, but as\nBaltimore was approached a detachment of light troops were noticed\noccupying a thick wood through which the road passed. Impelled by the\ndaring for which he was distinguished, General Ross immediately\nadvanced with the skirmishers to the front, and it was not long before\nthe general received a wound, which so soon proved fatal that he had\nbarely time to recommend his wife and family to the protection of his\nking and country before he breathed his last. The command, on the death\nof this energetic officer, devolved upon Colonel Brooke. The British\nlight troops continued to come up and the enemy fell back, still\nskirmishing from behind the trees, to a fortified position stretching\nacross a narrow neck of land, which separated the Patapsco and the Back\nRivers. Here, six thousand infantry, four hundred horse, and six guns\nwere drawn up in line, across the road, with either flank placed in a\nthick wood, and a strong wooden paling covering their front. The\nBritish, however, immediately attacked and with such vigour that in\nless than fifteen minutes the enemy were routed, and fled in every\ndirection, leaving six hundred killed and wounded on the field of\nbattle, besides three hundred prisoners, and two guns, in the hands of\nthe British. On the following morning, the British were within a mile\nand a half of Baltimore. There he found fifteen thousand Americans,\nwith a large train of artillery, manned by the crews of the frigates\nlying at Baltimore, strongly posted on a series of fortified heights\nwhich encircle the town. To charge a force of such magnitude with three\nthousand men would have been extremely hazardous, and Colonel Brooke\ndetermined upon a night attack; but, as the night fell, and Brooke was\narranging his men for the contemplated assault, he received a letter\nfrom Admiral Cockburn, informing him that the enemy, by sinking twenty\nvessels in the river, (a mode of defence since adopted by Russia,) had\nprevented all further access to the ships, and rendered naval\nco-operation impossible. Under such circumstances, Brooke withdrew,\nwithout molestation, to his ships.\nTo the British, the operations on the seaboard, so far, had been as\neminently successful as the operations in Upper Canada had been. In the\nnorthwest, there was one post which did not fall, and the fall of which\nwas looked upon with indifference by the Americans when Michigan was\nrecovered, after the defeat of the British fleet on Lake Erie. Contrary\nto the expectation of the enemy, that post, which was at\nMichillimackinac, had been reinforced early in the spring. Colonel\nMcDonell, with a detachment of troops, arrived there on the 18th of\nMay, with provisions and stores for the relief of the garrison. He did\nnot remain idle when his chief errand was accomplished. In July he sent\noff Colonel McKay, of the Indian Department, with 650 men, Michigan\nFencibles, Canadian Volunteers, Officers of the Indian Department, and\nIndians, to reduce _Prairie-du-Chien_, on the Mississippi. On the 17th\nof July, McKay arrived there. The enemy were in possession of a small\nfort, and two block-houses, armed with six guns, while in front of the\nfort, in the middle of the river, there was a gun-boat of considerable\nsize, in which there were no less than fourteen pieces of ordnance.\nMcKay was superlatively polite. He sent a message to the commander of\nthe fort, recommending an immediate surrender. But, as McKay had only\none gun, the American promptly refused, and was not a little ironical\nin his refusal. McKay, highlander as he was, could stand anything but\nirony, and he opened fire with his solitary gun upon the gunboat, by\nway of returning the compliment. With this only iron in the fire, he\nsoon gave such proof of metal that the gun-boat cut her cable and ran\ndown stream. McKay now threw up a mud battery, and on the evening of\nthe 19th, he was prepared with his one gun to bombard the fort. The\nenemy seeing the earthworks doubtless imagined that McKay's park of\nartillery was more considerable than it was, and without waiting for a\nsingle round he hoisted a white flag in token of submission, when McKay\ntook possession of the fort. It contained only three officers and\nseventy-one men, but the exploit was a gallant one, nevertheless, and\nof essential service in securing British influence over the Indian\ntribes.\nThe Americans on being informed that Michillimackinac had been\nreinforced, and perhaps anticipating that further mischief to them\nmight ensue, sent Colonel Croghan without loss of time to capture it.\nCroghan dispatched Major Holmes upon Ste. Marie to plunder the North\nWest Company of their stores. The miscreant was only too successful.\nNot content with plunder only, he set fire to the buildings and reduced\nthem to ashes. He gave further proof of the possession of a cruel and\nbarbarous disposition, by enjoying the unavailing efforts of a poor\nhorse to extricate itself from a burning building to which it had been\ninhumanly attached, to be burnt to death, after having been employed\nthe greater part of the day in carrying off the plunder from the\nstores. This wretch, accompanied by nine hundred men, of a stamp\nsimilar to himself, effected a landing near Michillimackinac, on the\n4th of August. But the reception given to him was of such a nature that\nhe speedily re-embarked, leaving seventeen dead men, besides his own\ninanimate remains, to be buried by the people in the fort.\nMichillimackinac was not yet, however, quite safe. There were on the\nlake two American armed vessels, the _Tigress_ and _Scorpion_, each\ncarrying a long twenty-four pounder gun, on a pivot, and manned by\nthirty-two men, which intercepted the supplies intended for the\ngarrison. It was most necessary to destroy or get hold of them, and\nthis not unimportant business was entrusted to Lieutenant Worsley, of\nthe Royal Navy, and Lieutenant Bulger, of the Royal Newfoundland\nRegiment. These two gallant officers proceeded to the despatch of\nbusiness with praiseworthy alacrity. On the evening of the 3rd of\nSeptember, one vessel was boarded and captured, and on the morning of\nthe 5th the other craft was captured. Michillimackinac was now\nsufficiently safe.\nThe war, which was no longer, on the part of the British, a merely\ndefensive one, was now being offensively prosecuted with vigour in\nseveral quarters, almost simultaneously. Washington had been taken and\nBaltimore assailed on one side; and Fort Erie, containing the American\narmy of the West, was closely invested. It was now determined to\nprosecute hostilities from Nova Scotia, which then included New\nBrunswick, upon the northeastern States of the American Union. With\nthis view, Sir John Sherbrooke sent Colonel Pilkington in the\n_Ramilies_, commanded by Sir Thomas Hardy, to take possession of Moose\nIsland, the chief town of which is Eastport, commanded by a strongly\nsituated fort, on an overhanging hill, called Fort Sullivan. The fort\nwas, however, only occupied by Major Putnam, six other officers, and\neighty men, and was taken possession of on the 11th of July, without\nresistance, the garrison being made prisoners of war. As soon as the\nnews of this successful enterprise reached the ears of Sherbrooke, he\ndetermined upon personally undertaking another expedition. On the 26th\nof August, he, accordingly, embarked, at Halifax, the whole of the\ntroops at his disposal, in ten transports, and in company with the\nsquadron, commanded by Admiral Griffiths, sailed for the river\nPenobscot, on the 1st of September, when the fort at Castine,\ncommanding the entrance to the river, was evacuated and blown up. The\nAmerican frigate _John Adams_, was in the river and, on the approach of\nthe fleet, she was run up the river as high as Hampden. The better to\nprotect her from capture her guns were taken out and, at some distance\nbelow Hampden, batteries or earthworks were erected, in which all the\nguns of the frigate were placed. The capture or destruction of the\n_John Adams_ was, however, determined upon, and Captain Barrie, of the\n_Dragon_, with a party of seamen, accompanied by Colonel John, at the\nhead of six hundred of the 60th regiment, was sent off to effect it.\nFor a short time the batteries resisted, but the attack being well\nmanaged the Americans gave way, and, having set fire to the frigate,\nfled in all directions. The expedition pushed on to Bangor, which\nsurrendered without resistance; and from thence they went to Machias,\nwhich surrendered by capitulation, the whole militia of the county of\nWashington being put on their parole not to serve again during the war.\nThe whole country between the Penobscot and the frontier of that part\nof Nova Scotia, which is now New Brunswick, was then formally taken\npossession of, and a provisional government established, to rule it\nwhile the war continued.\nAbout this time, the army in Canada was re-inforced by the arrival of\nseveral generals and officers who had acquired distinction in Spain,\nand by the successive arrival of frigates from the army which had been\nso successfully commanded by the illustrious Wellington, and with which\nhe had invaded France. In August, Sir George Prevost had been\nre-inforced with sixteen thousand men from the Garonne. There were,\nconsequently, great anticipations. Even General Sir George Prevost\ndreamed of doing something worthy of immortality. And such expectations\nwere natural. With a mere handful of troops, General Drummond had\nproved how much an intelligent and decided commander can do, and Sir\nGeorge Prevost, with some of the best troops in the world, was about to\nprove, to all the nations in it, how good blood may be spilled, and\nmaterial and treasure wasted by a commander inadequate to the task\neither of leading men to victory or of securing their retreat until\nvictory be afterwards obtained. Sir George Prevost determined upon the\ninvasion of the State of New York, and as if naval co-operation was\nabsolutely necessary to transport his troops to Plattsburgh, Sir George\nPrevost urged upon Commodore Sir James Yeo to equip the Lake Champlain\nfleet with the greatest expedition. The commodore replied that the\nsquadron was completely equipped and had more than ninety men over the\nnumber required to man it. And under the supposition that Captain\nFischer, who had prepared the flotilla for active service, had not\nacted with promptitude in giving the Commander-in-Chief such\ninformation as he desired, Sir James sent Captain Downie to supersede\nhim. Sir George, who seemed to have some misgivings about this fleet,\nand was still most anxious to bring it into active service, finding Sir\nJames Yeo, who knew His Excellency well, quite impracticable, applied\nto Admiral Otway, who, with the _Ajax_ and _Warspite_, was then in the\nport of Quebec, for a re-inforcement of sailors from these vessels for\nthe Lake Champlain flotilla. Admiral Otway did as he was requested to\ndo. A large re-inforcement of sailors were immediately sent off to Lake\nChamplain, and Sir George having sent Major-General Sir James Kempt to\nUpper Canada, to make an attack upon Sackett's Harbour, if practicable,\nconcentrated his own army, under the immediate command of General\nDeRottenburg, between Laprairie and Chambly. He then moved forward,\ntowards the United States frontier, with about 11,000 men to oppose\n1,500 American regulars and as many militia, under General Macomb,\nwhose force had been weakened by 4,000 men, sent off under General\nIzzard, from Sackett's Harbour, to re-inforce the troops at Fort Erie.\nPrevost, who had with him Generals Power, Robinson, and Brisbane, in\ncommand of divisions, men inured to fighting, and well accustomed to\ncommand, met with so inconsiderable an opposition from the Americans,\nthat General Macomb admits that the invaders \"did not deign to fire\nupon them.\" His powerful army was before Plattsburgh, only defended by\nthree redoubts and two block-houses; he had been permitted, for three\ndays, to bring up his heavy artillery; he had a force with him ten\ntimes greater than that which, under Colonel Murray, took possession of\nit, in 1813; and yet Sir George Prevost hesitated to attack\nPlattsburgh, until he could obtain the co-operation of Commodore\nDownie, commanding the _Confiance_, of 36 guns, the _Linnet_, of 18\nguns, the _Chubb_, of 10 guns, the _Finch_, of 10 guns, and 12\ngun-boats, containing 16 guns! because the enemy had a squadron\nconsisting of the ship _Saratoga_, of 26 guns, the brig _Eagle_, of 20\nguns, the schooner _Ticonderoga_, of 17 guns, and the cutter _Preble_,\nof 7 guns. The British Commodore Downie was not quite ready for sea.\nHis largest vessel, the _Confiance_, had been recently launched, and\nwas not finished. He could not perceive either the necessity for such\nexcessive haste. He would have taken time and gone coolly into action,\nbut he had received a letter from the Commander of the Forces which\nmade the blood tingle in his cheeks. Sir George Prevost had been in\nreadiness for Commodore Downie's expected arrival all morning, and he\nhoped that the wind only had delayed the approach of the squadron. The\nanchors of the _Confiance_ were immediately raised, and with the\ncarpenters still on board, Commodore Downie made all sail. Nay, he\nseemed to have forgotten that he had a fleet of brigs and boats to\nmanage, so terribly was he excited by Sir George's unfortunate\nexpression in connection with the wind. The _Confiance_ announced her\napproach on rounding Cumberland Head, by discharging all her guns one\nafter the other. The other vessels were hardly visible in her wake, and\nstill Captain Downie bore down upon the enemy's line, to within two\ncable's length, without firing a shot, when the _Confiance_ came to\nanchor, and opened fire upon the enemy. General Prevost had promised to\nattack the fort as soon as the fleet appeared, but instead of doing so,\nSir George very deliberately ordered the army to cook their breakfasts.\nThe troops cooked away while Downie fought desperately with a fleet\nwhich, as a whole, was superior in strength to his, and which was\nrendered eminently superior by the shameful defection of the gun-boats\nmanned by Canadian militia and soldiers of the 39th regiment. Downie\nkept up a terrific fire, with only his own frigate, a brig and sloop,\nwholly surrounded as he was, by the American fleet. The brig _Finch_\nhad taken the ground out of range, and the whole of the gun-boats,\nexcept three and one cutter, had deserted him. He was, nevertheless, on\nthe very point of breaking the enemy's line, when the wind failed. As\nbefore stated, he cast anchor, and with his first broadside had laid\nhalf the crew of the _Saratoga_ low. The _Chubb_ was soon, however,\ncrippled and became unmanageable. She drifted within the enemy's lines\nand was compelled to surrender. The whole fire of the enemy was now\nconcentrated upon the _Confiance_, and still the latter fired broadside\nafter broadside with much precision and so rapidly that every gun on\nboard of the _Saratoga_ on one side was disabled and silenced, although\nshe lay at such a distance that she could not be taken possession of.\nBut Captain Downie had fallen. The _Confiance_ was now commanded by\nLieutenant Robertson, who was entirely surrounded and raked by the\nbrigs and gun-boats of the enemy, while the _Saratoga_, out of range,\nhad cut her cable and wound round so as to bring a new broadside, as it\nwere, to bear upon the _Confiance_. It was in vain that the _Confiance_\nattempted to do as the _Saratoga_ had done. Three officers and\nthirty-eight of her men had been killed, and one officer and\nthirty-nine men had been wounded. Lieutenant Robertson was at last\ncompelled to strike his colours, and Captain Pring, of the _Linnet_,\nwas reluctantly obliged to follow the example. In all one hundred and\ntwenty men had fallen, and the cheering of the enemy informed the\nBritish army that the fleet for the co-operation of which Sir George\nPrevost had so unnecessarily waited, was annihilated. \"You owe it, Sir,\nto the shameful conduct of your gun-boats and cutters, said the\nmagnanimous American Commodore, McDonough, to Lieutenant Robertson,\nwhen that officer was in the act of presenting his sword to him, that\nyou arc performing this office to me; for, had they done their duty,\nyou must have perceived from the situation of the _Saratoga_ that I\ncould hold out no longer; and, indeed, nothing induced me to keep up\nher colours but my seeing, from the united fire of all the rest of my\nsquadron on the _Confiance_, and her unsupported situation, that she\nmust ultimately surrender.\" Sir George Prevost had by this time\nswallowed his breakfast. He had directed the guns of the batteries to\nopen on the American squadron, but ineffectually, as they were too far\noff. Orders were at length given to attack the fort. General Robinson\nadvanced with the view of fording the Saranac, and attacking the works\nin front, and General Brisbane had made a circuit for the purpose of\nattacking the enemy in the rear. Robinson's troops, led astray by the\nguides, were delayed, and had but reached the point of attack when the\nshouts from the American works intimated the surrender of the fleet. To\nhave carried the fort would have been a work of easy accomplishment,\nbut the signal for retreat was given; Robinson was ordered to return\nwith his column; and Prevost soon afterwards commenced a retrograde\nmovement, which admits barely of excuse and could not be justified. So\nindignant indeed was the gallant General Robinson that it is asserted\nhe broke his sword, declaring that he could never serve again. The army\nindeed went leisurely away in mournful submission to the orders of a\nsuperior on whom they could but look with feelings akin to shame. Four\nhundred men, ashamed to be known at home, in connection with a retreat\nso unlooked for and so degrading, deserted to the enemy. And it is\nlittle to be wondered at, that murmurs in connection with the name of\nPrevost and Plattsburgh, were long, loud, and deep. Sir George felt the\nweight of public opinion and was crushed under it. He resigned the\ngovernment of Canada and demanded a Court Martial, but he had a judge\nwithin himself, from whom he could not escape, and whose judgment\nweighed upon \"a mind diseased,\" in the broad noonday and at the\nmidnight hour, with such overpowering weight that the nervous system\nbecame relaxed, and death at last relieved a man, who, only that he\nwanted decision of purpose, was amiable, kind, well intentioned, and\nhonest, of a load of grief, before even the sentence of a Court Martial\ncould intervene to ameliorate his sorrows. It is extremely to be\nregretted indeed that so excellent a Civil Governor should have been so\nindifferent a military commander. But, entirely different\nqualifications are required in the civilian and in the soldier. It is\nindeed on record that the Great Duke, who was the idol of the British\npeople as a soldier, was the reverse of being popular as a statesman.\nHe was ever clear-headed and sensible; but his will would never bend to\nthat of the many. Desirous of human applause, he could not court it,\nthough he was yet vain of his celebrity, and studied to be celebrated,\nknowing the value that attaches to position and to fame. Sir George\nPrevost was a man of exactly an opposite disposition to that of the\nGreat Duke. To be great, he flattered little prejudices and weak\nconceits. He never forced any measure or any opinion down another\nperson's throat. He was content to retain his own opinion and ever\ndoubted its correctness. Personally, he was brave, but he was ever\napprehensive.\nIn defence of the retreat of Sir George Prevost, the opinion expressed\nby Lord Wellington to Lord Bathurst, in 1813, is quoted. Wellington\nadvised the pursuance of a defensive policy, knowing that there were\nnot then men sufficient in Canada for offensive warfare, and because by\npursuing a defensive system, the difficulties and risk of offensive\noperations would be thrown upon the enemy, who would most probably be\nfoiled. This opinion was verified to the letter. On the other hand, the\nauthority of Wellington, who says to Sir George Murray, that after the\ndestruction of the fleet on Lake Champlain, Prevost must have returned\nto Kingston, sooner or later, is valueless, inasmuch as His Grace in\nnaming Kingston, had evidently mistaken the locality of the disaster,\nand must have fancied that Plattsburgh was Sackett's Harbour. He says\nthat a naval superiority on the Canadian lakes is a _sine qua non_ in\nwar on the frontier of Canada, even should it be defensive. But Lake\nChamplain is not one of the Canadian lakes, and, therefore, this\njustification of a military mistake is somewhat far-fetched. Sir George\nPrevost failed because he feared to meet the fate of Burgoyne, and he\nincurred deep and lasting censure because, when it was in his power, he\ndid nothing to retrieve it. Historic truth, says the historian of\nEurope, compels the expression of an opinion that though proceeding\nfrom a laudable motive--the desire of preventing a needless effusion of\nhuman blood--the measures of Sir George Prevost were ill-judged and\ncalamitous.\nSir James Yeo accused Sir George Prevost of having unduly hurried the\nsquadron on the lake into action, at a time when the _Confiance_ was\nunprepared for it; and when the combat did begin, of having neglected\nto storm the batteries, as had been agreed on, so as to have occasioned\nthe destruction of the flotilla and caused the failure of the\nexpedition.\nThe result of the Plattsburgh expedition was exhilarating to the\nAmericans. It seemed to be compensation for the misfortunes and\ndisasters of Hull, of Hampton, and of Wilkinson. In the interior of\nFort Erie even a kind of contempt was entertained for the British. In\ntheir joy at the discomfiture of Downie and the catastrophe of Prevost,\nthey began to look with contempt even upon General Drummond, who had\ncooped them up where they were. Hardly had the news reached these\nunfortunate besieged people than a sortie was determined upon, and such\nis the effect of good fortune that it infuses new spirit, and generally\ninsures further success. In the onset the Americans gained some\nadvantages. During a thick mist and heavy rain, they succeeded in\nturning the right of the British picquets, and made themselves masters\nof the batteries, doing great damage to the British works. But no\nsooner was the alarm given than re-inforcements were obtained, and the\nbesiegers drove the besieged back again into their works, with great\nslaughter. The loss on each side was about equal. The Americans lost\n509 men in killed, wounded, and missing, including 11 officers killed\nand 23 wounded, while the British loss was 3 officers and 112 men\nkilled, 17 officers and 161 men wounded, and 13 officers and 303 men\nmissing. On the 21st of September, General Drummond, finding the low\nsituation in which his troops were engaged very unhealthy, by reason of\ncontinued rain, shifted his quarters to the neighborhood of Chippewa,\nafter in vain endeavoring to provoke the American General to battle.\nGeneral Izzard had, meanwhile, arrived from Sackett's Harbour with\n4,000 troops from Plattsburgh, but General Brown, having heard that Sir\nJames Yeo had completed a new ship, the _St. Lawrence_, of 100 guns,\nand had sailed from Kingston for the head of the lake, with a\nre-inforcement of troops and supplies for the army, Commodore Chauncey\nhaving previously retired to Sackett's Harbour, instead of prosecuting\nthe advantages which the addition of 4,000 men promised, blew up Fort\nErie and withdrew with his whole troops into American territory,\nrealizing the prediction of General Izzard, that his expedition would\nterminate in disappointment and disgrace.\nIt indeed seems quite evident that the supremacy, which Sir James Yeo,\nan officer at once brave, prudent, and persevering, had obtained upon\nthe lakes, contributed, in some measure, to the total evacuation of\nUpper Canada by the Americans. He did not conceive that with a couple\nor more of armed schooners he could sail hither and thither, and effect\ndaring feats, but carefully husbanded the means at his disposal, took\nadvantage of circumstances, and obtained the construction of vessels so\nmuch superior to those of the Americans that it needed not the test of\na battle to decide upon superiority. Indeed had he been afforded\nsufficient time, two or more such vessels, and even larger, would have\nbeen placed on Lake Champlain, and Sir George Prevost might have made\nsuch progress in subduing New York that peace might have been dictated\non more flattering terms to Great Britain than they were.\nThe fleet and army, which had been baffled at Baltimore, by the sinking\nof twenty ships in the Patapsco, to obstruct the navigation of the\nriver, sailed for New Orleans. The squadron arrived off the shoals of\nthe Mississippi on the 8th of December. Six gun-boats of the enemy,\nmanned by two hundred and forty men, were prepared to dispute with the\nboats of the fleet, the landing of the troops. To settle this\ndifficulty, Admiral Cockburn put a detachment of seamen and marines,\nunder the command of Captain Lockyer, who succeeded in destroying the\nwhole six, after a chase of thirty-six hours. The pursuit, however, had\ntaken the boats thirty miles from their ships; their return was impeded\nby intricate shoals and a tempestuous sea, and it was not until the\n12th that they could get back. It was only on the 15th that the landing\nof the troops commenced under adverse circumstances. The weather, how\nextraordinary soever it may seem, was excessively cold and damp, and\nthe troops, the blacks more especially, suffered severely. Four\nthousand five hundred combatants, and a considerable quantity of heavy\nguns and stores were landed, and on the same evening an attack, by the\nAmerican militia, was repulsed. Sir Edward Pakenham arrived next day,\nwhen the army advanced to within six miles of New Orleans. New Orleans\nwas then, as it now is, the emporium of the cotton trade of the United\nStates. Comparatively with the present day, the population was\ninconsiderable. There were not more than 17,000 inhabitants. But it was\na place sure to become of importance, from its situation, and was even\nthen a place of considerable wealth, and, from the nature of its chief\nexport, was one of the principal sources of revenue to the American\ngovernment, in the Union. The defence of this town was entrusted to\nGeneral Jackson, afterwards President of the United States, and whose\nelevation to the chief magistracy is as much to be attributed to the\nskill and heroism displayed by him in the defence of the chief cotton\nmart as to any other cause. Jackson was a shrewd, obstinate, and\nenergetic man. On ascertaining that the British had landed, he threw\nevery possible obstacle in the way of their advance. The weather was\ncold and damp, and the soil was low, and wet, and muddy. A few days'\ndelay in such a situation would make nearly one half of an invading\nforce ill and dispirit the other half. Jackson sent out a few hundreds\nof militia, every now and then, to harass his enemies, and in the\nmeanwhile he stirred up the 12,000 troops under him, to work vigorously\nin the erection of lines of defence for the city. Indeed, in a short\ntime, he awaited an attack, with confidence, in a fortified position,\nall but impregnable. His front was a straight line of upwards of a\nthousand yards, defended by upwards of three thousand infantry and\nartillery, and stretching from the Mississippi on the right, to a dense\nand impassable wood on the left. Along the whole front of this\nfortified line there was a ditch which contained five feet of water,\nand which was defended by flank bastions, on which a heavy array of\ncannon was placed. There were also eight distinct batteries,\njudiciously disposed, mounting in all twelve guns of different\ncalibres, while on the opposite side of the river, about eight hundred\nyards across, there was a battery of twenty guns, which also flanked\nthe whole of the parapet. The great strength of the American position\nwas strikingly apparent to General Pakenham. It seemed so very strong\nindeed that he contemplated a siege. But then the ground was so cold\nand damp, and the climate so unhealthy, that he could not sit very long\nbefore a town, likely to be reinforced, and capable of being\nstrengthened by the construction of lines of defence, within lines of\ndefence, to almost any extent, if not completely invested. And more,\nPakenham had not guns sufficient for regular approaches. Pakenham was,\nhowever, a good officer, a man of energy, judgment, and decision. He\nset all hands instantly to work to deepen a canal, in the rear of the\nBritish position, by which boats might be brought up to the\nMississippi, and troops ferried across to carry the battery on the\nright bank of the river, a work of extraordinary labour, which was not\naccomplished until the evening of the 6th of January. The boats were\nimmediately brought up and secreted near the river, and dispositions\nmade for an assault at five o'clock on the morning of the 8th of\nJanuary. Colonel Thornton was to cross the river, in the night, storm\nthe battery, and advance up the right bank till he came abreast of New\nOrleans; while the main attack, on the intrenchments in front, was to\nbe made in two columns--the first under General Gibbs, the second led\nby General Keane. There were, in all, about six thousand combatants,\nincluding seamen and marines, to attack double their number, intrenched\nto the teeth, in works bristling with bayonets, and loaded with heavy\nartillery.[25] When Thornton would have crossed, the downward current\nof the Mississippi was very strong, so strong indeed that the fifty\nboats, in which his division was embarked, were prevented from reaching\ntheir destination at the hour appointed for a simultaneous attack upon\nNew Orleans, in front and rear. Pakenham, as the day began to dawn,\ngrew exceedingly impatient, and, at last, having lost all patience, as\nit was now light, revealing to the enemy, in some degree, his plans, he\nordered Gibbs' column to advance. A solemn silence pervaded the\nAmerican lines. There was indeed nothing to be heard but the measured\ntread of the column, advancing over the plain, in front of the\nintrenchments. But when the dark mass was perceived to be within range\nof the American batteries, a tremendous fire of grape and round shot\nwas opened upon it from the bastions at both ends of the long\nintrenchment, and from the long intrenchment itself. Gibbs' column,\nhowever, moved steadily on. The 4th, 21st, and 44th regiments closed up\ntheir ranks as fast as they were opened by the fire of the Americans.\nOn the brow of the glacis, these intrepid men stood as erectly and as\nfirmly as if they had been on parade. But, through the carelessness of\nthe colonel commanding the 44th regiment, the scaling ladders had been\nforgotten, and it was impossible to mount the parapet. The ladders and\nfascines were sent for, in all haste, but the men, on the summit of the\nglacis, were, meanwhile, as targets to the enemy. They stood until\nriddled through and through, when they fell back in disorder. Pakenham,\nunconscious that Colonel Mullens, of the 44th, had neglected his\norders, and only fancying that the troops being fairly in for it, were\nstaggering only under the heaviness of the enemies' fire, rode to the\nfront, rallied the troops again, led them to the slope of the glacis,\nand was in the act, with his hat off, of cheering on his followers,\nwhen he fell mortally wounded, pierced, at the same moment, by two\nballs. General Gibbs and General Keane also fell. Keane led on the\nreserve, at the head of which was the 93rd Sutherland Highlanders, a\nthousand strong. Undaunted by the carnage, that noble regiment dashed\nthrough the disordered throng, in front, and with such fury pressed the\nleading files on, that without either fascines or ladders, they fairly\nfound their way by mounting on each other's shoulders into the work.\nBut they were then cut down to a man. The fire from the enemy's rifles\nwas terrific. It was almost at the same moment that Colonel Ranney\npenetrated the intrenchments on the left only to be mowed down by grape\nshot. An unforeseen circumstance had too long delayed an attack which\ncould only have been successfully made in the dark, and General\nLambert, who had succeeded to the command by the death of Pakenham and\nthe wounds of Gibbs and Keane, finding it impossible to carry the\nworks, and that the slaughter was tremendous, drew off his troops.\nThornton had been altogether successful on the left bank of the\nMississippi. With fourteen hundred men this able and gallant officer\nrepaired to the point assigned to him on the evening of the 7th, but it\nwas nearly midnight before even such a number of the boats as would\nsuffice to transport a third part of his troops across, were brought\nup. Anxious to co-operate at the time appointed, he, nevertheless,\nmoved over with a third of his men, and, by a sudden charge, at the\nhead of part of the 85th regiment and a body of seamen, on the flank of\nthe works, he succeeded in making himself master of the redoubt with\nvery little loss, though it was defended by twenty-two guns and\nseventeen hundred men, and amply provided with supplies. And when\ndaylight broke, he was preparing to turn the guns of the captured\nbattery on the enemy's flank, which lay entirely exposed to their fire,\nwhen advices were received from General Lambert of the repulse on the\nleft bank of the river. Thornton was unwilling to retire from the\nbattery, but Colonel Dixon, who had been sent by General Lambert to\nexamine it and report whether it was tenable, having reported that it\nwas untenable unless with a larger force than Lambert could spare, he\nwas required to return to the left bank of the river, and the troops at\nall points withdrew to their camp.\n [25] Alison's History of Europe.\nDefeated, far advanced into the enemy's country, an army flushed with\nsuccess, double their strength in front, and with fifteen miles of\ndesert between the British army and their ships, it was not long before\nGeneral Lambert came to the conclusion that instead of renewing the\nattack, retreat was now desirable, and that the sooner he retreated the\nmore safely could it be done. For this, under the circumstances,\ninevitable retreat, Lambert gathered himself up. He sent forward,\nduring the early part of the night of the 18th, the whole of the field\nartillery, the ammunition, and the stores of every kind, excepting\neight heavy guns, which were destroyed. With the exception of eighty of\nthe worst cases, whom he left to the humanity of General Jackson, who\ndischarged that duty with a zeal and attention worthy of the man, he\nalso removed the whole of the wounded; and, indeed, accomplished his\nretreat under the most trying circumstances, with such consummate\nability, that the whole force under his command, were safely\nre-embarked on the 27th.\nThe defeat, which was neither attributable to want of foresight, to\nincapacity, of any sort, or to lack of bravery, however humiliating it\nwas, but entirely to the accident which delayed a night attack until\ndaybreak, was in some degree compensated for by the capture of Fort\nBoyer, near Mobile, commanding one of the mouths of the Mississippi.\nFort Boyer was attacked by the land and sea forces on the 12th of\nFebruary, and, with its garrison of 360 men and 22 guns, was compelled\nto yield, when further operations were stayed by the receipt, on the\nvery next day, of intelligence that peace between Great Britain and the\nUnited States had been concluded at Ghent.\nIt is asserted, with regard to the storming of New Orleans, that\nPakenham displayed imprudent hardihood, in the attempt to achieve by\nforce, what might have been gained by combination; and that the whole\nmischief might have been avoided by throwing the whole troops instead\nof only Thornton's division, on the right bank of the river, and so\nhave rendered unavailing all Jackson's formidable arrangements.\nPakenham's disaster was, however, not the result of imprudent\nhardihood, but purely the result of accident in the time of attack, and\nin the neglect of Colonel Mullens, to whom the duty of bringing up the\nfascines and ladders was entrusted. Pakenham well considered the\ndifficulties which he had to encounter. He would have carried the\nAmerican entrenchments by a _coup de main_, had he not perceived that\nthe operation would have been extremely hazardous. He would have sat\ndown before the city and have advanced under cover of first one\nparallel and then another, had he not perceived that as he approached\nso the enemy could have retired within successive lines of\nentrenchment. Nay, he saw that the most probable mode of speedy and\nsuccessful assault was by a simultaneous attack upon the enemy during\nthe night, in the front and in the rear of their intrenched lines. He\nfurther knew that the attack in rear would depend for success, in a\nvery great measure, upon the skill and intrepidity of the officer\nentrusted with its execution, and he accordingly selected an officer\npossessed of both these essentials in the person of Colonel Thornton.\nAnd with respect to the effect of having landed his whole force, on the\nright bank of the river, where success, though too late, did attend the\nefforts of Thornton, it is to be remembered that Colonel Dixon reported\nto General Lambert, when the battery on that side was in Thornton's\npossession, that it could not be retained even, without more men than\nLambert could spare to re-inforce him. The defeat at New Orleans was\nonly humiliating to Great Britain in the result, not in the conception,\nand it cannot fairly be laid to the charge of Pakenham that he only\nexhibited heroic valour, coupled with imprudent hardihood, or that he\ndespised his enemy.\nHowever the heroic defence of New Orleans and the disastrous retreat\nfrom Plattsburgh may have elated the Americans and may yet gratify\ntheir natural vanity, there are men in the United States, fully alive\nto the consequences which could not have failed to have resulted from\nthe defeat of Pakenham, had the war continued. The British government\nhad able generals without number, well-trained and experienced\nsoldiers, and ships also without number, to bring to bear upon a\ncountry almost pecuniarily exhausted, and suffering from internal\ndissensions, on the conclusion of a war which had, as it were, brought\nout the immense resources for war, which were almost latent in England\nduring the American war of independence. That the United States was on\nthe very verge of destruction is evident from the fact that during the\ncontinuance of the war, the general government of the United States and\nthe States governments were at variance. There was an apprehension that\nthe affairs of the general government were mismanaged, and, to many, it\nappeared that a crisis was forming, which, unless seasonably provided\nagainst, would involve the country in ruin. That apprehension\nparticularly prevailed throughout New England. Indeed, Massachusetts\nproposed that measures should be taken for procuring a convention of\ndelegates from all the United States to revise the constitution, and\nmore effectually to secure the support and attachment of all the\npeople, by placing all upon the basis of fair representation. Such a\nconvention actually did meet at Hartford. After a session of three\nweeks, a report in which several alterations of the federal\nconstitution were suggested, was adopted. Representatives and direct\ntaxes were to be apportioned to the number of free persons; no new\nState was to be admitted into the Union without the concurrence of\ntwo-thirds of both houses; Congress was not to have the power of laying\nan embargo for more than sixty days; Congress was not to interdict\ncommercial intercourse, without the concurrence of two-thirds of both\nhouses; war was not to be declared without the concurrence of a similar\nmajority; no person to be thereafter naturalised was to be eligible as\na member of the Senate or House of Representatives, or hold any civil\noffice under the authority of the United States; and no person was to\nbe twice elected to the presidency, nor was the President to be elected\nfrom the same State two terms in succession. The report was a direct\ncensure of the government, who with the alliance of France only\ncontemplated to annex Canada to the United States. It was so\nunderstood. The Hartford convention was looked upon by the democrats of\nthe Union as a treasonable combination of ambitious individuals, who\nsought to sever the Union, and were only prevented from doing so by the\nsomewhat unexpected conclusion of peace, which disembarrassed the\nadministration, and swept away all grounds upon which to prosecute\ntheir designs. But the positive truth was that the public mind was\nexcited to a pitch bordering on insurrection by the situation of the\ncountry. The war had been singularly disastrous; the recruiting service\nlanguished; the national treasury was almost penniless; the national\ncredit was shaken, and loans were effected at a ruinous discount; the\nNew England seaboard was left exposed to the enemy; and the officers\nunder the general government, both civil and military, were filled by\nmen contemned by a vast majority of the people in the north eastern\nStates. Before the war, the foreign trade of the United States was\nflourishing. The exports amounted to \u00a322,000,000, and the imports to\n\u00a328,000,000, carried on in 1,300,000 tons of shipping. After the war,\nthe exports had sunk to \u00a31,000,000, and the imports to less than\n\u00a33,000,000, to say nothing of the losses by capture. This too was the\ncase in America, while the sinews of war were increasing instead of\ndrying up in Great Britain. Yet England was not wholly unaffected by\nthe war. There were great distresses in England, consequent upon the\nAmerican Embargo Act, in 1811, and it was not until commerce had\ndiscovered some new channels in the markets of Russia, Germany, and\nItaly, that these great distresses were fully abated, while the war had\nthe further and lasting effect of producing manufactures in the United\nStates, to permanently compete with those of Birmingham and Manchester.\nThe treaty of peace which was signed at Ghent, on the 24th of December,\n1814, was ratified by the President and Senate of the United States, on\nthe 17th of February, 1815. It was silent upon the subject for which\nthe war had \"professedly\" been declared. It provided only for the\nsuspension of hostilities; for the exchange of prisoners; for the\nrestoration of territories and possessions obtained by the contending\npowers, during the war; for the adjustment of unsettled boundaries and\nfor _a combined effort to effect the entire abolition of the traffic in\nslaves_.\nAll parties in the United States, welcomed the return of peace. It was\nsomewhat otherwise in Canada. The army bills had enriched the latter\ncountry; and the expenditure of the military departments had benefitted\nboth town and country, without cost. When peace came, this extra\nexpenditure rapidly declined. But the war had further and permanently\nproved of advantage to Canada, inasmuch as it drew public attention in\nEurope, to the country, and showed to the residents of the United\nKingdom that there was still in America a considerable spot of earth,\npossessed of at least semi-monarchical institutions, with a good soil\nand great growing capacity, which could be defended and preserved, as\nBritish property, for a time, notwithstanding the assertions made,\nprevious to the war, that the country was in a state of dormant\ninsurrection. The war restored confidence and promoted emigration to\nCanada.\nThe Canadian Militia, Voltigeurs, Chasseurs, Drivers, Voyageurs,\nDorchester Dragoons, and the Battalion Militia, in both provinces,\nwere, by a General Order, issued on the 1st of March, to be disbanded\non the 24th of that month, not a little proud of Detroit and the River\nRaisin exploits, of the battles of Queenston, Stoney Creek,\nChateauguay, Chrystler's Farm, Lacolle, and Lundy's Lane, and of the\ncapture of Michillimackinac, Ogdensburgh, Oswego, and Niagara, by\nassault.\nThe eighth parliament of Lower Canada was summoned for the despatch of\nbusiness, on the 21st of January. In this new parliament, there were\nJames and Andrew Stuart, and for the county of Gasp\u00e9, a George\nBrown,[26] and in all there were fifteen members of British\nextraction--not much less than one half of the entire House, which, in\nall, numbered fifty members. After the opening speech from the throne,\nthe House proceeded to the election of a Speaker. The Honorable Jean\nAntoine Panet, was no longer eligible for election, having been removed\nto the Legislative Council, and the chair of the Assembly fell upon\nLouis Joseph Papineau, a man of superior manners, of considerable\nindependence of character, of fluent tongue and impassioned utterance,\nof extraordinary persuasive powers, and of commanding aspect. He was\naccepted by Sir Gorge Prevost, and business began. A vote of thanks was\nunanimously accorded to Mr. Panet for his steady, impartial, and\nfaithful discharge of the speakership for twenty-two years, during the\nwhole of which time he had upheld the honor and dignity of the House,\nand the rights and privileges of the people. One of the first measures\nwhich occupied attention was the militia law. An Act was introduced by\nwhich it was so far amended and revised that substitutes were permitted\nto persons drafted for service. A grant of new duties upon tea,\nspirits, and on goods, sold at auction, was made; one thousand pounds\ngranted for the promotion of vaccination as a preventative of small\npox; \u00a325,000 was granted for the construction of a canal between\nMontreal and Lachine; a bill was introduced granting the Speaker of the\nHouse an annual salary of \u00a31,000; and another was passed granting a\nsimilar salary to the Speaker of the Upper House. Of these bills all\nwere finally adopted or sanctioned with the exception of those granting\nsalaries to the two Speakers. That conferring a salary upon the Speaker\nof the Legislative Assembly, was reserved for the royal sanction, but\nwas afterwards confirmed, while that conferring a salary upon the\nSpeaker of the Upper House, was lost in the Legislative Council,\nbecause the members of that body considered it _infra dignitate_, to\nreceive any direct remuneration for their legislative services, the\nmore especially as, with few exceptions, the Speaker and members were\nalready salaried, either as Judges, Bishops, or Clerks of the Executive\nCouncil. In the course of the session the expediency of sending to\nLondon a kind of agent or ambassador for the country, was again\ndiscussed, and its expediency determined upon by the Assembly, but the\nLegislative Council impressed with the idea that the Governor General\nshould be the only channel of communication with the imperial\nauthorities, refused to concur in any bill framed with the view of\nsecuring the services of any such agent, who could not be more than a\ndelegate from the Assembly, and whose acts could not be considered\nbinding on the government of the province. The matter was then referred\nto a select committee of the Assembly, who reported that the necessity\nfor an agent appeared evident, each branch of the legislature having a\nright to petition the King, the Lords, and the Commons of England; that\nalthough the Governor could transmit such petitions to the foot of the\nthrone, he could neither transmit nor support such petitions when\ntransmitted before the House of Lords or before the House of Commons,\nsolicit the passing of laws, nor conduct many affairs which might be\nconducted by a person resident in Great Britain. Without an agent the\nAssembly would be deprived of the right of petition. An agent was\nespecially necessary to the people of the province, because endeavours\nwere even then being made to prejudice the imperial government, and the\nBritish nation against Canada, and endeavours were being made to effect\na change in the free constitution which had been conferred upon Lower\nCanada, by means of a union of the two Canadas, the language, laws, and\nusages of the two provinces being entirely distinct. It was further\nurged that uneasiness would cease whenever a resident agent was\nappointed, and as an additional reason for the appointment of such an\nagent, accredited to the Court of St. James by the province. Such an\nagent would have all the weight of a foreign ambassador, and his\nrepresentations could not fail to meet with attention. But the agent to\nhave such weight could not merely have been the representative of one\nbranch of the legislature, but of the three branches. He must have been\nthe authorised governmental agent of the province, the government of\nthe province being in the confidence of the country. Unfortunately such\na state of things did not prevail. The colonists had neither voice nor\nshared in the government of the country. The Legislative Assembly\nnearly compensated for the lack of newspapers. It poured into the ear\nof the governing party the complaints of the people, suggested reforms,\nand insisted upon the obtainment of them. And the Assembly might have\nbetter obtained a hearing for themselves in England, by the\nestablishment and maintenance of a single newspaper in London, than by\nthe nomination either of a Hume or a Roebuck, to represent Canadian\ngrievances to the representatives of a people who were ignorant of the\nexact nature of such grievances, and could not, therefore, press them\nupon parliamentary attention. The pertinacity with which the House of\nAssembly of Lower Canada adhered to the idea of an agent for the people\nof Lower Canada, is not matter of surprise, for, it is beyond all\ndispute that the government of the province stood between the people of\nCanada and the people and government of England, to the great prejudice\nand injury of the country. In this case, an address, founded on the\nAssembly's report, was drawn up to be transmitted by the\nGovernor-in-Chief to the Prince Regent, praying that His Royal Highness\nmight give instructions to his Governor of Canada to recommend the\nappointment of a provincial agent to the imperial legislature. The\nAssembly persisted in the heads of impeachment exhibited by the Commons\nof Canada against the Chief Justices Sewell and Monk, and persisted in\nnominating James Stuart, Esquire, one of the members of the House, to\nbe the agent of the House, in conducting and managing the prosecutions\nto be instituted against them, if His Royal Highness the Prince Regent\npermitted these impeachments to be submitted to a tribunal, competent\nto adjudge upon them, after hearing the matter on the part of the\nimpeachments, and on the part of the accused. It was while these things\nwere being done in the Assembly that the treaty of peace was officially\nannounced to the House. The Assembly granted eight days' pay to the\nofficers of the militia, after the time already noticed as determined\nupon for the disbandment of the provincial corps; an annuity of six\npounds was provided for such rank and file as had been rendered\nincapable of earning a living; a gratuity was made to the widow and the\norphan; and it was recommended that grants of land should be made by\nHis Royal Highness, the Prince Regent, to such militiamen as had served\nin defence of the province during the war. And more, the House,\nentertaining the highest veneration and respect for the character of\nHis Excellency, Sir George Prevost, whose administration, under\ncircumstances of peculiar novelty and difficulty, stood highly\ndistinguished for energy, wisdom and ability, and who had rescued the\nprovince from the danger of subjugation to her implacable foe,\nunanimously granted and gave a service of plate not exceeding \u00a35,000\nsterling value, to His Excellency, in testimony of the country's sense\nof distinguished talents, wisdom, and ability. Sir George Prevost felt\nstrongly the high compliment which had been paid to him as a civil\nruler. And he deserved it. Surrounded as he was by the selfishness of\nofficials, the sycophants of the colonial office, and the scandalizers\nof himself and the country, and tormented by the suspicions of the\nAssembly, which were the result of such sycophancy and scandal, Sir\nGeorge pursued a most straightforward and honorable course as a\nGovernor-in-Chief, expressed his gratitude, and would transmit the\naddress to the Prince Regent, to be governed by His commands. The\nRegent approved of the donation and was rejoiced that Sir George had\ndeserved it; but the Legislative Council would not assent to the\nbill![27] The House afterwards resolved that on the opening of the next\nsession of parliament it would take into consideration the expediency\nof granting a pecuniary compensation to the Honorable Jean Antoine\nPanet, for his long and meritorious services as Speaker; and an Act was\npassed granting \u00a3500 to the Surveyor General, Joseph Bouchette,\nEsquire, to assist him in publishing his geographical and topographical\nmaps of Upper and Lower Canada. At the prorogation, Mr. Speaker\nPapineau intimated to the Governor that the House had bestowed their\nmost serious attention on the recommendations submitted to them. A\ngreat part of the expenses occasioned by a state of war had been\ncontinued by the Revenue Act which they had adopted. They had\nindemnified such of the citizens whom the love of their king and\ncountry had induced to accept commissions in the provincial corps,\nuntil they should be advantageously enabled to resume their civil\nprofessions, which they had abandoned on the declaration of war. They\nhad afforded relief to the families of such of their countrymen as had\nfallen, and to those whose sufferings for life, from honorable wounds,\nfurnished living evidence of the zeal which had animated His Majesty's\nCanadian subjects, in the defence of the rights of that empire to which\nit was their glory to belong. The events of the war had drawn closer\nthe bonds which connected Great Britain with the Canadas. Although at\nthe epoch of the declaration of war the country was destitute both of\ntroops and money, yet from the devotion of a brave and loyal, yet\nunjustly calumniated people, resources sufficient for disconcerting the\nplans of conquest devised by a foe, at once numerous and elate with\nconfidence, had been derived. The blood of the sons of Canada had\nflowed mingled with that of the brave soldiers sent for its defence,\nwhen re-inforcements were afterwards received. The multiplied proofs of\nthe efficacious and powerful protection of the mother country and of\nthe inviolable loyalty of the people of Canada strengthened their claim\nto the free exercise and preservation of all the benefits secured to\nthem by their existing constitution and laws. The pursuits of war were\nabout to be succeeded by those of peace, and it was by the increase of\npopulation, agriculture and commerce, that the possession of the colony\nmight become of importance to Great Britain. It was with lively\nsatisfaction, therefore, that the House heard His Excellency recommend\nto their consideration the improvement of internal communications, and\nthey were only too proud to second His Excellency's enlightened views\nby large appropriations to facilitate the opening of a canal from\nMontreal to Lachine, to assist in the opening up of new roads, and to\nacquire such information as might enable them afterwards to follow up\nand extend that plan of improvement.\n [26] This was the father of the celebrated Felicia Hemans.\n [27] It is here worthy of note that the late Lord Raglan, then\n Fitzroy Somerset--sometime between the abdication of Napoleon\n and Waterloo, and before his lordship had lost his arm--was in\n Quebec, having been sent to Canada, it was supposed, privately to\n ascertain how matters were, and especially as a spy upon Sir\n George Prevost, against whom many complaints had been made by the\n _reigning_ officials.\n A lady, still living, well remembers the late Commander-in-Chief,\n of the British army in the Crimea, being in Quebec. She saw him\n in Mountain street, and the object of his visit was no secret.\nSir George Prevost then closed the session. He praised the liberality\nwith which the public service had been provided for; alluded to the\nbenefits promised by peace; informed parliament that he had been\nsummoned to return to England for the purpose of repelling accusations\naffecting his military character, which had been preferred by the late\nnaval commander-in-chief, on the lakes, in Canada, and while he would\nleave the province with regret, he eagerly embraced the opportunity\nafforded him of justifying his reputation; and yet, however intent he\nmight be on the subject which so unexpectedly summoned his attention,\nhe would bear with him a lively recollection of the firm support he had\nderived from the Legislature of Canada, and should be gratified to\nrepresent personally to His Royal Highness, the Prince Regent, the zeal\nand loyalty evinced by every class of His Majesty's subjects in British\nAmerica, during his administration.\nThere were one or two measures introduced into the Assembly during the\nsession just closed worth mentioning, _en passant_; as showing the\nprogress really made by a \"factious\" Assembly. A bill was introduced,\nby Mr. Lee, for the appointment of commissioners to examine the\naccounts of the Receiver General, though, apparently, because Mr.\nCaldwell presented a petition to the Assembly, complaining of the\ninsufficiency of his salary. Mr. Lee also introduced a bill to\nestablish turnpike roads in the vicinity of Quebec, but was unable to\ncarry it because of the outcry made by the farmers and the population\nof the parishes around Quebec.\nThere were 1,727 marriages, 7,707 baptisms, and 4,601 burials in\nMontreal; 653 marriages, 4,045 baptisms, and 2,318 burials in Quebec;\nand 260 marriages, 1,565 baptisms, and 976 burials in Three Rivers,\nduring the year 1814. The revenue amounted to \u00a3204,550 currency, the\nexpenditure to \u00a3162,125 sterling; and 184 vessels were cleared at\nQuebec.\nOn the 3rd of April, Sir George Prevost left Canada for England,\nthrough New Brunswick, by way of the River St. John. He received\nseveral valedictory addresses speaking of him in the highest terms,\nfrom the French Canadian population, but the British who were annoyed\nabout Plattsburgh stood aloof, while the office holders secretly\nrejoiced that his rule had terminated. Lieut.-General Sir Gordon\nDrummond succeeded Sir George Prevost in the government of Lower\nCanada, the Lieutenant-Governorship of Upper Canada being again in the\nhands of His Excellency, Francis Gore, Esquire. General Drummond\nconvened the parliament of Upper Canada on the 15th of February, 1814.\nThe first Act of that parliament was one to repeal part of the laws in\nforce for raising and training the militia. All the male inhabitants of\nthe province, from 16 to 60 years of age, were liable to militia duty,\nbut no person over 50 years of age was to be called out except on\noccasions of emergency. The militia were not to be ordered out of the\nprovince unless for the assistance of Lower Canada, when actually\ninvaded, or in a state of insurrection, or except in pursuit of an\nenemy who had invaded the province, or for the destruction of any\nvessel either built or building, or for the destruction of any depot or\nmagazine, formed or forming, or for the attack of any enemy invading\nthe province, or for the attack of any fortress in the course of\nerection or already erected, to cover such invasion of the province.\nJustices of the Peace were authorised to impress carriages and horses;\ntwenty shillings a day to be paid for every carriage with two horses,\nor oxen with a driver; fifteen shillings to be paid for every carriage\nand two horses or oxen; and for every horse employed singly, seven\nshillings and six pence was to be paid a day, on a certificate from the\nofficer employing them, to the Collector of Customs, and received by\nthe Receiver General of the province. A penalty was imposed on persons\nusing traitorous or disrespectful words against His Majesty or against\nany member of the royal family, or for behaving with contempt or\ndisrespect to the Governor while on duty. Death was to be the\npunishment for exciting to sedition or mutiny; and either death or such\nother punishment as a Court Martial might award, was the punishment to\nbe awarded for being present at any meeting without endeavoring to\nsuppress it, or give information, or for deserting to the enemy. And\nQuakers, Menonists, and Tunkers, were to pay \u00a310 for their exemption\nfrom militia servitude, the Act to be continued until the next session\nof parliament. An Act was passed providing for the circulation of army\nbills; \u00a36,000 was appropriated for the construction and repair of roads\nand bridges; an Act was passed to ascertain the eligibility of persons\nto be returned to the House of Assembly; an Act was passed to continue\nthe Act granting to His Majesty duties on licenses to hawkers, pedlars,\npetty chapmen, and other trading persons; every traveller on foot was\nto pay \u00a35 for his license, and for every boat \u00a32 10s.; for every decked\nvessel \u00a325 was to be paid; for every boat \u00a310; and for every\nnon-resident \u00a320; the Act to be in force for two years; an Act was\npassed to detain such persons as might be suspected of a treasonable\nadherence to the enemy; an Act was passed imposing a duty of 3s. 9d.\nper gallon on the contents of licensed stills; and the Act to prohibit\nthe exportation of grain and restraining the distillation of grain from\nspirits was continued.\nGeneral Drummond again met the parliament of Upper Canada, on the 1st\nof February, 1815. There were much the same kind of wranglings in the\nAssembly of Upper Canada that distinguished the parliament of Lower\nCanada. There were two parties, one highly conservative and another\nviolently radical. In Upper Canada the conservatives had the majority.\nIn 1808, Mr. Joseph Wilcocks, a member of the Assembly, was imprisoned\nfor having libellously alleged that every member of the first\nprovincial parliament had received a bribe of twelve hundred acres of\nland. The \"slanderous\" accusation first appeared in a newspaper styled\nthe _Upper Canada Guardian_ or _Freeman's Journal_, edited by the\nJoseph Wilcocks, who was a member of the Assembly. Mr. Wilcocks\ngrievously complained of the Messrs. Boulton and Sherwood, who were\never on the watch to prevent any questions being put that would draw\nforth either inaccuracy or inconsistency from the witnesses. Mr.\nSherwood attacked that great blessing of the people, the freedom of the\npress and, being a good tory, called it, to the great horror of Mr.\nWilcocks, a pestilence in the land. Indeed, Mr. Wilcocks was deeply and\npainfully sensible that Little York abounded in meanness, corruption,\nand sycophancy, and notified his constituents accordingly. Such a\ncondition of things was only natural in a small community, having all\nthe paraphernalia of \"constitutional\" government.\nIn 1815, the progress of Upper Canada is indicated by the first bill of\nthe session--an Act granting \u00a325,000 for amending and repairing the\npublic highways of the province, and awarding \u00a325 to each road\ncommissioner in compensation for his services. There were in all\neighteen Acts passed. Provision was made for proceeding to outlawry in\ncertain cases. An Act was passed for the relief of Barristers and\nAttornies, and to provide for the admission of Law Students within the\nProvince; \u00a3100 was granted to Mr. Sheriff Merritt, of the Niagara\nDistrict; a new Assessment Act was passed; the Act to provide for the\nmaintenance of persons disabled, and for the widows and children of\npersons killed in action was explained and amended. Isaac Swayze,\nEsquire, having been robbed of \u00a3178 5s. 8d., was exonerated from the\npayment of it; \u00a36,000 was granted for the rebuilding and repair of\ngaols and Court Houses in the Western, London and Niagara Districts,\neach \u00a32,000; an Act was passed to remove doubts with respect to the\nauthority under which the Courts of General Quarter Sessions had been\nerected and holden; an Act to license practitioners in physic and\nsurgery throughout the province, providing for the appointment of a\nBoard of Surgeons to examine applicants, and imposing a penalty of \u00a3100\nfor practicing without license, but excepting from the application of\nthe Act such as had taken a degree at any University in His Majesty's\ndominions, was passed; \u00a3292 was granted to repay advances on team-work,\nand for the apprehension of deserters by certain Inspectors of\nDistricts; \u00a31,500 was granted to provide for the accommodation of the\nlegislature at its next session; \u00a36,090 was granted for the uses of the\nincorporated militia; \u00a3111 11s. 7d. was granted for the Clerks of\nParliament; \u00a31,700 was appropriated to the erection of a monument to\nthe memory of the late Major-General Sir Isaac Brock; the Quarter\nSessions Act was again amended; \u00a3400 was repaid to the Honorable James\nBayley, which he had paid for hemp delivered to him as a commissioner\nfor the purchase of that commodity; and an Act incorporating the\nMidland District School Society. On the 25th of April, Lieutenant-General\nSir George Murray, Baronet, superseded Sir Gordon Drummond, K.C.B., in\nthe command, civil and military, of Upper Canada, and on the 1st of\nJuly, in the same year, the civil and military command of the Upper\nProvince devolved upon Major-General Sir Frederick P. Robinson, K.C.B.,\nwho held the reins of government until the return of His Excellency\nFrancis Gore, who had been absent in England during the war, on the\n25th of September, 1815.\nCHAPTER IV.\nIt was in the character of Administrator-in-Chief that\nLieutenant-General Sir Gordon Drummond assumed the government of Lower\nCanada, on the 5th of April, 1816. The army bills were called in and\nhonorably redeemed in cash, at the army bill office, in Quebec, and as\nif to show how beneficial the war had been to the country, first one\nnew steamer arrived at Quebec, and then another from the already\nflourishing city of Montreal. The _Malshane_, built by Mr. John Molson,\nof Montreal, at that port, appeared at Quebec on the opening of the\nnavigation, and was speedily followed by an opposition steamer built by\nan association of merchants in Montreal, and named:--The _Car of\nCommerce_. The inhabitants of Canada were, at this time, under 400,000\nin number. About seven-eighths were of French descent, and the other\neighth was composed of English, Irish, Scotch, Germans, Americans, and\ntheir descendants. Of the latter, the Scotch were the most numerous,\nand in their hands nearly the whole external trade of the country was\nplaced. The French Canadians were chiefly agriculturists, but they had\nalso a large share in the retail and internal trade. There was, at this\nperiod, no manufactories of note in the province. The manufacture of\nleather, hats, and paper, had been introduced, and _\u00e9toffe du pays_,\nmanufactured by the farmers, constituted the garb of the Canadians\ngenerally. There were two iron works in the vicinity of Three Rivers.\nThere was nothing more. It is said, not without reason, that one of the\nfirst improvements in any country should be the making of roads, and\nthe speedy making of roads, both in Upper and Lower Canada, was one of\nthe good effects of the war. Already there was a road from Point Levi\nacross the portage of Temiscouata, from thence to the forks of the\nMadawaska, from thence to the Great Falls, from thence to Fredericton,\nin New Brunswick, from thence to St. Johns, on the Bay of Fundy, and\nfrom thence to Halifax, which was 618 miles long; there was a road from\nQuebec to Montreal, 180 miles in length, from thence to the\nCoteau-du-Lac, 225 miles, from thence to Cornwall, 226 miles, from\nthence to Matilda, 301 miles, from thence to Augusta, 335 miles, from\nthence to Kingston, 385 miles, from thence to York, 525 miles, from\nthence to Fort Erie, 560 miles, from thence to Detroit, 790 miles, and\nfrom thence to Michillimackinac, 1,107 miles; there was a road _en\nroute_ to Boston, _via_ St. Giles, Ireland, Shipton, St. Fran\u00e7ois, and\nthe Forks of the Ascot, to the lines, 146 miles long; and there was a\nroad from Laprairie, opposite Montreal, to Isle-aux-Noix, which was 28\nmiles long. Canals were contemplated to overcome the difficulties of\nthe Lachine, Cedars, and Long Sault rapids, and indeed there was an eye\nto those improvements which never fail to develop the riches of a\ncountry. The landholders at this time were mostly French Canadians.\nThere were some thousands of acres, however, which had been granted to\nthe British population since 1796, occupied or settled upon by\nAmericans, that is to say, former residents of the United States. Land\nwas not by any means valuable, on account of the great distances from\nconvenient markets, and the consequent length of time which it took the\ndistant farmer to bring his produce to market. It was this drawback\nthat produced in the Canadian the pernicious habit of merely producing\nenough for the consumption of his own family, and for the keep of his\nown farm stock. Farm lands were seldom held upon lease. The cultivators\nwere the _bona fide_ proprietors of the soil, subject to a very\ninconsiderable annual rent to the seigneur and to a fine of a twelfth\nupon a change of proprietor by sale, a condition which, as a matter of\ncourse, would in time become intolerable and demand that remedy which\nhas since been applied. In Lower Canada, the lands held by Roman\nCatholics, were subject to the payment of a tythe or a twenty-sixth\npart of all grain for the use of the curate, and to assessments for the\nbuilding and repair of churches. Now with regard to the character of a\npeople, who, not long after this period, exhibited an intolerance of\ntyranny and injustice, it may fairly be said that the French Canadians\nare naturally of a cheerful and lively disposition, but very\nconservative in their ideas. Outwardly polite, they are not\nunfrequently coarse in conversation. If the Canadian evinces respect,\nit is expected that he will be treated with respect in consideration\ntherefor. His chief shortcoming is excessive sociability. When once\nsettled among friends and relatives he cannot leave them--absence from\nhome does in truth only make the heart grow fonder of home\nassociations. He is active, compactly made, but generally below rather\nthan above the middle size. His natural capacity is excellent, but when\nthe mind is unimproved and no opportunity has been afforded for the\nacquisition of new ideas, little can be expected from even the most\nfertile understanding. All improvements have been the result of\nobservation, there being nothing original in any one, nor an iota new\nunder the sun. It is in the application of the natural elements only in\nwhich one individual excels another, his capacity for excellence, of\ncourse, favoring observation. As the bee sips honey from the flower, so\ndoes man inhale the poetry of nature, daguerreotyping it upon his\nunderstanding, either from the mountain's top, from the summit of the\nocean wave, or from the wreck of battle; so does the astronomer learn\nfrom the firmament itself the relative proportions and distances, the\ntransits, eclipses, and periodical appearances of other worlds, than\nthat in which he lives, moves, and has his being; and so the man of\nscience collects and combines the very elements themselves, either to\npurposes of destruction or towards the progress, improvement, and\nalmost perfection of human nature. The Canadian could only reason from\nhis own experience, and that was so exceedingly limited, that his\nbackwardness in enterprise is less to be wondered at than the eagerness\nwith which he copies the enterprise of others. The Canadian, like the\nnative of old France, is a thinking animal. He is ever doubting, ever\nmistrustful. In spiritual matters, he is guided by his curate, who, if\nhe wishes to stand well with him, must meddle with nothing else. And\nwho will say that such a people are incapable of improvement?\nRailroads, intercourse with others, and time, will yet make the\nCanadian think for himself much sooner than they will influence others,\nmore naturally confiding, generous, and credulous than he is, but whose\nvery energy and bravery only cover a multitude of sins.\nLieutenant-General Sir Gordon Drummond met the parliament of Lower\nCanada on the 26th of January, 1816. He informed the two Houses that\nthe Regent had committed to him the administration of the government of\nLower Canada, that he had entered on the duties of his trust with a\ndeep sense of their importance and with a more earnest desire to\ndischarge them for the general advantage of a province in the capital\nof which he had been born; the King was no better in health, but had no\ncorporeal suffering and only continued in a state of undisturbed\ntranquillity; Buonaparte had been exiled and the family of Bourbon\nrestored to the throne of their ancestors; Waterloo had consummated the\nhigh distinction obtained by the British forces under Wellington. He\nrecommended the renewal of the Militia Act, and in consequence of many\ndiscontented adventurers, and mischievous agitators, from the continent\nof Europe, having thrown themselves into the neighbouring States, he\nstrongly recommended the immediate revival of the Act for establishing\nregulations respecting aliens, with such modifications as circumstances\nmight render it proper to adopt; the executive government had redeemed\nits pledge by calling in and paying with cash the army bills which were\nin circulation; a statement of the revenue and expenditure of the past\nyear would be laid before the Assembly; the Prince Regent viewed with\nmuch pleasure the additional proof of patriotism afforded by the sum\nvoted towards the completion of a proposed canal from Montreal to\nLachine; His Majesty's government duly appreciating the many important\nobjects with which the canal was connected, were interested in its\nearly execution; and he awaited only further instructions upon the\nsubject to carry it into effect. He pressed upon the attention of both\nHouses the importance of further promoting the internal improvements of\nthe province. He trusted that this session of parliament would be\ndistinguished for accordant exertion and for efficient dispatch in\nconducting the public business; and for his own part, he could assure\nhonorable gentlemen that he would most cordially co-operate in every\nmeasure which might tend to advance the interests and promote the\nwelfare of the province. His Excellency the Administrator-in-Chief made\nallusion to his native city after the manner of a somewhat notorious,\nif not a celebrated judge of the present time, who was accustomed to\nboast in the Assembly of being the representative of his native city.\nSir Gordon, however, only meant to be conciliatory, and indeed there\nwas no objectionable egotism in a governor putting himself forth as a\ncolonist by birth, or in one sense placing himself on a level with the\ngoverned. The pity is that so few governors had even that interest in\nCanada which, to however limited a degree, must have weighed with Sir\nGordon Drummond. The House was glad that a native of Quebec had so\ndistinguished himself as a soldier, and indeed in all else, echoed His\nExcellency's speech.\nThe transaction of business had hardly begun when a message was\nreceived from the Administrator-in-chief. His Royal Highness, the\nRegent, had commanded His Excellency to make known his pleasure to the\nHouse of Assembly on the subject of certain charges preferred by the\nHouse against the Chief Justices of the province and of Montreal, in\nconnection with certain charges against a former governor, Sir James\nCraig. The Regent was pleased to say that the acts of a former governor\ncould not be a subject of enquiry, whether legal or illegal, as it\nwould involve the principle that a governor might divest himself of all\nresponsibility on points of political government; the charge referred\nby the Regent to the Privy Council, was only such as related to the\nRules of Practice, established by the Judges, in their respective\nCourts, and for which the Judges were themselves solely responsible;\nand the Report of the Privy Council was that the Rules of Practice\ncomplained of were made not by the Chief Justices alone, but in\nconjunction with the other Judges of the respective Courts, as rules\nfor the regulation and practice of their respective Courts, and that\nneither the Chief Justices, nor had the Courts in which they presided,\nexceeded their authority in making such rules, nor had they been guilty\nof any assumption of legislative power. Further, His Excellency was\ncommanded to express the regret with which the Regent had viewed the\nlate proceedings of the House of Assembly against two persons who had\nso ably filled the highest judicial offices in the colony, a\ncircumstance calculated to disparage their character and services, in\nthe eyes of the inconsiderate and ignorant, and so diminish the\ninfluence which a judge ought to possess. The other charges with regard\nto the refusal of a writ of _Habeas Corpus_, by Mr. Chief Justice Monk,\nof Montreal, were considered to be totally unsupported by any evidence\nwhatever. The message from the administrator, by order of the Regent,\nhad been somewhat too soon communicated to the Assembly for \"accordant\nexertion\" in legislation. A call of the House was ordered for the 14th\nof February, and the message was to be referred to a committee of the\nwhole on that day. That day came and the committee of the whole\nreferred the message to be reported upon by a select committee of nine\nmembers, and the report of the committee was to the effect that a\nhumble representation and petition to the Regent must be prepared, and\nthat before doing so, the sense of the House, as expressed in a\ncommittee of the whole, should be obtained. Accordingly, the House\nagain resolved itself into committee, on the 24th, when it was reported\nthat the House in impeaching the Chief Justices was influenced by a\nsense of duty, by a desire to maintain the laws and constitution, and\nby a regard for the public interest, and for the honor of His Majesty's\ngovernment; that the House was entitled to be heard, and to have an\nopportunity of adducing evidence in support of the impeachments; that\nthe opposition and resistance of the Legislative Council prevented the\nappointment of an agent from the Assembly, to maintain and support the\ncharges; and that a petition should be presented to the Regent,\nappealing to the justice of His Majesty's government and praying that\nan opportunity might be afforded to the Commons of Canada to be heard\nand to maintain their charges. The resolutions were adopted by a very\nlarge majority of the House, and a special committee was appointed to\nprepare an address in accordance with the resolutions. But before this\ncould be done, Sir Gordon Drummond, in accordance with his\ninstructions, dissolved the House. He prorogued the parliament on the\n26th, because his reasonable expectations, with regard to their\ndiligent application to the business which he had recommended to their\nattention had been disappointed; because the Assembly had again entered\nupon the discussion of a subject on which the pleasure of the Regent\nhad been communicated to them; and because, he, therefore, felt it to\nbe his duty to prorogue the present parliament, and to resort to the\nsense of the people by an immediate dissolution. Only one Act received\nthe royal assent, that to regulate the trial of controverted elections.\nThe writs for the new elections were issued in haste. Indeed so early\nas the month of March, they were completed, the greater number of the\nmembers of the previous Assembly having been re-elected. But before\neven the elections had been completed, General Drummond was notified of\nthe appointment of Sir John Sherbrooke, the Lieutenant-Governor of Nova\nScotia, to the Governor-Generalship of British North America, and\nleaving Major-General Wilson in temporary charge of the government, he\nsailed for England on the 1st of May.\nIt is impossible to speak of Sir Gordon Drummond's civil government.\nThe measures which he proposed were well calculated to benefit the\ncountry. He was thwarted, possibly in good intentions, by the commands\nof the imperial government, requiring him imperatively to obtain the\nsubmission of the colonial legislature to Downing-street dictation,\nwithout remonstrance. A colonial legislature, tethered as it is, and\never will be, until the Governor is elected by the people, to English\nadministrative incapacity might, with no lack of prudence, have been\npermitted rope enough to wander round the tethering post, so that it\nwould only have been at considerable intervals that the effect of the\ntethers would have been in any degree galling or even felt.\nIn 1815, the revenue of Lower Canada amounted to \u00a3150,273 currency, the\nexpenditure to \u00a3125,218 sterling, in which was included \u00a316,555 for the\nerection of the gaol in Quebec; \u00a326,439 for militia services; and\n\u00a335,325, the proportion of duties to Upper Canada. Only 194 vessels of\n37,382 tons, were cleared at Quebec, not taking into account ten new\nvessels of only 1,462 tons altogether, hardly equal to the tonnage of a\nsingle vessel of the present day.\nSir John Sherbrooke did not arrive at Quebec until the 21st of July. He\nwas then received with all the honors due to his rank and station.\nEvery body was as obsequious as any body could be, and great things\nwere, of course, expected from the new man. Nor was Sir John deficient\nin ability. He had been most successful in his government of Nova\nScotia, and he had been most prudent in his negotiations with the\npeople of Maine. He had too an opportunity for acquiring popularity\nimmediately on his arrival, and he did not suffer the opportunity to\nescape him. The wheat crop had failed in the lower part of the district\nof Quebec. The days though warm as usual were succeeded by cold frosty\nnights, which killed the wheat. There was indeed a prospect of a\nfamine. Representations of anticipated distress, came pouring in upon\nhim from first one parish and then another. A less decided man would\nhave called upon the provincial parliament to have acted as became the\nemergency. Sir John threw open the King's stores, and on his own\nresponsibility, advanced a large sum of money from the public treasury,\nfor the purchase of such supplies as the imperial store-houses did not\nafford. The season, in Lower Canada, he knew was a short one, and to\nhave procrastinated would have been fatal to the farmer.\nNor was Sir John less prudent in other matters. He saw the mistake\ncommitted by his predecessor with regard to the impeachments and he\nendeavored to avoid any similar mistake. He wrote to England for\ninstructions, taking care to inform the Minister of State for the\nColonies of the true state of public opinion in the province. He\nrepresented that the appeal to the people by Sir Gordon Drummond had\nentirely failed; the people were irritated at the appeal to them under\nsuch circumstances; the dissolution of a parliament was not, in his\nopinion, at any time calculated to do much good, but was often\nseriously productive of evil; in a small community it was more\ndifficult to correct public opinion than in a larger one; he would\ncarry out whatever instructions should be given to him; but these were\nhis views and he would await an answer. He went still further. He\ninformed the Colonial Secretary that Chief Justice Sewell was\nunpopular, not with the Assembly alone, but with all classes of the\npeople. No matter whether the feeling proceeded from the acts and\ncalumnies of designing demagogues, it existed. It was indeed believed\nin the Palace of the Roman Catholic Bishop, and in the cottage of the\nhumblest peasant, that Chief Justice Sewell had outraged their feelings\nof loyalty and religion. When Attorney-General, Mr. Sewell had\nmaintained doctrines and supported measures that clashed with the\nreligious opinions of the Canadians. A dislike, amounting to\ninfatuation, had been confirmed by the part which he was supposed to\nhave taken in the government after his promotion. It was this gradually\nincreasing dislike which had led to his impeachment. Sir John believed\nthat a hearing to both parties, on the impeachment, even had the\ndecision been the same, would have been conducive to the peace of the\nprovince, as it would have deprived the party hostile to the Chief\nJustice of a pretext of complaint, by which, in a free country, the\npeople will always be interested. The impression was that the\ngovernment of England had come to a decision on an _exparte_ hearing.\nChief Justice Sewell should have been permitted to retire on a pension.\nThat step would have had the effect of getting rid of a grievance.\nAgreeably to his instructions, he would support the Chief Justice even\nshould the wrath of the Clergy be the result. He would also cultivate a\ngood understanding with the Roman Catholic Bishop, but neither argument\nnor coercion could destroy public opinion. Prorogation might succeed\nprorogation, and dissolution, but there would be a revolution in the\ncountry sooner than a change in the feelings of its inhabitants with\nregard to Chief Justice Sewell. He would suggest the appointment of an\nagent in England, as had long been desired, and as had been effected in\nalmost every other colony. The opposition to this measure was even\nascribed to the Chief Justice. He would further suggest that Mr. Stuart\nshould be detached by motives of self-interest, from the party with\nwhom he acted, and which it was supposed, would dwindle into\ninsignificance without him. If the Attorney-Generalship should become\nvacant, it might be offered to him. The most fruitful source of all the\ndissensions in Canada was, nevertheless, according to Sir John\nSherbrooke, the want of confidence in its executive government,[28] not\nso much in the personal character of the Governor as in the Executive\nCouncil, who have come to be considered the Governor's advisers, and\nwho are watched with a jealousy that hampered every governmental\noperation. To remove the distrust, the Speaker of the Legislative\nAssembly should, _ex officio_, be a member of the Executive Council.\n [28] True, and which an elective government will altogether\n remove, to the great advantage and enduring honor of Great\n Britain.\nSir John had stated a series of truths, since made apparent, by the\ndisclosures of Mr. Ryland.\nThe new parliament was convened for the dispatch of business, on the\n15th of January, 1817, when Mr. Papineau was re-elected Speaker. The\nGovernor then formally opened the business of the session, by stating\nthat having ascertained that the crops had failed in several parts of\nthe province, he had taken steps to prevent the mischief that\nthreatened the country, the particulars of which should be laid before\nthe parliament; that he relied upon the liberality of the Assembly to\nmake the necessary provision for defraying the expenses already\nincurred; that he felt assured such further aid would be granted as\nnecessity might require; that he would lay before the House a statement\nof the revenue and expenditure of the province: that he felt it to be\nhis duty to call early attention to the renewal of the militia and\nseveral other Acts, which either had expired or were about to expire;\nand he intimated that the advantages to result from every improvement\ncalculated to open up the commerce of the country and encourage\nagriculture were of themselves sufficient to recommend that matter to\ntheir attention. The Assembly replied in the usual way and immediately\nafterwards appointed the committees. There was a grand committee of\ngrievances, a committee on courts of justice, a committee on\nagriculture and commerce, and a special committee of five members to\nkeep up a good understanding between the two Houses, hitherto\nantagonistic. Immediately after these committees had been named, a\nmessage was received from the Governor, intimating that the Regent of\nthe United Kingdom and of the Empire had been pleased to assent to the\nbill granting a salary of \u00a31,000 a year to the Speaker of the Assembly.\nThe House then voted \u00a314,216 to relieve the distressed parishes, with\nthe view of making good the advances made by the Governor, and also\nvoted the additional sum of \u00a315,500, with the same view, and \u00a320,600\nmore, for the purchase of seed grain, for distribution among such as\ncould not otherwise procure it, to be repaid at the convenience of the\nrecipients. This business being settled, Mr. Cuvillier presented to the\nHouse articles of impeachment against Mr. Foucher, a Judge of the\nKing's Bench, at Montreal, for malversation, corrupt practices, and\ninjustice. A committee was appointed to examine into these charges, and\nhaving reported adversely to the judge, the House prepared and adopted\nan address to the Regent, asking for Mr. Foucher's removal from office,\nand that justice should otherwise be done. The House further requested\nthe Governor-in-Chief to suspend Mr. Foucher, while the charges made\nagainst him were pending. The Governor complied with the request of the\nHouse, by desiring Mr. Foucher to abstain from taking his seat upon the\nBench, until the will of the Regent should have been ascertained. The\nLegislative Council were most indignant. They remonstrated against the\nsuspension of Mr. Foucher. Every public officer was by the assent given\nto the act of the Assembly, liable to be put to the expense of going to\nEngland before he could even get a hearing, if at the mere dictation of\nthe Assembly, a public officer was to be suspended. The Assembly\nreplied that, if suspension could not take place, offenders, out of the\nreach of ordinary courts of justice, could not be brought to trial, and\nthat an illegal, arbitrary, tyrannical, and oppressive power, over the\npeople of the province, would be perpetuated. And so the suspension did\ntake place. The judges were in very bad odour in those days. They were\nbetween two fires. If they thwarted the government, they were\ndismissed, and if they annoyed the people they were impeached. Another\ncomplaint was made against Mr. Chief Justice Monk. He, it was alleged\nby the family of the late Fran\u00e7ois Corbeil, had exceeded his authority,\nby issuing a warrant for the arrest and imprisonment of Corbeil, on a\ncharge of treasonable practices, well knowing that such changes were\nnotoriously false, and, by so doing, had accelerated or caused the\ndeath of Corbeil, the disease of which he died having been contracted\nwhile in prison. Mr. Samuel Sherwood also complained, on his own\nbehalf, against the Chief Justice of Montreal. It appeared that he had\nbeen prosecuted and imprisoned for libel, in having burlesqued the\npamphlet published and circulated by the Chief Justices in Montreal and\nQuebec, to show to the public and their friends that the impeachments\nagainst them had fallen through. At the trial for the libel, Mr. Chief\nJustice Monk presided. He seemed to be both prosecutor and judge. The\njury box was packed. The court was specially held. The indictment\nagainst Sherwood had been framed on suspicion. In the pretended libel\nthe name of James Monk was thirty times mentioned, and yet James Monk,\nin the character of Chief Justice, sat upon the Bench. He took a lively\ninterest in the prosecution. He had fiercely assailed a member of the\nBar, who had smiled during the reading of the indictment, and\nthreatened to remember the smile in his address to the jury. Such an\nexample of a judge, sitting in his own cause, was not even afforded by\nScraggs or Jefferies. Mr. Sherwood had been falsely imprisoned,\narbitrarily held to excessive bail, his liberties, as a British\nsubject, violated, and his privileges as a member of the Assembly had\nbeen set at nought. The petition was referred to a select committee,\nand no more heard of. Yet it had an effect. Chief Justice Monk was\ncompelled to explain and to defend himself.\nThere was yet another similar matter to be proceeded with. There was\nthe revival of the impeachments to be taken in hand. The House had been\nclumsily baulked in their attempt to remonstrate with the Regent\nconcerning his will and pleasure, as far as his royal will and pleasure\nrelated to the impeachments of Chief Justices Sewell and Monk, and\nthere seemed to be a _sub rosa_ disposition to get rid of the\ndisagreeable affair by management. Mr. Stuart, keen-sighted as he was,\nboth saw and felt that the tools, with which he worked, required\nsharpening up. They had been handled. They had been in other hands than\nhis. They had apparently been rendered almost unfit for use. He would,\nhowever, move for a call of the House, on the 21st of February. The\ncards had been admirably shuffled. The Panets, Vanfelsons, Gugys,\nOgdens, Vezinas, Taschereaus, Malhiots, Cherriers, were all wonderfully\nintermingled in an adverse vote. The motion was rejected by a vote of\n23 nays to 10 yeas. Mr. Stuart tried the 20th of February. Still it\nwould not do. The Assembly had become suddenly tired of impeachments.\nAgain, the matter was tried on the following day, when the House\nconsented not to revive the impeachments but to reconsider the message\naddressed to the Assembly on the 2nd of February last, by the late\nAdministrator-in-Chief. Mr. Stuart had some business to transact in\nMontreal, and he left Quebec to attend to it. During his absence the\nimpeachments were forgotten; his measures were paralysed by _sub rosa_\nnegociation; Mr. Sewell was recompensed for the ill-treatment he had\nexperienced, and the government was relieved of anxiety. The Speaker of\nthe Assembly was informed that for this parliament as well as for the\nlast parliament he would be permitted to receive \u00a31,000 a year, and\nthat Mr. Sewell, who, as Chief Justice, was Speaker of the Upper House,\nmight be recompensed for his ill-treatment, by the attachment of a\nsalary of \u00a31,000 to an office which it was designed he should hold for\nlife. The Assembly, accordingly, applied to His Excellency to _allow_\ntheir Speaker \u00a31,000 a year, and to confer some signal mark of the\nRoyal favor on Dame Louise Philippe Badelard, widow of Mr. Speaker\nPanet. His Excellency, the Governor, unhesitatingly complied with the\nrequest of the Assembly, the more especially as on the request of the\nCouncil he had consented to a similar salary being paid to their\nSpeaker, and he had further pleasure in authorising the payment of a\npension of \u00a3300 a year, to Dame Louise Philippe Badelard. The whole was\nmost cheerfully agreed to by all the parties interested, and thus was\nthe Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada betrayed and dealt with for\nthe consideration of a few thousand pieces of silver. On the 17th of\nMarch, Sir John Sherbrooke intimated by message that he had conferred\nupon the two honorable Speakers the salaries of \u00a31,000 each per annum.\nTwo days afterwards, Mr. Sherwood moved that the message of the late\nAdministrator-in-Chief should not be considered until the 27th of\nMarch, and that a call of the House should be made for that day. Mr.\nOgden, however, bluntly moved for the discharge of the order of the\nday, and that the subject should not be taken into consideration at all\nduring the session. The debate was loud and long continued. James\nStuart and Andrew Stuart were brilliant; the Gugys, the McCords, and\nthe Ogdens, were dumb. The Vezinas, the Vigers, the Panets, the\nLanguedocs, and the Badeaux, had changed sides. Night came and still\nthe debate continued, the midnight hour was passed and yet the war of\nwords was fiercely going on, and morning came only to find the\nimpeachments, which the Assembly had so long cherished, finally buried\nin oblivion, by 22 votes in favor of the abrupt motion of Mr. Ogden,\nwhile there were only 10 votes against it. Mr. Stuart was abandoned.\nThere was now a greater than he to lead the Assembly. Sir John Coape\nSherbrooke thoroughly understood the materials with which he had to\ndeal, and he dealt with them accordingly. The Assembly had no longer\nindependence: spirit, self-respect, power was sacrificed for that which\ngives wisdom to the foolish and judgment to the weak. The sum of\n\u00a355,000 was appropriated for the improvement of roads, canals, and\nbridges; \u00a32,000 was voted for the encouragement of inoculation with\nvaccine virus as a preventative of small pox; the revenue for 1816 was\n\u00a3144,625; the expenditure \u00a375,638, less \u00a324,495, the proportion of\nduties payable to Upper Canada for 1815; the expenses of the\nlegislature for the same period were \u00a33,203 currency; the salaries of\nthe judges were now \u00a31,000 currency per annum each, and yet at the\ndisposal of the legislature there was the sum of \u00a3140,153.[29] The\nsession was closed on the 22nd of March, by receiving the thanks of the\nGovernor General for the extraordinary application to business which\nhad distinguished this session from any preceding session of the\nparliament of Lower Canada.\n [29] Christie's History, page 290.\nIn the course of the summer (1817) three hundred and three vessels with\nfive thousand three hundred and seventy-five new settlers had arrived\nat Quebec, and banks were established both in Montreal and Quebec,\nnamed after the cities in which they were set afloat. About the 15th of\nNovember it was remarked that the Montreal Bank had commenced with\nquite an unexpected confidence from every part of the community, so\nmuch so that the merchants were realising more convenience from it than\nthey ever anticipated; and that since it had commenced business, the\nprofits were reported to have been immense.\nIn 1816, a settlement of emigrants was begun, under the direction of\nthe military, in Bathurst, Drummond, Beckwith and Golbourne. The first\nsettlers of Canada had a free passage afforded them from the United\nKingdom, and were provided with rations and tools on their arrival in\nthe colony. In 1816, rations and tools were furnished to 2,000\nemigrants, who came out at their own expense, and in 1817 multitudes\ncame out in the expectation of being favored in the same way, but were\ndisappointed, nothing having been given to them but 100 acres of land\neach, which many of them were too poor to occupy.[30] There were not\nyet seven persons to the square mile, in the Upper Province. There were\nonly twenty places of worship and thirty-five resident preachers:--fifteen\nmethodists, five baptists, four quakers, three presbyterians, three\nRoman Catholics, three episcopalians, one tunker and one menonist--in\nthe Western, London, Gore, and Niagara districts, with a population of\n26,977 souls; and there were for the same population, 20 medical\npractitioners, 132 schools, 114 taverns, 130 stores, 79 grist-mills,\nand 116 saw-mills. The Home district contained 7,700 people; the\nNewcastle, 5,000; the Midland, 14,853; the Johnstown, 9,200; the\nEastern, 12,700; and the Ottawa, 1,500; the total population of Upper\nCanada being then estimated at 83,250 souls. York, the capital of the\nUpper Province, situated on a beautiful plain, in a rich soil, and\ntemperate climate, was, at this period, more than a mile and a half in\nlength. It was laid out in regular streets, lots, and squares, having\nthe garrison, and the site of the parliament house on its two wings,\nand a market near the centre. There was a public square open to the\nwater. Many neat and some elegant houses had been erected. The town had\na mixed appearance of city and country. Kingston was yet the town of\nmost note and indeed, in every respect, the most entitled to civic\nconsideration of any town then in the province. Parallel with its\nspacious and convenient harbour were the streets, at convenient\ndistances from each other, and intersected, at right angles, by cross\nstreets, dividing the town into squares. One square was an open public\narea in front of the Court House, and gaol, and episcopal church. The\nmarket was held in that area. But there were other public buildings in\nKingston, besides the Court House, gaol, and episcopal church. There\nwas a new catholic church, a barracks for the troops in garrison, an\nhospital, and a residence for the commandant. The town consisted of 300\nprivate dwelling houses, a number of warehouses and stores, about 50\nshops, in which goods were sold, several public offices, a respectable\ndistrict school, a valuable library, mechanics' shops &c. The Court\nHouse, gaol, Catholic Church, and the principal dwelling houses were\nbuilt of the bluish limestone obtained in large quantities in the\nmiddle of the town; but were more substantial than elegant in design.\nKingston wanted a populous back country then, and still wants it\nbecause the soil is stoney and not therefore so well adapted for\nagricultural operations as the soils of other parts of the province.\nThe Upper, as well as the Lower province had profitted by the\ncirculation of army bills and by the requirements of the troops.\nGovernment transactions had given a spirit to trade and industry, and\nonly for a system of government, which, as far as any government can\ndo, crushed enterprise and fettered trade, both provinces would have so\nflourished immediately after the war that the reaction which the\nwithdrawal of a few troops produced would scarcely have been felt. As\nmatters stood the provinces were already flourishing, and schemes of\nimprovement were everywhere in contemplation. Steam navigation, which\nhad proved so useful on the St. Lawrence, and had, as it were, drawn,\nthe two chief cities of the Lower Province more closely together, was\nabout to be attempted on Lake Ontario. Already the keel of a steamboat,\nto be 170 feet on deck, was in process of construction at the village\nof Ernest-town, for certain gentlemen resident in Kingston. If\npossible, the new boat was to transport both goods and passengers for\nthe whole extent between Queenston and Prescott. It was, however,\nfeared that the rough water of the lake would be too much for any\nsteamer to contend against. The Americans were also building a smaller\nsteamboat at Sackett's Harbour. A year later and the steamboat\n_Walk-in-the-Water_, plied between Black Rock, near Buffalo and\nDetroit, on Lake Erie, occasionally to Michillimackinac.\n [30] Gourlay's Canada, page 523. vol. 1.\nThe legislative affairs of the Upper Province have as yet hardly\nwarranted comment. There were so very few people in the province for\nwhom legislation was necessary, and there was so much sameness about\nthe business transacted in parliament that comment was barely needful.\nAt first sight it seems that all went smoothly. There could not have\nbeen factionists where there were no French people entertaining\nseditious ideas and cherishing revolutionary projects. But red-tapism\nis every where the same. In Upper as in Lower Canada, there were only\ntwo legislative branches, a Lower, or People's House, a Crown, or Upper\nHouse. There was also a certain amount of Crown influence in the Lower\nHouse, which made constitutional government a sham. The freedom of\nspeech was not even permitted to some members of the Assembly; and it\nwas quite impossible to hint at corruption in those times, far less to\ninsist upon the nomination of a corruption committee. There was a\ncontinued interruption of harmonious intercourse between the\nLegislative Council and the Legislative Assembly. As the Assembly of\nLower Canada had done and had been treated with regard to an offer to\ndefray the expenses of the civil list, so precisely had the Assembly of\nUpper Canada acted, and so had they been treated, when an exactly\nsimilar offer was made. And why? Because the legislative and executive\nfunctions were united in the same persons. His Majesty's Executive\nCouncil was almost wholly composed of the members of the Legislative\nCouncil. Both Councils then consisted of the Deputy Superintendent\nGeneral of the Indian Department, the Receiver General, the Inspector\nGeneral, the Chief Justice, the Speaker of the Legislative Council, and\nthe Honorable and Reverend Chaplain of the Legislative Council. The\nUpper House was the mere instrument of some designing confidential\nsecretary to a weak-minded or, at least, credulous governor. Nay, it\nwas said that \"ruffian magistrates\" abounded in those days along the\nbanks of the St. Lawrence, from Brockville to Cornwall, inclusive, the\nLieutenant-Governor being held in leading strings, by the Honorable and\nReverend Chaplain of the Legislative Council of Upper Canada and one of\nHis Majesty's Executive Councillors for that province.[31] It is indeed\nasserted that after the passage of the Sedition Act of 1804, the\nmisrule of Upper Canada came to a pitch so extraordinary, that it was\nexclaimed against from the Bench, while a jury applauded. Governor Gore\nappeared to have been creating at the same time, and with the same\neffect, those treasonable practices which were so pleasing to Mr.\nWitsius Ryland, in Lower Canada, and which had evidently been stirred\nup, by the men-in-office, with the view of depriving both provinces of\nthe \"exact image and transcript of the British constitution,\" with\nwhich the Canadas had been favored in 1791. Until the invasion, in\n1811, political discontent was loud and incessant, as well in Upper as\nin Lower Canada; and it was the misrepresentations of the governing\nparty and the outcries of the governed in both provinces, that induced\nthe government of the United States to make war, on false pretences,\nupon the government of Great Britain. There were persecutions for\nopinion's sake in Upper as in Lower Canada. The newspaper was as odious\nto the government in one province as in the other. In 1806, a sheriff\nof the Home District, in opposition to the will of the Governor, voted\nat an election. He lost the shrievalty for his stubborn independence.\nThrown upon his own resources, he established a newspaper, which he\ncalled _The Upper Canada Guardian, or Freeman's Journal_. He spoke with\nconsiderable freedom of the governor. He attacked the ministerial\nparty. He exhibited abuses with wonderful dexterity and skill. The\nex-sheriff, Joseph Wilcocks, was rapidly rising into note. It was time\nto restrain him. A Captain Cowan was induced to be his persecutor. The\ntruth rapidly becoming dangerous to those whose business consists in\nconcealing the truth, cannot always be told with safety. Wilcocks\nalleged that the Governor or his Executive Council had bribed several\nmembers of the Assembly with land, to induce them to vote against the\ninterests of their constituents. Captain Cowan knew that the assertion\nwas without foundation. Wilcocks was prosecuted but was acquitted,\ngained popularity in return for his persecution, and ultimately\nobtained a seat in parliament. There was no more freedom for Wilcocks\nin parliament than out of it. For some extra freedom of speech on the\nfloor of the House, he was thrust into prison. Nevertheless, he\nacquired an ascendancy in the Assembly, to the great regret of the\nministerialists. He became still more the object of governmental wrath,\nand when the war broke out, he was deprived of his paper. In 1812, he\nfought as a volunteer against the Americans. He was present at the\nbattle of Queenston. He did all that within him lay, for his country\nand for his king; but the government of the province hated and\npersecuted him, so that starving and exasperated,[32] he deserted to\nthe enemy, carrying with him a corps of Canadians. Joseph Wilcocks, who\nwas an Irishman of good family, and who was persecuted by the\noffice-men of Upper Canada, to the prejudice and without the knowledge\nof the British government, was driven into hostile opposition to\nBritain by the most petty and contemptible tyranny of a few fellow\ncolonists holding office, and was killed during the siege of Fort Erie.\nHad war occurred while Sir James Craig held Bedard in gaol and kept the\n_Canadien_ printing press in the vaults of the Court House, at Quebec,\nit is difficult to say whether a feeling very different to that\nelicited by the prudent management of Sir George Prevost, might or\nmight not have been exhibited. The government of the province should\nfrom the very outset have been only responsible to the people of the\nprovince, and Great Britain have only maintained in acknowledgement of\nher supremacy a military protectorate of British North America. But\nFrancis Gore, Esquire, Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, again met\nthe parliament of that province, on the 6th of January, 1816. The\nbusiness done consisted in an Act to alter the time of holding Courts\nof Quarter Sessions in the London and Johnstown districts, an Act to\nrepeal part of the Act constituting the counties of Prescott and\nRussell a separate district, under the name of the District of Ottawa;\nan Act to make more effectual provision for the collection of the\nrevenue; an Act to provide for the appointment of Returning Officers;\nan Act to extend the jurisdiction of the Court of Requests; an Act to\nprovide, for a limited time, for the appointment of a Provincial\nAid-de-Camp, to be appointed by the Governor, and to have ten shillings\na day in war, and five shillings a day in peace; an Act to provide \u00a3165\na year for the Adjutant-General of Militia; an Act to enable the\nGovernor to establish one or more additional ports of entry; an Act to\nremunerate William Dummer Powell, Esquire, in the sum of \u00a31,000, for\nhis services in ascertaining titles to land; an Act repealing part of\nan Act for granting to His Majesty an additional duty on shop and\ntavern licences; an Act to amend an Act to prevent damage to travellers\non the highways; an Act to grant relief to Catherine McLeod, whose son\nwas killed in war; an Act to relieve Charlotte Overholt whose husband\nhad been peculiarly killed; an Act to extend the limits of the town of\nNiagara; an Act granting \u00a3799, as a provision for the contingent\nexpenses of both Houses of Parliament; an Act to relieve persons\nholding lands in the district of Niagara, whose title deeds,\nconveyances, or wills, had been destroyed when the enemy burnt the\ntown; an Act to continue the Act for the appointment of Returning\nOfficers; an Act to alter and extend the provisions of the Act granting\npensions to the widows and children of persons killed in the king's\nservice; an Act authorising the construction of a gaol and Court House\nin the town of York; an Act to erect the District of Gore out of\ncertain parts of the Home and Niagara Districts; an Act granting \u00a3425\n4s. 6d. to several inspectors who disbursed that amount for teamwork\nand the apprehension of deserters; an Act to revive the Act affording\nrelief to persons entitled to claim lands in the province, as heirs or\ndevisees of the nominees of the Crown, in cases where no patent had\nissued; an Act to grant annually, for four years, \u00a3470, as an increase\nto the salaries of certain officers of the Council and Assembly; an Act\ngranting, \u00a3513 for the repair of certain highways; an Act appropriating\n\u00a3800 for the purchase of books for the formation of a library for the\nuse of both Houses; an Act to continue an Act to facilitate the\ncirculation of Lower Canada army bills; an Act appropriating \u00a32,500\nannually for defraying the expenses of the civil administration of the\ngovernment; an Act to increase the salary of the present Speaker of the\nAssembly, and to remunerate the present Speaker for past services,\ngranting \u00a3800 as four years' additional salary, and, in future, \u00a3200 to\nbe paid annually, in addition to the former annual payment of \u00a3200; an\nAct regulating the trade between the United States and the province,\npermitting the Governor to make regulations as to duties, but not\nprohibiting the admission of wheat, flour, peas, beans, oats, barley,\nand all other articles of provision and travellers' baggage; an Act to\ncontinue for a limited time the provisional agreement entered into\nbetween Upper and Lower Canada, relative to duties; an Act\nappropriating \u00a3155 7s. 3d., to remunerate Elizabeth Wright, whose\nhusband was a tailor, for militia clothing; an Act appropriating \u00a31,000\nas an encouragement for the cultivation of hemp; an Act regulating the\npolice within the town of Kingston; an Act granting to His Majesty\nduties on licences to hawkers, pedlars, and petty chapmen, and other\ntrading persons; \u00a310 to be the cost of a license to a person travelling\non foot; \u00a310 for every horse, ass, mule, or other beast of burden; \u00a35\nfor every other beast; \u00a350 for a decked vessel; \u00a340 for every boat; and\nfor every non-resident of the province \u00a350 a year; an Act providing a\nsalary of \u00a3500 a year for a Provincial Agent in Great Britain, to\ncorrespond with the Governor and with the Speakers of the Legislative\nAssembly and Legislative Council, who was to be removed on addresses\nfrom the Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly; an Act granting\n\u00a36,000 to His Majesty for the use of common schools; to the Home\nDistrict \u00a3600 annually; to the District of Newcastle \u00a3400; to the\nMidland District \u00a31,000; to the District of Johnstown \u00a3600; to the\nEastern District \u00a3800; to the London District \u00a3600; to the Gore\nDistrict \u00a3600; to the Niagara District \u00a3600; to the Western District\n\u00a3600; and to the Ottawa District \u00a3200; an Act granting \u00a321,000 for the\nbuilding and repairing of bridges and for the repairing of highways; an\nAct granting \u00a31,000 to defray the expenses of any commission for\nascertaining titles to lands in the Niagara District; and an Act to\nrepeal and amend part of an Act for laying out and repairing the public\nhighways.\nParliament was again assembled on the 4th of February, 1817, by\nGovernor Gore, during the session of which an Act was passed providing\nfor the representation of the commons of the counties of Wentworth and\nHalton in parliament; also an Act to establish a police in the towns of\nYork, Sandwich, and Amherstburgh; an Act granting to His Majesty \u00a32,578\nfor the administration of justice; \u00a3900 for the Lieutenant-Governor's\nOffice; \u00a3737 for the Office of the Receiver General; \u00a32,300 for the\nSurveyor General's Department; \u00a3650 for the Executive Council Office;\n\u00a336 for the Crown Office; \u00a390 for the Attorney General's Office; \u00a3400\nfor the Secretary's Office; \u00a3200 for the Registrar of the Province;\n\u00a3620 for the Inspector General's Office; \u00a3620 for pensions to wounded\nofficers; \u00a3400 for four clergymen; \u00a350 for one minister of the Gospel;\n\u00a3200 for repairs to Government House; and \u00a3500 for casual and\nincidental expenses; an Act to establish a market in the town of\nNiagara; an Act to repeal, amend and extend the Act granting pensions\nto persons disabled in the service, and to the widows and children of\npersons killed in war; an Act granting \u00a31,576 0s. 8d. for the clerks\nand for the contingencies of the last session of parliament; an Act in\npart repealing and in part altering and amending an Act providing for\nthe appointment of parish and town officers; an Act to continue the Act\nmaking provision for certain sheriffs; and an Act to enable the\ncommissioner of gaol delivery and Oyer and Terminer to proceed,\nalthough the Court of King's Bench be sitting in the Home District, for\nwhich they are commissioned.\nThis parliament was prorogued suddenly and unexpectedly, on the 7th of\nApril, 1817. The sudden prorogation was resorted to because the\nAssembly had, on the 3rd of April, resolved itself into a committee of\nthe whole to take into consideration the state of the province. The\npropriety or expediency of preventing immigration from the United\nStates, was to be discussed; the management of the Post Office\nestablishment was to be examined into; the manner of the disposal of\nthe Crown and Clergy Reserves was to be looked at; and the granting\nlands to the volunteer flank companies, and the incorporated militia\nwho served during the late war, was to be investigated. It was resolved\nto present an address to the Lieutenant-Governor, requesting him to\ninform the Assembly, whether any orders had been received from England,\nmaking an allotment of lands to the volunteer and incorporated militia,\nwho served during the war. The Assembly further resolved that an Act\nhad been passed in the reign of George the Second, for naturalizing\nsuch foreign protestants as were then or should thereafter be settled\nin any of His Majesty's colonies in North America; that an Act had been\npassed in the thirtieth year of the reign of George the Third, for\nencouraging new settlers in His Majesty's North American colonies; and\nthat these Acts were expressly enacted for facilitating and encouraging\nthe settlement of His Majesty's American dominions.\nThe good resolutions of the Assembly were, however, frustrated by His\nExcellency the Governor, who, having assented to several bills, and\nreserved for His Majesty's pleasure, a bill for a Bank and another to\nenable creditors to sue joint debtors separately, summoned the Commons\nto the Bar of the Legislative Council, and thus addressed the\nParliament:--The session of the legislature has been protracted by an\nunusual interruption of business at its commencement and your longer\nabsence from your respective avocations must be too great a sacrifice\nfor the objects which may remain to occupy your attention. I come to\nclose the session and so permit you to return home. In accepting the\nsupply for defraying the deficiency of the funds which have hitherto\nserved to meet the charges of the administration of justice, and\nsupport of the civil government of this province, I have great\nsatisfaction in acknowledging the readiness manifested to meet this\nexigence.\nIn this session of parliament, Mr. James Durand, a member of the\nAssembly, for Wentworth, was accused of having issued an address to his\nfree and independent electors, which was a libel upon the\nLieutenant-Governor, and a gross, false, and malicious libel on the\nmembers of the late House of Assembly. Mr. Durand admitted the\npublication of the address, but denied that he had spoken\ndisrespectfully of the Governor, and asserted, on his honor, that he\nnever had any intention of doing so. If any gentleman, however,\nbelieved that he had abused him, whether intentionally or\nunintentionally, he was prepared to give him that satisfaction which\nwas due from one gentleman to another. Mr. Nichol was surprised that\nany gentleman should have made an appeal to the laws of honor. The\npeople of Wentworth had sent Mr. Durand to parliament to be their\nlegislator, not their gladiator. Mr. Jones adduced authority from\nBlackstone to prove the right of the House to enquire into the\nlibel--to prevent bloodshed. Mr. Durand contended that the House had no\nauthority to try him, and even if it had, the jury should be impartial,\nwhereas several members of the House felt themselves to be implicated\nin the charge against him. Mr. Nichol considered that honour demanded\nthat all the members should remain to decide the question. Mr. Durand\nprotested against his accuser, and spoke flatteringly of the Governor,\nwhom he had not calumniated. Mr. Speaker rose to say that no\nexplanation to the House would do away with the malice of the\npublication. The paper was before the world, which would draw its own\ninferences. He thought there was no doubt about its being a libel on\nthe Lieutenant-Governor and the Honorable the Legislative Council, but\nhe was not prepared to say how far the House could take cognizance of a\nlibel against any former House of Parliament. A false, scandalous and\nmalicious libel was accordingly reported. Mr. Nichol moved for Mr.\nDurand's committal to gaol. Mr. McNabb moved in amendment, that Mr.\nDurand be required to appear at the Bar of the House and apologize, the\napology to be published in the _Upper Canada Gazette_, _St. Catherines\nSpectator_, and the _Montreal Herald_, which amendment was lost by a\nmajority of three against it. The original motion was carried by the\nsame majority, when Mr. Nichol moved for the commitment of James\nDurand, Esquire, to the common gaol of the district, during the\nsession, which was carried in the affirmative, by a majority of four!\nHis Excellency, Francis Gore, soon after this returned to England, and\nwas prosecuted in London, by the Surveyor-General of Upper Canada, whom\nhe had deprived of office maliciously and without cause. The Court in\nLondon gave Mr. Wyatt, as plaintiff, damages to the amount of\n\u00a3300.[33]. Governor Gore was succeeded in the administration of Upper\nCanada, by the Honorable Samuel Smith, on the 11th of June, 1817. The\nLittle Pedlington proceedings of the Upper Canada parliament, during\nthis reign, are hardly worthy of remark. The same spirit still\ncontinued to actuate both Council and Assembly, and the Governor lorded\nit over both. The voice of the people was remarkable for nothing but\nits weakness.\n [33] It is not a little curious that the judge in summing up the\n evidence in this case speaks of Upper Canada being an island.\nSir John Sherbrooke met the parliament of Lower Canada again on the 7th\nof January, 1818. He informed the Houses that he had distributed the\nseed wheat and other grain, for which a large sum had been voted during\nthe previous session, so immediately that the relief had been attended\nwith the happiest consequences. He had been commanded by the Regent to\ncall upon the provincial legislature to vote the sums necessary for the\nordinary expenditure of the province. He would lay before the Assembly\nan estimate of the sums required. He would also submit the accounts of\nthe revenue and expenditure for the past year. And he anticipated a\ncontinuance of that loyalty and zeal which had prompted the Assembly to\noffer to meet the expenses of the government. The Assembly were proud\nthat their offer had been accepted. The public was satisfied that the\nsettlement of the civil list, and the control of the public\nexpenditure, should rest with the Assembly, and the reply to the speech\nfrom the throne was a simple affirmative. Sir John Sherbrooke had\ninformed Lord Bathurst that the permanent expenditure actually exceeded\nthe revenue by nearly the sum of \u00a319,000 a year; and that there was a\ndebt due to the provincial chest from the imperial treasury of\n\u00a3120,000. The salaries of the clergy and pensioners never had been laid\nbefore the Assembly, but had been thrown into a separate list, and\nalthough paid in the first instance out of the civil chest had,\nnevertheless, invariably been provided for out of the extraordinaries\nof the army. He further informed the secretary for the colonies that,\nin his opinion, it was desirable that the civil list should be wholly\nprovided for by the province. Lord Bathurst did not fail to take into\nconsideration the accumulation, during four years, of the annual excess\nof the actual expenditure, beyond the appropriated revenue of each\nyear. He quite concurred in the opinion expressed by Sir John\nSherbrooke, that the annual settlement of the accounts of the province\nand the government at home would have been at once the most expedient\ncourse and most likely to prevent any interruption of a mutual good\nunderstanding. Short accounts make long friends. As related to the\npast, it was a question whether the legislature might not fairly be\nconsidered as having sanctioned the appropriation, the extra\nappropriation of the funds, by not objecting to it, when submitted to\ntheir notice, or whether any further measures were required for\nlegalizing the appropriation itself, or for repaying the debt, which,\nunder other circumstances, might be considered due to the province.\nWith respect to some part of the expenditure, the silence of the\nlegislature must be interpreted into an approbation of it, for they\ncould not but think themselves bound to make good the deficiency of the\nfunds appropriated by themselves to specific objects, such as the\ncharge for the Trinity House, and the payment of the officers of the\nlegislature, which had uniformly exceeded the funds raised under the\nImperial Acts. He saw no objection to considering the silent admission\nof the accounts, submitted to them, as an implied approbation of the\naccounts themselves, and of the manner in which they had been\ndischarged. But with respect to the future, he considered it advisable\nthat the legislature should be annually called upon to vote all the\nsums required for the annual expenditure of the province. The House was\nto be prepared for the probable contingency of voting that part of the\ncivil list which provided for the stipends of the Roman Catholic\nClergy, and omitting the other part which had reference to the\nProtestant establishment. The Governor in such case was to use every\nmeans in his power to prevent a partial provision from passing the\nUpper House, and if it did pass there, he was to withhold his assent.\nHe called the Governor's attention to the necessity of vigilantly\nwatching and guarding against any assumption, on the part of the\nLegislative Assembly, of a power to dispose of money, without the\nconcurrence of the other branch of the legislature. This great\nconcession, with which every body was so pleased, was due to the\nsagacity of Sir John Sherbrooke. He saw how easily it was to be turned\nto favorable account. He saw that the Assembly would be extraordinarily\nwell pleased; and he further saw that the full power of the public\nchest was all that the Assembly required to be fully in the power of\nthe government. In a word, they only needed the money power to corrupt\nand to be corrupted.\nAn address to the Governor was next adopted, requesting His Excellency\nto state whether or not the Prince Regent had forwarded to him\ninstructions concerning the impeachment of the Honorable Louis Charles\nFoucher, one of the Judges of the King's Bench. Sir John Sherbrooke had\nhad a conversation with Mr. Ryland on the subject. The Clerk of the\nExecutive Council, and member of the Legislative Council, had even put\nhis opinion in writing, respecting the mode in which it might be most\nadvisable to carry into execution the instructions contained in the\ndespatch of Lord Bathurst, dated on the 5th of July, 1817. He was\nstrongly of opinion that the advice given to Sir John to convey a\njudicial power to the Legislative Council, by commission, was founded\nin error. The House of Assembly had acquired, by dint of perseverance,\nand a gradual exercise of privilege, during a period of six and twenty\nyears, some of the most important privileges that attached to the House\nof Commons, one of which was the power of preferring impeachments\nagainst such public officers of the Crown in the colony as they might\ndeem deserving of punishment or removal from office; and, as a\ncounterbalancing influence, in the case of Mr. Justice Foucher, and in\nall similar cases of impeachment by the Assembly, the adjudication of\nthe charges preferred against the party accused was to be left to the\nLegislative Council, it being added to the instruction, as a reason for\nthe concession, that the party accused could sustain but little injury\nfrom a temporary suspension, while, if ultimately pronounced guilty,\nthe advantage of an immediate suspension was unquestionable. Mr. Ryland\nconceived that no other power or privilege was, however, intended to be\nconveyed by the despatch to the Legislative Council than that of\nsitting, as grand jurors of the province, upon accusations brought by\nthe Assembly against the public servants of the Crown, and that if the\ncharges brought by the Lower House were considered by the Council as\nvalid, His Majesty would then exercise the Royal Prerogative, either by\nsuspending from office or dismissing from his service the party\naccused. He was strongly of opinion that a communication of the\nsubstance of that despatch by a _solemn_ message to both Houses of\nthe Provincial Parliament, would be the utmost that either House could\nreasonably require to enable them to proceed to a final adjudication,\nas far as the Crown intended they should proceed, upon accusations\npreferred against individuals by the Assembly. He was astonished at the\nline of argument adopted before His Excellency for the purpose of\nforcing an analogy between the Court of the Lord High Steward of\nEngland and that which it was proposed to establish in Canada. The High\nCourt of Parliament took cognizance only of crimes committed by Peers\nof the realm, upon indictments previously found in the inferior Courts.\nHe contended that Sir John Sherbrooke was not empowered to constitute\nany tribunal but for the trial of offences recognised as such by\nstatute or common Law. If Mr. Justice Foucher was accused of any such\noffence, the ordinary tribunals of the country could take cognizance of\nit and inflict punishment. Mr. Ryland was deeply impressed with the\nidea that the longer or shorter continuance of the province as an\nappendage to the British empire would be dependent on the events of the\npresent or coming session of parliament. Mr. Ryland did not relish the\nidea of the Legislative Council being deprived of its _constitutional\ncharacter_ by the supposition even that it might be compelled to\nadopt a course of proceeding contrary to its own judgment. He thought\nthat the Legislative Council ought to be made parties to any accusation\nadduced against a public officer by arrangement. There was no precedent\nfor a commission, and indeed, Mr. Ryland was in every way opposed to\nthe plan of leaving to the Legislative Council the adjudication of\ncharges preferred against public officers by the Assembly. Sir John\nSherbrooke could not understand the reasoning of Mr. Ryland. He agreed\nwith the Clerk of the Executive Council that a great change was to be\nbrought about in the system of the provincial government, especially\nwith respect to its finance; but, when it was considered that the\nmother country was \"at present\" struggling with pecuniary\nembarrassments, it was not surprising that ministers should call upon\nthe colonies to contribute to their own support. It was very obvious\nthat, ever since the present constitution had been given to Lower\nCanada, the House of Assembly had been gradually obtaining an increase\nof power, whilst the Legislative Council remained in _statu quo_.\nThe proper balance had consequently been lost and he knew of no better\nmode of giving new weight and importance to the Upper House than the\nmeasure devised by the Prince Regent that as often as the House of\nAssembly should impeach, the Legislative Council should adjudicate upon\nthe case, and the Council having declared that they had not the power\nto do so, some more formal instrument than a letter from the Secretary\nof State to the Governor, to invest the Council with the necessary\nauthority to act, would be required. To the address of the Assembly an\nanswer was given in a message to both Houses. The message intimated\nthat the adjudication of impeachments by the Assembly was to rest with\nthe Legislative Council; that the Regent trusted that the Council would\ndischarge the important duties which thus devolved upon them in such a\nmanner as to give satisfaction to all classes of people in the\nprovince; and that the Governor, not having had instructions, as to the\nmanner in which the adjudications were to be conducted, would apply to\nthe Regent for instructions and communicate them as soon as obtained.\nThe House of Assembly did nothing, as the wisest course to be pursued,\nand the Council, now almost raised to a level with the House of Lords,\nin its own estimation, expressed its thanks in a series of resolutions\noffered by Mr. Ryland, for the confidence which His Royal Highness had\nreposed in it. Mr. Ryland and some other members of the Council were\nmost anxious to adjudicate upon Mr. Foucher's impeachment at once; but,\nsays the Clerk of the Council, in a letter written subsequently to\nColonel Ready, the resolutions offered by me, which would have been\nadopted by a majority of the legislature, were stifled or repressed by\nartful and solemn asseverations made in the House for the purpose of\ninducing a belief that the state of the Governor's health was such that\na further agitation of the business might endanger his life! And so\nended the Foucher impeachment matter for a time. An Act was passed for\nthe incorporation of a company to construct a navigable canal, on the\nRichelieu, from Chambly to St. Johns, a work subsequently undertaken\nand completed by the province, on a very inadequate scale, inasmuch as\nthe canal was only sufficiently large for batteaux, instead of being of\na size which would have permitted steamboat communication between\nQuebec, _via_ Sorel, and the towns on Lake Champlain. The\nestimates for the civil list amounting to \u00a373,646, were voted after a\ndebate of a week; a night watch and night lights were provided for in\nMontreal and Quebec; an Act was passed for the encouragement of\nagriculture, and commissioners appointed to improve the communication,\nby water, between Upper and Lower Canada; an attempt was made to\nindemnify the members of the Assembly; and the public accounts being\nsubmitted, the revenue for 1817 appeared to have been \u00a3108,925\ncurrency, and the expenditure \u00a3116,920 sterling, including \u00a319,426\nowing to Upper Canada for duties in 1816. The expenses of the\nlegislature amounted to \u00a316,173, including \u00a33,945 for books purchased\nfor the library of the Assembly.\nSir John Sherbrooke, was so very ill that he found himself unable to go\ndown to the Council Chamber to prorogue the parliament. He was,\ntherefore, waited upon by the members of both Houses, at the Castle of\nSt. Lewis, and there the prorogation took place _sans c\u00e9r\u00e9monie_.\nBusiness had been rather brisk this year, but out of parliament, and\naway from St. Peter street, there was no stir of any kind. The\nnewspapers contented themselves with retailing news from the continent\nof Europe, six months old, and the inhabitants of town and country\nunconcernedly watched the rising and the setting of the sun, or\nendeavored, as an antidote to the _tedium vit\u00e6_, to count the\nnumber of the stars at night. Three hundred and thirty-four vessels of\n76,559 tons burthen, including one vessel built at Quebec, cleared at\nthe port, and a duty of 2-1/2 per centum was levied on goods, wares,\nand merchandise, amounting to \u00a3672,876. There was one matter, which,\nhowever, created a little talk about town. Mrs. Montgomery, widow of\nthe late General Montgomery, who fell on the night of the 31st of\nDecember, 1775, while leading on a storming party of Americans at the\n_Pr\u00e8s-de-Ville_, Quebec, applied to Sir John Sherbrooke for the\nremains of her husband, which had been buried somewhere in the\nneighborhood of a powder magazine. The request was complied with. On\nthe 16th of June, the exhumation of the body, in the presence of Major\nFreer, who was on the staff of the Governor, of Major Livingston, a\nnear relative to Mrs. Montgomery, and of some other spectators, took\nplace under the direction of Mr. James Thomson, of the Royal Engineer\nDepartment, one of the followers of General Wolfe, who forty-two years\npreviously to the application for the body had buried the General with\nhis two Aides-de-Camp, Cheeseman and McPherson, beside him, where the\nmilitary prison, near St. Lewis Gate, now stands.\nSir John Sherbrooke was, at his own request, recalled. His health had\nbeen indifferent for some time. He was relieved of his government soon\nafter he had requested to be so by His Grace the Duke of Richmond. Sir\nJohn sailed for England on the 12th of August, with his character\neither in a military or civil point of view untarnished. Richmond,\nLennox and Aubigny, the new Governor-in-Chief, had been Lord Lieutenant\nGeneral of Ireland. His hereditary rank, his previous position, as well\nas his present station obtained for him a consideration greater than\nany mere military knight could reasonably look for. He was accompanied\nby Major-General Sir Peregrine Maitland, K.C.B., his son-in-law\nappointed to the Lieutenant-Governorship of Upper Canada. His Grace was\nlooked upon indeed as a semi-deity. But the Duke was exceedingly poor,\nand perhaps owed his own appointment as well as that of his son-in-law,\nas much to the influence of the Duke of Wellington, who was his friend,\nas to his own. He summoned the legislature of Canada together on the\n12th of January, 1819, but merely intimated that the Queen had died,\nand adjourned the public business, out of respect to Her Majesty's\nmemory, until the 22nd of the month. The opening speech on that day was\na wretched affair. The Duke did not recommend anything beyond a\nprovision for the expenses of the civil government, which the illness\nof Sir John Sherbrooke had prevented him from completing; and the reply\nto his Grace was as tame as His Grace's speech. It was very like two\nindividuals in meeting, saluting each other with the words--\"good\nmorning, Sir,\"--\"a good morning to you, Sir,\"--\"_shalom elachem_,\"\nas the Jew has it, to be returned with \"_alaichem shalom_,\" \"peace\nbe unto you,\"--\"with you be peace.\" His Grace was not slow in\nsubmitting the estimates of the expenses of the civil government for\nthe year 1819. Instead of \u00a373,646 currency, as before, the estimate was\nnow \u00a381,432. The House could not understand the sudden increase. Was it\nnecessary to pay \u00a315,000 extra for a Duke? That was gracious goodness\nto an appreciable extent! The estimate was referred to a select\ncommittee, who were to make as ostensible as possible the necessity for\nthe increased demand, and if that could not be done, to say why not.\nThe committee reported that the interests of the country would best be\nserved by making an unqualified reduction of those sinecures and\npensions, which, in all countries had been considered the reward of\niniquities, and the encouragement of vice, and which had been and still\nwere subjects of complaint in England, and would, in Canada, lead to\ncorruption, and that too while the estimates contained the item of\n\u00a38,000 sterling a year, to be placed at the disposal of His Majesty's\nrepresentative, for rewarding provincial services, and for providing\nfor old and reduced servants of the government and others. Mr. Ryland\nhad already been in correspondence with the Duke's Secretary, Colonel\nReady, and hence the provision in the civil list for decayed servants\nof the government. When this manoeuvre failed, an attempt was made to\nobtain a permanent provision for the civil government of the province,\nduring the reign of the sovereign, and that failing, another was made\nto vote the civil list money _en bloc_; but the Assembly would\nonly listen to one proposition, however democratic it might be, and\nthat was to vote the civil list annually, item by item, so that the\nHouse might increase or diminish particular salaries at will. The\nAssembly then went through the civil list, affixing to each office a\nsalary, and passing over without any appropriation such offices as were\neither positive sinecures or little else. A bill was introduced and\ncarried through the third reading, granting to offices particularly\nspecified, particular salaries. It was sent to the Legislative Council\nfor concurrence, and was there at once rejected. The Council looked\nupon the mode adopted by the bill of granting a supply to His Majesty\nas unprecedented and unconstitutional, as an assumption of the\nprerogative of the Crown, as calculated to prescribe to the Crown the\nnumber and description of its servants, and as certain to make the\nCrown officers dependent on an elective body, whereby they might be\nmade instrumental in overthrowing the Crown itself. Thus was the civil\nlist bill lost. A company was incorporated to construct a canal between\nMontreal and Lachine. \u00a33,000 was appropriated towards the apportionment\nof lands to the militia who had served during the war; and Pierre\nBedard, Esquire, Judge for the District of Three Rivers, was impeached\nby Mr. C. R. Ogden. Mr. Ogden accused Bedard of prostituting his\njudicial authority to the gratification of personal malice; of tyranny;\nof imposing fines upon his enemies on pretence of punishing contempts\nof Courts; of uttering expressions derogatory to the other judges of\nthe Court in which he sat; of having accused the barristers of Three\nRivers frequently of high breaches of moral and professional rectitude;\nof having wickedly imprisoned in the common gaol of Three Rivers,\nCharles Richard Ogden, Esquire, then and still being His Majesty's\nCounsel for the said district, for an alleged libel and contempt\nagainst the provincial Court, in which Mr. Bedard was the judge; for\nhaving illegally fined Pierre Vezina, Esquire, an advocate practicing\nin Court, ten shillings, for pretended contemptuous conduct; and for\nhaving grossly and unjustifiably attacked the character of Joseph de\nTonnancour, a barrister. The articles of impeachment were referred to a\ncommittee which reported in favor of the judge, and the House did not,\ntherefore, impeach him.\nWhile this was going on a message was received from His Grace the\nGovernor-in-Chief, acquainting the members of the Legislative Council\nthat the commands of the Prince Regent had been received respecting the\nproceedings of the Assembly against Mr. Foucher. The Regent directed\nthat the Assembly, previous to any ulterior proceeding, should lay\nbefore the Governor-in-Chief such documentary evidence as they might\nconsider adequate to support the charges which they had brought against\nMr. Justice Foucher, and that copies of such charges, of such\ndocumentary evidence, and of the examination already taken and annexed\nto the charges should be then transmitted by His Grace the\nGovernor-in-Chief to Mr. Justice Foucher for his answer and defence,\nwhich answer and defence would be submitted to the Assembly for their\nreply, when the whole of the documents would be submitted to the Regent\nfor such further course as the case might require. The Legislative\nCouncil were quite shocked at this message. They had been told that\nthey might adjudicate upon cases of impeachment, and now it was\ncommanded that they should gather evidence and send it to the Regent\nfor adjudication. The Council dutifully remonstrated, feeling it due to\nitself to state to His Grace that at the time of receiving the late\nGovernor's message it was prevented from taking more upon itself than\nto return its humble thanks for the \"decision\" of His Royal Highness\nthe Prince Regent, on the subject of its address of the 3rd of March,\n1817, by representations made in the Council, that the state of His\nExcellency's health was such that a further agitation of the business\nat the moment might endanger his life. But the House confidently relied\non the communication, contained in the message, that the \"arrangement\"\ntherein announced with respect to the adjudication of impeachments by\nthe Council was _final_. If representations had subsequently been\nmade tending to withdraw from the Council the favor and confidence of\nthe Crown, all doubt would be removed by the communication which they\nsolicited from His Excellency as to the Royal intervention, and the\nHouse would finally be able, with His Grace's powerful support, to\nsecure the full and free exercise of a privilege, without which the\nbalance of an admirable constitution would be destroyed, and the second\nestate of the provincial legislature be reduced to insignificance and\ncontempt. The answer to this address was most emphatic. Mr. Justice\nFoucher was ordered to resume his functions as a Judge of the Court of\nKing's Bench, at Montreal; and the Duke turning from the Council, drew\nthe attention of the Assembly to the necessity which existed for a\nreform in the judicature. The Assembly had indeed already expressed an\nopinion to the effect that it was necessary for the independence of the\njudges that they should not be withdrawn from their judicial duties by\nholding any other offices in the civil administration of the\ngovernment. The House of Assembly paid very little heed, however, to\nthe recommendation of the Duke. There was, indeed, no ministry in the\nconfidence of the majority to originate any business in the Lower\nHouse, and for one of a minority, the creature of the government in the\nAssembly, and without the shadow of influence in it, to take the matter\nup, would have been worse than useless. The Lower House was, indeed,\nlike a ship without a helm. It was uncontrollable. All that a governor\ncould do was to look upon the most popular man in the Assembly, as if\nhe were a minister of State, and govern in such a manner as to suit his\nviews. The expediency of erecting the Eastern Townships into a judicial\ndistrict had been represented to the Assembly at its previous session.\nIt was considered a denial of justice to require people situated as the\nEastern Township farmers were, in a new and rather far off country,\nwhen the want of good roads is considered, to sue and be sued in the\nCourts of Montreal, Three Rivers, or Quebec. But they stirred not. They\nmerely appointed a committee to draw up a statement of the receipts of\nthe provincial revenue of the Crown, and of the disbursements by the\nReceiver General from the date of the constitution to 1819; and also a\nstatement of all the appropriations made by the legislature, and of the\namount paid upon each of them by the Receiver General, the balance to\nbe stated and the monies to be counted. There was evidently a suspicion\nin the minds of some of the members of the Assembly that the National\nBank had been paying interest out of the new deposits and that the\nmanagers were living in the same style of novelty. However that may\nhave been, the business of legislation was now concluded, and His Grace\nthe Duke of Richmond, Lennox and Aubigny, Governor-in-Chief of Canada,\nand Captain General of British North America, came down to the\nLegislative Chambers in State. He took his seat upon the throne\nquickly. He seemed to speak to his attendants testily. He sent for the\nCommons impatiently. And he looked sternly. Colonel Ready, as soon as\nthe Commons had appeared, handed His Excellency, who was not\nparticularly gracious, a paper to read. \"Gentlemen of the Legislative\nCouncil,\" were the first words uttered, and all eyes were upon the\nDuke. \"_You_ have not disappointed my hopes. I thank you for your\nzeal and alacrity. Gentlemen of the Assembly:--It is with deep concern\nthat I cannot thank you in connection with the result of your labors\nand of the principles upon which they rest. You proceeded to vote a\npart of the sum required for the expenses of 1819, but the bill of\nappropriation which you prepared was founded upon such principles that\nit had been most constitutionally rejected by the Upper House, and so\nthe government has been left without the supplies necessary for the\nsupport of the civil administration for the ensuing year,\nnotwithstanding the voluntary offer given to the King in 1810.\" His\nGrace had recommended by special message the consideration of the\nJudicature Act so that it might be amended, and the Assembly had not\neven proceeded with it so far as to enable the Governor-in-Chief to\ntransmit the result of the parliamentary proceedings to the King's\nministers, with the view of obtaining the opinions and assistance of\nthe law officers of the Crown in England. He did trust, therefore, that\nat an early day in the next session the matter would be proceeded with.\nHe had assented to the militia bill with reluctance. It was not\nnecessary that the officers should be natives of the province. There\nwere many half-pay officers of the army who were much better fitted for\nholding commissions in the militia than wealthy _habitants_ were;\nand there were clerks, and other enterprising young men about cities\nand towns, who, on any emergency, were equally as well adapted for\nofficers of militia as any _seigneur_ whatever. The population of\nthe province afforded excellent materials for a defensive army, but a\ngeneral and proper selection of officers was necessary to make it\nformidable to an active and enterprising enemy. The selection of\nofficers must only belong to the executive power. This speech did not\nraise the Duke of Richmond in the estimation of the Commons of Canada.\nSome were inclined to laugh at His Excellency, while not a few were\noffended. His Grace had been evidently tampered with. He was not looked\nupon as a free agent. While perfectly willing to defray the expenses of\nthe civil administration, the Commons felt no disposition to build up a\npension list or to be in any way burthened with life annuities to\nofficers of the imperial army, for whom the imperial government was\nbound to provide. All the officers required in the civil government of\nthe country, the Commons were prepared amply to remunerate, but they\nwere not at all prepared to award salaries for the perpetuation of\nsinecure offices, the holders of which had never set a foot in the\ncountry. The Commons, in a word, desired to have some control over the\ngovernment itself, as, in a free country all power should proceed from\nthe people. This was denied to them. They were required to do whatever\nthe government desired, and refusing obedience, they were castigated,\ncastigated by the representative of the sovereign of a free country, of\nwhich Canada formed a part. In spite of this rugged mode of governing,\nthe country was nevertheless, making progress. Business was brisk. The\npopulation was rapidly increasing. A steamer had been placed on the\nOttawa. The Rideau Canal to connect the Ottawa with Lake Ontario, at\nKingston, had been commenced, at the expense of the imperial\ngovernment, as a military work. Quebec contained 2,008 houses, and a\npopulation of 15,257 souls, of whom 11,991 were Roman Catholics, and\n3,266 were Protestants. Four new vessels had been built at Quebec in\nthe course of the past year, and 409 vessels of 94,657 tons of shipping\nhad been cleared at the port of Quebec, while merchandise to the amount\nof \u00a3772,373 had been imported. The gross revenue amounted to \u00a358,332\nsterling for Lower Canada, and \u00a318,673 sterling for Upper Canada. The\nexpenditure amounted to \u00a3127,379 sterling, including \u00a39,720 for the\npurchase of seed wheat in 1817; \u00a345,270 in payment of army bills:\n\u00a314,988, the fifth of the whole duties collected for 1817 and due to\nUpper Canada, by agreement. The cost of mere legislation was this year\n\u00a313,420 currency. In 1819, from the opening of the navigation to the\n12th of October, 612 vessels had arrived, and 12,434 immigrants had\ncome to enrich the country by their labor and benefit trade by their\nnecessities.\nIn the Lower Province two Banks had already been established; there was\nnow one in operation at Kingston, in Upper Canada. It is not a little\ncurious, however, that when efforts were first made to establish the\nKingston Bank the current of public opinion set so strongly against the\nmeasure, that although supported by men of intelligence and\nrespectability, it was abandoned without the presentation of petitions\nto the legislature. A bill, as may have already been perceived, was,\nnevertheless, passed, for the incorporation of the bank, but reserved\nfor His Majesty's pleasure by Governor Gore. The roads, in Upper\nCanada, were at this period so indifferent that there were but few\ncommon carriages, while the inns were so indifferent that in the summer\nseason travelling was for the most part accomplished by water. Indeed\nthe facilities afforded by water for travelling in some very\nconsiderable degree impeded the improvement of the roads, between towns\nsituated very far apart.\nSir Peregrine Maitland having assumed the government of Upper Canada,\nmet the parliament of that province, for the first time, on the 12th of\nOctober, 1818. His \"maiden\" speech from the throne was noticeable for\nthe remark that parliament would feel a just indignation at the\nattempts which had been made to excite discontent and to organize\nsedition, accompanied by the hint and suggestion that should it appear\nto parliament that a convention of delegates could not exist without\ndanger to the constitution, in framing a law of prevention,\nparliamentary wisdom would be careful that it should not unwarily\ntrespass on that sacred right of the subject to seek a redress of his\ngrievances by petition. Mr. Robert Gourlay, of Craigrothie, Fifeshire,\nin Scotland, had emigrated to Upper Canada, with the view of settling\nhimself and family and indeed of making a settlement in some suitable\nspot. Mr. Guthrie had peculiar ideas with regard to emigration, free\ntrade, and liberty of speech. He was a democrat, but not, by any means,\na republican. He was not politically connected with either Cobbett or\nHunt, although he seems to have known both of these gentlemen. He was\nnot in the habit of attending such meetings as those that were held at\nSpa-fields and were then termed \"radical\" meetings, although he had\nbeen at a meeting in Spa-fields. He had been both in Ireland and in the\nUnited States, but he was neither an Irish rebel nor an American\nrevolutionist. He had only a bee in his bonnet, which has since buzzed\nin the bonnets of a very great number of men, whose loyalty or\npatriotism has not been even doubted, and, who, consequently, have\nnever been marked \"dangerous\" by a colonial Justice of the Peace. Mr.\nGuthrie conceived that Canada was capable of absorbing about 50,000 of\nthe poor of England, Ireland, and Scotland, annually; that a land tax\nwas preferable to taxes on trade and manufactures, especially in a new\ncountry; that there should be three description of roads--provincial,\ndistrict, and township; that it would be advantageous to connect the\nlakes of the St. Lawrence together, and permit the free navigation of\nthe Canadian inland waters from Lake Superior to the sea; that free\ntrade should exist; and that there should be no hindrance to the\nexpression of public opinion, however offensive to the authorities such\npublic opinion might be. Mr. Guthrie arrived in Canada in the summer of\n1817, and after looking around him, determined upon establishing\nhimself as a land agent. He had, in truth, conceived schemes for a\ngrand system of emigration, and set about obtaining statistics with the\nview of setting forth the capabilities of the country to the people of\nEngland. He addressed the landowners of Upper Canada for information.\nHe sent circulars to the people, but unfortunately made allusion to the\nable resolutions brought forward at the close of the last session of\nthe provincial parliament. He brought the matter before the parliament\nitself, but that body having been suddenly prorogued, by Governor Gore,\nthe idea of a convention suggested itself to Mr. Gourlay. The Executive\nof Upper Canada took alarm. The desire, for a knowledge of the\ncondition, circumstances, and requirements of the townships and\ndistricts, was in connection with some radical schemes for upsetting\nBritish authority in the Canadas. Mr. Guthrie was misrepresented and,\nwith the view of creating a general panic, he was arrested.\nNevertheless, deputies were chosen and a convention was held at York.\nIn this convention the political restraints to which the colonists were\nliable were fully discussed. There was undoubted mismanagement on the\npart of the executive government, and Gourlay advised a petition to the\nPrince Regent, soliciting the appointment of a commission from England\nto make enquiries. Such a proposal could not fail to give offence.\nGourlay was arrested and carried before the most virulent of his\npolitical enemies. He was tried and twice acquitted, but the _London\nCourier_, of the 8th of July, 1818, arrived, in which he was alluded\nto as \"one of the worthies, who had _escaped_ after the\ndisgraceful proceedings of Spa-fields.\" That was enough. Mr. Gourlay\nwas brought before a magistrate, Mr. Dickson, M.P. \"Do you know Mr.\nCobbett?\" asked the magistrate. \"Yes,\" answered the culprit. \"Do you\nknow Mr. Hunt?\" \"Yes.\" \"Were you at Spa-fields?\" \"Yes.\" \"Were you ever\nin Ireland?\" \"Yes.\" \"Were you lately in the Lower Province?\" \"Yes.\"\n\"Were you lately in the United States?\" \"Yes.\" \"Was it you that wrote\nthe article in the _Spectator_, headed \"Gagged, gagged by jingo?\"\"\n\"It was.\" \"Then,\" said Mr. Dickson to his fellow magistrates, \"it is my\nopinion that Mr. Gourlay is a man of desperate fortune, and would stick\nat nothing to raise insurrection in the province.\" He was committed to\ngaol charged with treasonable practices! There was then, indeed, no\nreal liberty in the province, and Mr. Gourlay had made use of words\nwhich only could be used safely in England. The magistracy were\ncompletely in the hands of the Executive Council, and a considerable\nnumber of both Houses were inclined to do whatever they were ordered.\nIndeed there were few politicians in the country, politics not having\nyet become a trade. The Commons replied to Sir Peregrine Maitland just\nas he wished. They were convinced that a convention of delegates could\nnot exist without danger to the constitution. Nay, they even went\nfurther, and on the 19th of October, presented an address expressing\njust indignation at the systematic attempts that had been made to\nexcite discontent and organize sedition in the province, and they\ndeeply regretted that the designs of one man should have succeeded in\ndrawing into the support of his vile machinations so many honest men,\nand loyal subjects of His Majesty. A bill was passed indeed to prevent\nthe organization of persons, who might degrade the character of the\nprovince, and after assenting to several bills Sir Peregrine Maitland\nclosed the session by thanking parliament for the seasonable aid of \"An\nAct for preventing certain meetings within the province.\" He conceived\nthat if the people were aggrieved they could send a petition to the\nfoot of the throne. The Surveyor General's Department was to be\nabolished. He was proud of the sentiments expressed by the House of\nAssembly and would send them to His Majesty's government. Had the\npublic mind been tranquil, he would have brought before the Houses a\nfew objects of general importance, one of which was a remedy for the\nunequal pressure of the road laws. Mr. Gourlay was retained in gaol,\nthen ordered to leave the province, and, on refusing to go, was tried\nfor disobeying an Act of parliament. He was forcibly ejected from the\nprovince, and it was not until 1847 that the province of Canada offered\nhim redress in the shape of a pension of some fifty pounds a year, Mr.\nGourlay being then resident in Scotland. Governor Maitland again met\nthe parliament of Upper Canada on the 7th of June, 1819. He informed\nthe parliament that the Queen had closed a long life, illustrious for\nthe exemplary discharge of every public and private duty; that the\nRegent had authorised the governors of both Canadas to bestow lands on\ncertain of the provincial army and militia, \"which served\" during the\nlate war; that recent purchases from the natives had been so far\neffected, as would enable him to set apart tracts in the several\ndistricts, to accommodate such of their respective inhabitants as were\nwithin the limits of the royal instruction; but that he (Governor\nMaitland) did not consider himself justified in extending that mark of\napprobation to any of the individuals, who composed the late convention\nof delegates, the proceedings of which were properly the subject of\nvery severe parliamentary animadversion. The royal assent had been\ngiven to the bill for the establishment of a provincial bank, but, from\nsome delay, it did not arrive in time for promulgation, within the\nperiod limited by law; the form of an enactment would, therefore, be\nnecessary to render it available. He was deeply impressed with the\nnecessity of an amendment to the road law; neglected grants of an early\nday were becoming a serious evil. The exemption of any land belonging\nto individuals, from the operation of the assessment law, was found to\nbe detrimental: a new bill so modified as to protect the land from sale\nby distress until due notice could be given to the proprietors would\nreceive His Majesty's assent. The public accounts would be laid before\nthe House of Assembly with the estimates for the ensuing year. The\ngrowth of the province in population and wealth, justified a reasonable\nexpectation that the measures adopted to encourage it would receive the\nfullest support: and the expediency of affording the new settlers,\nsituated remotely from the great lakes and rivers, an easy approach to\nmarket was apparent, and with other matters would, he hoped, be\nattended to. The speech in reply was satisfactory, but there was an\nunder current of public opinion, not quite so satisfactory. It was\nconsidered that Governor Maitland had exceeded his authority in\nwithholding in part that which the Regent had instructed him not to\nwithhold at all. Conventions were not illegal. The right to meet and\ndiscuss public measures had never been called in question. The\nconvention was composed of men who were altogether loyal. To upset the\ngovernment of the province or to get rid of imperial authority was\nnever contemplated. All that the members of convention desired was the\nrepeal of several grievances, and they meant only to petition the\nRegent for their removal. The executive influence in the legislature\nwas overwhelming and mischievous. The governor had not only the\ndisposal of every civil office, and of every civil and military\ncommission, but of land to a boundless extent. That influence had been\nrepeatedly misapplied. The lamentable effects of such a misapplication\nof influence had been too frequently witnessed. Public duty was\nneglected. The whole face of the country was pining with disease.\nNature was everywhere struggling with misrule. And civilization itself\nwas on the decline. In Upper Canada the image and transcript of the\nBritish constitution was now only reflected by Major-General Sir\nPeregrine Maitland, and five executive councillors. Legislation was\nembraced in a governor's speech from the throne.\nAbout the time of the prorogation of the session, His Grace, the Duke\nof Richmond, came to Upper Canada, on a tour of inspection. His Grace\nand his son-in-law went to Niagara together. Important internal\nimprovements were contemplated, and the two governors were desirous of\nascertaining how they might be effected. The Duke, after a short stay\nin Upper Canada, bade farewell to his relative, and, with Colonel\nReady, his secretary, was on his way to Quebec, when, somewhere between\nKingston and Montreal, he became seriously ill. It is not very certain\nwhat ailed him. He was said to have been bitten by a fox. However, he\ndied, in a few hours, of excruciating suffering. He supported, for the\nbrief period, a disease, supposed to be hydrophobia, with undaunted\nconstancy, and yielded up his spirit on the 28th of August, 1819. His\nremains were brought to Quebec, and there interred with great pomp and\nceremony, beneath the altar of the Church of England Cathedral, but as\nyet no monument has been erected to his memory.\nThe administration of the government of the province of Lower Canada\nwas, on the death of the Duke of Richmond, assumed by the senior member\nof the Executive Council, Mr. Monk, and President Monk issued his\nproclamation to that effect, on the 20th of September. He summoned the\nlegislature to meet for the despatch of business on the 21st of\nFebruary, 1820. Mr. Monk had, however, hardly assumed the government\nwhen Sir Peregrine Maitland arrived in Quebec, from Upper Canada, to\ntake the administration of affairs into his hands, according to\ninstructions which, on his appointment to the Lieutenant-Governorship\nof Upper Canada, he had received from the imperial government. He did\nnot stay long. He merely advised Mr. Monk, whom he left in charge of\nthe government, and on the 9th of February he set out again for Upper\nCanada, to dissolve the parliament. The existing parliament had been\nvery refractory and had been admonished even by the late\nGovernor-in-Chief. The Parliament was dissolved and writs for an\nelection, returnable on the 11th of April, issued. Gasp\u00e9 being very\nremotely situated was an exception. The Gasp\u00e9 writ was not returnable\nuntil the 1st of June. Nothing was gained to the administration by the\nresort to dissolution. The new parliament was even more hostile to the\ngovernment than the old one. The people approved of the course pursued\nby the late Assembly in the matter of the civil list and indeed\napproved of their proceedings generally. Sir Peregrine returned to\nQuebec on the 17th of March, after he had prorogued the parliament of\nUpper Canada, and having assumed the management of the public business,\nhe convened the parliament on the 11th of April, the very day on which\nthe writs were returnable, Gasp\u00e9 only excepted. He opened the House\nwith a speech remarkable for nothing but its brevity. Mr. Papineau was\nre-elected Speaker and the choice approved of. But this was no sooner\ndone than the Assembly found themselves incompetent for the transaction\nof business. The House must, by law, consist of fifty members, and only\nforty-nine had been returned. The Gasp\u00e9 writ was not returnable until\nthe 1st of June. There was no House. Business could not legally be\ncarried on. A message came down from the Governor recommending the\nrenewal of certain Acts of the legislature. The House paid no attention\nto the message. The House at last resolved that it could do no\nbusiness. The twelve months within which a session was necessary would\nexpire on the 24th of April, and there could be no return of the Gasp\u00e9\nwrit until the 1st of June. The Governor was informed of his \"fix,\" but\nwas by no means pleased. He did not believe in such nonsense as the\nunavoidable non-return of a single member being a matter of such\nimportance as the Assembly alleged. He begged that they would go on\nwith the public business. The House would not budge. A message came\nfrom the Legislative Council, and the messenger knocked, but the door\nof the Assembly remained closed. The government had dissolved the\nparliament stupidly and the parliament meant stupidly to dissolve the\ngovernment. It was the 24th of April when the news of the death of King\nGeorge the Third reached Quebec, by way of New York, when the\nAdministrator was offered an excuse for another dissolution, by which\nthe accident threatened by the previous dissolution could be escaped.\nParliament was dissolved, during the firing of minute guns and the\ntolling of bells; and a new king was proclaimed by the sheriff, after a\nsalute of 100 guns had been fired, on the Place d'Armes, in presence of\nthe Governor, the heads of departments, the troops and a crowd of\npeople. There was no other occurrence of moment until the arrival of\nthe new Governor General, the Earl of Dalhousie, who arrived from\nHalifax, where he had administered the government of Nova Scotia, on\nthe 18th of June, in H.M.S. _Newcastle_. Lord Dalhousie was a\nsoldier. He had been altogether educated in the camp. To the trickery\nof diplomacy he was quite a stranger. He had not long arrived when the\ngeneral elections took place. Mr. Papineau, the Speaker of the late\nAssembly, was at the hustings addressing a Montreal constituency. How\nstrong the feeling was in favor of British constitutional rule in\ncomparison with the Bourbon fashion of ruling colonies, the Earl of\nDalhousie learned from Mr. Papineau's own lips. A great national\ncalamity had made it imperative upon Mr. Papineau to court the favor of\nhis constituents a second time in one year. A sovereign who had reigned\nover the inhabitants of Canada since the day in which they had become\nBritish subjects, had ceased to breathe. To express the feeling of\ngratitude which was due to him, or to say how much his loss was mourned\nwould be impossible. Each year of his long reign had been marked by new\nfavors bestowed on the country. A comparison between the happy\nsituation of Canada at present, with the situation of Canada under\n\"our\" fore-fathers, when George the Third became their legitimate\nmonarch, would sufficiently indicate the extent of the calamity which\nCanada had sustained in the death of the good old king. Under the\nFrench government the rule was arbitrary and oppressive. Canada had\nbeen neglected by the French Court, and mal-administered by the French\nViceroys. The fertility of the soil, the salubrity of the climate, and\nthe extent of territory which might even then have been the peaceful\nabode of a numerous and happy population was not considered. Canada was\nlooked upon as a mere military post. The people were compelled to live\nin perpetual warfare and insecurity. There was no general trade. Trade\nwas in the hands of companies. Famine was of frequent occurrence.\nPublic and private property were insecure. Personal liberty was daily\nviolated. Year after year the inhabitants of Canada were dragged from\ntheir homes and families to shed their blood, and carry murder and\nhavoc from the shores of the great lakes and the banks of the\nMississippi and Ohio, to the coasts of Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and\nHudson's Bay. And now, how changed! The reign of law has succeeded to\nthat of violence. Religious toleration; trial by jury; the Habeas\nCorpus; and the right to obey no other laws than those of our own\nmaking, have taken the place of perpetual warfare and perpetual\ninsecurity. Such was the news received by Lord Dalhousie, on his\narrival, and that too immediately preceding a deplorable period of\nagricultural distress in both of the Canadas; when the absence of all\ndemand for wheat had compelled several farmers in the district of\nMontreal to send hay, oats, and vegetables, in boats, down the river,\nfor the chance of a market at Quebec; when in some of the parishes of\nMontreal, which formerly sold great quantities of wheat for\nexportation, farms partly cleared, with a log house and barn, had been\nsold at sheriff's sales, for less than the usual law expenses incurred\nto effect the sale; and when one immediate consequence of this distress\nwas expected to be on the part of the farmers a compulsory resort to\nfamily manufactures for their supply of clothing, as they must soon\notherwise have been without the means of protecting their bodies\nagainst the inclemency of the seasons. Commercial operations had,\nhowever, been tolerably brisk. 585 vessels of 147,754 tons had arrived\nfrom sea, in 1820, and 7 new vessels had been built at Quebec. \u00a3674,556\nworth of merchandise had been imported.\nLord Dalhousie met the legislature of Lower Canada on the 14th of\nDecember. Mr. Papineau was re-elected Speaker and approved of when the\nGovernor-in-Chief opened the business of the session. His Lordship made\na semi-theatrical allusion to the death of the late king; mixing it up\nwith the death of the Duke of Richmond, whom he had known and honored\nduring thirty years, when he immediately descended to pounds, shillings\nand pence. He called attention to the accounts of the general\nexpenditure for the past two years; he would lay before the Assembly\nthe accounts of the expense annually incurred in the administration of\nthe government, and he would add a statement of the annual product of\nthe permanent taxes, and hereditary territorial revenues of the Crown.\nBy these documents the Assembly would perceive that the annual\npermanent revenue of the province was not equal to the amount of annual\npermanent charges upon the provincial civil list, but was deficient in\nabout \u00a322,000. The king had commanded him to say that having, from past\nexperience, the fullest confidence in the loyalty and sense of duty of\nthe Canadian people, he expected that a proper and permanent provision\nwould be made to supply the deficiency, so that the civil government of\nthe province might be sustained with honor and advantage to his\nsubjects. He had made a tour of the province, but could not take upon\nhimself to point out with confidence those measures of improvement\nwhich would prove of the most advantage to the country. He concurred,\nhowever, in all that had been said on the subject by the late Duke of\nRichmond, and the Duke's recommendations were worthy of consideration\nby the parliament. A permanent revenue law or a revenue law not liable\nto be suddenly changed, would benefit trade. Agriculture should be\nencouraged. The militia laws should be renewed. The waste lands should\nbe settled. A tide of immigration had set in, which promised to\ncontinue. Many of the new comers were poor, and some had been\ngrievously afflicted with sickness. Not a few had abundant means. The\nsettlement of these immigrants should not have been impeded by the want\nof legislative aid. There were great advantages to be derived from a\nnew population. Lower Canada, he was aware, had a population\nsufficiently numerous to settle the waste lands. There were,\nundoubtedly, prejudices against the introduction of strangers to be\novercome, and there were also prejudices in the minds of strangers,\naffecting their settlement in Lower Canada, fertile as it was, offering\nas it undeniably did, so many facilities for manufacturing operations,\nand presenting, as was apparent, so wide a field for internal trade.\nInducements should be held out to new comers, with the view of making\nthem spread more widely. Parochial churches should be erected. Roads\naffording access to distant woodlands should be laid out. For himself,\nhe would assure the Assembly that he had no object in view but the good\nof the country. The Assembly liked the frankness of the\nGovernor-in-Chief. They had no idea, however, of permanently\nappropriating, in the then uncertain state of trade, an amount for the\ncivil list, exceeding half the usual amount of the whole revenue. They\nwould vote annually, in accordance with their promise to Sir John\nSherbrooke, all the necessary expenses of the government if His\nExcellency pleased, and no more. With regard to permanent taxes they\nbelieved such a mode of taxation to be impracticable. They would,\nhowever, investigate the effects that might result from a long duration\nof the revenue laws. They would, if it were possible, inspire the\ncommercial classes with confidence. Legislation was then proceeded\nwith. The civil list was first considered. The estimate divided the\nlist into classes. There was the Governor-in-Chief and his staff; the\nLegislature and its officers; the Executive Council and its officers;\nthe Judges, Sheriffs, Clerks of Courts, and Tipstaffs; the Secretary\nand Registrar of the Province; the Receiver General and his clerk; the\nSurveyor General and clerks; the Surveyor of Woods; the Auditor of Land\nPatents; the Inspector General and clerks; and the contingencies of the\nwhole. The estimate amounted to \u00a344,877. The Assembly proceeded to the\ndiscussion of the items _con amore_. Item after item was read over\nand commented upon, much after the present fashion. John Neilson was\nthen a member of the Assembly. Mr. Neilson was then as much an\neconomist as Mr. Mackenzie is or pretends to be now. He was wisely\njealous of the government. Mr. Neilson, the editor of the _Quebec\nGazette_, was in the highest degree intelligent. He was honest and,\nconsequently independent. He could say more in a sentence than Charles\nRichard Ogden could combat in a speech. He was a tall, spare man, with\nrugged, but yet prepossessing features. He had always two black eyes,\novershadowed by a low protruding forehead. From the occiput to the\n_os frontis_, his head was quite level and extraordinarily long.\nIt was possibly due to Mr. Neilson's intelligence that, after some\nreductions had been made, the required supply was voted, not in a bill,\nproviding for the payment of stipulated sums to certain individuals,\nbut in a bill in which allowances were made for six different\ndepartments and a supply voted for the whole. The sum voted,\nnotwithstanding certain reductions was more than the estimate. \u00a346,000\nsterling was appropriated towards defraying the expenses of the civil\ngovernment. \u00a33,083, the charge upon the pension list, and \u00a31,543, the\nannual cost of the militia staff were added to the civil list. The\nsupply was voted _en bloc_, or almost so, with the view of\nreconciling the Legislative Council to an annual appropriation, and\nbecause that House had objected to the previous supply bill in which\ncertain sums were appropriated for the payment of certain\nfunctionaries. Nevertheless, the bill was rejected by the Legislative\nCouncil. The bill had not made a permanent provision for the civil\nlist, and it interfered with monies already appropriated. The Council\nresolved that it would not proceed upon any bill of supply, which\nshould not have been applied for by the king's representative; the\nCouncil would not proceed upon any bill appropriating public money that\nshould not have been recommended by the king's representative; the\nCouncil would not proceed upon any bill of appropriation, for money\nissued, in consequence of an address of the Assembly to the king's\nrepresentative, unless upon some extraordinary emergency; the Council\nwould not proceed upon any appropriation of public money for any salary\nor pension hereafter to be created, unless the _quantum_ of such\nsalary or pension had been recommended by the king's representative;\nand the Council would not proceed upon any bill of appropriation for\nthe civil list, which should contain specifications therein, by\nchapters or items, nor unless the same should be granted during the\nlife of the king. The Assembly were also quite resolved as to the\ncourse to be pursued by them. They would pass no bill of supply without\nspecifications, nor for any period longer than a year. They would not\npass any bill at all for the purposes of defraying the expenses of the\ngovernment, unless the right of applying and apportioning by vote, the\nmonies previously appropriated towards the support of the civil\ngovernment, was also conceded to them. This quarrel between the two\nHouses was an exceedingly interesting one. The members of the Upper\nHouse, or the majority of them, felt themselves to be personally\ninterested--and were uneasy, while the Assembly, having no other\ninterest in the matter, than principle and a sense of expediency, could\nmaintain their position, without flinching, for almost any length of\ntime. Nay, the Assembly were positively generous. As the rejection of\nthe supply bill had left the Executive without the means of defraying\nthe civil expenditure for the year, the Assembly tendered the sum of\n\u00a346,060 sterling to His Excellency, pledging themselves to make good\nthe amount by a bill at the ensuing session. But His Excellency would\nnot have it. He was of opinion that the grant, now proposed, was wholly\nineffectual without the concurrence of the Legislative Council. There\nwas no answer. Mr. Neilson moved, and the Assembly resolved that, the\nspeech of His Grace the Governor-in-Chief, on the 24th of April, 1819,\ncontained a censure of the proceedings of the Assembly; that all\ncensure of any proceeding of the Assembly, by either of the branches of\nthe legislature, was an assumption and exercise of power contrary to\nlaw, a breach of the undoubted rights and privileges of the House of\nAssembly, and subversive of the constitution of the government, as by\nlaw established in the province; and that it was the undoubted right of\nthe Assembly, in voting aids or supplies, or offering money bills for\nthe consent of the other branches of the legislature, to adopt such\norder or mode of proceedings, as it might find conformable to its\nrules, and to propound such matter as in its judgment should seem\nfitted and most conducive to the peace, welfare, and good government of\nthe province.\nMr. Andrew Stuart, a man of brilliant attainments, was busily engaged\nin the exposure of the enormous abuses that had prevailed in the\nimprovident and prodigal grants of the Crown lands. A bill was brought\nforward in the Assembly for more effectually ascertaining the state of\nthe public funds in the hands of the Receiver General. The Receiver\nGeneral was to account annually to the legislature for his\nexpenditures, and he was to tell over, for its disposal by the\nAssembly, the balance which he should have remaining in hand. He was to\nbe allowed a commission on all monies paid into his hands, in lieu of a\nsalary. And he was not to be engaged in trade. The bill did not,\nhowever, receive a third reading, and the Receiver General still\ncontinued to carry on the business of a lumber merchant. A bill was\nalso introduced for the trial of impeachments by the Legislative\nCouncil, but was afterwards relinquished. An effort was made to obtain\na per diem allowance for the members of the Assembly, but it was not\nsuccessful. Mr. James Stuart was named agent for the province in\nLondon, and the sum of \u00a32,000 was voted to defray his expenses in that\ncapacity; but the appointment was set aside by the Council, because a\nMr. Gordon, who held a situation in the Colonial Office, had been\npreviously appointed agent for the province by the Executive\ngovernment, with a salary of \u00a3200 a year. Several messages, relative to\npublic improvements were sent down to the Assembly in the course of the\nsession, but the House only promised to consider them next session. One\nbill, of great importance, was, however, passed:--that to open a canal\nbetween Montreal and Lachine, at the public expense. Before the close\nof the session the House represented that if a Lieutenant-Governor of\nthe Province, with a salary of \u00a31,500 a year, was necessary, he should\nbe resident in the province; that the Lieutenant-Governorship of Gasp\u00e9,\nto which a salary of \u00a3300 a year was attached, was a sinecure; that the\nSecretary of the Province, with a salary of \u00a3400 a year, resided in\nLondon, while his duties were performed by a deputy, who only received\nthe fees incidental to the office; that the agent of the province, who\nreceived \u00a3200 a year, did nothing for his salary, and had no services\nto perform, being merely the agent of the Executive; and that it was\nthe opinion of the Assembly that no salary should be allowed to any of\nthe members of the Executive Council, non-resident in the province. It\nwas further represented that the offices of Judge of the Vice-Admiralty\nand Judge of the Court of King's Bench were incompatible, and that the\noffices of Judge of the King's Bench and of French Translator to the\nCourt could not be held by the same person. The exaction of fees, too,\nby the Judge of the Vice-Admiralty, while he received a salary of \u00a3200\na year, in lieu of fees, was improper and contrary to law. And the\nGovernor-in-Chief was requested to effect remedies. On the 17th of\nMarch, the session was prorogued. Lord Dalhousie could not express his\nsatisfaction at the general result of the Assembly's deliberations. He\nregretted that the expectations of His Majesty, with respect to the\ncivil list, had not been realised. He was disappointed. The\nadministration of the civil government had been left without any\npecuniary means, but what he should advance upon his own personal\nresponsibility. Individuals would suffer under severe and unmerited\nhardships, caused by the want of that constitutional authority\nnecessary for the payment of the expenses of the civil government; the\nimprovements of the country were nearly at a stand; and the executive\ngovernment was palsied and powerless. When parliament should be again\nsummoned for legislation, it would be summoned to decide whether\ngovernment should be restored to its constitutional energy, or whether\nthe prospect of lasting misfortune was to be deplored by a continuance\nof the present state of things. The Assembly inwardly chuckled as the\nGovernor concluded his speech. All that they wanted had been in part\neffected. The government had acknowledged itself to be constitutionally\ndependent on the Assembly for its energy and for its pecuniary means.\nIt was hoped, indeed, that sooner or later, the propriety of permitting\nthe Assembly to vote the supplies, after its own fashion, would be\nconceded.\nShortly after the prorogation, Mr. Papineau, the Speaker of the\nAssembly, Mr. Hale, a member of the Legislative Council, and Colonel\nReady, Civil Secretary, were added to the Executive Council.\nOn the 7th of July, the construction of the Lachine Canal was\ncommenced.\nIn the course of the summer, Lord Dalhousie proceeded on a tour to\nUpper Canada, returning by the Ottawa, in August.\nThe legislature of Lower Canada was again opened by the\nGovernor-in-Chief, on the 11th of December. He brought under the\nconsideration of parliament the state of the province, recommending\nimmediate attention to its financial affairs, with the view of making a\nsuitable provision for the support of the civil government. He had\nadopted a course for the payment of the current expenses of government\nas consistent as possible with the existing laws. He had been commanded\nto recommend that a provision for the civil list should be granted\npermanently, during His Majesty's life. He felt assured that the\nCouncil would attend to the recommendation, and he would not advert to\ntopics of far inferior importance, for the present. The Council\nconsidered it to be their paramount duty to adopt what had been\nestablished in the British parliament, as a constitutional principle,\nthe granting of the civil list during the life of the king. The\nAssembly were not so submissive. They requested His Excellency, the\nGovernor, to convey to the king that they had received with all due\nhumility the communication of His Majesty's recommendation that such\nprovision, as should appear necessary for the payment of the expenses\nof the civil list should be granted permanently, during His Majesty's\nlife, as well as the information that such was the practice of the\nBritish parliament, and that the recommendation would have due weight\nwith them. The Governor on receiving the address of the Commons, in\nreply to his speech from the throne, was not particularly well pleased.\nHe assured the Assembly that until the expenses of the government were\nprovided for, in the manner he had indicated, that there would be\nneither harmony, union, nor cordial co-operation in the three branches\nof the legislature, and that the real prosperity of the province would\nbe decidedly arrested. The Assembly were quite indifferent as to\nconsequences. They had a duty to perform to their constituents, and\nmeant to perform it. The estimates of the civil list were sent down.\nThe House asked the Governor to lay before it his instructions. The\nGovernor refused. His instructions were confidential and he would not\nsuffer any part of them to become the subject of discussion by the\nHouse. A motion to grant a permanent civil list was made and negatived.\nThere were only five ayes to thirty-one nays. The House adhered to the\nopinion that the supplies ought to be voted and appropriated annually,\nand not otherwise. The Governor was requested to mention the\ncircumstance to the King, and he promised to do so. The Assembly\nproceeded to the transaction of other business. The expediency of\nhaving an agent to represent the interests of the people, not the\nExecutive of Canada only, in England, was next considered. It occurred\nto the House that some member of the imperial parliament might be\ninduced to accept the agency, and it was resolved that Joseph Marryatt,\nEsquire, M.P., should be requested to act as such agent. The\nresolution of the Assembly was transmitted to Mr. Marryatt, who was\nalso put in possession of the civil list difficulty, with instructions\nrelative to the course of action which it was expected he would adopt.\nThe Council felt annoyed. They looked upon the appointment of Mr.\nMarryatt as a dangerous assumption of legislative power by the Assembly\nalone. They considered it a breach of the constitution, a breach of the\nking's prerogative, a breach of the privileges of the Legislative\nCouncil, and as a something which tended to subvert the constitution of\nthe province. This protest had the effect desired by the Council. Mr.\nMarryatt would not act. Unless the Council concurred in his appointment\nhe could have no weight with the government in England, nor would he be\neven acknowledged. There was nothing now to be done but to starve the\ngovernment into submission. The government was not to be conquered by\nassault. The Assembly determined upon cutting off the supplies\nentirely. The revenue Acts were, one after the other, suffered to\nexpire. No appropriation was made even for the current expenses of the\nyear. A revenue of thirty thousand pounds a year, or more, part of\nwhich belonged to Upper Canada, was sacrificed. The Governor might make\nadvances to the officers of the government, on his own responsibility,\nor not, as he pleased. But the House would hold the Receiver General\npersonally responsible for all monies levied on His Majesty's subjects,\npaid over by him on any authority whatever, unless such payments should\nbe authorised by an express provision of law. If anything could arrest\nthe real prosperity of the province, it was now arrested. Some members\nof the Legislative Council took alarm. Afraid that their resolutions of\nthe previous session interfered with the privileges of the Assembly,\nthey wished to rescind them. The Assembly, in the opinion of a section\neven of the Council, ought not to be dictated to. The Commons had\nexclusively the right of dictating their own terms and conditions, with\nregard to all aids to the Crown. And the object, for which such aids\nwere sought, was of no consequence, as far as their right was\nconcerned. The majority of the Council took quite another view of the\nmatter. One member was particularly severe on the Assembly. The\nHonorable John Richardson, considered the course pursued by the\nAssembly, as unconstitutional and overbearing. He characterised their\npretensions as subversive of the prerogatives of the Crown, and\nindicative of a desire to have the absolute control of the government.\nTheir proceedings were revolutionary. From day to day secret committees\nwere in session. Grievances were mischievously hunted up. Their\nmeasures were precisely similar to those which preceded the fall of\nCharles the First, and the French revolution. And, at that very moment,\nthere was a committee of the Assembly sitting, the members of which\nwere in consultation, about replacing the distinguished personage who\nresided at the Castle of St. Lewis. Mr. Richardson was being quietly\nlistened to by several members of the Assembly. They resolved to move\nin the matter. The sayings and doings of Mr. Richardson were\naccordingly brought under the notice of the Assembly. Mr. Quirouet\ninformed the Lower House that he had heard the Honorable John\nRichardson, one of the members of the Legislative Council say, in reply\nto the Honorable Mr. Debartzch, who had moved for the rescission of the\nrules relating to the civil list, that there was a secret committee\nsitting in the House of Assembly, deliberating on the appointment of a\ngovernor of their choice, and on the removal of the person now in the\ncastle; and that the committee, which was, perhaps, one of public\nsafety, sat without the knowledge of several members of the House, a\nthing without example in England, except in the time of Charles the\nFirst. A committee of five members was appointed to obtain further\ninformation. The committee ascertained that everything reported by Mr.\nQuirouet was true. A spirited debate ensued. The conduct of Mr.\nRichardson was looked upon as atrocious. Mr. Richardson too was the\nsenior member of the Executive Council, and on him the government of\nthe province might devolve. He was entirely unworthy of confidence. He\nwas the enemy of his country. It was resolved that his language was\nfalse, scandalous, and malicious; that he had been guilty of a high\ncontempt of the Assembly; that he had made an odious attempt to destroy\nHis Majesty's confidence in the fidelity and loyalty of the Assembly,\nand of the people of the province, and that he had been guilty of a\nbreach of the rights and privileges of one branch of the legislature.\nIt was further resolved to inform the Legislative Council of the\nAssembly's opinion of the discourse of the Honorable John Richardson,\nwith the request that the Council would inquire into the charge which\nthey preferred against him and were prepared to substantiate, so that\nthe Honorable John Richardson might be adequately punished. And it was\nstill further resolved that the Governor General should be informed of\nthe libelous language of the Honorable John Richardson, and of the\ndesire of the Assembly that he should be removed and dismissed from\nevery place of honor, trust, or profit, which he might hold under the\nCrown. These resolutions of the Assembly, respecting the conduct of the\nHonorable John Richardson were taken by special messengers to the\nGovernor and to the Legislative Council. The Governor considered the\nresolutions undignified. They were as much a breach of the privileges\nof the Council as the remarks of Mr. Richardson would have been a\nbreach of the privileges of the Assembly if uttered anywhere else than\nin the Council. Mr. Richardson had a perfect right to express himself\nfreely in parliament. Freedom of debate was as necessary to the Upper\nas it was to the Lower House. He distinctly refused to dismiss Mr.\nRichardson from any office of honor, trust, or profit, which he might\nhold. The Council, so far from proceeding to punish Mr. Richardson for\nhis outspokenness, looked upon the resolutions of the Assembly as a\nflagrant breach of its privileges, and would take no measures with\nregard to the language made use of towards the Assembly, by Mr.\nRichardson, until the Assembly apologised to the Council for its\ninterference with the rights of the Legislative Council. Mr. Richardson\neven repeated the substance of his observations in the debate which had\ngiven offence, in still stronger language. He had little to fear, and\nhe knew that the Assembly had taken a position which they could not\nsustain. He held no office under the Crown. He was a legislator and\nExecutive Councillor, but not a placeman. Indeed the Assembly were\nbecoming ashamed of themselves. Instead of attacking the Council in\nreturn for the attack made upon them, they had taken it for granted\nthat their proceedings were not liable to be commented upon at all.\nThey pretended to represent public opinion and yet would not tolerate\nthe expression of any opinion adverse to themselves. But public opinion\nprevailed. They were compelled to edge out of their difficulty by\nrepresenting in a resolution that it was the incontestable right of the\nAssembly to prevent any breach of their privileges, by every\nconstitutional means in their power. So the matter rested.\nA message came to the Assembly from the Governor. It had reference to\ncertain grievances submitted by the Assembly to the King. The Governor\nhad been commanded to inform the Assembly that the Lieutenant-Governor\nhad been ordered to repair to Quebec, and to reside in the province\nduring his tenure of office; that a Lieutenant-Governor for Gasp\u00e9 was\nnecessary and should be provided for; that the successor to the\nProvincial Secretary should be a resident officer, but that the present\nabsent incumbent was not to be dispossessed without adequate\ncompensation; and that the present agent of the province, in the\ncolonial office, had not been guilty of misconduct, and the office of\nagent which he held was not to be abolished. The message was anything\nbut satisfactory, and the Assembly grumbled audibly.\nAnother message was sent to the Assembly informing the House that the\nGovernor intended to apply the territorial and casual revenues, fines,\nrents, and profits, which were reserved to the French King, at the\nconquest, and belonged to the King of Great Britain on the surrender of\nthe country, the monies raised by statutes of the imperial parliament,\nand the sum of \u00a35,000 sterling raised by the provincial statute 35th\nGeorge the Third, chapter 9, towards the support of the civil\ngovernment and the administration of justice. And he called upon the\nAssembly, as they had refused the civil list, to defray the cost of\ncertain local establishments, the expenses of the legislature and the\nnecessary expense of collecting the revenue. The Assembly assured the\nGovernor of their great satisfaction that he had not questioned the\nconstitutional doctrine which they had enunciated, that the public\nmoney should only be applied conformably to law. They were indeed sorry\nthat the standing rules of the Council prevented their House from\nentertaining even the hope that its invariable disposition to provide\nfor the necessary expenses of the civil government could have its\nproper and legal effect. But they would grant no supplies whatever.\nThis manoeuvre might have been most successfully practised upon the\ngovernment of Lower Canada, if it had not also affected Upper Canada.\nThe supplies of Upper, as well as of Lower Canada, were cut off. Quebec\nwas the only seaport the two provinces had. It was in Lower Canada that\nthe duties on imports were levied. Of these import duties Upper Canada\nwas now entitled to a fifth, instead of an eighth, as at first agreed\nupon. And if the whole was sacrificed, the value of a fifth of the\nwhole would not amount to much. The government, and, indeed, the whole\npeople of Upper Canada were annoyed at the loss of revenue inflicted\nupon the country, for the sake merely of principle. But that was not\nall. Upper Canada was already so rapidly increasing in population that\na fifth of the whole duties collected was not looked upon as her fair\nshare of receipts. Her commissioners desired a larger share of the\nincomings. Lower Canada would not grant the increase and there was\nanother difficulty between the provinces. The subject was brought under\nthe consideration of the imperial parliament, by Upper Canada, through\nthe instrumentality of an agent, in London, appointed to communicate\nwith the government at home. The parliament of Lower Canada was\nprorogued on the 18th of February. Lord Dalhousie was satisfied that no\nbenefit to the public could be expected from a continuance of the\nsession, and had come to prorogue the parliament. He regretted that the\nsupplies had been withheld, but neither the civil government, nor the\nofficers of justice, nor any of the officers of the government or of\nthe courts would be at all affected. The mischievous effects of their\nproceeding would fall upon trade and of course be highly injurious to\nHis Majesty's loyal and faithful subjects, who should know how to bring\nabout a remedy. He was much pleased with the conduct of the Council.\nThe Governor General had received an idea from Mr. Ryland, with which\nhe was quite delighted. It now seemed to His Excellency that he would\nsoon bring the Commons of Canada to their senses. Had Mr. Ryland been\ncalled upon to point out a remedy for the existing difficulties in the\ngovernment, he would have said to lord Dalhousie:--either unite the\nlegislatures of Upper and Lower Canada, or, by giving a fair\nrepresentation to the townships, secure an English influence in the\nHouse of Assembly. Perfect the constitution by creating an hereditary\naristocracy, for which the Crown Reserves were originally set apart,\nand make the Legislative Council so respectable as to render a seat\ntherein an object of ambition to every man of character and talent.\nExercise decidedly the patronage of the Romish Church, and give the\nRomish Bishop clearly to understand that the slightest opposition on\nhis part to this regulation would put an end to his allowance of \u00a31,500\nsterling per annum. Admit no more coadjutors, secure a permanent\nrevenue, adequate or nearly adequate to the expenses of the civil\ngovernment. Ascertain to a farthing the monies that actually are or\nought to be in the Receiver General's chest. Give to that officer an\nadequate salary, and take effectual means to prevent one shilling of\nthe public monies from being employed by him in future in commercial\nspeculations. Accomplish these objects, as you easily may, and be\nassured that good sense and upright intentions, on the part of His\nMajesty's representative, will thereafter be fully adequate to get the\nbetter of every difficulty that has hitherto attended the provincial\ngovernment. This scheme of a remedy for existing difficulties was\nsubmitted by the Earl of Dalhousie to the government of England. A bill\nwas indeed introduced into the imperial parliament, for a legislative\nunion of the two provinces, and for the regulation of trade in Canada.\nA majority of the Commons of England would not, however, listen to the\nproposal for a legislative union of the provinces, for which no desire\nhad been expressed by either Upper or Lower Canada. The sense of the\ninhabitants of the Canadas should first have been obtained. To this\nopposition the imperial ministry were compelled to yield, and therefore\nthat part of the bill which related to the union was relinquished. The\nother part of the bill, afterwards known as \"The Canada Trade Act,\"\nbecame law. By it the claims of Upper Canada were recognised, and to\nguard that province against the caprice of the lower province, all the\nduties payable under Acts of the legislature of Lower Canada, on\nimports, were to be permanently continued, according to the latest\nagreement, in July, 1819. The two temporary provincial Acts, 53 and 55,\nGeorge III, chapter 2, and 85, George III, chapter 3, including that\nwhich had been suffered to expire were revived, and became permanent\nActs, only liable to repeal or alteration, by Lower Canada, with the\nconcurrence of Upper Canada. New duties on imports by sea could not be\nimposed by Lower Canada without the consent of Upper Canada, without\nthe special interference of the imperial parliament. It was no wonder\nthat Lord Dalhousie spoke ironically of the effect to be produced by\nthe stoppage of the supplies. The measure was not, however, judicious.\nIt was in the highest degree irritating to Lower Canada. It was a\npositive grievance, and indeed it was a partial destruction of the\nconstitution, at the instance of a placeman. There was one good thing\nin the Act. The power of commuting the seigniorial or feudal tenure\ninto free and common soccage was given to the censitaire in\ntransactions with the crown.\nThis rude assault upon the Commons of Lower Canada came at an\nunfortunate period. Both provinces were suffering. Agriculture and\ncommerce were in distress. Agricultural and commercial distress had\nalso afflicted the mother country. People were unwillingly idle, and\nconsequently, discontented. The regulations then existing in Great\nBritain, with respect to the importation of grain and flour from the\nCanadas were alleged to amount almost to a prohibition. To the\noperation of these regulations Canadian distress was attributed. Unless\nrelief were speedily obtained, the certain ruin of the entire farming\nand commercial interests was expected to ensue. The difficulties\noccasioned by the obstruction to Canadian navigation, in winter,\nrendered it impossible for the Canadian farmer to compete fairly or\nwith a reasonable chance of success, in the English markets, with the\nUnited States. American produce was admitted into Lower Canada, for\nconsumption, free of duty, to the prejudice of Upper Canada, and was a\ndirect violation of the reciprocity which ought to exist between the\ntwo provinces, as it depressed the price of Upper Canada produce, and\nrendered nugatory the laws existing for its protection. And unless the\nflour of Upper Canada should be admitted into the English market on\nterms of greater favor, the imports from Great Britain would entirely\ncease. The Upper Canadians wished the repeal of the corn bill. They\nwanted the monopoly of the supply of the West Indies. They desired a\ncorn bill for themselves. And they did not know precisely what they\ndesired for the riddance of their distress. It was at this season that\nthe \"Canada Trade Act\" came into force, and that the propriety of\nuniting the two provinces was to be considered by the people. In Lower\nCanada the contemplated re-union of the provinces was not relished.\nUpper Canada was indifferent and perhaps rather in favor than opposed\nto the scheme. To Lower Canada it forboded the loss of caste, usages,\nand religion, while to Upper Canada it indicated only a more extended\nsphere of legislative action, and the direct control of the general\nrevenue for improvements. The Union Bill was well conceived. The\nGovernor was to have erected the townships, previously unrepresented,\ninto counties, of six townships each, with a member for every county.\nThe qualification for a seat in the Assembly was to be the unincumbered\npossession of landed property to the value of \u00a3500 sterling. The House\nwas to consist of not more than one hundred and twenty members, and of\nnot more than sixty members for either province. Four ministers were to\nhave seats in the House and to have the liberty of speech without the\nright of votes, in the shape of two members from each of the Executive\nCouncils of Upper Canada and of Lower Canada. The duration of the\nparliament was to be five years. There was to be no power of\nimprisonment for alleged contempts given to either House. The\nproceedings of both Houses were to be recorded in the English language,\nand in fifteen years afterwards, the English language only was to be\nmade use of in debate. The free exercise of the Roman Catholic religion\nwas to be respected, subject to the king's supremacy, and to the\ncollation or induction into cures--a privilege until then enjoyed by\nthe Bishop superintending the Romish Church in Canada. Here was Mr.\nRyland's scheme to the letter. It gave evidence of some ability. It was\nthe scheme of a lifetime, of one zealous in the cause of the Church of\nEngland. How the Lower Canadians were to have been induced to consent,\nis not easily guessed at. It is true Mr. Ryland intimates that the\nBishop's salary could be withdrawn, and that no more coadjutors should\nbe allowed. But the Bishop was not the only clergyman of the Church of\nRome in the province, and the See of Rome has its instruments in every\necclesiastical grade. The priests, as a body were very much annoyed at\nthe Union Bill. They did not fail to declaim against it. Nor were they\nto be blamed. The French Canadians were indeed, to a man, opposed to\nthe union. The English population were, of course, in favor of the\nscheme. Horrified at popery, an Englishman honestly believed that\npopery had no rights in a country possessed by a protestant king. It\ncould be tolerated but not legally maintained. Of course when the King\nbecame Bishop of the Church in Canada, the Pope was virtually deposed,\nand the deposition of the Pope in England is indeed the most essential\ndifference between the Church of England and the Church of Rome. The\npeople of Montreal were most actively in favor of Mr. Ryland's\nadmirable scheme of religious conversion. Of 80,000 people who had come\ninto the province since the American war scarcely a twentieth part had\nremained within the limits of the province, the rest having been\ninduced by the foreign character of the country in which they had\nsought an asylum, and the discouragements they experienced, to try\ntheir fortune in the United States. The division of the Province of\nQuebec, into Upper and Lower Canada, had been impolitic. Had a fit plan\nof representation been adopted the British population would have now\nexceeded the French, and the imports and exports of the country have\nbeen greatly beyond their present amount.[34] It is not a little\nextraordinary to find that the English speaking inhabitants of the\nprovince complained of the unreasonable extent of political rights\nwhich had been conceded to Lower Canada. Mr. Neilson was not of these\ncomplainants. Mr. James Stuart was. The Canadians had deserted Mr.\nStuart and he now deserted them. Mr. Neilson had not been yet deserted\nby those whom he had served, and he had not therefore cause for\ndesertion. Messrs. Neilson and Papineau went home in charge of\npetitions against the contemplated union of the provinces, while Mr.\nStuart went to London with the petition of the unionists in his pocket.\nThe mob was merely prejudiced. There was no politics in the heads of\nthe ordinary people, whether of French or English extraction. But the\nEnglish hated the French, and the French disliked the English, because\nneither understood the other. It was enough for the English speaking\npopulation that the government was English, to secure their sympathies\nto the government, and it was enough for the French speaking part of\nthe population to know that the Assembly was chiefly Franco-Canadian to\nsecure their sympathies to the Assembly. Lord Dalhousie and the\nred-tape-nobility looked upon both only as _canaille_. His\nlordship was the emperor; the judges, the bishops, and the secretaries,\nwere the marshals and princes of an empire of serfs--of crown serfs and\nof serfs of the soil. But, however that may have been, two events of\nsome importance had occurred. The Lieutenant-Governor of the province,\nSir Francis Burton, had arrived at the scene of his labors, and Sir\nJohn Caldwell, the Receiver General, had become insolvent towards the\nprovince, in the sum of \u00a3100,000. The difficulties of Lord Dalhousie's\nreign were on the increase. The union and intended extinction of Lower\nCanadian nationality was not a matter to be so easily effected as at\nfirst anticipated. His lordship again assembled parliament on the 10th\nof January, 1823. The Clerk of the Assembly informed the noble Earl, at\nthe head of the government, that the Speaker, Mr. Papineau, had gone to\nEngland. The Governor ordered the Assembly to elect another Speaker in\nhis stead. They did so, and their choice fell upon Mr. Valli\u00e8res de St.\nR\u00e9al. The choice was approved of. Lord Dalhousie thereupon opened the\nsession. He told the Houses that an Act had been passed regulating the\ntrade of Lower Canada with the United States of America, and the\nintercourse between Upper and Lower Canada, an adjustment of the\ndifferences subsisting between the two provinces being provided for. He\nfurther intimated that the imperial government contemplated the union\nof the two provinces, but had withdrawn the measure until the next\nsession of the imperial legislature, with the view of ascertaining the\nsentiments of the Canadian people on the matter. He hoped that the\nsubject would receive attention, and the deliberations of the\nparliament be distinguished for moderation. He had been somewhat\nembarrassed by the stoppage of the supplies, but had done as much as he\ncould to avert inconvenience, by paying up the usual expenses for the\nhalf year then current, though he had not felt himself justified in\ndoing so beyond that period, and there consequently remained a very\nconsiderable arrear due to the public servants. A full statement of the\nreceipts and expenditures for the year would be laid before the\nAssembly, together with an estimate of the probable expense in the\npresent year of those local establishments for which the Assembly were\nbound in duty to provide. He trusted that the whole financial accounts\nwould be brought to a clear and final arrangement. He was convinced\nthat the Assembly regretted that the progress of the public interests\nhad been interrupted. And without dwelling upon the past, he would\nearnestly recommend them to consider the incalculable injuries which\nhad been accumulated on the province, while the executive branch of the\nconstitution remained disabled from exercising its just and legitimate\nand most useful powers. The Assembly were pleased to learn that the\nimperial parliament had suffered the measure for the union of the two\nprovinces to lie over until the opinion of the Canadian people had been\nascertained, and indeed they fairly echoed in their reply the speech\nfrom the throne. A call of the Assembly was ordered for the 21st of\nJanuary, to consider the union question. The Upper House, with the\nexception of the Honorables John Richardson, Herman W. Ryland, Charles\nW. Grant, James Irvine, Roderick McKenzie, and Wm. B. Felton, were\ndecidedly opposed to the contemplated union. The Assembly believed that\nthe union of two provinces, having laws, civil and religious\ninstitutions, and usages essentially different, would endanger the laws\nand institutions of either province; and that there would thence result\nwell-founded apprehensions respecting the stability of those laws and\ninstitutions, fatal doubts of the future lot of these colonies, and a\nrelaxation of the energy and confidence of the people, and of the bonds\nwhich so strongly attached them to the mother country. The resolutions\nof both Houses were embodied in addresses to the King and Parliament of\nGreat Britain. Those to the King the Governor was requested to\ntransmit, and those to the two Imperial Houses of legislation were\nforwarded to the delegates of the anti-unionists, Messrs. Neilson and\nPapineau.\n [34] To-day an agitation has begun for a repeal of the present\n Act of Union.\nA message was sent to the Assembly, officially informing the House of\nthe arrival of Lieutenant-Governor Sir Francis Burton. The message\ncontained another bit of information to the effect that it was\nnecessary that a residence should be provided for His Excellency. It\nstated still further that a furnished House had been taken for His\nExcellency, at a yearly rent of \u00a3500, for which it was desirable that\nthe Assembly should provide. And the message concluded by recommending\nthe addition of \u00a31,000 a year to the salary of His Excellency, which\nwas then only \u00a31,500, so that with \u00a32,500 a year, and house rent free,\nhe might live in becoming style. The Assembly cheerfully voted these\nextra allowances to the Lieutenant-Governor. A bill was this session\npassed, erecting, for judicial purposes, the Eastern Townships into the\nInferior District of St. Francis. There was to be a provincial court in\nthe district, and a resident judge, who was to have jurisdiction in\npersonal actions of \u00a320 sterling. A Court of Quarter Sessions in the\ndistrict was also established. The bill was introduced into the\nAssembly, and passed, to increase the representation, by giving the\nEastern Townships a representation precisely as recommended in the\ncontemplated Act of Union; but the Assembly, to counterbalance the\neffect which might result from the introduction of six new members into\nthe Assembly, also created an overbalancing number of new French\nconstituencies. The Council consequently rejected the representation\nbill. Then the estimates of supply were submitted by message. They had\nbeen classed into two schedules. One comprehending the Governor,\nLieutenant-Governor, certain officers attached to the Governor-in-Chief,\nincluding the provincial agent in London, the Surveyor General and\ncontingencies of his department; the judges and officers of the Courts;\nthe Executive Councillors (\u00a3100 a year each); the Clerk of the Council,\nand the contingencies of his office and of the committee of audit;\nthe Inspector General of Accounts; the Receiver General's department;\nand the Clerk of the Terrars, the whole sum to be supplied being\n\u00a332,083 11s. 3d. sterling. The second schedule included the local\nestablishments--the legislature and its officers; the cost of printing\nthe laws; the salaries to public schoolmasters; the pension list; rents\nand repairs of public buildings, and the salaries and disbursements in\nconnection with such buildings; the expense of collecting the revenues:\nthe expenses of the Trinity House; the militia staff and contingencies;\nthe expenses for criminals and houses of correction; and miscellaneous\nexpenses, such as the salaries of the Grand Voyer and others, the\ngrants to residents on Anticosti, for the assistance of shipwrecked\nseamen; and the assessments on public buildings, in all amounting to\n\u00a330,225 sterling. The Assembly voted the local schedule but not the\nother. Indeed they protested against being required to do so in the\nparticular manner required. The Assembly next passed bills to reimburse\nand indemnify His Majesty for monies expended without the sanction of\nthe legislature. The Council did not think it decorous to speak of\n\"indemnifying\" the King and rejected the bills. There was yet another\nmoney bill to pass the Council. A bill to defray the expenses of the\nlocal establishments, in which the different items of expenditure were\nspecified, was sent up for concurrence and was only not rejected on\naccount of the distress to individuals which its rejection would have\ncaused. The Assembly had appropriated monies for the payment of the\nlocal establishments, which was to be taken from the general funds of\nthe province. The Council passed the bill under protest because by the\nterm \"general,\" appropriated as well as unappropriated monies might be\nindicated as under the control of the Assembly. An attempt was made to\ninduce the Council to agree to the nomination of Mr. Marryatt as agent\nfor the province, but the Council refused, and the Assembly allowed the\nmatter to drop. To render the proceedings of the Assembly still more\nattractive, a breach of privilege case occurred again this session. The\n_Montreal Times_, a stiffishly unionist paper, had dealt harshly both\nwith the Assembly and Council, in speaking of these two august bodies,\nas anti-British. The Council was quite indifferent to the imputation,\nbut the Assembly pronounced the assertion of the _Times_ to be a false\nand scandalous libel upon the House, and a breach of its privileges. In\naccordance with this judgment, Mr. Speaker was instructed to issue\nwarrants for the arrests of the editor and publishers of the _Times_.\nOne offender, Mr. Ariel Bowman, was taken into custody, but Mr. Edward\nSparhawk, the other offender, could not be found. Mr. Bowman was not\nlong a prisoner. He escaped from custody soon after being taken, and\nneither of the offenders were subsequently caught during the session,\nso that both eluded the punishment due to an offence which was very\nheinous only in the sight of the Assembly. After this important matter\nwas disposed of, the Governor General intimated that he had advanced\n\u00a330,000 to the Receiver General, out of the military chest, to enable\nhim to pay the expenses of the civil government, for the half year\nending in May, 1822. He called upon the House for re-payment. The reply\nwas pertinent. The House would at once have authorised the Receiver\nGeneral to return the money out of the sum of \u00a3100,000, the balance of\nthe public money which should have been in his hands, if it could have\nbeen done, but a balance being due to the province, the Assembly could\nonly look upon the accommodation afforded to the Receiver General as a\npersonal favor to that officer. Indeed the Assembly voted all the sums\nrequired for other public purposes, without taking into any account\nwhatever the emptiness of the public chest. The financial affairs of\nthe province were in a curious condition. \"My earnest entreaties,\" says\nLord Dalhousie to Mr. Valli\u00e8res de St. R\u00e9al, \"to ascertain the state of\nour finances, have been unavailing. Whilst the legislature has been\ncontending about forms, the substance of the treasury has been used,\nand the province now stands without any funds which can be called its\nown, or, worse than that, it has incurred a debt to the military chest\nof \u00a330,000, advanced in 1822, and \u00a330,000 more advanced this summer of\n1823, to which must be added the amount of all unpaid appropriations in\nlast session, a sum not less than \u00a3240,000, exclusive of the grant of\nthe Chambly Canal:\n Appropriations of 1823 unpaid 24,000\n Our necessary expenses for 1824 70,000\n Our probable appropriation, including the\n And our revenue to meet this 90,000.\"\nThe recent declaration and exposure of the Receiver General undoubtedly\ndid shew the evils arising from not annually settling the public\naccounts. The Receiver General had not, however, positively wasted the\npublic revenue. Largely engaged in business he had built sawmills,\ndammed rivers, and constructed viaducts. He was an enterprising man of\nbusiness, and doubtless his enterprise had indirectly enriched the\nprovince, although as far as the immediate recovery of the money was\nconcerned, for the payment of the civil expenses of the government, the\ninvestments had been somewhat selfish and rather injudicious. The\nReceiver Generalship should not have been in the hands of a person\nengaged in trade. That was the mistake, and it was one, which the\nAssembly even had endeavored to remedy when perhaps it was too late.\nThere were still some other matters of finance meriting legislative\nattention. The \"Canada Trade Act\" of the imperial parliament had\nwonderfully deranged the siege operations of the House. The Assembly\nwas now on the defensive, the governor of the province having been very\nconsiderably re-inforced by the energetic measures of the imperial\nauthorities. It was not even considered prudent to make further zigzag\napproaches. The Assembly resolved upon keeping within their own lines\nand to defend themselves as well as they could from the vigorous\nsorties of the enemy, led on by Mr. Ryland. They requested that copies\nof any addresses to His Majesty by the Legislative Council of Lower\nCanada or by the Parliament of Upper Canada to the King, or his\nrepresentative in Lower Canada, might be laid before them. The Governor\nsent to them an able report of a joint committee of the Legislative\nCouncil and Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada, alluding to the\nfruitless negotiations, which had been carried on between the duties'\ncommissioners of the two provinces, a document which had had such\nweight with the imperial parliament as to have led to the passage of\nthe Canada Trade Act. The Assembly scanned the paper carefully but did\nnothing. They only said that the Act would receive their most serious\nattention in the next session of the parliament. They were rather\ninclined to do business on a more liberal scale than they had\nmanifested at the previous session. An Act was passed to enable the\nprovince to commence the construction of a canal between the town of\nSt. Johns, in Canada East, and the village of Chambly, which the\ncompany, incorporated in 1818, had been unable, for want of funds to\ncommence. Fifty thousand pounds were appropriated for this purpose.\nThey voted also twelve thousands pounds as an additional appropriation\ntowards the construction of the Lachine Canal; two thousand one hundred\npounds for the encouragement of agriculture; eight hundred and fifty\npounds were granted to the Montreal General Hospital Society; two\nhundred pounds were awarded to the Education Society of Quebec; Chief\nJustice Monk was pensioned in the sum of five hundred and fifty pounds\nsterling a year; and Mr. Justice Ogden was voted a retiring annual\npension of four hundred and fifty pounds sterling. The House then\napplied to the Governor for a copy of his instructions relative to the\napplication of the Jesuits' Estates Revenues for educational purposes;\nbut the Governor refused to comply with the Assembly's request, because\nhe had not been specially permitted to lay his instructions before the\nAssembly. The business of the session was concluded, and Lord Dalhousie\nwent down in State to the Legislative Council Chamber, to prorogue the\nparliament. In his closing speech he expressed the satisfaction with\nwhich he had witnessed so much diligence and attention to the business\nof the country. He was exceedingly well pleased to have had to give the\nroyal assent to the Acts passed to facilitate the administration of\njustice, to encourage agriculture, to construct canals, to assist\ntrade, and to aid charitable and educational institutions. He thanked\nthe Assembly for the supplies. He regretted that offices for the\nenregistration of property had not been established. He had transmitted\nthe addresses of both Houses on the subject of the union of the\nprovinces to the king. And he assured the Houses that he esteemed the\nresult of the session at once honorable to parliament and useful to the\ncountry.\nThere was still much anxiety in the country about the contemplated\nunion. Messrs. Neilson and Papineau had not, however, been idle in\nLondon. They had strongly pointed out to the imperial government the\nprobability of a relaxation of the energy and confidence of the people\nof Lower Canada and of the bonds which so strongly attached them to the\nmother country, if the union was consummated, and their representations\nweighed with the government, for not long after the prorogation of the\nLower Canada parliament it was officially announced by Lord Dalhousie\nthat His Majesty's government had, for the present, determined to\nrelinquish the proposed measure for the legislative union of the\nprovinces.\nThe parliament of Upper Canada was opened on the 23rd of March.\nGovernor Maitland, in his opening address, spoke of the temporary\ndiminution of receipts from Quebec, as having interfered with the\nprosperity of the province. He recommended the establishment of an\nadditional circuit and of a second assize. He probably addressed the\nHouse for the last time, and he took the opportunity of remarking that\nhe had ever found them guided in their deliberations by a scrupulous\nattention to the interests of the people as by a proper regard for the\nhonorable support of His Majesty's government. And he concluded by\nalluding to the contemplated union of the two provinces which, if\neffected, would extend the field of legislation. In the course of the\nsession, the Assembly represented to the Lieutenant-Governor that they\nfound the travelling expenses of the Judges too high, and that the\nsalaries of all the officers of the government and of the courts were\ntoo high. It was recommended that there should be retrenchment, and it\nwas suggested that the scale of remuneration, which existed previous to\n1796, was sufficient. The Governor would not hear of a retrenchment,\nwhich could only have the effect of placing respectable men in the\nsituation of struggling against actual penury, with the gloomy prospect\nof starving in old age. A second representation was made by the\nAssembly, to the effect that confusion resulted from the manner in\nwhich the public accounts were kept. There was a want of detail which\nshould be obviated. Sir Peregrine Maitland was quite indignant at this\nrepresentation. He was answerable for the necessities of the public,\nand the House of Assembly approached him with the deliberate intention\nof misrepresenting his administration. Any information, solicited by\nthe Assembly, to be afforded by him, as an act of courtesy, would have\nbeen most cheerfully afforded. He did not care for secrecy, and any\ninformation desired concerning the public accounts he would, at any\ntime, on a proper application, afford. The House respectfully informed\nHis Excellency that they had not the slightest intention of\nmisrepresenting his administration, but merely ventured to suggest an\nimprovement in the mode of keeping the accounts. So the matter ended.\nThe parliamentary session was rather a protracted one. The Kingston\nBank Bill had been a long time before the House, and almost at the\nclose of the session some amendments were made to it. An Orange Society\nBill was thrown out of the House, by the casting vote of the Speaker.\nMr. Gourlay, when in Upper Canada, in 1819, strongly recommended, in a\nletter to the _Niagara Spectator_, the advisability of constructing\ncanals for the improvement of the navigation of the great lakes and the\nSt. Lawrence. His views were most enlightened. He advised the\nconstruction of canals on a scale to admit vessels of 200 tons burthen,\nlarge enough to brave the ocean, and not inconveniently large for\ninternal navigation. Should it be deemed advisable, says Mr. Gourlay,\nto have larger vessels in the trade, any additional expense should not\nfor a moment be thought of as an objection. The Lachine Canal is to\nadmit only of boats. This may suit the merchant of Montreal, but will\nnot do for Upper Canada. Indeed I am doubtful if our great navigation\nshould at all touch Montreal, and rather think it should be carried to\nthe northward. As to the line within the province, my mind is made up,\nnot only from inquiries commenced on my first arrival here, but from\nconsiderable personal inspection of the ground, as well between Lake\nOntario and Lake Erie, as below. My opinion is that the navigation\nought to be taken out of the river St. Lawrence, near the village of\nJohnstown, in Edwardsburgh, and let into the Ottawa, somewhere below\nthe Hawkesbury Rapids; probably in that part of the river called the\nLake of Two Mountains. By a bold cut, of a few miles, at the first\nmentioned place, the waters of the St. Lawrence might be conducted to a\ncommand of level, which would make the rest of the way practicable,\nwith very ordinary exertion. The idea which has been started by some of\nraising the navigation by two stages, first into Lake St. Francis, and\nthence to the higher level, may do for boat navigation; but, for\nvessels of a large scale it is greatly objectionable. Any benefit to be\ngained from the lake considered as part of the canal already formed,\nwould be quite overbalanced by the want of a good towing path. A boat\nnavigation may, I think, with benefit to the parts adjoining, be\nbrought up so far as Milrush, through Lake St. Francis, and thence be\ntaken into the line of the grand canal. The advantages to Upper Canada\nfrom a navigation on a large scale would be infinite. Only think of the\ndifference of having goods brought here from England, in the same\nbottoms to which they were first committed, instead of being unshipped\nat Quebec, unboated and warehoused in Montreal, carted to the ditch\ncanal, and there parcelled out, among petty craft for forwarding to\nKingston. Then again at Kingston tumbled about for transport across\nLake Ontario; and again, if Amherstburgh is the destination, a third\ntime boated, unboated, and reshipped. Think of the difference in point\nof comfort and convenience to the merchants here. Think of the greater\ndespatch. Think of the saving of trouble and risk. Think of being\nunburdened of immediate commissions and profits. Think of the closer\nconnexion which it would form between this province and England. Think\nof the greater comfort it would afford to emigrants, and how much it\nwould facilitate and encourage emigration. With navigation on a large\nscale, shipbuilding would become an object of great importance here,\nand new vessels might be ready loaded with produce to depart with the\nfirst opening in the spring. There are but few vessels trading from\nEngland to Quebec, which make two voyages in a season, and then it is\nwith increase of risk that the second voyage is performed. Every vessel\ncould leave England, proceed to the extremities of Lakes Michigan or\nSuperior, and get back with ease in a season, or every vessel could\nleave Lakes Erie or Ontario in the spring, proceed to England, get back\nhere, and again take home a second cargo of produce. In time of war\nwhat security would such a scale of navigation yield. It would put all\ncompetition on the lakes out of the question. Upper Canada would then\npossess a vast body of thorough bred seamen and ship carpenters, with\nabundance of vessels fit to mount guns, not only for their own\nindividual defence, but to constitute a navy at a moment's notice. In a\ncommercial competition too, the Great Western Canal of the States would\nbe quite outrivalled by such a superior navigation. Upwards, except at\nthe Falls of St. Mary, where a very short canal would give a free\npassage, navigation is clear for more than a thousand miles, and when\npopulation thickens on the wide-extended shores of the Upper Lakes,\nonly think how the importance increases of having the transport of\ngoods and produce uninterrupted by transhipment. Such was Mr. Gourlay's\ndream in the jail of Niagara. It is now reality. Ships of war, American\nand British, have passed from Lake Ontario down the St. Lawrence to the\nocean, the ship _Eureka_ embarked passengers for California, at\nCleveland, in Ohio, and passed down the St. Lawrence to sea, safely\nreaching her destination on the Pacific, and sea-going vessels have\nbeen built in Kingston to ply between that port and Liverpool direct.\nSteamships pass up the St. Lawrence canals and down the St. Lawrence\nrapids. Canada is advancing with giant strides, small as her beginning\nwas. It was in November, 1823, that George Keefer, J. Northrop, Thomas\nMerritt, William Chisholm, Joseph Smith, Paul Shipman, George Adams,\nJohn Decoes, and William Hamilton Merritt, advertised in the _Upper\nCanada Gazette_ that, as freeholders of the district of Niagara, they\nintended to petition the legislature at the next session of parliament,\nto incorporate a company for the purpose of connecting the Lakes Erie\nand Ontario, by a canal capable of carrying boats of from twenty to\nforty tons burthen, by the following route:--To commence at Chippewa,\nten miles above the mouth of that creek, on the farm of John Brown,\nfrom thence to the head of the middle branch of the twelve mile creek,\nat G. Vanderbarrack's, from thence to John Decoes, passing over to the\nwest branch of the twelve mile creek, on the farm of Adam Brown, and\ncontinuing along the said stream to Lake Ontario. From the Chippewa to\nGrand River, either from the forks of the Chippewa, through the marsh,\nor from Oswego, whichever may prove most advantageous,--and for the\nerection of machinery for hydraulic purposes, on the entire route.\nThere was a beginning by men whose names are familiar to the Canadians.\nThese were some of the pioneers of improvement, and some of them yet\nliving have to combat the vulgar or interested reproach of being\npossessed with ideas of utopian schemes. But it is time to turn again\nto the baser things of Lower Canada. Lord Dalhousie, who had paid a\nvisit to Nova Scotia, immediately after the prorogation of the\nparliament of Lower Canada, returned to Quebec in August. In October he\nestablished a new official Gazette. The commission of King's Printer\ngiven to Mr. Samuel Neilson, in 1812, was revoked, and Dr. John\nCharlton Fisher, who had been the editor of the _Albion_,\npublished in New York, was commissioned as the printer in Canada, to\nthe King's Most Excellent Majesty. Dr. Fisher was a man of\ngentlemanlike exterior, of good address, of superior educational\nacquirements, of fair mental capacity, and, in a word, a gentleman and\na scholar. He was an Englishman, and passionately loyal. But he was no\nmatch in shrewdness for Mr. Neilson, who was now more bitterly opposed\nto the government than ever. Dr. Fisher was, however, beyond any\nquestion, better suited for the management of a court journal than Mr.\nNeilson could have been. Mr. Neilson was a colonist and deeply imbued\nwith that spirit of independence which is natural to the resident of a\ncountry far removed from the extremes of majesty and misery. Dr. Fisher\nhad been the resident of a town in England, an officer of the English\nmilitia, and having had long to live on smiles, he smiled again to\nlive. He was a courtier.\nThere was a considerable immigration both in 1822 and 1823. In 1822,\n10,465 immigrants had arrived at Quebec. This year 10,188 immigrants\nhad arrived. Nearly 60 families, consisting of 200 persons, the\nmajority of whom were Quakers, had come from Bristol, in England to\nsettle in Upper Canada.\nThe legislature of Lower Canada was again summoned to meet for the\ndespatch of business, on the 25th of November. It was the last session\nof the parliament. Lord Dalhousie in opening the session apologised for\nthe statements about financial difficulties, which he was obliged to\nmake so frequently. He entreated the House to proceed with the public\nbusiness harmoniously. He recommended the further consideration of the\njudicature bill, and his message of the 4th of February, calling\nattention to the expediency of enacting a law for the public registry\nof instruments conveying, changing, or affecting real property, with a\nview to give greater security to the possession and transfer of such\nproperty, and to commercial transactions in general, which had been\noverlooked in the previous session. And the Assembly proceeded to\nbusiness. Thereupon Lord Dalhousie officially informed the House that\nhe had suspended the Receiver General from the performance of the\nduties of his office. The Governor had directed his attention after the\nclose of the previous session, to ascertain the state of the funds upon\nwhich large appropriations had been granted, and there appeared to be\n\u00a396,000 in the hands of the Receiver General. But when His Excellency\nhad called upon that officer to declare whether he was prepared to meet\nwarrants to that amount, various accounts and statements shewing claims\non the part of the province, on the imperial treasury, and the military\nchest, the payment of which into his hands would enable him to meet the\ndemands of the government and, in time, to pay up the actual balance of\nhis accounts with the public men, were submitted to him. He was not\nthen prepared with the balance required to meet the warrants for the\npublic salaries, and he requested that the warrants might not be issued\nuntil the 1st of July, when the revenue of the current year would place\nfunds in the chest. Lord Dalhousie agreed to the Receiver General's\nrequest, concerning the time of issuing the warrants; but the question\nas to the repayment of the sums claimed by the Receiver General as due\nto the province, being one on which His Majesty's government alone\ncould decide, Mr. Davidson was sent to England, on the part both of the\ngovernment and of the Receiver General, with voluminous papers to be\nsubmitted to the Lords of the Treasury. When, however, Lord Dalhousie\nreturned to Quebec from Nova Scotia, he was informed by the Receiver\nGeneral that he was unable to meet any further warrants to be drawn\nupon him. Under such circumstances it only remained for the\nGovernor-in-Chief to appoint a commission of two gentlemen to inspect\nand control the operations of the Receiver General; and he took upon\nhimself the responsibility of granting loans from the military chest,\nto meet the urgent necessities of the civil government. But two days\nbefore the House had been assembled, no intimation having been received\nfrom the imperial authorities, that the claims advanced by the Receiver\nGeneral, on the part of the province, would be admitted, he had been\ncompelled to suspend the Receiver General until the pleasure of the\nking should be known with regard to him, or, at least, until\narrangements should be made for replacing the deficient balance in the\npublic chest. Mr. Caldwell was to be pitied, if not excused. His\nfather, his predecessor in the Receiver Generalship, had left him a\ndefalcation of \u00a340,000 to be made good from a salary of \u00a3500 a year.\nMr. Caldwell was compelled to engage in trade, and he did engage in\ntrade successfully. He acquired large property. His estate at Lauzon\nwas worth \u00a31,500 a year, but then he bought his estate, to make good\nhis father's deficiencies, by trading on the public monies, and he\nentailed the estate on his son, to prevent its falling into the hands\nof the province, with whose means he had improved it, previously to\nannouncing that he was a defaulter towards the province to the extent\nof \u00a396,117. This was not honorable and deserves neither pity nor\nexcuse. The courts of law would not countenance the entail. The\npretended entail was dismissed in the Canadian courts and dismissed in\nthe courts of law in England. It was not to be supposed that Mr.\nCaldwell could keep an estate improved at the public expense, on the\ncondition only of paying, during his life, \u00a31,500 a year, out of it, to\ngovernment. But Mr. Caldwell had a claim upon the province. He had paid\nout large sums of money, for which he was as much entitled to 3 per\ncent as was the Receiver General of Upper Canada. He and his father had\nreceived a million and a half, the per centage on which, at 3 per cent,\nwas \u00a345,471, which ought in equity to be allowed him. He would pay,\nmoreover, \u00a31,000 a year, in the event of his restoration to office,\nwith a provision, by the legislature, suited to its responsibility. Now\nit does seem that if Mr. Caldwell was prepared to pay so many thousands\na year, on certain conditions, there was no necessity for his default.\nThe House would have nothing whatever to do with Mr. Caldwell. He was\nnot their officer, and he was a defaulter. The imperial government were\nbound to make good the Receiver General's defalcation, and they would\naddress His Majesty on the subject. They did so. It was alleged that\nMr. Caldwell was an officer of the imperial government, over whom the\nprovincial government had no control, and that he had lost to the\nprovince \u00a396,117 13s. and one farthing, which it was right that the\ngovernment of England should make good to the government of Canada. The\nAssembly proceeded to another matter. On the motion of Mr. Bourdages a\ncommittee was appointed to consider the propriety of erecting an\nequestrian statue \"_in memoriam illustrissimi viri D. Georgii\nPrevost, Baroneti, Hujusce Provinci\u00e6, Gubernatoris, Atque Copiarum\nDucis Canadarum Servatoris_.\" The statue was never erected, the\nexcuse being simply \"no funds.\" The subject of tea smuggling was\nbrought before the House. The revenue had been seriously affected by\nthe illicit importation of Bohay, Souchong, and Oolong, from the United\nStates. Canada was desirous of obtaining \"Gunpowder\" from other and\nmore profitable sources, and addressed the king to know if tea could\nnot be obtained direct, either by some arrangement with the East India\nCompany, for an annual supply, or by granting to His Majesty's subjects\nthe benefit of direct importation. The king's ministers advised the\nEast India Company to have no more colonial tea difficulties, and tea\nsufficient for the consumption of the province of Canada was annually\nsent to Quebec, in the company's ships, until the company ceased to be\nconcerned in the tea trade. Messrs. Neilson and Papineau had returned\nto Quebec from London, and had reported that the consideration of the\nunion of the provinces would not be resumed without previous notice\nbeing given to the inhabitants of the province. The Canada Trade Act\nwas discussed and defended by Mr. Papineau on the plea of necessity.\nThe supplies were then considered, voted as before, _item_ by\n_item_, and twenty-five per cent discounted on every salary, to\nmake up for the Receiver General's defalcation. The Legislative Council\nrejected the supply bill as soon as it appeared in their chamber, and\nimplored His Majesty to consider the state of the province, out of\ntenderness to his loyal subjects in Lower Canada, and to grant a remedy\nfor the withholding of the supplies. But there was a subject of\nsomewhat greater importance brought to the attention of the parliament\nin a message to Congress by the President of the United States. The\nAmerican government claimed the right of freely navigating the St.\nLawrence from their territories, in the west, to the sea. It certainly\nwas a pity that the right was not conceded. The whole province of\nCanada would have gained by the increase of shipping to its waters. The\nCouncil were, however, much alarmed and addressed the Governor,\ndeprecating such a concession, as contrary to the law of nations, in\nsimilar cases; dangerously calculated to affect the dependence of the\ncolony, on the parent state; as having a tendency to systematize\nsmuggling and as pernicious to British interests, in a variety of ways.\nThey had further learned that Barnharts' Island, in the St. Lawrence,\nsituated above Cornwall, in the Upper Province, was to be conceded to\nthe Americans. They were apprehensive that the navigation of the St.\nLawrence, between Upper and Lower Canada, was to be impeded or placed\nat the mercy of the States, and they suggested a reciprocal right of\nnavigation, during peace, of the several channels of the St. Lawrence,\nsouth of the forty-fifth degree of north latitude, although they had\nprayed the king not to grant the reciprocal right of navigation in the\nSt. Lawrence, north of that latitude, in time of peace. The Assembly\npaid no attention to the matter.\nThe Lower House, however, was beginning to be, on the whole, somewhat\nfactiously disposed. For the most part, the positions assumed by the\nCommons of Canada, were correct positions, but they were not incapable\nof doing mischievously silly things. Indeed, while jealous to an\nextreme, of power in others, they claimed extraordinary powers, rights,\nand privileges for themselves. They would not have their proceedings\ncommented upon either by the Governor, the Legislative Council, or the\npress. The slightest attempt to curb them was a breach of privilege, a\nsimple remonstrance was something malicious, false, or libellous. They\nwere occasionally pettish. A war losses Act had been passed in Upper\nCanada. The brunt of the war of 1812, had fallen upon the inhabitants\nof the Upper Province. There, whole villages, had been burned, by the\nenemy, and grain fields laid waste. It was only right to indemnify the\nsufferers. Upper Canada was, however, totally destitute of means. The\ncost of her civil government had been altogether defrayed out of the\nimperial treasury, until very recently. She only received, for all\npurposes, a fifth of the duties on imports collected at Quebec. To\nenable the government of Upper Canada to carry out the objects sought\nto be attained by the passage of the War Losses Act, the British\ngovernment had consented to a loan of \u00a3100,000, the interest on one\nhalf of which the British government guaranteed. The other half,\n\u00a32,500, was to be provided for by Upper Canada. How to manage it was\nthe difficulty. Already the government had been compelled to resort to\nthe miserable stratagem of heavily taxing traders, so that any dumb\ninhabitant of the province, and every implement of trade appeared to be\nthe absolute property of the government, distributed among the people\nfor a consideration. Neither a man's ox nor ass was his own. He paid to\ngovernment a consideration, not for the land on which the cattle\ngrazed, nor on the profits which they yielded, but for using them. It\nwas a similar kind of stupidity to that which in Scotland and England\nrefused to permit a man to make a pair of trowsers, sole a boot, or set\nup types, however capable he might have been, unless he had served an\napprenticeship to the craft of seven years. It was not considered that\nwhile the horses of a pleasure carriage would be a proper source of\nrevenue to a government, a carter's horse is not a proper subject for\ntaxation. It was not considered that the laborer should give of the\nfruits of his labor an offering to the State which countenances and\nprotects him, while labor is not to be prevented by taxation. It was\nnot considered that while manufactured goods are properly dutiable, it\nis unwise to tax the raw material. An occupation ought not to be taxed.\nIt is a wrong policy to tax an auctioneer, a pedlar, a carter, a\nmerchant, a tavern keeper, or an editor, because of his occupation; but\nthe stuffs which are traded in may very properly be taxed. Yet\noccupations were taxed in Upper Canada, and, of course, rather to the\ndisadvantage than advantage of the province. It would not do to\nincrease the taxation on inn keepers, pedlars, hawkers, boatmen, and on\npublic carriages on land or water. The only way in which money could be\nraised was by the imposition of higher duties on imported goods, and\nthe Upper Canada Assembly therefore requested the Assembly of Lower\nCanada to impose new duties on imports sufficient to make up the annual\ninterest on the war losses loan, required from Upper Canada. But the\nLower Canadian Assembly would not impose new taxes upon imports for any\nsuch purpose. They sympathised with the sufferers, but as all the\ndisposable resources of both provinces had been employed in resisting\nthe unjust charges of the war, it was not now expedient to increase the\ntaxation on imported goods, such as wines, refined sugar, muscovado\nsugar, or by so much per cent, according to value, on merchandise. The\nAssembly of Lower Canada would not do anything in furtherance of the\nviews of those who had made such representations to England as had led\nto the \"Canada Trade Act.\" They did not of course say so. They,\nhowever, immediately afterwards, passed a vote of thanks to Sir James\nMackintosh and some other members of the House of Commons, who had\nsucceeded in persuading His Majesty's ministers to relinquish their\nsupport of a bill introduced into the imperial parliament in 1822, with\nthe view of altering the established constitution of Canada, and the\nremains of which bill was the \"Canada Trade Act.\" Upper Canada had\nanother way to obtain money from Lower Canada. The Upper had a claim\nupon the Lower province. There were arrears of drawbacks due by Lower\nCanada upon importations into Upper Canada during the war, of which no\nexact entries had been made at the Custom House. The \"Canada Trade Act\"\nhad provided that the amount due was to be decided by arbitration, and\narbitrators appointed, in 1823, had awarded to Upper Canada \u00a312,220.\nUpper Canada applied to Lord Dalhousie for the money, but his lordship\nwas so embarrassed with financial difficulties that he was compelled to\nrefer the matter to the Assembly. The Assembly would not pay the same\nsum twice. The Governor had used the money in paying the public\nofficers of Lower Canada, inasmuch as the award had been made in 1823,\nand from the time of the award the amount due to Upper Canada was not\nat the disposal either of the government or of the Assembly, but should\nhave been paid to Upper Canada. The Governor had virtually suspended\nthe execution of the Canada Trade Act and had, in consequence, exposed\nLower Canada to the misfortune of a renewal of the difficulties with\nUpper Canada. Lord Dalhousie was pestered with considerable ingenuity.\nThe Assembly of Lower Canada were rapidly becoming conservative or\nnon-progressive. They reported against any attempt being made to\nabolish the seigniorial tenure, or change any of the institutions of\nthe country, the continuance of which was granted by the capitulations\nof the colony. They were liberal enough in matters which did not\npeculiarly interest the French-Canadian population. The Church of\nScotland, in Canada, having applied for a proportion of the lands\nreserved for the clergy of the protestant churches, which had hitherto\nbeen exclusively claimed by the clergy of the Church of England, in\nCanada, the Assembly at once consented and addressed the king on the\nsubject. They were strongly of opinion that even protestant dissenters,\nfrom the Churches of England and Scotland had an equitable claim, if\nnot an equal right to enjoy the advantages and revenues to arise from\nthe reserves in proportion to their numbers and their usefulness. The\nChurch of England, in Canada was wroth. It was a pretty thing, indeed,\nfor a Roman Catholic House of Assembly, to presume to represent to the\nKing of Great Britain, and the head of their church, that the word\n\"Protestant\" was not exclusively the property of the Church of England.\nIt was high time to close the session, and accordingly, the\nGovernor-in-Chief went down to the Council Chamber, on the 9th of\nMarch. He was not pleased. He said, in his prorogation speech, that he\ndid not think the session would prove of much advantage to the public.\nHe would most respectfully tell both Houses his sentiments upon the\ngeneral result of their proceedings. A claim had been made to an\nunlimited right, in one branch of the legislature, to appropriate the\nwhole revenue of the province according to its pleasure. Even that\nportion of the revenue raised by the authority of the imperial\nparliament and directed by an Act of that parliament to be applied to\nthe payment of the expenses of the administration of justice, and of\nthe civil government of the province, the Assembly claimed the control\nof. By the other two branches of the legislature that claim had been\ndenied, but it had, nevertheless, been persisted in by the Assembly,\nand recourse had been had to the unusual course of withholding the\nsupplies, except on conditions, which would amount to an acknowledgment\nof its constitutional validity. The stoppage of the supplies had caused\nincalculable mischief to the province; but the country was,\nnevertheless, powerfully advancing in improvement. The people,\ngenerally, were contented. He had hitherto averted the unhappy\nconsequences of the stoppage of the supplies, by taking upon himself\ncertain responsibilities, but as his advice with regard to the payment\nof the civil list, had been, even yet, unavailing, he would in future\nguide the measures of the government by the strict letter of the law.\nHe thanked the Council for the calm, firm, and dignified character of\ntheir deliberations. And he fervently prayed that the wisdom of the\nproceedings of the Legislative Council would make a just impression\nupon the loyal inhabitants of the province and lead them to that\ntemperate and conciliating disposition which is always best calculated\nto give energy to public spirit, to promote public harmony, and ensure\npublic happiness, the great advantages which resulted from a wise\nexercise of the powers and privileges of parliament. The\nGovernor-in-Chief of Lower Canada was on his knees fervently praying\nfor that which was not very likely to happen. Energy or public spirit\ndoes not ordinarily spring from the temperate and conciliatory tone of\nsuch inhabitants of a province as Lord Dalhousie would have considered\nloyal.\nIt is desirable to know what Sir Peregrine Maitland was about in Upper\nCanada. He had made a speech to parliament which he considered to be\nhis last. It was little wonder--Sir Peregrine Maitland was intolerably\ntyrannical. He had gagged Mr. Gourlay. He had destroyed conventions. He\nhad suppressed public meetings. And he had been censured for it by Sir\nGeorge Murray. In 1822 the Honorable Barnabas Bidwell was returned to\nthe Upper Canada Assembly as a reformer. Mr. Bidwell was a man of very\nconsiderable ability. He was eloquent, and his ideas of civil and\nreligious liberty were liberal. Born a British subject, during the\nperiod of the revolution, but too young to take a part in it, he\nremained in the United States, after the declaration of independence.\nIt was not long before he attained an elevated station in Congress. His\ntalents, however, coupled with his independence of spirit and love of\ntruth made him enemies. A hostility so vindictive was raised against\nhim by his political enemies, that he removed to Upper Canada, in\ndisgust, there only to meet with similar treatment, the result of\nsimilar causes. No sooner did the people of Upper Canada begin to show\nan appreciation of his talents, than the Upper Canadian oligarchy saw\nin him a formidable rival to be got rid of by any means. A special Act\nwas passed to incapacitate Mr. Bidwell from holding a seat in the\nAssembly. He was to be considered an alien and to be treated as an\nalien as the Act directed. Mr. Barnabas Bidwell was expelled. The\nspirit of opposition to a bad government was not, however, lessened by\nsuch a course of action. New champions of the people's privileges\narose. Colonial red-tapism and colonial empiric aristocracy could with\ndifficulty sustain itself. Mr. Bidwell's son was brought to the\nhustings by the supporters of his father. He was not, without\ndifficulty to obtain a seat. At the first election, the returning\nofficer, one of the original Timothy Brodeurs, contrived to give his\nadversary a majority. A protest was entered, however, and after\ndistinguishing himself in an able defence of his rights at the Bar of\nthe House, the return was set aside.[35] Another election ensued, and\nthe returning officer refused to receive any votes for Mr. Bidwell, on\nthe ground of his being an alien. The return was again protested\nagainst, and the election again set aside. At last a fair election was\nallowed, when Mr. Bidwell, junior, was triumphantly returned to\nparliament. In 1824, many other reform members were elected to\nparliament, and on several questions, there was a decided majority\nagainst the faction. A new expedient was hit upon to get rid of these\nintruders. An \"Alien Bill,\" to make aliens of those who had taken\nadvantage of the various proclamations to United Empire loyalists to\nenter and settle in the province was attempted to be carried. Sir\nPeregrine Maitland and his advisers were not content with interdicting\nliberty of speech and liberty of action. They attempted to seize the\nproperty and very means of those to whom the faith of the government\nwas pledged for protection. They attempted to sweep out of the country\nthose who had received their titles to lands, thirty years back, and\nhad, for that length of time occupied their farms. And they,\nconsequently, attempted to alienate, and so get rid of men who had\nenjoyed, for a great length of time, the full privileges of British\nsubjects, and who were British subjects in sympathy and in reality as\nin law. Indeed it was only by the united exertions of the people that\nthe calamity was turned aside. The concoctors of the scheme took\nnothing by their motion. Had they succeeded, the advantage would only\nhave been temporary, and the reaction more terrible than it was. Having\nfailed in a design, which the word iniquitous is scarcely sufficient to\ncharacterise, the House of Assembly decidedly assumed a progressive or\nreform character. It was while this silly, as well as unjust measure\nwas being attempted to be carried that an attack of a novel kind was\nmade upon Mr. William Lyon Mackenzie. Mr. Mackenzie had some years\npreviously emigrated to Toronto, from Dundee, in Scotland, where he had\nbeen engaged in business, as a merchant's clerk. An excellent\naccountant, he was probably instrumental in causing it to be pointed\nout to Sir Peregrine Maitland that the public accounts of Upper Canada\nwere not properly kept. He would have had at any rate no hesitation in\ndoing so. Very small in stature, he had a large head, ornamented with a\nmoderately sized and sparkling light blue eye, and with a nose\npeculiarly short, and in comparison with his other features, altogether\nridiculously small. His nose was in wonderful contrast with a massive\nfore-head and well-shaped mouth, which even when his tongue stood\nstill, rare as that occurrence was, ever moved. He was peculiarly\nthin-skinned. The blue veins of his fair face made him seem to have\nbeen tatooed. Mr. Mackenzie was then astonishingly active, persevering,\nand intelligent, as he still is. A more able or a more indefatigable\nexposer of colonial abuses could not have appeared at a more fitting\ntime. He was undoubtedly the right man in the right place. He had\nengaged in business, and prospered, in York. He was, at this period,\nthe proprietor of a periodical called the _Colonial Advocate_,\nwherein the corruptionists of the period were unmasked with very little\nceremony or consideration. The \"corruptionists,\" very naturally,\ndesired to put him down. It was a matter, however, daily becoming more\ndifficult to put a man in prison and toss him out of the country on the\nplea that he entertained opinions which he might give expression to,\nand revolutionize the country. It was suspected, indeed, by the\nmagnates, that the state of feeling in the country was such that\nprosecutions could not be maintained against Mr. Mackenzie. It was even\nbelieved that they would increase his popularity. Mr. Mackenzie\ntravelled often to pick up information. He went about not so much to\ncreate a public opinion as to ascertain it. He was at Niagara with this\nview when a mob of \"gentlemen\" stormed his printing office in York.\nLike all other assaults of the kind, it was, of course, a night attack,\nand being well managed was quite successful! It was not. In the broad\nlight of day, the press was captured and destroyed, and the type of the\n_Colonial Advocate_ seized and thrown into Lake Ontario. Nor was\nthis all. Mr. Mackenzie's family and his infirm old mother received the\nmost brutal treatment.[36] The authorities took very little notice of\nthe occurrence. But Mr. Mackenzie appealed to a jury, who, \"to the no\nsmall discomfiture of the tories, from Sir Peregrine Maitland, down to\nthe lowest menial employed in the political shambles,\" gave exemplary\ndamages. This had some effect, but not the weight which punishment for\nthe crime would have produced. The risk of having to pay for damages\nwould certainly not have prevented similar violence. The employees or\nrelatives of the Executive Councillors, the Judges, the Attornies, and\nSolicitors General, and of such distinguished families at home would\nhave continued to destroy presses to this day, gaining more by the\nsuppression of truth and the prevention of free discussion, than they\nlost in damages, had not an obstacle stood in their way, which it was\ndangerous to encounter. The liberal press took up a bold position. The\nspeeches in the Assembly, by the leading independents, told upon the\ncountry. A spirit of retributive justice had been stirred up, which\nawed and intimidated the ruling compact. Open violence could not again\nbe resorted to. The subtleties of the law were, however, brought into\nrequisition. Under a show of justice and a pretended bridling of\nlicentiousness, the press might be muzzled or compelled to play one\nmonotonous hymn of praise to the powers above. The libel laws were\nsufficiently odious to accomplish anything. Mr. Mackenzie was\nprosecuted for libel. Prosecution followed prosecution, and where truth\nconstitutes a libel, it is surprising how he escaped. The juries would\nnot convict. The eyes of the whole country had been opened, and the\nconspiracies against the public liberties were observable. Besides, Mr.\nMackenzie defended himself, and gave his persecutors nothing to boast\nof in the rencontres. He never failed to improve these occasions. He\nentered into every swindling transaction with greater severity than he\ncould have done in his newspaper. Mackenzie always succeeded in an\nappeal to the people. There were others of his class not so fortunate.\nA gentleman named Francis Collins, lately arrived in the country, from\nIreland, with a small competency, established a newspaper which he\ncalled _The Canadian Freeman_. Mr. Collins commented on the\nruinous policy of the administration. But he did it too fervently for\nthe tories. Sir Peregrine Maitland, the Governor, ordered him to be\nprosecuted, and upon what grounds may be gained from the fact of the\ntrial being put off, and the proceedings afterwards discontinued. The\nend was answered. Smarting under a sense of ill-usage, he became more\nsevere upon the government, and perhaps did ascribe to them more than\nwas true. He was prosecuted by Mr. Attorney General Robinson, a\nwonderfully able man then, and now Sir John Beverly Robinson, and Chief\nJustice in Canada West, and with the aid of Messrs. Justices Hagerman\nand Sherwood, a verdict of guilty was brought in against him. According\nto a \"resolution\" of the House of Assembly an \"oppressive and\nunwarrantable sentence\" was passed upon him. Whether or no, he was\nthrust into prison. The House of Assembly applied to the Governor for\nhis release in vain. It was not until the king came to hear of his\nsituation that he was released, with a broken constitution, which\nbrought him to the grave in the flower of his manhood. It was so that\nSir Peregrine Maitland and the clique who surrounded him persecuted the\npress, with the view of concealing from England the true state of\npublic opinion, in the colony. Men submit to terrible injustice before\nthey rebel. An able despot might so manage as to inflict almost unheard\nof cruelties upon individuals without driving a population to arms. Men\nwith wives and families and properties, however inconsiderable in value\nsuch properties may be, are unwilling to risk their all, at the tap of\nthe drum, until wrought up to it by desperation. There is a feeling of\nrespect for authority, a regard for that which is believed to be law, a\npeculiar sense of duty towards the State in most men, which prevents\nthem from assuming a position even of firmness in the assertion of\ntheir rights. In a colony there are thousands who bring with them\nrecollections of home and of home institutions, and who cannot be\nbrought to believe that an English gentleman will pursue a course of\npolicy, as the governor of a colony, which the Queen of England has too\nmuch good sense to assume, even if she could do it, in the United\nKingdom. Indeed, if a glance is taken behind the curtain, English\nstatesmen will be noticed to have been liberal and well inclined\ntowards the colonists, and have only erred when purposely misled by\nthose whom they had appointed to places of which it was and is a\nserious mistake for any ministry to have the patronage. Sir Peregrine\nMaitland did not confine his persecuting operations to gentlemen who\ngathered statistics, or printed newspapers, and wrote political\narticles, commenting on an administration for which he only was\nresponsible to the Secretary of State for the colonies. He was not\nsatisfied with having seen a printing press destroyed and the types of\na newspaper office sunk in Ontario, but must needs throw a building\nbelonging to a private gentleman over the Falls of Niagara. He was\nrecalled because, in the supposition that the law was too slow for\nredress, and impatient of contradiction, as some military men are, he\ncaused an armed force to trespass on the property of a gentleman named\nForsyth, on the plea that his land belonged to the Crown. The property\nwas situated at the Falls of Niagara. A building stood upon a part of\nthe land claimed for the Crown by Sir Peregrine. The soldiery tumbled\nthe building over the precipice, and the land was free of all\nincumbrances. The House of Assembly interfered in this matter too. They\nattempted to obtain the evidence of the officers engaged in the\nbusiness, but the government would not permit them to testify, the\nconsequence of which was that the Assembly imprisoned them for\ncontempt. So far was their reluctance to give evidence carried, that\nthe Serjeant-at-Arms was compelled to enter by force the house in which\nthey had barricaded themselves. The king was made aware of the whole\nproceedings, Mr. Forsyth's claim for redress acknowledged, and Sir\nPeregrine Maitland recalled. It was not too soon. Before this, His\nExcellency managed to juggle Mr. Robert Randall, the agent of the\npeople to England, against the alien bill, and who was, therefore, one\nof the proscribed, out of his ample estates on the Niagara frontier,\nand out of his valuable mill privileges on the Ottawa, by the formality\nof law, so that he was left bankrupt and penniless, and died in sorrow.\nIndeed anything in the semblance of a liberal was in those days\nproscribed in a country possessed of the image and transcript of the\nBritish constitution. A peninsular officer, Captain Matthew, a member\nof the Assembly, who would not receive \"new light\" at command was set\nupon by spies. The object was the contemptible one of robbing him of\nhis half-pay. A spy declared that he had once heard him call for\n\"Yankee Doodle,\" at a play in the metropolis. It was a grievous\noffence, certainly, even had it been true. But it was enough to deprive\na man who had served his country in battle of his half-pay. Indeed, he\nonly could get it back again on condition of repairing to England. He\nwent there to seek redress and died. There were yet other sufferers.\nMr. Justice Willis had been elevated from the English bar to the Bench\nof Upper Canada. There were but three Judges of the King's Bench, in\nthe country, the Chief Justice Campbell and two Puisne Judges. The\nChief Justice went to England in search of a knighthood. Mr. Willis was\nnot in favor at Court. He had studiously abstained from mixing himself\nup with politics. He had indeed refused to be an obsequious Jefferies,\nand was looked upon, therefore, as opposed to the administration. When\nterm time came, the Chief Justice being in England, Mr. Willis refused\nto go on with the business of the Court, because there was no one to\ndecide in case of a difference of opinion between him and his brother\nJustice. It was enough. Sir Peregrine Maitland dismissed him, and\nappointed Mr. Hagerman, _pro tempore_, in his stead. The newly\nappointed Judge must have been surprised at his elevation. He was at\nthe very moment of his appointment discharging the onerous and\nimportant duties of an officer of the Customs at Kingston. Mr. Willis\nappealed to the English government and was sustained in the position\nwhich he had assumed, but instead of being reinstated in Canada,\nanother office was provided for him in Demerara. The Chief Justice\nshortly afterwards returned from England as Sir William Campbell, and\nresigned to make way for the election of Mr. Attorney General Robinson.\nHagerman was succeeded by Mr. M'Aulay, a barrister of six years\nstanding, and very cheerfully accepted the humbler office of Solicitor\nGeneral. Again the House of Assembly interfered with Sir Peregrine\nMaitland. They represented that Willis had been grossly ill-used, and\nexplained the cause. It was without effect. The beauties of colonial\nirresponsible government were as discernible in Upper Canada, where\nthere were no seditious, English-hating, Frenchmen, as in Lower Canada.\nA private gentleman, two editors of newspapers, a member of parliament,\na captain in the army, and a judge had experienced some of the benefits\nderivable from a constitution, the very transcript and image of that of\nGreat Britain, managed by a General of Division and a clique of\nplacemen. The clique were, on the whole, men of genteel education and\nrefined tastes. They formed an exclusive circle of associates. Officers\nof the army, on full pay, were admitted to the society of their wives\nand daughters, and no one else but one of themselves, and indeed the\ngentry of the country consisted of the Governor, the Bishop, a Chief\nJustice, the Clerk of the Executive Council, a few of the leading\nmerchants, who were members of the Legislative Council, or who were the\ndescendants of an Executive Councillor, or of an Aid-de-Camp, the\nColonels of Engineers and Artillery, with such of the other officers of\nthese corps who cared for the society of an honorable possessor of\nwaste lands or Timber Broker, and the officers of the regiments of the\nline. In the principal towns the clergy of the Church of Scotland were\nsometimes looked upon as gentlemen. Elsewhere, in common with the\nclergy of dissenting congregations, they were only on a footing with\nthose many respectable people who cultivated farms, kept shops, or\nowned steamboats. The banker had not even yet reached that scale of\nimportance which would have entitled him to be considered one of the\ngentry. Among Governors, Bishops, Chief Justices, Clerks of Council,\nand officers of the army, it would have been wonderful had there not\nbeen men of literary tastes. These tastes did prevail and required\ngratification. In Lower Canada, it was suggested to Lord Dalhousie that\nit would do him honor were he to be the founder of a Literary and\nHistorical Society. Lord Dalhousie--who was a really excellent\nman--although a blundering governor in Lower Canada, where he had such\nmen as Neilson, Stuart, Papineau and even the supple Valli\u00e8res to\nthwart him--and anxious to benefit the colony as much as he could at\nonce took the hint. He founded it in Quebec, and became its patron. It\nwas founded for the purpose of investigating points of history,\nimmediately connected with the Canadas; to discover and rescue from the\nunsparing hand of time the records which remained of the earliest\nhistory of New France; to preserve such documents as might be found\namid the dust of unexplored depositories, and which might prove\nimportant to general history and to the particular history of the\nprovince. The Society has not been unproductive of good. Indeed it\nacquired at one time even a distant reputation. There have been both\nable and educated men connected with it. The Reverend Daniel Wilkie,\nLL.D., one of the most eminent teachers of youth, which the country\nhas yet known, a man of great learning, and capable of profound\nthought, contributed many valuable papers to it. The Honorable Andrew\nWilliam Cochran, an accomplished scholar, was its President. The Skeys,\nthe Badgleys, the Fishers, the Sewells, the Valli\u00e8res, the Stuarts, the\nBlacks, the Sheppards, the Morrins, the Doluglasses, the Reverend Dr.\nCook, the Bishops Mountain, the Greens, the Faribaults, and indeed all\nthe men of learning and note in the country were associated with it.\nBut it is decaying. The men, a greater part of whom were, in a\npolitical sense, injurious to the country, who were capable of holding\nup such a society, are being supplanted by more practicable men of\ninferior literary acquirements, such as the Camerons, the Richards, the\nSmiths, or the Browns. The literature of the country is increasing in\nquantity and diminishing in quality, and so it will continue to do\nuntil the wealth of the country becomes more considerable. The means\nfor the obtainment of a simply classical education are now at the very\ndoor. There are universities in Quebec, Montreal, Kingston, and\nToronto, but there are yet only a very few men with time sufficient at\ntheir disposal, even in winter, to become Icelandically learned. The\nsociety should, however, be maintained, and it would reflect credit on\nany government to vote it a yearly grant of at least \u00a3300. Lord\nDalhousie was a benevolent and personally upright man. Among other good\nthings which he did, unconnected with politics, was the gift from the\nJesuits' Estates Fund of \u00a3300, and a large donation out of his privy\npurse to assist in the enlargement of St. Andrew's Church; which at an\nexpense of \u00a32,300 was completed in 1824. As a gentleman, no man could\nhave been more respected than the Earl of Dalhousie was. There was\nnothing despicably mean about him. He was liable to be deceived by\nothers. He never intentionally deceived himself or others. He did not\nlike the French. He did not like diplomacy. The trickeries of the\nhustings were distasteful to him. He rejoiced in being a good soldier\nand an honest man, and he would have been glad had all the world been\nas he was. He should not, however, have been the Governor of Canada, or\nthe Governor of any colony with a constitution, which could only be\nsuccessfully worked by the most skilful manoeuvring and adroit\ntrickery. His Lordship sailed for England on the 6th of June, 1824, and\nthe government of Lower Canada devolved on the Lieutenant-Governor, Sir\nFrancis Nathaniel Burton.\n [35] Well's Canadiana, page 162.\n [36] Well's Canadiana, page 164.\nEND OF THE FIRST VOLUME.", "source_dataset": "gutenberg", "source_dataset_detailed": "gutenberg - The Rise of Canada, from Barbarism to Wealth and Civilisation. Volume 1\n"}, {"source_document": "", "creation_year": 1849, "culture": " English\n", "content": "Produced by Tom Cosmas (This file was produced from images\ngenerously made available by The Internet Archive)\nTranscriber's Notes\nThe fractions one half and three quarters were shown respectively as\n1-2 and 3-4 which was retained herein.\n | FACTS AND FIGURES |\n | THE HOOSAC TUNNEL. |\n | By JOHN J. PIPER. |\n | JOHN J. PIPER, PRINTER. |\nFACTS AND FIGURES\nCONCERNING\nTHE HOOSAC TUNNEL.\nBy JOHN J. PIPER.\nFITCHBURG:\nJOHN J. PIPER, PRINTER.\nTHE HOOSAC TUNNEL.\nIn his inaugural address to the Legislature, Governor Bullock says,\n\"There can be no doubt that _new facilities_ and new avenues for\ntransportation between the West and the East are now absolutely needed.\nOur lines of prosperity and growth are the parallels of latitude which\nconnect us with the young, rich empire of men, and stock, and produce\nlying around the lakes and still beyond. The people of Massachusetts,\ncompact, manufacturing and commercial, must have more thoroughfares\nthrough which the currents of trade and life may pass to and fro,\nunobstructed and ceaseless, between the Atlantic and the national\ngranaries, or decay will at no distant period touch alike her wharves\nand her workshops. Let us avert the day in which our Commonwealth shall\nbecome chiefly a school-house for the West, and a homestead over which\ntime shall have drawn silently and too soon the marks of dilapidation.\nAny policy which is not broad enough to secure to us a New England,\nhaving a proper share in the benefits of this new opening era of the\nWest, be assured, will not receive the approval of the next generation.\"\nThis important recommendation is what the public had reason to expect\nfrom a man so keenly alive to the interests and welfare of the\nCommonwealth as Governor Bullock, whose close observation and\ndiscernment had long since discovered the danger, and disposed him to\ntake a deep interest in any adequate enterprise by means of which it\ncould be averted. The reasons which have induced His Excellency's\nconvictions on this subject, and caused the apprehensions he has\nexpressed, are very clearly set forth in the following articles from the\nBuffalo Commercial Advertiser of November 25th and 28th, 1865:--\n \"To-day, the Western States are far more bountifully provided with\n avenues of transportation than the extreme East. This is peculiarly\n anomalous and inexplicable when we consider the boasted enterprise,\n wealth and shrewdness of New England, and the dependence which\n always exists upon the part of a manufacturing district toward that\n section which furnishes it with a market, and from which it obtains\n its breadstuff. It is fortunate for New England that it does not\n lie in the line of transit between the West and _its_ market, or it\n would have drawn about its head a storm of indignation which it\n could not have resisted. The State of New York has contributed an\n hundred fold what New England has towards providing the required\n facilities of traffic, for the great West. Our Yankee friends have\n done much toward facilitating intercommunication among themselves,\n but very little toward direct communication with the West.\n It is not a little strange that, with all the ambitious effort of\n Boston to become a mercantile emporium, rivaling New York, and with\n its vast manufacturing interest, it should have but a single direct\n avenue of traffic with the West. Yet such is the fact. The Western\n Railroad between Albany and Boston is the sole route now in\n existence except those circuitous lines via New York City or\n through Canada. Our down-east friends, usually so keen and\n enterprising, seem to have exhausted their energies in the\n construction of that road twenty-five years ago, and the\n consequence is that to-day the business interests of all New\n England are suffering for lack of the timely investment of a few\n millions.\n Strange as it may seem, it is nevertheless true that Boston is now\n virtually cut off from its trade communication with the West for\n want of facilities of transportation. For weeks past the Grand\n Trunk Railroad has ceased to take Boston freight, by reason of its\n being blocked up with other through and way freights at Sarnia. The\n swollen tide of freight via the New York Central has exceeded the\n capacity of the Western Road between Albany and Boston, and the\n consequence has been felt in an increased charge by the New York\n Central of twenty cents a barrel above New York City rates, and,\n finally, that road has been obliged to refuse Boston freight\n altogether, simply by reason of the accumulation and delay\n occasioned by the inability of the Western Road to forward it to\n its destination. In like manner, Boston freight going forward by\n canal is hindered and accumulated at Albany. A similar state of\n things exists in regard to most of the westward bound Boston\n freight, as Boston jobbers are finding out to their cost. Merchants\n at the West, who purchase in Boston, are six and eight weeks in\n getting their heavy goods.\n We are informed upon reliable authority that flour can be sent from\n Chicago to New York, by lake and rail for $1.90 per barrel, while\n very limited quantities only can be sent to Boston at $2.25, and\n that by the \"Red Line\" $3 a barrel is demanded.\n New England depends upon the West for its bread, and also for its\n market for its imports and manufactures. If the state of things to\n which we refer, continues much longer, it will be compelled to go\n to New York both for its bread and its customers.\n The West complains of New York, because, forsooth, it is tardy in\n enlarging its canals to meet the anticipated necessities of its\n future growth, and Boston has had the assurance to join in the\n thoughtless and unfounded clamor. Yet the great State of\n Massachusetts has supinely stood still for twenty-five years\n without making an effort to overcome the barrier between it and the\n great West. During that time the Western road has grown rich, and\n paid large dividends from a business which has been greater than it\n could transact, and to-day there exists an almost total blockade of\n Boston freight at Albany.\n Surely, this does not reflect favorably on New England shrewdness\n and enterprise, neither does it tally with New England interest.\n Besides, it is detrimental to the business interests of the West.\n As the case now stands the fault rests with Massachusetts alone, in\n not providing railroad accommodations east of the Hudson river. It\n is also nonsense to assert, as some will, that the capacity of the\n Erie canal is inadequate. During the past season it has not been\n taxed to half its capacity, and yet it has found the Western Road\n unable to dispose of what Boston freight was offered.\n Western merchants and shippers ought to know where the fault lies,\n and to the end that they may be informed we have penned this\n article. Their true remedy is to buy in New York, and to ship their\n produce to that city, until Massachusetts shall provide adequate\n facilities of transportation.\n Boston is the natural eastern terminus of the great northern line\n of transportation, and we should have been glad to have seen her\n citizens and those of the great state of Massachusetts realize the\n fact. Their supineness, however, has lost to them for the present,\n if not forever, the great commercial prize which nature intended\n for them. It remains to be seen whether they will realize their\n position, and make an effort to retrieve their \"penny wise and\n pound foolish policy.\"\n \"In a recent article we took occasion to point out the importance\n to the country at large of the construction of adequate facilities\n for the accommodation of the traffic exchanges between the\n different sections; and to call the attention of our readers to the\n remarkable fact that while the whole country, and particularly the\n West, had undergone a wonderful development requiring for its\n accommodation a corresponding increase of commercial facilities,\n that New England had stood still for a quarter of a century. The\n fact that a great State like Massachusetts, with a great emporium\n like Boston, should have but a single line of direct communication\n with the West, and that it should supinely stand still and refuse\n to add to it, notwithstanding the yearly demonstrations of its\n growing inadequacy, seemed so strange as to justify remark. The\n other fact that the transit of freight to and from Boston should be\n almost stopped by the inability of that single railroad to handle\n it--thereby increasing rates and compelling purchasers as well as\n sellers to go to New York--also seemed to be inconsistent with our\n traditional ideas of eastern shrewdness. Our remarks have received\n additional force by the fact, subsequently learned by us, that\n there are at the present time between four and five hundred\n car-loads of Boston-bound freight lying at Albany and Greenbush\n awaiting cars for its movement to its destination, while there\n exists no stoppage whatever of New York freight, thus demonstrating\n clearly the inadequacy of the Western road to answer the demands\n made upon it.\n Since that article was penned, information has reached us to the\n effect that our Massachusetts neighbors have at last waked up to\n the importance of the subject, and are about to enter vigorously\n upon the work of providing another avenue of trade between Boston\n and the West, by what is known as the Greenfield route which\n embraces the long talked of Hoosac Tunnel. This great enterprise\n has enlisted the energies of the engineers and railroad men of\n Massachusetts for more than thirty years, with constantly varying\n prospects of success, and at last seems in a fair way of being\n accomplished.\n The high range of hills which runs along the whole western line of\n Massachusetts, for a long time baffled the efforts of railroad\n engineers; and the rival claims of competing routes distracted the\n popular mind, and delayed the construction of either. The most\n eminent engineers preferred the Northern, or Greenfield\n route--involving the Hoosac Tunnel--as being the most direct and\n feasible. In the struggle which followed, the Southern route was\n successful, and the Western road was built and opened in 1842. The\n other route was also constructed after a time, upon either side of\n the proposed tunnel, but for lack of the completion of that great\n work, has never been anything but an avenue for local travel and\n traffic.\n The whole length of the proposed tunnel is 25,574 feet, and the\n estimated cost of construction is about three and a quarter\n millions. When we consider the vital interest which the citizens of\n Massachusetts have in the completion of this work, and the enormous\n interests to be served by it, the sum required seems absolutely\n trivial, and the withholding of it really parsimonious as well as\n foolish. We are pleased to learn that the State is at last about to\n lend a helping hand to this great enterprise, which will guaranty\n its speedy completion. This is an indication of wisdom upon the\n part of our neighbors, albeit it comes somewhat tardily.\n Almost all the other States that lie between the great West and the\n Ocean have pursued a very different policy from that of New\n England, and with very favorable results. New York, which was the\n pioneer in the matter of internal improvements, not only built her\n great Canals, at a cost of over $62,000,000, but also aided largely\n in the construction of her great through lines of railroads. It\n contributed to the Erie road $3,000,000, which is now seen to have\n been a good investment despite the fact that it was entirely lost\n to the State. The same policy was pursued by Pennsylvania and\n Maryland, with equally happy results.\n We congratulate our New England neighbors, and, especially, the\n citizens of Boston, upon the improved prospect of the completion\n of the Hoosac Tunnel, and the opening of another great route to the\n West, through, instead of over the mountains which lie between them\n and us. We trust that the obstructions which have existed, and\n still exist, in the channels of commercial intercourse between New\n England and the West will speedily be removed, never again to be\n manifested in freight blockades or threatened diversions of trade.\"\nThe statements contained in these two articles are substantially true;\nand they are not only interesting, but important, as throwing much light\nupon a subject which will, doubtless, occupy much of the attention and\ntime of the Legislature: for the Western Railroad managers have already\nopened their annual attack upon the Hoosac Tunnel, through their well\nknown agents and tools, Bird, Harris and Seaver, who shamelessly\nadvocate the entire abandonment by the State of an enterprise to the\ncompletion of which her word, and bond, and honor are irrevocably\npledged.\nThe Western Railroad Company was organized in January, 1836, and its\nroad was completed in 1847, having received aid from the State, during\nthe period of its construction, to the amount of five millions of\ndollars. The terms upon which State aid was granted were very liberal,\nas they should have been; for the opening of this line of road had\nbecome as much a necessity to the development of the commercial and\nindustrial interests of Massachusetts and the wants of her whole\npopulation, as the establishment of schools and churches had ever been\nto her moral or educational welfare. The involvement of the State in so\ngreat an enterprise was strenuously resisted by timid and narrow minded\nlegislators; but the representations of those sagacious and far seeing\nmen who had devoted themselves to the work, prevailed, and Massachusetts\nwas, thus early in the history of railroads, committed to a policy which\nhas, within a few years, not only trebled her productions and wealth,\nbut made her the first and foremost of all her sister States which are\nhonored for enterprise, prudence and wisdom. Many of the short sighted\nlegislators, who voted against granting State aid to the Western\nRailroad Company are now living, but we doubt if one can be found who is\nnot ashamed of his action.\nThe increase of business over the Western road since the first year of\nits operation, would seem incredible, were it not so thoroughly\nestablished by the figures of its early and later annual reports. Yet,\nwith a double track nearly to Albany, and every means which ingenuity\ncan devise, or money procure, at their command, its managers are unable\nto meet the demand upon it--its _capacity_ is _nearly exhausted_--and\n_was_, long ago, so great is the pressure against our western border,\nfrom the overflowing granaries of the West. From a feeble association,\nbegging for assistance at the doors of the State House, the Western\nRailroad Company has become a powerful corporation. Its certificates of\nstock, which, about the time the road went into operation, were a drug\nin the market at $40, now command $130 to $150. Yet it is a fact that on\nthe first day of last November, five hundred car loads of freight were\ndelayed at Albany, and could not be transported over the Western road in\nless time than ten days. And the inability of this road to meet our\npublic needs, and the demands made upon it, from the West, is no new\nthing; it has been so, _for years_, though four competing lines have\nopened since 1850, which, together, transport about the same amount of\nthrough freight as the Western road. The bridge over the Hudson at\nAlbany, the completion of the double track, and better management might\nafford a temporary and partial relief. But if these improvements had\nbeen already effected, they would not have prevented the freight\nblockade at Albany last fall.\nShould our friend of the Salem Gazette, or any of the editors who quote\nMr. F. W. Bird, and write short paragraphs, more flippantly than\nintelligently, about the Hoosac Tunnel, chance to be at the freight yard\nof the Fitchburg Railroad in Charlestown, on the arrival of a train of\nNew York Central Railroad cars, laden with flour, grain, or other\nproducts of the West, he would doubtless be as much puzzled to know how\nthey got there, as he would be, if, standing at the heading of the\ntunnel, he should endeavor to reconcile his situation (half a mile from\ndaylight) with the calculations, statements and predictions of Mr. Bird\nand other opponents of the Tunnel enterprise. If our friend were set\ndown at the freight depot of the Worcester and Nashua Railroad, in\nWorcester, he would again be surprised to witness the arrival of\nfreight-laden cars, bearing the same mark as those he saw at\nCharlestown. Upon inquiry of the freight agents he would learn that\nfreight for Boston and Worcester, is transported from Schenectady, over\nthe Washington and Saratoga road, and from Troy, over the Troy and\nBoston and Western Vermont, to Rutland, Vt., and thence, by the Rutland\nand Cheshire roads to Fitchburg, and from there to Boston and Worcester\nover other roads. By glancing at a map the intelligent reader will at\nonce observe what a circuitous and lengthened line of communication\nbetween the New York Central road and the cities of Boston and Worcester\nis furnished by the connecting roads above named. The distance from\nSchenectady to Boston via Rutland is 247 miles, while it is but 217 by\nway of the Western road. The distance from the same point to Worcester\nby the Rutland route is 222 miles, and by the Western road only 172. Yet\nbecause the Western road has not capacity to do the business, the\nproduce dealers of Eastern and Central Massachusetts are compelled to\nresort to this roundabout way of transportation as one of their means of\nrelief. But this is not the only channel, nor the most indirect, which\nthe irrepressible stream of Western trade with the East has created, as\nit approaches its natural outlet, Boston; as the Mississippi, scorning\nthe narrow embouchure which satisfied its youthful flow, now pours its\nresistless torrents, through numerous passes to the Gulf. Besides that\nalready described, there are three other lines competing with the\nWestern road in the transportation of Western freight to Boston. These\nare the Grand Trunk, the Ogdensburg, and the Providence and Erie. Few\npersons know that cotton from St. Louis, for supplying the mills of\nLowell and Lawrence, is unladen in Boston from vessels which received\ntheir cargoes at Portland, but such is the fact, the cotton having been\ntransported over the Great Western and Grand Trunk roads.\nBut these four long, and indirect lines, with their single track, are in\nthe frame situation as the Western road; _their_ capacity is exhausted,\nso far as through freight is concerned, this part of the business of all\nthe four hardly exceeding that of the Western road.\nTo prove the utter incapacity of these five lines of communication\nbetween us and the West, to supply our wants, and meet the demands made\nupon them, we need only state the fact that in November and December\nlast, many of the produce dealers and grocers _in Worcester_, were\nunable to supply their customers, on account of the detention of freight\nat Albany, Detroit and Ogdensburg. We may add, by way of illustration,\nthat the immense loss of property occasioned by the burning of a large\nfreight depot at Detroit, and by which so many New England consignees\nseverely suffered, was one of the incidental consequences of the\nincapacity of these lines of New England railroads to do the work\nrequired of them. We shall have occasion to consider further the\ncapacity of the Western Railroad, but the facts already given are\nsufficient to show the necessity of opening another through and direct\nroute from the Hudson to Boston.\nThe next question to be considered, if, indeed, there can be any\nquestion about it, is how shall the new route be located? We have shown\nthat another is necessary in order to accommodate through business, to\nmeet the demands of the West, and to promote the prosperity of the\nentire State. But this is not by any means the whole argument. Central\nand Southern Massachusetts are covered with a net work of railroads,\nfrom Cape Cod Bay to the New York border, yet Northern Massachusetts,\nfrom Fitchburg westward, has but a single road, and that terminating at\nGreenfield, nearly forty miles from North Adams, where the broken line\nof communication is again taken up. Hence it is, that, while villages\nhave become large towns, and towns populous cities, all over the rest of\nthe State, this section has remained comparatively undeveloped; and the\nwhole tier of towns lying along the line of the Vermont and\nMassachusetts, though steadily growing, through the energy and\nenterprise of their skillful artisans and mechanics, and the facilities\nafforded them by the last named road, have yet suffered and languished\nfor want of the material so abundant in this undeveloped region between\nGreenfield and the mountain barrier beyond.\nThe water power of the Deerfield river is immense, its fall along the\nline of the Troy and Greenfield road being nearly six hundred feet; and\nthis magnificent force is now idle, except at Shelburne Falls, though\nthe finest privileges are scattered along the whole course of the river.\nMessrs. Lamson & Goodnow, who employ four hundred men at Shelburne\nFalls, in manufacturing cutlery, state that the Deerfield and North\nrivers, at that place, afford a one-thousand-horse power. Along the\ncourse of Miller's river, between Athol and Deerfield are also many\nexcellent privileges unimproved. At Montague are Turner's Falls, on the\nConnecticut, with a power sufficient to operate the mills of Lowell,\nLawrence and Manchester. All these splendid privileges only await the\nopening of the Tunnel route. Many of them would be at once improved were\nthe road completed to the mouth of the tunnel. Messrs. Lamson and\nGoodnow state that they shall double their present force of four hundred\nmen, as soon as it is open to Shelburne Falls.\nSome fifteen or twenty miles from the Eastern end of the tunnel lie\nextensive forests of spruce and pine, through which a highway has\nalready been surveyed, and which will be built to the tunnel, as soon as\nthe road is completed to that point. The whole surrounding region\nabounds in lumber of almost every description, which would become very\nvaluable when the road is built, to say nothing of the extensive\nformations of stone, soapstone and serpentine which are found there.\nThough the Deerfield meadows afford some of the finest farms in New\nEngland, the tillage land will not compare in extent with that along the\nWestern road; but in every other respect the resources and latent wealth\nof the Tunnel route are infinitely superior to those of the Western\nline.\nSix years ago, and _twenty-three years after the Western road was\nopened_, the population lying west of Springfield within ten miles of\nthe Western road on a distance of forty-four miles, was 42,050; while\nthat west of Greenfield, within ten miles of the Tunnel line on the same\ndistance, without any railroad at all was 32,146. According to the\naverage rate of increase, the population along the Tunnel line, would be\nmore than doubled in twenty-three years. Were the mountain barrier\npierced, and communication opened with the West, and the magnificent\nwater power of the Deerfield made available, who doubts that this\npopulation would be increased fourfold in that space of time: or that\nmore than one town would spring up between Greenfield and the Hoosac, in\na few years, which would rival North Adams in growth and prosperity; or\nthat in far less time than it has taken Lowell to acquire her present\nimportance, a larger city than Lowell would stand on the banks of the\nConnecticut at Turner's Falls?\nWith the requisite railroad facilities supplied, it is certain that the\ngrowth of a region so abounding in the most essential reliance of\nmechanical industry, as Northwestern Massachusetts, cannot be measured\nby the snail's pace which marks the progress of an agricultural\ndistrict. The farmer's interests are indeed equally promoted with those\nof other industrial classes, by the opening of railroads, but these do\nnot increase the number of farms or farmers within our borders, nor\nstimulate the growth of agricultural towns. It is mainly by her\nmanufactures and commerce that Massachusetts has become so prosperous\nand wealthy. It is because the commercial and industrial interests of\nthe whole State require it, that another route to the West has become a\nnecessity; and it is because such immense resources yet remain to be\ndeveloped, and such a gigantic power to be employed, in Northern\nMassachusetts that the new route must pierce the Hoosac Mountain, if it\nis possible and practicable.\nThat it is possible to tunnel the Hoosac Mountain cannot be doubted by\nany sane person who has inspected the half mile already excavated. All\nof the eminent engineers, whose reports upon the enterprise have been\npublished, say it can be done; nor do any of its opponents pretend to\nquestion its practicability. But in order to estimate properly the\nmagnitude of the work, its possible and probable cost, and the time\nwithin which it can be done, it is necessary to know what has been\naccomplished in this department of civil engineering. Fortunately, this\nneeded information is contained in Mr. Charles W. Storrow's very able\nreport on European tunnels. Mr. Storrow is a distinguished civil\nengineer, who made a journey to Europe in the summer of 1862, by request\nof the Hoosac Tunnel Commissioners, and with the approval of the\nGovernor and Council, for the purpose of examining the most important\ntunnels there constructed, and, especially, the one in progress under\nthe Alps. He describes twenty-two tunnels which he visited, besides that\nof Mt. Cenis. Fourteen of these are in England, seven in France, and one\nin Switzerland. Two of them are upwards of three miles long, and many of\nthem between one and two miles. Some of the shafts were nearly as deep\nas the central shaft of the Hoosac. Some of these excavations were made\nwithout the aid of shafts, others wholly by means of shafts, without\nworking from the ends at all.\nIt might be supposed that in the construction of so many subterranean\nways, in such different sections of the continent, almost every\nconceivable geological formation must have been traversed; and so it\nappears from Mr. Storrow's report. Granite, quartz, oolite, limestone,\nshale, slate, sandstone, gravel, sand, clay and marl, were the material\nthrough which with pick and spade, drill and shovel, the patient workmen\nmade their way. Not unfrequently, more than half the varieties of rock\nand earth we have named were met with in the same tunnel. Sometimes the\nwork would be interrupted and temporarily abandoned in consequence of an\ninundation of water; sometimes enormous masses of gravel and sand would\nwork through into a shaft or tunnel, with disastrous and, in two\ninstances, with fatal consequences. In many instances, work was\ndiscontinued for years, for want of funds, and then afterward renewed,\nwith eventual success. In fact, about the average amount of those\nordinary and inevitable obstacles which stand in the way of all great\nenterprises, were encountered by the engineers and contractors, in the\nbuilding of these tunnels; but time, money, and skill, never failed to\nremove every difficulty. But we propose to extract, and condense from\nMr. Storrow's report, a few of the main facts about some of the most\nimportant of these works; as the report has, not been read, or even seen\nby one in a hundred.\nThe \"Box Tunnel\" between Chippenham and Bath is more than a mile and\nthree quarters in length. Nearly one half its length passes through a\nkind of limestone rock, and the other through clay, the clay end being\nlined with masonry. Five shafts were sunk, the deepest being about three\nhundred feet. \"During the construction of this tunnel, great\ndifficulties were encountered from the excessive quantity of water which\ninundated the works, sometimes even occasioning their partial\nsuspension, and powerful means were required to overcome the obstacles.\nAt one time the water fairly got the mastery over the machinery used for\nits removal, and it was only after an additional set of pumps worked by\na fifty horse power engine, that the work could be resumed.\" This\ntunnel was built in five years, and its cost was about $1,750,000, or\nabout $547 a yard.\nThe Woodhead Tunnel, on the Manchester and Lincolnshire Railway, is\nupwards of three miles long. It was originally built for a single track,\nits dimensions being 14 feet wide at the head of the rails, and 18 feet\n3 in. high from the rails to the under side of the arch; which are\nalmost exactly the dimensions of the present section of the Hoosac\nTunnel. After a few years of use, the increase of business required\nanother track and so a second tunnel of exactly the same size was built\nparallel with the first. It is a double tunnel with a thick dividing\nwall between, pierced with twenty-one arched openings. Five of the\noriginal shafts have been kept open. The deepest of these is more than\nsix hundred feet, and the least about three hundred. The rock through\nwhich the tunnel passes consists of millstone grit, a hard material, and\nshale, a kind of indurated clay.\nThe Kilsby Tunnel is more than a mile and a quarter long, and is built\nin Roman or metallic cement, under a bed of quicksand, from which it\ntook nine months to pump the water, through shafts on either side of the\nsand bed. During a considerable portion of that time, the water pumped\nout was two thousand gallons a minute. The quicksand extended over 1350\nfeet of the length of the tunnel.\nThe Watford Tunnel is a mile and one tenth long, excavated entirely from\nchalk and loose gravel, the treacherous nature of which rendered it a\nwork of great difficulty, streams of gravel and sand sometimes pouring\nthrough the fissures of chalk, like water.\nThe Netherton Tunnel is one mile and three quarters long. For its\nconstruction 17 shafts were sunk, their total depth being 3,083 feet,\nthe least depth of any one being 63 feet, and the greatest, 344 feet.\nThere were 36 faces to work at, and the progress at each face was 10 1-2\nfeet per month. The tunnel was completed in two years.\nFrom these brief descriptions of a few of the tunnels in England\nexamined by Mr. Storrow, one can form a pretty correct opinion of the\nordinary difficulties in tunneling which have been met and overcome by\nthe English engineers. Mr. Storrow says that tunnels are not considered\nthere such formidable works as they have generally been esteemed in our\nNorthern States. They are so common that they have long ceased to\nattract the attention of travelers, more than eighty miles in aggregate\nlength being already in use. Mr. Storrow estimates the average progress\nmade in the construction of the English tunnels at about thirty feet per\nmonth on one face, and that the cost per yard varies from $125 to $250,\nfor ordinary tunnels; but where peculiar difficulties were met, the cost\nhas reached to from $500 to $750 per yard.\nThe Hauenstein Tunnel in Switzerland, one mile and an eighth in length,\nwas from four to five years in being constructed. Two shafts were sunk,\none 417 feet, and the other 558 feet deep. Portions of the shafts and\ntunnel were lined with masonry on account of the water and sand, and\nvarying firmness of the strata passed through, all of which caused many\ndifficulties and delays. The progress made between the intervals of\nobstruction, varied from fifty-six to one hundred and nine feet per\nmonth on a face. The cost was about $400 per running yard.\nThe Nerthe Tunnel in France, is nearly three miles in length. For nine\nhundred and fifty yards of its length it is in rock cutting, where\narching was unnecessary. The remainder is lined with masonry.\nTwenty-four shafts were sunk, varying in depth from sixty-five to two\nhundred and sixty-two feet. The work was completed in three years, and\ncost $412 per running yard.\nThe Tunnel of Rilly, on the line from Paris to Strasbourg, is a little\nmore than two miles long. Eleven shafts were commenced, two of which\nwere abandoned on account of the abundance of water, the others were\ncompleted. In some of the shafts the water was so troublesome that it\nwas necessary to use for curbs cast iron cylinders, five feet in\ndiameter, and about three feet long, bolted together. The time consumed\nin the construction of this tunnel was three years and four months. It\npasses through a chalk formation, which was, in some places, so seamy,\nthat great precaution was necessary to prevent the falling in of large\nmasses. The cost was $432 per running yard.\nMr. Storrow visited and examined several other French tunnels, and his\nreports upon them are full of interest; but the abstracts given are\nsufficient to show the various obstacles and difficulties encountered by\nthe English and French engineers in the prosecution of their work, as\nwell as the cost, and the success which rewarded their skill and\nperseverance. We now come to the great tunnel under the Alps, the most\nremarkable and gigantic enterprise ever attempted in civil engineering.\nOur facts in regard to it are derived from Mr. Storrow's report, (which\nit will be remembered was made in November, 1862,) and from a very able\naccount in the Edinburgh Review of July, 1865.\nThe object of this work is to connect France and Italy, by a continuous\nline of railroad, by piercing the great Alpine barrier which separates\nSavoy from Piedmont, and thus connecting the valleys of Rochmolles and\nthe Arc. When the scheme was first suggested it seemed like a dream of\nenthusiasts. The distance would be more than seven miles. No shaft could\nbe sunk, as it was estimated that it would take forty years to reach by\nthat means the line of the axis of the tunnel. The gallery must then be\nconstructed by horizontal cutting from the two ends. How were the\nworkmen to breathe? What chasms, unfathomable abysses and resistless\ntorrents might not be encountered? Was it certain that the two sections\ncommenced from the opposite ends would not miss and pass each other in\nthe middle of the mountain? But as the subject was more thoroughly\ndiscussed, these doubts and fears seem gradually to have faded away, and\na conviction took possession of the public mind that such a tunnel was\npracticable. This conviction at last assumed form and development\nthrough the genius of Messrs. Sommeiller, Grattoni and Grandis, three\nyoung Italian engineers, who have won for themselves a nobler fame than\nthat of either of the great generals who led their armies over the Alps.\nIt was their good fortune to have secured the confidence of one of the\nmost enlightened statesmen of modern times, Count Cavour, the energetic\nminister of Victor Emanuel, who, throughout all the doubts, perplexities\nand embarrassments attending the first stage of a new and bold\nenterprise, exposed to criticisms, sometimes ignorant, sometimes\nmalevolent, on the part of politicians and professional men, gave these\nengineers his \"constant, earnest and sanguine support and\nencouragement.\"\nIt appears that an English engineer had patented a machine for drilling\nby steam, by means of which the drills were darted forward against the\nopposing rock with great velocity and force. But steam could not be used\nin the tunnel, where the great desideratum is a supply of fresh air. In\nthe meantime Messrs. Sommeiller, Grattoni and Grandis had turned their\nattention to the question of compressed air as a motive power, and after\na long series of experiments; gave to the world as the result of their\njoint ingenuity, a machine which acts simply by the force of air reduced\nto one-sixth of its ordinary volume, by means of the pressure of water.\nThe quick perception and practical genius of our three engineers soon\nenabled them to combine their machine with the perforating apparatus\nabove named, so that the compressed air took the place of steam, and\nperformed its work perfectly. This combination is the machine which has\nbeen in successful operation under the Alps since June, 1861, and which,\ngreatly improved and perfected by Yankee ingenuity, is about to be\napplied to the Hoosac Mountain.\nBefore proceeding to give some account of the Alps Tunnel, it should be\nstated that it is a national work, and not a commercial speculation. It\nwas originally undertaken by Sardinia, within whose territorial limits\nit was then wholly included. The cession of Savoy to France brought\nnearly half the tunnel into French territory, and by the convention\nestablishing the new boundary between France and Italy it was stipulated\nthat this great national work should be continued, should remain\nexclusively under the control of the Italian engineers, and that France\nshould pay into the Sardinian treasury its proportion of the cost,\naccording to an estimate then made and considered final, and fixed at\n3000 francs for each running metre, equivalent to $550 for each running\nyard of its length in French territory. The work has remained,\ntherefore, as it was, under the exclusive direction of M. Grattoni and\nM. Sommeiller, the engineers; and a French commission visit the work\nfrom time to time, by order of the French government, to view its\ncondition, ascertain its progress, and vouch for the amount to be paid\nto Sardinia.\nIt is hardly necessary to give a detailed description of the mode by\nwhich the compressed air is made to act on the perforating machines at\nMount Cenis. The problem was how to get a constant equable supply of air\ncompressed to one-sixth of its ordinary bulk. To effect this a reservoir\nwas constructed at Bardonneche, elevated to a height of eighty-two feet\nabove the works, which furnishes a moving force of two hundred and eight\nhorse power, that being all which is required to operate the drills and\nventilate the tunnel. The reservoir is supplied by a never failing\nmountain stream. From the compressing works, the air is conveyed in a\npipe into the tunnel to the drilling machines; another pipe conveying\nwater to wash out the drill holes. At the Fourneaux end of the tunnel,\nthe reservoir is supplied with water by means of pumps.\nThe compressed air and water being ready for their work, an iron frame\ncontaining the perforating needles moves along the rails and confronts\nthe rock which is to be attacked in the gallery or heading. The frame is\narmed with nine or ten perforating machines arranged so that the\ngreatest number of holes can be bored in the center of the opposing mass\nof rock. To each of these are attached flexible tubes, one containing\nthe compressed air which drives the drills, and the other water, which\nis injected into the holes as they are bored. The machine consists of\ntwo parts; the one a cylinder for propelling the drill, by means of a\npiston, and the other a rotary apparatus for working the valve of the\nstriking cylinder, and turning the drill on its axis at each successive\nstroke. To bore eight holes of the required depth, the piston rod gives\n57,600 blows. The action of each machine is independent of the other, so\nthat if one of them is broken, or gets out of order, that of the rest is\nnot delayed. The drills act at different angles so as to pierce the rock\nin all directions, and when the requisite number of holes have been\ndrilled, the iron frame is pushed back, and the central holes are\ncharged and exploded. The smaller surrounding holes are then charged and\nfired. At each blast, a strong jet of compressed air is thrown into this\nadvanced gallery to scatter the smoke and supply air for respiration.\nWagons are next pushed forward and filled with the fragments of broken\nrock, which are conveyed to the mouth of the tunnel and dumped down the\nside of the mountain. After each blast a fresh relay of workmen come in,\nand the same operation is repeated night and day.\nOne of the objections urged against the use of compressed air as a\nmotive of force was, that if it were conveyed a long distance it would\nlose so much of its elasticity or expansive power, that it would be\nunavailable for any practical purpose. But this conjecture was confuted\nby facts. It was found that the loss of pressure at the ends of the\nconduit pipes where the air is applied, as compared with the pressure in\nthe reservoir is only one sixteenth of the whole. M. Sommeiller\ncalculates that in the center of the tunnel, a distance of three miles\nand three quarters from the reservoir, he will be able to apply the\nnecessary pressure of six atmospheres. That M. Sommeiller is correct in\nthis opinion appears to be conclusively proved by the latest accounts\nfrom Mt. Cenis, which state that the work is steadily progressing, that\none half of the entire length would be excavated by the first of January\n1866, and that at a distance of nearly two miles from the reservoir, the\ndrills were operating with as much force as ever, and that there was no\nappreciable loss of motive power.\nIn the middle of the tunnel line beneath the rails, there is made at the\nsame time with the excavation, a covered way or drain, in which are laid\nthe pipes for gas, water, and compressed air. By this drain the waste\nwater runs off, and it is also intended to serve as a means of escape\nfor the workmen, in case of a fall of rock, or other accident which\nmight block up the tunnel. Of course the tunnel must be continually\nsupplied with fresh air along its whole length, as well as at the\nheading. This is easily done from the compressed air tube in the covered\ndrain.\nThe whole length of the Mt. Cenis tunnel is through rock varying in\nhardness, and veined throughout with quartz. In many parts it is liable\nto flake off, and in some places considerable masses have broken away\nduring the construction. The full section of the tunnel is twenty-six\nfeet and three inches wide, and twenty feet and eight inches high. The\nheading is carried forward about eleven and a half feet wide and nearly\nten feet high. At the time of Mr. Storrow's visit the drilling machines\nwere used only in the heading. The whole of the enlargement was done by\nhand labor in the ordinary way. The drills when brought up to the work\ndrill eighty holes before any blasting is done. About ninety workmen are\nemployed at each end. It required from five to seven hours to drill the\neighty holes. Mr. Storrow visited a workshop where some machines were\nready, and a large block of stone was placed in front of them for trial.\nThe air was let on and a drill put in motion. In 6 1-2 minutes it\ndrilled 5 1-2 inches. The engineer stated that they would make better\nprogress than that at the rock in the tunnel. The average progress made\nby hand was about sixty-six feet a month. That rate was about doubled by\nmeans of the machines; but since Mr. Storrow's visit these machines have\nbeen greatly improved, and the rate of progress latterly has been about\ntwo hundred feet a month.\nThe opening of the Mt. Cenis Tunnel was commenced in October, 1857. Up\nto July, 1861, about 2142 feet had been excavated, the average progress\nbeing about sixty-six feet a month. The machines were then introduced,\nand at the present time, upwards of three miles have been excavated, and\nat the rate of progress now being made the tunnel will be completed in\nfour years. Mr. Storrow's estimate of its cost is $640 per running yard.\nWe have now placed before our readers such facts in relation to European\ntunnels, and more particularly in relation to that under the Alps, as\nwill enable them to judge for themselves of the feasibility of\ncompleting the Hoosac Tunnel, and of the weight of the objections which\nare urged against it by the opponents of the enterprise, as well as the\nnature of the obstacles which have been encountered, and the means of\nsurmounting them. We shall next present a brief history of the work, the\nprogress made, the delays which have occurred, and the causes; and the\nsources, nature, and motives of the opposition which has been made to\nit. In the course of this history we shall have occasion to expose the\ngross misrepresentations and deliberate falsehoods which have, from time\nto time, been put in print and scattered broadcast throughout the State,\nfor the purpose of sustaining and extending a great railroad monopoly,\nalready too powerful, against the vital interests and actual necessities\nof the Commonwealth.\nThe first section of the Tunnel Line obtained its charter in 1842, under\nan act incorporating the Fitchburg Railroad Company, in spite of the\nstrenuous opposition from Boston, Springfield, Pittsfield, and the whole\npower of the Western Road, which a few years before, had only obtained\nits charter by the aid of some twenty-five members of the House, from\nNorthern Massachusetts, who held the balance of power. Of these\ntwenty-five gentlemen, to whom the State was thus early indebted, one\nwas Hon. Alvah Crocker, of Fitchburg, whose name in connection with the\nFitchburg, the Vermont and Massachusetts, the Troy and Greenfield roads,\nand with the Hoosac Tunnel, has since become \"familiar as household\nwords.\" The appeal of the late Judge Kinnicut, one of the pioneers of\nthe Western line, contains this passage: \"Assume if you please, that\nyour route is better than the Southern or Western one; if you are\nwilling to identify the Commonwealth with such an enterprise, you\nestablish a precedent, and the Commonwealth, to be just, to be\nconsistent with herself, must aid you in like manner. Nay, every other\nsection. She will never be partial, as you suppose, but fair to all. She\nwill certainly go as far as she safely can, to develop and increase her\ngrowth.\" Such appeals could not but prevail with fair minded men, and\nthese twenty-five members, with a spirit of liberality and almost of\nself sacrifice, which should put to shame the narrow minded and selfish\npolicy of the Western Railroad Company in regard to the Tunnel line,\ngave their voices and votes in favor of an enterprise, the commencement\nof which would otherwise have been deferred for years. The result was\nthat by the first of January, 1843, the receipts of money by the Western\nRailroad Company, from the stock and scrip of the state amounted to\nAs stated above, the Fitchburg Railroad Company was authorized to build\na road from Boston to Fitchburg, a distance of fifty miles, in spite of\nthe strenuous opposition of the managers and attorneys of the Western\nLine. The intelligent legislator of 1866, who has passed over the\nFitchburg Railroad, and observed the numerous trains of passenger and\nfreight cars which daily follow each other over its double line of\ntrack, can but smile at the language of Mr Mills, a senator from\nHampden, a little more than twenty years ago \"Sir,\" said this zealous\nlegislator, who, in his style and logic forcibly remind us of Mr. Bird,\nof Walpole, \"a six horse stage coach and a few baggage wagons will draw\nall the freight from Fitchburg to Boston.\"\nIt is hardly necessary to give details of the history of the Vermont and\nMassachusetts Road, and the struggles of its projectors against hostile\nlegislation, and the intensified opposition of the Western line. Suffice\nit to say that this second section of the Tunnel Line, extending from\nFitchburg to Greenfield, was commenced and finished, in spite of all\nopposition, without a dollar of that aid which Mr. Kinnicut said the\nState would have to furnish in order to be just and consistent. Its\nstock, which could be bought for $9 a share, ten years ago, now commands\nupwards of $40. Its gross receipts, last year, were $390,085.79, and its\nnet income, $91,229.85. Its debt has been reduced from upwards of a\nmillion to one half that sum, and this year it has paid its first\ndividend.\nThe Troy and Greenfield Road was chartered in 1848, the same old\nelements of opposition being combined against, and fighting it at every\nstep. The managers of the Western road clamorously declared that if this\ncompeting line were chartered, it would greatly diminish the security of\nthe Commonwealth, for its investment in their road, and that if the\nState should be compelled to sell its stock after the granting of such\ncharter, she would lose a hundred and seventy thousand dollars; while,\nat the same time, they affected to deride the Vermont and Massachusetts\nas a \"pauper road,\" and the region it traversed as a \"God-forsaken\ncountry!\"\nIn 1858, the Western end of the Tunnel Line, extending from the Western\nbase of the Hoosac Mountain to Troy, had been completed through the\nenterprise of the citizens of that thriving city and those of North\nAdams. The Vermont and Massachusetts was finished, and only thirty-seven\nmiles of rail were needed to complete the direct connection of Boston\nwith the Great West. Then was the time and opportunity for the State to\nhave continued the same liberal policy which it had adopted toward the\nWestern road, and to have extended her helping hand to the struggling\ncorporation, which had undertaken the noble enterprise of piercing the\nbarrier which was interposed between them and their \"promised land.\" But\ntheir appeals for aid were met with sneers and derision; the work was\nbitterly opposed at every stage of its progress; the arts of demagogues,\nthe cunning of lawyers, the fears of the timid, the credulity of the\nignorant, and every conceivable influence which the well-filled treasury\nof the Western road could purchase were enlisted and combined against\nit. But, at last, perseverance and a good cause prevailed, and in 1854,\nthe Legislature authorized a loan of the State credit to the amount of\ntwo millions of dollars, to the Troy and Greenfield Railroad Company,\n\"for the purpose of enabling said company to construct a tunnel and\nrailroad under and through the Hoosac Mountain, in some place between\nthe 'Great Bend,' in Deerfield river, and the town of Florida, at the\nbase of the Hoosac Mountain on the East, and the base of the Western\nside of the mountain, near the East end of the village of North Adams,\non the West.\" But this loan was modified and restricted by such\nconditions, artfully introduced by the foes of the enterprise, that the\nwork still languished, and its friends almost despaired even of ultimate\nsuccess. The enabling act of 1857, would have greatly relieved them, but\nit was vetoed by Gov. Gardner. At the beginning of 1860, only $230,000\nof the two millions had been advanced.\nIn the Legislature of that year, the original act was modified so that\nthe balance of the loan might be divided between the road from\nGreenfield and the Tunnel, for the construction of both parts of the\nwork simultaneously. Provision was at the same time made for the\nappointment, annually, by the Governor, of a state engineer, to examine\nthe work, make monthly estimates, and impose such requirements upon the\ncompany and contractors as he and the Governor and Council might deem\nexpedient. In the summer of 1860, Colonel Ezra Lincoln of Boston, was\nappointed State engineer, and resigning in the following autumn, on\naccount of illness, was succeeded by C. L. Stevenson, Esq.\nIn the meantime the company had contracted with Messrs. Haupt and\nCartwright to construct the road and tunnel. The first named gentleman\nwas one of the most eminent and experienced engineers in the country.\nUnder the administration of the State engineers, Messrs Lincoln and\nStevenson, the existing location was approved, and certain prices were\nestablished, upon the basis of which contracts were made for labor and\nmaterial, and rapid progress was made with the work. Upon the accession\nof Governor Andrew in 1851, Mr. Stevenson was summarily removed, and Mr.\nWilliam S. Whitwell appointed in his place. This gentleman at once\nproceeded to change the entire basis of work as established by his\npredecessors, reduced the prices under which extensive contracts had\nalready been made, and cut down the estimates, so as to compel an entire\nsuspension of the work. More than a thousand laborers and mechanics were\ndischarged. Mr. Haupt states that at the time of this suspension, \"the\ngraduation of the whole line could have been completed in a few weeks.\nThe iron and nearly all the ties and bridge material had been delivered;\nbut little remained to be done except finishing the bridge and laying\nthe track.\"\nAfter a warm and protracted discussion of the subject in the Legislature\nof 1862, an act was passed, providing that the State should take\npossession of the road, tunnel, and all the property of the Troy and\nGreenfield Company. A commission was also authorized to examine the\nwork, ascertain the feasibility of completing it, and report to the next\nLegislature. The commissioners appointed under this act, by Governor\nAndrew, were Messrs. J. W. Brooks and Alexander Holmes, of\nMassachusetts, and Mr. S. M. Felton, of Pennsylvania, two of them being\neminent civil engineers, and all three gentlemen of large experience in\nrailroad affairs. They entered upon the duties of their commission at\nonce, and having dispatched Mr. Storrow to Europe to examine the\ntunnels there, proceeded to take possession of the road and property of\nthe Company, which was surrendered to them in September of the same\nyear.\nThe elaborate and exhaustive report of the Commissioners was submitted\nto the Legislature in the latter part of February, 1863. The closing\nparagraph expresses their \"opinion that the work should be undertaken by\nthe Commonwealth, and completed as early as it can be, with due regard\nto economy.\" The result of another discussion in the Legislature was the\nadoption of the recommendation of the Commissioners, and the\nresponsibility of completing the tunnel and road was assumed by the\nState, in April of 1863, operations having been suspended nearly three\nyears.\nSince that time, the work has been conducted by the Commissioners, under\nthe immediate superintendence of Mr. Thomas Doane, chief engineer, in\nsuch manner and with such progress as to give very general satisfaction\nto the friends of the enterprise, and promise its completion within a\nreasonable time. A very considerable portion of the labor and\nexpenditures, since the operations were resumed, have been applied to\npreparing buildings and machinery, to the construction of a dam across\nthe Deerfield river, in order to secure power to operate the tunneling\napparatus, and to an enlargement and an alteration of the grade of the\nEastern end of the tunnel, which had been excavated by Haupt and\nCartwright.\nBut before proceeding to consider the present condition and prospects of\nthe Tunnel, it is necessary to revert to the legislation of 1862 and\n1863, in order to note the tactics of its enemies, who had by no means\nbeen idle, nor had in any degree relaxed their opposition. In fact, it\nwas through this opposition that the act of 1862 was effected, the bill\nbeing a substitute for that reported by the committee, and generally\nregarded as a compromise between the friends and foes of the enterprise,\nthough the latter believed they had, at last achieved a triumph, and\nexultingly whispered that the great Hoosac Tunnel scheme had received\nits death blow. They certainly did play their game with boldness and\nskill. While the contractors, Messrs. Haupt & Co., had actually applied\nall their private means, to the extent of more than $200,000, to carry\non the work, it was asserted that they were swindling the State and\npocketing its funds to the tune of $300,000. They proclaimed that they\nwere in favor of the Tunnel, and only desired to take the work from the\nhands of swindling contractors and the control of a bankrupt and\nirresponsible corporation, in order that it might be assumed and\nprosecuted by the Commonwealth; but they were secretly confident, and\nnot without reason, that a board of commissioners would be appointed who\nwould report against the prosecution of the work by the State. Of the\nthree gentlemen appointed, not one had expressed an opinion in favor of\nthe enterprise, and Mr. Brooks, the president, was known to be opposed\nto it. Both of the two resident members were from localities where the\nprevailing sentiment was against the Tunnel. But this adroitness of the\nopposition was baffled, and its confident hope disappointed by the\nintegrity and fairness of Mr. Brooks and his associates. The latter had\nno prejudices to conquer, and Mr. Brooks had not applied himself many\nweeks to the duties of his commission, before he was convinced of the\nfeasibility of the work, and satisfied that the State ought to assume\nand complete it. When their report was made to the Legislature in 1863,\nthe old opposition manifested itself with more intensity than ever, and\nthe same honest gentlemen, who, the year before, were so friendly to the\nenterprise, and only wanted to transfer it from the hands of rapacious\ncontractors and a bankrupt corporation, to the fostering care of the\nCommonwealth, threw off their masks, resorted to their old tricks and\narts, and renewed their old clamor, against the \"Tunnel swindle;\" yet,\nvainly, as the result proved.\nThe name of Mr. F. W. Bird, of Walpole, has been once or twice mentioned\nin this article, and not improperly, since he has gained that equivocal\nnotoriety in connection with the Hoosac Tunnel, which attaches to the\nenemies of all great and noble undertakings. This gentleman has\ninformed the public, that in 1847 and 1848, when he was in the\nLegislature, he \"voted for everything that the friends of the Tunnel\nasked for.\" This action cannot have greatly embarrassed Mr. Bird during\nhis subsequent career, since the only thing asked for by the friends of\nthe Tunnel, during those two years, was the charter, granted in 1848.\nMr. Bird further informs the public, that \"in 1862, we were overruled by\nthe committee, but we defeated them before the Legislature. In 1863, we\nwere defeated, and the Legislature sanctioned the resumption of the\nwork.\" Mr. Bird also boasts that, while a member of the Executive\nCouncil, he \"did resist the assumption by the chairman of the\ncommission, of irresponsible control over the work, and did something to\nprevent the building of the road from Greenfield to the mountain.\"\nIn 1862, Hon. W. D. Swan represented the opposition to the Tunnel in the\nSenate. Mr. Bird, in a communication to the Boston Journal of Nov. 3,\n \"The Tunnel fight was organized and directed by three members of\n the Third House.\n The Tunnel matter came before the Senate late in the session, when\n many important questions demanded the attention of the Senate and\n rendered it very difficult for them to make personal\n investigations.\n As to Mr. Swan, he very frankly declared that the whole subject was\n so new to him that he must rely upon us for his materials.\n His published speeches upon the Tunnel, upon which his fame as a\n practical legislator is based by his friends, were written\n substantially by one of us beforehand, and afterward revised by all\n of us for the press.\n We furnished every fact, made every calculation, prepared every\n table and arranged _every point and every argument logically and\n rhetorically_.\"\nOne of the arguments which Mr. Bird confesses he and his associates\n\"arranged,\" is expressed in the following extract from Mr. Swan's\nspeech:--\n \"I am aware, sir, that it may be said: 'You are going to stop a\n great enterprise.' No I am not. I have no such intention. I am in\n favor of the Hoosac Tunnel. If Massachusetts has granted her aid\n for the accomplishment of any great purpose, I am for going through\n with it. I am for going through with the Tunnel; but I am for going\n through with it understandingly; and if Massachusetts is to do the\n work, let us know that we are to obtain something like an\n equivalent for our expenditure.\n We say, then, to the corporation, we will send intelligent\n commissioners to examine the road and tunnel, and if the report to\n us, or our successors, next year, is favorable to this great\n enterprise, we will go on with it; we will bore a a hole through\n the mountain, we will arch it, lay the track, and give you ten\n years in which to redeem the property.\"\nBut it is not necessary to quote further from Mr. Bird himself; he has\nbeen well known for years as an agent of the Western Railroad Company,\nand the leader of the combined elements of opposition to the Tunnel. He\nis a man of ability, bold, and adroit in his management, but entirely\nunscrupulous in the choice of means to effect his objects. As a lobby\nmember, as newspaper correspondent, as pamphleteer, as councilor, and in\nthe numerous other characters which his Protean genius has enabled him\nto assume, he has, by fair means and foul, diligently adhered to his\nboastful promise that he \"should not desist from opposition till the\nwork is stopped;\" and he has lately reiterated his purpose of keeping\nthat pledge, \"with the help of God.\" Those who know Mr. Bird well,\nentertain no doubt that he will continue to do his best to stop the\nwork, whether with or without the Divine assistance, and that he will\nliterally fulfill his promise, since the work will, undoubtedly, be\n\"stopped\" when it is finished.\nOne other gentleman has been associated with Mr. Bird, as a leader of\nthe opposition to the Tunnel enterprise, who, perhaps, deserves a\npassing notice in this article, Mr. D. L. Harris, President of the\nConnecticut River Railroad. He has less ability than Mr. Bird, but much\nmore practical knowledge of railroad engineering and management. It has\napparently been a part of the duty assigned him, to furnish Mr. Bird\nwith the texts for his pamphlets and newspaper articles, and to supply\nsuch information, from time to time, as that gentleman's inexperience\nand ignorance required. He has also emulated the example of his\nassociate by contributing to the anti-tunnel literature of the\nnewspapers. While a member of the House, a few years since, he had the\nbad taste, in the course of discussion, to quote from one of his own\nanonymous articles. Upon being accused of being the author of his\nquotation, he roundly denied the charge, but was convicted by the\nproduction of his own manuscript. His seat was vacant during the\nremainder of that session. Whether this desertion of his post was\noccasioned by a conviction in the minds of anti-tunnel men and the\nWestern Railroad managers that the exposure had impaired the influence\nof their agent, or whether he was impelled to retire by the stings of\nthat remorse which a certain class of men experience only when they have\nbeen detected in a falsehood, the writer of this paper is unable to\ndetermine.\nThe Boston Advertiser of October 5, 1865, contains an article over Mr.\nBird's signature, which was soon after published in the form of a\npamphlet, and profusely distributed throughout the State, having for a\ntitle, \"The Hoosac Tunnel: its Condition and Prospects.\" It appears,\nthat a few weeks previous, Mr. Bird and Mr. Harris visited the Tunnel\nlocality, and this pamphlet purports to be the result of Mr. Bird's\n\"observations.\" It has been extensively read, and has, doubtless,\ninspired the minds of many timid and ignorant persons, with honest\ndoubts of the practicability or expediency of ever completing the\nTunnel. It is considered \"smart\" by those who mistake denunciation and\nabuse for wit, and baseless assumption for truth. To those who are\nfamiliar with the history of the Tunnel, and who understand its present\ncondition, it is more remarkable for misrepresentation and\ndisingenuousness, than even any previous effort of its author.\nHe introduces his subject by stating that the commissioners, \"since they\ncommenced operations, have had unlimited and irresponsible power, and\nthat, for all failures and blunders, they, and they alone, are\nresponsible;\" yet, within a month from the penning of this assertion,\nMr. Bird boasted that _he_ did something, while a member of the Council,\nto prevent the building of the road from Greenfield to the mountain.\nThe obstacles encountered at the West end of the Tunnel, which had been\nforeseen and understood from the beginning, by the friends of the\nenterprise, appear to have first engaged the observation of our\ninspector, and are represented as a startling and recent discovery. The\nwell known effect of water upon the soft material in this locality is\ndescribed as \"rock demoralized\" into \"porridge,\" and this \"porridge\" is\nrepresented as a difficulty of such serious nature that \"the managers\nare at their wits' ends.\"\nMr. James Laurie, an eminent civil engineer, employed by the\ncommissioners to make a survey, in his able report in January of 1863,\nsays \"the portions of the Hoosac Tunnel embraced between the Western\nentrance and the present shaft, a distance of 3008 feet, will, from all\nindications, be the most troublesome and expensive. The material\nconsists of gravel, clay, sand, detached beds of quartzose sandstone,\nsome of which is partly decomposed, and limestone. The whole formation\nis full of springs. _However bad the material may prove_, this part,\nunder proper management, can be completed long before the rest of the\nTunnel.\" Mr. Bird says, \"Common men, and some uncommon men, too, look\nupon these difficulties as insuperable.\" Those who can, for a moment,\nweigh the opinion of the accomplished and experienced engineer, Mr.\nLaurie, with that of Mr. F. W. Bird, of Walpole, may relieve their\ndoubts by referring to Mr. Storrow's report on the European tunnels, in\na very large proportion of which the most formidable kind of \"porridge\"\nwas encountered and subdued.\nMr. Bird observed the Western shaft. The work at the Western face of\nthis shaft was suspended on account of imminent danger of \"porridge\" and\nour observer's most important criticism here, is that they were, at the\ntime of his visit, advancing on the Eastern face of the shaft, at the\nrate of only \"thirteen feet weekly,\" that is fifty-two _feet per month_.\nMr. Storrow says the average progress in the European tunnels was about\nthirty _feet per month_.\nThe Central shaft was visited, and Mr. Bird does not appear to have\nobserved anything which demanded an expression of his disapproval. The\nwork was progressing at the rate of twenty-two feet a month, and the\npumps gave a gallon and a half of water per minute. In constructing the\nKilsey Tunnel, in England, Mr. Storrow says that during a considerable\nportion of nine months, the water pumped out was two thousand gallons a\nminute.\nMr. Bird's report of progress at the East end was certainly very\nencouraging the heading having been advanced successfully during the two\nmonths preceding his visit, at the rate of sixty-five feet per month,\nand the work was being pushed with vigor and activity.\nThe dam across the Deerfield next claimed the observation of the\ninspector, who appears to have regarded it with much surprise, both on\naccount of its cost and because it was thrown across a fitful mountain\ntorrent, so feeble at the time of Mr. Bird's visit, that it was only\nallowed to run by night, for the reason, as he \"guessed,\" that \"if it\nwas allowed to run by day, under the hot sun, it would all evaporate\nbefore it reached Shelburne Falls!\" This _guess_ is associated in the\nsame paragraph with an assertion that \"there was not then in the river,\nand had not been for some weeks, and has not been since, (unless they\nhave had heavy rains,) water enough to give under a thirty feet head,\ntwenty, or even a ten-horse power, for twenty-four hours a day.\" It is\nas well established a fact that the Deerfield river was never known to\nbe so low as at one time during last year, as it is that wells all over\nthe State were dry last autumn, which were never dry before. Yet, at the\ntime of Mr. Bird's visit, when the river was lowest, Mr. Doane, the\nchief engineer, states that the water was running at the rate of\n\"thirty-four cubic feet per second. On a head of thirty feet this gives,\ntheoretically, one hundred and sixteen, and, practically, eighty-seven\nhorse power.\" The intelligent reader will not be at much loss to decide\nwhether he will rely upon the guesses, observations and loose assertions\nof Mr. Bird, or the record and word of the careful and skillful\nengineer. Mr. Bird says, \"it is discreditable that the precise quantity\nof water has not, so far as we know, been ascertained by actual\nmeasurement.\" Such measurement had been made, and Mr. Bird _might_ have\nknown it if he had taken pains to inquire of Mr. Doane or Mr. Hill.\nThe testimony of Messrs. Lamson & Goodnow, of Shelburne Falls, as to the\npower and reliability of the Deerfield river, is that \"this is the first\nseason we have been at all troubled on account of the scarcity of water,\nbut not as Mr. Bird stated it. We have not been compelled to stop our\nmills _except one half day_, and we employ four hundred men on cutlery.\"\nThe same gentlemen (Messrs. Lamson & Goodnow) state that the Deerfield\nand North rivers furnish water enough, at Shelburne Falls, for one\nthousand horse power. The North river is a small stream, and deducting\nits contribution together with that of the brooks which find their way\ninto the Deerfield between Shelburne Falls and the mountain, at the high\nestimate of two hundred horse power, and there remains to the Deerfield\nalone a force of eight hundred horse power, which is the estimate made\nby the commissioners. The measurements made by Mr. Doane and his\nassistants confirm their accuracy. Yet Mr. Bird who boasts of \"an\nintimate acquaintance of over thirty years with water power,\" asserts\nthat for such a privilege, \"ten thousand dollars would be an extravagant\nprice!\" Would he sell even the puddle which works his paper mill at\nWalpole, and which, we presume, has afforded all his knowledge of water\npower, for half that amount?\nThe writer of this article has not enjoyed \"an intimate acquaintance of\nover thirty years with water power,\" but he has resided exactly the same\nlength of time as Gov. Gardner said he had been a temperance man, in the\nmanufacturing town of Fitchburg, and during that time has learned\nsomething about its _thirty-four_ water privileges and _five hundred and\neighty-two feet head_ of water which they command, on the little Nashua\nand its tributaries. His knowledge of this water power enables him to\nexhibit the gross absurdity of Mr. Bird's efforts to dry up the\nDeerfield. One of these tributaries, which is less than eight miles\nlong, affords a privilege with a head of twenty-one feet, of from\nseventy-five to one hundred horse power. The reader can form his own\nconclusions, by comparing this brook with that \"fitful mountain\ntorrent,\" the Deerfield river, which has its sources in the town of\nStratton, Vt., flows southward to the foot of the Hoosac Mountain, then\nturning eastward, finds its way into the Connecticut, near Greenfield,\ntraversing in its course, a distance of more than sixty miles. The\nlength of the \"fitful torrent\" above the Hoosac dam, is about forty\nmiles, and in that part of its course it is swelled by the contributions\nof numerous tributaries, several of which are respectively from twelve\nto eighteen miles long. A shrewd Yankee, who is not a civil engineer,\nand has not even had the experience of running a small paper mill, might\n\"guess\" that such a stream would furnish, with a head of thirty feet, as\nmuch as an eight hundred horse power.\nBut it is not eight hundred horse power, nor four hundred that is\nrequired to operate the drilling machinery and ventilate the tunnel; for\ntwo hundred and eight horse power is all that has ever been used or\nneeded at Mt. Cenis. This leaves a pretty wide margin for drouths,\n_evaporation_, and other contingencies.\nIn his observations upon the power required, Mr. Bird becomes severe and\nsarcastic. He assails the opinion of the commissioners that \"the loss of\npower by carrying the compressed air through five miles of pipe will be\nquite insignificant;\" and after asserting that there are no _data_ by\nwhich to test the correctness of this opinion, and claiming \"some\nexperience in such matters,\" prefers that such an \"_experiment_\" should\nbe tried with somebody's money besides his own. It is gratifying to\nlearn from Mr. Bird, himself, that he he has had experience in the\nmatter of compressed air as a motive power, and that a \"cussed\nfurriner,\" as he elegantly phrases it is not to be allowed to bear off\nthe palm of this great discovery uncontested. Doubtless M. Sommeiller\nwill yield to the superior science and sagacity of Mr. Bird; but our\ncountryman should lose no time in informing his fellow citizens of his\ninvestigations, experiments and success in arriving at the conclusion\nthat compressed air cannot \"be carried through five miles of pipe\nwithout a very serious loss of power through friction, leakage, &c.\"\nBut, unfortunately for this view of the case, there are data\nestablishing the fact that compressed air has been conveyed through more\nthan two miles of pipe at Mt. Cenis, and then operated the drills\nwithout any appreciable loss of power. If there is no loss in two miles,\nhow can there be in five? It is no longer an experiment, but an\nestablished scientific fact.\nThe size of the present excavation next engages the attention of our\nobserver, and he calls the commissioners to account because they have\nnot followed their own recommendation to excavate the Tunnel to its full\ndimensions as the work proceeds. Since their recommendation was made in\nthe winter of 1863, the commissioners have had much experience, and the\nprice of labor has doubled. Only a small number of men can work on a\nheading, but when a heading has been advanced a large number of workmen\ncan follow rapidly in enlarging the excavation, and will soon overtake\nthose engaged on the heading. At Mt. Cenis, the pneumatic drills are\nonly used on the heading, and the enlargement is done by numerous\nlaborers with hand drills. It is apparent that the commissioners have\nbeen actuated solely by motives of economy in prosecuting the heading\nalone, at the present high rates of labor. The work of enlargement is\ncomparatively easy and rapid, and might well await a decline in the cost\nof labor, though it must be admitted that the importance of completing\nthis noble work, ought to outweigh the consideration of _any possible_\ncost.\nOn the subject of pneumatic drills, Mr. Bird is emphatic. He says, \"no\nintelligent man puts the slightest confidence in the successful working\nof any borer, or drill, in the rock of the Hoosac Mountain, unless\noperated by hand. In a strictly homogeneous rock, machine drills might\nwork, but in a rock like the Hoosac, where the drills, working generally\nin a comparatively soft material, are liable at any moment to strike\nveins of quartz, and where a part of the hole will be in the slate and\nthe rest in quartz, no machine drill has yet been found to stand.\" This\nreckless and false assertion is made in utter defiance of Mr. Storrow's\nreport and all other authorities upon the Alps Tunnel, which has now\nbeen excavated nearly four miles with machine drills on the heading. Mr.\nStorrow says that masonry is used because the rock \"is not homogeneous\nin character. I stood at the front of the machines, watching them for\nthree quarters of an hour. One drill was driving directly into hard\nquartz, advancing very slowly, and making the sparks fly at every\nstroke. Others working in softer spots, were cutting rapidly.\"\nMr. Bird has much to learn about pneumatic drills, and, without going\nbeyond the borders of Massachusetts, he can see a drill operate by\ncompressed air, so indifferent as to the character of the rock it works\nupon, that it will penetrate the hardest granite and the composite rock\nof the Hoosac with the same facility, and at a rate which would astonish\neven M. Sommeiller.\nThe figures upon which Bird bases a \"calculation\" as to the time of\ncompleting the Tunnel, are as far from being correct as his general\nstatements are from the truth. One example is enough to illustrate, and\nby this the reader may fairly judge what the \"calculation\" is worth. He\nsays the total length of the Tunnel is 24,586 feet, when the _fact_ is\nthat it is 25,586 feet. This is no mistake of the printer, for the\nfigures repeatedly occur in the pamphlet, and always the same; and it is\nwith this gross blunder that the \"calculation\" sets out. The truth is\nthat any careful reader of this article, is a Better judge of the whole\nsubject than Mr. Bird, because he will have reliable dates, facts and\nfigures, by the aid of which he can make a calculation for himself, or'\nform an opinion as to the time within which the work can be done, which\nwill be quite as likely to be correct as any, \"I undertake to say,\" of\nthe oracular Bird.\nOn the 1st of December, 1865, the penetration at the East end was 2904\nfeet; at the East heading of Western shaft, 414 feet; West heading of\nsame shaft, 280 feet; at West end heading, 756--in the whole, 4354 feet.\nThe central shaft had been sunk two hundred and twenty feet. The average\nprogress on this shaft during the months of August, September, October\nand November was 18 3-4 feet per month. Assuming this for the average in\nDecember, January and February the shaft was 275 feet deep, on the 1st\nof March, the whole depth to grade being 1037 feet. The average progress\non the East face of Western shaft was sixty-three feet per month.\nAllowing that average for December, January and February, and the\npenetration on this face is now more than 600 feet. The average on East\nend was forty-four feet. Add this average for the last three months, and\nthe penetration at this end is now 3036 feet, and the total penetration\n4675 feet, with 575 feet of shaft sunk.\nMr. Laurie states in his report that in the ten tunnels which he names,\nin this country and Europe, the average progress made on each face from\na shaft was thirty-eight feet, and on the end faces fifty-four feet per\nmonth. Let the intelligent man who forms opinions and conclusions for\nhimself, compare the statistics which have been given in the course of\nthis writing in relation to tunneling in Europe and in this country, and\nthen, taking into consideration the inadequate means which have, until\nrecently, been applied to the Hoosac enterprise, and surveying the\nprogress which has been made whenever the work was prosecuted with\nvigor, let him judge how soon, and at what cost, the Tunnel may be\ncompleted, even without the aid of machine drills.\nThe concluding pages of the pamphlet contain a general charge against\nthe commissioners, or rather Mr. Brooks, the chairman, of mismanagement.\nThe only \"_illustrations_\" of this charge are, first, that Mr. Brooks\ndeclined to sell the 3,000 tons of railroad iron which had been\npurchased, and distributed along the graded track from Greenfield to the\nmountain, and \"other saleable property;\" second, that he has\n\"disregarding the advice of others, whose judgment was entitled to\nweight, put his own constructions upon the acts of the Legislature\nrelating to the powers and duties of the commissioners, in opposition to\nthe construction and in defiance of the orders of the Executive\nCouncil;\" third, he has seriously contemplated \"the amazing folly of\nbuilding the railroad from Greenfield to the mountain!\"\nIt is gratifying to know from more reliable authority than the\nintimation of Mr. Bird, that Mr. Brooks did justify the opinion which is\ngenerally entertained, of his good sense and judgment, by contemplating\nthat \"amazing folly,\" and the only evidence of serious mismanagement on\nhis part, which Mr. Bird can produce, is that he did not, at once\nexecute his purpose, lay the rails and put the road in operation from\nGreenfield to the mountain. The additional facilities which the\ncompletion of this road would have afforded for expediting the work, and\nreducing its cost, are too obvious to be enumerated. The extent and\nvalue of the resources and material of the region through which the road\npasses, and the importance of their speedy development, have already\nbeen shown. The distance from Greenfield to the mountain is about thirty\nmiles, by a very uneven and hilly road; and yet, in 1861, the amount of\nfreight transported over it, was 12,350 tons, and the freight and livery\nreceipts were nearly $50,000. With a good railroad in operation, in the\nplace of a rugged highway, and the summer travel which it would induce,\nthere can be no doubt whatever, that the local business alone would\nafford receipts very far beyond the estimates, upon which it is presumed\nthe offer of the Fitchburg and Vermont and Massachusetts companies to\ntake a lease of the road was based, that is, $21,500 a year more than\nrunning expenses.\nWhether Mr. Brooks is responsible for the delay in putting the road\nunder contract, and for the waste and damage which have resulted from a\nneglect of three years, or whether Mr. Bird _did_ succeed, while a\nmember of the Council, in procuring an absolute injunction, the public\ncannot now well determine, for, as the reader has already observed, Bird\ndeclares that Mr. Brooks had absolute power, that the whole\nresponsibility rests with him, and yet boasts that he \"did something\"\ntowards preventing the completion of the road.\nSince the foregoing pages were written, Mr Bird has published and\ndistributed another pamphlet, the remarkable audacity of which\nchallenges our attention. If one half of the assertions it contains were\ntrue, if one half of its calculations and estimates could be\ndemonstrated, the Hoosac Tunnel ought to be abandoned at once, as the\ngreatest folly of the nineteenth century, and its ruins sacredly\npreserved as a monument to coming generations of a monstrous popular\ndelusion: and if the epithets--swindlers, tricksters, liars, plunderers,\nthieves, ingrates, rascals, traitors and fools--which Mr. F. W. Bird, of\nWalpole, so freely and indiscriminately applies to everybody who has\nadvocated or favored the building of this Tunnel, were deserved; then a\nvery large proportion of several legislatures, a majority of several\nexecutive councils, and many distinguished citizens and state officers,\nincluding the late governor and attorney general, ought to be lodged for\nthe remainder of their days either in the state prison, or the asylums\nfor idiots.\nThis last publication of Bird's is mainly a repetition, \"with\nembellishments,\" of his previous pamphlet, with the addition of a\npreface purporting to be the history of tunnel legislation to the\nbeginning of the present year, a string of calculations and conjectures\nas to the capacity of the Western Railroad to transport ( provided it\nwere properly managed, and the double track completed) all the Western\nfreight and travel for all future time, and several pages of coarse\ndenunciation of Mr. Brooks, chairman of the Tunnel Commissioners, and\nthe manner in which he has managed the trust committed to him. The\nsubdivisions of these subjects are:--\n1st. Tunnel Legislation. 2d. Abuse of Mr. Brooks. 3d. Power Drills. 4th.\nThe Deerfield Dam. 5th. \"Porridge.\" 6th. The Western compared with the\nTunnel line. 7th. The Possible Capacity of the Western Road. 8th. The\nCost and Time required to Complete the Tunnel.\nIt is not our purpose to expose _all_ the misrepresentations and\nperversion of facts to which Mr. Bird has resorted in the treatment of\nhis subject; but only enough of them to show what disreputable means the\nfoes of the Tunnel are capable of using in order to deceive the\ncommunity. Late results in the progress of work at the mountain, and in\nthe perfection of machinery, will enable us to illustrate the utter\nabsurdity of several of the most important of Mr. Bird's calculations,\nor rather speculations, and enable the reader to judge what reliance can\nbe placed upon any of them.\nIn a review of the history of tunnel legislation, as given in this\npamphlet, passing by the frequent charges of \"packed committees,\"\n\"deceived legislatures,\" and \"tricks of legislative legerdemain,\" we\ncome to an account of the Act of April, 1862, by which it appears that\nthe bill passed was not materially different from that prepared by Mr.\nBird, and offered by Mr. Swan. It was _entitled_, \"An Act for the More\nSpeedy Completion of the Hoosac Tunnel,\" yet the anti-tunnel league\nconsidered its passage \"a substantial defeat of the scheme,\" because\nthey believed that Governor Andrew \"was opposed to the Tunnel,\" and\nwould appoint commissioners whose opinions were in harmony with his own.\nAnd the virtuous and honest member of the \"Third House,\" through whose\nadroit management, a bill bearing a title so inconsistent with its\npurpose, was framed, affects a pious horror of legislative trickery!\nWhatever Mr. Bird may have to say upon any of his various topics, he\nnever forgets to abuse Mr. Brooks; \"_Carthago delenda est_\" at any rate;\nand he returns to the assault at the beginning or end of almost every\nchapter, with renewed spitefulness. On page 21 it is represented that\nMr. Laurie, the engineer who had been designated by the governor and\ncouncil to make surveys, had a personal interview with Mr. Brooks, and\nthat the following colloquy took place:--\n \"I am here, Mr. Brooks, to make the surveys ordered.\" \"What order?\n What surveys?\" \"The surveys ordered by the governor and council.\"\n \"I have ordered no surveys and want none. When I need your services\n I will send for you. Go about your business.\"\nEven those who have never reckoned Mr. Bird a man of strict veracity\nwill be surprised to learn that this story is a pure fabrication, that\nno such conversation, and no such interview ever took place. The\ncommunications between the two gentlemen were a letter from Mr. Laurie,\nwho was at Hartford, and a reply by telegraph from Mr. Brooks, who was\nin Boston. Mr. Laurie wrote,--\"Presuming that you wish me to make these\nsurveys, I will come to Boston,\" &c. Mr. Brooks telegraphed,--\"The new\nsurvey has not been acted upon by commissioners.\"\nOn the same page of the pamphlet it is stated that Mr. Brooks, not being\nsatisfied with Mr. Laurie's conclusions, \"demanded the suppression of\nsome portions of the report, and the modification of others.\" \"Mr.\nLaurie, after making such concessions as he could honestly make,\nresolutely refused to yield to Mr. Brooks' imperious demands upon\nmaterial points.\" Now' this representation is just as false as the story\nabout the colloquy. Mr. Brooks did not make any such demands. An\nexposure of both these fabrications is made in a communication to the\nBoston Advertiser of March 10th, which contains copies of all the\ncorrespondence on these subjects, between Mr. Brooks and Mr. Laurie.\nOn page 23, we are requested to \"look at the item of the amount of the\npeople's money applied by _Mr. Brooks_ to the payment of Mr. Haupt's\ndebts,\" than which \"there never was a more atrocious swindle.\" By\nreferring to the records of the executive council for May, June and July\nof 1863, it will be seen that the subject of paying these claims was\nreferred to a committee of the council, consisting of Alfred Hitchcock,\nF. W. Bird and Joel Hayden for special investigation. Upon the question\nof the meaning and intent of the Act of 1862, and its legal\ninterpretation, the committee took counsel of Dwight Foster, Emory\nWashburn, and Isaac R. Redfield, lawyers who had been designated by the\ngovernor, as a commission to whom should be referred such questions upon\nlegal points as might arise in prosecuting the work, and in accordance\nwith the advice of these gentlemen, and their own convictions, a\nmajority of the committee (Mr. Bird of course opposing) reported that\nthe claims ought to be paid. A majority of the council and the governor\nbeing of the same opinion, the claims were paid. The part performed by\nMr. Brooks and his associates was merely to audit and allow them. They\ncould not draw a dollar from the state-treasury for any purpose except\nupon the governor's warrant. _If_ the payment of these claims was \"an\natrocious swindle,\" then the governor, a majority of his council, and\nthe three lawyers, as well as the commissioners, were the atrocious\nswindlers. It would appear that the incorruptible and virtuous Bird was\nthe only person about the state house, at that time, who could make any\npretension to honesty or fidelity.\nThe motives of Mr. Bird, in these unscrupulous attempts to disparage the\njudgment and asperse the character of Mr. Brooks are best known to\nhimself, but it will be remembered that when Mr. Brooks received his\nappointment he was thought to be opposed to the tunnel enterprise. He\nhas proved to be one of its ablest and most resolute friends. The\ndisappointment and grief of Mr. Bird may have been rendered more\npoignant by his defeat last fall as a candidate for the honor of\nrepresenting his district in the Legislature, a defeat which he has\npublicly attributed to the opposition of Mr. Brooks.\nThe only noteworthy thing in this pamphlet concerning the Deerfield Dam,\nis an absurd attempt to misrepresent the commissioners' report of its\ncost. They state that it is $125,919.74. It was finished last fall. Mr.\nBird says \"the dam will have cost when finished, at least $275,000,\" and\nthereafter to the end of his chapter on that topic, assumes that sum to\nbe the actual cost. He obtains these figures by adding to the real cost\nof the dam, that of all the canals; buildings and machinery which are\nbeing constructed between the dam and the tunnel. He might, with equal\npropriety, have added the cost of the Walpole meeting house, or that of\nhis own paper mill. In a supplementary note we are informed that the dam\nacross the Connecticut at Holyoke, 1017 feet long, cost about $115,000.\nWe may assume that Mr. Bird applies these figures to the present dam,\nand not to the one which gave way some years since. The cost of the\nfirst dam is not given, and the inquisitive reader might ask what that\nwas, or whether the $115,000 should not with more propriety be\nconsidered as an expenditure for repairs of an old dam rather than the\ncost of a new one. However that may be, the cost of labor and material\nat the time the new dam was built, or the old one repaired, was less\nthan one half of the cost of labor and material, at any time since the\nDeerfield dam was commenced. It is possible that a cheaper structure\nmight have been built, which would answer the purpose, but the\ncommissioners and their engineers, warned perhaps, by the Holyoke\ndisaster, may be excused for constructing a work that will not be washed\naway, though done at some additional cost for its security.\nIf there is one thing which Mr. Bird absolutely loves it is \"porridge,\"\nand he returns to this topic with great vivacity. It may be briefly\nstated that in December last, after the heading from the West portal had\nbeen carried forward 111 feet, progress was stopped by an inlet of water\nfrom a brook overhead and a spring below. This water operating on the\nrotten rock, produced what Mr. Bird calls \"porridge.\" It was a\ndifficulty which had been foreseen, but was never regarded by the\ncommissioners or engineers as of a formidable character. Soon after work\nwas suspended at this point, responsible parties came forward with an\noffer to construct an arch lined with solid masonry through the\n\"porridge\" to the Western shaft, a distance of about 2000 feet, for less\nthan $700,000; and to furnish satisfactory security for the performance\nof their contract. The offer was declined.\nWhen Mr. Bird learned that work at this point was suspended, he became\njubilant. He has filled ten pages of his two pamphlets with \"porridge,\"\nand excited some fears on the part of his friends that the stuff has\nfound access to the thinking part of his own person, and \"muddled\" it\nbadly. But of this the reader may judge by noting on page 34 of the last\npamphlet an assertion that the distance from the West portal to the\nshaft is all demoralized rock; and on pages 36 and 37 a calculation that\nit will cost $5,430,300 _in gold_, to construct this section of 2000\nfeet! But \"porridge\" is unreliable, and that at the Hoosac, has given\nout; and so Mr. Bird's hopes and calculations, which were based upon it,\nfall to the ground. Work has been recently resumed, and twenty-seven\nfeet beyond the point at which it was discontinued, solid rock was\nreached, in which the workmen are now drilling and blasting without\nmolestation or fear of \"porridge.\" The brook is passed, and in the\nartesian well about half way from the portal to the shaft, solid rock\nhas been reached at 130 feet above grade. \"Porridge\" has served its\nfriends a mean trick and \"well might _Mr. Bird_ exclaim in the language\nof Woolsey (slightly altered,)\"\n \"Had I but served _the truth_ with half the zeal\n I served my _porridge_, _it_ would not, in my need,\n Have left me naked to mine enemies.\"\nThe theoretical capacity of the Western Railroad is a fruitful subject\nfor speculations and array of figures, but facts and demonstrated truths\nare what practical men wish to deal with. A comparison of the Tunnel and\nWestern lines is of no significance, when both are urgently needed. In\n1847, when the Western Road was opened to Albany, it transported from\nAlbany to Boston 88,438 tons of freight, and last year, only 87,254\ntons, 1184 tons less. Yet in 1847 it had no double track, and in 1865 it\nhad 116 miles of double track. The greatest tonnage was 116,288, in\n1864: and that same year, 588,207 tons of through Eastward freight\narrived at Albany and Troy, and the total amount to those two points was\n3,866,025; nearly three fourths of which was transported on the Erie\ncanal, an institution which is entirely left out of Mr. Bird's\ncalculations. More than six million tons of freight were brought from\nthe West last year to the Hudson river. Of this vast amount only a\nlittle more than one sixtieth found its way to Boston over the Western\nRoad. In 1864, 471,919 tons of freight were transported from Albany and\nTroy to Boston by the circuitous routes we have mentioned.\nMr. Bird makes a calculation that the capacity of the Western Road can\nbe so increased, by finishing the double track, increasing the rolling\nstock and adding special auxiliary force to draw its freight trains up\nthe steep grades, that it can bring 1,797,120 tons of freight in a year.\nIt may be presumed that he means both local and through freight. But his\n\"calculation\" is as baseless and flimsy as any of his numerous\nstatistical bubbles which have already been pricked. The best answer to\nhis whole argument is contained in a memorial of the Albany Board of\nTrade to our legislature, with some extracts from which, our review of\nthis topic will be closed. But a few more of Mr. Bird's\nmisrepresentations must first be exposed. On page 56 he represents Mr.\nBrooks as claiming that the whole through freight from the West to\nBoston_ eight years hence_, will amount to 448,101 tons. This estimate\nwas made three years ago, and the words \"eight years hence\" were used at\nthat time, and not now, as Mr. Bird represents.\nOn page 50, is a list of names purporting to have been taken from the\noriginal subscription list of stockholders in the Troy and Greenfield\nRailroad. Mr. Otis Clapp is represented as having subscribed $200 in\n\"services;\" and Daniel S. Richardson's name is appended, with ciphers\nand exclamation points. The first of these misrepresentations has been\nexposed by Mr. Clapp, who writes to the Boston Advertiser that he never\ncharged the company for any service, nor was ever credited by them for\nservices, but that he did subscribe and pay $1151.43 for stock of the\nroad. Mr. Richardson also writes to the Advertiser, and mildly suggests\nthat he was never in any way connected with the Troy and Greenfield\nRailroad. On page 51, E. H. Derby is represented as being president of\nthe Fitchburg Railroad a pure fabrication; and Alvah Crocker as having\n\"large investments\" in the same road, when its books show that at that\ntime he owned but six shares of stock. The truth is, Mr. Bird has no\nhesitation or scruple in using other people's names in the same manner\nas he uses figures and statistics in his calculations.\nMr. Bird says lie never had any communication or correspondence with,\nand never received a dollar from, any person connected with the Western\nRailroad. That may be; but it is well known that Mr. D. L. Harris,\npresident of the Connecticut River Railroad, has been for years the\n\"_fidus Achates_\" of Mr. Bird in \"fighting the Tunnel,\" his colleague in\nthe \"Third House,\" his companion at the Hoosac Mountain, and the guide\nof his inexperienced feet in the wilderness of facts and speculations of\ncivil engineering. It is not so well known, but nevertheless true, that\nMr. Harris is made director and president of the Connecticut River\nRailroad by the influence and vote of Chester W. Chapin, president of\nthe Western road. His zeal in the service of his benefactor has been\nmanifested by an active hostility to the Tunnel, as persistent and\nunscrupulous as that of Mr. Bird; and, were it possible for that\ngentleman ever to act from other than disinterested motives, or a sense\nof public duty, his intimate relations with Mr. Harris might justify a\nsuspicion that the \"sinews of war\" might be supplied through that\nchannel. At all events, we may be permitted to say that, if these two\nmen have organized and led the opposition to the Tunnel every winter for\nthe last ten years, printed thousands and thousands of pamphlets, and\nspent a considerable part of each year in the lobby, and all this at\ntheir own cost, from a sense of public duty, then they have better\ndeserved statues in front of the State House than Webster or Mann; and\nthe Western Railroad management is even meaner than it has been\ngenerally considered. A corporation must indeed be without a soul, which\ncan look upon such sublime virtue, and suffer it to pay its own\nexpenses. But enough of Mr. Bird and his motives.\nThe statements we have made in regard to the necessity of a new route\nare, in every particular fully confirmed by a memorial which has been\nrecently addressed to our Legislature from the Albany Board of Trade,\nthrough a committee of seven of their number. The gentlemen comprising\nthis board are not theorists, but practical, clear-headed and reliable\nbusiness men, who have been compelled by the urgent demands of yearly\nincreasing business, to appeal to the people of Massachusetts for aid\nand relief.\nFrom a table in their memorial, it appears, that, while the increase,\nduring the last fifteen years, of miles of railroad in eleven other\nStates through which Western products press to the seaboard, averaged\n169 per cent, that of Massachusetts was only 26 per cent. But we proceed\nto quote from the memorial:--\n \"Twelve years of experience have convinced us that the Western\n Railroad is wholly inadequate to the prompt, rapid and cheap\n transportation of the commodities so extensively consumed by the\n people of the New England States. To illustrate the diversion of\n trade from the natural route to Boston via Albany, occasioned by\n the incapacity of the Western road to meet the wants of commerce,\n we call your attention to the article of flour. We collate our\n facts from reports of the Boston Board of Trade and the official\n reports of the Western Railroad. In 1865, the Western road,\n according to its own report, transported from Albany and Troy to\n Boston, one hundred and fifty thousand barrels less than it did in\n 1847, nearly twenty years ago. During the thirteen years, including\n 1848 and 1860, the average of its transportation of this article,\n per annum, between the Hudson and Boston was 287,698 barrels. For\n the same period, there were received in Boston, via other and more\n circuitous routes, an average per annum of 670,233 barrels. The\n next four years, including 1861 and 1864, the average per annum by\n the Western road was 572,637 barrels. Boston received from other\n routes an average, per annum for the same period, of 824,937\n barrels.\n Now, we hold that, by the natural laws of trade, most of this vast\n quantity of flour, which reaches Boston in these roundabout ways,\n would have left the Hudson river at Albany and Troy, had the\n requisite facilities for a cheap and rapid transportation been\n afforded. About one-fourth of the average quantity received in\n Boston from other routes, for the four years named above, reached\n that place via the Grand Trunk Railway and Portland, aggregating\n 956,945 barrels. Taking Detroit as the starting point, the\n distance from there to Boston via Portland, is 228 miles greater\n than the route to Boston via Albany. Yet, owing to the inadequate\n railroad facilities between Albany and Boston, the consignors of\n this flour prefer to send it via Portland, and pay the charges on\n 228 miles of additional distance. What is true of the article of\n flour is equally true of all the staple commodities produced at the\n West and consumed by the New England States. Large quantities were\n last year turned aside at Rochester and other points in our own\n State, to say nothing of points west of Buffalo, and sent to Boston\n and contiguous localities via the New York and Erie Railroad.\n Boston is even now receiving flour from Albany, Troy and\n Schenectady, by way of Rutland, a distance of some fifty miles\n further than by the Western road.\n We have no words but of commendation for the noble work which your\n State is pushing with such energy to open a still shorter route to\n the Hudson. We have no feelings of jealousy toward the new route,\n because it terminates in another city than Albany; a healthy\n rivalry will do more than moral suasion, to wake up the old route\n from that lethargy which seems so near akin to death. Had the\n Hoosac Tunnel been completed twelve years ago, we have reason to\n believe it probable that the people of Massachusetts alone would\n have saved an amount in the way of cheap transportation, nearly if\n not quite sufficient to equal its cost.\n We have spoken more freely in this paper than might be considered\n becoming in us, but for the fact that in the day of its need,\n Albany, along with Massachusetts, came to the aid of the Western\n Railroad. And now that we are suffering so much from its\n insufficiency to meet the public want, we trust the presentation of\n these views and facts will not be regarded as obtrusive, but rather\n as properly coming from those, who, with you, aided to produce a\n common benefit, and are now suffering with you from a common\n cause.\"\nThe cost of the whole work was estimated by the commissioners in their\nfirst report, at $5,719,330, the estimate being based upon ordinary\nlabor at one dollar a day, and of materials at a corresponding rate.\nNothing has yet occurred to invalidate this estimate, excepting the\nadvance of the cost of material and labor, an incidental misfortune\ncommon to every public, as well as private enterprise, requiring labor\nand material, which has been prosecuted during the last three years. It\nis certain that these high rates will greatly decline, perhaps nearly to\ntheir former level within a year; but admitting that the Commissioners'\nestimate should be swelled through these incidental causes to the sum of\neight millions, would such an increase of expense justify the\nabandonment of this great enterprise, upon which so much has already\nbeen expended, and at the very period in its progress when the most\nformidable obstacles in its way have been surmounted, and its success\nbecome a certainty? Had the Western Railroad been utterly destroyed last\nyear by a rebel raid, as were some Southern roads by the march of\nSherman, or by any conceivable cause, would the consideration of\ntwenty-five, or thirty, or even forty millions, prevent its being\nrebuilt at once? Why then should two millions stand in the way of the\nTunnel line, which is now a greater necessity than the Western road was\nat the time of its construction?\nThe time required to complete the work, without the aid of machinery,\nwas estimated by the Commissioners at eleven years and four months; and\nwith the aid of such machine drills and power as had already been\napplied with success at Mt. Cenis, at seven years and a half. The work\nat Mt. Cenis was commenced in 1857, and up to July, 1861, 2142 feet had\nbeen excavated by hand labor; the machine drills were then applied, and\nthe Italian government has recently announced that the work will be\nfinished by the close of the year 1870. It will be seven and a half\nmiles long. The Hoosac Tunnel will be about four and a half miles long,\nand at the present time it has been excavated 4675 feet, and shafts have\nbeen sunk to the depth of 575 feet. The machine drills will be applied\nin a few days; but they are drills which will do twice, and possibly\nthree times the work of those at Mt. Cenis.\nTo the sound judgment, energy, and untiring perseverance of Mr. Brooks,\nand the inventive genius and skill of Mr. Stephen F. Gates, of Boston,\nand Mr. Charles Burleigh, of Fitchburg, belongs the credit of perfecting\na pneumatic drill, by means of which our great tunnel will be completed\nmuch within the time named by the Commissioners, and with a reduction of\ntheir estimate of its cost by hand labor of several hundred thousand\ndollars. We have seen this drill operated by compressed air, at the rate\nof two hundred blows a minute, each blow given with a force of more than\nfive hundred pounds, cut an inch and a quarter hole in a block of Hoosac\nrock, thirty-eight inches in thirteen minutes, without changing its\npoints. Its superiority over the Mt. Cenis drill consists in its\nlightness, automatic feed, and smaller size. The Mt. Cenis drill is\neight feet long, and weighs six hundred pounds, and the whole machine\nmoves forward in feeding. The Hoosac drill is four feet long, weighs two\nhundred and eight pounds, and can be handled by two men. In feeding, the\ndrill alone advances, and in such manner as to accommodate itself to any\nkind of rock it may encounter, whether hard or soft. Its points are\nsharpened in a die by half a dozen blows of the hammer. It will do the\nwork of twenty men; and, finally, sixteen of them can be applied to a\nsurface upon which only nine of the Mt. Cenis drills can be used.\nThe operation of this drill has already been witnessed by hundreds of\npersons, among them machinists, engineers, and stone masons, and not one\nof them entertains a doubt that it will do all which is claimed for it\nby the inventors. But the carriages are nearly ready, and these little\nmachines will shortly be put to their work. The friends of the Tunnel\nhave no fears of the result.\nMassachusetts has always led her sister States. At the call to arms, her\nsons have been first in the field, and first to die for the common\ngood. Her schools and colleges, her institutions of charity, and her\nstatutes have furnished models for the new states of the great West, and\nfor foreign republics. In her manufactures and mechanic arts, in the\nproducts of her inventive genius, in maritime enterprise, in the\nbuilding of canals and railroads, and in every undertaking to develop\nthe resources and promote the prosperity of the country, she has been\nfirst and foremost. With so proud a record, and with almost exhaustless\nmeans at her command, we do not believe our noble state is yet ready to\nabandon the lead; nor that the consideration of a few millions of\ndollars will prevent her from breaking down the barrier which divides us\nfrom the West, and by which the great stream of Western traffic has been\nso long checked and diverted. Rather let us trust that, by wise\nlegislation, a liberal policy, and a cordial support of the gentlemen to\nwhom the conduct of this enterprise is entrusted, the great work of De\nWitt Clinton will be perfected, and the noble design of Loammi Baldwin\nexecuted, by the completion of the Hoosac Tunnel, before it shall be\nannounced from Sardinia that the Alps are pierced and France and Italy\nhave joined hands under the Grand Vallon.", "source_dataset": "gutenberg", "source_dataset_detailed": "gutenberg - Facts and Figures Concerning the Hoosac Tunnel\n"}, {"source_document": "", "creation_year": 1849, "culture": " English\n", "content": "E-text prepared by Barbara Tozier, Bill Tozier, Linda Cantoni, and the\nProject Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team\n(https://www.pgdp.net/)\nNote: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this\n file which includes the original illustrations.\n (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/9/7/2/19724/19724-h/19724-h.htm)\n (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/9/7/2/19724/19724-h.zip)\nHOME PASTIMES; OR TABLEAUX VIVANTS.\nby\nJ. H. HEAD.\n[Illustration: TABLEAUX VIVANTS.]\nBoston:\nJ. E. Tilton And Company.\nEntered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1859, by\nJames H. Head,\nIn the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of\nMassachusetts.\nElectrotyped at the\nBoston Stereotype Foundry.\nTO\nSAMUEL P. LONG, ESQ.,\nAS AN HUMBLE TRIBUTE OF ADMIRATION FOR HIS ARTISTIC AND LITERARY\nUSEFULNESS,\nAND TO THOSE FRIENDS WHO HAVE PARTICIPATED WITH ME IN MANY OF THESE\nSCENES,\nThis Work\nIS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED,\nBY THE AUTHOR.\nPREFACE.\nA sincere desire to extend the influence of a pure and ornamental art,\nto promote and extend a perfect system of what is really beautiful in\nthe forming of the Tableau, to awaken in the minds of many a quicker\nsense of the grace and elegance which familiar objects are capable of\naffording, and to encourage all to cherish a taste for the beautiful,\nhave influenced the author to issue this volume.\nArt should not be confined entirely to the studio of the artist. Her\npresence should embellish every home; her spirit should animate every\nmind. She is unwearied in her best and brightest attributes,\nrestricting her influence to no peculiar spot of earth, nor conforming\nher claims to any one sphere. Beauty of form is still beautiful, be it\nfound in the humble cottage or in the magnificent palace.\nA perfect picture will be recognized and appreciated whenever\ndisplayed, or by whomsoever produced. In fine, nature is still nature,\nand the germ of poetical feeling is similar in its manifestation\nwherever it may chance to be shown.\nThe delineation of the natural and poetical, its realization upon\ncanvas, or upon paper, or in the living picture, tends to improve the\nmind, assimilates the real with the ideal, conforms taste to the\nnoblest standard, overflows the heart with pure and holy thoughts, and\nadorns the exterior form with graces surpassing those of the Muses.\nThe producing and forming of _tableaux vivants_ have been the author's\nstudy for the past ten years. The choicest gems which adorn this\nvolume are mostly imaginary scenes; others are selected from the\npoets; and a few are suggested by rare engravings.\nThe author, in his endeavors to impart and explain many things, has\nbeen obliged to sacrifice show and style upon the altar of simplicity;\nat least, such has been his constant aim. For all imperfections and\ndefects he invokes the charity of a candid public. If this volume\nshould in any degree satisfy a want that has been long felt, or add\none devotee to the shrine of beauty, the author will consider his\nendeavors amply repaid.\nJAMES H. HEAD.\nPORTSMOUTH, September 2, 1859.\nCONTENTS.\nReception of Queen Victoria at Cherbourg, 32\nScene from the Opera of \"Sappho,\" 38\nMusic, Painting, and Sculpture, 52\nNapoleon and his Old Guard at Waterloo, 56\nThe Dancing Girl in Repose, 60\nWashington's Entrance into Portsmouth, 62\nThe Poet and the Goddess of Poetry, 74\nAbou Ben Adhem and the Angel, 80\nHiawatha and his Bride's Arrival Home, 83\nDavid playing before Saul, 87\nPaganism and Christianity, 91\nSecond Scene of Paganism and Christianity, 94\nMorning welcomed by the Stars, 100\nHaidee and Don Juan in the Cave, 111\nHope, Faith, Charity, and Love, 130\nThe Death of General Warren, 132\nPortrait of Prince Albert, 135\nThe Return of the Prodigal Son, 136\nEthan Allen at Ticonderoga, 149\nRoger Williams preaching to the Indians, 164\nFlorence Nightingale in the Crimea, 175\nJoan of Arc at the Siege of Orleans, 178\nHagar and Ishmael in the Wilderness, 185\nThe Fight for the Standard, 187\nJonathan's Visit to his City Cousins, 189\nCoronation of Queen Victoria, 195\nCatharine Douglass barring the Door with her Arm, 205\nThe Fairies' Offering to the Queen of May, 210\nThe Fairies' Rainbow Bridge, 219\nPortrait of Louis Napoleon, 229\nThe Return from the Vintage, 230\nPrince Charles Edward after the Battle of Culloden, 239\nPresentation of Fireman's Trumpet, 243\nThe Peasant Family in Repose, 255\nINTRODUCTION.\nThe Tableaux Vivants may be new to many of our readers, although they\nhave been produced and have been quite popular in Europe, and to some\nextent in this country. For public or private entertainment, there is\nnothing which is so interesting and instructive as the tableau. The\nperson most fitted to take charge of a tableau-company is one who is\nexpert at drawing and painting: any one who can paint a fine picture\ncan produce a good tableau.\nThe individual who makes all of the necessary arrangements for a\nseries of tableaux is generally called the _stage manager_. His first\nwork is to select a programme of tableaux; and in this list there\nshould be a variety of designs, comprising the grave, the comic, and\nthe beautiful. A manuscript should be used in which to write the names\nof the tableaux, directions for forming each, the names of the\nperformers, the parts which they personate, the styles of the\ncostumes, and the quantity and kind of scenery and furniture used in\neach design.\nThe following diagram will illustrate the manner in which the\nmanuscript should be arranged:--\n|Directions for forming|Ladies.|Personation.|Gentlemen.|Personation.|\nAfter the manuscript is completed, it will be necessary to select the\ncompany and assign the parts. The number of persons required in a\nfirst-class tableau-company is forty. It will be necessary to have\nthat number to produce large pictures; fifteen or twenty-five persons\nwill be sufficient for smaller representations. In forming the\ncompany, the following persons should be selected: six young ladies,\nof good form and features, varying in styles and sizes; six young\ngentlemen, of good figure, and of various heights; two small misses;\ntwo small lads; two gentlemen for stage assistants; one painter, one\njoiner, one lady's wardrobe attendant, one gentleman's wardrobe\nattendant, one curtain attendant, one announcer. If a large piece is\nto be performed, such as the Reception of Queen Victoria, it will be\nnecessary to have fifteen or twenty young gentlemen, varying from\nfour to five feet in height, to personate military and other figures.\nEach person should have written instructions in regard to the scenes\nin which they take a part, giving full descriptions of the costumes,\nposition, expression, and character which they are to personate; after\nwhich they should meet in a large room, and go through a private\nrehearsal. It will be necessary, previously to appearing before the\npublic, to have three rehearsals--two private ones, and one dress\nrehearsal on the stage. It will be well to have a few friends witness\nthe dress rehearsal, which will give confidence to the performers,\nprevious to their _d\u00eabut_ before a large audience. As soon as the\ncompany has been organized, and each performer has received his\nseveral programmes, it will be the duty of the stage manager to see\nthat the various branches of the profession are progressing in unison\nwith the rehearsals. Each tableau should be carefully examined, and a\nlist of the machinery, scenery, wardrobe, and furniture of each piece\nnoted down, and competent persons immediately set to work on their\ncompletion. The selection of appropriate music, the drafting and\nerecting of the stage, and many other minor matters, should all be\ncompleted, before the tableaux can be produced.\nBut before proceeding farther, we will give directions in reference to\nthe size and formation of _the stage_. It should be strongly framed of\njoist, and covered with smooth boards, and placed at the end of the\nhall, at equal distances between the side walls. It should be twelve\nfeet square, and six feet in height. The front of the stage should be\nmade to represent a large picture frame; it can be easily made of\nboards ten inches wide, fastened together in a bevelled manner, and\ncovered with buff cambric, ornamented with gold paper. Oval frames are\nfrequently used, but they are not so easy to arrange and manage as a\nsquare frame. Cover the floor of the stage with a dark woollen carpet,\ndrape the ceiling with light blue cambric, the background with black\ncambric; the sides should be arranged in the same style as the side\nscenes of a theatrical stage. Stout frames of wood, two feet wide,\nreaching to the ceiling, and covered with black cambric, should be\nplaced on the extreme edge of the stage, in such a manner that lamps\nfrom the ante-rooms will throw a light upon the stage and not be seen\nby the audience. Make the drop-curtain of stout blue cambric; fasten a\nslim piece of wood at the top and the bottom; and, at intervals of one\nfoot on both of the poles, fasten loops of thick leather, containing\niron rings one inch in diameter, and between the bottom and top rings,\nat intervals of one foot, fasten small brass rings; these should be\nattached to the cambric on the inside of the curtain; then fasten the\ntop pole to the inside of the top of the frame, and attach strong\nlines to the bottom rings; pass the cords through the brass rings and\nthe iron rings at the top; then gather them together, and pass them\nthrough a ship's block fastened in the ante-room. As the lines will be\nquite likely to run off of the wheel, a piece of hard wood, with a\ncircle at one end, fastened on the inside of the frame, will answer a\nbetter purpose for the cords to pass through. After passing them over\nthe block, tie them together, and the curtain will be ready for use.\nWhen the ropes are drawn, the curtain will rise up in folds to the top\nof the frame. The floor of the stage should be built out on the front\ntwelve inches, for the placing of a row of gas-burners with tin\nreflectors, painted black on the outside; this row of lights should be\nfurnished with a stopcock, which can be placed in the gentleman's\ndressing-room. A row of strong lights should also be placed on each\nside of the stage, within three feet of the ceiling; these also should\nhave reflectors and separate stopcocks, for the purpose of casting the\nproper lights and shades on the stage.\n_The Dressing-rooms_ are on each side, and beneath the stage. The\nfloor of the stage should extend out on each side, making small rooms\nfor the placing of the scenery, furniture, &c. A trap-door should be\ncut in the floor of each room, and flights of steps reaching down into\nthe rooms below, which are used for dressing-rooms. A partition placed\nunder the stage divides the ladies' from the gentlemen's room; these\nrooms are covered on the front with strong cloth, and decorated with\nflags.\n_A stage for tableaux in a private dwelling-house_ should be formed\nsimilarly to a hall stage, but so constructed that it can be put\ntogether in a few minutes. The platform should be fourteen feet\nsquare, made in three sections, so that it can be handled easily, and\nshould rest on a frame of small joist, which can be mortised together\nat the corners; place the frame on four boxes, two feet square; at the\ncorners of the platform mortise four square holes, in which insert\npieces of joist which will reach to the ceiling; around the top fasten\nstrips of board, by means of screws. Make the frame in three pieces,\ncover them with cambric, and fasten them to the front joist, and on\nthe top board with long screws; arrange the curtain and scenery\nsimilar to the hall stage. The wardrobes and furniture can be\nfurnished by the members of the company, and with a little ingenuity\nand taste, many suits can be gotten up with little expense. As the\nview of the tableaux is but momentary, the quality of the costumes\nwill not be noticed.\n_For a single evening's entertainment_, the following arrangement will\nsuffice, providing there be a long entry or a large parlor, separated\nby folding doors. If the entry is used, let the performers form their\ntableaux at the lower end; and when all is ready, the audience can be\ncalled from the parlors to witness the scene. A parlor with folding\ndoors is undoubtedly the best place, as the doors can be slowly\nopened, which will give a better effect to the scene. Cover the wall\nback of the tableaux with black shawls, place the lights on a table at\none side of the picture, and hide them from the view of the audience\nby placing a screen of thick cloth in front of them.\nIn forming up a tableau, lights and shades should be studied; in fact,\nthis is the main secret of producing effects, and by managing the\nlights about the stage correctly, you can throw parts of your picture\nin shadow, while other portions are light. Care should also be taken\nnot to have too great a variety of colors in a picture. The showy\ncostumes should be intermingled with those of modest appearance, and\nthe lightest characters, as a general rule, should be placed in the\nbackground to relieve the dark ones; those in the background should be\nplaced on platforms. If there are many figures in the piece, it will\nbe necessary to have a number of forms, of various heights, placed in\nthe background--in this manner all of the figures will be seen.\nThe scenery, furniture, and machinery of each piece should be arranged\nprevious to the entrance of the performers on the stage. Each\nperformer should be called on separately, and placed in position. By\nadopting this plan, every tableau can be formed without noise or\nconfusion. When the position is once taken, it should be kept, unless\nit is a very difficult one.\nThe stage manager should take his position at the front of the stage,\nand see that each one is in his proper place. He should prohibit\nlaughter or conversation among the performers, unless any one wishes\nexplanations in regard to the piece. He should be strictly obeyed in\nall matters referring to the tableaux; and when he has properly\nadjusted every thing on the stage, he should remove to the ante-rooms,\nand see that the lights, music, &c., are ready. He should then ring a\nsmall bell, and the announcer in the hall will have a programme of the\ntableaux, and will announce the piece; and if there is any\naccompanying poem to be read, it will be his duty to read it. The\nmanager will then ring the second bell; this will be a signal for the\nperformers on the stage to take their positions, and for the lights to\nbe turned down in the hall. In thirty seconds after the second bell,\nthe manager will ring a third time, which will be a signal for the\ncurtain attendant to draw up the curtain, which should rise slowly to\nthe top of the frame, and be kept up about thirty seconds. Each\ntableau should be exhibited twice, and in some cases three times.\nAfter the last exhibition, the performers should quietly proceed to\nthe ante-rooms, and immediately dress for the next tableau. The\nmanager and assistants will see that the stage is cleared of the\nscenery, and new scenery adjusted for the next piece. It will be\nnecessary to work with rapidity, as there are many things to perform\nwhich in the aggregate will take much time. Large programmes should be\nplaced in each dressing-room, so that the performers will be able to\ntell in which tableau they are to perform, without inquiring of the\nmanager. Each performer should be furnished with a large trunk to keep\nhis wardrobe in; and when a change of costume is made, care should be\ntaken that each one places his costumes in his own trunk. If this plan\nis not followed, before the exhibition is through, many articles will\nbe missing, which will retard the performance.\nEach piece of machinery, furniture, scenery, &c., should have a proper\nplace where it should be left when not in use. Nails, pins, hammers,\nand other articles which come in constant use, should be kept in a\nlarge box near the stage. By working systematically, every thing will\nmove on with clockwork nicety, and all confusion be avoided. Colored\nfires should be burnt in the ante-rooms at the sides of the stage;\nsmoke and clouds should be produced at the back, or in the centre of\nthe stage. The preparation can be ignited by fastening a lighted fuse\nto a long rod. Large tableaux require all the light than can be\nproduced. Medium pictures should be shaded in different parts.\nStatuary tableaux require a soft and mellow light. Night scenes\nrequire but little light, which should be partially produced by the\nburning of green fire. The following articles are indispensable to a\nwell-arranged tableaux stage:--\nOne melodeon, six common chairs, four ditto of better quality, two\nsmall tables, two sinks, two sets of pitchers and ewers; two mirrors,\ncombs, hair brushes, pins, tumblers, twine and rope; napkins, nails,\ntacks, buckets, hammers, brooms, cloth brushes, small bell, large\nbell, scissors; one large table, one large chair, one set damask\ncurtains, four boxes, four feet long and eighteen inches wide, six\nditto eighteen inches square; two pieces black cambric, six feet\nsquare; four pieces white cotton cloth, six feet square; (these boxes\nand cloths are to be used in forming up the groundwork of almost every\ntableau;) two red damask table covers, (very handy things to use in\ndecorating showy pictures;) one circular platform, four feet in\ndiameter, (much used to form the top of pedestals to group statuary\ntableaux on;) two steel bars, for producing sounds to represent alarm\nbells; one bass drum, one tenor drum, one flask of powder, one box of\nmaterial for colored fires, one set of water-colors, one case\ncontaining pink saucer, chalk balls, pencil-brushes, and burnt cork.\nIt would be almost impossible to furnish a complete list of the\narticles necessary. Those we have omitted will suggest themselves, or\nthe occasion will suggest them. By closely studying the plans we have\noutlined, we are certain that no person with tact and taste could\nassume the directorship of a tableau-company without success.\nThe Tableau Vivant.\n Walk with the Beautiful and with the Grand;\n Let nothing on the earth thy feet deter;\n Sorrow may lead thee weeping by the hand,\n But give not all thy bosom-thoughts to her;\n Walk with the Beautiful.\n I hear thee say, \"The Beautiful! what is it?\"\n O, thou art darkly ignorant! Be sure\n 'Tis no long, weary road its form to visit,\n For thou canst make it smile beside thy door;\n Then love the Beautiful.\n Ay, love it; 'tis a sister that will bless,\n And teach thee patience when the heart is lonely;\n The angels love it, for they wear its dress,\n And thou art made a little lower--only;\n Then love the Beautiful.\n BURRINGTON.\nTHE WREATH OF BEAUTY.\n While Beauty comes to every human heart,\n And lingers there, unwilling to depart,\n Too many own her not, nor heed her claim,\n But blindly follow some ignoble aim.\n LAIGHTON.\nTen Female Figures.\nThis elegant design is one of the finest of this series of tableaux,\nand is composed of ten young and beautiful ladies, grouped so as to\nrepresent a magnificent wreath. The bottom of the wreath rests on the\nfront of the stage; the top reaches up to the ceiling, forming a\ncomplete circle of beautiful forms and fair faces, among which are\nentwined festoons of flowers. Inside of this circle is a large wreath\nsix feet in diameter, and five inches in thickness; this rests on a\npink ground, and is composed of spruce, ornamented with artificial\nflowers.\nThe first work in the construction of this tableau is to erect a\ncircle of seats reaching from the front of the stage to the ceiling,\nin the background. This can be easily accomplished by using boxes of\nvarious sizes. The wreath should be ten feet in diameter; the boxes\nshould be entirely covered with white cloth, the space in the centre\nwith pink cambric.\nThe costume of the ladies consists of a white dress, cut very low in\nthe neck; skirt quite long, and worn with few under skirts; sleeves\nfour inches long, trimmed with white satin ribbon; waist encircled\nwith a white satin sash; feet encased in white slippers; hair arranged\nto suit the performer's taste, and encircled with a wreath of white\nartificial flowers. The lady at the top of the wreath should first\ntake her position. She should be the lightest in weight of the group,\nand should recline in an easy position, resting her head upon her\nhand, the elbow touching the box, and the body slightly inclined to\nthe right. The second lady will then take her position at the right of\nthe first, on the seat below, her arm resting on the form of the lady\nabove, the right hand supporting her head, the face turned in to the\ncentre of the circle, the eyes raised to those of the figure above.\nThe remaining figures should take similar positions, until one half of\nthe circle is complete. The other side of the circle is arranged in a\nsimilar manner,--the figures facing inward.\nThe wreath of spruce and flowers is to be placed within the circle of\nladies. The stage and the back scene should be hung with green\nbocking, and care must be exercised in the forming of the circle, so\nthat it shall appear perfectly round. The small festoons of flowers\nshould be entwined among the figures, after they have taken their\nposition. The expression of the countenances should be pleasant and\nanimated. The light for this piece should come from the foot of the\nstage, and should be quite brilliant. Music soft, and of a secular\ncharacter. The tableau, when finished, at a distance appears like an\nimmense wreath resting against a grassy bank.\nTHE MARBLE MAIDEN.\n _Paulina._ As she lived peerless,\n So her dead likeness, I do well believe,\n Excels whatever yet you looked upon\n Or hand of man done; therefore I kept it\n Lonely apart; but here it is: prepare\n To see the life as likely mocked as ever.\n Still sleep mocked death; behold, and say 'tis well.\n WINTER'S TALE.\nThree Female and Eleven Male Figures.\nThis tableau is taken from Shakspeare's drama, \"The Winter's Tale.\"\nThe scene is that wherein Paulina draws away the curtain and discloses\nthe marble statue. She is addressing Leontes, who is seen in the\nforeground. At the left of the stage, a group of five gentlemen and\none lady is seen; on the opposite side of the stage is another group\nof five gentlemen; all of which are in position, so that a profile\nview is exhibited.\nThe scenery of this piece consists of a curtain passing across the\nstage, three feet from the back end. The curtain described in the\ntableau of the \"Dancing Girl in Repose\" will answer for this scene,\nbut should be allowed to hang straight from the top, in place of\nbeing looped up at the sides. Arranged in this way, it will leave an\nopen space of five or six feet in the centre. The background is seen\nthrough this opening, and is to be festooned with wreaths of\nevergreens and flowers. Close up to the back wall is placed a\nplatform, made in two pieces, the first being four feet square and one\nfoot high. On this rests a second platform, three feet square and one\nfoot high. At the right side of the upper platform is placed a round\npedestal, three feet high and one foot in diameter; this has a cap and\nbase, and can be made of card-board, and covered with white marble\npaper. The platform is to be covered with black marble paper.\nBy the side of the pedestal stands the statue. The lady who personates\nthis figure should be rather slim, of medium height, good features,\nand dark hair. Costume consists of a loose, white robe, worn with but\nfew skirts, the sleeves very short, the waist cut low at the neck, the\nskirt long enough to trail on the platform; the whole covered with\nwhite tarleton muslin. Across the shoulders, and tied at the right\nside, is worn a heavy muslin mantle, trimmed on each edge with white\nsatin ribbon. The hair is arranged in a neat coil, and a small wreath\nof white leaves encircles the head. These are made of white paper, and\nfastened to a wire frame. The statue stands perfectly straight at the\nside of the pedestal, one arm resting on the top, the hand hanging\ndown over the front, while the left arm hangs gracefully at the side.\nThe eyes are directed to the figure of Leontes in the foreground.\nPauline, who draws the curtain aside, is costumed in a black silk\ndress, with a velvet waist, trimmed with bugles, and interspersed with\nsilver spangles. The hair, arranged in a single coil, is decorated\nwith a velvet band, with white paste pin in the centre, from the back\nof which is fastened a long black lace veil, falling gracefully over\nthe shoulders, and reaching nearly to the floor. She is standing at\nthe right of the curtain, one hand grasping its folds, while the other\nis extended, and points to the statue. A profile view is had of the\nfigure: the head is slightly turned, the eyes directed to Leontes in\nthe foreground. Leontes' costume consists of a black coat, belted\naround the waist, black knee breeches and hose, confined with a gold\nband and showy paste pin. The collar and cuffs of the coat are\ndecorated with deep white lace. A short sword is suspended from the\nbelt; the feet are covered with low shoes, with showy buckles; the\nhead is encircled with a silver band, one inch wide, with a brilliant\npin in the centre. Fastened around the neck, and hanging over the\nshoulders, is a black velvet cape--a small, lady's cape will answer.\nPosition is standing on the extreme front of the stage, with both\nhands extended above the head, the body thrown back, the feet extended\nfrom each other, the back turned to the audience, the head inclined to\none side, so that a side view is had of the face, while the eyes are\ndirected to the statue. Behind Leontes stands a tall figure, costumed\nin a black coat and knee breeches, white hose, knee and shoe buckles,\nlow shoes, waist encircled with a belt, a short cloak thrown over the\nright shoulder. The other figures are costumed in a similar manner,\nand stand between Leontes and the side of the stage, and are looking\nintently at the statue.\nThree more gentlemen, costumed in a similar style, occupy positions on\nthe opposite side of the stage, close to the wings. A profile view is\nhad of their figures, while their faces are turned towards the statue.\nIn front of this group stands a young man, with his arm placed around\nthe waist of a young lady who stands at his side, and in such a\nposition that we have almost a back view of them. The lady is costumed\nin a white dress, cut low at the top, sleeves very short, skirt long,\nso as to trail ten inches, ornamented with buff ribbon, which should\nbe placed on the bottom of the skirt, around the waist, on the top of\nthe waist, and on the sleeves. Her hair should hang loosely over the\nshoulders, the head encircled with a string of feldspar or pearl\nbeads. The hands are clasped in front of her bosom, the body inclined\nforward slightly, the eyes directed towards the statue. The gentleman\nat her side stands erect. His costume consists of a dark coat,\nornamented around the bottom with silver paper, covered with black\nlace, the sleeves and collar trimmed in the same mode, with an\naddition of wide white lace cuffs and collar; the breeches are of\nblack cloth, with a band of silver, and buckle at the knee; white\nhose, low shoes, with buckles, a wide belt around the waist, from\nwhich is suspended a long, slim sword. The lights on each side of the\nbackground, where the statue is placed, should be quite brilliant.\nThe foreground should receive the rays of light, which should be of\nmedium quantity, from the side of the stage where Leontes stands.\nMusic soft and plaintive.\nVENUS RISING FROM THE SEA.\n Then spoke the sovereign lady of the deep--\n Spoke, and the waves and whispering leaves were still:\n \"Ever I rise before the eyes that weep,\n When, born from sorrow, wisdom makes the will;\n But few behold the shadow through the dark,\n And few will dare the venture of the bark.\"\n BULWER.\nOne Female Figure.\nThis tableau is represented by one beautiful lady, whose costume\nconsists of a flesh-colored dress, fitting tightly to the body, so as\nto show the form of the person. The hair hangs loosely on the\nshoulders and breast, and is ornamented with coral necklaces, while\nthe neck is adorned with pearls. To represent the sea, it will be\nnecessary to place, at intervals of two feet, (from wing to wing,)\nstrips of wood, beginning at the floor of the stage, near the front,\nand rising gradually as they recede in the background, the last strip\nbeing two feet from the floor of the stage. After these have been\narranged, lay strips of blue cambric across them; cover them entirely,\nand between the bars of wood let the cambric festoon so as to\nrepresent the appearance of waves. It will be necessary to fasten the\ncambric with small tacks, to keep it in position, while the ridges of\nthe miniature waves should be painted white, to imitate foam. A trap\ndoor should be cut in the centre of the stage, and a circle cut in the\ncentre of the cambric, to admit the body of Venus. The waves should\ncome up three inches above the hips, fitting closely around the body.\nThe water about the centre should be made white with foam. A platform\ncan be arranged below the stage for the performer to stand on, and\nthis can be made high or low, according to the height of the lady, by\nthe use of blocks of wood. The right hand of the figure is held above\nthe head. The left hand rests on the water. The countenance is lighted\nup with smiles. Small particles of isinglass scattered on the waves\nwill make them glisten and sparkle, which will add to the effect,\nwhile a green fire, burned for twenty seconds, and then changed to red\nor bluish white, will give a fine shade to the scene. If the colored\nfires are not used, the light should come from the front. Music, soft\nand brilliant.\nRECEPTION OF QUEEN VICTORIA AT CHERBOURG.\n Sing, gladly sing!\n Let voice and string\n Our nation's guest proclaim.\n She comes in peace,\n Let discord cease,\n And blow the trump of Fame!\n ANON.\nTen Female and Twenty Male Figures.\nIt was in the fall of the year 1858, when the great naval arsenals,\nmagazines, and docks, at Cherbourg, were to be inaugurated; and\nnotwithstanding the admonition of the English press, which represented\nthe establishment of these works as a direct menace against Great\nBritain, and, taken in connection with the constant increase of the\nFrench navy, a proof of ultimate hostile designs on the part of the\nemperor, Queen Victoria had accepted an invitation to be present on\nthis occasion. The day appropriated for the reception of the queen had\narrived. The weather was superb; the skies were blue, and the waters\nof the channel were calm and placid. The shores and buildings, as far\nas the eye could reach, were covered with cavalry, infantry,\nartillery, and citizens. Every bosom in this mighty throng was glowing\nwith enthusiasm. The glittering eagles, the waving banners, the gleam\nof polished helmets and cuirasses, the clash of arms, the\nsoul-stirring music from the martial bands, and the incessant bustle\nand activity, presented a spectacle of military splendor which has\nseldom been equalled. It was war's most brilliant pageant, without any\naspect of horror. The frigate La Bretagne, on which the banquet was to\ntake place, was decorated with signals and flags, and most prominent\nwere the national ensigns of France and England. A triumphal throne\nwas erected on the deck of the vessel, on which sat Louis Napoleon,\nthe empress, the officers and great dignitaries of the country,\ninterspersed with the ladies of honor. Salutes from the surrounding\nforts and ships of war announced the arrival of the barge containing\nthe Queen of England, Prince Albert, and suite. They were received on\nboard the frigate by Napoleon, amid the salvos of artillery and\nstrains of martial music. \"God save the Queen,\" and French national\nairs, were played by the bands, and the nation's guest was addressed\nby Napoleon, who, in proposing Victoria's health, said,--\n\"Facts prove that hostile passions, aided by a few unfortunate\nincidents, did not succeed in altering either the friendship existing\nbetween the two crowns, or the desire of the two nations to remain at\npeace. He entertained the sincere hope that if attempts were made to\nstir up the resentments and passions of another epoch, they would\nbreak to pieces on common sense. Prince Albert responded, and\nexpressed the most friendly sentiments on behalf of the queen. He said\nshe was happy at having an opportunity, by her presence at Cherbourg,\nof joining and endeavoring to strengthen as much as possible the bonds\nof friendship between the nations--a friendship based on mutual\nprosperity; and the blessing of Heaven would not be denied. He\nconcluded by proposing a toast--The emperor and empress.\"\nThe above scene is the one we propose to represent in tableau; and to\ngive a good effect to the piece, it will be necessary to have thirty\npersons. The number can be increased if there is sufficient room. The\nfour principal characters are Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, Louis\nNapoleon, and the Empress. In selecting the persons for these parts,\nit will be well to choose those who are as near like the original as\npossible. They should be persons of good figure, and of graceful and\neasy manners. The sailors and military should be composed of young\nlads; the rest of the performers consist of young ladies and\ngentlemen. The stage should be arranged in the following manner: Two\ntiers of seats should be arranged in a curved line from the right of\nthe stage, at the front, to the left of the stage, in the background.\nThe front seat is two feet, the second and back tier should be three\nfeet, in height, with a wide platform behind, of the same height,\ncapable of holding twenty persons. These seats should be covered with\na crimson cloth, and are intended to be occupied by Napoleon's suite.\nIn the centre of these seats should be placed a platform four feet\nsquare and two feet high; on this place the throne chairs, and build a\nflight of broad steps in front, covered with crimson, and decorated\nwith gold. The throne chairs should be made as showy as possible.\nCommon office chairs can be easily made to answer the purpose by\nfastening to the backs pieces of boards one foot wide and four feet\nhigh, and covering the fronts and top of the arms with pieces of board\nfour inches wide, decorating them with red turkey cloth, and bands of\ngold paper. Place them close together, and insert a board decorated in\nthe same manner between the two, and ornament the top with a canopy of\nTurkey cloth, trimmed with gold; on the top place a pointed gilt\ncrown. This kind of throne can be easily put together, and will be\neasier to handle than one made in a more workmanlike manner. The\nemperor and empress should be seated in the chairs. The platform is\nintended for the military, while the seats should be filled with\ndignitaries, officers, and ladies. The empress's costume consists of a\nrich brocade, heavily ornamented with jewelry, gold or silver lace,\nand any other decoration that will be appropriate, and will add to the\nrichness of the costume. A small crown should adorn the head, which\ncan be made showy by using paste pins of various sizes. The emperor's\ncostume consists of a blue velvet coat, ornamented with gold epaulets,\nand trimmed with gold fringe, while the right breast is adorned with\nthe cross of the legion of honor. The breeches are of blue velvet,\ntrimmed with silver lace and knee buckles; the remainder of the\ncostume consists of military top boots, silk scarf of blue and red,\nside arms and crown. At each side of the throne there should be one\nbody guard, fine-looking gentlemen, dressed in court costume, each\nholding a long halberd. The rest of the gentlemen are costumed in\ncourt dress and military suits; the ladies in as showy and rich\nappearing costume as can be procured. The hair should be arranged to\nsuit the taste of the performers; the head should be adorned with a\nband of gold, with a colored plume in front. The seats are to be\nfilled entirely with the ladies and gentlemen, and a few should stand\nat the side and on the platform; careless and graceful attitudes\nshould be taken, and all eyes should be directed to the left of the\nstage, where the barge is expected to arrive. The soldiers in the\nbackground should be formed in platoon, and in such a manner that all\nwill be visible. The muskets should be held at the shoulder. Each\nshould be furnished with a large moustache, and should look directly\nforward. The performers having all taken their positions, the cannon\nwill commence firing behind the scenes, and the curtain will rise on\nthe first part of the tableau; after exhibiting this part twice, a\npiece of canvas, painted to represent water, should be spread in front\nof the throne, while the rest of the scenery and performers should be\nall ready, so that in five minutes after the first scene, the second\nshould appear. The barge should be made five feet in length, or,\nrather, five feet of the barge should be seen; the remaining portion\nof it is presumed to extend behind the scenes. It should be built in\nthe form of the Venetian boats, with the prow running up a foot above\nthe gunwale, and turning over in the form of a scroll. The barge can\nbe framed out of light strips of wood, and covered with canvas; the\nexterior should be painted in showy colors; the scroll can be covered\nwith gold paper; a wreath of flowers should be painted around the edge\nof the gunwale; cloth, painted to represent water, should be fastened\nabout the boat near the water line. The barge contains four sailors,\nPrince Albert, and Queen Victoria. The remainder of the company is\nimagined to be in the stern of the boat, which is invisible. The boat\nshould be placed sideways to the audience, very near to the side wing,\nwith the bow inclined slightly towards the throne. When the curtain\nrises on the scene, the emperor should be standing at the foot of the\nthrone, about to assist the queen from the bows of the barge. The\nqueen is standing with hands extended to receive the proffered\nassistance of Napoleon. Prince Albert is seated directly behind the\nqueen, holding his chapeau in his hand. The sailors hold their oars up\nin the air, and look towards the audience. The queen's costume\nconsists of a showy brocade dress, ornamented with a mantle in\nimitation of ermine, and showy jewelry; a crown, of English design,\nadorns the head. Prince Albert is costumed in a scarlet military coat,\nwith heavy and rich decorations, gold epaulets, crimson sash, buff\nvest and breeches, side arms and chapeau. Sailors' costume consists of\na white shirt, with blue collar and cuffs, black handkerchief about\nthe neck, and black tarpaulin. While the curtain is up, the band\nshould play \"God save the Queen.\" This piece requires great quantity\nof light, which should come from the side where the barge is placed,\nand from the front.\nSCENE FROM THE OPERA OF \"SAPPHO.\"\n The very spot where Sappho sung\n Her swan-like music, ere she sprung\n (Still holding, in that fearful leap,\n By her loved lyre) into the deep,\n And dying, quenched the fatal fire,\n At once, of both her heart and lyre.\n OPERA OF SAPPHO.\nEleven Female and Ten Male Figures.\nThis thrilling tableau is a representation of a scene from the popular\nopera of Sappho. The design is taken at the moment when Sappho has\nfinished her first song, \"Morning has never dawned,\" and the\nattendants join in the chorus. The number of figures in the piece is\ntwenty-one, eleven ladies and ten gentlemen. The scenery in the\nbackground and at the sides represent pillars of marble; these can be\ncheaply made of strips of marble paper, with a cornice running around\nthe top; in the centre of the background is placed a platform two feet\nhigh by four feet square; on each side of this are pedestals three\nfeet high by one and a half feet square, the fronts panelled with red\nTurkey cloth, and bordered with gold paper; on the top of these should\nbe placed large earthen vases, painted to represent bronze, from the\nmouth of which there should issue colored flames. From the right and\nleft sides of the platform to the front corners of the stage place the\nchorus singers. The ladies stand on the left side; three are placed on\na platform one foot high, and standing in front of them, at equal\ndistances, are seven more. The gentlemen on the other side are\narranged in the same manner. Sappho, the heroine of the tableau,\nstands on the platform between the two pedestals; the left hand rests\non the top of one of the pedestals, and the other is raised up at\narm's length. The head is thrown back slightly, and the eyes are\nraised upward. The right foot is placed twenty inches in advance of\nthe left, the body facing the audience.\nSappho's costume is a long, white robe, cut low at the top, over which\nis worn a short half skirt of white tarleton muslin, reaching to the\nknee; sleeves five inches long, trimmed with Grecian border; the\nlower portion of both of the skirts trimmed with black velvet two\ninches wide, ornamented with gold paper and spangles; a wide band of\ngold is placed around the top of the dress, and covered with wide\nwhite lace. A band of wide black velvet ribbon, ornamented with showy\npaste pins, encircles the waist, and a wreath of silver leaves adorns\nthe head. These can be cut from silver paper, lined with cloth, and\nfastened to a small wire. The hair is arranged in wide braids at the\nside of the head, clasped by a silver band at the back, and allowed to\nhang in short curls in the neck.\nThe chorus ladies are costumed in white dresses, low-necked; sleeves\nfive inches long, trimmed with narrow pink ribbon, a bow of the same\nat the top of the sleeves, fastened to the dress by a brilliant glass\npin; over the skirt of the dress should be worn a half skirt of white\ntarleton muslin, which should be two feet long in front, and three\nbehind; this is belted about the waist with a pink ribbon, and trimmed\naround the bottom with oak leaves. The hair of most of the ladies\nshould be arranged in curls, which should be confined together with a\nband of silver, while three of the ladies must allow their hair to\nfall loosely over the shoulders; wreaths of artificial flowers should\nadorn the heads of all. The lady who stands near the corner of the\nstage at the front should have in her left hand a torch, from which\nissues colored flame, while the right hand is raised above the head,\nthe right foot placed twenty inches before the left, the body and head\nthrown back, the eyes cast upward, and excitement should be expressed\nin the countenance. (The torch can be made of wood, and covered with\nsilver paper.) Every other lady in the row of seven should hold a\ntorch, and take similar positions. Those standing near the\ntorch-bearers are costumed in the same manner, and hold small harps in\nthe left hand, while the right touches the strings. The body and head\nare thrown back slightly, and the eyes cast upward. Those performers\nstanding near the platform should be elevated on small platforms of\nvarious heights, so as to be distinctly seen. On the platform behind\nthe seven stand three other ladies, at equal distances from the front\ncorner of the stage to the pedestals. Their costume should be similar\nto the others; position the same, while the hands are clasped in front\nof the bosom, and the eyes are directed to the form of Sappho.\nThe ten gentlemen are costumed in white coats trimmed around the\nbottom, the sleeves and collar with black cambric two inches in width,\nand ornamented with gold; a black belt of the same material encircles\nthe waist; black pants or breeches; white hose reaching to the knee,\nand fastened with a silver band and buckle; low shoes, with a blue\nrosette on the front. A wide white mantle trimmed with oak leaves\nshould be worn across the breast, the ends ornamented with wide yellow\ncambric fringe, which should be fastened at the side with a blue\nrosette, and trail made nearly long enough to reach the floor. The\nhead is adorned with a wide band of velvet, ornamented with gold. The\nperformers should be furnished with long, full beards, which can be\nmade of hemp or horse-hair. The arrangement of the gentlemen is the\nsame as that of the ladies--seven placed on a line from the pedestal\nto the corner of the stage, and three on the platform behind. The\nfront rank have the golden harps and the torches. The gentlemen on the\nplatform clasp their hands in the same manner as the ladies opposite.\nThe position of all the chorus singers is such that a profile view is\nhad of their features.\nThe front lights should be turned down quite low; the lights at the\nside where the gentlemen stand should be very brilliant. A red fire\nshould be thrown on the platform and the figure of Sappho. Music\nshould be quite brilliant.\nFLORA AND THE FAIRIES.\n She haunts the spring beneath a fairy's guise,\n With unbound golden hair and azure eyes;\n A wreath of violets in each dainty hand,\n And round her sunny brow an emerald band;\n While all day long she strays o'er hill and glen,\n Through leafy bowers, amid the homes of men;\n And when night falls, from out the echoing dells,\n The lilies ring for her their crystal bells,\n And in the forest's depths she dreams till morn,\n Waked by the music of the wild bee's horn.\n LAIGHTON.\nEight Female Figures.\nThis elegant tableau represents Flora seated in a beautiful car drawn\nby six fairies. The car is easily made of wood covered with paper or\ncloth, and decorated with flowers. It should be five feet long, and\nmade in the form of a scroll, the largest part of which should be at\nthe back of the car. Cover the centre of the scroll which forms the\nsides with crimson paper or cloth, ornamented with a border of gold\npaper three inches wide, and a second border of artificial flowers.\nMake the wheels of solid pieces of wood; the front ones, one foot in\ndiameter; the back ones, double the size; cover them with crimson\ncloth, and ornament them with large gold stars; build a small seat at\nthe back end, and extend the floor of the car one foot out from the\nback part, for the footman to stand on. The front of the car should be\nbuilt in the form of a scroll, and should sustain a small vase of\nflowers on the top. Vases of similar shape, containing flowers, should\nbe placed on each side of the seat; a long rope, covered with crimson\ncloth, should be attached to the front axletree. As only one side of\nthe car is visible, it will be necessary to decorate only one side. A\nplatform one foot high should be built on the front of the stage; a\nsecond one, three feet from the first, which should be two feet high;\na third, in the rear of the second, should be three feet in height.\nThese must be covered with green bocking, to represent turf. Place the\ncar near the front of the stage, at the right corner; attach six\npieces of green ribbon to the crimson rope, for the fairies to take\nhold of; six pink ribbons must be fastened to the waist of the\nfairies, and held by Flora, who is seated in the car.\nThe young lady who personates Flora should be of good figure and\nfeatures, and rather small form. Her costume consists of a white robe,\ncut low at the neck; sleeves five inches long, trimmed with flowers; a\nbelt of green cloth, adorned with artificial flowers, around the\nwaist; a crown, made in like manner, encircling the head; a small\nbouquet of flowers fastened to the front of the waist. The hair is\narranged in short curls about the head; a side view is had of the\nbody, while the head is turned around to face the audience. The hands\nare employed in holding the pink ribbons and whip, which is made of a\nlong, slender branch of the willow, with a few leaves on the extreme\nend. The countenance expresses pleasure and animation.\nSeven small misses personate the fairies, and their costume consists\nof a short white dress, decorated with silver spangles. Strips of blue\nribbon, one inch wide, should be placed around the skirt, running from\nthe waist to the bottom of the skirt; these must be three inches\napart. The waist is made of blue silk, and trimmed with silver paper\nand spangles. The hose are flesh color; shoes, white satin; the head\nis encircled with a wreath of flowers; the hair should be arranged in\nshort curls, and small wings formed out of wire, covered with gauze,\nand ornamented with silver spangles, are fastened to the back of the\nwaist. The fairies should stand in double files, one couple standing\non the first platform, one on the second, and one on the third; they\nshould be three feet apart, standing in the form of a half circle, so\nthat each will be seen. One hand should grasp the pink ribbon, while\nthe other is raised, holding a small bunch of flowers. The fairy\nfootman's costume is like the others, and the position is on the back\nof the car, both hands upon the back of the seat, and at the same time\nholding the ends of a long wreath, which arches over the head of\nFlora.\nThe light should come from the side of the stage where the fairies\nstand, where should be burned a small quantity of the whitish-blue\nfire. Music lively.\nTHE SPECTRE BRIDE.\n But, soft; behold! lo, where it comes again!\n I'll cross it, though it blast me.--Stay, illusion!\n If thou hast any sound, or use of voice,\n Speak to me:\n If there be any good thing to be done,\n That may to thee do ease, and grace to me,\n Speak to me;\n If thou art privy to thy country's fate,\n Which, happily foreknowing, may avoid,\n O, speak!\n Or, if thou hast uphoarded in thy life\n Extorted treasures in the womb of earth,\n For which, they say, you spirits oft walk in death,\n Speak of it. Stay and speak!\n SHAKSPEARE.\nTwelve Female and Twelve Male Figures.\nThis interesting and imposing tableau is taken from a legend, which\nhas been handed down from generation to generation among the villagers\nliving in the neighborhood of Glenburne Castle, England. The story,\nprobably as authentic as many which are often heard of in those\ndistricts, is as follows:--\nMany years ago, that portion of the country where Glenburne Castle now\nstands was owned and governed by an intriguing and overbearing lord.\nHe had a beautiful companion for a wife, who loved him too well; but\nhis affections wandered from her. He looked into a brighter eye, and\non a fairer brow. His wife pined away, lived miserably for years, and\ndied at last broken-hearted. Six months had passed, and great\npreparations were being made in the old castle for a magnificent\nwedding. The lords and nobles, within a circuit of five hundred miles,\nwere invited to participate in the festivities of the day. The halls\nwere hung with beautiful tapestry and garlands of flowers, and the\ncastle resounded with strains of sweet music, \"and all went merry as a\nmarriage bell.\" But this finely-arranged entertainment did not end in\nso pleasant a manner as was intended. The hour had arrived when the\nlord of the castle was about to lead to the hymeneal altar the\nbright-eyed lady he so long loved. The spacious and magnificent\ndrawing rooms were thronged with the wealthy and the beautiful; all\nwere attired in robes of silk and satin, and costumes of velvet, which\nglistened with pearls and precious stones. A temporary platform was\nplaced at one end of the hall, on which was raised a crimson and gold\ncanopy. On the platform were to be seated the bride and bridegroom,\nand the grand cardinal who was to perform the service. It was seven\no'clock in the evening; the guests had all arrived, and were seated\naround the room awaiting the entrance of the lord and his intended\nbride. Soon the castle resounded with the sound of trumpets. The\nmassive doors opened wide, and the grand cardinal, followed by the\nbride and bridegroom, entered the apartment, and took their position\nbeneath the canopy. The marriage ceremony had been partly completed,\nwhen all were suddenly petrified with horror. A bluish flame is seen\nrising from the centre of the floor, and within this cloud of flame\nthe spirit form of the bridegroom's first wife slowly rises up through\nthe floor, and points her bony fingers to the horror-stricken husband.\nThe guests and attendants rush from the castle, and hasten to their\nhomes. The intended bride remained insensible for many hours, and when\nshe revived she was no more herself. The fearful scene had crushed out\nforever the last spark of reason. She was a maniac. The lord of the\ncastle was left alone with his spectre bride, but not long. Forsaken\nby every one, he cared not for life, and when death came, which was\nnot long after this occurrence, he welcomed him as his best friend.\nYears have passed, but the mysterious story still hangs over the spot;\nand at certain times of the year, it is said the apparition,\nsurrounded by a cloud of fire, keeps its midnight vigils among the\ntime-worn ruins.\nThe number of figures required to represent this tableau is\ntwenty-four. The stage scenery is arranged in the following manner: In\none corner of the background erect a platform two feet high by four\nfeet square; over this place a canopy of crimson cloth, ornamented\nwith gold paper. The platform should be decorated in the same manner.\nRed shawls or table covers will answer all purposes. Extending from\neach side of the stage to the platform, there should be two rows of\nseats and a platform behind; the first row of seats is to be eighteen\ninches high; the second three feet high, with a platform behind two\nfeet wide; the platform can be left out at the sides, which will give\nmore space in the centre of the stage. The seats and platforms can be\nformed of boxes and boards and covered with white cloth. Ten ladies,\nand the same number of gentlemen are to occupy the seats, while the\nplatform is reserved for the bridal party. A trap door, two and a half\nfeet square, should be cut out of the floor four feet from the front,\nand at equal distances from each side of the stage. This must be made\nsecure, when not in use, by the means of bolts. The machinery for\nraising the spectre is arranged in the following manner: Strong\nblocks, such as are used on board of ships, should be securely\nfastened beneath the stage, at the four corners of the square; ropes,\nthree quarters of an inch in diameter, should be passed through them,\nand one end of each fastened to fifty-six pound weights; the other\nends of the ropes are to be fastened to rings attached to a platform\ntwo and a half feet square. A piece of four inch joist should be\nfastened near the centre of the platform, which should be three and a\nhalf feet high; small handles, two feet long, should also be fastened\nsecurely at the sides of the platform, on which the person who\npersonates the spectre will stand. When the time has arrived for the\nspectre to appear in the tableau, two persons can easily guide the\nplatform from the floor to the stage above. All the gentlemen are\nrequired to do, is to guide the platform; the heavy weights attached\nto the ropes will draw it up. The post fastened in the centre is\nintended for the lady to take hold of to keep her position; it should\nbe covered with white cloth, and hid from view by the drapery of the\ncostume of the spectre. The lady personating the spectre should take\nher position on the platform in the same manner that she will appear\non the stage, which is such that a side view can be had of the figure,\nthe right hand pointing to the platform where the bridal party are\nstanding. The costume consists of a long white dress, worn without\nmany skirts, over which is draped a robe of white muslin; a long,\nwhite gauze veil should be loosely tied around the head; the hair is\nallowed to hang loosely over the shoulders. The face, and arms, and\nneck must be made as white as possible by the use of pearl-powder. The\nfeatures should express sternness.\nThe bridegroom should be dressed in a velvet coat trimmed with gold\nlace, velvet breeches, white vest, white hose, low shoes, knee and\nshoe buckles, ruffled bosom, white lace collar. The bride should be\nadorned in a showy dress of rich brocade or satin, decorated with\njewels; mantle of ermine worn over the shoulders; the hair arranged to\nsuit the taste of the performer, and encircled with a wreath of\nsilver leaves, while a heavy white veil is fastened to the back of the\nhead. The cardinal should have on a long black silk surplice, white\ncravat, and a mitre hat on the head. The couple face the audience, the\ncardinal standing directly behind them in the same position, with his\nhands raised over their heads. The ladies, who occupy seats at each\nside of the platform, should be costumed in as great a variety and as\nrichly appearing dresses as can be procured; bands of gold, ornamented\nwith colored plumes, are worn on the head.\nJewelry of all kinds should be worn in profusion. The gentlemen may be\ncostumed in embroidered and military suits of various colors; white\nhose, knee and shoe buckles, breeches and side arms; each being\ndisguised with wigs and false beards. The ladies and gentlemen should\nbe intermingled, those in the foreground seated, while a portion of\nthe others are in a standing position. At each side of the platform\nthere should be a page, holding the chapeau and side arms of the\nbridegroom. Their costume consists of short velvet coat trimmed with\ngold, pink breeches, white hose, white shoes, silver shoe and knee\nbuckles, white silk scarf, lace collar and cuffs. The attention of the\nguests and attendants should be directed to the group on the platform,\nthe expression of their countenances denoting pleasure and interest.\nThis constitutes the first scene, and ought to be exhibited three\ntimes; after which, the performers will take positions for the second\nscene.\nThe bride should be reclining insensible on the arm of the bridegroom;\nthe cardinal is about seeking safety in flight; the lord looks with\nhorror on the spectre, and throws out his arm as if he thought the\nspectre was about to grasp him; portions of the guests have risen, and\nare about to take flight; others are stupefied with affright; hands\nand arms are thrown up in fear; consternation is depicted on every\nface. When all is ready for representation, the stage manager must\ngive the signal to those in charge of the curtain, machinery below the\nstage, and colored fires at the same moment, so that all will work in\nunison. The whitish-blue fire should be burned in small quantities\nnear the trap door and larger quantities of the same in the\nante-rooms, which will reflect on the forms of the performers. The\ncurtain should be drawn up quite fast, while the spectre, starting at\nthe same time, should rise very slowly.\nThe lights for this piece should be opposite the platform, where the\nbridal party stand; they must be very brilliant, and as many as can be\nprocured. The music in the first scene should be of a lively nature;\nin the second scene, of a mournful style.\nMUSIC, PAINTING, AND SCULPTURE.\n As lying and listening music from the hands,\n And singing from the lips, of one we love--\n Lips that all others should be turned to. Then\n The world would all be love and song; heaven's harps\n And orbs join in; the whole be harmony--\n Distinct, yet blended--blending all in one\n Long, delicious tremble, like a chord.\n FESTUS.\n The finger of God is the stamp upon them all, but each has its\n separate variety.\n Beauty, theme of innocence, how may guilt discourse thee?\n Let holy angels sing thy praise, for man hath marred thy visage;\n Still, the maimed torso of a Theseus can gladden taste with its\n proportions.\n Though sin hath shattered every limb, how comely are the fragments!\n TUPPER.\nThree Female Figures.\nThis artistic group is represented by three beautiful females, seated\non a mossy bank, each one holding the emblems of her profession. The\ngoddess of music holds a harp, on which she is playing; the goddess of\npainting has a partially painted picture in the left hand, and a brush\nand pallet in the right; the goddess of sculpture has a small bust in\nher right hand--in her left she holds a small mallet and chisel. Their\ncostumes consist of a loose white robe, cut quite low at the top, and\nwithout sleeves; a heavy mantle of white muslin is draped across the\nbreast; the hair should hang in ringlets, or be left to flow\nnegligently on the shoulders. The Goddess of Music should sit on the\nright side of the mound, the hand resting on the knee, her eyes cast\nupward. The Goddess of Painting sits on the left of the mound, her\npicture resting on the left knee, the right hand holding the pallet\nand brush, the body slightly bent forward, the eyes fixed on the\nGoddess of Music. The Goddess of Sculpture should sit between the\nGoddesses of Music and Painting, the bust which she holds resting on\nthe right knee, the left hand grasping the mallet and chisel. Her\nattention is fixed on the Goddess of Music. The mound should be placed\nin the centre of the stage; it can be made of boxes, and covered with\ngreen baize; it should be two feet high, and four or five feet in\ndiameter. The light comes from the right side of the stage, and should\nnot be very strong. The accompanying music should be soft and\nplaintive.\nBUST OF PROSERPINE.\nOne Female Figure.\nThis artistic tableau is a living representation of the bust of\nProserpine by Powers. The head is ideal, and we may conceive it as\nembodying our great sculptor's conception of female beauty in repose.\nThe wreath of leaves and flowers which encircles it, alludes, perhaps\nremotely, to the legend, familiar in the poets, of the field\n Of Enna, where Proserpine, gathering flowers,\n Herself a fairer flower, by gloomy Dis\n Was gathered.\nThe learned Germans, who regard the whole Grecian mythology as\npersonifying natural phenomena, interpret the legend as follows:\nProserpine who is carried off to the lower world is the seed corn,\nthat, for a time, is buried in the ground. Proserpine who returns to\nher mother is the corn which rises again to support mankind. The lady\nwho takes the part of Proserpine should be quite handsome, with fine,\nregular features, a high forehead, and a good form. Her dress should\nbe pure white, and cut extremely low at the neck; the hair should be\nbrushed back from the forehead, done up neatly behind, allowing five\nor six curls to hang loosely in the neck, and a braid of hair should\nbe worn across the front of the head. No ornaments of any kind should\nbe worn.\nThe machinery of this tableau is arranged as follows: The revolving\nbeam that is described in the tableau of the Flower Vase is to be used\nin this piece. The beam is placed in the centre of the stage, on the\ntop of which is a wooden pedestal, three and a half feet high by\nseventeen inches in diameter on the inside. This pedestal should be\nmade in two parts, having hinges, and a hook, to fasten them together.\nIt must have a cap and base, and be covered with white cloth, over\nwhich fasten white tarleton muslin. The bottom of it should be six\ninches in thickness, with a square mortise in the centre, to allow the\ntop of the beam to enter. The lady who personates Proserpine is to\nstand inside of this pedestal, and, as the space is quite small, it\nwill be necessary to wear few under skirts. A frame should be\nmanufactured of wire, and covered with white cloth and white muslin,\nand should be made to fit the back and breast of the figure, allowing\nroom for the arms to be folded inside of it. This is to be made at the\ntop in the same shape as the dress worn by the lady, and should reach\nto the waist of the person, fitting tightly, and from the waist be\nmade to flare off in scroll form so as to rest on the top of the\npedestal. By looking at a bust, one will easily understand the shape\nof the frame. It must be made in two pieces, and fastened at the sides\nwith tape strings; around the top of the frame put a small wreath of\nwhite leaves and flowers. The lady must take her position inside of\nthe pedestal which has been placed on the top of the shaft; hook it\nfirmly together, and pack cloth between the lady and the inside of the\npedestal, for the purpose of keeping the body from moving from one\nside to the other. Then place the front and back wire frames in their\nposition, and fasten them firmly. See that the arms are folded out of\nsight, and the hair arranged properly. The eyes should be cast upward\nslightly, and when once fixed in position, they should not be moved.\nThe face and neck should be made as white as possible; the expression\nof the countenance calm and serene. The fairies and the crimson\ncurtain used in the tableau of the Dancing Girl can be used in this\npiece. A side view should be given of the statue before it revolves.\nIn the second view, the pedestal must slowly revolve, while a\nplaintive air is played on the melodeon. This tableau has been\nadmired by many, and will repay any one for the trouble of producing\nit.\nNAPOLEON AND HIS OLD GUARD AT WATERLOO.\n Last noon beheld them full of lusty life;\n Last eve in beauty's circle proudly gay;\n The midnight brought the signal sound of strife;\n The morn, the marshalling in arms; the day,\n Battle's magnificently stern array!\n The thunder clouds closed o'er it, which, when, rent,\n The earth is covered thick with other clay,\n Which her own clay shall cover, heaped and pent,\n Rider and horse--friend, foe--in one red burial blent.\n BYRON.\nForty Male Figures.\nThe battle of Waterloo was fought on the 18th of June, 1815. It was on\nthe Sabbath day. The Emperor's wasted bands were now in the extreme of\nexhaustion. For eight hours, every physical energy had been tasked to\nits utmost endurance, by such a conflict as the world had seldom seen\nbefore. Twenty thousand of his soldiers were either bleeding upon the\nground or motionless in death. Every thing depended now upon one\ndesperate charge by the Old Guard. The Emperor placed himself at the\nhead of this devoted and invincible band, and advanced in front of the\nBritish lines. Silently, sternly, unflinchingly they pressed on, till\nthey arrived within a few yards of the batteries of the enemy. A peal,\nas of crushing thunder, burst upon the plain; a tempest of bullets,\nshot, shells, and all the horrible missiles of war, fell like\nhailstones upon the living mass. A gust of wind swept away the smoke,\nand, as the anxious eye of Napoleon pierced the tumult of the battle\nto find his Guard, it had disappeared. Napoleon threw himself into a\nsmall square which he had kept as a reserve, and urged it forward into\nthe densest throngs of the enemy. He was resolved to perish with his\nGuard. Cambronne, its brave commander, seized the reins of the\nEmperor's horse, and said to him, in beseeching tones, \"Sire, death\nshuns you; you will but be made a prisoner.\" Napoleon shook his head,\nand for a moment resisted; but his better judgment told him that thus\nto throw away his life would be but an act of suicide. With tearful\neyes, he bowed to those heroes who proved faithful even to death; with\na melancholy cry, they shouted, \"_Vive l'Empereur!_\" These were their\nlast words--their dying farewell. Silent and sorrowful, Napoleon put\nspurs to his horse, and disappeared from the field. This one square,\nof two battalions, alone covered the flight of the army. Squadrons of\ncavalry plunged upon them, and still they remained unbroken. The\nflying artillery was brought up, and pitilessly pierced this heroic\nband with a storm of cannon ball. The invincible square, the last\nfragment of the Old Guard, revered by that soul which its imperial\ncreator breathed into it, calmly closed up as death thinned its ranks.\nThe English and Prussians sent a flag of truce, demanding a\ncapitulation. General Cambronne returned the immortal reply, \"The\nGuard dies, but never surrenders!\" A few more discharges of grape shot\nfrom the artillery mowed them all down. Thus perished, on the field of\nWaterloo, the Old Guard of Napoleon.\n_Directions for forming the Tableau._--This splendid battle-scene\ncontains forty figures. It can be produced with a less number, but to\ngive a good effect, it should contain forty persons. The scene occurs\nat the time when Napoleon has thrown himself in the square of the\nGuard, and is about to press forward to the enemy. Napoleon is seated\non his white horse, in the centre of the stage; we have a side view of\nthe horse, and almost a front view of Napoleon, who grasps the reins\nwith his left hand, and his sword with the right; his eyes are fixed\non the advancing troops in the distance; his countenance expresses\nfirmness and anxiety. Cambronne is on the point of advancing, with\nhands stretched out, about to grasp the reins of Napoleon's horse; his\nposition is sideways to the audience. Marshal Ney is seen running\ntowards Napoleon, on the other side of the picture, his right hand\nextended, his chapeau grasped with the left. In the foreground are\nfour wounded soldiers, lying in various positions; muskets and other\nimplements of war are scattered over the ground. Directly behind\nNapoleon is seen an officer holding the French standard, with a gilt\neagle at the top. The Old Guard are formed in platoons, one at the\nright, one at the left, and one in the background; they should form\nwith the face outward, and hold their muskets as if about to repel a\ncharge of cavalry. The rear platoon should stand on a platform two\nfeet in height, while the space behind is to be filled with soldiers\nengaged in fencing. They should be placed on raised platforms, varying\nfrom two to eight feet in height. The costume of Napoleon consists of\na blue dress coat with a buff breast, eagle buttons, buff vest and\nknee breeches, top boots, spurs, sash, side arms, black chapeau, and\ngray overcoat. The horse which Napoleon rides can be made of wood, at\na trifling expense. Minute explanation in regard to its construction\nwill be found in the tableau of \"Washington's entrance into\nPortsmouth.\" The costume of the officers consists of as rich military\nsuits as can be procured. The soldiers should wear a showy military\nsuit and bearskin hats. The muskets must be furnished with bayonets,\nand a thin smoke should be made to float over the scene. The roll of\nthe tenor drum, the shrill music of the fife, the rattle of musketry,\nand the booming of cannon, should be heard in the distance. A red\nlight must be thrown upon all the figures; if this is not sufficient\nto light up the piece, the footlights fronting Napoleon can be\nlighted. The person who takes the part of Napoleon must resemble, in\nfeatures and form, the original character.\nTHE DANCING GIRL IN REPOSE.\n Bid me discourse; I will enchant thine ear,\n Or, like a fairy, trip upon the green,\n Or, like a nymph, with long dishevelled hair,\n Dance on the sands, and yet no footing seen.\n SHAKSPEARE.\nThree Female Figures.\nThis pleasing tableau represents a young and beautiful dancing girl\nreposing after one of her successful and fascinating dances. The\nscenery should be arranged in the following manner: A curtain of red\nTurkey cloth or cambric, fringed with gold, which can be made by\ncutting strips of buff cloth to imitate fringe, and decorating it with\ngold paper; this, in the evening, will make quite a rich appearance.\nThe curtain should be but two feet long in the centre, cut in three\nfestoons, each three feet wide. At the ends of the festoons, the\ncurtains must be wide enough to fill out the space at the side of the\nstage, and so long that they will trail on the floor. This curtain\nshould be attached to a strip of wood, which can be fastened in\nposition on the ceiling. On each side of the stage, near the centre,\nplace small pedestals, one and a half feet square, covered with green\ncambric, and decorated with bouquets of artificial or painted flowers.\nIn the centre of the stage, directly under the curtain, place a\npedestal two feet square, with a shaft at the side three feet high by\nsix inches in diameter; this must be covered with light green\ncambric, and festooned with wreaths of flowers. The number of figures\nin this piece are three: one alone takes a prominent part; the\nremaining two are intended as an addition to the scenery. The two\nsmall pedestals are to be occupied by pretty little misses, of about\nsix years of age, dressed to represent fairies. Their costume consists\nof short white dresses covered with bands of gold and spangles; white\nhose and slippers; a pink gauze sash, decorated with gold spangles,\nworn across the shoulders; the hair arranged in ringlets; wings formed\nof wire, covered with white muslin, and decorated with spangles, and\nfastened to the shoulders. The costume of the dancing girl consists of\na white dress reaching to the knees, covered with white tarleton\nmuslin, and ornamented on the front with a small bouquet, and bands of\ncrimson ribbon running around the skirt. The waist should be low on\nthe bosom, the sleeves quite short, and trimmed with flowers; the hair\ncan be dressed to suit the taste of the performer. Flesh-colored hose\nand white slippers should be worn. The position of the dancing girl is\non the centre of the pedestal, in a careless attitude. One arm hangs\nnegligently at her side, the hand grasping a tambourine; the other\nrests on the top of the shaft. The weight of the body rests on the\nright foot; the left foot crosses the right. The eyes should be cast\ndown to the floor, and the expression of the face sad and thoughtful.\nThe fairies stand on the small pedestals at the sides of the stage. We\nhave a side view of them as they stoop forward and clasp the folds of\nthe curtain. The right hand is extended, the forefinger pointing at\nthe dancing girl. The weight of the body should mostly rest on the\nright foot; the left is extended behind, the toe touching the top of\nthe pedestal. The head slightly turned towards the audience; the\nexpression of the countenance quite brilliant. The lights should be at\nthe left side of the stage, and of medium quantity. A waltz or polka\ncan be played while the tableau is exhibited.\nWASHINGTON'S ENTRANCE INTO PORTSMOUTH.\n Behold, he comes! Columbia's pride,\n And nature's boast--her favorite son;\n Of valor, wisdom, truth, well tried--\n Hail, matchless _Washington_.\n Let old and young, let rich and poor,\n Their voices raise, to sing his praise,\n And bid him welcome, o'er and o'er.\n This, this is he, by Heaven designed,\n The pride and wonder of mankind.\n United then your voices raise,\n And all united sing his praise.\n Let strains harmonious rend the air;\n For see, the godlike hero's here!\n Thrice hail, Columbia's favorite son;\n Thrice welcome, matchless _Washington_.\n J.M. SEWALL.\nTen Female and Thirty-two Male Figures.\n\"Saturday, 31st Oct.\n\"Left Newburyport a little after eight o'clock, (first breakfasting\nwith Mr. Dalton,) and to avoid a wider ferry, more inconvenient boats,\nand a piece of heavy sand, we crossed the river at Salisbury, two\nmiles above, and in three miles came to the line which divides the\nState of Massachusetts from that of New Hampshire. Here I took leave\nof Mr. Dalton and many other private gentlemen, also of General\nTitcomb, who had met me on the line between Middlesex and Essex\ncounties, corps of light horse, and many officers of militia, and was\nreceived by the president of the State of New Hampshire, the vice\npresident, some of the council, Messrs. Langdon and Wingate of the\nSenate, Colonel Parker, marshal of the state, and many other\nrespectable characters, besides several troops of well-clothed horse,\nin handsome uniforms, and many officers of the militia, also in\nhandsome white and red uniforms of the manufacture of the state. With\nthis cavalcade we proceeded, and arrived before three o'clock at\nPortsmouth, New Hampshire, where we were received with every token of\nrespect and appearance of cordiality, under a discharge of artillery.\nThe streets, doors, and windows were thronged with the populace.\nAlighting at the town house, odes were sung and played in honor of the\npresident.\"--_Washington's Private Diary._\n\"A visit from a person so distinguished and beloved, had he come\nwithout the insignia of office, would have created no little\nenthusiasm; but a visit from its president, when the young republic\nhad been organized scarcely half a year, occasioned to the community a\nthrill of ecstasy which vibrated through every heart--an outburst of\njoy due from a grateful populace to one to whose skill and superior\nvirtues they owed their happiness. There was a mixture of novelty, of\njoy, of patriotic enthusiasm, felt by every heart. A committee of\ntwelve was appointed in town-meeting to superintend the reception. The\npresident left his carriage at Greenland, at the residence of Colonel\nTobias Lear, and mounted his favorite white horse; he was there met by\nColonel Wentworth's troop, and on Portsmouth plains the president was\nsaluted by Major General Cilly, and other officers in attendance. From\nthe west end of the State House, on both sides of Congress Street, and\ninto Middle Street, the citizens and military were arranged in lines,\nand on the east side of the parade ground were the children of the\nschools, dressed appropriately for the occasion. The president at the\nentrance received a federal salute from the three companies of\nartillery under Colonel Hackett. The streets through which he passed\nwere lined with citizens; the bells rang a joyful peal, and repeated\nshouts from grateful thousands hailed him welcome to the metropolis of\nNew Hampshire.\"--_Brewster's Rambles._\nThis national tableau contains forty-two figures: Washington, sixteen\nsoldiers, ten young ladies, six citizens, and nine school children.\nThe number can be made less if there is not sufficient room on the\nstage. The stage scenery consists of the following articles: A\nfac-simile of the white horse, which is to be made in the following\nmanner: With a tape measure and rule take the dimensions of a\nsmall-sized horse; let your carpenter make a skeleton horse according\nto your dimensions, of wood, as strong and light as possible; then\ntake curled hair or hay and fill out the frame so that it will look\nsymmetrical, using twine to bind on the material used. It will be a\ngood plan to have an engraving of a horse to look at, so that you will\nmore easily arrive at the proportions of the body. The right foot of\nthe horse must be raised. After you have satisfied yourself in regard\nto the form of the animal, take cheap cotton cloth and sew over all\nparts of his body. Cover this with three coats of white paint, and\nsprinkle slightly with black. The eyes can be imitated by using the\nbottom of a small black glass bottle; the ears should be made of\nleather; the mouth and nostrils can be painted; make the mane and tail\nof flax or hemp. Insert the feet into a heavy plank, and decorate him\nwith a showy military saddle and bridle. A triumphal arch, made in\nthree parts, of wood, covered with green cambric, and decorated with\nflowers, will also be wanted.\nWashington's costume consists of a black velvet continental coat, buff\nvest, white hose, shoes, knee and shoe buckles, white cravat, ruffled\nbosom, black chapeau, sash, epaulets, side arms, and white wig. The\nmilitary are dressed in blue coats trimmed with buff, white pants,\nchapeau, cross and waist belts, swords and muskets; officers in as\nshowy uniforms as can be procured. The ladies should be of various\nsizes, and costumed in white dress, red sash, and wreaths of myrtle on\nthe head; each should hold a garland, bouquet, or small basket of\nflowers. Citizens' costume consists of black coat and breeches, light\nvest, chapeau, white hose, shoe and knee buckles; children in dark\njackets, white pants, dark caps, with a wreath of evergreen worn over\nthe shoulders. Washington is seated on his horse, the left hand\ngrasping the reins and whip, while the right holds his chapeau. He\nleans forward slightly, and is looking to the ladies, who are strewing\nhis path with flowers. His face is lighted with smiles of pleasure as\nhe beholds the crowds of delighted people who are seen on every side.\nOn each side of the horse, and in the foreground, the young ladies are\nplaced. They are in kneeling positions, and extend their flowers\ntowards Washington; their faces are turned upward, and are suffused\nwith smiles. The military are placed on the extreme right and left of\nthe stage, the head of each platoon commencing at the front of the\nstage, and extending into the background. As they recede in the\ndistance they must have a higher position, so that every one will be\nseen. They should turn the head a trifle towards the audience, and\npresent arms. The citizens, placed on raised platforms, take positions\nbehind the horse. They hold their hats in the left hand, and look at\nWashington. The children stand in a line in the background of the\npicture. They must be placed on high platforms, so that they may be\nseen distinctly. They look straight forward, with the right hand\nplaced at the side of the cap. The triumphal arch is to be erected\ndirectly over the head of Washington; it should not be very heavy, as\nit is necessary to have as much of the space occupied by the\ncharacters as is possible. The horse and arch must be first brought\non the stage, then the military, next Washington, and the ladies, then\nthe children and citizens will take their positions. All the light\nthat can be produced in front, and facing Washington, must be used.\nThe booming of cannon, ringing of bells, and the loud hurrah of the\npopulace should be heard in the distance. \"Hail Columbia\" would be the\nappropriate music for the piano-forte or melodeon.\nFAME.\n Blow the trumpet, spread the wing, fling thy scroll upon the sky;\n Rouse the slumbering world, O Fame, and fill the sphere with echo.--\n Beneath thy blast they wake, and murmurs come hoarsely on the wind,\n And flashing eyes and bristling hands proclaim they hear thy message:\n Rolling and surging as a sea, that upturned flood of faces\n Hasteneth with its million tongues to spread the wondrous tale.\n TUPPER.\nThree Female and Nine Male Figures.\nThis tableau is represented by twelve persons, three ladies and nine\ngentlemen. They are arranged and costumed in the following manner:\nStanding on a pedestal six feet high, in the centre of the stage, is a\nfemale who personates the Goddess of Fame. Her costume consists of a\nloose white dress, cut low at the top, hair done up neatly and\nencircled with a wreath of white flowers; at her side, on a small\npedestal, is a plaster bust of Shakspeare, which the goddess is about\ncrowning with a wreath of myrtle. At each side of the large pedestal\nare two others, which are two feet square and three feet high; on each\nof these stands a female figure, dressed in a loose white robe, cut\nlow at the top, the hair flowing loosely over the shoulder, the head\nencircled with a wreath of white flowers. Each holds in the right hand\na long, slender trumpet, which she is in the act of blowing; the\ntrumpets are pointed horizontally to the right and left; they are\nthree feet long, with a bell, five inches in diameter, at the end.\nThese can be made of card-board, and covered with silver paper. In\nfront of the highest pedestal there should be placed a platform six\nfeet long, four feet wide, and one foot high. On this, a second\nplatform, five feet long, two feet wide, and one foot high. Cover them\nwith white cloth. Kneeling on the front of the large platform are four\nyoung men. The first one represents a sculptor. He kneels, facing the\naudience, and holds a mallet and chisel in his left hand. The second\nfigure represents the mechanic, with his square and level. The third\nrepresents the musician, with his harp. The fourth personates the\npainter, with his pallet and brushes. Kneeling behind them, on the\nsmall platform, are three other figures. The first is the poet, with\nhis roll of songs and pen; the second is the soldier, with his sword;\nand the third is the historian, with a volume of history and a pen.\nBehind these, and fronting the goddess, stands a figure who represents\nthe orator. His costume consists of a suit of black. He holds a scroll\nin his left hand; his right raised in front; countenance expressing\nsternness; eyes slightly raised upwards. The soldier kneels between\nthe poet and the historian; costume consists of a rich military dress;\narms are folded across the breast, head turned slightly to the right,\neyes cast upward, the face expressing firmness. The poet is costumed\nin a dark coat, light vest, knee breeches, white hose, low shoes, knee\nand shoe buckles, lace collar and wristbands. Position is facing the\nfront corner of the stage. Eyes are fixed on the paper before him;\nface expresses pleasure. On the other side of the soldier kneels the\nhistorian. His costume, position, and expression of countenance, the\nsame as the poet. The sculptor kneels on the low platform. He faces\nthe corner of the stage, and casts his eyes upward. Costume consists\nof a dark coat, white vest, dark breeches, white hose, shoe and knee\nbuckles, a low, flat cap set jantily on one side of the head, and a\nvelvet cape thrown over the left shoulder. The painter kneels on the\nother end of the platform, and faces the right front corner of the\nstage. Costume, position, and expression, the same as the sculptor.\nBetween these two, kneel the mechanic and musician. The former looks\nstraight forward. Costume consists of dark coat, light vest, dark\nbreeches and hose, low shoes, knee and shoe buckles. The musician\ntakes a similar position, and holds a harp, on which he is about to\nplay. His head is thrown back, and his eyes are raised upward. Costume\nconsists of a dark coat and breeches, bright-colored vest, black hose,\nlow shoes, knee and shoe buckles. Expression of the face, pleasant.\nThe light must be of medium quantity, and come from the right hand\nside. Those lights near the front should be stronger than the others.\nMusic soft and plaintive.\nFAITH.\n[SEE PLATE.]\n[Illustration: FAITH.]\n High on the mountain's towering head,\n While darkness rules the sky,\n Faith stands, and through the stormy cloud\n Directs her anxious eye.\n Amidst the gloom, the welcome rays\n With cheering lustre shine,\n And open to her ardent gaze\n A world of bliss divine.\n J. FIRIEZE.\nSeven Female Figures.\nThis beautiful statuary tableau is represented in the following\nmanner: Six females kneel in a circle, and support a circular shield\nthree feet in diameter, on which stands a young lady who represents\nFaith. Her right hand grasps a cross; the left is raised, the\nforefinger pointing upward. The six ladies should be dressed in pure\nwhite robes, cut low at the top. The hair is encircled with a wreath\nof white flowers. No ornaments of any kind are to be worn. The hair\ncan be arranged to suit the taste of the performers. Their positions\nare as follows: The two figures supporting the front of the shield\nwill partially face each other, resting the right knee on the floor,\nand facing outward from the circle, both hands touching the shield\nabove. Two other ladies form behind the right hand figures, in the\nsame position, and two more form behind the left hand figures. They\nwill all face outward, and support the shield with both hands. The\neyes should be cast down, the expression of the face serene. It will\nbe necessary, before the ladies take their position, to place the\nshield on a pedestal one foot square, and high enough to allow the\nfigures to kneel beneath. Cover the pedestal and shield with white\ncloth. After the six figures have taken their positions, the figure of\nFaith should be assisted to her position on the top of the shield. She\nmust be of good figure, small, regular features, and dark hair, which\nshould be quite long. Her dress consists of a long, white robe, made\nto trail on the top of the shield, the waist encircled with a large\nwhite cord, with two white tassels attached; the hair brushed back\nfrom the head, clasped with a silver band, and allowed to flow loosely\nover the shoulders; the head is adorned with a small band of silver,\none fourth of an inch wide, with a small silver cross, in the centre.\nShe is to stand perfectly erect in the centre of the shield, the cross\nresting on the right shoulder; the eyes lifted, as in devotion; the\nexpression of the face calm, and yet denoting firmness and energy; the\nlight should be soft, and come from the front right hand corner of the\nstage; the figures who support the shield must be partially thrown in\nthe shade, while Faith receives the most of the light. Music\naccompanying this piece should be of a sacred character.\nSPIRIT OF RELIGION.\n Religion should our thoughts engage\n Amidst our youthful bloom;\n 'Twill fit us for declining years,\n And for the approaching tomb.\n ANON.\nSix Female and Three Male Figures.\nThis tableau contains nine figures. The lady who represents Religion\nstands in the background of the picture, on a pedestal three feet\nhigh. She holds a cross on her left shoulder; the right hand grasps\nher mantle, which she unfolds, revealing herself to mankind. The lady\nshould be of medium height, with light hair, which hangs loosely over\nthe shoulders. The costume consists of a loose white dress, cut high\nat the top, sleeves fitting tightly to the arms, while over this dress\nis worn a second, which is open in front, and is made of white\ntarleton muslin. Position is facing the audience, eyes directed\nstraight forward, expression calm and thoughtful. The second figure is\na beautiful young lady, who kneels at the foot of the pedestal, on a\nsmall platform one foot high, and represents Hope. One hand rests on a\nlarge Bible; the other points up to the cross, and bids the captive,\nthe dying, and broken-hearted, who kneel in the foreground, to look up\nto Religion. Costume consists of a white dress, cut high at the\nthroat, short sleeves; hair arranged in curls, and wings of gauze\nfastened to the back of the dress. Position, kneeling at the foot of\nthe pedestal, facing the audience, head turned slightly on one side,\none knee resting on the floor, the body erect, the eyes directed to\nthe figure of the captive in the foreground. The third figure is at\nthe right of the pedestal--a young and handsome lady, who represents\nFaith. She holds a palm branch--the emblem of martyrdom. Her costume\nconsists of a long white dress, over which is thrown a white mantle,\nwhich she gathers about her breast. Her hair hangs loosely over her\nshoulders, and a black band encircles the head. Her position is,\nstanding on a small pedestal two feet high, so that we have a profile\nview of her form. Her head is raised to the cross, countenance\nexpressing calmness and repose. Charity is represented, on the left of\nthe pedestal, by a young lady who extends her protection to two\nhelpless children. Her costume is a white dress, opening at the bosom;\nhair done up neatly, over which hangs a white veil. Her position is,\nseated at the right of the pedestal, on a small platform two feet\nhigh, body facing the audience, head bent forward, and turned towards\nReligion; eyes cast down; each arm embraces a small child, who is\ndressed in simple costume. The captive is represented by a gentleman\nwearing a suit made of coarse cloth, long beard and hair, face painted\nto represent age, arms and waist bound with chains. He kneels at the\nfoot of Charity, on the floor of the stage; his face is turned towards\nHope. Both hands are clasped and raised in front of the breast.\nKneeling at the foot of Hope are two other figures. One is a female,\ndressed in deep mourning; the other, an aged man, who is supported by\nthe lady. His costume consists of a loose robe of white cloth, trimmed\nwith purple; his head is covered with white hair, and from his face\nhangs a long white beard. The hair and beard can be made of flax. The\nlady is kneeling next to Faith; the right arm is placed around the\naged man, and the left points to Religion; the head is turned upward,\nand the expression of the face denotes grief. The aged man kneels\nbeside the figure in mourning, his head resting on her shoulder, with\nhis clasped hands stretched out in front; the eyes are closed, and the\nface downcast. The tableau must be formed in the centre of the stage.\nThe light should be quite strong, and come from the right of the\nstage. Music of a sacred character.\nTHE POET AND THE GODDESS OF POETRY.\n The poet's pen is the true divining rod\n Which trembles towards the inner fount of feeling,\n Bringing to light and use, else hid from all,\n The many sweet, clear sources which we have\n Of good and beauty in our own deep bosoms;\n And marks the variations of all mind,\n As does the needle an air-investing storm.\n FESTUS.\nOne Female and One Male Figure.\nThis beautiful tableau is personated by two figures, a young man and a\nmaiden. The scene represented is a dark and gloomy attic. An old table\nstands in the middle of the room; on it are a few books and\nmanuscripts, an inkstand, a candlestick, with a partly-burned candle\ninserted in it, a mug of water, and a roll of bread. Near the table is\nan old-fashioned arm chair, in which is seated a young man dressed in\ncheap clothing. He has leaned his head upon the table, and is\nlamenting over his poverty and misfortune. As he sits weeping, a mist\ngathers in the chamber; it slowly grows denser, till at last it\nbecomes a cloud of light; and lo! in the midst of the cloud stands a\ndivine shape--the Goddess of Poetry--supremely beautiful. She\naddresses the Poet, gives him advice and consolation, and encourages\nhim to renewed efforts in the path of fame; then vanishes from his\nsight. Besides the furniture already described, there should be a few\nchairs, pictures, and a piece of statuary, placed in various parts of\nthe stage. The Poet's costume consists of a loose black coat, dark\nbreeches, light vest, white hose, low shoes, knee and shoe buckles.\nPosition is near the table, his arms laid across it, his head resting\non his arms, and in a position that displays a profile view of the\nbody. The Goddess of Poetry should be a young lady of good height,\nfigure, and features, and costumed in a flowing white dress, cut low\nat the neck, with short sleeves trimmed with white satin ribbon; a\nwide muslin mantle should be worn across the shoulders; a wreath of\nmyrtle adorns the head. In her right hand she holds a golden harp; the\nleft is placed on the shoulder of the Poet. Her position is behind the\ntable, in the background of the picture, and facing the audience. Her\nhead is slightly bent forward, and eyes directed to the face of the\nyouth; her countenance expresses pleasure. The following machinery can\nbe used, if desired, which will add very much to the beauty of the\npiece. In place of the Goddess being at the side of the Poet when the\ncurtain rises, a sliding platform can be made to move on to the stage\nfrom the ante-room, on which the Goddess should stand. A stout post\nfirmly fixed in one side will enable the lady to stand perfectly still\nwhile the platform moves to its position. All that is necessary in the\nconstruction of this part of the work is to make a set of ways, and a\nsliding platform that will run with ease from one side of the stage to\nthe other. A rope attached to the platform, and fastened to a crank\nbelow the stage, will propel the Goddess to her position. The ways and\nplatform can be hidden from view by a strip of board, painted to\nimitate the floor of the room. A small quantity of the whitish-blue\nfire may be burned near the spot where the Goddess appears. The light\nshould be very dim, and come from the side of the stage opposite the\nPoet. Music soft and plaintive.\nDEATH OF EDITH.\n O'er her low couch an Indian matron hung,\n While in grave silence, yet with earnest eye,\n The ancient warrior of the waste stood by,\n Bending in watchfulness his proud gray head,\n And leaning on his bow.\n Solemnly beautiful, a stillness deep,\n Fell on her settled face. Then, sad and slow,\n And mantling up his stately head in awe,\n \"Thou'rt passing hence,\" he sang, that warrior old,\n In sounds like those by plaintive waters rolled.\n \"Thou'rt passing from the lake's green side,\n And the hunter's heath away;\n For the time of flowers, for the summer's pride,\n Daughter, thou canst not stay.\n \"Thou'rt journeying to thy spirit's home,\n Where the skies are ever clear;\n The corn-month's golden hours shall come,\n But they shall not find thee here.\"\n The song ceased, the listeners caught no breath;\n That lovely sleep had melted into death.\n MRS. HEMANS.\nThree Female and Two Male Figures.\nThis tableau is suggested by the beautiful poem of Mrs. Hemans, called\nEdith, a Tale of the Woods. The circumstances of the poem refer to the\nwestern world in its first settlement, when fierce strife and combat\nraged between the wild Indian and the settlers from the mother\ncountry. In one of these fearful scenes a young and beautiful maiden\nwas taken captive, and conveyed to the village of the red man. But the\nbroken flower of England wasted and pined for the fine old home of\nother days.\n Of autumn through the forests had gone by,\n And the rich maple, o'er her wanderings lone,\n Its crimson leaves in many a shower had strown,\n Flushing the air; and winter's blast had been\n Amidst the pines; and now a softer green\n Fringed their dark boughs; for spring again had come,\n The sunny spring! but Edith to her home\n Was journeying fast.\"\nThe scene represented in this tableau is at the time when Edith is\nquietly sleeping in the wigwam of the Indian warrior. By her side sits\nan aged Indian matron, watching the sleeping one. Standing near the\ncouch is an old Indian warrior leaning on his bow, gazing in grave\nsilence on the dying girl. Kneeling at the foot of the couch are an\nIndian girl and lad, who are looking with wonder on the form of the\npale-face. The wigwam should be six feet high, and five feet wide at\nthe bottom. It should be made of light framework, and covered with\nbrown cambric, on which are painted Indian hieroglyphics. This must be\nplaced in the centre of the stage. The opening in front of the wigwam\nshould be four feet wide at the bottom, so as to admit of the\noccupants being visible to the audience. The couch in the interior is\ncomposed of buffalo robes. The scenery in the background should\nrepresent woods and rocks. A few fir trees placed at the back part of\nthe stage will answer, if nothing better can be procured. The lady who\npersonates Edith should be one of good features and rather a small\nform. Her costume consists of a loose white dress, sleeves five inches\nlong, hair done up loosely in the neck, and face and neck made as\nwhite as possible. Position, reclining on the couch, facing the\naudience, the lower part of the body covered with a leopard skin. The\nhead and chest should be in an upright position, the head inclined\nback slightly, and supported by the right hand. The left hand laid\ncarelessly over the bosom; the eyes are closed, the countenance calm.\nThe aged Indian warrior should be dressed in a costume like that\ndescribed in Hiawatha; the aged matron's costume similar to that worn\nby Nokomis, in the death of Minnehaha; the young Indian children in\nappropriate costumes. The position of the Indian matron is, sitting at\nthe head of the sleeping girl, one hand resting on the pillow, and the\nother raised to the side of the head; the eyes cast upon the ground.\nThe warrior's position is at the opposite side of the wigwam. He is\nleaning carelessly upon his bow; his body inclined forward slightly;\nhis eyes fixed upon the sleeping maiden. The children kneel at the\nfoot of the couch; the boy rests his head upon his hand, and gazes\nupon the face of the dying one; the Indian girl kneels by his side,\nand points with her right hand to the couch, while her eyes are\ndirected to the face of the boy. The face and other exposed parts of\nthe bodies of the Indian family must be stained light brown. A red\nfire should be burned in the ante-room, so as to fall upon the\nperformance. Music soft and plaintive.\nABOU BEN ADHEM AND THE ANGEL.\n Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase)\n Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace,\n And saw, within the moonlight in his room,\n Making it rich and like a lily in bloom,\n An angel writing in a book of gold.\n Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold,\n And to the presence in the room he said,\n \"What writest thou?\" The vision raised its head,\n And with a look made all of sweet accord,\n Answered, \"The names of those who love the Lord.\"\n \"And is mine one?\" said Abou. \"Nay, not so,\"\n Replied the angel. Abou spoke more low,\n But clearly still, and said, \"I pray thee, then,\n Write me as one that loves his fellow-men.\"\n The angel wrote and vanished. The next night\n It came again with a great wakening light,\n And showed the names whom love of God had blessed,\n And lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest.\n LEIGH HUNT.\nOne Female and One Male Figure.\nThis very fine tableau is taken from the beautiful lines written by\nLeigh Hunt. The tableau is represented in two scenes. In the first\nscene, Ben Adhem is seen reclining on his couch, gazing with wonder\nand surprise on the angel, who is standing in the centre of the room,\nengaged in writing in the book of gold. In the second scene, the angel\nstands at the foot of the couch, and holds the book towards Ben Adhem\nfor him to read the names written therein. The couch can be formed by\nplacing a small mattress on a few low boxes, and covering the whole\nwith bed clothes, on the outside of which should be a white quilt. It\nmust be placed in the foreground, at the right of the stage. Place a\nplaster pedestal near the side of the couch, on the top of which stand\na lighted lamp. At the background of the picture fasten a set of\ncrimson damask curtains; drape them at each side of the stage, and\nbeneath them place a plaster pedestal, with a piece of statuary on the\ntop.\nThe lady who personates the angel should be of good form and features,\nof medium height, and costumed in a white dress, over which is worn a\nloose white tarleton muslin robe, with large flowing sleeves; this\nmust be cut quite low at the top, and made to trail on the floor; hair\ndone up snugly, and encircled with a band of silver, one fourth of an\ninch wide; large wings, formed of wire, and covered with gauze, and\nornamented with silver spangles, should be fastened to the back of the\nwaist. The face and other exposed parts of the body should be whitened\nwith flesh powder. Position in the first scene is, standing in the\ncentre of the room, facing the audience. The book of gold can be\nimitated by placing sheets of gold paper on the cover and in the\ninside of a large book. Let it rest on the left arm, and be held at\nthe top by the left hand. The right hand holds a long quill pen, the\npoint of which rests on the pages of the book. Let the body and head\nincline forward slightly; the eyes directed to the book; the\nexpression of the face tranquil. Ben Adhem's position in the first\nscene is, reclining on the couch, with the quilt thrown over the lower\nportion of his body; his left hand resting on the bed, from which he\nhas partially risen; the right raised in front of the chest, the\nfingers spread out; the face turned towards the angel, the expression\nof the face denoting surprise and wonder. Costume consists of white\npants and shirt, white lace collar and wristbands, and a velvet cloak\nthrown carelessly over the right shoulder. In the second scene, the\nangel stands at the foot of the couch, holding the book in the left\nhand, and pointing to its pages with the right. Her eyes are fixed on\nBen Adhem's face, while the countenance is lighted up with smiles. Ben\nAdhem leans forward, slightly resting his arm on a cushion at his\nside, and looks with pleasure on the pages of the book. A number of\nnames should be written in the book, and at the top, in large letters,\nplace the name of Abou Ben Adhem. While the tableau is performed, the\npoem may be read by the announcer. The light for the first scene\nshould be quite dim, and come from the side of the stage opposite\nAbou. In the second scene, a colored fire must be burned, so as to\nthrow a strong light on the form of the angel. Music in the first\nscene very soft, and increasing in power in the second.\nHIAWATHA AND HIS BRIDE'S ARRIVAL HOME.\n Pleasant was their journey homeward!\n All the birds sang loud and sweetly\n Songs of happiness and heart's ease;\n Sang the blue bird, the Owaissa,\n \"Happy are you, Hiawatha,\n Having such a wife to love you!\"\n Sang the robin, the Opechee,\n \"Happy are you, Laughing Water,\n Having such a noble husband!\"\n Thus it was they journeyed homeward;\n Thus it was that Hiawatha\n To the lodge of old Nokomis\n Brought the moonlight, starlight, firelight,\n Brought the sunshine of his people,\n Minnehaha, Laughing Water,\n Handsomest of all the women\n In the land of the Dacotahs,\n In the land of handsome women.\n LONGFELLOW.\nOne Male and Two Female Figures.\nThis interesting tableau is a representation of Hiawatha on the return\nto his home accompanied by his beautiful bride, Minnehaha. They have\njust arrived in sight of the lodge of old Nokomis, and are seen in the\nbackground of the picture emerging from the forest. A large tree lies\nin the pathway, and Minnehaha is in the act of stepping over it. She\ngrasps Hiawatha's hand with her right, while the left is pointed\ntowards the wigwam in the foreground. She has just asked Hiawatha if\nthe lodge she sees is his home. Her countenance is lighted up with\npleasure. Hiawatha is leading her by the hand, and is a little in\nadvance of her. His face is turned towards her as he gracefully\nassists her over the fallen tree. His left hand clasps hers, while\nthe right holds carefully his trusty bow.\n _Hand in hand they went together,\n Through the woodland and the meadow._\nHiawatha's face is lighted up with pleasant smiles as he looks upon\nthe face of his bride, and tells her that yonder lodge is to be her\nnew home. The lodge of old Nokomis is in the foreground of the\npicture, at the right of the stage. Minnehaha and Hiawatha are in the\nbackground at the left. The door of the wigwam is open, and seated in\nthe doorway on a log is old Nokomis smoking her pipe. In front of the\ntent are the half burned embers of the camp fire; a light smoke is\ncurling up to the sky, and all is quiet and still. Nokomis is gazing\nvacantly into the embers of the fire: perhaps she is thinking of the\ndays when she\n Nursed the little Hiawatha,\n Rocked him in his linden cradle,\n Bedded soft in moss and rushes,\n Softly bound with reindeer's sinews.\nHiawatha, Minnehaha, and Nokomis should be dressed in Indian costume,\nwhich can be cheaply made with a little ingenuity. Hiawatha's coat may\nbe made of light brown cambric, cut frock style, and belted around the\nwaist. The skirt should reach to the knee, and be ornamented with two\nrows of fringe three inches wide; one should be red, the other yellow.\nThese fringes are also to be placed on the seams and bottom of the\nsleeves and around the collar; round pieces of brass should be\nfastened on various parts of the coat and around the belt. The\nleggings are made of buff cambric, fitting tightly to the legs, and\nornamented at the side with red fringe. Black cloth shoes trimmed with\nbeads are worn on the feet; the head is adorned with a gold band, in\nwhich are inserted bright-colored feathers. The belt around the waist\nshould be made three inches wide, of red morocco, and contain a small\nknife and tomahawk; a quiver of arrows is fastened to the back, which\ncan be fashioned of card-board, and covered with bright-colored paper\nor cloth. The exposed parts of the body should be stained a light\nbrown, the hair brushed up to the top of the head, and confined with a\nband. Minnehaha's dress is of red cloth, trimmed with yellow fringe\nintermingled with colored beads. The waist of the dress should be of\nflesh-colored cloth made to fit the body very snugly. A scarf of\nermine is worn over the shoulders, and tied at the left side. On the\nright side of the skirt is an over-skirt or side-apron, made of a\ndarker colored crimson, and trimmed with ermine; it commences at the\nfront of the body, and extends half way around the skirt; it is\nscalloped at the bottom, and ornamented with yellow fringe and beads\noutside of the ermine. The neck is adorned with a large necklace of\nwhite beads, while the head is encircled with a band of gold,\nornamented with beads and showy plumes. The hair should be left\nflowing over the shoulders. The wrists are to be decorated with large\ngold bracelets. The leggings are to be of crimson cloth ornamented\nwith yellow fringe, and small bands of yellow running around them at\nintervals of four inches. The feet are encased in shoes of black\nvelvet studded with beads. A quiver of arrows is fastened to the back\nof the dress, and the exposed parts of the body stained light brown.\nNokomis has on a loose coat of brown cambric fringed with yellow,\nleggings of buff cambric fringed with light blue, dark shoes\nornamented with beads and red binding. The hair should be black, and\nleft to hang loose on the shoulders; a blue blanket trimmed with\ncrimson fringe is gathered about the shoulders, and a black belt\nencircles the waist. The person who represents Nokomis should be of\nlarge figure and face. The features must be painted to represent old\nage. The scenery consists of the following articles, which should be\narranged in perfect order to give the proper effect to the picture.\nThe stage must be covered with green cloth, and should gradually rise\nfrom the fore to the background; small spruce trees can be arranged at\nthe back and sides of the stage, with vines of flowers hanging from\nthem. Two or three stuffed birds should be fastened to the top\nbranches of the trees. The fire can be placed in a furnace near the\nwigwam, and surrounded with dried branches. The fallen tree and\nNokomis' seat may be represented by artificial or natural logs. The\ntableau should receive the light from the right hand side, the greater\nportion of which should be thrown into the background. The\naccompanying music should be of secular and inspiring order.\nDAVID PLAYING BEFORE SAUL.\n Sing aloud unto God our strength, and make a joyful noise unto the\n God of Jacob.\n Take a psalm, and bring hither the timbrel, the pleasant harp with\n the psaltery.\n Blow upon the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on\n our solemn feast day.\n For this was a statute for Israel and a law of the God of Jacob.\n PSALM LXXXI.\n And Saul's servants said unto him, Behold now, an evil\n spirit from God troubleth thee. Let our Lord now command thy\n servants, which are before thee, to seek out a man who is a\n cunning player on a harp; and it shall come to pass, when\n the evil spirit from God is upon thee, that he shall play\n with his hand, and thou shalt be well. And Saul said unto\n his servants, Provide me now a man that can play well, and\n bring him to me. Then answered one of his servants, and\n said, Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite,\n that is cunning in playing, and a comely person. Wherefore\n Saul sent messengers unto Jesse, and said, Send me David thy\n son. And David came to Saul, and stood before him; and it\n came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul,\n that David took a harp, and played with his hand. So Saul\n was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed\n from him.\n 1 SAMUEL XVI.\nSix Female and Eight Male Figures.\nThis sacred tableau contains fourteen figures, and is arranged in the\nfollowing manner. Saul is seen seated on the throne at the background\nof the picture. On each side of the throne are seated Saul's friends\nand servants. David is sitting in the foreground, playing on the harp.\nSaul's costume consists of a scarlet or purple velvet coat and\nbreeches, white hose crossed with red bands, low shoes, a crown of\nvelvet and gold, ornamented with precious stones, on the head, and a\nlarge cloak of velvet and ermine thrown over the shoulders. A long\nwhite beard should be fastened to the face, and a wig worn on the\nhead. The gentlemen should be attired in long, loose coats, made of\nbright-colored cambric, trimmed with the same material, of other\ncolors. The head should be covered with a red and black turban. White\nhose, crossed with black and red bands, breeches of showy-colored\ncloth, shoes covered with red flannel, and crossed with black binding,\nthe face disguised with a long white beard, which can be made of flax.\nThe ladies can be costumed in satin or silk dresses, the hair hanging\nin curls, and the person decorated with a profusion of jewelry. The\nperson who takes the part of David should be of fair complexion,\nwithout a beard, should have long hair, and be costumed in a light,\nloose blue coat, reaching five inches below the knee, and gathered\naround the waist with a crimson belt. He should also wear blue\nbreeches, blue hose crossed with red bands, and sandals on the feet; a\nturban, made of velvet, and decorated with gold, should adorn the\nhead. The throne platform is to be two feet high and four feet square;\non this is placed a large chair, with a canopy over the top, all of\nwhich must be trimmed with crimson cloth, and decorated with gold\npaper. On each side of the throne, place seats to accommodate twelve\npersons; those in front can be seated, while others, in the\nbackground, should be standing; they must assume various positions; a\nfew may be engaged in conversation, while others are looking at David.\nSaul is seated on the throne, with the right hand resting on the arm\nof the chair, his body slightly bent forward, and eyes fixed on\nDavid. His countenance expresses pleasure. David is seated on a low\nottoman in the foreground of the picture. The harp rests on the floor.\nPosition so that a side view is had of the body. His head is thrown\nback; eyes cast upward; face expresses pleasure. The light for this\npicture should come from the front and the left side of the stage, and\nmust be quite brilliant. The harp can be made of wood, covered with\ngold paper, and strung with yellow cord. The music should be of a\nsacred and inspiring style.\nLIBERTY.\n \"O Liberty, can man resign thee\n Once having felt thy generous flame?\n Can dungeons, bolts, or bars confine thee,\n Or whips thy noble spirit tame?\n Too long the world has wept, bewailing\n That falsehood's dagger tyrants wield;\n But freedom is our sword and shield,\n And all their arts are unavailing.\n To arms, to arms, ye brave!\n The avenging sword unsheathe!\n March on, march on, all hearts resolved\n On victory or death.\"\nSeven Female and Six Male Figures.\nThis tableau is an ideal representation of Liberty, and is represented\nby thirteen persons--seven young ladies and six young gentlemen. In\nthe background of the picture a platform is raised, on which stands\nthe Goddess of Liberty. This platform is three feet high and four\nfeet square. The front is covered with blue cambric, with a border of\nred, decorated with gilt stars. In the centre is placed a gilt eagle;\non each end of the platform is a small American shield. The background\nis draped with American flags. On each side of the platforms are\nplaced inclined planes, extending from the corners of the platform to\nthe front corners of the stage; the height of these at the front\nshould be six inches, and three feet high at the background. They are\nto be covered with white cloth, and ornamented with a border of red\nand blue cambric. The lady who personates the Goddess of Liberty\nshould be of good height, fine figure and features. Costume consists\nof a white satin or silk dress, made long enough to trail on the\nplatform, a waist of crimson velvet, covered with small gilt stars,\nsleeves five inches long, hair done up snugly, and covered with a\nspiral liberty cap, of blue velvet, decorated with gold bands.\nPosition is, standing in the centre of the platform, grasping with the\nright hand a slender spear seven feet in length. Entwined around this\nshould be a small American ensign. The left hand hangs carelessly at\nthe side; the head thrown back slightly, the eyes cast upward. The six\nladies kneel at equal distances on the inclined plane. Their costume\nconsists of a white dress, blue waist, and red sash; a garland of\nflowers should adorn the head, and each holds extended in the right\nhand a wreath of myrtle. Their attention should be directed to the\nGoddess of Liberty. The six gentlemen take position on the opposite\ninclined plane. They kneel at equal distances from the platform to\nthe corner of the stage, and are costumed in blue or black coats,\nwhite pants, with buff stripe on the side, gold epaulets, side arms,\nred sash, flat caps, with gilt bands. The cap should be slightly\nraised with the right hand, while the left is placed on the hip. The\neyes are to be directed to the Goddess. The piece should be lighted up\nby a red fire burned at the opposite side from the gentlemen, and the\nlight must be quite brilliant. Music, Star-spangled Banner.\nPAGANISM AND CHRISTIANITY.\n O'er the realms of pagan darkness,\n Let the eye of pity gaze;\n See the kindred of the people\n Lost in sin's bewildering maze;\n May the heathen, now adoring\n Idol gods of wood and stone,\n Come, and, worshipping before him,\n Serve the living God alone.\n COTTERILL.\nTwo Female and Two Male Figures.\nThis double tableau represents the idolatrous system of faith and\nworship of the pagans, and by simple machinery the scene is made to\npass from the view of the audience, and we have represented the faith\nand glorious emblems of Christianity. The machinery and scenery which\nare used in the piece are made in the following manner: A revolving\nbeam should be set up under the stage, the upper end protruding\nthrough the floor. Washers will be needed for the bottom and top, and\nwooden pins, passing through the beam, will be necessary, to take hold\nof to move it around. Build a circular platform ten feet in diameter;\nmake it strong with braces, and, if necessary, it can be made in two\nparts, and fastened together with iron hooks and clamps. Cut a square\nhole in the centre of the platform, corresponding with the thickness\nof the beam. Then place it on the top of the beam, six inches from the\nfloor, secure it firmly, and make it perfectly level. Across the\ncentre of the platform cut small holes for the purpose of inserting\nthe ends of a partition which will divide the circle into two\napartments; make the partition of wood; cover one side with white\ncloth, and also the floor with the same; the other side and floor with\nblack cloth. It should be five feet high, ten feet wide, and oval at\nthe top. After the tableaux are arranged on each side of the platform,\npersons under the stage can revolve the whole with very little\nexertion. The tableau of Christianity should be formed on the light\nside, and Paganism on the dark side. By placing numbers on the\nrevolving beam, and corresponding numbers on the washers, the\nassistant below will be able to tell when the tableau is in the right\nposition above. To represent Paganism, a large idol should be\nconstructed, and seated in the centre, and close to the black\npartition. The form of the human body can be imitated by taking a suit\nof old garments, stuffing them with straw, and covering them with buff\ncambric, on which hieroglyphics can be painted. A large mask, with\nartificial hair, and crown made of gaudy-colored cloth, will answer\nfor the head; a short frock of red Turkey cloth, trimmed with gold\npaper, should be fastened about the lower portion of the body. The\nidol should be seated on a pedestal sixteen inches high, which is\nplaced on a platform three feet square and eight inches high. These\nare to be decorated with showy cloth or paper. Kneeling at the foot of\nthe pedestal are two figures, one a female, the other a male. Their\nhands are clasped in front of the face, the eyes raised to the idol,\nhead turned, so that a side view is had of the features. The costume\nof the youth consists of a loose coat, made of brown cambric, trimmed\nwith crimson cloth and beads; flesh-colored pants, fitting tightly to\nthe legs; shoes covered with showy cloth; a turban on the head, made\nof strips of red and buff cloth; the face and other exposed parts of\nthe body stained a light brown. The young lady's costume consists of a\nloose dressing gown, trimmed around the top and on the ends of the\nsleeves with bands of red cloth, and gold paper cut in the form of\ndiamonds. The hair should hang loosely over the shoulders, and about\nthe head entwine a string of beads; the head is slightly turned to the\nyoung man; the eyes directed to the idol; the face and arms stained\nlike the young man's. The extreme ends of the platform are occupied by\ntwo figures costumed similar to those already described. They are\nkneeling at the feet of small pedestals in such a position that a\nprofile view is had of the form. The pedestals should be two feet\nhigh, and covered with bright-colored cloth. On one is a\nrepresentation of the sun, made by pasting a sheet of gold paper on\ncard-board, and cutting out rays around the edge. On the other\npedestal is placed a figure of the moon, with the stars radiating\naround it. The moon can be made of card-board and silver paper, and\nthe stars of gold paper; these must be fastened to wires, and placed\nten inches from the top of the pedestals. Indian war clubs, spears,\nshields, and other heathen curiosities, should be placed about the\nfigures. The light for this scene must be quite mild, and come from\nthe right hand side of the stage. Music low and of a mournful\ncharacter.\nSECOND SCENE OF PAGANISM AND CHRISTIANITY.\n Upon the gospel's sacred page\n The gathered beams of ages shine;\n And as it hastens, every age\n But makes its brightness more divine.\n On mightier wing, in loftier flight,\n From year to year does knowledge soar,\n And as it soars, the gospel light\n Adds to its influence more and more.\n BOWRING.\nOne Male and Two Female Figures.\n_The Tableau of Christianity._--On the side of the platform which is\ncovered with white cloth there should be erected a small pulpit. Make\nit of boards, cover it with cloth, and paint it in imitation of\nmahogany. A small red cushion should be placed on the top, supporting\na large Bible, and on each side place lamps, with glass shades. In\nthe pulpit stands a young man dressed to represent a minister of the\ngospel; one hand resting on the Bible, the other raised upward. In\nfront of the pulpit place a small table, covered with a white cloth,\non which set four silver goblets. By the side of the table place a\nplaster pedestal, with a white urn on the top, to represent a font; on\neach side of the pulpit, and at the extreme ends of the platform, are\ntwo female figures; both are kneeling by the side of small pedestals;\nthese can be made of small boxes, covered with white cloth, and\nornamented with myrtle. The female figures should face the audience.\nOne holds a large Bible with the right hand, and points to the pages\nwith the left. The eyes are cast upward; the face expresses meekness\nand serenity. The second figure, at the other end of the platform,\nholds a cross in the left hand, and points to it with the right; the\neyes are raised upward, the face expressing pleasure. Their costume\nconsists of white dresses, cut low at the top, sleeves quite long and\nflowing, and ornamented with white muslin; the waist is encircled with\na band of satin ribbon; a wreath of white flowers adorns the head, and\ngauze wings are fastened to the back of the waist. The hair should be\ndressed closely to the head, and a few curls allowed to hang on the\nshoulders. The length of the cross is three feet; color, light blue.\nOn small pedestals, between the pulpit and the female figures, place\nmodels of the steam engine, steamboat, printing press, and telegraph.\nThe tableau of Paganism must be first produced, after which the\nmachinery should slowly revolve, bringing into the view the tableau of\nChristianity. The curtain must be kept up until both are exhibited.\nThe light for these tableaux should be quite brilliant, and issue from\nthe left side of the stage. Music of a sacred character.\nTHE FAIRIES' DANCE.\n The moon is full, the stars are bright,\n The monks are all asleep;\n Now gayly come the Fays to-night,\n Their revelry to keep.\n They love the abbeys old and gray,\n Whence the vesper song is heard,\n And the matin hymn at break of day\n Awakes the singing bird.\n With waving torch and tiny shout,\n The nimble foot they ply,\n And Fairy laughs are ringing out\n Beneath the midnight sky;--\n Then mortals hear the merry peals,\n And wonder at the sound,\n So like the chiming of harebells,\n When light winds steal around.\n ANON.\nTen Female and Eight Male Figures.\nThis beautiful tableau is represented by eight small misses, eight\nsmall lads, and two young and pretty ladies. The stage should be\nformed so as to rise gradually from the footlights to the background,\nwhich can be done by using boxes of various sizes, and covering them\nwith green bocking. Twelve of the children should form a circle, the\nfront of which must be two feet from the footlights, the back\nextending to the other end of the stage. They should clasp each other\nby the hand, and take the position of the Highland fling; the right\nhand raised above the head, the left placed on the hip; the attitudes\nshould be as graceful as possible. The expression of the faces\ndenoting pleasure and mirth. Near the footlights, two of the children\nshould be seated, looking at the others; and standing on pedestals at\neach side of the stage, near the front, are the young ladies. The\npedestals are two feet high, covered with pink cambric, and bordered\nwith green leaves and flowers. The position of the female figures must\nbe graceful and easy. They stand so as to show a profile view of the\nbody; each holds a golden wand, which she extends out over the heads\nof the dancers. Their eyes are fixed on the movements of the children,\nthe left hand clasps a stout cord, to which is fastened a large\ncrimson tassel, that will help sustain the body in position. The\ncostume of the misses consists of a short white dress, with short\nsleeves, the waist studded with small stars and spangles; the bottom\nof the skirt bound with light green ribbon, three inches wide, with\ngold paper fastened to each edge, and small pink roses placed between.\nThe sleeves are bound with gold and pink ribbon in alternate bands,\nthree inches wide; a small scarf of white gauze, covered with spangles\nand fringed at the ends with gold, encircles the waist. Flesh-colored\nhose, white slippers, a wreath of silver leaves about the head. The\nhair arranged in short curls, and small gauze wings, ornamented with\nspangles, fastened to the back of the waist.\nThe young lads' costume consists of a short coat, buttoned snugly over\nthe breast, made of light pink cambric. The bottom, the ends of the\nsleeves, and the collar trimmed with purple cambric, three inches in\nwidth, with narrow strips of gold paper on each side; between the\nbands of gold, insert small diamond-shaped pieces of gold paper,\nbordered with spangles. A belt made of the same material encircles the\nwaist; hose of flesh-colored cloth; white slippers, with pink rosette\non the front; a small cap, made of purple cambric, in the form of a\ntulip, is worn on the head; it should be rather low, with a stem of\ngreen protruding from the top, the edges scalloped, and bound with\ngold paper. Small gauze wings are fastened to the shoulders, which are\nornamented with spangles and silver stars. The young ladies' costume\nconsists of a long white dress, with a robe worn on the outside of\ntarleton muslin; the outer dress should have three wide flounces, the\nedges of which are to be trimmed with large silver leaves,\ninterspersed with gilt roses; these can be made from gold and silver\npaper. The waist must be cut quite low, and decorated in the same\nmanner; the sleeves flowing, and trimmed with spangles and pink\nribbons; large gauze wings, decorated with spangles and silver tinsel,\nshould be fastened to the back of the waist. The hair must be done up\nin a neat coil, and encircled with a band of white flowers. Make the\nwands four feet in length, and one half an inch in diameter; cover\nthem with silver paper, attach a gilt heart on the end. The light for\nthis tableau can be produced by a whitish-blue fire, burned at either\nside of the stage; it should be quite brilliant, and must be lighted\nbefore the curtain rises. Music of a lively order.\nBUST OF PRAYER.\n Prayer is the soul's sincere desire,\n Utter'd or unexpress'd;\n The motion of a hidden fire\n That trembles in the breast.\n Prayer is the burden of a sigh,--\n The falling of a tear,--\n The upward glancing of an eye,\n When none but God is near.\n Prayer is the simplest form of speech\n That infant lips can try;\n Prayer, the sublimest strains that reach\n The Majesty on high.\nOne Female Figure.\nThis beautiful production should be represented by one who has an\namiable and modest appearing countenance, good figure and features.\nThe hair must be brushed up from the forehead, and fastened behind in\na black crochet net. The dress should be pure white, open very low at\nthe front and back. A cross is suspended from the neck by a band of\nwhite ribbon. A heavy white veil should pass over the top and back of\nthe head, and be tied loosely four inches below the chin; the head\ninclined forward slightly, the eyes closed, while the countenance\nshould appear serene, pure, and full of hope; the arms are to be\nfolded out of sight upon the breast. The same machinery, pedestal,\nwire basque, crimson curtain, and fairies that are used in the Bust of\nProserpine, may be used in this piece. The light should be mild, and\ncome from the left side of the stage. Music plaintive, and of a sacred\norder.\nMORNING WELCOMED BY THE STARS.\n A glorious vision: as I walked in gloom,\n The children of the sun came thronging round me,\n In shining robes and diamond-studded shoon;\n And they did wing me with them, and soon\n In a bright dome of wondrous width I found me,\n Set all with beautiful eyes, whose wizard rays,----\n Shed on my soul, in strong enchantment bound me;\n And so I looked and looked with dazzled gaze,\n Until my spirit drank in so much light\n That I grew, like the sons of that glad place,\n Transparent, lovely, pure, serene, and bright;\n Then they did call me brother; and there grew\n Swift from my sides broad pinions gold and white,\n And with that happy flock a brilliant thing I flew!\n TUPPER.\nTwenty-one Female Figures.\nThis beautiful spectacle is represented by twenty-one persons. Twenty\nof the number should be young misses, of about six or eight years of\nage, who will personate the stars, and one, a young and handsome\nlady, who is to represent morning. The sides of the stage must be\narranged in the form of terraced banks, two feet wide at the bottom,\nand four feet wide at the top; they should be built from the\nfootlights to within three feet of the ceiling, covered with cloth,\nand painted to represent clouds. Blue cambric, with white clouds and\ngold stars, will answer the purpose. In the centre of the stage, two\npieces of joist must be placed in an inclined position, running from\nthe footlights to the background. On these build a sliding platform,\nfour feet square, with a small seat, one foot high. This should be\nmade to run with ease from the top to the bottom of the joist; cloth,\npainted in imitation of clouds and stars, can be extended across the\nspace between the two terraces and the joist, so that it will show a\nsmooth surface. Cover the moving platform with cloth, arranged in\ndrapery style, and paint in the same manner as the rest of the\nscenery. A back scene should be placed at the top of the terraces,\nleaving a space of three feet between it and the back wall; this must\nbe painted like the rest of the scenery, and made to open in the\ncentre, near the top of the joist.\nThe young misses' costume consists of a short white dress, decorated\nwith gold stars, and silver paper interspersed with spangles, white\nhose and shoes, hair hanging in curls, and encircled with a band of\nsilver leaves, with a silver star on the forehead; a light blue sash,\ncovered with spangles, tied about the waist; and small gauze wings\nfastened to the back of the dress. Each one should hold a small torch\nten inches in length, from which rises a blue flame; these can be\nmade of card-board, and covered with light blue paper, with the ends\ntipped with gold. At the end from which the flame is produced, insert\na strip of tin, to protect the torch from the flames. The torches\nshould not be lighted until all the figures are in position. The young\nmisses take their position at each side of the stage, on the outer\nedge of the terrace. They must lean forward slightly, and hold the\ntorch out from them. Their attitudes should be varied; those near the\ntop should be gazing upward, others looking down, and a few engaged in\nconversation. The young lady who represents Morning must be costumed\nin a loose white robe of tarleton muslin, cut low at the top, flowing\nsleeves, skirt covered with three wide flounces, trimmed in front with\nsilver rays five inches long. The waist and sleeves decorated with\nsilver and gold spangles, and a satin belt, ornamented in like manner,\nworn about the waist. The hair should be brushed back from the\nforehead, and clasped with a band of silver, and allowed to hang over\nthe shoulders in long curls; the head is adorned with a band of gold,\nwith rays of silver radiating from the centre. The position is, seated\non the platform, head slightly inclined to the left, the right hand\nraised over the head, the left rests on the waist; eyes directed to\nthe children in the foreground, countenance expressing pleasure. The\ngoddess Morning will be seated on the platform, behind the scenery.\nA yellow fire must be burned in the ante-room, and so shaded that,\njust as the curtain rises, a small portion of the light will shine on\nthe centre of it; this light should increase in brightness for a few\nseconds, when the sky in the background must open, and the goddess\nglide slowly down to the centre of the stage. As the platform moves,\nthe fire should increase in brightness; when she has arrived at the\ncentre of the stage, the yellow light should be thrown into the\nforeground, and a red light thrown into the background. This can be\naccomplished by placing the colored fires in large boxes furnished\nwith sliding covers and reflectors; and by drawing out the covers\ngradually, the light will be thrown on to the picture in the proper\nmanner. The curtain in the background can be opened by attaching at\neach corner, near the centre, a small cord, which can be passed\nthrough pulleys, and attended to in the ante-rooms. The curtain or\nscenery should be drawn up on the back side, and let down in its place\nas soon as the platform has passed through. A small rope, painted\nblue, must be attached to the platform, and pass through a block\nfastened to the wall of the stage; this can be tended by a person\nunder the stage, who will allow the platform to move with exactness to\nits stopping place. If the light from the colored fire is not\nbrilliant enough, a few of the lights at the same side from whence the\nfire is produced can be lighted. Music soft and plaintive at first,\nand increasing in power at the finale.\nTHE STATUE VASE.\n She spoke to vanish, but the single ray\n Shot from the unseen moon, still palely breaketh\n The awe that rests with midnight on the way;\n Faithful as Hope when Wisdom's self forsaketh--\n The buoyant beam the lonely man pursued--\n And, feeling God, he felt not Solitude.\n And now, he enters, with that lurid tide,\n Where time-long corals shape a mighty hall;\n Three curtain'd arches on the dexter side,\n And on the floors a ruby pedestal,\n On which with marble lips, that life-like smiled,\n Stood the fair Statue of a crown\u00e9d Child.\n BULWER'S KING ARTHUR.\nOne Female Figure.\nThis design is a beautiful female, supporting a horn of plenty, from\nwhich rises a basket of intermingling vines and flowers. The lady is\nstanding on a pedestal, which is described in the tableau of the\nItalian Flower Vase, as is also the basket which the lady supports.\nThis basket or bowl of the vase can be suspended from the centre of\nthe ceiling by the means of wire hooks. The pedestal must be placed\ndirectly under it. The space between the top of the pedestal and the\nbottom of the basket should be just the height of the lady who takes\nthe part of the statue in the piece; so that when she is in position\non the pedestal, the bottom of the basket will touch the top of her\nhead. The horn of plenty can be made of cloth; it should be five\ninches in diameter at the top, three foot long, and end in a point at\nthe bottom; it can be stuffed with wool, covered with green cambric,\nand decorated with artificial flowers. It is to be attached to the\nbottom of the basket, pass down over the lady's shoulder, and held in\nits position by the left arm and hand. The lady who takes this part\nshould be of large and good figure, regular features, and quite\npretty. The costume consists of a white dress, with sleeves five\ninches long, cut low at the neck, skirt made rather long, and worn\nwithout many underskirts; a scarf of gauze worn over the shoulders,\nand tied at the right side, allowing the ends to trail on the\npedestal. The hair should be arranged in wide braids at the side of\nthe face, confined at the back with a band of silver, and allowed to\nfall in short curls over the neck. The position of the lady is,\nstanding in the centre of the pedestal, her body facing the audience,\nand head turned partially to the right. The eyes should be raised a\ntrifle, while the expression of the face denotes tranquillity and\nrepose. The left hand must gracefully press the horn of plenty against\nthe side of the breast, while the right is raised above the head, and\ntouches the basket as if to steady it. The light for this piece should\nbe of medium brilliancy, and placed at the side opposite to the face\nof the statue. Music soft and of a secular order.\nSPIRIT OF CHIVALRY.\n Strike the loud harp, ye minstrel train!\n Pour forth your loftiest lays;\n Each heart shall echo to the strain\n Breathed in the warrior's praise.\n Bid every string triumphant swell\n Th' inspiring sounds that heroes love so well.\n Chieftains, lead on! our hearts beat high--\n For combat's glorious hour;\n Soon shall the red cross banners fly\n On Salem's loftiest tower!\n We burn to mingle with the strife,\n Where but to die insures eternal life.\n MRS. HEMANS.\nNine Male and Five Female Figures.\nThis fine tableau represents the Spirit or personification of\nChivalry, surrounded by men of various pursuits, religious, military,\nand civil, who represent, as by an upper court or house, the final\nacquisition of her honors and rewards. Beneath, as not having\nobtained, though within reach of, the crown, is a young knight who\nvows chivalric services, and is attended by his page and his young\nbride. Around him, in various attitudes, other figures are introduced,\nto connect the abstract representation of Chivalry with its general\nrecognition of intellectual influences; among them, the Painter, the\nSculptor, and Man of Science; the Palmer from the Holy Land, and the\nPoet-Historian, from whom future ages must derive their knowledge of\nthe spirit and deeds of chivalry. The lady who personates the Spirit\nof Chivalry should be of good figure and features. Her costume\nconsists of a loose white robe, cut high in the neck; a mantle of\nwhite tarleton muslin is draped about the shoulders, and fastened in\nfront with a gilt cross; the hair is arranged in bands, falling low in\nthe neck, and encircled with a small wreath of silver leaves or white\nflowers. In her left hand she holds a small wreath of evergreen, which\nshe extends towards the young knight, who kneels at the foot of the\npedestal on which she stands. Her position is, on a pedestal, three\nfeet high by two feet square, which should be placed in the centre of\nthe stage. Her body should be inclined slightly forward, and attention\ndirected to the knight in the foreground; her countenance should\nexpress dignity and pleasure. At the back of the pedestal there should\nbe a representation of an altar, consisting of a shaft two and one\nhalf feet wide by three feet in height, with a capital on the top one\nfoot wide by three and one half feet long. This can be made of boards,\nshowing a smooth surface, and nailed to the top of the pedestal. It\ncan be papered or painted to represent panels and scrolls. Fourteen\nother figures are grouped around the pedestal, and as the arrangement\nof the piece is a trifle complicated, we will designate them in\nrotation, beginning at the foot of the pedestal. The figures, as they\nrecede in the background, should be placed on small platforms, rising\nfrom one to three feet in height. By arranging the figures in this\nmanner, a perfect view of each will be had by the audience. Figure one\nis a young lady; she kneels at the foot of the pedestal on which the\nSpirit stands. Costume is, a white dress, cut low at the waist,\nencircled with a satin sash; hair arranged in curls. Position is,\nsitting, the body facing the audience, head resting on the hand, and\nthrown back so as to touch the pedestal, and eyes directed to the face\nof a harper, who kneels in front of her; the countenance expresses\nsurprise and admiration. Kneeling on the floor, nearly in front of\nfigure one, is a young knight--we have almost a back view of him, the\nhead turned just enough to get a partial profile view of the face; one\nhand clasps a sword, which he raises in front of the body; the other\nis lifted above the head, which is thrown back, with the eyes fixed on\nthe Spirit. The armor can be conveniently composed by fastening strips\nand plates of bright tin to a suit of clothes made of black cambric.\nThe belt, gloves, and boots can be gotten up in the same manner. This\nsuit will cost but a trifle, and in the glare of the footlights will\nlook finely. Figure three is the palmer. He kneels behind figure one.\nCostume consists of a dark robe, cowl made of black cloth, and face\ncovered with a heavy beard. In his hands he holds a shepherd's crook.\nHis eyes are directed to the harper. Figure four is a small girl, who\nstands behind figure three, and holds in both hands the helmet of the\nknight. Her costume consists of a white dress, with a pink sash; hair\ndone up to suit the taste of the performer. Her position is, facing\nthe audience, eyes fixed on the knight, expression of the face\ndenoting pleasure. Two other ladies stand on a small platform, outside\nof the lady holding the helmet. Their costume consists of a white\ndress, black velvet waist, hair arranged in wide braids at the side of\nthe face; one clasps her hands in front of her breast, and looks with\nearnestness at the knight; the other places an arm on the shoulder of\nher friend, and looks up into her face, her countenance beaming with\nsmiles. Behind these three females, and standing on a platform two\nfeet high, are two peasants. They are dressed in blue frocks, fastened\naround the waist with black belts, knee breeches of colored cloth,\nwhite hose, low shoes, knee and shoe buckles, white Kossuth hats,\nencircled with a gilt band; the face covered with long, light beards.\nEach holds a long staff, with a gilt crook at the top. Their position\nshould be behind the altar, arms folded on the breast, head inclined\nforward, eyes cast down, and the expression of the face melancholy and\nsober. Opposite to the two figures last described, and standing on a\nplatform at the other side of the altar, is a knight in full armor. He\nholds a large sword in front of his body, and is looking straight\nforward. His costume can be made in the same manner as that of the one\ndescribed at the beginning of the tableau. On a low platform, at the\nside of the Spirit, stand a Sculptor and a Painter. Their position is,\nfacing the knight, who is kneeling in the foreground. Their costume\nconsists of white jackets, dark pants, and flat, white caps, worn\njantily on the side of the head. The Painter holds his pallet and\nbrushes, the Sculptor his mallet and chisel; their attention is\ndirected to the figure of the kneeling knight. Standing on the floor,\nbelow the two figures just described, is the Poet-Historian. He faces\nthe audience, and looks at the Harper in the foreground. He is dressed\nin dark clothes; a heavy white mantle is thrown over his shoulders,\nthe ends trailing to the floor; on his head is placed a garland of\ngreen leaves. He holds in both hands a large book, which should be\nbound richly and opened in the centre. Kneeling on the floor at his\nfeet, and facing the young knight, is the Harper. He holds in his left\nhand a harp, and touches the strings with his right. His costume\nconsists of a coat made of Turkey cloth, trimmed with black binding\nfour inches wide; black knee breeches, white hose, knee and shoe\nbuckles, and red shoes. Over the left shoulder is carelessly thrown a\nshort velvet cloak, and on the head is a black velvet cap, with a gold\nband and plume. His head is thrown back, eyes directed to the Spirit,\nwhile the countenance should appear to be inspired. Kneeling at the\nfoot of the pedestal, between the first figure and the Harper, is the\nTroubadour, playing on a guitar; he faces the audience; his head is\nthrown back, and his eyes cast upward. Costume consists of a purple\ncoat, trimmed with black binding, blue breeches, white hose, low\nshoes, knee and shoe buckles, belt containing a small dagger, about\nthe waist. The harp can be made of wood, covered with gold paper, and\nstrung with buff cord. The light for this piece should be produced at\neither side of the stage, and a small quantity at the front. The side\nlight must be very powerful. The accompanying music should be of a\nbrilliant order.\nHAIDEE AND DON JUAN IN THE CAVE.\n His eyes he opened, shut, again unclosed,\n For all was doubt and dizziness; he thought\n He still was in the boat, and had but dozed,\n And felt again with his despair o'erwrought,\n And wished it death in which he had reposed;\n And then once more his feelings back were brought,\n And slowly by his swimming eyes was seen\n A lovely female face of seventeen.\n 'Twas bending close o'er his, and the small mouth\n Seemed almost prying into his for breath;\n And, chafing him, the soft, warm hand of youth\n Recalled his answering spirits back from death;\n And, bathing his chill temples, tried to soothe\n Each pulse to animation, till beneath\n Its gentle touch and trembling care, a sigh\n To these kind efforts made a low reply.\n BYRON.\nOne Male and Two Female Figures.\nThis pleasing tableau is taken from the poem of Don Juan, by Byron.\nThe scene is that where Haidee discovers the insensible form of Juan\nlying at the mouth of the cave, near to the sea shore. Don Juan has\nbeen shipwrecked; his almost lifeless body has washed ashore, and\nfound a resting place in a rocky cave, to be discovered by the\nbeautiful Haidee and her attendant. The principal work in this piece\nis the forming of the cave, which can be made in the following manner:\nThe floor of the cave should rise gradually from the front to the\nbackground; this can be accomplished by using boxes of various sizes,\nover which place brown cambric, with brown paper attached to it in a\ncrumpled manner, so as to imitate ragged rocks, and when painted with\nlight and brown colors, and ornamented with isinglass, will make a\nvery good appearance. The floor of the cave should extend to within\nthree feet of the front of the stage, and run back to the extreme\nbackground. The space between the footlights and the floor of the cave\nshould be covered with blue cambric, painted to represent waves and\nsurf. Directly behind the drop curtain there should be a\nrepresentation of the roof and sides of the cave. Light frames,\ncovered with brown paper, similar to the floor, and made very\nirregular at the edges, must be placed at each side of the stage, and\nat the top; these should be two feet wide, and of the height and width\nof the stage. Two other sets of frames should be made similar to the\nfirst, and placed at equal distances from the fore to the background.\nThe first set must be three feet wide; the second set four feet wide.\nThe background of the cave may also be covered with similar scenery.\nThe idea of arranging the scenery in this manner is to give a deep\nappearance to the cave. Isinglass should be profusely sprinkled over\nthe surface of the rocks, and a few sprigs of grass fastened to them\nwill add to the effect. The fastening of the brown paper to the frames\ncan be dispensed with if there is any person who can paint out the\nrocks on plain canvas. The one who personates Juan should be of slight\nfigure, fine, regular features, hair black and curly, and small\nmoustache. Costume consists of black pants, with buff or gold stripe\nat the side, white shirt, with blue collar, and gold star at the\ncorners, black belt around the waist, white hose, low shoes, with\nbuckles of silver. The shirt should be left open in the neck, so as to\nexpose the bosom. A small wound can be imitated on the side of the\nhead, made with red paint. Position is, reclining on the rocks in the\nforeground of the cave; the left side touches the rocks, the head\nthrown back, and face exposed to the view of the audience. The right\nhand grasps a small oar, while the left is stretched out at his side.\nThe eyes are closed, the feet crossed, and resting in the water.\nHaidee and her friend are seen in the background. Both should be of\nsmall figure and good features. Haidee should be quite pretty, and\ncostumed in a blue dress, black velvet waist, open in front, and laced\nacross with blue ribbons; sleeves long and flowing; a small crimson\napron, with bands of gold at the bottom; a black velvet belt around\nthe waist, with a showy pin in the centre; bows of pink ribbon\nfastened with a small, showy pin at each shoulder; hair hanging in\ncurls; hat made of velvet, trimmed with gold bands and white feathers,\nwhich should be placed jantily on the side of the head. Her position\nis, standing on the rocks in the back of the cave, one hand raised so\nas to shade her eyes, the other pointing to the body of Juan; the eyes\nare fixed on the body, while the countenance expresses surprise; the\nright foot must be placed twenty inches in front of the left, while\nthe body is inclined forward. The figure back of Haidee has on a\ncostume similar to that already described, but of less showy and\nexpensive material. She is standing five or six feet from Haidee, and\nhas her hands filled with shells, which she has gathered from the\nshore. She is intently engaged in looking at her shells, and has not\nyet seen Juan; her body is bent forward slightly, the expression of\nthe face denoting curiosity and thought. The light for this piece\nshould come from the front of the stage, and must be quite brilliant.\nIf a melodeon is used as an accompaniment to the piece, it should be\nplayed to imitate the roaring of the ocean.\nPOVERTY.\n The sun is bright and glad, but not for me;\n My heart is dead to all but pain and sorrow;\n No care nor hope have I in all I see,\n Save from the fear that I may starve to-morrow.\n Alas, for you, poor famishing, patient wife,\n And pale-faced little ones! Your feeble cries\n Torture my soul; worse than a blank is life\n Beggared of all that makes that life a prize:\n Yet one thing cheers me,--is not life the door\n To that rich world where no one can be poor?\n TUPPER.\nThree Female and Two Male Figures.\nThis tableau represents the interior of one of the homes of the\nstarving poor, such as are found in all large towns, where vice and\nintemperance go hand in hand. To make the scene look as natural as\npossible, a partition should be made to fill up the back of the stage,\ncovered with cheap room paper. Two old window sashes should be\ninserted in it, with the glass partially broken out, and filled up\nwith old hats and articles of clothing. The furniture of the room\nconsists of an old and broken table, a large chest, three or four old\nand broken chairs, a few pieces of broken crockery on the table, a\nblack bottle, a candlestick, a bundle of straw, with a few ragged bed\nclothes, and a few cheap prints hanging from the wall. The table is\nplaced at the back part of the room, and supports the crockery,\nbottle, and candlestick. The bed is at the left side of the room, and\non it reclines a female dressed in dirty and ragged clothing; her hair\nhangs loosely over her shoulders; right hand supporting her head, and\neyes directed to a group of children in the foreground of the picture;\nthe face should be made as white as possible; a small quantity of dark\npaint about the eyes will give a haggard and sickly look to the\nfeatures. On the opposite side of the room, seated on the old chest,\nis the woman's husband. He is dozing in a drunken slumber; his clothes\nhang about him in tatters; his hat is partially drawn down over his\nforehead, his matted hair protruding through a hole in the crown; face\nbloated, from the effects of liquor. By the use of water colors, the\nface can be made to assume the above description. His position is such\nthat a partial front view is had of the body, the arms hanging\ncarelessly at his side, feet crossed and stretched out on the floor.\nSeated at the table, and sewing by the light of the candle, is a young\ngirl. She is dressed in dirty and ragged clothes; her hair is tied up\nin a rough manner; the body bent forward, and eyes cast down upon her\nwork; her face should be made white; the eyes slightly shaded with\ndark paint, to give a haggard look to the features. In the centre of\nthe room are grouped three small children; they are engaged in eating\ncrusts of bread from a broken plate. Their costume may be varied, and\nof cheap material. The light for this piece should come from the side\non which the man is sitting. The front of the scene must be quite\nlight, while the background is thrown in shadow. Music of a mournful\norder.\nDEATH OF MINNEHAHA.\n O the long and dreary Winter!\n O the cold and cruel Winter!\n Ever thicker, thicker, thicker\n Froze the ice on lake and river,\n Ever deeper, deeper, deeper\n Fell the snow o'er all the landscape,\n Fell the covering snow, and drifted\n Through the forest, round the village.\n O the famine and the fever!\n O the wasting of the famine!\n O the blasting of the fever!\n O the wailing of the children!\n O the anguish of the women!\n \"Give us food, or we must perish!\n Give me food for Minnehaha,\n For my dying Minnehaha!\"\n Through the far-resounding forest,\n Through the forest vast and vacant--\n Rung that cry of desolation;\n But there came no other answer\n Than the echo of his crying,\n Than the echo of the woodlands,\n \"Minnehaha! Minnehaha!\"\n All day long roved Hiawatha\n In that melancholy forest,\n Through the shadow of whose thickets,\n In the pleasant days of Summer,\n Of that ne'er forgotten Summer,\n He had brought his young wife homeward\n From the land of the Dacotahs.\n In the wigwam with Nokomis,\n With those gloomy guests, that watched her,\n With the Famine and the Fever,\n She was lying, the Belov\u00e9d,\n She the dying Minnehaha.\n \"Hark!\" she said; \"I hear a rushing,\n Hear a roaring and a rushing,\n Hear the Falls of Minnehaha\n Calling to me from a distance!\"\n \"No, my child!\" said old Nokomis,\n \"'Tis the night wind in the pine trees!\"\n \"Look!\" she said; \"I see my father\n Standing lonely at his doorway,\n Beckoning to me from his wigwam\n In the land of the Dacotahs!\"\n \"No, my child,\" said old Nokomis;\n \"'Tis the smoke, that waves and beckons!\"\n \"Ah!\" she said, \"the eyes of Pauguk\n Glare upon me in the darkness,\n I can feel his icy fingers\n Clasping mine amid the darkness!\n Hiawatha! Hiawatha!\"\n And the desolate Hiawatha,\n Far away amid the forest,\n Miles away among the mountains,\n Heard that sudden cry of anguish,\n Heard the voice of Minnehaha\n Calling to him in the darkness,\n \"Hiawatha! Hiawatha!\"\n Over snow-fields waste and pathless,\n Under snow-encumbered branches,\n Homeward hurried Hiawatha,\n Empty-handed, heavy-hearted;\n And he rushed into the wigwam,\n Saw the old Nokomis slowly\n Rocking to and fro and moaning,\n Saw his lovely Minnehaha\n Lying dead and cold before him,\n And his bursting heart within him\n Uttered such a cry of anguish,\n That the forest moaned and shuddered,\n That the very stars in heaven\n Shook and trembled with his anguish.\n LONGFELLOW.\nOne Male and Two Female Figures.\nThis affecting tableau is a representation of the death of the\nbeautiful Minnehaha. The scene is at the moment when Hiawatha draws\nback the door of the wigwam, and there beholds his lovely Minnehaha\nlying dead and cold before him. The scenery of this picture is the\nsame that is used in the tableau of Hiawatha and his Bride's Arrival\nHome. It is mid-winter, and the fields and woods are covered with\nsnow; and to represent this scene it will be necessary to cover the\nground with cotton flannel, instead of the green bocking which we used\nin the summer scene. The trees, wigwam, and vines should be covered\nwith small pieces of cotton wool, to represent snow. Large bags,\nfilled with straw, may be covered in the same manner, and placed\naround the doorway of the wigwam at each side of the stage, to\nrepresent snow banks. Minnehaha has on the same costume we have before\ndescribed, and is reclining on a bed of robes near the entrance of the\nwigwam. Her body should be propped up so that she can be easily seen.\nA dark robe is thrown across the lower portion of her form, a calm,\nresigned look is on the countenance. Her hands are folded on her\nbreast, eyes closed as if in sleep. At her side, sitting on a low\nseat, is Nokomis. She wears the same costume which is described in the\nreturn of Hiawatha, with a fur robe gathered about her. She is leaning\nforward towards the couch, and presses both hands against her face.\nHer eyes are cast down to the ground, while grief and melancholy are\ndepicted on the countenance. The dying embers of a fire send up a\ncurling smoke by her side. This should be placed in an iron furnace,\nand surrounded by the imitation snow. Hiawatha stands on one side of\nthe doorway, and is in the position of one running. He clasps the door\nwith his right hand, and is in the act of stepping into the wigwam.\nHis eyes are fixed on Minnehaha; the left hand is pressed against his\nforehead; grief and amazement are depicted on his countenance. While\nthe picture is being exhibited, a portion of the accompanying poem may\nbe read by the announcer. The music should be quite soft, and of a\nplaintive character. The lights for this piece must be of medium\nbrightness, and come from the side opposite the door of the wigwam.\nTHE MOTHER'S LAST PRAYER.\n Her hands were clasped, her dark eyes raised;\n The breeze threw back her hair;\n Up to the cross she fondly gazed,\n And raised her voice in prayer.\n While there she knelt in deep despair\n Beside her own first born,\n And bowing her deep soul in prayer\n Forth on the rushing storm.\n She wiped the death damps from his brow\n With her pale hands and soft,\n Whose touch upon the lute chords low\n Had stilled his heart so oft.\n ANON.\nOne Female and One Male Figure.\nThis tableau represents a mother and child kneeling at the foot of a\ncross, amid the drifting snows and icy winds of the Alpine Mountains.\nHaving lost their way, and being unable to travel any farther, the\nmother kneels in prayer at the foot of one of the crosses which are\nplaced as landmarks along the road, to guide the traveller on his\njourney. The floor of the stage should be made uneven by placing boxes\nof various sizes at irregular distances, and covering them with white\ncotton flannel. A number of spruce trees can be arranged at the sides\nand at the background, all of which should be covered with small\nparticles of cotton wool; small bags, stuffed with hay, and covered in\nthe same manner, must be placed around the foot of the cross and at\nvarious parts of the stage, to represent snow banks. A few handfuls of\nlint thrown into the air just as the curtain rises, will float about\nand appear like falling snow. Make the cross of wood, and cover it\nwith brown paper. It should be five feet long and two feet wide;\nthickness of frame, six inches. It must be placed in the centre of the\nstage, and sprinkled with the imitation snow. The lady who represents\nthe mother should be of good figure and features, and costumed in a\ndark plaid dress, a white fur cape fastened about the neck, a velvet\ncloak worn over the shoulders, and a plaid scarf tied about the head,\nthe ends hanging down on the shoulders. Position is, at the foot of\nthe cross, so that a side view is had of the body; the head thrown\nback, eyes cast upward, hands clasped and raised in front of the face.\nThe boy is dressed in a dark suit, and reclines on the snow by the\nside of the mother; his head rests on her dress, arms stretched out\ntowards her waist; his eyes closed in that cold and dreamy sleep which\nends in death. The light for this piece must be quite dim, and come\nfrom the side of the stage that will reflect on the mother's face.\nMusic, of a low and mournful style, representing the moaning of the\nwinds.\nLOUIS XVI. AND HIS FAMILY.\n I hear thy whisper, and the warm tears gush\n Into mine eyes; the quick pulse thrills my heart.\n Thou bidd'st the peace, the reverential hush,\n The still submission, from my thoughts depart.\n The past looks on me from thy mournful eye;\n The beauty of our free and vernal days;\n Our communings with sea, and hill, and sky--\n O, take that bright world from my spirit-gaze.\n Shut out the sunshine from my dying room,\n The jasmine's breath, the murmur of the bee;\n Let not the joy of bird-notes pierce the gloom;\n They speak of love, of summer, and of thee\n ANON.\nThree Female and Four Male Figures.\nOn the 20th of January, 1793, at three o'clock in the morning, the\nsecond year of the French republic, the final vote was taken by the\nConvention, that Louis XVI. should be executed. All the efforts to\nsave the king were now exhausted, and his fate sealed. The decree of\nthe Convention was sent to the king, declaring him to be guilty of\ntreason; that he was condemned to death; that the appeal to the people\nwas refused; and that he was to be executed within twenty-four hours.\nThe king listened to the reading unmoved; he conversed earnestly with\nhis spiritual adviser respecting his will, which he read, and inquired\nearnestly for his friends, whose sufferings moved his heart deeply.\nThe hour of seven had now arrived, when the king was to hold his last\ninterview with his family. But even this could not be in private. He\nwas to be watched by his jailers, who were to hear every word and\nwitness every gesture. The door opened, and the queen, pallid and\nwoe-stricken, entered, leading her son by the hand. She threw herself\ninto the arms of her husband, and silently endeavored to draw him\ntowards her chamber. \"No, no,\" whispered the king, clasping her to his\nheart, \"I can see you only here.\" Madame Elizabeth, with the king's\ndaughter, followed. A scene of anguish ensued which neither pen nor\npencil can portray. The king sat down, with the queen upon his right\nhand, his sister on his left, their arms encircling his neck, and\ntheir heads resting upon his breast. The dauphin sat upon his father's\nknee, with his arm around his neck. The beautiful princess, with\ndishevelled hair, threw herself between her father's knees. An hour\npassed, during which not an articulate word was spoken; but cries, and\ngroans, and occasional shrieks of anguish, which pierced even the\nthick wall of the Temple, and were heard in the street below, rose\nfrom the group. For two hours the agonizing interview was continued.\nAs they gradually regained some little composure, in low tones they\nwhispered messages of tenderness and love, interrupted by sobs, and\nkisses, and blinding floods of tears. Louis XVI. described his trial,\nexcusing those who had sentenced him, gave some religious advice to\nhis children, enjoined them to forgive his enemies and bless them. A\nfew beams of daylight began to penetrate the grated windows of the\ngloomy prison. The hours passed away, while the king listened to the\ngathering of the troops in the court yard and around the Temple. At\nnine o'clock a tumultuous noise was heard of men ascending the\nstaircase. The _gens d'armes_ entered, and conveyed him to the\ncarriage at the entrance. The morning was damp and chilly, and gloomy\nclouds darkened the sky; sixty drums were beating at the heads of the\nhorses, and an army of troops, with all the most formidable enginery\nof war, preceded, surrounded, and followed his carriage. They reached\nthe _Place de la R\u00e9volution_ at twenty minutes past ten o'clock. An\nimmense crowd filled the place, above which towered the guillotine.\nWith a firm tread he ascended the steps of the scaffold, looked for a\nmoment on the keen and polished edge of the axe, and then, turning to\nthe vast throng, said, in a voice clear and untremulous, \"People, I\ndie innocent of all the crimes imputed to me. I pardon the authors of\nmy death, and pray to God that the blood you are about to shed may not\nfall again on France.\" The drums were ordered to beat, and Louis XVI.\nwas no more.\n_Directions for forming the Tableau._--This interesting picture\ncontains seven figures: Louis XVI., his wife the queen, Madame\nElizabeth, the king's son and daughter, and two _gens d'armes_. The\nstage scenery must be placed in the following order: The background of\nthe stage should represent the granite walls of a prison, with grated\nwindows, massive doors, to which are attached bolts, bars, and heavy\nlocks. This scenery can be made in sections of about four by eight\nfeet in size. One section should represent the door of the cell; on it\npaint the bolts, bars, and locks. At the right of the stage is placed\na table of ancient style; on which is a crucifix, two feet in height,\na large Bible, and an old-fashioned candlestick, containing a lighted\ncandle. A chair of ancient manufacture should be placed near the\ntable. Louis XVI. is seated in it, and is costumed in a velvet coat\nand breeches, white silk hose, low shoes, buff vest, white cravat,\nruffled bosom, white wig, knee and shoe buckles. The queen is costumed\nin a moire antique dress, of a showy color, hair hanging loosely over\nthe shoulder. Madame Elizabeth has on a silk robe, differing in color\nfrom the queen's; her hair is loosely fastened behind. The daughter\nhas on a long white dress, with velvet waist. The dauphin is dressed\nin velvet jacket, blue breeches, white hose, knee and shoe buckles,\nlow slippers, lace collar, ruffled bosom and wristbands, and a pink\nscarf is fastened about his waist. The _gens d'armes_ have blue coats\ntrimmed with buff, buff vest, crimson breeches, white hose, long wigs,\nlow shoes, knee and shoe buckles, and chapeaux. Each must be furnished\nwith a musket, sword, and belt, and one should hold a bunch of large\nkeys. Louis XVI. encircles his daughter's waist with his right hand;\nhis left is clasped by his son. He sits facing the audience; his head\nis partially turned towards the crucifix, the eyes cast down, and a\nmelancholy look upon the countenance. The queen stands behind the\nking, between the chair and table; her left hand is placed upon her\nwaist, her right raised to her forehead; her head is thrown back, the\neyes partially closed, and cast upwards, while intense anguish is\nexpressed upon her countenance. Madame Elizabeth is kneeling at the\nleft of the king, her hands clasped and raised upwards, head thrown\nback, and eyes partially closed. The daughter is seated on the right\nknee of the king; her right hand is placed across her breast, the left\nhangs carelessly at her side; her head reclines on the shoulder of her\nfather. The dauphin is kneeling between the king and Madame Elizabeth,\nand grasping the hand of the king; his eyes are fixed on the face of\nhis father, while the countenance expresses grief and sadness. The\n_gens d'armes_ stand just inside the door, resting on their guns;\ntheir eyes are fixed upon the group in the foreground. The light for\nthis tableau must come from the side of the stage opposite the group,\nand should be of medium brightness; the background may be thrown in\nthe shade. Music of a mournful character.\nDRESSING THE BRIDE.\n So, after bath, the slave girls brought\n The precious raiment for her wear,\n The misty izar from Mosul,\n The pearls and opals for her hair,\n The slippers for her little feet,\n (Two radiant crescent moons they were,)\n And lavender, and spikenard sweet,\n And attars, nedd, and heavy musk.\n When they had finished dressing her,\n (The Eye of Morn, the Heart's Desire,)\n Like one pale star against the dusk,\n A single diamond on her brow\n Trembled with its imprisoned fire!\n T.B. ALDRICH.\nThree Female Figures.\nThis tableau is taken from the beautiful poem, \"The Course of True\nLove never did run smooth,\" by Thomas Bailey Aldrich, who describes in\nhis artistic style the bridal toilet of the princess preparatory to\nher being wedded to the Vizier Giaffer. The scene represented is the\nprincess's chamber in the gorgeous palace of Haroun Al Raschid. The\nprincess is seated in the centre of the room on a crimson divan; at\nher side kneels one of her attendants, who is engaged in arranging a\nbracelet on her arm. Standing on the opposite side is another\nattendant, who is entwining a string of pearls in the princess's hair.\nThe costume of the princess consists of a pink satin dress, reaching\nwithin ten inches of the feet, and should be bound around the bottom\nwith silver paper covered with wide white lace. Over this dress must\nbe worn a frock of purple velvet extending to the knee, with flowing\nsleeves reaching to the elbow; the front of the waist left open,\ndisplaying a lace under robe, crossed with ribbons covered with silver\npaper and gold spangles. The frock decorated with small crescents of\ngold paper, ornamented with silver spangles. Trim the bottom of the\nfrock and sleeves with gold paper three inches in width, and cover\nwith colored lace. The waist should be encircled with a wide,\nlight-green sash, studded with spangles, fringed at the end with gold\npaper, and tied in front, allowing the ends to hang down to the bottom\nof the frock. A necklace can be made to look rich and showy by\nattaching brilliant paste pins of various sizes to a black velvet\nband; the centre pin being quite large, those at the sides decreasing\nin size as they recede from the centre; the arms and hands profusely\nornamented with jewelry; the hair arranged in long braids, and allowed\nto fall over the shoulders. A large diamond or a brilliant stone\nshould be attached to a black velvet band, and placed on the brow.\nTurkish trousers, made of white and blue stripes, two inches wide, of\nflowing shape, fastened around the ankle with a gilt band. The shoes\ncan be made of card-board or leather; they should turn up at the toe\nthree inches; cover them with red cloth, and ornament with gold and\nsilver paper and spangles. The costume of the attendants should be of\na similar style, but differing in colors, and without decorations. The\nlady who personates the princess must be small, and of good form,\nfine, regular features, and quite pretty. Her position is facing the\naudience, head turned slightly to the left, eyes upturned to her\nattendant, who is standing at her side, holding in her left hand a\nfan; the expression of the face pleasant. The attendant who is\nkneeling, shows a side view of the body, while the one standing, faces\nthe audience, with the body bent slightly forward, her attention\ndirected to the string of pearls which she is arranging in the hair of\nthe princess. The floor of the stage should be covered with a rich\nBrussels carpet, and the walls draped with showy damask curtains. The\nroom may be furnished with small ottomans, two small marble top\ntables, one of which should be placed near the group of ladies, and\ncontain stands of cologne, perfumes, mirrors, combs, brushes,\npin-cushions, and cases of jewelry. On the other table, which is to be\nplaced in the background, is a large, showy lamp, with colored globe,\nsurrounded by ornamental articles; showy pictures adapted to the\nsubject, in rich gilt frames, adorn the walls; cages containing\nsinging birds should be suspended from the ceilings; large globes,\ncontaining gold fish, rest on the carpet, near the foreground; richly\nornamented vases, of various sizes, containing magnificent bouquets,\ncan be arranged in various parts of the room, while the inner corners\nare filled up with marble or plaster pedestals, supporting pieces of\nstatuary; the divan on which the princess is seated must be double the\nsize of those scattered about the room, and covered with striped pink\nand blue cloth. The scene should be illuminated by a purple fire\nburned at the right hand side of the stage. A lively serenade would be\nappropriate music.\nHOPE, FAITH, CHARITY, AND LOVE.\n HOPE.\n Hope looks beyond the bounds of time,\n When what we now deplore\n Shall rise in full immortal prime,\n And bloom to fade no more.\n FAITH.\n 'Tis faith that purifies the heart,\n 'Tis faith that works by love,\n That bids all sinful joys depart,\n And lifts the thoughts above.\n CHARITY.\n O charity, thou heavenly grace,\n All tender, soft, and kind!\n A friend to all the human race,\n To all that's good inclined.\n LOVE.\n Love suffers long with patient eye,\n Nor is provoked in haste;\n She lets the present injury die,\n And long forgets the past.\nFour Female Figures.\nThe above characters are represented as statues. Four females of the\nsame height, of graceful form and fine features, are required to form\nthe group. They should all be costumed in long white robes, that will\ntrail eight inches, the waist cut quite low at the top, the sleeves\nfive inches long; a wide scarf of tarleton muslin draped across the\nbreast, tied at the side, and allowed to trail with the dress; hair\nconfined at the back of the head, and left to fall over the\nshoulders; the head encircled with a wreath of myrtle and white\nflowers. If any ornaments are worn, they should be pure white. Hoop or\nany other large skirts must not be worn, as it is necessary to produce\na slender figure for a statue design. The positions of the four ladies\nare in the following order: Hope stands at the right hand side of the\nstage, one foot from the drop curtain; Love at the left hand side, the\nsame distance from the curtain; Faith and Charity at equal distances\nfrom Love and Hope, and three feet from the drop curtain. Placed in\nthis manner, they will form a half oval. The stage furniture consists\nof four small pedestals, twenty-four inches square, with a cap and\nbase extending out two inches, covered with white cloth, and\nornamented in front with a small wreath of myrtle. Faith takes her\nposition on the top of one of the pedestals. Her emblem is the cross,\nwhich she holds in her right hand; the left is raised and points\nupward; the eyes are raised upward, the countenance expresses\nmeekness. Hope is poised on a pedestal, and holds an anchor, the foot\nof which rests on the top of the pedestal; the right hand is placed on\nthe anchor, the left is on the breast; the eyes are raised slightly,\ncountenance expressing serenity and hope. Charity comes next. In her\nright hand she holds a silver dish, which is filled with crumbs of\nwhite bread. Two robins stand on the side of the dish, eating the\ncrumbs. The left hand rests on the side of the body; the eyes are\ndirected to the birds; the face beams with smiles. Love is standing on\none of the pedestals, holding in her right hand a torch, which is\nraised above her head, while the left gracefully holds the side of her\ndress. The head should be turned slightly aside, the eyes looking\nstraight forward; countenance diffused with smiles. A gauze curtain\nmay be suspended before the statues, covering the entire space inside\nof the frame. The light for this scene should be of medium brilliancy,\nand come from the front of the stage. The cross and anchor may be\npainted black, the torch painted blue, and tipped with gold; the flame\ncarved in wood, and gilded. Stuffed birds can be fastened with wire\nsprings, and attached to the silver dish. Music soft and plaintive.\nTHE DEATH OF GENERAL WARREN.\n Thou rising sun, thou blue rejoicing sky,\n Yea, every thing that is and will be free,\n Bear witness for me, wheresoe'er ye be,\n With what deep worship I have still adored\n The spirit of divinest Liberty.\n COLERIDGE.\nTwenty-five Male Figures.\nThis magnificent tableau represents the scene so well known in the\nearly history of our country, and contains twenty-five figures,\nthirteen of which should be dressed in crimson uniform, to personate\nthe British soldiers, six in continental costume, three in coarse\nhomespun suits, three in sailor's costume. The stage must be formed to\nrepresent a hill, which can be done by using boxes and boards, and\ncovering them with green cloth. The hill should rise from the\nfootlights to within four feet of the ceiling in the background. The\nfirst and principal figure is General Warren. He is lying on the\nground, a few feet from the foot of the hill, supported by one of his\nofficers, who holds his head with his right hand, while with the left\nhe grasps the musket of a British soldier, which is pointed at the\nbreast of Warren. Warren's position is, facing the audience, eyes\nclosed, arms hanging carelessly at his side; costume, continental;\nside arms, sash, sword, and chapeau lying in front of the body. The\nfigure who supports Warren is dressed in blue breeches, white hose,\nwhite shirt, and black belt. Position, kneeling back of Warren, his\neyes fixed on the soldier who stands a few paces back of Warren's\nfeet. This soldier leans forward slightly, and grasps a musket, in\nwhich is a bayonet, which he is about to plunge into Warren's body.\nHis eyes are fixed on the prostrate form before him, while the\ncountenance expresses excitement and rage. Costume consists of a red\ncoat, white breeches and hose, low shoes, knee and shoe buckles, white\nbreast belts, black waist belt, and black military hat, with plume. By\nthe side of the soldier, near the front of the stage, stands an\nofficer, who is leading on the British. He holds a sword on his right\nshoulder, while the left grasps the butt of the musket of the soldier\npreviously described. His body is bent forward, feet separated thirty\ninches, eyes fixed on Warren, countenance expressing energy and\ndecision. Costume consists of a crimson coat, decorated with gold\nepaulets and lace, white silk hose, buff breeches, low shoes, knee and\nshoe buckles, red sash, side arms, and chapeau. Directly behind the\nfigure who supports Warren stands an American soldier, with a musket\nheld in front of his body, which he points towards the British\nsoldier, who is about to pierce the body of Warren. His body is\nslightly bent backward, eyes fixed on the soldier, countenance\nexpressing fear. The remaining figures should be placed in the space\nfrom the top of the hill down to the group we have described; a few\nshould be fencing; some using their muskets as clubs; others firing at\nthe enemy in the distance; while a few are stretched out in death on\nthe ground. They must be placed in as great a variety of positions as\npossible, and in such a manner that one figure will not obscure the\nother. The countenances of all should appear excited. The booming of\ncannon and roll of the drum can be produced behind the scenes. The\npicture should be illuminated by a brilliant red fire burned at the\nside of the stage.\nPORTRAIT OF PRINCE ALBERT.\nOne Male Figure.\nThis tableau is produced in the same manner as the Madonna. The\ngentleman who personates Prince Albert should, in general outline of\nfeatures and form, resemble the original as much as possible. The\ncostume consists of a crimson coat richly trimmed with gold lace, and\nheavy decorations in silver on the left breast, gold epaulets, a\nrichly ornamented sword and belt, buff vest trimmed with gold lace,\nbuff breeches, top boots trimmed at the top with gold binding, a red\nsash, and black chapeau. The position must be so that a partial front\nview can be had of the body; eyes directed straight forward. The light\nshould be of medium quantity, and come from the front of the stage.\nMusic of a national order.\nTHE RETURN OF THE PRODIGAL SON.\n O! thou hast wander'd long\n From thy home without a guide;\n And thy native woodland song,\n In thine altered heart hath died.\n Thou hast flung the wealth away,\n And the glory of thy Spring;\n And to thee the leaves' light play\n Is a long-forgotten thing.\n Still at thy father's board\n There is kept a place for thee;\n And, by thy smile restored,\n Joy round the hearth shall be.\n MRS. HEMANS.\nFour Male Figures.\nThis scene, so familiar in Scripture history, represents the father\nstanding on the step of his mansion, about to embrace his son, who\nstands near. The background of the picture should represent the\nportico of a house, and can be made in the following manner: Procure\nat a paper store four fresco pilasters, with caps and bases, and a\nwide cornice to match; also a roll of granite paper; paste the cornice\nand pilasters on cloth; fasten the cornice across the ceiling of the\nstage, five feet from the background, and suspend the pilasters from\nthe lower edge, placing them at equal distances from each other; form\nthe steps out of boxes and boards, and cover them with the granite\npaper. At each side of the steps place a large vase of flowers. Behind\nthe pilasters, at the end of the upper step, are seen two servants.\nThey are stooping down and looking at the group in the foreground.\nTheir costume can be easily made up. Frock coats, trimmed on the\nbottom of the skirts, cuffs, and front with colored cloth, five inches\nwide; white pants, black hose, crossed with red binding; low shoes;\nknee and shoe buckles; low-crowned, black Kossuth hat, encircled with\na band of gold, and ornamented in front with a large paste pin and\nshowy plume. The gentleman who represents the father must be of good\nheight and large figure. His costume consists of a purple velvet coat\nand breeches, white hose, crossed with black ribbons, low shoes, knee\nand shoe buckles; over the shoulders is thrown a long cloak, trimmed\nwith ermine; hair and beard quite long, which can be imitated with\nflax, glued to cloth made to fit the head and face. If dresses cannot\nbe procured at a costumer's, cheap material can be made up for the\noccasion, and will look quite pretty. A blue circular cloak, or a\nlady's velvet cape, trimmed with white cotton flannel, two inches\nwide, with small pieces of black-shag fastened on at intervals of five\ninches, will look well, and will resemble ermine. The breeches can be\nmade of purple cambric, trimmed with gold paper. A blue dress coat,\ntrimmed with gold paper, and covered with white lace, will answer for\nan under-coat. The father's position is, standing on the second step\nof the portico, with both hands extended, body bending forward\nslightly, eyes fixed on the son, countenance expressing joy and\nhappiness. The son stands at the foot of the steps, leaning on a stout\nbranch of a tree, which he has been using for a cane on his journey.\nHe displays a side view of the body, and is costumed in a coarse brown\nfrock, open in the neck, displaying his neck and bosom, and tied\naround the waist with a piece of rope; large rents should be made in\nthe sleeves, showing the flesh within; knee breeches of coarse\nmaterial, torn at the side; brown hose; and shoes, which are almost\nworn out, and are tied to the foot with strings; hair hanging over the\nforehead; skin colored light brown; his eyes cast down to the ground,\nand countenance melancholy. The light must be quite brilliant, and\ncome from the side opposite to the servants. Music animating.\nSINGLE BLESSEDNESS.\n Close by his lonely hearth he sate,\n While shadows of a welcome dream\n Passed o'er his heart; disconsolate\n Comfort in vain was spread around,\n For something still was wanting found.\n ANON.\nOne Male Figure.\nThis tableau is a representation of a young bachelor seated alone in\nhis chamber. He has around him all the luxuries that wealth will\npurchase, and is reclining on a low sofa, quietly smoking his\nmeerschaum. Rich furniture, soft carpets, fine pictures, and gorgeous\ncurtains decorate the apartment. Books, statuary, boxing gloves,\nfencing swords, fowling pieces, pipes of various patterns, and a\ncountless multitude of other articles, are scattered about the room.\nOn the marble table at his side is a bunch of cigars, a paper of Ma'am\nMiller's fine-cut tobacco, a decanter of wine, and a pair of goblets,\none of which is partially filled with wine. He holds in his left hand\nhis meerschaum; his right hangs carelessly at his side, and grasps a\nnovelette. The gentleman who personates the bachelor must be of good\nfigure and features, and is costumed in the following manner: A rich\ndressing-gown should be worn, which is thrown back from the breast,\nshowing a vest of bright colors, to which is attached a heavy gold\nchain and seals; light fancy pants, embroidered slippers, white hose,\nblue cravat, smoking cap, ruffled bosom and wristbands. Countenance\nsober, eyes raised to one of the engravings on the wall. Light of\nmedium brightness, which may come from either side of the stage. Music\nof operatic style.\nMARRIAGE BLISS.\n It is most genial to a soul refined,\n When love can smile unblushing, unconcealed,\n When mutual thoughts, and words, and acts are kind,\n And inmost hopes and feelings are revealed,\n When interest, duty, trust, together bind,\n And the heart's deep affections are unsealed,\n When for each other live the kindred pair,--\n Here is indeed a picture passing fair!\n TUPPER.\nOne Male and Two Female Figures.\nThis tableau represents a home scene. A wife and husband, and a young\nchild, are seated at a table in a snug little parlor. A solar lamp is\nburning on the table, by the light of which the wife is engaged in\nfinishing a piece of embroidery. The husband is reclining in a\nspacious easy chair, busily occupied in perusing the evening paper.\nThe little girl is at play with her tea sets and paper dolls. The wife\nis costumed in a blue silk dress, cut low at the top, a white apron,\ntrimmed with pink ribbon, and hair arranged to suit the performer's\ntaste. She should be quite pretty, and of small figure. She is seated\nat the right of the table, facing the audience, body bent forward, and\neyes fixed on her work, the countenance expressing earnestness. The\nhusband is costumed in light pants and vest, dressing gown and\nslippers. He is seated at the left of the table, showing a partial\nfront view of the body; his feet rest on a small ottoman; paper held\nin such a position that it will not hide his body; eyes fixed on the\npaper, countenance placid. The child is costumed in white dress,\ntrimmed with blue ribbon, and is seated at the back of the table,\nholding in her hands a paper doll, which she extends towards her\nmother, for her to look at. Her eyes are directed to her mother, her\ncountenance beaming with smiles. The table should be covered with a\ncrimson cloth. The furniture of the room of good quality, the floor\ncarpeted, walls hung with curtains and pictures. Light of medium\nquantity, which may come from either side of the stage. Music soft and\nplaintive.\nTHE SLEEPING MAIDEN.\n Witness this primrose bank whereon I lie;\n These forceless flowers like sturdy trees support me,\n Two strengthless doves will draw me through the sky,\n From morn to night, even where I list, to sport me.\n SHAKSPEARE.\nOne Female Figure.\nThis exquisite tableau represents a magnificent garden, filled with\nbeautiful flowers, trellised vines, vases, statuary, and sparkling\nfountains. On a grassy mound, in the centre of this lovely scene,\nreclines a beautiful maiden, wrapped in profound sleep. The right hand\nsupports her head, the elbow resting on the grass; the left is thrown\ncarelessly over the top of the head; the expression of the face calm\nand dreamy. Her costume consists of a long white dress, cut low at\nthe top, open in front, displaying a pink under-skirt of silk. The\nedges of the dress on each side of the under-skirt should be trimmed\nwith gold paper, covered with white lace. A belt of the same encircles\nthe waist. The waist must be open in front, exposing a white lace\nunder-robe, which is crossed with golden cords. Short sleeves, open\nbelow, and closed by little cords of gold, terminated by tassels of\nthe same material, which fall down upon the arms. The hair arranged in\nheavy braids, done up low in the neck, and ornamented with a head\ndress, formed of silver gauze, adorned with slight bands of gold\nthread falling on the shoulder. Position is, facing the audience, the\nbody extended on a line with the front and back corners of the stage.\nThe floor of the stage must be formed to represent a number of\nterraced banks. There should be five, each being one foot in height. A\nfew boxes and stout boards will be needed to form the banks, over\nwhich place green bocking. If a piece of scenery cannot be procured\nfor the background, it can be covered with light-green cambric, and\nfestooned with dark evergreens and bright flowers. At each of the\ninner corners of the stage place a white pedestal, two feet in height.\nA box of the above dimensions, covered with white cloth, will answer.\nOn these place pieces of large statuary, and between the two place a\nlarge vase of flowers, and intersperse smaller vases, containing\nbouquets. Ornament the second terrace with pots of house plants, and\nat each end place a showy cage of birds. Decorate the third terrace\nwith rich vases of artificial flowers, with a statue of the fisher boy\nat each end. In the centre of this terrace, the mound on which the\nmaiden reclines is placed. It should be five feet in diameter, and one\nfoot high. Cover the surface with light-green cambric, and decorate\nthe outer edge with large sea shells. On the fourth terrace arrange\nsmall pots of house plants that are in bloom, and at each end place\nlarge vases of fruit. On the fifth and last terrace place a row of\ndeep glass dishes, filled with flowers, with a plaster figure of Flora\nat the ends. Festoon the sides of the scenery and the ceiling with\nspruce and flowers. The scenery in the background, if it can be easily\npainted, should represent figures similar to those on the stage,\ninterspersed with fountains. If there is sufficient room for the\naccommodation and preservation of large mirrors, they can be used to\nadvantage by placing them at the background of the stage, which will\ngive a fine effect to the scene. This tableau must be lighted from the\nleft side of the stage; the light being very brilliant, both at the\ntop and bottom. A green fire burned just as the curtain falls, will\nadd much to the beauty of the picture. Music accompanying the piece,\nsoft, and of a lively order.\nNIGHT AND DAY.\n Her ever-during gates--harmonious sound--\n On golden hinges morning to let forth,\n The king of glory, in his powerful word\n And spirit, coming to create new worlds.\n God saw the light was good,\n And light from darkness, by the hemisphere,\n Divided; light the day, and darkness night\n He named. Thus was the first day, even and morn.\n MILTON.\nTwo Female Figures.\nThis simple tableau is represented by two females: one personates Day,\nand is costumed in a long white robe. The other represents Night, and\nis dressed in black. Two arches should be made in the centre of the\nstage, one covered with black cloth, the other with white. They must\nbe five feet in height, three feet in width, and three feet deep; the\nback, sides, and top covered with cloth. They are to be placed on a\nplatform one foot high and six feet square. The lady who personates\nNight should be of good figure and features, black hair, and dark\ncomplexion. She kneels under the arch covered with black cloth, and\nfaces the audience; the right knee touches the platform, hands placed\ntogether and raised front of the breast, head slightly inclined back,\neyes raised upward, the countenance in repose. Her costume consists of\na black silk dress, low neck, and trimmed with wide black lace and\nbugles; a scarf of black crape, sprinkled with small silver stars, is\ndraped across the breast, a black cross suspended from the neck by a\nvelvet ribbon; black bracelets ornament the arms; and a wreath of\nblack bugles and beads encircles the head, on the front of which is\nplaced a small silver moon. The hair is arranged in wide, heavy bands,\nat the side and back of the head. The lady who personates Day should\nbe of good figure and features, clear light complexion, and light\nhair. Her position is, kneeling under the white arch, hands crossed on\nher breast, eyes slightly cast upward, and a smile on the countenance.\nCostume consists of a pure white dress, cut low at the neck, short\nsleeves; waist and bottom of sleeves trimmed with wide lace and silver\nspangles; a scarf of white tarleton muslin draped across the breast;\nthe waist encircled with a satin sash, and the head crowned with a\nwreath of pearls, in the front of which place a small gold sun. The\nhair can be arranged in ringlets, or brushed back from the forehead,\nand confined in a silk net. The light for this piece must come from\nthe front of the stage, and should be of medium brilliancy. Music soft\nand plaintive.\nTHE FIREMEN IN REPOSE.\nTen Male Figures.\nThis tableau is a representation of the interior of a firemen's hall.\nThe walls are hung with engravings in rich frames, most of them\nreferring to the fireman's life. The name of the company, in large\ngilt letters, is placed at the end of the stage. Settees are arranged\naround the sides; a mahogany table is in the centre, on which is\nplaced a large solar lamp. Seated at the table are half a dozen\nfiremen, dressed in their uniform; these are engaged in reading the\nnews of the day; others are reclining and sitting on the settees,\nengaged in conversation and smoking. The light for the piece should be\nof medium brightness, and come from either side of the stage. Music of\na secular character.\nTHE ALARM.\n \"Prompt when duty calls.\"\nTwelve Male Figures.\nThis tableau is a representation of an alarm of fire, which has\naroused the firemen from their repose. The scene represents a view of\nthe front of the engine house. The door is thrown open, and the\nenginemen are about to draw out their machine. The piece contains\ntwelve figures, ten of which have hold of the engine rope. They are in\nthe position of persons running, and are led on by their captain, who\nis giving out an order through his trumpet. His position is, facing\nthe men at the ropes; one hand is pointed towards the fire, the light\nof which is seen in the distance. Near the door of the engine house\nstands the lantern bearer with his lantern, which is attached to a\nlong pole, and is carried on the right shoulder. The front of the\nengine house can be formed of wood, covered with cloth, and painted in\nshowy colors. This frame is to be placed at the right hand corner of\nthe background; the name and number of the machine painted over the\ndoor. The front wheels and rope will be sufficient to represent the\nengine. The remaining part is presumed to be within the house. By\nplacing the front of the house in the corner, more room will be had\nfor the line of firemen. All should appear animated, while a few are\npointing to the light in the distance. The alarm bells must be sounded\nwhile the curtain is raised, and a red fire burned at the left side of\nthe stage, so as to throw a very little light on the extreme edge of\nthe background, which should extend farther in on the scene while the\ntableau is exhibited.\nAT THE FIRE.\n \"Fire was raging, above and below.\"\nOne Female and Thirteen Male Figures.\nThis tableau is a representation of a dwelling house on fire, with the\nheroic firemen engaged in their various duties in their attempts to\nextinguish the flames. A front view of the building is exhibited, from\nwhich smoke and flames are seen issuing. At the window of the second\nstory, a fireman stands, with an infant in his arms. A ladder is\nplaced against the outside of the window, and a fireman is ascending\nit. The engineer stands on the steps of the mansion, giving his\norders. A fireman is breaking in one of the lower windows with an axe.\nAt the left of the tableau is seen part of the engine. Space will not\nallow the showing of more than one third of the machine; but by\nmanufacturing a temporary frame, on which the front wheels, brakes,\nbell, and buckets can be attached, and placing it at the edge of the\nstage, with the firemen at the brakes, the effect will be quite\nsufficient. The men on the front brakes should be in a stooping\nposition, those behind standing erect. Two pipe-men are seen in the\nforeground, with pipes, which they point to the burning building;\nothers are passing out articles of furniture from the windows. The men\nmust be costumed in showy fire suits. Alarm bells should be sounded\nbehind the scenes, and a representation of fire made by burning a red\nfire at the side of the stage, behind the scenery of the burning\nhouse. This scenery can be formed of light slats of wood, covered with\ncloth, and painted in imitation of a brick house, with mouldings,\nwindow frames, and doors. It must extend across the stage, and rise\nfrom the floor to the ceiling. The windows should be filled with\nsashes containing genuine glass, while smoke and flames can be painted\non various parts of the building; and, if desirable, a small quantity\nof wet gunpowder, touched off at the proper moment, will add to the\neffect.\nETHAN ALLEN AT TICONDEROGA.\n Nor com'st thou but by Heaven, nor com'st alone.\n Some god impels with courage not thy own.\n No human hand the weighty gates unbarred,\n Nor could the boldest of our youth have dared\n To pass our outworks, or elude the guard.\n POPE'S HOMER.\nOne Female and Eleven Male Figures.\nThis historical tableau represents Ethan Allen at the entrance of Fort\nTiconderoga, ordering De la Place, the commandant of the fort, to\nimmediately surrender, in the name of the great Jehovah and the\nContinental Congress. Around the door are gathered the soldiers of\nAllen. De la Place and his wife stand upon the doorstep, partially\ndressed, and, with looks of astonishment, inquire by what authority he\ndemands the surrender of the fort. The number of figures in this\npicture is twelve. Ten of them represent American soldiers, and are\ndressed in the continental uniform, which consists of a blue coat,\nfaced with buff, and ornamented with large brass buttons, buff vest\nand breeches, white hose, low shoes, knee and shoe buckles, and black\nchapeau, and each furnished with military equipments. Allen's costume\nshould be of finer material, with an addition of sash, epaulets,\nplume, and side arms. De la Place has on red breeches, with a gilt\nstripe, white silk hose, knee buckles, slippers, and wig, a red coat\nupon his arm, and a sword in his right hand, the handle of which is\nextended towards Allen. His wife is costumed in a white dress, a white\ncap on her head, and hair hanging loosely over her shoulders. The\nscenery of the piece consists of a frame covered with cloth, extending\nacross the stage, and rising from the floor to the ceiling, with a\ndoor in the centre, and windows painted on either side, and placed\nacross the stage in the background. Mrs. De la Place's position is on\nthe door sill, her body inclined slightly forward, her left hand\nholding a candlestick, in which is a lighted candle, her right hand\nraised in front of her breast, eyes fixed on the face of Allen, while\nthe countenance expresses surprise and fear. The commandant stands on\nthe doorstep at the left of his wife, his left hand stretched out\nbefore him, the right holding his sword; his eyes are fixed on those\nof Allen, while his countenance expresses surprise and indignation.\nAllen stands in front of him a little at the left, grasping his sword\nin the right hand, which he raises over the head of the commandant,\nwhilst his left points to his soldiers; his countenance expresses\nsternness and authority. The soldiers are standing on each side of the\ndoor leaning carelessly upon their muskets. The accompanying music\nshould be that of the drum and fife. The light must be of medium\nbrilliancy, and come from the right of the stage.\nTHE GYPSY FORTUNE TELLER.\n Seek not to know the future; be happy while you may,\n Nor cloud with dark foreknowledge the sunshine of to-day.\n I see that you are hopeful, I read it in your eyes,\n And I can learn no more from the stars that gem the skies.\n Trust not the outward seeming of all who speak you fair;\n What has been, maiden, may be--be watchful and beware.\n I will not cheat you, maiden; my gypsy skill you seek;\n This only of the future the gypsy girl can speak:\n When flippant worldlings flatter, let then your doubts begin;\n Take, maiden, for your counsel the \"still small voice within.\"\n If weak the heart of woman, her stronghold too is there;\n Guard then the fortress, conscience! be watchful and beware.\n CHARLES JEFFERY.\nTwo Female Figures.\nThis tableau is a representation of a gypsy fortune teller, in a rude\ntent, in front of which is burning a small fire. She is seated on the\nground, and holds a pack of cards in her right hand; her left is\npointed upward. Her head is turned towards a young and beautiful girl,\nwho is stooping at her side, gazing with earnestness on the cards. The\ntent should be five feet high, four feet wide at the bottom, and\nterminating in a point at the top. It can be made of light strips of\nwood, covered over with cloth. An open space in front, two feet wide,\nwill answer for the door. The fire can be placed in an iron furnace,\naround which arrange stones or brushwood. Ignite the fire just as the\ncurtain rises. Fill up the background of the stage with scenery\nrepresenting a forest, or place a few spruce trees behind the tent.\nThe gypsy's costume consists of a bright crimson dress, velvet waist,\nlaced across with pink ribbon in front, displaying a white robe\nbeneath; rows of gilt buttons on each side of the opening and around\nthe bottom of the sleeves. The hair, which should be long and black,\nis allowed to hang carelessly over the shoulders; the face and other\nexposed parts of the body stained a light brown. The young lady must\nbe of small figure, good form and features, and attired in a white\ndress, cut low at the top, a red sash around the waist, and a small\nstraw hat placed jantily on the side of the head. The scene should be\nilluminated by a red fire, burned in small quantities at the side of\nthe stage, and made to reflect on the group. Music soft.\nPEACE.\n Beautiful vision, how bright it rose!\n Vision of peaceful and calm repose!\n Well might it brighten the rapt seer's eye,\n And waken his heart to an ecstasy;\n 'Twas earth, glad earth, when her strife was o'er,\n Her conflict ended, and war no more.\n ANON.\nEight Male and Twelve Female Figures.\nThis tableau is an allegorical representation of Peace. The number of\nfigures necessary to form it is twenty. They are formed in six\nseparate groups. The centre and principal group is a party of young\nladies and gentlemen engaged in the merry dance. They are costumed in\ntheir holiday suits, and are formed in a circle around a May-pole. On\na green bank in the background is seated a young lady playing the\nguitar, and a young gentleman playing the violin. This group is at the\nright. At the left is a young and beautiful girl, who represents the\nQueen of May; by her side stands a second female, about to place a\ncrown of flowers upon her head. Between these two groups, and elevated\na foot above them, stands the Goddess of Peace. She holds in her right\nhand a sheaf of wheat, and in her left an olive branch. At the corners\nof the foreground are two groups, the one at the left representing a\nmother surrounded by three children; she holds a large Bible, which\nthe children are reading. The group at the right represents a\nblacksmith standing at the side of an anvil,--a large hammer in his\nright hand,--engaged in conversation with a farmer, who holds a rake.\nThe costume of the village girls should be white dresses, decorated\nwith flowers, and garlands on their heads. The gentlemen should be\ndressed in light pants, white vests, and dark coats. The Goddess of\nPeace has on a long white dress, bound around the waist with a green\nribbon; a wreath of dried grasses and wheat encircles the head. She\nmust stand perfectly straight, and look directly forward, with a\npleasant expression of countenance. The gentleman who plays on the\nviolin is costumed in a dark coat, red breeches, white hose, low\nshoes, knee and shoe buckles, buff vest, a plaid scarf, draped across\nthe shoulders, and tied at the right side, and a small Scotch cap,\nwith a white plume, placed jantily on the head. The costume of the\nlady at his side consists of a red skirt, over which is worn a white\nskirt that is looped up at the side, and ornamented with small bunches\nof evergreen and spruce; a velvet waist, open in front, and laced\nacross with pink ribbons; short sleeves; hair hung in ringlets, and\nornamented with ribbons; the countenances of both expressing pleasure.\nThe May Queen's costume consists of a white robe, trimmed with\ngarlands of flowers. Her attendant is also dressed in white, with a\nscarf of plaid draped across the breast. The queen is kneeling on a\nlow cushion, holding a small bouquet, the head turned slightly to the\nright, eyes raised to the ceiling. The lady in the foreground has on a\nblue silk dress, a white apron, trimmed with green ribbon, and hair\narranged to suit the performer's taste. The children's costumes may be\nof various styles, bright colors predominating. The lady should sit\nquite low, and hold the Bible with her right hand; the left pointed to\nthe pages. The children and mother sit facing the audience, and all\nlook pleasant and happy. The blacksmith's costume consists of dark\npants, blue woollen shirt, sleeves rolled up to the elbow, a\nlow-crowned hat on the head, and leather apron tied around the waist.\nHe stands facing the audience, and is engaged in conversation with the\nfarmer, who is dressed in a long blue frock, buff pants, straw hat,\nand heavy boots; the right hand holds a rake, the left is placed on\nthe side of the body. The four groups at the corners should be as\ncompact as possible, giving the greater portion of the room to the\ndancers in the centre. The bank in the background must be three feet\nin height, and covered with green bocking, and also the floor of the\nstage. Make the May-pole as high as the space will admit, and cover it\nwith green cambric, decorated with garlands of flowers. The light\nshould be quite brilliant, and come from the right side of the stage.\nMusic inspiring.\nWAR.\n Brought Death into the world; and man himself\n Gave keenness to his darts, quickened his pace,\n And multiplied destruction on mankind.\n First Envy, eldest born of Hell, imbrued\n Her hands in blood, and taught the sons of men\n To make a death which nature never made,\n And God abhorred; with violence rude to break\n The thread of life, ere half its length was run,\n And rob a wretched brother of his being.\n PORTEUS.\nTwenty Male and Six Female Figures.\nThis tableau is a vivid representation of some of the effects of war.\nThe foreground of the picture represents a battle field after the\ncombat has ended.\n \"'Twas the battle field; and the cold, pale moon\n Looked down on the dead and dying;\n And the wind passed o'er, with a dirge and a wail,\n Where the young and the brave were lying.\"\nThe ground is strewn with the dead and wounded soldiers, broken\ncannon, muskets, flags, swords, and portions of torn and tattered\nuniforms. In the background, there is a representation of a\nbreastwork of stone; on the extreme right are two females weeping; at\nthe extreme left is a mother and two children. The mother lies across\nthe breastwork, dead. The children stand by her side, looking with\nwonder into her face. Standing on the centre of the breastwork is the\nGoddess of War. In one hand she holds a torch, which is raised above\nher head; the left grasps a standard and sword. The number of figures\nin the piece is twenty-six. Twenty young gentlemen must be costumed in\nvarious styles of military suits, while many should have wounds\npainted on various parts of the body. The costume of the Goddess of\nWar consists of a crimson dress, black velvet waist, trimmed with\ngold, hair hanging loosely over the shoulders, and a red French\nmilitary hat on the head. The two ladies at the right are costumed in\nmourning. The mother should be attired in a white dress; the children\nin bright-colored costumes, with hair hanging in ringlets. The stage\nmust be formed like an inclined plane, beginning at the footlights,\nand rising towards the background, and covered with green bocking. The\nsoldiers should be grouped about the ground in various positions, and\nthe cannon and guns scattered about in a promiscuous manner. The two\nladies in mourning sit on the top of the breastwork, side by side,\ntheir heads bowed down, and hands covering their faces. The mother is\nseated at the other end of the breastwork, head thrown back, and eyes\nclosed. The children are standing by her side, clasping their hands\nand gazing into her face. The Goddess of War should stand with her\nleft side to the audience, body bent forward, the head slightly turned\ntowards the battle field, the countenance expressing animation and\ndetermination. A small quantity of smoke should be seen rising behind\nthe breastwork, while the whole scene is illuminated by a red light\nburned at the side of the stage. The booming of distant cannon and\nmartial music may be imitated behind the stage.\nTHE RESCUE.\n Presence of mind and courage in distress\n Are more than armies to procure success.\nOne Female and Eight Male Figures.\nThis tableau is one that can be produced without much trouble or\nexpense. The scene is taken from a historical incident that occurred\nduring the revolutionary war. At the close of one of the hard-fought\nbattles between the Americans and British, an American officer, having\nfought long and well, was obliged to seek safety in flight, hotly\npursued by a company of British soldiers, led on by their captain. He\ntakes refuge in the mansion of a tory in the vicinity of the battle\nground, and prostrates himself at the feet of the lady of the house,\nwho has risen from her chair on hearing the tumult at the door, and\nwith her arm extended and eyes flashing, sternly bade the British\nofficer and his followers to quit the house. The British officer is\nstanding within a few paces of the American, with sword extended,\nready to pierce his body. In the rear of the British officer stands a\nplatoon of soldiers, with muskets ready to charge. The furniture of\nthe room consists of chairs, carpet, tables, small sofa, pictures, &c.\nThe lady who personates the tory housekeeper should be tall, with good\nfigure and features; her costume consists of a showy silk dress and\nvelvet waist. Position is, at the right of the stage, near the front.\nA small table is placed at her side, on which are a work box and piece\nof embroidery; behind her is a large chair; her right hand is extended\ntowards the British officer; the left is placed on her waist; her\ncountenance expressing anger and command. The American officer should\nbe costumed in Continental uniform, which consists of a blue coat,\ndecorated with large gilt buttons, and faced with buff, buff breeches,\nwhite hose, low shoes, knee and shoe buckles, red sash, epaulets,\nchapeau, and side arms. In his right hand he grasps a broken sword.\nThe position is, kneeling two paces front of the lady, body bent\nforward, and eyes cast down to the floor. The British officer and\nsoldiers are dressed in similar costumes, with the exception of the\ncoats, which are scarlet. The British officer's position is, standing\nin the centre of the stage, with sword pointed towards the American\nofficer, and eyes directed to the lady. The lights for the piece\nshould be of medium brightness, and come from the side of the stage\nopposite the lady. The background must be partially shaded, while the\nforeground is light. For music, drum and fife are adapted to the\npiece.\nSOLOMON'S JUDGMENT.\n If there be one thing pure,\n Where all beside is sullied,\n That can endure\n When all else pass away--\n If there be aught\n Surpassing human deed, or word, or thought,\n \"It is a mother's love!\"\n ANON.\nThree Male and Two Female Figures.\nThis Scripture tableau is taken from the third chapter of the Book of\nKings. The scene is at the moment when Solomon passes his judgment\nbetween the two women. These two women each had a child of the same\nage, and resided together. The children resembled each other so much\nthat when one of them died, there arose a dispute as to whom the\nliving child belonged; and one woman said, \"The living is my son, and\nthe dead is thy son.\" And the other said, \"No; the dead is thy son,\nand the living is my son.\" Then said the king, \"Bring me a sword.\" And\nthey brought a sword before the king, and the king said, \"Divide the\nliving child in two, and give half to one and half to the other.\" Then\nspoke the woman whose the living child was unto the king, \"O my lord,\ngive her the living child, and in no wise slay it.\" But the other\nwoman said, \"Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it.\" Then\nthe king answered and said, \"Give her the living child, and in no wise\nslay it, for she is the mother thereof.\" The number of figures in this\ntableau is five. The scenery consists of a platform four feet square\nand two feet high, covered with red cloth, which should be placed in\nthe background, at equal distances from the sides; on this is placed a\nlarge, showy chair, with a canopy over the top. Seated in the chair is\nSolomon. His costume consists of a dark velvet suit, trimmed with gold\nand silver fringe; a large cloak, trimmed with ermine, is worn on the\nshoulders; black hose, reaching to the knee, crossed with crimson\nribbon; red sandals, ornamented with gold; a showy crown on the head,\nand his face covered with a heavy white beard, reaching down on his\nbreast; his right hand is pointed towards the soldier who holds the\nchild; the eyes are also directed that way, while the countenance\nappears stern and commanding. The soldier's costume consists of a suit\nof armor such as can be procured at theatres and costumers; but, if\npreferred, a military suit of any kind will answer. His position is,\nnear the platform, the left hand grasping the child, while the right\nholds a sword, which is raised above it; his body faces the audience,\nhis head turned towards the king, the countenance stern and\nforbidding. On the other side of the throne stands the king's guard, a\nman dressed in a blue frock, trimmed around the skirts, sleeves, and\nfront with red; white hose, reaching to the knee; black knee breeches;\nlow shoes; knee and shoe buckles; lace collar and wristbands; low\nblack Kossuth hat, with gold band and plume. The right hand grasps a\nlong spear. Position is, facing the audience, the body erect, and eyes\ndirected straight forward. At the corner of the platform, near the\nsoldier, kneels the mother of the child, in position so that a side\nview is had of the face; the hands are clasped and raised in front of\nher breast, head thrown back, and eyes directed to the king,\ncountenance expressing hope. She is dressed in deep mourning, her hair\nflowing loosely over her shoulders. On the other side of the throne,\nopposite the guard, stands the other woman, her arms folded on her\nbreast, eyes directed to the soldier, countenance calm. Her costume\nconsists of a white dress, cut low in the neck, and encircled around\nthe waist with a colored belt; hair arranged in heavy braids, and\nornamented with showy hair pins. The lights should be of medium\nbrilliancy, and come from either side of the stage. If desirable, a\nfew paintings and statuary can be arranged in the background. Music\nsoft and plaintive.\nTHE BRIDAL PRAYER.\n Sweet be her dreams, the fair, the young;\n Grace, Beauty, breathe upon her;\n Music, haunt thou about her tongue;\n Life, fill her path with honor.\n All golden thoughts, all wealth of days,\n Truth, friendship, love, surround her;\n So may she smile, till life be closed,\n And angel bands have crowned her.\n BARRY CORNWALL.\nOne Female Figure.\nThis simple, yet pretty tableau represents a young maiden dressed in\nbridal costume, kneeling in prayer in her chamber, preparatory to her\ndescent to the room below, where she is to enter into the holy bonds\nof matrimony. The stage furniture consists of an ornamental chamber\nset, a few richly-bound books, pictures, and other articles pertaining\nto a chamber. The young lady should be of good figure and features.\nCostume consists of a white dress, low in the neck, and ornamented\nwith white flowers. The hair can be dressed to suit the performer's\ntaste, while a wreath of myrtle and flowers encircles the head, at the\nback of which trails a long white veil. Position is, kneeling in the\ncentre of the stage, so that a side view can be had of the form, the\nhands raised and placed together in front of the face, the head\nslightly thrown back, the eyes closed, and the countenance expressing\ndevotion. Little light is required, which should come from the side of\nthe stage. Music soft and plaintive.\nTHE GUITAR LESSON.\n O, strike the guitar lightly, lightly;\n Its tones I ne'er forget;\n O, strike the guitar lightly;\n 'Tis sweet as when we met.\nOne Female and One Male Figure.\nThis simple, but pretty tableau represents a young lady at the music\nroom of her teacher, taking a lesson on the guitar. The scene\nrepresented is a room furnished with table, chairs, carpet, vases,\npictures, &c. A small sofa, or a pair of ottomans, are placed in the\ncentre of the apartment, on which is seated a young and beautiful\nlady, and by her side the teacher. The lady holds in her hands a\nguitar, on which she is playing. Her teacher holds a sheet of music in\nthe left hand, while with the right he points towards the guitar. The\nmaiden's costume consists of a white dress, velvet waist, white\nflowing sleeves, waist encircled with a crimson sash; hair done up in\na neat manner, and decorated with large feldspar beads. Her position\nis, facing the audience, head slightly turned to her teacher, eyes\ndirected to the music, face beaming with smiles. The teacher's costume\nconsists of black pants, white hose, reaching to the knee, with a band\nof colored ribbon, and wide lace attached by a large paste pin at the\ntop, low shoes with buckles, single-breasted vest left unbuttoned,\nshowing a white shirt underneath. A lady's pink or red sack will on\nan emergency answer for a coat. A lady's velvet cape should be thrown\ncarelessly over the shoulder. The wristbands of the shirt bound with\nwide lace, and a wide lace collar worn around the neck. The head\ncovered with a low-crowned Kossuth hat, ornamented with a gilt band,\nand white plume, which is fastened to the hat with a large and\nbrilliant paste pin. Both of these costumes can be arranged at short\nnotice, and the tableau would be suitable for home entertainment. A\nguitar, played behind the scenes, will answer for the music. The light\nmust be of medium brightness, and come from either side of the stage.\nROGER WILLIAMS PREACHING TO THE INDIANS.\n \"Gitche Manito the Mighty,\n The Great Spirit, the Creator,\n Sends them hither on his errand,\n Sends them to us with his message.\n Let us welcome, then, the strangers,\n Hail them as our friends and brothers,\n And the heart's right hand of friendship\n Give them when they come to see us.\"\n LONGFELLOW.\nTwo Female and Eight Male Figures.\nRoger Williams was the first white man that settled in Rhode Island.\nHe was a clergyman, and lived in Boston; but he did not think exactly\nas the other clergymen of Boston, and was therefore banished from\nMassachusetts. He emigrated with his family to the woods. After\ntravelling a considerable time, he selected a beautiful spot, and\nbuilt him a house. Other settlers soon came that way, and founded\nhomes. This was the first settlement of Providence. Williams was\nkindly treated by the Indians, who seemed pleased at his arrival among\nthem. Every Sabbath he would go into the village and preach to them.\nThe scene in this tableau represents him standing before a wigwam with\nhis Bible in hand, explaining the Holy Scriptures to a group of\nsavages who are gathered about him. A few spruce trees should be\nplaced in the background of the picture, a fire kindled in the centre\nof the stage, which can be placed in an iron furnace, and surrounded\nwith stones. The floor must be covered with white cloth. Logs and\nbranches of trees should be scattered around the stage. At the left of\nthe stage is the wigwam, formed with rough poles, covered with\nlight-brown cloth, and ornamented with red hieroglyphics. In the\nbackground, and at each side of the stage, are seated Indians. The\nfloor of the stage in the background should be raised one foot, on\nwhich are placed the trees; in front of the wigwam stands Roger\nWilliams; he partially faces the audience; his left hand holds a\nBible, while his right is raised upward, his eyes directed towards the\nIndians--countenance expressing animation. Costume consists of black\ncoat of ancient style, black breeches, black vest, white hose, ruffled\nbosom, and white cravat, knee and shoe buckles, and a long white wig,\nending in a cue, and tied with a black ribbon. Costume of the Indians\nis a short frock, made of and trimmed with a bright-colored cambric,\npants of dark buff cloth, fitting tightly so as to develop the form of\nthe leg, moccasins of red flannel, decorated with beads; a strip of\ncard-board, covered with red flannel, and ornamented with feathers of\nany kind, should be worn around the head. A belt about the waist,\ncontaining tomahawk and knife, both of which can be made of wood, and\npainted in bright colors. A few squaws are interspersed in the scene.\nTheir costumes are similar to those of the men, with the addition of a\nbright-colored blanket thrown over the shoulders, and hair loosely\nflowing about the neck. The exposed portions of the bodies of the\nIndians are stained of the same color as the pants. The position of\nthe figures must be varied, while all look with attention to Williams.\nThe scene should be lighted by a red fire, burned at the front side of\nthe stage. Music soft and of a sacred character.\nCROSSING THE LINE.\n Far, far upon the sea\n The good ship speeding free,\n Upon the deck we gather, young and old,\n And view the flowing sail\n Swelling out before the gale,\n Full and round, without a wrinkle or a fold.\nTen Male Figures.\nThis comic tableau is a representation of a scene which often\ntranspired on board of vessels in passing the line. This time-honored\ncustom of introducing to old Neptune and his suite the persons who,\nfor the first time in their lives, cross the equinoctial line, is now\nnearly abolished. But until within a quarter of a century, the\noccasion of crossing the line was one of no little importance. It was\na jubilee on board ship which was looked forward to with eagerness by\nthe jolly tars who had already shaken hands with the God of the Ocean,\nand with fear and trembling by the youths who were about to enter for\nthe first time the favorite dominions of the old god. The ceremonies\non these occasions varied according to the character of the crew, of\nthe commander of the vessel, or of the poor fellows about to undergo\nthe unpleasant and dreadful process of an introduction. They were\ngenerally of a harmless and amusing character, one of which was to\nbring them before old Neptune, and put them through the process of\nshaving. The chin, and the greater part of the face, would be\nplastered over with a composition made of tar and train oil, laid on\nthickly with a large tar brush. The razor was often fabricated from a\nworn-out hoop, notched like a handsaw. This was drawn over the face,\nnot in the most gentle manner. After this operation was completed, a\nperson approached to untie the handkerchief that bandaged the eyes,\nand at the same moment kicked away the plank on which the victim sat,\nwhich precipitated him into the ship's longboat, filled with water for\nthe occasion.--The number of figures in this tableau is ten. Neptune\nis the principal one, and is costumed in a flesh-colored coat, fitting\ntightly to the body, and covered with hieroglyphics in bright colors;\nthe face painted to look hideous, and partially covered with a long,\nshaggy beard; a crown on the head, made of card-board, covered with\ngilt paper and shells; a spotted fur robe is thrown over the lower\nportion of the body; his right hand grasps a three-pronged fork, while\nthe left is stretched out to one of the sailors. His throne, on which\nhe is seated, is made of a number of barrels placed in a row at the\nback of the stage, on which rests a platform, with an anchor on each\nside. The victim, as well as the rest of the performers, should be\ncostumed in sailors' suits, differing in colors and styles. In the\ncentre of the stage erect a small platform, one foot high and six feet\nlong. On this place the person who is to be shaved. At his left stand\ntwo sailors. One holds the speaking trumpet and a ship's bucket; the\nother is in the act of pouring a bucket of water on the head of the\nvictim; a third sailor holds in his left hand a paint brush, and\nbrandishes the razor in his right; a little sailor boy holds a small\ntub, which contains the soap. Fronting the victim, kneels a sailor,\nholding a syringe. The remaining figures are looking on to see the\nsport. The countenances of all but the victim express mirth. An\nimitation mast and sail should be arranged at the background of the\npicture, the sides of the stage painted to represent ports of a\nvessel, and various articles that are used on board a ship must be\nscattered about the deck. Light brilliant, and come from the right\nside of the stage.\nTHE WEDDING.\n Pass thou on! for the vow is said\n That may ne'er be broken;\n The trembling hand hath a blessing laid\n On snowy forehead and auburn braid,\n And the word is spoken\n By lips that never their word betray'd.\n Pass thou on! for thy human all\n Is richly given,\n And the voice that claims its holy thrall\n Must be sweeter for life than music's fall,\n And, this side heaven,\n Thy lip may never that trust recall.\n WILLIS.\nOne Female and Two Male Figures.\nThis tableau is a representation of the marriage ceremony, and is\narranged with little trouble or expense. For a home entertainment it\nwill be quite appropriate. The scene is a young and beautiful maiden\nand a fine-looking gentleman kneeling at the foot of an altar, behind\nwhich stands a priest, dressed in appropriate costume. He is\nperforming the wedding rites. He holds in his right hand a prayer\nbook; his left is stretched out over the kneeling couple; his eyes are\nraised upward, the countenance calm. The lady and gentleman kneel at\nthe foot of the altar, partially facing each other, so that a side\nview is had of the body. The eyes of both are cast down; the lady's\ncostume consists of a white dress, trimmed to suit the taste of the\nperformer. A delicate wreath of silver leaves crowns the head, and a\nlong white veil hangs from the back hair to the floor. The gentleman\nshould be costumed in a black coat and pants, white vest, cravat, and\ngloves. The priest's costume consists of a black surplice and cowl,\nwhite cravat, and a large cross suspended from the neck. For want of a\nbetter article, a lady's black dress will answer for the surplice, and\na black silk scarf, wound around the head, will answer for a cowl. The\naltar can be formed out of a small table, with a white cloth thrown\nover it, with a large Bible on the top. The light for this piece\nshould be mellow, and come from the left side of the stage. Music soft\nand plaintive.\nHIAWATHA SAILING.\n \"And thus sailed my Hiawatha\n Down the rushing Taguamenaw--\n Sailed through all its bends and windings,\n Sailed through all its deeps and shallows,\n While his friend, the strong man Kwasind,\n Swam the deeps, the shallows waded.\n Up and down the river went they,\n In and out among its islands,\n Cleared its bed of root and sand-bar,\n Dragged the dead trees from its channel,\n Made its passage safe and certain,\n Made a pathway for the people,\n From its springs among the mountains,\n To the waters of Pauwating,\n To the bay of Taguamenaw.\"\n LONGFELLOW.\nTwo Female and Two Male Figures.\nThis interesting tableau represents Hiawatha and his friends sailing\nin his birch canoe. The arrangement of the scenery is quite simple,\nand when properly adjusted, makes one of the finest pictures in this\nseries. The floor of the stage must be arranged to represent water,\nwhich can be done in the following manner: Nail strips or narrow bands\nof wood on each side of the stage, the front ends resting on the\nfloor, the other ends raised to the height of one foot; at intervals\nof ten inches on the strips place stout nails, and to these fasten\nstout cord from one side of the stage to the other; across the cords\nplace strips of light-blue cambric, allowing it to festoon from one\ncord to the other; fasten the cambric to the cords with pins, and\npaint in a careless manner the ridges to represent miniature waves;\nthen scatter the surface with isinglass in small particles. Fill up\nthe background with scenery of a similar character, or with small\nspruce trees. An imitation birch canoe can be made of strips of wood,\ncovered with cloth, painted light brown, and ornamented with bands of\ncrimson, blue, and white paint; this should be placed in the centre of\nthe stage, on small ways running across from one dressing room to the\nother, and painted the same color as the waves. Grooved pieces of wood\nmust be fastened to each side of the canoe, so that it can be\npropelled across the stage on the ways, and appear to be floating on\nthe top of the water. Ropes attached to each end, at the bottom of the\nboat, passed under the waves, and roved through blocks, can be used to\npropel it from one side of the stage to the other. The ways should\nextend into the ante-rooms, so that the boat can pass entirely from\nthe stage. Large leaves and long grasses, made of green cambric, may\nbe placed around the edges of the water. The boat contains two Indian\nbraves and two Indian maidens. All are dressed in costumes, which have\nbeen described in the tableau of \"Hiawatha and his Bride's Return\nHome.\" Hiawatha is seated in the stern of the boat, holding a paddle\nin the water. The other Indian is kneeling in the bow with his bow and\narrow, and in position as if firing to the shore. One of the maidens\nis looking intently over the side of the canoe, and the other is\nlooking upward. Both should have long black hair flowing over the\nshoulders. The canoe should move very slow, and should be seen in\nmotion when the curtain rises; and to have it move in a steady manner,\nthe ropes should be attached to a windlass below the stage. The scene\nmust be illuminated by a green fire burned at the side of the stage\nopposite the entrance of the canoe. Music soft and plaintive.\nTHE VILLAGE STILE.\n The village stile--and has it gone?\n Supplanted by this niche of stone,\n So formal and so new;\n And worse, still worse, the elder bush,\n Where sang the linnet and the thrush--\n Say, has that vanished too?\n Age sat upon 't when tired of straying;\n And children that had been a-maying;\n These trimmed their garlands gay;\n What tender partings, blissful meetings,\n What faint denials, fond entreatings,\n It witnessed in its day!\nOne Female and One Male Figure.\nThis rustic tableau represents a young shepherd and his betrothed\nseated on the village stile, engaged in conversation. In the centre of\nthe stage, a weather-worn plank should be placed, resting on\nartificial banks at each side, which are three feet high and four feet\nwide; these can be shaped out of boxes or chairs placed together in a\ncareless manner, and covered with green bocking; at each side of the\nstage, near the banks, place small spruce trees, and beneath the\nstile build a step out of old plank, one foot high, and the length of\nthe space between the two banks. Seated on the inner side of the stile\nis the young maiden. She is partially facing the audience, body\nslightly bent forward, right hand placed in that of the shepherd,\nwhile the left rests on a basket of flowers placed on her knee.\nCostume consists of a showy plaid dress, with a green waist, trimmed\nwith purple cloth, cut in scallops; a small pink scarf worn over the\nshoulders, and tied at the side; a pink apron, trimmed with white; a\nsmall straw hat, bound with green ribbon, and set jantily on the head;\nhair done up low in the neck, and ornamented with blue and red\nribbons. The eyes are cast down to the basket, the expression of the\nface thoughtful. The young shepherd stands on the outside of the\nstile, reclining carelessly against the green bank. He partially faces\nthe audience; his eyes are directed to the opposite side of the stage,\nthe expression of the face denoting deep thought. The right hand\nclasps that of the maiden, while the left hangs carelessly at the\nside, and grasps a shepherd's crook, which is six feet long. Costume\nconsists of a loose, light-blue coat, bound at the bottom of the skirt\nand sleeves with dark blue; a belt of the same encircles the waist;\nwhite hose, low shoes covered with red cloth, knee and shoe buckles,\nand low-crowned hat; a straw hat, covered with brown cambric, and\nbound with red, will answer. If a large dog can be procured, that\nwill remain perfectly still, place him at the feet of the shepherd.\nThe light should be of medium brilliancy, and come from the front of\neither side of the stage. Music soft and of a secular order.\nFLORENCE NIGHTINGALE IN THE CRIMEA.\n The tender sigh, the balmy tear,\n That meek-eyed pity gave,\n My last expiring hour shall cheer,\n And bless a soldier's grave.\nOne Female and Three Male Figures.\nThis tableau is one that can be easily formed for an evening's\nentertainment. It represents Florence Nightingale nursing a young\nwounded soldier in his tent at the Crimea. Florence Nightingale was\none of those philanthropic and humane ladies who left their homes and\nthe comforts of life, and resorted to the Crimea, where, on the field\nof battle and in the pestilential hospital, she comforted and nursed\nthe sick and wounded soldiers. The tent can be made of white cloth,\nfastened to a frame of light strips of wood eight feet square, with a\nsmall flag fastened in front. A couch should be formed at one side of\nthe tent, on which reclines the wounded soldier, with an imitation of\na large wound on the forehead, a large black patch on the side of the\nface, and a bandage around the head; his face must be made quite\nwhite, his body supported by pillows; eyes fixed on Florence,\ncountenance calm and tranquil; his right arm is extended outside of\nthe coverlet, and is held by a comrade who is at the side of the bed.\nFlorence's costume consists of a red dress reaching to the knee, a\nwhite collar, loose blue pants with red stripe, buff apron trimmed\nwith white, a flat blue cap with gold band, a small, square, black\nbag, suspended at the side by leather straps passing over the\nshoulders, the hair arranged low in the neck; she is standing by the\nside of the couch, body bent slightly forward, one hand resting on the\npillow, the other grasps the hand of the sufferer. On the other side\nof the bed is a soldier, seated on a camp-stool, engaged in reading a\nBible. He is dressed in a showy uniform, and is facing the audience.\nThe lights for this piece should be of medium brilliancy, and come\nfrom the front of the stage. Music of a military style.\nTHE FIREMAN'S STATUE.\nOne Male and Six Female Figures.\nThis tableau is quite a tasty design, and is represented by six\nfemales in a kneeling posture, supporting a circular shield, on the\ntop of which stands a young and handsome fireman, dressed in his\nregalia. In his right hand he grasps a hose pipe, the end of which\nrests on the top of an imitation hydrant, which is placed on the top\nof the shield at his side. His position is, facing the audience, body\nand head erect, the left hand resting on the hip, eyes raised upward,\ncountenance calm. The ladies' costume consists of a white dress, red\nwaist, blue sash, hair done up snugly and encircled with a gold band,\non the front of which is a silver star, with a blue border and\nspangles in the centre. The shield should be three feet in diameter,\nand placed on a pedestal high enough to allow the ladies to kneel\nbeneath. It should be covered with a white cloth that will trail to\nthe floor. The ladies kneel in a circle around the shield, the body\nfacing outward, the head turned slightly to one side, both hands\nplaced against the bottom of the shield, the eyes cast down. The two\ncentre ladies should partially face each other. Expression of the\ncountenance pleasant. Music of an operatic order.\nJOAN OF ARC AT THE SIEGE OF ORLEANS.\n That was a joyous day in Rheims of old,\n When peal on peal of mighty music roll'd\n Forth from her throng'd cathedral; while around,\n A multitude, whose billows made no sound,\n Chain'd to a hush of wonder, though elate\n With victory, listen'd at their temple's gate.\n And unapproach'd beside the altar stone,\n With the white banner, forth like sunshine streaming,\n And the gold helm, through clouds of fragrance gleaming,--\n Silent and radiant stood?--The helm was raised,\n And the fair face reveal'd that upward gazed\n Intensely worshipping:--a still, clear face,\n Youthful, but brightly solemn!--Woman's cheek\n And brow were there, in deep devotion meek,\n Yet glorified with inspiration's trace\n On its pure paleness; while, enthroned above,\n The pictured Virgin, with her smile of love,\n Seem'd bending o'er her votaress.--That slight form!\n Was that the leader through the battle storm?\n Had the soft light in that adoring eye\n Guided the warrior where the swords flash'd high?\n 'Twas so, even so!--and thou, the shepherd's child\n Joanne, the lowly dreamer of the wild!\n Never before, and never since that hour,\n Hath woman, mantled with victorious power,\n Stood forth as thou beside the shrine didst stand,\n Holy amidst the knighthood of the land;\n And beautiful with joy and with renown\n Lift thy white banner o'er the olden crown,\n Ransom'd for France by thee!\n MRS. HEMANS.\nOne Female and Thirty Male Figures.\nThis historical tableau contains thirty-one figures. A less number\nwill make a picture; but to give proper effect to the scene, there\nshould be thirty-one. Joan of Arc, the heroine of this piece, at the\nage of nineteen was a simple and uneducated shepherdess, and by her\nenthusiastic courage and patriotism was the immediate cause of that\nsudden revolution in the affairs of France which terminated in the\nestablishment of Charles VII. on the throne of his ancestors, and the\nfinal expulsion of the English from that kingdom. The town of Orleans\nwas the only place in France which remained in the possession of the\ndauphin at the time when this heroine made her appearance, and that\nwas closely besieged by the English, while Charles had not the\nsmallest hope of being able to procure an army to raise the siege.\nBenevolent in her disposition, gentle and inoffensive in her manners,\nand above all, dutiful to her parents, Joan had, from her earliest\ninfancy, been ardently attached to her country. Her piety, her\nenthusiasm being thus united in her young and romantic mind with an\nall-absorbing feeling of patriotism, she was led to believe herself\nthe humble instrument, in the hands of Heaven, by whom the interest\nand glory of France were to be redeemed. Under this impression, the\nmaiden left her native village, and appeared before Charles dressed as\na warrior, and informed him that she had two things to accomplish on\nthe part of the King of heaven; first, to cause the siege of Orleans\nto be raised; and secondly, to conduct the King to Rheims, there to be\nanointed. The enterprise so courageously proposed was considered, and\nher services publicly accepted. On the 29th of April, 1429, Joan of\nArc appeared before Orleans, with twelve thousand men. She made an\nattack upon Fort St. Loup, which she carried, sword in hand, as well\nas the bulwarks of St. John. She had a banner made after her own\ndevice; her sword was taken from the tomb of a knight, where it had\nlain more than a century; her helmet was surmounted with feathers. She\nremained at the head of the army until 1430, when she was taken\nprisoner by the English, at the siege of Campaigne. From the moment\nshe was a prisoner, the heroine was forgotten. Joan was condemned at\nRouen, by Cauchon, Bishop of Beauvais, and five other French bishops,\nto be burned alive for magic and heresy, and her cruel sentence was\nput in execution on the 24th of May, 1431. Thus was the admirable\nheroine cruelly delivered over in her youth to the flames, and\nexpiated by the punishment of the fire the signal services which she\nhad rendered to her prince and native country. The scene for the\ntableau is taken at the moment when Joan of Arc, sword in hand, is\nleading on the storming party over the bulwarks of St. John. She is\nseen on the top of the ramparts, near one of the cannon which has just\nbeen fired. Her soldiers are charging over the bulwarks around her. In\nthe background are to be seen the troops of the various armies,\nengaged in hostile combat. The battlements should be three or four\nfeet in height, two feet wide, running across the front of the stage,\nwith an embrasure in the centre. Boxes covered with imitation-stone\npaper are to be used for its formation. If a small cannon cannot be\nprocured, a mock one may be constructed of wood. Platforms rising\ngradually from the ramparts to the back scene must be used for the\nfigures in the background to stand on. Joan of Arc should be tall in\nstature, of good figure, and fine looking, with large black eyes, and\nlong black hair. Costume consists of a crimson skirt, coat of mail\nbuttoned up to the throat, helmet with flowing plumes, riding gloves,\ncrimson sash across the breast, belt and side arms. The banner is made\nof white cloth, trimmed with crimson, with a gold cross in the centre,\nand a gilt spear, and tassels on the end of the staff. Sword of rich\ndesign, and quite long. Her position is, near the cannon, the right\nfoot on the top of the ramparts or cannon, the left a few inches\nlower, on a box placed behind the ramparts; the body bent forward;\nright hand grasping a sword and stretched out at arm's length towards\nthe ceiling, the left holding the banner, which is held at the side of\nthe body; the head slightly turned to the troops at the right; eyes\ndirected partially to them; countenance animated. Three soldiers in\nuniform--the prominent colors scarlet--are lying on the ground in\nfront of the battlements. Wounds should be imitated on the head; one\nsoldier is lying across the cannon, holding a rammer in his hand; two\nothers are stretched out on the battlements. The costume of Joan's\nsoldiers should be blue and buff, and each wearing a large moustache.\nTwo platoons, each containing five soldiers, are in the act of\ncharging over the ramparts at each side of Joan; they stand two feet\nfrom the breastwork, and look straight forward. One soldier on each\nside is in the act of piercing with his bayonet the soldiers on the\nbreastwork. The background is filled up with troops of both nations,\nwho are in the act of fencing and firing their muskets at the enemy in\nthe distance; a variety of positions should be taken, to make the\nscene as attractive and life-like as possible. The booming of cannon\nand rattle of musketry may be imitated in the ante-rooms; a slight\nquantity of smoke can be made to hover over the combatants by burning\na small quantity of the whitish blue fire on the stage before the\ncurtain rises. Care must be taken not to burn too much, as a great\nquantity of smoke will hide the figures from view. The scene most be\nilluminated by a brilliant red fire burned on the side of the stage\nthat will most reflect on Joan's face. The piece may be exhibited\ndouble the usual length of time of other tableaux, and should be used\nas a grand finale.\nTHE PARTING.\n Ah! then and there was hurrying to and fro,\n And gathering tears, and tremblings of distress,\n And cheeks all pale, which but an hour ago\n Blush'd at the praise of their own loveliness.\n And there were sudden partings, such as press\n The life from out young hearts, and choking sighs,\n Which ne'er might be repeated--Who could guess\n If ever more should meet, those mutual eyes,\n Since upon night so sweet, such awful morn could rise?\n BYRON.\nOne Male and Two Female Figures.\nThis pretty tableau is one that can be formed without much expense or\ntrouble. The scene represented is a young knight, about to leave his\nhome, his wife, and child, to fight the battles of his country. A\nlarge flight of steps fills up one third of the stage at the\nbackground. These can be made by placing strips of boards on boxes,\narranged in the form of steps, and covering them with white marble or\nlight stone paper; at one side of the stage is a pedestal three feet\nhigh and eighteen inches square, on the top of which is a large vase\nof flowers. A box covered with marble paper, and fresco cornice, will\nanswer for the pedestal, while a large earthen jar, painted white,\nwill do for the vase. On the other end of the steps, two marble\npillars reach from the upper step to the ceiling, and a couple of\nspruce trees placed back of the steps, at each end, will give a good\neffect. The knight is costumed in a black frock, trimmed around the\nbottom of the skirt and sleeves with purple cambric, a straight\ncollar of the same material, ornamented with gilt buttons and paper;\nbelt and side arms, red sash, riding gloves, purple knee breeches,\nwhite hose, low shoes, knee and shoe buckles, a low cap, with a gilt\nband, and showy plume fastened to the side with a brilliant paste pin;\na small velvet cape, trimmed around the bottom with gold paper, is\nworn carelessly over the left shoulder. Position is, standing on the\nbottom step, facing the audience; one foot rests on the floor of the\nstage, the other on the step; the right hand points to the back of the\nstage, while the left rests on the shoulder of his wife, who stands at\nhis side; his body is bent slightly forward, eyes directed to those of\nhis wife; countenance expresses animation. The lady who personates the\nwife should have black, curly hair, good figure, medium height, and\nregular features. Costume consists of a blue silk dress, velvet waist,\nhair arranged in curls, and ornamented with showy hair pins. Position\nis, at the side of her husband, two paces in advance, and in such\nposition that a side view is had of the form; her body bent forward,\nso that her hands, which are clasped, will rest on her husband's\nshoulder, head thrown back, eyes directed to those of her husband,\nface expressing grief. A few paces to the left of the lady, is a\ncradle, containing a sleeping child. A large Newfoundland dog lies\nquietly watching it. The scene should be illuminated by a purple fire\nburned near the front of the stage. Music of a martial style.\nHAGAR AND ISHMAEL IN THE WILDERNESS.\n It was an hour of rest! but Hagar found\n No shelter in the wilderness, and on\n She kept her weary way, until the boy\n Hung down his head, and open'd his parch'd lips\n For water; but she could not give it him.\n She laid him down beneath the sultry sky,--\n For it was better than the close, hot breath\n Of the thick pines,--and tried to comfort him;\n But he was sore athirst, and his blue eyes\n Were dim and bloodshot, and he could not know\n Why God denied him water in the wild.\n She sat a little longer, and he grew\n Ghastly and faint, as if he would have died.\n It was too much for her. She lifted him,\n And bore him farther on, and laid his head\n Beneath the shadow of a desert shrub;\n And, shrouding up her face, she went away\n And sat to watch where he could see her not\n Till he should die; and, watching him, she mourned:--\n WILLIS.\nOne Female and One Male Figure.\nThis group is a representation of Hagar and Ishmael in the wilderness,\nand is designed to imitate sculpture. The circumstances of the scene\nare well known in the simple narrative of the Scriptures. The boy,\nweary and exhausted by unaccustomed hardships and suffering, has sunk\ndown in the desert to die; but Hagar, sustained by the measureless\naffection of a mother's breast, supports the fainting form of her son,\nand has just put aside the cup now drained of its last precious drops\nof water. She gazes upon his face, while in her own, hope still\nlingers, before yielding to the unutterable anguish of despair. The\nlady who personates Hagar should be of good figure and features, tall,\nand matronly. Costume consists of a white dress, cut low in the neck,\nsleeves five inches long, a white tarleton scarf worn across the\nshoulders, and tied at the left side, the hair hanging in curls on the\nneck, a white turban on the head, with two white strips attached to\nthe side and passed under the chin, and white sandals laced across\nwhite hose. The position of Hagar is kneeling, so that a side view is\nhad of the face. The left hand sustains the head of Ishmael, the right\nis extended to the pitcher which stands at the side of the group; the\nhead is bent forward considerably, eyes fixed on those of the boy,\ncountenance expressing anxiety and hope. A young lad of six years of\nage, of fair complexion and long, light, curly hair, is required to\npersonate Ishmael. He should be costumed in a loose, white coat or\nfrock, white hose and sandals, with a white gauze mantle draped about\nthe breast. Ishmael's position is, reclining on his side, one leg\ndrawn up and placed across the other, the left arm resting on the\nground, supporting the body, the right lying carelessly at the side;\nthe shoulders rest on the knee of Hagar, head thrown back, and resting\non the hand of Hagar, eyes closed, mouth partially open. The pitcher\nshould be of white porcelain, of ancient style. The group is formed on\na square or round pedestal, five feet square or in diameter, and one\nfoot high, covered with white cloth or marble paper. The exposed\nportions of the figures must be made as white as possible with chalk.\nLight soft, and come from the side of the stage. Music of a plaintive\nand sacred character.\nTHE FIGHT FOR THE STANDARD.\n They saw the princely crest,\n They saw the knightly spear,\n The banner, and the mail-clad breast,\n Borne down, and trampled here:\n They saw--and glorying there they stand,\n Eternal records to the land.\n MRS. HEMANS.\nTwelve Male Figures.\nThis thrilling tableau represents a death struggle between an Arab\nstandard-bearer and a French soldier. The Arab grasps the standard\nwith the left hand, while the right holds a short cimeter at arm's\nlength; his body is bent forward, right arm extended thirty inches\nfront of the left, and eyes directed to those of the soldier, the\ncountenance expressing firmness and excitement. Costume consists of a\nlong white coat without sleeves, trimmed about the bottom with buff,\nopen at the top, displaying the neck and chest; a heavy red sash wound\naround the waist; pants of light-blue, cut quite loose, and gathered\nin with a string at the ankle; shoes covered with red cloth; a turban\non the head, the top of which is white, and around the bottom is wound\na band of red and black cloth, with the ends falling over the\nshoulders; a belt and scabbard are fastened to the waist. The sword\nshould be two feet long, four inches wide, and curve from hilt to\npoint. This can be made of tin or wood, the scabbard of card-board or\nleather, and painted red. The French soldier's costume consists of\nblue coat, trimmed and faced with buff, gold epaulets, large gilt\nbuttons, white pants with stripe of red, red belt and long scabbard,\nhat with plume and long, straight visor. He holds in his right hand a\nlong, straight sword, while the left grasps the standard. His body is\nbent forward, and faces the audience, the right foot extended front of\nthe left thirty inches, the eyes fixed on those of the Arab,\ncountenance expressing determination and rage. The staff on which the\nflag is fastened is seven feet long, with a gilt ball, crescent, and\ntassels at the top. The flag is made of three stripes, one of light\nyellow, and two of light red, with a black oval, with red trimmings,\nin the centre. The flag should be unfolded so as to show the design,\nbut gathered in at the centre by the hand of the soldier. Between\nthese two figures are a French soldier and an Arab lying dead on the\nground. Five feet behind this group, and at the right of the stage,\nare four Arabs, with long spears, charging on the same number of\nFrench soldiers opposite, who are holding their muskets in position,\nready to repel the charge, their countenances expressing sternness,\ntheir eyes fixed on each other. Costumes are similar to those\ndescribed. Spears can be made of wood, with gilt spear-heads. The skin\nof the Arabs must be stained light brown. The French soldiers should\nwear large mustaches. A slight quantity of smoke is seen floating in\nthe background; the booming of cannon heard in the distance. The scene\nis illuminated by a red fire at the side of the stage. Music of a\nmartial style.\nJONATHAN'S VISIT TO HIS CITY COUSINS.\nOne Female and One Male Figure.\nThis comic tableau is one that can be produced at short notice, and\nwithout expense. The scene to be represented is a parlor furnished\nwith sofa, chairs, carpet, pictures, table, and a melodeon, which is\nplaced on the side of the stage. A sheet of music is resting on the\nrack, and a young lady is seated on the melodeon stool, body facing\nthe audience, head turned to the back of the room, both hands raised,\nand eyes fixed on a young man, who is seated on the sofa in the\nbackground. Her body is slightly inclined from the young man,\ncountenance expressing affright. She should be costumed in a showy\nsilk dress. The gentleman's costume consists of striped pants,\nreaching within six inches of the foot, red straps, thick boots,\nancient style swallow-skirted coat, short striped vest, ruffle-bosomed\nshirt, standing collar reaching to the ears, large brass chain and\nwatch seals hanging from the vest pocket, large red silk handkerchief\nlaid across the knee, and a low-crowned white hat in the hand.\nPosition is, seated on the sofa, one hand placed in the pants pocket,\nthe other resting on the knee, body bent forward, eyes fixed on the\nkeys of the melodeon, countenance expressing astonishment. The\ngentleman best adapted for this part is one who has a natural talent\nfor performing in comedy. Light should be thrown on the scene from the\nlower end of the side of the stage, and of medium brightness. Music of\na spirited character.\nTHE THREE GRACES.\n Faith, Hope, and Love, now dwell on earth,\n And earth by them is blest;\n But Faith and Hope must yield to Love,\n Of all the graces best.\nThree Female Figures.\nThis is a statuary tableau, and is represented by three young and\nbeautiful ladies of about the same height and figure, with regular\nfeatures and long hair. Their costume consists of a long white robe,\nworn with few skirts, and cut extremely low at the neck, sleeves five\ninches long, a mantle of white tarleton muslin worn across the breast,\ntied at the side, and allowed to trail on the floor; the hair arranged\nin braids at the sides of the head, ornamented with large beads,\nclasped with a silver band behind, and allowed to hang in short curls\nin the neck. The ornaments should be entirely white. The three ladies\nstand on a pedestal three feet high, and four feet in diameter; this\nmust be covered with black or green marble paper, and placed in the\ncentre of the stage. The centre lady stands facing the audience, with\nthe right hand raised above the head; the left clasps the hand of the\nlady at the left side, who is looking into the eyes of the figure at\nthe right, and rests her right hand on the shoulder of the centre\nfigure. The figure on the other side stands in a graceful position,\nresting her hands on the shoulder of the centre figure, and looking\ninto her face. The countenances of the three should express pleasure.\nThe light for the piece must be soft and mellow, and come from the\nside of the stage. Music low and plaintive.\nTHE GUARDIAN ANGEL.\n Angels, joyful to attend,\n Hovering round thy pillow bend,\n Wait to catch the signal given,\n And convey thee quick to heaven.\nOne Female and One Male Figure.\nThis is a most pleasing tableau, and represents the good angel, in\nwhose existence and controlling power there is scarce any one so rude\nas not to believe, attending a young boy, who looks reverently upward,\nto heed the admonitions of his celestial companion. The lady who\npersonates the angel should be of good figure, tall and slim, with\nfine features, and light curly hair. Costume consists of a loose white\ndress, over which is worn a robe of white tarleton muslin; these\nshould be cut quite low in the neck, and long at the bottom; sleeves\nlong, and fitting tight to the arms; a wide mantle of tarleton muslin\nworn across the breast, and allowed to trail with the dress at the\nside. Large wings, formed of wire, covered with white muslin, and\nornamented with spangles, must be fastened to the back of the waist.\nThe hair should hang in ringlets, and be encircled with a band of\nsilver. The boy must be of small stature, good features, and have\nlong, light, curly hair. Costume consists of a loose short frock, made\nof white cloth, trimmed around the collar and ends of sleeves with\nwhite lace; white breeches, white hose, white shoes, and a small satin\nsash about the waist. Both of the figures stand on a pedestal two feet\nhigh by three square, which should be covered with black marble paper.\nThe angel stands in the centre of the pedestal, the left hand resting\non the boy's left shoulder, the right hand on his right shoulder. Her\nhead is turned away to the left, the eyes fixed on the floor, the\ncountenance pleasant. The boy stands a little to the right of the\nangel, arms crossed on his breast, head turned sideways, and slightly\nback, eyes fixed on the face of the angel. The crimson curtains,\nwithout the fairies, that are used in the tableau of the \"Dancing Girl\nin Repose,\" may be placed over the group. The side curtains can be\nheld up at the side by crimson bands. A curtain of white gauze, drawn\nacross the front of the stage, will give a good effect to the tableau.\nThe light should be of medium brilliancy, and come from the front side\nof the stage. Music soft, and of a sacred character.\nTHE PYRAMID OF BEAUTY.\n Beauty is as crystal in the torchlight, sparkling on the poet's page;\n Virgin honey of Hymettus, distilled from the lips of the orator;\n A savor of sweet spikenard, anointing the hands of liberality;\n A feast of angel's-food set upon the tables of religion.\n She is seen in the tear of sorrow, and heard in the exuberance of\n She goeth out early with the huntsman, and watcheth at the pillow\n of disease.\n Science, in his secret laws, hath found out latent beauty;\n Sphere and square, and cone and curve, are fashioned by her rules:\n Mechanism met her in his forces, fancy caught her in its flittings,\n Day is lightened by her eyes, and her eyelids close upon the night.\n Beauty is dependence in the babe, a toothless tender nursling;\n Beauty is boldness in the boy, a curly rosy truant;\n Beauty is modesty and grace in fair retiring girlhood;\n Beauty is openness and strength in pure high-minded youth;\n Man, the noble and intelligent, gladdeneth earth in beauty,\n And woman's beauty sunneth him, as with a smile from heaven.\n TUPPER.\nFifteen Female Figures.\nThis fine tableau contains fifteen female figures, who are arranged in\nthe form of a pyramid. They should be quite young, of good figure and\nfeatures. Their costume consists of a pure white dress, cut low in the\nneck, sleeves five inches long, a white satin sash about the waist,\nwhite shoes and hose, hair done up in a compact and tasty manner, and\nencircled with a wreath of myrtle, while a small bouquet of flowers\nis placed on the front of the waist. The pyramid must be first formed\nof boxes, fastened firmly together, and covered with white cloth; five\nladies of the same height sit on the lower seat, four on the second\nseat, three on the third seat, two on the fourth, and one on the fifth\nand last. Each should be furnished with a garland of flowers fastened\nto ratan three feet long; these must be held in the hands of the\nladies, making a complete network of flowers. The eyes should be\ndirected straight forward, countenance pleasant. The lights for this\npiece are as follows: Just as the curtain begins to rise, a green fire\nshould be gradually thrown on to the stage, and slowly moved off; at\nthe moment it is leaving the picture, a red light steals over the\nfaces of the performers; this shade vanishes in the same manner, and a\npurple light appears. This will give a happy effect, and can be\naccomplished by burning the fires in large boxes placed on pivots at\nthe side of the stage, and by turning them at the proper time the\ndifferent colors can be thrown on the stage; a few of the side or\nfootlights may be burned at the same time, so that when the colored\nlights are leaving the stage, the figures will still be seen. Music\naccompanying the tableau, must be soft and plaintive.\nCORONATION OF QUEEN VICTORIA.\n Within that rich pavilion,\n High on a glittering throne,\n A woman's form sat silently,\n 'Midst the glare of light alone.\n Her jewell'd robes fell strangely still--\n The drapery on her breast\n Seem'd with no pulse beneath to thrill,\n So stone-like was its rest!\n But a peal of lordly music\n Shook e'en the dust below,\n When the burning gold of the diadem\n Was set on her pallid brow!\n Then died away that haughty sound,\n And from the encircling band\n Step Prince and Chief, 'midst the hush profound,\n With homage to her hand.\n MRS. HEMANS.\nTwenty Male and Ten Female Figures.\nThis magnificent tableau contains thirty figures, and, when exhibited\nwith proper scenery and wardrobe, is one of the best of this\ncollection. It should be used as a grand finale scene, and is arranged\nin the following manner: A number of gentlemen's costumes must be\nprocured at a costumer's or a theatre. Ladies' costumes can be easily\nprepared.\nAt the back of the stage, at equal distances between the sides, erect\na throne. First build a platform five feet long, three feet wide, and\nthree feet high, with steps in front, all of which must be covered\nwith crimson cloth and gold paper. Over the platform place a canopy\nmade of purple cloth, and decorated with gold paper, cut to represent\nfringe. Cover the wall back of the platform with the same material,\nand in the centre place a large gold V; a large chair, trimmed with\nscarlet and gold, should be placed on the platform, and tiers of seats\narranged on each side of the throne; these must form half circles,\nreaching to the centre of the stage at the sides. Seated and standing\non the seats and platforms are the ambassadors, dukes, earls, and\nofficers, in their full dress. The queen dowager and other royal\nfemale personages are intermingled among them. The lord steward, and\nchamberlain stand near the side scenes in the foreground, while the\nextreme background is filled up by the queen's guards. Standing on the\nstep in front of the throne is the archbishop, holding the crown. A\nlittle to the left stands Victoria, her body facing the audience, and\nbent forward slightly, head bowed, ready to receive the crown. At the\nother side of the throne stands Prince Albert, dressed in rich\nuniform. The ladies' costumes consist of rich silks and brocades,\nornamented with gold lace, paste pins, brooches, &c.; the hair\narranged to suit the taste of the performers, and encircled with a\nband of gold, to which fasten a colored plume. The attention of all\nshould be directed to the queen. The archbishop's costume consists of\na black robe, large white sleeves, white handkerchief, with square\nends, hanging on the breast, and white wig. Queen Victoria's costume,\nif not procured at a costumer's, consists of a white satin or silk\ndress, with a long trail, and four flounces on the skirt, each flounce\nornamented with a band of gold paper three inches wide, covered with\nopen lace. The top of the waist and bottom of the sleeves decorated in\nthe same manner. A belt of crimson velvet, covered with spangles and\nsmall paste pins, encircles the waist; the sleeves should be open, and\nfastened across with gilt cord, terminating in tassels, which fall on\nthe arms; white kid gloves, bound around the top with a band of\nsilver, ornamented with wax beads and spangles; a long ermine scarf\nshould be thrown gracefully over the shoulders, and trail to the\nfloor. The ermine can be imitated by inserting small pieces of black\nshag in white cotton flannel. The hair may be done up in a neat coil,\nand ornamented with wax beads and gilt pins. A long white veil of lace\nis fastened to the back of the head, and allowed to trail to the feet.\nThe crown can be made of card-board, covered with gold paper and\nbrilliant paste pins. The steward and chamberlain each holds a staff\nwith a large gilt spear-head and tassels at the top. Costume consists\nof showy suits, similar in style, head covered with low-crowned\nKossuth hat, ornamented with a gold band and white lace. The guards\nmust be placed in the extreme background, on high platforms; they\nstand perfectly erect, and face the audience. The scene should be\nbrilliantly lighted by lamps at the front and left side of the stage.\nThe booming of cannon is heard in the distance. Music of a majestic\nstyle.\nTHE BRIGANDS.\n Dawns on the scene; the sulphurous smoke\n Before the wind slow rolls away,\n And the bright beams of morning dance\n Along the spangled snow. There scattered arms,\n And lifeless warriors, whose hard lineaments\n Death's self could change not, mark the dreadful path\n Of the outsallying victors.\n SHELLEY.\nOne Female and Five Male Figures.\nA scene representing a band of brigands in their mountain fastness, on\nthe watch for plunder and rapine. The scenery in the background should\nresemble ragged rocks, made by fastening brown paper in a rumpled\nmanner to a frame of wood, and shaded with light and dark-brown\npaints. This must extend two thirds across the stage, three feet from\nthe extreme background. The sides should be covered with similar\nscenery. The floor is strown with small boxes, to give it an uneven\nappearance, and covered with buffalo robes. Two of the brigands are\nseated at one side of the stage, engaged in playing cards; one is\nreclining in the foreground asleep; another is leaning against the\nrocks, resting his arms and body on his carbine, while the chief is\nstanding at the end of the ledge in the background, pointing with his\nright hand into the open space beyond. Behind him stands his wife, to\nwhom he is in the act of speaking, and directing her attention to the\nroad in the distance. She is stooping forward, endeavoring to see the\nobjects which he points out. The costume of the brigands consists of a\nfrock coat ornamented with large gilt buttons, and trimmed around the\nbottom with colored cloth; bright-colored vest bound around the front\nand bottom with fancy ribbon; black handkerchief tied loosely in the\nneck; knee breeches and hose, with a band of showy cloth around the\ntop, fastened with a brilliant paste pin or silver buckle; low shoes;\nred or blue sash about the waist; high-crowned black felt hat,\nornamented with red binding, wound in a spiral manner from the rim to\nthe top of the hat, and a colored feather at the side. The coat can be\ndecorated in a more profuse manner, if desired; each must be furnished\nwith musket and pistols. The chief's dress should be of richer\nmaterial, and more profusely decorated than the other characters. The\nwife's costume consists of a scarlet skirt, black velvet waist open in\nfront and laced across with pink ribbon, a showy scarf tied about the\nhead, the ends falling on the shoulders; the neck and arms ornamented\nwith brilliant jewelry; a morocco belt encircles the waist, to which\nis attached a small dirk. The two card-players are looking at their\ncards, countenances expressing deep thought. The one who stands facing\nthe audience looks to the floor. The one that is asleep should lie in\na position so that the countenance can be seen, the head resting on\nthe hand, eyes closed. The wife's position is, standing so that a side\nview of the countenance is had. The chief stands in front of her, and\nin the same position, but the head is turned around so as to face the\naudience; the countenances of both expressing curiosity and\nexcitement. The face and other exposed parts of the persons of all the\nfigures must be colored light-brown, and the men wear heavy beards.\nThe light for this scene should come from a red fire, burned in small\nquantities at the front side of the stage. No music will be required\nfor the piece.\nDEATH OF SIR JOHN MOORE.\n Not a drum was heard, not a funeral note,\n As his corpse to the ramparts we hurried,\n Not a soldier discharged his farewell shot\n O'er the grave where our hero was buried.\n WOLFE.\nTwenty Male Figures.\nThe battle of Corunna, so disastrous to the British army, was fought\nJanuary 16, 1809. Sir John Moore arrived in Spain in November, 1808,\nwith a British army, and having advanced some distance into the\ncountry, he found himself compelled to make a rapid retreat. He was\nclosely followed by the French under Marshal Soult, who attacked the\nBritish as they were embarking. Sir John Moore, while earnestly\nwatching the result of the fight about the village of Elrina, was\nstruck on the left breast by a cannon shot; the shock threw him from\nhis horse with violence; he rose again in a sitting position, his\ncountenance unchanged, and his steadfast eye still fixed upon the\nregiments engaged in his front; no sigh betrayed a sensation of pain;\nbut in a few moments, when he was satisfied that the troops were\ngaining ground, his countenance brightened, and he suffered himself to\nbe taken to the rear. As the soldiers placed him in a blanket, his\nsword got entangled, and the hilt entered the wound. A staff officer\nattempted to take it off, but the dying man stopped him, saying, \"It\nis as well as it is. I had rather it should go out of the field with\nme.\" And in this manner, so becoming to a soldier, Moore was borne\nfrom the field. Several times he caused his attendants to stop and\nturn him around, that he might behold the field of battle. Night soon\ndarkened the scene; the rumbling of baggage wagons, and the occasional\nbooming of the distant cannon, alone disturbed the mournful silence of\nthe scene; here and there the flames of burning villages shed a\nportentous light through the gloom. At length, to break the mournful\nsilence, and to express the sympathy they might not speak, the band\nplayed a requiem for the dying general. The solemn strains arose and\nfell in prolonged echoes over the field, and swept in softened\ncadences on the ear of the dying warrior. Moore breathed faintly for a\nfew hours, and before the morning dawned he had passed away. His\ncorpse was wrapped in his military cloak, and was interred by the\nofficers of his staff on the ramparts of Corunna--an event which is\ncommemorated in the beautiful verses of Wolfe, the guns of the enemy\npaying him funeral honors. Soult, with a noble feeling of respect for\nhis valor, raised a monument to his memory. Thus ended the career of\nSir John Moore, a man whose uncommon capacity was sustained by the\npurest virtue. His tall, graceful person, dark, searching eyes,\nstrongly defined forehead, and singularly expressive mouth, indicated\na noble disposition and a refined understanding. He maintained the\nright with a vehemence bordering upon fierceness, and every important\ntransaction in which he engaged increased his reputation for talent,\nand confirmed his character as a stern enemy to vice, a steadfast\nfriend to merit, a just and faithful servant of his country.\n_Description of Tableau._--This magnificent scene contains twenty\nfigures. On the centre of the stage, reclining on an English flag, is\nSir John Moore, his countenance pale and deathly. He is dressed in\nrich uniform, which is described in the latter part of the tableau.\nHis position is, lying across the stage, his face turned to the\naudience. At his feet stand two Highland soldiers, leaning on their\nmuskets, and gazing on the dying man. A soldier with a bandage around\nhis head is kneeling in front of them; one hand grasps the flag, the\nother points to the background; countenance expressing terror. At the\nhead of Moore, partially stooping and holding the end of the flag, are\ntwo officers in full uniform; two other officers are seen back of the\nbody, who are also grasping the flag and gazing on the face of the\ndying hero; three soldiers are kneeling in the foreground, their\nattention fixed on Moore; back of this group, on a platform one foot\nhigh, is seen a platoon of soldiers, one of which holds an ensign;\ntheir backs should be towards the audience, muskets to the shoulder,\nand position of soldiers marching hastily from the field in retreat;\nstill further in the background, on a platform four feet high, is\nplaced a second platoon, who are in the same position; one or two in\neach rank are looking back to the group in front; two soldiers\ndirectly back of Moore are levelling their muskets to the enemy in the\ndistance. Cannon, muskets, drums, and swords should be strown\ncarelessly on the stage, while a small quantity of smoke must be made\nto hover over the scene, and the booming of cannon imitated in the\ndistance. Moore has one hand pressed to his breast; the other is held\nby one of the officers at his side. The costumes of the officers\nshould be as varied and brilliant as can be procured. Scarlet coats\nwould be most appropriate. The scene must be illuminated by a red fire\nburned at the right side of the stage. Music of a mournful and sacred\norder.\nTHE FIREMAN'S RESCUE.\n And the flames in thick wreaths mounted higher and higher;\n O God! it is fearful to perish by fire.\nTwo Female and Eight Male Figures.\nThis tableau represents a dwelling-house, the interior of which is\nenveloped in flames. The front door stands open, displaying a flight\nof steps, on which is a heroic fireman descending from the burning\nchamber, with a beautiful child clasped in his arms, which he has\nrescued from the raging element. Kneeling on the step outside of the\ndoor are the parents of the child; their hands are clasped and raised\nupward, their eyes fixed on the doorway, countenance expressing\nintense excitement. Two firemen in the foreground are seen holding a\nhose pipe and hose; two others, at the extreme end of the stage, are\nscrewing the other end of the hose to a hydrant; another stands ready\nwith an axe to break in the windows. The captain's position is on the\nstep of the house; he holds a trumpet in his hand, and is giving\norders to his men. The firemen should be dressed in full uniform, the\nmother in white, and hair hanging loose over the shoulders; the\nfather's costume should be dark, and the child dressed in a long white\nrobe. The scenery of this piece consists of a frame the width of the\nstage, and rising from the floor to the ceiling, painted to represent\nbrick, with mouldings, frame, cornice, &c. A door may be placed in the\ncentre, and a window on each side. The stairs should be as wide as the\ndoor, and run up five feet, and covered with carpeting; fire and smoke\nmust be painted as coming from the windows. A red fire burned behind\nthe back scene will light it up with fine effect. The light for the\nfront of the picture should be of medium brightness, and come from the\nside of the stage. Fire bells can be imitated in the ante-rooms.\nCATHARINE DOUGLASS BARRING THE DOOR WITH HER ARM.\n Abound, as thick as thought could make 'em, and\n Appear in forms more horrid; yet my duty,\n As doth a rock against the chiding flood,\n Should the approach of this wild river break,\n And stand unshaken yours.\n SHAKSPEARE.\nOne Female and Six Male Figures.\nUnattended even by a body guard, and confiding in the love of his\nsubjects, James I. of Scotland was residing within the walls of the\nCarthusian monastery at Scone. Graham of Stratham seized the occasion,\nand brought down a party by night to the neighborhood. Seconded by\ntraitors within, he gained possession of the gates and interior\npassages. The king's first intimation was from his cup-bearer, who, on\nleaving the king's chamber, found the passage crowded by armed men,\nwho answered his cry of alarm by striking him dead. The noise reached\nthe royal chamber; a rush of the assassins followed; and Catharine\nDouglass, one of the queen's maids of honor, springing forward to bolt\nthe door, found the bar had been clandestinely removed. With resolute\nself-devotion she supplied the place with her naked arm.--To present a\nview of the interior of the room, and the passage outside, it will be\nnecessary to place a partition from the front of the stage, near the\nfootlights, to the left hand corner in the background. In the\nsmallest apartment stands Catharine Douglass. The partition running in\nthis manner will give to the audience a view of the door and iron\nfastenings through which the arm of the heroine passes, and also the\npassage where the assassins stand. The partition should be made of\nlight strips of wood, covered with cheap cloth, and painted to imitate\nthe interior of a room. The door must be quite near the front, of\nGothic form, studded with large nails; two iron sockets, four inches\nsquare, should be placed on the door and frame; a mahogany table,\nglobe lamp, chairs, carpets, and engravings may be placed in the inner\nroom; the outer apartment should be empty. The lady who personates the\nheroine must be of good figure, tall and stout, fine features, and\nhave long black hair. Costume consists of a blue silk dress, pink\nwaist, sleeves five inches long, bordered on the edge with black\ncrape, under sleeves of white tarleton muslin reaching to the wrist, a\nyellow scarf tied loosely around the waist, hair flowing loosely over\nthe shoulders, a plaid scarf fringed on the ends with gold, bound\naround the head, the ends hanging in the neck. Position, facing the\naudience, the right arm bare, and thrust through the first socket, the\nhand grasping the second; the left is pressed against the door above\nthe fastening; the head inclined towards the door, body perfectly\nupright, eyes looking straight forward with intensity, countenance\nexpressing firmness. The assassins, to the number of six, stand around\nthe outside of the door; each is costumed in a black coat trimmed\naround the edge and collar with green, and ornamented with large gilt\nbuttons; colored vests, cut very long and trimmed with black binding,\nknee breeches of light color, black hose, and a band of bright-colored\ncloth around the top, low shoes, shoe and knee buckles, black felt hat\nturned up at one side and ornamented with a colored plume and gilt\nband, belt around the waist, side arms and pistols; the face covered\nwith a shaggy beard. Each one grasps a sword, and is in the act of\nrunning towards the door, the left hand extended, the right with the\nsword raised on high, eyes directed to the door, countenance\nexpressing excitement. The light should come from both sides of the\nstage, the room in which the heroine stands being the lightest. Music\nwild and animating.\nTHE MASQUERADE BALL.\n 'Tis known--at least it should be--that throughout\n All countries of the Catholic persuasion,\n Some weeks before Shrove Tuesday comes about,\n The people take their fill of recreation,\n And by repentance, ere they grow devout,\n However high their rank or low their station,\n With fiddling, feasting, dancing, drinking, masking,\n And other things which may be had for asking.\n BEPPO.\nTen Female and Twelve Male Figures.\nThe masked balls, which supersede any other feature of the carnival in\nattraction, were introduced under the reign of the Duc d'Orleans. A\ngreat inconvenience was experienced in the want of an apartment\nsufficiently spacious to receive the hundreds which thronged to them.\nAt length the Chevalier de Bouillon conceived a plan of converting the\nopera house into a ball room, and a friar named Sebastian invented the\nmeans of elevating the floor of the pit to a level with the stage,\nlowering it at pleasure. The project succeeded, and the first masked\nball at Paris was held on the 2d of January, 1716. They are now given\nboth before and during the carnival, at nearly all the theatres in\nParis, as well as at most of the large ball rooms. The leading\nmasquerade ball of the carnival, which reunites the best society and\nthe most gorgeous costumes, is decidedly that which takes place at the\nAcademy of Music or French Opera House. The greater portion of the\ncompany go in character, although gentlemen may appear in plain\nclothes, if they choose, and unmasked. Dancing appears to be the whole\nand sole motive of the guests, and dance they do, with a vivacity and\nuntiring spirit that could only be found in a land so especially\ndevoted to the worship of Terpsichore as France. In all the ball rooms\nparties of the Municipal Guard are in attendance to preserve order,\nand should any of the guests transgress the ordinary rules of decorum,\nthey are immediately consigned to the lock-up of the nearest\n_corps-du-garde_. The most prevalent dress at the balls is that of the\n_Debardeur_. It is a piquant costume, and consists of dark velvet\npantaloons, with satin stripe down the side, ornamented with bright\nstuds, a pink or white shirt, red sash, and a glazed hat with\ntri-colored streamers, or small bonnet and wig, with cue behind.\nConsiderably more than half of the carnival masques take up this\ndress, the remainder attiring themselves as hussars, pierrots, and all\nsorts of eccentric and anomalous costumes. The balls are kept up until\nsix o'clock in the morning.\nThis tableau can be represented by ten couples. The ladies and\ngentlemen can dress to suit their own taste. The wardrobe of the\ncompany will contain a sufficient number of suits to fit out the\ntableau. A few of the comic and grotesque costumes should be\nintermingled, and all the figures wear masks of various patterns. The\nperformers are engaged in dancing the schottische. The ladies and\ngentlemen must form in couples around the sides and back of the stage.\nA platform at the rear may be occupied by musicians in fanciful\ncostume. The stage should be illuminated by a purple fire. Music, the\nschottische.\nIRISH COURTSHIP.\nOne Female and One Male Figure.\nThis comic tableau represents a young Irishman engaged in courting his\ntrue love. The stage should be furnished with kitchen furniture, a\nsmall stove, &c. The back of the stage can be hung with cheap room\npaper. Bridget is seated at a table in the centre of the stage,\nengaged in sewing. Her costume consists of a white dress and blue\napron. Patrick is seated near her, smoking a short pipe. Costume\nconsists of velvet coat and breeches, white hose, large shoes, with\nhob nails in the soles, buff vest, red wig, face and hands painted tan\ncolor. His left leg is placed across the right knee, hands placed in\nhis pants pocket, eyes fixed on Bridget, countenance expressing\ncuriosity. Music, Irish air.\nTHE FAIRIES' OFFERING TO THE QUEEN OF MAY.\n Now the bright morning star, day's harbinger,\n Comes dancing from the east, and leads with her\n The flowery May, who from her green lap throws\n The yellow cowslip and the pale primrose.\n Hail, bounteous May! that dost inspire\n Mirth and youth with warm desire;\n Woods and groves are of thy dressing,\n Hill and dale doth boast thy blessing.\n Thus we salute thee with our early song,\n And welcome thee and wish thee long.\nTwenty Female Figures.\nSo sings Milton to the sweet Birdmonth--he whose mighty mind \"nigh\nsphered in Heaven,\" hymned the soft beauty of the first day that\ndawned upon the infant world, which surely must have been a\nMay-morning.\n \"Sweet day, so calm, so pure, so bright,\n The bridal of the earth and skies.\"\nWhat must have been a May-morning in Paradise, when even now, in the\nhomeliest districts, it gladdens the heart of man with its advent of\nyoung flowers and budding leaves and sweetly singing birds! It seems\nto be Nature's own birthday, throughout the varied kingdoms of her\nliving world. All countries have greeted the welcome arrival of this\nfair day, but none more so than old Pastoral England, in the time of\nher elder poets. Time was, when, from the court to the cottage, all\n\"rose up early to observe the rite of May;\" some went a\n\"dew-gathering,\" a sort of rustic love-spell that was sure to enchant\nevery maiden, gentle or simple; others to \"fetch in May\"--a rivalry\nthat \"robbed many a hawthorn of its half-blown sweets;\" and others set\ntheir wits to work to get up some pretty device, some rural drama, one\nof which our tableau represents.\nThe Fairies' Offering to the Queen of May is a tableau of great\nexcellence and artistic beauty. The Queen of May is seated on a floral\nthrone in the background, which is situated upon a platform about six\nfeet high, with broad steps extending across the stage and to the\nfootlights. These should be covered with green bocking, and on them\nare grouped the fairies, who are offering to the queen, baskets,\nbouquets, and garlands of flowers. On the lower step are other fairies\nascending to the throne, and bearing baskets of fruit and flowers on\ntheir heads. The number of figures in the piece is twenty, nineteen of\nwhich are young misses, quite small and pretty, and one a beautiful\nmaiden, who takes the part of the May Queen.\n You must wake and call me early, call me early, mother dear;\n To-morrow'll be the happiest time of all the glad New-year;\n To-morrow'll be of all the year the maddest, merriest day,\n For I'm to be Queen o' the May, mother, I'm to be Queen o' the May.\n TENNYSON.\nThe stage scenery must be arranged in the following order: A large arm\nchair, with a shaft running up from the back, to which is attached a\ncanopy, will answer for the throne chair; cover it with green cambric,\nand decorate with garlands and bouquets. This chair should rest on the\nplatform, which is six feet long, three feet wide, and covered with\nFrench patch. A large gilt vase, containing a bouquet, must be placed\nat each corner. The queen's costume consists of a white robe,\ndecorated with flowers, a garland about the head, the right hand\ngrasping a wand trimmed with silver and gold paper, the body inclined\nforward slightly, the left hand extended, in the act of taking a\nbouquet from one of the fairies, whom she is looking at; her\ncountenance is lighted up with smiles. Care should be taken that the\nfairies who are grouped around the throne do not take the view from\nthe queen. The fairies' costume consists of a short white dress,\nflesh-colored hose, white slippers, and hair done up in ringlets. The\nsleeves of the dress made quite short, waist and skirt ornamented with\ngold bands and spangles, a wreath of pure white flowers, intermingled\nwith myrtle, on the head, and a portion of them wearing gauze wings,\nstudded with spangles. Four of the fairies are to be grouped around\nthe foot of the throne, on the top step. They stand or kneel, so that\na partial side view is had of the body; hands extended, and holding\nbouquets or garlands; eyes fixed on the queen; countenance pleasant.\nThe rest of the misses must be placed on each side of the steps,\nassuming a variety of positions, and each have fruits or flowers.\nThose at the lower part of the steps can stand near the sides of the\nstage, which will allow those above to be seen. The scene should be\nilluminated by a trio of fires, consisting of green, purple, and red,\nburned at the side of the stage. For directions, see Pyramid of\nBeauty. Music soft and animating.\nBELSHAZZAR'S FEAST.\n Joy holds her courts in great Belshazzar's hall,\n Where his proud lords attend their monarch's call;\n The rarest dainties of the teeming East\n Provoke the revel and adorn the feast.\n Why dost thou start, with livid cheek?--why fling\n The untasted goblet from thy trembling hand?\n Why shake thy joints? thy feet forget to stand?\n Why roams thine eye, which seems in wild amaze\n To shun some object, yet returns to gaze,\n Then shrinks again, appalled, as if the tomb\n Had sent a spirit from its inmost gloom?\n Awful the horror, when Belshazzar raised\n His arm, and pointed where the vision blazed;\n For see! enrobed in flame, a mystic shade,\n As of a hand, a red right hand displayed,\n And, slowly moving o'er the wall, appear\n Letters of fate and characters of fear.\n In death-like silence grouped the revellers all,\n Fixed their glazed eyeballs on the illumined wall.\n T.S. HUGHES.\nSeven Female and Eight Male Figures.\nThis sacred tableau is represented as follows: At the left of the\nstage, Belshazzar is seated on his throne. At his side stands his\nwife. Consternation and affright are depicted on their countenances.\nAt the opposite side of the stage stand three wise men. In the centre\nof the stage is the feast table, covered with silver dishes,\ncandlesticks, and refreshments. Around it are gathered the guests. In\nthe background, on a platform, are seen a group of servants. The\nhandwriting is placed on the back scenery, opposite to the group of\nservants. The number of figures in the piece is fifteen--eight\ngentlemen and seven ladies. The scenery in the piece consists of a\ntable six feet long, two and a half feet high, and three feet wide,\ncovered with a green cloth, fringed with gold paper, on this are\nplaced a silver tea set, cake baskets, candlesticks, and refreshments.\nThe throne chairs should be placed on a platform at the left of the\nstage, near the front; the platform can be formed of boxes, and must\nbe four feet square and two feet high, covered with crimson cloth,\ntrimmed with gold paper; two large chairs, with a canopy over the top,\nwill answer for the throne; one occupied by Belshazzar, the other by\nhis wife. Low seats around the table will be needed for the guests;\nthe seats can be covered with white cloth; showy pictures, in rich\nframes, adorn the walls, and pedestals and statuary fill the corners\nof the room. The writing on the wall can be produced by means of a\ntransparency, the words made large, and the letters in German text,\nwith a halo around the whole sentence. Belshazzar's costume consists\nof a purple velvet coat trimmed with gold, a large cloak trimmed with\nermine, velvet breeches, white hose crossed with red tape, sandals on\nthe feet, and a velvet and gold crown on the head. His wife should be\ndressed in a showy brocade, cut low at the top, short sleeves, a band\nof black velvet ornamented with gold placed on the head, and a narrow\nmantle worn over the shoulder. The dress must be ornamented with rich\njewelry, gold bands, and a wide belt of red velvet, decorated with\npaste pins, around the waist. The three wise men's costume consists of\nlong, loose coats, reaching six inches below the knee, and gathered in\nat the waist with a wide belt. Each coat should vary in color from the\nothers. They can be made of cambric. Colors, red, purple, and blue,\nwith the edges trimmed with cloth of some other color. Black hose,\ncrossed with red, reach to the knees, low shoes, covered with red\nTurkey cloth, on the feet, and a turban of bright colors on the head,\nthe face covered with a long white beard--this can be made of flax.\nThe ladies at the table must be costumed in silk or satin dresses,\nornamented with spangles, and any kind of jewelry that will look\nshowy; hair decorated with spar beads, hair pins, and plumes. The\ngentlemen's costume consists of rich velvet suits; long beards.\nServants in short white coats, with border on the bottom, red\nbreeches, white hose, and light felt hats with gold bands.\nBelshazzar's position is in the chair near the footlights; body\ninclined back, arms thrown up, eyes fixed on the writing, countenance\nexpressing affright. His wife is seated in the second chair, one arm\nresting on the shoulder of her husband, the other raised in front of\nthe face, eyes directed to the writing. The wise men stand opposite to\nthe throne, at the extreme end of the stage, near the footlights;\ntheir backs are to the audience; the heads of two are turned to the\nking, giving a side view of their faces. One of them points to the\nwriting. The party at the table must assume a variety of natural\npositions; a few look with astonishment, and point at the writing;\nothers are engaged in eating and drinking. The servants stand in the\nbackground, and are all looking at the writing. A few lean forward and\npoint to the wall; others take position as if about to flee from the\nroom; the countenances of all express terror. The scene should be\nlighted by a brilliant red fire burned at the side of the stage\nopposite Belshazzar. Music, operatic style.\nTHE VALENTINE.\n \"I smile at Love and all his arts,\"\n The charming Cynthia cried;\n \"Take heed, for Love has piercing darts,\"\n A wounded swain replied.\n \"Once free and blessed, as you are now,\n I trifled with his charms,\n I pointed at his little bow,\n And sported with his arms;\n Till, urged too far, 'Revenge!' he cries;\n A fatal shaft he drew;\n It took its passage through your eyes,\n And to my heart it flew.\"\n J. VANBURGH.\nTwo Female and Two Male Figures.\nThis tableau is represented by four persons--two young ladies, and two\nsmall lads. One of the young ladies is seated on a sofa, which is\nplaced in the centre of the stage. She holds a valentine in the left\nhand, and points at it with her right. Her head is turned around to a\nyoung lady who stands behind the sofa. The countenance expresses\nmirth. The lady standing behind the sofa rests her right arm on the\nshoulder of her friend, and is looking to the valentine, her body\ninclined forward slightly, face beaming with smiles. Costume consists\nof a white dress, pink apron trimmed with green, hair done up in wide\nbraids at the side of the head, and ornamented with a few flowers. The\ncostume of the lady seated, consists of a white dress, buff apron\ntrimmed with purple, hair hanging in ringlets, and ornamented with\nblue ribbon. On each side of the stage, within one foot of the\ncurtain, place pedestals; they should be three feet high, two feet\nsquare, with cap and base, and covered with white marble paper or\ncloth, and decorated with a wreath of flowers on the front. On those\nstand the young lads, dressed to represent Cupids. Position is, facing\nthe group in the centre of the stage, attitude of one running; one of\nthem holds on high a large sealed letter. The other holds a small\ntablet in one hand, and a quill in the right; these must be extended\ntowards the centre of the stage. Their costume consists of a short\ngauze dress, cut low at the top and decorated with spangles, pants of\nflesh-colored cloth, reaching to the ankles and fitting tightly to the\nlegs, flesh-colored hose, white slippers, gauze wings fastened to the\nback of the body, and decorated with spangles and silver stars. A\nsmall quiver, formed of card-board, covered with blue and gold paper,\nfilled with arrows and bow, suspended from the neck; a low-crowned\nhat, with a wide brim, covered with pink cambric, and decorated with a\nwreath of flowers, covers the head; the eyes directed to the group on\nthe sofa, countenance expressing pleasure. The background may be\nornamented with pictures and statuary. The light for this piece must\nbe of medium brilliancy, and come from the right side of the stage.\nMusic soft.\nTHE FAIRIES' RAINBOW BRIDGE.\n Love and Hope and Youth, together\n Travelling once in stormy weather,\n Met a deep and gloomy tide,\n Flowing swift, and dark, and wide.\n 'Twas named the River of Despair,--\n And many a wreck was floating there.\n The urchins paused, with faces grave,\n Debating how to cross the wave,\n When, lo! the curtain of the storm\n Was severed, and the rainbow's form\n Stood against the parting cloud,\n Emblem of peace on trouble's shroud.\n Hope pointed to the signal flying,\n And the three, their shoulders plying,\n O'er the stream the light arch threw--\n A rainbow bridge of loveliest hue!\n Now, laughing as they tripped it o'er,\n They gayly sought the other shore.\n ANON.\nThree Male Figures.\nThis brilliant tableau represents a rippling stream of water, with\nluxuriant banks on either side, spanned by a beautiful rainbow. A\nparty of fairies, wishing to pass the stream, have made use of the\nrainbow as a bridge. One of them is seen in the centre of the bridge,\nholding a golden wand, with which he endeavors to balance himself in\nhis passage over the water. Standing on the right bank, near the end\nof the bridge, is a fairy who has safely passed over, and is\nencouraging his friend on the opposite side to make the trial, who is\nseated on the grass arranging a bunch of flowers. The scenery of the\npiece can be adjusted in the following manner: Boxes two feet wide\nand three feet high placed on each side of the stage, from the front\nto the background, and covered with green bocking, will answer for the\nbanks of the river. A few branches of spruce, intermingled with\nflowers, should be fastened to the side scenes, and a few spruce trees\narranged in the background. At the front end of the banks place showy\nvases of flowers; and at the other end, on pedestals two feet high,\nplace larger vases, containing bouquets. To make the river show to\nadvantage, it will be necessary to arrange it in the form of an\ninclined plane. Strips of wood placed across the stage at a distance\nof one foot from each other, on a rise of two inches to a foot, and\ncovered with blue cambric, will answer for the river. Let the cloth\nfestoon between the strips, paint the ridges of the miniature waves\nwith white paint, and sprinkle them with small particles of isinglass.\nOn the foreground of the scene place two swans, and around the edges\nof the banks fasten pieces of spruce and grasses. The bridge should be\nmade slightly oval, and placed in the centre of the stage. Three\nstringers, sawed out of inch board, and covered with lathes two feet\nlong, will answer for the flooring. This can be entirely hid from view\nby a railing on the front side, and is made as follows: Manufacture a\nframe to correspond with the curve and length of the flooring, and\ntwelve inches in width; cover it with white cloth, and paint it to\nrepresent a rainbow; the colors may be purple, crimson, yellow, green,\nand white; lights placed behind it, will give a fine effect. The\nfairies' costume consists of a short muslin dress, with a border three\ninches wide, of pink muslin, decorated with gold stars--the white\nmuslin ornamented with silver spangles and stars; flesh-colored hose,\nwhite slippers, a band of silver, ornamented with paste pins, about\nthe head, and small wings attached to the back of the dress,--the\nwings formed of wire, covered with gauze, and ornamented with endless\nbands of blue tarleton muslin, ornamented with silver spangles. Each\nholds a gold wand three feet long. The position of the fairy on the\nbridge is such that a side view is had of the form, while the face is\nturned towards the front of the stage. The wand is grasped in the\ncentre, and held across the bosom. The countenance expresses pleasure.\nThe fairy who has passed over is standing at the end of the bridge,\npartly facing the audience, with both hands extended towards his\nfriend, his countenance expressing mirth. The fairy on the other bank\nis seated on the ground arranging flowers. He faces the audience, and\nis looking at a large rose which he holds in his right hand. This\nscene must be illuminated by green, red, and yellow fire, which is\ndescribed in the tableau of the \"Pyramid of Beauty.\" Music, light and\nanimating.\nLITTLE EVA AND UNCLE TOM.\n Dry thy tears for holy Eva,\n With the blessed angels leave her;\n Of the form so sweet and fair\n Give to earth the tender care.\n For the golden locks of Eva\n Let the sunny south land give her\n Flowery pillows of repose,\n Orange bloom and budding rose.\n J.G. WHITTIER.\nOne Female and One Male Figure.\nThis tableau is one that can be easily produced, and will not be\nexpensive. It represents little Eva seated in an arbor by the side of\nUncle Tom. She has a large Bible before her, which she is reading and\nexplaining to her friend. A rustic arbor can be made of strips of\nwood, covered with white cloth, and painted to resemble slats and\nrunning vines; the dimensions of which are six feet high, four feet\nwide, and three feet deep. A rough seat at the back part is occupied\nby Eva and Uncle Tom. A festoon of artificial flowers and spruce\nshould be arranged in front, and a large spruce tree placed on either\nside. The person who personates Uncle Tom must be one of large figure\nand pleasant countenance. Costume consists of a coat of coarse\nmaterial, white pants, light vest, colored handkerchief tied about the\nneck, striped hose, low shoes, a wig of black, curly hair, and a\nwide-brimmed straw hat, which lies on the ground by his side. The wig\ncan be formed of curled horse-hair, fastened to a covering made to fit\nthe crown of the head. Color the exposed parts of the body black, the\nlips red. Little Eva should be quite small, pretty, and have long\nlight curls. Her costume consists of a white dress, trimmed at the top\nand around the sleeves with pink ribbon; a straw hat, trimmed with\nwild flowers, which hangs by the strings on her arm, and dark shoes.\nUncle Tom is seated on one side of the seat, his legs crossed, body\nbent forward slightly, hands placed on his knees, his head turned\ntowards Eva, and eyes fixed on the Bible with an expression of\npleasure and earnestness. Eva is seated at his side, with her feet\nresting on a small stool, one hand placed on Uncle Tom's arm, while\nwith the other she points to the pages of the Bible. Her face is\nturned towards her friend. The countenance expresses sadness. A small\nquantity of light is required for the piece, which should come from\nthe left side. Music, soft and plaintive.\nLOVE TRIUMPHANT.\n In peace, Love tunes the shepherd's reed;\n In war, he mounts the warrior's steed;\n In halls, in gay attire is seen,\n In hamlets, dances on the green.\n Love rules the court, the camp, the grove,\n And men below, and saints above;\n For love is heaven, and heaven is love.\n SIR WALTER SCOTT.\nOne Female and Two Male Figures.\nThis beautiful classic tableau represents two figures, a youth and a\nmaiden, supporting Cupid on their shoulders. The two persons who take\nthese parts should be of good figure and of equal height. The maiden's\ncostume consists of a white dress, cut low at the top, sleeves short;\na gauze scarf draped across the breast, tied at the side, and allowed\nto trail on the floor; white shoes, hair hanging loosely over the\nshoulders, the head encircled with a wreath of spar beads and white\nflowers. The right hand grasps a garland of white flowers, while the\nleft helps to support the boy Cupid. The youth's costume consists of a\nwhite coat, vest, breeches, hose, cravat, and shoes. Across the left\narm hangs a white mantle; the hand grasping a shepherd's crook, which\nis four feet long, and painted white. The boy Cupid must be quite\nsmall, and costumed in a short gauze dress, white hose, and shoes; a\nwhite quiver, bow and arrows, must be suspended from the neck by a\nsatin ribbon, and small gauze wings fastened to the back of the\ndress. The right hand grasps a torch, which is held above the head.\nThis can be made of card board, the flame imitated by gold paper. His\nhead is turned towards the maiden, into whose eyes he is looking,\ncountenance expressing mirth. The two figures stand on a pedestal two\nfeet high and four feet in diameter, covered with black marble paper,\nand placed in the centre of the stage, the right arm of the gentleman\nand the left arm of the maiden crossed so as to make a seat for the\nboy; both assume attitudes of persons in the act of walking, and look\nup with delight into the face of the boy. The front of the stage, if\ncovered with white gauze, will add to the beauty of the scene, which\nis intended to represent statuary. Light should come from the side of\nthe stage, and of medium brilliancy. Music, soft and plaintive.\nTHE BANDITTI.\n But wilder sounds were there; th' imploring cry\n That woke the forest's echo in reply,\n But not the heart's! Unmoved, the wizard train\n Stood round their human victim, and in vain\n His prayer for mercy rose; in vain his glance\n Look'd up, appealing to the blue expanse,\n Where, in their calm, immortal beauty, shone\n Heaven's cloudless orbs. With faint and fainter moan,\n Bound on the shrine of sacrifice he lay,\n Till, drop by drop, life's current ebb'd away;\n Till rock and turf grew deeply, darkly red,\n And the pale moon gleam'd paler on the dead.\nTwo Female and Eight Male Figures.\nThis tableau represents a travelling party attacked on the mountains\nof Italy by a company of outlaws. It is one which can be easily\nformed, and contains ten figures, five of which are men dressed to\nrepresent banditti; the other personations are an old gentleman, his\ndaughter, a young officer and wife, and coachman. The floor of the\nstage should rise gradually from the fore to the background. This can\nbe accomplished with boxes and boards covered with green bocking. The\nbandit's costume consists of a dark coat, open in front, showing a\ncolored shirt, breeches of bright-colored cloth, white hose, knee and\nshoe buckles, low shoes, red scarf about the waist, in which are\npistols and short sword, black felt hat, slouched, with a red band and\ncolored plume; heavy beard, face and neck slightly stained\nlight-brown; the coats can be trimmed with gaudy binding, if\ndesirable. The old gentleman's costume consists of black coat, light\npants and vest, light cravat, white wig, light hat, face painted to\nimitate age. The officer's dress can be quite showy or very plain. If\na full military costume cannot be procured, the following will answer:\nDark frock coat, buttoned to the neck, and ornamented with large gilt\nbuttons and shoulder straps, black pants with buff stripe, flat cap\nwith gilt band, side arms and sash. The officer's wife is dressed in a\nshowy silk robe; hair arranged to suit the performer's taste. The old\nman's daughter is costumed in a white dress, pink silk apron, small\nstraw hat trimmed with green ribbon. Coachman's costume is, a long,\ndark coat, buttoned to the chin, light pants, long boots, black silk\nhat, with a leather strap and a number in gold in front, black belt\naround the waist, the right hand grasping a long whip. A\nrepresentation of the side of a coach, covered with cloth painted in\nproper style, and placed in the background, will add much to the\neffect. In the centre of the stage place a large trunk filled with\nclothing, the cover thrown back so as to display the contents.\nWatches, jewelry, and other articles of value should be strown\npromiscuously about, while one of the bandits is seen kneeling over it\nwith a heavy watch and chain in his hand. Back of the trunk stand the\nofficer and a brigand. The officer has a large wound across the\ntemple, and attempts to rescue his wife, who is being dragged away by\none of the brigands in the background; he stretches out his arms\ntowards, and looks upon her, but is kept from her by the strong arm\nof the ruffian at his side, who grasps him by the collar, and holds a\nbloody sword above his head; the brigand partially faces the audience;\nthe officer stands in a side position; the wife is seen kneeling in\nthe background, with hands clasped and eyes raised to a brigand, who\ngrasps her by the hair of the head with the left hand, and presents a\npistol at her with the right. At the left of the trunk is seen the old\ngentleman. One of the ruffians grasps him by the throat, as if in the\nact of strangling him. The old man holds a watch in the left hand; the\nright is thrown upward. His position is, facing the audience;\ncountenance expressing terror and excitement. At the right of the\ntrunk kneels the coachman, with hands tied behind his back, which is\nturned to the audience, head thrown backward so that a partial side\nview is had of the features. A few paces in front of him, and facing\nthe audience, is seated a brigand, on the top of a portmanteau; he is\nsmoking a short pipe, and with the right hand points a pistol to the\nface of the figure kneeling in front of him. Between him and the wife\nlies the young girl, who has fainted from affright. She lies with her\nhead to the back of the stage, arms stretched out on the grass, and\neyes closed. The stage should be illuminated by brilliant lights\nplaced at the left side of the stage. The sound of rain and thunder\nmay be produced in the ante-rooms with good effect.\nPORTRAIT OF LOUIS NAPOLEON.\nOne Male Figure.\nThis portrait-tableau is produced in the same manner as that of\n\"Gabrielle.\" The gentleman who personates Louis Napoleon should in\nform and features resemble him. The costume consists of a blue velvet\ncoat, decorated with silver and gold lace, vest of the same material,\nbuff breeches, white hose, low shoes, knee and shoe buckles, gold\nepaulets and side arms, a decoration on the left breast composed of\nbrilliant stones and spangles, a red and blue silk sash across the\nbreast. Louis Napoleon wears a long beard and heavy mustache. Position\nis such as to display a partial front view of the body, right hand\nplaced on the hilt of his sword, eyes directed forward, countenance\ncalm. Light should come from the front of the stage, and be of medium\nbrilliancy. Music, Marseillaise Hymn.\nTHE RETURN FROM THE VINTAGE.\n It is the Rhine! our mountain vineyards laving;\n I see the bright flood shine;\n Sing on the march, with every banner waving,\n Sing, brothers; 'tis the Rhine!\n Home, home! thy glad wave hath a tone of greeting,\n Thy path is by my home;\n Even now my children count the hours, till meeting;\n O, ransomed ones, I come.\n MRS. HEMANS.\nOne Female and Four Male Figures.\nThis picture represents four laborers returning from the vintage,\nbearing on their shoulders a large tub of grapes, seated on the top of\nwhich is a young girl, and by her side a small child. As they near the\nshores of the imperial river, they sing one of their national songs,\nthe girl accompanying with a tambourine, and the child with a flute.\nThe costume of the four vintagers consists of colored or check shirts,\nbreeches, long hose, low shoes, knee and shoe buckles, single-breasted\nvest of bright colors, left open, handkerchief tied carelessly about\nthe neck, and low felt hat with a sprig of grape leaves in front, the\nface colored slightly with red. The lady's costume consists of a red\ndress, blue waist, open in front, and laced across with pink ribbon,\nand a small straw hat trimmed with green ribbon on the head. The boy's\ncostume consists of a velvet jacket, white pants, and small fancy cap.\nThe four vintagers stand in a circle, on a round or square pedestal\nfour feet in diameter, covered with green bocking; they face outward,\nand support the tub on their shoulders; one hand is raised, and grasps\nthe top of the tub, while the other hangs carelessly at the side. A\ntall box should be placed under the tub, which will relieve the\nlaborers from the weight. The vintagers look up to the lady, the\ncountenance expressing pleasure. The young lady who is seated on the\ntub holds the tambourine in her left hand, which is raised above her\nhead; the right hand is raised as high as the face, the head thrown\nback slightly, eyes lifted, body facing the audience. The boy has the\nend of the flute or trumpet placed in his mouth; both hands grasp the\nflute; eyes directed forward. The tub should be three feet wide, and\nthe outside and rim painted in imitation of grapes and leaves. Light\nwill be needed in front and at the left side. Music of an inspiring\norder.\nLOVERS GOING TO THE WELL.\n How dear to my heart are the scenes of my childhood,\n When fond recollection presents them to view;\n The orchard, the meadow, the deep-tangled wildwood,\n And every loved spot which my infancy knew;\n The wide-spreading pond, and the mill that stood by it,\n The bridge, and the rock where the cataract fell,\n The cot of my fathers, the dairy house nigh it,\n And e'en the rude bucket which hung in the well;\n The old oaken bucket, the iron-bound bucket,\n The moss-covered bucket, which hung in the well.\nOne Male and One Female Figure.\nThis tableau represents a young peasant girl and her lover going to\nthe well. It is a statuary design, and, when well executed, makes a\ntableau of great beauty. The lady and gentleman who take part in this\ngroup must be of the same height, of slim figure, and good features;\nthe gentleman should be without a beard. In the centre of the stage\nplace a round pedestal one foot high, three feet in diameter, and\ncovered with black marble paper. The gentleman's costume consists of a\nwhite coat, breeches, hose, shoes, cravat, vest, gloves, hat and\ncollar, and a long gauze scarf, worn over the shoulder, tied at the\nside, the ends hanging down to the knee, the hat placed jantily on the\nside of the head. The lady's costume consists of a white dress, worn\nwith but few skirts, and cut low at the top, sleeves long and flowing;\na long gauze scarf worn over the shoulders, tied at the side, the ends\nallowed to trail on the floor; white hose, shoes, gloves, and white\nfelt hat worn carelessly on the head; the exposed parts of both\nfigures made as white as possible. Both stand near the centre of the\npedestal, the gentleman's right hand placed across the lady's\nshoulder; his left hangs carelessly at the side, and grasps a white\nwater pitcher, his right foot placed twenty inches in advance of the\nleft, the toe of the left just touching the pedestal, and the body\ninclined forward slightly; his head is turned towards the lady, into\nwhose eyes he is looking, while the countenance expresses pleasure.\nThe lady's right hand holds a pitcher similar in shape to the one held\nby the gentleman. Her left is raised near her bosom, the forefinger\npointed to some object in the distance. Her head is turned towards the\ngentleman, eyes looking into his, and countenance expressing\nearnestness, her feet and body in the same position as the\ngentleman's. The front of the stage, if covered with thin white gauze,\nwill add to the beauty of the piece. The light should come from the\nleft side of the stage, and be of a medium brightness. Music soft and\nplaintive.\nTHE ITALIAN FLOWER VASE.\n O Attic shape! Fair attitude! With brede\n Of marble men and maidens overwrought\n With forest branches and the trodden weed;\n Thou, silent form, dost tease us out of thought,\n As doth eternity. Cold Pastoral!\n When old age shall this generation waste,\n Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe\n Than ours; a friend to man, to whom thou say'st,\n \"Beauty is truth, truth beauty\"--that is all\n Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.\n KEATS'S \"ODE ON A GRECIAN URN.\"\nThree Female Figures.\nThis exquisite statue tableau represents a beautiful vase, the sides\nof which are ornamented with statues, personifying Spring, Summer, and\nAutumn. The vase is made to revolve by machinery. Three ladies of good\nfigure and features, and of equal height, are required, to fill out\nthe design. Their costumes consist of long white muslin robes, worn\nwith few under skirts, cut low at the neck, sleeves reaching to the\nelbow, and flowing, white hose and slippers; hair combed up from the\nforehead, clasped with a band of silver behind, and allowed to hang in\nheavy curls in the neck; a string of small wax or spar beads entwined\nabout the top of the head, the ends trailing among the curls; a\nbouquet of white flowers placed on the front of the waist, and a white\nrose fastened to the front of the spar wreath which adorns the head;\nthe exposed portions of the body made as white as possible.\nThe stage machinery is constructed in the following manner: After\narranging the revolving beam beneath the stage, (described in the\n\"Bust of Proserpine,\") the base of the vase should be fastened to the\ntop of the shaft which protrudes through the floor, and fastened so\nfirmly that the weight of the three females will not impede the\nrevolutions. It must also be constructed so that it can be easily\nshipped and unshipped. The base is of octagon form, two feet in\ndiameter, one foot thick, and ornamented with small scrolls around the\nsides, the whole to be covered with white cloth, and decorated with\nartificial or painted wreaths and festoons of flowers. On the top of\nthe base there must be a box one foot high, and five inches square,\nfastened firmly to the main body with iron braces; this is for the\ninsertion of the shaft of the vase, which is made of joist, four\ninches square, six feet in length, and painted white. The top or bowl\nof the vase should be made in the form of a saucer; the material used\nin its composition must be light; its dimensions, four feet in\ndiameter, with a square cavity in the centre, in which to place the\nshaft; cover the exterior with white cloth; around the top paint a\nwreath of large flowers, and from the centre to the rim paint other\nfestoons of smaller flowers four inches apart; around the cavity where\nthe shaft enters, place three pieces of wood, made and painted to\nresemble large leaves, the size of which should be seven inches in\nlength by five in width. The vase can be made in one piece, if there\nis sufficient room for the accommodation of so large a piece of\nfurniture. But for a small stage it will be better to have it in\nthree parts. The ladies stand on the base of the vase, with their\nbacks against the shaft, the top of the head just touching the bottom\nof the large leaves, the head and body perfectly erect, the hands of\nthe three clasped at the side, and holding the ends of festoons of\ncolored flowers, eyes slightly raised, countenance calm and pleasant.\nThe festoons must run from the hands of the statues to the shaft,\nfastened there, and pass down to the other hand, and so on around the\nthree figures. The vase should revolve quite slowly, and be put in\nmotion while the curtain is rising. Gauze before this piece will add\nto the effect. The light must come from the left side of the stage,\nand be of medium brilliancy. Music soft and plaintive.\nPORTRAIT OF THE MADONNA.\n They haunt me still--those calm, pure, holy eyes;\n Their piercing sweetness wanders through my dreams:\n The soul of music that within them lies,\n Comes o'er my soul in soft and sudden gleams.\n Are there not deep, sad oracles to read\n In the calm stillness of that radiant face?\n Yes, even like thee must gifted spirits bleed,\n Thrown on a world, for heavenly things no place.\nOne Female Figure.\nThis portrait tableau is produced in the same manner as that of\n\"Gabrielle.\" The lady who personates the Madonna should be of good\nfigure, fine, regular features, eyes large and expressive, a full face\nand dark hair. Costume consists of white dress open slightly in front,\nsleeves long and flowing, a velvet cape thrown negligently over the\nshoulders, a large cross suspended from the neck by a necklace of wax\nbeads, the hair puffed slightly at the side, and arranged in a neat\ncoil at the back, and a large braid passed across the top of the head.\nShe should partially face the audience, the head slightly inclined\nforward, eyes cast upward, hands clasped in front of the breast, and\nlips partly open, the countenance expressing earnestness and meekness.\nLight will be required at the front of the stage, and must be of\nmedium brilliancy. Music of a sacred and plaintive style.\nTHE SHOEMAKER IN LOVE.\n Love's feeling is more soft and sensible\n Than are the tender horns of cockled snails.\n SHAKSPEARE.\nOne Male and Two Female Figures.\nThis is a comic tableau, and represents a pretty young lady at a\ncountry shoemaker's shop, in the act of having her foot measured for a\npair of shoes. The lady stands in the centre of the stage, and rests\nher unslippered foot on a small box, while the knight of the lapstone\nand hammer is engaged in taking the measure of her foot. While\noccupied in this duty, he is suddenly smitten, either with her pretty\nface or small foot, and instead of proceeding with his task, he stops\nand looks up with a pleasant smile into the face of his fair customer.\nIn the background, peeping out from behind a screen, is the\nshoemaker's wife, with a broomstick in her hand. The scenery consists\nof a wooden screen, covered with cloth, extending half way across the\ncentre of the stage, on which is painted, in large letters, the name\n\"Ebenezer Heeltap.\" Shelves of boots, shoes, shoemaker's tools, and\nother articles, should also be painted on the screen. In the\nforeground place a shoemaker's bench, and a few shoes, partly worn\nout, scattered on the floor. The young lady's costume consists of a\nblue silk dress, crimson shawl, white bonnet, and sunshade. Position\nis, standing at the side of the stage, showing a side view of the\nbody, one foot resting on a box, both hands grasping her dress, which\nshe draws up sufficiently high to display her foot and ankle, body\nbent forward, and eyes fixed on her foot. The shoemaker kneels on the\nfloor opposite to her, holding a strap in one hand, the other resting\non the box, the head thrown back, and eyes cast upward to the face of\nthe lady. Costume consists of a suit of coarse material, sleeves\nrolled up to the elbow, leather apron tied about the waist, paper cap\non the head, red or gray wig, and shaggy beard. The old lady's costume\nconsists of a cheap calico dress, white ruffled cap, white\nhandkerchief tied about the neck, and spectacles on the nose. The\nlight must come from the right side of the stage, and be of medium\nbrilliancy. Music of a secular order.\nPRINCE CHARLES EDWARD AFTER THE BATTLE OF CULLODEN.\n Our bugles sung truce, for the night cloud had lower'd,\n And the sentinel stars set their watch in the sky,\n And thousands had sunk on the ground overpower'd,\n The weary to sleep, and the wounded to die.\n THOMAS CAMPBELL.\nOne Female and Six Male Figures.\nThis tableau contains seven figures, and represents Prince Charles\nEdward asleep in one of his hiding-places after the battle of\nCulloden, protected by Flora Macdonald and Highland outlaws, who are\nalarmed on their watch. Here rests, in fitful and affrighted slumbers,\nthe recent victor, Prince Charles Edward, a broken and despairing\nfugitive, his gallant spirit dissipated, and his well-knit limbs\nstained, and bruised, and soiled by urgent journeys and perilous\nencounters. Beside him sits a sleepless guardian, the brave, the\nbeautiful, the heroic Flora Macdonald. A deer-hound, who had crouched\nat her feet, has given an alarm of coming danger. The peril is\nimminent, but the foe is invisible. What shall be done? Shall the\nsleeper be awakened? His devoted protector, prompt as the occasion,\nand wise beyond the emergency, counsels on the instant, silence,\ncaution, self-possession. Thereupon the Highlanders draw together,\nand, restraining the frenzy of their first emotions, wait, with\ndesperate resolution, the first manifestation of coming danger.\nThe scenery accompanying this piece represents a cave in the rocks; in\nthe centre of the back wall is an opening, through which the Highland\noutlaws are looking. The rocks can be imitated by covering wooden\nframes with coarse brown paper, fastened on in a rumpled manner, and\nshaded with light and dark brown paint, sprinkled over with small\nparticles of isinglass. These frames should reach to the ceiling of\nthe stage, and be constructed in sections four feet wide; they must be\narranged in the background in the form of a half circle, the floor and\nsides of the stage covered with the same kind of scenery; a box six\nfeet long and two feet wide, covered with a robe, should be placed in\nthe centre of the cave, for the prince to recline upon. Spears,\nshields and battle axes may be strewn about, and a small fire made to\nsmoulder in the foreground. This can be built in an iron furnace,\nsurrounded by rocks. The prince is costumed in a rich Highland suit.\nThe coat, which reaches to the knee, is made of Scotch plaid, trimmed\nat the bottom of the skirt, sleeves, and on the front with black\nvelvet ornamented with gold; plaid breeches and hose, worn so as to\nleave a naked space of five inches between the top of the hose and\nbottom of the breeches; short-legged boots, with red tops, spurs; a\nheavy plaid scarf, decorated with gold, worn across the shoulders; and\na flat Highland cap, with plume in front, which lies on the couch at\nhis side. The prince is lying on his side, lengthwise of the cave, in\nposition so that his face can be seen, his head resting on his left\narm, while his right hangs down to the floor of the cave, touching\nhis sword and pistols. Flora Macdonald is seated near the head of\nPrince Charles. Her costume consists of a Highland frock reaching\nbelow the knees, hose of scarlet plaid, a scarf about the breast made\nof black cloth, and fringed on the side with buff, and across the\nshoulders is worn a blue cape trimmed with velvet and gold; her hair\nhangs loosely on the shoulders; the left hand gathers the cloak about\nthe breast, while the right is raised in front of the face, the\nfingers extended, the head turned around to the group of Highlanders\nat the back of the cave, to whom she is in the act of speaking. Fear\nand caution are expressed on her countenance. The group of Highlanders\nare at the right of the cave, in the extreme background, near the\nopening. Their costume is similar to that of the prince, but of\ncheaper material, and without decorations. Each has a sword and\nmusket. The first outlaw is looking out of the opening; he holds his\nmusket in front of him; at his side stoops another, with musket\ntrailing. Behind these two stands a third, with a long spear. Back of\nhim is one with a sword in his hand. He is in the act of speaking to\nFlora Macdonald; his countenance denotes affright; his left hand\npoints to the opening in the cave; his body inclined backward\nslightly. The fifth figure is kneeling in the foreground, holding a\nhound by the collar. The countenances of the first three outlaws\nshould express caution. The faces of the gentlemen can be disguised by\nfalse beards. The scene must be illuminated by a small quantity of\nred fire burned at the front part of the ante-room, opposite the\ngroup of outlaws. Thunder and the falling of rain imitated in the\nante-rooms will add to the effect. No music will be required.\nTHE FLOWER GIRL.\nFLOWERS.\n They are the autographs of angels, penn'd\n In Nature's green-leav'd book, in blended tints,\n Borrowed from rainbows and the sunset skies,\n And written every where--on plain and hill,\n In lonely dells, 'mid crowded haunts of men;\n On the broad prairies, where no eye save God's\n May read their silent, sacred mysteries.\n Thank God for flowers! they gladden human hearts;\n Seraphic breathings part their fragrant lips\n With whisperings of Heaven.\n ALBERT LAIGHTON.\nOne Female Figure.\nThe statue tableau of the Flower Girl is quite a pretty design, and is\nproduced in the following manner: A pedestal two feet in height, with\na circular shield at the top three feet in diameter, is placed in the\ncentre of the stage, around the sides and on the top of which are\narranged folds of white cloth. The young lady who personates the\nflower girl is to stand in the centre of the shield, holding in front\nof her a basket of flowers. She should be of good form and features.\nHer costume consists of a pure white robe cut low at the top and long\nat the bottom, sleeves short, the front of the waist ornamented with a\nsmall bouquet, and a wreath of flowers or silver leaves around the\nhead, the hair puffed slightly at the side, and confined at the back\nof the head with a band of silver, and allowed to hang in curls in the\nneck; the basket filled to the top with flowers, held at arm's length,\nand resting against the right side of the front of the body. The lady\nfaces the audience, inclines her body forward a very little, the hands\ngrasping the basket at each side, right foot placed twelve inches in\nadvance of the left, head inclined back and to the left, the eyes\ndirected forward, countenance pleasant. The crimson curtain, and the\ntwo fairies used in the \"Bust of Proserpine,\" can be used in this\npiece, the curtain placed above the statue, the fairies taking the\nsame position as in Proserpine. Illuminate the stage with the\nfootlights. Music soft and plaintive.\nPRESENTATION OF FIREMAN'S TRUMPET.\n \"Honor to whom honor is due.\"\nEleven Male and Eleven Female Figures.\nThis interesting tableau contains twenty-two figures. The scene\nrepresents a young and beautiful female presenting a silver trumpet to\na fireman. In the background of the stage there should be erected a\nplatform, from which a flight of steps extends down to the\nforeground. On the right side of the steps are young ladies in\nappropriate costumes, and at the left of the steps are the comrades of\nthe receiver of the trumpet. Standing in the centre of the platform is\na young lady, about to present the trumpet to the fireman, who is\nkneeling at her feet. The platform must be four feet high and two feet\nwide, the steps running nearly across the stage, and within three feet\nof the footlights. At each side of the platform place a large vase of\nflowers, and cover the steps with green bocking. The ladies' costume\nconsists of a white dress, with red sash around the waist, a wreath of\nmyrtle on the head, and a wreath of flowers held in the right hand.\nThe gentlemen's costume consists of a showy fireman's suit. The lady\nwho presents the trumpet should be costumed in a white dress decorated\nwith artificial flowers, a crown of the same on the head, and a belt\nabout the waist. The ladies and gentlemen at the sides of the stage\nare all kneeling, and in such a position that a profile view is had of\nthe body. The ladies rest the left hand on the waist, and extend\ntowards the top of the platform the right hand, which holds the wreath\nof flowers. Their attention is directed to the lady above, the\ncountenance expressing pleasure. The gentlemen form in a like manner,\nand raise the right hand to the side of the face. The gentleman who\nreceives the trumpet kneels on the upper step, and in such a position\nthat a profile view will be had of the face; the left hand rests on\nthe waist, while the right is extended to take the trumpet; the head\nis thrown back slightly, the eyes fixed on those of the lady, who\nstands in the centre of the platform. Her body is inclined forward,\neyes fixed on the face of the fireman, right hand extended and holding\nthe trumpet, her countenance beaming with smiles. Light from the foot\nand left side of the stage will be required, which should be very\nbrilliant. Music of an operatic character.\nTHE PAINTER'S STUDIO.\n The golden light into the painter's room\n Stream'd richly, and the hidden colors stole\n From the dark pictures radiantly forth,\n And in the soft and dewy atmosphere\n Like forms and landscapes magical they lay.\n The walls were hung with armor, and about\n In the dim corners stood the sculptured forms\n Of Cytheris, and Dian, and stern Jove;\n And from the casement soberly away,\n Fell the grotesque long shadows, full and true,\n And, like a veil of filmy mellowness,\n The lint-specks floated in the twilight air.\n WILLIS.\nOne Female and One Male Figure.\nA representation of a painter's studio. Scattered about the room are\nworks of art, fine paintings, portraits, statuary, vases of ancient\nform, and flowers. A guitar and flute hang from the wall, and at the\nleft of the stage is a large picture, with a crimson curtain partially\ndrawn across it. The painter's easel stands at the right of the stage;\non it is an unfinished portrait of a lady. A small table, sofa, and\nthree ancient chairs complete the furniture of the room. The artist is\nseated in one of the chairs, engaged in painting the lady's portrait.\nThe lady is seated in a chair in the centre of the stage, her feet\nresting on a small cushion, right elbow placed on the table which is\nby her side, and eyes fixed on a book which she holds in her left\nhand. A few showy bound books and a small bust may be placed on the\ntable. The lady's costume consists of a pink or blue silk dress, cut\nlow at the neck, sleeves of usual length, hair done up to suit the\nperformer's taste. Her position is, facing the audience. The artist's\ncostume consists of a rich dressing gown, a red velvet cap with a gold\ntassel, light pants and vest. His position is such that a side view is\nhad of the features, the left hand holding a pallet and brushes, the\nright grasping a small brush, which he is in the act of using. His\neyes are fixed on the picture, countenance expressing earnestness.\nIlluminate the background of the scene with a small quantity of red\nfire, the foreground with light of medium brilliancy, both of which\nshould come from the right side of the stage. Music soft and\nplaintive.\nPORTRAIT OF GABRIELLE.\n There's nothing ill can dwell in such a temple:\n If the ill spirit have so fair a house,\n Good things will strive to dwell with 't.\n TEMPEST.\nOne Female Figure.\nThis tableau is suggested by the beautiful picture by De la Roche, one\nof the most eminent of French painters. The best portrait of Napoleon\nI. was painted by this artist. The subject of the painter is\nGabrielle. The person who represents this portrait should have fine\nGrecian features, small figure, and hair that will curl profusely. The\ncostume consists of a pink brocade cut low at the top, open in the\nform of a square in front, and trimmed with white lace and black\nvelvet. The hair must be parted in the centre of the forehead, puffed\nout at the side, and arranged in short curls in the neck. A band of\nvelvet one inch wide in the middle, and tapered to a point at each\nend, with a silver star studded with spangles on the widest part,\nshould be placed around the head. The frame, behind which the lady\ntakes her seat, is constructed as follows: Out of boards make a solid\nframe, four feet long and three feet wide, with a cornice on the\noutside. From the centre, cut out an oval three feet long and two feet\nwide; cover the frame with black cambric or velvet, and ornament the\ncornice and edge of the oval with gold paper; place the frame at the\nback of the stage on a platform or box three feet high, three feet\nwide, and two feet deep; fasten the frame by means of hooks or screws\nto the top of the box, flush with the front; attach a heavy crimson\ncord and tassel to the top, and pass it over a brass hook screwed to\nthe ceiling. The lady takes her seat behind the frame, in such a\nposition as will display a partial side view of the head and chest in\nthe centre of the oval, the eyes cast down, the countenance expressing\nsorrow. After the lady has taken her position, the box must be\nentirely covered with black cambric, and a curtain of the same\nmaterial should be fastened to the top of the frame, and allowed to\ntrail back of the lady to the floor. With a medium quantity of light\nfrom the front of the stage, the tableau at a distance will resemble a\npainted portrait. A large variety of pictures can be produced in this\nmanner, and at little expense. Music for this scene should be of a\nsacred character, and quite soft.\nTHE ELOPEMENT.\n Dear art thou to the lover, thou sweet light,\n Fair, fleeting sister of the mournful night!\n As in impatient hope he stands apart,\n Companioned only by his beating heart,\n And with an eager fancy oft beholds\n The vision of a white robe's fluttering folds\n Flit through the grove, and gain the open mead,\n True to the hour by loving hearts agreed!\n At length she comes. The evening's holy grace\n Mellows the glory of her radiant face;\n The curtain of that daylight, faint and pale,\n Hangs round her like the shading of a veil;\n As turning with a bashful timid thought,\n From the dear welcome she herself hath sought,\n Her shadowy profile drawn against the sky,\n Cheats while it charms his fond adoring eye.\n MRS. NORTON.\nOne Male and Two Female Figures.\nThis is a very pretty tableau, in two parts. The first, represents a\nyoung gentleman, standing at the foot of a rope ladder which reaches\nto the railing of a balcony on the front of a dwelling house; leaning\nover the railing is a young and lovely maiden, who is about to make\nher descent on the ladder to her lover below. The gentleman grasps the\nrope with the left hand, and holds the right upward in the act of\nbeckoning to the lady. His position is such that a side view is had of\nthe body; his head thrown back, eyes directed to the balcony,\ncountenance expressing pleasure and entreaty. His costume consists of\na dark coat, trimmed around the edge with purple lace or gimp, light\nbreeches, black hose, colored vest, low shoes, knee and shoe buckles,\nred sash about the waist, black felt hat with plume, velvet cape on\nthe left shoulder, lace collar and wristbands, ruffled bosom, and\nmustache. The lady is attired in a bright-colored silk robe, riding\nhat, and red scarf. The balcony can be made of boards, and covered\nwith fresco paper, representing two pillars, a cornice, and a railing\nabove. The second scene, which follows immediately, represents the\nlady and her lover just about to step into the ante-room, opposite the\nbalcony. The gentleman has his right arm around the waist of the lady,\nthe left extended towards the balcony, face turned in that direction,\nhis back to the audience, the countenance expressing caution. The lady\nplaces her left hand on the gentleman's shoulder, and the right on her\nbreast; her eyes are directed to the ante-room. A front view is had of\nher form. The head of the gentleman turned to the balcony will give a\npartial side view of the face. The young lady's mother is seen on the\nbalcony, looking out into the darkness, and holding a crutch before\nher, as if in the act of striking. Her costume consists of a white\nrobe and nightcap. The light for the first scene should be of medium\nbrightness, and come from the ante-room opposite the balcony. In the\nsecond scene, it will be necessary to produce the light on the other\nside of the stage, which will throw the balcony in the shade. The low\nrumbling of thunder, and the noise of falling rain, produced in the\nante-room, will add to the effect of the scene.\nFIREMAN'S COAT OF ARMS.\n By Jove! I'll have a fine establishment,\n And keep a coat-of-arms!\n MUGGINS.\nTwo Female Figures.\nThis tableau represents an oval shield richly ornamented with gold, on\nwhich are fastened engine pipes, colored lanterns, trumpets, axes,\nfire hooks, buckets, hats, &c. These radiate from the centre, and are\nsurrounded by a wreath of gold stars, five inches in diameter. It\nrests on a pedestal, and is supported on each side by female figures.\nThe shield is seven feet high and four feet wide, the surface covered\nwith blue cambric, with a border of crimson five inches wide, shaded\nwith a band of gold one inch in width. The pedestal is six feet long,\none foot high, and three feet wide, the surface covered with crimson\ncloth, with a black and gold border six inches wide, and an\nappropriate motto on the front in letters of gold. The young ladies\nwho support the shield must be of equal height, good figure and\nfeatures. Their costume consists of a white robe cut low in the neck,\nskirt made to trail on the pedestal, red or black velvet waist,\nornamented with gilt buttons and lace, and fireman's hat on the head.\nTheir position is at the sides of the shield, facing the audience; one\narm is laid at full length on the top of the oval, the other hangs at\nthe side, the hand grasping a small wreath of myrtle. The head should\nbe slightly turned towards the shield, eyes looking forward,\ncountenance calm. The light for the tableau must be of medium\nbrilliancy, and come from the front of the stage. Music soft.\nTHE SOLDIER'S FAREWELL.\n I could not love thee, dear, so much,\n Loved I not honor more.\n SIR RICHARD LOVELACE.\nThree Female and Three Male Figures.\nA representation of a young recruit, about to leave his country home\nfor the first time to join the army. In the background is to be seen a\ncottage, with trellised vines running over the door. The young soldier\nis standing in front of the cottage, bidding farewell to his young\nbride, who stands at his side. They both face the audience. She has\nher right arm around his neck, and is looking into his face. The\nsoldier rests his left arm on her shoulder, and points to the side of\nthe stage with the right hand. His eyes are fixed on the face of his\nbride. Near the doorstep stands a gray-haired old man, the father of\nthe soldier; he faces the audience, and is holding a musket, the lock\nof which he is examining. At the left of the soldier stands a young\nmaiden, in a position that exhibits a side view of the body. She is\nlooking to the two figures in front of her, and holds a sword and\nbelt. In the doorway is seen the mother of the soldier, holding a\nhandkerchief to her eyes. A little boy stands at the right of the\ndoor, with a tin sword fastened about his waist, a paper cap on his\nhead, and is engaged in blowing on a tin trumpet. The cottage can be\nframed of wood, covered with cloth, and painted in showy colors; body\nof the house light brown, frames, cornice, and door green, roof red,\nand window panes black. The cottage stands in the centre of the stage,\nwith the space on the sides filled up with a small white fence and two\nspruce trees. The vines over the door can be painted on the house, or\nmade of evergreens and flowers, and tacked to the frame. The soldier's\ncostume consists of a continental uniform--blue coat, faced with buff,\nbuff vest and breeches, white hose, knee and shoe buckles, low shoes,\nwhite breast belts, and chapeau. The wife is costumed in a blue dress,\ncut very short, and high at the top, white apron, white hose, small\nhandkerchief tied about the neck, hair arranged to suit the taste of\nthe performer. The young lady should be costumed in a white dress,\ngreen apron, and straw hat, hair hanging in curls, and ornamented with\nred ribbons. The old gentleman's costume consists of a long gray or\ndrab coat, light vest and breeches, black hose, knee and shoe buckles,\nlow shoes, ruffled bosom, and chapeau. The aged matron is costumed in\na light brown dress, calico apron, white cap, black collar. The boy\ncan be attired in any costume that has a variety of colors. Cover the\nfloor of the stage with green bocking, and light the tableau from the\nleft side. A tenor drum should be beaten in the ante-room while the\ncurtain is raised.\nIKE PARTINGTON'S GHOST.\n Be thou a spirit of health or goblin damned,\n Bringing with thee airs from heaven or blasts from hell,\n Be thy intents wicked or charitable?\n Thou com'st in such a questionable shape\n That I will speak to thee.\n SHAKSPEARE.\nOne Female and One Male Figure.\nThis tableau represents Ike seated on the top of a pump in the front\nyard of his mother's cottage, while the old lady is seen in the\nbackground, peeping over the fence with looks of horror and\nastonishment. The person who represents Ike should be of medium height\nand youthful looking. Costume consists of an old military coat and\nhat, large sword attached to a belt about the waist, light pants with\nred stripe, and large boots. The old lady is dressed in a cheap calico\ndress and white cap. The pump can be made of wood, covered with light\nbrown cambric, the handle painted black. A rough representation of a\nhouse should be painted on cloth, and placed at the rear of the stage.\nA few feet from the house, erect a low white slat fence, with a gate\nin the centre; a wheelbarrow, shovel, hoe, broom, and water bucket are\nscattered about the stage. Ike sits on the pump, and faces the\naudience. His head is drawn down within the coat collar, hands placed\non his knees, and eyes rolled up into his head. Light the stage very\nlittle, and produce discordant sounds on a melodeon in the ante-room.\nTHE PEASANT FAMILY IN REPOSE.\n Let not Ambition mock their useful toil,\n Their homely joys, and destiny obscure,\n Nor Grandeur hear, with a disdainful smile,\n The short and simple annals of the poor.\n GRAY.\nTwo Female and Three Male Figures.\nThis scene represents a group of peasants resting on their journey.\nThe party comprises an aged couple and three children. They are seated\non a grassy mound at the side of the road. The children lie in the\nforeground of the mound in various positions, and are asleep. The old\ngentleman is seated on the back side of the mound, which is higher\nthan the front, and in such a position that a side view is had of the\nbody. His head rests on his left hand, the elbow resting on the knee;\nthe right hand holds a cane; countenance calm. Costume consists of a\nlong, loose blue frock, brown pants, black beaver hat, considerably\nworn and out of shape, white hair and beard. At the side of the old\nman, on the lower part of the mound, is seated the old lady. She faces\nthe audience, and leans her head on her right hand, the elbow placed\non the knee, eyes directed to the children, countenance expressing\ndeep thought. Costume consists of a brown dress, white handkerchief\ntied about the neck, and a hood on the head. In front of these figures\nis a young girl, her back resting against the highest part of the\nmound, the head inclined to one side, one arm placed across the form\nof a boy at her side, her eyes closed. She is dressed in a white robe,\nblue apron, and stout shoes, head uncovered. A small boy reclines at\nher side, and rests his head on her lap. Costume consists of a red\nfrock, trimmed with white. In front of these two figures is a large\nboy. He lies on the grass, and rests his head on his arm; his eyes are\nclosed, countenance calm. He is costumed in a dark coat, light pants,\nwhite collar, thick boots, and felt hat. The mound on which the\ntableau is formed can be constructed of boxes, and covered with green\nbocking. It should be six feet in diameter, varying from one to two\nfeet in height, and placed in the centre of the stage. The scene will\nrequire but a small quantity of light, which must come from the right\nside of the stage. Music soft and of a plaintive character.\nTHE SOLDIER'S RETURN.\n O that 'twere possible,\n After long grief and pain,\n To find the arms of my true love\n Round me once again.\n We stood tranced in long embraces\n Mixed with kisses sweeter, sweeter\n Than any thing on earth.\n MAUD.\nThree Female and Four Male Figures.\nThis interesting tableau is designed to appear in connection with the\nsoldier's farewell, and is represented by seven persons. The cottage\nand other scenery described in the \"Soldier's Farewell\" is used in\nthis piece, and is to be placed in the same position. At the left of\nthe stage, near the front, stands a young gentleman dressed as a\nhackman. He carries a trunk on his shoulder, and a valise in his left\nhand; his position is such that a side view is had of the features;\nhis eyes cast down to the floor, body slightly bent forward; a few\npaces in front of him stands the young soldier, with arms outstretched\nto receive his wife, who is standing in front of the doorstep, in the\nact of running towards him. The soldier shows a side view of his form,\nhis feet extended apart, body bent forward, eyes fixed on his wife,\ncountenance smiling. The wife faces the audience; her arms are raised,\neyes directed to those of her husband, countenance pleasant. The\nfather and mother of the soldier are seated in large chairs at the\nsides of the door. A young man is seen climbing over the fence. He\nholds a rake in his hand, and is looking at the soldier. A young lady\nis on the doorstep in the position of one running, her eyes fixed on\nthe group at the front of the stage, countenance expressing surprise.\nCostume similar to the one described in the Farewell. The boy's\ncostume consists of blue overalls, white shirt, and straw hat. The old\nlady and gentleman wear the suits described in the first scene. The\nold gentleman has a pair of crutches by his side, and is smoking a\npipe. The old lady wears spectacles, and holds a newspaper in the left\nhand, and points to the soldier with the right; her eyes are turned to\nher husband, countenance expressing surprise. The soldier's wife has\non a white dress with a velvet waist. The soldier is costumed in the\nsuit that we described in the Farewell, with the addition of a red\nsash about the waist, gold epaulets on the shoulders, and a showy\nplume in his hat. The hackman's costume consists of a rubber coat and\ncap, long boots, and light pants. The scene requires a medium light,\nwhich should come from the side opposite the soldier. Music of a\ncheerful and lively style.\nNOTES AND EXPLANATIONS.\nFOR PREPARING A BRILLIANT RED FIRE.\nWeigh five ounces of dry nitrate of strontia, one ounce and a half of\nfinely-powdered sulphur, five drams of chlorate of potash, and four\ndrams of sulphuret of antimony. Powder the sulphuret of antimony and\nchlorate of potash separately in a mortar, and mix them on paper;\nafter which add them to the other ingredients, previously powdered and\nmixed. For use, mix with a portion of the powder a small quantity of\nspirits of wine, in a tin pan resembling a cheese-toaster; light the\nmixture, and it will shed a rich crimson hue. When the fire burns dim\nand badly, a very small quantity of finely-powdered charcoal or\nlamp-black will revive it. This light is used in finale scenes, where\nthe subject is heroic, national, or martial.\nGREEN FIRE.\nA beautiful green fire may be thus made: Take of flour of sulphur,\nthirteen parts; nitrate of baryta, seventy-seven; oxy-muriate of\npotassa, five; metallic arsenic, two; and charcoal, three. Let the\nnitrate of baryta be well dried and powdered; then add to it the other\ningredients, all finely pulverized, and exceedingly well mixed and\nrubbed together. Place a portion of the composition on a small tin pan\nhaving a polished reflector fitted to one side, and set fire to it,\nwhen a splendid green illumination will be the result. By adding a\nlittle calamine, it will burn more slowly.\nPURPLE FIRE.\nA purple fire is produced by dissolving chloride of lithium in spirits\nof wine, and when lighted it will burn with a purple flame.\nWHITISH-BLUE FIRE.\nTake of nitrate of baryta, twenty-seven parts, by weight; of sulphur,\nthirteen; of chloride of potassa, five; of realgar, two; and of\ncharcoal three parts. Incorporate them completely, and when inflamed\nthey will emit a whitish-blue light, accompanied by much smoke. This\nlight is much used in fairy scenes.\nYELLOW FIRE.\nMix some common salt with spirits of wine, in a metal cup, and set it\nupon a wire frame, over a spirit lamp. When the cup becomes heated,\nand the spirits of wine ignited, the other lights on the stage should\nbe extinguished, and that of the spirit lamp shaded in some way. The\nresult will be, that the whole group, faces, dresses, will be of a\nstrong yellow tint.\nCOLORED LIGHTS.\nColored lights can be produced by filling globes with colored liquid,\nand placing them in front of the lamps, like those we see in the\nwindows of the chemists' shops.\nTO PRODUCE A MISTY OR VANISHING APPEARANCE TO A TABLEAU.\nSeveral curtains of thin gauze, or common mosquito netting, made to\nlet down from rollers, one after another, between the audience and the\nscene, will give a beautiful, misty appearance; and if a sufficient\nnumber of curtains be unrolled, the tableau appears to vanish\nentirely, allowing room for a change of scenery. Many scenes should\nhave one thickness of muslin before them, which serves to blend the\ncolors, and gives a finish to the picture. The gauze must be carefully\nmanaged, as the disclosure of a ragged edge will dispel all the\nillusion.\nTO PRODUCE SOUNDS LIKE FALLING RAIN.\nProcure a box six feet long, one foot wide, and one deep. Cover the\nbottom with small pegs of wood one inch high, and inserted two inches\napart. Place a quart of dried peas at one end of the box; then raise\nthat end quite slowly, allowing the peas to roll gradually down to the\nlower part of the box. The sound they produce in striking against the\npegs imitates to perfection the falling of rain. The sound can be\ncontinued for any length of time by raising alternately each end of\nthe box.\nTO PRODUCE SOUNDS LIKE DISTANT FIRING OF ARTILLERY.\nSuspend a large sheet of Russia iron by means of a rope, and strike it\nin the centre with a heavy drumstick. At a short distance, the sound\nresembles the booming of heavy artillery.\nTO PRODUCE SOUND TO RESEMBLE THUNDER.\nHold a large sheet of Russia iron at one end and commence shaking it\nvery slowly. It will give out a low, rumbling sound, which can be\ngradually increased in power. Graduate the sounds from heavy peals to\nthe first starting point, then discontinue the shaking for a few\nseconds, and repeat the variety of changes as long as is necessary.\nTO IMITATE THE FIRE ALARM BELL.\nSuspend to a wooden frame two pieces of steel two inches square and\nthree feet long. Select pieces that will give out different tones, and\nstrike them alternately with an iron hammer. They will sound much\nclearer and louder than any small bells.\nDISTANT FIRING OF MUSKETRY.\nSounds similar to a distant discharge of musketry can be produced in a\nnumber of ways. The tenor drum can be made to give out sounds to\nresemble volleys of musketry. Leaden shot dropped into a large tin pan\nwill produce a good imitation. A fireman's rattle can be also used for\nthe same purpose.\nMAGIC LIGHTNING.\nMix gunpowder with a small quantity of water and gum arabic, and with\na brush place it on a screen in the background in an irregular manner,\nresembling flashes of lightning. The screen being previously painted\nto resemble thunder clouds, let there be a number of distinct flashes\npainted, the ends of which should be near the ante-room. At intervals\nof thirty seconds, touch a lighted fusee to one of these paintings,\nwhich will burn quickly, illuminate the clouds, and resemble lightning\nflashes.\nTO STAIN THE FLESH A COPPER COLOR.\nTo stain the flesh a copper color, as is necessary in representing\nIndian characters, use Spanish brown, mixed with oil, and rub in\nthoroughly.\nTO MAKE WRINKLES.\nUse India ink, moistened with water, softening the lines with chalk,\nif necessary. Moustaches and whiskers may also be made with the same\nmaterial.\nFLESH WOUNDS, &c.\nFlesh wounds and blood may be represented by the use of rose pink\nmixed with water.\nTHEATRICAL INCANTATIONS.\nDissolve crystals of nitrate of copper in spirits of wine. Light the\nsolution, and it will burn with a beautiful emerald green flame.\nPieces of sponge soaked in this spirit, lighted and suspended by fine\nwires over the stage, produces the lambent green flames now so common\nin incantation scenes; strips of flannel saturated with it, and\napplied round copper swords, tridents, &c., produce, when lighted, the\nflaming swords and fire forks brandished by the demons in such scenes;\nindeed, the chief consumption of nitrate of copper is for these\npurposes.\nLIGHTS AND SHADES.\nIf you wish to throw the background of a tableau in shade, intervene\nscreens between the lights at the sides of the stage and that part of\nthe picture you desire to have dark; _vice versa_ with the foreground.\nParticular points or characters can be more brilliantly lighted than\nothers by placing at the side of the stage a strong light within a\nlarge box, open at one side, and lined with bright reflectors. Light\nof different colors can be thrown successively on a picture, and made\nto blend one with another, by placing the various colored fires in\nboxes three feet square, open at one side, and lined with bright\nreflectors; these, arranged at the side of the stage on pivots, can be\nturned on, one after another, so as to throw their light on the stage.\nBefore one light has entirely vanished from the scene, a different\ncolor should gradually take its place.\nART RECREATIONS:\nBEING\nA COMPLETE GUIDE TO\nPENCIL DRAWING,\nOIL PAINTING,\nWATER-COLOR PAINTING,\nCRAYON DRAWING AND PAINTING,\nPAINTING ON GROUND GLASS,\nGRECIAN PAINTING,\nANTIQUE PAINTING,\nORIENTAL PAINTING,\nSIGN PAINTING,\nTHEOREM PAINTING,\nMOSS WORK,\nPAPIER MACHE,\nCONE WORK,\nFEATHER FLOWERS,\nPOTICHOMANIE,\nLEATHER WORK,\nHAIR WORK,\nTAXIDERMY,\nGILDING AND BRONZING,\nPLASTER WORK,\nWAX WORK,\nSHELL WORK,\nMAGIC LANTERN,\nPAPER FLOWERS,\nIMITATION OF PEARL,\nTHE AQUARIUM,\nSEALING-WAX PAINTING,\nPANORAMA PAINTING,\nCOLORING PHOTOGRAPHS,\nENAMEL PAINTING, ETC.\nBY\nMADAME L.B. URBINO, PROF. HENRY DAY, AND OTHERS.\nWITH VALUABLE RECEIPTS FOR PREPARING MATERIALS.\nSplendidly Illustrated.\nBOSTON:\nJ. E. TILTON AND COMPANY.\nPrice of this valuable work is but $1.50.\nSold by all booksellers, and sent by mail postpaid.", "source_dataset": "gutenberg", "source_dataset_detailed": "gutenberg - Home Pastimes; or Tableaux Vivants\n"}, {"source_document": "", "creation_year": 1849, "culture": " French\n", "content": "Produced by Thorsten Kontowski, H\u00e9l\u00e8ne de Mink and the\n(This book was produced from scanned images of public\ndomain material from the Google Print project.)\n Note de transcription:\n Cette version \u00e9lectronique reproduit, dans son int\u00e9gralit\u00e9, le\n texte d'origine avec toutes ses incoh\u00e9rences, tant du point de vue\n de l'orthographe et du vocabulaire que de la grammaire.\n Les mots et phrases imprim\u00e9s en gras dans le texte d'origine sont\n marqu\u00e9s =ainsi=.\nLE SYST\u00c8ME SOLAIRE\nSE MOUVANT.\n On est dans une grande erreur, quand on suppose, que les\n astronomes et ceux qui s'occupent de l'astronomie, ont par cette\n raison, en g\u00e9n\u00e9ral, plus de capacit\u00e9 et d'intelligence que les\n autres mortels, qui cultivent la science.\nPAR\nAUGUST TISCHNER.\nLEIPZIG\nGUSTAV FOCK\nLE SYST\u00c8ME SOLAIRE SE MOUVANT.\nLe syst\u00e8me solaire se mouvant.\nQue _la th\u00e9orie astronomique actuelle_ se trouve dans un \u00e9tat\npitoyable, nous avons d\u00e9j\u00e0 montr\u00e9 dans nos brochures, qui sont nomm\u00e9es\n\u00e0 la fin de ce livre.\nDans la brochure pr\u00e9sente nous avons quitt\u00e9 _l'hypoth\u00e8se de Copernic_,\nfond\u00e9e sur le soleil fixe au centre de l'univers et proposons un\nsyst\u00e8me solaire fond\u00e9 sur le soleil se mouvant dans l'espace.\nC'est tout indiff\u00e9rent quelles id\u00e9es on se fait sur la m\u00e9canique\nc\u00e9leste, si elles sont seulement rationnelles, mais jamais on y\nparviendra \u00e0 prouver, qu'elles sont la vraie explication de la\nr\u00e9alit\u00e9.\nC'est tout clair, que l'attraction continuelle du soleil fixe rend\nimpossible la circulation des plan\u00e8tes _en orbites form\u00e9es autour de\nlui_; les plan\u00e8tes circulent _autour de la ligne du mouvement du\nsoleil_, elles doivent suivre le mouvement du soleil, en circulant\n_autour de la ligne de sa marche_.\nNous voulons maintenant proposer un syst\u00e8me solaire dans lequel\n_l'arrangement des plan\u00e8tes_ est tel quelles se rapportent au soleil\nse mouvant dans l'espace.\nApr\u00e8s le soleil, _qui marche au-devant des plan\u00e8tes_, comme le noyau\nd'une com\u00e8te, viennent rang\u00e9es l'une apr\u00e8s l'autre les plan\u00e8tes des\nquelles les courves r\u00e9volutives deviennent toujours plus grandes,\nselon leur distance du soleil, comme si elles repr\u00e9sentaient autant\nde pendules centrifuges, dont les fils partent du centre du soleil.\nSi les plan\u00e8tes sont toutes en circulation et le soleil est admis, en\npens\u00e9es, immobile, les fils (radii vectores) d\u00e9crivent _des c\u00f4nes\nr\u00e9guliers_, dont la base est _perpendiculaire_ sur l'axe du c\u00f4ne. La\ncirconf\u00e9rence de cette base du c\u00f4ne est ce que nous nommons la _curve\nr\u00e9volutive originaire_. Si les c\u00f4nes sont dans le m\u00eame angle ils\nsemblent ne faire qu'un seule et les plan\u00e8tes circulent sur la surface\ndu c\u00f4ne. A en juger d'apr\u00e8s les observations il semble en effet que\nles c\u00f4nes sont presque dans le m\u00eame angle et que par suite de cette\nposition le zodiaque \u00e0 \u00e9t\u00e9 a consid\u00e9r\u00e9 comme une borne commune des\norbites.\nLa _projection centrale des anneaux des orbites_ est naturellement un\n_cercle_, qui _par la projection_ se change en ellipse quelconque. Vus\ndu soleil les orbites des plan\u00e8tes _paraissent projet\u00e9es_ dans une\nconfiguration, qui repr\u00e9sentent exactement le diagramme de Copernic;\nle soleil est au milieu de toutes les orbites et les plan\u00e8tes semblent\ncirculer autour de son centre.\nLe _c\u00f4ne_ m\u00eame montre le syst\u00e8me _vu de c\u00f4t\u00e9_; si les curves sont dans\nle m\u00eame angle, alors la grandeur des orbites--leur demi-diam\u00e8tre--se\nrapportent comme la distance du soleil. C'est clair que d'aucune\nplan\u00e8te cette curve peut \u00eatre vue d'une autre plan\u00e8te _comme\ncentrale_, il faut qu'elles se repr\u00e9sentent comme _cercles\nexcentriques_ ou elliptiques. La terre en rapport \u00e0 une autre plan\u00e8te\nvient dans des diff\u00e9rentes positions, aussi dans une telle que ses\nsatellites montrent des orbites projet\u00e9es centralement.\nSi le soleil se meut, alors la direction de son mouvement est _l'axe\ncommun du c\u00f4ne_, c. a. d. que les plan\u00e8tes circulent autour de la\nlinge d\u00e9crite par le soleil dans l'espace, que ligne nous pouvons\nnommer _l'orbite du soleil_.\nPar le mouvement propre du soleil les anneaux du mouvement des\nplan\u00e8tes consid\u00e9r\u00e9es jusqu'\u00e0 pr\u00e9sent, comme des _courves planes_, sont\nchang\u00e9es _en spirales_, qui sont d'autant plus \u00e9tendues ou along\u00e9es,\nque la vitesse du soleil est plus grande en comparaison de la _propre_\nvitesse de la plan\u00e8te: ces courves de _double courbure ne sont plus\nperpendiculaires \u00e0 l'axe du c\u00f4ne_ ou sur l'orbite du soleil, mais\nelles ont une inclinaison vers lui, ce qui est indiqu\u00e9 _par l'angle du\nc\u00f4ne_.\nSupposons que le soleil se meut _en ligne droite_, alors les anneaux\ndes spirales, qui sont d\u00e9crites par les plan\u00e8tes forment un _cylindre\ndroit_ dont le diam\u00e8tre est \u00e9gal au diam\u00e8tre _de la courve r\u00e9volutive\noriginaire_ ou _\u00e0 l'anneau spiral_: dans ce cas on pourrait nommer\n_les spirales cylindrique_, par ce que les anneaux suivant les uns les\nautres, ont le m\u00eame diam\u00e8tre et la m\u00eame position. Mais c'est clair que\nle soleil _ne pouvant pas se mouvoir en ligne droite_, se meuve aussi\ndans une curve; ainsi le cylindre, que nous nous sommes repr\u00e9sent\u00e9\nrecevra une courbure. C'est bien clair, que les diam\u00e8tres _des anneaux\nspirales_ ne sont pas chang\u00e9s par cette _troisi\u00e8me_ courbure, mais la\nprojection de ceux-ci est modifiee.\nEn regardant de cette mani\u00e8re le c\u00f4ne--la figure c\u00f4nique du syst\u00e8me\nsolaire--recevra une faible courbure, et pr\u00e9sentera l'image, qui nous\nrappelle \u00e0 la figure d'une corne d'abondance.\nLa section centrale--en longeur de l'axe--_du c\u00f4ne courb\u00e9_ est un\ntriangle sph\u00e8rique. Vu centralement le soleil _ne se trouve plus au\ncentre de toutes les orbites_--anneaux spirales--mais il se produiront\nles _excentricit\u00e9s_ et les _inclinaisons apparentes_ des orbites l'une\nvers l'autre.\nLa terre est peu \u00e9loign\u00e9e de la pointe du c\u00f4ne--du soleil--et se meut\nsur sa surface; les positions continuellement changeantes et variables\ndes plan\u00e8tes elle voit _perspectivement_, chaque moment du mouvement\nil y a _une autre projection_.\nSi on se repr\u00e9sente, que toutes les plan\u00e8tes sont situ\u00e9es dans la m\u00eame\nligne sur la surface du c\u00f4ne, cela est comme si l'on disait, que les\nplan\u00e8tes inferieures, Mercure et Venus sont en m\u00eame temps en\nconjonction et les plan\u00e8tes superieres Mars, Jupiter, Satourne, Uranus\net Neptune en opposition d'apr\u00e8s le syst\u00e8me de Copernic; cette\nposition de toutes les plan\u00e8tes avait d\u00e9j\u00e0 \u00e9t\u00e9 consid\u00e9r\u00e9e par les\nanciens et leur retour nomm\u00e9 la grande p\u00e9riode. Que cette p\u00e9riode soit\nagrandie par les deux nouvelles plan\u00e8tes Uranus et Neptune c'est\nclair.\nCe qui concerne les p\u00e9riodes et les positions des corps du syst\u00e8me\nsolaire se mouvant dans l'espace, leur changement est peu apparent,\nparce que _l'entier reste ensemble_ et par cons\u00e9quent la _figure du\nsyst\u00e8me_ n'est pas chang\u00e9e. Les distances relatives sont enchain\u00e9es au\nmouvement r\u00e9gl\u00e9: si d'apr\u00e8s cela l'observation des corps appartenant\nau syst\u00e8me solaire \u00e9tait suffisante \u00e0 l'astronomie, alors les\nph\u00e9nom\u00e8nes pourraient \u00eatre reduits \u00e0 leur plus grande simplicit\u00e9; mais\ncomme pour comparaison le ciel sert de fondement et base, il s'ensuit\nune complication d'apr\u00e8s laquelle le ciel \u00e9toil\u00e9 entier semble lui\nm\u00eame se d\u00e9placer comme un entier dans l'espace.\nConsid\u00e9rons _la figure c\u00f4nique du syst\u00e8me solaire_ sous condition, que\nle soleil est _immobile_, alors les plan\u00e8tes peuvent d\u00e9crire des\n_courves ferm\u00e9es_, c. a. d. qu'elles _circulent constamment dans les\nm\u00eames courves planes_, que nous avons nomm\u00e9es l'anneau ou la courve\nr\u00e9volutive originaire de la plan\u00e8te et qui ne change pas d'endroit\ndans l'espaces, par la raison que ces _plans_, d'apr\u00e8s les id\u00e9es\nd'aujourd'hui doivent \u00eatre consid\u00e9r\u00e9s comme _invariables_; mais ceci\nfait pr\u00e9sumer une autre condition indispensable, d'apr\u00e8s laquelle\n_l'attraction solaire_ n'exige aucun autre effet sur les plan\u00e8tes, que\ncelui qui est n\u00e9cessaire pour conserver _l'\u00e9quilibre du syst\u00e8me\nsolaire_ et la _distance invariable_ de ces corps du soleil, afin\nqu'aucune plan\u00e8te ne s'approche de lui et qu'aucune ne puisse\ns'\u00e9loigner, cette condition reste invariable avec le syst\u00e8me solaire\nse mouvant et l'attraction du soleil se reduit \u00e0 la communication de\nsa propre vitesse, par suite de l\u00e0 _les courves r\u00e9volutives\noriginaires se changent en spirales_. Par cet effet de l'attraction\nc'est concevable que les plan\u00e8tes doivent rester n\u00e9cessairement dans\nla m\u00eame distance du soleil.[A]\n [A] C'est difficile \u00e0 comprendre comment l'attraction, une force\n dont la quantit\u00e9 et la grandeur sont donn\u00e9es _par les masses\n invariables du soleil et la terre_ est alternativement _croissante\n ou d\u00e9craissante_. Mais si on ajoute encore, que la vitesse de\n cette force est _infinie_ et par cons\u00e9quant sa pr\u00e9tendue action\n _est en m\u00eame temps momentane_, on est tout \u00e0 fait troubl\u00e9 et\n stupifi\u00e9. O\u00f9 est le motif, o\u00f9 est la cause du decroissement d'une\n force dont la grandeur et l'action _sont constantes et momentans_\n et dont _la vitesse est infini_? C'est une des questions \u00e0\n laquelle la physique ne donne pas de r\u00e9ponce? Vide: Le pouvoir\n grossisant de l'atmosph\u00e8re par August Tischner.\nQue l'alongation des spirales d\u00e9pend du rapport entre la vitesse\ncorrespondante du soleil et des plan\u00e8tes et d'une plan\u00e8te et de ses\nsatellites c'est clair. Cette \u00e9tendue de l'alongation de la courve\nr\u00e9volutive est en m\u00eame temps l'inclinaison (ou d\u00e9clinaison c'est \u00e9gal)\nde _l'orbite spirale_ vers l'axe du syst\u00e8me solaire (orbite solaire ou\nl'\u00e9quateur c\u00e9leste); l'angle de l'inclinaison est ainsi donn\u00e9 par la\n_propre vitesse_ de la plan\u00e8te et de celle du soleil. Que la _vitesse\nd'entrainement_ la m\u00eame pour toutes les plan\u00e8tes du syst\u00e8me solaire,\nc'est compr\u00e9hensible.\nOn voit que si on aper\u00e7oit au ciel \u00e9toil\u00e9 un d\u00e9placement perceptible\ndu soleil, qui parait ind\u00e9pendant _du double mouvement de la terre_,\nmais qui est accus\u00e9 clairement par les \u00e9toiles (50'', 25, la\npraecession) on peut conclure avec certitude, que c'est la suite du\nmouvement propre du soleil ou du mouvement de son syst\u00e8me dans\nl'espace.\nEn continuant nos diff\u00e9rents regards nous pouvons apporter quelque\nclart\u00e9 \u00e0 la question concernant les _r\u00e9volutions_ et les _temps de\nr\u00e9volutions_. Le _d\u00e9placement continuel du soleil_ stipule le\nchangement continuel des plan\u00e8tes et de leur circulation sans\ninterruption; il y a donc un mouvement sans interruption du m\u00eame\nmouvement et ni une r\u00e9volution proprement dite, ni un temps de\ncirculation. Une p\u00e9riode de r\u00e9volution est ainsi _le retour du m\u00eame\nph\u00e9nom\u00e8ne_ ou de la _m\u00eame position apparente au ciel_, elle est\n_relative_, elle est _co\u00efnidence_. Que ces co\u00efncidences reviennent\np\u00e9riodiquement, quelles reviennent r\u00e9guli\u00e8rement, c'est selon toute\nvraisemblance l'ouvrage _de l'attraction_ universelle.\nIl se demand maintenant, quelle ph\u00e9nom\u00e8ne de retour est \u00e0 considerer\ncomme une r\u00e9volution ou p\u00e9riode r\u00e9volutive accomplie et _\u00e0 quoi_ cette\np\u00e9riode a \u00e0 se rapporter? La science _th\u00e9orique_ s'est d\u00e9cid\u00e9e pour la\nr\u00e9volution _sid\u00e9rale_, comme il semble dans l'intention de d\u00e9terminer\nune conformit\u00e9e parmi tous les corps du syst\u00e8me solaire, que la\n_th\u00e9orie_ n'a pas fond\u00e9 son _choix_ ou sa _decision_ sur une\nconception rationelle, qui ressort de l'\u00e9tude des ph\u00e9nom\u00e8nes, elle a\n_prouv\u00e9_, en rapportant la rotation de la terre aux \u00e9toiles et a\n\u00e9tablie ainsi une _rotation sid\u00e9rale_ o\u00f9 c'est pourtant assez clair,\nque ce mouvement de la terre ne peut se rapporter qu'\u00e0 lui-m\u00eame.\nSi le syst\u00e8me de Copernic \u00e9tait fond\u00e9 _sur la r\u00e9alit\u00e9_ et les plan\u00e8tes\ncirculeraient _toujours \u00e0 la m\u00eame place_, en verit\u00e9 autour du soleil\net dans des courves ferm\u00e9es, c'est bien clair qu'apr\u00e8s une circulation\nde 360\u00b0 elles puissent revenir \u00e0 la m\u00eame place de leur orbite et dans\nce cas leur position en rapport \u00e0 une \u00e9toile de comparaison pourrait\n\u00eatre, apr\u00e8s une r\u00e9volution accomplie de cette mani\u00e8re, la m\u00eame; mais\ncomme _d'apr\u00e8s les observations_ cette co\u00efncidence avec l'\u00e9toile \u00e0\nlieu dans des p\u00e9riodes _croissants_, il s'ensuit que le mouvement des\nplan\u00e8tes _n'a pas lieu d'apr\u00e8s le syst\u00e8me de Copernic_ et que la\np\u00e9riode r\u00e9volutive des corps, qui forment le syst\u00e8me solaire peuvent\nse rapporter seulement \u00e0 leur guide c. a. d. _au soleil_, et l'on peut\nconclure avec certitude, que ces co\u00efncidences de la position r\u00e9lative\nau ciel, tombe dans le m\u00eame temps qu'elles conservent leur distance du\nsoleil et qu'elles se meuvent avec la m\u00eame vitesse uniforme.\nC'est bien compr\u00e9hensible, que par suite des _orbites serpentant sans\ncesse_, se produisent des co\u00efncidence diff\u00e9rentes et qu'ainsi\napparaissent p\u00e9riodiquement des diff\u00e9rents ph\u00e9nom\u00e8nes. Cette\ncirconstance fut la cause, pourquoi la _th\u00e9orie_ attribue \u00e0 la lune\n_cinq divers temps de r\u00e9volutions_. \u00ab_R\u00e9volution_\u00bb et \u00ab_temps de\nr\u00e9volution_\u00bb, employ\u00e9s de cette mani\u00e8re n'ont plus aucune\nsignification, aucun sens; car d'apr\u00e8s la nature de la chose, on n'a\nqu'\u00e0 rester _\u00e0 une seule_ p\u00e9riode r\u00e9volutive.\nSi nous nommons _orbites_ l'espace parcouru des plan\u00e8tes et de leurs\nsatellites _spirales sans fin_, le chemin du mouvement des corps\nc\u00e9lestes d\u00e9crit par elles, alors nous corporisons, pour faciliter, en\npens\u00e9e, notre imagination. Nommons nous _le parcours d'un anneau\nspirale etendue_, la description de 360\u00b0 et la r\u00e9volution accomplie,\nnous rapportons cela au soleil et supposens, que les deux points\nfinales (commencement et fin) d'un anneau spirale ainsi r\u00e9pr\u00e9sent\u00e9, se\ntrouvent dans la m\u00eame ligne, c. a. d. si les points commencent d'une\nspirale _co\u00efncident_ avec le soleil \u00e0 l'equinoque vernal, ses fins\nco\u00efncideront \u00e9galement avec le soleil apr\u00e8s une r\u00e9volution tropique\naccomplie.\nCe syst\u00e8me solaire, se mouvant sans fin et sens borne dans l'espace\ninfini, _ce c\u00f4ne_--un point en grandeur disparaissant dans\nl'univers--qui parcourt dans une ligne de _double courbure_, contient\npresque tout ce que l'homme peut distinctiment appercevoir au ciel;\nles mouvemens et les positions toujours changeants sans fin, les\nvariations p\u00e9riodiques et s\u00e9culaires etc. tout est l\u00e0; c'est l'unit\u00e9\nde la science, le fondement de sa th\u00e9orie; si on comprend le mouvement\ndans l'espace, on n'a pas besoin de recourir \u00e0 des _forces cach\u00e9es_,\nchaque explication est superflue, inutile, la nature s'explique\nelle-m\u00eame, suppos\u00e9 que l'homme soit capable de l'\u00e9tudier.\n Remarque: Quelques lecteurs pourrait s'\u00e9tonner de ce que nous\n faisons un usage trop fr\u00e9quent de l'expression \u00abcercle\u00bb, mais\n apr\u00e8s quelques r\u00e9flections ils reconna\u00eetront eux-m\u00eames que ce mot\n a un sens bien \u00e9tendu, qu'il conserve toujours encore, si nous\n transformont p. ex un cercle donn\u00e9 en diff\u00e9rents flexions, qui lui\n donne une ou plusieurs courbures. Tous les esp\u00e8ces de lignes\n courb\u00e9es, qui se laissent projeter comme cercle ou sont men\u00e9es \u00e0\n 360\u00b0 peuvent \u00eatre nomm\u00e9es circulaires. Ainsi on a p. ex decrit un\n cercle par la lettre _S_ ou avec le chiffre 2; la ligne\n serpentante, l'ellipse, la cycloide, et plusieurs esp\u00e8ce de\n spirales ect. se projetent comme circulaires et peuvent \u00eatre\n consid\u00e9rer comme une partie sans fin, contenant 360\u00b0 produit par\n la circulation. Le mot \u00abcirculation nous rapelle d\u00e9j\u00e0 un mouvement\n circulaire, sans que par cela un cercle soit imm\u00e9diatement d\u00e9crit;\n puisque une circulation accomplie ou une r\u00e9volution dut contenir\n 360\u00b0, c'est compr\u00e9hensible, que ceux-ci se rapport au cercle. Le\n double mouvement courb\u00e9 de la terre, comme nons nous la\n repr\u00e9sentons par un _anneaux spirale cylindrique_, quand il s'agit\n d'une partie repondante \u00e0 une p\u00e9riode annuelle est en effet un\n cercle transform\u00e9 en un anneaux spirale.\nAutant que les astronomes n\u00e9gligent d'\u00e9tudier avec soin attantif _les\napparitions c\u00e9lestes et leur signification_ et soutiendront avec\nobstination la th\u00e9orie astronomique actuelle, fond\u00e9e sur les\nsuppositions et les imaginations de Copernic[B], Kepler et Newton,\nl'astronomie comme elle est enseign\u00e9e aujourd'hui, n'est rien de plus\nqu'un jeu de phantasie.\n [B] Solis coelique stator.\nNous sommes persuad\u00e9s, que le Bon-sens de l'homme\nnormal se d\u00e9cidera enfin de rejeter les id\u00e9es des astronomes\nsur la m\u00e9canique c\u00e9leste profess\u00e9e aujourd'hui, m\u00eame contre\nles efforts des astronomes les plus c\u00e9l\u00e8bres \u00e0 soutenir les\nsuperstitions, qu'ils propagent, mais qui ne servent qu'\u00e0\nflatter leur vanit\u00e9.\nNous demandons pourquoi les astronomes n'ont-ils pas le courage de\ns'\u00e9lever contre le syst\u00e8me solaire insoutenable et impossible fond\u00e9\nsur le soleil fixe de Copernic, et pourquoi ne veulent-ils pas\n_proposer_ un syst\u00e8me fond\u00e9 sur le soleil se mouvant dans l'espace?\nIls ont peur, comme Alexandre de Humboldt, de heurter au gu\u00eapier.[C]\nLe courage moral leur manque de s'opposer \u00e0 des id\u00e9es g\u00e9n\u00e9ralement\naccept\u00e9es et proclam\u00e9es comme des v\u00e9rit\u00e9s incontestables, mais qui ne\ns'accordent pas \u00e0 la r\u00e9alit\u00e9 et qui sont m\u00eame en contradiction avec\nla th\u00e9orie adopt\u00e9e.\n [C] vide: L'astronomie et les astronomes, par A. Tischner 1893, p.\nLa pr\u00e9somption de tout savoir, est la vraie cause, qui emp\u00eache le\nprogr\u00e8s. Nous esp\u00e9rons que la question soulev\u00e9e par nous sera d\u00e9cid\u00e9e\ndans le si\u00e8cle \u00e0 venir.\nNous r\u00e9p\u00e9tons, que nous n'attaquons pas _l'astronomie pratique_, mais\nnous rejetons _la th\u00e9orie de l'astronomie actuelle_ c. a. d.\nl'explication des ph\u00e9nom\u00e8nes c\u00e9lestes _apparents_.\nUn grand astronome.\nHimmel und Erde 1889, p. p. 333 und 334.\nMr. W. Meyer dit: \u00abC'est bien compr\u00e9hensible, _qu'il faut avoir appris\n\u00e0 connaitre les choses avec tous leurs d'\u00e9tails, que l'on veut\nexpliquer_. C'est une supposition primitive, que malheureusement on ne\npeut pas assez souvent r\u00e9p\u00e9ter, aussi aujourd'hui, \u00e0 des milliers de\nt\u00eates sp\u00e9culatives, qui entreprennent de construire avec leur\nphantaisie tout l'edifice du monde, \u00e0 l'aide d'un material des\nconnaissances positives, \u00e0 peine dignes de nomm\u00e9es. Ces architects du\nmonde, qui construisent tout l'univers dans une brochure de quelques\nvingtaines ou trentaines de pages--qui sont en proportion tr\u00e8s\nharmoniques avec leur savoir--sont pour les astronomes une secte tr\u00e8s\nincommodes. Ces gens tiennent avec ent\u00eatement tout \u00e0 fait in\u00e9branlable\n\u00e0 leurs id\u00e9es fixes, et avec des arguments des science positives ce\nn'est pas possible de les persuader. Une vieille experience enseigne\nque ce serait une peine tout \u00e0 fait vaine de les persuader de quelque\nchose de meilleur et que malgr\u00e9 toute la bonne volont\u00e9 et tout\nl'enthousiasme on ne pourrait rependre une explication g\u00e9n\u00e9rale sur\ncet objet. Contre de tels gens il faut se resoudre \u00e0 une resignation\ndouloureuse et leurs laisser continuer tranquillement leur faux\nchemin.\u00bb\nAinsi parle un Copernicain, qui ne peut pas comprendre, que quoique\ndepuis 1783, _le propre mouvement du soleil_ a \u00e9t\u00e9 reconnu par\nobservation et qu'il se meut avec une vitesse de 30 Kilom\u00e8tre par\nseconde, la terre qui marche presque avec la m\u00eame vitesse que le\nsoleil ne peut pas circuler autour du centre du soleil. Ou bien le\nsoleil se meut ou bien il ne se meut pas, mais de supposer le soleil\nen repos sur la m\u00eame place et se mouvant en m\u00eame temps trente\nKilom\u00e8tre par seconde, c'est un non-sens.\nMr. Wilhelm Meyer, n\u00e9 1853, directeur de l'observatoire de la soci\u00e9t\u00e9\ndes actionaires \u00abUrania\u00bb \u00e0 Berlin, est un grand astronome, qui a\napprofondit _tous les d\u00e9tailes_ de l'astronomie et de la m\u00e9canique\nc\u00e9lestes et sait ce que se passe dans les replis les plus profonds de\nl'espace c\u00e9leste.\n =Sta, sol, ne moveare.= _August Tischner._ Leipzig 1881-1882.\n Gustav Fock.\n =Die Gr\u00f6sse, Entfernung und Masse der Sonne.= _August Tischner._\n Leipzig 1882. Gustav Fock.\n =The sun changes his position in space=, therefore he cannot be\n regarded as being \u00abin a condition of rest\u00bb. _August Tischner._\n Leipzig 1883. Gustav Fock.\n =The fixed Idea of astronomical Theory.= _August Tischner._ Leipzig\n 1885. Gustav Fock.\n =L'Histoire de la d\u00e9couverte de la Plan\u00e8te Neptune, par Em.\n Liais.= Astronome de l'observatoire imp\u00e9rial de Paris.\n Reproduit de l'ouvrage: L'espace c\u00e9leste et la nature tropical,\n Paris 1866. Par _Auguste Tischner_. Leipzig 1892. Gustav Fock.\n =Le mouvement de la Lumi\u00e8re.= _August Tischner._ Leipzig 1892.\n Gustav Fock.\n =Le pouvoir grossissant de l'Atmosph\u00e8re.= _August Tischner._\n Leipzig 1892. Gustav Fock.\n =Le mouvement universel.= _August Tischner._ Leipzig 1893. Gustav\n Fock.\n =Les astronomes.= _August Tischner._ Leipzig 1893. Gustav Fock.\n =L'astronomie et les Astronomes.= _August Tischner._ Leipzig\n 1893. Gustav Fock.\nLitt\u00e9rature.\n 1. =De orbitis planetarum.= _Georg Wilh. Hegel._ Jena 1801.\n 2. =De l'imposibilit\u00e9 du syst\u00e8me astronomique de Copernic et de\n Newton.= _L. J. Mercier._ Paris 1806.\n 3. =Ueber Newton's, Euler's, K\u00e4stner's und Konsorten Pfuschereien\n in der Mathematik.= _Langsberg._ Heidelberg 1807.\n 4. =Die Sonne bewegt sich.= Folgerungen aus dieser Lehre in Bezug\n auf die Fixsterne und Planeten. _C. R(ohrbach)._ Berlin 1852.\n 5. =The solar System as it is, and not as it is represented.= _R.\n J. Morrison._ London 1857.\n 6. =M\u00e9moire sur le syst\u00e8me solaire et sur l'explication des\n ph\u00e9nom\u00e8nes c\u00e9lestes.= _Charles Nagy._ Paris 1862.\n 7. =Consid\u00e9ration sur les Com\u00e8tes, \u00e9l\u00e9ments de Com\u00e8tologie.=\n _Charles Nagy._ Paris 1862.\n 8. =Die Sonne und die Astronomie.= _K. Nagy._ Leipzig 1866.\n 9. =Das wahre Sonnensystem.= Bewegung und Bahnen der Gestirne nach\n einer neuen Auffassung \u00fcber dieselben im Himmelsraume und\n zwar, welche nicht in Ellipsen statt hat. _James Milberg._\n 10. =Die wahre Gestalt der Planeten- und Cometenbahnen.= _Fried.\n Carl Gustav Stieber._ Dresden 1864.\n 11. =Mathematische Sophismen.= _Joh. Viola._ Wien 1865.\n 12. =Die absolute Bewegung der Himmelsk\u00f6rper und die wahre Natur\n der Dinge.= _Hugo Keifenheim._ K\u00f6ln und Leipzig 1868.\n 13. =Unumst\u00f6sslicher Nachweis, dass die Erde nicht um die Sonne\n herumgehe.= _Xaver Schechner._ M\u00fcnchen 1868.\n 14. =L'astronomie moderne.= _W. de Fonvielle._ Paris 1869.\n 15. =Die Widerspr\u00fcche in der Astronomie.= _C. Sch\u00f6pffner._ Berlin\n 16. =Der Himmels-Mechanik Reform auf Grund der inductiven Logik.=\n _V. P. Kluck-Kluczycky._ 1880.\n 17. =Nuevo sistema planetario.= _A. Morera._ Barcelona 1883.\n 18. =Kritik der drei Kepler'schen Gesetze.= _Reindorf._\n Neuhaldesheim.\n 19. =Ueber die Veranschaulichungsmittel f\u00fcr mathematische\n Geographie.= _F. A. P\u00fcschmann._ Grimma.\n 20. =Syst\u00e8me solaire d'apr\u00e8s la march r\u00e9elle du soleil.= _E. G.\n Fahrner._ 2me \u00e9d. Paris 1869.\n 21. =Sterntafeln f\u00fcr alle Jahrhunderte von -2000 bis +1800.= _Dr.\n O. Danckwortt._\n 22. =Freret. D\u00e9fense de la chronologie, contre le syst\u00e8me\n chronologique de Newton.= Paris 1758.\n 23. =Mathematisch begr\u00fcndete Bedenken gegen das Kopernikanische\n Weltsystem.= _A. L. Dispek._ Frankfurt a. M. 1822.\n 24. =Die Frage der Ver\u00e4nderlichkeit des Sonnendurchmessers.= _K.\n Remeis._ Leipzig 1880.\n 25. =Das Mangelhafte der Newton'schen Gravitations-Theorie= v. _L.\n C. H. Boritsch_, gen. _Barnet_. Rostock 1866.\n 26. =Discours pr\u00e9liminaire d'un syst\u00e8me du monde, bas\u00e9 sur la\n propri\u00e9t\u00e9 la plus g\u00e9n\u00e9ral des corps.= _L. Delobel._ Bruxelles\nG. KREYSING, LEIPZIG.\nDruck von G. Kreysing in Leipzig.\nEnd of Project Gutenberg's Le Syst\u00e8me Solaire se mouvant, by August Tischner", "source_dataset": "gutenberg", "source_dataset_detailed": "gutenberg - Le Syst\u00e8me Solaire se mouvant\n"}, {"source_document": "", "creation_year": 1849, "culture": " English\n", "content": "Produced by Delphine Lettau and the Online Distributed\n [Illustration:\n ANDY HELPS THE INDIAN SQUAW TO CONSTRUCT THE WIGWAM.--_Page_ 225.]\nCEDAR CREEK\n_FROM THE SHANTY TO THE SETTLEMENT_\nA Tale of Canadian Life\nBY THE AUTHOR OF\n'GOLDEN HILLS, A TALE OF THE IRISH FAMINE'\n'THE FOSTER-BROTHERS OF DOON,' ETC.\nLONDON\nTHE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY\n56 PATERNOSTER ROW, 65 ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD\nAND 164 PICCADILLY\nMORRISON AND GIBB, EDINBURGH,\nPRINTERS TO HER MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE\nCONTENTS.\n I. WHY ROBERT WYNN EMIGRATED, 7\n VIII. 'JEAN BAPTISTE' AT HOME, 78\n XI. THE BATTLE WITH THE WILDERNESS BEGINS, 105\n XIII. THE YANKEE STOREKEEPER, 123\n XXV. CHILDREN OF THE FOREST, 220\n XXVIII. OLD FACES UPON NEW NEIGHBOURS, 244\n XXXII. HOW THE CAPTAIN CLEARED HIS BUSH, 274\n XXXIV. TRITON AMONG MINNOWS, 291\n XXXVII. A CUT, AND ITS CONSEQUENCES, 315\n XXXVIII. JACK-OF-ALL-TRADES, 324\n XLII. UNDER THE NORTHERN LIGHTS, 351\nCEDAR CREEK.\nCHAPTER I.\nWHY ROBERT WYNN EMIGRATED.\nA night train drew up slowly alongside the platform at the Euston Square\nterminus. Immediately the long inanimate line of rail-carriages burst\ninto busy life: a few minutes of apparently frantic confusion, and the\nindividual items of the human freight were speeding towards all parts of\nthe compass, to be absorbed in the leviathan metropolis, as drops of a\nshower in a boundless sea.\nOne of the cabs pursuing each other along the lamplit streets, and\nfinally diverging among the almost infinite ramifications of London\nthoroughfares, contains a young man, who sits gazing through the window\nat the rapidly passing range of houses and shops with curiously fixed\nvision. The face, as momentarily revealed by the beaming of a brilliant\ngaslight, is chiefly remarkable for clear dark eyes rather deeply set,\nand a firm closure of the lips. He scarcely alters his posture during\nthe miles of driving through wildernesses of brick and stone: some\nthoughts are at work beneath that broad short brow, which keep him thus\nstill. He has never been in London before. He has come now on an errand\nof hope and endeavour, for he wants to push himself into the army of the\nworld's workers, somewhere. Prosaically, he wants to earn his bread,\nand, if possible, butter wherewith to flavour it. Like Britons in\ngeneral, from Dick Whittington downwards, he thinks that the capital is\nthe place in which to seek one's fortune, and to find it. He had not\nexpected streets paved with gold, nor yet with the metaphorical plenty\nof penny loaves; but an indefinite disappointment weighs upon him as he\npasses through quarters fully as dingy and poverty-stricken as those in\nhis own provincial town.\nStill on--on--across 'the province covered with houses;' sometimes in a\ngreat thoroughfare, where midnight is as noisy as noon-day, and much\nmore glaring; sometimes through a region of silence and sleep, where\ngentility keeps proper hours, going to bed betimes in its respectable\nstreets. Robert Wynn began to wonder when the journey would end; for,\nmuch as he knew of London by hearsay and from books, it was widely\ndifferent thus personally to experience the metropolitan amplitude. A\nslight dizziness of sight, from the perpetual sweeping past of lamps and\nshadowy buildings, caused him to close his eyes; and from speculations\non the possible future and the novel present, his thoughts went straight\nhome again.\nHome to the Irish village where his ancestors had long been lords of the\nsoil; and the peasantry had deemed that the greatest power on earth,\nunder majesty itself, was his Honour Mr. Wynn of Dunore, where now,\nfallen from greatness, the family was considerably larger than the\nmeans. The heavily encumbered property had dropped away piece by piece,\nand the scant residue clung to its owner like shackles. With difficulty\nthe narrow exchequer had raised cash enough to send Robert on this\nexpedition to London, from which much was hoped. The young man had\nbeen tolerably well educated; he possessed a certain amount and\nquality of talent, extolled by partial friends as far above the\naverage; but the mainstay of his anticipations was a promise of a\nCivil Service appointment, obtained from an influential quarter; and\nhis unsophisticated country relatives believed he had only to present\nhimself in order to realize it at once.\nHe was recalled to London by the sudden stoppage of the cab. On the dim\nlamp over a doorway was stained the name of the obscure hotel to which\nhe had been recommended as central in situation, while cheap in charges.\nCabby's fare was exorbitant, the passenger thought; but, after a faint\nresistance, Mr. Wynn was glad to escape from the storm of h-less\nremonstrances by payment of the full demand, and so entered the\ncoffee-room.\nIt was dingy and shabby-genteel, like the exterior; a quarter of a\ncentury might have elapsed since the faded paper had been put up, or a\nstroke of painting executed, in that dispiriting apartment. Meanwhile,\nall the agencies of travel-stain had been defacing both. An odour of\ncontinual meal-times hung about it; likewise of smoke of every grade,\nfrom the perfumed havanna to the plebeian pigtail. The little tables\nwere dark with hard work and antiquity; the chair seats polished with\ninnumerable frictions. A creeping old waiter, who seemed to have known\nbetter days in a higher-class establishment, came to receive the\nnew-comer's orders; and Robert sat down to wait for his modest chop and\nglass of ale.\nThat morning's _Times_ lay on his table: he glanced over the broad sheet\nof advertisements--that wondrous daily record of need and of endeavour\namong the toiling millions of London. The inexplicable solitude in a\ncrowd came about the reader's heart: what a poor chance had a provincial\nstranger amid the jostling multitude all eager for the prizes of comfort\nand competence! Robert went back for anchor to one strong fact. The\nHonourable Mr. Currie Faver, Secretary to the Board of Patronage, had\ndeclared to the member for the Irish county of C----, on the eve of an\nimportant division, that his young friend should have the earliest\nappointment at his disposal in a certain department. Robert Wynn felt an\ninward gratulation on the superiority of his auspices. True, the promise\nmade in January yet remained due in July; but there were numberless\nexcellent good reasons why Mr. Currie Faver had been as yet unable to\nredeem his pledge.\nRobert turned his paper to look for the news: a paragraph in the corner\narrested his attention.\n'We learn from the best authority that, owing to the diminution of\nbusiness consequent upon recent Acts of the Legislature, it is the\nintention of Her Majesty's Commissioners of Public Locomotion to reduce\ntheir staffs of officials, so that no fresh appointments can be made for\nsome months.'\nHe gazed at this piece of intelligence much longer than was necessary\nfor the mere reading of it. The Board of Public Locomotion was the very\ndepartment in which he had been promised a clerkship. Robert made up his\nmind that it could not be true; it was a mere newspaper report: at\nall events, Mr. Currie Faver was bound by a previous pledge; whoever\nremained unappointed, it could not be a friend of the hon. member for\nThere were voices in the next compartment, and presently their\nconversation was forced on Mr. Wynn's attention by the strongly stated\nsentiment, 'The finest country in the world--whips all creation, it\ndoes.'\nSome rejoinder ensued in a low tone.\n'Cold!' with a rather scornful accent, 'I should think so. Gloriously\ncold! None of your wet sloppy winters and foggy skies, but ice a yard\nand a half thick for months. What do you think of forty degrees below\nzero, stranger?'\nRobert could fancy the other invisible person shrugging his shoulders.\n'Don't like it, eh? That's just a prejudice here in the old country;\nnatural enough to them that don't know the difference. When a man hears\nof seventy degrees below the freezing-point, he's apt to get a shiver.\nBut there, we don't mind it; the colder the merrier: winter's our time\nof fun: sleighing and skating parties, logging and quilting bees, and\nother sociabilities unknown to you in England. Ay, we're the finest\npeople and the finest country on earth; and since I've been to see\nyours, I'm the steadier in that opinion.'\n'But emigrants in the backwoods have so few of the comforts of\ncivilisation,' began the other person, with a weak, irresolute voice.\n'Among which is foremost the tax-gatherer, I suppose?' was the\ntriumphant rejoinder. 'Well, stranger, that's an animal I never saw in\nfull blow till I've been to the old country. I was obliged to clear out\nof our lodgings yesterday because they came down on the furniture for\npoor-rate. Says I to the landlady, who was crying and wringing her\nhands, \"Why not come to the country where there's no taxes at all,\nnor rent either, if you choose?\" Then it would frighten one, all\nshe counted up on her fingers--poor-rate, paving-rate, water-rate,\nlighting, income-tax, and no end of others. I reckon that's what you\npay for your high civilisation. Now, with us, there's a water privilege\non a'most every farm, and a pile of maple-logs has fire and gaslight in\nit for the whole winter; and there's next to no poor, for every man\nand woman that's got hands and health can make a living. Why, your\ncivilisation is your misfortune in the old country; you've got to\nsupport a lot of things and people besides yourself and your family.'\n'Surely you are not quite without taxes,' said the other.\n'Oh, we lay a trifle on ourselves for roads and bridges and schools, and\nsuch things. There's custom-houses at the ports; but if a man chooses to\nlive without tea or foreign produce, he won't be touched by the indirect\ntaxes either. I guess we've the advantage of you there. You can't hardly\neat or drink, or walk or ride, or do anything else, without a tax\nsomewhere in the background slily sucking your pocket.'\n'A United States citizen,' thought Robert Wynn. 'What a peculiar accent\nhe has! and the national swagger too.' And Mr. Wynn, feeling intensely\nBritish, left his box, and walked into the midst of the room with his\nnewspaper, wishing to suggest the presence of a third person. He glanced\nat the American, a middle-aged, stout-built man, with an intelligent\nand energetic countenance, who returned the glance keenly. There was\nsomething indescribably foreign about his dress, though in detail it was\nas usual; and his manner and air were those of one not accustomed to the\nconventional life of cities. His companion was a tall, pale, elderly\nperson, who bore his piping voice in his appearance, and seemed an eager\nlistener.\n'And you say that I would make an independence if I emigrated?' asked\nthe latter, fidgeting nervously with a piece of paper.\n'Any man would who has pluck and perseverance. You would have to work\nhard, though;' and his eyes fell on the white irresolute hands, dubious\nas to the requisite qualities being there indicated. 'You'd want a\nstrong constitution if you're for the backwoods.'\n'The freedom of a settler's life, surrounded by all the beauties of\nnature, would have great charms for me,' observed the other.\n'Yes,' replied the American, rather drily; 'but I reckon you wouldn't\nsee many beauties till you had a log shanty up, at all events. Now that\nyoung man'--he had caught Robert Wynn's eye on him again--'is the very\nbuild for emigration. Strong, active, healthy, wide awake: no offence,\nyoung gentleman, but such as you are badly wanted in Canada West.'\nFrom this began a conversation which need not be minutely detailed. It\nwas curious to see what a change was produced in Robert's sentiments\ntowards the settler, by learning that he was a Canadian, and not a\nUnited States man: 'the national swagger' became little more than a\ndignified assertion of independence, quite suitable to a British\nsubject; the accent he had disliked became an interesting local\ncharacteristic. Mr. Hiram Holt was the son of an English settler, who\nhad fixed himself on the left bank of the Ottawa, amid what was then\nprimeval forest, and was now a flourishing township, covered with\nprosperous farms and villages. Here had the sturdy Saxon struggled with,\nand finally conquered, adverse circumstances, leaving his eldest son\npossessed of a small freehold estate, and his other children portioned\ncomfortably, so that much of the neighbourhood was peopled by his\ndescendants. And this, Hiram's first visit to the mother country--for\nhe was Canadian born--was on colonial business, being deputed from his\nsection of the province, along with others, to give evidence, as a\nlanded proprietor, before the Secretary of State, whose gate-lodge\nhis father would have been proud to keep when he was a poor Suffolk\nlabourer.\n'Now there's an injustice,' quoth Mr. Holt, diverging into politics.\n'England has forty-three colonies, and but one man to oversee them\nall--a man that's jerked in and out of office with every successive\nMinistry, and is almost necessarily more intent on party manoeuvres\nthan on the welfare of the young nations he rules. Our colony alone--the\ntwo Canadas--is bigger than Great Britain and Ireland three times over.\nTake in all along Vancouver's Island, and it's as big as Europe.\n_There's_ a pretty considerable slice of the globe for one man to\nmanage! But forty-two other colonies have to be managed as well;\nand I guess a nursery of forty-three children of all ages left to\none care-taker would run pretty wild, I do.'\n'Yet we never hear of mismanagement,' observed Robert, in an unlucky\nmoment; for Mr. Hiram Holt retained all the Briton's prerogative of\ngrumbling, and in five minutes had rehearsed a whole catalogue of\ncolonial grievances very energetically.\n'Then I suppose you'll be for joining the stars and stripes?' said the\nyoung man.\n'Never!' exclaimed the settler. 'Never, while there's a rag of the union\njack to run up. But it's getting late;' and as he rose to his feet with\na tremendous yawn, Robert perceived his great length, hitherto concealed\nby the table on which he leaned. 'This life would kill me in six months.\nIn my own place I'm about the farm at sunrise in summer. Never knew\nwhat it was to be sick, young man.' And so the party separated; Robert\nadmiring the stalwart muscular frame of the Canadian as he strode before\nhim up the stairs towards their sleeping-rooms. As he passed Mr. Holt's\ndoor, he caught a glimpse of bare floor, whence all the carpets had been\nrolled off into a corner, every vestige of curtain tucked away, and the\nwindow sashes open to their widest. Subsequently he learned that to\nsuch domestic softnesses as carpets and curtains the sturdy settler had\ninvincible objections, regarding them as symptoms of effeminacy not\nsuitable to his character, though admitting that for women they were\nwell enough.\nRobert was all night felling pines, building log-huts, and wandering\namid interminable forests; and when his shaving water and boots awoke\nhim at eight, he was a little surprised to find himself a denizen\nof a London hotel. Mr. Holt had gone out hours before. After a hasty\nbreakfast Mr. Wynn ordered a cab, and proceeded to the residence of the\nhon. member for C---- county.\nIt was a mansion hired for the season in one of the fashionable squares;\nfor so had the hon. member's domestic board of control, his lady-wife\nand daughters, willed. Of course, Robert was immensely too early; he\ndismissed the cab, and wandered about the neighbourhood, followed by\nsuspicious glances from one or two policemen, until, after calling at\nthe house twice, he was admitted into a library beset with tall dark\nbookcases. Here sat the M.P. enjoying the _otium cum dignitate_, in a\nhandsome morning gown, with bundles of parliamentary papers and a little\nstack of letters on the table. But none of the legislative literature\nengrossed his attention just then: the _Morning Post_ dropped from his\nfingers as he arose and shook hands with the son of his constituent.\n'Ah, my dear Wynn--how happy--delighted indeed, I assure you. Have you\nbreakfasted? all well at home? your highly honoured father? late sitting\nat the House last night--close of the session most exhausting even to\nseasoned members, as the Chancellor of the Exchequer said to me last\nevening in the lobby;' and here followed an anecdote. But while he thus\nran on most affably, the under-current of idea in his mind was somewhat\nas follows: 'What on earth does this young fellow want of me? His\nfamily interest in the county almost gone--not worth taking pains to\nplease any longer--a great bore--yet I must be civil;--oh, I recollect\nCurrie Paver's promise--thinks he has given me enough this session'--\nMeanwhile, Robert was quite interested by his agreeable small talk.\nIt is so charming to hear great names mentioned familiarly by one\npersonally acquainted with them; to learn that Palmerston and Lord John\ncan breakfast like ordinary mortals. By and by, with a blush and a\nfalter (for the mere matter of his personal provision for life seemed so\npaltry among these world-famed characters and their great deeds, that he\nwas almost ashamed to allude to it), Robert Wynn ventured to make his\nrequest, that the hon. member for C---- would go to the hon. Secretary\nof the Board of Patronage, and claim the fulfilment of his promise.\nSuddenly the M.P. became grave and altogether the senator, with his\nfinger thoughtfully upon his brow--the identical attitude which Grant\nhad commemorated on canvas, beaming from the opposite wall.\n'An unfortunate juncture; close of the session, when everybody wants to\nbe off, and Ministers don't need to swell their majorities any longer.\nI recollect perfectly to what you allude; but, my dear young friend,\nall these ministerial promises, as you term them, are more or less\nconditional, and it may be quite out of Mr. Currie Paver's power to\nfulfil this.'\n'Then he should not have made it, sir,' said Robert hotly.\n'For instance,' proceeded the hon. gentleman, not noticing the\ninterruption, 'the new arrangements of the Commissioners renders it\nalmost impossible that they should appoint to a clerkship, either\nsupernumerary or otherwise, while they are reducing the ordinary staff.\nBut I'll certainly go to Mr. Faver, and remind him of the circumstance:\nwe can only be refused at worst. You may be assured of my warmest\nexertions in your behalf: any request from a member of your family\nought to be a command with me, Mr. Wynn.'\nRobert's feelings of annoyance gave way to gratification at Mr. A----'s\nblandness, which, however, had a slight acid behind.\n'And though times are greatly altered, I don't forget our old\nelectioneering, when your father proposed me on my first hustings.\nGreatly altered, Mr. Wynn; greatly altered. I must go to the morning\nsitting now, but I'll send you a note as to the result of my interview.\nYou must have much to see about London. I quite envy you your first\nvisit to such a world of wonders; I am sure you will greatly enjoy it.\nGood morning, Mr. Wynn. I hope I shall have good news for you.'\nAnd so Robert was bowed out, to perambulate the streets in rather\nbitter humour. Was he to return to the poor, scantily supplied home,\nand continue a drag on its resources, lingering out his days in\nillusive hopes? Oh that his strong hands and strong heart had some\nscope for their energies! He paused in one mighty torrent of busy faces\nand eager footsteps, and despised himself for his inaction. All these\nhad business of one kind or other; all were earnestly intent upon their\ncalling; but he was a waif and a straw on the top of the tide, with\nevery muscle stoutly strung, and every faculty of his brain clear and\nsound. Would he let the golden years of his youth slip by, without\nlaying any foundation for independence? Was this Civil Service\nappointment worth the weary waiting? Emigration had often before\npresented itself as a course offering certain advantages. Mr. Holt's\nconversation had brightened the idea. For his family, as well as\nfor himself, it would be beneficial. The poor proud father, who had\nfrequently been unable to leave his house for weeks together, through\nfear of arrest for debt, would be happier with an ocean between him and\nthe ancestral estates, thronged with memories of fallen affluence: the\nyoung brothers, Arthur and George, who were nearing man's years without\nostensible object or employment, would find both abundantly in the\nlabour of a new country and a settler's life. Robert had a whole\npicture sketched and filled in during half an hour's sit in the dingy\ncoffee-room; from the shanty to the settlement was portrayed by his\nfertile fancy, till he was awakened from his reverie by the hearty\nvoice of Hiram Holt.\n'I thought for a minute you were asleep, with your hat over your eyes. I\nhope you're thinking of Canada, young man?'\nRobert could not forbear smiling.\n'Now,' said Mr. Holt, apparently speaking aloud a previous train of\nthought, 'of all things in this magnificent city of yours, which I'm\nfree to confess beats Quebec and Montreal by a long chalk, nothing seems\nqueerer to me than the thousands of young men in your big shops, who are\nsatisfied to struggle all their lives in a poor unmanly way, while our\nmillions of acres are calling out for hands to fell the forests and own\nthe estates, and create happy homes along our unrivalled rivers and\nlakes. The young fellow that sold me these gloves'--showing a new pair\non his hands--'would make as fine a backwoodsman as I ever saw--six feet\nhigh, and strong in proportion. It's the sheerest waste of material to\nhave that fellow selling stockings.'\nBut Mr. Holt found Robert Wynn rather taciturn; whereupon he observed:\n'I'm long enough in the world young man, to see that to-day's experience,\nwhatever it has been, has bated your hopes a bit; the crest ain't so\nplumy as last night. But I say you'll yet bless the disappointment,\nwhatever it is, that forces you over the water to our land of plenty.\nCome out of this overcrowded nation, out where there's elbow-room and\nfree breathing. Tell you what, young man, the world doesn't want you in\ndensely packed England and Ireland, but you're wanted in Canada, every\nthew and sinew that you have. The market for such as you is overstocked\nhere: out with us you'll be at a premium. Don't be offended if I've\nspoke plain, for Hiram Holt is not one of them that can chop a pine\ninto matches: whatever I am thinking, out with the whole of it. But if\nyou ever want a friend on the Ottawa'--\nRobert asserted that he had no immediate idea of emigration; his\nprospects at home were not bad, etc. He could not let this rough\nstranger see the full cause he had for depression.\n'Not bad! but I tell you they're nothing compared to the prospects you\nmay carve out for yourself with that clever head and those able hands.'\nAgain Mr. Holt seized the opportunity of dilating on the perfections of\nhis beloved colony: had he been a paid agent, he could not have more\nzealously endeavoured to enlist Robert as an emigrant. But it was all\na product of national enthusiasm, and of the pride which Canadians may\nwell feel concerning their magnificent country.\nNext morning a few courteous lines from the hon. member for C---- county\ninformed Mr. Wynn, with much regret, that, as he had anticipated, Mr.\nCurrie Faver had for the present no nomination for the department\nreferred to, nor would have for at least twelve months to come.\n'Before which time, I trust,' soliloquized Robert a little fiercely, 'I\nshall be independent of all their favours.' And amidst some severe\nreflections on the universal contempt accorded to the needy, and the\ncorrupted state of society in England, which estimates a man by the\nlength of his purse chiefly, Robert Wynn formed the resolution that he\nwould go to Canada.\nCHAPTER II.\nCROSSING THE 'FERRY.'\nRobert Wynn returned home to Dunore, having gained nothing by his\nLondon trip but a little of that bitter though salutary tonic called\nexperience. His resolve did not waver--nay, it became his day-dream; but\nmanifold obstacles occurred in the attempt to realize it. Family pride\nwas one of the most stubborn; and not until all hope from home resources\nwas at an end, did his father give consent.\nAbout a month after his meeting with Hiram Holt in the London\ncoffee-house, he and his brother Arthur found themselves on board a fine\nemigrant vessel, passing down the river Lee into Cork harbour, under the\nleadership of a little black steam-tug. Grievous had been the wailing of\nthe passengers at parting with their kinsfolk on the quay; but, somewhat\nstilled by this time, they leaned in groups on the bulwarks, or were\nsquatted about on deck among their infinitude of red boxes and brilliant\ntins, watching the villa-whitened shores gliding by rapidly. Only an\noccasional vernacular ejaculation, such as 'Oh, wirra! wirra!' or, 'Och\nhone, mavrone!' betokened the smouldering remains of emotion in the\nfrieze coats and gaudy shawls assembled for'ard: the wisest of the\nparty were arranging their goods and chattels 'tween-decks, where they\nmust encamp for a month or more; but the majority, with truly Celtic\nimprovidence, will wait till they are turned down at nightfall, and have\na general scramble in the dusk.\nNow the noble Cove of Cork stretches before them, a sheet of glassy\nwater, dotted with a hundred sail, from the base of the sultry hill\nfaced with terraces and called Queenstown, to the far Atlantic beyond\nthe Heads. Heavy and dark loom the fortified Government buildings of\nHaulbowline and the prisons of Spike Island, casting forbidding\nshadows on the western margin of the tide. Quickly the steam-tug\nand her follower thread their way among islets and moored barques and\nguard-ships, southward to the sea. No pause anywhere; the passengers of\nthe brig Ocean Queen are shut up in a world of their own for a while;\nyet they do not feel the bond with mother country quite severed till\nthey have cleared the last cape, and the sea-line lies wide in view; nor\neven then, till the little black tug casts off the connecting cables,\nand rounds away back across the bar, within the jaws of the bay.\nHardly a breath of breeze: but such as blows is favourable; and\nwith infinite creaking all sail is set. The sound wakes up emigrant\nsorrow afresh; the wildly contagious Irish cry is raised, much to the\ndiscomposure of the captain, who stood on the quarterdeck with Robert\nWynn.\n'The savages! they will be fitting mates for Red Indians, and may add\na stave or two to the war-whoop. One would think they were all going\nto the bottom immediately.' He walked forward to quell the noise, if\npossible, but he might as well have stamped and roared at Niagara. Not a\nvoice cared for his threats or his rage, but those within reach of his\narm. The choleric little man had to come back baffled.\n'Masther Robert, would _ye_ like 'em to stop?' whispered a great hulking\npeasant who had been looking on; 'for if ye would, I'll do it while ye'd\nbe taking a pinch of snuff.'\nAndy Callaghan disappeared somewhere for a moment, and presently emerged\nwith an old violin, which he began to scrape vigorously. Even his tuning\nwas irresistibly comical; and he had not been playing a lively jig for\nten minutes, before two or three couples were on their feet performing\nthe figure. Soon an admiring circle, four deep, collected about the\ndancers. The sorrows of the exiles were effectually diverted, for that\ntime.\n'A clever fellow,' quoth the captain, regarding Andy's red hair and\ntwinkling eyes with some admiration. 'A diplomatic tendency, Mr. Wynn,\nwhich may be valuable. Your servant, I presume?'\n'A former tenant of my father's, who wished to follow our fortunes,'\nreplied Robert. 'He's a faithful fellow, though not much more civilised\nthan the rest.'\nThat grand ocean bluff, the Old Head of Kinsale, was now in the offing,\nand misty ranges of other promontories beyond, at whose base was\nperpetual foam. Robert turned away with a sigh, and descended to the\ncabins. In the small square box allotted to them, he found Arthur lying\nin his berth, reading Mrs. Traill's _Emigrant's Guide_.\n'I've been wondering what became of you; you've not been on deck since\nwe left Cork.'\n'Of course not. I should have been blubbering like a schoolboy; and as I\nhad enough of that last night, I mean to stay here till we're out of\nsight of land.'\nLittle trace of the stoicism he professed was to be seen in the tender\neyes which had for an hour been fixed on the same page; but Arthur was\nnot yet sufficiently in manhood's years to know that deep feeling is an\nhonour, and not a weakness.\nTowards evening, the purple mountain ranges of Kerry were fast fading\nover the waters; well-known peaks, outlines familiar from childhood to\nthe dwellers at Dunore, were sinking beneath the great circle of the\nsea. Cape Clear is left behind, and the lonely Fassnet lighthouse; the\nOcean Queen is coming to the blue water, and the long solemn swell\nraises and sinks her with pendulum-like regularity.\n'Ah, then, Masther Robert, an' we're done wid the poor ould counthry for\ngood an' all!' Andy Callaghan's big bony hands are clasped in a tremor\nof emotion that would do honour to a picturesque Italian exile. 'The\nbeautiful ould counthry, as has the greenest grass that ever grew, an'\nthe clearest water that ever ran, an' the purtiest girls in the wide\nworld! An' we're goin' among sthrangers, to pull an' dhrag for our bit\nto ate; but we'll never be happy till we see them blue hills and green\nfields once more!'\nMr. Wynn could almost have endorsed the sentiment just then. Perhaps\nAndy's low spirits were intensified by the uncomfortable motion of\nthe ship, which was beginning to strike landsmen with that rolling\nheadache, the sure precursor of a worse visitation. Suffice it to say,\nthat the mass of groaning misery in the steerage and cabins, on the\nsubsequent night, would melt the heart of any but the most hardened 'old\nsalt.' Did not Robert and Arthur regret their emigration bitterly, when\nshaken by the fangs of the fell demon, sea-sickness? Did not a chance of\ngoing to the bottom seem a trivial calamity? Answer, ye who have ever\nbeen in like pitiful case. We draw a curtain over the abject miseries of\nthree days; over the Dutch-built captain's unseasonable joking and\nhuge laughter--he, that could eat junk and biscuit if the ship was in\nMaelstrom! Robert could have thrown his boots at him with pleasure,\nwhile the short, broad figure stood in the doorway during his diurnal\nvisit, chewing tobacco, and talking of all the times he had crossed\n'the ferry,' as he familiarly designated the Atlantic Ocean. The sick\npassengers, to a man, bore him an animosity, owing to his ostentatiously\nrude health and iron nerves, which is, of all exhibitions, the most\noppressive to a prostrate victim of the sea-fiend.\nThe third evening, an altercation became audible on the companion-ladder,\nas if some ship's officer were keeping back somebody else who was\ndetermined to come below.\n'That's Andy Callaghan's voice,' said Arthur.\n'Let me down, will ye, to see the young masthers?' came muffled through\nthe doors and partition. 'Look here, now,'--in a coaxing tone,--'I don't\nlike to be cross; but though I'm so bad afther the sickness, I'd set ye\nback in your little hole there at the fut of the stairs as aisy as I'd\nput a snail in its shell.'\nAt this juncture Robert opened their state-room door, and prevented\nfurther collision. Andy's lean figure had become gaunter than ever.\n'They thought to keep me from seeing ye, the villains! I'd knock every\nmother's son of 'em into the middle o' next week afore I'd be kep' away.\nSure I was comin' often enough before, but the dinth of the sickness\nprevented me; an' other times I was chucked about like a child's marvel,\npitched over an' hether by the big waves banging the side of the vessel.\nMasther Robert, asthore, it's I that's shaking in the middle of my\niligant new frieze shute like a withered pea in a pod--I'm got so thin\nintirely.'\n'We are not much better ourselves,' said Arthur, laughing; 'but I hope\nthe worst of it is over.'\n'I'd give the full of my pockets in goold, if I had it this minit,' said\nAndy, with great emphasis, 'to set me foot on the nakedest sod of bog\nthat's in Ould Ireland this day! an' often I abused it; but throth, the\npurtiest sight in life to me would be a good pratiefield, an' meself\nwalkin' among the ridges!'\n'Well, Andy, we mustn't show the white-feather in that way; we could\nnot expect to get to America without being sick, or suffering some\ndisagreeables.'\n'When yer honours are satisfied, 'tisn't for the likes of me to\ngrumble,' Andy said resignedly. 'Only if everybody knew what was before\nthem, they mightn't do many a thing, maybe!'\n'Very true, Andy.'\n'So we're all sayin' down in the steerage, sir. But oh, Masther Robert,\nI a'most forgot to tell ye, account of that spalpeen that thought to\nhindher yer own fosther-brother from comin' to see ye; but there's the\nmost wondherful baste out in the say this minit; an' it's spoutin' up\nwater like the fountain that used to be at Dunore, only a power bigger;\nan' lyin' a-top of the waves like an island, for all the world! I'm\nthinkin' he wouldn't make much of cranching up the ship like a hazel\nnut.'\n'A whale! I wonder will they get out the boats,' said Arthur, with\nsudden animation. 'I think I'm well enough to go on deck, Bob: I'd like\nto have a shot at the fellow.'\n'A very useless expenditure of powder,' rejoined Robert. But Arthur,\nboy-like, sprang up-stairs with the rifle, which had often done execution\namong the wild-fowl of his native moorlands. Certainly it was a feat to\nhit such a prominent mark as that mountain of blubber; and Arthur felt\njustly ashamed of himself when the animal beat the water furiously and\ndived headlong in his pain.\nNow the only other cabin passengers on board the brig were a retired\nmilitary officer and his family, consisting of a son and two daughters.\nThey had made acquaintance with the Wynns on the first day of the\nvoyage, but since then there had been a necessary suspension of\nintercourse. And it was a certain mild but decided disapproval in Miss\nArmytage's grave glance, when Arthur turned round and saw her sitting on\nthe poop with her father and little sister, which brought the colour to\nhis cheek, for he felt he had been guilty of thoughtless and wanton\ncruelty. He bowed and moved farther away. But Robert joined them, and\npassed half an hour very contentedly in gazing at a grand sunset. The\nclosing act of which was as follows: a dense black brow of cloud on the\nmargin of the sea; beneath it burst a flaming bolt of light from the\nsun's great eye, along the level waters. Far in the zenith were broad\nbeams radiating across other clouds, like golden pathways. Slowly the\ndark curtain seemed to close down over the burning glory at the horizon.\n'How very beautiful!' exclaimed Miss Armytage.\n'Yes, my dear Edith, except as a weather barometer,' said her father.\n'In that point of view it means--storm.'\n'Oh, papa!' ejaculated the little girl, nestling close--not to him, but\nto her elder sister, whose hand instantly clasped hers with a reassuring\npressure, while the quiet face looked down at the perturbed child,\nsmiling sweetly. It was almost the first smile Robert had seen on her\nface; it made Miss Armytage quite handsome for the moment, he thought.\nMiss Armytage, caring very little for his thought, was occupied an\ninstant with saying something in a low tone to Jay, which gradually\nbrightened the small countenance again. Robert caught the words, 'Our\ndear Saviour.' They reminded him of his mother.\nCaptain Armytage was correct in his prediction: before midnight a fierce\nnorth-easter was raging on the sea. The single beneficial result was,\nthat it fairly cured all maladies but terror; for, after clinging to\ntheir berths during some hours with every muscle of their bodies, lest\nthey should be swung off and smashed in the lurches of the vessel, the\npassengers arose next morning well and hungry.\n'I spind the night on me head, mostly,' said Andy Callaghan. 'Troth, I\nnever knew before how the flies managed to walk on the ceilin' back\ndownwards; but a thrifle more o' practice would tache it to meself, for\nhalf me time the floor was above at the rafters over me head. I donno\nrightly how to walk on my feet the day afther it.'\nThis was the only bad weather they experienced, as viewed nautically:\neven the captain allowed that it had been 'a stiffish gale;' but\nsubsequent tumults of the winds and waves, which seemed tremendous to\nunsophisticated landsmen, were to him mere ocean frolics. And so, while\neach day the air grew colder, they neared the banks of Newfoundland,\nwhere everybody who could devise fishing-tackle tried to catch the\nfamous cod of those waters. Arthur was one of the successful captors,\nhaving spent a laborious day in the main-chains for the purpose. At\neventide he was found teaching little Jay how to hold a line, and how to\nmanage when a bite came. Her mistakes and her delight amused him: both\nlasted till a small panting fish was pulled up.\n'There's a whiting for you, now,' said he, 'all of your own catching.'\nJay looked at it regretfully, as the poor little gills opened and shut\nin vain efforts to breathe the smothering air, and the pretty silver\ncolouring deadened as its life went. 'I am very sorry,' she said,\nfolding her hands together; 'I think I ought not to have killed it only\nto amuse myself.' And she walked away to where her sister was sitting.\n'What a strange child!' thought Arthur, as he watched the little figure\ncrossing the deck. But he wound up the tackle, and angled no more for\nthat evening.\nThe calm was next day deepened by a fog; a dense haze settled on the\nsea, seeming by sheer weight to still its restless motion. Now was the\nskipper much more perturbed than during the rough weather: wrapt in a\nmighty pea-coat, he kept a perpetual look-out in person, chewing the\ntobacco meanwhile as if he bore it an animosity. Frequent gatherings\nof drift-ice passed, and at times ground together with a disagreeably\nstrong sound. An intense chill pervaded the atmosphere,--a cold unlike\nwhat Robert or Arthur had ever felt in the frosts of Ireland, it was so\nmuch more keen and penetrating.\n'The captain says it is from icebergs,' said the latter, drawing up the\ncollar of his greatcoat about his ears, as they walked the deck. 'I wish\nwe saw one--at a safe distance, of course. But this fog is so\nblinding'--\nEven as he spoke, a vast whitish berg loomed abeam, immensely\nhigher than the topmasts, in towers and spires snow-crested. What\ngreat precipices of grey glistening ice, as it passed by, a mighty\nhalf-distinguishable mass! what black rifts of destructive depth! The\nship surged backward before the great refluent wave of its movement. A\nsensation of awe struck the bravest beholder, as slowly and majestically\nthe huge berg glided astern, and its grim features were obliterated by\nthe heavy haze.\nBoth drew a relieved breath when the grand apparition had passed. 'I\nwish Miss Armytage had seen it,' said Arthur.\n'Why?' rejoined Robert, though the same thought was just in his own\nmind.\n'Oh, because it was so magnificent, and I am sure she would admire it.\nI could almost make a poem about it myself. Don't you know the feeling,\nas if the sight were too large, too imposing for your mind somehow? And\nthe danger only intensifies that.'\n'Still, I wish we were out of their reach. The skipper's temper will be\nunbearable till then.'\nIt improved considerably when the fog rose off the sea, a day or two\nsubsequently, and a head-wind sprang up, carrying them towards the Gulf.\nOne morning, a low grey stripe of cloud on the horizon was shown to the\npassengers as part of Newfoundland. Long did Robert Wynn gaze at that\ndim outline, possessed by all the strange feelings which belong to the\nfirst sight of the new world, especially when it is to be a future home.\nNo shame to his manhood if some few tears for the dear old home dimmed\nhis eyes as he looked. But soon that shadow of land disappeared, and,\npassing Cape Race at a long distance, they entered the great estuary\nof the St. Lawrence, which mighty inlet, if it had place in our little\nEurope, would be fitly termed the Sea of Labrador; but where all the\nfeatures of nature are colossal, it ranks only as a gulf.\nOne morning, when little Jay had gone on deck for an ante-breakfast run,\nshe came back in a state of high delight to the cabin. 'Oh, Edith, such\nbeautiful birds! such lovely little birds! and the sailors say they're\nfrom the land, though we cannot see it anywhere. How tired they must be\nafter such a long fly, all the way from beyond the edge of the sea! Do\ncome and look at them, dear Edith--do come!'\nSitting on the shrouds were a pair of tiny land birds, no bigger than\ntomtits, and wearing red top-knots on their heads. How welcome were the\nconfiding little creatures to the passengers, who had been rocked at\nsea for nearly five weeks, and hailed these as sure harbingers of solid\nground! They came down to pick up Jay's crumbs of biscuit, and twittered\nfamiliarly. The captain offered to have one caught for her, but, after a\nminute's eager acquiescence, she declined. 'I would like to feel it in\nmy hand,' said she, 'but it is kinder to let it fly about wherever it\npleases.'\n'Why, you little Miss Considerate, is that your principle always?' asked\nArthur, who had made a great playmate of her. She did not understand his\nquestion; and on his explaining in simpler words, 'Oh, you know I always\ntry to think what God would like. That is sure to be right, isn't it?'\n'I suppose so,' said Arthur, with sudden gravity.\n'Edith taught me--she does just that,' continued the child. 'I don't\nthink _she_ ever does anything that is wrong at all. But oh, Mr. Wynn,'\nand he felt a sudden tightening of her grasp on his hand, 'what big bird\nis that? look how frightened the little ones are!'\nA hawk, which had been circling in the air, now made a swoop on the\nrigging, but was anticipated by his quarry: one of the birds flew\nactually into Arthur's hands, and the other got in among some barrels\nwhich stood amidships.\n'Ah,' said Arthur, 'they were driven out here by that chap, I suppose.\nNow I'll give you the pleasure of feeling one of them in your hands.'\n'But that wicked hawk!'\n'And that wicked Jay, ever to eat chickens or mutton.'\n'Ah! but that is different. How his little heart beats and flutters! I\nwish I had him for a pet. I would love you, little birdie, indeed I\nwould.'\nFor some days they stayed by the ship, descending on deck for crumbs\nregularly furnished them by Jay, to whom the office of feeding them was\ndeputed by common consent. But nearing the island of Anticosti, they\ntook wing for shore with a parting twitter, and, like Noah's dove, did\nnot return. Jay would not allow that they were ungrateful.\nCHAPTER III.\nUP THE ST. LAWRENCE.\nLittle Jay could hardly be persuaded into the belief that they were now\nsailing on a river; that the swift broad tide bearing against them, more\nthan one hundred and twenty miles across at this island of Anticosti,\nwas the mouth of a stream having source in a mountain far away, and once\nnarrow enough to step over. Arthur showed her the St. Lawrence on a map\nhung in the saloon; but such demonstration did not seem to convince her\nmuch. 'Then where are the banks? My geography says that a river always\nhas banks,' was her argument.\nIn the evening he was able to show her the wide pitiless snow ranges of\nLabrador, whence blew a keen desert air. Perpetual pine-woods--looking\nlike a black band set against the encroaching snow--edged the land,\nwhence the brig was some miles distant, tacking to gain the benefit\nof the breeze off shore.\nPresently came a strange and dismal sound wafted over the waters from\nthe far pine forests--a high prolonged howl, taken up and echoed by\nscores of ravenous throats, repeated again and again, augmenting in\nfierce cadences. Jay caught Mr. Wynn's arm closer. 'Like wolves,' said\nArthur; 'but we are a long way off.'\n'I must go and tell Edith,' said the child, evidently feeling safer with\nthat sister than in any other earthly care. After he had brought her\nto the cabin, he returned on deck, listening with a curious sort of\npleasure to the wild sounds, and looking at the dim outlines of the\nshore.\nAs darkness dropped over the circle of land and water, a light seemed\nto rise behind those hills, revealing their solid shapes anew, stealing\nsilently aloft into the air, like a pale and pure northern dawn. At\nfirst he thought it must be the rising moon, but no orb appeared; and as\nthe brilliance deepened, intensified into colour, and shot towards the\nzenith, he knew it for the aurora borealis. Soon the stars were blinded\nout by the vivid sweeping flicker of its rays; hues bright and varied as\nthe rainbow thrilled along the iridescent roadways to the central point\nabove, and tongues of flame leaped from arches in the north-west. Burning\nscarlet and amber, purple, green, trembled in pulsations across the\nebony surface of the heavens, as if some vast fire beneath the horizon\nwas flashing forth coruscations of its splendour to the dark hemisphere\nbeyond. The floating banners of angels is a hackneyed symbol to express\nthe oppressive magnificence of a Canadian aurora.\nThe brothers were fascinated: their admiration had no words.\n'This is as bad as the iceberg for making a fellow's brain feel too big\nfor his head,' said Arthur at last. 'We've seen two sublime things, at\nall events, Bob.'\nClear frosty weather succeeded--weather without the sharp sting of cold,\nbut elastic and pure as on a mountain peak. Being becalmed for a day\nor two off a wooded point, the skipper sent a boat ashore for fuel and\nwater. Arthur eagerly volunteered to help; and after half an hour's\nrowing through the calm blue bay, he had the satisfaction to press his\nfoot on the soil of Lower Canada.\nThere was a small clearing beside a brook which formed a narrow deep\ncove, a sort of natural miniature dock where their boat floated. A\nlog hut, mossed with years, was set back some fifty yards towards the\nforest. What pines were those! what giants of arborescence! Seventy feet\nof massive shaft without a bough; and then a dense thicket of black\ninwoven branches, making a dusk beneath the fullest sunshine.\n'I tell you we haven't trees in the old country; our oaks and larches\nare only shrubs,' he said to Robert, when narrating his expedition.\n'Wait till you see pines such as I saw to-day. Looking along the forest\nglades, those great pillars upheld the roof everywhere in endless\nsuccession. And the silence! as if a human creature never breathed among\nthem, though the log hut was close by. When I went in, I saw a French\n_habitan_, as they call him, who minds the lighthouse on the point,\nwith his Indian wife, and her squaw mother dressed in a blanket, and of\ncourse babies--the queerest little brown things you ever saw. One of\nthem was tied into a hollow board, and buried to the chin in \"punk,\" by\nway of bed-clothes.'\n'And what is punk?' asked Robert.\n'Rotten wood powdered to dust,' answered Arthur, with an air of superior\ninformation. 'It's soft enough; and the poor little animal's head\nwas just visible, so that it looked like a young live mummy. But the\ngrandmother squaw was even uglier than the grandchildren; a thousand and\none lines seamed her coppery face, which was the colour of an old penny\npiece rather burnished from use. And she had eyes, Bob, little and wide\napart, and black as sloes, with a snaky look. I don't think she ever\ntook them off me, and 'twas no manner of use to stare at her in return.\nSo, as I could not understand what they were saying,--gabbling a sort\nof _patois_ of bad French and worse English, with a sprinkling of\nIndian,--and as the old lady's gaze was getting uncomfortable, I went\nout again among my friends, the mighty pines. I hope we shall have some\nabout our location, wherever we settle.'\n'And I trust more intimate acquaintance won't make us wish them a trifle\nfewer and slighter,' remarked Robert.\n'Well, I am afraid my enthusiasm would fade before an acre of such\nclearing,' rejoined Arthur. 'But, Bob, the colours of the foliage are\nlovelier than I can tell. You see a little of the tinting even from this\ndistance. The woods have taken pattern by the aurora: it seems we are\nnow in the Indian summer, and the maple trees are just burning with\nscarlet and gold leaves.'\n'I suppose you did not see many of our old country trees?'\n'Hardly any. Pine is the most plentiful of all: how I like its sturdy\nindependent look! as if it were used to battling with snowstorms, and\ngot strong by the exercise. The mate showed me hickory and hemlock,\nand a lot of other foreigners, while the men were cutting logs in the\nbush.'\n'You have picked up the Canadian phraseology already,' observed Robert.\n'Yes;' and Arthur reddened slightly. 'Impossible to avoid that, when\nyou're thrown among fellows that speak nothing else. But I wanted\nto tell you, that coming back we hailed a boat from one of those\noutward-bound ships lying yonder at anchor: the mate says their wood and\nwater is half a pretence. They are smuggling skins, in addition to their\nregular freight of lumber.'\n'Smuggling skins!'\n'For the skippers' private benefit, you understand: furs, such as sable,\nmarten, and squirrel; they send old ship's stores ashore to trade with\nvagrant Indians, and then sew up the skins in their clothes, between the\nlining and the stuff, so as to pass the Custom-house officers at home.\nBob! I'm longing to be ashore for good. You don't know what it is to\nfeel firm ground under one's feet after six weeks' unsteady footing. I'm\nlonging to get out of this floating prison, and begin our life among the\npines.'\nRobert shook his head a little sorrowfully. Now that they were nearing\nthe end of the voyage, many cares pressed upon him, which to the volatile\nnature of Arthur seemed only theme for adventure. Whither to bend their\nsteps in the first instance, was a matter for grave deliberation. They\nhad letters of introduction to a gentleman near Carillon on the Ottawa,\nand others to a family at Toronto. Former friends had settled beside the\nlonely Lake Simcoe, midway between Huron and Ontario. Many an hour of\nthe becalmed days he spent over the maps and guide-books they had brought,\ntrying to study out a result. Jay came up to him one afternoon, as he\nleaned his head on his hand perplexedly.\n'What ails you? have you a headache?'\n'No, I am only puzzled.'\nHer own small elbow rested on the taffrail, and her little fingers\ndented the fair round cheek, in unwitting imitation of his posture.\n'Is it about a lesson? But you don't have to get lessons.'\n'No; it is about what is best for me to do when I land.'\n'Edith asks God always; and He shows her what is best,' said the child,\nlooking at him wistfully. Again he thought of his pious prayerful\nmother. She might have spoken through the childish lips. He closed his\nbooks, remarking that they were stupid. Jay gave him her hand to walk\nup and down the deck. He had never made it a custom to consult God,\nor refer to Him in matters of daily life, though theoretically he\nacknowledged His pervading sovereignty. To procure the guidance of\nInfinite Wisdom would be well worth a prayer. Something strong as a\nchain held him back--the pride of his consciously unrenewed heart.\nWhen the weather became favourable, they passed up the river rapidly;\nand a succession of the noblest views opened around them. No panorama\nof the choice spots of earth could be lovelier. Lofty granite islets,\nsuch as Kamouraska, which attains an altitude of five hundred feet;\nbold promontories and deep basin bays; magnificent ranges of bald blue\nmountains inland; and, as they neared Grosse Isle and the quarantine\nground, the soft beauties of civilisation were superadded. Many ships of\nall nations lay at anchor; the shore was dotted with white farmhouses,\nand neat villages clustered each round the glittering spire of a church.\n'How very French that is, eh?' said Captain Armytage, referring to those\nshining metal roofs. 'Tinsel is charming to the eyes of a _habitan_. You\nknow, I've been in these parts before with my regiment: so I am well\nacquainted with the ground. We have the parish of St. Thomas to our left\nnow, thickly spotted with white cottages: St. Joachim is on the opposite\nbank. The nomenclature all about here smacks of the prevailing faith and\nof the old masters.'\n''Tis a pity they didn't hold by the musical Indian names,' said Robert\nWynn.\n'Well, yes, when the music don't amount to seventeen syllables a-piece,\neh?' Captain Armytage had a habit of saying 'eh' at every available\npoint in his sentences. Likewise had he the most gentleman-like manners\nthat could be, set off by the most gentleman-like personal appearance;\nyet, an inexplicable something about him prevented a thorough liking.\nPerhaps it was the intrinsic selfishness, and want of sincerity of\nnature, which one instinctively felt after a little intercourse had worn\noff the dazzle of his engaging demeanour. Perhaps Robert had detected\nthe odour of rum, ineffectually concealed by the fragrance of a smoking\npill, more frequently than merely after dinner, and seen the sad shadow\non his daughter's face, following. But that did not prevent Captain\nArmytage's being a very agreeable and well-informed companion\nnevertheless.\n'Granted that \"Canada\" is a pretty name,' said he; 'but it's Spanish\nmore than native. \"Aca nada,\" nothing here,--said the old Castilian\nvoyagers, when they saw no trace of gold mines or other wealth along\nthe coast. That's the story, at all events. But I hold to it that our\nBritish John Cabot was the first who ever visited this continent, unless\nthere's truth in the old Scandinavian tales, which I don't believe.'\nBut the gallant officer's want of credence does not render it the less\na fact, that, about the year 1001, Biorn Heriolson, an Icelander, was\ndriven south from Greenland by tempestuous weather, and discovered\nLabrador. Subsequently, a colony was established for trading purposes\non some part of the coast named Vinland; but after a few Icelanders\nhad made fortunes of the peltries, and many had perished among the\nEsquimaux, all record of the settlement is blotted out, and Canada fades\nfrom the world's map till restored by the exploration of the Cabots and\nJacques Cartier. The two former examined the seaboard, and the latter\nfirst entered the grand estuary of the St. Lawrence, which he named from\nthe saint's day of its discovery; and he also was the earliest white\nman to gaze down from the mighty precipice of Quebec, and pronounce\nthe obscure Indian name which was hereafter to suggest a world-famed\ncapital. Then, the dwellings and navies of nations and generations yet\nunborn were growing all around in hundreds of leagues of forest; a dread\nmagnificence of shade darkened the face of the earth, amid which the red\nman reigned supreme. Now, as the passengers of the good brig Ocean Queen\ngazed upon it three centuries subsequently, the slow axe had chopped\naway those forests of pine, and the land was smiling with homesteads,\nand mapped out in fields of rich farm produce: the encroachments of the\nirresistible white man had metamorphosed the country, and almost blotted\nout its olden masters. Robert Wynn began to realize the force of Hiram\nHolt's patriotic declaration, 'It's the finest country in the world!'\n'And the loveliest!' he could have added, without even a saving clause\nfor his own old Emerald Isle, when they passed the western point of the\nhigh wooded island of Orleans, and came in view of the superb Falls of\nMontmorenci; two hundred and fifty feet of sheer precipice, leaped by a\nbroad full torrent, eager to reach the great river flowing beyond, and\nwhich seemed placidly to await the turbulent onset. As Robert gazed, the\nfascination of a great waterfall came over him like a spell. Who has not\nfelt this beside Lodore, or Foyers, or Torc? Who has not found his eye\nmesmerized by the falling sheet of dark polished waters, merging into\nsnowy spray and crowned with rainbow crest, most changeable, yet most\nunchanged?\nThousands of years has this been going on; you may read it in the worn\nlimestone layers that have been eaten through, inches in centuries, by\nthe impetuous stream. Thus, also, has the St. Lawrence carved out its\nmile-wide bed beneath the Heights of Abraham--the stepping-stone to\nWolfe's fame and Canadian freedom.\nCHAPTER IV.\nWOODEN-NESS.\nPiled on the summit of Cape Diamond, and duplicated in shadow upon the\ndeep waters at its base, three hundred feet below, stands the fortress\nof Quebec. Edinburgh and Ehrenbreitstein have been used as old-world\nsymbols to suggest its beauty and strength; but the girdle of mighty\nriver is wanting to the former, and the latter is a trifling miniature\nof the Canadian city-queen. Robert Wynn knew of no such comparisons;\nhe only felt how beautiful was that mass of interwoven rock, and wood,\nand town, reflected and rooted in the flood; he scarcely heard Captain\nArmytage at his left reminding him for the tenth time that he had been\nhere before with his regiment.\n'There's Point Levi to the south, a mile away, in front of the mountains.\nSomething unpleasant once befell me in crossing there. I and another\nsub. hired a boat for a spree, just because the hummocks of ice were\nknocking about on the tide, and all prudent people stayed ashore; but we\nwent out in great dreadnought boots, and bearskin caps over our ears,\nand amused ourselves with pulling about for a while among the floes. I\nsuppose the grinding of the ice deafened us, and the hummocks hid us\nfrom view of the people on board; at all events, down came one of the\nriver steamers slap on us. I saw the red paddles laden with ice at every\nrevolution, and the next instant was sinking, with my boots dragging me\ndown like a cannon-ball at my feet. I don't know how I kicked them off,\nand rose: Gilpin, the other sub., had got astride on the capsized boat;\na rope flung from the steamer struck me, and you may believe I grasped\nit pretty tightly. D'ye see here?' and he showed Robert a front tooth\nbroken short: 'I caught with my hands first, and they were so numb, and\nthe ice forming so fast on the dripping rope, that it slipped till I\nheld by my teeth; and another noose being thrown around me lasso-wise,\nI was dragged in. A narrow escape, eh?'\n'Very narrow,' echoed Robert. He noticed the slight shiver that ran\nthrough the daughter's figure, as she leaned on her father's arm. His\nhandsome face looked down at her carelessly.\n'Edith shudders,' said he; 'I suppose thinking that so wonderful an\nescape ought to be remembered as more than a mere adventure.' To which\nhe received no answer, save an appealing look from her soft eyes. He\nturned away with a short laugh.\n'Well, at all events, it cured me of boating among the ice. Ugh! to be\nsucked in and smothered under a floe would be frightful.'\nMr. Wynn wishing to say something that would prove he was not thinking\nof the little aside-scene between father and daughter, asked if the St.\nLawrence was generally so full of ice in winter.\nIt was difficult to believe now in the balmy atmosphere of the Indian\nsummer, with a dreamy sunshine warming and gladdening all things,--the\nvery apotheosis of autumn,--that wintry blasts would howl along this\nplacid river, surging fierce ice-waves together, before two months\nshould pass.\n'There's rarely a bridge quite across,' replied Captain Armytage;\n'except in the north channel, above the isle of Orleans, where the tide\nhas less force than in the southern, because it is narrower; but in the\nwidest place the hummocks of ice are frequently crushed into heaps\nfifteen or twenty feet high, which makes navigation uncomfortably\nexciting.'\n'I should think so,' rejoined Robert drily.\n'Ah, you have yet to feel what a Canadian winter is like, my young\nfriend;' and Captain Armytage nodded in that mysterious manner which\nis intended to impress a 'griffin' with the cheering conviction that\nunknown horrors are before him.\n'I wonder what is that tall church, whose roof glitters so intensely?'\n'The cathedral, under its tin dome and spires. The metal is said to\nhinder the lodging and help the thawing of the snow, which might\notherwise lie so heavy as to endanger the roof.'\n'Oh, that is the reason!' ejaculated Robert, suddenly enlightened as to\nthe needs-be of all the surface glitter.\n'Rather a pretty effect, eh? and absolutely unique, except in Canadian\ncities. It suggests an infinitude of greenhouses reflecting sunbeams at\na variety of angles of incidence.'\n'I presume this is the lower town, lying along the quays?' said Robert.\n'Yes, like our Scottish Edinburgh, the old city, being built in\ndangerous times, lies huddled close together under protection of its\nguardian rock,' said the Captain. 'But within, you could fancy yourself\nsuddenly transported into an old Normandy town, among narrow crooked\nstreets and high-gabled houses: nor will the degree of cleanliness\nundeceive you. For, unlike most other American cities, Quebec has a\nPast as well as a Present: there is the French Past, narrow, dark,\ncrowded, hiding under a fortification; and there is the English Present,\nembodied in the handsome upper town, and the suburb of St. John's,\nbroad, well-built, airy. The line of distinction is very marked between\nthe pushing Anglo-Saxon's premises and the tumble-down concerns of the\nstand-still _habitan_.'\nPerhaps, also, something is due to the difference between Protestant\nenterprise and Roman Catholic supineness.\n'There's a boat boarding us already,' said Robert.\nIt proved to be the Custom-house officers; and when their domiciliary\nvisit was over, Robert and Arthur went ashore. Navigating through a\ndesert expanse of lumber rafts and a labyrinth of hundreds of hulls,\nthey stepped at last on the ugly wooden wharves which line the water's\nedge, and were crowded with the usual traffic of a port; yet singularly\nnoiseless, from the boarded pavement beneath the wheels.\nThough the brothers had never been in any part of France, the peculiarly\nFrench aspect of the lower town struck them immediately. The old-fashioned\ndwellings, with steep lofty roofs, accumulated in narrow alleys, seemed\nto date back to an age long anterior to Montcalm's final struggle with\nWolfe on the heights; even back, perchance, to the brave enthusiast\nChamplain's first settlement under the superb headland, replacing the\nIndian village of Stadacona. To perpetuate his fame, a street alongside\nthe river is called after him; and though his 'New France' has long\nsince joined the dead names of extinct colonies, the practical effects\nof his early toil and struggle remain in this American Gibraltar which\nhe originated.\nAndy Callaghan had begged leave to accompany his young masters ashore,\nand marched at a respectful distance behind them, along that very\nChamplain Street, looking about him with unfeigned astonishment. 'I\nsuppose the quarries is all used up in these parts, for the houses is\nwood, an' the churches is wood, and the sthreets has wooden stones\nondher our feet,' he soliloquized, half audibly. 'It's a mighty quare\ncounthry intirely: between the people making a land on top of the wather\nfor 'emselves by thim big rafts, an' buildin' houses on 'em, and\nkindlin' fires'----\nHere his meditation was rudely broken into by the sudden somerset of a\nchild from a doorstep he was passing; but it had scarcely touched the\nground when Andy, with an exclamation in Irish, swung it aloft in his\narms.\n'_Mono mush thig thu_! you crathur, is it trying which yer head or the\nroad is the hardest, ye are? Whisht now, don't cry, me fine boy, and\nmaybe I'd sing a song for ye.'\n'Wisha then, cead mille failthe a thousand times, Irishman, whoever ye\nare!' said the mother, seizing Andy's hand. 'And my heart warms to the\ntongue of the old counthry! Won't you come in, honest man, an' rest\nawhile, an' it's himself will be glad to see ye?'\n'And who's himself?' inquired Andy, dandling the child.\n'The carpenter, Pat M'Donagh of Ballinoge'--\n'Hurroo!' shouted Andy, as he executed a whirligig on one leg, and then\nembraced the amazed Mrs. M'Donagh fraternally. 'My uncle's son's wife!\nan' a darling purty face you have of yer own too.'\n'Don't be funnin', now,' said the lady, bridling; 'an' you might have\naxed a person's lave before ye tossed me cap that way. Here, Pat, come\ndown an' see yer cousin just arrived from the ould counthry!'\nRobert and Arthur Wynn, missing their servitor at the next turn, and\nlooking back, beheld something like a popular _\u00e9meute_ in the narrow\nstreet, which was solely Andy fraternizing with his countrymen and\nrecovered relations.\n'Wait a minit,' said Andy, returning to his allegiance, as he saw them\nlooking back; 'let me run afther the gentlemen and get lave to stay.'\n'Lave, indeed!' exclaimed the republican-minded Mrs. M'Donagh; 'it's I\nthat wud be afther askin lave in a free counthry! Why, we've no masthers\nnor missusses here at all.'\n'Hut, woman, but they're my fostherers--the young Mr. Wynns of Dunore.'\nGreat had been that name among the peasantry once; and even yet it had\nnot lost its prestige with the transplanted Pat M'Donagh. He had left\nIreland a ragged pauper in the famine year, and was now a thriving\nartisan, with average wages of seven shillings a day; an independence\nwith which Robert Wynn would have considered himself truly fortunate,\nand upon less than which many a lieutenant in Her Majesty's infantry has\nto keep up a gentlemanly appearance. Pat's strength had been a drug in\nhis own country; here it readily worked an opening to prosperity.\nAnd presently forgetting his sturdy Canadian notions of independence,\nthe carpenter was bowing cap in hand before the gentlemen, begging them\nto accept the hospitality of his house while they stayed in Quebec. 'The\nM'Donaghs is ould tenants of yer honours' father, an' many a kindness\nthey resaved from the family, and 'twould be the joy of me heart to see\none of the ancient stock at me table,' he said; 'an' sure me father's\nbrother's son is along wid ye.'\n'The ancient stock' declined, with many thanks, as they wanted to see\nthe city; but Andy, not having the same zeal for exploring, remained in\nthe discovered nest of his kinsfolk, and made himself so acceptable,\nthat they parted subsequently with tears.\nMeanwhile the brothers walked from the Lower to the Upper Town, through\nthe quaint steep streets of stone houses--relics of the old French\noccupation. The language was in keeping with this foreign aspect, and\nthe vivacious gestures of the inhabitants told their pedigree. Robert\nand Arthur were standing near a group of them in the market-square,\nassembled round a young bear brought in by an Indian, when the former\nfelt a heavy hand on his shoulder, and the next instant the tenacity of\nhis wrist was pretty well tested in the friendly grasp of Hiram Holt.\nCHAPTER V.\nDEBARKATION.\nThe chill of foreignness and loneliness which had been creeping over\nRobert Wynn's sensations since he had entered the strange city, was\ndissipated as if a cloud had suddenly lifted off. The friendly face\nof the colossal Canadian beaming a welcome upon him, with that broad\nsunshiny smile which seems immediately to raise the temperature of the\nsurrounding air, did certainly warm his heart, and nerve it too. He was\nnot altogether a stranger in a strange land.\n'And so you've followed my advice! Bravo, young blood! You'll never be\nsorry for adopting Canada as your country. Now, what are your plans?'\nbestowing an aside left-hand grasp upon Arthur. 'Can Hiram Holt help\nyou? Have the old people come out? So much the better; they would only\ncripple you in the beginning. Wait till your axe has cut the niche big\nenough. You rush on for the West, I suppose?'\nAll these inquiries in little longer than a breath; while he wrung\nRobert's hand at intervals with a heartiness and power of muscle which\nalmost benumbed the member.\n'We have letters to friends on Lake Erie, and to others on Lake Simcoe,'\nsaid Robert, rescuing his hand, which tingled, and yet communicated a\nvery pleasurable sensation to his heart. 'We are not quite decided on\nour line of march.'\n'Well, how did you come? Emigrant vessel?'\nAdopting the laconic also, Robert nodded, and said it was their first\nday in Quebec.\n'Get quit of her as soon as you can; haul your traps ashore, and come\nalong with me. I'll be going up the Ottawa in a day or two, home; and\n'twill be only a step out of your way westward. You can look about you,\nand see what Canadian life is like for a few weeks; the longer, the more\nwelcome to Hiram Holt's house. Is that fixed?'\nRobert was beginning to thank him warmly--\n'Now, shut up, young man; I distrust a fellow that has much palaver.\n_You_ look too manly for it. I calculate your capital ain't much above\nyour four hands between you?'\nArthur was rather discomfited at a query so pointed, and so directly\npenetrating the proud British reserve about monetary circumstances; but\nRobert, knowing that the motive was kind-hearted, and the manner just\nthat of a straightforward unconventional settler, replied, 'You are\nnearly right, Mr. Holt; our capital in cash is very small; but I hope\nstout bodies and stout hearts are worth something.'\n'What would you think of a bush farm? I think I heard you say you had\nsome experience on your father's farm in Ireland?'\n'My father's estate, sir,' began Arthur, reddening a little.\nHolt measured him by a look, but not one of displeasure. 'Farms in\nCanada grow into estates,' said he; 'by industry and push, I shouldn't\nbe surprised if you became a landed proprietor yourself before your\nbeard is stiff.' Arthur had as yet no symptom of that manly adornment,\nthough anxiously watching for the down. The backwoodsman turned to\nRobert.\n'Government lands are cheap enough, no doubt; four shillings an acre,\nand plenty of them. If you're able, I'd have you venture on that\nspeculation. Purchase-money is payable in ten years; that's a good\nbreathing time for a beginner. But can you give up all luxuries for a\nwhile, and eat bread baked by your own hands, and sleep in a log hut on\na mess of juniper boughs, and work hard all day at clearing the eternal\nforests, foot by foot?'\n'We can,' answered Arthur eagerly. His brother's assent was not quite so\nvivacious.\nHiram Holt thought within himself how soon the ardent young spirit might\ntire of that monotony of labour; how distasteful the utter loneliness\nand uneventfulness of forest life might become to the undisciplined lad,\naccustomed, as he shrewdly guessed, to a petted and idling boyhood.\n'Well _said_, young fellow. For three years I can't say well _done_;\nthough I hope I may have that to add also.'\nBy this time they had passed from the Market Square to the Esplanade,\noverhanging the Lower Town, and which commands a view almost matchless\nfor extent and varied beauty. At this hour the shades of evening were\nsettling down, and tinging with sombre hues the colouring of the\nlandscape: over the western edge the sun had sunk; far below, the noble\nriver lay in black shadow and a single gleaming band of dying daylight,\nas it crept along under the fleets of ships.\nIndistinct as the details were becoming, the outlined masses were\ngrander for the growing obscurity, and Robert could not restrain an\nexclamation of 'Magnificent!'\n'Well, I won't deny but it _is_ handsome,' said Mr. Holt, secretly\ngratified; 'I never expect to see anything like it for situation,\nwhatever other way it's deficient. Now I'm free to confess it's only a\nvillage to your London, for forty thousand wouldn't be missed out of two\nor three millions; but bigness ain't the only beauty in the world, else\nI'd be a deal prettier than my girl Bell, who's not much taller than my\nwalking-stick, and the fairest lass in our township.'\nThe adjective 'pretty' seemed so ridiculously inappropriate to one of\nMr. Holt's dimensions and hairy development of face, that Robert could\nnot forbear a smile. But the Canadian had returned to the landscape.\n'Quebec is the key of Canada, that's certain; and so Wolfe and Montcalm\nknew, when they fought their duel here for the prize.'\nArthur pricked up his ears at the celebrated names. 'Oh, Bob, we must\ntry and see the battlefield,' he exclaimed, being fresh from Goldsmith's\ncelebrated manual of English history.\n'To-morrow,' said Mr. Holt. 'It lies west on top of the chain of\nheights flanking the river. A monument to the generals stands near here,\nin the Castle gardens, with the names on opposite sides of the square\nblock. To be sure, how death levels us all! Lord Dalhousie built that\nobelisk when he was Governor in 1827. You see, as it is the only bit of\nhistory we possess, we never can commemorate it enough; so there's\nanother pillar on the plains.'\nLights began to appear in the vessels below, reflected as long brilliant\nlines in the glassy deeps. 'Perhaps we ought to be getting back to the\nship,' suggested Robert, 'before it is quite dark.'\n'Of course you are aware that this is the aristocratic section of the\ntown,' said Mr. Holt, as they turned to retrace their steps. 'Here the\ncitizens give themselves up to pleasure and politics, while the Lower\nTown is the business place. The money is made there which is spent here;\nand when our itinerating Legislature comes round, Quebec is very gay,\nand considerably excited.'\n'Itinerating Legislature! what's that?' asked Arthur.\n'Why, you see, in 1840 the provinces of Upper and Lower Canada were\nlegally united; their representatives met in the same House of Assembly,\nand so forth. Kingston was made the capital, as a central point; however,\nlast year ('49) the famous device of itineration was introduced, by\nwhich, every four years, his Excellency the Governor and the Right\nHonourable Parliament move about from place to place, like a set of\ntravelling showmen.'\n'And when will Quebec's turn come?'\n'In '51, next year. The removal of court patronage is said to have\ninjured the city greatly: like all half-and-half measures, it pleases\nnobody. Toronto growls, and Kingston growls, and Quebec growls, and\nMontreal growls; Canada is in a state of chronic dissatisfaction, so far\nas the towns go. For myself, I never feel at home in Quebec; the lingo\nof the _habitans_ puzzles me, and I'm not used to the dark narrow\nstreets.'\n'Are you a member of the Parliament, Mr. Holt?' asked Arthur.\n'No, though I might be,' replied Hiram, raising his hat for a moment\nfrom his masses of grizzled hair. 'I've been town reeve many times, and\ncounty warden once. The neighbours wanted to nominate me for the House\nof Assembly, and son Sam would have attended to the farms and mills; but\nI had that European trip in my eye, and didn't care. Ah, I see you look\nat the post-office, young fellow,' as they passed that building just\noutside the gate of the Upper Town wall; 'don't get homesick already\non our hands; there are no post-offices in the bush.'\nArthur looked slightly affronted at this speech, and, to assert his\nmanliness, could have resigned all letters for a twelvemonth. Mr. Holt\nwalked on with a preoccupied air until he said,--\n'I must go now, I have an appointment; but I'll be on board to-morrow\nat noon. The brig Ocean Queen, of Cork, you say? Now your path is right\ndown to Champlain Street; you can't lose your way. Good-bye;' and his\nreceding figure was lost in the dusk, with mighty strides.\n'He's too bluff,' said Arthur, resenting thus the one or two\nplain-spoken sentences that had touched himself.\n'But sound and steady, like one of his own forest pines,' said Robert.\n'We have yet to test that,' rejoined Arthur, with some truth. 'I wonder\nshall we ever find the house into which Andy was decoyed; those wooden\nranges are all the image of one another. I am just as well pleased he\nwasn't mooning after us through the Upper Town during the daylight;\nfor, though he's such a worthy fellow, he hasn't exactly the cut of a\ngentleman's servant. We must deprive him of that iligant new frieze\ntopcoat, with its three capes, till it is fashioned into a civilised\ngarment.'\nMr. Pat M'Donagh's mansion was wooden--one of a row of such, situated\nnear the dockyard in which he wrought. Andy was already on the look-out\nfrom the doorstep; and, conscious that he had been guilty of some\napproach to excess, behaved with such meek silence and constrained\ndecorum, that his master guessed the cause, and graciously connived at\nhis slinking to his berth as soon as he was up the ship's side.\nBut when Mr. Wynn walked forward next morning to summon Andy's\nassistance for his luggage, he found that gentleman the focus of a knot\nof passengers, to whom he was imparting information in his own peculiar\nway. 'Throth an' he talks like a book itself,' was the admiring comment\nof a woman with a child on one arm, while she crammed her tins into her\nred box with the other.\n'Every single ha'porth is wood, I tell ye, barrin' the grates, an'\n'tisn't grates they are at all, but shtoves. Sure I saw 'em at Pat\nM'Donagh's as black as twelve o'clock at night, an' no more a sign of a\nblaze out of 'em than there's light from a blind man's eye; an' 'tisn't\nturf nor coal they burns, but only wood agin. It's I that wud sooner see\nthe plentiful hearths of ould Ireland, where the turf fire cooks the\nvittles dacently! Oh wirra! why did we ever lave it?'\nBut Mr. Wynn intercepted the rising chorus by the simple dissyllable,\n'Andy!'\n'Sir, yer honour!' wheeling round, and suddenly resuming a jocose\ndemeanour; 'I was only jokin' about bein' back. I must be kapin' up\ntheir sperits, the crathurs, that dunno what's before them at all at\nall; only thinks they're to be all gintlemin an' ladies.' This, as he\nfollowed his master towards the cabins: 'Whisht here, Misther Robert,'\nlowering his tone confidentially.' You'd laugh if you heard what they\nthink they're goin' to get. Coinin' would be nothin' to it. That\nred-headed Biddy Flannigan' (Andy's own chevelure was of carrot tinge,\nyet he never lost an opportunity of girding at those like-haired), 'who\ncouldn't wash a pair of stockings if you gev her a goold guinea, expects\ntwenty pund a year an' her keep, at the very laste; and Murty Keefe the\nlabourin' boy, that could just trench a ridge of praties, thinks nothing\nof tin shillins a day. They have it all laid out among them iligant.\nMrs. Mulrooney is lookin' out for her carriage by'ne-by; and they were\nabusin' me for not sayin' I'd cut an' run from yer honours, now that I'm\nacross.'\n'Well, Andy, I'd be sorry to stand in the way of your advancement--'\n'Me lave ye, Misther Robert!' in accents of unfeigned surprise; 'not\nunless ye drove me with a whip an' kicked me--is it your poor fostherer\nAndy Callaghan? Masther Bob, asthore, ye're all the counthry I have\nnow, an' all the frinds; an' I'll hold by ye, if it be plasing, as long\nas I've strength to strike a spade.'\nTears actually stood in the faithful fellow's eyes. 'I believe you,\nAndy,' said his master, giving his hand to the servant for a grasp of\nfriendship, which, if it oftener took place between the horny palm of\nlabour and the whiter fingers of the higher born, would be for the\ncementing of society by such recognition of human brotherhood.\nWhen Andy had all their luggage on deck in order for the boats, he came\nup mysteriously to Mr. Wynn, where he stood by the taffrail.\n'There's that poor young lady strivin' and strugglin' to regulate them\nbig boxes, an' her good-for-nothin' father an' brother smokin' in the\nsteerage, an' lavin' everything on her. Fine gintlemin, indeed! More\nlike the Injins, that I'm tould lies in bed while their wives digs the\npraties!'\nEdith Armytage was so well accustomed to such unequal division of labour\nin her family, that it had long ceased to seem singular to her that she\nwas invariably the worker, who bore the brunt of every labour and of\nevery trouble--on whose forecasting care depended the smooth arrangement\nof her father's designs; for he could plan well enough, but had a lofty\ndisdain of details. The small matter of the luggage was type of all her\nexperience.\nJay rather enjoyed the hauling about of huge articles, and attempting\nto bring on deck things much larger than her strength; and when she and\nEdith were jointly essaying to push and pull up the companion-ladder a\ncarpet-bag of unusual size, it was suddenly lifted from between them,\nover Jay's head, and borne on deck.\n'Oh, Mr. Wynn, thank you!' said the little thing demurely. 'It was a\nlittle too big for me and Edith. There is a leather valise besides,\nthat's very heavy;' and she looked a wistful request. Robert thought\ninternally that it would have been good business for the captain to\nbring, at least, his own things on deck; and he could not prevail on\nhimself to do more than offer Andy's services as porter, which were\ngratefully received. Did Miss Armytage's grey eyes, as they rested upon\nhis for a minute, understand his thoughts? Probably; he believed she\ndid. Presently up sauntered her worthy father, wiping his silky\nmoustache and beard from the smoke.\n'Well, dear, how have you managed? Beautifully, I have no doubt. She's a\nmodel of a daughter, Wynn!'\n'Papa, I hope we may soon land; I positively long to tread the firm\nearth again.'\n'What would you do if you were rocking and rolling in a transport\nfive months round the Cape? All in good time, dear: I have one or\ntwo trifling matters to settle;' and he went down to the cabins.\nJust before noon Hiram Holt stepped on deck.\n'I hope you're ready,' were the second words of his greeting. 'Glorious\nday for sight-seeing; I've arranged to drive to Cape Rouge over the\nplains; for we must be off to-morrow, up the river to Montreal. Where\nare your boxes?'\nDuring a few minutes' delay for the transit of the luggage to the boat,\nCaptain Armytage approached, and with those peculiarly pleasing manners\nwhich made him a fascinating man to all who did not know him somewhat\ndeeper than the surface, he engaged Mr. Holt in conversation: he was\ninvited to join the excursion to Wolfe's Cove, and stepped over the side\nof the ship after the others.\n'Reginald! take care of your sisters till my return. They need not go on\nshore till the afternoon. _Au revoir_;' and he kissed his hand gaily to\nMiss Armytage and Jay, who stood at the vessel's side. But Robert could\nnot help remembering their expressed anxiety to get ashore, and the\ncaptain's fascinations were lost upon him for a good part of their\nexpedition.\nAlways thus: postponing business and anybody else's pleasure to his\nown whim or amusement,--for he was intrinsically the most selfish of\nmen,--Captain Armytage had hitherto contrived never to succeed in\nany undertaking. He considered himself the victim of unprecedented\nill-fortune, forgetting that he had himself been his own evil genius.\nHis son could hardly be otherwise than a chip of the old block. Now he\nturned away from the taffrail with a scowl; and, vowing that he would\nnot be mewed up while 'the governor' was enjoying himself, presently\nhailed a boat and went ashore, leaving his sisters to walk up and down\nthe deck and long for the land.\nCHAPTER VI.\nCONCERNING AN INCUBUS.\nAndy carried his wrath at the captain's company so far as to shake his\nfist close to that gentleman's bland and courteous back, while he bent\nforward from his thwart in speaking to Mr. Holt; which gestures of\nenmity highly amused the Canadian boatmen, as they grinned and jabbered\nin _patois_ (old as the time of Henri Quatre) among themselves.\n'The deludherer?' muttered Andy. 'He'd coax a bird off a three wid\nhis silver tongue. An' he must come betune my own gintlemen an'\ntheir frind--the old schamer!' Here a tremendous blow was lodged (in\npantomime) under the captain's ribs. 'Sure, of coorse, they can't be up\nto his thricks, an' he an ould sojer!' And here Andy let fly vivaciously\nbeneath his unconscious adversary's left ear, restraining the knuckles\nwithin about half an inch of his throat.\n'Are you speaking to me, my good man?' said the captain, suddenly\nwheeling round upon Andy, who sat face to his back.\n'Is it me, yer honour?' and the dolorous submissiveness of Andy's\ncountenance was a change marvellous to behold. 'What could the likes\nof me have to say to the likes of you, sir?'\nArthur Wynn's gravity was fairly overcome, and he got a heavy fit of\ncoughing in his pocket-handkerchief. Captain Armytage gazed keenly at\nAndy for a moment, during which he might as well have stared at a\nplaster bust, for all the discoveries he made in the passive simple\ncountenance.\n'Six hours' knapsack drill might do that fellow some good,' said the\nofficer, resuming his former position and the thread of conversation\ntogether. 'In answer to your inquiry, Mr. Holt, I have not quite decided\nwhether to settle in Upper or Lower Canada.'\n'Then, sir, you must know very little of either,' was the blunt reply.\n'There's no more comparison between them than between settling in\nNormandy and in North Britain.'\n'Can't say I should like either location,' rejoined the captain, with\nhis brilliant smile. 'But I've been here with the regiment, and am not\nquite without personal experience. The life of a seigneur would just\nsuit me; if I could find an eligible seignory for sale'--\nHiram Holt stared. A man who had come out with his family in an emigrant\nvessel, talking of purchasing a seignory! But this was a magnificent\nmanner of the captain's. Sixpence in his pocket assumed the dimensions\nof a sovereign in his imagination.\n'Some of them are thirty thousand acres in extent,' Mr. Holt remarked\ndrily.\n'Ah, yes, quite a little principality: one should enjoy all the old\nfeudal feelings, walking about among one's subject _censitaires_,\ntaking a paternal interest in their concerns, as well as bound to them\nby pecuniary ties. I should build a castellated baronial residence,\npepper-box turrets, etcetera, and resist modern new lights to the\nuttermost.'\n'As soon a living man chained to a dead man, as _I_ would hamper myself\nwith that old-world feudality!' exclaimed the Western pioneer. 'Why,\nsir, can you have seen the wretched worn-out land they scratch with a\nwretched plough, fall after fall, without dreaming of rotation of crops,\nor drainage, or any other improvement? Do you remember the endless strips\nof long narrow fields edging the road, opening out of one another,\nin miserable divisions of one or two acres, perhaps, just affording\nstarvation to the holders? What is the reason that where vast quantities\nof wheat were formerly exported, the soil now grows hardly enough for\nthe people to eat? Sir, the country is cut up and subdivided to the\nlast limits that will support even the sleepy life of a _habitan_; all\nimprovement of every kind is barred; the French population stand still\nin the midst of our go-ahead age: and you would prolong the system that\ncauses this!'\nIt was one of the few subjects upon which Mr. Holt got excited; but he\nhad seen the evils of feudalism in the strong light of Western progress.\nCaptain Armytage, for peace' sake, qualified his lately expressed\nadmiration, but was met again by a torrent of words--to the unalloyed\ndelight of Andy, who was utterly unable to comprehend the argument,\nbut only hoped 'the schamer was gettin' more than he bargained for.'\n'Pauperism will be the result, sir; the race is incorrigible in its\nstupid determination to do as its forefathers did, and nothing else.\nLower Canada wants a clearing out, like what you are getting in Ireland,\nbefore a healthy regeneration can set in. The religion is faulty; the\nhabits and traditions of the race are faulty; Jean Baptiste is the\ndrone in our colonial hive. He won't gather honey: he will just live,\nindolently drawling through an existence diversified by feast and fast\ndays; and all his social vices flourish in shelter of this seignorial\nsystem--this--this upas-tree which England is pledged to perpetuate:'\nand Mr. Holt struck his hand violently on the gunwale of the boat,\nawakening a responsive grin of triumph from Andy.\nThe captain was spared a reply by the boat just then touching the wharf;\nand while they were landing, and lodging the luggage in Pat M'Donagh's\nhouse till the starting of the Montreal boat next afternoon, we may say\na few words concerning the feudal system extant in Lower Canada at the\nperiod when this story begins.\nHenri Quatre was the monarch under whose sway the colony was originated.\nChamplain and De Levi knew no better than to reproduce the landed\norganization of France, with its most objectionable feature of the forced\npartition of estates, in the transatlantic province, for defensive\npurposes, against the numerous and powerful Indian tribes. Military\ntenure was superadded. Every farmer was perforce also a soldier, liable\nat any time to be called away from his husbandry to fight against the\nsavage Iroquois or the aggressive British. Long after these combative\ndays had passed away the military tenure remained, with its laws of\nserfdom, a canker at the roots of property; and thinking men dreaded to\ntouch a matter so inwound with the very foundations of the social fabric\nin Lower Canada. But in 1854 and 1859 legislative acts were passed which\nhave finally abolished the obnoxious tenure; each landholder, receiving\nhis estate in freehold, has paid a certain sum, and the Province in\ngeneral contributed \u00a3650,000 as indemnity to those whose old-established\nrights were surrendered for the public weal. Eight millions of inhabited\nacres were freed from the incubus, and Lower Canada has removed one\ngreat obstacle in the way of her prosperity.\nAt the period when Hiram Holt expressed himself so strongly on the\nsubject, a grinding vassalage repressed the industry of the _habitans_.\nThough their annual rent, as _censitaires_ or tenants, was not large,\na variety of burdensome obligations was attached. When a man sold his\ntenure, the seigneur could demand a fine, sometimes one-twelfth of the\npurchase money; heavy duties were charged on successions. The ties of\nthe Roman Catholic Church were oppressive. Various monopolies were\npossessed by the seigneurs. The whole system of social government was a\nreproduction, in the nineteenth century, of the France of the fifteenth.\nMr. Holt was somewhat cooled when his party had reached the citadel,\nthrough streets so steep that the drive to their summit seemed a feat of\nhorsemanship. Here was the great rock whence Jacques Cartier, first of\nEuropean eyes, viewed the mighty river in the time of our Henry VIII.,\nnow bristling with fortifications which branch away in angles round the\nUpper Town, crowned with a battery of thirty-two pounders, whose black\nmuzzles command the peaceful shipping below. Robert Wynn could not help\nremarking on that peculiarly Canadian charm, the exquisite clearness of\nthe air, which brought distant objects so near in vision that he could\nhardly believe Point Levi to be a mile across the water, and the woods\nof the isle of Orleans more than a league to the eastward.\nCaptain Armytage had many reminiscences of the fortress, but enjoyed\nlittle satisfaction in the relating of any; for nothing could get the\nseignorial tenure out of Mr. Holt's head, and he drove in sentences\nconcerning it continually.\nOutside the Castle gates the captain remembered important business,\nwhich must preclude him from the pleasure of accompanying his friends\nto Wolfe's Landing.\n'Well, sir, I hope you now acknowledge that the seignorial system is a\nblot on our civilisation.'\n'I wish it had never been invented!' exclaimed the captain, very\nsincerely. And, with the gracefullest of bows, he got quit of Mr. Holt\nand his pet aversion together.\nHiram's features relaxed into a smile. 'I knew I could convince him; he\nappears an agreeable companion,' remarked Mr. Holt, somewhat simply.\nBut the subject had given the keynote to the day; and in driving along\nthe road to Cape Rouge, parallel with the St. Lawrence, he was finding\nconfirmations for his opinion in most things they met and passed. The\nswarming country, and minute subdivisions of land, vexed Hiram's spirit.\nNot until they entered the precincts of the battlefield, and he was\nabsorbed in pointing out the spots of peculiar interest, did the\nfeudality of the Province cease to trouble him.\nAll along the river was bordered by handsome villas and pleasure-grounds\nof Quebec merchants. Cultivation has gradually crept upon the battlefield,\nobliterating landmarks of the strife. The rock at the base of which\nWolfe expired has been removed, and in its stead rises a pillar crowned\nwith a bronze helmet and sword, and is inscribed:\n HERE DIED WOLFE, VICTORIOUS.\nNot till seventy-five years after the deed which makes his fame was this\nmemorial erected: a tardy recognition of the service which placed the\nnoblest of our dependencies--a Province large as an old-world empire--in\nBritish hands.\nCHAPTER VII.\nTHE RIVER HIGHWAY.\n'Well, Misther Robert! if ever I laid my eyes on the likes of such a\nship, in all my born days!'\nWith this impressive ejaculation, Andy Callaghan backed on the wharf to\ntake a completer view of the wondrous whole. His untravelled imagination\nhad hitherto pictured steamers after the one pattern and similitude of\nthose which sailed upon the river Lee and in the Cove of Cork--craft\nwhich had the aquatic appendages of masts and decks, and still kept up\nan exterior relation with the ship tribe. But this a steamboat! this\ngreat three-storied wooden edifice, massive-looking as a terrace of\nhouses!\n'An' a hole in the side for a hall-door!' soliloquized Andy. 'No, but\ntwo holes, one for the quality an' the other for the commonality. An'\nno deck at all at all for the people to take the air, only all cabins\nintirely! If it isn't the very dead image of a side of a sthreet\nswimmin' away!'\nAndy's outspoken remarks attracted some notice when he was fairly\naboard.\n'This is the fore-cabin, and you must try to keep quiet,' said Arthur.\n'We'll be off presently; and whatever you do,' he added in a low tone,\n'keep clear of that bar'--indicating a counter recess where liquors were\nsold, and where customers had congregated already.\n'Never fear, sir,' was the reply; 'though they've no right to put it\nthere forenent us, an' they knowin' that the bare sight of it is like\nfire to tow with many a one. But sure they're not thinkin' only how to\nget money:' and Mr. Callaghan ended his moral reflections by sitting\ndown beside a family of small children, who squalled in different keys,\nand treating one of them to a ride on his foot, which favour, being\ndistributed impartially, presently restored good humour.\n'An' isn't there any peep of the fresh air allowed us at all?' inquired\nAndy of a man near him, whose peculiar cut of garments had already\nexcited his curiosity. 'It's a quare vessel that hasn't aither a sail or\ndeck: we might all go to the bottom of the say in this big box, 'athout\nbein' a bit the wiser.'\nThe emigrant with the six children looked rather anxious, and hugged her\nbaby closer, poor woman; glancing for a minute at the bar, where her\nhusband was sipping gin, and already brawling with an American. But as\nthe apple-complexioned man whom Andy addressed happened to be a French\n_habitan_, limited in English at the best of times, the Irish brogue\npuzzled him so thoroughly, that he could only make a polite bow, and\nsignify his ignorance of Monsieur's meaning.\n'Maybe he's an Injin,' thought Andy; 'but sure I thought thim savages\nwore no clothes, and he has an iligant blue coat an' red tie. I wondher\nwould it be any good to thry the Irish wid him;' and, as an experiment,\nhe said something in the richest Munster dialect. The Canadian's\npoliteness was almost forgotten in his stare of surprise, and he took\nthe earliest opportunity of changing his place, and viewing Andy\nrespectfully from afar.\nBut if it had a repellent effect on the _habitan_, it exerted a strong\nattractive force upon other of the passengers. Mr. Callaghan was never\nhappier than when at the focus of a knot of his countrymen, for his\ntalents were essentially social; and before the evening was over, his\nmusical feats with voice and violin had so charmed the aforesaid\nCanadian, that he came up and made him another of the polite bows.\n'Very much obliged to you, sir, if I only knew what you were sayin','\nreplied Andy, with equal courtesy.\n'He's inviting you to his daughter's wedding,' interpreted one of the\nsailors who stood by; 'you and the fiddle.'\n'With all the pleasure in life, sir,' promptly replied Andy, as he\nimitated the bow of the worthy _habitan_ to perfection. 'I'm always\nready for any fun-goin'. Ask the old gentleman when and where it's\nto be,' he continued, jogging the interpreter with his elbow.\n'The day after to-morrow, at a village near Montreal;' upon learning\nwhich, Andy's countenance fell, and the festive vision faded from his\nken. 'Maybe it's in China I'd be by that time,' said he, with incorrect\nnotions of geography; 'but I'm obliged to you all the same, sir, an'\nwherever I am I'll drink her health, if 'twas only in a glass of wather.\nI'll have a pain in me back if I bow much longer' added Andy _sotto\nvoce_; 'I don't know how he's able to keep it up at all.'\n'Why, where are you going to?' asked the sailor, laughing; 'this ain't\nthe way to China by a long chalk.'\n'Going to make me fortune,' replied Andy boldly, as he dropped the\nviolin into its case and latched the cover tightly, as if a secret were\nlocked in. While no more idea had he of his destination, nor plan for\nfuture life, poor faithful peasant, than the fine Newfoundland dog which\nslept not far from him that night in the fore-cabin, a mass of creamy\ncurls.\nMeanwhile, all the evening, and all the night through, the noble steamer\nstemmed the broad brimming flood, steadily onwards, casting behind her\non the moonlit air a breath of dark smoke ruddy with sparks, at every\npalpitation of her mighty engine-heart. Past black pine forests to the\nedge of the shore; past knots of white cottages centred round the usual\ngleaming metal spire; past confluence of other rivers, dark paths joining\nthe great continental highway; blowing off steam now and then at young\nroadside towns, where upon wooden wharves, waited passengers and freight\nin the moonlight, swallowing into either mouth all presented to her, and\non untiringly again. Robert Wynn stayed on the small open poop astern,\ngazing at the picturesque panorama, half revealed, half shaded by the\nsilvery beams, long after the major part of the passengers were snug in\ntheir state rooms or berths below. With the urging of the fire-driven\nmachinery he could hear mingled the vast moan of the river sweeping\nalong eastwards. It saddened him, that never-silent voice of 'the Father\nof Waters.' Memories of home came thronging round him--a home for him\nextinct, dead, till in this distant land he should create another. At\nthe threshold of a great undertaking, before hand has been put to work\nit out, the heart always shrinks and shivers, as did his here. Looking\nupon the length and breadth of all that had to be done, it seemed too\nhard for him.\nBut not so when next morning he arose from a few hours' sleep, and\nbeheld the bright sunshine lighting up the glorious Canadian world.\nLooming giants by moonlight are reduced to very ordinary obstacles by\ndaylight; and the set of desponding thoughts which had weighed upon the\nyoung man as he contemplated the inky river and darkling country, seemed\nnow to belong to another phase of being. Despondent! with the wide free\nworld to work in, and its best prizes lying beside the goal, ready for\ncapture by the steady heart and active hand. Robert felt almost as if\nthat shadowy home in the forest were already built, already peopled with\nthe dear old faces he had left behind. The pure fresh air--clear as is\nrarely breathed in Europe (for it is as if in our Old World the breath\nof unnumbered nations has for centuries been soiling the elements)--the\nrichly coloured scene, were a cordial to his young brain. The steamer\nwas fast approaching the isle of St. Helen's; and beyond, against a\nbackground of purple mountain, lay 'the Silver Town,' radiant with that\nsurface glitter peculiar to Canadian cities of the Lower Province; as if\nMontreal had sent her chief edifices to be electro-plated, and they had\njust come home brightly burnished. In front was the shining blue current\nof the St. Lawrence, escaped from a bewildering perplexity of islets\nand rapids, which had apparently ruffled its temper not a little.\n'Part of our Ottawa flows here,' said Mr. Holt, glancing at the stream\nwith a sort of home affection--'our clear emerald Ottawa, fresh from the\nvirgin wilderness; and it hasn't quite mingled with its muddy neighbour\nyet, no more than we Westerns can comfortably mingle with the _habitans_\nand their old-world practices down here. You see, Wynn, the St. Lawrence\nhas been running over a bed of marl for miles before it reaches Lake St.\nLouis; and the Ottawa has been purified by plenty of rocks and rapids;\nso they don't suit very well--no more than we and the _habitans_--ha!\nha!' Mr. Holt was vastly amused by the similitude. He pointed to a very\ndistinctly marked line of foam wavering on the river surface, and said,\n'There's the demarcation.'\n'I am glad it is of such an evanescent nature, sir,' replied Robert. He\nmight have said how much grander the river became when all brawling was\nforgotten, and both currents fused into one glorious stream.\n'Now,' said Arthur, with the contrariety of youth (and _aside_, as is\nwritten in stage-plays), 'I'm certain these French Canadians are not so\nblack as they're painted. I like those sociable white villages round the\ntin spires; and the guide-book says the people are amiable and civil.\nI'll investigate that subject, Bob.'\n'I would advise you to investigate breakfast just now,' was the reply,\nas the steward's bell swung forth its summons. Then commenced a procession\nof passengers to the eating-room; through the length of the sumptuously\nfurnished saloon, where the richest Persian carpets, marble tables,\nbrilliant chandeliers, and mirrors, were at the service of the public;\nby a narrow staircase amidships down to the lowest storey of the vessel,\na long apartment lit by candles, and lined at the sides with curtained\nrows of berths. The usual pause followed for the advent of the ladies:\nnobody sat down till they had come from their cabin on the middle deck,\nand established themselves wheresoever they listed.\n'That's like Irish politeness' whispered Arthur, whose good spirits were\nalways talkative. 'My father, dear old gentleman, would take off his hat\nto a petticoat on a bush, I do believe.'\nThe company was very mixed, and quite as much conversation went on in\nFrench as in English. It seemed to the strangers as if the balance of\ngentlemanly deportment, and yet vivacity of manner, might possibly lie\non the side of those who spoke the former tongue. Next to Arthur sat the\nsallow States'-man, bolting his breakfast with unconscionable speed,\nand between whiles, in a high treble voice, volunteering his opinion\npretty freely on Canadian matters, as if he were endowed with a special\ncommission to set them right. Badly as Hiram Holt thought of the\nseignorial system, he was perforce driven to defend it in some measure,\nmuch to Arthur's delectation; but he soon discovered that to carry\nwar into the enemy's country was his best policy, so he seized the\ninstitution of slavery in his canine teeth, and worried it well. The\nStates'-man thought that a gentleman might be permitted to travel\nwithout being subject to attacks on his country: Mr. Holt observed that\nhe thought precisely the same, which species of agreement closed the\nconversation. And the States'-man relieved his feelings subsequently\nby whittling a stick from the firewood into impalpable chips, with his\nheels resting on the apex of the saloon stove. Kind-hearted Hiram Holt\nhad meanwhile more than half repented his hostility.\n'Tell you what, sir,' said he, going up and extending his hand, 'it\nwasn't the matter, but the manner of your talk that raised my dander\nawhile since. I agree in most of what you say about this Province here,\nand I hope as much as you do that the last badge of feudalism may soon\nbe swept away.'\nThe American put his bony pale hand almost sullenly into the Canadian's\nbrawny palm, and after suffering the pressure, returned to his interesting\npursuit of whittling, which he continued in silence for the rest of the\nvoyage.\nCHAPTER VIII.\n'JEAN BAPTISTE' AT HOME.\nAfter seeing most of the thoroughfares of Montreal, and receiving the\nset of sensations experienced by all new-comers and recorded in all\nbooks of Canadian travel--principally wondering at the incongruities\nof French and English nationality grafted together, and coherent as\nthe segments of the fabled centaur--the active commerce of a British\nport carried on beneath the shadow of walled-in convents suggesting\nBelgium--friars endued with long black robes, passing soldiers clothed\nin the immemorial scarlet--a Rue Notre Dame and a St. James's Street in\nneighbourhood--the brothers witnessed another phase of American life as\nthey dined at a monster table-d'h\u00f4te in the largest hotel of the city.\nThe imperial system of inn-keeping originated in the United States\nhas been imported across the border, much to the advantage of British\nsubjects; and nothing can be a queerer contrast than the Englishman's\nsolitary dinner in a London coffee-room, and his part in the vast\ncollective meals of a transatlantic hotel.\n'New to this sort of thing, I should imagine?' said the gentleman next\nbeside Robert, in a particularly thin, wiry voice.\n'Yes, quite a stranger,' answered Robert, looking round, and seeing that\nthe speaker was a person with a sharp nose and small keen black eyes.\n'So I thought; your looks betray it. Everything seems queer, I guess.\nIntending to be a settler, eh?' Then, without waiting for an answer,\n'That's right: I always welcome the infusion of young blood into our\ncolony, particularly _gentle_ blood, for we are a rough set, mister,\nand want polish--and--and--all that.'\nThese deferential words, uttered in the deferential manner of inferiority\nto acknowledged excellence, certainly pleased Robert; for what heart is\nunsusceptible to subtle flattery? And of all modes of influence, men\nare most easily flattered or disparaged by reference to what is no\nworthiness or fault of their own--the social station in which it has\npleased the Creator that they should enter this world. The keen brain\nbehind the keen eyes knew this well; the fact had oiled a way for his\nwedge many a time. What was his motive for endeavouring to ingratiate\nhimself with young Wynn for the next twenty minutes?\n'Now, mister, if it's a fact that you be settling, I can give you a\nchance of some of the finest lots of land ever offered for sale in\nMontcalm township. A friend of mine has a beautiful farm there that\nwould just suit you; best part cleared and under fence--fine water\nprivilege--land in good heart, and going, I may say, dirt cheap.'\nRobert felt much obliged for the interest in his welfare which prompted\nthis eligible offer. 'But, unfortunately, I have very little money to\ninvest,' said he carelessly. The swift penetrating glance that followed\nfrom his companion was unseen, as he crumbled his biscuit on the\ntable-cloth. 'I am rather disposed to try the backwoods,' he added.\n'The bush!' in accents of amazement. 'The bush! it may do very well\nfor labourers, but for a gentleman of your pretensions, it would be\nmisery--wholly unsuitable, sir--wholly unsuitable. No, no, take my\nadvice, and settle where the advantages of civilisation--the comforts of\nlife to which you have been accustomed--are accessible. A few thousand\ndollars'--\n'I regret to say,' Robert interposed, 'that even one thousand is\nimmensely more than I possess,' turning to the Canadian with a frank\nsmile, which was by no means reduplicated in the sharp face. And from\nthe era of that revelation, conversation unaccountably flagged.\n'Do you know to whom you talked at table?' asked Hiram Holt afterwards.\nHe had been sitting some way farther up at the other side. 'One of the\nmost noted land-jobbers in the country--a man who buys wild lands at\nthree shillings an acre, to sell them again at ten or fifteen, if he\ncan; and he never loses an opportunity of driving a trade. His bargain\nof a cleared farm is probably some worn-out dilapidated location not\nworth half-a-dollar an acre till hundreds have been spent on it.'\n'Then I've gained one benefit by being poor,' said Robert; 'nobody can\nhave a motive for over-reaching me'--which was philosophic consolation.\nMr. Holt's business would not permit him to leave till next evening. And\nso the Wynns, continuing to lionize, looked into the vast but dreary\nRomish cathedral, which seats ten thousand people in its nine spacious\naisles and seven chapels; clambered to the roof, and viewed the city\nfrom a promenade at an elevation of 120 feet; and then drove to that\nspecial beauty of Montreal--the mountain. This is a hill more than 500\nfeet in height, and clothed from head to foot with the richest verdure\nof woods; among which grow the most delicious apples extant since Paris\nselected one as a prize. From the summit a landscape of level country\nstretches below westwards; in middle, distant villages; on the horizon,\nthe Ottawa confluence, bounding Montreal Island and forming others.\nSouthwards, across the St. Lawrence, the hills of Vermont far away;\nnearer, the fertile valley of the Richelieu.\n'Let's go off to one of the _habitan_ villages,' said Arthur suddenly.\n'Dismiss the cal\u00e8che, and we will walk back. I'll ask for a drink of\nwater in one of the cottages just to scrape acquaintance.'\n'Furbish up your French, too,' said Robert, 'for they do gabble it\nfast. I heard a fellow chattering in the steerage, coming up the river\nyesterday morning: by the way, he and Andy had struck up a friendship:\nand such bowing as they had to each other's incomprehensible lingo!'\n'I wonder what he is doing to-day,' said Arthur reflectively; 'he asked\nme so particularly whether we should want him again till the evening.'\n'Found out a nest of Irish somewhere, I suppose.'\n'There's a fellow taking off his hat to us,' remarked Arthur, as they\npassed a carter. 'Everybody seems to bow to everybody in this country.\nBut did you ever see such an old-fashioned vehicle as he drives? And he\nkeeps talking to himself and his horse all the way, apparently.'\nRapidly walking down the fine road to the plain, they were not long\nin nearing a group of neat white houses round the invariable shining\nsteeple.\n'The village looks as sociable as the people,' said Robert. 'How neat\neverything seems!--Hallo, Arthur, we've come in for some festivity or\nother, by all the gay ribbons about.'\n'Bon jour, Madame,' said Arthur boldly, to a tidy old lady, sitting in\nher green verandah. 'Nous sommes des \u00e9trangers--I'd like to ask her what\nit's all about,' he whispered confidentially to Robert; 'but I'm out of\nmy depth already.'\nThe aged _Canadienne_ arose, with the politeness so natural to her\nGallic descent, and bade them welcome. But sounds issuing from the\nopposite house riveted their attention. 'As sure as I'm here, that's\nAndy's violin,' exclaimed Arthur; 'I'd know his scrape anywhere;' and he\ncrossed the road in a moment.\nWithout doubt Andy was the player, ay, and the performer too; for he was\ndancing a species of quickstep solo, surrounded by a circle of grinning\nand delighted _habitans_. The most perfect gravity dwelt in his own\ncountenance meanwhile, alloyed by just a spice of lurking fun in his\ndeep-set eyes, which altogether faded, as a candle blown out, when\nsuddenly he perceived the accession to the company. Silence succeeded\nthe dead blank on his features, down hung the violin and its bow on\neither side, and the corners of his mouth sunk into a dismal curve.\n'Go on, old boy--scrape away,' shouted Arthur hilariously. 'So many\npretty faces would inspire anybody;' and whether it was that the\nblack-eyed Canadian damsels felt the compliment through the foreign\nidiom, there was considerable blushing and bridling as the speaker's\nglance travelled round the group.\nThey deserved his encomium. The slight sprightly type of dark beauty\nabounded; and so prettily decked out with bright ribbons and flowers,\nthat it was evident the tastefulness which renders French modistes\nunrivalled had not died out in these collateral relatives of the nation.\nForward stepped Monsieur, the master of the house and father of the bride,\nbegging that Messieurs would be so benevolent as to seat themselves,\nand would honour him by partaking of refreshment; both which requests\nMessieurs were nothing loth to fulfil. It was hardly to be realized\nthat these were the besotted _habitans_, the unimprovable race, the\nblotch on the fair face of Canadian civilisation; these happy-looking,\nsimple-minded people. Hiram Holt was a slanderer. Full an hour passed\nbefore the Wynns could get away from the embarrassing hospitalities and\npoliteness of the good villagers, who shook hands all round at parting\nin most affectionate style. As for Andy, much to his own discomfort, he\nwas kissed by his host.\n'Now I could ondherstand if it was the missus that shaluted me,' said\nhe, rubbing across his cheek with his cuff as soon as he was on the\nroad; 'throth an' they're all very fond of me intirely, considherin'\nthey never laid eyes on me till this mornin', barrin' himself. An' I\nnever see nater houses--they're as clean as a gintleman's; you might ate\noff the flure. If only the people wud forget that queer talk they have,\nan' spake like Christians, that a body could know what they're sayin',\n'twould be a deal more comfortable.'\n'And how could you get on without understanding them?' asked Arthur.\n'Oh, 'twas aisy enough sometimes; for whin they wanted me to come to\ndinner they had only to show me the table; and when they wanted me to\nplay, they only rubbed across their arm this way, and said, \"Jawer,\njawer\" (I brought away that word, anyhow,' added Mr. Callaghan, with\ngreat satisfaction). 'All other times they spake to me I bowed plinty,\nand that did the business. But there was a man alongside me at the\ndinner that had a few words of English; an' he tould me that this time\nof the year they all marries to be ready against the winter. I likes\nthat fashion, Misther Robert;' and herewith Andy heaved a little sigh,\nthinking perhaps of a certain pretty blue-eyed Mary in Ireland.\n'Put your best foot foremost, Callaghan,' said Mr. Wynn; 'we shall\nscarcely reach town in time;' and all three quickened their pace.\n'I'll never believe a syllable against the _habitans_ again,' said\nArthur. 'Their old-fashioned politeness is a perfect relief from the\nbluff manners of most other Canadians. They seem to me to have a lot\nof virtues,--cleanliness, good-humour, good-nature,--and I like their\nhabit of living altogether, children settled round the parent tree\nlike branches of a banyan. We would give a trifle to be able to do it\nourselves, Bob;' and the smile with which the brothers met each other's\neyes was rather wistful.\nCHAPTER IX.\n'FROM MUD TO MARBLE.'\nHiram Holt was proud of his ancestry. Not that he had sixteen quarterings\nwhereof to boast, or even six; his pedigree could have blazoned an\nescutcheon only with spade, and shuttle, and saw, back for generations.\nBut then, society all about him was in like plight; and it is a strong\nconsolation in this, as in matters moral, to be no worse than one's\nneighbours. Truly, a Herald's College would find Canada a very jungle as\nto genealogy. The man of marble has had a grandfather of mud, as was the\ncase with the owner of Maple Grove.\nAnd, instead of resenting such origin as an injury received from his\nprogenitors, worthy Hiram looked back from the comfortable eminence of\nprosperity whereunto he had attained, and loved to retrace the gradual\nsteps of labour which led thither. He could remember most of them; to\nhis memory's eye the virgin forest stretched for unknown and unnumbered\nmiles west and northward of the settler's adventurous clearing, and the\nrude log shanty was his home beside the sombre pines. Now the pines were\ndead and gone, except a few isolated giants standing gloomily among\nthe maple plantations; but the backwoodsman's shanty had outlived all\nsubsequent changes.\nHere, in the wide courtyard to the rear of Mr. Holt's house, it was\npreserved, like a curious thing set apart in a museum--an embodiment\nof the old struggling days embalmed. The walls of great unhewn logs\nfastened at the corners by notching; the crevices chinked up with chips\nand clay; the single rude square window shuttered across; the roof of\nbasswood troughs, all blackened with age; the rough door, creaking\non clumsy wooden hinges when Mr. Holt unlocked it,--these were not\nencouraging features, viewed by the light of a future personal experience.\nRobert stole a glance at Arthur as they stepped inside the low dark\nshed, and, as Arthur had with similar motives also stolen a glance at\nRobert, their eyes naturally met, and both laughed.\nThey had been thinking a twin thought--'How will my brother like such\nquarters as this in the forest?'\n'A queer concern,' remarked Arthur in a low voice, and rubbing his chin.\n'Rather!' replied Robert, looking equally dubious.\n'I like to show the shanty to youngsters,' said Mr. Holt, as he turned\nfrom pushing back the shutter, 'that they may see what they have to\nexpect. From such a start as this we Canadians have all waked up into\nopulence--that is, the hardworking share of us; and there's room enough\nfor tens of thousands to do the same off in the bush.'\n'I hope so, sir,' was the least desponding remark of which Robert could\nthink. For the naked reality of a forest life came before him as never\npreviously. The halo of distance had faded, as he stood beside the\nrude fireplace, fashioned of four upright limestone slabs in a corner,\nreaching to a hole in the roof, down which the wind was howling just\nnow. It was rather a bleak look-out, notwithstanding the honeyed\npromises of the old settler pouring on his ear.\n'To be sure there is. Fortune's at your back in the bush; and you\nhaven't, as in the mother country, to rise by pushing others down.\nThere's no impassable gulf separating you from anything you choose\nto aim at. It strikes me that the motto of our capital is as good\nas a piece of advice to the settler--\"Industry, Intelligence, and\nIntegrity\"--with a beaver as pattern of the first two principles,\nanyhow. So recollect the beaver, my young chaps, and work like it.'\n'I don't remember the building of this,' he added; 'but every stick was\nlaid by my father's own hands, and my mother chinked between them till\nall was tight and right. I tell you I'm prouder of it than of a piece\nof fancy-work, such as I've seen framed and glazed. I love every log in\nthe old timbers.' And Mr. Holt tapped the wall affectionately with his\nwalking-staff. 'It was the farthest west clearing then, and my father\nchose the site because of the spring yonder, which is covered with a\nstone and civilised into a well now-a-days.'\n'And is the town so modern as all that comes to?' said Robert.\n [Illustration]\n'Twenty years grows a city in Canada,' replied Mr. Holt, somewhat\nloftily. 'Twenty years between the swamp and the crowded street: while\ntwo inches of ivy would be growing round a European ruin, we turn a\nwilderness into a cultivated country, dotted with villages. The history\nof Mapleton is easily told. My father was the first who ever built a\nsawmill on the river down there, and the frame-houses began to gather\nabout it shortly. Then he ventured into the grist line; and I'm the\nowner of the biggest mills in the place now, with half-a-dozen of\nothers competing, and all doing a fair business in flour, and lumber\nfor exportation. You see in this land we've room enough for all, and\nno man need scowl down another of the same trade. 'Taint so in England,\nwhere you must knock your bread out of somebody else's mouth.'\n'Not always, sir,' said Robert, 'nor commonly, I hope.'\n'I forgot you were a fresh importation,' observed Mr. Holt with a\nsatisfied chuckle. 'You ain't colonized yet. Well, let's come and look\nat something else.'\nMeanwhile Arthur had measured the dimensions of the shanty, by pacing\nalong and across: sixteen feet one way, twelve the other. Narrow limits\nfor the in-door life of a family; but the cottage had somewhat grown\nwith their growth, and thrown out a couple of small bed-chambers,\nlike buds of incipient shanties, from the main trunk. A curiosity of\nwood-craft it looked, so mossy, gnarled, and weather-beaten, that one\ncould easily have believed it had sprung from the ground without the\nintervention of hands, a specimen of some gigantic forest fungus.\n'I'll leave a charge in my will that it's not to be disturbed,' said\nHiram. ''Twould be sacrilege to move a log of the whole consarn. D'ye\nhear, Sam?'\nHis son had just come up and shaken hands; for this was a matutinal\nexpedition of Mr. Holt and his guests round the farm. Being given to\nhabits of extreme earliness, the former was wont to rouse any one in the\nhouse whose company he fancied, to go with him in his morning walks; and\nthe Wynns had been honoured by a knocking-up at five o'clock for that\npurpose. Mr. Holt had strode into their room, flung open the window\nshutters and the sash with a resounding hand which completely dissipated\nsleep, and rendered it hardly matter of choice to follow him, since no\nrepose was to be gained by lying in bed. Sam's clear brown eyes sparkled\nas he saw the victims promenading after his tall father at the Gothic\nhour of six, and marked Arthur furtively rubbing his eyes.\n'You're tremendously early people here,' remarked Arthur, when young\nHolt joined them. 'I had a mind to turn round and close the shutters\nagain, but was afraid I might affront your father.'\n'Affront him! oh no; but he'd just come again and again to rouse you,\ntill you were compelled to submit in self-defence. He wakes up young\npeople on principle, he says.'\n'Well, he practises his precepts,' rejoined Arthur, 'and seems to have\ntrained his children in the same.'\n'Yes, he has made us all practical men; seven chips of the old block,'\nobserved Sam.\n'Seven brothers!' ejaculated Arthur. 'I saw only three last night. And\nare they all as tall as you?'\n'About forty-four feet of length among us,' said Sam. 'We're a long\nfamily in more ways than one;' and he looked down from his altitude of\nseventy-five inches on the young Irishman.\n'It is quite a pleasant surprise to see your sister,' Arthur remarked.\n'Bell hasn't kept up the family tradition of height, I must say. She's a\ndegenerate specimen of the Holts;' and the speaker's brown eyes softened\nwith a beam of fondness; 'for which reason, I suppose, she'll not bear\nthe name long.'\n'And who's the lucky man?' asked Arthur, feeling an instant's disagreeable\nsurprise, and blushing at the sensation.\n'Oh, out of half-a-dozen pretenders, 'twould be hard to say. We all\nmarry early in Canada; most of my contemporaries are Benedicts long ago.\nThree brothers younger than I have wives and children, and are settled\nin farms and mills of their own.'\n'And might I ask'--began Arthur, hesitating when the very personal\nnature of the inquiry struck him.\n'To be sure you might. Well, in the first place, I took a fancy to go\nthrough college, and my father left me in Toronto for four years at the\nUniversity of Upper Canada. That brought me up to twenty-three years\nold; and then--for the last two years nobody would have me,' added Sam,\nelevating his black brows.\n'Perhaps you are too fastidious; I remark that about men who have nice\nsisters,' said Mr. Arthur, with an air of much experience: 'now, Robert\nand I never see anybody so nice as Linda--at least hardly ever.'\n'A saving clause for Bell,' said her brother, laughing, 'which is polite,\nat all events. I must tell her there's a young lady at home that you\nprefer immensely.'\nWhich he accordingly did, at the ensuing breakfast; and pretty Miss Holt\npretended to take the matter greatly to heart, and would not permit\nArthur to explain; while mischievous Sam scouted the notion of the\nunknown 'Linda' being his sister, except by the rather distant tie of\nAdam and Eve.\nWhat a plentiful table was this at Maple Grove! Several sorts of meat\nand wild fowl, several species of bread and cake, several indigenous\npreserves; and Robert could not help going back with aching heart to the\nscant supply of meagre fare at home; he saw again his sweet pale mother\ntrying to look cheerful over the poor meal, and Linda keeping up an\nartificial gaiety, while her soul was sick of stints and privations.\nHis face grew stern and sad at the memory; enjoyment or amusement was\ncriminal for him while they were suffering. So when, by and by, Mr. Holt\ninvited him and Arthur to remain for the winter months at Maple Grove,\nwith a view of gaining insight of Canadian manners and Canadian farming,\nhe decidedly declined. He wished to push on at once; whatever hardships\nlay before them, had better be combated as soon as possible. A lengthened\nstay here would be a bad preparation for the wilderness life; they could\nscarcely but be enervated by it.\n'You're a brave lad,' said Mr. Holt, 'and I admire your pluck, though\nyou are plunging right into a pack of troubles; but the overcoming of\neach one will be a step in the ladder to fortune. Now I'll go and get\nout the horses, and ride you over to Mr. Landenstein's office: he'll\nknow all about the wild lands, and perhaps has a cleared farm or two\ncheap.'\nBut unfortunately such farms did not suit Robert's pocket. One of two\nhundred acres, fifty cleared and the rest bush, was offered for \u00a3240,\nwith a wooden house thrown into the bargain; but the purchaser's fancy\nfor the forest was unconquerable: it puzzled even Mr. Holt. He returned\nfrom Mapleton the proprietor of a hundred acres of bush in a newly\nsettled western township, and felt much the better and cheerier that his\nexcursion had ended so. The future had something tangible for his grasp\nnow; and he only grudged every hour spent away from his sphere of labour\nas an opportunity of advantage lost.\nCHAPTER X.\nCORDUROY.\n'They wor very kind to us,' observed Andy, from his elevation in the\nwaggon; 'an' this counthry bates all the world at 'ating and dhrinking.'\nThis to Arthur Wynn, who was seated rather despondingly in front of the\ncollection of boxes, pots, and pails, which formed their stock-in-trade\nfor bush life. Sam Holt and Robert were walking on before the horse, a\nfurlong ahead; but Arthur had dropped behind for meditation's sake, and\ntaken up his residence on the waggon for awhile, with his cap drawn over\nhis eyes. I dare say Miss Bell had something to do with the foolish boy's\nregret for leaving Maple Grove.\n'Every day was like a Christmas or an Aisther,' continued Andy, who had\nno idea that any one could prefer silence to conversation; 'an' the\nsarvints had parlour fare in the kitchen always, an' a supper that was\nlike a dinner, just before goin' to bed. Throth, they had fine times of\nit--puddins an' pies, if you plaze: the bare lavins would feed a family\nat home. An' it's the same, they tell me, in all the farmers' houses\nround about. I never thought to see so much vittles.'\nNo reply could be elicited from Mr. Arthur Wynn but a grunt.\n'Didn't you?' put in the driver, with a small sneer. Andy had deemed him\ntoo far distant to catch his words, as he walked beside his horse.\n'Why, then, you've long ears, my man; but sure it's kind for ye,'\nretorted Mr. Callaghan, his eye twinkling wickedly. I fear that his\nsubtle irony was lost upon its subject. 'Of coorse I'm not used to ye're\nforeign food. Our vittles at home are a dale dacenter, though not so\ncommon.'\nAnd Arthur, through his half-drowsy ears, was amused by the colloquy\nthat ensued, in the course of which Andy completely floored the Canadian\nby a glowing description of Dunore, delivered in the present tense, but\nreferring, alas! to a period of sixteen or twenty years previously. But\nthe smart black-eyed backwoodsman wound up with the utterly incredulous\nspeech,--\n'They left all them riches to come and settle in our bush! whew!' He\njerked his whip resoundingly upon the frying-pan and tin-kettle in the\nrear, which produced a noise so curiously illustrative of his argument,\nthat Arthur laughed heartily, and shook off his fit of blues.\nThe aspect of nature would have helped him to do that. The thousand dyes\nof the woods were brilliant, as if the richest sunset had gushed from\nthe heavens, and painted the earth with a permanent glory of colour. A\ndrapery of crimson and gold endued the maples; the wild bines and briars\nwere covered with orange and scarlet berries; the black-plumed pine trees\nrose solemnly behind. A flat country, for the most part; and, as the\ntravellers slowly receded westward, settlements became sparse and small;\nthe grand forests closed more densely round them; solitary clearings\nbroke the monotony of trees.\nThe first of anything that one sees or experiences remains stronger than\nall after impressions on the memory. With what interest did the embryo\nsettlers regard the first veritable log-hut that presented itself,\nsurrounded by half an acre of stumps, among which struggled potatoes and\nbig yellow squashes. A dozen hens pecked about; a consumptive-looking\ncow suspended her chewing, as also did her master his hoeing, to gaze\nafter the waggon, till it disappeared beyond the square frame of forest\nwhich shut in the little clearing.\nAgain the long lines of stately oaks and firs, with a straight and\napparently endless road between them, like the examples of perspective\nin beginners' drawing-books, but with the vanishing point always\nreceding.\n'I see they've turnpiked this road since I was on it before,' observed\nthe driver.\n'Where?' asked Andy, looking about. 'I don't see a turnpike--an' sure I\nought to know a tollman's dirty face in any place. Sorra house here at\nall at all, or a gate; or a ha'porth except trees,' he added in a\ndisgusted manner.\n'There,' said the Canadian, pointing to a ploughed line along each side\nof the road, whence the earth had been thrown up in the centre by a\nscraper; 'that's turnpiking.'\n'Ye might have invented a new name,' rejoined the Irishman, with an\noffended air, 'an' not be mislading people. I thought it was one of the\nould pike-gates where I used to have to pay fourpince for me, ass and\ncar; an' throth, much as I hated it, I'd be a'most glad to see one of\nthe sort here, just for company's sake. A mighty lonesome counthry ye\nhave, to be sure!'\n'Well, we can't be far from Greenock now; and I see a bit of a snake\nfence yonder.'\nIt was another clearing, on a more enterprising scale than the last\ndescribed; the forest had been pushed back farther, and a good wooden\nhouse erected in the open space; zigzag rail fences enclosed a few\nfields almost clear of stumps, and an orchard was growing up behind.\nA man in a red shirt, who was engaged in underbrushing at a little\ndistance, said that 'the town' was only a mile away--Greenock, on the\nClyde.\nAlas for nomenclature! The waggon scrambled down a rather steep\ndeclivity, towards a dozen houses scattered beside a stream: stumps\nstood erect in the single short street, and a ferry-boat was the only\ncraft enlivening the shore. A Greenock without commerce or warehouses, a\nClyde without wharves or ships, or the possibility of either--what mere\ntravestie effected by a name!\n'A nest of Scottish emigrants, I suppose,' said Robert Wynn, as he\ncontemplated 'the town.'\n'Yes, and they'll push their place up to something,' replied Sam Holt:\n'if pluck and perseverance can do it, they will. Only one enemy can\nruin a Scotchman here, and that's the \"drap drink.\" Ten to one that in\ntwenty years you find this ground covered with factories and thousands\nof houses; that solitary store is the germ of streets of shops, and the\ntavern will expand into half a score hotels. Sandy will do it all.'\n'I'm afraid you could not speak so well of Irish progress.'\n'Because the canker of their religion continues to produce its legitimate\neffects in most cases; and the influence of whisky--the great bane of\nsocial life in our colony--is even more predominant than over the lower\nclass Scotch settlers. Still, they do infinitely better here than at\nhome; and you'll meet with many a flourishing Hibernian in the backwoods\nand pioneer cities.'\n'I presume this is a pioneer city?' looking round at the handful of\nwooden shanties.\n'Don't despise it; Rome had as small a beginning, and was manned by no\nmore indomitable hands and hearts than our frontier emigrants.'\n'We are producing quite a sensation,' said Robert. For the major part\nof the inhabitants came out of doors to view the strangers, with that\ncuriosity which characterizes a new-born society; many of the men\nbethought themselves of some business at the wooden tavern by the\nwater-side, where the waggon drew up and the new arrivals entered in.\nA store where everything was sold, from a nail or a spool of 'slack' to\na keg of spirits or an almanac: sold for money when it could be had,\nfor flour or wool or potash when it couldn't; likewise a post-office,\nwhither a stage came once a week with an odd passenger, or an odd dozen\nof newspapers and letters; likewise the abode of a magistrate, where\njustice was occasionally dispensed and marriages performed. The dwelling\nthat united all these offices in its single person, was a long, low,\nframed house, roofed with shingles, and but one storey in height;\nproprietor, a certain canny Scot, named Angus Macgregor, who, having\nlanded at Quebec with just forty shillings in the world, was making\nrapid strides to wealth here, as a landed proprietor and store-keeper\nwithout rivalry. Others of the clan Gregor had come out, allured by\ntidings of his prosperity; and so the broad Doric of lowland Scotch\nresounded about the tavern table almost as much as the Canadian twang.\nAll doing well. Labour was the sole commodity they possessed, and it\nsufficed to purchase the best things of life in Canada, especially that\nslow upward rising in circumstances and possessions which is one of the\nsweetest sensations of struggling humanity, and which only a favoured\nfew among the working classes can enjoy at home. Robert Wynn was almost\nas curious about their affairs as they were about his; for he was\nenergized afresh by every instance of progress, and little inducement\nwas required to draw from the settlers their own histories, which had\nthe single monotony running through each of gradual growth from poverty\nto prosperity.\n'What sort of roads have you across the ferry to the Cedars?' inquired\nSam Holt of mine host.\n'The first part of the concession line is pretty good, but I canna say\nas much for the \"corduroy\" afterwards: the riding's not so easy there, I\nguess.'\n'Corduroy!' ejaculated Arthur.\n'Oh, wait till you feel it,' said Sam, with much amusement in his eyes.\n'It's indescribable. I hope we won't meet in the dark, that's all.'\n'Drivin' across ladders for ever, with the rungs very far apart,'\nexplained a Canadian to Andy, in the background, as the latter rubbed\nhis finger-tips over the ribs in the material of his pantaloons, and\nlooked puzzled.\n'An' what description of vahicle stands sich thratement?' asked Mr.\nCallaghan, 'an' what description of baste?'\n'Oxen is the handiest, 'cos they've the strongest legs,' returned his\ninformant, with a fresh puff of his pipe.\n'Well, of all the counthries'--began Andy, for the twentieth time that\nday; and perhaps as many as ten additional utterances of the ejaculation\nwere forced by the discovery that he and the gentlemen were to occupy\nthe same sleeping apartment; but, above all, by the revelation that\nbehind a ragged curtain in the corner reposed two wayfaring women, going\nto join their husbands in the woods, and having also a baby. The latter\ncreature, not being at all overawed by its company, of course screamed\nin the night whenever the fancy seized it; and good-natured Andy found\nhimself at one period actually walking up and down with the warm bundle\nof flannel in his arms, patting it on the back soothingly.\nNext morning they left the little settlement, and, crossing the ferry\nagain, plunged into the primeval forest. Robert felt as if that mock\nClyde were the Rubicon of their fate.\n'I leave the old degenerate life,' he murmured to himself, 'with all\nits traditions of ease. I go forth to face Fortune in these wilds, and\nto win her, if ever sturdy toil of limb and brain succeeded.'\nThis spirit of independence was manly, but Robert did not at the moment\njoin to it the nobler spirit of dependence on the Divine Disposer of\nevents: self-trust filled his heart; and this is the great snare of\nyouth.\n'You are looking unusually valorous,' said Sam Holt, who marched\nalongside. He had volunteered to stay with them for their first\nfortnight of bush life, like a kind fellow as he was. Something about\nthese young Wynns had attracted his regard, and perhaps a touch of\ncompassion. He would, at least, help them to put up the shanty, he said.\nAnd truly the road grew very bad; at a short bit of swamp they made\ntheir first acquaintance with 'corduroy.' Sam explained the structure\nwhen the waggon had done bumping over it: trunks of trees had been laid\nalong the road as 'sleepers' in three continuous lines; and across them\nround logs, close together by theory, but in practice perhaps a foot or\ntwo apart, with unknown abysses of mud between.\nThey wished even for the corduroy expedient a little farther on, when\nthe line became encumbered with stumps left from the underbrushing,\nand which caught in the axletree every few score yards. Now came the\nhandspikes into action, which provident Sam had cut, and laid into the\nwaggon when the road was fair and smooth; for the wheels had to be\nlifted high enough to slip over the obstacles. In the pauses of manual\nlabour came the chilling thought, 'All this difficulty between us and\nhome.'\nSunlight faded from the tree-tops; and soon night was descending darkly\namong the pines.\n'We must either camp in the woods, or get shelter at some settler's,'\ndecided Sam. 'We'll try a quarter of a mile farther, and see what it\nbrings.' So away they went again, shouting at the oxen, and endeavouring\nto steer the equipage free of mud-holes and stumps.\n'I am afraid our cups and saucers are all in a smash,' said Arthur.\nRobert had a secret misgiving to the same effect; but, then, crockeryware\nis a luxury to which no shanty-man has a right. Andy rescued a washing\nbasin and ewer, by wearing the former on his head and the latter on his\nleft arm--helmet and shield-wise; except at intervals, when he took his\nturn at handspiking.\nA light gleamed through the trees, and a dog barked simultaneously:\nthey were on the verge of a clearing; and, hearing the voices outside,\nthe owner of the house came forth to welcome the travellers, with a\nheartiness widely different from the commonplace hospitality of more\ncrowded countries.\nCHAPTER XI.\nTHE BATTLE WITH THE WILDERNESS BEGINS.\nA roaring fire of logs upon the wide hearth, logs built up into walls\nand roof, logs wrought into rough furniture of tables and stools--here,\nwithin the emigrant's hut, the all-encompassing forest had but changed\nits shape. Man had but pressed it into his service; from a foe it had\nbecome a friend; the wooden realm paid tribute, being subjugated.\nThe still life of the cabin was rude enough. No appliances for ease,\nnot many for comfort, as we in England understand the words. Yet the\nsettler's wife, sitting by her wheel, and dressed in the home-spun\nfruits thereof, had a well-to-do blooming aspect, which gaslight and\nmerino could not have improved; and the settler's boy, building a\nminiature shanty of chips in the corner, his mottled skin testifying to\nall sorts of weather-beating, looking as happy as if he had a toyshop\nat his command, instead of the word being utterly unknown in his\nexperience; and the baby, rolled up in the hollowed pine-log, slept as\nsweetly as if satin curtains enclosed its rest. Back to Sam Holt's mind\nrecurred words which he knew well: 'A man's life consisteth not in the\nabundance of the things that he possesseth.'\nThe woman rose and curtsied. She had not been accustomed to make that\nrespectful gesture for a long time back; but something in the appearance\nof the strangers half involuntarily constrained it.\n'I needn't ask if you're Canadian born,' said Mr. Holt; 'you've the\nmanners of the old country.'\n'My father and mother were from Wiltshire, and so be I,' she answered,\nsetting back her wheel, and looking gratified at the implied commendation.\n'But that be so long ago as I scarce remember.'\n'And she made amends by marrying me,' said the settler, entering from\nthe outer door, and latching it behind him. 'Mary, get the pan and fix\nsome supper quick. Them duck I shot won't be bad. You see, I've been\nexpectin' you along rather;' and he flung down an armful of wood, which\nhe began to arrange with architectural reference to the back-log and\nfore-stick.\n'Expecting us?' exclaimed Robert Wynn.\n'You're for lot fifteen in ninth concession, township of Gazelle? Wall,\nso I guessed; for I heard from Zack Bunting who lives at the \"Corner,\"\nthat it was sold by Landenstein; and I calc'lated you'd be along\npresently:' and he finished his fire-building by a touch with his foot,\nwhich appeared to demolish much of his labour, but in reality conduced\nto his object of intensifying the heat and blaze.\n'Benny,' to the boy, who had sat on the ground staring at the\nnew-comers, 'go tell your mother to be spry.' The little fellow went\naccordingly, by the side door through which she had disappeared a few\nminutes previously; and the Irish servant, planting himself on the\nvacated spot with his toes to the fire comfortably, commenced to erect\nof the child's chips a two-storied mansion.\n'You've got a good slice of bush there, back from the pond; though the\ncedars will be troublesome, I guess.'\n'Oh, we bargained for the cedars,' said Sam Holt. 'There's enough to\nclear without laying an axe to _them_ for many a day.'\n'It's all the doing of that spring creek, running through the middle of\nthe lot, as fine a water-privilege as ever I see; but the cedars are\nwhere it gets to the pond. If the bed was deepened down below, it's my\nopinion the swamp would be drained.'\n'You seem to know the ground well,' said Robert, with interest.\n'I guess I ought to, that have shot over it before ever a blazed line\nran through them woods. We was farthest west once, but that's over by a\nlong spell; the neighbourhood's pretty thick now, and the \"Corner\" will\nbe a town shortly.'\n'Well, if this is a thick neighbourhood, I should like to know his idea\nof a thin one,' said Arthur, _sotto voce_, to Sam Holt. 'We have met\nonly this house for miles.'\n'Oh, they ain't many miles, only you thought they was, cos' I guess you\nain't used to the stumps,' put in the settler. 'The back lot to ours, of\nthe same number, is took by a Scotchman, and last week I run a blazed\nline across to his clearing through the bush; for you see I'm often\naway, trapping or still-hunting, and Mary here thought she'd be a trifle\nless lonesome if she had a way of going over the hill to her friend\nMrs. Macpherson. The other way is round by the \"Corner,\" which makes it\nfive miles full; but now Benny can run across of a message, by minding\nthe marks; can't you, my lad?'\n'Yes, father,' answered the boy proudly. 'And I can chop a blaze myself,\ntoo.' Benny was not much taller than an axe handle.\nArthur looked from the child round at the wife, who was often left alone\nin this solitude of woods, and longed for the slender chain of a scarred\nline of trees between her and some other woman. A healthy, firm outline\nof face, wholly unacquainted with nervousness; quiet, self-reliant,\nhard-working; perhaps of a Dutch type of character. Her husband was a\nsturdy broad-set man, with lithe limbs, and quick senses looking out\nfrom his clear-featured countenance: he had a roving unsubdued eye,\nbefitting the hunter more than the farmer.\n'I wouldn't desire,' said the latter, seating himself on the end of\nthe table, while his wife superintended a pan of frizzling pork on the\ncoals--'I wouldn't desire, for a feller that wanted to settle down for\ngood, a more promising location than yourn at the Cedars. The high\nground grows the very best sorts of hard wood--oak, sugar maple, elm,\nbasswood. Not too many beech, or I'd expect sand; with here and there a\nbig pine and a handful of balsams. The underbrushing ain't much, except\nin the swamp.'\n'I'm glad to hear that,' said Mr. Holt, 'for the fall is going fast, and\nwe'll have to work pretty hard before snow comes.'\n'So I'm thinkin'. But _you_ ain't going to settle: you haven't the cut\nof it: you're settled already.'\n'How do you know?'\n'Oh, you didn't listen as they did,' pointing his thumb towards the\nWynns, 'when I fell to talkin' of the ground. I know'd my men at once.\nNor you didn't stare about as they did, as if the house and fixins was a\nshow at a copper ahead.'\n'You must excuse our curiosity,' said Robert politely.\n'Surely; every man that has eyes is welcome to use 'em,' replied the\nbackwoodsman bluntly. 'We ain't got no manners in the bush, nor don't\nwant 'em, as I tell Mary here, when she talks any palaver. Now, wife,\nthem pritters must be done;' and he left his seat on the table to pry\nover her pan.\n'Then take the cakes out of the bake-kettle, will you?' said Mary; 'and\nif them ducks be raw, 'tain't my fault, remember.' She was evidently a\nwoman of few words, but trenchant.\nThus warned, her husband did not press the point, but took the stewing\nfowl under his own care, displaying a practical experience of cookery\nwon in many a day of bush life.\n'These duck was shot on your pond, stranger; if you be a good hand\nwith the gun, you'll never want for fresh meat while that water holds\ntogether. The finest maskelonge and pickerel I ever see was hooked out\nof it.'\nArthur's face brightened; for the sportsman instinct was strong in him,\nand he had been disappointed hitherto by finding the woods along their\ntrack empty of game.\n''Cos the critters have more sense than to wait by the road to be\nshot,' explained the backwoodsman, as he dished up his stew--a sort of\nhodgepodge of wild-fowl, the theory of which would have horrified an\nepicure; but the practical effect was most savoury.\nNow the boy Benny had never in his small life seen any edifice nobler\nthan a loghouse on the ground-floor; and the upper storey which Mr.\nCallaghan had built with his chips seemed to him as queer a phenomenon\nas a man having two heads.\n'Well, only think of that!' exclaimed Andy; 'the boy doesn't know what a\nstairs is.'\n'And how should he?' asked the father, rather sharply. 'He ha'n't seen\nnothin' but the bush. One time I took him to Greenock, and he couldn't\nstop wonderin' what med all the houses come together. For all that, he\nha'n't a bad notion of chopping, and can drive a span of oxen, and is\ngrowin' up as hardy as my rifle--eh, Benny?'\n'He cut all the wood I wanted while you were away last time, Peter,'\nchimed in the mother. So the strangers saw that the principle which\nleads parents to bore their unoffending visitors with copybooks and the\n'Battle of Prague,' is applicable to backwood accomplishments also.\nAs a general rule, conversation does not flourish in the bush. The\nsettler's isolated life is not favourable to exchange of thought, and\nevents are few. Silence had fallen upon the woman in this house to a\nremarkable degree, and become incorporated with her. She went about her\nwork quietly and quickly, speaking but five sentences in the course of\nthe evening. The last of these was to notify to her husband that 'the\nskins was ready.'\n'We've no beds,' said he, with equal curtness. 'You must try and\nbe snug in a wrap-up on the floor to-night. More logs, Benny;' and\nadditional wood was heaped down, while he brought forward a bundle of\nbear and buffalo skins, enough to blanket them all. Mary had already\npicked up the pine-log containing her baby, and taken it into the other\nroom out of sight, whither her husband followed; and Benny crept into a\nsort of bed-closet in the far corner.\nAll night long, through the outer darkness, came a sound as of a\nlimitless sea upon a lonely strand. Robert knew it for the wind\nwandering in the forest, and even in his home dreams it mingled a\ndiapason, until the early sun gleamed through the chinks of the door,\nand flung a ray across his face. Simultaneously the poultry outside and\nthe infant within woke up, commencing their several noises; and the\nfarmer, coming out, built up the fire, and hung down the bake-kettle to\nheat for the breakfast bread. Then he invited his company to 'a wash'\nat the spring; and, leading them by a wood path beside the house, they\ncame to a pellucid pool fed by a rivulet, which, after flowing over its\nbasin, ran off rapidly to lower ground. Here Benny was flung in by his\nfather, though the water was quite deep enough to drown him; but he\ndived, and came out buoyant as a coot.\n'Now go fetch the cow, my lad, and help your mother to fix breakfast,\nwhile we walk round the clearing.' But this morning she had an efficient\ncoadjutor in the person of Andy Callaghan, who dandled the baby while\nthe cakes were being made, his sharp eye learning a lesson meantime;\nand milked the cow while the child was being dressed; and cut slices\nof pork, superintending its frizzling while the room was being set to\nrights. Three or four attempts to draw the silent woman into conversation\nwere utterly abortive.\n'Troth, an' you're a jewil of a wife,' remarked the Irishman, when\neverything seemed done. 'I'll engage I won't have the good luck to get\none wid her tongue in such good ordher.'\nMary Logan laughed. 'It be from having no folk to talk with,' she said.\n'An' a sin an' a shame it is for himself to lave you alone,' rejoined\nAndy, looking complimentary. 'Now I want to know one thing that has been\nbotherin' me ever since I came in here. What's them strings of yallow\nstuff that are hangin' out of the rafthers, an' are like nothin' I see\nin all my days, 'cept shavin's?'\n'Sarce,' answered Mrs. Logan, looking up; 'them's sarce.'\n'I'm as wise as ever,' said Andy. Whereupon she went to the compartment\nwhich acted as store-closet, and, bringing out a pie which had a wooden\nspoon erect in it, proffered him a bit.\n'Ah,' quoth Mr. Callaghan with satisfaction, 'that's English talk; I\nknow what that manes well. So ye calls apples \"sarce!\" I've heerd tell\nthat every counthry has a lingo of its own, an' I partly b'lieve it now.\nBut throth, that way of savin' 'em would be great news intirely for the\nchilder at home!'\nSo thought Robert Wynn afterwards, when he found the practice almost\nuniversal among the Canadians, and wondered that a domestic expedient so\nsimple and serviceable should be confined to American housekeepers.\n'Peter planted an orchard the first thing when we settled, and maples be\nplenty in the bush,' said Mrs. Logan, with unusual communicativeness.\n'Yes, ma'am,' rejoined Andy suavely, and not in the least seeing the\nconnection between maple trees and apple-pie. 'I wondher might I make\nbould to ax you for one of them sthrings? they're sich a curiosity to\nme.' And he had the cord of leathern pieces stowed away in one of the\nprovision hampers before the others came in from the fields.\nThere they had seen the invariable abundance and wastefulness of\nbush-farming; no trace of the economy of land, which need perforce be\npractised in older countries, but an extravagance about the very zigzag\nfences, which unprofitably occupied, with a succession of triangular\nborderings, as much space as would make scores of garden beds. 'Nobody\ncares for the selvedges when there is a whole continent to cut from,'\nremarked Sam Holt, in a sententious way he had.\nA yield of from twenty to five-and-twenty bushels per acre of wheat, and\ntwo hundred and fifty bushels of potatoes, were mentioned by the farmer\nas an average crop. His barns and root-house were full to repletion.\nNothing of all this property was locked up: a latch on the door\nsufficed.\n'I suppose, then, you have no rogues in the bush?' said Robert.\n'Where everybody's as well off as another, there ain't no thievin',' was\nthe pithy answer. 'A wolf now and then among our sheep, is all the robbers\nwe has.'\nAfter breakfast the bullocks were yoked afresh.\n'I guess as how you've stumps before you to-day, a few,' said the farmer,\ncoming out axe on shoulder. ''Tain't only a blaze up beyond your place\nat the Cedars, and not much better than a track of regulation width from\nthe \"Corner\" to there. Only for that job of underbrushing I want to get\nfinished, I'd be along with you to-day.'\nHe and his boy Benny walked with the travellers so far as their way lay\ntogether. The wife stood at the door, shading her eyes with her hand,\ntill the lumbering waggon was lost to view round the edge of the woods.\nThe day's journey was just a repetition of yesterday's, with the stumps\nand the mud holes rather worse. The 'Corner' with its single sawmill and\nstore, offered no inducement for a halt; and a tedious two miles farther\nbrought them to 'hum.'\nCHAPTER XII.\nCAMPING IN THE BUSH.\n'Well!' exclaimed Robert Wynn, 'here is my estate; and neither pond, nor\nswamp, nor yet spring creek do I behold.'\nHe looked again at the landmark--an elm tree at the junction of the lot\nline and the concession road, which bore the numbers of each, 'Nine,\nFifteen,' in very legible figures on opposite sides. A 'blaze' had been\nmade by chopping away a slice of the bark with an axe about three feet\nfrom the ground, and on the white space the numbers were marked by the\nsurveyor. All roads through the forest, and all farm allotments, are\nfirst outlined in this way, before the chopper sets to work.\nThe new townships in Upper Canada are laid out in parallel lines, running\nnearly east and west, sixty-six chains apart, and sixty-six feet in\nwidth, which are termed concession lines, being conceded by Government\nas road allowances. These lands thus enclosed are subdivided into lots\nof two hundred acres by other lines, which strike the concession roads\nat right angles every thirty chains; and every fifth of these lot lines\nis also a cross-road. We have all looked at maps of the country, and\nwondered at the sort of chess-board counties which prevail in the back\nsettlements: the same system of parallelograms extends to the farms.\nRobert's face was a little rueful. Twenty yards in any direction he\ncould not see for the overpowering bush, except along the line of road\ndarkened with endless forest. The waggon was being unpacked, for the\ndriver sturdily declared that his agreement had been only to bring them\nas far as this post on the concession: he must go back to the 'Corner'\nthat evening, on his way home.\n'An' is it on the road ye'll lave the masther's things?' remonstrated\nAndy.\n'I guess we han't no masters here, Pat,' was the reply; 'but if you see\nanywar else to stow the traps, I ain't partic'ler.' And he stolidly\ncontinued unloading.\n'Come,' said the cheery voice of Sam Holt, 'we will have daylight enough\nto explore the lot, and select a site for a camp. I think I can discover\nthe tops of cedars over the hardwood trees here. The boxes will take\ncare of themselves, unless a squirrel takes into his head to inspect\nthem. Let's follow the concession line along westward first.'\nCallaghan stayed by the luggage, feeling by no means sure of its safety,\nand saw the rest of the party gradually receding among the trees, with\nsensations akin to those of a sailor on a desert island. Sitting upon\nthe tool-chest, like an item of property saved from a wreck, Andy looked\nfrom the base to the summit of the huge walls of forest that encompassed\nhim, and along the canal of sky overhead, till his countenance had\nfallen to zero.\nThe shipwrecked sensation had gone farther; Mr. Holt saw it lurking in\nother faces, and forthwith found all advantages possible in the lot. The\nsoil was sure to be the best: he could tell by the timber. Its height\nproved the depth of earth. When the trees grew shorter, a hidden\ntreasure of limestone flag lay beneath the surface, useful for drains\nand building. And even the entangled cedar swamp was most desirable, as\nfurnishing the best wood for rail-fences and logs for a house.\nBut nothing could look more unpromising. Blackish pools of water\nalternated with a network of massive roots all over the soil, underneath\nbroad evergreen branches; trunks of trees leaned in every direction, as\nif top-heavy. Wilder confusion of thicket could not be conceived. 'The\ncedars troublesome! I should think so,' groaned their owner.\n'This is the worst bit,' acknowledged Sam. 'Now, if we could see it, the\nlake is down yonder; perhaps if we strike a diagonal across the lot, we\nmay come to some rising ground.' With the pocket compass for guide they\nleft the blazed line, which they had followed hitherto. After a short\ndistance the bush began to thin, and the forest twilight brightened.\n'A beaver meadow!' exclaimed Sam Holt, who was foremost. Green as emerald,\nthe small semicircular patch of grass lay at the foot of gentle slopes,\nas if it had once been a lakelet itself. 'Two acres ready cleared, with\nthe finest dairy grass only waiting to be eaten,' continued encouraging\nSam. 'And the clearing on the hill will command the best view in the\ntownship; there's the site for your house, Wynn. Altogether you've had\nrare luck in this lot.'\n'But why is that green flat called a _beaver_ meadow?' asked Robert.\n'Do you see the creek running alongside? No, you can't for the underbrush;\nbut it's there all the same. Well, they say that long ago beavers dammed\nup the current in such places as this with clay and brushwood, so that\nthe water spread over all level spaces near; and when the Indians and\nFrench were at war, the red men cut away the dams and killed the beavers\nwholesale to spite their enemies. You're to take that just as an _on\ndit_, recollect.'\n'And is all that verdure an appearance or a reality?'\n'Something of both. I don't say but you will occasionally find it\ntreacherous footing, needing drainage to be comfortable. See! there's\nthe pond at last.'\nThey had been climbing out of the denser woods, among a younger growth\non the face of the slope; and when they turned, the sheet of water was\npartially visible over the sunken cedar swamp.\n'A pond!' exclaimed Arthur; 'why, it must be three miles across to those\nlimestone cliffs. What pretty islets! Such endless varieties of wood and\nwater!'\n'I think we Americans are rather given to the diminutive style of\nparlance,' quoth Mr. Holt. 'We have some justification in the colossal\nproportion of all the features of nature around us. What is this pretty\nlake but a mere pool, compared with our Erie and Superior?'\n [Illustration: PREPARING FOR THE FIRST NIGHT IN THE BUSH.]\n'It is one of a chain,' remarked Robert, taking from his breast pocket\na map of the district, which had his own farm heavily scored in red\nink. Often had he contemplated that outline of the _terra incognita_\non which he now trod, and longed for the knowledge he now possessed,\nwhich, after its manner, had brought him both good and evil. Like balls\nthreaded on a cord, a succession of lakes, connected by cascades and\nportages, or by reaches of river, stretched away to the north-west,\nsorely marring the uniformity of the chess-board townships.\nAs they picked their way back along the lot line northward, Mr. Holt\nstopped suddenly. 'I hear a very singular noise,' he said, 'for which\nI am wholly at a loss to account, unless there be Indians about in the\nneighbourhood. Even then it is totally unlike their cries. Listen!'\nHis sharper senses had detected before theirs a distant wail, proceeding\nfrom some distance in front, apparently--weird and wild as it could be,\ndying away or surging upon the ear as the wind swept it hither or\nthither. Arthur shrugged his shoulders. 'You have no ghosts in these\nforests, Holt, I suppose?'\n'The country's too new for anything of the sort,' replied he gravely.\n'Nor any mocking birds that can be playing us a trick? Or dryads warning\nus off their territory?'\nHe had recognised the performance of Andy Callaghan, who, when they\nturned the corner of the allotment, was discovered seated on the boxes\nas when they saw him last, and crooning the dismalest melody. But\nhe had, in the meantime, recovered himself sufficiently to gather\nbrushwood, and kindle a fire beside the road; likewise to cook a panful\nof rashers as the shadows grew longer and the day later.\n'But sure I thought ye wor lost entirely; sure I thought ye wor never\ncomin' at all, Masther Robert, avourneen. 'Twas that med me rise the\nkeen. A single livin' thing I didn't lay my eyes on since, barrin' a big\nfrog. I'm afeard thim are like sticks, Masther Arthur, they're so long\nfryin'.'\n'No matter, Andy, they'll do first-rate. I'd only advise you to chop up\nmore. I feel like eating all that myself;' and, trencher on knee, they\ndined with real backwood appetites.\nA shelter for the night was the next consideration. Mr. Holt constituted\nhimself architect, and commenced operations by lashing a pole across\ntwo trees at about his own height; the others cut sticks and shrubs for\nroofing. Three young saplings sloped back to the ground as principal\nrafters, and on these were laid a thatch of brushwood; the open ends of\nthe hut were filled with the same material.\n'Now,' said Sam Holt, contemplating the work of his hands with\nprofessional pride, 'when we have a big fire built in front, and a\nlot of hemlock brush to lie on, we shall be pretty comfortable.'\nAnd he instructed his novices further in the art of making their couch\nluxuriously agreeable, by picking the hemlock fine, and spreading over\nit a buffalo skin. Sam Holt had evidently become acquainted with\n'considerable' bush lore at his University of Toronto.\nCHAPTER XIII.\nTHE YANKEE STOREKEEPER.\nThree men stood with their axes amid the primeval forest. Vast trunks\nrose around them to an altitude of thirty or even fifty feet without\na bough; above, 'a boundless contiguity of shade,' and below, a dense\nundergrowth of shrubs, which seemed in some places impenetrable jungle.\nThree axes against thirty thousand trees. The odds were immensely in the\ndryads' favour; the pines and hardwoods might have laughed in every leaf\nat the puny power threatening their immemorial empire, and settled that\n_vis inerti\u00e6_ alone must overcome.\nIf, as Tennyson has bestowed upon the larkspur ears, the higher vegetation\ncan listen also, the following conversation would that day have been\nheard from the triad of axe-men beginning their campaign against the\nforest, and 'bating no jot of heart or hope' in the contest.\n'Here's the site for your shanty,' said Mr. Holt, dealing a blow on a\nfine maple before him, which left a white scar along the bark. 'It has\nthe double advantage of being close to this fine spring creek, and\nsufficiently near the concession line.'\n'And I'm sanguine enough to believe that there will be a view at some\nfuture period,' added Robert, 'when we have hewed through some hundred\nyards of solid timber in front. By the way, Holt, why are all the\nsettlers' locations I have yet seen in the country so destitute of wood\nabout them? A man seems to think it his duty to extirpate everything\nthat grows higher than a pumpkin; one would imagine it ought to be easy\nenough to leave clumps of trees in picturesque spots, so as to produce\nthe effect of the ornamental plantations at home. Now I do not mean\nexclusively the lowest grade of settlers, for of course from them so\nmuch taste was not to be expected; but gentlemen farmers and such like.'\n'I dare say they contract such an antipathy to wood of every species\nduring their years of clearing, that it is thenceforth regarded as a\nnatural enemy, to be cut down wherever met with. And when you have seen\none of our Canadian hurricanes, you will understand why an umbrageous\nelm or a majestic oak near one's dwellings may not always be a source of\npleasurable sensations.'\n'Still, I mean to spare that beautiful butternut yonder,' said Robert;\n'of all trees in the forest it is prettiest. And I shall try to clear\naltogether in an artistic manner, with an eye to the principles of\nlandscape gardening. Why, Holt! many an English _parvenu_ planning the\ngrounds of his country seat, and contemplating the dwarf larches and\ninfantine beeches struggling for thirty years to maturity, would give a\nthousand guineas for some of these lordly oaks and walnuts, just as they\nstand.'\nSam Holt refrained from expressing his conviction that, after a winter's\nchopping, Robert would retract his admiration for timber in any shape,\nand would value more highly a bald-looking stumpy acre prepared for fall\nwheat, than the most picturesque maple-clump, except so far as the\nlatter boded sugar.\n'To leave landscape gardening for after consideration,' said he, with\nsome slight irony, 'let us apply ourselves at present to the shanty. I\nthink, by working hard, we might have walls and roof up before dark.\nTwenty by twelve will probably be large enough for the present--eh,\nRobert?'\nOh yes, certainly; for the house was to be commenced so soon, that\nthe shanty could be regarded only as a temporary shelter. Blessed,\nlabour-lightening sanguineness of youth! that can bound over intermediate\nsteps of toil, and accomplish in a few thoughts the work of months or\nyears.\nSo Mr. Holt measured the above dimensions on the ground, choosing a spot\nwhere the trunks appeared something less massive, than elsewhere, and\nset his auxiliaries to cut down all the trees within the oblong, and for\na certain distance round; arranging also that the logs should fall as\nnear as might be to where they were wanted for the walls.\nNow, the settler's first-felled tree is to him like a schoolboy's first\nLatin declension, or a lawyer's first brief--the pledge of ability, the\nearnest of future performances. Every success braces the nerves of mind,\nas well as the muscles of body. A victory over the woodland was embodied\nin that fallen maple. But Andy was so near getting smashed in the coming\ndown of his tree, that Mr. Holt ordered him to lay by the axe, and bring\nhis spade, to dig a hole in a certain spot within the oblong.\n'An' its mighty harmless that crathur 'ud be agin the wood,' muttered\nthe Irishman; 'throth, the earth in this counthry is mostly timber. An'\nin the name of wondher what does he want wid a hole, barrin' we're to\nburrow like rabbits?'\nBut the others were too busy felling or chopping trees into lengths of\nlog to heed Andy's wonderment; and the novices were agreeably surprised\nto find how dexterous they became in the handling of the axe, after even\na few hours' practice. Their spirits rose; for 'nothing succeeds like\nsuccess,' saith the Frenchman.\n'Now I'll give you a lesson in basswood troughs,' said Mr. Holt. 'This\nshanty of yours is to be roofed with a double layer of troughs laid\nhollow to hollow; and we choose basswood because it is the easiest split\nand scooped. Shingle is another sort of roofing, and that must be on\nyour house; but troughs are best for the shanty. See here; first split\nthe log fair in the middle; then hollow the flat side with the adze.'\nRobert was practising his precepts busily, when he was almost startled\nby a strange nasal voice beside him.\n'Considerable well for a beginner; but I guess you put a powerful deal\ntoo much strength in yer strokes yet, stranger.'\nThe speaker was a tall lank man, with black hair to correspond, and\nlantern jaws; little cunning eyes, and a few scrubby patches of rusty\nstubble on chin and cheeks. Robert disliked him at once.\n'Why didn't you stop at the \"Corner\" yesterday? 'Twarn't neighbourly\nto go on right away like that. But it all come, I reckon, of Britisher\npride and impudence.'\nRobert looked at him full, and demanded, 'Pray who are you, sir?'\n'Zack Bunting as keeps the store,' replied the other. 'I'm not ashamed\nneither of my name nor country, which is the U--nited States, under the\nglorious stars and stripes. I come up to help in raising the shanty, as\nI guessed you'd be at it to-day.'\nYoung Wynn hardly knew what to reply to such an odd mixture of insolence\nand apparent kindness. The Yankee took the adze from his hand before he\ncould speak, and set about hollowing troughs very rapidly.\n'You chop, and I'll scoop, for a start. Now I guess you hain't been used\nto this sort of thing, when you was to hum? You needn't hardly tell, for\nwhite hands like yourn there ain't o' much use nohow in the bush. You\nmust come down a peg, I reckon, and let 'em blacken like other folks,\nand grow kinder hard, afore they'll take to the axe properly. How many\nacres do you intend to clear this winter?'\n'As many as I can.'\n'Humph! you should blaze 'em off all round, and work 'em reglar. You\nhan't more than a month's \"brushing\" now. Are you married?'\n'No,' replied Robert, waxing fierce internally at this catechism. 'Are\nyou?' by way of retaliation.\n'This twenty year. Raised most of our family in the States. The old\nwoman's spry enough yet, as you'll see when you come to the \"Corner.\"'\nAll this time Mr. Bunting was chewing tobacco, and discharging the\nfluid about with marvellous copiousness, at intervals. Robert thought\nhis dried-up appearance capable of explanation. 'What made you come to\nsettle in the bush?' was his next question.\n'Holt!' called out Robert, quite unable patiently to endure any further\ncross-examination; and he walked away through the trees to say to his\nfriend,--'There's an intolerable Yankee yonder, splitting troughs as\nfast as possible, but his tongue is more than I can bear.'\n'Leave him to me,' answered Sam; 'his labour is worth a little annoyance,\nanyhow. I'll fix him.' But he quietly continued at his own work,\nnotwithstanding, and kept Robert beside him.\nMr. Bunting speedily tired of manufacturing the basswood troughs alone,\nand sloped over to the group who were raising the walls of the shanty.\n'Wal, I guess you're gitting along considerable smart,' he observed,\nafter a lengthened stare, which amused Arthur highly for the concentration\nof inquisitiveness it betrayed. ''Tain't an easy job for greenhorns\nnohow; but you take to it kinder nateral, like the wood-duck to the\npond.' He chewed awhile, watching Sam's proceedings narrowly. 'I guess\nthis ain't your first time of notching logs, by a long chalk, stranger?'\n'Perhaps so, perhaps not,' was the reply. 'Here, lend a hand with this\nstick, Mr. Bunting.'\nZack took his hands from the pockets of his lean rusty trousers, and\nhelped to fit the log to its place on the front wall, which, in a\nshanty, is always higher than the back, making a fall to the roof. Mr.\nHolt managed to keep the Yankee so closely employed during the next\nhour, that he took out of him the work of two, and utterly quenched his\nloquacity for the time being. 'He shall earn his dinner, at all events,'\nquoth Sam to himself.\n'Wal, stranger, you _are_ a close shave,' said Zack, sitting down\nto rest, and fanning himself with a dirty brownish rag by way of\nhandkerchief. 'I hain't worked so hard at any \"bee\" this twelve month.\nYou warn't born last week, I guess.'\n'I reckon not,' replied Sam, receiving the compliment as conscious\nmerit should. 'But we're not half done, Mr. Bunting; and I'd like such\na knowledgeable head as yours to help fix the troughs.'\n'Oil for oil in this world,' thought Robert.\n'Throth, they'll build me up entirely,' said Andy to himself; 'an' sorra\ndoor to get out or in by, only four walls an' a hole in the middle of\nthe floor. Of all the quare houses that iver I see, this shanty bates\nthem hollow. Masther Robert,' calling aloud, 'I wondher have I dug deep\nenough?'\n'Come out here, and get dinner,' was the response. 'We'll see to-morrow.'\n''Tis asier said than done,' remarked Andy, looking for a niche between\nthe logs to put his foot in. 'I hope this isn't the way we'll always\nhave to be clamberin' into our house; but sorra other way do I see,\nbarrin' the hole's to be a passage ondherground.'\n'You goose! the hole is to be a cellar, wherein to keep potatoes and\npork,' said his master, overhearing the tale of his soliloquy. Andy\ndeparted to his cookery enlightened.\nBefore the pan had done frizzling, whole rows of the ready-made troughs\nwere laid along the roof, sloping from the upper wall plate to the back;\nand Mr. Bunting had even begun to place the covering troughs with either\nedge of the hollow curving into the centre of that underneath. Robert\nand Arthur were chinking the walls by driving pieces of wood into every\ncrevice between the logs: moss and clay for a further stuffing must be\nafterwards found.\nIf the Yankee were quick at work, he fulfilled the other sequent of the\nadage likewise. His dinner was almost a sleight-of-hand performance.\nArthur could hardly eat his own for concealed amusement at the gulf-like\ncapacity of his mouth, and the astonishing rapidity with which the\neatables vanished.\n'While you'd be sayin' \"thrapstick,\" he tucked in a quarter of a stone\nof praties and a couple of pound of rashers,' said Andy afterwards.\n'Before the gintlemen was half done, he was picking his long yellow\nteeth wid a pin, an' discoorsin' 'em as impident as if he was a\ngintleman himself, the spalpeen!'\nAll unwitting of the storm gathering in the person of the cook, Mr.\nBunting did indulge in some free and easy reflections upon Britishers in\ngeneral, and the present company in particular; also of the same cook's\nattendance during their meal.\n'Now I guess we free-born Americans don't be above having our helps to\neat with us; we ain't poor and proud, as that comes to. But I'll see ye\nbrought down to it, or my name's not Zack Bunting. It tickles me to see\naristocrats like ye at work--rael hard work, to take the consait out of\nye; and if I was this feller,' glancing at Andy, 'I'd make tracks if ye\ndidn't give me my rights, smart enough.'\nThe glow in the Irish servant's eyes was not to be mistaken.\n'I guess I've riled you a bit,' added the Yankee wonderingly.\n'An' what's my rights, sir, if yer honour would be plasin' to tell me?'\nasked Andy, with mock obsequiousness; 'for I donno of a single one this\nminit, barrin' to do what my master bids me.'\n'Because I calc'late you've been raised in them mean opinions, an' to\nthink yerself not as good flesh an' blood as the aristocrats that keep\nyou in bondage.'\n'Come now,' interrupted Sam Holt, 'you shut up, Mr. Bunting. It's\nno bondage to eat one's dinner afterwards; and he'll be twice as\ncomfortable.'\n'That's thrue,' said Andy; 'I never yet could ate my bit in presence of\nthe quality; so that's one right I'd forgive; and as for me--the likes\nof _me_--bein' as good blood as the Masther Wynns of Dunore, I'd as soon\nthink the Yankee was himself.'\nWith sovereign contempt, Andy turned his back on Mr. Bunting, and\nproceeded to cook his dinner.\n'Wal, it's the first time I see a feller's dander riz for tellin' him\nhe's as good as another,' remarked Zack, sauntering in the wake of the\nothers towards the unfinished shanty. 'I reckon it's almost time for me\nto make tracks to hum; the ole woman will be lookin' out. But I say,\nstranger, what are you going to do with that heaver meadow below on the\ncreek? It's a choice slice of pasture that.'\n'Cut the grass in summer,' replied Sam Holt, tolerably sure of what was\ncoming.\n'I've as fine a red heifer,' said the Yankee confidentially, 'as ever\nwas milked, and I'd let you have it, being a new-comer, and not up to\nthe ways of the country, very cheap.' His little black eyes twinkled.\n'I'd like to drive a trade with you, I would; for she's a rael prime\narticle.'\n'Thank you,' said Mr. Holt, 'but we don't contemplate dairy farming as\nyet.' Zack could not be rebuffed under half-a-dozen refusals. 'Wal, if\nyou won't trade, you'll be wantin' fixins from the store, an' I have\nmost everythin' in stock. Some of my lads will be along to see you\nto-morrow, I reckon, and any whisky or tobacco you wanted they could\nbring; and if you chose to run a bill'--\nRefused also, with thanks, as the magazines say to rejected contributions.\nThis, then, was the purport of Mr. Bunting's visit: to gratify curiosity;\nto drive a trade; to estimate the new settlers' worldly wealth, in order\nto trust or not, as seemed prudent. While at dinner he had taken a mental\ninventory and valuation of the boxes and bales about, submitting them\nto a closer examination where possible. At the time Robert thought it\nsimply an indulgence of inordinate curiosity, but the deeper motive of\nself-interest lay behind.\n'In their own phrase, that fellow can see daylight,' remarked Mr. Holt,\nas Zack's lean figure disappeared among the trees. 'I never saw little\neyes, set in a parenthesis of yellow crowsfeet at the corners, that did\nnot betoken cunning.'\nCHAPTER XIV.\nTHE 'CORNER.'\nSeveral days were employed in plastering all the crevices of the shanty\nwith clay, cutting out a doorway and a single window in the front wall,\nand building a hearth and chimney. But when completed, and the goods and\nchattels moved in, quite a proud sense of proprietorship stole into the\nowner's heart.\nAs yet, this arduous bush-life had not ceased to be as it were a play:\nSam Holt's cheery companionship took the edge off every hardship; and\ntheir youthful health and strength nourished under toil.\n'Now, considering we are to be dependent on ourselves for furniture, the\nbest thing I can fashion in the first instance will be a work bench,'\nsaid Arthur, whose turn for carpentering was decided. 'Little I ever\nthought that my childish tool-box was educating me for this.'\n'I think a door ought to be your first performance,' suggested Robert.\n'Our mansion would be snugger with a door than a screen of hemlock\nbrush.'\n'But I must go to the \"Corner\" for boards, and that will take an entire\nday, the road is so vile. I can't see why I couldn't hew boards out of\na pine myself; eh, Holt?'\n'You want to try your hand at \"slabbing,\" do you? I warn you that the\nlabour is no joke, and the planks never look so neat as those from the\nsawmill.'\n'We have flung \"looks\" overboard long ago,' replied Arthur. 'Come, teach\nme, like a good fellow.'\n'Choose your tree as clean and straight in the grain as possible.'\n'And how am I to tell how its grain runs?' asked the pupil.\n'Experiment is the only certainty; but if the tree be perfectly clear of\nknots for thirty or forty feet, and its larger limbs drooping downwards,\nso as to shelter the trunk in a measure from the influence of the sun,\nthese are presumptions in favour of the grain running straight.'\n'What has the sun to do with it?'\n'The grain of most trees naturally inclines to follow the annual course\nof the sun. Hence its windings, in great measure. Having selected and\nfelled your pine, cut it across into logs of the length of plank you\nwant.'\n'But you said something of experiment in deciding about the grain of the\nwood.'\n'Oh, by cutting out a piece, and testing it with the axe, to see whether\nit splits fair. When you have the logs chopped, mark the ends with a bit\nof charcoal into the width of your planks: then slab them asunder with\nwedges.'\n'Holt, where did you pick up such a variety of knowledge as you have?'\n'I picked up this item among the lumber-men. You must know I spent more\nthan one long vacation in exploring the most-out-of-the-way locations I\ncould find. But I'd advise you to go to the sawmill for your planks,\nthough I do understand the theory of slabbing.'\nAfter due consideration--and as glass for the window was a want for\nwhich the forest could supply no substitute--it was agreed that all\nshould take a half-holiday next day, and go down to the 'Corner' to\nUncle Zack's store.\n'Now that is settled,' said Robert, with a little difficulty, 'I wanted\nto say--that is, I've been thinking--that we are here in the wilderness,\nfar away from all churches and good things of that kind, and we ought to\nhave prayers of our own every evening, as my mother has at home.'\n'Certainly,' said both Arthur and Sam Holt.\n'I have never so felt the presence of God,' added Robert solemnly,\n'as since I've been in these forest solitudes; never so felt my utter\ndependence upon Him for everything.'\n'No,' rejoined Sam. 'He seems to draw very near to the soul in the midst\nof these His grand works. The very stillness exalts one's heart towards\nHim.'\nAnd so that good habit of family worship was commenced, inaugurating the\nshanty that very night. Andy Callaghan sat by and listened.\n'Throth, but they're fine words,' said he. 'I wouldn't believe any one\nnow, that that book is bad to listen to.'\n'And at home you'd run away from the sight of it. How's that, Andy?'\nasked Mr. Wynn.\n'It's aisy explained, sir,' replied the servant, looking droll. 'Don't\nyou see, I haven't his riverence at me elbow here, to turn me into a\ngoat if I did anything contrary, or to toss me into purgatory the minit\nthe breath is out of my poor body.'\nThousands of Andy's countrymen find the same relief to their consciences\nas soon as they tread the free soil of Canada West.\nTruly a primitive settlement was the 'Corner.' The dusk forest closed\nabout its half dozen huts threateningly, as an army round a handful of\ninvincibles. Stumps were everywhere that trees were not; one log-cabin\nwas erected upon four, as it had been, legs ready to walk away with the\nedifice. 'Uncle Zack's' little store was the most important building in\nthe place, next to the sawmill on the stream.\n'The situation must be unhealthy,' said Robert; 'here's marsh under my\nvery feet. Why, there's a far better site for a town plot on my land,\nHolt.'\n'Ay, and a better water privilege too. Let me see what your energy does\ntowards developing its resources, Robert.'\nThey discovered one source of the storekeeper's prosperity in the\nenormous price he exacted for the commonest articles. Necessity alone\ncould have driven Arthur to pay what he did for the wretched little\nwindow of four panes to light the shanty. And Uncle Zack had as much to\nsay about the expense and difficulty of getting goods to a locality so\nremote, and as much sympathizing with his purchaser because of the\nexorbitant cost, as if he were a philanthropist, seeking solely the\nconvenience of his neighbours by his sales.\n'That fellow's a master of soft sawder when he chooses: but did you see\nhow he clutched the hard cash after all? My opinion is, he don't often\nget paid in the circulating medium,' said Arthur.\n'Of that you may be sure,' rejoined Sam Holt; 'currency here lies more\nin potash or flour, just as they have salt in Abyssinia. Society seems\nto be rather mixed at the \"Corner.\" Yonder's a French Canadian, and\nhere's an Indian.'\nNo glorious red man, attired in savage finery of paint and feathers;\nno sculptor's ideal form, or novelist's heroic countenance; but a\nmild-looking person, in an old shooting jacket and red flannel shirt,\nwith a straw hat shading his pale coppery complexion. He wield a\ntomahawk or march on a war trail! Never. And where was the grim\ntaciturnity of his forefathers? He answered when spoken to, not in\nMohawk, or Cherokee, or Delaware, but in nasal Yankeefied English; nay,\nhe seemed weakly garrulous.\n'There's another preconceived idea knocked on the head,' said Arthur.\n'My glorious ideal Indian! you are fallen, never to rise.'\nCHAPTER XV.\nANDY TREES A 'BASTE.'\nDoor and window were fitted into the holes cut in the front wall of the\nshanty, and no carpenter's 'prentice would have owned to such clumsy\njoinery; but Arthur was flushed with success, because the door could\npositively shut and the window could open. He even projected tables\nand chairs in his ambitious imagination, _en suite_ with the bedstead\nof ironwood poles and platted bass-work bark, which he had already\nimprovised; and which couch of honour would have been awarded by common\nconsent to Mr. Holt, had he not adhered to the hemlock brush with all\nthe affection of an amateur.\nThe great matter on the minds of our settlers now, was the underbrushing.\nThey might calculate on the whole month of November for their work--the\nbeautiful dreamy November of Canada, as different from its foggy and\nmuddy namesake in Britain as well may be. Measuring off thirty acres as\nnext summer's fallow, by blazing the trees in a line around, took up the\nbest part of a day; and it necessitated also a more thorough examination\nof Robert's domains. Such giant trees! One monarch pine must be nigh a\nhundred feet from root to crest. The great preponderance of maple showed\nthat the national leaf symbol of Canada had been suitably selected.\n'And is there no means,' quoth Robert, who had been mentally gauging his\nsmall axe with the infinitude of forest--'is there no means of getting\nrid of wood without chopping it down?'\n'Well, yes, some slower means still; the trees may be \"girdled;\" that\nis, a ring of bark cut from the trunk near the base, which causes death\nin so far that no foliage appears next spring: consequently the tall\nmelancholy skeleton will preside over your crops without injury.'\n'Can't say I admire that plan.'\n'You are fastidious. Perhaps you would like \"niggers\" better?'\n'I thought they were contraband in any but slave states.'\n'Oh, these are \"niggers\" inanimate--pieces of wood laid round the trunk,\nand set on fire where they touch it; of course the tree is burned\nthrough in process of time. These two expedients might be useful in\nsubsidiary aids; but you perceive your grand reliance must be on the\naxe.'\n'There is no royal road to felling, any more than to learning. And when\nmay I hope to get rid of the stumps?'\n'I don't think the pine stumps ever decay; but the hardwood, or those of\ndeciduous trees, may be hitched up by oxen and a crowbar after six or\nseven years; or you might burn them down.'\n'Hulloa! what's that?'\nThe exclamation was from Robert, following a much louder exclamation\nfrom Andy in advance. 'He has met with some wild animal,' concluded Mr.\nHolt. He was certainly cutting the strangest capers, and flourishing his\nhand as if the fingers were burned, howling the while between rage and\nterror.\n'You disgustin' little varmint! you dirty vagabone, to stick all thim\nthings in me hand, an' me only goin' to lay a hold on ye gentle-like, to\nsee what sort of an outlandish baste ye was! Look, Masther Robert, what\nhe did to me with a slap of his tail!'\nCallaghan's fingers radiated handsomely with porcupine's quills, some\ninches long, stuck in pretty strongly and deeply; and the animal himself,\nquite ready for further offensive warfare, crouched in the fork of a\nsmall maple, just out of reach.\n'Ah, then, come down here, you unnatural baste, an' may be I won't strip\noff your purty feathers,' exclaimed Andy with unction.\n'Cut down the tree,' suggested Arthur. But the porcupine, being more _au\nfait_ with the ways of the woods than these new-comers, got away among\nthe branches into a thicket too dense for pursuit.\n'They're as sharp as soords,' soliloquized the sufferer, as he picked\nout the quills from his hand and wrist in rather gingerly fashion, and\nstanched the blood that followed. 'Masther Robert, avourneen, is he a\nfour-footed baste or a fowl? for he has some of the signs of both on\nhim. Wisha, good luck to the poor ould counthry, where all our animals\nis dacent and respectable, since St. Patrick gev the huntin' to all the\nvarmint.'\n'A thrashing from a porcupine's tail would be no joke,' observed Arthur.\n'I've known dogs killed by it,' said Mr. Holt. 'The quills work into\nall parts of their bodies, and the barbed points make extraction very\ndifficult.'\n'I believe the Indians use these in some sort of embroidery.' Robert\nheld in his hand a bunch of the quills such as had wounded Andy's\nfingers. 'I've seen penholders of them, when I little thought I should\nhandle the unsophisticated originals out here.'\nBefore this time he had learned how enervating were reminiscences of\nhome; he resolutely put away the remembrance from him now, and walked on\nto chop the blaze on the next tree. Breast-high the mark was cut, and at\none blaze another could always be discerned ahead.\n'I've a regard for the beeches and elms,' quoth he, as he hacked at a\nhickory stem. 'They are home trees; but the shrubs have chiefly foreign\nfaces, so I can chop them down without compunction.'\n'All such sentimental distinctions will evaporate when you get into the\nspirit of your work,' said his friend Sam. 'Your underbrushing rule does\nnot spare anything less than six inches in diameter; all must be cut\nclose to the ground, and piled in heaps for the burning.'\n'A tolerable job to clear such a thicket as this! What a network of\nroots must interlace every foot of soil!'\n'Rather, I should say. But the first crop will amply repay your pains,\neven though your wheat and Indian corn struggle into existence through\nstumps and interlacing roots. Then there's the potash--thirty dollars a\nbarrel for second quality: less than two and a half acres of hardwood\ntimber will produce a barrel.'\n'I don't quite understand.'\n'Next summer, after your logging bee, you'll know what I mean. This\ncreek is as if 'twas made on purpose for an ashery.'\n'By the way, here's my site for a town plot;' as they came to a fine\nnatural cascade over a granite barrier, after which plunge the stream\nhurried down the slope towards the beaver meadow. 'Water power for half\na dozen mills going to waste there, Holt.'\n'Let's give it a name!' sang out Arthur--'this our city of magnificent\nintentions.'\n'I hope you won't call it Dublin on the Liffey,' said Mr. Holt. 'How I\nhate those imported names--sinking our nationality in a ludicrous parody\non English topography--such as London on the Thames, Windsor, Whitby,\nWoodstock; while the language that furnished \"Toronto,\" \"Quebec,\"\n\"Ottawa,\" lies still unexplored as a mine of musical nomenclature.'\n'In default of an Indian name,' said Robert, 'let us call our future\nsettlement after the existing fact--CEDAR CREEK.'\n'And posterity can alter it, if it chooses,' rejoined Arthur. 'All\nright. Now I'll cut down this birch where the post-office is to stand\nhereafter;' and a few sturdy blows of his axe prostrated the young tree.\n'When I'm writing to Linda, I shall date from Cedar Creek, which will\ngive her an exalted idea of our location: at the same time she will be\nconvinced it is situated on the seashore, if I forget to say that in\nCanada every stream is a \"creek.\"'\n'Our people have an absurd partiality for what they imagine \"handsome\nnames,\"' said Mr. Holt. 'Not satisfied with giving their children\nthe most far-fetched they can discover,--for instance, we have a maid\nArmenia, at Maple Grove, and I could not resist designating her brother\nas Ararat, by way of localizing their relationship,--but also the young\nsettlements of the country have often the most bombastic names. In the\nbackwoods, one time, I found a party of honest settlers in a tavern over\nan old romance, searching for some sufficiently high-sounding title to\nconfer on their cluster of cabins.'\n'I was amused to find that Zack Bunting's eldest son is called Nimrod,\nfamiliarized to \"Nim,\"' said Robert. 'I never saw a more remarkable\nlikeness to a parent, in body and mind, than that youth exhibits; every\ntuft of ragged beard and every twinkle of the knowing little eyes are to\nmatch.'\nNearing the shanty they heard a sound as of one making merry, and espied\nin the window the glow of a glorious fire. Within, Peter Logan was\nmaking himself at home, cooking his dinner, while he trilled a Yankee\nditty at the top of his powerful voice.\nNo manner of apology for having opened their cellar, and made free with\ntheir barrel of pork, did he seem to think necessary; but when his meal\nwas finished, he inquired abruptly why they hadn't built their chimney\nof 'cats'? 'For I reckon this stick chimney will blaze up some night,'\nadded he.\nRobert hearkened at that startling intimation.\n'Mine is of cats,' said Mr. Logan. 'Cats is clay,' he continued\nsententiously, 'kinder like straw an' clay mixed up. I guess I'll stay\nan' help you to fix one to-morrow, if you've a mind to.'\nWith rugged but real kindness, he took a day from his hunting excursion\nfor the purpose. The framework of the new chimney was of four upright\npoles, set in one corner of the shanty, and laced across by rungs of\nwood, round which the clay was well kneaded, and plastered inside. An\nopening three feet high was left for the fireplace in front. Peter\npromised that by and by the clay would burn hard and red, like tilework.\n'I wonder you have not built yourself a handsome house, before now,'\nsaid Mr. Wynn, 'instead of that handsome barn. Why you live in a shanty,\nwhile your corn is in a frame building, puzzles me.'\n'Ay,' assented the settler, 'but the frame barn is paving the way for\nthe frame house, I calculate: Benny'll have both; and for the present\nI'd sooner have my crops comfortable than myself;' a persuasion which\nRobert afterwards found to be rooted in common sense, for the Canadian\nclimate permits not of stacks or ricks wintering in the open air.\nAfter his usual unmannerly fashion, Mr. Logan bade no farewell, but\nshouldered his gun at some hour prior to daybreak, and knapsack on back,\nleft the sleeping camp by the light of a young moon.\nCHAPTER XVI.\nLOST IN THE WOODS.\nOne day it happened that about noon, while Arthur was 'brushing' at a\nshort distance from the shanty, he noticed a pack of grouse among the\nunderwood within shot. Dropping his axe, he ran home for the gun, which\nstood loaded in one corner.\nIt was not altogether the sportsman's organ of destructiveness (for he\nhad never forgotten little Jay's lesson on that head), but probably\na growing dislike to the constant diet of pork, that urged him to an\nunrelenting pursuit. Cautiously he crept through the thickets, having\nwafted an unavailing sigh for the pointer he had left at Dunore, his\ncompanion over many a fallow and stubble field, who would greatly have\nsimplified this business. Unconsciously he crossed the blazed side-line\nof the lot into the dense cover beyond, tantalized by glimpses of game,\nwhich never came near enough for good aim. 'I must regularly stalk\nthem,' thought Arthur.\nNoiselessly creeping on, he was suddenly brought to by an unexpected\nsight. The head and horns of a noble buck were for a moment visible\nthrough the thicket. Arthur's heart throbbed in his ears as he stood\nperfectly motionless. Grouse were utterly forgotten in the vision of\nvenison. With every sense concentrated in his eyes, he watched the\nbrush which screened the browsing deer. By a slight crackling of twigs\npresently, he was made aware that the animal was moving forward; he\ncrept in the same direction. The leaves had been damped by a shower two\nhours before, and the cloudy day permitted them to retain moisture, or\ntheir crispness might have betrayed his tread.\nHa! a dried stick on which he inadvertently set his foot snapped across.\nThe splendid shy eyes of the deer looked round in alarm as he bounded\naway. A shot rang through the forest after him, waking such a clamour\nof jays and crows and woodpeckers, that Arthur was quite provoked with\nthem, they seemed exulting over his failure. Pushing aside the dried\ntimber which had caused this mischance, he pressed on the track of\nthe deer impetuously. He could not believe that his shot had missed\naltogether, though the white tail had been erected so defiantly; which\n'showing of the white feather,' as the Canadian sportsman calls it, is a\nsign that the animal is unwounded.\nBut four feet had much the advantage of two in the chase. One other\nglimpse of the flying deer, as he came out on the brow of a ridge, was\nall that Arthur was favoured with. Some partridge got up, and this time\nhe was more successful; he picked up a bird, and turned homewards.\nHomewards! After walking a hundred yards or so he paused. Had he indeed\ngone back on his own track? for he had never seen this clump of pines\nbefore. He could not have passed it previously without notice of its\nsombre shade and massive boles. He would return a little distance, and\nlook for the path his passage must have made in brushing through the\nthickets.\nBrought to a stand again. This time by a small creek gurgling deeply\nbeneath matted shrubs. He had gone wrong--must have diverged from his\nold course. More carefully than before, he retraced his way to the\npine-clump, guided by the unmistakeable black plumage of the tree-tops.\nThere he stood to think what he should do.\nThe sky was quite obscured: it had been so all the morning. No guidance\nwas to be hoped for from the position of the sun. He had heard something\nof the moss on the trees growing chiefly at the north side; but on\nexamination these pines seemed equally mossed everywhere. What nonsense!\nsurely he must be close to his own path. He would walk in every\ndirection till he crossed the track.\nBoldly striking out again, and looking closely for footmarks on the soft\nground, he went along some distance; here and there turned out of his\nstraight course by a thicket too dense for penetration, till before him\nrose pine-tops again. Could it be? The same pines he had left!\nHe covered his eyes in bewilderment. Having stood on the spot for\nseveral minutes previously, he could not be mistaken. Yet he thought he\ncould have been sure that he was proceeding in a direction diametrically\nopposite for the last quarter of an hour, while he must have been going\nround in a circle. Now, indeed, he felt that he was lost in the woods.\nPoor Arthur's mind was a sort of blank for some minutes. All the trees\nseemed alike--his memory seemed obliterated. What horrid bewilderment\nhad possession of his faculties? Shutting him in, as by the walls of a\nliving tomb, the great frowning forest stood on all sides. A mariner on\na plank in mid-ocean could not have felt more hopeless and helpless.\nRousing himself with a shake from the numb, chill sensation which had\nbegun to paralyze exertion, he thought that, if he could reach the little\ncreek before mentioned, he might pursue his course, as it probably fell\ninto their own lake at the foot of the Cedars. Keeping the pine-tops\nin a right line behind him, he succeeded in striking the creek, and\ndiscovering which way it flowed. After pushing his way some hours along\na path of innumerable difficulties, he found himself, in the waning\nlight, at the edge of a cypress swamp.\nAlmost man though he was, he could have sat down and cried. Blackest\nnight seemed to nestle under those matted boughs, and the sullen gleams\nof stagnant water--the plash of a frog jumping in--the wading birds that\nstalked about--told him what to expect if he went farther. At the same\ninstant a gleam of copper sunset struck across the heavens on the tops\nof the evergreens, and the west was not in the direction that the\nwanderer had imagined; he now easily calculated that he had all this\ntime been walking _from_ home instead of towards it.\nStrange to say, a ray of hope was brought upon that sunbeam, even\ncoupled with the conviction that he had been hitherto so wofully astray.\nTo-morrow might be bright (and to all the wanderers in this world the\nanchor is to-morrow); he would be able to guide his course by the sun,\nand would come all right. He resolved to spend the night in a tree near\nhis fire for fear of wild beasts, and selected a fine branching cedar\nfor his dormitory. Laying his gun securely in one of the forks, and\ncoiling himself up as snugly as possible, where four boughs radiated\nfrom the trunk, about twenty feet from the ground, he settled himself to\nsleep as in an arm-chair, with the great hushing silence of the forest\naround him. Unusual as his circumstances were, he was soon wrapt in a\ndreamless slumber.\nDull and slow dawned the November morning among the trees; broad\ndaylight on their tops, when but a twilight reached the earth, sixty or\neighty feet below. Arthur found himself rather stiff and chill after\nhis unwonted night's lodging; he tried to gather up the brands of the\nevening's fire, which had sunk hours before into grey ashes, that he\nmight at least warm himself before proceeding farther. Simultaneously\nwith its kindling appeared the sun--oh, welcome sight! and shot a golden\narrow aslant a line of trees. Then was revealed to Arthur the mossy\nsecret of wood-craft, that the north side bears a covering withheld from\nthe south; for he perceived that, viewed in the aggregate, the partial\ngreenery on the various barks was very distinct. Examining individual\ntrunks would not show this; but looking at a mass, the fact was evident.\nNow he knew the points of the compass; but of what practical avail was\nhis knowledge? Whether he had wandered from the shanty to the north,\nsouth, east, or west, was only conjecture. How could that creek have\nled him astray? He must have crossed the rising ground separating two\nwatersheds--that sloping towards his own lake and towards some other.\nThere flowed the little stream noiselessly, sucked into the swampy\ncypress grove: of course it got out somewhere at the other side; but as\nto following it any farther into the dismal tangled recesses, with only\na chance of emergence in a right direction, he felt disinclined to try.\nNo breakfast for him but a drink of water; though with carnivorous eyes\nhe saw the pretty speckled trout glide through the brown pool where he\ndipped his hand; and he crossed the creek over a fallen tree, ascending\nto the eastward. He could not be insensible to the beauty of nature\nthis morning--to the majesty of the mighty forest, standing in still\nsolemnity over the face of the earth. Magnificent repose! The world\nseemed not yet wakened; the air was motionless as crystal; the infinitely\ncoloured foliage clung to maples and aspens--tattered relics of the\nroyal raiment of summer. The olden awe overshadowed Arthur's heart; his\nCreator's presence permeated these sublime works of Deity. Alone in the\nuntrodden woods, his soul recognised its God; and a certain degree of\nfreedom from anxiety was the result. Personal effort was not his sole\ndependence, since he had felt that God was present, and powerful.\nStill he kept on to the south-east, hoping at last to strike some of the\ninhabited townships; and the unvarying solidity of forest was well-nigh\ndisheartening him, when he saw, after several miles' walking, the\ndistinctly defined imprint of a man's foot on some clayey soil near a\nclump of chestnut trees. Yes, there could be no mistake: some person\nhad passed not long since; and though the tracks led away considerably\nfrom the south-easterly direction he had hitherto kept, he turned,\nwithout hesitation to follow them, and proceeded as rapidly as possible,\nin hope of overtaking the solitary pedestrian, whoever he might be. He\nshouted aloud, he sang some staves of various familiar old songs; but no\nresponse from other human voice came, anxiously as he listened for such\necho. But the footmarks were before his eyes as tangible evidence; he\nhad got very sharp by this time at detecting the pressure of a heel on\nthe dead leaves, or the displacement of a plant by quick steps. The\ntracks must lead to something. Certainly; they led to a creek.\nImpossible! It cannot be that he has followed his own footprints of\nyesterday! Planting his boot firmly on the bank beside the other mark,\nhe compared the twain. A glance was enough; the impressions were\nidentical.\nThe bewildered feeling of one in a labyrinth recurred. He saw nothing\nbetter for it than to return to the point whence he had diverged to\nfollow the tracks. He now remembered having made this detour the\nprevious day to avoid cutting his way through a dense underwood on the\nbank of the stream.\nNigh an hour had been lost by this delusive retracing of footmarks. He\nthought that if he climbed the highest tree he could find, he would be\nable to get a bird's-eye view of the country round. Oh that he might\nbehold some islet of clearing amid the ocean of woods!\nTo reach the branches of any of the largest trees was the difficulty;\nfor the smooth shaft of a massive marble pillar would be as easily\nclimbed as the trunk of some arboreal giants here, rising fifty feet\nclear of boughs. However, by swinging from the smaller trees he\naccomplished his object, and saw beneath him on all sides the vast\ncontinuity of forest.\nDesert could not be lonelier nor more monotonous. No glimmer even of\ndistant lake on the horizon; no brown spots of clearing; no variety,\nsave the autumn coat of many colours, contrasted with sombre patches of\npine. Stay--was not that a faint haze of smoke yonder? a light bluish\nmist floating over a particular spot, hardly moving in the still air.\nArthur carefully noted the direction, and came down from his observatory\non the run. He was confident there must be a trapper's fire, or a camp,\nor some other traces of humanity where that thin haze hung. He could not\nbe baulked this time. Hope, which is verily a beauteous hydra in the\nyoung breast, revived again in strength. If he only had somewhat to eat,\nhe wouldn't mind the long tramp before him. Beech-mast rather increased\nthan appeased his hunger; and nothing came in view that could be shot.\nHe had not walked far, when a sharp, wild cry, as of some small animal\nin pain, struck his ear. Pushing away the brush at the left, he saw the\ncause--a little dark furry creature hanging to a sapling, as it seemed;\nand at his appearance the struggles to escape were redoubled, and the\nweakly cries of fear became more piteous. Arthur perceived that to the\ntop of the sapling was fastened a steel snaptrap, clasping a forepaw in\nits cruel teeth, and that each convulsive effort to get free only set the\nanimal dangling in the air, as a trout is played from a rod. Hopelessly\nsnared, indeed, was the poor marten; he had not even the resource\nof parting with his paw, which, had he had any 'purchase' to strive\nagainst, would probably have been his choice. By what blandishments of\nbait he had ever been seduced into his present melancholy position was\nout of Arthur's power to imagine.\nBut now at least it was beyond all doubt that men were near. Raising his\neyes from inspection of the marten-trap, he saw on a tree close by a\nfreshly-cut blaze. Some rods farther on he could see another. Now a\nquestion arose, which way should he follow the line?--one end was\nprobably in pathless forest. He concluded to take that direction which\nsuited the smoke he had seen.\nHe wondered what blazed lino this was--whether marking the side lots of\na concession, or a hunter's private road through the woods. Presently,\nat a little distance, the sight of a man's figure stooping almost made\nhis heart leap into his mouth. How lonely he had been, how almost\ndesperate at times, he had not fully known till this his deliverance.\nOh, that blessed human form! be he the rudest trapper or Indian, Arthur\ncould have embraced him. Much more when, the face being lifted from\nexamining the trap, and fixing its eyes with a very astonished stare on\nthe approaching figure, Arthur recognised the shrewd features of Peter\nLogan.\nCHAPTER XVII.\nBACK TO CEDAR CREEK.\n'I declar, if you hain't 'most skeered me!' was Peter's exclamation.\n'For sartin I never seed a ghost, but it looked like enough this time.\nNow, do tell what brought you so far from hum? Thirteen mile, if it's\na rod. You ain't lookin' partic'ler spry, anyhow. Now, Arthur, doen't,\npoor lad, doen't.'\nFor he could not speak during a minute or two; his arm pressed heavily\non the backwoodsman's sturdy shoulder, in the effort to steady the\nstrong trembling that shook him from head to foot like a spasm of ague.\n'Lost in the bush, you war? Well, that ain't agreeable nohow exactly;'\nand Peter betook himself to a fumbling in his capacious pocket for a tin\nflask, containing some reviving fluid. 'Here, take a pull--this'll fix\nyou all right. Warn't it wonderful that I went my road of traps when I\ndid, instead of early this mornin'. There's a providence in that, for\nsartin.'\nDeep in Arthur's heart he acknowledged the same truth gratefully.\n'You've got a plaguy touch of ague, likely,' added Peter considerately,\nwilling to shift the responsibility of that trembling from the mind to\nthe body. 'Campin' out is chill enough these nights. I han't much furder\nto go to the end of my blaze, and then I'll be back with you. So will\nyou wait or come along?'\nArthur had too lately found human company to be willing to relinquish\nit, even with certainty of its return; he dreaded nothing so much as the\nsame solitude whence he had just emerged; therefore he followed Peter,\nwho over his shoulder carried a bag containing various bodies of minks,\nfishers, and other furry animals, snared in his traps, and subsequently\nknocked on the head by his tough service-rod.\nThat night Arthur found comfortable shelter in Peter's hut, and was\ninitiated into many mysteries of a trapper's life by him and his\nhalf-Indian assistant. Next morning they guided him as far as a\nsurveyor's post, on which was legibly written the names of four\ntownships, which was the signal for the separation of the party. Arthur\nturned his face towards civilisation, along a blazed boundary line. The\nothers plunged deeper into the woods, walking in the unsociable Indian\nfile.\nThe blazed line went on fairly enough for some miles, over hillocks of\nhardwood, and across marshes of dank evergreens, where logs had been\nlaid lengthwise for dry footing. At last Arthur thought he must be\ndrawing near to a clearing, for light appeared through the dense veil\nof trees before him, as if some extensive break to the vast continuity\nof forest occurred beyond. Soon he stood on its verge. Ay, surely a\nclearing; but no human hands had been at work.\nHundreds of huge trees lay strewn about, as if they had been wrenched\noff their stumps by some irresistible power seizing the branched heads\nand hurling them to the earth. Torn up by the massy roots, or twisted\nround as you would try to break an obstinately tough withe, for many\nscore of acres the wildest confusion of prostrate maples and elms\nand pines, heaped upon one another, locked in death-embraces, quite\nobliterated any track, and blocked across the country. Arthur had come\nupon what French Canadians call a 'renvers\u00e9' effected by some partial\nwhirlwind during the preceding summer.\nSuch tornadoes often crash a road of destruction through the bush for\nmiles; a path narrow in comparison with its length, and reminding the\ntraveller of the explosive fury of some vast projectile. The track of\none has been observable for more than forty miles right through the\nheart of uninhabited forest.\nTo cross the stupendous barrier seemed impossible to Arthur. There was\na tangled chaos of interlaced and withering boughs and trunks; such a\n_chevaux de frise_ might stop a regiment until some slow sap cut a path\nthrough, and he was without axe, or even a large knife. He must work his\nway round; and yet he was most unwilling to part company with the blaze.\nWhile hesitating, and rather ruefully contemplating the obstacle, a\nsound at a considerable distance struck his ear. It was--oh, joy!--the\nblows of an axe. Instantly he went in the direction. When near enough to\nbe heard, he shouted. An answering hail came from the other side of the\nwindfall; but presently he saw that an attempt had been made to log up\nthe fallen timber in heaps, and, making his way through the blackened\nstumps of extinct fires, he reached the spot where two rough-looking men\nwere at work with handspikes and axes.\nThey had built a little hut, whence a faint smoke curled, the back wall\nof piled logs still wearing dead branches and foliage at the ends. A\nreddish cur, as lawless-looking as his masters, rushed from the doorway\nto snap at Arthur's heels. The suspicious glances of the foresters bore\nhardly more welcome, till they heard that the stranger belonged to the\nsettlers on Cedar Pond, and had simply lost his way. They informed him\nin return, with exceeding frankness, that they were squatters, taking\npossession of this strip of bush without anybody's leave, and determined\nto hold their own against all comers. An apparently well-used rifle\nlying against a log close by gave this speech considerable emphasis.\nArthur wanted nothing more from them than to be put on the surveyor's\nline again; and, when directed to the blaze, speedily left the sound of\ntheir axes far behind. In half an hour he reached other traces of\nmankind--a regularly chopped road, where the trees had been felled for\nthe proper width, and only here and there an obstinate trunk had come\ndown wrongly, and lay right across, to be climbed over or crept under\naccording to the wayfarer's taste. In marshy spots he was treated to\nstrips of corduroy; for the settled parts of the country were near.\n'Holloa! Uncle Zack, is that you?'\nThe person addressed stood in a snake-fenced field, superintending a\ncouple of labourers. He turned round at the hail, and stared as if he\ndid not believe his senses.\n'Wal, I guess I warn't never skeered in my life before. They're all out\nlookin' for you--Nim, an' the whole \"Corner\" bodily. Your brother's\ndistracted ravin' mad this two days huntin' the bush; but I told him\nyou'd be sartin sure to turn up somehow. Now, whar are you runnin' so\nfast? There ain't nobody to hum, an' we 'greed to fire the rifles as a\nsignal whoever fust got tidins of you. Three shots arter another,' as\nyoung Wynn fired in the air. 'Come, quick as wink, they'll be listenin'.'\n'Robert will know the report,' observed Arthur, with a smile, to think\nof his pleasure in the recognition, 'if he's near enough.'\n'We'll make tracks for the \"Corner,\" I guess,' said Uncle Zack with\nalacrity; 'that war the meetin'-place, an' you must be powerful hungry.\nI'd ha' been to sarch for you to-day, only them Irish fellers at the\nclearin' wanted lookin' arter precious bad.' ('Lucky I got in them kegs\no' whisky; he'll have to stand treat for the neighbours,' thought 'cute\nUncle Zack in a sort of mental parenthesis.) 'But now do tell! you must\nha' gone a terrible big round, I guess. They took the Indjin out to\nfoller your trail; them savages has noses an' eyes like hounds. We'll\nfire my rifle from the store; it's bigger than yourn.'\nHis abstraction of mind during Arthur's narrative was owing to a\njudicious maturing of certain plans for exacting the greatest amount of\nprofit from the occurrence; but he contrived to interlard his listening\nwith such appropriate interjections as, 'Now do tell! How you talk! Wal,\nI kinder like to know!' mentally watering his whisky the while.\nMrs. Zack, also scenting the prey afar off, was polite as that lady\ncould be to good customers only. Arthur's impatience for the arrival of\nthe parties from the bush hardly permitted him to do more than taste the\nmeal she provided. Within doors he could not stay, though weary enough\nto want rest. The few log-cabins of the 'Corner' looked more drowsily\nquiet than usual; the sawmill was silent. Zack was turning over some\nsoiled and scribbled ledgers on his counter. Suddenly a shot in the\nwoods quite near: a detachment of the searchers had arrived.\nThat the rejoicing would take its usual form, an emptying of his\nspirit-kegs, Zack Bunting had never doubted. But the second word to\nthe bargain, Mr. Wynn's promise to stand treat, had not been given,\nthough it was a mere matter of form, Zack thought. Robert spoke to the\nneighbours, and thanked them collectively for their exertions in a most\ncordial manner on behalf of himself and his brother, and was turning to\ngo home, when the Yankee storekeeper touched his elbow.\n''Tain't the usual doins to let 'em away dry,' suggested he, with a\nmeaning smile. ''Spose you stand treat now; 'twill fix the business\nhandsome.'\nThat keen snaky eye of his could easily read the momentary struggle in\nRobert's mind between the desire not to appear singular and unfriendly,\nand the dislike to encouraging that whisky drinking which is the bane of\nworking men everywhere, but most especially in the colonies. Sam Holt\nwatched for his decision. Perhaps the knowledge of what that calm strong\nnature by his side would do helped to confirm Robert's wavering into\nbold action.\n'Certainly not,' he said loudly, that all might hear. 'I'll not give\nany whisky on any account. It ruins nine-tenths of the people. I'm quite\nwilling to reward those who have kindly given time and trouble to help\nme, but it shall not be in that way.'\nZack's smoke-dried complexion became whitewashed with disappointment.\nA day or two afterwards, Zack's son, Nimrod, made his appearance at the\nWynns' shanty.\n'I say, but you're a prime chap arter the rise you took out of the ole\ncoon,' was his first remark. 'Uncle Zack was as sartin as I stand of\nfive gallons gone, anyhow; and 'twar a rael balk to put him an' them off\nwith an apology. I guess you won't mind their sayin' it's the truth of a\nshabby dodge, though.'\n'Not a bit,' replied Robert; 'I expected something of the kind. I didn't\nimagine I'd please anybody but my own conscience.'\n'\"Conscience!\"' reiterated Nim, with a sneer. 'That stock hain't a long\nlife in the bush, I guess. A storekeeper hain't no business on it,\nnohow--'twould starve him out; so Uncle Zack don't keep it.' And his\nunpleasant little eyes twinkled again at the idea of such unwonted\nconnection as his father and a conscience.\n'That Indjin war hoppin' mad, I can tell you; for they be the greatest\nbrutes at gettin' drunk in the univarsal world. They'll do 'most anythin'\nfor whisky.'\n'The greater the cruelty of giving it to them,' said Robert.\n'What are you doin'?' asked Nimrod, after a moment's survey of the\nother's work.\n'Shingling,' was the reply. 'Learning to make shingles.'\n'An' you call _them_ shingles?' kicking aside, with a gesture of\ncontempt, the uneven slices of pinewood which had fallen from Robert's\ntool. 'You hain't dressed the sapwood off them blocks, and the grain\neats into one another besides. True for Uncle Zack that gentry from the\nold country warn't never born to be handlin' axes an' frows. It don't\ncome kinder nateral. They shouldn't be no thicker than four to an inch\nto be rael handsome shingles,' added he, 'such as sell for\nseven-an'-sixpence a thousand.'\nNimrod's pertinacious supervision could not be got rid of until dinner;\nnot even though Mr. Wynn asked him his errand in no conciliatory tone.\n'Thought I'd kinder like to see how ye were gettin' on,' was the answer.\n'New settlers is so precious awk'ard. Thought I'd loaf about awhile, an'\nsee. It's sorter amusin'.'\nHe was so ignorantly unconscious of doing anything offensive by such\ngratification of his curiosity, that Robert hardly knew whether to laugh\nor be angry. Nimrod's thick-skinned sensibilities would have cared\nlittle for either. He lounged about, whittling sticks, chewing tobacco,\nand asking questions, until Andy's stentorian call resounded through the\nwoods near.\n'I guessed I'd dine with you to-day,' said Nim, marching on before his\nhost. With equal coolness, as soon as the dish of trout appeared, he\ntransfixed the largest with his case-knife.\n'Not so fast, my friend,' interrupted Mr. Holt, bringing back the\ncaptive. 'We divide fair here, though it's not Yankee law, I'm aware.'\n'Ah, you warn't born yesterday,' rejoined Nim, showing his yellow\nteeth, which seemed individually made and set after the pattern of his\nfather's. 'You're a smart man, I guess--raised in Amerikay, an' no\nmistake.'\n'But come, Andy,' said Arthur, 'tell us where you caught these fine\ntrout? You've altogether made a brilliant effort to-day in the purveying\nline: the cakes are particularly good.'\n'They're what them French fellers call \"galettes,\"' observed Nimrod,\nbiting one. 'Flour an' water, baked in the ashes. Turnpike bread is\nbetter--what the ole gall makes to hum.'\nBe it remarked that this periphrasis indicated his mother; and that the\nbread he alluded to is made with a species of leaven.\n'So ye _ate_ turnpikes too,' remarked Andy, obliquely glancing at the\nspeaker. 'The English language isn't much help to a man in this\ncounthry, where everythin' manes somethin' else. Well, Misther Arthur,\nabout the trout; you remimber I went down to the \"Corner\" this mornin'.\nNow it's been on my mind some days back, that ye'd want a few shirts\nwashed.'\n'But what has that to do with the trout'--interrupted Arthur, laughing.\n'Whisht awhile, an' you'll hear. I didn't know how to set about it, no\nmore than the child of a month old; for there's an art in it, of coorse,\nlike in everythin' else; an' one time I thried to whiten a shirt of my\nown--beggin' yer honours' pardon for mintionin' the article--it kem out\nof the pot blacker than it wint in. So sez I to meself, \"I'll look out\nfor the clanest house, an' I'll ax the good woman to tache me how to\nwash a thing;\" an' I walks along from the store to a nate little cabin\nback from the river, that had flowers growin' in the front; an' sure\nenough, the floor was as clane as a dhrawin' room, an' a dacent tidy\nlittle woman kneadin' a cake on the table. \"Ma'am,\" sez I, \"I'm obliged\nto turn washerwoman, an' I don't know how;\" but she only curtseyed, and\nsaid somethin' in a furrin tongue.'\n'A French Canadian, I suppose,' said Mr. Wynn.\n'Jackey Dubois lives in the log-hut with the flowers,' observed Nim, who\nwas whittling again by way of desert.\n'May be so; but at all events she was as like as two peas to the girl\nwhose weddin' I was at since I came ashore. \"Ma'am,\" sez I, \"I want to\nlarn to be a washerwoman:\" and wid that I took off my neckerchief an'\nrubbed it, to show what I meant, by the rule of thumb. \"Ah, to vash,\"\nsez she, smilin' like a leathercoat potato. So, afther that, she took my\nhandkercher and washed it fornent me out; an' I'd watched before how she\nmed the cakes, an' cleared a little space by the fire to bake 'em, an'\ncovered them up wid hot ashes.'\n'Not a word about the trout,' said Arthur.\n'How can I tell everything intirely all at wanst?' replied the Irishman,\nwith an injured tone. 'Sure I was comin' to that. I observed her lookin'\npartikler admirin' at the handkercher, which was a handsome yellow spot,\nso I up an' axed her to take a present of it, an' I settled it like an\napron in front, to show how iligant 'twould look; an' she was mighty\nplased, an' curtseyed ever so often, an' Jackey himself gev me the trout\nout of a big basket he brought in. The river's fairly alive wid 'em, I'm\ntould: an' they risin' to a brown-bodied fly, Misther Arthur.'\n'We'll have a look at them some spare day, Andy.'\n'But what tuk my fancy intirely, was the iligant plan of bilin' 'em she\nhad. There war round stones warmin' in the fire, and she dropped 'em\ninto a pot of water till it was scalding hot; then in wid the fish,\naddin' more stones to keep it singin'. It's an Indjin fashion, Jackey\ntold me; for they haven't nothin' to cook in but wooden pails; but I\nthried it wid them trout yer atin', an' it answered beautiful.'\nAndy bid fair to be no mean _chef-de-cuisine_, if his experiments always\nresulted so favourably as in the present instance.\n'An' the whole of it is, Misther Robert, that this Canada is a counthry\nwhere the very best of atin' and dhrinkin' is to be had for the throuble\nof pickin' it up. Don't I see the poorest cabins wid plenty of bacon\nhangin' to the rafthers, an' the trees is full of birds that nobody can\nsummons you for catchin', and the sthrames is walkin' wid fish; I'm\ntould there's sugar to be had by bilin' the juice of a bush; an' if you\nscratch the ground, it'll give you bushels of praties an' whate for the\naxin'. I wish I had all the neighbours out here, that's a fact; for it's\na grand poor man's counthry, an' there's too many of us at home, Misther\nRobert; an' (as if this were the climax of wonders) I never see a beggar\nsince I left the Cove o' Cork!'\n'All true, Andy, quite true,' said his master, with a little sigh. 'Hard\nwork will get a man anything here.'\n'I must be goin',' said Nimrod, raising his lank figure on its big feet.\n'But I guess that be for you;' and he tossed to Robert a soiled piece of\nnewspaper, wrapped round some square slight packet.\n'Letters from home! Why, you unconscionable'--burst forth Arthur;\n'loafing about here for these three hours, and never to produce them!'\nBut Nim had made off among the trees, grinning in every long tooth.\nAh! those letters from home! How sweet, yet how saddening! Mr. Holt went\noff to chop alone. But first he found time to intercept Nimrod on the\nroad, and rather lower his triumphant flush at successfully 'riling the\nBritishers,' by the information that he (Mr. Holt) would write to the\npost-office authorities, to ask whether their agent at the 'Corner' was\njustified in detaining letters for some hours after they might have been\ndelivered.\nCHAPTER XVIII.\nGIANT TWO-SHOES.\nThe calendar of the settler is apt to get rather confused, owing to the\nuniformity of his life and the absence of the landmarks of civilisation.\nWhere 'the sound of the church-going bell' has never been heard, and\nthere is nothing to distinguish one day from another, but the monotonous\ntide of time lapses on without a break, it will easily be imagined\nthat the observance of a Sabbath is much neglected, either through\nforgetfulness or press of labour. The ministrations of religion by no\nmeans keep pace with the necessities of society in the Canadian wilds.\nHere is a wide field for the spiritual toil of earnest men, among a\npeople speaking the English language and owning English allegiance;\nand unless the roots of this great growing nation be grounded in\npiety, we cannot hope for its orderly and healthful expansion in\nthat 'righteousness which exalteth a people.'\nOnce a year or so, an itinerant Methodist preacher visited the 'Corner,'\nand held his meeting in Zack Bunting's large room. But regular means\nof grace the neighbourhood had none. A result was, that few of the\nsettlers about Cedar Creek acknowledged the Sabbath rest in practice;\nand those who were busiest and most isolated sometimes lost the count\nof their week-days altogether. Robert Wynn thought it right to mark\noff Sunday very distinctly for himself and his household by a total\ncessation of labour, and the establishment of regular worship. Andy\nmade no sort of objection, now that he was out of the priest's reach.\nOther days were laborious enough. In the underbrushing was included the\ncutting up all fallen timber, and piling it in heaps for the spring\nburnings. Gradually the dense thickets of hemlock, hickory, and balsam\nwere being laid in windrows, and the long darkened soil saw daylight.\nThe fine old trees, hitherto swathed deeply in masses of summer foliage,\nstood with bared bases before the axe, awaiting their stroke likewise.\nThen the latest days in November brought the snow. Steadily and silently\nthe grey heavens covered the shivering earth with its smooth woolly\ncoating of purest flakes. While wet Atlantic breezes moaned sorrowfully\nround Dunore, as if wailing over shattered fortunes, the little log-shanty\nin the Canadian bush was deep in snow. Not so large as the butler's\npantry in that old house at home, nor so well furnished as the meanest\nservant's apartment had been during the prosperous times, with hardly\none of the accessories considered indispensable to comfort in the most\nordinary British sitting-room, yet the rough shanty had a pleasantness\nof its own, a brightness of indoor weather, such as is often wanting\nwhere the fittings of domestic life are superb. Hope was in the\nPandora's box to qualify all evils.\nBy the firelight the settlers were this evening carrying on various\noccupations. Mr. Holt's seemed the most curious, and was the centre of\nattraction, though Robert was cutting shingles, and Arthur manufacturing\na walnut-wood stool in primitive tripod style.\n'I tell you what,' said he, leaning on the end of his plane, whence a\nshaving had just slowly curled away, 'I never shall be able to assist\nat or countenance a logging-bee, for I consider it the grossest waste\nof valuable merchandise. The idea of voluntarily turning into smoke\nand ashes the most exquisitely grained bird's-eye maple, black walnut,\nheart-of-oak, cherry, and birch--it's a shame for you, Holt, not to\nraise your voice against such wilful waste, which will be sure to make\nwoful want some day. Why, the cabinetmakers at home would give you\nalmost any money for a cargo of such walnut as this under my hand.'\n'I regret it as much as you do; but till the country has more railroads\nit is unavoidable, and only vexatious to think of. We certainly do burn\naway hundreds of thousands of pounds' worth of the most expensive wood,\nwhile people in England pay enormous prices for furniture which our\nrefuse timber could supply.'\n'And don't you export any ornamental wood?' asked Robert. 'I saw plenty\nof deals swimming down the St. Lawrence.'\n'Yes, pine timber meets with the readiest market, and is easiest\nprocurable. But even in that there is the most unjustifiable wastefulness\npractised. I was among the lumberers once, and saw the way they square\nthe white pine. You know that every tree is of course tapering in the\ntrunk, narrower at the top than at the base; now, to square the log, the\nbest timber of the lower part must be hewn away, to make it of equal\ndimensions with the upper part. I am not above the mark when I say that\nmillions of excellent boards are left to rot in the forest by this piece\nof mismanagement, and the white-pine woods are disappearing rapidly.'\nBut Arthur's sympathies could not be roused for such ordinary stuff as\ndeal, to the degree of resentment he felt for the wholesale destruction\nof cabinetmakers' woods.\n'If I may make so bould, sir,' said Andy, edging forward, 'might I ax\nwhat yer honour is makin'? Only there aren't any giants in the counthry,\nI'd think it was a pair of shoes, may be.'\n'You've guessed rightly,' replied Mr. Holt, holding up his two colossal\nframes, so that they rested on edge. 'Yes, Andy, a pair of shoes near\nsix feet long! What do you think of that new Canadian wonder?'\n'I dunno where you'll get feet to fit 'em,' said Andy dubiously. 'They're\nmostly as big as boats, an' much the same shape. May be they're for\ncrossin' the wather in?'\n'I intend to wear them myself, Andy,' said the manufacturer, 'but on dry\nland. You must be looking out for a pair too, if the snow continues, as\nis pretty certain, and you want to go down to the \"Corner\" before it is\nfrozen over.'\n'Why have you cut that hole in the middle of the board?' asked Robert,\ninspecting the gigantic wooden sole.\n'To give the toes play,' was the answer. 'All parts of the foot must\nhave the freest action in snow-shoes.'\n'I remember a pair at Maple Grove,' said Arthur, 'made of leathern\nnetwork, fastened to frames and crossbars, with the most complicated\napparatus for the foot in the middle.'\n'It is said by scientific men,' said Mr. Holt, 'that if the theory of\nwalking over soft snow were propounded, not all the mechanical knowledge\nof the present day could contrive a more perfect means of meeting the\ndifficulty, than that snow-shoe of the Ojibbeway Indians. It spreads the\nweight equally over the wide surface: see, I've been trying, with these\ncords and thongs, to imitate their mechanism in this hollow of my plank.\nHere's the walking thong, and the open mesh through which the toes pass,\nand which is pressed against by the ball of the foot, so as to draw the\nshoe after it. Then here's the heel-cord, a sort of sling passing round\nso as partially to imprison and yet leave free. The centre of the foot\nis held fast enough, you perceive.'\nRobert shook his head. 'One thing is pretty clear,' said he, '_I_ shall\nnever be able to walk in snow-shoes.'\n'Did you think you would ever be expert at felling pines?' was Mr.\nHolt's unanswerable answer.\nCHAPTER XIX.\nA MEDLEY.\n'We may soon expect winter,' said Sam Holt, as he drew forth his\ngigantic snow-shoes, which had been standing up against the interior\nwall of the shanty, and now emerged into the brilliant sunshine.\n'Soon expect it!' ejaculated Robert; 'why, I should say it had very\ndecidedly arrived already. I am sure twelve inches of snow must have\nfallen last afternoon and night.'\n'It is late this year; I've seen it deep enough for sleighing the second\nweek in November; and from this till March the ground will be hidden,\ngenerally under a blanket four feet thick. You are only on the outskirts\nof winter as yet.'\n'Four months! I wonder it doesn't kill all vegetation.'\n'On the contrary, it is the best thing possible for vegetation. Only for\nthe warm close covering of snow, the intense and long-continued frost\nwould penetrate the soil too deeply to be altogether thawed by the\nsummer sun.'\n'I was very much struck,' said Robert, 'by seeing, in a cemetery near\nQuebec, a vault fitted with stone shelves, for the reception of the\nbodies of people who die during winter, as they cannot be properly\ninterred till the next spring.'\n'Yes; Lower Canada is much colder than our section of the Province.\nLearned men say something about the regular northward tendency of the\nisothermal lines from east to west; certain it is that, the farther west\nyou go, the higher is the mean annual temperature, back to the Pacific,\nI believe. So the French Canadians have much the worst of the cold. You\nmight have noticed flights of steps to the doors of the _habitans_? That\nwas a provision against snowing time; and another proof of the severity\nof the frost is that any mason work not bedded at least three feet deep\ninto the earth is dislodged by the April thaws.\n'Now what would you say to freezing up your winter stores of meat and\nfowls? They're obliged to do it in Lower Canada. Fresh mutton, pork,\nturkeys, geese, fowls, and even fish, all stiff and hard as stone,\nare packed in boxes and stowed away in a shed till wanted. The only\nprecaution needful is to bring out the meat into the kitchen a few days\nbefore use, that it may have time to thaw. Yet I can tell you that\nwinter is our merriest time; for snow, the great leveller, has made all\nthe roads, even the most rickety corduroy, smooth as a bowling-green;\nconsequently sleighing and toboggin parties without end are carried on.'\n'That's a terribly hard word,' remarked Arthur.\n'It represents great fun, then, which isn't generally the case with hard\nwords. A toboggin is an Indian traineau of birch-bark, turned up at one\nend, and perfectly level with the snow. A lady takes her seat on this,\nand about a foot and a half of a projection behind her is occupied by a\ngentleman, who is the propelling instrument for the vehicle. He tucks\none leg under him, and leaves the other trailing on the snow behind, as\na rudder. I should have told you that, first of all, the adventurous\npair must be on the top of a slope; and when all is ready, the gentleman\nsets the affair in motion by a vigorous kick from his rudder leg. Of\ncourse the velocity increases as they rush down the slope; and unless he\nis a skilful steersman, they may have a grand upset or be embosomed in\na drift; however, the toboggin and its freight generally glides like an\narrow from the summit, and has received impetus enough to carry it a\nlong distance over the smooth surface of the valley at foot.'\n'How first-rate it must be!' exclaimed Arthur. 'But we shall never see\na human being in these backwoods;' and over his handsome face came an\nexpression of _ennui_ and weariness which Robert disliked and dreaded.\n'Come, Holt, I'm longing to have a try at the snow-shoes:' and his white\nvolatile nature brightened again immediately at the novelty.\n'I'm afraid they're too long for this clearing, among all the stumps,'\nsaid the manufacturer; 'you may wear them eighteen inches shorter in the\nforest than on the roads or plains. At all events, I'll have to beat the\npath for you first;' and having fixed his mocassined feet in the walking\nthong and heel-cord, with his toes just over the 'eye,' he began to glide\nalong, first slowly and then swiftly. Now was the advantage of the\nimmense sole visible; for whereas Robert and Arthur sank far above their\nankles at every step in the loose dry snow, Mr. Holt, though much the\nheaviest of the three, was borne on the top buoyantly.\n'You see the great necessity is,' said he, returning by a circuit, 'that\nthe shoe should never press into the snow; so you must learn to drag it\nlightly over the surface, which requires some little practice. To render\nthat easier, I've beaten the track slightly.'\n'Holt, are those genuine Indian mocassins?' asked Robert, as he ungirded\nhis feet from the straps of the snow-shoes.\n'Well, they're such as I've worn over many a mile of Indian country,'\nwas the answer; 'and I can recommend them as the most agreeable\n_chaussure_ ever invented. Chiropodists might shut shop, were mocassins\nto supersede the ugly and ponderous European boot, in which your foot\nlies as dead as if it had neither muscles nor joints. Try to cross a\nswamp in boots, and see how they'll make holes and stick in them, and\nonly come up with a slush, leaving a pool behind; but mocassined feet\ntrip lightly over: the tanned deer-hide is elastic as a second skin, yet\nthick enough to ward off a cut from thorns or pebbles, while giving free\nplay to all the muscles of the foot.'\n'You haven't convinced me: it's but one remove from bare-footedness.\nLike a good fellow, show me how I'm to manage these monstrous\nsnow-shoes: I feel as queer as in my first pair of skates.'\nMr. Holt did as required. But the best theoretical teaching about\nanything cannot secure a beginner from failures, and Arthur was\npresently brought up by several inches of snow gathered round the\nedges of his boards, and adding no small weight.\n'It _will_ work up on them,' said he (as, when a smaller boy, he had\nbeen used to blame everything but himself), 'in spite of all I can do.'\n'Practice makes perfect,' was Sam Holt's consolatory remark. 'Get the\naxes, Robert, and we'll go chop a bit.'\n'I'll stay awhile by the snow-shoes,' said Arthur.\nThe others walked away to the edge of the clearing, Mr. Holt having\nfirst drawn on a pair of the despised European boots.\nNever had Robert seen such transparent calm of heaven and earth as on\nthis glorious winter day. It was as if the common atmosphere had been\npurified of all grosser particles--as if its component gases had been\nmixed afresh, for Canadian use only. The cold was hardly felt, though\nMr. Holt was sure the thermometer must be close upon zero; but a bracing\nexhilarating sensation strung every nerve with gladness and power.\n'You'll soon comprehend how delightful our winter is,' said Sam Holt,\nnoticing his companion's gradually glowing face. 'It has phases of the\nmost bewitching beauty. Just look at this white spruce, at all times one\nof our loveliest trees, with branches feathering down to the ground, and\nevery one of its innumerable sea-green leaves tipped with a spikelet\nwhich might be a diamond!'\nThey did stand before that splendid tree--magnificent sight!\n'I wonder it escaped the lumberers when they were here; they have\ngenerally pretty well weeded the forests along this chain of lakes of\nsuch fine timber as this spruce. I suppose it's at least a hundred feet\nhigh: I've seen some a hundred and forty.'\n'And you think lumberers have been chopping in these woods? I saw no\nsigns of them,' said Robert.\n'I met with planks here and there, hewed off in squaring the timber: but\neven without that, you know, they're always the pioneers of the settler\nalong every stream through Canada. This lake of yours communicates with\nthe Ottawa, through the river at the \"Corner,\" which is called \"Clyde\"\nfarther on, and is far too tempting a channel for the lumberers to leave\nunused.'\nThe speaker stopped at the foot of a Balm-of-Gilead fir, on the edge of\nthe swamp, and partially cleared away the snow, revealing a tuft of\ncranberries, much larger and finer than they are ever seen in England.\n'I noticed a bed of them here the other day. Now if you want a proof of\nthe genial influence of the long-continued snow on vegetation, I can\ntell you that these cranberries--ottakas, the French Canadians call\nthem--go on ripening through the winter under three or four feet of\nsnow, and are much better and juicier than in October, when they are\ngenerally harvested. That cedar swamp ought to be full of them.'\n'I wonder can they be preserved in any way,' said Robert, crushing in\nhis lips the pleasant bitter-sweet berry. 'Linda is a wonderful hand at\npreserves, and when she comes'--\nThe thought seemed to energize him to the needful preparation for that\ncoming: he immediately made a chop at a middle-aged Weymouth pine\nalongside, and began to cut it down.\n'Well, as to preserving the cranberries,' said Mr. Holt, laughing in his\nslight silent way, 'there's none required; they stay as fresh as when\nplucked for a long time. But your sister may exercise her abilities on\nthe pailfuls of strawberries, and raspberries, and sand cherries, and\nwild plums, that fill the woods in summer. As to the cranberry patches,\nit is a curious fact that various Indian families consider themselves to\nhave a property therein, and migrate to gather them every autumn, squaws\nand children and all.'\n'It appears that my swamp is unclaimed, then,' said Robert, pausing in\nhis blows.\n'Not so with your maples,' rejoined the other; 'there's been a sugar\ncamp here last spring, or I'm much mistaken.'\nHe was looking at some old scars in the trunks of a group of maples, at\nthe back of the Weymouth pine on which Robert was operating.\n'Yes, they've been tapped, sure enough; but I don't see the _loupes_--the\nvats in which they leave the sap to crystallize: if it were a regular\nIndian \"sucrerie,\" we'd find those. However, I suspect you may be on the\nlook-out for a visit from them in spring--_au temps des sucres_, as the\n_habitans_ say.'\n'And I'm not to assert my superior rights at all?'\n'Well, there's certainly sugar enough for both parties during your\nnatural lives, and the Indians will sheer off when they find the ground\noccupied; so I'd advise you to say nothing about it. Now, Wynn, let\nyour pine fall on that heap of brushwood; 'twill save a lot of trouble\nafterwards; if not, you'll have to drag the head thither and chop and\npile the branches, which is extra work you'd as soon avoid, I dare\nsay.'\nAfter some judicious blows from the more experienced axe, the pine was\ngood enough to fall just as required.\n'Now the trunk must be chopped into lengths of twelve or fourteen feet;'\nand Mr. Holt gashed a mark with his axe at such distances, as well as he\ncould guess. When it was done--\n'What's the rate of speed of this work?' asked Robert. 'It seems so slow\nas to be almost hopeless; the only consideration is, that one is doing\nit all for one's self, and--for those as dear as self,' he could have\nadded, but refrained.\n'About an acre in eight or nine days, according to your expertness,' was\nthe reply. Robert did a little ciphering in his mind immediately. Three\naxes, plus twenty-seven days (minus Sundays), equal to about the chopping\nof ten acres and a fraction during the month of December. The calculation\nwas somewhat reassuring.\n'What curious curves there are in this Canadian axe!' he remarked, as he\nstood leaning on the handle and looking down. 'It differs essentially\nfrom the common woodman's axe at home.'\n'And which the English manufacturers persisted in sending us, and could\nnot be induced to make on precisely the model required, until we dispensed\nwith their aid by establishing an edge-tool factory of our own in Galt,\non the Grand River.'\n'That was a declaration of independence which must have been very\nsensibly felt in Sheffield,' remarked Robert.\nThey worked hard till dinner, at which period they found Arthur limping\nabout the shanty.\n'I practised those villainous snow-shoes for several hours, till I\nwalked beautifully; but see what I've got by it,' he said: 'a pain\nacross the instep as if the bones would split.'\n'Oh, just a touch of _mal de raquette_,' observed Sam Holt, rather\nunsympathizingly. 'I ought to have warned you not to walk too much in\nthem at first.'\n'And is there no cure?' asked Arthur, somewhat sharply.\n'Peter Logan would scarify your foot with a gun-flint, that is, if the\npain were bad enough. Do you feel as if the bones were broken, and\ngrinding together across the instep?'\nBut Arthur could not confess to his experiences being so bad as this.\nOnly a touch of the _mal de raquette_, that was all. Just a-paying for\nhis footing in snow-shoes.\nCHAPTER XX.\nTHE ICE-SLEDGE.\nSam Holt had long fixed the first snow as the limit of his stay. He had\nbuilt his colossal shoes in order to travel as far as Greenock on them,\nand there take the stage, which came once a week to that boundary of\ncivilisation and the post.\nTwo or three days of the intensest frost intervened between the first\nsnow and the Thursday on which the stage left Greenock. Cedar Pond was\nstricken dead--a solid gleaming sheet of stone from shore to shore. A\nhollow smothered gurgle far below was all that remained of the life of\nthe streams; and nightly they shrank deeper, as the tremendous winter in\nthe air forced upon them more ice, and yet more.\nNotwithstanding the roaring fires kept up in the shanty chimney, the\nstinging cold of the night made itself felt through the unfinished\nwalls. For want of boards, the necessary interior wainscoting had never\nbeen put up. The sight of the frozen pond suggested to Mr. Holt a plan\nfor easily obtaining them. It was to construct an ice-boat, such as he\nhad seen used by the Indians: to go down to the 'Corner' on skates,\nlade the ice-boat with planks, and drive it before them back again.\nArthur, who hailed with delight any variety from the continual chopping,\nentered into the scheme with ardour. Robert would have liked it well\nenough, but he knew that two persons were quite sufficient for the\nbusiness; he rather connived at the younger brother's holidays; he must\nabide by the axe.\nOne board, about nine feet long, remained from Arthur's attempts at\n'slabbing.' This Mr. Holt split again with wedges, so as to reduce it\nconsiderably in thickness, and cut away from the breadth till it was\nonly about twenty inches wide. The stoutest rope in the shanty stores\nwas fastened to it fore and aft, and drawn tightly to produce a curve\ninto boat shape, and a couple of cross pieces of timber were nailed to\nthe sides as a sort of balustrade and reinforcement to the rope. The\nice-sledge was complete; the voyagers tied down their fur caps over\ntheir ears, strapped the dreadnought boots tightly, and launched forth.\n'Throth, I donno how they do it at all, at all,' said Andy, who had lent\nhis strength to the curving of the sledge, and now shook his head as\nhe viewed them from the shore. 'I'd as soon go to walk on the edges of\nknives as on them things they call skates; throth, betune the shoes as\nlong as yerself for the snow, an' the shoes wid soles as sharp as a\nsoord for the ice, our own ould brogues aren't much use to us. An' as\nfor calling that boord a boat, I hope they won't thry it on the wather,\nthat's all.'\nAs if he had discharged his conscience by this protesting soliloquy, Mr.\nCallaghan turned on his heel, and tramped after Robert up to the shanty.\nMeanwhile, the voyagers had struck out from the natural cove formed by\nthe junction of the creek with the pond, where were clumps of stately\nreeds, stiffened like steel by the frost. The cedar boughs in the\nswamp at the edge drooped lower than ever under their burden of snow;\nthe stems looked inky black, from contrast. The ice-boat pushed on\nbeautifully, with hardly any exertion, over the greyish glistening\nsurface of the lake.\n'I fancy there's a bit of breeze getting up against us,' said Mr. Holt,\nin a momentary pause from their rapid progression.\n''Twill be in our backs coming home,' suggested Arthur, as an obvious\ndeduction.\n'And if we can fix up a sail anyhow, we might press it into our service\nto propel the sledge,' said Mr. Holt.\n'Well, I never did hear of sails on dry land before,' said Arthur,\nthereby proving his Irish antecedents; of which his quick-witted\ncompanion was not slow to remind him.\n'But I don't much admire that greyish look off there,' he added,\nbecoming grave, and pointing to a hazy discolouration in the eastern\nskies. 'I shouldn't be surprised if we had a blow to-night; and our\neasterly winds in winter always bring snow.'\nUncle Zack was lost in admiration of the spirit which projected and\nexecuted this ice-boat voyage. 'Wal, you are a knowin' shave,' was his\ncomplimentary observation to Mr. Holt. ''Twar a smart idee, and no\nmistake. You'll only want to fix runners in front of the ice-sled goin'\nback, an' 'twill carry any load as easy as drinkin'. 'Spose you han't\ngot an old pair of skates handy? I've most remarkable good 'uns at the\nstore, that'll cut right slick up to the Cedars in no time if tacked on\nto the sled. You ain't disposed to buy 'em, are you? Wal, as you be hard\nfixed, I don't care if I lend 'em for a trifle. Quarter dollar, say.\nThat's dog-cheap--it's a rael ruination. Take it out in potash or maple\nsugar next spring--eh? Is it five cents cash you named, Mister Holt?\nEasy to see you never kep a backwoods store. Did anybody ever hear of\nanythin' so onreasonable?'\nTo which offer he nevertheless acceded after some grumbling; and the\nrunners of the borrowed skates were fastened underneath the sled by Mr.\nHolt's own hands and hammer. Next, that gentleman fixed a pole upright\nin the midst, piling the planks from the sawmill close to it, edgeways\non both sides, and bracing it with a stay-rope to stem and stern. At the\ntop ran a horizontal stick to act as yard, and upon this he girt an old\nblanket lent by Jackey Dubois, the corners of which were caught by cords\ndrawn taut and fastened to the balustrade afore-mentioned.\nSam Holt had in his own brain a strong dash of the daring and love of\nadventure which tingles in the blood of youthful strength. He thoroughly\nenjoyed this rigging of the ice-boat, because it was strange, and\nparadoxical, and quite out of everyday ship-building. The breeze, become\nstronger, was moaning in the tops of the forest as he finished; the\ngreyish haze had thickened into well-defined clouds creeping up the\nsky, yet hardly near enough to account for one or two flakes that\ncame wandering down.\n'Ye'll have a lively run to the Cedars, I guess,' prophesied Zack, as he\nhelped to pack in the last plank. 'An' the quicker the better, for the\nweather looks kinder dirty. See if them runners ain't vallyable now; and\nonly five cents cash for the loan.' The queer little craft began to push\nahead slowly, her sail filling out somewhat, as the wind caught in it at\na curve of the shore.\nCertainly the runners materially lessened the friction of the load\nof timber on the ice. The skaters hardly felt the weight more than in\npropelling the empty sledge. When they got upon the open surface of the\npond, they might expect aid from the steady swelling of the sail, now\nfitful, as gusts swept down, snow-laden, from the tree-covered banks of\nthe stream. They hardly noticed the gradually increasing power of the\nwind behind them; but the flakes in the air perceptibly thickened, even\nbefore they had reached the pond.\n'Now make a straight course across for the pine point yonder,' said Sam\nHolt, as they passed in lee shelter for an instant. 'I suspect we might\nalmost embark ourselves, Arthur, for the breeze is right upon it.'\nA few minutes of great velocity bore them down on the headland. They\nstopped for breath, the turned-up prow of their ice-boat resting even in\nthe brush on shore. Then they coasted awhile, until another wide curve\nof the pond spread in front.\nBy this time the falling snow was sufficiently dense to blur distant\noutlines, and an indistinct foggy whiteness took the place of the\nremaining daylight. Mr. Holt hesitated whether to adopt the safer and\nmore laborious plan of following the windings of the shore, or to strike\nacross boldly, and save a mile of meandering by one rapid push ahead.\nThe latter was Arthur's decided choice.\n'Well, here goes!' and by the guiding rope in his hand Mr. Holt turned\nthe head of the ice-boat before the wind. They grasped the balustrades\nat each side firmly, and careered along with the former delightful\nspeed; until suddenly, Arthur was astonished to see his companion cast\nhimself flat on the ice, bringing round the sledge with a herculean\neffort broadside to the breeze. A few feet in front lay a dark patch on\nthe white plain--_a breathing-hole_.\nCHAPTER XXI.\nTHE FOREST MAN.\nDuring the momentary pause that followed the bringing up of the ice-boat\nbroadside to the breeze, they could hear the fluctuating surge of deep\nwaters, sucking, plunging--in that large dark patch on the ice. An\ninstant more of such rapid progression would have sunk them in it,\nbeyond all hope.\n'Live and learn, they say,' remarked Sam Holt, rising from his prostrate\nposition beside the cargo; 'and I certainly had yet to learn that\nbreathing-holes could form at such an early period in the winter as\nthis. We had better retrace our steps a bit, Wynn; for the ice is\nprobably unsound for some distance about that split.'\n'A merciful escape,' said Arthur, after they had worked their way\nbackwards a few yards.\n'Ay, and even if we could have pulled up ourselves on the brink, the\nsledge must have been soused to a dead certainty. Had the snow-flakes\nbeen a trifle thicker, we wouldn't have seen the hole till we were\nswimming, I guess. And it's well this cord of Uncle Zack's was rotten,\nor the sail would have been too much for my pull.' One of the ropes\nstretching the lower side of the blanket had snapped under the sudden\npressure of Sam Holt's vigorous jerk round, and thereby lessened the\nforward force.\nThey made a long circuit of the deadly breathing-hole, and then ran\nfor the nearest shore on the farthest side. The deepening layer of\nsoft snow on the surface of the ice impeded the smooth action of the\nrunners considerably, and made travelling laborious.\nUnder the lee of a promontory covered with pines they drew up to rest\nfor a few minutes, and shake away loose snow.\n'You know everything, Holt, so you can tell me why those treacherous\nbreaks in the ice are called breathing-holes.'\n'I believe there's no reason to be given beyond a popular Canadian\nsuperstition that a lake needs air as well as a human being, and must\nhave it by bursting these openings through its prison of ice. The\nfreezing is generally uniform all over the surface at first, and after a\nmonth or so it cracks in certain spots, perhaps where there exists some\neddy or cross current in the water. But evidently the hole we saw a\nwhile ago was never frozen at all. Uncle Zack would tell you it is over\nsome dismal cavern whence issue whirlwinds and foul air.'\n'I think we should get on almost better without skates,' said Arthur,\nwhen they had struggled a furlong farther.\n'We are in a drift just now,' answered Mr. Holt; 'the wind has heaped\nthe snow up along here. Certainly the skates would be of more use to us\nfarther out on the pond; but I think we had better be cautious, and\ncontinue to coast;' and so they did, having the fear of other possible\nbreathing-holes before their eyes.\nHow grandly roared the wind through the forest of pines with a steady\npersistent swelling sound, as of breakers upon an iron shore, sweeping\noff masses of snow wherewith to drown all landmarks in undistinguishable\ndrifts of whiteness, and driving aslant the descending millions of flakes,\ntill the outlines of the lake landscape were confused to the eyes which\ntried to trace familiar copse or headland.\nSam Holt was secretly somewhat disquieted, and watched narrowly for\nthe cedars which denoted the Wynns' land. He would have abandoned the\nice-boat but for unwillingness to risk the fruit of their day's journey.\nThey must be near the swamp and the creek now; it was scarcely possible\nthey could have passed without recognising the cove whence they had\nissued in the morning; and yet there was a chance. For the weather was\nextremely thick, and daylight was fading quickly: the disguise of drifts\nis bewildering, even to the most practised eye.\n'Ha! there are our cedars at last!' exclaimed Arthur. 'How the snow has\nburied them; they look stunted. I suppose up here's the creek;' and he\nlaid his hand beside his mouth to shout a signal to the shanty, which\nwas smothered immediately in the greater tumult of the storm.\nMr. Holt left the grounded ice-boat, and proceeded farther inland to\nexamine the locality, returning in a few minutes, when Arthur had his\nskates off, with the information that this was merely a cove running\nin among trees, and by no means the estuary of a stream.\n'Now you know, Holt, if this isn't our creek it must be our swamp, and\nI'm blinded and petrified on that lake. Do let us get overland to the\nshanty. I'm certain we would travel faster; and we can haul up the planks\nto-morrow or next day. You see it's getting quite dark.'\n'And do you think the pathless forest will be more lightsome than the\nopen ice? No; we'd better kindle a fire, and camp out to-night. I'm\npretty sure we must have passed Cedar Creek without knowing.'\nArthur was already so drowsy from the excessive cold that he was\nonly glad of the pretext for remaining still, and yielding to the\nuncontrollable propensity. But Mr. Holt pulled him on his feet and\ncommanded him to gather brushwood and sticks, while he went about\nhimself picking birch-bark off the dead and living trees. This he spread\nunder the brush and ignited with his tinder-box. The sight of the flame\nseemed to wake up Arthur with a shock from the lethargy that was stealing\nover his faculties. Mr. Holt had chosen a good site for his fire in the\nlee of a great body of pines, whose massive stems broke the wind; so\nthe blaze quickened and prospered, till a great bed of scarlet coals\nand ends of fagots remained of the first relay of fuel, and another was\nheaped on. Now Arthur was glowing to his fingers' ends, thoroughly wide\nawake, and almost relishing the novelty of his lodgings for the night;\nwith snow all around, curtaining overhead, carpeting under foot.\n'Curious way they camp out in the Far West,' said Holt, with his arms\nround his knees, as he sat on their hemlock mattress and gazed into the\nfire, wherein all old memories seem ever to have a trysting-place with\nfancy. And so scenes of his roving years came back to him.\n'You must know that out in the Hudson's Bay territory the snow is often\nten or fourteen feet deep, not only in drifts, but in smooth even layers,\nobliterating the country inequalities wonderfully. That's the native\nland of snow-shoes and of furs, where your clothes must be mainly of\nboth for half the year. But I was going to tell you how the _voyageurs_\nbuild a fire when they have to camp out on a winter's night, and there's\ntwelve feet of snow between them and the solid ground.'\n'Sheer impossibility,' said Arthur presumptuously; 'the fire would work\na hole down.'\n'You shall hear. First, they cut down a lot of trees--green timber--about\ntwenty feet or more in length. These are laid closely parallel on the\nsnow, which has previously been beaten to a little consistency by\nsnow-shoes; on the platform thus made the fire is lit, and it burns\naway merrily.'\n'Don't the trees ever burn through?' asked Arthur.\n'Seldom; but the heat generally works a cavity in the snow underneath,\nsometimes quite a chasm, seven or eight feet deep--fire above, water\nbelow. Ha! I'm glad to see my old friend the Great Bear looking through\nover the pines yonder. Our storm has done its worst.'\n'Holt, though I'm rather hungry and sleepy, I'm heartily glad of this\nnight's outing, for one reason: you won't be able to leave us to-morrow,\nand so are booked for another week, old fellow.'\nIt seemed irrevocably the case; and under this conviction Arthur rolled\nhimself in the blanket (cut from the spar of the ice-boat), and went\ninto dreamland straight from his brushwood bed, Mr. Holt continuing\nto sit by the fire gazing into it as before; which sort of gazing,\nexperienced people say, is very bad for the eyes. Perhaps it was that\nwhich caused a certain moisture to swell into most visible bright drops,\nfilling the calm grey orbs with unspeakable sadness for a little while.\nThe Great Bear climbed higher round the icy pole; the sky had ceased\nto snow before the absorbed thinker by the fire noticed the change of\nweather. Then he rose gently, laid further wood on the blazing pile,\nthrew brush about Arthur's feet and body for additional warmth, and,\nskates in hand, went down to the lake to explore.\nOn reaching the point of the headland, he looked round. The weather\nwas much clearer; but westwards a glimmering sheen of ice--black land\nstretching along, black islands, snow-crowned, rising midway afar.\nEastward, ha! that is what should have been done hours ago. A fire\nburned on the edge of the woods at some distance. So they had really\npassed Cedar Creek unawares, as he suspected from the nature of the\nground and trees.\nWhile Robert and Andy crouched by their fire, feeding it up to full\nblaze with the most resinous wood they could find, the distant shout\nof the coming travellers gladdened their ears. The servant flung his\nwhole stock of balsam on the beacon at once, causing a most portentous\nflame-burst, and sprang up with a wild 'hurroo!' wielding one half-burnt\nfagot _\u00e0 la_ shillelah about his head.\n'Oh, then, Mister Robert, achora, it's yerself is the janius; an' to\nthink of mekin' a lighthouse to guide 'em wid, an' here they are safe\nhome by the manes of it. But now, sir, if ye'll take my advice, as we're\nalways lost when we goes anywhere by ourselves, we ought niver part for\nthe futhur, an' thin we'll all go asthray together safe an' sound.'\n'Let's warm ourselves at this glorious fire before we go up to the\nshanty,' said Arthur, stretching out his feet to the fire. 'Pity to let\nit waste its sweetness on the desert air.'\nSo they stood explaining matters by the fire for a few minutes, till\nAndy, who was never tired of heaping on fresh fuel, came forward with an\narmful and a puzzled face.\n'Mr. Holt, there's somethin' quare in that three, sir, which has a big\nhole in it full of dhry sticks an' brush, and there's something woolly\ninside, sir, that I felt wid me two hands; an' more be token it's a big\nbaste, whatever it is.'\n'A bear, probably,' said Mr. Holt, as he warmed the sole of one foot.\n'Better let him alone till morning, and tuck in his bedclothes again for\nto-night, poor fellow.' But Arthur had started up to investigate, and\nmust pull the black fleece for his personal satisfaction.\n'Oh, throth he's stirrin' now!' exclaimed Andy, who had begun to cram\nthe orifice with the former stuffing of dried bough and brush. 'We've\nwoke him up, Masther Arthur, if it's asleep he was at all, the rogue;\nan' now he's sthrugglin' out of the hole wid all his might. Keep in\nthere, you big villyan, you don't dare to offer to come out;' for Andy\nset his shoulder against the great carcase, which nevertheless sheered\nround till muzzle and paws could be brought into action, and their use\nillustrated on Andy's person.\n'Och, murther!' roared the sufferer; 'he has his arms round me, the\nbaste; he's squeezing me into m--m--mash!'\nA blazing stick, drawn from the fire by Mr. Holt's hand, here struck\nthe bear's nose and eyes; which, conjoined with Andy's own powerful\nwrenching, caused him to loosen his hold, and a ball from the rifle\nwhich Robert had fortunately brought down as the companion of their\nnight watch, finished his career.\n'Well done, Bob!' when, after a run of thirty yards or so, they stood\nbeside the prostrate enemy; 'you've won our first bear-skin. Now we\nshall see what the paws are like, in the way of eatables; don't you say\nthey're delicious, Holt?'\nBorne upon two strong poles, the bear made his way up to the shanty, and\nwas housed for the rest of the night. Poor Andy was found to be severely\nscratched by the long sharp claws. 'Sure I'm glad 'twas none of yerselves\nhe tuk to huggin',' said the faithful fellow; 'an' scrapin' as if 'twas\na pratie he wanted to peel!'\nHe had his revenge on the forepaws next morning when Mr. Holt cut them\noff, some time before breakfast, and set them in a mound of hot ashes\nto bake, surrounding and crowning them further with live coals. Bruin\nhimself was dragged outside into the snow, preparatory to the operation\nof skinning and cutting up into joints of excellent meat.\n'Do you know, I saw an amazing resemblance to a fur-coated man, as he\nstood up last night before Robert's shot,' said Arthur.\n'You're not the first to see it,' replied Holt. 'The Indians call\nhim \"the forest man,\" and the Lower Canadians the \"bourgeois;\" they\nattribute to him a sagacity almost human; the Crees and Ojibbeways fancy\nhim an enchanted being, and will enter into conversation with him when\nthey meet in the woods.'\n'Yet they take an unfair advantage of his paws.'\n'That's true: my cookery must be almost done.' And he re-entered the hut\nto dish up his dainty. 'Come, who'll feast with me?'\n'Appearances are much against them,' said Robert, eyeing the\ncharcoal-looking paws, which presented soles uppermost on the trencher.\nMr. Holt scooped out a portion on to his own plate, and used no further\npersuasion.\n''Twould never do not to know the taste of bear's paw,' said Arthur, as\nif winding himself up to the effort of picking a small bit. Mr. Holt was\namused to see the expression of enlightened satisfaction that grew on\nhis face. 'Oh, Bob, 'tis really capital. That's only a prejudice about\nits black look,' helping himself again. 'The Indians aren't far removed\nfrom epicures, when this is their pet dish.'\n'Well,' observed Mr. Holt, filling his horn cup with tea from the\nkettle, 'they equally relish fried porcupines and skunks; but some of\ntheir viands might tempt an alderman--such as elk's nose, beaver's tail,\nand buffalo's hump.'\n'Holt,' said Arthur, scooping the paw a third time, 'it seemed to me\nthat chap had fixed himself in a hole barely big enough, to judge by the\nway he wriggled out.'\n'Very likely. \"Bears are the knowingest varmint in all creation,\" as\nUncle Zack would say. They sometimes watch for days before entering a\ntree, and then choose the smallest opening possible, for warmth's sake,\nand scrape up brush and moss to conceal themselves. I've known the\nhollow tree to be such a tight fit that the hunters were compelled to\ncut it open to get at the bear after he was shot. I suspect the heat of\nour fire had roused this one, even before Andy pulled away the brush, or\nhe wouldn't ha' been so lively.'\n'What's the meat like, Holt? I hope it don't taste carnivorous.'\n'You'll hardly know it from beef, except that the shorter grain makes it\ntenderer; for the bear lives on the best products of the forest. He'll\nsit on his haunches before a serviceberry tree, bend the branches with\nhis paws, and eat off the red fruit wholesale. He'll grub with his\nclaws for the bear potatoes, and chew them like tobacco. He'll pick the\nkernels out of nuts, and help himself to your maize and fall wheat when\nyou have them, as well as to your sucking pigs and yearly calves.'\n'Then we may fairly eat him in return,' said Robert; 'but I'll leave the\npaws to you and Arthur.'\n'Thank you for the monopoly. Now these knives are sufficiently sharp.'\nSam Holt had been putting an edge on them at the grindstone during his\ntalk. 'Come and have your lesson in fur-making, for I must be off.'\n'Off! oh, nonsense; not to-day,' exclaimed both. But he was quite\nunpersuadeable when once his plan was fixed. He took the stage at\nGreenock that afternoon.\nCHAPTER XXII.\nSILVER SLEIGH-BELLS.\nThe shanty was ere long lined in a comely manner with the planks which\nhad journeyed up the pond in the ice-boat, affording many an evening's\nwork for Arthur. About Christmas all was right and tight.\nNow, to those who have any regrets or sadnesses in the background of\nmemory, the painfullest of all times are these anniversaries. One is\nforced round face to face with the past and the unalterable, to gaze on\nit, perchance, through blinding tears. The days return--unchanged: but,\noh, to what changed hearts!\nWere they not thinking of the Canadian exiles to-day, at home, at dear\nold Dunore? For nothing better than exiles did the young men feel\nthemselves, this snow-white Christmas morning, in the log-hut among the\nbackwoods, without a friendly face to smile a greeting, except poor\nAndy's; and his was regretful and wistful enough too.\n'I say, Bob, what shall we do with ourselves? I'm sure I wish I didn't\nknow 'twas Christmas day at all. It makes a fellow feel queer and\nnonsensical--homesick, I suppose they call it--and all that sort of\nthing. I vote we obliterate the fact, by chopping as hard as any other\nday.'\nSo, after reading the chapters for the day (how the words brought up a\npicture of the wee country church in Ireland, with its congregation of a\ndozen, its whitewashed walls and blindless lancet windows!), they went\nforth to try that relief for all pains of memory--steady hard work. The\nten acres allotted for December were nearly chopped through by this\ntime, opening a considerable space in front of the shanty, and beginning\nto reveal the fair landscape of lake and wooded slopes that lay beyond.\nThe felled trees lay piled in wind rows and plan heaps so far as was\npossible without the help of oxen to move the huge logs; snow covered\nthem pretty deeply, smoothing all unsightliness for the present.\n'How I long to have something done towards the building of our house!'\nsaid Robert, pausing after the fall of a hemlock spruce, while Arthur\nattacked the upper branches. 'I'd like so much to have it neatly\nfinished before my father and mother and Linda come next summer.'\n'Well, haven't you no end of shingles made for the roof?' said\nthe other, balancing his axe for a blow. 'You're working at them\nperpetually; and Andy isn't a bad hand either at wooden slates, as\nhe calls them.'\n'We must have a raising-bee in spring,' concluded Robert, after some\nrumination--'as soon as the snow melts a little. Really, only for such\nco-operative working in this thinly peopled country, nothing large\ncould be ever effected. Bees were a great device, whoever invented\nthem.'\n'By the way,' said Arthur presently, returning from chopping apart the\ntrunk into two lengths of fifteen feet, 'did you hear that the Scotchman\nbetween us and the \"Corner,\" at Daisy Burn, wants to sell his farm and\nimprovements, and is pushing out into the wild land farther up the\npond? Nim told me yesterday. He expects three pounds sterling an acre,\nincluding fixtures, and he got the ground for nothing; so that's\ndoubling one's capital, I imagine.'\n'How for nothing?'\n'It was before a human being had settled in these townships, and the\nconcession lines were only just blazed off by the surveyors. Davidson\nobtained a grant of land on condition of performing what are called\nsettlement duties, which means chopping out and clearing the concession\nlines for a certain distance. Of course that was another way of payment,\nby labour instead of cash. But on swearing that it was done, he obtained\nwhat Nim calls a \"lift,\" a crown patent, we should say, and the land was\nhis estate for ever.'\n'I wish we could transfer a couple of his fenced fields here,' said\nRobert, 'and his young orchard. We must have some sort of a garden,\nArthur, before Linda comes.'\n'Yes, she never could get on without her flower beds. I say, Bob, won't\nCedar Creek look awfully wild to them?'\nThey worked on awhile both thinking of that. Any one accustomed to\nsmooth enclosed countries, with regular roads and houses at short\ndistances, would indeed find the backwoods 'awfully wild.' And that\nmost gentle mother, how would she bear the transplanting?\n'I had a very misty idea of what bush-life was, I own, till I found\nmyself in it,' quoth Robert, after a long silence, broken only by the\nring of the axes.\n'Living like a labourer at home, but without half his comforts,' said\nArthur, piling the boughs. 'Tell you what, Bob, we wouldn't be seen\ndoing the things we do here. Suppose Sir Richard Lacy or Lord Scutcheon\nsaw us in our present trim?'\n'But you know that's all false pride,' said Robert, with a little glow\non his cheek nevertheless. 'We shouldn't be ashamed of anything but\nwrong.'\n'Say what you will, Bob, it strikes me that we aren't of the class which\ndo best in Canada. The men of hard hands, labouring men and women, are\nthose who will conquer the forest and gain wealth here.'\n'Well, if that be the rule, you and I must strive to be the exception,'\nsaid Robert; 'for I'm determined to have a comfortable homestead for the\ndear old people from Dunore, and I'm equally determined to set my mark\non Canadian soil, and to prosper, if it be God's will.'\nHe lifted off his cap for a moment, looking at the serene sky. The\nrising discontent in his brother's heart was stilled by the gesture.\nBoth worked assiduously, till Andy, with an unusual twinkle in his eyes,\nsummoned them to dinner.\n'What has the fellow been about, I wonder? I know 'twasn't respect for\nthe holiday kept him indoors all the morning.'\nIt was presently explained. Andy, ignorant of courses, dished up,\ntogether with the ham, a very fine dumpling emitting the odour of\napples.\n'Sure, as ye can't have yer own plum puddin' in this outlandish\ncounthry, ye can have a thing the same shape, anyhow. Mrs. Jackey showed\nme how to make it iligant, of the string of dried bits I had thrun in\nthe box since we kem here first. Throth an' I'm cur'ous to see did they\never swell out agin, afther the parchin' they got.'\nBut for a slightly peculiar taste in the sweet, the dumpling was\nunimpeachable.\n'I suppose Mrs. Jackey uses maple sugar in her confectionery,' said\nRobert; 'a _soup\u00e7on_ of trees runs through it.'\nLate in the evening, as the pitch-pine logs were flaring abundance of\nlight through the cabin--light upon Robert at his shingles, and upon\nArthur at his work-bench, and upon Andy shaving and packing the slips\nof white pine as fast as his master split them, with a stinging night\noutside, some twenty-five degrees below zero, and the snow crusted at\ntop hard enough to bear anything--all three raised their heads to listen\nto some approaching sound through the dead silence of the frozen air. It\nwas a very distant vagrant tinkling, as of sheep-bells on a common in\nold Europe; they looked at one another, and Andy crossed himself\nreverently.\n'Like chapel bells over the say from poor Ireland,' he muttered, and\ncrept to the door, which Robert had opened. 'Sure there isn't fairies\nall the ways out here? an' 'tis mighty like it'--\n'Hush--h--!' Andy crossed himself again as the tinkling became more\nplainly audible. A sweetly plaintive jangling it seemed--a tangled\ncareless music. Nearer, and still nearer it came.\n'What a fool I am!' exclaimed Robert; 'it must be sleigh-bells.\nTravellers, I suppose.'\nAnd before many minutes were past, the sleigh had rounded its way among\nthe stumps, over the smooth snow, to the shanty door, filled with\nbrilliant wood-light.\nCHAPTER XXIII.\n'STILL-HUNTING.'\nFrom the buffalo robes of the sleigh emerged a gentleman so wrapped\nin lynx-furs and bearskin, that, until his face stood revealed by\nthe firelight, nothing but his voice was recognisable by the Wynns.\n'Argent! is it possible?'\n'Most possible: didn't you remember that my regiment was quartered out\nhere? But I'm sure it is a very unexpected pleasure to meet you in\nthe bush, old fellow;' and they shook hands warmly again. 'For though\nI heard from my mother that you had gone to settle in Canada, she\ndidn't mention the locality, and I've been inquiring about you in all\ndirections without success, until, as good fortune would have it, I\nstopped at the odious Yankee tavern yonder this evening, and overheard a\nfellow in the bar mention your name. You may imagine I seized him, and\nascertained particulars--harnessed the sleigh again, and started off up\nhere, to ask you for a night's lodging, which means a rug before the\nfire.'\nHis servant had been unloading the sleigh of knapsacks, and rifles, and\nother hunting gear. Captain Argent gave him a few directions, and\npresently the silver-sounding bells tinkled swiftly away along the\nconcession road, and back to the 'Corner' again.\n [Illustration: STILL-HUNTING.]\n'Och sure,' quoth Andy to himself, as he witnessed from among his\nshingles the reunion of the old acquaintances, 'what a house for him to\ncome into--not as big as the butler's bedroom at Scutcheon Castle--an'\nnothin' but pork an' bear's mate to give the likes of a gran' gintleman\nlike him: I wish he'd sted at home, so I do. Oh, Misther Robert asthore,\nif I ever thought to see the family so reduced; an' sure I was hopin'\nnobody would know it but ourselves--leastways, none of the quality at\nhome.'\nAndy's soliloquy was interrupted by a summons from his master to prepare\nsupper; but the under-current of his thoughts went on as he set about\nhis cooking.\n'An' to have to be fryin' mate ondher his very nose, an' the kitchen in\nthe castle is a good quarther of a mile from the dinin' parlour, anyhow;\nan' all our chaney is made of wood, barrin' the couple of plates; an'\nour glasses is nothin' but cows' horns. An' sorra a bit of a table-cloth,\nunless I spread one of the sheets. An' to sit on shtools for want of\nchairs. An' to sleep on the flure like meself. Arrah, what brought him\nhere at all?'\nThe subject of these reflections had meanwhile lighted his silver-mounted\nmeerschaum, and was puffing contentedly in the intervals of animated\nchat, apparently quite satisfied with his position and prospective\nhardships, not giving a thought to the humble accommodations of his\nfriends' shanty; which, on the first entrance, had contracted in\nRobert's vision into a mere wood-cutter's hut, devoid of every elegance\nand most of the comforts of civilised life. He imagined that thus it\nwould be seen through Argent's eyes. But if it was so, Argent neither by\nlook nor manner gave token of the least thought of the sort.\nHe was the youngest son of a poor peer, Lord Scutcheon, living in the\nneighbourhood of Dunore; and often had the Wynns ridden with him at the\nsame meet, and shouldered fowling-pieces in the same sporting party.\n'But picking off pheasants in a preserve is tame work to the noble game\none can shoot in these forests,' said he. 'I'm bound at present on a\n\"still-hunting\" expedition; which doesn't mean looking out for illegal\ndistilleries, as it might signify in Ireland, ha, ha!'\nCaptain Argent had very high animal spirits, and a small joke sufficed\nto wake them into buoyant laughter, which was infectious by its very\nabundance.\n'Deer-stalking is the right word; I've done it in Scotland, but now I\nmean to try my hand on the moose--grandest of American ruminants. I've\nengaged an old trapper to come with me for a few days into their haunts.\nNow, 'twould be a delightful party if you two would join. What do you\nsay, Wynn? Come, lay by your axe, and recreate yourself for a week,\nman.'\nArthur looked a very decided acceptance of the proposition, but Robert\nshook his head. 'Couldn't leave the place,' said he, smiling; 'too much\nto be done.'\n'Nonsense; the trees will stand till your return, and you can't plough\nthrough four feet of snow.'\n'If I was far enough advanced to have land fit for ploughing, nothing\ncould be pleasanter than to join you, Argent; but unfortunately no end\nof trees have to be cut down, and logged in heaps for burning before\nthen. But, Arthur, wouldn't you go?'\nHis faint opposition, because he did not like to leave his brother,\nwas easily overcome. Captain Argent made another attack upon Robert's\nresolve. 'People always consider winter the time for amusement in\nCanada. Nature gives a tolerably good hint to the same effect, by\nblocking up the rivers so that ships can't sail, and snowing up the\nfarms, so that the ground isn't seen for months; and if that isn't a\nlicence for relaxation'--\n'I suspect that in the earlier stages of bush-life there are no\nholidays,' replied Robert: 'if you just reflect that everything in the\nway of civilisation has to be done afresh from the beginning pretty much\nlike living on a desert island. Now I've got a house to build by summer\ntime, and here are all the preparations towards it as yet;' and he\npointed to the shingles.\n'Why, thin, I'd like to know for what Misther Robert is dhrawin' up\nthe poverty of the family, an' makin' little of himself before the\ncaptain,' thought Andy angrily, and betraying the feeling by a bang of\nthe frying-pan as he laid it aside. 'Can't he talk to him of sojers,\nor guns, or wild bastes, or somethin' ginteel of that kind, an' not be\nmakin' a poor mouth, as if he hadn't a single hap'ny.' Andy was relieved\nwhen the conversation veered round to a consideration of Canada as\nmilitary quarters.\n'About the pleasantest going,' was the Hon. Captain Argent's opinion.\n'Of course I can't exactly make out why we're sent here, unless\nto stave off the Yankees, which it seems to me the colonists are\nsufficiently inclined and sufficiently able to do themselves; neither\ncan I imagine why Joe Hume and his school of economists submit to such\nexpense without gaining anything in return, save the honour and glory of\ncalling Canada our colony. But leaving that matter to wiser heads than\nmine, I can say for myself that I like the quarters greatly, and am\ninclined to agree with Canadian eulogists, that it is the finest country\nin the world--barring our own little islands.'\n'I don't feel, though, as if it ever could be _home_,' observed Robert,\nwho had taken to his shingles again.\n'Perhaps not; but we military men have an essentially homeless\nprofession, you know.'\n'The red-coats in Montreal and Quebec seemed a visible link with mother\ncountry, most welcome to my eyes in the new land; and so, Argent, when\nyou're commander-in-chief, do continue the regiments in Canada, for my\nsake.'\n'But, my dear fellow,' said the officer quite seriously, as he struck\nthe ashes from his pipe, 'it is waste of the most expensive manufactured\nmaterial on earth, the British soldier. When he's within reach of the\nStates, he deserts by whole pickets, ready armed and accoutred to the\nYankees' hands; I've had the pleasant job of pursuing the chaps myself,\nand being baulked by the frontier. It's the garrison duty they detest;\nand an unlimited licence beckons them over the border.'\n'And you think,' said Robert, 'the colonists are sufficiently loyal, and\nall that, to be left to themselves?'\n'I don't think they would join the States, at all events. What a horrid\nset those Yankees are! Canadians are too respectable to wish to sail in\nthe same ship with them.' This truly cogent argument was followed by\na series of profound whiffs. 'And if they did,' added Captain Argent\npresently, 'we've been building the strongest fortifications in the\nworld, spending millions at Halifax and Quebec and other places, on\nfosses and casemates, and bomb-proof towers, just for the Yankees! And\nI suppose that Barrack Hill in the middle of Bytown will be made into\nanother Acropolis for the same end.'\n'Ah,' said Robert, shaving his shingle attentively, 'so long as Canadians\nlook back to England as home, and speak of it as home, there's little\nfear of annexation or revolt. Mother country has only to keep up the\nmotherly relation, and patiently loosen the leading strings, according\nas her colonies grow able to run alone.'\n'That sentiment might fall from the lips of a Colonial Secretary in his\nplace in the Commons. By the way, did you hear that my brother Percy has\nbeen returned member for the county at home?'\n'No; we have not seen a newspaper since we left, except a shabby little\nCanadian print, which gives half a dozen lines to the English mail. Tell\nus about it, Argent. Was there a contest?'\nHow intensely interesting were the particulars, and how Robert and\nArthur did devour the ill-printed provincial news-sheet issuing from\nthe obscure Irish country town, and burning all through with political\npartisanship! Luckily Argent had the last received copy in his pocket,\nwhich detailed all the gossip of the election, with the familiar names,\nand localities of the struggle.\nLooking back half a lifetime seemed to be concentrated in the months\nsince they had left Europe. Things widely different from all past\nexperience had filled their thoughts to overflowing, and drowned out\nold sympathies, till this evening vivified them afresh. Yet Robert\nfelt, with a sort of little pain, that they must gradually die away, be\ndetached, and fall off from his life. His logs and shingles, his beaver\nmeadow and water privilege, were more to him now than all the political\nmovements which might shake Ireland to its centre.\nLong after Argent's short athletic figure, crowned with fair curls, lay\nfast asleep on his buffalo rugs, enjoying hunters' repose, the brothers\nsat talking and musing. It was not the first time that Robert had to\nreason down Arthur's restless spirit, if he could. This rencontre had\nroused it again. He was not satisfied with the monotonous life of the\nbackwoods. He envied Argent, rather, who could make pleasure his\npursuit, if he chose.\nThey set off for the hunting grounds with sunrise next morning; the\nexperienced Ina Moose, a half-bred trapper, marching in advance of the\nsledge. First, he had stored in the shanty the jingling strings of\nbells, without consulting their owner; he had a constitutional antipathy\nto noise of all sorts, and could see no especial good in warning the\ngame.\n'What an erect fellow he is, and as taciturn as a mole!' quoth the\nlively Argent. 'I hope we shall meet with some of his step-relations,\nthe Indians; I've quite a passion for savage life, that is, to look at.\nLast winter's leave I made some excursions on Lake Simcoe; the islands\nthere are all savage territory, belonging to the Ojibbeways. Poor\nfellows, they're dying out--every year becoming fewer; yet one can\ndiscern the relics of a magnificent race. Red cunning has been no match\nfor white wisdom, that's certain.'\nArthur was a willing listener to many stories about his friend's\nexcursions; and so the time was wiled away as they drove deeper into the\nrecesses of the forest, even to the extreme end of all concession lines.\nHere was Ina's wigwam, on the edge of a small pond, which was closely\nhedged in with pines. Wasting no words, he merely stepped back to\nunbuckle the shaggy pony, and at the ensuing noonday meal Arthur for the\nfirst time tasted the wilderness preserve called 'pemmican.' It was not\nunlike what housewives at home denominate 'collar,' he thought, cutting\nin compact slices of interwoven fat and lean.\n'How is it made, Argent?'\n'I believe the dried venison is pounded between stones till the fibres\nseparate, and in that powdery state is mixed with hot melted buffalo's\nfat, and sewed up in bags of skin. They say it is most nutritive--a\npound equal to four pounds of ordinary meat. A sort of concentrated\nnourishment, you see.'\n'What are those blackish things hanging up in the smoke, I wonder?'\n'Beavers' tails, captured in the creeks off the lake, I suppose; capital\nfood, tasting like bacon, but a little gristly.'\n'And does the fellow live here, all alone?' A quick and perhaps\nunfriendly glance of Ina's black eyes proved that he was not deaf,\nthough by choice dumb.\n'Well, I suppose so, this year; but he's a great rover. Was with me on\nthe Simcoe last year. I never met such a lover of the chase for its own\nsake. His forefathers' instincts are rampant in him. Ina, have we any\nchance of a moose?'\nThe trapper shook his grisly head. 'Only on the hard wood ridges all\nwinter,' he answered; 'they \"yard\" whar maples grows, for they live on\nthe tops and bark. Bariboos come down here, mostly.'\nWhat these were, Arthur had soon an opportunity of knowing. Ina kindled\ninto a different being when the hunting instinct came over him. Every\nsense was on the alert.\nThe hunters had drawn white shirts over their clothes, to disguise their\napproach through the snow from the far-seeing deer which they were to\nstalk. They proceeded some distance before meeting with game. What\nintense and inexpressible stillness through the grand woods! Arthur\nstarted, and almost exclaimed, when, from a pine tree close to him,\nissued a report sharp as a pistol shot. It was only the violent\ncontraction of the wood from the severe frost, as he knew in a moment;\nand the deer browsing yonder on branch tops never winced, though a\nwhisper or a footfall would have sent them bounding away. Presently the\ncrack of Argent's rifle was followed by the spring of a buck high into\nthe air, all four feet together, poor animal, as the death-pang pierced\nhis heart.\n'I thought I never should get fair aim, from the way he was protected\nby trees,' said the sportsman, reloading with satisfaction. 'And it's\ncruel to maim a creature, you know;' whence the reader may perceive that\nCaptain Argent was humane.\n'Holloa! what's this?' said Arthur, nearly stumbling over a pair of\nantlers.\n'Moose,' replied Ina laconically, as he glanced upwards to see whether\nthe maple twigs had been nipped short.\n'He must have been a trifle lighter for the loss of these,' observed\nArthur, lifting them. 'Nearly six feet across, and half-a-hundred\nweight, if an ounce. I'm curious to see the animal that can carry them\ncomposedly.'\n'The largest beast on the continent,' said Argent. But much as they\nsearched, the shed antlers were all they saw of moose for that day.\nCHAPTER XXIV.\nLUMBERERS.\nScene, early morning; the sun pouring clear light over the snowy world,\nand upon Captain Argent in front of the hut, just emerged from his\nblankets and rugs.\n'Why, Arthur, here's an elk walking up to the very hall door!'\nAlmost at the same minute Ina appeared among the distant trees, and\nfired. He had gone off on snow-shoes long before daybreak, to run down\nthe moose he knew to be in the neighbourhood, had wounded a fine bull,\nand driven him towards his camp.\n'Why didn't you finish him off on the spot,' asked Arthur, 'instead of\ntaking all that trouble?'\n'No cart to send for the flesh,' replied Ina significantly.\nThere might be a thousand pounds of that, covered with long coarse hair,\nand crested with the ponderous antlers. A hunch on the shoulders seemed\narranged as a cushion support to these last; and in the living specimens\nseen afterwards by Arthur, they carried the huge horns laid back\nhorizontally, as they marched at a long trot, nose in the air, and\nlarge sharp eyes looking out on all sides.\n'It was a sharp idea to make the elk his own butcher's boy,' quoth\nArgent.\nThe massive thick lips formed the 'mouffle,' prized in the wilderness as\na dainty: Arthur would have been ashamed to state his preference for a\ncivilised mutton chop. Other elks shared the fate of this first; though\nit seemed a wanton waste of nature's bounties to slay the noble animals\nmerely for their skins, noses, and tongues. Ina was callous, for he knew\nthat thus perished multitudes every year in Canada West, and thousands\nof buffaloes in the Hudson's Bay territory. Arthur could not help\nrecalling little Jay; and many a time her lesson kept his rifle silent,\nand spared a wound or a life.\nOne day, while stalking wild turkeys, creeping cautiously from tree to\ntree, an unwonted sound dissipated their calculations. Coming out on a\nridge whence the wood swept down to one of the endless ponds, they heard\ndistant noises as of men and horses drawing a heavy load.\n'Lumberers,' explained Ina, pricking his ears. He would have immediately\nturned in a contrary direction; but the prospect of seeing a new phase\nof life was a strong temptation to Captain Argent, so they went forward\ntowards a smoke that curled above a knot of pines.\nIt proceeded from the lumber shanty; a long, windowless log-hut with a\ndoor at one end, a perpetual fire in the centre, on a large open hearth\nof stones; the chimney, a hole in the roof. Along both sides and the\nfarther end was a sort of dais, or low platform of unhewn trees laid\nclose together, and supporting the 'bunks,' or general bed, of spruce\nboughs and blankets. Pots slung in the smoke and blaze were bubbling\nmerrily, under presidence of a red night-capped French Canadian, who\nacted as cook, and was as civil, after the manner of his race, as if\nthe new arrivals were expected guests.\n'Ah, bon-jour, Messieurs; vous \u00eates les bienvenus. Oui, monsieur--sans\ndoute ce sont des gens de chantier. Dey vork in forest,' he added, with\na wave of his hand--plunging into English. 'Nous sommes tous les gens de\nchantier--vat you call hommes de lumbare: mais pour moi, je suis chef\nde cuisine pour le pr\u00e9sent:' and a conversation ensued with Argent,\nin which Arthur made out little more than an occasional word of the\nCanadian's--with ease when it was so Anglican as 'le foreman.'\n'What a good-looking, merry-faced chap he is!' observed Arthur, when the\nred nightcap had been pulled off in an obeisance of adieu, as they went\nto seek for the others, and witness their disforesting operations.\n'French Canadians are generally the personifications of good humour and\nliveliness,' returned Argent; 'the pleasantest possible servants and the\nbest voyagers. Listen to him now, carolling a \"chanson\" as he manages\nhis smutty cookery. That's the way they sing at everything.'\n'So the lumberers have a foreman?'\n'Curious how the French can't invent words expressive of such things,\nbut must adopt ours. He tells me \"le foreman's\" duty is to distribute\nthe work properly, allotting to each gang its portion; and also to make\na report of conduct to the overseer at the end of the season, for which\npurpose he keeps a journal of events. I had no idea there was so much\norganization among them; and it seems the gangs have regular duties--one\nto fell, one to hew, one to draw to the water's edge with oxen; and each\ngang has a headman directing its labours.'\nNearing the sound of the axes, they came to where a group of lumber-men\nwere cutting down some tall spruce-firs, having first laid across over\nthe snow a series of logs, called 'bedding timbers,' in the line that\neach tree would fall. One giant pine slowly swayed downwards, and\nfinally crashed its full length on the prepared sleepers, just as the\nstrangers approached. Immediately on its fall, the 'liner' commenced to\nchop away the bark for a few inches wide all along the trunk, before\nmarking with charcoal where the axes were to hew, in squaring the\ntimber; meantime another man was lopping the top off the tree, and\na third cutting a sort of rough mortise-hole at the base, which he\nafterwards repeated at the upper end.\nSo busy were the whole party, that the hewer, a genuine Paddy, who stood\nleaning on his broad axe until the timber was ready for him, was the\nfirst to raise his eyes and notice the new-comers. Arthur asked him what\nthe holes were for.\n'Why, then, to raft the trees together when we get 'em into the water,'\nwas his reply; and in the same breath he jumped on to the trunk, and\ncommenced to notch with his axe as fast as possible along the sides,\nabout two feet apart. Another of his gang followed, splitting off the\nblocks between the deep notches into the line mark. And this operation,\nrepeated for the four sides, squared the pine into such a beam as we\nsee piled in our English timber yards.\nWhat was Arthur's surprise to recognise, in the mass of lumberers\ngathered round a huge mast, the Milesian countenance of Murty Keefe, a\ndiscontented emigrant with whom he had picked up a casual acquaintance\non the steamboat which took him to Montreal. He was dressing away the\nknots near the top with his axe, as though he had been used to the\nimplement all his life. When, after infinite trouble and shouting in all\ntongues, the half-dozen span of strong patient oxen were set in motion,\ndragging the seventy-feet length of timber along the snow towards the\nlake, Arthur contrived to get near enough to his countryman for audible\nspeech. Murty's exaggerated expectations had suffered a grievous eclipse;\nstill, if he became an expert hewer, he might look forward to earning\nmore than a curate's salary by his axe. And they were well fed: he had\nmore meat in a week now than in a twelvemonth in Ireland. He was one of\nhalf-a-dozen Irishmen in this lumberers' party of French Canadians,\nheaded by a Scotch foreman; for through Canada, where address and\nadministrative ability are required, it is found that Scotchmen work\nthemselves into the highest posts.\nDuring the rude but abundant dinner which followed, this head of the\ngang gave Argent some further bits of information about the lumber\ntrade.\n'We don't go about at random, and fell trees where we like,' said he.\n'We've got a double tax to pay: first, ground rent per acre per annum\nfor a licence, and then a duty of a cent for every cubic foot of timber\nwe bring to market. Then, lest we should take land and not work it, we\nare compelled to produce a certain quantity of wood from every acre of\nforest we rent, under pain of forfeiting our licence.'\n'And will you not have it all cut down some day? Then what is the\ncountry to do for fuel and the world for ships?'\nThe foreman rubbed his rusty beard with a laugh.\n'There's hundreds of years of lumbering in the Bytown district alone,'\nsaid he; 'why, sir, it alone comprehends sixty thousand square miles of\nforest.'\nCHAPTER XXV.\nCHILDREN OF THE FOREST.\nThere could hardly be a wider contrast than between Captain Argent's\nusual dinner at his regimental mess, and that of which he now partook in\nthe lumbermen's shanty. Tables and chairs were as unknown as forks and\ndishes among the _gens de chantier_; a large pot of tea, dipped into by\neverybody's pannikin, served for beer and wine; pork was the _pi\u00e8ce de\nr\u00e9sistance_, and tobacco-smoking the dessert; during all of which a\nBabel of tongues went on in French patois, intermingled with an\noccasional remark in Irish or Scottish brogue.\n'Your men seem to be temperance folk,' observed Argent to the foreman.\n'Weel, they must be,' was the laconic reply. 'We've no stores where they\ncould get brandy-smash in the bush, and it's so much the better for\nthem, or I daursay they wad want prisons and juries next. As it is,\nthey're weel behaved lads eneugh.'\n'I'm sure it must be good in a moral point of view; but do you find them\nequal to as much work as if they had beer or spirits?' asked Captain\nArgent. 'And lumbering seems to me to be particularly laborious.'\n'Weel, there's a fact I'll mak a present to the teetotallers,' answered\nthe foreman. 'Our lumberers get nothing in the way of stimulant, and\nthey don't seem to want it. When I came fresh from the auld country, I\ncouldna hardly b'lieve that.'\n'Au large, au large!'\nAt this word of command all hands turned out of the shanty, and went\nback to work in their several gangs. Again the fellers attacked the\nhugest pines; the hewers sprang upon the fallen, lining and squaring\nthe living trees into dead beams; and the teamsters yoked afresh their\npatient oxen, fitting upon each massive throat the heavy wooden collar,\nand attaching to chains the ponderous log which should be moved towards\nthe water highway.\nArgent and Arthur found themselves presently at the foot of a colossal\nWeymouth or white pine, the trunk and top of which were almost as\ndisproportionate as a pillar supporting a paint-brush, but which the\nScottish foreman admired enthusiastically, considering it in the\nabstract as 'a stick,' and with reference to its future career in the\nshape of a mast. All due preparation had been made for its reception\nupon level earth; a road twenty feet wide cut through the forest, that\nit and half-a-dozen brother pines of like calibre in the neighbourhood\nmight travel easily and safely to the water's edge; and forty yards of\nbedding timbers lay a ready-made couch, for its great length.\n'I daursay now, that stick's standing aboot a thousand years: I've\ncounted fourteen hunder rings in the wood of a pine no much bigger. Ou,\n'twill mak a gran' mast for a seventy-four--nigh a hunder feet lang,\nand as straight as a rod.'\nStripping off the bark and dressing the knots was the next work, which\nwould complete its readiness for Devonport dockyards, or perchance for\nthe Cherbourg shipwrights. During this operation the foreman made an\nexcursion to visit his other gangs, and then took his visitors a little\naside into the woods to view what he termed a 'regular take-in.' It was\na group of fine-looking pines, wearing all the outward semblance of\nhealth, but when examined, proving mere tubes of bark, charred and\nblackened within, and ragged along the seam where the fire had burst\nout.\n'How extraordinary!' said Argent. 'Why were they not burned equally\nthrough?'\n'I hae been thinkin' the fire caught them in the spring, when the sap\nrins strong; so the sap-wood saved thae shells, to misguide the puir\naxmen. I thought I had a fair couple o' cribs o' lumber a' ready to\nhand, when I spied the holes, and found my fine pines naething but empty\npipes.'\nHe had been fashioning two saplings into strong handspikes, and now\noffered one each to the gentlemen. 'Ye'll not be too proud to bear a\nhand wi' the mast aboon: it'll be a kittle job lugging it to the pond;\nso just lend us a shove now and then.'\nThe great mass was at last got into motion, by a difficult concerted\nstarting of all the oxen at the same moment.\nRound the brilliant log fire, while pannikins of tea circulated, and\nsome flakes of the falling snow outside came fluttering down into the\nblaze, the lumberers lay on their bunks, or sat on blocks, talking,\nsleeping, singing, as the mood moved. French Canadians are native-born\nsongsters; and their simple ballad melodies, full of _r\u00e9frain_ and\nrepetition, sounded very pleasing even to Argent's amateur ears.\n'I can imagine that this shanty life must be pleasant enough,' said\nArgent, rolling himself in his buffalo robe preparatory to sleep by the\nfire.\n'I'll just tell ye what it is,' returned the foreman; 'nane that has\ngane lumbering can tak' kindly to ony ither calling. They hae caught\nthe wandering instinct, and the free life o' the woods becomes a\nneedcessity, if I might say sae. D'ye ken the greatest trouble I find\nin towns? Trying to sleep on a civilised bed. I canna do't, that's the\nfact; nor be sitting to civilised dinners, whar the misguided folk spend\nthrice the time that's needfu', fiddling with a fork an' spune. I like\nto eat an' be done wi' it.'\nWhich little social trait was of a piece with Mr. Foreman's energy and\npromptness in all the circumstances of life. In a very few minutes from\nthe aforesaid speech he was sound asleep, for he was determined to waste\nno time in accomplishing that either.\nArgent and Arthur left this wood-cutting polity next morning, and\nworked, or rather hunted their way back to the settled districts. The\nformer stayed for another idle week at Cedar Creek; and then the\nbrothers were again alone, to pursue their strife with the forest.\nIt went on, with varying success, till 'the moon of the snow crust,' as\nthe Ojibbeways poetically style March. A chaos of fallen trunks and\npiled logs lay for twenty-five acres about the little shanty; Robert\nwas beginning to understand why the French Canadians called a cleared\npatch 'un d\u00e9sert,' for beyond doubt the axe had a desolating result, in\nits present stage.\n'Why, then, Masther Robert, there's one thing I wanted to ax you,' said\nAndy, resting a moment from his chopping: 'it's goin' on four months now\nsince we see a speck of green, an' will the snow ever be off the ground\nagin, at all, at all?'\n'You see the sun is only just getting power enough to melt,' returned\nhis master, tracing with his axe-head a furrow in the thawing surface.\n'But, sure, if it always freezes up tight agin every evenin', that\nlittle taste of meltin' won't do much good,' observed Andy. 'Throth,\nI'm fairly longin' to see that lake turn into wather, instead ov bein'\nas hard as iron. Sure the fish must all be smothered long ago, the\ncrathurs, in prison down there.'\n'Well, Andy, I hope they'll be liberated next month. Meanwhile the ice\nis a splendid high road. Look there.'\nFrom behind a wooded promontory, stretching far into the lake, at the\ndistance of about half a mile from where they were chopping, emerged the\nfigure of a very tall Indian, wrapped in a dark blanket and carrying a\ngun. After him, in the stately Indian file, marched two youths, also\narmed; then appeared a birchen traineau, drawn by the squaw who had\nthe honour of being wife and mother respectively to the preceding\ncopper-coloured men, and who therefore was constituted their beast of\nburden. A girl and a child--future squaws--shared the toil of pulling\nalong the family chattels, unaided by the stalwart lords of the creation\nstalking in front.\n'Why, thin, never welcome their impidence, an' to lave the poor women\nto do all the hard work, an' they marchin' out forenenst 'em like three\nimages, so stiff an' so sthraight, an' never spakin' a word. I'm afeard\nit's here they're comin.' An' I give ye my word she has a child on her\nback, tied to a boord; no wondher for 'em to be as stiff as a tongs whin\nthey grows up, since the babies is rared in that way.'\nNot seeming to heed the white men, the Indians turned into a little\ncove at a short distance, and stepped ashore. The woman-kind followed,\npulling their traineau with difficulty over the roughnesses of the\nlanding place; while husband and sons looked on tranquilly, and smoked\n'kinne-kanik' in short stone pipes. The elderly squaw deposited her baby\non the snow, and also comforted herself with a whiff; certain vernacular\nconversation ensued between her and her daughters, apparently about the\nplace of their camp, and the younger ones set to work clearing a patch\nof ground under some birch trees. Mrs. Squaw now drew forth a hatchet\nfrom her loaded sledge, and chopped down a few saplings, which were\nfixed firmly in the earth again a few yards off, so as to make an oval\nenclosure by the help of trees already standing.\n'Throth an' I'll go an' help her,' quoth good-natured Andy, whose native\ngallantry would not permit him to witness a woman's toil without trying\nto lighten it. 'Of all the ould lazy-boots I ever see, ye're the biggest,'\napostrophizing the silent stoical Indians as he passed where they\nlounged; 'ye've a good right to be ashamed of yerselves, so ye have,\nfor a set of idle spalpeens.'\nThe eldest of the trio removed his pipe for an instant and uttered the\ntwo words--'I savage.' Andy's rhetoric had been totally incomprehensible.\n'Why, then, ye needn't tell me ye're a savidge: it's as plain as a\npikestaff. What'll I do with this stick, did ye say, ma'am? Oh, surra\nbit o' me knows a word she's sayin', though it's mighty like the Irish\nof a Connaught man. I wondher what it is she's tryin' to make; it\nresimbles the beginnin' of a big basket at present, an' meself standin'\nin the inside of the bottom. I can't be far asthray if I dhrive down the\nthree where there's a gap. I don't see how they're to make a roof, an'\nthis isn't a counthry where I'd exactly like to do 'athout one. Now\nshe's fastenin' down the branches round, stickin' 'em in the earth, an'\ntyin' 'em together wid cord. It's the droll cord, never see a rope-walk\nanyhow.'\nCertainly not; for it was the tough bast of the Canadian cedar,\nmanufactured in large quantities by the Indian women, twisted into all\ndimensions of cord, from thin twine to cables many fathoms long; used\nfor snares, fishing nets, and every species of stitching. Mrs. Squaw,\nlike a provident housekeeper, had whole balls of it in her traineau\nready for use; also rolls of birch-bark, which, when the skeleton wigwam\nwas quite ship-shape, and well interlaced with crossbars of supple\nboughs, she began to wrap round in the fashion of a covering skirt.\nHad crinoline been in vogue in the year 1851, Robert would have found\na parallel before his eyes, in these birch-bark flounces arranged\nover a sustaining framework, in four successive falls, narrowing in\ncircumference as they neared the top, where a knot of bast tied the\narching timbers together. He was interested in the examination of\nthese forest tent cloths, and found each roll composed of six or seven\nquadrangular bits of bark, about a yard square apiece, sewed into a\nstrip, and having a lath stitched into each end, after the manner in\nwhich we civilised people use rollers for a map. The erection was\ncompleted by the casting across several strings of bast, weighted at\nthe ends with stones, which kept all steady.\nThe male Indians now vouchsafed to take possession of the wigwam.\nSolemnly stalking up to Andy, the chief of the party offered his pipe to\nhim for a puff.\n'Musha thin, thank ye kindly, an' I'm glad to see ye've some notions o'\nciviltude, though ye do work the wife harder than is dacent.' But after\na single 'draw,' Andy took the pipe in his fingers and looked curiously\ninto its bowl. 'It's the quarest tobacco I ever tasted,' he observed:\n'throth if I don't think it's nothin' but chips o' bark an' dead leaves.\nHere 'tis back for you, sir; it don't shute my fancy, not bein' an\nIndjin yet, though I dunno what I mightn't come to.' The pipe was\nreceived with the deepest gravity.\nNo outward sign had testified surprise or any other emotion, at the\ndiscovery that white men had settled close to their 'sugar-bush,' and\nof course become joint proprietors. The inscrutable sphinx-like calm of\nthese countenances, the strangeness of this savage life, detained Robert\nmost of the afternoon as by a sort of fascination. Andy's wrath at the\nmale indolence was renewed by finding that the squaw and her girls had\nto cut and carry all the firewood needful: even the child of seven years\nold worked hard at bringing in logs to the wigwam. He was unaware that\nthe Indian women hold labour to be their special prerogative; that this\nvery squaw despised him for the help he rendered her; and that the\nobservation in her own tongue, which was emphasized by an approving\ngrunt from her husband, was a sarcasm levelled at the inferiority and\nmean-spiritedness of the white man, as exemplified in Andy's person.\nOne of the young fellows, who had dived into the forest an hour before,\nreturned with spoil in the shape of a skunk, which the ever-industrious\nsquaw set about preparing for the evening meal. The fearful odour of the\nanimal appeared unnoticed by the Indians, but was found so hateful by\nRobert and his Irish squire, that they left the place immediately.\nCHAPTER XXVI.\nON A SWEET SUBJECT.\nThis Indian family was only the precursor of half a dozen others, who\nalso established 'camps,' preparatory to their great work of tapping the\nmaple trees. The Wynns found them inoffensive neighbours, and made out a\ngood deal of amusement in watching their ways.\n'I'd clear 'em out of that in no time,' said Zack Bunting, 'if the land\nwere mine. Indians hain't no rights, bein' savages. I guess they darsn't\ncome nigh my farm down the pond--they'd be apt to cotch it right slick,\nI tell you. They tried to pull the wool over my eyes in the beginnin',\nan' wanted to be tappin' in my bush as usual, but Zack Buntin' warn't\nthe soft-headed goney to give in, I tell you. So they vamosed arter jest\nseein' my double-barrel, an' they hain't tried it on since. They know'd\nI warn't no doughface.'\n'Well, I mean to let them manufacture as much sugar as they want,' said\nRobert; 'there's plenty for both them and me.'\n'Rights is rights,' returned Zack, 'as I'd soon show the varmints if\nthey dar'st come near me. But your Britisher Government has sot 'em\nup altogether, by makin' treaties with 'em, an' givin' 'em money, an'\nbuyin' lands from 'em, instead of kickin' 'em out as an everlastin'\nnuisance.'\n'You forget that they originally owned the whole continent, and in\ncommon justice should have the means of livelihood given to them now,'\nsaid Robert. 'It is not likely they'll trouble the white man long.'\n'I see yer makin' troughs for the sap,' observed Zack. 'What on airth,\nyou ain't never hewin' 'em from basswood?'\n'Why not?'\n''Cos 'twill leak every single drop. Yer troughs must be white pine or\nblack ash; an' as ye'll want to fix fifty or sixty on 'em at all events,\nthat half-dozen ain't much of a loss.'\n'Couldn't they be made serviceable anyhow?' asked Robert, unwilling\nquite to lose the labour of his hands.\n'Wal, you might burn the inside to make the grain closer: I've heerd\ntell on that dodge. If you warn't so far from the \"Corner,\" we could fix\nour sugar together, an' make but one bilin' of it, for you'll want a\nteam, an' you don't know nothin' about maples.' Zack's eyes were askance\nupon Robert. 'We might 'most as well go shares--you give the sap, an' I\nthe labour,' he added. 'I'll jest bring up the potash kettle on the sled\na Monday, an' we'll spill the trees. You cut a hundred little spouts\nlike this: an' have you an auger? There now, I guess that's fixed.'\nBut he turned back after a few yards to say--'Since yer hand's in, you\n'most might jest as well fix a score troughs for me, in case some o'\nmine are leaked:' and away he went.\n'That old sharper will be sure to have the best of the bargain,' thought\nRobert. 'It's just his knowledge pitted against my inexperience. One\nsatisfaction is that I am learning every day.' And he went on with his\ntroughs and spouts until near sundown, when he and Arthur went to look\nat the Indian encampment, and see what progress was being made there.\n'I can't imagine,' said the latter, 'why the tree which produces only a\nwatery juice in Europe should produce a diluted syrup in Canada.'\n'Holt said something of the heat of the March sun setting the sap in\nmotion, and making it sweet. You feel how burning the noon is, these\ndays.'\n'That's a statement of a fact, but not an explanation,' said the\ncavilling Arthur. 'Why should a hot sun put sugar in the sap?'\nRobert had no answer, nor has philosophy either.\nThe Indians had already tapped their trees, and placed underneath each\norifice a sort of rough bowl, for catching the precious juice as it\ntrickled along a stick inserted to guide its flow. These bowls, made of\nthe semicircular excrescences on a species of maple, serve various uses\nin the cooking line, in a squaw's m\u00e9nage, along with basins and boxes of\nthe universally useful birchen bark. When the sap has been boiled down\ninto syrup, and clarified, it is again transferred to them to\ncrystallize, and become solid in their keeping.\nAn Indian girl was making what is called gum-sugar, near the kettles:\ncutting moulds of various shapes in the snow, and dropping therein small\nquantities of the boiling molasses, which cooled rapidly into a tough\nyellowish substance, which could be drawn out with the fingers like\ntoffy. Arthur much approved of the specimen he tasted; and without doubt\nthe sugar-making was a sweetmeat saturnalia for all the 'papooses' in\nthe camp. They sat about on the snow in various attitudes, consuming\nwhole handfuls and cakes of the hot sweet stuff, with rather more\ngravity, but quite as much relish, as English children would display if\ngifted with the run of a comfit establishment.\n'Did you ever see anything like their solemnity, the young monkeys!'\nsaid Arthur. 'Certainly the risible faculties were left out in the\ncomposition of the Indian. I wonder whether they know how to laugh if\nthey tried?'\n'Do you know,' said Robert, 'Holt says that Indian mythology has a sort\nof Prometheus, one Menabojo, who conferred useful arts upon men; amongst\nothers, this art of making maple-sugar; also canoe-building, fishing,\nand hunting.'\n'A valuable and original genius,' rejoined Arthur; 'but I wonder what\neverybody could have been doing before his advent, without those sources\nof occupation.'\nZack and his team arrived two mornings subsequently.\n'Wal, Robert, I hope you've been a clearin' yer sugar-bush, an' choppin'\nyer firewood, all ready. Last night was sharp frosty, an' the sun's\nglorious bright to-day--the wind west, too. I hain't seen a better day\nfor a good run o' sap this season. Jump on the sled, Arthur--there's\nroom by the troughs.'\n'No, thank you,' said the young man haughtily, marching on before with\nhis auger. He detested Zack's familiar manner, and could hardly avoid\nresenting it.\n'We're worth some punkins this mornin', I guess,' observed Zack,\nglancing after him. 'He'll run his auger down instead of up, out\no' pure Britisher pride an' contrariness, if we don't overtake him.'\nArthur was just applying the tool to the first tree, when he heard\nZack's shout.\n'The sunny side! Fix yer spile the sunny side, you goney.'\nWhich term of contempt did not contribute to Arthur's good humour. He\npersisted in continuing this bore where he had begun; and one result was\nthat, at the close of the day, the trough underneath did not contain by\na third as much as those situate on the south side of the trees.\n'It ain't no matter o' use to tap maples less than a foot across. They\nhain't no sugar in 'em,' said Zack, among his other practical hints.\n'The older the tree, the richer the sap. This 'ere sugar bush is as fine\nas I'd wish to tap: mostly hard maple, an' the right age. Soft maple\ndon't make nothing but molasses, hardly--them with whitish skin; so you\nare safe to chop 'em down.'\nThe little hollow spouts drained, and the seventy troughs slowly filled,\nall that livelong day in the sunny air; until freezing night came down,\nand the chilled sap shrank back, waiting for persuasive sunbeams to draw\nits sweetness forth again. Zack came round with his team next afternoon,\nemptied all the troughs into one big barrel on his sled, and further\nemptied the barrel into the huge kettle and pot which were swung over a\nfire near the shanty, and which he superintended with great devotion\nfor some time.\n'I could not have believed that the trees could spare so much juice,'\nobserved Robert. 'Are they injured by it, Bunting?'\n'I ha' known a single maple yield a matter o' fifty gallons, an' that\nnot so big a one neither,' was the reply. 'An' what's more, they grow\nthe better for the bleedin'. I guess you hadn't none of this sort o'\nsugar to hum in England?'\n'Not a grain: all cane sugar imported.'\n'Wal, you Britishers must be everlastin' rich,' was Zack's reply. 'An'\nI reckon you don't never barter, but pays hard cash down? I wish I'd\na good store somewhar in your country, Robert: I guess I'd turn a\nprofit.'\nCHAPTER XXVII.\nA BUSY BEE.\n'We'd ha' best sugar off the whole lot _al_together,' Zack had said,\nand being the only one of the makers who knew anything about the\nmanufacture, he was permitted to prescribe the procedure. The dark\namber-coloured molasses had stood and settled for some days in deep\nwooden troughs, before his other avocations, of farmer and general\nstorekeeper at the 'Corner,' allowed him to come up to the Cedars and\ngive the finishing touch.\nA breathless young Bunting--familiarly known as Ged, and the veriest\nminiature of his father--burst into the shanty one day during dinner--a\nusual visiting hour for members of his family.\n'Well, Ged, what do you want?'\n'Uncle Zack'll be here first thing in the mornin' to sugar the syrup,\nand he says yo're to have a powerful lot o' logs ready chopped for the\nfires,' was the message. 'I guess I thought I'd be late for dinner,'\nthe boy added, with a sort of chuckle, 'but I ain't;' and he winked\nknowingly.\n'Well,' observed Arthur, laughing, 'you Yankees beat all the world for\ncool impudence.'\n'I rayther guess we do, an' fur most things else teu,' was the lad's\nreply, with his eyes fixed on the trencher of bear's meat which Andy\nwas serving up for him. 'Don't you be sparing of the pritters--I'm\nrael hungry:' and with his national celerity, the viands disappeared.\nWhen the meal was ended, Robert, as always, returned thanks to God for\nHis mercies, in a few reverent words. The boy stared.\n'I guess I hain't never heerd the like of that 'afore,' he remarked.\n'Sure, God ain't nowhar hereabouts?'\nRobert was surprised to find how totally ignorant he was of the very\nrudiments of the Christian faith. The name of God had reached his ear\nchiefly in oaths; heaven and hell were words with little meaning to his\ndarkened mind.\n'I thought a Methodist minister preached in your father's big room once\nor twice a year,' observed Robert, after some conversation.\n'So he do; but I guess we boys makes tracks for the woods; an' besides,\nthere ain't no room for us nowhar,' said Ged.\nHere I may just be permitted to indicate the wide and promising field\nfor missionary labour that lies open in Canada West. No fetters of a\nforeign tongue need cramp the ardent thought of the evangelist, but in\nhis native English he may tell the story of salvation through a land\nlarge as half a dozen European kingdoms, where thousands of his brethren\naccording to the flesh are perishing for want of knowledge. A few stray\nMethodists alone have pushed into the moral wilderness of the backwoods;\nand what are they among so many? Look at the masses of lumberers: it is\ncomputed that on the Ottawa and its tributaries alone they number thirty\nthousand men; spending their Sabbaths, as a late observer has told us,\nin mending their clothes and tools, smoking and sleeping, and utterly\nwithout religion. Why should not the gospel be preached to these our\nbrothers, and souls won for Christ from among them?\nAnd in outlying germs of settlements like the 'Corner,' which are the\ncentre of districts of sparse population, such ignorance as this of\nyoung Bunting's, though rare elsewhere in Canada or the States, is far\nfrom uncommon among the rising generation.\nZack arrived with the ox-sled at the time appointed, and Ged perched on\nit.\n'Just look at the pile of vessels the fellow has brought to carry away\nhis share of the molasses and sugar,' said Arthur, as the clumsy vehicle\ncame lumbering up. ''Twas a great stroke of business to give us all the\ntrouble, and take all the advantage to himself--our trees, our fires,\nnothing but the use of his oxen as a set-off.'\nThe advantage was less than Arthur supposed; for maples are not\nimpoverished by drainage of sap, and firewood is so abundant as to\nbe a nuisance. But for Zack's innate love of even the semblance of\noverreaching, he might have discerned that his gain in this transaction\nwas hardly worth the pains.\n'Wal, Robert, you ha' poured off the molasses into the kettles; an' now\nfur the clarifyin'. I knowed as how ye had nothen' fit--milk, nor calf's\nblood, nor eggs, nor nothen'--so I brought up the eggs, an' when we're\nsettlin' shares they kin be considered.'\n'The old sharper!' muttered Arthur.\n'I'm afeerd like they're beat up already,' said Mr. Bunting, picking\nthem gingerly out of his pockets, 'though I made Ged drive a purpose.\nBut that near ox has a trick of stickin' over stumps, an' I had obliged\nto cut a handspike to him. I declar' if they ain't all whole arter all,\n'cept one.' He smashed them into a wooden bowl half full of molasses,\nand beat them up with a chip, then emptied the contents into the kettles,\nstirring well. Hung over a slow fire, from a pole resting on two notched\nposts, the slight simmering sound soon began; and on the top of the\nheated fluid gathered a scum, which Zack removed. After some repetitions\nof this skimming, and when the molasses looked bright and clear, Mr.\nBunting asked for a bit of fat bacon.\n'Which can be considered when we're dividing shares,' said Arthur,\nhanding it to him a few minutes afterwards. A glance was Zack's reply,\nas he strung the bacon on a cord, and hung it below the rim, within two\ninches of the boiling surface.\n'Indeed,' quoth Robert, looking on at the operation of this expedient\nfor preventing the spilling over of the molasses, 'I wonder some cleaner\nmode of keeping the boiling within bounds has not been invented.'\n'The Scotchman Davidson cools with a run of cold sap, out of a little\nspout an' a keg; but them notions don't suit me nohow; the bit o' bacon\nfixes it jest as right. By the way, did you hear that his farm is took?\nBy a Britisher gentleman--I'm told an officer, too; I guess he'll want\nto back out o' the bush faster than he got in, ef he's like the most\nof 'em. I know'd some o' the sort, an' they never did a cent's worth o'\ngood, hardly, though they was above bein' spoke to. 'Tain't a location\nfor soft hands an' handsome clothes, I guess; an' I declar ef I don't\nthink I ever saw gentlemen Britishers git along so remarkably smart as\nyerselves: but ye hain't been above work, that's a fact.'\nThe Wynns were glad enough of the prospect of a new neighbour of the\neducated class; for, more than once or twice, the total absence of\ncongenial society in any sense of the word had been felt as a minor\nprivation. Robert foresaw that when with future years came improved\nmeans and enlarged leisure, this need would be greater. Zack thought\nthe new settlers ought to try and arrive before spring thaw.\n'Yer own logging-bee might be 'bout that time, Robert,' he observed,\nwhile he narrowly watched his kettles and their incipient sugar. 'The\nfallow looks ready for burnin', I guess.'\n'Yes, 'tis nearly all chopped and piled; but I'm more anxious to have\na raising-bee for my new house. The logging can wait for a couple of\nmonths, Davidson tells me.'\n'Wal, you'll want considerable of whisky for the teu,' observed Zack\nbriskly; 'all the \"Corner\" 'll be sure to come, an' raise yer house off\nthe ground right slick at onst. A frame-house, I calc'late?'\n'Clapboarded and painted, if I can, Mr. Bunting.'\n'Now I don't want ever to hear of no better luck than I had in gittin'\nthat consignment of ile an' white lead t'other day. Jest the very thing\nfur you, I guess!'\nRobert did not seem similarly struck by the coincidence.\n'Any one but Zack would have melted away long ago over that roaring\nfire,' said Arthur some time afterwards, withdrawing from his kettle to\nfan himself. 'Being a tall bag of bones, I suppose he can't dissolve\nreadily. What's he going to do now, I wonder?'\nMr. Bunting had chipped a thin piece of wood from one of the fire logs,\nand wrought through it a narrow hole, inch long; this he dipped in the\nseething molasses, and drew it forth filled with a thin film, which he\nblew out with his breath into a long bubble of some tenacity.\n'Thar! 'tis sugared at last,' said he, jerking aside the chip; 'an' now\nfur the pans.'\nBy a remarkable clairvoyance, just at this juncture various younger\nmembers of the Bunting family made their appearance in the sugar-bush;\nand as fast as Uncle Zack poured forth the sweet stuff into the tins\nand shallow wooden vessels placed to receive it, did half-a-dozen\npilfering hands abstract portions to dip in the snow and devour. Zack's\nremonstrances and threats were of no avail, and whenever he made a dash\ntowards them, they dispersed in all directions 'quick as wink.'\n'Ef I ketch you, Ged, you'll know the defference of grabbin' a pound out\nof this 'ere tin, I guess, you young varmint!'\n''Taint so kinder aisy to catch a 'coon, Uncle Zack,' was the lad's\nrejoinder from the fork of a birch where he had taken refuge, and sucked\nhis stolen goods at ease. Similar raids harassed the long line of cooling\ntins, and not all the efforts of the sugar-makers at mounting guard\ncould protect them, until the guerilla corps of youngsters became in\nsome degree surfeited, and slid away through the woods as they had come.\nMeanwhile, the best part of a stone of the manufacture had vanished.\n'Them are spry chaps, I reckon,' was the parent's reflection, with some\npride in their successful free-booting, though he had opposed its\ndetails.\n'I would teach them to be honest, Mr. Bunting;' which speech only evoked\na laugh.\n'Now I guess you're riled 'cos they ran away with yer sugar, jest as ef\n'twarn't more mine than yourn.'\nThis was unpromising as portended the division into shares, wherein\nRobert was overreached, as he knew he should be; but he comforted\nhimself by the reflection that next year he should be able to do without\nhis odious assistant, and that for this summer he had housekeeping-sugar\nenough. He utterly refused to enter into any coalition for the making of\nvinegar or beer. Towards the close of the sap season he tapped a yellow\nbirch, by his Scotch neighbour's advice, drew from it thirty gallons in\nthree days, boiled down that quantity into ten gallons, and set it to\nferment in a sunny place, with a little potato yeast as the exciting\ncause. Of course the result was immensely too much vinegar for any\npossible household needs, considering that not even a cucumber bed\nwas as yet laid out in the embryo garden.\nBut now April, 'the moon for breaking the snow-shoes,' in Ojibbeway\nparlance, was advancing; patches of brown ground began to appear under\nthe hot sunlight, oozy and sloppy until the two-feet depth of frost was\ngradually exhaled. The dwellers in the shanty had almost forgotten the\nlook of the world in colours, for so many months had it slept in white\narray. Robert could have kissed the earliest knot of red and blue\nhepaticas which bloomed at the base of a log-heap. But he looked\nin vain for that eldest child of an English spring, 'the wee modest\ncrimson-tipped' daisy, or for the meek nestling primrose among the\nmoss. And from the heaven's blue lift no music of larks poured down;\nno twitter of the chaffinch or whistle of the thrush echoed from the\ngreening woods. Robert thought the blue-bird's voice a poor apology for\nhis native songsters.\nHe had, indeed, little time for any reflections unconnected with hard\nwork. The cedar swamp was shrinking before his axe, and yielding its\nfragrant timbers for the future house. From early morning till late at\nnight the three men never ceased labour except for short meals; having,\nas their object and reward, the comfort of those dear ones who would\narrive in July or August at farthest.\nThe existing shanty was to be retained as kitchen, and a little room\ncould be railed off the end as a place for stores. Four apartments\nwould constitute the new house, one of them to be a sitting room for\nthe mother and Linda. How easy to build and furnish in fancy; how\ndifficult in fact! Yet the raising-bee accomplished a great deal, though\nthe Yankee storekeeper was discomfited to find that Davidson of Daisy\nBurn had undertaken the guidance of the hive; he sulked somewhat in\nconsequence, and also because the consumption of spirits was not, as he\nhad contemplated, to intoxication. Robert was backed by his sturdy\nScottish neighbour in that resolve; and the more sensible of the workers\ncould not but approve.\nFour walls and roof were put together by the joint-stock labour of the\nday. Standing in the vacant doorway, Robert looked over the moonlit view\nof woods and islanded lake well pleased.\nCHAPTER XXVIII.\nOLD FACES UPON NEW NEIGHBOURS.\nNow, while Arthur devoted himself chiefly to the interior carpentering,\nRobert burned and cleared a patch of fallow to be a garden. Their good\nfriend Hiram Holt, among his other useful gifts, had sent with them in\nthe waggon a stock of young apple trees, which had lain all winter half\nburied in a corner of the hut, to be grubbed up in spring and planted\nout in rows four rods apart. Beds of potatoes and turnips, set at the\nedges with pumpkin seeds and squares of Indian corn, filled the garden\nspace in an orderly manner before the end of May; then rail fences\nsprang up about it, and the first bit of forest was fairly reclaimed.\nDuring breakfast one morning, Andy rushed in, proclaiming that a raft\nwas in sight on the lake, 'one 'most as big as a five-acre field,' he\nsaid. This proved rather an imaginative description on Andy's part, like\nmany other of his verbal sketches; for the raft was infantine compared\nwith its congeners of the great lake and the St. Lawrence. A couple\nof bonds lashed together--that was all; and a bond containeth twenty\ncribs, and a crib containeth a variable amount of beams, according to\nlumberers' arithmetical tables. Arthur recognised his acquaintance,\nthe Scotch foreman, pacing the deck; he hailed the unwieldy craft,\nand shipped himself aboard for a voyage to the 'Corner,' where he had\nbusiness at the store.\n'Wid a horn in front, an' a tail behind, there it goes,' observed Andy,\nin allusion to the long oars projecting from rowlocks at each end. 'An'\nnow, Masther Robert, what'll become o' that in the rapids below the\nsawmill? Sure 'twill be batthered in pieces, an' the water so mighty\ncoorse intirely there; enough to make chaneys of any raft.'\n''Twill be taken asunder, and the cribs sent down separately over the\nfalls,' replied Mr. Wynn.\nArthur saw the operation by and by, and the hardy raftsmen shooting the\nrapids in what appeared to him circumstances of exciting peril. While he\nand all the disengaged dwellers at the 'Corner' were as yet looking on,\na waggon came in sight from among the trees, and turned their curiosity\ninto another channel.\nGradually it drew near, stumbling among the stumps and ruts, with all\nsorts of language applied to the oxen. Arthur thought he had formerly\nseen that figure marching by the off-wheel. That peculiar gentleman-like\nand military air, even shouldering a handspike, could not be mistaken.\n'I guess as how 'tis the Britisher officer as has took Davidson's\nbetterments,' said 'cute Zack; 'an' thar's womanfolks behind the waggon\nafoot. Wal, now, but I say I _do_ pity them Britisher ladies a-coming\ninto the bush--them that hain't never in their hull life as much as\nbaked a biscuit. I ha' seen the like o' such in Montreal--delicate\ncritters, that you wouldn't hardly think knowed the use of a fryin'-pan\nwhen they see'd it, an' couldn't lift one if they was to git a handful\no' dollars. I guess these ain't much betterer nohow.'\nIt was a homily on the appearance of Edith Armytage and the child Jay\npicking their steps along after the waggon; while within, on hampers and\nboxes, stretched heavily, lay their brother, taking things easy by means\nof sleep. The captain's salute to Arthur was most cordial.\n'So, my dear young friend! What most fortunate fate has thrown us\ntogether again? A very pleasant freak of destiny, truly. I left you last\nwith an uncomfortable old gentleman, who was particularly obstinate in\nhis opinions about the seignorial system, as I remember. He was right,\nmy young friend, in condemning that system, eh? Perfectly right. I left\nit in disgust. Incompatible with a British officer's feelings, eh?'\nHere his monologue was disturbed by little Jay's running up to Arthur\nvery joyously. 'I told Edith we should meet you. I knew we should. And\nhow is Robert and your funny servant? Ah, I am very glad!'\n'Jane, my dear, I have repeatedly told you not to be so boisterous,' put\nin her father. 'Go back, and walk with your sister Edith.'\nThe little girl tried to withdraw her hand and obey, though with a\nwistful look; but Arthur detained it, and went with her the few steps to\nmeet Miss Armytage:\n'Edith, are you not glad? They all live at Cedar Creek, quite close to\nDaisy Burn, and we can see them every day; and he says Daisy Burn is a\nvery nice place'--\n'I have had some experience of children,' began Captain Armytage\nstiffly, 'but one so talkative as Jane I have seldom met. You should\ncorrect her, Edith, my dear.' For the man's voice was what he wished to\nhear. Edith's hand was most gently laid on the dear little sister's arm\nas a caution; but at this juncture both gentlemen were obliged to press\nforward and help the oxen out of some critical situations, and Jay could\nwhisper her delight and her anticipations without fear of reprimand for\na few minutes at least.\nThen, when the waggon brought up in front of Mr. Bunting's store, young\nArmytage woke up with a mighty yawn and stretch to declare that bush\ntravelling was the greatest bore--would they ever reach the farm? And\nhe thereupon arose to the exertion of kindling his pipe.\n'Nonsense, Wynn, can that be you? Glad to see some face I know among\nthese endless trees. They're nearly as sickening to me as waves to a\nfellow in his first voyage. Hope the farm has been well cleared of them.\nYou know the ground, eh?'\n'Not all cleared by any means; but if you had to take the axe in hand as\nwe have'--\n'Gentlemen, are you going to liquor?' said Zack in a persuasive tone,\nmarshalling the way into his bar. 'Almeria, tell your ma to bring here\nsome of her best beer to treat these gentlemen--partic'lar friends. Be\nspry, will you?'\nThe tawny black-eyed young lady answering to the above high-sounding\ncognomen returned in a few moments with a jug, whence her father poured\nforth three horn goblets of dark fluid. Arthur, through superior knowledge\nnot touching his, was highly amused by the grimaces of the others.\nIndeed, the captain had swallowed a huge gulp of it before he realized\nfully its strange flavour, and then could but sputter and scour his\nmoustache and lips with his handkerchief. Mr. Bunting looked on with\nexemplary gravity.\n'Thar! I told th' ole woman that spruce beer ain't so good as usual this\nbrewin'.'\n'Good! the vilest compound. A fir-tree steeped in a stagnant pool!'\nexclaimed the irate captain, with considerable warmth of colouring.\n'Bring me something, sirrah, to take away the odious taste--anything you\nlike.'\nMr. Bunting obeyed with alacrity. Arthur left father and son over their\npipes and glasses, and went outside to join Miss Armytage and Jay, who\nhad declined various overtures to enter the store, and were the cynosure\nof all eyes in the 'Corner' as they walked to and fro on the stumpless\nstrip of ground in the place--a fair child and a pale girl. Presently\nforth came the captain.\n'Edith, my dear,' he said blandly, 'I may be detained here for half an\nhour; I find that mine host, Mr. Bunting, has a very exact knowledge of\nthe locality to which we are going. I think you both might be going on\nwith the waggon; your brother will follow in a minute or so when his\nsmoke is finished, he says. Driver, you may go forward; _au revoir_,\nEdith.'\nHe kissed the tips of his fingers to his daughter gallantly, and passed\ninto the bar again with a jaunty air.\n'If you will allow me to accompany you,' said Arthur, seeing that she\nhesitated, 'you will do me a kindness, for I have rather a large pack to\ncarry going home; I can rest it on the waggon; and Daisy Burn is more\nthan half-way to Cedar Creek.'\n'Did I not tell you we would find out Arthur and Robert?' said the child\nJay, with an ecstatic clasp of her fingers upon young Wynn's. 'You said\nyou were afraid we should have no friends in the woods, but I knew that\nGod would not let us be so forsaken as that.'\nAnd the three walked on into the long vista of the concession line.\nCHAPTER XXIX.\nONE DAY IN JULY.\nA summer more glorious than our settlers could have imagined, followed\non the steps of the tardy spring. What serene skies--what brilliant\nsunshine--what tropical wealth of verdure! At every pore the rich earth\nburst forth into fruit and flower. Two months after the grass had been\nsunk deep beneath the snow, sheets of strawberries were spread in the\nwoods, an extemporized feast.\nOne might think that the cottage at Cedar Creek had also bloomed under\nthe fair weather; for when July--hottest of Canadian months--came, the\ndingy wooden walls had assumed a dazzling white, with a roof so grey\nthat the shingles might have been veritable slates. Resemblance to the\nlime-washed houses of home was Robert's fancy; which, in Zack Bunting's\nmind, was a perverted taste, as he recommended a brilliant green\ngroundwork, picked out with yellow, such canary-bird costume being\nfavourite in Yankee villages.\nThe few feet of garden railed off in front are filled with bushes\nof the fragrant Canadian wild-rose; yellow violets, lobelias, and\ntiger-lilies, transplanted thither from the forest glades, appear to\nflourish. The brothers had resolved that Linda should not miss her\nflower-beds and their gentle care even in bush-life.\nFor the rest, the clearing looks wild enough, notwithstanding all\ncivilising endeavours. That mighty wall of trees has not been pushed\nback far, and the _d\u00e9bris_ of the human assault, lying on the soil in\nvast wooden lengths, seems ponderous even to discouragement. Robert has\nbeen viewing it all through stranger eyes for the last week, since he\nheard the joyful news that they for whom he has worked have landed at\nMontreal; he has been putting finishing touches wherever he could, yet\nhow unfinished it is!\nTo-day Andy alone is in possession; for his young masters have gone to\nmeet the expected waggon as far as Peter Logan's--nay, to Greenock if\nnecessary. He has abundance of occupation for the interval; first, to\nhill up a patch of Indian corn with the hoe, drawing the earth into\nlittle mounds five or six inches high round each stalk; and after\nthat, sundry miscellaneous duties, among which milking the cow stands\nprominent. She is enjoying herself below in the beaver meadow, while\nthe superior animal, Andy, toils hard among the stumps, and talks to\nhimself, as wont.\n'Why, thin, I wondher what th' ould masther 'ull say to our clearin',\nan' how he'll take to the life, at all, at all; he that niver did a\nhand's turn yet in the way of business, only 'musin' himself wid papers\nan' books as any gintleman ought; how he'll stand seein' Masther Robert\nhoein' and choppin' like a labourin' man? More be token, it's little o'\nthat thim pair down at Daisy Burn does. I b'lieve they 'spect things to\ngrow ov thimselves 'athout any cultivatin'. An' to see that poor young\nlady hillin' the corn herself--I felt as I'd like to bate both the\ncaptin an' his fine idle son--so I would, while I could stand over 'em.'\nHe executed an a\u00ebrial flourish with his hoe, and the minute after, found\npractical occupation for it in chasing two or three great swine who were\npoking at the fence, as if they longed for the sweet young cornstalks\nwithin. Whence the reader may perceive that Mr. Wynn had become proprietor\nof certain items of live stock, including sundry fowls, which were apt to\nkeep all parties in exhilarating exercise by their aggressions on the\ngarden.\n'Musha, but 'tis very hot intirely,' soliloquized Andy, returning from\nthe aggravated stern-chase of the swine, and lifting his grass hat to\nfan his flushed face. 'The sun don't know how to obsarve a madium at all\nin this counthry, as our poor ould Irish sun does. We're aither freezin'\nor fryin' the year round.' Hereupon, as reminded by the last-named\nexperience, he threw down his hoe, and went to settle the smouldering\nfires in the fallow, where one or two isolated heaps of brush were\nslowly consuming, while their bluish smoke curled up lazily in the still\nair. 'It's quare to think of how lonesome I am this minnit,' continued\nhe, as he blackened himself in ministering to the heaps. 'Sorra livin'\nsowl to spake to nearer than the captin's, barrin' the cow, an' the\npigs, an' thim savidges down at the swamp.'\nHere he made an infuriate swing backwards of a bush, fortunately in\nhis hand; but it was against no Indian foe; on the contrary, his own\nshoulders received the blow, and another to make sure; whereby an\nindividual enemy was pasted to the spot where its proboscis had\npierced shirt and skin, and half-a-dozen others saved themselves by\nflight--being the dreaded black flies of Canada.\n'Why, thin, ye murtherin' villins, will ye follow me into the smoke\nitself?' said Andy, whirling his bush in the air to disperse their\nsquadrons. 'I thought ye wor satisfied wid most atin' us last week, an'\nblindin' the young gintlemin, an' lavin' lumps on their faces as big as\nhazel nuts. Betune yerselves an' the miss kitties, it's hard for a man\nto do a sthroke of work, wid huntin' ye. Ay, ye may well moo, ye crathur\nbelow in the meadow, that has only horns an' a tail to fight 'em. An'\nsure, may be 'tain't the cow at all that's roarin', only one of them big\nfrogs that bellows out of the swamp, for all the world as if they was\nbullocks.'\nTo settle the question, he walked away down to the beaver meadow, now\nan expanse of the most delicious level green, and found that the cow\nhad protected herself against all winged adversaries by standing in\nthe creek up to her throat in the cool water, where she chewed the\ncud tranquilly, and contemplated with an impassive countenance the\nconstruction of a canoe at a little distance by two red men and their\nsquaws. Andy paused and looked on likewise.\nOne woman was stripping a large white birch of its bark with a sharp\nknife; she scraped away the internal coating as a tanner would scrape\nleather, and laid the pieces before the other squaw, whose business\nwas to stitch them together with bast. The men meanwhile prepared a\nsausage-shaped framework of very thin cedar ribs, tying every point of\njunction with firm knots; for the aforesaid bast is to the Indian what\nglue and nails are to the civilised workman.\n'Throth, only for the birch threes I dunno what they'd do; for out of\nit's skin they make houses, an' boats, an' pots to bile vittles, an'\ncandles to burn, an' ornaments like what Mr. Robert has above.' A pause,\nas he watched the bark turned over the ribs, and wedge-shaped pieces\ncut out to prevent awkward foldings near the gunwale--all carried on in\nsolemn silence. 'Well, there's no manner of doubt but savages are great\nintirely at houldin' their tongues; sure, may be it's no wondher, an'\ntheir langidge the quare sort it is, that they don't want to spake to\neach other but as little as they can help.'\nHere the nearest Indian raised his head, and appeared to listen to a\ndistant sound; a low word or two attracted the attention of the others,\nwho also listened, and exchanged a few sentences, with a glance at Andy,\nwhose curiosity was roused; and he asked, chiefly by signs, what it was\nall about.\n'Oxen--waggon,' was the reply; 'me hear driver. White man no have long\nears.'\nAndy fled with precipitation to his neglected duties, while the red men\nlaughed their low quiet laugh, knowing that the waggon they heard could\nnot reach Cedar Creek in less than an hour.\nBut at last it came. At last Linda, pressing eagerly forward upon\nRobert's arm, had caught a first glimpse of their cottage home, and\nexclaimed, 'O Bob, how pretty! Why, you told me it was a rough sort\nof a place; how very pretty!'\n'Well, you can't deny that the _place_ is rough,' said he, after a\npause of much satisfaction; 'look at the log-heaps--as tangled as a\nlady's work-basket.'\n'Never mind the log-heaps; the house is neat enough for a picture; and\nthe view! what a lovely placid lake! what islands! what grand woods!'\nLinda's speech was nothing but interjections of admiration for the next\nhalf-hour; she _would_ be charmed with every handiwork of the dear\nbrothers who had wrought so hard for them. And how were these repaid\nfor that past toil, by the sweet mother's smile as she entered the neat\nlittle parlour, and was established in the rocking-chair which Arthur\nhad manufactured and cushioned with exceeding pains! The other furniture\nwas rather scholastic, it is true, being a series of stools and a table,\nset upon rushen matting of Indian make; the beams overhead were unceiled,\nand the hearth necessarily devoid of a grate. But the chimney space--huge\nin proportion to the room--was filled with fragrant and graceful forest\nboughs; and through the open casement window (Arthur had fitted the\nsingle sash on hinges, doorwise) looked in stray sprays of roses,\nbreathing perfume. Mrs. Wynn was well satisfied with her exile at that\nmoment, when she saw the loving faces of her sons about her again, in\nthe home of their own raising.\nA most joyful reunion! yet of that gladness which is near akin to tears.\nRobert would not give anybody a minute to think, or to grow sad. His\nfather and George must walk with him all round the clearing and down to\nthe beaver meadow. His acres of spring-burned fallow, his embryo garden,\nhis creek and its waterfalls, must be shown off as separate articles of\nthe exhibition.\n'Bob, what are these?' The old gentleman stopped before an expanse of\nblackened stumps, among which a multitude of molehills diversified the\nsoil.\n'Potatoes, sir. That's the Canadian way of raising them on new land--in\nhills of five thousand to the acre. You see ridges would be out of the\nquestion, or any even system of culture, on account of the stumps and\nroots.'\n'I suppose so,' said Mr. Wynn drily; 'such ground must certainly require\na peculiar method of working. I daresay you find it incumbent on you to\nforget all your Irish agriculture.'\n'Well, I had a good deal to unlearn,' answered Robert. 'I hoped to have\nhad our logging-bee before your arrival, and then the farm would have\nlooked tidier; but I could not manage it.'\n'Do you mean to say the trees stood as thick here as they do there? If\nso, you have done wonders already,' said his father. 'My poor boys, it\nwas killing work.'\n'Not at all, sir,' contradicted Robert right cheerily; 'I enjoyed it\nafter the first few weeks, as soon as I began to see my way. We've been\nquite happy this winter in the woods, though bush-life was so new and\nstrange.'\n'It seems to me simply to mean a permanent descent into the ranks of the\nlabouring classes, without any of the luxuries of civilisation such as\nan English artisan would enjoy,' said the old gentleman.\n'Except the luxury of paying neither rent nor taxes,' rejoined Robert\npromptly.\n'You seem to have been carpenter, house-painter, wood-cutter, ploughman'--\n'No, sir; there isn't a plough on the premises, and I shouldn't know what\nto do with it if there were.'\n'Had you no assistance in all this?'\n'Oh yes; invaluable help in Jacques Dubois, a lively little French\nCanadian from the \"Corner,\" whose indomitable _esprit_ was worth more\nthan the stronger physique of a heavy Anglo-Saxon. But come, sir, I hear\nthe dinner bell.'\nWhich was the rattling of a stick on an invalided kettle, commonly used\nby Andy to summon his masters home. To impress the new arrivals with a\nsense of their resources, a feast, comprising every accessible delicacy,\nhad been prepared. Speckled trout from the lake, broiled in the hot wood\nashes, Indian fashion; wild-fowl of various species, and wild fruits,\ncooked and _au naturel_, were the components.\n'I hardly thought that you would have found time for strawberry\ncultivation,' observed Mr. Wynn the elder.\n'And we have far more extensive strawberry beds, sir, than I ever saw\nin Ireland,' said Robert, with a twinkle of his eyes. 'I'm thinking of\nturning in the pigs to eat a few pailfuls; they are quite a drug for\nabundance.'\n'A raspberry tart!' exclaimed Linda, 'and custards! Why, Bob!'\n'Would you like to know a secret?'--followed by a whisper.\n'Nonsense! not you!'\nThey seemed to have other secrets to tell by and by, which required the\nopen air. The eleven months last gone past had brought many changes to\nboth. And there they walked to and fro on the margin of the forest,\nuntil the moon's silver wheel rolled up over the dusk trees, and lit\nCedar Creek gloriously.\n'What pure and transparent air!' exclaimed Linda, coming back to the\npresent from the past. 'Is your moonlight always laden with that sweet\naromatic odour?'\n'Don't you recognise balm of Gilead? Your greenhouse and garden plant is\na weed here. Our pines also help in the fragrance you perceive.'\n'Robert, I know that the red patches burning steadily yonder are the\nstumps you showed me; but the half circular rings of fire, I don't\nunderstand them.'\n'The niggers round the trunks of some trees,' explained Robert. 'That's\na means we use for burning through timber, and so saving axe-work. Do\nyou notice the moving light in the distance, on the lake? It comes from\na pine-torch fixed in the bow of a canoe, by which an Indian is spearing\nfish.'\n'Oh, have you Indians here? how delightful! I have always so longed to\nsee a real live red man. Are they at all like Uncas and Chingachgook? I\nshall pay them a visit first thing in the morning.'\n'You'll be visited yourself, I imagine;' and Robert laughed. 'You don't\nknow the sensation your arrival has caused.'\nCHAPTER XXX.\nVISITORS AND VISITED.\nAnd next day Mrs. and Miss Wynn had indeed visitors. Up from the\n'Corner' trundled Mrs. Zack Bunting on the ox-sled, accompanied by her\nson Nimrod, and by her daughter Almeria; and truly, but for the honour\nof bringing a vehicle, it had been better for her personal comfort to\nhave left it at home. Dressed in the utmost finery they could command,\nand which had done duty on all festive occasions for years back, they\nlumbered up to the front door, where Linda was doing some work in the\nflower-beds.\n'Good morning, Miss. Is your ma to hum?' said Mrs. Zack, bestowing a\nstare on her from head to foot. 'I'm Miss Bunting, as you may have heerd\nRobert speak on. This young lady is my daughter Almeria; I guess you're\nolder than her, though she's a good spell taller. Nim, call that boy to\nmind the oxen while you come in, or I've a notion they'll be makin' free\nwith Miss's flowers here.'\nThe boy was George Wynn, who came up slowly and superciliously in\nanswer to Nim's shout, and utterly declined to take charge of the\nteam, intimating his opinion that it was very good employment for\n'swallow-tail' himself. Which remark alluded to the coat worn by Mr.\nNimrod--a vesture of blue, with brass buttons, rendered further striking\nby loose nankeen continuations, and a green cravat.\nHow insignificant was gentle Mrs. Wynn beside the Yankee woman's\nportly presence! How trifling her low voice in answer to the shrill\nquestioning! Linda cast herself into the breach (metaphorically), and\ndirected the catechism upon herself. As for the young lady Almeria,\nshe was quite satisfied to sit and stare with unwinking black eyes,\noccasionally hitching up her blue silk cape by a shrug of shoulder, or\ntapping the back of her faded pink bonnet against the wall, to push it\non her head. Nim entered the room presently, and perched himself on the\nedge of a stool; but his silent stare was confined to Linda's face, now\nflushed prettily through the clear skin with a mixture of anger and\namusement.\n'I guess now, that's the latest Europe fashion in yer gown?' taking\nup the hem of the skirt for closer inspection. 'Half-a-dollar a yard\n'twould be in Bytown, I reckon; but it's too fine for a settler's wife,\nMiss. You've come to the right market for a husband, I guess; gals is\nscarce in Gazelle township,' with a knowing smile. The crimson mounted\nto Linda's brow, under the conjoint influence of Nimrod's stare and also\nof the entrance of another person, Sam Holt, who had come with the party\nyesterday from Mapleton.\nBut in two minutes he had quietly turned the conversation, and repressed,\nas much as it was in man's power to do, Mrs. Bunting's interrogative\npropensities.\n'That's a washy, good-for-nothin' woman, that Mis' Wynn,' was the\nvisitor's judgment, as she departed in state on the ox-sled. 'The young\nun's spryer; but I'd like to be waitin' till they'd ha' the house clar'd\nup between 'em, wouldn't I? Did you see that hired help o' theirn,\nAlmeria?'\n'Yes, ma, an Irish girl, I guess. She was a-top o' the waggon\nyesterday.'\n'So our Libby hain't no chance o' bein' took, 'less this young un should\ngrow cockish, as 'most all Britisher helps does, when they gets a taste\no' liberty. Wal, now, but I'd like to know what business them ladies\nhas--for they're rael, an' no mistake, very different from Mis' Davidson,\nwith her hands like graters an' her v'ice like a loon's so loud an'\nhard--an' you may know the rael ladies by the soft hand an' the aisy\nv'ice.'\nAlmeria rubbed her own knuckles, seeking for the symptom of gentle\nblood.\n'What business has they,' continued Mrs. Zack, 'away down here in the\nbush? I guess they couldn't wash a tub o' clothes or fix a dinner for\nthe men.'\n'But they hadn't need to,' put Miss Almeria, out of sorts at finding her\nhand rough as a rasp. 'They've helps, an' needn't never look at a tub.'\nWhich circumstance apparently set her in a sulk for the next mile.\nAlthough Mrs. Davidson was failing in some ladylike requirements, as\nthe storekeeper's wife had indicated, and also came to visit her new\nneighbour in a homespun suit, the very antipodes of Mrs. Zack's attire\nof many colours, yet her loud cheery voice and sensible face--with a\npossible friendship in it--were exceedingly pleasing, in contrast with\nthe first visitor's nasal twang and 'smart' demeanour. Mrs. Wynn would\nlike to see her often; but the Scotchwoman was thrifty and hardworking,\nwith a large family to provide for: she could not afford to pay visits,\nand scarcely to receive them.\n'I wadna ha' come down the day, but thinkin' mayhap ye wad be wantin'\nhelp o' some sort; an' if there's anything we could do--Sandy or me and\nthe lads--just send your lad rinnin' up; we'll be glad eneugh. Sabbath,\nmay be, I'd ha' time to tak' a stroll down: ye ken there's na kirk.'\nAh, it was one of Mrs. Wynn's greatest troubles in coming to the bush\nthat there were no public means of grace, and that no sound of the\nchurch-going bell was ever heard in these solitudes.\nLate in the afternoon Linda was able to find Robert, and bring him with\nher towards the Indian encampment. Sam Holt joined them.\n'Now for my first introduction into savage life: I hope I shan't be\ndisappointed.'\n'Unreasonable expectations always are,' observed Mr. Holt. 'Don't expect\nto find Fenimore Cooper's model Indians. But I believe them in the main\nto be a fine people, honest and truthful where \"civilisation\" has not\ncorrupted them.'\n'Is it not dreadful that the first effect of European contact with\noriginal races everywhere should be destructive?' said Linda; 'even of\nthe English, who have the gospel!'\n'Yes: how sad that they who bear Christ's name should dishonour Him\nand thwart His cause among men, by practical disregard of His precepts!\nI shouldn't wonder if the red man hated the white man with a deadly\nhatred; for to him is owing the demoralization and extinction of a\nnoble race--if it were by no other means than the introduction of the\n\"fire-water,\" which has proved such a curse.'\n'I have heard,' said Robert, 'that in the Indian languages there are no\nwords which could be employed in swearing; and the native must have\nrecourse to the tongue of his conquerors if he would thus sin.'\n'And has no effort been made to Christianize them?' asked Linda.\n'I have visited the Manitoulin Island in Lake Huron,' said Mr. Holt,\n'where the remains of several Indian tribes have been collected by Sir\nFrancis Head, with a view to their civilisation; and I can hardly\nsay that the experiment impressed me favourably. It is the largest\nfresh-water island in the world, more than a hundred miles long, and\nserves as a fine roomy cage for the aborigines, who support themselves\nby hunting, fishing, and a little agriculture, and receive those luxuries\nwhich to us are necessaries, such as blankets and clothes, as annual\npresents from Government. They seemed miserably depressed and stolid;\nbut the schools are well attended, and we may indulge some hope about\nthe rising generation.'\n'They seem too apathetic to improve,' said Robert.\n'Still, it is our duty to work, however unpromising the material. I was\npleased with a service which I attended in one of their log-schoolhouses.\nNothing could be more devout than the demeanour of the Indians; the\nwomen's sweet plaintive hymns haunted me for a long while.'\n'That's curious; for in their wild state I can't make out that they\nsing at all,' remarked Robert. 'The noise they call music is far more\nlike the growling of beasts; and their only instruments, that I have\never seen, is a sort of drum with one head.'\n'Hush, here are some of them,' said Linda.\nIn a glade of the forest two young girls were cutting wood, wielding\nhatchets as though well accustomed to their use, and displaying finely\nformed arms at every movement. For, as a general rule, the hardworking\nIndian woman is more strongly developed in proportion than her lazy\nlord. Lounging against a pine close by, was a tall, slender young man,\nattired in a buffalo skin cloak, of which the head and fore-legs portion\nhung down with a ragged effect; from under his arm projected an\nornamented pipe.\n'I think he might work, and the ladies look on,' observed Linda.\nShe could hardly repress an exclamation as he turned his face towards\nher. Round his eyes were traced two yellow circles, and his mouth was\nenclosed by a parenthesis of vermilion; an arabesque pattern adorned\neach dusky cheek.\n'Isn't he a brilliant fellow?' whispered Robert. 'A lover, you may be\ncertain, who has attired himself thus to come out here and display his\npainted face to these girls.'\n'But he does not appear to speak a single word to them.'\n'Oh, they do a good deal with the eyes,' he answered, laughing. 'Now\nthat I look at the girls, one of them is quite pretty, and I fancy I\ncan detect a blush through the olive of her cheek.'\n'What a hideous custom that painting the face is!'\n'I can't agree with you; that young fellow would look much worse if he\nwashed the paint off, and he knows it. You'd regret the change yourself,\nwhen you saw him look mean, dirty, and insignificant, as at ordinary\ntimes; for rarely he decorates himself thus.'\n'Well, I beg you won't carry your liking so far as to practise it, nor\nMr. Holt either.' Sam bowed obediently.\nPerhaps nothing in the camp amused the European young lady more than the\ninfants, the 'papooses,' in their back-board cradles, buried up to the\narmpits in moss, and protected overhead by an arch of thin wood, whence\nhung various playthings for the inmate.\n'Now I can comprehend the use of this rattle, or even of the tiny\nmocassins,' said Mr. Holt philosophically, as they investigated the\npendants to the papoose. 'But why this piece of deer-leather, with bits\nof stag-horn attached? Except as a charm'--\nHere nature answered the ingenious speculation, by the little coppery\nhand put forth to grasp the debated toy, and champ it in the baby mouth,\nafter the fashion of our own immemorial coral-and-bells. This was the\nbeginning of Linda's acquaintance with, and interest for, the poor\nIndians. She afterwards saw much of them in their wigwams and at their\nwork. A little kindness goes far towards winning the Indian heart. They\nsoon learned to regard all at Cedar Creek as friends, while to the young\nlady they gave the admiring cognomen of Ahwao, the Rose.\nCHAPTER XXXI.\nSUNDAY IN THE FOREST.\nLinda soon learned to hail it with delight. For the overwhelming labours\nof the other six days were suspended during this bright first: the\nwoodman's axe lay quietly in its niche by the grindstone, the hoe hung\nidly in the shed; Robert shook off sundry cares which were wont to\ntrouble his brotherly brow from Monday till Saturday, and almost to\nobscure the fact of his loving little sister to his brotherly eyes;\nand was able to enjoy that rarity in bush-life, an interval of leisure.\nShe found a considerable development in these brothers of hers. From\ncoping with the actual needs and stern realities of existence, from\nstanding and facing fortune on their own feet, so to speak, they had\nmentally become more muscular. The old soft life of comparative\ndependence and conventionality was not such as educates sturdy\ncharacters or helpful men. This present life was just the training\nrequired. Linda discovered that Robert and Arthur were no longer boys\nto be petted or teased, as the case might be; but men in the highest\nattributes of manhood--forethought, decision, and industry. It was on\nSunday that she got glimpses of their old selves, and that the links of\nfamily affection were riveted and brightened; as in many a home that is\nnot Canadian.\nFor the rest; these Sundays were barren days. The uncommon toil of the\npast week was not favourable to spirituality of mind; and which of all\nthe party could become teacher to the others? Mr. Wynn had some volumes\nof sermons by old orthodox divines, brought out indeed in his emigration\nwith a view to these Sabbath emergencies. When prayers were read, and\nthe usual psalms and lessons gone through, he would mount his silver\nspectacles, fix himself in a particularly stately attitude in his\nhigh-backed chair, and commence to read one of the discourses (taking\nout a paper mark beforehand) in a particularly stately voice. It is not\nexceeding the truth to say that George oftentimes was driven to frantic\nefforts to keep himself awake; and even Arthur felt the predisposition\nof Eutychus come stealing over him.\nSometimes the Davidsons came down. The sturdy Scotchman had all his\nnational objections to 'the paper;' and when convinced that it was\nbetter to hear a printed sermon than none at all, he kept a strict\noutlook on the theology of the discourse, which made Mr. Wynn rather\nnervous. A volume of sermons was altogether interdicted as containing\ndoctrine not quite orthodox; as he proved in five minutes to\ndemonstration, the old gentleman having fled the polemic field\nignominiously.\n'Robert, in all your dreams for a settlement, have you ever thought of\nthe church there ought to be?'\n'Thought of it?--to be sure, and planned the site. Come along, and I'll\nshow it to you--just where the tinned spire will gleam forth prettily\nfrom the woods, and be seen from all sides of the pond. Come; I'll bring\nyou an easy way through the bushes:' and as she was leaning on his arm\nfor an afternoon stroll, with the other dear brother at her left hand,\nof course she went where he wished.\n'When I was out with Argent last winter,' observed Arthur, we came to\na lot of shanties, called by courtesy a village (with some grand name\nor other, and intending, like all of them, to be some day at least a\ncapital city), where they were beginning to build a church. It was to be\na very liberal-minded affair, for all sects were to have it in turn till\ntheir own places were built: and on this understanding all subscribed.\nOdd subscriptions! The paper was brought to Argent and me, he gave a few\ndollars; most people gave produce, lumber, or shingles, or so many days'\nwork, or the loan of oxen, and so on.'\n'And as they do everything by \"bees,\" from building a house down to\nquilting a counterpane, I suppose they had a bee for this,' said Linda.\n'Exactly so. But it seemed a great pull to get it on foot at all. New\nsettlers never have any money--like ourselves,' jauntily added Arthur.\n'I never thought I could be so happy with empty pockets. Don't be\ndeceived by that jingling--it is only a few keys which I keep for\npurposes of deception. Haven't I seen Uncle Zack's eyes glisten, and I\nam certain his mouth watered, when he thought the music proceeded from\nred cents!'\n'But why must our church have a tin spire?' asked Linda by and by. 'It\nwould remind me of some plaything, Bob.'\n'Because it's national,' was the reply. 'But you needn't be afraid; if\nwe have a shed like a whitewashed barn for the first ten years, with\nseats of half-hewn logs, we may deem ourselves fortunate, and never\naspire to the spire. Excuse my pun.'\n'Oh, did you intend that for a pun?' asked Linda innocently. 'I beg your\npardon for not laughing in the proper place. But how about the minister\nof these bush churches, Bob?'\n'Well, as the country opens up and gets cleared, we may reckon on having\nsome sort of minister. I mean some denomination of preacher, within\ntwenty-five or thirty miles of us; and he will think nothing of riding\nover every Sunday. It's quite usual.'\n'He's a zealous man that does it in the bitter winter, with the weather\nsome degrees below zero,' remarked Arthur.\n'How happy he must feel to be able to deny himself, and to suffer for\nJesus' sake,' said Linda softly. 'Robert, I often think could _we_ do\nnothing down in that wretched place they call the \"Corner,\" where nobody\nappears to know anything about God at all? Couldn't we have a Sunday\nschool, or a Bible class, or something of that sort? It hardly appears\nright to be Christians, and yet hold our tongues about our Saviour among\nall these dark souls.'\nThe thought had been visiting Robert too, during some of his Sundays;\nbut had been put aside from a false timidity and fear of man. 'How holy\nmust be my life, how blameless my actions, if I set up to teach others?'\nwas one deterring consideration. As if he could not trust his God's help\nto keep him what a Christian ought to be!\n'We will think over it, Linda,' he said gravely.\nAn opening seemed to come ere next Sabbath. On the Saturday arrived at\nthe 'Corner' the worthy itinerant preacher who occasionally visited\nthere, and was forthwith sent up to the Wynns' shanty for entertainment\nby Zack Bunting; who, however willing to enjoy the eclat of the minister's\npresence, was always on the look-out for any loophole to save his own\npurse; and had indeed been requested by Mr. Wynn to commit the pastor\nto his hospitality when next he came round. Little of the cleric in\nappearance or garb was about this man of God. A clear-headed, strongly\nconvictioned person, with his Bible for sole theologic library, and\na deep sense of the vast consequence of his message at his heart, he\ndismounted from the sturdy Canadian horse which his own hands were\nused to attend, and entered the emigrant's dwelling with apostolic\nsalutation--'Peace be to this house.'\n'Very unlike our old-country ministers, my dear,' said gentle Mrs.\nWynn to her daughter; 'and I fear I never could get reconciled to that\nblanket-coat and top-boots; but he's a good man--a _very_ good man, I am\nsure. I found him speaking to Andy Callaghan in the kitchen about his\nsoul; and really Andy looked quite moved by his earnestness. It seems\nhe makes it a rule never to meet any person without speaking on the\nsubject: I must say I highly approve of that for a minister.'\nWhat a strange congregation was gathered in Zack Bunting's large room\nnext noon! All sorts of faces, all sorts of clothes. Mrs. Zack and\nAlmeria in rainbow garments; the Davidsons in sensible homespun; the\nWynns in old-country garb, were prominent. News had gone far and near\nthat preaching was to be enjoyed that Sabbath at the 'Corner;' and from\ndaybreak it had made a stir along the roads. Ox-sleds, waggons, mounted\nhorses, came thither apace by every available path through the woods.\nOld men and maidens, young men and matrons and children, crowded before\nthe preacher, as he spoke to them from the verse--'Peace be with all\nthem that love our Lord Jesus Christ _in sincerity_.'\nNow an emphasis was laid on those last two words that might well make\nhypocrites wince. And Zack Punting had been singing with considerable\nfervour various hymns totally unsuited to his state of soul; as\nproprietor of the meeting-place, it became him to set an example of\ndevotion--besides, was not religion a highly respectable thing? Among\nother hymns had been that beautiful outpouring of individual faith and\nlove,--\n Jesus, my all, to heaven is gone,\n He whom I fix my hopes upon.'\nAll this had Zack sung unflinchingly, as though one syllable of it were\ntrue for _him_!\nThe preacher dealt with the evil faithfully. He told his hearers that\nthe common words repeated continually and often thoughtlessly, 'Our\nLord Jesus Christ,' contained in themselves the very essence of God's\nglorious salvation. 'Jesus,' Saviour--He whose precious blood was shed\nto take away the sin of the world, and who takes away our sins for\never, if only we believe in Him: 'Christ,' the Divine title, whose\nsignification gave value inconceivable to the sacrifice on Calvary; the\nAnointed One, the Prince of the kings of the earth; 'Our Lord,' our\nMaster--the appropriation clause which makes Him and all the blessings\nof His gospel truly ours for ever, by faith in His name. In simpler\nwords than are written here it was told; and the grand old story of\npeace, the good news of all the ages, that which has gladdened the\nhearts of unnumbered millions with the gladness which death does not\nextinguish, but only brighten into celestial glory--how God can be\n'just, and yet the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus;' how there\nis no preparation needed for the reception of this vast boon of pardon,\nbut simply the prerequisite of being a sinner and needing a Saviour; how\nall present might there, that hour, become forgiven souls, children of\nthe royal family of heaven, heirs of God, and joint heirs of Christ, by\nmeans no more laborious than believing on Jesus as the Pardoner, coming\nto Him in prayer for His great gift of forgiveness, and taking it, being\nsure of it from His hands, as a beggar takes alms for no deservings of\nhis own. The preacher spoke all this with soul-felt earnestness; it was\nthe message of his life.\nEven when the motley congregation drifted away down the creaking\nnarrow stairs and into the open sunny air, where their motley vehicles\nstood among the stumps waiting, they could not at once shake off the\nimpression of those earnest words. In amidst their talk of fall wheat,\nand burning fallow, and logging-bees, would glide thoughts from that\nsermon, arresting the worldliness with presentations of a mightier\nreality still; with suggestions of something which perhaps indeed was\nof deeper and more vital interest than what to eat, or what to drink,\nor wherewithal to be clothed.\nPlenty of invitation had the pastor as to his further progress. Few\nsettlers but would have deemed it an honour to have his shanty turned\nfor the nonce into a church. Many there were accustomed to the means of\ngrace weekly at home, who pined unavailingly for the same blessings in\nthe bush. Ah, our English Sabbaths, how should we thank God for them!\nRobert plucked up heart, and asked two or three seriously disposed young\nmen to meet him every Sunday afternoon in the cottage of Jacques Dubois,\nfor the purpose of reading the Bible together. Linda's plan of a\nScripture class for girls was rather slower of realization, owing partly\nto a certain timidity, not unnatural in a gently nurtured girl, which\nmade her shrink from encountering the quick-witted half-republican, and\nwholly insubordinate young ladies of the 'Corner.'\nCHAPTER XXXII.\nHOW THE CAPTAIN CLEARED HIS BUSH.\nThe next great event in our settlers' history was their first logging-bee,\npreparatory to the planting of fall wheat. The ladies had been quite\napprehensive of the scene, for Robert and Arthur could give no pleasant\naccounts of the roysterings and revelry which generally distinguished\nthese gatherings. But they hoped, by limiting the amount of liquor\nfurnished to sufficient for refreshment, though not sufficient for\nintoxication, that they could in a measure control the evil, as at their\nraising-bee four months previously.\nThe mass of food cooked for the important day required so much extra\nlabour, as sorely to discompose the Irish damsel who acted under Linda's\ndirections. Miss Biddy Murphy had already begun to take airs on herself,\nand to value her own services extravagantly. Life in the bush was not\nher ideal in coming to America, but rather high wages, and perchance a\nwell-to-do husband; and, knowing that it would be difficult to replace\nher, she thought she might be indolent and insolent with impunity.\nLinda's mother never knew of all the hard household work which her\nfrail fragile girl went through in these days of preparation, nor what\ngood reason the roses had for deserting her cheeks. Mamma should not be\nvexed by hearing of Biddy's defection; and there was an invaluable and\nindignant coadjutor in Andy.\nEverybody was at the bee. Zack Bunting and his team, Davidson and his\nteam, and his tall sons; Captain Armytage and Mr. Reginald; Jacques\nDubois and another French Canadian; a couple of squatters from the other\nside of the lake; altogether two dozen men were assembled, with a fair\nproportion of oxen.\nIt was a burning summer day: perhaps a hundred degrees in the sun at\nnoon. What a contrast to the season which had witnessed the fall of the\ngreat trees now logging into heaps. Robert could hardly believe his\nmemory, that for three months since the year began, the temperature of\nthis very place had been below the freezing-point.\nMr. Reginald Armytage volunteered to be grog-bos, an office which suited\nhis 'loafing' propensities, since his duties consisted in carrying about\na pail of water and a bottle of whisky to the knots of workmen. His\nworthy father's position was almost as ornamental, for after one or\ntwo feeble efforts with a handspike, he went to talk with Mr. Wynn the\nelder--chiefly of a notable plan which he had for clearing a belt of\nwood lying between his farmhouse and the lake, and which quite shut out\nall view.\n'You see that Scotch fellow had no taste about his place, eh? He just\nthought of the vulgar utilitarian facts of the farm as it were; but for\nthe cultivation of the eye, the glorious influence of landscape, he had\nno thought. Daisy Burn might as well be in the bottom of a pit; all one\ncan see is the sky and the walls of forest outside the clearing. Now\nmy plan is--Reginald, my boy,' as the grog-bos passed within hearing\ndistance, 'give me the cup. The day is sultry to an extreme, eh?' Having\nrefreshed his throat, he proceeded: 'My plan is, to set on fire that\nstrip of forest, eh? I never could abide the slow work of the axe. With\nproper precautions, such as engineers use along the new rail-lines, the\nburning might be kept within bounds, eh?'\nMr. Wynn, who knew nothing at all about the matter, courteously\nassented.\n'Just look at my father, the glorious old gentleman, how he stands like\na general overseeing a lot of pioneers,' said Robert to Arthur, as they\npassed one another. 'Wonder what he and that drone are conversing about\nso long.'\n'I heard Armytage saying he would clear the belt of his forest on the\nlake with fire,' was the reply. 'In which case we may look out.'\n'Whew!' Robert whistled a long note. But his gang of teamsters wanted\nhim and his handspike, so he went on. Each yoke of oxen had four men\nattached to it, for the purpose of rolling the logs on top of each\nother, and picking the ground clear after them; which last means\ngathering all chips and sticks into the pile likewise. An acre to each\nteam is considered a fair day's work. Robert was so busy as quite to\nforget the captain and his alarming method of clearing, thenceforth.\nBy evening something had been done towards disentangling Cedar Creek.\nThe trees, which had lain about at every conceivable angle, in the\nwildest disorder, were rolled into masses ready for burning, through six\nacres of the clearing. The men had worthily earned their supper. In the\nold shanty it was laid out, on boards and tressels from end to end. The\ndignified Mr. Wynn of Dunore took the chair; Captain Armytage was vice,\nor croupier. As to attendance, the Irish damsel struck work at the most\ncritical juncture, and refused to minister to them in the article of\ntea. The ever-ready Andy, just in with blackened hands from his long\nday's field-work, washed them hurriedly, and became waiter for the\nnonce, having first energetically declared that if he was Biddy Murphy,\nhe'd be 'shamed to ate the bread he didn't airn; and that she might go\nhome to her mother as soon as she liked, for an iligant young lady as\nshe was. Zack Bunting overheard the strife, and the same night, on his\nreturn home, dropped a hint to the girl Libby--short for Liberia--his\nwife's orphan and penniless niece, who dwelt with them as a servant,\nand whose support they were anxious to get off their hands; and so, to\nher own prodigious astonishment, the recalcitrant Biddy found herself\nsuperseded, and the American help hired a day or two afterwards.\n'The whole affair of the bee was not so formidable as you thought,' said\nRobert to his sister subsequently. They were together in a canoe upon\nthe pond, enjoying a tranquil afternoon, and ostensibly fishing.\n'Oh no, not so bad. You know I saw very little of your hive, except\nindeed the storekeeper's son, who was dressed so fantastically, and who\nwould come offering his help in my cookery.'\n'I saw you talking to Jackey Dubois. Could you make anything of his\nFrench?'\n'Well, I tried, and of course could understand him; but the accent is\nvery queer. He calls Canada always Conodo; in fact, he puts \"o\" for \"a\"\nand \"i\" constantly. The article \"la\" turns into \"lo,\" \"voir\" becomes\n\"voar.\" That puzzles one--and the nasal twang besides. I wonder why\n_that_ is so universal. Even your nice friend Mr. Holt is affected by\nit, though slightly.'\n'He told me once that it is a national peculiarity; and no matter\nwhat pains a man takes to preserve himself or his children from it,\ninsensibly it grows in the pronunciation. He believes that something\nin the climate affects the nasal organs; he predicts it for me, and I\nsuppose for all of us.'\n'I hope not. Robert, I think the foliage on the shores is changing\ncolour already.'\n'I daresay; the maple blushes scarlet very early. Ah, wait till you see\nthe Indian summer, with its gorgeous tinting and soft pink mists.'\nAnd here Robert jerked into the boat a fine speckled trout caught by the\nbait of a garden worm. He had captured half-a-dozen in half-an-hour.\n'One would think the mists were come already,' said Linda, still gazing\nat the waved outline of the shore. 'There seems to be fog away yonder.'\n'The captain burning his fallow, I presume,' said Robert, raising his\neyes from his hook. But the smoke was larger than that would account\nfor.\n'We will paddle a little nearer and investigate,' said he, laying down\nhis tackle. A dread of suspicion stole into his mind, which whitened his\nvery lips.\nThey approached and coasted; the smell of burning wood becoming\nstronger--the smoke hanging over those headlands denser.\nIt was as he feared--the forest was on fire.\nCHAPTER XXXIII.\nTHE FOREST ON FIRE.\nRobert drew his paddle into the canoe, and sat perfectly still for some\nmoments, gazing towards the fire and taking in its circumstances. They\ncould hear the dull roar of the blaze distinctly, and even caught a\nglimpse of its crimson glare through an opening in the tall pines\nfringing the lake. It must have been burning a couple of hours to have\nattained such mastery. Dark resinous smoke hung heavily in the air: a\nhot stifling gust of it swept down on the canoe.\n'The wind is towards the pond, most providentially,' said Robert, taking\nup his paddle, and beginning to stroke the water vigorously towards home.\n'The burning _may_ do no harm; but fire is a fearful agent to set afoot.\nI'm sure the captain heartily wishes his kindling undone by this time.'\n'Is there no danger to the farm, Robert?' asked his sister, who had\nbecome blanched with fear. 'I never heard such a terrible sound as that\nraging and crackling.'\n'To Daisy Burn none, I should say; for, of course, the man had sense\nenough to fire the bush only a long way down in front, an extensive\nclearing rather round the house, and the breeze will keep away the\nblaze.'\n'Thank God,' fervently ejaculated Linda. 'I wish we could bring Miss\nArmytage and little Jay to the Creek while it lasts. Wouldn't you go\nacross for them, Bob? I know they must be frightened.'\nRobert hardly heard her, and certainly did not take in the import of her\nwords. With some wonder at his set face and earnest watch along shore,\nshe did not press her wish. He was looking at the belt of fat resinous\npines and balsams, dry as chips from the long summer droughts and\ntropical heats, which extended along from the foot of Armytage's farm\neven to the cedar swamp; he was feeling that the slight wind was blowing\nin a fair direction for the burning of this most inflammable fuel, and\nconsequently the endangering of his property on the creek. A point or\ntwo from the east of south it blew; proved by the strong resinous smell\nwafted towards the landing cove.\n'Bob, you're forgetting the trout and the tackle,' as he jumped ashore,\nhelped her out, and hurried up the beaten path beside the beaver meadow.\n'Never mind; I want to see Holt,' was his answer. 'If any man can help,\n'tis he.'\n'Then there is danger!' She still thought of the Daisy Burn people.\nBefore they reached the house, they met Mr. Holt and half-a-dozen\nIndians.\n'We must burn a patch of brushwood, to deprive the fire of fuel,' said\nthe former. 'These Indians have done the like on the prairies westward.\nIt is worth trying, at all events.'\n'Go up to my mother, Linda; there's nothing to be much alarmed for as\nyet; I hope this plan of Holt's may stop its progress. I'll be at the\nhouse as soon as I can, tell her;' and he ran after the others, down to\nthe mouth of the creek, where a strip of alluvial land, covered with\nbushes and rank grass, interrupted the belt of firs and cedars. Calling\nin fire as an ally against itself seemed to Robert very perilous; but\nthe calm Indians, accustomed to wilderness exigencies, set about the\nprotective burning at once. The flame easily ran through the dry\nbrushwood; it was kept within bounds by cutting down the shrubs where it\nmight spread farther than was desirable. Soon a broad blackened belt lay\nbeside the creek, containing nothing upon which the fire could fasten.\nAxes were at work to widen it still further.\n'The wind has risen very much, Holt,' said Robert, as they felt hot\ncurrents of air sweep past them.\n'Just the result of the rarified atmosphere over the flames,' he\nanswered. They spoke little: the impending risk was too awful. For once,\nthe white man submitted himself to the guidance of the red. To prevent\nthe fire from crossing the creek was the great object. The water itself,\nperhaps a hundred feet wide, would be an ineffectual barrier; such\nfierce flame would overleap it. Therefore the Indians had burned\nthe left bank, and now proceeded to burn the right. Indomitably\nself-possessed, cool and silent, they did precisely what met the\nemergency, without flurry or confusion.\n [Illustration: THE FOREST ON FIRE.]\nAll this time the fire was advancing behind the green veil of woods.\nVolumes of thick smoke were borne off across the pond, alarming the\ndwellers in distant shanties and oases of clearing, with suggestion\nof the most terrific danger that can befall a settler in the bush.\nBefore sunset the conflagration came in sight of Cedar Creek. Marching\nresistlessly onward, to the sound of great detonations of crashing and\ncrackling timber, and its own vast devouring roar, the mighty fire\npresented a front of flame thirty feet higher than the tree-tops.\nDaylight went down before that huge glare. The low hanging clouds were\ncrimsoned with a glow, not from the sinking sun, but from the billows\nof blaze beneath. As the dusk deepened, the terrors of the scene\nintensified by contrast, though in reality the triumphant fire recoiled\nfrom that blackened space fringing the stream, where it must die for\nwant of fuel.\nTo prevent its spreading up to the concession line, and catching the\nforest there, and perhaps destroying the whole township, all the men in\nthe neighbourhood had assembled to cut down trees, and leave a barrier\nof vacancy. If the wind had not been blowing from that direction, it is\nimprobable that their endeavours would have been sufficient to keep\nback the burning. The crestfallen Captain Armytage, author of all the\nmischief, wielded an axe among them. Truly he had created a view of\nblack smoking poles and cheerful charcoal vistas before his dwelling.\nWhether that were better than the utilitarian Scotchman's green woods,\nhe did not say just now, nor have spirit even to answer Davidson's\nsarcastic remarks on his 'muckle clearin'.'\nFar into the night, the great gaunt boles of trees stood amid wreathing\nflame. When all risk was over that it would communicate further, and\ndestroy the garden or the house, Robert and the rest could admire its\nmagnificence, and Sam Holt could tell of other forest-burnings of which\nhe had heard, especially of the great fire which occurred in the year\n1825, and consumed about two hundred square miles of woods on the\nMiramichi River in New Brunswick, left fourteen houses standing in the\ntown of Newcastle, and destroyed five hundred people. Two thousand were\nthus reduced to pauperism.\n'Such things are never heard of in Europe. Why are these forests more\ninflammable than those in the old world?' asked Mr. Wynn the elder.\n'Because the drought and heat of the climate are so much greater,'\nanswered Sam Holt; 'and the preponderance of pines, loaded to the end\nof every leaf and twig with pitch and resin, affords uncommon food for\nfire.'\nThen as to the cause; he considered it could never be spontaneous\ncombustion, but always accident, unless, indeed, in an exceptional case\nlike the present, said Mr. Holt _sotto voce_. Settlers, burning brush\nheaps, or logging, sometimes permit the flame to run along the ground\ninto the bush; and in dry weather entrance was sufficient. The boundary\nfences of farms were often consumed in this way, and more extensive\nmischief might follow.\nFor days the charred chaos of timber poles and fallen trunks gave forth\nsuch heat and flickering flames as to be unapproachable. Zack's Yankee\nbrain had a scheme for utilizing the ashes, if only he had machinery big\nenough for converting all into potash and pearlash. This man was old Mr.\nWynn's special aversion. There was indeed little in common between the\nwell-bred European gentleman, who always, even in these poor circumstances,\nwore the whitest linen (he never knew how Linda toiled over those neat\nshirt-fronts and ruffles), and kept up the _convenances_ of society in\nthe bush, and had a well-educated range of thought--between all this and\nthe Yankee storekeeper, who wore no linen at all, nor had the faintest\nidea of the usages of the polite world, nor an idea which might not be\nparalleled in the mental experience of a rat in a barn. 'Get' and\n'grasp' were the twin grooves of his life.\nUnconscious of the antipathy, Zack would saunter up to Cedar Creek\nsometimes of an evening, and, if not intercepted, would march straight\ninto the parlour where the ladies sat, and fix his feet on the wooden\nchimney-piece, discharging tobacco juice at intervals into the fire\nwith unerring labial aim. Mr. Wynn's anger at the intrusion signified\nnothing, nor could a repellent manner be understood by Zack without some\novert act, which a strained respect for hospitality prevented on the\npart of the old gentleman.\n'Well, Robert, how you could permit that man to walk with you for the\nlast half-hour I do not know.' Mr. Wynn stood on the threshold, looking\na complete contrast to the shuffling, retreating figure of the lank\nYankee striding over to the road.\n'I assure you it is not for the pleasure I take in his society, sir; but\nhe gives me useful hints. We were talking just now of potash, and I\nshowed him my new rail-fences; he has rather put me out of conceit with\nmy week's work because it is of basswood, which he says does not hold.'\n'Are those the rails which I helped to split?'\nBe it noticed here that Mr. Wynn the elder could not bear to be totally\ndependent on his sons, nor to live the life of a _faineant_ while they\nlaboured so hard; he demanded some manual task, and believed himself of\nconsiderable use, while they had often to undo his work when he turned\nhis back; and at all times the help was chiefly imaginary. No matter, it\npleased him; and they loved the dear old gentleman too well to undeceive\nhim.\n'As to the potash business, sir, I fear it is too complicated and\nexpensive to venture upon this year, though the creek is an excellent\nsite for an ashery, and they say the manufacture is highly remunerating.\nWhat do you think, father?' And they had a conference that diverged far\nfrom potash.\nAfter closely watching Davidson's management, and finding that he\nrealized twenty-eight shillings per hundredweight, Robert resolved to\ntry the manufacture. Details would be tedious. Both reader and writer\nmight lose themselves in leach-tubs, ash-kettles, and coolers. The 'help,'\nLiberia, proved herself valuable out of doors as well as indoors at this\njuncture; for Mrs. Zack's principle of up-bringing was that young folk\nshould learn to turn their hand to 'most everythin'. And Libby, a large\nplump girl with prodigiously red cheeks and lips, had profited so far by\nher training as to be nearly as clever in the field as in the kitchen.\nHer great strength was a constant subject of admiration to Andy, though\nthe expression of any such sentiment was met by unmitigated scorn on the\nlady's part.\n'Why, thin, Miss Green, an' it's yerself has the beautifullest arm, all\nto nothing', that ever I see; an' it's mottled brown with freckles, an'\nas big as a blacksmith's anyhow. Och, an' look how she swings up the\npotash kettle as light as if it was only a stone pot; musha, but yer\nthe finest woman, my darlin', from this to yerself all round the world\nagin!'\n'I guess, Mister Handy, if yer was to bring some logs, an' not to stand\nphilanderin' thar, 'twould be a sight better,' rejoined Miss Liberia\nsourly.\n'Look now,' answered Andy; 'ye couldn't make yerself ugly musthore, not\nif yer wor thryin' from this till then, so ye needn't frown; but ye're\nvery hard-hearted intirely on a poor orphant like me, that has nayther\nfather nor mother, nor as much as an uncle, nor a cousin near me itself.\nThough sorra bit o' me but 'ud sooner never have one belongin' to me\nthan thim out-an-out disgraceful cousins of yer own at the \"Corner.\"'\nLibby was immovable by this as by any other taunt, to all appearance.\n'Throth, I thried her every way,' quoth Andy subsequently, after\nan experience of some months; 'I thried her by flatthery an' by\nthruth-tellin', by abusing her relations an' herself, an' by praisin'\n'em, by appalin' to her compassion an' by bein' stiff an' impident, an'\nI might as well hould me tongue. A woman that couldn't be coaxed wid\nwords, I never seen afore.'\nPerhaps she was the better servant for this disqualification; at all\nevents, she had no idea of any nonsense keeping her from the full\ndischarge of her duties in the house. Her propensity to call the\ngentlemen by their baptismal names, without any respectful prefix, was\nviewed by Linda as a very minor evil when set off against strength and\nwilling-heartedness. But one day that she wanted her young mistress,\nand abruptly put her head into the parlour, asking, in a strong tone,\n'Whar's Linda? Tell her the men that's settin' the fall wheat'll be\n'long in no time for dinner,' Mr. Wynn could have turned her away on the\nspot.\n'Wal! sure it ain't no sin to forget the \"miss\" of an odd time, I\nguess,' was the large damsel's rejoinder, though without the least spice\nof sauciness. 'Come, I hain't no time to be spendin' here;' and she\nclosed the door after her with a bang which made gentle Mrs. Wynn start.\nThere was some trouble in convincing her husband that it was only the\nservant's rough manner--no real disrespect was intended; the incident\nput him into low spirits for the day, and turned many a backward thought\nupon the wealth of his youth.\nHe would say, in these downcast moods, that Canada was no place for the\ngentleman emigrant; but could he point out any colony _more_ suited?\nAlso, that his sons earned daily bread by harassing toil, worse than\nthat of a bricklayer or day labourer at home; but were they not happier\nthan in pursuit of mere pastime like thousands of their equals in the\nprovince they had left? Robert would certainly have answered in the\naffirmative. Arthur's restless spirit less wisely pined for the\npleasure-seeking of such a life as Argent's.\nCHAPTER XXXIV.\nTRITON AMONG MINNOWS.\nLinda was stooping one morning in the corner of her garden. Some precious\nplant was there, protected from the full glare of the noon sun by a\ncalico shade, carefully adjusted, and with a circle of brown damp about\nit, which told of attentive watering. A few roundish leaves were the\nobject of all this regard; in the centre of the knot to-day stood a\nlittle green knob on a short stem.\n'Oh, Georgie! papa! come and look at my daisy; it has actually got a\nbud.'\nMaster George, nothing loth to have lessons disturbed by any summons,\nran round from the open window through the open hall door, and his\nfather followed more slowly to behold the marvel.\n'You see, papa, I thought it never would get on, it was such a sickly\nlittle thing; but it must be growing strong, or it could not put out a\nbud. How glad I shall be to see a daisy's face again! I would give all\nthe fragrance of the blue wild iris for one. But, papa, the laurel\ncuttings are dead, I fear.'\nThey looked very like it, though Mr. Wynn would still give them a\nchance. He apprehended the extreme dryness of the air might prove too\nmuch for the infant daisy also. But Linda would see nothing except\npromise of prosperity as yet.\n'Now, papa, when I am done with my melons, and you have finished Georgie's\nlessons, I want you to walk down to Daisy Burn with me. I have something\nto say to Edith.'\n'With pleasure, my dear. But I have always wondered why that name was\ngiven to that farm, except on the principle of _lucus a non_.'\nAfter the mid-day dinner they went. Meeting Andy on the road, trudging\nup from the 'Corner' on some message, he informed them that the captain\nand his son had gone to a cradling-bee at Benson's, an English settler a\nfew miles off. 'But as to whether 'tis to make cradles they want, or to\nrock 'em, meself doesn't rightly know.'\nThe fact being that a 'cradle,' in American farming, signifies a machine\nfor cutting down corn wholesale. It is a scythe, longer and wider than\nthat used in mowing hay, combined with an apparatus of 'standard,'\n'snaith,' and 'fingers,' by means of which a single workman may level\ntwo acres and a half of wheat or oats in one day.\n'Captain Armytage is of a very sociable disposition,' remarked Mr. Wynn,\nafter a few steps. 'A man fresh from the mess table and clubs must\nfind the bush strangely unsuitable.' He was thinking of certain petty\noccurrences at his own bee, which demonstrated the gallant officer's\nweaknesses.\n'Oh, papa, did you ever see anything like these vines? Grapes will be\nas plentiful as blackberries are at home.' For along the concession line\nmany trees were festooned with ripening clusters; and deeper in the\nwoods, beyond Linda's ken, and where only the birds and wild animals\ncould enjoy the feast, whole hundredweights hung in gleams of sunshine.\nWell might the Northmen, lighting upon Canadian shores in one hot summer,\nmany centuries before Cabot or Cartier, name the country Vine-land; and\nthe earliest French explorers up the St. Lawrence call a grape-laden\nrock the Isle of Bacchus.\n'But is it not a wonder, papa,' pressed the young lady, 'when the cold\nis so terrible in winter? Do you remember all the endless trouble the\ngardener at Dunore had to save his vines from the frost? And Robert says\nthat great river the Ottawa is frozen up for five months every year, yet\nhere the grapes flourish in the open air.'\n'I suppose we are pretty much in the latitude of the Garonne,' answered\nMr. Wynn, casting about for some cause. 'But, indeed, Linda, if your\nCanadian grape does not enlarge somewhat'--\n'You unreasonable papa, to expect as fine fruit as in a hothouse or\nsunny French vineyard. I really see no reason why we Canadians should\nnot have regular vineyards some day, and you would see how our little\ngrapes must improve under cultivation. Perhaps we might make wine. Now,\nyou dear clever papa, just turn your attention to that, and earn for\nyourself the sobriquet of national benefactor.'\nClinging to his arm as they walked, she chattered her best to amuse the\nsombre mind, so lately uprooted from old habits and ways of life into a\nmode of existence more or less distasteful. The birds aided her effort\nwith a variety of foreign music. Woodpigeon, bobolink, bluebird, oriole,\ncooed and trilled and warbled from the bush all around. The black\nsquirrel, fat, sleek, jolly with good living of summer fruits, scampered\nabout the boughs with erect shaggy tail, looking a very caricature upon\ncare, as he stowed away hazel-nuts for the frosty future. Already the\ntrees had donned their autumn coats of many colours; and the beauteous\nmaple-leaves, matchless in outline as in hue, began to turn crimson\nand gold. The moody man yielded to the sweet influences of nature in a\ndegree, and acknowledged that even this exile land could be enjoyable.\nArriving at the snake fences of Armytage's farm, he said he would go\ndown to the post at the 'Corner' for letters, and call in an hour for\nLinda on his return. She found Edith and Jay working hard as usual.\nTheir employment to-day was the very prosaic one of digging potatoes.\n'What horrid occupation for a lady!' exclaims somebody. Yes; Miss\nArmytage would have much preferred an afternoon spent in painting\nflowers, for which she had a talent. But there was no help for such\nmanual labour in this case. Don't you imagine her pride suffered before\nshe took part in field work? I think so, by the deep blush that suffused\nher face when she saw the visitor coming along, though it was only Linda\nWynn, who made some not very complimentary reflections on the father and\nbrother whose absence on an amusing expedition permitted this,--whose\ngeneral indolence compelled severe labour from the girls. They were\nmisplaced men, certainly, and had as much business in the bush, with\ntheir tastes and habits, and want of self-control, as Zack Bunting would\nhave had in an English drawing-room.\nLinda had been thinking over a plan, which, when uttered, was proved to\nhave also suggested itself to her friend. Could not something be done in\nthe way of a Sunday-school class for the miserable ignorant children at\nthe 'Corner'? Now the very rudiments of revealed religion were unknown\nto them; and to spend an hour or two on the vacant Sabbath in trying to\nteach them some of Heaven's lore, seemed as if it might be the germ of\ngreat good. Miss Armytage, naturally not of Linda's buoyant disposition,\nforesaw abundance of difficulties,--the indifference or opposition of\nparents, the total want of discipline or habits of thought among the\nyoung themselves. Still, it was worth trying; if only a single childish\nsoul should be illuminated with the light of life to all eternity by\nthis means, oh, how inestimably worth trying!\nMr. Wynn was seen coming up the clearing. 'I know papa has had a\nletter,' exclaimed Linda, 'and that it is a pleasant one, by his\npleasant face. Confess now, Edith, isn't he the handsomest man you ever\nsaw?'\nHer friend laughed at the daughterly enthusiasm, but could have answered\nin the affirmative, as she looked at his stately grey-crowned figure\nand handsome features, lighted with a grave, kind smile, as Linda took\npossession of his left arm--to be nearer his heart, she said. She\nwas not very long in coaxing from him the blue official letter which\ncontained his appointment to the magistracy of the district, about which\nhe pretended not to be a bit pleased.\n'And there's some other piece of nonsense in that,' said he, taking out\na second blue envelope, and addressed to Arthur Wynn, Esquire.\n'\"Adjutant-General's Office,\"' read Linda, from the corner. 'His\nappointment to the militia, I am sure. That good, powerful Mr. Holt!'\nEven at the name she coloured a little. 'He said that he would try and\nhave this done. And I am so glad you are taking your proper footing in\nthe colony, papa. Of course they should make you a magistrate. I should\nlike to know who has the dignified presence, or will uphold the majesty\nof the law, as well as you?'\n'Magistracy and militia--very different in this mushroom society from\nwhat they are in the old country,' said Mr. Wynn despairingly.\n'Well, papa, I have ambition enough to prefer being chief fungus among\nthe mushrooms, instead of least among any other class. Don't you\nknow how poverty is looked down upon at home? Here we are valued for\nourselves, not for our money. See how all the neighbourhood looks up to\nMr. Wynn of Cedar Creek. You are lord-lieutenant of the county, without\nhis commission: these men feel the influence of superior education and\nabilities and knowledge.'\n'I verily believe, saucebox, that you think your father fit to be\nGovernor-General; or, at least, a triton among the minnows.'\n'Papa, the fun is, you'll have to marry people now, whenever you're\nasked. It is part of a magistrate's duty in out-of-the-way places, Mr.\nHolt says.'\n'Then I am to consider my services bespoke by the young ladies present,\neh?' said Mr. Wynn, making a courtly inclination to Edith and Jay. 'With\nthe greatest pleasure.'\nCHAPTER XXXV.\nTHE PINK MIST.\nMr. Wynn became his magisterial functions well, though exercised after\na primitive fashion, without court-house or bench whence to issue his\ndecisions, without clerk to record them, or police force to back them,\nor any other customary paraphernalia of justice to render his office\nimposing. To be sure, his fine presence was worth a great deal, and his\nsonorous voice. As Linda predicted, he was obliged to perform clerical\nduty at times, in so far as to marry folk who lived beyond reach of a\nclergyman, and had thrice published their intention in the most public\npart of the township. The earliest of these transactions affianced\none of Davidson's lads to a braw sonsie lass, daughter of Benson, the\nShropshire settler beyond the 'Corner.' The bridegroom, a tall strapping\nyoung fellow of about twenty-three, had a nice cottage ready for his\nwife, and a partially cleared farm of a hundred acres, on which he had\nbeen working with this homestead in view for the last year and a half.\nThe prudent Scotsman would portion off his other sons in similar\nrespectability as they came of age.\n'And yer mither and I cam' here wi' an axe and a cradle,' he was wont to\nsay, 'eh, Jeanie Davidson?'\nHe had good cause for gratulation at the wedding that day. His own\nindomitable industry and energy had raised him from being a struggling\nweaver in Lanarkshire to be a prosperous landowner in Canada West. He\nlooked upon a flourishing family of sons and daughters round the festive\nboard in Benson's barn, every one of them a help to wealth instead of a\ndiminution to it; strong, intelligent lads, healthy and handy lasses.\nWith scarce a care or a doubt, he could calculate on their comfortable\nfuture.\n'I tell you what, neighbour,' cried stout John Benson, from the head of\nthe table, 'throw by cold water for once, and pledge me in good whisky\nto the lucky day that brought us both to Canada.'\n'Na, na,' quoth Davidson, shaking his grizzled head, 'I'll drink the\ntoast wi' all my heart, but it must be in gude water. These twenty year\nback I hae been a temperance man, and hae brought up thae lads to the\nsame fashion; for, coming to Canada, I kenned what ruined mony a puir\nfallow might weel be the ruin o' me, an' I took a solemn vow that a drap\no' drink suld never moisten my lips mair. Sandy Davidson wouldna be\ngettin' John Benson's daughter in marriage the day, if it werena for the\ncauld water.'\nCaptain Armytage, who never missed a merrymaking of any description\nwithin a circle of miles, took on himself to reply to this teetotal\noration.\nIt was all very well for Mr. Davidson to talk thus, but few constitutions\ncould bear up against the excessive labour of bush life without\nproportionate stimulants. For his own part, he would sink under it,\nbut for judicious reinforcement of cordials, ordered him by the first\nmedical man in Europe.\n'I daur say,' replied Davidson, whose keen hard eye had been fixed on\nthe speaker; 'I daur say. Ye mak' nae faces at yer medicine, anyhow.\nIt's weel that Zack's store is so handy to Daisy Burn, only I'm thinkin'\nthe last will go to the first, in the long run.'\n'What do you mean, sir?' demanded the captain fierily.\n'Naething,' responded Davidson coolly,--'naething save what e'er the\nwords mean.'\n'But we were a-goin' to drink to Canada, our adopted country,' put in\nBenson, willing to stifle the incipient quarrel--'the finest country on\nthe face of the earth, after Old England.'\nHis stentorian Shropshire lungs supplied a cheer of sufficient\nintensity, taken up by his guests.\n'The country whar we needna fear factor, nor laird, nor rent-day,'\nshouted Davidson. 'We're lairds an' factors here, an' our rent-day\ncomes--never.'\n'Whirroo!' exclaimed an Irishman, Pat O'Brien, who, having been evicted\nin his own country, was particularly sensitive as to landlord and\ntenant-right. 'No more agints, nor gales o' rint, nor nothin', ever to\npay!'\n'Not forgetting the tax-gatherer,' interposed portly Mr. Benson. 'None\nof us are partikler sorry to part with him.'\nMeanwhile the comely bride was sitting with her husband at one side of\nthe table, thankful for the diversion from herself as a topic of\nenthusiasm and mirth.\n'Lads, you'd be a' at the loom, an' your sisters in the factories, only\nfor Canada,' said Davidson, now on his legs. 'An' I suld be lookin'\nfor'ard to the poor-house as soon as my workin' days were ower; an'\nSandy couldna marry, except to live on porridge an' brose, wi' cauld\nkail o' Sabbath. How wad ye relish that prospect, bonnie Susan?'\nBonnie Susan liked the prospect of the folds of her own silk dress best\nat that moment, to judge by the determinately downward glance of her\neyes.\nBy and by Davidson (for the subject was a favourite one with him) hit\nupon another of the Canadian advantages as a poor man's land--that the\nlarger a man's family, the wealthier was he. No need to look on the\nlittle ones as superfluous mouths, which by dire necessity the labourer\nin mother country is often forced to do; for each child will become an\nadditional worker, therefore an additional means of gain.\n'An' if the folk at hame kenned this mair, dinna ye think the emigration\nwad be thrice what it is, Mr. Robert? Dinna ye think they wad risk the\nsea an' the strangers, to make a safe future for their bairns? Ay,\nsurely. An' when I think o' the people treading one anither down over\nthe edges o' thae three little islands, while a country as big as Europe\nstands amaist empty here'--\nMr. Davidson never stated the consequences of his thought; for just then\ncame a universal call to clear the tables, stow away the boards and\ntressels, and make room for dancing and small plays. The hilarity may\nbe imagined--the boisterous fun of general blindman's buff, ladies'\ntoilet, and all varieties of forfeits. Robert Wynn stole away in the\nbeginning; he had come for an hour, merely to gratify their good\nneighbour Davidson; but, pressing as was his own farm-work, he found\ntime to spend another hour at Daisy Burn, doing up some garden beds\nunder direction of Miss Edith. She had come to look on him as a very\ngood friend; and he----well, there was some indefinable charm of manner\nabout the young lady. Those peculiarly set grey eyes were so truthful\nand so gentle, that low musical voice so perfect in tone and inflection,\nthat Robert was pleased to look or listen, as the case might be. But\nchiefest reason of all--was she not dear Linda's choicest friend and\nintimate? Did they not confide every secret of their hearts to each\nother? Ah, sunbeam, Linda knew well that there was a depth of her\nfriend's nature into which she had never looked, and some reality of\ngloom there which she only guessed.\nPerhaps it was about Edith's father or brother. That these gentlemen\nneglected their farm business, and that therefore affairs could not\nprosper, was tolerably evident. Fertile as is Canadian soil, some\nmeasure of toil is requisite to evolve its hidden treasures of\nagricultural wealth. Except from a hired Irish labourer named Mickey\nDunne, Daisy Burn farm did not get this requisite. The young man\nReginald now openly proclaimed his abhorrence of bush life. No degree\nof self-control or arduous habits had prepared him for the hard work\nessential. Most of the autumn he had lounged about the 'Corner,' except\nwhen his father was in Zack's bar, which was pretty often; or he was at\nCedar Creek on one pretext or other, whence he would go on fishing and\nshooting excursions with Arthur.\nMeanwhile, Robert's farming progressed well. His fall-wheat was all down\nby the proper period, fifteenth of September; for it is found that the\nearlier the seed is sown, the stronger is the plant by the critical\ntime of its existence, and the better able to withstand frost and rust.\nComplacently he looked over the broad brown space, variegated with\ncharred stumps, which occupied fully a twelfth of the cleared land;\nand stimulated by the pleasures of hope, he calculated on thirty-five\nbushels an acre next summer as the probable yield. Davidson had raised\nforty per acre in his first season at Daisy Burn, though he acknowledged\nthat twenty-five was the present average.\nThe garden stuff planted on Robert's spring-burn ground had flourished;\nmore than two hundred bushels per acre of potatoes were lodged in the\nroot-house, and a quantity of very fine turnips and carrots. Beans had\nnot thriven: he learned that the climate is considered unfavourable for\nthem. The pumpkins planted between his rows of Indian corn had swelled\nand swelled, till they lay huge golden balls on the ground, promising\nabundant dishes of 'squash' and sweet pie through the winter.\n'How is it that everything thrives with you, Wynn?' young Armytage said\none afternoon that he found the brothers busy slitting rails for the\nfencing of the aforesaid fall-wheat. 'I should say the genius of good\nluck had a special care over Cedar Creek.'\n'Well, nature has done three-fourths of it,' answered Robert, driving\nin a fresh wedge with his beetle; 'for this soil reminds me of some\npoet's line--\"Tickle the earth with a straw, and forth laughs a yellow\nharvest.\" The other quarter of our success is just owing to hard work,\nArmytage, as you may see.'\n'I can't stand that,' said the young man, laughing: 'give me something\nto do at once;' and he began to split rails also. Linda, coming from the\nhouse, found them thus employed--a highly industrial trio.\n'I recollect being promised wild plums to preserve,' said she, after\nlooking on for a little. 'Suppose you get out the canoe, Bob, and we go\nover to that island where we saw such quantities of them unripe? Now\ndon't look so awfully wise over your wedges, but just consider how I am\nto have fruit tarts for people, if the fruit is never gathered.'\nWhether the motive was this telling argument, or that his work was\nalmost finished owing to the additional hand, Robert allowed the beetle\nto be taken from his fingers and laid aside. 'You imperious person! I\nsuppose we must obey you.'\nThe day was one of those which only Canada in the whole world can\nfurnish--a day of the 'pink mist,' when the noon sun hangs central in a\nroseate cup of sky. The rich colour was deepest all round the horizon,\nand paled with infinite shades towards the zenith, like a great blush\nrose drooping over the earth. Twenty times that morning Linda went from\nthe house to look at it: her eyes could not be satiated with the beauty\nof the landscape and of the heavens above.\nThen, what colours on the trees! As the canoe glided along through the\nenchanted repose of the lake, what painted vistas of forest opened to\nthe voyagers' sight! what glowing gold islets against an azure background\nof distant waters and purple shores! what rainbows had fallen on the\nwoods, and steeped them in hues more gorgeous than the imagination of\neven a Turner could conceive! Shades of lilac and violet deepening into\nindigo; scarlet flecked with gold and green; the darkest claret and\nrichest crimson in opposition: no tropical forest was ever dyed in\ngreater glory of blossom than this Canadian forest in glory of foliage.\n'What can it be, Robert?' asked Linda, after drinking in the delight of\ncolour in a long silent gaze. 'Why have we never such magnificence upon\nour trees at home?'\n'People say it is the sudden frost striking the sap; or that there is\nsome peculiar power in the sunbeams--actinic power, I believe 'tis\ncalled--to paint the leaves thus; but one thing seems fatal to this\nsupposition, that after a very dry summer the colouring is not near so\nbrilliant as it would be otherwise. I'm inclined to repose faith in the\nfrost theory myself; for I have noticed that after a scorching hot day\nand sharp night in August, the maples come out in scarlet next morning.'\n'Now, at home there would be some bald patches on the trees,' observed\nArthur. 'The leaves seem to fall wholesale here, after staying on till\nthe last.'\n'I have heard much of the Indian summer,' said Linda, 'but it far\nexceeds my expectation. An artist would be thought mad who transferred\nsuch colouring to his canvas, as natural. Just look at the brilliant\ngleam in the water all along under that bank, from the golden leafage\nabove it; and yonder the reflection is a vermilion stain. I never saw\nanything so lovely. I hope it will last a long time, Bob.'\nThat was impossible to say; sometimes the Indian summer was for weeks,\nsometimes but for a few days; Canadians had various opinions as to\nits arrival and duration: September, October, or November might have\nportions of the dreamy hazy weather thus called. As to why the name was\ngiven, nobody could tell; except it bore reference to an exploded idea\nthat the haze characteristic of the time of the year arose from the\nburning of the great grassy prairies far west by the red men.\n'What has become of your colony of Indians?' asked Armytage, 'those who\nlived near the cedar swamp?'\n'Oh, they left us in \"the whortleberry moon,\" as they call August, and\nmigrated to some region where that fruit abounds, to gather and store it\nfor winter use. They smoke the berries over a slow fire, I am told, and\nwhen dry, pack them in the usual birch-bark makaks; and I've seen them\nmixed with the dough of bread, and boiled with venison or porcupine, or\nwhatever other meat was going, as we would use whole pepper.'\n'After the whortleberries, they were to go to the rice-grounds,'\nobserved Arthur. 'Bob, suppose we paddle over and try for ducks in\nthe rice-beds, to the lee of that island.'\nHere were some hundred yards of shallow water, filled with the tall\ngraceful plant, named by the Jesuits 'folle avoine,' and by the English\n'wild rice.' The long drooping ears filled with very large grains,\nblack outside and white within, shook down their contents into the silt\nat bottom with every movement which waved their seven-feet stems. Arthur\nknew it as a noted haunt of wild duck, a cloud of which arose when he\nfired.\n'It was here we met all the pigeons the other day,' said he. 'Those\ntrees were more like the inside of a feather-bed than anything else,\nso covered were they with fluttering masses of birds; you couldn't see\na bit of the foliage; and 'twas quite amusing to watch some of them\nlighting on the rice, which wasn't strong enough to support them, and\ntrying to pick out the grains. As they could neither swim nor stand,\nthey must have been thoroughly tantalized. Don't you remember,\nArmytage?'\nBut their main business, the plums, must be attended to; the islet was\nfound which was bordered with festoons of them, hanging over the edge in\nthe coves; and after due feasting on the delicious aromatic fruit, they\ngathered some basketsful. When that was done, it was high time to paddle\nhomewards; the sun was gliding forth from the roseate vault over the\nwestern rim, and a silvery haze rose from the waters, softly veiling the\nbrilliant landscape.\n'A great improvement to your charcoal forest, it must be owned,' said\nRobert, pointing Armytage to where the sharp black tops of rampikes\nprojected over the mist. The young man did not relish allusions to that\nfolly of his father's, and was silent.\n'Oh, Bob, what a pretty islet!' exclaimed Linda, as they passed a rock\ncrested with a few trees, and almost carpeted by the brilliant red\nfoliage of the pyrola, or winter green. 'The bushes make quite a\ncrimson wreath round the yellow poplars.'\n'I think,' said Robert, with deliberation, 'it would be almost worth the\nvoyage across the Atlantic Ocean to see this single day of \"the pink\nmist.\"'\nCHAPTER XXXVI.\nBELOW ZERO.\nIndian summer was succeeded by the 'temps boucaneux,' when hoarfrost\ndrooped noiselessly on the night its silver powder on all the dazzling\ncolouring, presenting nature robed in a delicate white guise each\nmorning, which the sun appropriated to himself as soon as he could get\nabove the vapours. Now were the vast waters of Canada passing from a\nfluid to a solid form, giving out caloric in quantities, accompanied by\nthese thin mists. Towards the close of November navigation ceases on the\nOttawa; the beginning of December sees the mighty river frozen over. Yet\nit lies in the latitude of Bordeaux! All honour to the benevolent Gulf\nStream which warms France and England comfortably.\nWhen Linda's fingers were particularly cold, she would puzzle Robert and\nher father with questions as to why this should be so. Mr. Holt once\ntold her that the prevailing wind came from the north-west across a vast\nexpanse of frozen continent and frozen ocean. Also that James's Bay, the\nsouthern tongue of Hudson's, was apt to get choked with masses of ice\ndrifted in from the arctic seas, and which, being without a way of escape,\njust jammed together and radiated cold in company on the surrounding\nlands.\nThis explanation was given and received within earshot of a splendid\nfire on one of those tremendous January mornings when the temperature\nis perhaps twenty-five degrees below zero, when the very smoke cannot\ndisperse in the frozen atmosphere, and the breath of man and beast\nreturns upon them in snowy particles. Nobody cares to be out of\ndoors, for the air cuts like a knife, and one's garments stiffen like\nsheet-iron. Linda stands at the window of the little parlour--well she\nunderstands now why the hearth was made almost as wide as one side of\nthe room--and looks out on the white world, and on the coppery sun\nstruggling to enlighten the icy heavens, and on that strange phenomenon,\nthe _ver glas_, gleaming from every tree.\n'Now, Mr. Holt, as you have been good enough to attempt an explanation\nof the cold, perhaps you could tell me the cause of the _ver glas_? What\nmakes that thin incrustation of ice over the trunk and every twig which\nhas been attracting my admiration these three days? It was as if each\ntree was dressed in a tight-fitting suit of crystal when the sun\nsucceeded in shining a little yesterday.'\n'I imagine that the cause was the slight thaw on Monday, and the freezing\nof the moisture that then covered the bark and branches into a coat of\nice. So I only _attempt_ explanations, Miss Linda.'\n'Oh, but it is not your fault if they are unsatisfactory, as I own that\nof the north-west winds and James's Bay was to me; it is the fault of\nscience. I'm afraid you'll not answer another question which I have,\nsince I am so ungrateful as not to accept everything you say with\nbecoming reverence.'\n'Name your question.'\n'Why is every fourth day milder than the others? Why may we reckon with\nalmost certainty on a degree of soft weather to-morrow?'\n'Those are the tertian intervals, and nobody understands them.'\n'Concise and candid, if it doesn't make me wiser; but I'm compensated\nfor that in finding something of which you are equally ignorant with\nmyself, Mr. Holt.'\nRemarks of a more superficial character were extorted by the severity of\nthe weather from the inmates of the kitchen.\n'Arrah, Miss Libby asthore, wor ye able to sleep one wink last night wid\nthe crakling of the threes? I niver heerd'--\n'Sartin sure I was,' replied the rubicund damsel, as she moved briskly\nabout her work. She had a peculiarity of wearing very short skirts,\nlest they should impede her progress; but once that Andy ventured a\ncomplimentary joke on her ankles, he met with such scathing scorn that\nhe kept aloof from the subject in future, though often sorely tempted.\n'Nothen ever kep me waking,' asseverated the Yankee girl with perfect\ntruth. 'Now, young man, jest git out o' my way; warm yar hands in yar\nhair, if you've a mind teu--it's red enough, I guess.'\n'Throth an' I wish I could take your advice, Miss; or if you'd give me a\nfew sparks of yer own hot timper, I needn't ever come up to the hearth\nat all at all.'\n'Thar, go 'long with you for a consaited sot-up chap, an' bring in a\ncouple of armfuls of wood,' said the lady. 'I reckon you'd best take\ncare of your hair settin' fire to the logs, Mister Handy,' she added\nwith a chuckle.\nLinda entered the kitchen on some household business, and Mr. Callaghan\nwas too respectful to retort in her presence. But this is a specimen of\nthe odd sort of sparring which Arthur chose to consider courtship, and\nto rally both parties about.\n''Deed then I hope 'tisn't the likes of a crooked stick of her kind I'd\nbe afther bringin' home at long last,' Andy would say, wielding his axe\nwith redoubled vigour.\n'I guess I ain't agoin' jest to be sich a soft un as to take the care of\n_him_ for nothen',' the lady would say, flouncing about her kitchen and\nlaying ineffable emphasis on the last word. Whence it would appear that\nthe feud was irreconcilable.\nNext day was bright, and the mercury had climbed nearer to zero; so\nthe sleigh was had out--Mr. Holt's sleigh, which had brought him from\nMapleton to Cedar Creek, and was very much at everybody's service while\nhe remained. Linda dressed in her warmest attire, and prepared for a\nrun to the 'Corner' with her father. The sleigh was but a 'cutter' for\ncarrying two, and had handsome robes of its equipment, a pair for each\nseat; one of wolf-skins garnished with a row of tails at the bottom\nand lined with scarlet; another a bear-skin, in which the beast's grim\ncountenance had been preserved, and his claws affixed as a fringe. When\nLinda was comfortably wrapped up, Mr. Holt produced a third robe to\nthrow over all.\n'What a curious texture! a platted material and yet fur!' she said,\nlooking at it.\n''Tis of Indian manufacture, and I believe is made of rabbit skins cut\nin strips, twisted and netted together so as to keep the hair outside on\nboth surfaces. You have a lovely day for your trip; I hope you will\nenjoy it.'\nDid she not? A large set-off against the severity of a Canadian winter\nshould be the ecstatic pleasures of sleighing. Those who have not tasted\nit know not the highest bliss of movement. Gliding smoothly and rapidly\nover the solid snow to the tinkling music of bells, the motion alone has\nsomething in it most exhilarating, to say nothing of the accompaniments\nof the ride, the clear bracing air, the beauty of the frost-bound\nforests all around. Linda was determined that her friend Edith should\nhave her share of the enjoyment this brilliant day: so, stopping the\n'steel-shod sleigh' at Daisy Burn, she persuaded Miss Armytage to don\nher cloak and muffetees and warm hood, and take her place beside Mr.\nWynn for the rest of the way to the 'Corner' and back.\nEdith had been in the midst of ironing her father's and brother's linen,\nwhile Jay read aloud. As soon as she was gone, despite the protestations\nof the little girl, Linda took the smoothing iron herself, and continued\nthe work merrily. While thus engaged, and Jay getting through her history\nlesson still, a scratching was heard at the outside door of the kitchen.\n'That's Ponto; what can have brought him home? he went with Reginald to\nchop at the edge of the clearing.'\nThe dog was no sooner admitted than he jumped on them both, pulled their\ngowns, ran back whining, and repeated these movements many times.\n'He wants us to go with him, Jay--don't you think so?'\nCHAPTER XXXVII.\nA CUT, AND ITS CONSEQUENCES.\nWhat could be the matter? Ponto, at all events, seemed to think it of\nmuch importance, for he never ceased to pull their skirts and whine\nan entreaty, and go through the pantomime of running off in a great\nhurry--never farther than the threshold--until he saw the girls put on\ntheir cloaks and hoods. Gravely he sat on his tail, looking at them with\npatient eyes, and, when the door was opened, sprang off madly towards\nthe pond.\n'Could Reginald have sent him for anything? Something might have\nhappened to Reginald. Ponto never came home in that way before. Could a\ntree have fallen on Reginald?' and Jay's small hand shivered in Linda's\nat the thought. They hurried after the dog, over the spotless surface of\nsnow, into the charred forest, where now every trunk and bough of ebony\nseemed set in silver. Thither Reginald had gone to chop at noon, in a\nlittle fit of industry. They were guided to the spot by the sad whinings\nof faithful Ponto, who could not comprehend why his master was lying on\nthe ground, half against a tree, and what meant that large crimson\nstain deepening in the pure snow.\nA desperate axe-cut in his foot--this was the matter. Linda almost\nturned sick at the sight; but Jay, compressing her white lips very\nfirmly, to shut in a scream, kneeled down by her brother.\nHe had succeeded, with infinite effort, in drawing off his long leather\nboot, through which the axe had penetrated, and had been trying to bind\nhis neckcloth tightly above the ankle. Jay helped him with all her\nlittle strength.\n'Give me a stick,' said he hoarsely--'a strong stick;' Linda flew to\nfind one. 'Something to make a tourniquet;' and, not readily seeing any\nwood to answer the want, she used his axe, stained as it was, to chop\na branch from the single tree he had felled. She had never tried her\nstrength of arm in this way before; but now the axe felt quite light,\nfrom her excitement. Before the stick could be ready, in her unpractised\nfingers, Jay cried out, 'Oh, Linda, he is dying! he has fainted!'\nStill, she had common sense to know that the first necessity was to\nstop the bleeding; so, quieting the little sister by a word or two, she\ninserted the stick in the bandage above the ankle, and turned it more\nthan once, so as to tighten the ligament materially. Looking at the\npallid features, another thought struck her.\n'Let us heap up snow round the wounded foot and leg; I'm sure the cold\nmust be good for it;' and, with the axe for their only shovel, the two\ngirls gathered a pile of frozen snow, as a cushion and covering to the\nlimb--'Oh, if Edith were here! if Edith were here!' being Jay's\nsuppressed cry.\n'Where is the labourer whom I saw working on the farm?'\n'Gone away; discharged last week. Papa said he couldn't afford to pay\nhim any longer. That's why Reginald went out to chop to-day. Oh, Linda,\nI wish somebody came. He is lying so white and still: are you sure he is\nnot dead?'\nHis head was on the little sister's lap, and Linda chafed the temples\nwith snow. Would the sleigh-bells ever be heard? She longed for help of\nsome sort. As to surgery, there was not a practitioner within thirty\nmiles. What could be done with such a bad hurt as this without a\nsurgeon?\nA universal slight shudder, and a tremor of the eyelids, showed that\nconsciousness was returning to the wounded man. Almost at the same\ninstant Ponto raised his head, and ran off through the trees, whining. A\nman's footsteps were presently heard coming rapidly over the crisp snow.\nIt was Mr. Holt: and a mountain load of responsibility and dread was\nlifted from Linda's mind at the sight of him. This was not the first\ntime that she had felt in his presence the soothing sense of confidence\nand restfulness.\nHe could not help praising them a little for what they had done with\nthe primitive tourniquet and the styptic agency of the snow. Beyond\ntightening the bandage by an additional twist or two of the inserted\nstick, he could do nothing more for the patient till he was removed to\nthe house; but he began collateral help by cutting poles for a litter,\nand sent Jay and Linda for straps of basswood bark to fasten them\ntogether. When the sleigh at last came up the avenue, Mr. Wynn the elder\nhelped him to carry young Armytage home, wherein Sam Holt's great\nphysical strength carefully bore two-thirds of the dead weight.\nIt seemed that he had been chopping up that fir for firewood, perhaps\nwithout giving much thought to his work, when the axe, newly sharpened\nbefore he came out, caught in a crooked branch, which diverted almost\nthe whole force of the blow on his own foot. Well was it that Mr. Holt,\nin his erratic education, had chosen to pry into the mysteries of\nsurgery for one session, and knew something of the art of putting\ntogether severed flesh and bone; although many a dreadful axe wound is\ncured in the backwoods by settlers who never heard of a diploma, but\nnevertheless heal with herbs and bandages, which would excite the\nscornful mirth of a clinical student.\nThus began a long season of illness and weakness for the young man, so\nrecently in the rudest health and strength. It was very new to his\nimpetuous spirit, and very irksome, to lie all day in the house, not\ndaring to move the injured limb, and under the shadow of Zack Bunting's\ncheerful prediction, that he guessed the young fellar might be a matter\no' six or eight months a-lyin' thar, afore such a big cut healed, ef he\nwarn't lamed for life.\nReginald chafed and grumbled and sulked for many a day; but the fact\ncould not be gainsaid; those divided veins and tendons and nerves must\ntake long to unite again; Mr. Holt found him one morning in such an\nunquiet mood.\n'Armytage,' said he, after the usual attentions to the wound, 'I suppose\nyou consider this axe-cut a great misfortune?'\n'\"Misfortune!\"' and he rose on his elbow in one of the fifty positions\nhe was wont, for very restlessness, to assume. 'Misfortune! I should\nthink I do: nothing much worse could have happened. Look at the farm,\nwithout a hand on it, going to rack and ruin'--\nRather a highly coloured picture; and Reginald seemed to forget that,\nwhile his limbs were whole, he had devoted them almost entirely to\namusement. Mr. Holt heard him out patiently.\n'I should not be surprised if it proved one of the best events of your\nlife,' he observed; 'that is, if you will allow it to fulfil the object\nfor which it was sent.'\n'Oh, that's your doctrine of a particular providence,' said the other\npeevishly, lying back again.\n'Yes; my doctrine of a particular providence, taught in every leaf of\nthe Bible. Now, Armytage, look back calmly over your past life, and\nforward, whither you were drifting, and see if the very kindest thing\nthat could be done for you by an all-wise and all-loving God was not to\nbring you up suddenly, and lay you aside, and _force_ you to think.\nBeware of trying to frustrate His purpose.'\nMr. Holt went away immediately on saying that, for he had no desire to\namuse Reginald with an unprofitable controversy which might ensue, but\nrather to lodge the one truth in his mind, if possible. Young Armytage\nthought him queer and methodistical; but he could not push out of his\nmemory that short conversation. Twenty times he resolved to think of\nsomething else, and twenty times the dismissed idea came round again,\nand the calm forcible words visited him, 'Beware of trying to frustrate\nGod's purpose.'\nAt last he called to his sister Edith, who was busy at some housework\nin the kitchen, across a little passage.\n'Come here; I want to ask you a question. Do you think that I am crippled\nas a punishment for my misdeeds, idleness, etcetera?'\n'Indeed, I do not,' she answered with surprise. 'What put such a thought\ninto your head?'\n'Holt said something like it. He thinks this axe-cut of mine is\ndiscipline--perhaps like the breaking-in which a wild colt requires; and\nas you and he are of the same opinion in religious matters, I was\ncurious to know if you held this dogma also.'\nShe looked down for a moment. 'Not quite as you have represented it,'\nshe said. 'But I do think that when the Lord sends peculiar outward\ncircumstances, He intends them to awake the soul from indifference, and\nbring it to see the intense reality of invisible things. Oh, Reginald,'\nshe added, with a sudden impulse of earnestness, 'I wish you felt that\nyour soul is the most precious thing on earth.'\nHe was moved more than he would have cared to confess, by those tearful\neyes and clasped hands; he knew that she went away to pray for him,\nwhile about her daily business. More serious thoughts than he had ever\nexperienced were his that afternoon: Jay could not avoid remarking--in\nprivate--on his unusual quietude. Next morning he found a Bible beside\nhis bed, laid there by Edith, he had no doubt; but for a long time she\ncould not discover whether he ever looked into it.\nWhen Mr. Holt left the country, he gave Robert Wynn charge of the\npatient mentally as well as corporeally. He knew that Robert's own piety\nwould grow more robust for giving a helping hand to another.\nSomehow, the Yankee storekeeper was very often hanging about Daisy Burn\nthat winter. Captain Armytage and he were great friends. That gallant\nofficer was, in Zack's parlance, 'the Colonel,' which brevet-rank I\nsuppose was flattering, as it was never seriously disclaimed. He was\nking of his company in the tavern bar at the 'Corner;' and few days\npassed on which he did not enjoy that bad eminence, while compounding\n'brandy-smash,' 'rum-salad,' 'whisky-skin,' or some other of the various\nsynonyms under which the demon of drink ruins people in Canada.\nBut where did the captain find cash for this? The fact is, he never paid\nin ready money; for that was unknown to his pockets, and very rare in\nthe district. He paid in sundry equivalents of produce; and a nice little\nmortgage might be effected on his nice little farm of Daisy Burn if\nneeds be. Zack held his greedy grasping fingers over it; for the family\nwere obliged to go a good deal in debt for sundry necessities. Slave and\nscrape as Miss Armytage might, she had no way of raising money for such\nthings as tea and coffee. Once she attempted to make dandelion roots,\nroasted and ground, do duty for the latter; but it was stigmatized as\na failure, except by loving little Jay. Then wages must be paid to the\nIrish labourer, whose services to chop wood, etc., were now absolutely\nnecessary. Meat was another item of expense. A large store of potatoes\nwas almost the sole provision upon which the household could reckon with\ncertainty; mismanagement and neglect had produced the usual result of\nshort crops in the foregoing season, and their wheat went chiefly to the\nstore in barter.\n'An' ef Zack ain't shavin' the capting, I guess I'm a Dutchman,'\nremarked a neighbouring settler to Robert. 'I reckon a matter of two\nyear'll shave him out o' Daisy Burn, clear and clean.'\nBut its owner had some brilliant scheme in the future for lifting him\nfree of every embarrassment. Rainbow tints illuminated all prospective\npages of Captain Armytage's life.\n'Edith, my dear,' he would say, if that young lady deprecated any fresh\nexpenditure, or ventured an advice concerning the farm,--'Edith, my\ndear, the main fault of your character is an extraordinary want of\nthe sanguine element, for the excess of which I have always been so\nremarkable. You know I compare it to the life-buoy, which has held me up\nabove the most tempestuous waves of the sea of existence, eh! But you,\nmy poor dear girl, have got a sad way of looking at things--a gloomy\ntemperament, I should call it perhaps, eh? which is totally opposite to\nmy nature. Now, as to this beast, which Mr. Bunting will let me have for\ntwenty-eight dollars, a note of hand at three months, he is kind enough\nto say, will do as well as cash. And then, Reginald, my boy, we need\ndrink _caf\u00e9 noir_ no longer, but can have the proper _caf\u00e9 au lait_\nevery morning.'\n'I don't know who is to milk the cow, sir,' said his son, rather bluntly.\n'Edith is overwhelmed with work already.'\n'Ah, poor dear! she is very indefatigable.' He looked at her patronizingly,\nwhile he wiped his well-kept moustache in a handkerchief which she had\nwashed. 'Indeed, Edith, I have sometimes thought that such continual\nexertion as yours is unnecessary. You should think of us all, and spare\nyourself, my child.'\n'I do, papa,' she answered: whether that she thought of them all, or\nthat she spared herself, she did not explain. Her brother knew which it\nwas.\n'That is right, my child. It grieves me to see you condescending to\nmenial offices, unsuitable to your rank and position.'\nShe did not ask--as a less gentle nature would have asked--who else was\nto be the menial, if not she?\n'That is the worst of a bush life. If I had known how difficult it is to\nretain one's sphere as a gentleman, I think I should not have exposed\nmyself to the alternative of pecuniary loss or debasing toil. Perhaps\nit would be well to walk down to the \"Corner\" now, and conclude that\nbargain with our good friend the storekeeper, eh? Is there anything I\ncan do for either of you, eh? Don't hesitate to command me,' he added\nblandly. 'What! you want nothing? A very fortunate pair--very fortunate,\nindeed, eh?' And Captain Armytage kissed hands out of the room.\n'Edith,' said her brother, after a pause of some minutes, 'my father\nwill be ruined by his confidence in that man. Bunting can twine him\nround his finger. I am ashamed of it.'\nShe shook her head sadly. But there was no help for the fact that their\nfather was in the toils already; unless, indeed, the debt could be paid\noff, and the acquaintanceship severed. Hopeless! for the tendencies of\na life cannot be remodelled in a day, except by the power of divine\ngrace.\nCHAPTER XXXVIII.\nJACK-OF-ALL-TRADES.\nSleighing was good that year, till the middle of March. Before the\nseason was past, Captain Argent paid a flying visit on his way to the\nhunting grounds, as usual, and on his return found something so pleasant\nin the household at Cedar Creek, that he remained many days.\nThey were all old acquaintances, to be sure, and had many subjects of\ninterest in common. Mr. Wynn the elder, who, perhaps, was imbued with a\nlittle of the true Briton's reverence for aristocracy, was pleased to\nentertain his former neighbour, Lord Scutcheon's son, especially when\nthat young officer himself was endowed with such a frank, genial bearing\nas rendered him almost a universal favourite.\nHad there ever been more than mere pleasant acquaintanceship between\nhim and Miss Wynn? Rightly or wrongly, Sam Holt fancied it the case. He\nheard many allusions to former times and incidents, not knowing that\nas children they had been playmates. The gallant captain's present\nadmiration was pretty plain; and the young lady was amused by it after\nthe manner of her sex. Being very downright himself, Mr. Holt had no\nidea how much admiration is required to fill the measure of a proposal\nof marriage in a red-coat's resolve, or how much harmless coquetry lies\ndormant in the sweetest woman.\nThe precipitate gentleman leaped to sundry conclusions, gathered himself\nand his fur robes into his cutter, and left on the third day of Captain\nArgent's visit. In her secret heart, I imagine that Linda knew why.\nBut an engrossing affair to her at this period was the concealment from\ntheir visitor of the decidedly active part she took in household duties.\nInnocent Captain Argent was unaware that the faultless hot bread at\nbreakfast was wrought by her hands; that the omelets and rago\u00fbts at\ndinner owned her as cook; that the neatness of the little parlour was\nattributable to her as its sole housemaid. The mighty maiden called\nLiberia had enough to do in other departments, outdoor as well as\nindoor, besides being rather a ponderous person for a limited space.\nAnd so, when Captain Argent one morning pushed open the parlour door\nlong before he ought to have left his apartment, he beheld a figure with\nshort petticoats, wrapt in a grey blouse, and having a hood of the same\nclosely covering her hair, dusting away at the chairs and tables and\nshelves, with right goodwill.\n'Now, Georgie, you know that you can't sit here till I have quite\nfinished,' said the figure, without turning its head. 'Like a good boy,\nask Libby to come and build up the fire: ask gently, remember, or she'll\nnot mind you.'\nThe noiseless manner of closing the door caused her first to doubt the\nidentity of the person spoken to, and a very vivid crimson dyed her\ncheeks, when, Liberia coming in, her blacksmith arms laden with logs,\nshe threw them down with resounding clatter, and said, 'Wal, ef that\nain't the nicest, soft speakin'est gentleman I ever see! He asked me as\nperlite for the wood, as he couldn't be perliter ef I war Queen Victory\nherself.'\n'How fortunate that I didn't turn round my head!' thought Linda, her\nfirst confusion over; 'for of all horridly unbecoming things, showing no\nhair about one's face is the worst.'\nWhence it will be seen that Miss Wynn was not exempt from female vanity.\nTo the cat thus let out of the bag, Captain Argent made no further\nallusion than was involved in a sudden fondness for the nursery tale of\nCinderella. Every subject of conversation introduced for the morning\nwas tinged by that fairy legend, which tinged Linda's countenance also,\nrose-colour. Mr. Wynn the elder was slightly mystified; for the topics\nof promotion by purchase in the army, and the emigration of half-pay\nofficers, seemed to have no leading reference to the above world-famed\nstory.\nThe dear old gentleman! he did the honours of his small wooden cottage\nat Cedar Creek as finely as if it had been his own ancestral mansion of\nDunore. Their delf cups might have been Dresden, the black ware teapot\nsolid silver, the coarse table-cloth damask--for the very air which he\nspread around the breakfast arrangements. One might have fancied that he\ninfused an orange-pekoe flavour into the rough muddy congou for which\nBunting exacted the highest price. He did not know that the coffee,\nwhich he strongly recommended to his guest, was of native Canadian\ngrowth, being to all intents and purposes dandelion roots; for you see\nthey were obliged to conceal many of their contrivances from this grand\nold father. I doubt if he was aware that candles were made on the\npremises: likewise soap, by Liberia's energetic hands. The dandelion\nexpedient was suggested by thrifty Mrs. Davidson, who had never bought a\npound of coffee since she emigrated; and exceedingly well the substitute\nanswered, with its bitter aromatic flavour, and pleasant smell. If\nCaptain Argent had looked into the little house closet, he would have\nseen a quantity of brownish roots cut up and stored on a shelf. Part of\nLinda's morning duty was to chop a certain quantity of these to the size\nof beans, roast them on a pan, and grind a cupful for breakfast. They\ncost nothing but the trouble of gathering from among the potato heaps,\nwhen the hills were turned up in autumn, and a subsequent washing and\nspreading in the sun to dry.\nMrs. Davidson would also fain have introduced peppermint and sage tea;\nbut even Zack's bad congou was declared more tolerable than those herb\ndrinks, which many a settler imbibes from year to year.\n'Throth an' there's no distinction o' thrades at all in this counthry,'\nsaid Andy; 'but every man has to be a farmer, an' a carpinther, an'\na cobbler, an' a tailor, an' a grocer itself! There's Misther Robert\nmed an iligant shute o' canvas for the summer; an' Misther Arthur is\npowerful at boots; an' sorra bit but Miss Linda spins yarn first-rate,\nconsidherin' she never held a distaff before. An' the darlin' Missus\nknits stockins; oh mavrone, but she's the beautiful sweet lady intirely,\nthat ought to be sitting in her carriage!'\nNews arrived from Dunore this spring, which Linda fancied would sorely\ndiscompose Andy. The Wynns kept up a sort of correspondence with the old\ntenantry, who loved them much. In an April letter it was stated that the\npretty blue-eyed Mary Collins, Andy's betrothed, had been base enough to\nmarry another, last Shrovetide. But the detaching process had gone on\nat this side of the Atlantic also. Linda was amazed at the apathy with\nwhich the discarded lover received the intelligence. He scratched his\nred head, and looked somewhat bewildered; indulged in a few monosyllable\nejaculations, and half an hour afterwards came back to the parlour to\nask her 'if she was in airnest, to say that over agin.'\n'Poor fellow! he has not yet comprehended the full extent of his loss,'\nthought the young lady compassionately. She broke the news to him once\nmore, and he went away without a remark.\nWhen Arthur came in, she would beg of him to look after the poor\nsuffering fellow. The request was on her lips at his appearance, but\nhe interrupted her with,--\n'What do you think of that scamp, Andy, proposing for Libby in my\nhearing? The fellow told her that his heart was in her keeping, and that\nshe was the light of his life, and grew quite poetical, I assure you; in\nreturn for which, he was hunted round the wood-yard with a log!'\nAnd Linda's sympathy expired.\nCHAPTER XXXIX.\nSETTLER THE SECOND.\nNext summer brought a scourge of frequent visitation to the 'Corner.'\nLake fever and ague broke out among the low-lying log-houses, and Zack's\nhighly adulterated and heavily priced drugs came into great demand. He\nwas the farthest west adventurer at that date who took upon him to\nsupply apothecary's wares among the threescore and ten other vendibles\nof a backwoods store. So the ill wind which blew hot fits and cold fits\nto everybody else blew profit into Zack's pockets.\nThe population had swelled somewhat since our first introduction to\nthis little pioneer settlement. The number of wooden huts mottling\nthe cleared space between the forest and the river edge, clustering,\nlike bees round their queen, about the saw and grist mill, had\nincreased during the last two years by some half-score--a slow rate of\nprogression, as villages grow in Canada; but the 'Corner' had a position\nunfavourable to development. An aguish climate will make inhabitants\nsheer off speedily to healthier localities. No sensible emigrant will\nelect to live on a marshy site where he can help it. The value of the\n'Corner' was just now as a stage on the upper branch of that great\nwestern highway, whose proper terminus lies no nearer than the Pacific,\nand whose course is through the fertile country of future millions of\nmen.\nThis summer waggon-loads of emigrants and their chattels began to file\neach month into the bush beyond. Cedar Creek ceased to be farthest west\nby a great many outlying stations where the axe was gradually letting in\nlight on the dusky forest soil. To these the 'Corner' must be the\nemporium, until some enterprising person set up a store and mills deeper\nin the wilderness.\nThe shrewd Davidson saw the country opening about him, and resolved to\ngather to himself the profit which must accrue to somebody. His first\nmeasure was to walk down one evening to the Wynns' farm. A thoroughly\ngood understanding had always existed between these neighbours. Even\npatrician Mr. Wynn relished the company of the hard-headed Lanark-weaver,\nwhose energy and common sense had won him the position of a comfortable\nlandholder in Canada West. Added to which qualifications for the best\nsociety, Davidson was totally devoid of vulgar assumption, but had\nsufficient ballast to retain just his own proper footing anywhere.\nHe found the family assembled in their summer parlour, beneath the\nhandsome butternut tree which Robert's axe had spared, and which repaid\nthe indulgence by grateful shade and continual beauty of leafage. They\nwere enjoying supper in the open air, the balmy evening air afloat with\nfragrant odours. I say advisedly supper, and not tea; the beverage was a\nlady's luxury out here, and ill suited hours of foregoing labour. Milk\nwas the staple draught at Cedar Creek meals for all stout workers.\n'Gude even, leddies;' and Davidson doffed his bonnet with European\ncourtesy. 'Fine weather for loggin' this.' Indeed, he bore evident\ngrimy and smoky tokens on his clothes that such had been his day's work.\nApplepie order was a condition of dress which he rarely knew, though he\npossessed a faultless homespun suit, in which he would have been happy\nto gang to the kirk on Sabbath, were that enjoyment practicable.\nEnglish papers had come to hand an hour before; among them a bundle of\nthe provincial print nearest Dunore. Linda had learned not to love the\narrival of these. It was a pebble thrown in to trouble their still\nforest life. The yearning of all hearts for home--why did they never\ndream of calling Canada home?--was intensified perhaps to painfulness.\nShe could interpret the shadow on her father's brow for days after into\nwhat it truly signified; that, however the young natures might take root\nin foreign soil, he was too old an oak for transplantation. Back he\nlooked on fifty-eight years of life, since he could remember being the\npetted and cherished heir of Dunore; and now--an exile! But he never\nspoke of the longing for the old land; it was only seen in his poring\nover every scrap of news from Britain, in his jealous care of things\nassociated with the past, nay, in his very silence.\nNow, the dear old gentleman was letting his tea grow cool beyond all\nremedy, while, with gold double eyeglass in hand, he read aloud various\nparagraphs of Irish news. Diverging at last into some question of party\npolitics uppermost at the time, though now, in 1861, extinct as the\nbones of the iguanodon, he tried to get Davidson interested in the\nsubject, and found him so totally ignorant of even the names of public\nmen as to be a most unsatisfactory listener.\n''Deed, then, Mr. Wynn, to tell you truth, I hae never fashed my head\nwi' politics sin' I cam' oot to Canada,' observed the Scotchman a little\nbluntly. ''Twas nae sae muckle gude I gained by't at hame; though I mind\nthe time that a contested election was ane o' my gran' holidays, an' I\nthought mair o' what bigwig was to get into Parliament for the borough\nthan I did o' my ain prospects in life, fule that I was; until I found\nthe bairns comin', an' the loom going to the wall a'thegither before\nmachinery and politics wouldna mak' the pot boil, nor gie salt to our\nparritch. So I came oot here, an' left politics to gentlefolk.'\nMr. Wynn, rather scandalized at Davidson's want of public spirit, said\nsomething concerning a citizen's duty to the State.\n'Weel, sir, my thought is, that a man's first earthly duty is to himsel'\nand his bairns. When I mind the workin' men at hame, ruggin', an' rivin',\nan' roarin' themselves hoarse for Mr. This or Sir Somebody That, wha are\nscramblin' into Parliament on their shouthers, while the puir fallows\nhaen't a pound in the warld beyond their weekly wage, an' wull never be\na saxpence the better for a' their zeal, I'm thankfu' that mair light\nwas given me to see my ain interest, an' to follow it.'\n'I hardly wonder at your indifference to the paltry politics of the\nProvince,' observed the gentleman from the old country, sipping his tea\nloftily.\n'I wish Mr. Hiram Holt heard that speech, sir,' said Robert. 'To him\nCanada is more important than Great Britain by so much as it is larger.'\n'The citizen of Monaco has similar delusions as to the importance of his\npetty Principality,' rejoined Mr. Wynn. 'I should rather say there was\nno political principle among Canadians.'\n'No, sir, there's none in the backwoods,' replied Davidson, with perfect\nfrankness. 'We vote for our freends. I'm tauld they hae gran' principles\nin the auld settlements, an' fecht ane anither first-rate every\nelection. We hae too much to do in the new townships for that sort o'\nwork. We tak' it a' easy.'\nRobert remembered a notable example of this political indifference in an\nelection which had taken place since their settlement at Cedar Creek. On\nthe day of polling he and his retainer Andy went down to the 'Corner,'\nthe latter with very enlarged anticipations of fun, and perchance a\n'row.' His master noticed him trimming a sapling into a splendid\n'shillelagh,' with a slender handle and heavy head as ever did execution\nin a faction fight upon Emerald soil. The very word election had excited\nhis bump of combativeness. But, alas! the little stumpy street was dull\nand empty as usual; not even the embryo of a mob; no flaring post-bills\nsoliciting votes; the majesty of the people and of the law wholly\nunrepresented.\n'Arrah, Misther Robert, this can't be the day at all at all,' said Andy,\nafter a prolonged stare in every direction. 'That villain Nim tould us\nwrong.'\n'Jacques!' called Robert into the cottage adorned with flowers in front,\n'is this polling day?'\n'Oh, oui,' said the little Canadian, running out briskly. 'Oui, c'est\nvat you call le jour de poll. Voil\u00e0, over dere de house.'\nA log-cabin, containing two clerks at two rude desks, was the booth; a\nfew idlers lounged about, whittling sticks and smoking, or reading some\nsoiled news-sheets. Andy looked upon them with vast disdain.\n'An' is this what ye call a 'lection in America?' said he. 'Where's\nthe vothers, or the candidates, or the speeches, or the tratin,' or\nthe colours, or the sojers, or anythink at all? An' ye can't rise a\npoliceman itself to kape the pace! Arrah, let me out ov this home,\nMisther Robert. There's not as much as a single spark ov sperit in the\nwhole counthry!'\nSo he marched off in high dudgeon. His master stayed a short while\nbehind, and saw a few sturdy yeomen arrive to exercise the franchise.\nTheir air of agricultural prosperity, and supreme political apathy,\ncontrasted curiously with young Wynn's memories of the noisy and ragged\npartisans in home elections. It was evident that personal character won\nthe electoral suffrage here in the backwoods, and that party feeling had\nscarce an influence on the voters.\nThe franchise is almost universal throughout Canada. In 1849 it was\nlowered to thirty dollars (six pounds sterling) for freeholders,\nproprietary, or tenantry in towns, and to twenty dollars (four pounds)\nin rural districts. This is with reference to the hundred and thirty\nrepresentatives in the Lower House of the Provincial Legislature. The\nmembers of the indissoluble Upper House, or Legislative Council, are\nalso returned at the rate of twelve every two years, by the forty-eight\nelectoral divisions of the Province.\nBut to come back to our family party under the butternut tree. Robert\nrelated the above anecdote of Andy's disappointment; and from it old Mr.\nWynn and Davidson branched off to a variety of cognate topics.\n'Noo, I'll confess,' said the Scotchman, 'that the municipal elections\nhae an interest for me far aboon thae ithers. The council in my township\ncan tax me for roads, an' bridges, an' schules: that's what I call a\npersonal and practical concern. Sae I made nae manner of objection to\nbein' one of the five councillors mysel'; and they talk of electin' you\ntoo, Maister Robert.'\nRobert shook his head at the honour.\n'I hae a fancy mysel' for handlin' the purse strings wherever I can,'\nadded Davidson. 'Benson will be the neist town-reeve, as he has time to\nbe gaun' to the county council, which I couldna do. But noo, will ye\ntak' a turn round the farm?'\nPlucking a sprig from an ash-leaved sugar maple close by, according to\na habit he had of twisting something in his lips during intervals of\ntalk, Mr. Davidson walked down the slope with Robert. While they are\ndiscussing crops, with the keen interest which belongs not to amateurs,\nwe may enlighten the reader somewhat concerning the municipal system of\nself-government in which the shrewd Mr. Davidson professed his interest.\nNowhere is it so perfect as in Canada. Each district has thorough\ncontrol over its own affairs. Taxation, for the purpose of local\nimprovement or education, is levied by the town or county councils,\nelected by the dwellers in each township. No bye-law for raising money\ncan be enforced, unless it has previously been submitted to the electors\nor people. The town council consists of five members, one of whom is\ntown-reeve; the town-reeves form the county council; and the presiding\nofficer elected by them is called the warden. From the completeness of\nthe organization, no merely local question can be brought before the\nprovincial legislature, and it would be well if Imperial Parliament\ncould, by similar means, be relieved of an immense amount of business,\ninconsistent with its dignity.\n'Eh! what's this?' asked Davidson, stopping before the partially raised\nwalls of a wooden cottage. 'Wha's gaun to live here?'\n'Don't you recollect my town plot?' asked Robert. 'My first tenant sets\nup here. Jackey Dubois is removing from the \"Corner:\" he was always\ngetting the ague in that marshy spot, and isn't sorry to change.'\n'Then that brings me richt down on what I hae been wantin' to say,'\nquoth Davidson. 'If ye'll gie us the site, me an' my son Wat wull build\na mill.'\n'With all my heart; a grist or a saw mill?'\n'Maybe baith, if we could raise the cash. Nae doot the sawmill's the\nproper to begin wi', seein' yer toun's to be builded o' wood'--\n'For the present,' observed Mr. Wynn; 'but there's plenty of limestone\nunder that hardwood ridge.'\n'An' the finest water power in the township rinnin' a' to waste on top\nof it. Weel, noo, I'm glad that's settled; though 'twull be an awfu'\nexpense first cost. I dinna exactly ken how to overtake it.'\nRobert imagined that he was magnifying matters, in order to lessen any\npossible demand of ground-rent. But it is probable that Davidson would\nhave even paid something over and above his ideas of equitable, for the\npleasure of Zack Bunting's anticipated mortification at finding a rival\nmill set up in the neighbourhood.\nCHAPTER XL.\nAN UNWELCOME SUITOR.\nWhen the affair of the mill was arranged, and Robert's mind's eye beheld\nit already built and noisily flourishing, they sauntered along the bend\nof the pond towards where the charcoal forest of last autumn had donned\na thin veil of greenery. The sight set Davidson upon his favourite\nirritation--the decay of his farm Daisy Burn, under its present owner.\n'He's an a'thegither gude-for-naething,' was his conclusion respecting\nCaptain Armytage. 'Such men as he hae nae mair business settlin' in\nthe bush than he wad hae in tryin' the life o' a fish. A mon may come\nwithout land, or money, or freends, an I'll warrant him to get on; but\nthere's ane thing he must hae, the willingness to work hard. That will\nbring him the lands, and money, and freends, as plenty as blackberries.\nSae far as I can see, your gentlefolk dinna do weel in the bush; they're\nower proud to tak' to the axe and the hoe as they ought, an' they hae\nmaistly fine habits o' life that mak' them unhappy. I wad like to see\nthe captain or his son cobblin' their ain shoon! Though I'm tauld the\nyoung fellow's greatly improved sin' his hurt; but that winna mak' him\nhandier.'\n'He is much more industrious,' said Robert, 'and I hope will be able to\npull up affairs on the farm, even yet.'\n'Na, sir, na! Zack Bunting's got his claw on it in the shape of a\nmortgage already. That farm o' his below the \"Corner\" he grasped in\njust the same way; put the owner in debt to the store, foreclosed the\nmortgage, and ruined the puir man. I ken he has his eye on Daisy Burn\nfor Nim, ever sin' he saw the captain. And that Yankee cam' here,\nMaister Robert, without as much as a red cent aboon the pack on his\nback!'\nJust then Arthur and George came in sight round the lee of a small\nisland, paddling swiftly along.\n'Trolling for black bass and maskelong\u00e9,' remarked Robert. 'There! he\nhas a bite.'\nArthur's line, some seventy or eighty feet long, was attached to his\nleft arm as he paddled, which gave a most tempting tremulousness to the\nbait--a mock-mouse of squirrel fur; and a great pike-fish, lying deep in\nthe clear water, beheld it and was captivated. Slowly he moved towards\nthe charmer, which vibrated three or four feet beneath the surface;\nhe saw not the treacherous line, the hook beneath the fur; his heavily\nunder-jawed mouth (whence he obtained the name of masque-longue,\nmisspelled continually in a variety of ways by his Canadian captors),\nhis tremendous teeth, closed voraciously on the temptation. Arthur's\narm received a sudden violent jerk from the whole force of a lively\ntwenty-five pound maskelong\u00e9; a struggle began, to be ended successfully\nfor the human party by the aid of the gaff-hook.\nThis was the noblest prey of the pond. Pickerel of six or seven pounds\nwere common; and a profusion of black bass-spotted trout in all the\ncreeks; sheep-heads and suckers _ad libitum_, the last-named being the\nworst fish of Canada. George thought the success far too uniform for\nsport; Arthur hardly cared to call the killing of God's creatures\n'sport' during some time back.\n'Davidson, here's a contribution for your bee,' cried Arthur, holding\nup the prize by its formidable snout. 'For your good wife, with my\ncompliments.'\nMrs. Davidson was in the thick of preparations for a logging-bee, to be\nheld two days subsequently, and whither all the Cedar Creek people were\ninvited. Every settler's wife's housekeeping is brought to a severe\ntest on such occasions, and the huge maskelong\u00e9 was a most acceptable\naddition.\nThe four gentlemen and Mr. Callaghan went with their team of oxen to\nhelp their good neighbour on the appointed morning.\nIt might have been four hours afterwards that Linda was working in her\ngarden, hoeing a strawberry bed, and singing to herself some low song,\nwhen, attracted by a slight movement at the fence, she raised her eyes.\nMr. Nimrod Bunting was leaning against the rails.\n'I guess you may go on, Miss,' said he, showing all his yellow teeth.\n'I've been admirin' yar voice this quarter of an hour past. I've never\nhappened to hear you sing afore; and I assure you, Miss, I'm saying the\ntruth, that the pleasure is highly gratifyin'.'\nLinda felt greatly inclined to put down her hoe and run into the house;\nbut that would be so ridiculous. She hoed on in silence, with a very\ndispleased colour on her cheek.\n'I see all yar people at the bee: yar too high yarself to go to them\nkind'er meetings, I reckon, Miss? Wal, I like that. I like pride. Th'\nole woman said always, so did Uncle Zack, \"Nim, yar above yar means;\nyar only fit for a Britisher gentleman,\" they did, I guess!'\n'The sun is getting so hot,' quoth Miss Wynn, laying down her hoe.\n'I reckon I ain't agoin' to have come down from Davidson's to here to\nspeak to you, Miss,' and Nim vaulted over the fence, 'an' let you slip\nthrough my fingers that way. Uncle Zack said he'd speak to the ole\nfeller up at the bee, an' bade me make tracks an' speak to you, Miss.\nHe's agoin' to foreclose the mortgage, he is.'\n'What, on Daisy Burn?' Linda was immensely relieved for the moment.\n''Tain't on nothen' else, I guess. 'Tis an elegant farm--ain't it?'\n'Cannot your father wait for his money--even a little time? Captain\nArmytage would surely pay in the long run; or his son would'--\n'But s'pose we don't want 'em to pay? S'pose we wants the farm, and\nhouse, and fixins, and all, for a new-married pair to set up, Miss?'\n'I don't think you should allow anything to interfere with what is just\nand merciful,' said Miss Wynn, with a strong effort. Her tormentor stood\non the path between her and the house.\n'S'pose I said they wanted that new-married pair to be you an' me,\nMiss?'\nThe audacity of the speech nearly took away her breath, and sent the\nblood in violent crimson over her face and throat. 'Let me pass, sir,'\nwas her only answer, most haughtily spoken.\n'Uncle Zack's a rich man,' pleaded his son. 'He's always been an ole\n'coon, with a fine nest of cash at his back. It's in a New York bank,\n'vested in shares. He's promised me the best part of it, an' the store\ninto the bargain. You'll be a fool if you say \"No,\" I guess.'\nHere he was seized from behind by the throat, and hurled round heavily\nto the ground.\n'Why, then, you spalpeen of an owdacious vagabone, it's well but I smash\nevery bone in yer skin. Of all the impudence I ever heerd in my whole\nlife, you bate it out, clear and clane! O, murther, if I could only give\nyou the batin' I'd like, only maybe the master 'ud be vexed!' And Mr.\nCallaghan danced round his victim, wielding a terrible shillelagh.\nCHAPTER XLI.\nTHE MILL-PRIVILEGE.\nMeanwhile the noonday dinner at Davidson's bee progressed merrily. The\nmighty maskelong\u00e9 disappeared piecemeal, simultaneously with a profusion\nof veal and venison pies, legs and sides of pork, raspberry tarts,\nhuge dishes of potatoes and hot buns, trays of strawberries, and other\nlegitimate backwoods fare; served and eaten all at the same time,\nwith an aboriginal disregard of courses. After much wriggling and\nscheming--for he could not do the smallest thing in a straightforward\nmanner--Zack Bunting had edged himself beside Mr. Wynn the elder; who,\nto please his good friend Davidson, occupied what he magnificently\ntermed the vice-chair, being a stout high stool of rough red pine;\nand Zack slouched beside him, his small cunning eyes glancing sidelong\noccasionally from his tin platter to the noble upright figure of the old\ngentleman.\n'What's in the wind now?' quoth Robert to himself, at the other end of\nthe board, as he surveyed this contrast of personages. Looking down\nthe lines of hungry labourers for Nim's duplicate face, it was absent,\nthough he had seen it a-field. Andy's was 343 also wanting, and with\nit the hilarity which radiated from him upon surrounding company. Not\nhaving the key of the position, Robert failed to connect these absences,\nalthough just then they were being connected in a very marked manner at\nCedar Creek.\nZack wanted to speak on a particular subject to his lofty neighbour, but\nsomehow it stuck in his throat. His usual audacity was at fault. Mr.\nWynn had never seemed so inaccessible, though in reality he was making\nan effort to be unusually bland to a person he disliked. For the first\ntime in his existence, cringing Zack feared the face of mortal man.\n'Spell o' warm weather, squire, ain't it, rayther? I wor jest a sayin'\nto Silas Duff here that I never want to see no better day for loggin', I\ndon't.'\n'It is indeed beautifully fine,' answered Mr. Wynn, who was generally\ncalled in the neighbourhood 'the squire,' a sort of compliment to his\npatriarchal and magisterial position. 'I hope our friend Davidson will\nhave his work cleared off satisfactorily before dark.'\n'Oh, no fear, squire, no fear, I guess. There's good teams a-field. Them\ncattle druv by my lad Nim are the finest in the township, I reckon.'\n'Indeed!' quoth Mr. Wynn, who just knew an ox from an ass.\n''Tain't a losin' game to keep a store in the bush, ef you be a smart\nman,' observed Zack, with a leer, after a few minutes' devotion to the\ncontents of his tin plate. By this adjective 'smart' is to be understood\n'sharp, overreaching'--in fact, a cleverness verging upon safe dishonesty.\n'I guess it's the high road to bein' worth some punkins, ef a feller has\nsense to invest his money well.'\n'I daresay,' rejoined Mr. Wynn vaguely, looking down on the mean crooked\nface.\n'Fact, squire, downright fact. Now, I don't mind tellin' _you_, squire,'\nlowering his voice to a whisper, 'that I've cleared a hundred per cent.\non some sales in my time; an' the money hain't been idle since, you may\nb'lieve. Thar! that's sharp tradin', I guess?'\n'Yes, sir, very sharp indeed.' Mr. Wynn's face by no means reflected the\nYankee's smile. But Zack saw in his gravity only a closer attention to\nthe important subject of gain.\n'I've shares in a big bank in New York, that returns me fifteen per\ncent.--every copper of it: an' I've two of the best farms in the\ntownship--that's countin' Daisy Burn, whar I'll foreclose some day soon,\nI guess.'\n'You are a prosperous man, as you calculate prosperity, Mr. Bunting.'\n'I guess I ain't nothin' else' answered the storekeeper, with\nsatisfaction. 'But I kin tell you, squire, that my lad Nim is 'tarnal\n'cute too, an' he'll be worth lookin' arter as a husband, he will.'\nStill with an unsuspicious effort at cordiality, Mr. Wynn answered, 'I\nsuppose so.'\n'He might get gals in plenty, but he has a genteel taste, has Nim: the\ngal to please Nim must be thorough genteel. Now, what would you say,\nsquire'--an unaccountable faint-heartedness seized Uncle Zack at this\njuncture, and he coughed a hesitation.\n'Well, sir!' For the old gentleman began to suspect towards what he was\ndrifting, but rejected the suspicion as too wild and improbable.\n'Wal, the fact is, squire, Nim will have the two farms, an' the store,\nan' the bank shares--of course not all that till I die, but Daisy Burn\nat once: an'--an'--he's in a 'tarnal everlastin' state about your\ndaughter Linda, the purtiest gal in the township, I guess.'\nMr. Wynn rose from his seat, his usually pale countenance deeply\nflushed. What! his moss-rose Linda--as often in a fond moment he named\nher--his pretty Linda, thought of in connection with this vulgar,\ncheating storekeeper's vulgar son? 'Sir, how dare you?' were all the\nwords his lips framed, when Robert, beholding the scene from the other\nend of the board, came to the rescue.\n'The fellow has been drinking,' was the most charitable construction Mr.\nWynn could put upon Zack's astounding proposition. His dignity was\ncruelly outraged. 'Baiting the trap with his hateful knavish gains!'\ncried Linda's father. 'This is the result of the democracy of bush-life;\nthe indiscriminate association with all classes of people that's forced\non one. Any low fellow that pleases may ask your daughter in marriage!'\nRobert walked up and down with him outside the building. Though\nsufficiently indignant himself, he tried to calm his father. 'Don't make\nthe affair more public by immediate withdrawal,' he advised. 'Stay an\nhour or so longer at the bee, for appearance' sake. It's hardly likely\nthe fellow will attempt to address you again, at least on that subject.'\nSo the old gentleman very impatiently watched the log heaps piling, and\nthe teams straining, and the 'grog-bos' going his rounds, for a while\nlonger.\nWe left Andy Callaghan over his victim, with a flourishing shillelagh.\nHaving spun him round, he stirred him up again with a few sharp taps;\nand it must be confessed that Nim showed very little fight for a man of\nhis magnitude, but sneaked over the fence after a minute's bravado.\n'Och, but it's myself that 'ud like to be batin' ye!' groaned Andy for\nthe second time, most sincerely. 'Only I'm afeard if I began I wouldn't\nknow how to lave off, 'twould be so pleasant, ye owdacious villain. Ha!\nye'd throw the stick at me, would ye?' and Mr. Callaghan was across\nthe fence in a twinkling. Whereupon Nim fairly turned tail, and fled\nignominiously, after having ineffectually discharged a piece of timber,\njavelin-wise, at his enemy.\nA loud peal of laughter, in a very masculine key, broke upon Andy's ear.\nIt proceeded from the usually undemonstrative maiden Liberia, who was\nbringing a pail of water from the creek when her path was crossed by\nthe flying pair. From that hour the tides of her feminine heart set in\nfavour of the conqueror.\n'Troth, an' I may as well let ye have the benefit of yer heels, ye\nmortal spalpeen,' said Andy, reining himself in. 'An' it's the father\nof a good thrashin' I could give ye for yer impidence. To think o' Miss\nLinda, that's one of the ould auncient Wynns of Dunore since Adam was a\nboy! I donno why I didn't pound him into smithereens when I had him so\n'andy on the flat of his back--only for Miss Linda, the darlin' crathur,\ntelling me not. Sure there isn't a peeler in the whole counthry, nor a\njail neither, for a thousand mile. Now I wondher, av it was a thing I\ndid bate him black an' blue, whose business would it be to 'rest me;\nan' is it before the masther I'd be brought to coort?'\nCogitating thus, and chewing the cud on the end of his sapling, Andy\nreturned homewards leisurely. His young mistress was nowhere to be seen;\nso he picked up the hoe and finished her strawberry bed; and when he saw\nthe elder Mr. Wynn approaching, he quietly walked off to Davidson's and\ntook his place among the hive again, as if nothing had happened. Nor did\nthe faithful fellow ever allude to the episode--with a rare delicacy\njudging that the young lady would prefer silence--except once that\nRobert asked him what had brought him to Cedar Creek so opportunely.\n'Why, thin, didn't I know what the vagabone wanted, lavin' the bee\n'athout his dinner, an' goin' down this road, afther me lookin' at him\nthis twel'month dressing himself out in all the colours of neckties that\never was in the rainbow, an' saunterin' about the place every Sunday in\nparticler, an' starin' at her purty face as impident as if he was her\naqual. Often I'd ha' given me best shute of clothes to pluck the two\ntails off his coat; an' he struttin' up to Daisy Burn, when she and Miss\nArmytage tached the little childher there; an' Miss Linda thinkin' no\nmore of him than if a snake was watchin' her out ov the bushes. But,\nmoreover, I heerd him an' his old schemer of a father whispering at the\nbee: \"Do you go down to herself,\" said Zack, \"an' I'll spake to the\nsquire.\" \"Sure, my lad,\" thinks I, \"if you do you'll have company along\nwid you;\" so I dogged him every step of the way.'\nWhich explains Andy's interposition.\nRobert Wynn, when his wrath at the Buntings' presumption subsided,\nhad gloomy anticipations that this would prove the beginning of an\nirreconcilable feud, making the neighbourhood very disagreeable. But not\nso. A week afterwards, while he stood watching the workmen building the\ndam for the projected mill, he heard the well-known drawl at his elbow,\nand turning, beheld the unabashed Zack. He had duly weighed matters for\nand against, and found that the squire was too powerful for a pleasant\nquarrel, and too big to injure with impunity.\n'Wal, Robert, so yer raisin' a sawmill!' he had uttered in a tone of\nno agreeable surprise. Mr. Wynn pointed to Davidson, and left _him_ to\nsettle that point of rivalry.\n'We wull divide the custom o' the country, neebor Zack,' quoth the other.\n'I don't deny that you have an elegant mill-privilege here; but I guess\nthat's all you'll have. Whar's grist to come from, or lumber? D'ye think\nthey'll pass the four roads at the \"Corner,\" whar my mill stands handy?'\n'Room eneugh i' the warld for baith o' us,' nodded Davidson; 'a' room\neneugh in Canada for a million ither mills, freend.' And he walked down\nthe sloping bank to assist at the dam.\nThis last--a blow at the pocket--seemed to affect Zack far more than\nthat other blow at the intangible essence, his family honour. He could\nsee his son Nim set off for the back settlements of Iowa without a pang;\nfor it is in vulgar Yankee nature to fling abroad the sons and daughters\nof a house far and wide into the waters of the world, to make their own\nway, to sink or swim as happens. But the new sawmill came between him\nand his rest. Before winter the machinery had been noisily at work for\nmany a day; with huge beams walking up to the saw, and getting perpetually\nsliced into clean fresh boards; with an intermittent shooting of slabs\nand sawdust into the creek. 'Most eloquent music' did it discourse to\nRobert's ears, whose dream of a settlement was thus fulfilling, in that\nthe essential requisite, lumber for dwelling-houses, was being prepared.\nCHAPTER XLII.\nUNDER THE NORTHERN LIGHTS.\nFor some sufficient reason, the Yankee storekeeper did not at that time\nprosecute his avowed intention of foreclosing the mortgage on Daisy\nBurn. Perhaps there was something to be gained by dallying with the\ncaptain still--some further value to be sucked out of him in that\nvillainous trap, the tavern bar, whither many a disappointed settler has\nresorted to drown his cares, and found the intoxicating glass indeed\nfull of 'blue ruin.'\nOne brilliant day in midwinter, when the sky was like a crystallized\nsapphire dome, and the earth spotless in snow, a single sleigh came\nbowling along the smooth road towards the 'Corner.' 'A heavy fall of\nsnow is equivalent to the simultaneous construction of macadamized roads\nall through Canada,' saith that universally quoted personage, Good\nAuthority. So it is found by thousands of sleighs, then liberated after\na rusty summer rest. Then is the season for good fellowship and friendly\nintercourse: leisure has usurped the place of business, and the sternest\nutilitarian finds time for relaxation.\nThe idlers in Bunting's bar heard the sleigh-bells long before they left\nthe arches of the forest; and as the smallest atom of gravel strikes\ncommotion into a still pool, so the lightest event was of consequence\nin this small stagnant community of the 'Corner.' The idlers speculated\nconcerning those bells, and a dozen pair of eyes witnessed the emergence\nof the vehicle into the little stumpy street.\nZack's sharp vision knew it for one that had been here last year, as he\npeered through the store-window, stuffed with goods of all sorts; but\nthe occupant was not the same. Grizzled hair and beard escaped the\nbounds of the fur cap tied down over his ears, and the face was much\nolder and harder. The mills seemed to attract his attention, frozen up\ntightly as they were; he slackened his sleigh to a pause, threw his\nreins on the horse's neck, and walked to the edge of the dam. After a\nfew minutes, Bunting's curiosity stimulated him to follow, and see what\nattracted the stranger's regard.\n'Are you the proprietor of this mill, sir?' called out the tall\ngrey-haired gentleman, in no mild tone. Zack hesitated, weighing\nthe relative advantages of truth and falsehood. 'Wal, I guess'--\n'You need guess nothing, sir; but the construction of your dam is a\ndisgrace to civilisation--a murderous construction, sir. Do you see that\nit is at least twelve feet, perpendicular, sir? and how do you ever\nexpect that salmon can climb over that barrier? I suppose a specimen of\nthe true \"salmo salar\" has never been caught in these waters since you\nblocked up the passage with your villainous dam, sir?'\n'I warn't ever a-thinkin' o' the salmon at all, I guess,' answered\nthe millowner truly and humbly, because he conceived himself in the\nauthoritative presence of some bigwig, senator, or M.P., capable of\ncalling him, Zack Bunting, to a disagreeable account, perchance.\n'But you should have thought,' rejoined the stranger irately. 'Through\nsuch wrong-headedness as yours Canada is losing yearly one of her richest\npossessions in the way of food. What has exterminated the salmon in\nnearly all rivers west of Quebec? dams like this, which a fish could\nno more ascend than he could walk on dry land. But I hope to see\nparliamentary enactments which shall render this a felony, sir,--a\nfelony, if I can. It is robbery and murder both together, sir.'\nMr. Hiram Holt walked rapidly to his sleigh, wrapped himself again in\nthe copious furs, and left the storekeeper staring after the swift\ngliding cutter, and wondering more than ever who he was.\nThis matter of the dams had so much occupied his attention of late, that\neven after he reached Cedar Creek he reverted to it once and anon; for\nthis fine old Canadian had iron opinions welded into his iron character.\nThe capacity of entertaining a conviction, yet being lukewarm about it,\nwas not possible to Hiram Holt. He believed, and practised suitably,\nwith thorough intensity, in everything; even in such a remote subject as\nthe Canadian fisheries.\nThe squire, who knew what preservation of salmon meant in the rivers of\nBritain, and who in his time had been a skilful angler, could sympathize\nwith him about the reckless system of extinction going on through the\nProvince, and which, if it be not arrested by the hand of legislative\ninterference, will probably empty the Canadian streams of this most\ndelicious and nutritive of fish.\n'A gold-field discovered in Labrador would not be more remunerative than\nthat single item of salmon, if properly worked,' remarked Hiram. 'When\nthe fisheries of the tiny Tweed rent for fifteen thousand a-year, a\nhundred times that sum would not cover the value of the tributaries of\nthe St. Lawrence. And yet they're systematically killed out, sir, by\nthese abominable dams.'\n'Why, Mr. Holt,' said Linda, looking up from her work, 'I think the\nmills are of more consequence than the salmon.'\n'But they're not incompatible, my young lady,' he answered. 'Put steps\nto the dams--wooden boxes, each five feet high, for the salmon to get\nupstairs into the still water a-top.' Whereat Miss Linda, in her\nignorance, was mightily amused at the idea of a fish ascending a\nstaircase.\n'The quantity of salmon was almost infinite twenty years ago,' said\nHiram, after condescending to enlighten her on the subject of its\nleaping powers. 'I remember reading that Ross purchased a ton weight\nof it from the Esquimaux for a sixpenny knife; and one haul of his own\nseine net took thirty-three hundred salmon.'\nGeorge, manufacturing a sled in the corner, whistled softly, and\nexpressed his incredulity in a low tone; not so low but that Mr. Holt's\nquick ears caught the doubt, and he became so overflowing with piscatory\nanecdotes, that Linda declared afterwards the very tea had tasted\nstrongly of salmon on that particular evening.\n'It is only a few years since Sir John Macdonald and his party killed\nfour hundred salmon in one week, from a part of l'Esquemain River,\ncalled the Lower Pools. Thirty-five such rivers, equally full, flow\nthrough Labrador into the St. Lawrence; am I not then right in saying\nthat this source of wealth is prodigious?' asked Mr. Holt. 'But the\nabominable dams, and the barrier nets, and the Indians' spearing, have\nalready lessened it one-fourth.' A relative comparing of experiences,\nwith reference to fishy subjects, ensued between the squire and his\nguest; and both agreed that--quitting the major matter of the dams--an\nenforcement of 'close time,' from the 20th of August till May, would\nmaterially tend to preserve the fish.\n'Nature keeps them tolerably close most of that time,' remarked Arthur,\n'by building a couple of yards of ice over them. From November till\nApril they're under lock and key.'\n'And han't you ever fished through holes in the ice?' asked Mr. Holt.\n'Capital sport, I can tell you, with a worm for bait.'\n'No; but I was going to say, how curiously thin and weak the trout are\njust when the ice melts. They've been on prison allowance, I presume,\nand are ready to devour anything.'\nDuring all the evening, though Linda took openly a considerable share in\nthe conversation, her mind would beat back on one question, suggested\nrepeatedly: 'Why did Mr. Sam Holt go to Europe?' for one item of news\nbrought by to-day's arrival was, that his eldest son had suddenly been\nseized with a wish to visit England, and had gone in the last boat from\nHalifax.\nGlancing up at some remark, she encountered Mrs. Wynn's eyes, and\ncoloured deeply. That sweetest supervision of earth, a mother's loving\nlook, had read more deeply than the daughter imagined. Rising hurriedly,\non some slight excuse, she went to the window and looked out.\n'Oh, papa! such glorious northern lights!'\nAy, surely. Low arcs of dazzling light stretched from east to west across\nthe whole breadth of the heavens; whence coruscated, in prolonged\nflashes, gorgeous streamers of every colour, chiefly of pale emerald\ngreen, pink, and amber.\n'A rich aurora for this season of the year,' remarked Hiram Holt. 'Those\nthat are brightly coloured generally appear in autumn or spring.'\n'Oh, yes,' said George; 'do you recollect how magnificent was one we had\nwhile the fall-wheat was planting? the sky was all crimson, with yellow\nstreamers.'\n'Do you know what the Indians think about auroras?' asked Mr. Holt.\n'They believe that these flashes are the spirits of the dead dancing\nbefore the throne of the Manitou, or Great Spirit.'\n'No wonder they should seek for some supernatural cause of such\nsplendour,' observed Robert.\nThe aurora borealis exhibited another phase of its wondrous beauty on\nthe ensuing evening. The young people from Cedar Creek had gone to a\ncorn-husking bee at Vernon's, an old gentleman settler, who lived some\neight miles off on the concession line; and coming home in the sleighs,\nthe whole magnificent panorama of the skies spread above them. Waves\nof light rolled slowly from shore to shore of the horizon in vast\npulsations, noiselessly ascending to the zenith, and descending all\nacross the stars, like tidal surges of the aerial ocean sweeping over\na shallow silver strand.\nThree sleighs, a short distance from each other, were running along the\ncanal-like road, through dark walls of forest, towards the 'Corner.'\nNow, it is a principle in all bringings home from these midwinter\nbees, that families scatter as much as may be, and no sisters shall\nbe escorted by their own brothers, but by somebody else's brothers.\nConsequently, Robert Wynn had paired off with Miss Armytage for this\ndrive; and Mr. Holt, greybeard though he was, would not resign Linda\nto any one, but left young Armytage, Arthur, and Jay to fill the third\nsleigh.\nOf course that sublime aurora overhead formed a main topic of\nconversation; but irrelevant matter worked in somehow. Blunt Hiram at\nlast furnished a key to what had puzzled his fair companion by asking\nabruptly, when Captain Argent was expected at Cedar Creek?\n'Captain Argent?' she repeated, in surprise; 'he's not expected at all;\nI believe he has gone to Ireland on a year's leave.'\n'Then you are not about to be married to him?' said Mr. Holt, still more\nbluntly.\n'No indeed, sir,' she answered, feeling very red, and thankful for\nthe comparative gloom. Whereupon Mr. Holt shook hands with her, and\nexpressed his conviction that she was the best and prettiest girl in the\ncounty; afterwards fell into a brown study, lasting till they got home.\nThe pair in the hindmost sleigh diverged equally far from the aurora;\nfor heavy upon Edith's heart lay the fact that the mortgage was at last\nabout to be foreclosed, and they should leave Daisy Burn. This very\nevening, her father coming late to Mrs. Vernon's corn-shelling bee, had\ntold her that Zack would be propitiated no longer; he wanted to get the\nfarm in time for spring operations, and vowed he would have it. They\nmust all go to Montreal, where Captain Armytage had some friends, and\nwhere Edith hoped she might be able perhaps to turn her accomplishments\nto good account by opening a school.\n'Papa is not at all suited for a settler's life,' she said. 'He has\nalways lived in cities, and town habits are strong upon him. It is the\nbest we can do.'\nCHAPTER XLIII.\nA BUSH-FLITTING.\nInto Robert Wynn's mind, during that sleigh-drive under the northern\nlights, had entered one or two novel ideas. The first was a plan for\nfrustrating the grasping storekeeper's design. He laid the whole\ncircumstances before Mr. Holt, and asked for the means of redeeming the\nmortgage, by paying Captain Armytage's debt to Bunting, which was not\nhalf the value of the farm.\nThe gallant officer was not obliged for his friend's officiousness. He\nhad brought himself to anticipate the move to Montreal most pleasurably,\nnotwithstanding the great pecuniary loss to himself. The element of\npracticality had little place in his mental composition. An atmosphere\nof vagueness surrounded all his schemes, and coloured them with a\nseductive halo.\n'You see, my dear fellow,' he said to Robert, when the proposition of\nredeeming the mortgage was made, 'you see, it does not suit my plans\nto bury myself any longer in these backwoods, eh? There are so few\nopportunities of relaxation--of intellectual converse, of--a--in\nshort, of any of those refinements required by a man of education and\nknowledge of the world. You will understand this, my dear Mr. Robert.\nI--I wish for a more extended field, in fact. Nor is it common justice\nto the girls to keep them immured, I may say, in an atmosphere of\nperpetual labour. I am sure my poor dear Edith has lived a slave's\nlife since she came to the bush. Only for your amiable family, I--I\npositively don't know what might have been the consequence, eh?'\nRobert felt himself getting angry, and wisely withdrew. On Mr. Holt's\nlearning the reception of his offer, he briefly remarked that he guessed\nSam wouldn't object to own a farm near Cedar Creek, and he should buy it\naltogether from the captain, which was accordingly done. We refrain from\npicturing Zack's feelings.\nThe other idea which had visited Robert under the aurora--why should he\nnot himself become the tenant of Daisy Burn? He took his fur cap and\nwent down there for an answer.\nThe captain had gone to the 'Corner,' this being post-day, and he\nexpected some letters from the Montreal friends in whom he believed.\nReginald was chopping wood; the two sisters were over their daily\nlessons. What to do with Jay, while the above question was being asked\nand answered, was a problem tasking Robert's ingenuity, and finally he\nassumed the office of writing-master, set her a sum in long division,\nwhich he assured her would require the deepest abstraction of thought,\nand advised a withdrawal to some other room for that purpose.\n [Illustration]\nJay fell into the snare, and went, boasting of her arithmetical powers,\nwhich would bring back the sum completed in a few minutes. The instant\nthe door closed,--\n'I came down this morning,' said Robert, 'to tell you that I have\nconcluded to take Daisy Burn as tenant to Mr. Holt, from the first of\nApril next. That is,' he added, 'on one condition.'\n'What?' she asked, a faint colour rising to her cheek, for his eyes were\nfixed on her.\n'Arthur is much steadier than he was, since that visit to Argent last\nspring made him see that a penniless proud man has no business to\nendeavour to live among his equals in social rank, but his superiors in\nwealth. He is good enough farmer to manage Cedar Creek, with George's\nincreasing help, and Dubois as a sort of steward. Edith, if I come here\nand settle on this farm, I cannot live alone; will you be my wife?'\nHe leaned forward, and took her passive hand. The conscious crimson\nrose for one moment to her throat and averted face, crept even to the\nfinger-tips, then left her of the usual marble paleness again.\n'No, Robert,' she answered firmly, withdrawing her hand; 'it cannot be;\nI cannot leave my father and Jay.'\nTo this determination she held fast. For she had known that such an\noption might be offered her, as every woman in like circumstances must\nknow; she had weighed the matter well in the balance of duty, and this\nwas her resolve. Could she have counted the cost accurately, it might\nnot have been; but she hid from her eyes the bright side of the possible\nfuture, and tried steadily to do what she deemed right.\nGreat was Jay's surprise, when she came back with the long division sum\ntriumphantly proved, to find her writing-master gone, and Edith with her\neyes very tearful. That occurrence was a puzzle to her for some time\nafterwards. Crying was so rare with Edith--and what could Robert Wynn\nhave to do with it? But Jay prudently asked no questions after the first\nastonished ejaculation.\nWhen Robert was walking back to the Creek, feeling his pleasant 'castle\nin the air' shattered about his ears, blind to the splendour of the\nsunlit winter world, and deaf to the merry twit of the snow-birds, young\nArmytage came out of the woods and joined him. He, poor fellow, was\npreoccupied with his own plans.\n'I think, and Edith agrees with me, that my best chance is to get a\nsmall lot of wild land, and begin at the beginning, as you did. I want\nthe discipline of all the enforced hard work, Bob. My unfortunate\nbringing up in every species of self-indulgence was no good education\nfor a settler; but, with God's help, I'll get over it.'\nRobert was lifted out of his own trouble for a time by seeing the manful\nstruggle which this other heart had to make against the slavery of\nhabit. He roused himself to speak cheeringly to the young man, and\nreceive his confidence cordially, in an hour when selfishness would\nrather have been alone.\n'Perhaps an application for a Governmental free grant of land would be\nadvisable,' said Reginald. 'I've been thinking of it. You see I would\nrather like to be bound down, and forced to stay in one spot, as I must\nif I undertake the hundred acres on Government terms.'\n'What are the terms?' asked Robert.\n'Well, in the first place, I must be more than eighteen years old; must\ntake possession of the land in a month from the date of allotment; must\nput twelve acres at least into cultivation within four years, besides\nbuilding a log-house, twenty feet by eighteen; and must guarantee\nresidence on the lot till these conditions be fulfilled.'\n'Hard work, and no mistake,' said Robert. 'I've a mind to go with you.'\n'_You!_' exclaimed the other, with unfeigned surprise, looking in Wynn's\nface.\n'Yes, I feel as if I would be the better for a few months of the old\ndifficulties. I'd like to get away from this for awhile.'\n'But perhaps you wouldn't like the \"while\" to extend over four years,'\nremarked Armytage. 'Of all people, I never expected to find you a rover,\nWynn.'\nIt was the passing fancy of a wounded spirit. Before the captain departed\nfrom Daisy Burn, Robert had become wiser. Duty called on him to remain\nin the home which his labour had created in the bush. After some\ndeliberation, he asked Reginald to work Mr. Holt's newly acquired farm\nin shares with himself; and Reginald, though looking wistfully on his\nreceding vision of solitary bush life, consented.\n'Farming upon shares' signifies that the owner furnishes the land,\nimplements of husbandry, and seed; the other contracting party finds\nall the labour required; and the produce is divided between them. This\nagreement was slightly modified in the case of Daisy Burn, for Robert\ndid many a hard day's work on it himself, and was general superintendent.\nThe plan may answer well where ignorance and capital go together, and\nchance to secure the services of honest industry; but the temptations of\nthe labourer to fraud are strong, and his opportunities unlimited. Many\na new settler has been ruined by farming upon shares with dishonest\npeople.\nThe last sleighing week saw the departure of the Armytage family. Before\na thaw imprisoned the back settlements in spring isolation, they had\nreached the city of Ottawa, where the captain showed a disposition to\nhalt for some days to look about him, he said--a favourite occupation\nin his lotos-eating life: Edith protested in vain. No; he might fall\nin with some employment to suit him perchance: though what would suit\nCaptain Armytage, except a handsome salary for keeping his hands in his\npockets, he would himself have been puzzled to define.\nHowever, for the purpose of falling in with such employment, he\nfrequented most of the hotel and tavern bars in the town, leaving the\ngirls chiefly to their own devices. So, as the weather was fine, Miss\nArmytage and Jay walked about a great deal beside the broad brown river,\njust unchained from ice, and rushing, floe-laden, towards the Chaudi\u00e8re\nFalls; through the wide rectangular streets, lined with the splendid\nstores and massive houses of a busy population; through the village-like\nsuburbs, where each cottage was fronted with a garden; and ascended the\nMajor Hill, to behold the unrivalled view of forest, flood, and field\nfrom its summit. Far to the right and left stretched a panorama, such as\nonly British North America could furnish; the great Ottawa river gliding\nby, a hundred and fifty feet below, the long line of cataracts flashing\nand dashing to the north, a framework of black forest closing into the\nedge of the streets, and bounded itself on the horizon by high blue\nmountains.\nHere they were overtaken by Mr. Hiram Holt. He had seen them pass as he\nsat in some lawyer's office near by, and followed them when his business\nwas finished. His first proposition was that they should go with him to\nMapleton, while their father chose to idle about Bytown. Miss Armytage\ndeclined, for she hoped they might leave for Montreal in a day or two at\nfurthest; but if Mr. Holt commanded any influence there,--and she told\nhim, poor girl, the little plan of teaching which she had formed.\n'Come, now,' quoth Hiram, after some conversation on that head, and a\npromise of writing to friends in Montreal, 'take my arm, young lady, and\nI'll show you some of our Ottawa lions. Biggest of all, to my fancy, is\nthe town itself--only twenty-five years old, and as large as if it had\nbeen growing for centuries. The man is only in the prime of life who\nfelled the first tree on this site, and now the town covers as much\nground as Boston. Certainly the site is unrivalled.'\nEdith, thinking a good deal of other more personally important things,\nacquiesced in all he said.\n'You see, it's the centre of everything: three magnificent rivers flow\ntogether here, the Ottawa, Rideau, and Gatineau; water privilege is\nunlimited; Chaudi\u00e8re up yonder would turn all the mills in creation.\nNow, do you know the reason it is called Chaudi\u00e8re, my dear?'\nThis to Jay, who had to confess her ignorance.\n'Because the vapour--do you see the cloud always ascending from the\ncrest of the Falls?--reminded somebody of the steam from a boiling\nkettle. Hence these are the Kettle Falls, Miss Jay.'\nShe thought the appellation very undignified.\n'The finest building sites are on this Barracks Hill,' observed Mr.\nHolt, relapsing into contemplation. 'But Government won't give them up:\nit is to be a sort of Acropolis, commanding the whole position at the\nfork of the three rivers, and the double mass of houses on both sides.\nBytown hasn't seen its best days yet, by a long chalk, I guess.'\n'I thought it was called Ottawa,' said Jay inquiringly.\n'Well, madam, in this country, when cities arrive at the dignity of ten\nthousand inhabitants, they are permitted to change their names. So a\ntown named York has very properly become Toronto, and the town founded\nby Colonel By has become Ottawa. But, as I was saying, its best days are\nin the future: it must be the capital of the Canadas yet.'\nJay remembered that her geography book assigned that distinction to\nQuebec and Montreal. Mr. Holt affirmed that the pre-eminence of these\nmust dwindle before this young city at their feet, which could be\ncaptured by no _coup-de-main_ in case of war, and was at the head of\nthe natural land avenue to the great Lakes Huron and Superior.\n'The ancient Indian route,' said he--'the only safe one if there were\nwar with the United States; and you may depend on it, if railways\ntake in the country, one of the greatest termini will be here, at the\nheadquarters of the lumber trade.'\nHis vaticination has been fulfilled. Lines of telegraph, rail, and\nsteamers radiate from Ottawa city as a centre, at this day. It has\nsuccessfully contended for the honour of being acknowledged capital\nof the Canadas, and has been declared such by the decision of Queen\nVictoria.\nLions in the way of antiquity it had none to show, being the veriest\nmushroom of a capital; but Mr. Holt took his friends to see the great\nsluice-works, the beautiful Suspension Bridge, the chain of locks\nforming a water staircase on the Rideau canal, and one of the huge\nsawmills turned by a rill from Chaudi\u00e8re Falls, where Jay admired\nimmensely the glittering machinery of saws, chisels, and planes, and the\ngay painting of the iron-work. Since then, the vast tubular bridge of\nthe Grand Trunk Railway spans the river, and is a larger lion than all\nthe rest.\nCHAPTER XLIV.\nSHOVING OF THE ICE.\nWe must pass over a year; for so long did Sam Holt continue in Europe.\nRambling over many countries, from the heather hills of Scotland and the\ndeep fiords of Norway, to the Alhambra and the sunlit 'isles of Greece,'\nthis grandson of a Suffolk peasant, elevated to the ranks of independence\nand intellectual culture by the wisdom and self-denial of his immediate\nancestors, saw, and sketched, and intensely enjoyed the beauty with\nwhich God has clothed the Old World. And in that same sketch-book, his\nconstant companion, there was one page which opened oftener than any\nother--fell open of itself, if you held the volume carelessly--containing\na drawing, not of Alpine aiguille, nor Italian valley, nor Spanish\nposada, nor Greek temple, but of a comfortable old mansion, no way\nromantically situate among swelling hills, and partially swathed in ivy.\nThe corner of the sketch bore the lightly pencilled letters, 'Dunore.'\nAnd now he fancied that twelve months' travel had completed the cure,\nand that he had quite conquered his affection for one who did not return\nit. He was prepared to settle down in common life again, with the\nsecond scar on his heart just healed.\nComing home by Boston, he took rail thence to Burlington on Lake\nChamplain, and near the head of that noble sheet of water crossed the\nCanadian frontier into French scenery and manners. The line stopped\nshort at the edge of the St. Lawrence, where passengers take boat for La\nChine or the island of Montreal--that is, ice permitting. Now, on this\noccasion the ice did not permit, at least for some time. Sam Holt had\nhoped that its annual commotion would have been over; but it had only\njust begun.\nA vast sheet of ice, a mile in breadth and perhaps ten in length, was\nbeing torn from its holdfasts by the current beneath; was creaking,\ngrinding, shoving along, crunching up against the shore in masses, block\nover block ten or fifteen feet high, yielding slowly and reluctantly to\nthe pressure of the deep tide below, which sometimes with a tremendous\nnoise forced the hummocks into long ridges. The French Canadians call\nthese 'bourdigneaux.'\nThe sights, the sounds, were little short of sublime. But when night\ncame down with its added stillness, then the heaving, grating, tearing,\nwrenching noises were as of some prodigious hidden strength, riving the\nvery foundations of solid earth itself. People along shore could hardly\nsleep. Mr. Holt, having a taste for strange scenery, spent much of\nthat sharp spring night under 'the glimpses of the moon,' watching the\nstruggle between the long-enchained water and its icy tyrant. Another\npassenger, like-minded, was companion of his ramble.\n'I fear it is but a utopian scheme to dream of bridging such a flood as\nthis,' observed Holt. 'No piers of man's construction could withstand\nthe force that is in motion on the river to-night. I fear the promoters\nof the Victoria Bridge are too sanguine.'\n'Well, I could pin my faith upon any engineering project sanctioned by\nStephenson,' rejoined the other. 'We had him here to view the site, just\na mile out of Montreal. He recommended the tubular plan--a modified copy\nof the English Britannia Bridge. And Ross, the resident engineer, has\nalready begun preliminaries, with cofferdams and such like mysteries.'\n'It will be the eighth wonder of the world if completed,' said Mr. Holt,\n'and must add immensely to the commercial advantages of Canada.'\n'My dear sir,' quoth the other impressively (he was a corn merchant in\nMontreal), 'unless you are in trade you cannot duly estimate the vast\nbenefits that bridging the St. Lawrence will confer on the colony. For\nsix months of the year the river is closed to navigation, as you are\naware, and the industry of Canada is consequently imprisoned. But this\nnoble highway which the Grand Trunk Railway Company have commenced will\nrender all seasons alike to our commerce. Consider the advantage of\nbeing able to transport the inexhaustible cereals of the Far West,\n\"without break of bulk or gauge,\" from the great corn countries of the\nUpper Lakes to the very wharves on the Atlantic.'\nMr. Holt was not surprised to hear, after this, that the speaker was a\nheavy shareholder in the Grand Trunk Railway, and placed unlimited faith\nin its projects. Whether, in subsequent years, its complete collapse\n(for a time) as a speculation lowered his enthusiasm, we cannot say;\nperhaps he was satisfied to suffer, in fulfilment of the superb ambition\nof opening up a continent to commerce.\nThe corn merchant had got upon his hobby, and could have talked all\nnight about the rail and its prospects in Canada. 'The progress of the\nProvince outstrips all sober calculation,' said he. 'Population has\nincreased twelve hundred per cent. within the last forty years; wherever\nthe rail touches the ground, an agricultural peasantry springs up.\nPush it through the very wilderness, say I; there is no surer means of\nfilling our waste places with industrial life; and the Pacific should be\nour terminus.'\nThis design has ceased to be thought extravagant, since Professor Hind's\nexplorations have proved the existence of a fertile belt across the\ncontinent, through British territory, from the Lake of the Woods to the\nRocky Mountains; along which, if speedily and wisely opened up, must\ntravel the commerce of China and Japan, as well as the gold of Columbia.\nThe nation which constructs this line will, by its means, hold the\nsceptre of the commercial world. Brother Jonathan is well aware of the\nfact, and would long since have run a chain of locomotives from Atlantic\nto Pacific if he could; but thousands of miles of the great American\ndesert intervene, and along the western seaboard there is no port fit\nfor the vast trade, from Acapulco to Esquimalt on Vancouver's Island,\nexcept San Francisco, which, for other reasons, is incapacitated.\nGrinding, crushing, heaving, the broad current of the St. Lawrence bore\nits great burden all night along. The same might continue for many days;\nand Sam Holt was anxious to get home. He determined, in company with\nhis new friend the corn merchant, to attempt the passage in a canoe.\n'Now, sir,' said the latter gentleman, while they waited on the bank,\nmuffled to their eyes in furs, 'you will have some experience of what a\ncomplete barrier the frozen St. Lawrence is to Canadian commerce, or the\ncommonest intercourse, and how much the Victoria Bridge is needed.'\n'Au large! au large!' called the boatmen--sturdy, muscular fellows,\naccustomed to river perils; and, laying themselves at the bottom of the\ncanoe as directed, shoulders resting against the thwarts, the passengers\nbegan their 'traject.' Sometimes they had open water in lanes and\npatches; sometimes a field of jagged ice, whereupon the merry-hearted\nvoyageurs jumped out and dragged the canoe across to water again,\nsinging some French song the while. What perilous collisions of floes\nthey dexterously avoided! What intricate navigation of narrow channels\nthey wound through within half a boat's length of crushing destruction!\nNotwithstanding all their ability, the passengers were thankful to touch\nland again some miles below the usual crossing place, and some hours\nafter embarkation.\nHere the banks were deeply excoriated with the pressure of the ice\nagainst them; for the edges of the vast field set in motion the previous\nday had ploughed into the earth, and piled itself in immense angular\n'jambs.' On the quay of Montreal it lay in block heaps also, crushed up\neven into the public thoroughfare; and men were at work to help the\nbreak in the harbour with pickaxes and crowbars on the grey plain.\nMr. Holt had only a few minutes wherewith to visit a friend in one of\nthe obscure streets of the city in a mean-looking house, made known to\nhim by the coming out of children bearing school satchels. A gentleman\nwith semi-military air, wearing his hat somewhat jauntily on top of a\nbloated face and figure, met them as he emerged from a side street, and,\npaternally patting their heads, called them 'little dears;' and, from\nhis seedy dress and unoccupied manner, it was not hard to perceive that\nhe must still be unsuccessful in his search after the employment to suit\nhim.\nWhether Edith's suited her or not was a question her friend would fain\nhave asked, when he saw the tired look and dull eye after her morning's\nwork. Captain Armytage observed that he had frequently wished her to\ntake holidays--in fact, had done everything short of exercising his\npaternal authority; which perhaps he ought to have used on the occasion.\nIn fact, he had thoughts of removal to Toronto; the air of Montreal\nevidently did not agree with either of the girls, eh? It is to be\nnoticed that Jay stood by, having suddenly shot into a slender shy\ngirl, very efficient over the smallest pupils.\nMr. Holt was cordially pleased when Captain Armytage made many apologies\nfor not remaining longer; the fact was, he had a business appointment;\nand herewith he whispered to his daughter, who gave him something from\nher pocket. Mr. Holt fancied it was money.\nShe knew of the approaching marriage of his sister Bell, to attend which\nhe had hastened home; and knew, also, that some of the Cedar Creek\nhousehold would be there. Sinewy athlete as Sam Holt was, he could not\nframe his lips to ask whether Linda might be one of them. But how often\nhad he to put the question resolutely away during that and the next\nday's travelling? And what would have been his disappointment if, on\nentering the family at Mapleton, that pretty brown head and fair face\nhad not met his glance? And you fancied that you were cured, Mr. Holt;\nyou reckoned fifteen months' travel a specific.\nYes; Linda was one of Bell's bridesmaids. And that same sketch-book,\nfilled with glimpses of European scenery, brought about an enduring\nresult on this wise.\nThe girls were looking over it the day before the wedding--Miss Bell\nin a manner rather preoccupied, which, under the circumstances, was\nexcusable. Having both a trousseau and a bridegroom on one's hands is\nquite sufficient for any young lady's capacity; so she presently left\nher brother Sam to explain his sketch-book to Linda alone.\nAll went evenly until the page was opened, the bit of silver paper lifted\noff, and Dunore was before her. What a start--colour--exclamation! Her\nbeloved Irish home, with its green low hills, and its purple sea-line\nafar. 'Oh, Mr. Holt, I am so glad that you went to see Dunore!' Her eyes\nwere full of tears as she gazed.\n'Are you? I went there for your sake, Linda, to look at the place you\nloved so much.' And--and--what precise words he used then, or how he\nunderstood that she would prize the drawing a thousandfold for his sake,\nneither rightly remembered afterwards. But--\n'In April the ice always breaks up,' remarked old Hiram, with a huge\nlaugh at his own joke.\nMr. and Mrs. Sam Holt, after their wedding trip to Niagara, settled\ndown soberly at Daisy Burn as if they had been married a hundred years,\nArthur said. They brought back with them a fugitive slave, who had made\nher escape from a Virginian planter. Dinah proved a faithful and useful\nnurse to the Daisy Burn children. Fugitive slaves are found all over\nCanada as servants, and generally prove trustworthy and valuable.\nCHAPTER XLV.\nEXEUNT OMNES.\nNow, in the year 1857, came a retributive justice upon Zack Bunting, in\nthe shape of a complete collapse of all his gains and their produce. He\nhad placed them in a New York bank which paid enormous interest--thirty\nper cent., people said; and when that figure of returns is offered, wise\nmen shake their heads at the security of the principal. Nevertheless,\nall went rightly till the commercial panic of the period above mentioned,\nwhen Zack's possessions were reduced to their primitive nonentity, and\nthe old proverb abundantly illustrated, 'Ill got, ill gone.'\n'Libby,' quoth Andy one afternoon, soon subsequently to the above\noccurrence, 'they say that precious limb of an uncle of yours isn't\ngoin' to come back here at all at all. I'm tould Mrs. Zack an' Ged is\npacking up, to be off to some wild place intirely.'\nHe waited, gazing at her energetic movements in washing the dinner\nplates (for the luxury of ware had supplanted tin before now at Cedar\nCreek), to see what effect the news would produce. None. Miss Liberia\nmerely uttered 'Wal!'\n'Won't you be very lonesome in the world all by yourself, Libby,\nasthore?' he rejoined, casting a melting tenderness into voice and\nmanner; 'without a relation that ever was?'\n'Not a bit, I guess,' was the curt reply.\n'Och,' groaned the lover, 'av there ever was in the whole 'varsal world\na woman so hard to manage! She hasn't no more feelin's than one of them\nchaneys, or she wouldn't be lookin' at me these four years a-pinin' away\nvisibly before her eyes. My new shute o' clothes had to be took in\ntwice, I'm got so thin; but little you cares.' Then, after a pause,\n'Libby, mavourneen, you'd be a grand hand at managin' a little store;\nnow the one at the \"Corner\" 'll be shut. 'Spose we tried it togedder,\neh, mabouchal?'\nWithout hesitation, without change of countenance, without displacing\none of her plates, the Yankee damsel answered, 'I guess 'twould be a\nspry thing, rayther; we'd keep house considerable well. And now that's\nsettled, you can't be comin' arter me a tormentin' me no more; and the\nsooner we sot up the fixin's the better, I reckon.'\nThus calmly and sensibly did the massive maiden Liberia prepare to glide\nfrom single into wedded life; and though she has never been able quite\nto restrain the humorous freaks of her husband, she has succeeded in\ntransforming the pauper labourer Andy Callaghan into an independent\nshopkeeper and farmer.\nNot long after the happy accomplishment of this last alliance the\npost-office was transferred from the decaying knot of cabins at the\n'Corner' to the rising settlement of Cedar Creek. Andy's new store had a\nletter-box fixed in its window, and his wife added to her multifarious\noccupations that of postmistress.\n'Anything for me this evening, Mrs. Callaghan?' asked the silver-headed\nsquire, in his stately way, coming up to the counter.\n'I guess thar's the newspaper,' answered Liberia, pushing it across,\nwhile the other hand held a yard measure upon some calico, whence she\nwas serving a customer. A new face Mr. Wynn saw in a moment: probably\none of the fresh emigrants who sometimes halted at the Creek proceeding\nup country.\nMrs. Callaghan looked doubtfully at the piece of English silver produced\nby the woman, and turned it round between her finger and thumb. 'I say,\nsquire, stop a minute: what sort o' money's this?'\n'A crown-piece sterling; you'll give six shillings and a penny currency\nfor it,' answered Mr. Wynn.\n'Now I guess that's what I don't understand,' said Liberia. 'Why ain't\nfive shillin's the same everywhar?'\nThat Mr. Wynn could not answer. He had been indulging some thoughts of a\npamphlet on currency reformation, and went out of the store revolving\nthem again.\nFor it is to be noted that the squire felt somewhat like Lycurgus, or\nCodrus, or some of those old law-givers and state-founders in this new\nsettlement of the Creek. He knew himself for the greatest authority\ntherein, the one whose word bore greatest weight, the referee and\narbitrator in all eases. Plenty of interests had sprung up in his life\nsuch as he could not have dreamed of nine years before, when rooted at\nDunore. His thoughts of the latter had changed since he learned that a\nrailway had cut the lawn across and altered the avenue and entrance\ngate, and the new owner had constructed a piece of ornamental water\nwhere the trout-stream used to run; likewise built a wing to the mansion\nin the Tudor style, with a turret at the end. Which items of news, by\ncompletely changing the aspect of the dear old home, as they remembered\nDunore, had done much towards curing the troublesome yearning after it.\nNow the squire walked through the broad sloping street of pretty and\nclean detached cottages (white, with bright green shutters outside),\nfronting fields whence the forest had been pushed back considerably.\nOrchards of young trees bloomed about them; the sawmill was noisily\neating its way through planks on the edge of the stream; groups of\n'sugar-bush' maples stood about; over all the declining sun, hastening\nto immerse itself in the measureless woods westward. 'Pleasant places,'\nsaid Mr. Wynn to himself, quoting old words; 'my lot has fallen in\npleasant places.'\nSitting in the summer parlour of the butternut's shade, he read his\nnewspaper--a weekly Greenock print, the advertisement side half-filled\nwith quack medicines, after the manner of such journals in Canada.\nPresently an entry in the 'Deaths' arrested his attention.\n'Died, at his house in Montreal, on the 11th inst., Captain Reginald\nArmytage, late of H.M.'s 115th foot. Friends at a distance will please\naccept this intimation.'\nRobert sprang to his feet. 'Let me see it, father.'\nNow was the twentieth day of the month. 'I wonder she has not written\nto some of us--to Linda even,' said he, returning the paper. Then going\nover beside his mother, he whispered, 'I shall go to her, mother.'\n'Poor Edith! But what could you do, my son?'\n'Mother'--after a pause--'shall I not bring you another daughter to fill\nLinda's empty place?'\nMrs. Wynn had long before this been trusted with the story of Robert's\naffection. Her gentleness won every secret of her son's heart.\nWhat could she say now but bless him through her tears?\nAnd so he went next day. He found the mean house in the obscure street\nwhere Edith had for years toiled, and not unhappily. Duty never brings\nunmixed pain in its performance.\nThe schoolroom was full of the subdued hum of children's voices; the\nmistress stood at her desk, deep mourning on her figure and in her face.\nIt was only the twelfth day since her bereavement; but she was glad of\nthe return of regular work, though the white features and frail hands\nhardly seemed equal to much as yet. Presently the German girl who was\nher servant opened the door, and Miss Armytage went to hear her message.\n'Von gentleman's in parlour;' which suggested to Edith a careful father\nof fresh pupils. She gave her deputy, Jay, a few charges, and went to\nthe visitor, who had thought her an interminable time in coming. He,\nblooming, strong, fresh from his healthy farm life in the backwoods, saw\nwith compassion how wan and worn she looked. Nursing at night during her\nfather's illness, and school-keeping in the day, might be blamed for\nthis. Would she come to Cedar Creek and be restored?\n'Yes,' she answered, with perfect frankness, but not until the current\nsix months of schooling had elapsed. At the end of June she would be\nfree; and then, if Mrs. Wynn asked her and Jay--\nThe other, the old question, was on Robert's lips at the instant. And to\nthis also she said 'Yes.'\nNow for the prospects of the settlement which we have traced from\nits first shanty to its first street. Its magnates looked forward\nconfidently to its development as a town--nay, perchance as a city of\nten thousand inhabitants, when it purposes to assume a new name, as\nrisen from nonage. Future maps may exhibit it as Wynnsboro', in honour\nof the founder. A station on the line of rail to connect the Ottawa with\nLake Huron is to stand beside that concession line (now a level plank\nroad) where Robert Wynn halted eleven years ago, axe in hand, and gazed\nin dismay on the impenetrable bush.\nTHE END.\nMORRISON AND GIBB, EDINBURGH,\nPRINTERS TO HER MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE.\nTranscriber's Note\nThe following changes were made to the text:\nIn Chapter III, \"fell\" was changed to \"felt\" in the sentence\n\"Who has not _felt_ this beside Lodore, or Foyers, or Torc?\"\nIn Chapter XVII, \"hall\" was changed to \"hail\" in the sentence\n\"He turned round at the _hail_.\"", "source_dataset": "gutenberg", "source_dataset_detailed": "gutenberg - Cedar Creek"}, {"source_document": "", "creation_year": 1849, "culture": " English\n", "content": "Produced by Thorsten Kontowski, Paul Clark and the Online\nfile was produced from images generously made available\nby The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)\n Transcriber's Note:\n Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as\n possible, including inconsistencies in spelling and hyphenation. Some\n corrections of spelling and punctuation have been made. They are\n listed at the end of the text.\n Italic text has been marked with _underscores_.\n Bold text has been marked with =equals signs=.\n Text marked ^{thus} was superscripted.\n[Illustration]\n THE SUN\n changes its position in space, therefore\n it cannot be regarded as being\n \"in a condition of rest.\"\n _Si concedimus, eos, qui corpora in mundi\n spatio moveri eademque non moveri\n posse dicunt, insulsa loqui, praesumere\n non licet hominem astronomum talem\n sententiam elocuturum utque eam demonstraret\n operam daturum esse._\n By\n August Tischner.\n Leipzig,\n Gustav Fock.\n Dedicated\n to all friends of Rational Astronomy.\n[Illustration: _Nicolaus Copernicus._\n_Terrae motor, solis stator._]\n The system of Copernicus is the only possible system; it is the\n eternal base of all astronomical progress, with this system the\n science of Astronomy stands and falls, and without it we must give\n up all explication as well as every scientifically founded\n predication. Hence it is clear that an astronomer of the present\n day cannot enter upon any other system, even by way of trial.\n _An army of philosophers will not suffice to change the nature of\n an error and to convert it into truth. Ebn-Roshd (Averrho\u00ebs),\n Arabian philosopher of the XII^{th} century._\nAstronomical science, at the present day insists upon the system of\nCopernicus, which, as is well known, is based upon the theory _of a\nfixed sun_, and remains convinced of the incontrovertible truth and\nimportance of this system, even after it has become an incontestable\nfact, that the sun changes its position; endeavouring to explain away\nthis discrepancy by the sophism, that the sun may be considered as _in a\ncondition of rest_. But the smallest movement of the sun overthrows the\nentire fabric of Copernicus. Unless we take into account the\nobservations, made for the last 3000 years, respecting the movement of\nthe sun in space, it is impossible to comprehend the solar system and\nits movements. Theory must take notice of the phenomena of the sun's own\nmovement and dare not cloak it under imaginary causes; for so long as\nthe motion of the sun is ignored, it is impossible to know thoroughly\nthe motion of the earth which follows it, and if the motion of the earth\nbe not known, it is also impossible to know the motion of the other\nheavenly bodies, belonging to the solar system, as seen from the earth.\nIn a word, the astronomical theory, as it is now generally accepted and\nbelieved to be the only and doubtless true, is wholly untenable,\nrequiring _a total and essential_ reformation; astronomical authors\ncling to J. H. M\u00e4dler's assertion, that every body will understand the\nimpossibility for an astronomer of our time to enter upon any other\nsystem even by way of trial.\nIf this theory be converted into a _dogma_, stagnation must commence and\nall progress becomes impossible. In the history of science and its\nadvance, we find that there have been at all times new theories\npropounded, which had often to be changed later on, or even set aside by\nothers diametrically opposite. The principal circumstance which renders\nthe system of Copernicus impossible, is that the orbits of the planets\n_are considered as closed curves around the sun_. This view has\nfrequently been attacked; but it is maintained by astronomers, as it is\nrequisite for the elucidation of the system. Still it is evident that if\nthe centre of attraction moves forward the bodies attracted by it\n_cannot move around it_.\nLet us examine the system of Copernicus. Ptolem\u00e6us first introduced his\nsystem among the ancients. The earth was the fixed centre of the world\nand around it moved the moon, the sun, the planets and the stars. This\nsystem lasted for XV centuries.\nThe Ptolemaic system was modified by Copernicus, and the system of\nCopernicus was simply the inversion of the Ptolemaic. The sun took the\nplace of the earth. In the centre was a fixed point (earth or sun),\naround which the planets moved in larger or smaller orbits.\nThe main feature of both systems is that one of the heavenly bodies is\n_stationary, in order that the others may travel round it_.\nCopernicus makes the sun _to be motionless_, and the scientific world\nbows before his authority. Then we have the recurrent curves, _closed\norbits_ (or ellipses) with their axes and their _invariable plains_; for\nthe planets _move round the centre of the fixed sun_.\nWhilst however learned men were striving with feverish ardour to confirm\nthe system of Copernicus; whilst they were endeavouring to demonstrate\nin every possible way and by various means clearly, _that the sun is\nimmoveable_: there came the discovery _that the sun moves_.\nThe astronomers of the past century proved that the sun not only has the\napparent motion, which every one sees; but that it also has a motion\nproper to itself. Herschel commenced defining the course and direction\nof it, and now-a-days no one doubts the truth of this fact, it being the\ngeneral opinion that not only the sun moves itself, but that nothing at\nall in the world is in a state of rest. Astronomers, however, are of\nopinion that this discovery is of _no consequence whatever as regards\nthe system of Copernicus, which is still considered by them to be the\nmost correct of all and the only possible one_. For more than a century\nthere has not been found a single astronomer or scientific man, to whom\nit has occurred _that the motion proper to the sun, might have, in some\nway or another, an influence on the present state of theoretical\nscience_. They all seem to regard _this fact_ as an accident, involving\nno consequences and quite incapable of distracting them from their\nlabours, which they continue to work in the same manner as is indicated\nin the system of Copernicus.\nIf an advancing motion is admitted to be the motion proper to the sun,\n_the orbits traversed by the planets cannot be closed_.\nBut the question may be asked: is it true that science contradicts\nitself in this way? We reply: Yes! astronomical _observation has\novertaken theoretical or explicative science_. _Theory has stood\nstill._\nIn order to set their minds at rest, learned men explain what they wish\nto explain, and just as heavenly phenomena were accounted for according\nthe systems of Ptolem\u00e6us, of Copernicus and of Tycho de Brahe, so too\nthere will be no lack of good reasons to account for the motion proper\nto the sun; only history will tell us that the astronomers of the last\nbut one decennium of the XIX^{th} century have taught by writing and\nspeaking in their schools, that the sun is at the same time moving and\nnot moving.\nA science which cannot make any use of this immense discovery, nor\ndeduce any application from it, does not possess any vital power; it is\na dead science, it is strangled by those whose duty is to keep it alive,\nto lead it onwards to perfection.\nAstronomers assert \"_that the sun conducts its system with himself in\nmundane space_,\" but in the same breath they add: \"_with reference\nhowever to the planets it may be regarded as in a state of rest_.\"\nHence astronomers have discovered _a motion which is at rest_.\nIf the sun is _not fixed_, the system of Copernicus falls to ground.\nEither the sun moves, or does not; a moving sun in a condition of rest,\n_is an impossibility_.\nIf the sun moves, there is _no fixed centre_, there are _no closed or\nrecurrent curves and no plains of orbits_. If these must be obtained at\nany price, the sun must be definitively fixed, it cannot be permitted\n_to move onwards and yet at the same time not to move_.\nThe fact that the sun moves, cannot now be altered and cannot be any\nlonger ignored; and if mathematicians and astronomers do notwithstanding\nassert, that the sun may with reference to its own planetary system be\nregarded as fixed, or in a condition of rest, in that the system moves\nas a whole without any change taking place in the relative position of\nthe planets to each other, or in their relation to the sun; in fact\nwithout any alteration taking place in the _configuration_ of the\nsystem--we reply, this is one of those meaningless phrases, which should\nfind no place in a scientific discussion. _A body which is in motion\ncannot be in any way regarded as being motionless_, it would be just as\nreasonable to say that a locomotive, dragging a train of carriages full\nof passengers, could with reference to the latter be regarded as\nmotionless.\nThe actual meaning of such an assertion is that the planets are attached\nto the sun in such a manner, that they can neither approach to, nor\nrecede from it, but must follow it whithersoever it goes.\nWe may in thought pursue a train of hypotheses and suppositions, but\nthey do not thereby acquire reality; still, in a normal condition of the\nhuman intellect, it is impossible to conceive that any thing can exist\nand not exist at the same time.\nFrom this confusion of ideas, it might seem as if theoretical astronomy\nhad got into an untenable position which is irreconcilable with science\nand ought therefore to endeavour to enter upon a better state, as soon\nas possible. _Theory ought therefore, either to have accepted as a fact,\nthe motion proper to the sun with all its inevitable consequences, or\nelse, to have denied this motion altogether._ But the astronomers ignore\nthis alternative, they have decided, once for all and irrevocably _that\nthe sun moves and that at the same time it shall be motionless_. In this\nmanner science loses its reputation and all learnedly technical\nexpressions and formulas are not sufficient to cover the weak part. _The\nsun cannot be rendered motionless_, and if astronomers and men of\nscience of the present day continue to ignore this fact, they need not\nbe surprised at the inevitable consequences of their own acts.\nThe system of Copernicus presupposes the _fixity of the sun_, as a\n\"conditio sine qua non.\" The most abstruse investigations into the\n\"celestial mechanism\" could not be made without this axiom be granted.\nThe mathematician must have a fixed point, a fixed central point of\naction for his coordinates, he wants fixed invariable plains and closed\ncurves, a radius vector describing plains, he wants axes and poles for\nthe orbits, in order that they may describe certain figures in the\nheaven, and that the plains of the orbits may move,--one of the other.\nNaturally astronomers and men of science have never asked themselves the\nquestion, _how a heavenly body could be fixed in space_.\nWhen an astronomer asserts that the Copernician system is the only\npossible, he believes that it is impossible for the sun to have any\nmotion of its own; when he at the same time asserts that all astronomy\nstands or falls with this system, he believes that no astronomical\nknowledge existed before the discovery of the Copernician system, and\nwith the fall of the system all astronomical knowledge will cease to\nexist; he believes moreover true astronomy to be _that_, which men of\nscience have imagined to be the truth regarding the heaven and the\ncauses of the phenomena we see.\nIf astronomers had merely presented their ideas and opinions to the\nworld as such, and no more, no one could raise any objection; but they\nlay down their opinions in words and on paper as a _positive science_,\nthey give their view as _incontroversible truths_, and _this fact_\nalters the situation, for we cannot admit that science is a mere barge\nto be taken in tow by the imagination.\nThe fundamental axiom of astronomical theory, such as the Copernician\nsystem, Kepler's and Newton's laws, _are not derived from a knowledge of\nfact_, they are the opinions, views, ideas and suppositions of\nindividuals, which have been adapted to the heaven, and as they were\ngenerally accepted, the question was never raised whether the opinions\nof an organic creature--however intelligent it might be--are really and\ntruly that which we term penetrating behind the veil of nature and\ncompelling it to yield up its secrets. The fact of no other ideas being\nat hand which seemed to be better, sufficed to transform these opinions\ninto rules and to cause them to be accepted as the only admissible and\ncorrect truths.\nThe opinions set forth by Copernicus, Kepler and Newton are designed by\nastronomers of the present day under the collective title of the\nCopernician system, and they believe that these three dogmas, systems\nand laws, distinct as they are from each other, proceed consequentially\none from the other, that they mutually supplement each the other, and\nthus form a harmonious whole. That not one of these things rests upon\nactual observation or even probable and perceptible facts, and finally,\nthat none of them can be observed or verified, but that they are all\nthree creations of the imagination, must be clearly evident to any one\nwho occupies himself at all with the study of nature and more especially\nwith the study of the heavenly phenomena.\nWhen we say that astronomy is an earthly science, we mean to imply that\nthe heaven and the phenomena there apparent cannot be studied otherwise\nthan as seen from the earth. Therefore astronomy is not a heavenly\nscience, it consists solely of such ideas as we are able to form, that\nwhich we see on the heaven.\nIt is not astronomy that is grand, compared with the vast objects with\nwhich it deals it dwindles to insignificance, and we may say that to\nspeak of it as being a science of the \"heavenly mechanism,\" nay more of\nthe \"laws of the universe,\" is sheer nonsense. The _universe_ must be\nfor us a mere term, which does not convey any tangible idea to our\nminds.\nAs only a very small portion of the heavenly space and its contents is\nvisible to our eyes, astronomy--whatever may be the magnifying power\nplaced at its disposal--must be confined within the limits of our vision\nand can therefore be no more than a small fragment.\nIn the positive sense of the word, astronomy is more especially a\nscience of _observation_, which is its _only_, but real and successful\npower. It may be said that astronomy has raised observation to a\nscience, and its immense importance becomes more and more prominent as\nthe explicative science loses in value; which is the more easily\naccounted for by the fact that observation will finally bring about the\noverthrow of all untenable theories.\nWe see the heaven as we fly along, the earth whirls us with itself\nthrough space, hence astronomy cannot make any drawing room experiment,\nit cannot reproduce any of the heavenly phenomena, it can do nothing but\n_observe_. If therefore the science of astronomy be more especially an\nobservative science, that which it does not and cannot observe, must be\nfor it as good as not existent. But astronomy may, in addition, be\ndesignated _the science of observation of the apparent things_, things\nas they seem to be, for it is unable to see or regard the heavenly\nphenomena otherwise than they present themselves to it. _Astronomy is\nnot permitted to observe realities._\nIf therefore _observation is itself a science_, it must necessarily _be\nthe basis of theory_; observation may be set aside--which is what is\nactually done--in this way we may plod on, we may term our labour what\nwe please; but whatever is produced in this way is not astronomy.\nBut that glorious science whose sublime object is alone able to unfetter\nthe mind of poor humanity--Astronomy--has a future before it. Any such\nas feel themselves called upon to study _seriously_ the phenomena of\nnature, may set about the task. _The sun is a sure guide._\nThe great mass of astronomical observations are almost exclusively of\nEuropean origin, those which in later times have been made in other\nparts of the earth, are of a special character--they refer for the most\npart to the stars and are not numerous enough to furnish any general\nview, but here the question is of establishing a universal astronomy\navailable for the whole earth, which, founded on the actual type of the\nphenomena, will become the result of science.\nWith respect to astronomical knowledge and its dissemination, the\ndiscovery and proving of this type of the phenomena is of the greatest\nimportance, they must be found out not by calculation, but _by actual\nobservation_. When discovered, a large number of important and still\nundecided problems will be advanced towards solution.\nIt may be asked: how and where shall we however find this _original\ntype_? and the earth itself supplies the answer by means of\nits--=Equator=. No observer, placed either north or south the equator,\ncan see the two poles of the heaven at once, he cannot see the _whole\nheavenly sphere_; at the equator the entire splendour of the firmament\npasses before his eyes during the space of--12 hours.\nThe _equator of the earth_ is always turned towards the sun, and it thus\nindicates the direction taken by our planet; therefore we must be able\nto find this type _at the equator_. Either it is there, or it is nowhere\nelse, and it is indispensably necessary that astronomical observations\nmade elsewhere should be repeated at the equator thus as it were\nconfirmed.\nThe erection of small, simple and detached observations along the line\nof the earth's equator, at certain distances from each other, and the\nsubdivision of the work amongst the various observers, according the\nobjects, would be of incalculable consequence, and would in the course\nof a few years shed more light upon astronomical knowledge than all that\nhas hitherto been done at hap-hazard and without any plan. An\ninternational scientific society could take the matter in hand.\nInstruments of the most excellent kind are to be had in plenty, and\nthere is no lack of young and intelligent men. Moreover, ever since 1874\nthere has been established at Quito, the \"Observatorio de Collegio\nNacional,\" the director of which Mr. G. B. Menton might superintend the\npreliminary operations until such time as the work could be prosecuted\nwith greater resources and according to a well considered plan. Such men\nas _Lick_, _Bischoffsheim_, _Remeis_ _etc._, who are willing to make\nsufficient sacrifices in order to establish this glorious science upon\nmore solid foundations, which do not rest on an imaginary and untenable\ntheory, _but on actual observation_, will surely be found. Success\ncannot be doubtful. Would not the Americans, who appreciate every\nthing on a grand scale and are not afraid of any expense in their\nundertakings, do all in their power to further and promote this splendid\nwork?[1]\nIf--as is well known--matters are not as they are assumed to be, to what\npurpose have been and are these laborious works prosecuted and the\nundying works written? If the imaginary is preferred to reality, we set\nup an imaginary science, without knowing anything about the heaven, and\nthe science thus set up will become the plaything of fancy.\nIf they inquire, why theory denies reality--_the motion of the sun_--we\nshall find that it is because it prefers the imaginary. _The sun in\nmotion_ destroys the found illusions of the astronomers, this they will\nnot submit to, their _untenable theory_ must continue to be looked upon\nas unadulteratest truth, and the consequence is that the manifestations\nof the grand and sublime Nature are put down as lies.\nThis idea _of a fixed sun_ has taken such a firm hold of men's minds\nthat there is no force in nature capable of exercising sufficient power\nto eradicate it, the sun may move as it pleases, and whilst the whither\nand rapidity of its motion are diligently studied, men's minds are\noccupied _with its fixity_, and these \"investigations and inquiries\" are\nprosecuted without any consequences being therefrom deduced. Directly a\ntheory or a law is to be set up, the sun is at once _very firmly fixed_\non--=ether=. Astronomical writers consider that they have done quite\nenough, when they have accorded honorable mention to the motion of the\nsun, _but their deductions, conclusions, theories, proofs and laws are\nall based on the immobility of the sun, according the system of\nCopernicus_.\nThe idea _that the motion of the sun_ does not necessitate any\nalteration in the system of Copernicus leads us to the utmost absurdity.\nIf the earth is to move in the _invariable plain of its recurrent and\nclosed ellipse_, it stands to reason, it cannot follow the sun, and the\n\"circulation around the centre\" at once falls to the ground.\nIt is a very remarkable fact, that the astronomers of the by-gone\ncentury could, and those of the present century can believe, such as\nCopernicus, Kepler and Newton, had they been aware of the motion of the\nsun, would have set up the same system, the same laws and theories, _as\nthey based exclusively on the theory of its being immoveable_. This fact\nis one of which we are right to be ashamed.\nThe astronomers hug themselves, with great complacency, with the\nidea--which gradually becomes a delicious certainly--that they have\nmapped out the heaven very well, and that any change in the arrangement\nis a thing not to be thought of. If therefore any one of their fellows\nshould get up--which has sometimes occurred--and say: \"it is high time\nthat we should clear up the science and subject this untenable theory to\na strict examination and test,\" the immense majority of facultists and\nauthorities proclaim unanimously \"=non possumus=,\" which is after all\nbut a lingual verification of the first law of the nature[2].\nWhy is it that the astronomers of the present day are unwilling to take\ninto consideration and to study the consequences arising from the motion\nproper to the sun, with reference to its own system?\nWhy is it that they are unwilling to recognise or rather to grasp\nproperly and to explain the apperceivable phenomena, which the motion\nproper to the sun, as seen from the surface of the earth, must produce\non the apparently hollow sphere of the heaven?\n Monter d'une \u00e9choppe \u00e0 un palais, c'est rare et beau; monter de\n l'erreur \u00e0 la v\u00e9rit\u00e9, c'est plus rare et c'est plus beau.\n Il arrive fr\u00e9quemment que la croyance universelle d'un si\u00e8cle,\n croyance dont il n'\u00e9tait donn\u00e9 \u00e0 personne de s'affranchir \u00e0 moins\n d'un effort extraordinaire de g\u00e9nie et de courage, devient pour un\n autre si\u00e8cle une absurdit\u00e9 si palpable qu'on n'a plus qu'\u00e0\n s'\u00e9tonner qu'elle ait pu jamais pr\u00e9valoir.\nLitterature.\n 1. =Sta, sol, ne moveare.= _August Tischner._ Leipzig 1881-1882.\n Gustav Fock.\n 2. =Gr\u00f6sse, Entfernung und Masse der Sonne.= _August Tischner._\n Leipzig 1882. Gustav Fock.\n 3. =Die Sonne und die Astronomie.= _K. Nagy._ Leipzig 1866. F. A.\n Brockhaus.\n 4. =Memoire sur le syst\u00e8me solaire et sur l'explication des ph\u00e9nom\u00e8nes\n c\u00e9lestes.= _Charles Nagy._ Paris 1862. Leibner.\n 5. =Consid\u00e9ration sur les com\u00e8tes, \u00e9l\u00e9ments de Com\u00e9tologie.= _Charles\n Nagy._ Paris 1862. Leibner.\n 6. =Syst\u00e8me solaire d'apr\u00e8s la marche r\u00e9elle du Soleil.= _E. G.\n Fahrner._ Paris 2^{me} \u00e9d. 1869.\n 7. =Das wahre Sonnensystem.= Bewegung und Bahnen der Gestirne nach\n einer neuen Auffassung \u00fcber dieselben im Himmelsraume, und zwar\n welche nicht in Ellipsen statt hat. _James Hermann Milberg._\n 8. =Die wahre Gestalt der Planeten- und Kometenbahnen.= _Friedrick\n Carl Gustav Stieber._ Dresden 1864.\n 9. =Die Sonne bewegt sich.= Folgerungen aus dieser Lehre in Bezug auf\n die Fixsterne und Planeten. _C. R.(ohrbach)._ Berlin 1852.\n 10. =Ueber Veranschaulichungsmittel f\u00fcr mathematische Geographie.=\n Erl\u00e4uternde Beigabe zu neu construirten Veranschaulichungsapparaten\n f\u00fcr Volksschulen und h\u00f6here Unterrichtsanstalten. _F. A.\n P\u00fcschmann_, Seminaroberlehrer, Grimma.\n 11. =Der Himmels-Mechanik g\u00e4nzliche Reform auf Grund der inductiven\n Logik= mit der strengberechtigten philosophischen und mathematischen\n Nachweisung. _V. P. Kluk-Kluczycky._ 1880.\n G. KREYSING, LEIPZIG.\n[Illustration]\nFOOTNOTES:\n[1] Moreover, other, smaller detached observatories, might be erected on\nthe east and west coasts of America and Africa, on the islands of\nSumatra, Borneo, Celebes and Gilolo, on one of the islands of Gilbert's\narchipelago and upon one of the Gallopagos islands, if it be considered\nworth the effort to acquire some real knowledge as to the movement in\nspace of the leader of our planetary system and the bodies pertaining to\nit.\n[2] Inertia is the most simple and most natural (sic) law of nature\nwhich can be imagined. Laplace I p. 4.\n The following is a list of changes made to the original.\n The first line is the original line, the second the changed one.\n Copernicus makes the sun _to be motienless_,\n Copernicus makes the sun _to be motionless_,\n mauner as is indicated in the system of\n manner as is indicated in the system of\n ideas being at hand which seemed be to better,\n ideas being at hand which seemed to be better,\n power. If may be said that astronomy has\n power. It may be said that astronomy has\n upon to sludy _seriously_ the phenomena of\n upon to study _seriously_ the phenomena of\n for the whole earth, which, founded of the\n for the whole earth, which, founded on the\n and the subdivision of the work amangst the\n and the subdivision of the work amongst the\n If the imaginary is prefered to reality, we\n If the imaginary is preferred to reality, we\n Celebes and Gilolo, on one of the islands ol Gilbert's\n Celebes and Gilolo, on one of the islands of Gilbert's\n or rather to graph propery and to explain\n or rather to grasp properly and to explain", "source_dataset": "gutenberg", "source_dataset_detailed": "gutenberg - The Sun changes its position in space\n"}, {"source_document": "", "creation_year": 1849, "culture": " English\n", "content": "Produced by Sigal Alon, Sankar Viswanathan, and the Online Distributed\nProofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced\nfrom images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American\nLibraries.)\n [Illustration: \"They both turned pale when they saw the dog almost\n immediately disappear under the ice.\"]\n THE AMUSEMENT AND INSTRUCTION\nCHRISTMAS,\nA HAPPY TIME.\nHarriet and Elizabeth Mortimer were two very pretty, and generally\nspeaking, very good little girls. Their kind papa and mamma had taken\na great deal of pains that they should be good, and it was very seldom\nthat they vexed them by being otherwise. A very happy time was now\nexpected in the family at Beech Grove, by the arrival of John and\nFrederick Mortimer from school: it was within a few days of Christmas;\nand as the sisters and brothers had never, till the last few months,\nbeen separated, their meeting together again was looked forward to\nwith general and lively pleasure.\n'Do you see anything of the stage, Elizabeth?' said Harriet to her\nsister, who had been running down to the end of the plantation to peep\nover the gate, and listen if she could hear the approach of wheels.\n'No: there is nothing in sight,' replied Elizabeth, whose teeth\nchattered from the cold, while her hands were so benumbed, she could\nscarcely close the gate, which she had ventured to open about half an\ninch.\n'They will never come,' said Harriet; 'but you should not open the\ngate, you know papa and mamma both told us we should not do that. And\nhow cold you are! you are all over in a shiver. Come let us have a run\nround, and that will warm you. Remember mamma begged of us not to\nstand still in this sharp cutting wind.'\n'Yes, so she did,' replied Elizabeth; 'and indeed it is very, very\ncold, down at that corner. And they will not come any the sooner for\nour standing there.'\nAnd according to Harriet's proposal, the two little girls began to run\nround the grounds, which put them in a complete glow; and Elizabeth's\nfingers very soon ceased to ache with cold.\nAs they passed the green house, they saw the gardener matting up some\nmyrtles on the outside; and Elizabeth stopped, to enquire at what\ntime the coach was likely to pass.\n'I look for it every minute, Miss,' replied the man; 'and that's the\nreason I keep about here, that I may be handy to help the young\ngentlemen out, and bring in the boxes and that. I look for them to be\nmuch grown, Miss, for 'tis a fine bit now since we have seen them. I\ndon't know what Master John will say about his myrtle that he used to\nbe so proud of, for I am afraid its dead. But hark ye, Miss--sure\nthat's wheels.--Yes, and there comes a coach too.'\nAnd away posted the gardener, and both the little girls after him.\nIt was a coach; and it was a very noisy one, or at least the\npassengers were very noisy. Such a blowing of horns, and hallooing and\nhuzzaing. But the coach went by without stopping at the gate; and\nalthough the gardener ran after it, and endeavoured to speak with the\ncoachman, his voice was drowned in the multitude of little voices\nwithin and without the coach; and he was obliged to return,\ndisappointed himself, to the disappointed young ladies, who stood\nanxiously looking out, within the gate.\nBefore there was time to express any regret, another coach appeared in\nsight, and this might be the coach so much longed for. This also\napproached with shouting and blowing of horns; again the gardener put\nhimself forward and this time the coach seemed to draw down towards\nthe gate. Harriet even fancied she saw her dear brother John looking\nout of one of the windows. But again she was disappointed. The\ncoachman, though he drew to the side of the road, scarcely allowed his\nhorses to stop; and flinging the servant a letter, which he took from\nhis waistcoat pocket, again he flourished his whip, and again the\ncoach passed on.\n'A letter for your papa, Miss,' said the gardener, picking it up and\noffering it to the young ladies: 'Shall I take it to James to carry\nin?'\n'No; I will--I will,' exclaimed both the little girls at once.\nElizabeth, though the youngest, generally contrived to be forwardest;\nand seizing upon the letter, as the gardener held it between his\nfinger and thumb, she scampered away, followed by Harriet, and they\nboth arrived almost breathless in the drawing-room.\n'The coaches are both past, papa,' said Harriet, 'without John and\nFrederick'; and as soon as the information had been given, she burst\ninto tears.\n'But here is a letter, which will tell about it, I dare say, papa,'\nadded Elizabeth. 'To John Mortimer, Esq. Beech Grove,' she continued,\nreading the direction, as she presented the letter. 'It is John's\nwriting, papa.'\nMrs. Mortimer looked uneasy; and Mr. Mortimer broke the seal of the\nletter with some little alarm.\n'It is all well,' said the kind father, almost directly; 'nothing to\napprehend, my love,' added he, as he handed the letter across to his\nwife.\nThe letter was as follows:--\n MY DEAR PAPA,\n No room for us in either of the coaches--inside or out. Mr.\n Brown is going to send us in a post chaise, with two other\n boys.\n Your affectionate and dutiful Son,\n'Our pleasure is only delayed for a few hours,' said Mr. Mortimer, as\nhe put an arm round the neck of each of his little girls. 'They will\nbe here in the course of a short time, no doubt, and have you got\nevery thing ready to receive them?'\n'Oh yes, papa, quite ready,' replied Elizabeth, who was slipping her\nneck from under her father's arm, with the intention of again\nreturning to the bottom of the shrubbery. Harriet directly followed\nher towards the door.\n'And where now my little girls,' said Mrs. Mortimer; 'not to the\nshrubbery again this evening?'\n'We _were_ going, mamma,' replied Elizabeth: 'had you rather we should\nnot?'\n'I had,' answered Mrs. Mortimer; you have been out nearly two hours,\nand the air is now very sharp and cold; the sun is set, and in a short\ntime it will be quite dusk. You can watch the road from the play-room\nwindow; and I think it very likely your brothers will not be here\nbefore quite night.'\nBoth the little girls would have preferred another run in the\nshrubbery, and another peep over the gate at the end of it: but they\nwere accustomed to know, that their mother's judgment was better than\ntheir own; and without a murmur, therefore they repaired to the\nschool-room.\n'Oh! there they are,--there they are,' said Elizabeth, before she had\nscarcely reached the window: 'It must be my brothers,--I am sure it\nwas a post-chaise.'\n'Where--where?' said Harriet, jumping up upon the window seat, and\nstraining her eyes to catch a sight of the desired object.\n'I cannot see it now,' replied Elizabeth, 'it is gone behind the elm\ntrees by the side of the road: we shall see it again, presently. Do\ngo, dear Harriet, and ask mamma if we may go down and meet them.'\n'But I do not know they are coming,' said Harriet: 'do dear Elizabeth\ntell me where you saw them. I do not think you could have seen them:\nand if you did, they must be a great way off.'\n'Oh there--there, Harriet, cannot you see them now?' said Elizabeth,\nputting her arm round her sister's neck; 'There,--just by the mill,\nthis side of the elms. Now they are gone again.'\n'Yes, I see them,' replied Harriet; 'and now they are come out again\nfrom behind old Jackson's cottage. Oh, now I see them very plain.--I\ncan almost make them both out.'\n'Oh, I can make them _quite_ out,' said Elizabeth; 'and they have got\na horn, too, and are blowing away: and John is shaking his\nhandkerchief. Oh, I wish we might go down and meet them.'\nAnd both the children began jumping about in an ecstasy of joy. At\nthis moment Mr. and Mrs. Mortimer entered the play-room. 'They are\ncoming, papa,--they are coming, mamma,' said Harriet and Elizabeth\nboth together. Mrs. Mortimer had thrown a large cloak and hood over\nher, and Mr. Mortimer had his hat in his hand.\n'We were coming to fetch you to meet them,' said Mr. Mortimer.--'Come,\nmake haste, or they will be here before we can be out of the house;\nfor the young gentlemen travel rapidly with their four horses.'\nHarriet and Elizabeth hastened after their father and mother, who were\npreparing to lead the way to the shrubbery, but before they were out\nof the hall door, the post chaise and four was rattling down the\navenue and in a few minutes the two lads were pressed to the hearts\nof their beloved parents and their affectionate sisters.\nAs the two other youths who accompanied the Mortimers were eager to\npursue their journey, the chaise was soon on its return down the\navenue: and John and Frederick, who with all their happiness, could\nnot help finding out that they were very cold and hungry, were glad to\nbe summoned to the dining-room, and to feel the warm carpet, and see\nthe blazing fire, and the smoking meat upon the table. Between eating\nand talking there was a great deal to do; the former, however, it was\nmost necessary to attend to for a short time; and when their hunger\nwas satisfied, and they drew with their father and mother, and\nElizabeth and Harriet, round the cheerful and enlivening fire, and a\nmore happy party perhaps could hardly be imagined. Before the boys\nwent to school, each of the children had low stools of their own,\nwhich it had always been their delight to sit upon, when summoned to\nthe dining-room after dinner; for at that time they had been\naccustomed to have their own dinner in the nursery. Now, however, they\nwere to be indulged by dining with their parents, when the family\ndinner hour was moderately early, and there was no large party at\ntable; and on the present occasion the same little stools which had\nbeen such favourites formerly were now brought again into use. The\ngirls had almost feared proposing them, as they knew not what changes\nthe _boy's school_ might have occasioned in their brother's habits;\nbut no sooner was the cloth removed and the grace said, than the\nactive little Frederick flew to the sideboard, and took possession of\nhis old and favourite seat. John followed his example; those of the\ntwo little girls were already standing by the two corners of the\nchimney-piece, and Frederick between mamma and Elizabeth, and John\nbetween papa and Harriet, very soon settled themselves and made the\nfamily circle complete. Into the middle of this circle a favourite\nlittle terrier now leaped, and began his gambols, while the old pet\nTibby the cat, which the children had all been accustomed to carry\nabout from infants, came rubbing her sides against the young\nstrangers, and began purring to be taken notice of.\nAs the day had closed long before the dinner had disappeared, the boys\ncould only hear all there was to be heard to-night, about any\nalterations or improvements which had taken place since their\nabsence;--what success their sisters had met with, in keeping up their\nstock of rabbits and poultry;--whether the ice-house had been yet\nfilled;--how went on old Neddy the donkey, if he was yet too old to be\nridden;--whether the myrtles were alive, and their own gardens had\nbeen full of flowers; and a variety of other inquiries, extremely\ninteresting to them, and which would have doubtless been made by many\nof my young readers on similar occasions as those on which we are\nwriting. Harriet and Elizabeth were equally glad to reply to all their\nbrothers' questions, and they had a great many to ask in return.\nWhether they liked school as well as home,--whether they always had\nmeat and pudding, & as much as they liked of both;--what plays they\nplayed at, and if they had good-natured companions. There was an\nabundance to say upon all these subjects; and then Mr. and Mrs.\nMortimer had their inquiries to make about books and classes, and\nsums, and school hours, and play hours and going to bed, and getting\nup, so that the tongues all ran very nimbly; and doubtless there\nremained plenty more to say, when at length little Frederick's words\nbegan to lengthen themselves as he uttered them, and his eyes were\nwith difficulty strained open.\nMr. Mortimer gave him a pat, and asked him how early he had been up in\nthe morning? He had scarcely been in bed the whole night; he had since\nperformed a journey of near seventy miles, and as he was not yet seven\nyears of age, it was not to be wondered at that sleep should thus be\nstriving to get the better even of his feelings of joy and happiness,\nJohn, who was only two years older than his brother did not shew much\nless symptoms of fatigue; and Mrs. Mortimer proposed having the tea\nimmediately, that the boys might get to bed. This plan was instantly\nagreed to, their heads were soon snug on their pillows; and in the\nmorning they both awoke in high health and joyous spirits.\nIt was now that Mr. and Mrs. Mortimer could see how much their dear\nboys were grown, and how well they were looking. John triumphantly\nstood beside his sister Harriet, who was a year older than himself,\nand told her he should be very soon taller than she was; and Frederick\nhad actually out-stripped the little Elizabeth, who told one more year\nthan he did. The girls however were reconciled to this acquired\nsuperiority of stature, by discovering that papa was a great deal\ntaller than mamma, though they were both exactly the same age; and\nFrederick concluded the whole dissertation, by adding that to be sure,\n_men_ ought be taller than women.\n'It does not much signify what are your heights, my dear children,'\nsaid Mr. Mortimer, affectionately gazing upon the whole group, 'if\nyou are but good and amiable. I should be very glad to see my young\nFred a brave grenadier,' added the fond father placing his hand upon\nthe head of his young son: 'but I shall be much better pleased to see\nhim a good man. But now who is for a walk?--the morning is bright and\nfair, and those who do not mind the cold, away for your great coats\nand hats, and I will take a walk with you to the ice-house, and see if\nthe men are beginning to fill it.'\nIt was not necessary to repeat this invitation, and towards the\nice-house the party immediately proceeded. As they passed through the\npark they went by a sheet of water, on which during the summer, had\nbeen a boat, but which now was caked over with ice, and had every\nappearance of being hard enough to bear the weight of a man with his\nskates on. John and Frederick were both running to the edge: and had\nnot their father been with them would have immediately ventured on an\namusement, hardy and bracing when followed with prudence, but which\nrequires the caution of experience, not to be carelessly indulged in.\n'Wait till to-morrow, boys,' said Mr. Mortimer, 'the ice is not strong\nenough to bear you to-day. In another four and twenty hours, I think\nit will be safe, should the frost continue, and I have directed James\nto prepare my skates.'\nThe boys both desisted, for they had been very early taught to submit\nto the opinion of their father: but Frederick could not help saying,\n'I think it _would_ bear, papa:' and feeling more disappointment than\nhis looks perhaps expressed.\n'We can very well wait another day, Frederick,' said John, as he saw\nhis brother's disappointment on walking on.\n'Perhaps the frost may be broken then,' replied Frederick; but he soon\nfound other amusement, and bounded over the stile into the lane,\nbefore the rest of the party had scarcely lost sight of the sheet of\nwater in the park.\n'Oh, here are the men with a load,' said Frederick, as his father\ncame in sight, 'fine thick ice, papa--oh, so thick, I am sure it must\nbe hard enough to slide where that thick ice comes from.'\n'That ice is taken from a mere hole,' replied Mr. Mortimer: 'from that\ndirty little patch of water by the side of yonder hedge--do you see?\nIt is very shallow, and is therefore soon encrusted: but even before\nit was cut by the pickaxe, it would not have been smooth enough to\nhave slidden upon, and now you see it is all in pieces, and you might\nas well try to slide on a heap of stones.'\nBy this time all the party had crossed the stile, and were proceeding\nalong the lane.\n'I wonder you do not have the ice-house filled from the water in the\npark papa' said Harriet. 'This is such dirty, nasty-looking stuff.'\n'You have before seen in what manner the ice-house is filled,' replied\nMr. Mortimer; 'that the ice is all broken, almost pounded to pieces,\nand then stored below ground; and I have also told you that it is\nnever eaten, and it signifies little whether it is entirely pure or\nnot. The house will be rendered as cold by this ice, as by that from\nthe park, and that is all which is necessary. And it would be a pity\nto spoil the appearance of the other, unless it were necessary;\nparticularly as John and Frederick and myself hope to have same good\nslides upon it during the holidays.'\nHaving stopped to ask a few questions of the men employed in conveying\nthe ice from the pond, Mr. Mortimer now proceeded with his children to\na farm-house not very far distant, where they all met a very hearty\nwelcome, and where the boys' attention was arrested by two little grey\nponies, which were in the meadow adjoining the farm yard.\n'Well--what do you think of them,' said Mr. Mortimer. They were\npronounced beautiful by both the boys, and their father then told them\nthey had been purchased for their use, and that of their sisters; but\nthat they would not be fit to be ridden till the summer. He designed\nto have them properly broken in by the next holidays, and the boys\nwere delighted with the prospect of riding them on their next return\nfrom school.\n'If the young gentlemen would like a ride this Christmas, Sir,' said\nthe kind farmer, 'my Thomas's poney is a nice quiet little fellow, and\nTom would be proud to lend him.' John and Frederick looked at each\nother, and at their father, but at length John suggested, that as only\none could ride at a time they had better put off their rides till the\nsummer; and Harriet and Elizabeth were both pleased that such was the\ndecision.\nThe next visit was to the parsonage, where many a round happy\ncountenance greeted the return of the young Mortimers: and while Mr.\nMortimer was engaged in conversation with the excellent pastor of the\nvillage, Mr. Wexford, the young people were introduced into the\nplay-room of the little Wexfords. Mr. Wexford made a petition that the\nyoung people should spend the day together: but as it was the first of\nthe Mortimers being at home, their father declined it for them, at the\nsame time promising that they should have the indulgence in a short\ntime: and also expressing a hope that the Wexfords would return the\nvisit at Beech Grove.\nAt that time of the year there was little to be seen out of doors, but\none curiosity the Wexfords described, to which they were very anxious\nto introduce their young friends: and this was a little group of robin\nred-breasts which had been hatched in their summer-house, and which\nnow took shelter there every night, and were regularly fed by the\nfamily.\n'The gardener says they do not do us much good,' said Maria Wexford,\nas they approached the summer house; 'but I do not like that they\nshould be destroyed.'\n'Oh no, I could not have them destroyed,' replied Harriet Mortimer,\n'even if they spoiled my flowers, they are such pretty creatures. But\nwhere are John and Frederick?'\nJohn and Frederick had scampered off with the young Wexfords, and\npresently returned with a pan of bread crumbs, which they had begged\nfrom the cook, and which they now hoped to see the red-breasts eat.\nBut the little creatures were alarmed at seeing so many visitors; or\nthe sun enticed them to extend their flight beyond the green house;\nfor on the entrance of the boys, they all took wing and flew away.\n'I am sorry we frightened them,' said Harriet.\n'Do you not think they will ever come back again?' asked Elizabeth.\n'Oh yes, they will be back in the evening or before,' replied Maria\nWexford; 'they often fly out in the day-time when it is fine. But\nperhaps you would like to run round the garden; you will be cold\nstanding still.'\nThe party was preparing for a race when Mr. Mortimer appeared to\nsummon that part of it which belonged to him; and, having arranged a\nday with Mr. Wexford, for the families to meet at Beech Grove, Mr.\nMortimer and his children returned towards the park.\nAs they approached the sheet of water, which Frederick again surveyed\nwith a longing eye, they perceived that Mr. Wexford's large\nNewfoundland dog had followed them from the parsonage, and the boys\ndirectly began throwing stones and sticks before them for the animal\nto run after and bring back to them.\nThis dog was particularly fond of the water, and John having thrown a\nstick to the edge of it, it had slipped over the side and the fine\nanimal immediately sprang after it. The boys for an instant were both\ninclined to smile at the animal's finding footing, when he had\nexpected to sink in the water, but they both turned pale, and looked\nat their father, when they almost immediately saw him disappear under\nthe ice. It had been so partially frozen that the weight of the dog in\nplunging, had broken it, and he had sunk to rise no more. Mr\nMortimer's heart sickened as he contemplated what might have been the\ncase had his own children ventured on the ice, and he blessed God that\ntheir dispositions were such, as to make them obedient to his wishes.\nEvery means were taken for the recovery of the dog, and after some\nhours he was extricated from the ice; but he was perfectly dead,\nand apparently had been so some time.\n[Illustration: \"They are coming papa, they are coming mamma.\"]\nAs Mr. Mortimer and his children continued their walk towards the\nhouse, they heard a shrill shouting from the direction of the\nvillage;--it seemed like the shouting of young voices, and was\nevidently that of joyfulness. The attention of the children was\nimmediately attracted towards it, and Mr. Mortimer indulged them by\nmoving in its direction. John and Frederick were very soon out of\nsight, and in a few minutes they returned to relate the cause of the\nacclamations they had heard. They proceeded from the children of the\nparish school, who had just been dismissed by their master and\nmistress, and were to be treated with a week's holiday.\nHurra--hurra--cried all the little noisy fellows, as Mr. Mortimer came\nup; while the squeaking voices of the little girls joined in the cry,\nat the same time as they jumped, and danced, and frisked about happy\nand joyous as little birds. The young Mortimers hastened towards the\ngate, and as they opened it, the young crowd gave them another hurra;\nand two or three of the biggest of the boys approached, and making\ntheir village nods to the squire, at the same time touching their\nhats, they offered their Christmas pieces for exhibition. Mr. Mortimer\ngave these little lads sixpence each, and calling to the gardener to\nget him a few shillings' worth of halfpence from the village shop, he\nbade the happy group of children stop a few minutes near the gate.\nThis they were most glad to do, and on the return of the gardener,\nJohn and Frederick, commissioned by their father, gave each of the\nlittle girls two-pence, and Harriet and Elizabeth had the same\npleasing commission to execute towards the boys. All was joy and\nhilarity; and when Mr. Mortimer told them that on Christmas-day they\nwere to come to his house, to have some beef and plum-pudding, all the\nlittle happy countenances shone with delight.\n'And now run on, and get home,' said Mr. Mortimer: 'for your parents\nwill be waiting for you at their dinners. And take care you do not get\ninto any mischief in the course of the next week: and if you go out to\nslide mind that the ice is well hardened before you venture on it.\nAnd a merry Christmas to you all.'\n'Merry Christmas to _you_, Sir,' replied the biggest boy, who was a\nvery well-spoken lad, and looked as happy, though he made less noise\nthan the rest. 'Merry Christmas--Merry Christmas,' was echoed from a\nnumber of little voices around him; and with another joyous shout, the\nmotley group proceeded onwards through the village.\nMr. Mortimer now left his children, and proceeded also through the\nvillage where he had himself business to transact. The children went\ninto the house to get their luncheon of bread and jam, and after the\ngirls had rested themselves, their mother promised to take a stroll\nwith them and their brothers round the garden and through the\ngreen-houses. At this time of year there was little to see; but still\nwhat little there was, was worth seeing, and a stroll with mamma was\nalways a treat.\n'What piles of shirts and round frocks! mamma,' said John, while they\nwere eating their luncheon. 'And what numbers of frocks! why, you\nmight set up a shop almost.'\n'Cannot you guess what these frocks and shirts are all for?' said\nHarriet.\n'I can,' said the quick little Frederick. 'They are for the children\nwe saw in the lane just now; and they are to have them against\nChristmas.'\n'You are right, Frederick,' replied his mother; 'and I have been\ntaking the opportunity of this holiday of your sisters, to look them\nover and parcel them out.'\nJust now the door opened, and a housemaid appeared with a large basket\nof shoes and stockings, and another with women's gowns and men's\nfrocks.\n'How pleased all the poor people will be, mamma!' said Elizabeth,\ntaking up a gown from the basket; 'it is rather coarse cloth though, I\nthink, mamma.'\n'It would be very coarse for you to wear, Elizabeth,' replied Mrs.\nMortimer, 'because you are born in a state of affluence, and\ntherefore it is becoming that you should be drest according to the\nfortune of your papa. But to give fine garments to the poor would be\nno kindness to them, nor a fit manner of shewing our benevolence\ntowards them.'\n'I think papa is very good and kind, do not you, mamma?' said Harriet,\nlooking very steadfastly at her mother.\n'Your father has a great pleasure in benefiting any one it is in his\npower to serve, and is as you observe, Harriet, one of the kindest of\nmen. But he does no more than his duty, and this he would himself tell\nyou, in being a vigilant guardian over the necessities of his poor\nneighbours. Providence has placed a large fortune at his disposal;\nand one end of its being given, was, that he might clothe the naked\nand feed the hungry. Christmas would not be a time of much rejoicing\nto the poor, were not the rich to assist them in making it so: and I\nhope all my dear children, while they are enjoying themselves with\nevery comfort and indulgence around them, will be rendered happier by\nreflecting that the inhabitants of every cottage in the village are\nrejoicing at the same time.'\n'We shall not have a party on Christmas-day, shall we, mamma?' asked\nJohn.\n'None, excepting our own family, John,' replied Mrs. Mortimer. 'I\nhope both your uncles will be with us, and your grandpapa and\ngrandmamma have promised to come over from Cannon Hill. The Mortimers\nfrom Haversly too I expect, and these I think will complete our circle\n'round the Christmas fire.\n'Oh, I hope grandpapa will come,' said Frederick, 'because he has\nalways such a number of battles and fighting stories to tell, and he\nis so droll besides.'\n'And I am sure I hope uncle Philip will come,' said Elizabeth; 'for he\nis so fond of play, and jumping me up to the ceiling.'\n'I think you are getting almost too big for this play,' said Mrs.\nMortimer; 'and so uncle Philip would feel in his arms, I believe, were\nhe to attempt to jump you now.'\n'We shall all dine with you then, mamma, shall we not?' said\nElizabeth; 'if there is no other company. You know they are relations,\nand are all fond of us children.'\n'You shall all dine in the room, certainly,' said Mrs. Mortimer; 'but\nif the four young Mortimers come, I think some of you will be obliged\nto dine at the side table, but that none of you will mind.'\n'Oh, we do not mind that at all, mamma,' said Harriet; 'but we had\nrather not have any of the Mortimers with us, for they are so rude\nand noisy, and papa always thinks that we make the noise; and I am\nsure it is always their fault, though we cannot help laughing at\nthem.'\n'You see, in the instance of your cousins, Harriet,' said Mrs.\nMortimer, 'the disadvantage of never having any restraint put on\nlittle girl's educations. I myself have seen that they occasionally\nare boisterous and overbearing in their manners; but the fault is not\ntheir own. And, if you remember, one day when they were with us,\nwithout their own father and mother, they were as orderly and\nwell-behaved as possible.--But will you never have finished your\nluncheon, Frederick?'\n'I was so hungry, mamma,' replied the little boy; 'but I have done\nnow: and now shall we go out again?'\n'Did you call on nurse this morning?' said Mrs. Mortimer.\n'No, mamma, I quite forgot her,' replied Frederick; 'but we will go\nnow shall we, John, while mamma finishes sorting the things?'\n'You must never forget her, my dear boy,' replied the tender mother;\n'for without her care of you, when your own mother was too weak to\nattend to you, you would not have been the stout active boy you now\nare.'\n'I hope you have a nice gown and petticoat for nurse, mamma?' said\nFrederick.\n'She has not been forgotten,' replied Mrs. Mortimer; 'and you shall\nhave the pleasure of carrying the bundle prepared for her yourself.\nThere it is:--the cotton gown, and stuff petticoat, the shoes,\nstockings, and apron, lying together at the corner of the table.'\nFrederick, with a little of his mother's assistance, soon made these\nseparate articles into a bundle; and the two boys set off for Nurse\nWinscomb's cottage.\nThe stroll round the garden did not take place on that day; for the\nboys met their father returning from the cottage of the nurse, and he\ntook them with him to call on a gentleman residing about two miles\ndistant, and whose family were to be invited, with a few others, to\nmeet together in the Christmas week. The young people were to be\nindulged with a little dance; and although neither John nor Frederick\nknew much about dancing, they were pleased at the idea of joining with\nthose who did, and already began to talk over the little young ladies\nof the neighbourhood, and to settle with whom they would, and with\nwhom they would not dance.\nThey came home quite tired, and only in time to have their dress\nchanged before dinner. Harriet and Elizabeth thought they had been\nabsent a long while, and on their return into the drawing-room, were\nready with their smiling countenances to receive these dear boys.\nThe next morning after breakfast, Mr. Mortimer employed a few hours in\nexamining his boys in the improvements they had made during the last\nhalf-year; for he had wisely resolved, for the comfort of the whole\nfamily, that the entire day was not to be given up to play. During\nthis time, Harriet and Elizabeth were occupied with their mamma; and\nafter this as the day continued bright, though cold, it was determined\nto put into effect the proposed stroll of yesterday. And first to the\nfarm-yard, where the poultry-maid supplied them with corn: and with\nthis enticement, the fowls and ducks were called together and\nnumbered, and the various beauties of both enumerated. This speckled\nhen had been such a good mother, and a good handful of grain was\ntossed to her;--then the beautiful little bantam had been nursed in a\nstocking, and was so tame that it would come and eat out of the\nhand;--then there was the fine old cock that crowed so loud he might\nbe heard all over the parish, and a handful was thrown to him;--then\nthere was the young one which the old one drove about so, that it\ncould get nothing to eat;--Harriet made his necessities her care: but\nit was useless to throw him any: for the old cock would not allow him\nto come near the grain.\n'Nasty greedy fellow,' said Elizabeth, 'I am sure there is enough for\nall, but the young cock cannot get a morsel.'\n'I believe we must get rid of him,' observed Mrs. Mortimer; 'for it\nis miserable to see him driven about so.'\n'He is to be killed next, Madam,' answered the poultry-maid, who now\napproached with two fowls hanging from her hands, from which drops of\nblood were falling.\nMrs. Mortimer moved away with the children: for she saw that Harriet\nturned pale at the sight of the blood.\n'I cannot think how Jane can kill the fowls, mamma,' said Elizabeth;\n'I am sure I could not, if we never had any at all.'\n'I should be very sorry if you could, my dear little girl, for there\nis no necessity for your doing it; and without conquering your\nfeelings of tenderness, you never could acquire the resolution to do\nit. In Jane's situation it was necessary for her to habituate herself\nto an employment which devolves to her as the rearer of the poultry:\nbut I assure you it was a long time before she could first bring\nherself to deprive those creatures of life which she had been\naccustomed to look after and feed. And even now I believe when she can\nmeet with the gardener or groom, she most generally employs them.'\n'Are there no ducks, mamma?' said Frederick: 'we used to have such a\nnumber.'\n'There is your old favourite drake just stopping under the gate,'\nreplied Mrs. Mortimer: 'and we will follow him into the field, for it\nis rather cold standing still.'\nThey then went into the field, and after that came round to the\ngreen-house, where the gardener was very busily employed in gathering\nsome beautiful grapes.\n'How nice and warm it is here,' said several of the children, on\nentering the house. The gardener then approached to ask the young\ngentlemen how they did, and to tell them how much they were grown, and\nto say that he hoped they would like the grapes. John and Frederick\nanswered all the old man's questions with kindness and civility; and\nas the young party were leaving the green-house, he asked them\nwhether they should not want some flowers and evergreens against\ntheir little dance?\n'Oh yes, if you please, gardener,' was the ready and quick\nanswer:--'we may, mamma, may we not?' said Harriet, looking up at her\nmother before she gave her reply.\n'The gardener may give you what he can spare,' replied Mrs. Mortimer.\n'And gardener,' added she, looking back towards the green-house,\n'desire your grandson to go into the copses, and bring home a little\ncart of holly, that we may have the kitchen well ornamented, when the\ntenantry come to their dinner.'\n'He shall be sure to do it, ma'am,' replied the gardener. 'I look we\nshall have a merry Christmas, and I do like to see the room well\ndressed up.'\nAs Tom, the gardener's grandson, was a steady, well-behaved lad, Mrs.\nMortimer allowed John and Frederick to accompany him to the copses, in\nsearch of the holly. Harriet and Elizabeth would, no doubt, very much\nhave liked to belong to the party also, but they were easily convinced\nof the propriety of their not doing so, and were therefore satisfied\nto see their brothers drive off with Tom Harding, and return in two or\nthree hours afterwards, walking by the side of the little vehicle,\nwhich then appeared a moving shrub of red-berried holly.\nOn Christmas-day the expected party met round the hospitable\ndinner-table of Mr. Mortimer, having all of them arrived on the\npreceding day at the grove, excepting the other branch of the Mortimer\nfamily, who attended their own parish church in the morning, and did\nnot arrive till the hour of dinner.\nThe children of the village school, all in their new clothes, and with\na sprig of holly in their bosoms and button holes, walked from the\nchurch to the Grove; and there partook, as they had been invited to\ndo, of beef and pudding, and good home-brewed beer. The young\nMortimers waited upon them at dinner, and before they left the Lodge,\npresented them each with a plumb cake; and Mrs. Mortimer gave them\neach an amusing little book to read to themselves and their parents,\nwho had not like themselves possessed the advantages of learning to\nread.\nThe family dinner party went off as happily as that in the kitchen.\nThe young Mortimers all sat together at the side table, and their\npapa, had not once occasion to call them out for being noisy, though\nthey were merry and cheerful enough. It was certainly true, as Harriet\nhad said, that her cousins would be noisy; on this day, however, being\ndispersed amongst the party at the large table, they were very orderly\nand well-behaved; and after dinner, when the young people had had\ntaken as much fruit as was good for them, they retired into their\nplay-room together: they sat round the blazing fire there provided for\nthem, very comfortably and happily, and without one word of dissension\ntill they were again called back for tea into the drawing room.\nThe next day was the day appointed for the dinner of the tenantry, and\nbusy indeed were the young Mortimers, in dressing up the Hall, and\nmaking it look smart and lively. A very large party assembled here to\nenjoy the squire's hospitable table, at which he himself presided; and\nthe day after this, the labouring cottagers and their wives met in the\nsame room at one o'clock, round a table well covered with meat pies,\nlegs of mutton, roast beef, potatoes, and plum pudding. They brought\nwith them those of their children, who were too young to be in the\nschool: and, on this occasion, all the new round frocks, and cotton\ngowns were exhibited. Little Frederick led his nurse up to the head of\nthe table, and was very attentive to her; and whenever her plate was\nempty, he took care that it should not remain long so.\nThis party went off as happily as the last; and two days after was to\ntake place the little dance, so anxiously looked forward to, not only\nby the Mortimers, but by all the young people in the neighbourhood.\nThe Wexfords came very early in the morning, to assist their young\nfriends in preparing the ball-room: and the gardener had taken good\ncare to provide plenty of shrubs and flowers, for the necessary\ndecoration. Mrs. Mortimer lent her assistance where it was required,\nand she was only fearful that the children would tire themselves\nbefore the pleasure of the evening commenced; for Mr. Mortimer had now\npronounced the sheet of water in the park sufficiently frozen to bear\nany weight that might be ventured on it; and he had given several\nvillage lads permission to slide there, and prepare it for the use of\nhis own boys. He now called upon both his own lads, and the young\nWexfords, to join him, and for John he had provided a pair of skates.\nJohn met with a great many tumbles, to the amusement, not only of\nhimself, but of his companions; but he had no serious bruises, and\nsoon jumped up and laughed at his own awkwardness. Frederick longed to\ntry the skates out. Mr. Mortimer thought him too little to venture\nupon them, so that he was obliged to be satisfied with sliding. And\nvery prettily he did slide, and very much did Elizabeth wish to slide\nwith him; for she was indeed a merry little girl, besides being always\ndesirous of doing every thing which she saw her brother Frederick\nengaged in. But mamma thought it not a very fit amusement for little\ngirls; so Elizabeth joined Harriet and the Miss Wexfords in a run\nround the park, all of them occasionally returning to the ice, to see\nhow the skaters and sliders went on.\nThe hour of dinner was a very early one on this day, for the evening\nparty was to be an early one. The young people, with their papas and\nmammas began to assemble at a very unfashionable hour, as early\nindeed as seven o'clock, and by eight they were all dancing away very\nmerrily. Dancing was kept up with great spirit till towards eleven,\nwhen there was a summons to supper. Another hour was spent in taking\nrefreshments, and during this time there was much merriment, and many\njokes passing round, as well amongst the elder part of the assembly,\nas in that with which we are more particularly interested. Soon after\ntwelve the party began to separate;--all had appeared to be very well\nsatisfied with the pleasure they had been enjoying;--every one seemed\nin high good-humour and glee; and all the young visitors, as well as\nthe four Mortimers, joined in acknowledging that the dance had gone\noff very well indeed; and in pronouncing that certainly 'Christmas\nwas a very happy time.'\nFINIS.\nNEW AND INTERESTING WORKS\nPUBLISHED BY\nT. ALLMAN. 42, HOLBORN HILL.\nOne Shilling each, embellished with Copper-plates,\nCHRISTMAS A HAPPY TIME.\nTHE LITTLE BLUE BAG; OR, A VISIT TO THE BAZAAR.\nPOOR OLD PEGGY; OR, THE DISCOVERY.\n[**] AND GEORGE, OR, THE GAME AT CRICKET.\nA BOAT TO RICHMOND; OR, THE EXCURSION. HARRY THE PEASANT.\nUNIFORM WITH [**] CATECHISMS,\nPrice [**]\n\"WHY AND BECAUSE,\"\n_Sixth Edition_,\nConsisting of Entertaining Philosophical\n_QUESTIONS and ANSWERS_.\non subjects relating to\nAIR, WATER, LIGHT, and FIRE,\nIntended for the use of Schools, and for Youth of both sexes.\nBy W. S. KENNY.\n \"This is a little book, designed for the use of young people,\n but which many of mature age may also peruse with great\n advantage, for it abounds in useful and pleasant\n information.\"--_Examiner._\nAlso by the same author, _Price 9d._\nThe Grammatical Omnibus,\nbeing a methodical arrangement of the Improprieties frequent in\nWriting and Conversation, with Corrections for attaining to purity and\nelegance of expression.\n** - The words printed here could not be deciphered because of a blot\nof ink.", "source_dataset": "gutenberg", "source_dataset_detailed": "gutenberg - Christmas, A Happy Time\n"}, {"source_document": "", "creation_year": 1849, "culture": " English\n", "content": "Produced by David Schwan\nVIGNETTES OF SAN FRANCISCO\nBy Almira Bailey\nVignettes\n As Pilgrims Go to Rome\n At the Ferry\n The Union-Street Car\n The Latin Meets the Oriental\n The Pepper and Salt Man\n The Bay on Sunday Morning\n Safe on the Sidewalk\n Port O\u2019Missing Men\n Market-street Scintillations\n Cafeterias\n The Open Board of Trade\n The San Francisco Police\n A Marine View\n Hilly-cum-go\n I\u2019ll Get It Changed, Lady\n Fillmore Street\n In the Lobby of the St. Francis\n The Garbage-man\u2019s Little Girl\n The Palace\n Zoe\u2019s Garden\n Children on the Sidewalk\n Feet that Pass on Market Street\n Where the Centuries Meet\n Bags or Sacks\n Portsmouth Square\n Miracles\n Impulses and Prohibitions\n Stopping at the Fairmont\n San Francisco Sings\n Van Ness Avenue\n The Blind Men and the Elephant\n You\u2019re Getting Queer\n The Ferry and Real Boats\n A Whiff of Acacia\n It Takes All Sorts\n The Fog in San Francisco\n A Block on Ashbury Heights\n The Greek Grocer\n Billboards or Art\n Golden Gate Park\n Extra Fresh\n On the California-street Car\n Western Yarns\n Mr. Mazzini and Dante\n On the Nob of Nob Hill\nVIGNETTES OF SAN FRANCISCO\nAs Pilgrims go to Rome\nIn the same way that the poets have loved Rome and made their\npilgrimages there--as good Moslems travel toward Mecca, so there are\nsome of us who have come to San Francisco. Then when we arrive and\nfind it all that we have dreamed, our love for it becomes its highest\ntribute. And I don\u2019t know why it is sacrilege to mention Rome and San\nFrancisco in the same breath. As for me I greatly prefer San Francisco,\nalthough I have never been to Rome.\nI love San Francisco for its youth. Other cities have become set and\nhard and have succumbed to the cruel symmetry of the machine age, but\nnot San Francisco. It is still youth untamed. They may try, but they\ncannot manicure it, nor groom it, nor dress it up in a stiff white\ncollar, nor fetter it by not allowing a body to stretch out on the grass\nin Union Square or prohibiting street-fakers and light wines served in\ncoffee pots and doing away with wild dashing jitneys.\nThen there is something about San Francisco\u2019s being away out here from\neveryone else, a city all alone. New York is five hours from Boston;\nPhiladelphia is close between New York and Washington; Baltimore is a\ntrolley ride away; Chicago is only overnight from all the other cities,\nwhile Atlanta is only two sleeping car nights from her sister cities.\nBut San Francisco, out here as far as it can reach with one foot in the\ngreat Pacific, nearly a week from New York and a month away from China,\nsome people wouldn\u2019t like it, but something vagabondish in me rejoices\nto have run away from them all. Especially at night when the fog comes\nin on the city and shuts out even Oakland, and fog horns out of the\nGolden Gate call mournfully, and boats in the bay go calling their\nlookout calls, I get this feeling of far-offness from the rest of the\nworld that is very gratifying.\nAnd I love the sound of San Francisco, the sound of its singing--some\ncities roar and others hum, but San Francisco sings. And I love the look\nof it and the feel of it. I love to stand, on its hills in the mornings\nwhen the bride-veil fog is going out to sea and the smoke and steam and\nfog and sunshine make one grand symphonic morning song. And I love to\nstand on high hills on clear days when all her cubist houses stand bold\nin the sunlight and the cities across the bay are so close to the touch.\nAnd I love its color, flowers and girls and splashes of the Oriental.\nAnd I love its Bohemia which is not affected, but real. I love\nit because it is young and live and spontaneous and humorous and\nbeauty-loving and unashamed of anything that is life. Oh, I don\u2019t know.\nIf I were in New York and it should begin to suffocate me I would run\nand run across the continent and never stop once until I landed on the\ntop of Telegraph Hill.\nAt the Ferry\nThe shrill of newsboys, the bass of older venders, the call of taxis,\ntrolleys that proceed all day in ordered sequence, the wide swing of\ntraffic on the Embarcadero, a tang of salt in the air, the atmosphere of\nflowers for sale, hoarse call of ferries in the bay like politicians\nwho have spoken too much in the open air and lost their voices, the\nbeautifully ordered hurry and bustle and expectancy of people on their\nway somewhere, and over it all the mentor of the police.\n\u201cHelp pass the time pleasantly,\u201d so does the electric piano coax away\nour nickels. To those who know music it is a horrible sound, but to\nthe rest of us its tunes are rather gay. On the wall a defunct comedy\nflashes. Hypnotized, but never amused, we gaze at it as we wait for\nthe great doors to swing back. A woman is thrown from an auto by her\nhusband, and in her fall displays a pair of husky, ruffled underwear.\nTime was when that would have raised a howl of joy, but no longer. She\nhardly touches the ground when we find ourselves gazing at an orchard of\nCalifornia figs, zip, the woman picks herself up, gazes comically at the\naudience for a laugh and receiving none, hops with phenomenal agility up\nastride of the hood of the auto, piff, a yard of Santa Rosa hens,\nping, the husband throws his wife up to the roof of a skyscraper, the\ncommuters gaze solemnly, biff, a scene from Santa Clara, clang, the\ngates are opened.\nOn the Sausalito side, a jammed together happy vacation crowd,\ngrotesquely varied and elaborately gotten-up hikers, bags and suitcases\nto fall all over everywhere, professorish looking men off, \u201ctaking a\nbook along,\u201d people laden with all the cheap magazines in the market,\nsmartly dressed people on their way to country homes in Marin and\nSonoma, a well modulated, nicely groomed crowd--bing, the doors slide\nback and everybody rushes off for a holiday.\nCommuters and tourists, most of the time I\u2019d rather be a tourist. They\nare easily distinguished in the crowd, an accent from Louisiana, a woman\nwho has just returned from the Orient, a man with continental manners,\nthey are easily distinguished, and the predatory red-capped porters know\nthem well. We are wistfully sorry to be going only to Oakland, we long\nto go out on the Main Line, the out-leading, mile-wandering, venturesome\nMain Line. Reluctantly we turn to where duty and necessity calls us\nignominiously to the electric suburban.\nThe first sight of San Francisco. \u201cAh, this is San Francisco!\u201d The\nshrill of newsboys, the bass of older venders, the flash of electric\nsigns. Do you prefer \u201cCamels\u201d, \u201cChesterfields\u201d or \u201cFatimas\u201d? the call\nof taxis, invitations to hotel buses, the wide sweep of traffic on the\nEmbarcadero--\u201cSo this is San Francisco.\u201d\nThe Union-Street Car\nIt is surprising how many people patronize the shabby little thing. But\nthen it waits right where those who leave the ferry may see it first as\nthough it were the most important car in town, and I have a fancy\nthe big cars humor it a bit and give it first place. Besides, it goes\nanywhere in the city, Chinatown, the Hall of Justice, the Chamber of\nCommerce, the Barbary Coast, St. Francis Church--sinners, saints and\nmerchants may travel its way--Portsmouth Square, Telegraph Hill, Little\nItaly, Russian Hill, Automobile Row, Fillmore street, the Presidio and\nI expect with a little coaxing it would switch about and run over to\nthe Mission. It has actually been known on stormy nights to take its\nconstituents up the side streets to their very doors.\nIt is a surprising little boat which looks like nothing more than a bug\ncrawling up the backs of the hills with its antenna of khaki-wound legs\nsticking out fore and aft. Those who have traveled in Ireland tell\nus that it is much like the jaunting cars, and it is not unlike the\nToomerville Trolley.\nOne night I set out to find the little thing to take me home. I was in\na strange part of the city and when my friends told me to get on and get\noff and get on again I did as I was told. With blind faith I told the\nconductors to put me off and they did. I continued in this way until\nlong after midnight when I found myself at a lonely corner with no one\nin sight. I waited and waited and was getting nervous when I spied a\nblue uniform. I looked sharply to see if he were a motorman, a fireman\nor an officer from the Presidio. I am careful about these matters since\nlast summer when I was coming North on the President, and asked a naval\nofficer for some ice water. I rushed up to him and told him, which was\ntrue, that it was the first time I had ever seen a policeman when I\nwanted one. This led him into a defense of the San Francisco police,\nwhich I told him was quite unnecessary with me for I thought them the\nfinest policemen in the world, probably because they are so Irish.\n\u201cIrish,\u201d said he with a twinkle, \u201cI\u2019m not Irish.\u201d\nWe chatted awhile until the Union street car came along, and then\nthat policeman who said he wasn\u2019t Irish leaned over and whispered\nconfidentially, \u201cIf you miss this car, there\u2019ll be another.\u201d I suppose\nthey get lonesome.\nYou see how I am wandering away from my subject. That is because I\nfollowed the Union street car. It switches from subject to subject just\nlike that. It begins with the wonderful retail markets of San Francisco,\nand then changes abruptly to all sorts of sociological problems, then\nbefore we know it gives us a beautiful marine view, and then drops us\ndown where the proletariat lives, then up to the homes of the rich and\nmighty, and ends in the military.\nEveryone should sight-see by the little Union street car.\nThe Latin Meets the Oriental\nIn that spot where Chinatown merges into the Latin quarter there must\nbe, I think, a Director of Delightful Situations who holds dominion\nthere. For instance, can you imagine anything more subtle than a group\nof large fat women haranguing, in Italian-American, a poor thin Chinaman\nover some bargains in vegetables?\nIn a place which marks the line of cleavage between the two quarters is\na picture store containing in its window religious pictures, enlarged\nfamily photographs of Filipinos, and, of course, views of the Point\nLobos cypress. There is something very appealing about that window.\nPictures of Jesus, no matter how lurid they are, never fall short of\ndignity. And it seems not at all incongruous that He should be there in\nthe midst of all those strange human contacts.\nThere are not only contacts between the Latin and the Oriental, but\nanything unusual may come to light in that particular neighborhood.\nA buff cochin rooster was wandering about the street the other day.\nStepping high and picking up choice tidbits and showing off before his\nharem of hens who peeked at him from their boxes, he strutted about\nexactly as though he had been in his own Petaluma barnyard.\nOne day I saw an enormous negro running through the streets with a piece\nof new, green felt bound around his stomach. Now why should a huge\nnegro run through the street with a piece of new green felt around his\nstomach? No one knows. And another time a small Chinese maiden bumped\ninto me because she was so absorbed in that great American institution,\nthe funny sheet.\nOn one of those side streets, in there somewhere, one of those streets\nuntoured by tourists, I saw some Chinese boys, dressed in American \u201cBoss\nof the Road\u201d unionalls, playing baseball and calling the call of Babe\nRuth in sing-song Chinese. Then near them was an empty lot and what do\nyou suppose it was filled with? Scotch thistles, and edged with wild\ncorn flowers. Even Nature enters into the fun.\nThere is a story of an Italian who went through the streets somewhere on\nLeavenworth, calling, \u201cNica fresha flowers,\u201d and from the opposite side\nof the street a Chinaman with flowers would call, \u201cSamee over here.\u201d\n All went well until the Chinaman began to outsell the other, when the\nItalian remonstrated. \u201cYella for yourself, see,\u201d he said, to which the\nChinaman answered, \u201cGo to hellee,\u201d and went on as before.\nThis story was told to me by very reliable eye witnesses. The buff\ncochin rooster and the huge negro and all the others I saw myself. And\nmany other strange things which I have not room to write, I saw in that\nspot where Chinatown merges into the Latin quarter.\nThe Pepper and Salt Man\nHe was a man, I should say about sixty years old, a most uninteresting\nage, and a homely, weather-beaten fellow too, when you stopped to look\nat him. His suit was pepper-and-salt, and he was just like his suit.\nGood as gold, I have no doubt, a roomer of whom his landlady could say:\n\u201cHe comes and he goes and is never a speck of trouble.\u201d\nStill, he might have been as good as Saint Anthony but no one would ever\nhave noticed him except for what happened. What happened wasn\u2019t so much\neither but it was enough to illumine that dun, common-place man so that\neveryone in the side-seating trolley was suddenly aware of his presence.\nWhat happened was ten months old and was a girl.\nA regular girl, one hundred per cent feminine. One could tell just by\nthe way she wore her clothes, by her daintiness, by the tilt of her\nbonnet and by the way smiled out from under it. I can\u2019t describe a\nbaby girl any more than I describe a sunset or moonlight or any of the\nwonders of God--I can only say that she was everything that a baby girl\nshould have been.\nWhen she entered with her mother we all edged and crowded over but the\npepper-and-salt man won. Down she sat close beside him. Then you should\nhave seen that man, the foolish, old fellow. He turned toward her; he\nbeamed; he mentally devoured her; he never took his eyes off her long\nenough to wink.\nWhen she seemed about to turn her restlessly bobbing head toward him,\nhis hands moved and the strong muscles of his face worked in excitement.\nThen, when she smiled his way and for an instant there was a flash of\ntiny, milk teeth, that man, the old silly, made the most dreadful facial\ncontortion, something between a wink, a smile, a booh and a grimace.\nThen when she turned from him he sat there eating her up. I saw him\nlook reverently at her exquisite hands and at the awkward little legs\nsticking out straight ahead. When her mother arranged her ruffles he\nwatched every move--absorbed. Then he would wait eager, hoping and\npraying for her to smile his way again...\nWhy, I was waiting for her smile too and so was every one of the staid\nand grown-up people in the car. I don\u2019t know when we would ever have\ncome out from the spell of that ten-months-old baby girl if just then\nthe conductor had not called out reproachfully--\u201cCentral Avenue--Central\nAvenue.\u201d Then the pepper-and-salt man jumped and looked nervously out\nand rushed for the door. I, myself, had to walk back two blocks and when\nI turned at my corner he was still going back to his street.\nThe Bay on Sunday Morning\nPerhaps to go to Fort Mason on a sunny Sunday morning, that beautiful\nrelaxed moment of the whole week, and there to sit with others who have\nno autos to go gallivanting in, and to sit idly gazing off at the bay.\nThat\u2019s not bad. To read a little and doze a bit, but mostly to gaze out\nto sea and dream.\nA big foreign steamer in port, perhaps a Scandinavian boat, inert,\nenormous, helpless, while the little tugs chatter, around it and finally\nget hold of it, and tug it slowly around with its nose pointing out to\nsea. Lumber schooners come in slowly and rhythmically, long and low and\nclean. The Vallejo boat, looking like a rocking horse, goes importantly\nchugging off toward Mare Island. It\u2019s hard to read a book with so going\non out there.\nSunday morning, blessed play time, there is a fellow in a green canoe,\nand the muscles of his body play into the movement of the waves until he\nand his green canoe and the white capped waves are all one motif of\nthe whole symphony. Men play around the yacht club like a lot of school\nboys, and now--\u201cShoot,\u201d they push a long slim racer into the water.\nDainty white yachts go dipping to the waves and seem like lovely young\ngirls in among the sturdier boats.\nNow the fishermen come in from their night\u2019s work, making music all in\nan orderly procession, and every boat of them a brilliant blue inside.\nI\u2019d like to catch a Maine fisherman allowing color in his boat, like a\n\u201cdago\u201d or a \u201cwop.\u201d\nOver all the swing and dip and rhythm of the sea gulls. How beautifully\nthey accent the movement of the symphony, like the baton of some great\nleader--this great beautiful Sunday morning symphony.\nThen there is Alcatraz. Oh, Alcatraz, why should they have placed a\nprison there as a monument to men\u2019s failure to order their lives\nin harmony with nature. Alcatraz, most beautiful island in the most\nbeautiful bay, you sound an ugly, sinister, most unhappy undertone in\nthe morning\u2019s symphony.\nStill it is a symphony. A symphony of San Francisco Bay. Why shouldn\u2019t\nthe composers put it into music. We\u2019re sick of the song of the huntsman\nby the brasses, the strings and the wood instruments. With Whitman we\nexclaim: \u201cCome, Muse, migrate from Aeonia,\u201d and come out here to the\nWest, and conserve the symphony of the bay which is already composed and\nwaiting.\nAnd for the argument, the overture, the prelude, there could be a\nsailing schooner with sails all set coming into the Golden Gate, in the\nfull brilliant sunlight, or mysteriously through a fog, or against a\nsunset sky. It should be \u201cfull and by\u201d like that beautiful painting by\nCoulter in the stock exchange of the Merchants\u2019 Building.\nSymphony of San Francisco Bay, boom of fog horns, calls and answers\nof the ferries, chug of the fishermen\u2019s boats, twink of lights in the\nharbor at night, rhythm of sea gulls, and the brooding fog to soften it\nall. \u201cCome, Muse, migrate from Aeonia.\u201d\nSafe on the Sidewalk\nAre there others, I wonder, who feel as I do about crossing the street?\nThere must be. Now I, when I cross, say Market street at Third, I run. I\ntake my life and my bundles in my hand and run, darting swift glances to\nthe left and to the right. It looks \u201chick.\u201d I know it looks \u201chick.\u201d And\nI care. But I prefer to be alive and countrified than sophisticated in\nan ambulance and so I run.\nAt corners, too. I think corners are worse. For there the machines may\nturn around and chase me, which they often do. It\u2019s a horrible feeling.\nThere must be others who feel as I do about crossing the street, but\nthey never betray it. I watch to see and when they cross, they just\ncross--that\u2019s all. Not with nonchalance exactly, but with ease and\nassurance. Once I actually saw a man, a native son, I\u2019m sure, roll a\ncigarette as he crossed at a point where even the traffic cop looked\nnervous.\nNo one ever gets killed or even injured. But always everybody is getting\nalmost killed and almost injured. They like it. It\u2019s a sort of sport.\nI\u2019ve noticed it more since the city\u2019s gone dry. The game is, if you are\nwalking, to see how close to a machine you can come and not hit it.\nStreet cars, machines and people all go straight ahead and they all come\nout right. It\u2019s the only city where it\u2019s done with such abandon. They\nnever stop for anything except taxis--not even fire engines.\nThe secret of it is, I think, that no one ever hesitates. This is\nunderstood by all San Franciscans--that, no one is ever going to\nhesitate. That\u2019s why there are no accidents. It\u2019s the unexpected in\npeople that makes disasters and creates a demand for traffic cops.\nI try to cross the street as others cross. I choose a chalk mark and,\npretending I am a native daughter, launch out. I get on fine--suddenly\na monster machine is on me. Or would be if I did not jump back. I\nshouldn\u2019t have jumped back it seems. But how was I to know? In the\njaws of death you don\u2019t reason, you jump. In jumping back I hit another\nmachine and it stops. And that stops a street car. That stops something\nelse. And in a minute Market street, the famous Market street, is all\nballed up because I jumped back. Drivers, red in the face, swear at me,\nnot because they are cross, but scared-more scared than I.\nNext time I am more careful. I look to the traffic cop for attention\nbut, being a handsome man, he thinks I\u2019m trying to flirt. Policemen\nshould be homely. So I wait until the street is entirely empty. I wait a\nlong time--it is empty--I run like a steer--and suddenly out of nowhere\na machine is yelling at me individually and I know no more until,\nbreathless and red, I reach the haven of the sidewalk.\nOnce I heard a horrible story of a man who lost control of his machine\nand ran up on to the sidewalk.\nPort O\u2019Missing Men\nThey say that San Francisco is known all over as the Port o\u2019 Missing\nMen. That it is a city where a man may lose himself if he chooses, and\nthat by the same token it is a good place to look for \u201cmy wandering\nboy tonight.\u201d I can believe all this especially on Third street. Third\nstreet should be called by some other name or it should have a nickname.\nIf it were in Seattle it would be known as \u201cskid row.\u201d Third street\ndoesn\u2019t describe it at all.\nWhen I see a lot of men like that, wanderers, family men out of work,\nvagabonds, nobodies, somebodies, \u201crich man, poor man, beggar man, thief;\ndoctor, lawyer, merchant, chief,\u201d I always get to thinking how once each\none was a tiny baby in a thin white dress, and how before that each\none of them was born of a woman. If I could ever forget that, I could\nperhaps sometimes call men \u201ca lot of cattle.\u201d Come to think of it, it\nis men who call other men \u201ccattle.\u201d At any rate, I like to think that no\nwoman would ever see men as less than the sons of mothers.\nThe Port o\u2019 Missing Men is like the Port of San Francisco, and these men\nare like boats in from a foreign port, tramp steamers some of them, out\nof nowhere, going nowhere, no baggage, no traditions, men who\u2019ll never\nget lost because they are on their way to Nowhere.\nYet, the majority of these men are going to some place, but where I\ndo not know. What do they talk about in groups down there, tall, young\nfellows and strong middle-aged men and reminiscent, old ones down in\nthe Port o\u2019 Missing Men? If they\u2019re out of work where do they sleep at\nnight, and what do they have to eat? And have they any women folks?\nNot all kinds of men are down there, but many kinds. There are Mexicans,\nSinn Feiners, old American stock, and once in awhile a venturesome\nYankee. There are lumberjacks in from the North, and Chinamen in\nshuffling slippers, and philosophers and Swedes, half-breeds and just\nplain men. Some are Vagabonds who can\u2019t help their roving, and others\nare very tired and would like to lie over in port for or a long spell.\nThere are Italians, and Portuguese, and many Greeks, and turbaned\nHindus, tall and skinny, always traveling in pairs like nuns. Sometimes\nthe Port is fairly crowded.\nNew England is a section of the country where men leave home, and I\nhave heard mothers sing with tears in their voices: \u201cOh, where is my\nwandering boy tonight?\u201d On Third street down at the Port o\u2019 Missing Men,\nI have a fancy that I would like to write back to all those mothers that\nhere are their boys. But, after all, what good would that do, for who\ncan tell which is which?\nMarket St. Scintillations\nOh, the things our eyes discover as we walk along on Market street. Such\na medley--infinite, incongruous, comical, pathetic, motley and sublime.\nHarding in a window with \u201cpure buttermilk.\u201d He\u2019ll be in more difficult\nsituations before he is done, I\u2019m thinking. An electric fan above him\nthat keeps the buttermilk \u201cpure\u201d and flies the American flag in crepe\npaper.\n\u201cCrabs to take home.\u201d They are freshly cooked, very large and forty\ncents apiece. I decide that some I shall really buy one and take it home\nwhen I confronted with the fact that \u201cAll Hair Goods Must Be Sold.\u201d Why,\nI wonder. Why must they be sold? And here are \u201cEggs any style,\u201d so close\nto the hair goods that I immediately visualize them as marcelled \u201cstyle\u201d\n and pompadoured.\n\u201cShoes Drastically Reduced.\u201d It is the truth. The Oxfords I wear are\nreduced by a drastic five dollars. Well, I couldn\u2019t go barefooted, I\ncomfort myself and hurry on.\nA shooting gallery and a man standing there trying to make up his mind\nto try it. A second\u2019s glimpse of him and all that he is is revealed.\nOne knows immediately that his favorite song is \u201cMy Bonnie Lies Over the\nOcean,\u201d and that his ideal man is Governor Allen and that he is on his\nway to spend his \u201cremaining days\u201d with his sister Lottie in Los Angeles.\nWho would eat \u201cstewed tripe Spanish.\u201d Someone must or they wouldn\u2019t\nadvertise it on the outside of he restaurant. Well, it takes all sorts\nof people to make a world. Probably the man who would order \u201cstewed\ntripe Spanish\u201d wouldn\u2019t touch an alligator pear salad. To him alligator\npears taste exactly like lard. To the person who wouldn\u2019t eat \u201cstewed\ntripe Spanish\u201d they are a delicacy.\nA crowd around a window. On your tip-toes to see. It\u2019s that fascinating\nLilliputian with a beard and electric bowels who stands in drug store\nwindows and administers corn cure to his own toes with a smile.\nThe professional window shopper is a vagabond at heart--a loiterer\nby nature. Here is one gazing in a photographer\u2019s window to discover\nsomeone he knows. These two are not professionals though but a spring\ncouple looking in furniture windows for nest material. And sailors\nwandering about, nothing but kiddies, lonesome looking and no doubt\nwishing we were at War again and hospitable once more.\nHere is a \u201cPershing Market\u201d and a \u201cGrant Market,\u201d beside it. There\u2019s a\nlot of that in San Francisco. Is there an \u201cImperial Doughnut?\u201d Up goes a\n\u201cSupreme Doughnut\u201d next door. It\u2019s the spirit of \u201cI\u2019ll go you one better\nevery time.\u201d It\u2019s the spirit of Market street.\nCafeterias\nThis is not to hurt the feelings of anyone, for some people are very\nsensitive about cafeterias. They are cafeteria wise, they have a\ncafeteria class consciousness. Such people are to be admired. They\nhave accurate minds which enable them to choose a well-balanced meal\nat minimum cost. Lacking that sort of mind, I do not get on well in\ncafeterias. As sure as I equip myself with a tray and silver in a napkin\nand become one of the long procession, I lose all sense of proportion,\nand come out at the end with two desserts, or a preponderance of\nstarches or with too much bread for my butter, and a surprising bill.\nThose who are cafeteria wise can choose a good meal for 28 cents or 33\ncents at the most. They don\u2019t take food just because it looks delicious.\nThey \u201cyield not to temptation.\u201d They have a plan and stick to it. Wise\nand strong-minded, they shuffle their way bravely to the end. It is said\nthat in time they acquire a cafeteria shuffle which one can detect even\non the street. But I don\u2019t believe it\u2019s so.\nOther sections of the country have cafeterias and in some parts of the\nSouth, especially in Louisville, they are run quite extensively. But\nit is in the West, especially in California, that they have attained a\ndignity and even lavishness that makes them the surprise and delight of\nthe tourist. Irvin Cobb says that this is the cafeteria belt of which\nLos Angeles is the buckle.\nWe have music in our cafeterias. We have flowers on the tables. People\ndon\u2019t just eat in them, they dine. They take their guests there. Our\ncafeterias have galleries with rocking chairs and stationery. They have\ndistinctive architecture. We take visitors to see them. We brag\nabout them, and when we wish to be especially smart we pronounce them\ncaffa-tuh-ree-ah.\nPersonally, I am proud of our cafeterias, but I do not get on in them.\nI enter hungry. I look sideways to see what other folks are eating. I\ndecide to have corned beef and cabbage and peach short cake and nothing\nelse. Then in the line I have the hurried feeling of people back of me,\nand that I ought to make quick decisions. Everyone ought to eat salad,\nso I take a salad. Then some roast beef looks good so I take that, and\nthe girl asks briskly with a big spoon poised, if I\u2019ll take potatoes,\nand I don\u2019t wish potatoes, but she makes a great nest of them beside the\nmeat and fills the nest with gravy and I pass on. According to Hoover\nor Maria Parloa or Roosevelt, I ought to have a vegetable, and so I take\ntwo. Meanwhile I have taken bread, but the woman ahead takes hot scones\nand so I do. I choose some thick-creamed cake, very fattening, but just\nthis once, and then, oh, I don\u2019t know. The tray is heavy and no place to\nput it, and in my journeying I peek at the bill and it\u2019s over 75 cents,\nand when I finally sit down opposite a stranger I find on my tray two\nsalads, and when I chose the other I don\u2019t remember.\nBut cafeterias are very fine for those who have cafeteria sense.\nThe Open Board of Trade\nMonths ago one of The Journal readers suggested a story to be found down\non Market street near the Hobart building. Many times since when passing\nthere I have thought that those street hawkers must have a certain\npicturesque and even humorous value, and hoping to find it I have\nstopped to listen. But the moment I stop they win me with their\neverlasting logic, and then blessed if I can write them up. They have\nthe same effect upon others. I have seen chambers of commerce and stock\nexchangers and professors from Berkeley passing with a supercilious\nglance which did very well so long as they kept moving. But once let\nthem step into the magic ring and they too became mesmerized and stood\nthere gaping in spellbound interest. \u201cLogic is logic, that\u2019s all I say.\u201d\nThose hawkers are artists, skilled in the arts and wiles of\npersuasiveness. There is one with a long, horse-hair wig which he\noccasionally brushes back from his eyes with a dignified flourish. This\nman has found the supreme elixir and the secret of perpetuity. He is the\nonly man in the world, this modern Ponce de Leon, who knows the secret.\nSurely we need not blush to listen to its exposition, $2 is a small sum\nto pay for such a bonanza. Forty thousand people have used it in the\nlast thirty-nine days. Think of it. \u201cTake it right out into the crowd\nand sniff it for yourself,\u201d he urges and somehow that breaks the spell,\nand strong men look foolishly at each other and move a-way.\nHoroscopes, suspenders, iron watch charms, brown cakes that may pass\nfor maple sugar, ironing wax, laundry soap or penuchia, a book on\nProhibition, mending wax and books of magic are all there. They are not\nthings which we particularly want, but that\u2019s the point. Anyone can sell\nthings that people want. But these men are professional persuaders of\nmen against their will whose mission it is to make people want what they\ndon\u2019t want. That\u2019s Art.\nThe horoscope seller must have taken his degree from some college of\nvenders, his call has such finesse. I cannot reproduce the lilt of\nit--\u201cHere\u2019s where you get your horoscope, a dime, ten cents.\u201d It is\nsuggestive of the midways of country fairs, shooting galleries on the\nBoard Walk, and circuses in the springtime. \u201cHere\u2019s where you get your\nhoroscope, a dime, ten cents.\u201d\nThe little, old, blind man sitting there with one hand outstretched\nand the other holding a book, his white hair and beard neatly combed,\nreminds me of something Biblical and prophetic like pictures in old\nchurches. Alas! no one seems to buy his story of prohibition. I think he\nwould do lots better in Kansas or Iowa. A particularly fascinating\none is the man of mending wax who stands before his table like some\nprofessor of chemistry with a tiny flame and saucers of mysterious\npowders and, I almost said, a blow pipe.\nBut, pshaw, I can\u2019t write them up. I take them too seriously. \u201cLogic is\nlogic, that\u2019s all I say.\u201d\nThe San Francisco Police\nThe San Francisco police are the handsomest and most-willing-to-flirt\npolicemen in the United States, if not in the world. What a surly lot,\nthe New York policemen. They treat one as though he were a blackguard\nfor merely asking some direction.\n\u201cWhat car shall I take for the New Jersey Central Ferry?\u201d we ask.\n\u201cZippity-ip,\u201d he snaps, moving off.\n\u201cWhat did you say?\u201d we ask in timid desperation.\n\u201cZippity-ip,\u201d he yells, shaking his fist at us.\nBut ask a San Francisco policeman the way and how different. He will\ntake your arm and smile down at you and even go away with you chatting\nall the time--\u201cStranger here? Well, you\u2019ll never go back East again.\u201d\n And somehow after that you never do.\nOf course, the San Francisco police are many things beside being\nhandsome and willing to flirt. But these are important qualifications\nwhich, up to this time, have never had their place in journalism. Ah,\nmany a Raleigh and Don Quixote in the roster of the S. F. police.\nA policeman is all things to all people. What a policeman is depends\nupon what we are. To those who are fast, either in reputation or\ndriving, he is a limb of the law to be either evaded or cajoled. To\nthe small boy he is a hero to aspire to become when grown. To the\npublic-spirited citizen of the reforming order he is a piece of\ncommunity linen to be periodically washed in public with a great hue in\nthe papers about graft expose. To almost anybody in the dead of night\nwith burglars prowling about, he is a friend to be called--in case one\nhas a nickel handy.\nBut to the great army of women who are hopelessly respectable, the\npoliceman is something quite different. And what we women think of the\npolice is important. We pay taxes, we vote and we cross the street. We\nlike our policemen to be handsome and cavalier and, again I say, the S.\nF. police are both. Any fine day they will make a funeral procession out\nof the motor traffic to escort a nice woman across Market street.\nIt goes without saying and is an unwritten law that policemen should be\nIrish. I enjoy Greeks in classic literature or in restaurants, but not\nas policemen. There is a saying in the city that when Greek meets Greek\nthey go together to get a job on the Market Street Railways. But when\nthey get upon the police force, I for one, shall move to the country.\nPolicemen should always be Irish.\nAnd handsome. This is a woman\u2019s reason, but listen: O men, are they not,\nI ask, a part of the civic beauty of the city? Is it not important that\nthese animated equestrian statues should be gallant men upon noble and\nspirited horses? And who is more imperial in the pictorial life of the\ncity than the officer on the Lotta Fountain pedestal by the raising of\nwhose sceptered hand the life of the city moves or stays. Yes, policemen\nshould be handsome and gallant. It is written.\nA Marine View\nRussian Hill had always seemed economically remote to me as an abiding\nplace until recently I was invited out where some people were living in\na modest apartment with a good view of the bay. And when they suggested\nthat I try to get an apartment over there I decided to do it.\nIt was a beautiful morning when I started out. There stood Russian Hill\nand as Gibraltar bristles with armaments so it glittered with windows\nfacing the sea and one of them for me. Perhaps I could get a few rooms\nfrom a nice Italian family and fix them up. Ah, the Latin quarter,\nGreenwich village, the ghosts of artists haunting the place, Bohemians,\nenthusiasm, the lust for adventure. I bristled with personality.\n\u201cOh, you want a marine view,\u201d said the real estate man. \u201cNot for that\nprice, lady.\u201d\nA \u201cmarine view.\u201d I didn\u2019t want a marine view; I only wanted one window\nfacing the sea. Surely with all those windows--.\nI left the real estate man and began wandering about. I asked a group of\nItalian women and they exclaimed in a chorus \u201cNo marine views left.\u201d I\nhadn\u2019t said a thing about a \u201cmarine view.\u201d I wandered further and it was\nalways the same. Some were smug and some were sorry but they all spoke\nof a \u201cmarine view\u201d in a certain tone of voice, as Boston people say\n\u201cBoston.\u201d\nIt was getting hot. I could not remove my coat because my waist was a\nlace front. Only a hair net restrained me from utter frumpiness. Still I\nwas not altogether beaten and when I came to a nice countrified looking\nhouse standing alone in the midst of modern art and a man came out I\nasked him. The moment I did there came into his eyes a hunted glitter\nand he told me how he had held out against them and how he had been\nbesieged for years to rent his marine view and wouldn\u2019t.\nAs I turned away I met an Irish delivery man and he said that there were\ndozens of vacant apartments very reasonable and waved his hand vaguely\nin the direction where I\u2019d been searching. I like the Irish but his\ncheerful fibbery was the last straw and I went home.\nThe next day my friends called up and said that they had a marine view\nfor me. I was to live all summer in the apartment of the So-and-Sos\nwhile they were away. So now I am. They are artistic and I drink my\ncoffee from saffron colored cups on a bay green table runner over a\nblack table under a turquoise blue ceiling with a view of the bay from\nthe window.\nBut I am humble and if some day I meet a hot, tired looking woman who\ncan\u2019t find an apartment on Russian Hill, I shall say: \u201cShucks, a marine\nview isn\u2019t so much.\u201d\nHilly-Cum-Go\nThis is a story for children, because they will know it\u2019s only fooling,\nwhile grown-up people will believe it\u2019s true.\nThe cable car isn\u2019t a car at all, children, but is a hilly-cum-go, a\nspecies of rocking horse and a grown-up kiddie-kar. It is a native of\nand peculiar to San Francisco, and is a loyal member of the N. S. G. W.\nIt has relatives in the South, and the electric dinkie that rolls up and\ndown between Venice and Santa Monica is its first cousin. Some say that\nit is distantly related to the wheel chairs at Atlantic City. It is not\nat all common.\nThe men who run it are its Uncles. The parents live underground caring\nfor the young kiddie-kars. At times, if you peek down in that hole\nnear the Fairmont and are careful not to be run over you may see them\nbustling about. Before she was married, the mama was a Marjory Daw of\nthe Daw family, famous see-sawers. The children take after their mother.\nThe Uncles are very kind and pick the hilly-cum-goes up in their arms\nas tenderly as a woman would. You must have seen them pick the little\nthings up and run with them across the streets out of the way of autos.\nAnd at night they tuck them in their little beds and hear them say their\nprayer which goes:\nOh, dear me, I hope I\u2019m able, All day long to keep my cable.\nThese hilly-cum-goes are not run by electricity at all, but just\npretend. They are run by three things--black magic, white magic and\na sense of humor. Black magic takes them up the hills, white magic\nrestrains them down, and the sense of humor is in the Irish conductors.\nYou may hear, if you listen, the magic coming out of the ground,\n\u201cKibble-kable, kibble-kable,\u201d only fast as anything. At noon time\nit goes \u201cPutter, putter, putter,\u201d and at bed-time, \u201cKuddle-kiddie,\nkuddle-kiddie.\u201d\nThis magic is very, very important. Especially going down hill. Did you\never, my dears, descend that precipice at the end of the Fillmore street\nline? What is it that keeps you from landing flat on your nose on Union\nstreet? Nothing but white magic. What is it that keeps you from shooting\nfrom the Fairmont, straight down into the St. Francis? White magic.\nThe sense of humor is also very important. Suppose a stout person gets\non, the conductor hops immediately to the opposite side for ballast.\nThat takes a sense of humor. If the hilly-cum-go is full of young\npeople, especially sweethearts, the Uncle jiggles the hilly-cum-go\nhorribly, but if old people are on it goes--\u201cSee-saw, Marjory Daw,\u201d just\ngently.\nI trust, dear children, that all these facts will make you appreciate\nmore the hilly-cum-go, and when you sit on it so cosy, so intimate with\nthe street, riding along looking at the scenery, you will be thankful,\nthat poor old horses do not have to tug you up hill, and that you\nhave this sturdy little creature to haul you about. Nice little, old\nhilly-cum-go.\nI\u2019ll Get It Changed, Lady\nThis expressman was a regular San Franciscan. And there is such a thing,\nyou know, as a regular San Franciscan. He is a native son and more. His\nspeech betrays him. He calls a \u201ccar\u201d a \u201ccahh,\u201d and when he\u2019s surprised\nhe says: \u201cYeah\u201d! He has a permanent laugh in his eyes, and the only\nthing he gets mad about is prohibition. But the particular thing that I\nstarted to say of him is that money is to him a thing to spend. Money is\nan incident to life, that\u2019s all.\nHe said it would be a \u201cdollar, six-bits,\u201d and I was sorry, but I only\nhad a ten-dollar bill. When I said that, he just reached out and took\nit from me, and said he\u2019d get it changed, and disappeared. Now, the\nsignificant thing, and the one that made him a regular San Franciscan,\nwas that he never dreamed that I would doubt his honesty in returning\nwith the change. And I didn\u2019t. It was this last that surprised me. If it\nhad been in New York--I gasp--if it had been in New York, no expressman\nwould have dared do such a thing because no one would have trusted him,\nand if they had been so hick as to trust him, the expressman would have\nhad no respect for himself if he himself were so hick as to return with\nthe change.\nI never shall forget the shock of seeing a pile of newspapers in front\nof a drug store, the day I landed in San Francisco, where men took their\nmorning paper and threw down a nickel, and even made change for a dime.\nRight out on the pavement--a lot of nickels lying loose and no one\npaying any attention. Why, in New York--well, it couldn\u2019t be done in New\nYork, that\u2019s all.\nIt\u2019s not because San Francisco is not metropolitan. For San Francisco\nis essentially a city just as Los Angeles will always be a terribly big\ncountry village. It\u2019s not at all a matter of population. In Connecticut,\nwe always said that Bridgeport was a city, and New Haven which was\nlarger, was not. It\u2019s a bing, and a zip, and a tra-la-la-lah, that makes\none city a city and another not. I can explain it no other way.\nBut with all its cityfiedness, there is a strange lack of suspicion, a\nfree and easy attitude toward mere physical money, that one finds in\nno other large city except San Francisco. In the stores the clerks will\nsay: \u201cShall I put it in a sack?\u201d and you answer just as they hoped you\nwould: \u201cOh, no, I\u2019ll slip it right in my bag.\u201d In New York as soon as\none did that she\u2019d be nabbed on the way out for a shoplifter.\nPerhaps the constant use of silver money has had something to do with\nthe matter. Paper money can be tucked away. Silver is more spendable,\neveryone knows that. Break a five-dollar bill into \u201ciron men,\u201d and\nit\u2019s gone, gone. And yet it can\u2019t be the use of silver money alone that\naccounts for it. Reno has silver money, and yet there is little of the\nold, free Western spirit left in Reno.\nNo, it\u2019s something to do with San Francisco where suspicion doesn\u2019t yet\ngrip the hearts of men and where money is made to spend.\nSan Francisco, the last stand of the old, free West.\nFillmore Street\nI walk along on Fillmore street. I try to walk very fast with eyes\nstraight ahead. One needs a strong will to take a-walking on Fillmore\nstreet and keep from spending all his money. In fact it is better to\nhave no money at all for then one is tempted to hold on to it.\nEverything in the world is in the windows on Fillmore\nstreet--everything. There isn\u2019t a phase of human activity that isn\u2019t\nrepresented. Every nation has left its stamp. Spain--tamales and\nenchiladas. France--a pastry shop. Italy--spaghetti and raviolas.\nThe Islands have for sale all that\u2019s hula-hula. Here is a Hungarian\nrestaurant. And the \u201cO. K. Shoe Shop--While U Wait\u201d is pure American.\nThere is \u201cSam\u2019s Tailor Shop.\u201d I feel as though I should know this fellow\nSam. Apparently he knows me from his chummy sign. Sam, Sam--I ought to\nremember Sam.\nDo you wish to paint and varnish? Well, here you are. Or to be shaved or\nhave your eye-brows arched? Walk right in. Here is a place to learn to\npaint china. Here are drugs, corsets, religion, fish, statuary, cigars\nand choice meats all in a row. Meats, on Fillmore street, are always\n\u201cchoice\u201d or \u201cselected\u201d or \u201cstall-fed.\u201d I doubt if you could get\njust \u201cmeat\u201d if you tried. Next to the meats, out on a table before a\nsecond-hand book store is romantic, old \u201cSt. Elmo\u201d of mid-Victorian\nfame. He must have come West by the \u201cPony Express.\u201d\nI always stop, if I have time, to look at shoes to be mended. They are\nlike people who have fallen asleep in public, off their guard and at\ntheir very worst. Take a shoe--a real, old shoe without a foot in it\nand it looks so foolish, betraying so mercilessly its owner\u2019s bumps\nand peculiar toes. There is pathos there, too. A scrub woman\u2019s run-down\nshoes, a kiddie\u2019s scuffed-out toes, a man\u2019s clumsy, clay-stained boots\nand the happy dancing slippers of a young girl.\nBack of the shoes--the cobbler. Cobblers are always philosophers. Not\npretty men, but thinkers. In their little, dingy shops they sit all day\nwith their eyes down, isolated from the \u201chum and scum\u201d about them, to\nthe tune of their \u201ctap, tap, tap,\u201d their minds are detached to think and\nphilosophize and vision.\nNow we are at the corner where we turn away from Fillmore street. There\nis a window full of dolls. Such a lot of homely dolls. They don\u2019t make\npretty dolls any more. They make them to look like humans. \u201cCharacter\u201d\n dolls they call them and they are \u201ccharacters.\u201d Now, when I was a little\ngirl, they made dolls to look the way you wished human beings could\nlook.--It is not hard to turn the corner.\nIn the Lobby of the St. Francis\nThere is something about having money enough to stay at the St. Francis,\nand to dine there and to wear smart clothes there that makes people\nstep out and act sure of themselves. Even when they can\u2019t afford it, and\ntheir stay there is a splurge or an outing, they act just as sure\nand stepping. And as for the people to whom the St. Francis is but an\nincident they act sure because they were born that way.\nNever in my life have I seen such sure, well-dressed women as in the\nlobby of the St. Francis. And I am no greenhorn at lobbies. I have\nreviewed in my day some of the best peacock alleys in the country. There\nis the New Willard. Now when I think of the New Willard, I see frumpily\ndressed dowagers talking through their lorgnettes to moth-eaten\nsenators. The Selbach in Louisville, the St. Charles in New Orleans are\nfamed for their handsome women, but none are so free and proudly sure of\nthemselves on peacock alley as California women. No women dress as they\ndo either. They are not so chic as they are smart; their tailor\nmades, their furs, their hats with a preponderance of orange, their\nwell-dressed legs and feet and a reserved brilliance that makes them the\nfinest-looking women in the United States.\nIt is a fine pastime to step out from the surge of Life for a minute and\nlet it ebb and flow around one in the lobby of the St. Francis. Such a\npageant of individual stories. An exquisitely dressed young girl meets\nanother there, and soon two young chaps appear and they all begin\ntalking silly nothings, and laughing at each other\u2019s silly jokes, and\nlooking into each other\u2019s foolish young eyes much as lovers have always\ndone. A harassed business man rushes frantically to the telegraph desk\nand wires his firm at Pittsburgh. Some staid, comfortably-fixed tourists\nfrom Newton Center, Massachusetts, come in from sight-seeing and go up\nto their rooms and quickly get their shoes off. A group of Elks come\nin, arm-linked, and start one wondering about the enforcement of the dry\nlaw. In and out among all these moving comedies and tragedies flits like\nan orange-colored butterfly a little Oriental boy, an angel-faced page\ngoes calling \u201cMister Smith,\u201d and sober looking bell-hops stand alert to\nthe sound of \u201cFront.\u201d\nA beautiful woman steps forward and meets a handsome man and they go to\ndinner together, and somehow I don\u2019t think he is her husband and wonder\nif she is a widow and decide that it is none of my business. If she\nhas a husband he is probably an \u201cornery\u201d fellow who never takes her\nanywhere.\nEveryone who passes by me looks alert, and sure, and happy and\nprosperous, but I comfort myself that probably each one of them has as\nmuch to worry about as I myself do.\nThe Garbage Man\u2019s Little Girl\nThis vignette is written because it can\u2019t help itself and carries with\nit a hope that someone who reads it may know a little girl whose father\nis a garbage man. Suppose that you can\u2019t think of anyone just now who is\na daughter to a garbage man, it is best to read this just the same for\nyou never know when you may meet her.\nWhen you do, tell her not to care too much when the children at\nschool tease her about her father and cry--\u201cPhew--phew, here comes the\ngar-bidge-Garrr-bidge-Garrr-bidge.\u201d Tell her at that time to try and\nsustain her personal integrity with philosophy. It won\u2019t do her a\nparticle of good but tell her just the same.\nTell her that her father is a terribly useful man. That if he should\nfail to function, then the disposal of garbage would become an\nindividual problem and that the mamas of kids whose fathers are not\ngarbage men would be obliged to say to their husbands--\u201cEd, dear, don\u2019t\nforget to take the garbage bucket to the public incinerator on your way\nto the office.\u201d\nTell her that just because her father collects dirt, it is no disgrace.\nTell her to look at the people in good standing who peddle dirt. Tell\nher to look at the papers. Tell her to tell the world that it\u2019s better\nany day to collect than to peddle dirt.\nTell her that when her father, up on his great smelly throne, drives\naround the corner of Powell and Geary that dressed-up folk needn\u2019t\ndisdain him so much. He\u2019s a sermon. They won\u2019t like him as a sermon so\nmuch as a garbage man but he\u2019s a sermon just the same. The text is\nthat back of most things that are dainty and beautiful is the drudgery\nworker. Tell her that there isn\u2019t an immaculate kitchen in San Francisco\nthat doesn\u2019t depend upon her father.\nNor a feast at the Palace or the St. Francis. Tomato skins and the nests\nthat cauliflowers come in, and gnawed \u201cT\u201d bones. What would become of\nthem if she had no father. And coffee grounds and the nameless things\nthat have been forgotten and burned by the absent-minded. Tell the\nlittle girl about Omar Khayyam and how he might have said--.\nOh, many a charred secret into the garbage can goes That from the\nkitchen range in blackened cloud once rose. Tell her that there is a\nprofessor at Yale whose father was a junk man. All this and more tell\nthe garbage man\u2019s little girl.\nThe Palace\nSomeone was telling me of an old couple who lost everything they owned\nat the time of the fire, and that they were very brave about it and\nnever broke down, and even helped others, but that when someone came\nrunning up and said: \u201cThe Palace is on fire,\u201d they both sat down on the\ncurb and gave way completely to grief.\nAnd they say that after the fire the first piece of publicity which was\ngiven to the world as a proof that San Francisco would come back, was\nthat the Palace would be rebuilt immediately. And a man from Virginia\nCity, a descendant of the Comstock days, told me that in Nevada they\nspeak of \u201cThe Palace\u201d as Russians speak of the Kremlin as a pivot of\ndestiny. What I am trying to say, of course, is that the Palace is a\ntradition just as the Waldorf-Astoria is a tradition, only not at all in\nthe same way.\nThe Palace is a great place for women who are alone and a place where\na man may bring \u201cthe missus\u201d with impunity. The Palace is stylish,\nperhaps, but principally it is select. It suggests to me women who wear\nsuits of clothes, mostly dark gray, all wool and a yard wide, women who\nwear two petticoats and Hanan shoes and Knox hats and who carry suit\ncases covered with foreign express tags, and whom porters run to meet\nbecause they know that these women may not be so stylish as they are\ngenerous tippers. And the Palace suggests to me afternoon teas, and\nthat peculiar composite chatter of women\u2019s voices which is more like\nthe sound of birds in a flock, and which Powys speaks of as a strange\ninarticulate chitter chatter which isn\u2019t really speech at all.\nThe other day a well groomed young official from the hotel took me out\nto see the famous old Palace bar and the beautiful Maxfield Parrish\npainting above it. They have taken the rail away, and around the edge\nof the bar they have built a nicely finished woodwork wall which looks\nexactly like a great coffin, the coffin of John Barleycorn. After the\nmanner of my species I wanted to see over the edge and the young man,\nthinking that I might be suspecting a blind pig, boosted me up to peck\nover. I asked him why they didn\u2019t remove the bar entirely and he said\nwith unsmiling naivete that they were waiting \u201cto see\u201d and that they had\nsaved the rail, \u201cin case.\u201d\nIf I were a reformer I should agitate and have that remarkably joyous\nand beautiful Parrish painting placed where it could be seen. I\u2019d take\nit out to some San Francisco school so that the dear Pied Piper and all\nthe little round kiddies running after should be a delight to school\nchildren.\nAnd now I have come to the end and all that I have said is that the\nPalace Hotel is the San Francisco tradition and everyone in the United\nStates knew that long ago.\nZoe\u2019s Garden\nZoe says emphatically that it is not her garden, but everybody\u2019s garden.\nBut it is her garden because she tends it, and every morning goes around\namong her flowers lovingly, giving a little dig of dirt here, and tying\nsome frail sisters up there and then, with her scissors, clipping,\nsnipping and nipping away. Yes, it is Zoe\u2019s garden.\nAnything that has spunk to grow is welcome in this essentially San\nFranciscan garden. And no one is allowed to bully the others. Big burly\ngeraniums and proud dahlias must keep in their places and give the\ndainty lobelia, cinnamon pinks, oxalis and candy tuft their chance.\nThe oxalis! How we tended it in pots in New England, and out here in\nCalifornia, bless its heart, it runs around like a native daughter. And\nas for the fuchsia, how far it has grown from the blue laws.\nThere is no formality in Zoe\u2019s garden. Marigolds go wandering about\nin the most trampish manner, and poppies, because they are privileged\ncharacters, spring up as they please. Then, as though the two of them\nwere not sufficient California gold, there is the faithful gaillardia\nwith its prim little sunflower-faces smiling up at their Mother Sun.\nIt is a democratic garden, too. Golden rod and asters grow right in\namong the aristocrats. Fancy the snubbing they would get if they once\nventured into a New England garden--Hm. There is freedom there, but\nnot license, and every opportunity for individuality. The gladiolas,\ncanterbury bells, gillie flowers and fox gloves grow as prim as in a\nconservative English garden. Pansies smile in their little bed, and\nalthough the nasturtium, the wild-growing, happy-go-lucky nasturtium,\ngoes visiting around among all his neighbors, he is never allowed to\ninterfere with those who wish to keep by themselves. The sweet peas stay\nvery close to their tradition of wire netting, but they are not snobs at\nall, and give of their bounty to all who call. The sensuous jasmine is\nthere, and the cold puritanical ceneraria and old maids\u2019 pin cushions,\nwith fragrance of sandalwood. The red-hot-poker grows stiff and\nstraight, but the ragged sailor goes uncombed and untidy still.\nCosmos is coming soon, dressed in her very feminine clothes, and the\ncoreopsis has come on ahead. All old-timers are represented there,\nhoneysuckle, wormwood, petunias, rosemary, gilias, mignonette,\nheliotrope and foxgloves. If they can not all be there together, all\nare there at some time in the summer. Montbretia, Japanese sunflower,\nlarkspur, columbine and gourds all have their time and place and\nopportunity in this San Francisco garden. And the hollyhocks, the bossy\nthings, I\u2019ve a mind to leave them out. Besides I know some gossip about\nthem. When Zoe was away to Yosemite one morning they were all leaning\nover from too much moonshine or too much sunshine and--well, I won\u2019t\nrepeat what the marigolds told me about them.\nBesides it is time to come away from Zoe\u2019s garden, which is everybody\u2019s\ngarden.\nChildren on the Sidewalk\nWhen you were a little girl, when you were a little boy, where did you\nplay? Was it in a barn? Was it a city park? Did you hunt gophers on the\nplains of Iowa? Perhaps it was in a California poppy field. Perhaps\na graveyard. I played in one, and remember very vividly the grave of\nJosephine Sarah Huthinson who died at the age of 11 months, and had\na little lamb on the top of her stone and an inscription: \u201cExcept\nye become as little children ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of\nHeaven.\u201d Many delightful games we played around the grave of little\nJosephine.\nWherever childhood found us we played, and out of our environment and\noften in spite of it, lived in a delightful world of our own into which\nno grownup ever really entered. Now, you and I, grownup, walk along the\nsidewalks of San Francisco and all we see under our calloused old\nfeet is a sidewalk. But to children even a sidewalk blossoms with\npossibilities. Who but a child invented: \u201cStep on a crack, you break\nyour mother\u2019s back.\u201d Only the other day I saw a kiddie avoiding every\ncrack and muttering some incantation as he walked along.\nAnd out of the sidewalk grew all the different types of kiddie kars and\ncoasters that are so prevalent. I saw a whole load of children zipping\ndown a steep San Francisco hill the other day much as we children\ncoasted down winter hills on wicked \u201cdouble rippers.\u201d A hill and gravity\nand a lot of kids, what possibilities. And out of the sidewalk have\nevolved those nameless explosives that have been so popular over the\nrecent Fourth. A row of kids sitting on a curb, one of them darts out\nto the car track, a car comes, great expectancy from the kids, terrific\nnoise, annoyed looks on the faces of sour adults, unbounded joy from a\nrow of kids sitting on the curb.\nRecently I saw a tomboy who had organized the children in her block, and\nhad confiscated an alley between two straight gray houses, and I don\u2019t\nknow what the game was but it entailed trips on a car down the alley and\na very bossy motorman, and \u201cturns,\u201d over which everyone quarreled.\nSome dainty little Chinese girls were playing a sidewalk game with a\nwhite stone which was a version of an old, old child game. The child\nwould hop to the stone and kick it away and hop to it again until she\nmissed, the object being to beat her opponent in the distance traveled.\nAnd I saw some exquisite little Japanese girls playing jump rope and\nchanting one of the numerous litanies that go with that beautiful game.\nThe sidewalks of San Francisco. They are full of adventure. Robert Louis\nStevenson would have seen it all. But to our dull eyes are only gray\ncement block. Just a sidewalk to us and to kiddies there are mountains\nin which Roy Gardner hides, and woods, and Tom Mix on a horse dashes\nright past us and we never see him at all.\nFeet That Pass on Market St.\nThere is something about walking along Market street with the procession\nof people that passes all day, ah, how shall I express it? It is\nthrilling and it is amusing; it is cosmic and it is puny. It is often\nridiculous and always sublime. Sometimes when we are in most of a hurry\nthe consciousness of the procession will come to us. It is as though we\nwere one of a moving crowd that never began and will never end. At such\ntimes we listen to the sound of their feet, the steady, unceasing\nstep by step, an endless tramp as though it were beating out the\nrhythm--\u201cEternity, eternity, eternity.\u201d\nAs we pass voices call to us from the wayside, a cripple so far down\nbelow us on the very ground offering his silent pencils; the allurement\nof flowers; a hoarse newsboy with his old, old face screwed into a\nthousand anxious wrinkles; a blind man, silent supplicant, twirling\nhis thumbs; and from the windows the call of strawberries at 15 cents\na basket. Overhead an aeroplane hums its way and receives from us the\ntribute of an upward glance. We gaze upward and think how many years\nbefore our day aeroplanes were flying overhead in the dreams of men who\npassed and passed in the long procession.\nIdly we glimpse faces that pass us in the procession that meets ours. We\npass them and are never the wiser for the struggle and tragedy that may\nbe going on behind their show of brave masks. A man clutching his last\ndime and wondering whether to spend it for rolls and coffee or coffee\nand rolls. A business man absorbed and a lady pondering deeply some\ndetail of her dress. A young girl with soft un-massaged chin hurrying\nto keep a tryst with her \u201cfriend,\u201d and country folks, their feet sore on\nthe unaccustomed pavements, glad to be going home soon.\nIt is such an orderly procession and although they all seem to be\nwalking along forever, there is an order in their going and each is on\nhis way. Each one is free to go to his own place and yet no one is free.\nNo one is free to leave the procession once he gets into it. Once a man\nis born he\u2019s done for.\nLet him veer one iota from that procession and soon there will come\nrumbling up to the curb a big black Maria and off he\u2019s whisked away\nfrom his fellows. Let him but get into the wrong house or take the wrong\novercoat or chuck the wrong person under the chin--Pff! Let him forget\nwhere the long procession leads and wander about a free spirit and his\nwanderings will lead him to the madhouse.\nI love to be one of the procession that marches forever up and down\nMarket street, such a brave procession.\nWhere the Centuries Meet\nShe was a tourist and she had just finished Sing Fat\u2019s. As she passed\nout of the door she said smugly to her companion--\u201cI don\u2019t see anything\nso wonderful here.\u201d\nI was standing right there and said I: \u201cMadame, if you have been through\nSing Fat\u2019s and have failed, to see anything wonderful then you should\ngo home and give yourself the Benet test which is used to test the\nintelligence of children.\u201d Oh, of course, I didn\u2019t say this so that the\nlady could hear. The bravest speeches we humans make are never aloud.\nThen I continued: \u201cMadame, you may travel far in mileage but you will\nnever take anything back to Dingville, Kansas, richer than a souvenir\nash tray.\u201d\nWhy, just to take a trip from Sing Fat\u2019s to the White House is a\ntremendous journey if one has the perceiving faculty. In Sing Fat\u2019s\na bit of old Cloissonne, tiny pieces of enamel on silver, done with\ninfinite pains by hand labor, perhaps centuries ago, grown beautiful\nwith age. In the White House georgette flowers, exquisite things made\nfor the passing minute, a whiff and a whim and off they go. Just in\nthese two there is a meeting of the centuries, Handcraft Days and the\nMachine Age--B. C. and A. D.--the oldest civilization in the world and\nthe newest.\nThe most interesting thing in Chinatown are the Chinese. To some they\nall look alike, but to me they seem very human and individual and\nfolksy. I find myself paraphrasing: \u201cBut for the grace of God there\ngoes John Bradford,\u201d and when I meet a crafty looking old Chinaman this\nwhimsy comes to me, \u201cIf Deacon Bushnell who passed the plate in the\nCenterville Methodist Church had been a Chinaman this is the way he\nwould have looked.\u201d They are such small town folks. Even with the steady\ncycle of tourists they gaze at each newcomer as though he were the\nlatest comer to Podunk. One day with a friend I called on a Chinese\ngirl, and all the large family and their friends gathered around and\ndiscussed us and laughed among themselves and pointed at us. It was\nembarrassing but I was never once conscious of rudeness, simply a\nchildlike curiosity and honesty.\nIn Chinatown the other day a peddler was selling spectacles and somehow\nthe old men trying them on and squinting for \u201cnear\u201d and for \u201cfar,\u201d\n seemed so quaint and countrified and like a lot of old Yankees around a\ncountry store trying to get a \u201cnew pair of eyes, by Heck.\u201d In Chinatown\nthe tong men do not seem at all real and the hair raising movie serial\nwith its Chinatown terrors, Buddhist idols that open and swallow the\nmovie actors and floors that drop into dungeons, seem very remote.\nBags or Sacks\n\u201cDo you like cafeterias?\u201d I asked.\n\u201cDon\u2019t know,\u201d he answered, \u201cI\u2019ve never played them.\u201d\n\u201cWhat religion do you follow?\u201d another man asked me.\nIn a mining camp they told me to take such and such a \u201ctrail.\u201d\nThe point is, that we did not talk that way where I came from. Of\ncourse, I hasten to say, we doubtless talked some other way just as\npeculiar. And if I could detect our colloquialisms I would write a\nlot about them but alas I can\u2019t. I was in the West two years before I\nnoticed that a \u201ctrolley\u201d is a \u201cstreet car.\u201d\nA woman in a mining camp said to the stage driver, \u201cI want out at the\nbank because I don\u2019t want to pack this sack of silver.\u201d In the first\nplace we wouldn\u2019t have had a sack of silver and if we had, it would have\nbeen in a \u201cbag\u201d not a \u201csack,\u201d and we never \u201cpack\u201d things and we never\n\u201cwant out.\u201d\nIn the East we never refer to our locality as \u201cthis country,\u201d as in\nthe West and South. We do not take the name of our state either as\n\u201cCalifornian\u201d or \u201cKentuckian.\u201d One never hears of a \u201cConnecticutian\u201d or\na \u201cMassachusettisian.\u201d I do not profess to give any reasons for these\npeculiarities.\nIn the West, speech is more brief. \u201cAutos go slow\u201d is the warning\nwhile on the Fenway in Boston the signs read--\u201cMotor Vehicles, Proceed\nSlowly.\u201d I wouldn\u2019t swear to the comma but the words are identical.\nThere is a small to near Provincetown where a sign reads--\u201cFriends, we\nwish to think well of you and we wish you to think well of us. Kindly\nobserve the ten mile motor limit.\u201d After that the roads are so bad that\none couldn\u2019t possibly exceed ten miles if he tried. Probably the longest\nsign in California is that one which reads--\u201cDrive your fool heads off.\u201d\n\u201cBooze-fighters\u201d are Western. Oh, they\u2019re Eastern too, but under\na different name. It\u2019s a misleading term, that. As though one were\nfighting against booze like an anti-salooner. I actually know of a woman\nwho came West and thought for or a long time that a \u201cbooze-fighter\u201d was\na \u201cDry.\u201d In the East he is a \u201crummy\u201d and when he\u2019s drunk he\u2019s \u201ctight.\u201d\n\u201cIt\u2019s a fright,\u201d is Western. \u201cOrnery,\u201d is middle-Western. That\u2019s\na wonderful word. Sometimes, I wish I could live my life over with\n\u201cornery\u201d in my vocabulary. It describes so many people I never knew just\nhow to classify.\nThere are no \u201cT\u201d bones in the East. And scrambled brains are not common.\nOh, of course, we have them but not as something to eat. Personally, I\nwas brought up to reverence brains and when I see them lying pale and\nmessy on a plate in a Greek restaurant, I confess it gives me a start.\nHot tamales have never crossed the plains East. And baked beans have\nnever come West--not real ones. The difference between the Eastern\nbaked bean and the Western is all the difference between a tin can and\na religious rite and it is the same with succotash. A cruller is only\na fried doughnut when it gets out West. Tea is more subtle in the East,\nbut out here the waitress will ask \u201cBlack or green\u201d in a black or white\ntone and stands over you until you decide. Maybe you don\u2019t want black\ntea, maybe you don\u2019t want green, but just \u201ctea,\u201d but there she stands in\nher unequivocation--\u201cBlack or green?\u201d\nSilver money has never traveled East. A man told me recently that he\ndidn\u2019t like silver money when he first came out here and that it was\nalways wearing his pockets out but since he\u2019d gotten into Western ways\nit never wore a hole in his pockets any more. In the East a change purse\nis scorned by anything masculine, but here all the men carry one,\nI don\u2019t know why not in the East, nor why in the West. Blessed old\n\u201ctwo-bits\u201d and a \u201cdollar six-bits\u201d are the only woolly things left over\nfrom the old wild West.\nWhat else--oh, I could keep on for pages. \u201cStay with it\u201d is Western and\nhas lots more feeling I think than \u201cstick to it.\u201d A Westerner when his\nwife and babies were going back East to visit her relatives, telegraphed\nto her brother--\u201cElizabeth and outfit arrive Tuesday.\u201d And until she\narrived the brother spent his time in conjecturing as to just what an\n\u201coutfit\u201d would mean. Rhubarb plant is \u201crhubarb\u201d in the East and also\n\u201cpie plant,\u201d and one day I was in a fruit store and when the man--he was\na Greek--yelled \u201cWha else?\u201d I could only think of \u201cpie plant\u201d and so I\ndidn\u2019t get any.\nIt\u2019s all the way you are \u201cbrought up,\u201d Eastern, and all the way you are\n\u201craised,\u201d Western.\nPortsmouth Square\n\u201cTo be honest, to be kind.\u201d Loiterers, vagabonds, slow-going Orientals,\npoets and blackguards, all day long come and drink at Stevenson\u2019s\nfountain. Some of them look up and read it all and some only get as far\nas \u201cto earn a little, to spend a little less\u201d--.\nSmall-footed Chinese women pass, humping along on their stumps and their\nbabies running along beside have larger feet than the mothers who bore\nthem, Bench warmers gaze after them with lazy curiosity. A fat Italian\ngranddaddy washes a kiddie\u2019s hand from the fountain and a man with a\ndemijohn and a sense of humor goes smilingly down the path and what he\nhas in the demijohn is none of our business.\n\u201cTo make on the whole, a family happier for his presence.\u201d It is noon\nand a bride has brought lunch for herself and her husband off the job\nin his white overalls, and the two eat together on the beautiful grassy\nslope. The poplar trees around Stevenson\u2019s fountain whisper poetry all\nday long and the little iron boat on top looks sad not to be sailing\naway on high adventure to the South Sea islands.\n\u201cTo renounce when it shall be necessary and not be embittered.\u201d A woman\nwith a baby carriage comes by. Something tender and sane and everyday\nand basic about her and her baby. A Chinese woman passing looks for all\nthe world like a black and iridescent purple grackle in her shiny black\ncoat and shiny black pants and shiny black shoes and shiny black hair,\nalthough the grackle has a prouder strut than her dancing little trot.\n\u201cTo keep a few friends and those without capitulation.\u201d Where, oh where,\ndo all the men come from who lie stretched out on the grass? I\u2019ve seen\nthe very same men lying on Boston Common, and when my father was a boy\nhe said he saw them there. Hats over their eyes or else blinking up at\nthe blue sky. Then on the curb facing the Hall of Justice, philosophers\nup from the water front or fresh from box cars, everyone with a story\nthat Stevenson would have got from them.\n\u201cAbove all on the same grim conditions to keep friends with himself.\u201d On\nthe bench an enormous woman with a hat that looks like a schooner atop\nof a great pompadour wave and on the very same bench a mummied old\nChinese as thin as a wafer. An aeroplane hums above and Stevenson\u2019s\nlittle boat looks envious. Where did Captain Montgomery of the sloop\nPortsmouth stand when he planted the flag in 1848? The Mission bell, so\nmany miles to Dolores, so many miles to Rafael. Ring, Mission bell, ring\nand show us where the El Camino Real will lead us all by and by. We who\npass all day, show us the way, Mission bell.--\u201chere is a task for all\nthat a man has of fortitude and delicacy.\u201d\nMiracles\n \u201cWhy, who makes much of a miracle?\n As for me, I know of nothing else but miracles.\n Whether I walk the streets of Manhattan,\n Or dart my sight over the roofs of houses toward the sky,\n Or wade with naked feet along the beach just in the edge of the water,\n Or stand under trees in the woods,\n Or sit at table at dinner with the rest,\n Or look at strangers opposite me riding in the car.\u201d\n --Walt Whitman.\nIf man or woman be at all sensitive to life, he must react to the\ncommonplace much as Whitman did. Such a person may be hurrying along\nabout his business with perhaps no time for reflection and yet in\na flash, the miracle of life will come to him through the slightest\nhappening.\nA little girl on the ferry sitting with her mother takes from her small\nprim bag a set of doll clothes, and fondles them and smoothes them\nmuch like a pullet with her first chickens. The sight of those square,\nlittle, gingham dresses, trimmed with scraps of lace and silk and with\nawkward sleeves standing straight out, brought to me, on that Oakland\nferry, all my childhood again, and I was cuddled close between the\nsurface roots of a great elm and from the nearby lane came the sight and\nscent of Bouncing Bet, Joe Pye Weed, Tansy, Yarrow, Golden Rod, Boneset,\nand over in the meadow the sight of cows and the smell of peppermint and\nwater cress, beside a little stream.\nThe moment I write it down in physical words it becomes somehow less\nmiraculous. The mind is so infinite and the human being so essentially\nmental, that the spoken or written word may never express them.\nThe sight of electric lights flashing at night, the view of the city\nfrom a cable car, the wonder of great trucks bearing down upon us like\nfiery-eyed dragons, a bunch of poppies growing close to the roots of a\nbillboard in the heart of the city, and the silhouette of a young girl,\nwind-blown, so that her straight slender figure shows more beautiful\nthan the statue that tops Union Square. Up Kearny street the glimpse of\neucalyptus trees on the top of Telegraph Hill standing out against the\npink sunset sky, the postman with his pack of human messages on his\nback, the spirit of Robert Louis Stevenson in Portsmouth Square, and a\nrow of old, old men sitting in the sun on Union Square discussing the\nUniverse.\nDid you ever stand listening to the seals just at nightfall, and did\ntheir weird, low call stir you to a feeling of kinship with all the\ncreatures of the great deep, and did you lose yourself there out under\nthe cold, dark water in that mysterious untamed world of the sea that is\nolder than the land?\nI don\u2019t know what it\u2019s all about. I only know we need more poets. Still\nevery man who reacts to life and feels it to be a miracle, he is himself\na poet. Even Whitman could only articulate in terms of wonder.\nImpulses and Prohibitions\nOne day last week a man--a regular man, neither a decided proletarian\nnor a typical bourgeois--but just a man was walking along. He was\ndressed in average clothes, he was shaved and carried a suit case and\ndidn\u2019t look out of work and was evidently going somewhere.\nHe was walking along with this suit case--it was on Larkin near\nMcAllister about two o\u2019clock on one of those superb days of last\nweek--and he came to a place where there was a stretch of grass near the\nsidewalk. I think he was hot and the suit case was getting heavy....\nAt any rate when he saw that grass, tall, dark green and fragrant, he\nimmediately lay down on it, pulled his hat over his eyes and, I expect,\nwent to sleep. It sounds so free and easy written down. Which makes it\nno less significant.\nFirst, it was significantly Western. An Easterner or a Middle Westerner\nwould have thought it over first. Then the fact that the man was so\naverage made it significant. If he had looked like a vagabond it would\nhave been not even an incident. It is we who are respectable who\nare fettered by Grundy. It was a logical thing to do and natural and\nterribly human, but most of us can\u2019t do the logical thing and natural\neven if inside we do feel terribly human. Especially these spring days.\nToday at noon I would like to have gone up on the grass in Union Square\nand taken my shoes off. Why didn\u2019t I? Not because of the police--but\nGrundy.\nNow a Piute Indian woman could have done it. Her stockings too. A Piute\nIndian woman when she\u2019s tired she sits down right in the street, right\nwhere she\u2019s tired. But you and I, when we are weary we may sigh--\u201cWish I\ncould sit down.\u201d But we can\u2019t, not until we\u2019ve gone down the street and\nup in the elevator to some particular place where Grundy says we may\nsit.\nThe most significant thing about that man on the grass was that he\nwas in the heart of a great city. Cities are like homes. Some you\u2019re\ncomfortable in--some you\u2019re not. Now, San Francisco, it is a real city,\nwith all the metropolitan lares and penates, dignified and vividly\nactive. And yet there is no city in the country whose children may be as\n\u201cat home\u201d as here. It is the only city I know of that has forgotten to\nprovide itself with nasty little \u201cKeep Off The Grass\u201d signs. It will\nprobably never be an altogether prohibition town.\nStopping at the Fairmont\nIt is best to say at the very beginning that if one is tremendously\nwealthy he will not enjoy this dissertation on staying at high class\nhotels. If one has more than two bathrooms in his home and can afford\nchicken when it is not Sunday and turkey when it is not Christmas and\ncould stay at the Fairmont all winter if he preferred, then these words\nwill mean nothing to him.\nShe has gone, this friend of mine. All winter she has been staying at\nthe Fairmont. Much of the time I, too, have been staying at the Fairmont\nas her guest. So it is with a sense of double bereavement that I write.\nTalk to me no more of the comfort of cozy little homes. Give me a hotel\nwhere I am treated as though I were a Somebody. Where I have but to\npress a button and a liveried servant comes running as though I were\nMary, Queen of England, or Clara Kimball Young. And plenty of hot water\nfor baths and lots of enormous towels and, as soon as one\u2019s butter is\ngone, another piece, and fresh butter at that. Pitchers of ice water and\na strapping big man standing so solicitously and watching one\u2019s every\nmouthful. It makes me feel as though I were the Shah of Persia. At home\nI don\u2019t feel at all like the Shah of Persia.\nI came across something the other day that Boswell quotes Dr. Johnson as\nsaying on this same subject: \u201cThere is no private house in which people\nmay enjoy themselves as at a capital tavern. At a tavern you are sure\nyou are welcome, and the more noise you make, the more trouble you give,\nthe more good things you call for, the welcomer you are.\u201d\nThis friend of mine can go to the room telephone and say, so\nincidentally, \u201cRoom service, please,\u201d and order a meal in her room with\nalmost negligence. That, I say, is elegance. Taxis, too, are another\ntest. I never order a taxi without a feeling of sea-sickness. Even when\nsomeone else is paying the bill I can\u2019t sit back in comfort. Always they\nare ticking off the minutes as though they were my last on this earth.\nThey are simple tests that divide the plebeian from the patrician. Was\nit Kipling who wrote:\n\u201cIf you can order breakfast in your room and not feel reckless, If you\ncan ride in taxis with aplomb, If you can read the menu and not the\nprices, Then, you\u2019re a qualified patrician, son.\u201d\nAfter my friend had gone I went back to the hotel and someone else was\nin her room and no one treated me as though I were the Queen of Sheba\nand I went out into a cold, indifferent world where no one cares when\nmy glass is empty, where no chair is pushed under me at table and where,\nalas, I must sugar my own tea or go without.\nSan Francisco Sings\nSome Cities roar and others hum, but San Francisco sings. Especially on\nSaturday at noon and downtown. Saturday noon in San Francisco is like\nnothing else anywhere but Saturday noon in San Francisco. And Saturday\nnoon is like the noon of no other day but Saturday. On Sunday they\u2019re\noff. On Saturday noon everybody\u2019s on the street.\nThere are more flowers on Saturday noon. On the street stands great\nplumes of gold acacia, riots of daffodils, banks of violets, white, waxy\ncamellias and branches of Japanese peach blossoms. It\u2019s still winter by\nthe calendar but it\u2019s spring in San Francisco. Everywhere you turn a man\nor boy from the country with baskets of the spring flowers. All you\nwant to carry for two bits and a nice bunch for a dime. Big, fat men and\noldish men with young twinkles in their eyes sell them, unromantic, but\nvery nice to deal with.\nThere are the flowers and there are the women. No women in the country\nso beautiful. No women in the world wear color as they do. Their colors\nare never primitive, never gaudy, but gorgeous and vivid and alive,\nseldom do you see a woman dressed in black, and black hats almost never.\nSit in the gallery of any church on Sunday morning when the sun comes\npouring in and it is as though you were looking down on flowers.\nNever two alike in the Saturday noon crowd and yet the same type. Free\nwomen, happy women, regular women. Women who can recall a judge or so\nand still be graceful and dainty. It is very significant that a San\nFrancisco woman stands at the very pinnacle of the city, graceful and\nalert on that tall slender column in Union Square.\nAnd the Saturday noon men--men?--men? In describing color what can\none say of men? Well, it\u2019s not their fault that they can\u2019t wear pretty\nclothes. They make a nice grey background for the women and a very\ndesirable audience and that\u2019s the best I can do for them.\nThe street musicians, they contribute a lot to the Saturday noon\natmosphere. And when we drop a penny into their cups, perhaps it is not\nso much pity as pay for the joy their piping gives us. And the people\nwho call papers, of whom the blind are the dearest of all. There\u2019s a\nblind man on Powell street who sounds exactly as though he were saying\nMass.\nDearie me, I can\u2019t describe it. All its lilt and rhythm and color and\nhumanness as well. And ladies walking along with huge white balloons\nfrom the White House as though they had been blowing bubbles from some\ngreat clay pipes. And a plump, rosy Chinese woman so dainty in her\nbreeches with her shiny, black hair bound in a head dress of jade and\nopal and turquoise.\nWe need more poets.\nVan Ness Avenue\nVan Ness avenue is sole. Nowhere in the wide world does the proud and\nculminating automobile own and dominate such a wide and sweeping display\nboulevard.\nThe automobile, what a magnificent animal it is, long, low, luxurious,\npurring softly, full of a great reserve, ready to dart forward, not to\nthe cruel touch of a spur or bit, but to the magic touch of a button.\nIt is the culminating achievement of this period of the machine age. The\nairplane, clumsy and awkward as yet, belongs for its consummation to the\nmen of tomorrow. The automobile is the zenith of today\u2019s accomplishment,\nand that is why men speak of it as \u201csuper\u201d this and \u201csuper\u201d that.\nThe machine age has its own cruelties and its own, ugliness, but it\nalso has its own art and its own beauty, of which the automobile and the\nhouses which men have built to accommodate it, are the consummate art.\nNot all will agree with me here. The critics will damn me with disdain,\nand the King of Van Ness, who ought to agree, but is too busy talking\ncars, will only remark, if he listens at all: \u201cPretty good dope at\nthat.\u201d But argumentatively I proceed.\nNot that I can name them. I am only sure, really sure, of a Ford. But\nI admire them with a great pride in my human kind. They sit so\nmajestically in their palaces on Van Ness, great limousines, powerful\nroadsters, luxurious touring cars, waiting there on display and\ncontaining in themselves all the skill, energy, artifice, and beauty of\nline, color and trim that the machine age can produce.\nAnd the buildings on Van Ness strike a new and independent note in\narchitecture. All that the ages have contributed of arches, columns,\ncoloring and lighting are utilized and made into palaces of great\ndignity and beauty. There is something about the arched and windowed\nwalls and the spacious, open look of the buildings that is entirely\ndistinctive and Van Ness. It is not Mission, Grecian or Colonial, but\nit is all of them. It is as new and distinctive as the service stations\nthat have sprung out of the automobile needs. If we dared we would call\nit entirely American.\nAnd the printing that high lights each building is an achievement in\nmodern art. Who but Americans would dream of using printing instead of\ngargoyles or classic medallions as ornamentation. Some of it is very\nbeautiful and almost none is ugly. The use of the word \u201cPaige,\u201d the\nprinting of \u201cBuick,\u201d the \u201cH\u201d of Hupmobile, the Mercury \u201cA\u201d of Arnold are\nto me very beautiful.\nVan Ness avenue. It is exactly like its name. A long wide sweep for the\nregal motor car, the most wonderful and proudest automobile row in\nthe world. The ghosts of the old, aristocratic and residential\nbefore-the-fire Van Ness have seen to it that even commercialized it\nshall still be--Van Ness.\nThe Blind Men and the Elephant\nYou live in San Francisco and I live in San Francisco, and so does the\nman who owns the peanut wagon on the corner, and none of us live in\nthe same San Francisco--funny. We\u2019re like the blind men who each gave a\ndifferent version of the elephant.\nTo some, San Francisco is always eight o\u2019clock in the morning or six\no\u2019clock at night, swinging on the straps homeward, swallow their dinners\nand to a show in the evening. Such people never have wandered through\nGolden Gate Park of an afternoon or sunned themselves on the benches of\nUnion Square. They have never seen San Francisco by week-day sunlight.\nThen there are home women and leisure women to whom San Francisco is\nalways afternoon, down-town in the shopping district with ladies in\npretty clothes passing each other on the street or in and out of the\nsweet-scented stores.\nTo some, San Francisco is always night. A taxi-driver who used to be a\nnewsboy down on the old Barbary Coast. He has never seen anything but\nthe night life of the city. Not bad, but night provincial--a sort of\nmale version of Trilby.\nThe neighborhood of Merchants Exchange on California Street is San\nFrancisco to hundreds of men. They ride out to the golf links and into\nthe country on Sunday. Occasionally they go to New York, but when they\nreturn San Francisco is limited to the neighborhood where men inquire\nanxiously--\u201cIs she picking up any in the East?\u201d\nNo matter how wealthy, no matter how poor, to each of us San Francisco\nis very much limited in the confines of what each of us is interested\nin. It\u2019s funny when you stop to think about it. How the Master of\nMarionettes must laugh at us when he sees us together. Perhaps some\nnight after the show, the traffic cop raises his imperial hand and\nthere, waiting to pass, the taxi driver of the night and a dear little\nhome woman with her husband, and Mr. Chamber-of-Commerce and close to\nhim a man who has never seen San Francisco by week day sunlight. There\nthey all wait looking out of their eyes on San Francisco and each seeing\nit so differently.\nSan Francisco is one thing to you and another thing to me and something\nentirely different to the man on the peanut stand.\nYou\u2019re Getting Queer\nEveryone ought to have--well, what is it that everyone ought to have?\nNo, not a machine, not necessarily a garden and not even a camera.\nEveryone ought to have children. If not children of their own, then\nborrowed ones or nieces or nephews or the neighbor\u2019s kids. Everyone\nought to have children.\nPeople who have no children anywhere in their environment to whom they\ncan talk intimately soon become queer and lop-sided. They may not always\nrealize it but others will find them awkward and stilted and covered\nwith cobwebs and dust. Such people will be found hard to get on with\nand full of snippiness. It is half what ails folks, that so many of them\nhave no children in their lives and it affects them like malnutrition.\nLet a baby enter a street car filled with moldy, musty grown-ups and\nwatch the starved looks and the foolish and pathetic boohs and pokes\nthey will dart in the direction of the child.\nIt is often my privilege to tell stories to a group of babies, and one\nday when they were crowded close around me one of them exclaimed--\u201cHey,\nyou spit right in my eye.\u201d Then it came to me what a lot of eyes I had\nprobably spit into all down the years, and how no one had ever told me\nof it so frankly before. Children are so honest until we teach them to\nsay that they\u2019re sorry when they\u2019re not, and to listen to stories that\nbore them and to pretend not to like Jazz when all the time they do.\nContact with children takes us back to the genesis of our being and\nrevives in us something primitive and honest and natural. I saw a man\nrecently being led out of a grown-up meeting by the hand of a child and\nhe looked so cross about it and was so obviously trying to maintain his\ndignity while the child hurried him up the aisle. I thought how silly.\nWhen a child has to leave a meeting he has to, that\u2019s all, and there\u2019s\nno use in arguing or getting cross about it. And really how good it\nwas for that pompous individual to get taken down a peg by the terribly\nhuman appeal of a little child.\nAll of us ought to find some children to tell stories to for our own\nsakes. And then when we have gotten Jack up the beanstalk and into the\nogre\u2019s kitchen, and the ogre says in an awful voice--\u201cI smell a human\nbeing,\u201d perhaps there will come to us some of the old thrill that we had\nforgotten.\nIf you don\u2019t know any children intimately, children who call you\n\u201cGeorge\u201d or \u201cAuntie Flo,\u201d children who run to meet you, children who\nhurt your pockets with anticipation, children to whom you read the\nfunnies or whom you take to the movies, children for whom you may revive\nyour childhood tricks of making a blade of grass squawk, or wiggling\nyour scalp, or cutting out a row of dancing paper dolls, then hurry and\nget acquainted even if you are driven to pick them up. If you don\u2019t,\nthen as sure as you\u2019re alive, you\u2019ll find yourself growing queer.\nThe Ferry and Real Boats\nAs a matter of fact the ferry isn\u2019t a boat at all. It is more like a\nhouse or a street car or a park full of pretty benches. It doesn\u2019t sail,\nit only plies, plies between two given points at stated intervals, and\ncould anything be more dull. Nothing is more prosaic than a ferry unless\nit be an ironing board.\nEven a barge is superior, and a barge doesn\u2019t pretend to be a boat. A\nbarge goes somewhere and it gets mussed up by the real salt sea, and so\ndo flat, old scows, honest and rough and sea-going. Any boat in the bay\nis superior to the effeminate ferry. Even the boat to Sacramento has a\nbit more atmosphere. As for tug boats, they are little, but O-my as they\npull the great, impotent barges after them. Pilot boats have quite an\nair making the big, dignified steamers look foolish being yanked here\nand there. The tidy fisherman\u2019s motor boats look rather unimaginative,\nall tied in rows at Fisherman\u2019s Wharf, but they go somewhere, sometimes\naway down the coast and from their sides the long nets reach away down\ninto the sea itself.\nHow the real boats in the bay must despise the ferry. Think of being\ncalled a boat and never once sailing out of the Golden Gate. How\nmaddening it must be. If the ferry had any spirit at all, some day it\nwould just switch about and go chunking out to sea. Imagine then the\nconcern of the staid commuters from Oakland and Alameda to say nothing\nof the citizens of Berkeley and Marin County, to find themselves being\nborne away from their vegetable gardens and fresh eggs out to sea in a\nwooden boat.\nI suppose there are many people living right here in San Francisco who\nhave never sailed away out of the Golden Gate, people who have been\nbound economically or by love or duty, and have had to ply like the\nferry daily between two given points. But can there be a man who has\nseen tall-masted schooners and long-bodied ocean-going steamers pass in\nand out of the alluring Golden Gate, and has never longed to sail away\nto the enchanted South Seas, or to Alaska. Such a man is not a man any\nmore than the ferry is a boat.\nIf I could choose the boat I\u2019d sail away upon, it would not be a\ncoast-wise steamer, nor the prim Alaska packers nor even the steamers to\nthe Orient. I\u2019d choose me a four-masted schooner, carrying freight and\ngoing somewhere, anywhere, no one knows where. And then some day the\nwind would die or some night the wind would howl and there would come to\nme a great longing for or a ferry that should take me home at night in a\nsafe and prosaic manner.\nA Whiff of Acacia\nIn Connecticut now, and in Illinois and in Utah too, it is lilac time.\nLilac time--I\u2019ll stop, if you please, to say the words over lovingly. In\nSan Francisco now the lilacs are in bloom but it is not lilac time. In\nGolden Gate Park the rhododendrons are blossomed into gorgeous mounds of\ncolor but they are not an event in San Francisco, only an incident. In\n\u201cThe Trail of the Lonesome Pine\u201d set in the mountains of Virginia, they\nare the dominant background.\nPoppies and lupine and many others are the flower tradition of\nCalifornia but they are not what I mean here. It is an impression\nof mine that San Francisco more than any other city has taken the\ntraditional plants and flowers of other sections and made them into a\ncomposite that makes up the plant atmosphere of this city.\nTake roses and geraniums and callas, none of which are epochal because\nthey are always at hand. But with old Mrs. Deacon Rogers in Connecticut\nwho nursed her calla through the long winter that she might take it to\nchurch on Easter Sunday, the calla was history.\nEven the camellia San Franciscans take very philosophically. It has\nnot, for instance, the supremacy that Dumas gives it in \u201cCamille.\u201d In\nSacramento they feature it more and an Easterner who saw them picking\nit in branches instead of single flowers, exclaimed: \u201cWhy, they think\nthey\u2019re oleanders.\u201d\nThe plant and flower atmosphere of a community is very important. Some\nchild is now growing up in the city, who some day will be far away when\nthere will come to him a whiff, perhaps of acacia, and in an instant\nthere will come surging over him all the feel and urge and thrill and\nwistfulness and dreams of his childhood, and he will be once more in the\natmosphere of San Francisco. It will not include winter and summer but\nan all-round-the-year-ness, it will not mean a flower, but flowers,\ncherry blossoms from Japan, acacia from Australia, and the best from\neverywhere which all together will mean to him--San Francisco.\nThe smell of the acacia, which he knew as the wattle, inspired Kipling\nto write those words\n \u201cSmells are surer than sounds or sights\n To make your heart strings crack.\u201d\nPerhaps many others see with me this difference between San Francisco\nand the rest of the country, as though nature here expresses herself in\nbounty more than in resurrection. Oh, well, whether it be \u201clilac time\u201d\n or \u201call the time\u201d to each locality there is its own beauty and, as for\nme, I have yet to find, in all my travels, the \u201cplace that God forgot.\u201d\nIt Takes All Sorts\n\u201cHey, hey,\u201d called the tall, nervous man with the fat, little wife,\nwaving his arms at the conductor for fear he would be carried past his\ncorner.\n\u201cIt takes all sorts of people to make a world,\u201d remarked the\nsensible-looking woman beside me.\nIt is not the first time that I have been impressed with the philosophy\nof those words. Who said them first, I wonder. \u201cIt takes all sorts of\npeople to make a world.\u201d That is, if we only had one sort or even a\nnumber of sorts we would have no world. To make a world there must be\nall sorts, including the funniest folks we ever knew.\nI looked from the sensible woman with her well-chosen clothes to\nthe woman across the way. This second woman was a sort of\ndressed-up-and-no-place-to-go type, with a squirt of Cashmere Bouquet in\nthe center of her handkerchief. And nothing on that went with anything\nelse she had on. And a hat which one knew was a hat, because it was on\nher head, otherwise it might have passed for almost anything.\nThe woman beside me wouldn\u2019t have been caught dead looking like the\nsecond woman. Yet she should have been thankful for her. For it is only\nby contrast that the well-groomed look smart, and the overdressed look\nfussy. Whether that is Einstein\u2019s theory of relativity or not, I don\u2019t\nknow. I only know that, \u201cIt takes all sorts of people to make a world.\u201d\nThere we sit on parade in these side-seater cars, and what we are is\nrevealed so pitilessly to all who sit across from us. It is as though\nFate were making jokes of us and sits us down beside the antitheses of\nourselves. Such a one of Nature\u2019s jokes I saw recently. They were\ntwo men. The first was the sort whom one calls an \u201cold boy.\u201d A racy\nindividual, well-fed with a round front, an Elk, of course, a city man,\nreeking of good cigars, and an appraising eye out for a good-looking\nwoman.\nBeside him sat a man who had been studying birds in the Park. Berkeley\nwas written all over him. A thin, pure type. He was dressed in field\nglasses and a bag full of green weeds and stout walking boots. There\nwas an ecstatic glint in his eye which meant that he had discovered a\nlong-billed, yellow-tailed Peruvian fly-catcher, \u201cvery rare in these\nparts.\u201d\nSo there they sat packed in so close and so terribly far apart, both so\nnecessary to the making of a world.\nAnd as they sat a boy entered the car with a shoe-box, full of holes,\nand out of the holes came a \u201cpeep\u201d and then another. And the Berkeley\nman lost his abstracted look and the man-about-town laid down his paper\nand pretty soon the boy lifted the lid a bit and both men peeked in.\nThe Fog in San Francisco\nSunsets in the desert, spring in New England, black-green oaks lying on\ntawny hills in Marin County, fields of cotton on red soil in Georgia,\nsurf on the rocks of Maine, moonlight on Mobile Bay, and the way the fog\ncomes upon San Francisco on summer afternoons.\nSometimes when all its hills lie sparkling in the sunshine and children\nplay on the sidewalks, young fellows whistle, business autos go\nzippity-ip around the corners, and the whole city is out of doors or\nhanging out of the windows, then suddenly in great billows the fog comes\nrolling in through the Golden Gate, and between the hills right up the\nstreets into the city.\nThen immediately all is changed and everything is nearer and more\nintimate and nothing of the city is left but the street you\u2019re on. Then\nyou hurry home for supper and home seems good and sometimes you even\nlight a little fire in the grate.\nStill it is not a cold fog, it is not a wet fog, it is never an unkind\nfog. It comes swiftly, but very gently, and lays its cool, dainty hand\non your face lovingly. Hands are so different, sticky or wet or clammy\nor hot, but the hand of the San Francisco fog is the hand of a kind\nnurse on a tired head. The rain is a beautiful thing too, but the fog\nhas another significance.--It is the \u201csmall rain\u201d that Moses spoke\nof--\u201cMy doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the\ndew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the\ngrass.\u201d\nIt is very beautiful too. My, but I\u2019ve seen fogs that were ugly, and\nheard the fisherman say \u201cShe\u2019s pretty thick tonight.\u201d San Francisco fog\nis not like that, but like great billows of a bride\u2019s veil. Then in the\nmorning when the sun comes it chases the bride and her veil out so fast,\nand they go out to sea together, sunshine and fog.\nThe other morning I awakened very early and there in the square of my\nwindow was a hard, black cube against a white background. I lay there\nand blinked and wondered where that telephone pole had come from, which\nlike Jack\u2019s beanstalk, had grown there overnight. Then I saw that the\nfog had shut out the whole world and brought that pole close, and made\nit seem big and formidable and ugly.\nThe fog makes some people lose their perspective, and for others it only\nwraps with a great kindness the whole world and blots out all ugliness.\nBut upon everyone, upon the just and unjust, this San Francisco fog lays\nits gentle hand lovingly and with an ineffable kindness.\nA Block on Ashbury Heights\nSometimes in the afternoons when the mothers are out shopping and the\nyoungsters have not yet returned from school our block looks so deserted\nand wind-swept and dull. The houses are so much alike. They all sit\nthere in a row with their poker faces like close-mouthed Yankees\nrefusing to divulge any secrets. But from the bow-windows where I\nsit and type, in spite of their silence the house fronts have become\nindividualized into so many human stories.\nI never stop to look out but somehow the stories get in through the\nwindow. For instance, I would not be so rude as to stare at the family\nwashing which once a week is hung on the flat top of a neighbor\u2019s\ngarage, but those clothes up there have a way of flapping in the wind so\nconspicuously that I cannot help see. There is the man of the house and\nhis, shall I say garments, kick themselves about like some staid old\ndeacon having his fling. Then there is the middle-sized bear whose\nbloomers, billowed by the wind, become a ridiculous fat woman cut off at\nthe waist. And the little bear\u2019s starched clothes crack and snap while\nthe revolving tree-horse whirls about like some mad dervish. I often\nwonder if the family know of the wild actions that take place on the\nroof.\nIt is a very respectable block inhabited mostly by grown-ups except\none lively house where a dog lives with some boys and their incidental\nparents. The door of that house continuously bangs, and other boys with\nother dogs are always hanging around whistling under the windows.\nMost of the windows are only used to admit light except one that is\nused to look out of and is inhabited by an old lady who sits all day and\nknits for her grandchildren. It must not be so bad, I think, to look\nout of the window upon life instead of always rushing off to catch a car\nthat takes one into the thick of it.\nOut of the window of my kitchenette I can look into the window of a girl\nin the next house. Every morning I get my breakfast by her dressing. My\ncoffee I start as she begins to unwind her curls from their steel cages.\nI have a suspicion that she also dresses by me. If she sniffs my coffee\nfirst, I imagine she hurries with her curls. She is usually fixing her\neye-brows to my toast and by the time I sit down she is doing her lips.\nAfter that she goes off for the long day and so do most of the people in\nthe block. Then at night they all return, drawn by some tie of love or\nhabit or despair, each to his right place in the long row of houses,\nwhich have been sitting there all day with their poker faces, waiting.\nThe Greek Grocer\nHe had just opened a store on our street and in a Lady Bountiful spirit\nof helping him out, I went in to do a little trading. I told him I\nwould like a can of baked beans. Baked beans, but he didn\u2019t seem to\nunderstand. So pointing over the counter where they were in plain sight,\nI said with all my teeth and tongue: \u201cBaaked Beens.\u201d He followed my\nfinger. \u201cOh,\u201d he said correcting me, \u201cYou min Purrk ind Bins.\u201d\nThat was the beginning and for weeks that Greek has been correcting\nmy pronunciation. There is no use to argue about it. The fellow has no\nreverence for Noah Webster and besides there are more Greeks, nowadays,\nthan Yankees, and their way is probably getting to be the right way.\nSometimes I think it is we who are the \u201cforeigners.\u201d\nOnce it was cauliflower. Now, I say cauliflower exactly as it is spelled\nbut that isn\u2019t right. It is \u201cCulliefleur,\u201d said staccato. And honey--one\nday I wanted honey and after I had sung \u201cHunnie, hunnie\u201d in high C, and\nhe didn\u2019t understand, I went around and picked out a jar of it. \u201cOh,\u201d he\nsaid reproachfully, \u201cyou min hawney.\u201d\nA Scotch woman had a scene with him the other day over some \u201cpaeper.\u201d\n There is no way of spelling it as she said it. She kept repeating it\nand he kept getting the wrong thing. No, she didn\u2019t want paper but\n\u201cpaeper\u201d--seasoning for the table--salt and \u201cpaeper.\u201d The more excited\nshe got, the more Scotch she got and the more confused he. Then, when\nthey were both fairly hysterical, I discovered that it was pepper.\nThen you should have heard that Greek scold. He told her that it was\n\u201cPip-RR.\u201d\nAnd she said back, \u201cPaeper.\u201d\nThen they argued and never once did either one of them get it \u201cPepper.\u201d\n\u201cPaeper.\u201d\n\u201cPip-RR.\u201d\n\u201cPaeper.\u201d\n\u201cPip-RR.\u201d\nOne day I heard him laying down the law to a woman who had dared\nquestion his price of \u201cRust Bif.\u201d He told her what he had to pay for\nit in \u201cCash Mawney\u201d and asked her if she could do so, to explain.\n\u201cExplin--you kin explin--explin.\u201d But she couldn\u2019t explain. So,\nchastened, she meekly bought the roast beef at his price.\nYesterday a U. C. girl was in and asked, \u201cYou are a Greek, are you not?\u201d\n\u201cNaw,\u201d he answered, \u201cyou min Grrik.\u201d\nBillboards or Art\nIf you like billboards you are not artistic. Take it or leave it. That\u2019s\nthe criterion. It\u2019s not my verdict. Ask those who know, the literary\nclubs, the art clubs and our distinguished guests from Europe. I can\nremember away back when Pierre Loti visited this country and was so\nshocked at the glaring billboards that marred the beauty of New York\nharbor and blinded his continental eyes with their gaudy colors.\nNow, I would like to be both artistic and fond of billboards. I can\u2019t be\nboth. So I choose--billboards. Everyone who reads these words must make\nhis choice.\nI not only enjoy them; I think they are beautiful. A lovely splash of\ncolor in the grayness of the city, a sincere expression of American\nlife, so sincere that the critics who take their opinions from Europe\nnever have been able to sneer us out of them.\nWe must admit, those of us who admire billboards, that the critics had\ntheir justification in the early days. We have not forgotten the days\nwhen mortgaged farmers prostituted their barns by selling advertising\nrights to Hood\u2019s Sarsaparilla and Carter\u2019s Little Liver Pills and to\nLydia Pinkham, and when Bull Durham marred every green meadow from\nBoston to Washington. Billboards were an unsavory addition to the\nlandscape then. But the modern art of bill posting is quite a different\nthing and in California it has reached its highest development.\nSegregated spots of color in the dun cities, surrounded by well\nmanicured lawns, supported by classic figures in white and lighted by\ndainty top lights. And out along the boulevards, how lovely they are at\nnight, luminous breaks along the dark highways, suggesting so tactfully\nthe kind of tire to use or the sort of mattress to lie upon.\nThe critic has had his mission. He has forced the Poster man.\nFortunately though young America has not taken him seriously. If he\nhad this country would have missed some of its most distinctive\ncontributions to Art. The electric sign for instance. That was condemned\nas vigorously as the billboard. And today, tell me, anybody, anywhere\nwhat is more beautiful in all the world than the dancing lights of\nMarket Street at night. In what a unique and vital way they express the\nlife of the great modern city.\nAnd anything that expresses Life, whether that life be mediaeval or the\nlife of the machine age, that is Art. There.\nHow pleased everyone is to know that the pretty Palmolive girl who \u201ckept\nher girl complexion\u201d is married and has a sweet little daughter who has\ninherited her mother\u2019s skin.\nI don\u2019t always take the posters seriously. Now, I don\u2019t believe that\nthat man \u201cwould walk a mile for a Camel.\u201d He\u2019d borrow one first. And\n\u201ccontented cows.\u201d Cows are always contented. All I\u2019ve known. But they\nmay have had bolshevikish notions recently, cud strikes, perhaps. Hence\nthe accent on \u201ccontented cows,\u201d to reassure us that there is no \u201cRed\u201d\n propaganda in the milk. Then, there is the parrot; what a long time it\ntakes to teach him to say \u201cGear-ardelly.\u201d And that sentimental touch,\n\u201cIf pipes could talk.\u201d They do.\nSometimes, in an absent-minded way, I get them confused, movies and\nmerchandise, and find myself wondering who\u2019s starring in \u201cNucoa.\u201d Then\nthere\u2019s that ecclesiastical looking party, the patron of Bromo-Quinine,\nwhom I always take for some bearded movie star.\nBut to return to their artistic merits, they are artistic. Take those\nsame \u201ccontented cows.\u201d What could be more futurist than the coal black\nsky under which they so contentedly graze? Or the henna hills so\nfar away, or the purple grass they chew. Matisse and Picasso, great\nmodernists, could not out-do those cows.\nThe cigarette men are particularly interesting. A bit over done. One\ncannot help wonder what enthusiasm they would have left for a gorgeous\nsunset having spent so much on, a cigarette. But I expect they are good\nmen at heart and not so sensuous as they appear. There\u2019s that jolly old\nboy who hasn\u2019t had such a good smoke in sixty years. One wonders if his\nteeth are his own. They all have teeth. Everyone has teeth these days.\nIt would be a change to see someone on a billboard with his mouth shut.\nGolden Gate Park\nEnter slowly, by foot is much the better way, and join the long,\nloitering procession.\nBlack-green foliage, the curious old-green of trees that never wither\nand never resurrect. Something very foreign or is it San Francisco?\nCubist effects of the horizontally-lined cypress, vertical lines of the\neucalyptus, and the soft, down-dropping of the willow trees and pepper.\nWomen on the benches tatting, reading, resting. A retired Kansan widower\npasses, glances sidewise. Well, no harm in looking at a comely woman.\nGossip of mothers over baby carriages, \u201cOnly nine months old! Mine is a\nyear. Well, we think he\u2019s pretty fine.\u201d\nComes the sight-seeing bus. Blare of the megaphone. \u201cSeventeen miles of\ndriveway, boost, boast, greatest in the world.\u201d\nAll day long the swings are swinging, rhythmic, slow to the touch of\nloving hands. Then at night when all is still and dark, they go on\nswinging dream children, rhythmic, slow.\nDown the slide into the soft sand. Grandpa tending Nellie\u2019s children:\n\u201cCareful there.\u201d Ding, ding like the sound of a temple bell the\nwhirling, dizzy iron rings clang against their iron pole. Tramp of the\npatient little burros. \u201cMother, I want another cone.\u201d\nBum-ti-bum, too-too-too, ta-ta-ta, ta-ta-tahh, the band. Wagner by\nrequest. Music lovers in the crowd. A symphony orchestra is very fine,\nbut simple people like ourselves, we also love a band.\nI\u2019ve never been to Japan, but this must be the way it looks. Tinkle of\nthe wind bells, petals of Cherry floating down. Sorry, but I\u2019ve used the\nlast of the films. Well, we\u2019ll come again.\nThe bears, the big brown grizzlies, leave them now. Out, what is this!\nFairyland of flowers and fragrance. Bears and orchids, wise planned\ncontrast.\nPeople with accumulative minds wander through the museum, very\ninteresting, \u201cJust look at this mosaic, John.\u201d Exhibit of modern art in\nthe gallery. \u201cPortrait of a girl,\u201d only a daub to the wayfaring man.\nLovers in secluded places stealing a kiss, caught by the middle-aged.\n\u201cSilly young things,\u201d wistfully.\nOnce all parks were private grounds. Free now to the poorest serf. Well,\nthere\u2019s something century-gained. Some people say the world\u2019s growing\nworse all the time. Perhaps, perhaps....\nWho cares. Lying flat on your back close to the smell of the earth, the\ngreat kind mother. Up, up at the sky, how deep, how blue. Is there a\nGod? There must be Something; look at each perfect blade of grass. An\nairplane across the blue. There\u2019s something gained.\nAutomobiles in stately procession proud as horses ever were. Automobiles\nproudly rolling, swings swinging, people passing, and the swimming of\nall the water fowls, the swans, the Japanese ducks and the little mud\nhens. Infinitude of movement, infinitude of life, ineffable beauty.\nThere must be a God. There must be Something back of it all.\nExtra Fresh\nSome one in San Francisco keeps hens. Not only hens, but a rooster. I\ndistinctly heard him crow. It was in the very early morning, and like\nTennyson\u2019s \u201cQueen of the May\u201d--lying broad awake--\u201cI did not hear the\ndog howl, mother, but I did hear this crow.\u201d\nIt is Ralph Waldo Trine, I think, who says that \u201cSo long as there\nremaineth in it the crow of a cock or the lay of a hen a city is not\na city.\u201d But I would not base the citifiedness of a city upon the mere\ncrow of a cock any more than on the census. It is a vulgar criterion.\nFor human nature is human nature and nothing betrays human nature like\nhens. It is not surprising, therefore, that some woman has sneaked\ninto the city limits a mess of hens. Neither is it an aspersion on the\npolice.\nBesides this was to be about eggs.\nHas anyone noticed how eggs of late years are never just eggs, but\nclassified? The hens seem to lay them classified. There are hen eggs and\npullet eggs and large hen eggs and small hen eggs and large pullet eggs\nand small pullet eggs and strictly fresh eggs and ranch eggs and choice\neggs and large dark eggs and all-mixed eggs and fresh cracked eggs and\nmixed color eggs and small brown and, oh, hundreds of sub-divisions.\nThe very latest I noticed were \u201cdirty\u201d eggs, 2 cents cheaper. I look\nnext for \u201csmall dirty eggs.\u201d Why should they sound so unrefined? More\nso some way than \u201csmall dirty boys.\u201d But an artist must paint life as\nhe sees it and I saw these \u201cdirty\u201d eggs on that bazaar--and bizarre--of\ndiversities--Fillmore street.\nOn Haight street I saw \u201cextra fresh eggs\u201d and how an egg can be more\nthan \u201cfresh\u201d I fail to see. Now, a man may be \u201cextra fresh,\u201d but an\negg is different. Even if it left the hen early it would still be only\n\u201cfresh.\u201d Well, the grocer probably knows.\nEvery adjective he uses has its significance. Take \u201cranch\u201d eggs, how\npastoral they sound and fanned by fresh zephyrs. The same with \u201cyard\u201d\n eggs, such an \u201cout in the open--let the rest of the world go by\u201d\n impression they confer. And so reassuring, too, as though they couldn\u2019t\nhave been manufactured for Woolworth\u2019s.\nThere is much, I find, to be written about eggs.\nIsn\u2019t it \u201cup-looking,\u201d as Mr. Wilson would say, that they are so cheap\nnow?\nI cannot help wondering if that woman\u2019s hens--the hens that went with\nthe crow--if they laid well when eggs were so high.\nOn the California-Street Car\nShe was a little black girl about four years old, riding with her mother\non the observation seat of the California street car. She was a little\nblack girl and didn\u2019t know the difference--she might have been as white\nas milk for all she knew. She was poor but daintily dressed beside being\nvery neat.\nThe rest of us in the car were grown-up and white--well-dressed people\nwho looked as though we knew a lot. We were all riding along; we and the\nlittle black girl with her mother, when suddenly we came out from\nthe surrounding wall of apartment houses into the open, facing a side\nstreet--.\nAnd there before us, in all its morning glory, lay the great city of\nSaint Francis. It was just emerging out of fog. The smoke and steam\nrising, touched into color by the sun, softened it into a great mystery\nwith forms and hulks coming into relief through the mists. For a moment\nit wasn\u2019t a city but a magnificent singing of the morning.\nIn a dull, inert way I suppose all of us, the grownup people, glimpsed\nsome of its beauty. But we were all intent upon the business of the\nday--we didn\u2019t look out very far--.\nBut the little black girl who didn\u2019t know any better, the little black\ngirl raised her two arms above her head and exclaimed in a high, joyous\nchild voice--\u201cGEE WHIZ!\u201d\nWestern Yarns\nThe men around the corner store at home were forever telling stories\nabout the big yarns that Were told in the West. One of the favorites\nwas that ancient one of the Western town that was so healthy they had to\nkill a man to start a graveyard.\nHaving been brought up on this tradition of Western yarns, I have been\nsurprised since living here never to have heard a single story that\ndidn\u2019t sound perfectly reasonable. But it has dawned on me recently that\nthe \u201cYarns\u201d are true. Therefore, they are no longer yarns, but facts.\nHere is an oil boom story I heard first-hand the other day. I believe\nit, but you couldn\u2019t get those men around the corner store to believe\nit--.\nIt was in a dusty town where everyone rushed in to make quick money and\nnever mind about the main street even if they did have to plough through\ndust to their knees. Then one day a heavy rain came that made the street\none slough of soft oozy clay which no one could cross.\nThen enters the hero. Even while they stood dismayed, gazing at each\nother across the clay, he appeared with a mud sled and took them all\nacross for 50 cents a passenger and $1 if you had a bundle.\nNow, I believe it. Didn\u2019t I see the man who had been there and paid his\nfour-bits to cross? Imagine, if you can, though, trying to make those\nYankees around the corner store believe that there was a town where one\nhad to pay 50 cents to cross a narrow country road in a mud sled.\nI believed a man who told me a story down in Kern County last summer. We\nwere riding over the desert and I asked the stage driver the name of\na low yellow bush that grows down there. He was an interesting fellow,\nthat stage driver, who had been a buccaroo all his life and apparently\nknew all about the sage brush country. And when he didn\u2019t know he was\nnot lacking in an answer. I like a man like that. Answer, I say, whether\nyou know or not.\nHe said with great assurance that the little, low, yellow bush was\n\u201cMexican saddle blanket\u201d or \u201cTinder bush,\u201d this last because it burns\nlike tinder in the fall of the year.\n\u201cWhy, that bush is so dry,\u201d he said, \u201cthat once when I lighted it to\ncook my bacon for breakfast it traveled so fast that by the time my\nbacon was cooked I was five miles from camp.\u201d\nI laughed--I couldn\u2019t help it when I imagined that six-footer traveling\nacross the desert with a frying pan over that low bush. I laughed\nbecause it was so real to me, but he misunderstood, and said so sort of\nhurt, \u201cDon\u2019t you believe me?\u201d\nAnd I told him I did. And I did. And I do. Five miles isn\u2019t a great\ndistance to travel over the desert after one\u2019s bacon.\nMr. Mazzini and Dante\nMr. Mazzini will never be rich. He takes too much time for philosophy\nand gossiping with the women, and he loves a joke too well, and his\nheart is too kind. He is a universal type, as old as the world is old,\nTheocritus knew him well.\n\u201cYou pick me out some good cantaloupes,\u201d I said with deadly tact, and\nMr. Mazzini answered that it couldn\u2019t be done and that melons were like\nmen, that there was no sure way of picking them out for their kindness\nof heart. Then he took time over the melons to tell me how his mother in\nItaly, who was evidently something of a match-maker, had gotten fooled\non a young man who was both \u201claze\u201d and \u201csteenge\u201d in his youth but who\nmade a very good husband.\nOne day it was figs, and I was strong for the nice appearing ones,\nbut Mr. Mazzini told me a lot about figs and chose me some that were\nlop-sided from packing. What delicious figs they were, all stored with\nsunshine and sweetness and flavor just as he had told me. Mr. Mazzini\nowns his own store, and yet when he throws in a few extra, as he always\ndoes, because they are soft or a little specked, he will wink and glance\nslyly around just as though he were putting one over on the boss.\nOne morning I saw him sweeping out his store and he wore a woman\u2019s\nsweeping cap with the strings tied under his grisly old chin. When I saw\nhim I just stood and laughed aloud, and he asked me why not, and said\nthat a sweeping cap was just as good for a man as for a woman, and then\nhe stopped his sweeping and gave me quite a male feminist talk. And\nhe has a horse, Mr. Mazzini has, a fat old plug that peeks around his\nblinders as humorously as his master. Oh, I could just keep on talking\nabout Mr. Mazzini for pages, but I started to speak of Dante.\nI like the Italians and I like the Latin quarter where they live. I like\nit better than Ashbury Heights for instance. I like the way the Italians\nuse their windows to look out of and to lean out of, and I like the way\nthey have socialized the sidewalk. It\u2019s all a matter of taste, and I\nwouldn\u2019t criticize the people of Ashbury Heights simply because they use\ntheir well-curtained windows only to admit the light, and do not lean\nout and gossip with their neighbors and yell to their children, \u201cMahree,\nMahree,\u201d nor sit out on their steps in the evening and play Rigoletto on\nthe accordion. It\u2019s all a matter of taste.\nSix hundred years ago Dante was an Italian, but he is much more than\nthat today. After six centuries Dante belongs to all those and only\nthose who can read him with appreciation and pleasure. Our scavenger\nis an Italian, and he reads Dante just as so many of the Anglo Saxon\nproletair read Shakespeare. So Dante belongs to this garbage man,\nnot because he is Italian, but because he sincerely loves the Divina\nCommedia. A waiter, in Il Trovatore, a rarely honest man, acknowledged\nto me that he could not read Dante, and that every time he tried he got\nmad and threw the book away.\nDante belongs to the literary elect of all nations, Dante belongs to the\ngreat internationale of the immortals. Dante belongs to Eternity. And\nfor that matter so does Mr. Mazzini.\nOn the Nob of Nob Hill\nOn the very nob of Nob Hill there is the ruin of a mansion which was the\nWhittell home. In ruins it still is a mansion. In ruins it is grander\nthan any place around because it belonged to the grand days.\nThere is an enclosed garden in the rear after the fashion of old Spanish\ngardens in Monterey. And between the boards that cover a door in the\nhigh wall, one may peek and catch a glimpse of hollyhocks in a row and\nroses running wild, trellises of green lattice and ghosts of beautiful\nladies having afternoon tea.\nTo one side of the mansion there is a formal garden that hugs up close\nto the ivy-covered walls of the house. It is such a garden as one sees\nin elaborately illustrated copies of Mother Goose \u201cwith silver bells and\ncockle shells.\u201d It\u2019s so beautiful that it doesn\u2019t seem real. California\ngardens are like that, and to those of us from bleak countries they look\nlike pictures out of books. There is this well-groomed garden of the\nliving present hugging up close to the ruins of yesterday and then, if\nyou please, Mother Nature, with her penchant for whimsy, has grown right\nup against these two a riot of purple and gold lupine, a product of her\nown unaided husbandry.\nI am not much on allegory nor sermonizing, but I declare San Francisco\ngets me started. And when walking along about one\u2019s business, one\nsees such a vivid picture, the allegory forces itself. The grandeur of\nyesterday, the serious beauty of today, and then the wild flowers that\ncovered the hills before man interfered and will live on after man has\ngone into dust to make new flowers.\nSuch a contemplation would make some people blue but it gives me a\nfeeling of something basic and secure and eternal in all this strange\npuzzle of life. It was a beautiful day up there on the tip-toe of Nob\nHill. What a beautiful view they must have had from the mansion windows.\nThe same sky and the same banks of heavy soft white clouds. And Job,\nthat mysterious man of the Bible, must have looked up at just such a sky\nwhen those stern questions came to him:\n\u201cWhere wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare if\nthou hast understanding.\n\u201cDost thou know the balancings of the clouds, the wondrous works of Him\nthat is perfect in knowledge?\u201d\n\u201cHast thou with Him spread out the sky, which is strong, and as a molten\nlooking glass?\u201d\nThe nob of Nob Hill, how close it is to the sky.\nThe Leighton Press San Francisco, Cal\nEnd of Project Gutenberg\u2019s Vignettes Of San Francisco, by Almira Bailey\n*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VIGNETTES OF SAN FRANCISCO ***\n***** This file should be named 4643-0.txt or 4643-0.zip *****\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\nProduced by David Schwan\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\nwill be renamed.\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\npermission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily\nkeep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.\nMost people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:\n www.gutenberg.org\nThis Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,\nincluding how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary\nArchive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to\nsubscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.", "source_dataset": "gutenberg", "source_dataset_detailed": "gutenberg - Vignettes Of San Francisco\n"}, {"source_document": "", "creation_year": 1849, "culture": " English\n", "content": "Produced by Charlene Taylor, Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe,\nMartin Pettit and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team\nproduced by the Wright American Fiction Project.)\nTHE FUNNY PHILOSOPHERS,\nOR\nWAGS AND SWEETHEARTS.\nA NOVEL.\nBY GEORGE YELLOTT.\nPHILADELPHIA:\nJ. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO.\nEntered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871, by\nJ. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO.,\nIn the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.\nTHE FUNNY PHILOSOPHERS.\nCHAPTER I.\n\"My great-grandfather was a philosopher, and why should not his\ndescendants be allowed the privilege of cogitating for themselves? I\ntell you that Sir Isaac Newton was mistaken. There is no such thing as\nthe attraction of gravitation.\"\nThis was said by Toney Belton, a young lawyer, in reply to his friend\nTom Seddon, a junior member of the same profession.\nThey were seated on the veranda of a hotel in the town of Bella Vista,\ngazing at the starry heavens; and Tom had made some remark about the\nwonderful revelations of science.\n\"What a pity it is, Toney Belton, that you are not a subject of her\nMajesty of England. Your extraordinary discovery would entitle you to\nthe honors of knighthood, and we might read of a Sir Anthony Belton as\nwell as of a Sir Isaac Newton. But how will you demonstrate to the world\nthat there is no such thing as the attraction of gravitation?\"\n\"Demonstrate it, Tom Seddon! Why, I can make it as plain as the\nproboscis on the countenance of an elephant.\"\n\"Do you mean to say that bodies do not fall to the earth by the power of\nattraction?\"\n\"That is precisely what I mean. I assert that a heavy body may fall\nupward as well as downward.\"\n\"Ha, ha, ha!\"\n\"As the old Greek said, Strike, but hear, so I say, Laugh, but listen.\nWill you allow me to suppose a case?\"\n\"That is the privilege of all philosophers. The cosmology of the\nOriental sage would have fallen into the vast vacuity of space had he\nnot brought to its support a hypothetical foundation. Proceed with your\ndemonstration.\"\n\"Suppose, then, that an immense well should be dug from the surface of\nthe American continent entirely through the earth. We will not stop to\ninquire into the possibility of such an excavation, but will suppose\nthat the work has been accomplished.\"\n\"Be it so. Your well has been dug, and extends entirely through the\nearth, from the United States of America to the Celestial Empire. What\nthen?\"\n\"Suppose that Clarence Hastings should be walking home about twelve\no'clock at night. It would then be broad daylight in the dominions of\nhis Majesty the Brother of the Sun and the Cousin of the Moon, and the\nCelestials would be picking tea-leaves or parboiling puppies. Suppose, I\nsay, that Clarence should be walking home after having spent the last\nfour or five hours in the delightful society of the lovely Claribel.\nNow, it is highly probable that Clarence would be gazing upward at the\nlunar orb and meditating a sonnet.\"\n\"Nay; Harry Vincent is the sonneteer. I verily believe that he has\ndedicated a little poem of fourteen lines to nearly every visible star\nin the heavens, and solemnly swears in the most mellifluous verses that\nnone of them are half so bright as the eyes of the bewitching Imogen.\"\n\"Let it be Harry Vincent, then, who is walking home and making his\nastronomical observations with a view to the disparagement of the stars,\nwhen brought in comparison with the optical orbs of his lady-love. We\nwill suppose that he is gazing at yonder star which is now winking at\nus, as if it heard every word of our conversation. He would take but\nlittle heed to his footsteps while his gaze was fixed upon the star and\nhis thoughts were wandering away to Imogen. As he exclaimed, 'Oh,\nImogen! thine eyes exceed in brightness all the glittering gems that\nbespangle the garments of the glorious night,' he would tumble into the\nwell.\"\n\"Ha, ha, ha! Good-by, Harry.\"\n\"Would he not rapidly descend?\"\n\"I should think that he would.\"\n\"Would he stop falling when there was no bottom to the well?\"\n\"It is impossible to suppose that he would.\"\n\"Then he would fall entirely through the well and would be falling\nupward when he issued from the other end, and our worthy antipodes, the\ntea-pickers, would open their eyes in amazement, and their pig-tails\nwould stand erect when they beheld the handsome Harry Vincent falling\nupward, and heard him loudly exclaiming, 'Oh, Imogen!' and he would\ncontinue to fall upward until he was intercepted by the earth's\nsatellite and became the guest of the man in the moon.\"\n\"A most delightful abode for a romantic lover. But, as you do not\nbelieve in the attraction of gravitation, what have you to say about the\nattraction of love?\"\n\"The attraction of love? Another of your delusions, Thomas. Now, if you\nhad ever seen my definition of love, in the dictionary which I have in\nmanuscript, and intend to publish some day when Noah Webster shall have\nbecome obsolete, you would not talk of attraction in that connection.\"\n\"What is your definition of love?\"\n\"Love is a state of hostility between two persons of opposite sexes.\"\n\"Of hostility?\"\n\"Yes; in which each belligerent endeavors to subjugate the other,\nregardless of the sufferings inflicted.\"\n\"This is as queer a paradox as that in relation to the possibility of a\nman falling upward.\"\n\"No paradox at all, but a most obvious truth. There is Claribel\nCarrington, who looks like an innocent and enchanting little fairy.\"\n\"She is superbly beautiful, and Clarence Hastings would barter his\nexistence for a soft, kindly glance from her deep blue eye. They are in\nlove with one another, that is evident.\"\n\"And being in love, hostilities have commenced; and, if I mistake not,\nthe war will be conducted by the lady with unexampled barbarity. When\nwe enter the ball-room to-night, you will perceive this angelic creature\ninflicting more torture on poor Clarence than a pitiless savage inflicts\nwith his scalping-knife on his victim; and all because she is dead in\nlove with him, and he with her.\"\n\"Toney Belton, you deserve to have your eyes scratched out by a bevy of\nbeautiful damsels for your disparaging opinion of the last best gift.\"\n\"Let them scratch; for women are like cats.\"\n\"Like cats?\"\n\"There is a striking similitude between them; and when a man with a\npulpy brain and a penetrable bosom falls into the hands of a beautiful\nand fascinating woman, he is much in the condition of an unfortunate\nmouse in the paws of a remorseless pussy. Indeed, nearly all truly\nfaithful and devoted lovers have to undergo an ordeal like that of the\nhelpless captive in feline clutches. The cruel cat will at one moment\npat her victim softly on the head, and fondle it with the utmost\naffection, as if it were the most precious treasure she had in the\nworld; she will apparently repent of her intention to hold it in\ncaptivity, and will permit it to escape and run half-way over the floor,\nwhen, with a sudden spring, she will pounce upon it again and hold it\nfast, regardless of its squeals for mercy. Just so with a pretty woman\nand her lover. Next to a tabby cat, the most remorseless and cruel\ncreature in the world is a woman who has a man completely in her power.\nIndeed, there is so great a congeniality of disposition between the\nfemale sex and the feline species that maidens, when they become elderly\nand are not otherwise occupied, almost invariably take to nursing\ncats,--there being a mysterious affinity which draws them together.\"\n\"Do you want me to believe that a woman will not marry a man until she\nhas first tortured the soul out of him, and made him utterly miserable?\nWhy, they say that marriages are made in heaven.\"\n\"In heaven they may be made, Thomas; but, if so, they are caught on the\nhorns of the moon as they are coming down; for I tell you that hardly\nany woman ever marries the right man, and hardly any man ever marries\nthe right woman. You have only to open your eyes and you will perceive\nthis without the aid of an opera-glass.\"\n\"My observations have led me to no such conclusions.\"\n\"Have you never observed, oh, most sagacious Thomas, that no pretty\nwoman ever had an adorer without wishing to torment him with a rival?\nAnd is it not a singular fact that she usually selects some male animal\nto occupy that position who is in every respect the inferior of the\nworthy man whom she is endeavoring to drive to distraction? Does she not\ntake every occasion to inflate the vanity of him whom she cares nothing\nabout, and to humiliate the man whom she really loves? Now, there are\nClaribel Carrington and Imogen Hazlewood,--they are both pretty women.\"\n\"Pretty! They are both surpassingly beautiful, though not at all\nalike!--the former a blonde, with deep blue eyes and golden tresses; the\nlatter a brunette, with locks as dark as a feather fallen from the wings\nof night, and black eyes, from which Cupid, who continually lurks under\nthe long lashes, borrows the barbs for the arrows with which he mortally\nwounds multitudes of unlucky swains.\"\n\"Do not be poetical, Thomas. Pray take your foot from the stirrup and\ndismount before Pegasus carries you to the clouds, and you lose an\nopportunity of listening to plain, sensible prose. Each one of these\nyoung ladies has a devoted lover.\"\n\"You may well say devoted; for if Claribel or Imogen were to wish for an\nicicle from the end of the North Pole with which to cool a lemonade,\neither Harry Vincent or Clarence Hastings would hurry thither and slip\noff into the unfathomable abyss of space in a desperate attempt to\nobtain it.\"\n\"Your imagination is both hyperborean and hyperbolical. But let us\nreturn from the North Pole to the ladies. Claribel loves Clarence, and\nImogen Harry, and yet neither will marry the man she loves.\"\n\"And why not, oh, prophet?\"\n\"Because no pretty woman ever does. Each lady will select some nonentity\nof the masculine gender, and expect her lover to enter into a contest\nof rivalry. Each gentleman will decline the contest.\"\n\"Why so?\"\n\"I know them both. Each is a proud man, and has an abundance of\nself-respect. No daughter of Eve can comprehend a proud man, though\nevery woman knows how to manage a vain one to perfection. Although\neither Harry or Clarence would, as you say, go to the North Pole in\nobedience to the wishes of the woman he adores, neither of them will\nconsent to humiliation for her sake. She will persist in her course, and\nwill ultimately find herself abandoned by her lover. Then, after a few\nyears----\"\n\"Well, what after a few years?\"\n\"You will behold the once fairy-like Claribel a matron of robust\nproportions, married to a plain man, who made her an offer in a\nbusiness-like manner.\"\n\"And Clarence?\"\n\"A bald-headed man, who, having worked like a beaver and made a large\nfortune, is enjoying it with a wife who is as ugly as sin, but is a most\nexcellent manager of his domestic affairs.\"\n\"Toney, when do you intend to publish your book of prophecies?\"\n\"A prophet has no honor in his own country. But, do you not hear the\nsound of music in the ball-room? Let us go in,--\n On with the dance! let joy be unconfined,\n No sleep till morn when Youth and Pleasure meet\n To chase the glowing hours with flying feet.\"\nCHAPTER II.\nIn one of the border States of the South, in the midst of a romantic\nscenery, is situated the village of Bella Vista. Being connected by\nrailway with a number of populous towns, it had become a place of resort\nduring the season of summer for persons who desired to exchange the\nsultry atmosphere of cities for the cool breezes, shady groves, and pure\nfountains of this delightful retreat.\nIn the village had been erected a commodious hotel, which, during the\nmonths of summer, was filled with guests. The proprietor, desirous of\ncontributing to the enjoyment of his patrons, had arranged for\nsemi-weekly hops, which were attended not only by the inmates of the\nhotel, but by families from the village and from the surrounding\ncountry.\nThe two young lawyers, Toney Belton and Tom Seddon, the former a\nresident of the town of Mapleton, in an adjoining county of the State,\nand the latter a citizen of Bella Vista, entered the ball-room soon\nafter the musicians had sounded a prelude to the poetry of motion. As\nthey moved through the crowd they were met by a handsome young man who\nextended his hand to each.\n\"Why, Clarence, my dear fellow,\" said Toney, \"I am glad to see you.\nWhat! are you not dancing? Where is the lovely Miss Carrington? You will\nbe accused of----\"\nThe young man turned hastily away before Toney could complete his\nsentence; and the next moment he was seen standing in a corner of the\nroom gazing at a beautiful girl with an indescribable look of\nindignation. The young lady was apparently listening to an ill-favored\nman who was talking to her with immense volubility. She smiled very\npleasantly on her uncomely admirer and never once looked at Clarence\nHastings.\n\"Just as I told you,\" said Toney. \"Hostilities have already commenced.\nLook at Clarence Hastings yonder! He has a small thunder-cloud on his\nbrow, and is directing the lightning from his eyes in incessant flashes\nat the cruel Claribel.\"\n\"I was observing him,\" said Seddon. \"What is the matter with the man? He\nlooks as if he were meditating homicide, or suicide, or something of the\nsort. What has Claribel done to him?\"\n\"Declined to dance with him, I suppose. See! she has selected one of the\nmost fascinating men in the room to be his rival.\"\n\"The man she was just talking to, and with whom she is now dancing? He a\nrival of the handsome Clarence Hastings? Why, he is as ugly as a Hindoo\nidol! Who is he? What is his name?\"\n\"Botts--Ned Botts. He lives in my town, whence he has just arrived in\ncompany with Sam Perch, William Wiggins, and M. T. Pate, Esq., the\nlatter a distinguished lawyer of Mapleton. These four gentlemen are here\non a lady-killing expedition. General Taylor has recently disposed of a\nmultitude of Mexicans at Buena Vista, and my fellow-townsmen expect to\nmake great havoc at Bella Vista.\"\n\"That ungainly creature a lady-killer? And yet, by Jove! Claribel smiles\non him as if she really admired him. Who is this man Botts?\n\"He is the ugly man who once tried to run away from his own shadow. Did\nyou never hear the story?\"\n\"No. How was it?\"\n\"Botts had been with a number of boon-companions at a tavern in\nMapleton, and had put himself in an abnormal condition by the\nconsumption of a considerable quantity of fluids. As you see, he is no\nAdonis when sober; but when inebriated, his ugly visage would endanger\nthe safety of a mirror at the distance of twelve paces. In the afternoon\nhe was standing in the street alone when he happened to see his own\nshadow, and was so startled by its unexampled ugliness that he made a\ntremendous leap to the right. The hideous apparition made a dart after\nhim. Botts jumped to the left; but the frightful spectre sprang at him\nagain.\"\n\"Ha, ha, ha! Toney, you will murder me!\"\n\"Botts had often heard that drunken men would sometimes have _delirium\ntremens_, and see devils. He thought _delirium_ was coming on him, and\nthat his ugly shadow was a fiend.\"\n\"No wonder! no wonder! What did he do?\"\n\"He uttered a yell that set all the dogs in the town to barking, and\ntook to his heels up the street. Each time he looked around he beheld a\nhorrible devil following him, and at the sight he would give another\nyell, and redouble his efforts to escape. Soon half the men and boys in\nthe town were after him. Away went Botts, and brought up at a doctor's\nshop. He fell on the floor in a fit, and it was a long time before he\ncould be restored to consciousness. His ugly shadow had nearly been the\ndeath of him.\"\n\"And you will be the death of me, if you tell any more such stories. But\nwho is that large man, with the bald head, who is jumping about among\nthe dancers with a bunch of flowers in his hand? He has no partner but\nseems to be exercising his legs in sympathy with those who are really\ndancing. No! I was mistaken,--he has a partner, but the lady's pretty\nfigure is so small that I could only see the top of her head, which is\ncovered with scarlet verbenas and a profusion of roses; and I was under\nthe illusion that the big man was going it alone with a magnificent\nbouquet in his grasp. Toney, do tell me, who is that man? He seems to be\na great admirer of beauty, and has been flitting about among the ladies\nlike a large bumble-bee in search of the sweetest and most delicious\nflowers.\"\n\"That is M. T. Pate, a distinguished lawyer, an eloquent orator, an able\nwriter, a profound thinker, and the prince of lady-killers. He is\npossessed of a very original genius, and has recently written a\nremarkable pamphlet, in which is demonstrated the possibility as well as\nthe immense importance of draining the Atlantic Ocean, and converting\nits rich alluvial bottoms into cultivated corn-fields.\"\n\"How does he propose to accomplish this stupendous undertaking?\"\n\"By constructing a number of enormous steam-pumps at the Isthmus of\nPanama, and forcing the water into the Pacific. He says that when this\ngreat work is once accomplished, the inexhaustible soil now lying\nentirely useless under the water will afford a comfortable support for\ncountless millions of men; and that the incalculable amount of gold,\nsilver, and precious jewels which have gone down in the vast number of\nvessels that have foundered at sea will more than defray the cost of\nthis magnificent enterprise. Pate has sent a copy of his pamphlet to the\nlearned professors of one of our universities, who now have it under\nconsideration. In the mean while he has abundant leisure to devote\nhimself to the ladies, by whom he is much admired. But, Tom, has not\nWiggins caused you to become acquainted with the green-eyed monster?\"\n\"Who is Wiggins?\"\n\"The man who is dancing with pretty Ida Somers. He has devoted himself\nto her during the entire evening. Beware of jealousy, Tom! Let there not\nbe a demand for coffee and pistols in the morning.\"\n\"Pshaw! Nonsense, Toney! Ida and I are good friends--nothing more--when\nold Crabstick, her uncle, will allow us to talk to one another--which is\nbut seldom. But is Wiggins the individual with the enormous red nose?\"\n\"The same. You have a formidable rival, Tom. In my town he is admired\nfor his comeliness, and is known by the name of Rosebud.\"\n\"A curious name for one of the masculine gender! How did he acquire it?\"\n\"Why, it seems that on a sultry day in June, this worthy citizen having\ndone ample honors to the god of the grape, was reposing under a tree on\na fragrant bed of clover, when an industrious bee, foraging among the\nflowers, espied his crimson proboscis, and supposing it to be a Bourbon\nrose, alighted upon it, in the vain expectation of extracting honey for\nthe hive. While the busy insect was endeavoring to distill sweets from\nthis extraordinary nose, the sleeper became conscious of a tickling\nsensation, and shook his head in disapproval of the futile attempt;\nwhereat the irritable little creature darted out its sting, and Wiggins\nleaped up with an outcry and vigorously rubbed his nasal protuberance.\nThis scene was witnessed by some wags, who were convulsed with laughter.\nThe nose soon began to swell, and, becoming more deeply crimson, it\nlooked like a rose about to burst into full bloom. Since his nap among\nthe clover, Wiggins has been called Rosebud by his boon-companions.\"\n\"By Jove! what a magnificent woman!\"\nThis exclamation was uttered in a half whisper by Seddon as a tall,\ndark-eyed woman, with a beauty that baffled description, moved across\nthe room, with fifty pair of eyes following her in admiration.\n\"Imogen Hazlewood?\" said Belton.\n\"Poor Harry!\" said Seddon.\n\"He is deserving of your sympathy,\" said Toney. \"Look! he is now\napproaching her with the awe and timidity of a man about to converse\nwith a goddess, such as we used to read of in the classic hexameters of\nOvid or Virgil. _Oh, dea certa!_ It won't do, Tom! it won't do!\"\n\"What won't do?\"\n\"For a man to let a woman see that he is dead in love with her. 'What\ncareth she for hearts when once possessed?' Not a fig, Tom! not a fig.\nCarry your love about you like a concealed weapon. Don't let her know\nanything about it until you pop the question. Pop it at her when she\ndon't expect it, and she will fall into your arms as if she had received\na pistol-shot,--\n Do proper homage to thine idol's eyes,\n But not too humbly, or she will despise\n Thee and thy suit, though told in moving tropes,\nand, turning her back on you, as Imogen has done now on Harry Vincent,\nwill walk off on the arm of some fellow like Sam Perch.\"\n\"Sam Perch? Do you mean the tall youth with a freckled face and a head\nof hair so fiery red that it looks like a small edition of a burning\nbush? What a remarkable head!\"\n\"It is a celebrated head. There was once a lawsuit about that head, and\nI was counsel for the defendant.\"\n\"A lawsuit about the young man's head?\"\n\"Yes, a very extraordinary forensic controversy, which attracted much\nattention, and in which I established my professional reputation by\ndefeating my distinguished friend M. T. Pate, who appeared as the\nplaintiff's counsel.\"\n\"Toney, do you pretend to tell me that anybody ever went to law about\nthat fellow's head? How did such a suit originate?\"\n\"Why, you must know, Tom, that there is a curious tale attached to that\nyoung man's head.\"\n\"So there is to the head of a Chinaman.\"\n\"No punning on people's cocoanuts, Mr. Seddon! But hear the history of\nthis very remarkable lawsuit. On a cold evening in December, Perch was\nin a certain house in Mapleton, making himself agreeable to some young\nladies, when they commenced tittering to such a degree that he was at\nfirst highly flattered, supposing that their merriment was produced by\nhis numerous attempts at witticisms. At length these demonstrations of\nmirth became uncontrollable, and Perch, glancing at a large mirror\nopposite, was suddenly struck dumb with confusion.\"\n\"At the image of his handsome self?\"\n\"A mischief-loving young girl had taken her station behind him and was\nholding her hands over his red head, and rubbing them, as if she were\nenjoying the warmth of a blazing fire.\"\n\"It would hardly be necessary to invoke the aid of imagination for that\npurpose. This room begins to feel hotter with that fellow's red head\ncarried about in it like a brasier of live coals. But go on.\"\n\"Perch was horrified at the revelations of the mirror. He rushed from\nthe house in a fit of desperation.\"\n\"To put his burning bush under a pump?\"\n\"Thoroughly disgusted with his red hair, he consulted a barber, who\nundertook, for an adequate pecuniary consideration, to impart to it a\nsable hue, by the application of certain dyes. Perch left the shop with\na fine suit of black hair, as glossy as the plumage on the bosom of a\nraven; but in the afternoon of the following day the color was suddenly\nand mysteriously changed to a pea-green. He was on a promenade at the\ntime, and, not being aware of this sudden and remarkable metamorphosis,\nhe encountered the same young ladies and escorted them home. But when he\nentered the house and laid aside his hat, his head looked very much like\nan early York cabbage. Self-control was out of the question. The mirth\nof the young maidens was so immoderate that they almost went into\nconvulsions, and the graceful and accomplished youth hurried away,\nboiling with indignation. Upon consulting his mirror, he perceived his\ndreadful condition. He passed a sleepless night in intense agony. Next\nday he barricaded his door and was not to be seen. He remained for a\nwhole week in solitary confinement, brooding over his misfortune. The\nunhappy youth finally became hypochondriacal, and you know that while in\nthis condition the mind is often under the dominion of sad and\nunaccountable illusions.\"\n\"I am aware of that. Our housekeeper once imagined she was a teapot, and\nsat for a whole day with one arm akimbo, as the handle, and the other\nprojected from her person to represent the spout. She gave a vast deal\nof trouble, and was continually admonishing the servants not to come\nnear her lest they might upset her and break her to pieces. And only\nlast winter old Crabstick got a strange notion in his head that he was a\ndog. One day, when I called to see Ida, he got down on all fours and\nbarked obstreperously, and bit Scipio, his negro man, on the calf of his\nleg. I had to leave the house in a hurry to escape from his canine\nferocity.\"\n\"The illusion of Perch was equally as extraordinary. After brooding over\nhis misfortune for a whole week, he imagined he was a donkey.\"\n\"Imagined he was a donkey?\"\n\"Yes; a monstrous donkey.\"\n\"Was it all imagination, Toney?\"\n\"Be that as it may; I know that he created much annoyance among the\nneighbors; for he commenced braying in a most extraordinary manner. His\nfriends gathered around him and endeavored to reason him out of his\nunhappy delusion, but all to no purpose, for he had got the idea in his\nhead that he was a prodigious jackass, and the more they talked to him\nthe more loudly he would bray. He refused his natural food, and demanded\nto be led to the stable, that he might have a manger, and be fed on\nprovender suitable for animals of the asinine species. The doctors had\nmuch trouble with him, and tried various remedies without any apparent\ngood result. They finally determined to drench him with strong brandy,\nand the potency of this fluid soon restored him to a more happy\ncondition of body and mind. He recovered, and sent for the distinguished\nlawyer, M. T. Pate, and by his advice brought suit against the barber,\nlaying the damages at one thousand dollars.\"\n\"For what?\"\n\"For injury done to the young man's head. The barber was dreadfully\nfrightened at the prospect of a ruinous litigation, and solicited my\nprofessional services. M. T. Pate exerted himself to the utmost, and, in\na carefully prepared and eloquent speech, endeavored to demonstrate to\nthe jury how great an injury had been done to his client's head; at the\nsame time denouncing the author of the outrage in terms of unmeasured\nvituperation. But his efforts were of no avail, for I was prepared with\nthe proof, and had put more than a dozen witnesses on the stand, all of\nwhom swore that the young man looked much better with his head of a\npea-green color than he did when it was of a fiery red. In consequence\nof this testimony the jury came to the conclusion that the plaintiff had\nsustained no injury and was entitled to no damages. They rendered a\nverdict in favor of the defendant, and M. T. Pate's client not only had\nto pay the costs of the suit, but went by the name of the 'LONG GREEN\nBOY' ever afterwards.\"\n\"Mr. Belton, I am exceedingly glad to see you,\" said a tall, raw-boned\nman, with a keen, dark eye, a Roman nose, and a swarthy visage.\n\"Mr. Seddon,\" said Toney, \"let me introduce you to Captain Bragg, a\nfamous traveler, who has seen more of this terrestrial globe than we\nhave ever read of.\"\nSeddon shook hands with the distinguished cosmopolite, and remarked that\nthe weather was extremely hot.\n\"Hot!\" said Bragg. \"My dear sir, do you call it hot? You should have\nbeen with me when I was once invited by her Majesty the Queen of\nMadagascar to a royal feast. As we sat at table under an awning, huge\npieces of the most delicious beef were served up, which had been roasted\nby being exposed to the vertical rays of a tropical sun. That was what I\nwould call hot weather, Mr. Seddon. But, by the powers of mud! what is\nthat?\"\nA loud noise and trampling of feet were heard in the hall. The door flew\nopen, and women shrieked and men stood aghast, as a horrible apparition\nentered the ball-room. It seemed like an ugly demon with two heads. The\nmonster rushed among the dancers, howling and screeching, and creating\nthe most extraordinary confusion. Ladies, with loud cries, clung to\ntheir partners for protection, as with unearthly yells the two-headed\nmonster rushed around. All seemed to lose presence of mind except Toney\nBelton, who tripped up the heels of the hideous intruder, and it fell on\nthe floor. Then was witnessed a fearful conflict. While the women\nscampered away, and ran screaming through the hall, the men gathered\naround, and soon recognized the belligerents. It was Ned Botts, engaged\nin a hand-to-hand encounter with a gigantic and ferocious monkey\nbelonging to Captain Bragg. The creature had escaped from confinement\nand had perched itself on the stairway in the hall. As Botts, after\nhaving enjoyed a mint-julep, was returning from the refreshment-room, it\nsprang upon his shoulders and seized him by the hair. Terrible was the\ncombat between Botts and the monkey. Each made the most ugly grimaces\nand exhibited the most deadly ferocity. Botts grappled his antagonist by\nthe throat, and the fight would have ended in a tragedy had not Bragg\ninterfered.\nMaddened with passion, Botts sprang to his feet and put himself in a\nboxing attitude, whereupon Bragg knocked him down. The gentlemen present\nnow interposed, and Botts was carried off, loudly vociferating, and\nswearing vengeance against Bragg and his monkey.\nCHAPTER III.\nThe excitement occasioned by the terrific combat in the ball-room was\nintense. On the following morning groups of anxious persons were\ndiscussing the probability of a duel between Bragg and Botts. There had\nbeen an interchange not only of harsh language but of blows between\nthese gentlemen, and it was the general opinion that a hostile meeting\nwas inevitable. Toney and Tom were sitting in the room of the former,\npuffing their cigars, and conversing about the events of the preceding\nevening, when there was a knock at the door, followed by the entry of a\ngentleman whose countenance indicated that he was troubled by very great\nmental anxiety.\n\"Good-morning, Mr. Pate. Let me introduce you to my friend Mr. Seddon.\"\nThe two gentlemen shook hands, and Seddon made some meteorological\nobservation, which was unheeded by Pate, who nervously turned to Toney,\nand said,--\n\"Mr. Belton, I have called to see you about a matter of great\nimportance,--I might say an affair of life or death.\"\n\"Indeed, Mr. Pate! To what have you reference?\"\n\"I refer, sir, to the unfortunate affair between our friend Mr. Botts\nand--and----\"\n\"The monkey?\"\n\"Just so, sir. I am afraid that the--the--the difficulty will end in--in\nbloodshed, sir. I apprehend that Mr. Botts is about to send a challenge\nto--to--to----\"\n\"The monkey? Why, Mr. Pate, the animal will not accept it if he does.\"\n\"I don't mean to the monkey, sir; I mean to Captain Bragg.\"\n\"Oh, that alters the case. The captain is a fighting man.\"\n\"Yes, sir; and Mr. Botts is determined on a bloody issue. He has been\nwith Wiggins the whole morning, and I know that he has penned a\nchallenge.\"\n\"Well, my dear sir, what can I do to prevent the issue which you\napprehend?\"\n\"Bragg will apply to you to act as his second. Could you not persuade\nhim to apologize?\"\n\"Apologize! Apologize for knocking Botts down? Impossible, sir!\"\n\"How impossible? Cannot a man apologize for what he has done?\"\n\"Mr. Pate, you are well versed in legal lore, but you seem to be\nprofoundly ignorant of a very stringent article in the code of honor.\"\n\"And what is that, sir?\"\n\"One of the thirty-nine articles of the code of dueling, compiled by 'A\nSouthron,' prohibits a gentleman, who has received a blow, from\naccepting an apology until the party who has dealt the blow first allows\nhimself to be slapped on the face in the most public place in the town.\nNow, do you suppose that Captain Bragg will consent to stand in the\nstreet, in front of the hotel, before a crowd of spectators, male and\nfemale, and allow Botts to knock him down, and then get up and apologize\nfor having knocked Botts down? Impossible, sir! impossible! There can be\nno apology.\"\n\"No apology? If a man is sorry for what he has done, is he prohibited\nfrom saying so? Monstrous, sir! monstrous! Is this a Christian country?\"\n\"I believe it is; and dueling is a Christian practice.\"\n\"I deny it most emphatically, sir. It is a barbarous, a heathenish\npractice!\"\n\"Why, Mr. Pate, who ever heard of the code of honor among the heathen\nGreeks or Romans, or among any other heathens, ancient or modern?\nChristians are the only duelists. The custom originated with the knights\nwho fought for the Cross and against the Crescent. It has been the\nfavorite mode of settling difficulties, among gentlemen in Christian\ncountries, ever since. Yes, sir; and even churchmen have fought duels. A\nparson, in one of our Southern States, once challenged a layman, and\nshot him through the heart in accordance with the code of honor.\"[1]\n\"Horrible! Mr. Belton, what--what is to be done?\"\n\"Why, I suppose, we must let the men fight, if they are determined to do\nso.\"\n\"Can we not apply to a justice of the peace? Can we not have them\narrested?\"\n\"Mr. Pate, if you were to do so, public opinion is such that you would\nbe mobbed, ridden on a rail, pelted with rotten eggs, and your life\nmight be in danger.\"\n\"My dear, dear sir, what--what is to be done? I cannot see poor Botts\nshot down,--cut off in the flower of his days!\"\nHere Mr. Pate was so overcome by his feelings that the big tears began\nto roll down his cheeks, and Tom Seddon's heart was softened.\n\"Why, Mr. Pate,\" said he, \"there will be no duel if Botts does not send\nthe challenge. Could you not use your influence with him, and induce him\nto heap coals of fire on Bragg's head by forgiving the injury?\"\n\"And I promise you,\" said Belton, \"that if the duel does come off, it\nshall not have a tragical termination. I will not advise Bragg to fire\nin the air; for a friend of mine once did so and shot a boy, who was\nperched among the boughs of a cherry-tree, through the calf of the leg.\nSince then I have always been opposed to the absurd and dangerous\npractice of firing in the air. Seconds, however, can usually prevent\nbloodshed, unless their principals are exceedingly savage and\nsanguinary. But I think that the suggestion of my friend Seddon is a\ngood one. You should hurry back, and endeavor to prevent Botts from\nsending the challenge.\"\n\"I will do so! I will do so! God bless you both!\" And with this\nbenediction Pate hurried away in extreme agitation.\nFOOTNOTE:\n[1] This happened in Maryland many years ago.\nCHAPTER IV.\n\"Your friend Mr. Pate seems to be a very humane and benevolent man,\"\nsaid Seddon, when the peacemaker had taken his departure.\n\"None more so,\" said Belton. \"Pate is not more remarkable for his\nextraordinary genius than for the vast quantity of the milk of human\nkindness which he has in his composition. It was the activity and\noriginality of his mind, controlled by the benevolence of his\ndisposition, which caused him to become the founder of a secret order,\nwhich will some day make his name illustrious in the annals of the\nbenefactors of the human race.\"\n\"To what order do you allude?\"\n\"To the M. O. O. S. S.\"\n\"What do those letters signify?\"\n\"The Mystic Order of Seven Sweethearts.\"\n\"The Mystic Order of Seven Sweethearts! Why, Toney, you are joking! Who\never heard of such an organization?\"\n\"No joke at all. You have heard of the Order of Seven Wise Men, have you\nnot?\"\n\"Why, yes; but that is an organization founded on principles of\nbenevolence,--somewhat like the Masons, or Odd-Fellows, I suppose.\"\n\"And so is the Mystic Order of Seven Sweethearts. It is founded on\nprinciples of benevolence. Its object is the welfare of woman.\"\n\"In what way do they propose to promote so desirable an object?\"\n\"Pate is a keen observer and a profound and original thinker; and after\nmuch meditation he arrived at the conclusion that single women are much\nhappier than those who are married, as is evident from the gayety of\nyoung girls, and the sedate, subdued, and careworn appearance of the\nmajority of their wedded sisters. Could girls be persuaded that a state\nof single blessedness is preferable, all would be well; but the giddy\nthings have their heads full of love and romance, and are but too eager\nto run into the meshes of matrimony. In all ages, and in all countries,\nthis proclivity of the female sex has been apparent. Even in Crim\nTartary, where marriages are solemnized by the singular ceremony of a\nhorse-race, and where the maiden is mounted on a fleet courser, and has\nthe advantage of half a mile start of the man, who must catch her before\nshe reaches a certain designated point in the road, or there is no\nmarriage, what is usually the result? Why, as soon as the word 'Go!' is\ngiven, the man makes a vigorous application of whip and spur, while the\nsilly jade, though admirably mounted, holds in her horse and allows\nherself to be caught before she gets to the end of the course. From\nextensive observation, Pate was convinced that women are the same all\nover the world, and will either rush into matrimony, or, like the Tartar\nmaiden, let matrimony overtake them on the road. He plainly perceived\nthat no argument, admonition, or persuasion could prevent them from so\ndoing, and therefore determined on the adoption of a plan which, when\nthoroughly perfected, will render it almost impossible for young maidens\nto get married.\"\n\"How is that to be accomplished?\"\n\"The Order of Seven Sweethearts is composed of men who cannot marry.\nThey are as strictly a brotherhood of bachelors as were the Fratres\nIgnoranti\u00e6, or any other monkish order of the olden times. Their duties\nare important and onerous. They are under an obligation to court all\nyoung women, but must never propose marriage. They are especially\ninstructed to be vigilant and prevent gentlemen, who are evidently\npremeditating matrimony, from paying any of those little delicate\nattentions which are preliminary to such an event. In order that they\nmay do this, they are required to be in all houses inhabited by young\nladies at an early hour in the evening, and are forbidden to leave until\nevery hat and cane have disappeared from the hall. It was thus that\nSimon Dobbs was prevented from enjoying the society of Susan.\"\n\"Pray who is Simon Dobbs?\"\n\"A very worthy citizen of my town. Dobbs had a snug home, and knew a\nsweet little angel who hadn't a pair of wings behind her shoulders and\ncouldn't fly away, and he longed for an opportunity to invite her to\ntake possession of his domicile. On a certain evening Dobbs was sitting\nalone on his porch in the moonlight, and was indulging in a delicious\nreverie, in which visions of future felicity became beautifully\napparent. In ten years after this angelic being had taken charge of his\ndomestic affairs he would have--here Dobbs began to count on his\nfingers--one--two--three--four--five--six--yes, seven sweet little\ncherubs fluttering around him,--three girls and four boys,--two of them\ntwins, and the finest fellows you ever saw in your life. Here Dobbs\nsnatched up his hat and hurried off to see Susan, fully determined on a\nmatrimonial proposal. But when the unlucky Dobbs entered the parlor he\nfound one of the mystic brotherhood seated by her side. Dobbs waited\nuntil a late hour, and was compelled to go home without an opportunity\nof saying a word on the important subject which occupied all his\nthoughts. Dobbs dreamed of Susan and the seven sweet little cherubs\nevery night, and every evening, when he called to see her, he found one\nof the order on duty in the parlor. Poor Dobbs wanted to ask Susan a\nsimple question, but doubted the propriety of doing so in the presence\nof witnesses. On one occasion Dobbs lingered to a late hour, in the hope\nthat Perch, who was seated by the side of Susan, would leave. The clock\nstruck twelve and Perch still remained on duty. It was then that Dobbs\nbegan to seriously apprehend his fate. Unless Azrael should interpose\nand remove Perch and his brethren to another sphere of existence, his\nhouse would never become the habitation of an angel and seven sweet\nlittle cherubs. That night Dobbs went home in despair and wished he was\na ghost.\"\n\"A what?\"\n\"A ghost. Now, Mr. Seddon, you need not open your eyes in wonder at such\na wish, for I tell you that those invisible gentlemen who perambulate\nthe air have a great advantage over us poor mortals, who have to waddle\nabout on two legs and carry a burden of one hundred and fifty or two\nhundred pounds of flesh on our bones, which is a manifest inconvenience\nto freedom of locomotion. A ghost can do pretty much as he sees fit. He\ncan get on a car and travel as long as he pleases, and the conductor\nwill not nudge him and ask him for his ticket. He can seat himself every\nSunday in the best pew of the most fashionable church, and nobody will\never call upon him for pew rent; and he can go to theaters and all\nplaces of amusement without apprehension of having his pockets picked or\nhis watch stolen. A ghost never hits his shins against anything in the\ndark which will make a saint in the flesh swear, but can pass through a\nstone wall like a current of electricity; and when he wants to be in any\ndistant place, all he has to do is to ride on his own wish and be\ninstantly conveyed to the spot. He can stand with his bare feet on the\ntip of the North Pole without danger to his ten toes from the frost, and\nhe can then by mere volition instantaneously transfer himself to the\ntropics, where, as Captain Bragg has informed me, the milk of the\ncocoanut almost scalds a monkey's mouth at mid-day, and at either place\nthe temperature is just as agreeable to a ghost. A ghost can slip down\nhis neighbor's chimney and peep into his pot and see what he is going to\nhave for his dinner.\"\n\"That,\" said Seddon, \"must be a great satisfaction to the ghosts of\nthose enterprising individuals who are given to minding other people's\nbusiness instead of attending to their own.\"\n\"Very true. But don't interrupt me, Tom, now I am on the subject of\nghosts. Among the manifest advantages of being a ghost is one which\nabove all others is deserving of especial consideration. A ghost can see\na person's thoughts. Being fond of sweet things, ghosts experience great\npleasure in watching the thoughts of ladies who are meditating upon\ntheir absent lovers. When a young maiden is thinking about her lover who\nis far away, her thoughts wander off to him and return, looking as sweet\nas little bees with their legs laden with honey leaving a field of\nfragrant clover and coming home to the hive. And if any poor fellow has\na sweetheart, and is not certain whether she cares a fig for him or\nnot, he should not be sitting all day in the dumps and looking as sulky\nas a bear with a sore head. Just let him make a ghost of himself, and he\nwill be able to see down to the very bottom of her gizzard; and if she\ncares anything about him, her thoughts will look like lumps of\ncandy-kisses, labeled with poetry and wrapped up in blue paper.\"\n\"I wouldn't mind being a ghost myself,\" said Seddon.\n\"In order that you might have a peep at the musings and meditations of\npretty Ida? But you blush, Tom.\"\n\"Nonsense, Toney. Go on with your story about Dobbs. I am much\ninterested in the poor fellow's fate.\"\n\"Well, Dobbs had an intuitive perception of the advantages which I have\nmentioned; and so he ardently desired to be a ghost. But seeing no\nchance of soon being promoted to a ghostship, and not being able to\nascertain the sentiments of Susan while he remained in the flesh, he was\nfinally compelled to leave her in the hands of the mystic brotherhood.\nIn his solitary home be now began to brood over his misfortune. He came\nto the conclusion that a bachelor is much in the condition of an\nownerless dog,--nobody caring whether he is brought home dead or alive;\nwhile if a Benedict even barks his shins, he has some one to sympathize\nwith him and soothe him with caresses, which check his inclination to\nutter profane exclamations and enable him to endure the severe trial\nwith manly fortitude. So, after much meditation, Dobbs determined that\nas he was not permitted to obtain an angel for love, he would see if he\ncould not get a woman for money. Immediately subsequent to the adoption\nof this wise resolution he was on a visit to one of our metropolitan\ntowns, and while walking the street observed in large letters over a\ndoor the words FAMILIES SUPPLIED HERE. Dobbs came to the conclusion that\nit was the very place he was looking for. So he walked in and asked a\nsurly giant who seemed to have charge of the establishment, if he could\nfurnish him with----\"\n\"An angel and seven sweet little cherubs?\"\n\"Not so. Perhaps the state of his finances did not admit of so\nextravagant a purchase. He simply asked if he could furnish him with a\nwife and a couple of children, either girls or boys,--he was not\nparticular which they were.\"\n\"I suppose that his moderate demand was complied with?\"\n\"I am sorry to say that it was not. Persons are liable to be\nmisunderstood. The big fellow was in an ill humor, and supposed that\nDobbs wanted to make game of him. He replied in rude and insulting\nlanguage, and aimed several imprecations at his customer's organs of\nvision. Dobbs's blood began to boil, and he reciprocated the\nshopkeeper's compliments in synonymous terms. Then he suddenly saw a\nmultitude of stars before his eyes and found himself in a recumbent\nposition on the floor. Dobbs went home looking very much like a man who\nhad inadvertently overturned a bee-hive and seriously irritated its\ninhabitants. His sad experience caused him to abandon all hope of\nobtaining a wife either for love or for money.\"\n\"And so the Mystic Order of Seven Sweethearts baffled poor Dobbs in his\nefforts to adorn his domicile with an angel and seven sweet little\ncherubs! But what became of Susan?\"\n\"She is still in a state of single blessedness. Every evening some one\nof the Order of Seven Sweethearts may be seen seated by her side. They\nride with her, and walk with her, and talk love to her, but never\npropose matrimony. Of course, the rules of the order forbid them to do\nthat; and never but once was a brother known to be unfaithful to his\nvows. William Wiggins was the recreant member, and he was severely\npunished for his want of fidelity.\"\n\"In what way?\"\n\"He was tried and convicted of the grave offense of falling in love with\nthe land and negroes of a certain widow and proposing marriage. M. T.\nPate delivered the sentence of expulsion in a very feeling speech, which\ndrew tears from the eyes of every member of the brotherhood.\"\n\"What did Wiggins do?\"\n\"Ostracized by his brethren, he proceeded to lay siege to the widow\nwith great activity, and with such success that she soon capitulated.\"\n\"And I suppose that they were married and----\"\n\"You are too fast, Tom. They encountered a stumbling-block on their road\nto the altar. Through the culpable negligence of his parents, Wiggins\nhad never been baptized, and the widow, being a strict member of the\nchurch, would not consent to marry a man whose spiritual condition\napproximated to that of a poor benighted heathen. She insisted that he\nshould either be sprinkled or immersed before the solemnization of the\nnuptial ceremony. Wiggins, who was willing to undergo any ordeal for the\nsake of the real and personal property of the bewitching widow, agreed\nto be sprinkled; and it was arranged that the consecrated fluid should\nbe applied on the morning of an appointed day, and that they should be\nmarried in the afternoon and immediately proceed on their wedding tour.\nIn the mean while Wiggins, in order to be fully prepared, procured a\nbook containing the usual questions and answers, and labored hard in\ncommitting to memory the responses which would be required of him in\neach ceremony. When the eventful day arrived, he flattered himself that\nhis preparation had been thorough; and in the first ceremony be\nacquitted himself admirably. But when he stood before the altar with the\nblushing widow be got strangely confused, and upon being asked, 'Wilt\nthou have this woman for thy wedded wife?' to the utter astonishment of\nthe worthy clergyman he replied, in a decided tone, 'I renounce them\nall, and pray God that I may not be led nor governed by them.' The widow\nscreamed as if a mouse had run over the tips of her toes, and was\ncarried out of the church in a fainting fit. Wiggins followed, and when\nshe was restored to consciousness wanted to explain; but she vehemently\ndenounced him as a villain who had decoyed her to the church by false\npretenses in order that he might insult her before the very altar and in\nthe presence of her venerable pastor. From that day she would have\nnothing more to say to him, and he was compelled to abandon all hope of\never obtaining possession of her real and personal estate. The reply\nwhich Wiggins made to the minister who wanted to marry him to the widow\nhaving been reported to M. T. Pate, he immediately expressed an opinion\nthat it afforded satisfactory proof of the sincere repentance of their\nunfortunate and erring brother. By Pate's advice, Wiggins was again\nreceived into the order, and is now here in Bella Vista for the purpose\nof performing his duty as a faithful and efficient member of the mystic\nbrotherhood.\"\n\"I would really like to hear more of this man M. T. Pate,\" said Seddon.\n\"My curiosity has been aroused, and I desire to know something of his\nprevious history.\"\n\"Your desire can be easily gratified. I have already commenced writing\nhis biography.\"\n\"Writing his biography?\"\n\"Yes. It is perfectly apparent to me that M. T. Pate is destined to\nbecome a very distinguished personage. Somebody will write his\nbiography, and why not I? One chapter has been completed, which, with\nyour permission, I will read.\"\nAt that moment there was a knock at the door, and Captain Bragg entered\nthe room.\nCHAPTER V.\n\"It has been said that the worst use you can make of a man is to hang\nhim. I think, Captain Bragg, that the next worst is to shoot him.\"\nThis remark was made by Toney after Bragg, having first shown him the\nchallenge which he had received from Botts and requested him to act as\nhis second, had emphatically expressed a truculent determination to put\nthe challenger to death with powder and ball.\n\"And,\" said Seddon, \"some men are not worth the ammunition expended on\nthem.\"\n\"By the powers of mud! what do you mean, Mr. Seddon?\" exclaimed Bragg.\n\"Is not Mr. Botts a gentleman? Do I not find him in the very best\nsociety?\"\n\"Not certainly in the very best society when he is found quarreling\nwith a monkey,\" said Seddon.\n\"With a monkey! Mr. Seddon? Gentlemen, I would have you know that it was\nno ordinary monkey that Botts so brutally assaulted in the ball-room. He\nwas a royal present from her Majesty the Queen of Madagascar. I would\ndefend that monkey with my blood; and had not Botts challenged me, I\nwould have challenged him for the insult offered to my monkey. Monkeys\nhave emotions and sensibilities in their bosoms as well as we have, Mr.\nSeddon.\"\n\"Then, they have souls as well as tails?\" said Seddon.\n\"I have no doubt,\" said Bragg, \"that a high-bred monkey, like mine,\nbrought up in a royal palace and tenderly cared for, can feel an insult\nas keenly as a man.\"\n\"Then, Captain Bragg,\" said Seddon, \"why not refer Botts for\nsatisfaction to the monkey?\"\n\"Because, sir, monkeys are not yet sufficiently advanced in civilization\nto understand the code of honor. But the time may come when they will.\"\n\"What!\" exclaimed Seddon, \"do you mean to say that the time may come\nwhen monkeys will challenge one another to single combat, and fight with\nhair-trigger pistols like civilized men?\"\n\"Yes, sir,\" said Bragg.\n\"I suppose that will be after they have dropped their tails,\" said\nSeddon.\n\"Of course,\" said Bragg. \"Man is but an improved species of monkey. Our\nancestors were once monkeys, and carried long tails behind them.\"[2]\nHere Tom Seddon fell back on a sofa and roared with laughter. Toney\nBelton reproved his friend for this unbecoming levity, and gravely\nremarked that learned men coincided with Captain Bragg in opinion, and\nthat Lord Monboddo confidently asserted there was a race of men in\nAfrica who still had tails.\n\"That is true, sir,\" said Bragg. \"I have seen them myself;--have eaten\nand drank with them, and----\" Here Tom Seddon exploded with laughter;\nwhile Toney remarked that Monboddo said that these long-tailed\nindividuals were horrible cannibals, and were particularly fond of\nDutchmen.\n\"I don't know about their fondness for Dutchmen,\" said Bragg. \"I am an\nAnglo-Saxon, and I know that they treated me with great kindness; I\nremained with them for months; and many of them shed tears when I took\nmy departure.\"\n\"Your discovery of this race of men in Africa seems to confirm the\nrabbinical theory,\" said Toney.\n\"What is that?\" inquired Bragg.\n\"The learned rabbinical doctors, in whose wisdom we should have great\nconfidence, assert that man was originally created with a long tail.\"\n\"Just as I said!\" exclaimed Bragg. \"Did I not tell you so?\"\n\"If such was his original conformation,\" said Toney, \"we must suppose\nthat it was afterwards observed that this appendage was of no use to him\nat all, and, indeed, would often be a serious incumbrance; for when in\nbattle a hero was hard pressed and compelled to retreat, his enemy might\nseize him by the tail, and hold him fast until he had cut off his head.\"\n\"That is a fact,\" said Bragg. \"So he might.\"\n\"And when in the progress of civilization the toilet became of\nimportance in the estimation of mankind, the decoration of the tail\nwould be exceedingly troublesome and expensive.\"\n\"I should think so,\" said Seddon. \"I should think that it could hardly\nbe managed even by the most experienced and scientific _tailors_.\"\n\"Tom Seddon,\" said Toney, \"Dr. Johnson was of opinion that when a man\nattempted a pun in company he ought to be knocked down. But let me\nproceed in pointing out the obvious disadvantages of wearing tails. For\ninstance, fashionable gentlemen, after having spent large sums of money\nin the elaborate adornment of their tails, might have them trodden upon\nas they walked the streets, and numerous assaults and batteries might\nthus be occasioned.\"\n\"No doubt of it! no doubt of it!\" said Bragg. \"I witnessed many fierce\nencounters among my friends in Africa, caused by men inadvertently\ntreading on their neighbors' tails.\"\n\"Yes,\" said Toney, \"some irascible editor or orator might have his tail\ncrushed by the foot of his adversary on the hard pavement, and a mortal\ncombat would be the lamentable consequence. Indeed, I would not answer\nfor the patience and fortitude of a pious parson if, as he walked along\nthe aisle of his church, one of the congregation should carelessly tread\non his caudal extremity. I seriously apprehend that the reverend man\nwould exhibit the irritability of a ferocious animal of the feline\nspecies under similar circumstances. Therefore, such being the great and\nmanifest disadvantages of wearing tails, we must suppose that this\nuseless appendage was severed from the body of the man.\"\n\"What was done with it?\" inquired Seddon.\n\"It was fashioned into a woman,\" said Bragg.\n\"A what?\" exclaimed Seddon, too astounded to laugh.\n\"Into a woman,\" reiterated Bragg.\n\"Why, I thought that woman was formed from a rib.\"\n\"That is an error of the translators,\" said Bragg. \"I was so informed by\na learned Hebrew whom I found living on the top of Mount Ararat, in a\ncomfortable house constructed from the imperishable materials of Noah's\nArk. He told me that the word should have been translated tail instead\nof rib.\"\n\"This important fact in anthropology,\" said Toney, \"would seem to\nmilitate against the claims of those learned, eloquent, and\ndistinguished ladies who are the leaders of the movement for women's\nrights.\"\n\"Do you mean,\" said Bragg, \"those babbling females who leave their\nhen-pecked husbands at home to nurse their unclean babies, and go\ngadding about holding their conventions? Well, sir, give them every\nright which they claim. Give them every right which we have----\"\n\"Except,\" said Seddon, \"the privilege of shaving their chins. I hardly\nsuppose that they will ever get that.\"\n\"No,\" exclaimed Bragg, \"that inestimable privilege they never can\nobtain, let them clamor for it as much as they please! I reiterate, give\nthem all they demand, let them vote, elect them to office, put a bale of\ndry-goods and crinoline in the Presidential chair, and what would be the\nresult? Would the head govern?\"\n\"I should think not,\" said Seddon, \"If there is such an error in the\ntranslation as you have pointed out. Captain Bragg, I am afraid that you\nare a misogynist. But what becomes of your royal friend the Queen of\nMadagascar? She is a woman, and she governs a great nation.\"\n\"Mr. Seddon, the Queen of Madagascar is no ordinary woman. The poets of\nthat great country say that the royal line is descended from their\ngods.\"\n\"That opinion may be orthodox in the island of Madagascar,\" said Seddon.\n\"In the United States of America her Majesty's poets-laureate would find\na multitude of skeptics. But were those long-tailed African gentlemen,\nwith whom you once resided, a race of negroes?\"\n\"Their faces were black but comely,\" said Bragg.\n\"Then,\" said Seddon, \"It is easy to foresee what will be the ultimate\nconsequences of emancipation in this country.\"\n\"In what respect?\" asked Bragg.\n\"Why, it is well known that the negro race, when emancipated, goes back,\nby degrees, to its original barbarism. Emancipate the negroes, and, at\nsame future day, we will have a horrible race of savages and cannibals\namong us. They will run wild in our forests, and, after a time, tails\nwill grow out from their persons. They will jump into our windows at\nnight and carry off our babies and devour them; and no Dutchman will be\nsafe from their cannibal ferocity. People will have to hunt them with\ndogs, and catch them, and cut off their tails, and civilize them again.\"\n\"Never!\" exclaimed Bragg, \"never! Man once civilized never goes back to\nhis original condition. Emancipate the negroes and you need not\napprehend that they will return to their tails.\"\n\"Are you in favor of emancipation, Captain Bragg?\" inquired Seddon.\n\"My dear sir, we will not discuss that question at present. By the\npowers of mud! Mr. Belton,\" exclaimed Bragg, looking at his watch, \"we\nhave forgotten all about Botts and the challenge.\"\n\"I was about to remind you, captain,\" said Toney, \"that as you have the\nchoice of weapons, as well as of time and place, it is necessary that I\nshould receive your instructions in relation to these preliminary\narrangements.\"\n\"I leave time and place to you, Mr. Belton; and as to weapons, I am\nequally familiar with all the weapons employed in private or public\nwarfare. I once fought a native of New Zealand with a boomerang, Mr.\nSeddon.\"\n\"What sort of a weapon is that, Captain Bragg?\"\n\"It is a missile which if it fails to hit the object at which it is\naimed comes bounding back to the hand that hurls it. But, by the powers\nof mud! at the first throw my boomerang came bounding back with the New\nZealander impaled on its point and howling for mercy.\"\n\"Then,\" said Toney, \"I am to understand that you leave the selection to\nme, and will not refuse to fight with any weapon I may designate?\"\n\"Refuse! certainly not. I will fight with a harpoon if you so choose, or\na gun loaded with Greek fire.\"\n\"Or hot water,\" suggested Seddon.\n\"To be sure,\" said Bragg.\n\"Captain Bragg, would you really fight with a gun loaded with hot\nwater?\" inquired Toney.\n\"Mr. Belton,\" said Bragg, \"he is a poor workman who finds fault with his\ntools. I will face my antagonist with any weapon which he is not afraid\nto hold in his own hand.\"\n\"Very good,\" said Belton. \"And now I must leave you with Mr. Seddon,\nwhile I have an interview with Wiggins, who, it seems, is Botts's\nsecond.\"\nToney took up his hat and left the room, as Bragg was in the act of\npoising a cane for the purpose of showing Seddon how to hurl a\nboomerang.\nFOOTNOTE:\n[2] The theory of an eloquent lecturer in a discourse recently delivered\nin Boston.\nCHAPTER VI.\nToney found Wiggins in his apartment in the hotel. The latter received\nthe representative of Captain Bragg with the formal politeness befitting\nthe occasion. After some conversation in relation to the business which\nhad brought them together, Toney proceeded to say,--\n\"Mr. Wiggins, my principal has, as you know, the selection of time and\nplace, as well as of weapons.\"\n\"Undoubtedly, Mr. Belton. You will be so good as to name the time.\"\n\"To-morrow, between daybreak and sunrise,\" said Belton.\n\"Very good,\" said Wiggins. \"And the place?\"\n\"The cluster of trees which stand on the east side of the town.\"\n\"An excellent selection,\" said Wiggins.\n\"And the weapons, Mr. Belton?\"\n\"Broad-axes,\" said Toney.\n\"What?\" exclaimed Wiggins.\n\"Broad-axes,\" reiterated Toney.\n\"What?\" said Wiggins, in a tremulous tone.\n\"Broad-axes!\" shouted Toney, with the lungs of a Stentor.\n\"Broad-axes!\" repeated Wiggins, with a pallid cheek. \"Mr. Belton, you do\nnot mean to say that Captain Bragg expects Mr. Botts to fight him with a\nbroad-axe!\"\n\"Why not, sir? Why not? When a man fights a duel is it not his object to\nkill his antagonist? And are not broad-axes as efficient as any weapon\nfor the purpose?\"\n\"But, Mr. Belton, a broad-axe is an unusual, a barbarous weapon.\"\n\"Sir, it is neither an unusual nor a barbarous weapon. It is a military\nweapon. Examine Webster's Dictionary and you will find that such is the\ndefinition of broad-axe. It has been often used by gentlemen in affairs\nof honor.\"\n\"I never heard of its use among men of honor,\" said Wiggins.\n\"Why, Sir, who originated the practice of dueling? Were not the\nchivalrous knights of the Middle Ages the first to adopt this mode of\nsettling disputes?\"\n\"Certainly,\" said the representative of Botts.\n\"And were not those knights gentlemen and men of honor?\"\n\"Of course they were,\" said Wiggins. \"Who can doubt that?\"\n\"And did they not fight with battle-axes?\"\n\"Oh, certainly,\" said Wiggins. \"We read of that in Froissart and the\nother chroniclers of those days.\"\n\"Well, sir, will you be so good as to show me the difference between a\nbattle-axe and a broad-axe? Can you point it out?\"\n\"I confess that I cannot,\" said Wiggins.\n\"There is no difference; except that our carpenters, in the peaceful\noccupation of hewing timber, have found a short handle more convenient\nthan the long ones used in the days of chivalry by honorable knights and\ngentlemen. I propose to lengthen the handles and let our men fight like\ngallant paladins with the legitimate weapons of the duello.\"\n\"Mr. Belton, I cannot consent that my principal shall fight with such a\nweapon. Mr. Botts is not accustomed to the use of a broad-axe.\"\n\"Nor is Captain Bragg, sir. So neither party will have an advantage from\nskill or practice.\"\n\"Did Captain Bragg select broad-axes?\"\n\"The captain has expressed no preference; he has left the choice of\nweapons to his second.\"\n\"Then, Mr. Belton, can we not, as the friends of the parties, make\narrangements for a meeting in which each gentleman may vindicate his\nhonor without the tragical results which must ensue from the use of such\nbarbarous weapons as broad-axes?\"\n\"As I have said, and now repeat, a broad-axe is not a barbarous weapon.\nIts use is legitimate in the duello. Unless you agree to the terms which\nI am now about to propose, I shall adhere to my original selection.\"\n\"What are your terms, Mr. Belton?\" eagerly inquired Wiggins.\n\"That I select the weapons, and that neither yourself nor our principals\nshall know what they are until I produce them on the field.\"\n\"I agree to your terms, Mr. Belton; anything but broad-axes.\"\n\"The weapons which I shall select will test the coolness and courage of\nboth gentlemen. They will not be broad-axes. Are you satisfied?\"\n\"Perfectly.\"\n\"Then, sir, as we have agreed upon the preliminary arrangement, I must\nbid you good-morning.\"\nIn the corridor of the hotel Toney encountered M. T. Pate.\n\"Mr. Belton--Mr. Belton,\" said Pate, \"I--I could not prevail on Mr.\nBotts. He has sent a--a--a challenge, and there will be bloodshed, sir,\nand--and all about a--a--a monkey, sir.\"\n\"Mr. Pate, I have the matter in hand, and I assure you, on the honor of\na gentleman, that not a drop of blood will be spilt.\"\n\"God bless you, Mr. Belton!\"\n\"Good-morning, Mr. Pate.\" And Toney hurried away, leaving Pate repeating\nhis benediction with great fervor.\nCHAPTER VII.\nHardly had Toney Belton's footsteps ceased to sound in the corridor\nbefore Wiggins snatched up his hat and hurried into the presence of his\nprincipal in extreme agitation.\n\"Mr. Botts,\" he exclaimed, \"I have just had an interview with Mr.\nBelton, the friend of Captain Bragg.\"\n\"Captain Bragg then accepts the challenge?\" said Botts.\n\"Of course he does,\" said Wiggins, \"and we have agreed upon the terms.\"\n\"What time does Bragg propose for the meeting?\"\n\"Between daybreak and sunrise to-morrow.\"\n\"A very excellent arrangement,\" said Botts. \"The early hour will insure\nus against the chance of interruption. And the place?\"\nWiggins named the place designated by Belton, and the selection met with\nthe approval of his principal, who inquired,--\n\"Did the captain choose fire-arms, or small swords? I am equally expert\nin the use of either.\"\n\"Fire-arms or small swords!\" exclaimed Wiggins,--\"no, sir, he did not.\"\n\"What weapon did he then select? I am at a loss to imagine.\"\nWiggins hesitated and was silent. His features became strangely and\nalarmingly distorted.\n\"Did you not agree upon the weapons? What did Mr. Belton propose?\"\n\"Broad-axes!\" said Wiggins.\n\"What did you say, Mr. Wiggins? I did not distinctly hear you.\"\n\"Broad-axes! Mr. Botts, I say broad-axes!\"\n\"What?\" exclaimed Mr. Botts, rising from his seat.\n\"Broad-axes!\" said Wiggins, also rising and moving nearer to Botts.\n\"Broad-axes, I say broad-axes!\"\nBotts's ugly countenance now assumed a very peculiar expression. One of\nthose ideas which suddenly rush into a man's mind and master it in a\nmoment presented itself, and immediately became dominant. He supposed\nthat Wiggins had become demented, and that he was in the presence of a\nmaniac. Botts had as much of the common quality of physical courage as\nmost of the male gender, but, like many a brave man, he had an intense\nhorror of crazy people. He retreated. Wiggins advanced towards him,\nanxious to explain, and lifting his hand in the act of gesticulation.\n\"Stand back!\" shouted Botts, grasping a chair, and elevating it over his\nhead,--\"stand back, or I will knock you down!\"\n\"Botts! Botts!\" exclaimed Wiggins, lifting up both hands in violent\nagitation, being utterly astounded at this hostile demonstration on the\npart of his principal,--\"Botts! Botts! I--I--said--broad-axes!\"\n\"Help! help! murder! murder!\" shouted Botts; and he aimed a blow at\nWiggins, who dodged it, and, tumbling over a table, fell sprawling on\nthe carpet, while the chair flew from Botts's hands and went with a\ncrash against the door. In an instant there was a rush of people from\nthe adjoining apartments and the room was filled with spectators.\n\"Good heavens!\" exclaimed M. T. Pate, addressing himself to Botts, who\nhad armed himself with another chair, and stood brandishing it in a\ncorner of the room with an air of desperate determination,--\"good\nheavens! Mr. Botts, what does this mean?\"\n\"Gentlemen, such scenes cannot be allowed in my house,\" said the\nlandlord. \"Mr. Botts, this is the second time you have raised an uproar\nin this establishment.\"\n\"Botts, you shall answer for this outrage!\" exclaimed Wiggins, rising on\nhis feet and looking Botts in the face with a most truculent aspect.\n\"Are you not crazy?\" said Botts.\n\"Crazy!\" vociferated Wiggins, advancing towards Botts, who dodged behind\nPate. \"_You_ are crazy, sir! You are as mad as a March hare, sir! You\nare a dangerous man! I will have you in a lunatic asylum before you are\na day older, sir! Gentlemen, I call upon you to assist me in securing\nthis madman.\"\n\"By Jupiter! I think you are both lunatics,\" said the landlord.\n\"Mr. Wiggins, there most he some mistake,\" said Pate. \"Botts is not\ncrazy.\"\n\"No madder man ever broke out of bedlam!\" said Wiggins. \"He will kill\nsomebody if he is not put in a strait-jacket.\"\n\"What was all this about?\" asked Pate.\n\"About?\" said Wiggins. \"Why, sir, I was merely repeating something which\nMr. Belton had said to me, when up jumped Botts and aimed a blow at my\nhead with chair; and had I out dodged as quickly as I did, he would\nhave knocked my brains out. Is such a man fit to run at large through\nthis house? Do you call him sane, Mr. Pate? Sane!--if he's sane, you\nmight as well pull down all the lunatic asylums in the land and let\ntheir inmates out to----\"\n\"Stop! Wiggins, stop! I begin to see,\" said Botts. \"You are not crazy,\nafter all! Did you say you were merely repeating what Belton had said to\nyou?\"\n\"Nothing more,\" said Wiggins. \"And was that any reason why I should\n\"My dear, dear fellow!\" said Botts. \"It was a mistake! I see! Give me\nyour hand. I ask ten thousand pardons!\"\nBotts advanced towards Wiggins, who retreated a step, and then stood his\nground and took the proffered hand.\n\"Thank God,\" said Pate, \"there will be no duel!\"\n\"Crazy men are not allowed to fight duels,\" said the landlord.\n\"Gentlemen,\" said Botts, \"I call you to witness that it was all my\nfault. I beg Mr. Wiggins's pardon.\"\n\"It is granted,\" said Wiggins.\n\"And now, gentlemen,\" said Botts, \"be so good as to leave us to\nourselves. You see it is all made up, and we are the best friends in the\nworld.\"\nAt this request all left the room. M. T. Pate, however, lingered at the\ndoor for a moment, and said, in an admonitory tone,--\n\"For Heaven's sake, Botts, do not quarrel with Wiggins again!\"\n\"No fear of that, Mr. Pate.\" And with this assurance Pate closed the\ndoor.\nBotts being alone with his second, there was a repetition of apologies\nand mutual explanations; after which each became assured of the sanity\nof the other, and was more at his ease.\n\"But,\" asked Botts, \"did Belton really say anything about broad-axes?\"\nWiggins hesitated. He seemed to be afraid to again give utterance to a\nword which had just put him in such imminent peril. At length he said,\nin a low tone,--\n\"He did, indeed.\"\n\"What connection had this with the duel?\"\n\"As the representative of Captain Bragg, he proposed that you should\nfight with broad-axes.\"\nBotts sprang from the chair and overturned the table; and Wiggins,\napprehensive of another assault, jumped up and put himself in an\nattitude of defense.\nM. T. Pate, who was lingering in the corridor in trembling expectation\nof another quarrel, rushed to the door, but it was bolted.\n\"Mr. Botts! Mr. Botts!\" cried Pate.\n\"Go to the devil!\" shouted Botts.\n\"Good heavens! what is to be done?\" said Pate. \"He has Wiggins locked in\nthe room, and will beat out his brains with a chair!\"\n\"I'll break down the door and put strait-jackets on both of them!\" said\nthe landlord, who had hurried back at the alarm given by Pate.\nBotts now opened the door and assured the people in the corridor that\nthey were not fighting, but were as amicable as men could be. Having\nreceived a similar assurance from Wiggins, Pate and the landlord had no\nexcuse for further interruption, and reluctantly retired; the landlord\nshaking his head rather dubiously as he did so, and muttering something\nabout strait-jackets and lunatic asylums.\nBotts closed and bolted the door, and then earnestly asked,--\n\"You certainly did not agree that I should fight Captain Bragg with a\nbroad-axe?\"\n\"No, indeed!\" said Wiggins. \"With much difficulty I obtained from Mr.\nBelton a compromise.\"\n\"What sort of a compromise?\" asked Botts.\n\"You are to fight with just such weapons as Belton produces on the\nground.\"\n\"And not to know what they are to be until I get on the field?\"\n\"Such is the agreement,\" said the second.\n\"Wiggins, what sort of terms are these?\" exclaimed Botts.\n\"They were the best I could obtain. My opinion is, that this Captain\nBragg, although he associates with gentlemen, is little better than a\ndesperado. He has lived among savages the greater part of his life, and,\nas I am told, has been boasting of having fought a duel with a\nboomerang, or a harpoon, or something of the sort. He is a reckless and\ndesperate man, and cares not for consequences. Had I not agreed to the\ncompromise proposed by his second, I am confident that he would have\nposted you as a coward.\"\n\"These are hard terms,\" said Botts; \"but I suppose they must be\naccepted.\"\n\"They have been accepted,\" said Wiggins. \"And now I must leave you, Mr.\nBotts, for I have an engagement with a fair lady. At an hour before\ndaybreak I will be at your room; and we will, of course, proceed in\ncompany to the ground.\"\nIn the solitude of his chamber, Botts began to give way to gloomy\nreflections. It was evident that his antagonist was a most desperate and\ndetermined man. He had lived among savages and cannibals, and the\nproposal to fight with broad-axes was ample proof of the barbarity of\nhis disposition. And Wiggins had consented that Botts should come on the\nground in entire ignorance of the weapons to be used. Could it be\ndoubted that his adversary would select some barbarous implement of\nbutchery, familiar to himself but unknown to civilized duelists? When\nthe challenger took his position, a harpoon or a boomerang might be\nthrust into his hand; or Bragg might enter the field armed with a\ntomahawk and scalping-knife, and raising the war-whoop. Botts was a\nbrave man, but he shuddered and shivered as if an icicle had been thrust\ndown his back. He saw that death was inevitable, and he resolved to die\nwith decency. Having procured writing materials, he carefully prepared\nhis last will and testament, and proceeded to execute it with the proper\nformalities. He then wrote a number of letters to absent friends,\nbidding them a final and affectionate farewell. Those documents he\ncarefully sealed with black wax, and left lying on his table.\nMuch time was consumed in these preparations, and before the business\nwas concluded the sun had sunk behind the horizon and the stars had\nappeared in the heavens. Botts took his seat at a window; but he could\nnot remain quiescent. The agitation of his mind impelled him to physical\nlocomotion. He seized his hat and rushed into the street. He hurried\nalong until he had reached the outskirts of the town, where he would not\nbe molested by crowds of gay and happy mortals, talking and laughing in\nthe full enjoyment of an existence of which he was so soon to be\ndeprived. The doomed man now stood alone in a deserted common. He gazed\nupward at the heavens. From the innumerable multitude of shining orbs\nover his head, he selected a star in which his spirit was to dwell after\nits departure from these sublunary scenes. Botts did not return to his\nroom. He thought not of his comfortable bed at the hotel. During the\nlong hours of the silent night he continued to walk to and fro on the\noutskirts of the town, a melancholy man, meditating on his latter end\nand gazing upward at the celestial dwelling-place which he had selected\nfor his residence after his immolation on the field of honor.\nCHAPTER VIII.\nJust before the peep of day Captain Bragg, accompanied by his second,\nrepaired to the spot selected for the duel. Toney had informed his\nprincipal of the terms agreed upon by Wiggins and himself, and the old\nwarrior forbore to make any inquiry in relation to the weapons to be\nused on the occasion; Tom Seddon having kindly undertaken to convey them\nto the ground during the night, so as to avoid observation. Bragg\nexpressed his satisfaction with the arrangement, and reiterated his\nreadiness to fight with any weapon, even with a gun loaded with Greek\nfire, or with hot water, as Seddon again suggested.\nAs they came in sight of the dueling-ground, Bragg suddenly halted and\nsaid, in a tone of vexation,--\n\"Mr. Belton, we will be interrupted.\"\n\"Why so?\" inquired Toney.\n\"There is a gypsy camp in the grove. I perceive their fires among the\ntrees.\"\n\"You are mistaken, Captain Bragg. There are no gypsies within a hundred\nmiles of us. No doubt Seddon has kindled a fire with dry sticks. Let us\ngo on.\"\nThey now entered the grove, and Bragg stood still with a look of\namazement. At twelve paces apart were two fires, each kept alive by a\nnegro, who was busily employed in piling on fuel. Over each fire was an\niron pot filled with water, in a state of active ebullition. In the\nspace between the two fires was Tom Seddon, walking to and fro with his\nhands behind his back, giving directions to his sable assistants who had\ncharge of the pots.\n\"By the powers of mud!\" exclaimed Bragg, \"what does this mean?\"\n\"It means,\" said Toney, \"that everything is prepared, and that we are\nonly waiting for the arrival of Botts. Tom, have you got the guns\nready?\"\n\"Here they are,\" said Tom, producing two tin tubes painted black and\nabout the size of a musket-barrel. Each had a rod projecting from one\nend and a nozzle on the other. Seddon handed one of them to Bragg,\nsaying, \"Here is your weapon, captain.\"\n\"What is this?\" inquired Bragg.\n\"It is your gun,\" said Seddon.\n\"Gun--gun! Do you call this a gun?\" said Bragg.\n\"I most certainly do,\" said Seddon.\n\"You had better load the gun, Tom,\" said Belton, \"and show the captain\nhow it is to be used.\"\nTom took the tube, and, putting the nozzle in the pot of boiling water\nnearest to him, drew back the rod. He then brought the tube up\nhorizontally, and called out to the negro having charge of the other\npot, \"Stand out of the way there, Hannibal!\" Hannibal dodged to one\nside, and Seddon, with a vigorous thrust of the rod, threw a stream of\nscalding water from the nozzle to a distance of more than forty feet.\n\"There, captain,\" said Tom, \"if Botts stands before such a discharge as\nthat, he is as brave a man as ever wore breeches.\"\n\"What devil's work is this?\" said Bragg. \"Do you suppose that I am\ngoing to stand over a witch's caldron and have a man squirt hot water at\nme until he has put out my eyes and scalded all the hair off my head?\"\n\"You will have an opportunity to show your coolness in the midst of\ndanger,\" said Seddon; \"you will, undoubtedly, put your adversary to\nflight. I'll bet that Botts don't stand before a single discharge. If he\ndoes, he should have license to beat any man's monkey when he is in a\nbelligerent humor. And, captain, did you not express your willingness to\nfight with a gun loaded with hot water? Now, here are the guns, and\nthere are C\u00e6sar and Hannibal with an abundant supply of ammunition.\"\n\"And it is too late to make other arrangements,\" said Belton. \"It is\nbroad daylight, and Botts will be on the ground in a moment. I hope you\nare not going to back down, Captain Bragg.\"\n\"Back down!\" exclaimed Bragg. \"I would have you know that I never back\ndown. I would have fought with a harpoon, or a boomerang, or anything of\nthe sort; but who ever heard of hot water employed in combats between\nman and man? It is devil's work!\"\n\"Captain Bragg, you are mistaken,\" said Seddon. \"Hot water has often\nbeen used in wars between civilized nations. Did you never hear of the\nfighting \u00e6olipile?\"\n\"What is that?\" inquired Bragg.\n\"A tube filled with scalding fluid, which was projected in the face of\nthe enemy. The Egyptians, the Assyrians, and the Greeks were accustomed\nto use these weapons, and to put their enemies to flight with them, as I\nam certain that you will put Botts to flight.\"\n\"Hot water was used on one occasion in modern warfare with great\nefficiency,\" said Belton. \"The bravest troops in the army of Napoleon\nthe Great were baffled and held at bay by it.\"\n\"Where was that?\" asked Bragg.\n\"In Spain,\"[3] said Toney. \"The Spanish troops were routed. They dropped\ntheir arms on the field and fled into a nunnery. The French had no\nartillery, and attempted to take the place by a _coup de main_. But the\npetticoats were prepared for them. From every window pails of hot water\nwere poured down upon them. The French troops could stand anything but\nthat. They fell back. They gave way; whole platoons cutting the most\nprodigious capers; patting the posterior parts of their persons with\ntheir open palms and performing sundry difficult and extraordinary\nevolutions.\"\n\"Beaten by hot water!\" said Seddon.\n\"Yes,\" said Toney. \"Their brave general, who bore on his person the\nscars of scores of battles, attempted to rally them; but they refused to\nadvance. Maddened by the apparent poltroonery of his troops, he seized a\nmusket, and, rushing forward, commenced battering at the door with its\nbutt. The door gave way, and the brave general was suddenly precipitated\nforward. Before he could recover himself the petticoats were upon him.\nWith loud cries they seized him by the locks, while their nails made\nfrightful ravages in his face. Blinded, and baffled, and breathless, and\nfaint, he retreated without the door. A shower of hot water descended\nfrom above, and, with a loud outcry, the old hero advanced backward with\namazing celerity, until, striking his foot against a stone, he fell,\n'with his back to the field and his feet to the foe.' The door was\nclosed, the petticoats stood ready at the windows with their pails full\nof hot water, and the besiegers were utterly disheartened.\"\n\"Did the French retreat? Did they abandon the contest?\" asked Seddon.\n\"No,\" said Toney. \"Napoleon rode on the field. He was enraged at the\ntimidity of his troops. He ordered up a battalion of the Old Guard. It\nwas all over with the garrison then. Their fires had gone out, and their\nwater was cold. They prayed to every saint in the calendar, and made an\nespecial appeal to Joshua, the son of Nun, to save them. It was of no\navail. The door was battered down, the Imperial Guard marched in, and\nthe captured petticoats were led away as the musicians struck up the\ntone, 'I won't be a Nun.'\"\n\"So you see, Captain Bragg, that hot water has been employed in both\nancient and modern warfare,\" said Seddon. \"And brave men have fled\nbefore it. If you stand firmly before the shower discharged by Botts\nfrom yonder tube, nobody will ever dare to dispute your courage.\"\n\"If Botts can stand it, I can,\" said Bragg, doggedly. \"But,\" said\nhe,--and his face brightened up as he looked at his watch,--\"I will\nremain here no longer. The sun is up, Mr. Belton, and where is the\nchallenger?\"\n\"Yonder comes his second,\" said Seddon.\nBragg's countenance was instantly beclouded.\n\"Good-morning, Mr. Wiggins,\" said Belton. \"I do not see your principal.\nWhere is Mr. Botts?\"\n\"He has fled,\" said Wiggins.\n\"Fled?\" said Belton.\n\"Fled!\" exclaimed Bragg; and his face became as radiant as the morning\njust then illuminated by the sun which had appeared above the eastern\nhorizon.\n\"Yes,\" said Wiggins, \"Botts has run off like an arrant poltroon.\"\n\"I will post him for cowardice!\" exclaimed Bragg.\n\"As you please,\" said Wiggins. \"I want nothing more to do with Mr.\nBotts. He attempted to assassinate me.\"\n\"Assassinate you!\" exclaimed Toney.\n\"Yes, sir; when I informed him of the terms proposed by you, he\nattempted to take my life.\"\n\"Attempted to kill his second!\" said Seddon.\n\"The assassin! the ruffian! the poltroon! I'll post him!\" said Bragg.\n\"He jumped up and aimed a blow at my head with a chair,\" said Wiggins.\n\"An assault and battery,\" said Tom. \"Liable in a suit for damages.\"\n\"He afterwards became calm, apologized for the outrage, and agreed to\nmeet Captain Bragg at the hour named. But when I called for him this\nmorning he had disappeared.\"\n\"Disappeared!\" said Toney.\n\"Yes, sir,--absconded,--fled to parts unknown.\"\n\"I will publish him,\" said Bragg. \"I will prepare placards with the\nwords BOTTS and COWARD in letters as big as my hand! Come, Mr. Belton;\ncome, gentlemen.\"\n\"Put out the fires, C\u00e6sar. Take care of the pots, Hannibal,\" said\nSeddon. And with these instructions to those two distinguished\npersonages, Tom shouldered the tin tubes and followed after Bragg, who,\nwith Belton and Wiggins, was proceeding with rapid strides towards the\ntown.\nFOOTNOTE:\n[3] We have not been to find any account of this combat in Napier's\nHistory of the Peninsular War. The historian overlooked it.\nCHAPTER IX.\nCaptain Bragg, with an appetite rendered voracious by his exercise in\nthe open air at so early an hour, made a hearty breakfast on an abundant\nsupply of ham and eggs, which Lord Byron has said is a dish good enough\nfor an emperor. Having finished his repast, he arose from the table, and\ngoing to his apartment, proceeded to prepare the placard in which he\nintended to make known the poltroonery of Botts to the public. When a\nman's mind is full of his subject, composition is performed with ease\nand rapidity. The words roll off from the end of the pen as naturally as\nwater flows from a perennial fountain. Bragg's writing instrument\ngalloped across the paper and soon covered the foolscap with a terrible\ndenunciation of the unfortunate Botts.\nThe indignant duelist hurried off to a printing-office, and said to the\nproprietor, \"I want you to print this immediately.\"\n\"Will you be so good as to furnish me with your name?\" said the\nproprietor.\n\"Of what consequence is my name to you?\" said Bragg. \"I want you to\nprint the advertisement, and here is the money.\"\n\"Can't do it,\" said the proprietor. \"Can't put anything in my paper\nwithout the name of the party who furnishes it; advertisement or no\nadvertisement,--paid for or not,--I can't print it.\"\n\"Why not?\" said Bragg.\n\"Because we can't afford to keep a fighting editor in this office; and I\ndon't want to get into difficulties.\"\n\"What difficulties will you get into?\" said Bragg.\n\"Plenty of them. I don't want my head broken with a cudgel, sir.\"\n\"Who is going to break your head?\" said Bragg.\n\"There are plenty of people in these parts to do it, sir, and on slight\nprovocation. Last winter a fellow came into this office just before we\nwent to press, and left an advertisement which he paid for, saying that\nhe wanted it to appear in our issue of that day. It was a certificate\nthat Samuel Crabstick, who is a bald-headed man, had bought a bottle of\nDr. Bamboozle's celebrated hair ointment, and applied it to his bare\nscalp, and that in forty-eight hours after the first application a fine\nsuit of hair had grown all over his head, seven inches in length. Well,\nwhat were the consequences, sir? Why, the whole town was talking and\nlaughing about this wonderful growth of hair. And next morning old\nCrabstick walked into the office, and, after much profanity, assaulted\nme with a heavy bludgeon. Had it not been for my devil, who come behind\nhim and put him _hors de combat_ with the hot poker, he would have\nbroken my bones, sir. So your advertisement cannot go in my paper unless\nyou leave your name for reference.\"\n\"I don't want it in your paper,\" said Bragg. \"I want it printed like a\nhand-bill.\"\n\"Oh, that alters the case. You take the responsibility.\"\n\"Here! I want these three words,--look, will\nyou?--BOTTS--POLTROON--COWARD,--printed in your largest letters.\"\n\"We have type big enough,\" said the printer, producing some wooden\nblocks about three inches long.\n\"Those will do,\" said Bragg. \"Now, go to work--quick--hurry!\"\nIn a very brief space of time Bragg had a dozen documents in his\npossession, for which he paid the printer and hastened away.\nIn a few moments after he had left the printing-office, Bragg's tall\nform was seen elevated on a stool; and he was in the act of pasting a\nhand-bill against the side of the hotel when he was interrupted by the\nlandlord, who said,--\n\"Captain Bragg, I do not allow any bills for monkey shows to be pasted\nagainst my house.\"\n\"This is no bill for a monkey show,\" said Bragg.\n\"Nor advertisements for quack medicines, neither,\" said the landlord.\n\"This is no advertisement for quack medicines,\" said Bragg, with a look\nof indignation.\n\"Well, whatever it be, you can't paste it there. I will not have my\nwalls plastered over with advertisements.\"\nBragg scowled at the landlord, and, getting down from the stool with a\nprofane expression, he went across the street to an apothecary's shop.\nHere he was about to put up a placard when he perceived in large letters\non the corner, PASTE NO PILLS HERE; some ingenious urchins having\naltered the original B to a P. Bragg was puzzled, and scratched his\nhead; and, as he did so, an idea entered his cranium, and he understood\nthat this inscription was a prohibition as imperative as that which he\nhad just received from the landlord.\nBragg was in a dilemma. He did not know what to do with his documents.\nHe had made two or three attempts on other houses, and had been warned\noff by the proprietors. A chambermaid had discharged a quantity of foul\nwater at him from an upper window as he was in the act of defacing the\ndwelling with a hand-bill; and a burly Hibernian, in his emphatic\nbrogue, had cursed him for an itinerant vender of nostrums; for there\nwas a violent prejudice in the town of Bella Vista against all venders\nof quack medicines ever since a wandering empiric, having promised to\ncure an old gentleman of some hepatic disorder, had given him an emetic,\nand afterwards told him that he had puked up a piece of his liver and\nwould soon get well; when, in fact, the patient was soon in the hands of\nthe undertaker.\nToney and Tom now came to the assistance of Bragg; and Seddon, being a\ncitizen of the town, and acquainted with its localities, conducted the\ncaptain to a small tenement which was used by a Dutchman as a stable for\nhis donkey. Bragg produced his documents, and was about to apply the\npaste when the Dutchman came forth leading his donkey, and exclaimed,\n\"Donner und blitzen! what for you do dat?\" Tom whispered to Bragg to\noffer the Dutchman a dollar. This suggestion had its effect, and the\nsilver coin obtained from the proprietor of the stable a place for the\nduelist's placard.\nHaving made his donation to the Dutchman, Bragg was spreading his paste\non the side of the donkey's dwelling when a loud shout was heard in the\nstreet. A crowd of men and boys were seen advancing, and in their midst,\ncovered with mud and filth from head to foot, and led along by two\nsturdy Irishmen, was a most pitiable and disgusting object. His face had\nreceived a coating of wet clay, which was gradually getting dry, and\nmade his visage as ugly as an idol in a Hindoo temple. His clothing was\nbefouled with slime; and the two men held him at arm's length, so as to\navoid the defilement of actual contact.\n\"By the powers of mud! what is that?\" exclaimed Bragg.\n\"One of the powers aforesaid coming in answer to your invocation, I\nsuppose,\" said Seddon.\n\"It is mud, sure enough,\" said Toney.\n\"Walking abroad and endeavoring to dry itself in the sun,\" said Seddon.\n\"Hurrah! hurrah!\" shouted the boys.\n\"Here he is--by jabers! we found him!\" said an Irishman.\n\"Who is he?\" said Toney.\n\"Do you not know me?\" said a dolorous voice issuing from the mass of\nmud.\n\"No, I do not. Who are you?\"\n\"I am Botts.\"\n\"Botts!\" said Toney.\n\"Botts!\" exclaimed Seddon.\n\"Botts!\" shouted Bragg.\n\"Yes, gentlemen, I am Botts.\"\nCHAPTER X.\nIt would require the perfection of language to describe the amazement of\nCaptain Bragg when he beheld a slimy figure, looking like one of the\npowers by whom he continually swore, and heard a voice issuing from its\nugly lips, and saying \"I am Botts.\" The placards, in which he was about\nto doom his absconding adversary to eternal infamy, dropped from his\nhand, and were picked up by a boy, and converted into the tail for a\nkite. Toney and Tom were also astonished at the sudden and strange\nappearance of the missing man. After a moment of silence, Belton said,--\n\"Where did you come from?\"\n\"From the bottom of a well,\" said an Irishman.\n\"Good heavens!\" said Pate, who had just arrived in company with Wiggins\nand Perch,--\"good heavens! did Botts fall into a well?\"\n\"And shure it's not for me to say how he got there. We found him in the\nwell on his knees in the wather, and praying to the blessed Vargin and\nall the saints.\"\n\"I'm almost dead! I'll never get over it!\" said Botts.\n\"Run for a doctor! run, Perch! run!\" said Pate.\nPerch went off at the double-quick in search of medical aid, while Pate\nand Wiggins conducted their friend to the hotel.\n\"Don't bring that man in here. I can't have my house covered with mud\nand filth. Take him to the bath-house and wash him,\" said the landlord.\nPate pleaded and implored, but the landlord was inexorable; and they\nwere compelled to conduct the miserable man to the bath-house. With some\ndifficulty he was divested of his clothing; and, while Wiggins assisted\nhim in performing his ablutions, Pate proceeded to his apartment and\nprocured a change of raiment. His two friends then led him to his room,\nwhere they found Perch with the doctor. The physician examined his\npatient, and discovered that no bones were broken, and that there was\nno internal injury of any sort. He ordered Botts a strong tonic, and,\ntelling him to keep quiet in bed and he would be well in the morning,\ntook his departure. Perch soon after left the room, saying that he had\nan engagement to walk with Miss Imogen Hazlewood. Pate and Wiggins sat\nby the bedside of their afflicted friend, who, with many a moan and\ndolorous ejaculation, told the story of his misfortune, which we will\nendeavor to abbreviate and relate in more intelligible language.\nIt will be recollected that after Botts had executed his last will and\ntestament, and addressed letters of farewell to his friends, he had\nproceeded to the outskirts of the town, and walked to and fro over the\ncommon, meditating on his approaching end. About the middle of the\nnight, as he continued to walk with his gaze fixed on the star which he\nhad selected for his future abode, he tumbled into an unfinished well,\nabout twelve feet deep, with six inches of water at the bottom. It being\nnight, and he being under the earth, his loud cries for assistance were\nunheard, and he remained in the well until a late hour in the morning,\nwhen the Irish laborers discovered him on his knees in the water praying\nfervently; he having experienced a change of heart, and repented of the\ngreat crime he had intended to commit.\nWhile Pate and Wiggins were consoling their friend, they were startled\nby loud shrieks from a female voice in an adjacent apartment.\n\"Good heavens!\" said Pate.\n\"What's that?\" exclaimed Wiggins.\n\"There's murder in the house!\" bawled out Botts; and he jumped from his\nbed and ran to the door.\n\"Come back, Botts! you haven't got your breeches on,\" said Wiggins; and\nhe seized Botts by the caudal extremity of his under-garment and held\nhim with a firm grasp.\nShrieks after shrieks were heard, and then the heavy tread of feet\nhurrying along the corridor. Pate and Wiggins rushed to the scene of\naction, and beheld the landlord, with loud and violent imprecations,\nkicking Captain Bragg's monkey out of a room. The creature had got\nloose, and climbing over the transom of a door, had leaped down on a\nbed where a lady was taking her siesta. The hideous apparition had\nnearly thrown the fair inmate of the room into convulsions.\n\"Get out of here, you infernal imp!\" said the landlord, giving the\nmonkey a kick which sent it rolling over and over along the corridor.\nThe agile creature gathered itself up, and with an active bound sprang\non the railing of the stairway, where it sat making ugly grimaces, and\nshaking both fists at Boniface in intense indignation.\n\"Get me a gun!\" shouted the landlord, in a towering passion.\n\"Don't shoot!\" exclaimed Pate; and a dozen female voices shrieked in\napprehension of the report of fire-arms.\n\"What are you doing to my monkey?\" said Bragg, hurrying to the spot.\n\"Get out of my house with that incarnate devil of yours!\" said the\nlandlord. The monkey grinned and shook its fists, and the landlord\nstamped his foot and swore with vim and vehemence.\n\"I'll have satisfaction for this outrage offered to my monkey,\" said\nBragg.\n\"I'll give you satisfaction, sir! I'm no Botts, to be bullied by you,\nsir! If you don't get out of this house, I'll take you by the neck and\nheels and throw you out, and your monkey after you!\"\nThe landlord was a powerful and determined man. He had fought under Old\nHickory at New Orleans. He stood six feet three in his stockings, and\ncould easily have executed his threat.\n\"Do you not keep a house for the accommodation of travelers?\" said\nBragg. \"For the entertainment of man and beast?\"\n\"But not for the entertainment of man and devil! That monkey is a born\ndevil, sir!\"\n\"He was a royal present from her Majesty the Queen of Madagascar,\" said\nBragg.\n\"A royal present from his Majesty the Old Boy!\" said Boniface. \"He gets\nloose just when he pleases. He chased the cooks out of the kitchen, and\nate up the eggs they had got for breakfast. He stole a negro baby out of\nits cradle and hid it in the wood-house.\"\n\"He is a cannibal!\" said Seddon.\n\"One of the captain's long-tailed African friends,\" said Toney.\n\"Dines on babies,\" said Tom. \"He'll be after a Dutchman next.\"\n\"Out of this house he goes, and you, too!\" said the landlord. \"Here,\nC\u00e6sar, Scipio! carry Captain Bragg's baggage down and set it on the\npavement.\" The negroes proceeded to obey orders. \"And now be off!\" said\nBoniface. \"I don't ask you to settle your bill; I want no money from\nyou. I want you to leave, and take that monkey with you!\"\n\"You had better go,\" said Seddon to Bragg, \"or he will call on the\nsheriff to summon a _posse comitatus_ and put you out.\"\n\"I want no comitatus, Mr. Seddon,\" said the landlord, overhearing the\nremark; \"I can manage him and his monkey both.\"\nThe sagacity of Bragg enabled him to comprehend the situation. He\nperceived that the indignant Boniface was not to be intimidated even by\na harpoon or a boomerang. Toney Belton had whispered to the cosmopolite\nthat the landlord was the very man who had shot General Packenham from\nhis horse, and thereby gained for Old Hickory his glorious victory on\nthe banks of the Mississippi; and Tom Seddon asseverated that he had\ndecapitated three Indians with a bowie-knife, in a hand-to-hand\nencounter, in the Everglades of Florida. Upon calm consideration Bragg\ndetermined to leave the hotel. His baggage was conveyed to a\nboarding-house which Seddon had found for him in the suburbs of the\ntown. Here he secured comfortable quarters for himself and an asylum for\nhis monkey.\nAt night, after smoking their cigars, Belton proposed to his friend that\nthey should call on Botts. They were sitting in his room, with Wiggins,\ntalking to the unfortunate man, and getting him in a cheerful mood by\npleasant conversation, when Pate rushed in with horror depicted in his\ncountenance.\n\"What's the matter, Mr. Pate?\" said Belton.\n\"Oh!--oh!--oh!\"\n\"What's the matter?\" said Wiggins.\n\"Help--help--help!\"\n\"What's the matter? What's the matter?\" exclaimed everybody at once.\n\"Perch--Perch!\"\n\"What has he done?\" said Wiggins.\n\"Has committed suicide!\"\nAnd Pate rushed from the room like one bereft of his reason. Toney, Tom,\nand Wiggins ran after him, while Botts jumped from his bed and hurried\nthrough the door; and several affrighted females loudly screamed as they\nbeheld him swiftly gliding along the corridor, in his white garments,\nand looking like a ghost.\nCHAPTER XI.\nClaribel Carrington and Imogen Hazlewood were cousins. The former was an\norphan whose father had died in affluence, leaving his only child a\nlarge estate. Her home was the magnificent mansion of her uncle, Colonel\nHazlewood, a wealthy citizen of Bella Vista, and her constant companion\nwas the beautiful Imogen. Each of these young ladies had a devoted\nlover, who, as Tom Seddon had remarked, would have gone on a pilgrimage\nto the North Pole in search of an icicle in obedience to her wishes.\nClarence Hastings adored the lovely Claribel, and Imogen was worshiped\nby the handsome Harry Vincent. The young men were only sons of two\nwealthy gentlemen, and consequently each would inherit an ample fortune.\nThey were highly educated and accomplished. Clarence had devoted himself\nto the study of medicine; while Harry was a man of leisure and had\nbecome a votary of the Muses, having already published a small volume of\npoems, which were admired by the general reader, and had even been\ncommended by critics. But Clarence, although he had made great progress\nin anatomy and was satisfied that a man could not exist without a\nheart, was inclined to believe that a woman sometimes managed to get\nalong without that important organ. He arrived at this conclusion from\npursuing his studies in the society of the lovely Claribel. Harry\nVincent had discovered that the poets in all ages had used the word in\ntheir verses, and supposed that most women had a heart, but was afraid\nthat Imogen had grown up in magnificent beauty without ever having had\none deposited by nature in her bosom. After much meditation, he\ndetermined to ascertain if he was not mistaken, and in the afternoon of\nthe very day on which the valiant Captain Bragg had been expelled from\nthe hotel by the indignant landlord, he proceeded to the mansion of\nColonel Hazlewood and inquired for Imogen. He was told that she was\nwalking in the garden. Thither he went, and in an arbor beheld a sight\nwhich convinced him that the beautiful Imogen had a heart. He hastily\nretired, and determined to go to the Mexican war, and march for the\nHalls of the Montezumas.\nWhat spectacle was it that caused such warlike emotions in the bosom of\nHarry Vincent? Why was he so suddenly impelled to march under the\nstar-spangled banner against Santa Anna and his legions, in the valley\nof Mexico?\n Oh, women! women! pretty doves or pigeons!\n How many men for you their weapons clutch!\n For you the Grecians murdered all the Phrygians.\nAnd it was on account of one of the most beautiful of womankind that\npoor Harry Vincent determined to shoulder his musket and shed his blood\non the field of battle.\nHe rushed frantically from the garden, looking as pale as a ghost. But\nwhat had he seen? On his knees in the arbor he beheld Sam Perch, whom\nToney Belton called the Long Green Boy, with his head resting on the lap\nof the beautiful Imogen. The young lady was dipping her handkerchief in\na vase of water and tenderly bathing his brow. Now, what had brought the\npoor Long Green Boy down on his knees before Imogen? What had he said\nto Imogen, and what had she said to him, that had caused him to faint?\nOh, ladies, how do you manage to get a stout young fellow down on his\nknees before you, when a strong man could not bring him to that position\nexcept by a powerful blow from a ponderous fist? The whole thing was a\nmystery, but the fact was apparent. Perch had gone down on his knees\nbefore the lovely Imogen, and she had spoken words which had caused such\nstrong emotions that he had fainted. The Long Green Boy revived, after\nthe young lady, with womanly tenderness, had bathed his brow with water\nfrom a fountain. He told her that his heart was broken. She murmured\nsomething in reply and glided from the garden, while the poor youth\narose from his knees and with his fractured heart proceeded to his room\nat the hotel.\nWhen the unfortunate Long Green Boy entered his room at the hotel, he\nseated himself on a trunk in a corner, with a multitude of darts, which\nhad emanated from the eyes of the beautiful Imogen, sticking in his\nheart and causing him intense agony. The poor youth had been carried\naway into the regions of rapture, and then suddenly and unexpectedly\nplunged into the pit of despair. He was convinced that his misery was\nmore than he could bear, and after meditating profoundly upon the most\neligible methods of escaping from the troubles of this sublunary state\nof existence, he arose, and going to an apothecary's shop, asked for a\npint of laudanum.\n\"How much?\" inquired the apothecary.\n\"A pint,\" said Perch.\n\"Do you want a whole pint?\"\n\"Yes,\" said Perch, with a look of despair in his face,--\"it will take a\nwhole pint to cure me.\"\n\"What is the matter with you?\" asked the apothecary.\n\"I have got the--the toothache,\" said Perch.\n\"Humph!\" said the apothecary. And he went into a back room to get a\nbottle.\n\"Father,\" said a blue-eyed young lady in the back room, \"do not give\nthat young man any laudanum.\"\n\"Why not?\"\n\"Because I have been watching him through the door, and I am certain he\nis crossed in love. He will kill himself.\"\n\"Pooh! pooh! the young man has got the toothache. That's worse than\nbeing crossed in love a hundred times.\"\n\"Oh, father!\" said the young lady, and she resumed her reading of \"The\nSorrows of Werther.\"\nThe apothecary filled the bottle and handed it to his customer. Perch\nreturned to his room and proceeded to make preparations for his\ndeparture from earth. He sat down and wrote a letter to the cruel\nImogen, in which he accused her of being the sole cause of his untimely\nend. He directed another letter to his distinguished friend, M. T. Pate,\ntelling him that his sufferings were unendurable, and that he had been\ndriven by despair to the commission of the deed.\nWith a trembling hand the Long Green Boy then poured about half the\ncontents of the bottle into a goblet and hastily drank it off. He then\nlaid himself down on the bed, crossed his legs and folded his arms, and\nprepared to die with decency. Instead of the lethal effects of the\nlaudanum which he had expected, he soon experienced a wonderful\nexhilaration. The washstand in the corner of the room seemed to be\ndancing a jig; there were now two lamps on the table instead of one; and\nat last the room itself was in motion, and the Long Green Boy supposed\nthat the house was being moved about by an earthquake. In great\nexcitement he arose from the bed, and with the floor rocking and rolling\nso that he could hardly stand on his feet, he staggered to the table,\nand, seizing the bottle, swallowed its contents. With a revolving motion\nhe then reached the bed, sank down, and was soon in a state of profound\ninsensibility.\nWhile the Long Green Boy thus lay in a stupor, M. T. Pate entered the\napartment. He endeavored to awaken the sleeper, but found it impossible\nto do so, and seeing a letter on the table addressed to himself, he\nopened it, and then, with a loud exclamation of horror, rushed from the\nroom.\nCHAPTER XII.\nThe unhappy victim of unrequited love lay on his back, with his face\nturned to the ceiling, and his arms folded over his bosom, as if waiting\nfor the undertaker to come and ascertain his measurement, when M. T.\nPate again entered the room, and, rushing to the side of the bed,\nexclaimed, \"Oh! oh! oh!\"\nWiggins now burst into the room, and, looking at the recumbent and\nmotionless form on the bed, also exclaimed, \"Oh! oh! oh!\"\n\"What's the matter?\" said Toney.\n\"He has killed himself!\" said Wiggins.\n\"Great thunder!\" said Tom.\n\"Has taken poison!\" said Pate.\n\"Poison!\" exclaimed Toney. \"Run for a doctor, Tom! Tell him to bring a\nstomach-pump! Run!\"\nTom Seddon rushed from the room in headlong haste, and running against\nBotts in the corridor, hurled him down a stairway. The unlucky Botts, in\nhis night-garments, rolled over and over until he reached the bottom,\nwhen he found himself among a number of females, who loudly shrieked and\nfled in terror from the hideous apparition. Tom stopped not to inquire\nif any bones were broken, but went off as fast as his legs could carry\nhim after a doctor to pump out the poison, while Botts rushed up the\nstairway in his night-clothes, and put another party of females to\nflight on the upper landing. He was followed into the apartment, where\npoor Perch lay on the bed, by the landlord, who was in a towering rage.\n\"Mr. Botts!\" shouted the landlord, shaking his ponderous fist at Botts,\nwho was leaning over the unfortunate Perch,--\"Mr. Botts! what do you\nmean by running about my house with no clothes on your----\"\n\"Hush!\" said Botts.\n\"Hush!\" said Wiggins.\n\"For Heaven's sake, hush!\" exclaimed Pate.\nThe landlord glared like an enraged lion at each of the speakers in\nsuccession, and then advancing on Botts, seized him by the collar and\nhurled him around until his fragile clothing was torn from his person,\nand Botts fell over a trunk and sat in a corner of the room almost in a\nstate of complete nudity.\n\"You shameless, impudent, outrageous, ugly beast! do you think that I\nwill allow you to be running and racing about among the ladies in my\nhouse like a naked savage?\"\n\"Hold!\" cried Wiggins.\n\"Respect the dead!\" exclaimed Pate, pointing to poor Perch lying on the\nbed.\n\"Who's dead?\" said the landlord, looking aghast.\n\"Look there!\" said Pate.\nThe landlord stepped forward and leaned over Perch.\n\"Who says he is dead?\" asked Boniface.\n\"He has taken poison?\" said Pate.\n\"A whole pint--enough to kill fifty men!\" said Wiggins.\n\"He is drunk!\" said the landlord.\n\"Shame! shame!\" cried Pate.\n\"Insult the dead!\" exclaimed Wiggins.\n\"He is drunk! I'll bet my hat on it!\" said the landlord.\nHere Tom Seddon rushed into the room, followed by a doctor carrying a\nstomach-pump in his hand.\n\"Here, doctor! here!\" exclaimed Pate. \"Quick! quick!\"\n\"Open his month,\" said the doctor.\nPate proceeded to obey instructions, and succeeded in opening the Long\nGreen Boy's mouth, but he unfortunately got his fingers in the orifice,\nand the jaws closed firmly on them.\n\"Oh! oh! oh!\" exclaimed Pate, with his forefinger between the teeth of\nthe dying man.\n\"Force his jaws open,\" said the doctor, holding the tube ready for\ninsertion.\n\"Oh! oh! oh! oh! gracious heavens!\" exclaimed Pate.\nToney Belton, by an adroit use of his thumb, succeeded in opening the\njaws and releasing Pate, who danced about the room, exclaiming, \"Oh!\noh! oh!\" while the doctor hastily thrust the tube down his patient's\nthroat.\nA quantity of fluid was pumped into a basin.\n\"What did you say he had taken?\" inquired the doctor, examining the\ncontents of the basin.\n\"Laudanum!\" said Wiggins. \"A whole pint of it.\"\n\"Enough to kill a team of horses!\" said Tom Seddon.\n\"This is not laudanum,\" said the doctor, with a look of intense disgust\nat his patient.\n\"What is it?\" asked Wiggins.\n\"Brandy,\" said the doctor.\n\"Just as I said,\" exclaimed the landlord. \"I can tell a drunken man from\na dead man any day.\"\nThe diagnosis of the landlord was correct. The wily apothecary had given\nthe despairing swain a bottle of brandy, and instead of romantically\ndying for love, he had become stupidly drunk.\nCHAPTER XIII.\nIn the morning Botts, who had been so rudely accosted and so roughly\nhandled by the landlord in the apartment of the unfortunate Long Green\nBoy, was in close and earnest consultation with Wiggins. The question\nfor solution was whether the landlord was a gentleman, and as such\namenable for the insult offered to Botts by his language and the assault\non his person. The Thirty-nine Articles of the Code of Honor were\ncarefully consulted, and the question was finally determined in the\naffirmative. The social status of the offender being settled, Wiggins\nundertook to carry a cartel from Botts to Boniface.\nWiggins found the landlord in his office making out bills and handed him\nBotts's invitation to the field of honor.\n\"What's this?\" asked the landlord.\n\"It is a note from Mr. Botts,\" said Wiggins. \"Be so good as to read it\nand then refer me to your friend, so that there may be arrangements\nmade for a speedy meeting.\"\nThe landlord looked over the paper and then picked up a big cudgel,\nwhich leaned against the wall, and advanced towards Wiggins, who began\nto retreat.\n\"Oh, you need not run,\" said Boniface,--\"I am not going to thrash you.\nBut where is Botts?\"\n\"In his room,\" said Wiggins.\n\"I'll break every bone in his body!\" said the landlord.\n\"What?\" said Wiggins.\n\"I'll pound his worthless carcass to a jelly!\" And he started toward the\ndoor.\n\"Hold!\" cried Wiggins. \"Are you not a gentleman? If not, in behalf of my\nprincipal I now withdraw the challenge.\"\n\"Who is your principal?\" exclaimed the landlord. \"A man who comes into\nmy house to turn it upside down! Gets into a muss with a monkey as soon\nas he arrives! Pretends he wants to fight Captain Bragg and then hides\nhimself like a white-livered poltroon in the bottom of a well! Amuses\nhimself by running and racing among the ladies like a naked Caliban and\nfrightening my female boarders out of their wits! I'll give him\nsatisfaction,--the ugly brute!\"\nThe landlord began to ascend the stairway, breathing vengeance against\nBotts. Wiggins caught him by the tail of his coat and called out, \"Hold!\nhold! I command the peace!\"\n\"Are you a magistrate?\" said the landlord.\n\"No; but I am a good citizen, and in the name of the law I command the\npeace!\"\n\"Let me go!\" said the landlord, flourishing his cudgel. \"Let me go! If\nyou tear my coat-tail off, I will----\"\nHere a number of ladies appeared on the upper landing and opposed a\nbarrier of beauty between the landlord and Botts, whose ugly visage was\nseen in their rear. Several gentlemen were in the corridor at the foot\nof the stairway, and among them a fat and funny little fellow, who stood\ngazing at the scene with a most comical expression of countenance. The\nlandlord struggled to get free, but Wiggins held on to the tail of his\ncoat with the tenacity of a terrier.\n\"Let me go, I say!\" shouted Boniface, shaking his cudgel at Botts.\nThe ladies screamed and Botts looked amazed. Suddenly a voice was heard\nissuing from the mouth of the challenger, exclaiming, \"Save me, ladies!\noh, save me! save me!\"\n\"What! begging, you ugly beast!\" exclaimed the landlord. \"Yes, you had\nbetter beg!\"\n\"Oh, ladies!\" exclaimed Botts, in piteous tones. \"Don't let him murder\nme! I put myself under your protection!\"\n\"Who ever heard the like?\" said a gentleman standing at the foot of the\nstairway. \"The pitiful poltroon! Come away, landlord! You wouldn't beat\na man who has put himself under the protection of the women!\"\nThe ladies gathered round Botts, and vowed that they would protect him.\nBotts was amazed at their tender solicitude in his behalf. The landlord\nwas puzzled. He dropped his cudgel and walked back to his office,\nfollowed by Wiggins, who was intensely disgusted at the poltroonery of\nhis principal.\n\"Look here, Wiggins,\" said Boniface, \"I can't thrash a man who begs for\nmercy and puts himself under the protection of petticoats, but tell him\nto get out of my house. There has been nothing but confusion in it since\nhe came. Let him be off, and tell him to take that drunken fellow Perch\nwith him.\"\nWiggins undertook to convey the message of the landlord to Botts and the\nLong Green Boy. Just then Toney and Tom entered, and the former espying\nthe fat little fellow standing in the corridor, exclaimed, \"Why,\nCharley! how are you? where did you come from?\"\n\"Toney, my boy, glad to see you! I've just arrived.\"\n\"Let me introduce you to my friend Tom Seddon,\" said Toney. \"Tom, this\nis Charley Tickle, an old college friend.\"\nSeddon and Tickle shook hands, and looked as if they intended to be most\nexcellent friends.\n\"Charley,\" said Toney, \"we have not met since we parted at college.\nWhere have you been?\"\n\"All over the world, Toney. I have traveled extensively, I can tell you.\nI have been a lecturer, a biologist, an artist, and am now a professor.\nMind that you always give me my title when we go into company together.\"\n\"Where is your local habitation at present?\"\n\"I am studying phrenology under the learned Professor Boneskull.\"\n\"Who is he?\"\n\"A celebrated phrenologist. A few days ago he arrived in your town of\nMapleton, and has there rented a house. You will find him flourishing\nwhen you go back. The room in which he receives visitors will cause you\nto open your eyes with wonder and awe.\"\n\"Why so?\" said Toney.\n\"When you enter, you will see opposite the door a bust of Socrates, and\non its head is perched a prodigious owl. If I am with you, the owl will\nspeak to us and say. 'How do you do, gentlemen?--I am glad to see you.'\"\n\"It must be a parrot,\" said Seddon.\n\"No, Mr. Seddon, it is an owl. He never speaks except when I am present,\nand then he sometimes becomes quite eloquent. There is evidently\nsomething supernatural about the bird, and I have suggested to Boneskull\nthat it may be a fairy. He has consulted it on several occasions, and\nhas received most excellent advice.\"\n\"No doubt of it,\" said Toney. \"The owl is the bird of wisdom.\"\n\"Boneskull has a number of animals, birds, and reptiles stuffed, and\narranged around his room in glass cases. To show you how implicitly the\nlearned man relies upon what is uttered by the bird of wisdom, I will\nrelate one or two incidents. One morning I met a young fellow who had a\nrat which he had skinned and stuffed, and having ingeniously fastened\nbristles to its tail, was persuading people that it was a squirrel. I\ntold him to take it to Boneskull. When I entered his study, the learned\nman was examining this curious specimen, and shaking his head rather\ndubiously. But on my entrance, the owl spoke and assured him it was a\ngenuine squirrel, and of a very rare species; whereupon he purchased it,\nand it now forms a part of his collection.\"\n\"But how happens it,\" said Seddon, \"that the bird never speaks except\nwhen you are present?\"\n\"Oh, that is easily accounted for,\" said Tickle. \"The bird of wisdom has\na vast deal of discretion. He will not commit himself by any utterance\nexcept in the presence of a reliable witness. In me he has confidence,\nand in no other living man. I one day told a man to take a skull, which\nhe had found, to the phrenologist, and that he would get a good price\nfor it. When I entered, Boneskull had it in his hand and was carefully\nexamining it. The owl now spoke, and said that it was the skull of a\ndistinguished negro lawyer of Timbuctoo, which a missionary had brought\nhome with him on his return from Africa. Boneskull was delighted with\nthis information. He purchased the skull, and always has it before him\non his table. It affords him great pleasure to point out its\nintellectual developments as indicated by the bumps. He says that an\nintellect once resided in that cranium equal to that of Clay, Webster,\nor Calhoun, and that its bumps clearly demonstrate that the negro is the\nequal of the white man in mental capacity. The vender of this valuable\nspecimen of craniology afterwards told me that it was the skull of an\nidiot who had died in the almshouse; but I did not believe him, for how\ncould I doubt the veracity and intelligence of the bird of wisdom?\"\nHere the conversation was interrupted by the appearance of Botts and\nPerch, accompanied by Pate and Wiggins, and followed by Scipio,\nHannibal, and C\u00e6sar carrying the baggage of the two former gentlemen.\nToney and his friends walked with them to the cars. On the way Wiggins\nand Botts got into a warm altercation, and the latter became much\nexcited as Wiggins upbraided him with having shown the white feather\nwhen menaced by the landlord's cudgel.\n\"I tell you,\" exclaimed Botts, \"I never uttered a word.\"\n\"You did,\" said Scipio, who was walking behind with a trunk on his\nshoulder.\n\"What's that you say?\" shouted Botts, turning round and looking at\nScipio with a most malignant aspect.\n\"Indeed, Massa Botts,\" exclaimed Scipio, \"I didn't say nothing.\"\n\"Botts begged!\" said Hannibal. \"Yaw! haw! haw!\"\n\"Asked the women to save him from a beating!\" said C\u00e6sar. \"Yaw! haw!\nhaw!\"\nBotts stood glaring at the negroes like a ferocious wild beast. His ugly\nvisage became absolutely frightful. Lifting up his cane, he suddenly\ncharged on C\u00e6sar, who dropped the trunk he was carrying and fled with\nprecipitation, followed by Scipio and Hannibal. Botts followed the\nfugitives, bellowing out oaths and brandishing his cane until they\nreached the hotel, when they darted into the basement-story, and hid\nthemselves in some place of refuge.\nThe landlord was standing on the veranda of the hotel, and behold Scipio\nand his comrades flying before the infuriated Botts. He turned white\nwith rage and roared out, in a tone of thunder, \"Making another muss,\nare you? Can't you be off without raising a row with my negroes? I'll\nsettle with you, now there are no petticoats to protect you.\" And the\nlandlord rushed into the house for his cudgel. Botts, having put Scipio,\nHannibal, and C\u00e6sar to flight, had glory enough for one day, and without\nwaiting to encounter another antagonist, hastily returned to his\ncompanions. Pate and Perch were in great agitation, while Toney and Tom\nwere convulsed with laughter. The Professor stood quietly looking on\nwith a grave and serious aspect. After relieving himself by the\ndischarge of a quantity of profanity, Botts was somewhat pacified by\nPate. The trunks were loaded on a wheelbarrow by a sturdy Hibernian, and\nconveyed to their place of destination; and Perch and his companion,\nbidding their friends an affectionate farewell, entered a car and were\nsoon wafted away from the beautiful town of Bella Vista.\nPate and Wiggins returned to the hotel, while Toney, Tom, and the\nProfessor sauntered around until a train of cars stopped, and three\ndaintily dressed young men got out. These gentlemen all recognized Toney\nBelton, and were introduced by him to his friends as Messrs. Love, Dove,\nand Bliss.\nCHAPTER XIV.\nAfter an interchange of salutations, Dove, who was a little man, about\nfive feet three inches in height, most elaborately dressed, tapped the\ntoe of his highly polished French boot with an elegant cane, so fragile\nthat it seemed to have been constructed for the purpose of beating off\nbutterflies and other annoying insects, and then asked after M. T. Pate,\nand inquired the way to the hotel. Having received satisfactory\ninformation from Toney in response to his inquiries, he took Love by the\narm, and, followed by Bliss, proceeded up the street.\n\"Those are pretty little men,\" said the Professor, looking after them\nwith a peculiar expression of fun lurking around the corner of his mouth\nand twinkling in his eye. \"What did you say their names were?\"\n\"Love, Dove, and Bliss,\" said Toney.\n\"Love and Dove are the two who have their wings locked together?\" asked\nthe Professor.\n\"Yes,\" said Toney. \"And Bliss is walking behind.\"\n\"That is a proper programme,\" said the Professor.\n\"When Love and Dove go together, Bliss should always accompany them.\"\n\"Now, Tom,\" said Toney, \"you have seen the whole seven.\"\n\"The whole seven!\" said the Professor. \"Who are they?\"\n\"The Seven Sweethearts,\" said Toney.\n\"The Seven Sweethearts!\" exclaimed the Professor.\n\"An organization,\" said Toney, \"which originated in Mapleton, and now\nhas numerous ramifications all over the country.\"\n\"Indeed!\" said the Professor. \"I have traveled much but never heard of\nsuch an organization until now.\"\n\"Then you would like to know something about the Mystic Order of Seven\nSweethearts?\" said Seddon.\n\"Very much,\" said the Professor. \"I am compiling a new work on zoology,\nand will devote a chapter to the species of animal you have mentioned.\"\n\"Toney will give you a history of the origin and objects of the\norganization,\" said Tom.\n\"With the greatest pleasure,\" said Toney. \"But come, let us light our\ncigars and take seats on yonder bench under the trees and make ourselves\ncomfortable.\"\nThe three friends proceeded to the spot designated, and while the\nfragrant smoke was rolling off from their cigars, Toney gave an account\nof the Mystic Brotherhood, such as Seddon had already been made\nacquainted with; following it up with a recital of the events which had\nrecently transpired in the town of Bella Vista; including a graphic\ndescription of the combat between Botts and the monkey in the ball-room;\nthe contemplated duel between Botts and Bragg, and its singular\ntermination; the terrible quarrel between the latter and the landlord,\nand the expulsion of the valiant captain from the hotel; the abortive\nattempt of Perch to commit suicide, and the scenes that ensued up to the\ntime of the arrival of Tickle. The Professor listened with grave\ninterest, and occasionally made a note in a little book which he drew\nfrom his pocket and held in his hand. When Toney had concluded, he\nexclaimed,--\n\"Well, Toney, I thought that I knew something, but you are a long way\nahead of me, my boy, in useful knowledge. Let me see.\" And he looked\nover his notes. \"The Mystic Order of Seven Sweethearts. An order founded\non principles of benevolence. Its object the welfare of women. To\nprevent marriages. Single women much happier than those who are married.\nA grand idea of M. T. Pate. Toney, this organization must flourish. It\nwill soon get far ahead of the Order of Seven Wise Men. But it must have\nleaders. Who are its officers?\"\n\"I have a list of them here,\" said Toney, drawing a paper from his\npocket-book.\n\"What is this?\" said the Professor, taking the paper in his hand and\nglancing over it. It read as follows:\n\"What do those letters signify?\" said the Professor.\n\"I have been puzzling my held over them for a long while,\" said Toney.\n\"Suppose you and Tom Seddon now aid me in deciphering them.\"\n\"Agreed!\" said Tom.\n\"N. G. G.,\" said the Professor. \"What does that mean?\"\n\"I can't make it out,\" said Toney.\n\"Noble Grand Gander,\" suggested Tom.\n\"Good!\" said Toney. \"Tom, you are an Oedipus!\"\n\"M. T. Pate is the Noble Grand Gander of the organization,\" said the\nProfessor, making an entry in his book. \"M. W. D. What does that\nsignify?\"\n\"You are too hard for me,\" said Toney.\n\"Most Worthy Donkey,\" said Tom.\n\"Hurrah!\" said Toney,--\"that's it, I am certain. Tom, you should open a\nguessing school,--you would make your fortune.\"\n\"P. O. P. F.,\" said the Professor. \"What's that?\"\n\"Can't you guess, Tom?\" said Toney.\n\"I am balked,\" said Tom.\n\"Botts?\" said the Professor. \"Is he the handsome man who was chasing the\nnegroes?\"\n\"The same,\" said Toney.\n\"Prince Of Pretty Fellows,\" suggested the Professor.\n\"That's it! excellent!\" exclaimed Toney.\n\"G. G. G.?\" said the Professor.\n\"Great Green Gosling,\" said Tom.\n\"Perch is the Great Green Gosling,\" said the Professor, making an entry\nin his book. \"And now for Love. What is the signification of D. A.?\"\n\"Dainty Adorer,\" said Toney; and the Professor made a note, and then\ninquired the meaning of N. N.\n\"Noble Nonentity,\" said Tom.\n\"That hits Dove exactly,\" said Toney.\n\"There is one more,\" said the Professor.\n\"What is that?\" asked Toney.\n\"W. W.,\" said the Professor.\n\"Winsome Wooer,\" suggested Seddon.\n\"That completes the list,\" said the Professor, looking over his\nnote-book and making another entry.\n\"Bliss is the Winsome Wooer. Toney, how did you procure this curious\ndocument?\"\n\"It came into my possession under very extraordinary circumstances,\"\nsaid Toney. \"Would you like to hear the story?\"\n\"I would, indeed,\" said the Professor.\n\"Let us have it,\" said Tom.\n\"You have heard me speak of the Widow Wild, who lives in the vicinity of\nMapleton?\" said Toney.\n\"Frequently,\" said Tom.\n\"The widow has a very handsome residence, and in it dwells a very pretty\ndaughter.\"\n\"The lovely Rosabel Wild?\" said Tom.\n\"How did you learn her name?\" inquired Toney.\n\"Oh, I have learned that and much more in addition,\" said Tom.\n\"What more?\" said Toney.\n\"I have been credibly informed that a certain young lawyer, who answers\nto the name of Toney Belton, and who seldom deigns to look at any other\nwoman, is wonderfully enchanted and woefully bewitched by the lovely\nRosabel Wild. Is it not so? Come, make a clean breast of it, Toney. An\nhonest confession is good for the soul?\"\n\"Well, Tom, I will be candid with you, and say, in sailor's phraseology,\nthat if I were about to embark on a voyage of matrimony, as captain of\nthe craft I would like to have Rosabel Wild for my mate. But the widow\nis very eccentric, and has often declared, in the most emphatic terms,\nthat no man can marry her daughter unless he is worth a hundred thousand\ndollars. Now, you know that I have not got a hundred thousand dollars.\"\n\"But your bachelor uncle, Colonel Abraham Belton, has, and you will be\nhis heir.\"\n\"That is by no means so certain as you seem to suppose. Colonel Abraham\nBelton, although he has lived longer than yourself by some twenty years,\nis really as young a man as either of us, for nature has given him a\nconstitution of iron. He is so tough that time has never been able to\nplow a furrow in his face, nor has he a gray hair in his whiskers. He\nmay marry a wife.\"\n\"Very true,\" said the Professor; \"and she may raise up children unto\nAbraham.\"\n\"And,\" said Toney, \"the children of Abraham may deprive me of the\nhundred thousand dollars.\"\n\"Toney, you are a man of sense,\" said the Professor; \"and the French\nmaxim-maker says that a wise man may sometimes love like a madman, but\nnever like a fool. But let us hear your story.\"\n\"Well, you must know that I am really a very great favorite with the\nWidow Wild, although I have not the requisite sum for a son-in-law. I\nbelieve that Rosabel would be willing to wait until I get the hundred\nthousand dollars. Indeed, to be candid, I have consulted her, and she\nhas expressed a decided determination to do so. This, however, is a\nprofound secret between the young lady and myself, which we have never\nconfided to the widow. I am often at the house.\"\n\"I should suppose so,\" said Tom.\n\"On a certain evening I was there, and the clock striking eleven, I rose\nand was about to take my leave, when the widow urged me to remain,\nsaying that she had received an intimation that Love, Dove, and Bliss,\nwho, you must know, sing as sweetly as nightingales, were coming to\nentertain Rosabel with a serenade. Now, the widow has a singular\nantipathy to the Seven Sweethearts, and not one of them can gain\nadmission to her mansion; but Love, Dove, and Bliss had met Rosabel a\nfew nights before at a party, where Dove kept fluttering around her\nuntil the widow, who was also present, expressed a desire to take him\nhome and put him in a cage with her canary-bird. It was a fine moonlight\nnight, and we sat conversing in the parlor until about twelve o'clock,\nwhen we heard the voice of Dove under Rosabel's window, singing, in\nmellifluous notes,--\n 'Wake, fairest, awake! at thy window now be;\n The moon on the midnight her splendor is pouring.\n Wake, fairest, awake! from thy window now see,\n Like a saint at his shrine, thy lover adoring.\n 'Come, beautiful, forth on thy balcony high,\n While silver-toned music around thee is floating;\n And yon shooting-star shall come down from the sky,\n Like a slave at thy feet his homage devoting.\n 'Nay, venture not, dearest! lest over the air\n Some spirits should chance to be wand'ring this even;\n And, deeming thee some truant angel now there,\n Might steal thee away to their home in the heaven.'\n\"'Rosabel,' said I, 'how can you refrain from jumping out the window\nwhen a pretty little man like Dove invites you to come forth and behold\n\"thy lover adoring\"?'\n\"'But,' said Rosabel, 'in the last verse he warns me not to venture.'\n\"'That is true,' said I; 'the little man manifests a wonderful\nsolicitude for your safety. He is apprehensive lest you might be\narrested as a runaway angel,--a fugitive from service.'\n\"'Hist! hist!' said Rosabel.\n\"'That is Love,' said I; and the voice of the serenader was heard\nsinging,--\n 'The silvery cloudlets now are weeping, love,\n Sweet dewdrops on the flowers,\n And mellow moonlight now is creeping, love,\n Under the ivy bowers.\n And thou hast heard the vesper hymn\n That stirred the balmy air,\n When, as the shadows grew more dim,\n The pious met in prayer.\n 'Their sacred rosaries they were counting, love,\n Unto their saints in heaven,\n And telling them to what a mountain, love,\n Their sins had grown this even.\n While thus to saints on high they pour\n Their prayers at evening bland,\n I am contented to adore\n An angel near at hand.'\n\"'Oh, Rosabel!' I exclaimed, 'I always thought you were an angel, and\nnow I know it, for both Love and Dove have testified to the fact. Out of\nthe mouths of two witnesses has the truth been established. You are an\nangel, Rosabel, but please don't fly away.'\n\"'Nonsense, Toney! Don't go crazy. Be quiet--hush! Listen!'\n\"'That is Bliss,' said I; and we heard him singing,--\n 'My little, lovely, laughing maid!\n So great a thief thou art,\n I do declare, I am afraid\n Thou'st stolen all my heart.\n 'Thou'st stolen the lily's purest white,\n Thou'st stolen the rose's hue,\n Thou'st stolen each flow'ret's beauties bright,\n And stolen my poor heart too.\n 'Well, little rogue, come help yourself,\n Your robberies repeat,\n And take the rest of the poor elf\n Who's sighing at your feet.'\n\"'He accuses you of felony,' said I. 'Oh, Rosabel! why did you, after\nhaving perpetrated so many larcenies among the flower-beds, steal the\npoor little man's heart?'\n\"'What would I want with his heart?' said Rosabel, pouting.\n\"'He tells you to keep it, and makes an offer of himself. He offers you\nBliss.'\n\"'The impudent little scamp!' said the widow. 'Tell Juba and Jugurtha to\ncome here.'\n\"'Yes, ma'am,' said a colored girl, who stood grinning behind the\nwidow's chair.\n\"Two gigantic negro men soon made their appearance.\n\"'Are the dogs in the kennel?' said the widow.\n\"'Yes, ma'am,' said Juba.\n\"'Oh, mother!' exclaimed Rosabel, 'you won't do that! It is a pity!'\n\"'Indeed I will,' said the widow. 'Let them loose!'\n\"'Yes, ma'am;' and Juba and Jugurtha grinned, and each uttered a low\nchuckle as they hurried from the room.\n\"The voice of Dove was warbling another melody. It stopped suddenly, for\nthe baying of hounds was heard on the opposite side of the house. I\nlooked out the window, and in the moonlight could see Love and Bliss\nleaping over the paling fence. Dove was climbing an apple-tree, when a\ndog seized him behind and tore away his tail----\"\n\"What!\" said the Professor.\n\"The tail of his coat,\" said Toney. \"Dove took refuge among the branches\nof the tree.\n\"After awhile Juba entered the room showing his ivory and exhibiting a\npiece of broadcloth, which he held in his hand as a trophy.\n\"'What is that?' asked the widow.\n\"'Dunno, ma'am,--I tuk it from Trouncer.'\n\"'Let me look,' said I. 'Why, it's Dove's tail!'\n\"The widow shrieked with laughter, and Rosabel hid her face on the\ncushion of the sofa and shook as if she had an ague. I put my hand in\nthe pocket and drew out a number of papers.\n\"'What are those?' said the widow.\n\"'Love-letters,' said I. 'Here, Rosabel, you can read them.'\n\"'And those?' said the widow.\n\"'Verses,' said I,--'songs and sonnets. Rosabel, you can copy them into\nyour album.'\n\"'And that?' said the widow.\n\"'Why,' said I,'this puzzles me.'\n\"'What does M. O. O. S. S. mean?' asked the widow.\n\"'Oh, I know what that means,' said I.\n\"'What?' said Rosabel.\n\"'It signifies Mystic Order of Seven Sweethearts.' And I gave Rosabel\nand her mother an account of the Sweethearts, which excited much\nmerriment.\n\"'But these letters, N. G. G. and M. W. D.,--what do they mean?' asked\nthe widow.\n\"'That I cannot tell,' said I.\n\"'Do try to find out,' said Rosabel.\n\"I promised to do so, and have ever since retained the paper in my\npossession for the purpose of deciphering it.\"\n\"But what became of Dove?\" asked the Professor.\n\"I must tell you,\" said Toney. \"When I retired I could not sleep. I\nthought about Rosabel, and then about Dove in the apple-tree, and then I\nwould roar with laughter; and Rosabel and her mother must have heard me,\nfor I could hear explosions of mirth in an adjoining apartment. Towards\nmorning I got into a doze and was dreaming that I had a hundred thousand\ndollars, and had purchased a diamond ring for Rosabel, who had ordered\nher bridal attire, when I was awakened by hearing voices in the garden.\nI jumped out of bed and ran to the window. It was daylight, and under\nthe apple-tree I beheld Juba walking to and fro with the steady pace of\na Roman sentinel. Dove was perched on a bough over his head, and I could\nhear him in piteous tones begging the negro to tie up the dogs. For a\nlong while his supplications made no impression on the obdurate African.\nFinally he drew a coin of glittering gold from the pocket of his vest,\nand the tempting bribe produced the desired effect. The dogs were tied\nup, and Dove dropped from the tree, and leaped over the fence and\nvanished.\"\nJust then the loud sound of a gong, announcing the arrival of the hour\nfor dinner, was heard, and Toney and his friends arose from their seats\nand walked toward the hotel.\nCHAPTER XV.\nIn the afternoon, as the sun was descending towards the western horizon,\nand the balmy breezes were gently stirring the leaves of the silver\nmaples which shaded the main avenue leading from the hotel, Toney, in\ncompany with Tom and the Professor, proceeded on a promenade. They had\nnot gone far before they perceived Harry Vincent and Clarence Hastings\njust in advance of them, walking slowly and apparently engaged in\nearnest conversation. They overheard Harry say, \"I tell you my mind is\nmade up. I am off for Mexico, and I want you to go with me.\"\nClarence shook his head. His mind was not yet made up.\n\"Did you hear that?\" said Toney.\n\"Yes,\" said Tom. \"Harry is going to Mexico.\"\n\"Do you mean the tall, handsome young man walking on the left?\" said the\nProfessor.\n\"The same,\" said Toney.\n\"I thought he had military glory in his mind as soon as I saw him,\" said\nthe Professor.\n\"Why so?\" asked Toney.\n\"A close observer can sometimes tell what is in a man's mind by his\nwalk,\" said the Professor. \"From the erect manner in which the young man\ncarried his head and the determined tread with which he brought down his\nfoot, I was certain that he had resolved on a march for the Halls of the\nMontezumas.\"\nThe Professor and his two friends had now halted under a tree and were\nengaged in conversation, when Claribel and Wiggins came by, and as they\npassed Harry and Clarence, Wiggins bowed, but the lovely Claribel never\nturned her head.\n\"Did you observe that?\" said Seddon.\n\"I did,\" said Tony.\n\"Military glory is getting into the mind of the other young gentleman, I\nthink,\" said the Professor. \"He seems to be half a head taller than he\nwas a moment ago, and his foot comes down with a determination that\nindicates no benevolent intentions towards Santa Anna and his myrmidons.\nBut, look! yonder comes our three pretty little men.\"\nLove now passed them, followed by Dove and Bliss, each escorting a very\nbeautiful young lady. Love seemed to be supremely happy, and in terms of\nrapture was directing the attention of the smiling beauty to the\nmagnificent sunset.\n \"Yon sun that sets upon the sea\n We follow in his flight;\n Farewell, awhile, to him and thee----\nUgh! ugh! ugh!\" exclaimed Love; and the lady loudly shrieked as he was\nlifted from his feet and rudely carried away from her side.\nA mischievous dog had assaulted an aged sow of monstrous proportions,\nwhich was quietly rooting in the street, and the affrighted porker\nfrantically rushed between the legs of the beau and galloped off with\nhim on her back. Love was half paralyzed with terror. He fell forward on\nthe back of the sow and convulsively grasped her by the ears. The ladies\nfled screaming toward the hotel, while Dove and Bliss stood petrified\nwith astonishment. Toney, Tom, and the Professor ran at full speed after\nLove, who was rapidly galloping away on the back of his courser. The\ndog, delighted with the sport, kept pinching the hams of the sow, and in\nthe hope of escaping from her ruthless tormentor, she diverged from the\nmain avenue and ran across a common to a pond of mud and water. Into the\npond plunged the sow with the unfortunate beau on her back, scattering a\nflock of ducks, that with loud quacks fluttered up the banks, where\nstood the dog barking and bobbing his head in the full enjoyment of the\nfun.\nIn a few moments groups of men and boys were assembled on the margin of\nthe pond. Love sat on the back of the sow bespattered with mud, and\nstill tenaciously holding on by her long, pendant ears. Suddenly a voice\nwas heard, apparently issuing from the mouth of the porker, and\nexclaiming, \"Let go my ears!\"\n\"Golly! did you hear that?\" exclaimed C\u00e6sar, with his eyes dilating in\namazement.\n\"The hog's talking,\" said Hannibal.\n\"That beats Balaam's ass!\" said Tom Seddon.\n\"Get off my back!\" shrieked the sow, and Love, in the utmost terror,\nrolled off into the mud. The sow slowly waded towards the bank and gazed\nup at the dog with a look of indignation. Her canine persecutor was put\nto flight by a stone hurled from the hand of Hannibal, when she ascended\nthe bank, and, shaking the mud from her sides, with a grunt trotted off,\nand was soon seen industriously digging with her nose in a sward of\nclover.\n\"Jehosophat! that hog talked,\" said Hannibal.\n\"Nonsense!\" said Toney.\n\"'Deed, Massa Belton, that old sow talked. I heerd her talkin' myself,\"\nsaid C\u00e6sar.\n\"The devil's in the swine,\" said Seddon.\n\"I b'lieves that old sow's the debbil,\" said Hannibal.\n\"Pshaw!\" said Toney, \"it was some boy you heard talking. Do you suppose\nthat the hogs in this town have the gift of gab? Here, help Mr. Love out\nof the pond.\"\nThe unfortunate beau sat helplessly in the midst of the mud and water,\nand was turning his eyes imploringly towards Dove and Bliss, who stood\non the bank.\n\"Wade in and help him out,\" said Toney to the negroes.\nC\u00e6sar and Hannibal both shook their heads.\n\"Here, take this,\" said Toney, handing each a silver coin. \"Now, wade\nin.\"\nC\u00e6sar and Hannibal commenced slowly rolling up the legs of their\ntrousers until they had gathered them in bundles above their knees. They\nthen with much deliberation waded to the middle of the pond, and each\ntaking Love by an arm, lifted him up, and bringing him ashore, laid him\ndown on the bank.\n\"Get that wheelbarrow,\" said Toney, pointing to a vehicle of the sort\nwhich had been left on the common.\nC\u00e6sar brought the barrow, and Hannibal lifted Love up and deposited him\nin the bottom of the vehicle, and, followed by a procession of people,\ncarried the luckless beau back to the hotel.\n\"Take him to the bath-house,\" said the landlord.\nThe negroes obeyed orders, and left Love in the care of Dove and Bliss.\n\"That hog talked,\" said C\u00e6sar.\n\"Sartingly!\" said Hannibal. \"Golly! who ever heerd a hog talk afore\ndat?\"\n\"Those African gentlemen are fully persuaded that the sow spoke,\" said\nSeddon to the Professor.\n\"It may be so,\" said the Professor. \"She was under the influence of\nLove, and that has been known to produce miraculous results.\"\nIn the mean while, Wiggins and the lovely Claribel, in utter ignorance\nof the melancholy catastrophe just related, had continued their walk\nuntil they entered a delightful grove on the outskirts of the town. Here\nwas a beautiful fountain and rustic bench, around which hung a canopy of\nclustering vines. Claribel was about to seat herself on the bench when a\nhideous head was thrust out from among the vines. The lady uttered a\nfaint scream and swooned in terror. Wiggins was dreadfully startled, and\ndrawing back a cane with a leaden bullet enveloped in gutta-percha on\nits end, dealt a blow on the head of the apparition which would have\ncracked the skull of an ox. The monster fell back dead in the bushes.\nWiggins now turned his attention to his fair companion. She was\nunconscious. He lifted her up, and, with the lovely Claribel in his\narms, seated himself on the rustic bench. Her head rested against his\nbosom, and Wiggins bent down until his mouth accidentally came in\ncontact with her ruby lips. It was an accident, and Wiggins did not\nintend to commit a trespass, but he could not help it. Wiggins kissed\nClaribel on her delicious little mouth. Now, who ever kissed a lovely\nyoung lady once without wanting to kiss her again? Wiggins kissed her\nagain, and then several times in rapid succession. Just then Harry\nVincent and Clarence Hastings, unperceived by Wiggins, entered the\ngrove. They stood still in astonishment. An expression of horror was\ndepicted on the countenance of Clarence. For a moment he stood as if\nrooted to the earth. Then pulling Harry by the arm, he said, in a hoarse\nwhisper, \"Come!\" The young men walked on in silence for about five\nminutes, when Clarence said, \"Harry, I will go with you to the Mexican\nwar.\"\nCHAPTER XVI.\nOn the morning after the events related in the preceding chapter, the\nladies at the hotel could talk of nothing but Love. Love seemed to\noccupy all their thoughts, and at breakfast many a pair of beautiful\neyes were directed towards the door of the saloon each time it opened,\nin eager expectation of his appearance. But he did not appear, and many\nyoung damsels retired from the table sadly disappointed by his\ninvisibility. At about ten o'clock in the morning a rumor became\nprevalent that Love was about to appear, and many a pretty face might be\nseen peeping from a half-opened door, evidently for the purpose of\ngetting a glimpse of the Dainty Adorer when he came forth. Soon the\nheavy tramp of feet was heard in the corridor, as Scipio, C\u00e6sar, and\nHannibal marched along carrying trunks with the names of Love, Dove, and\nBliss in large letters on their lids. The Dainty Adorer now came form\nwith the Noble Nonentity on his right and the Winsome Wooer on his left.\nThe three little men had their arms locked, and were followed by Wiggins\nand M. T. Pate, who seemed to be exceedingly sad. As the melancholy\nprocession descended the stairway, from numerous doors opening into the\ncorridor issued lovely young ladies, who hurried to the upper landing,\nwhere was soon assembled a galaxy of beauty gazing after Love, Dove, and\nBliss, who were taking their departure. As the daintily-dressed little\nbeaus went forth into the street, the bevy of beauties descended the\nstairway and assembled on the veranda, where they continued to gaze down\nthe avenue until Hannibal, who led the advance, turned a corner, and\nthen, in a moment, Love, Dove, and Bliss were hidden from their view.\nOne might have imagined that the departure of Bliss would have produced\na feeling of melancholy among the beauties who had been deserted; but\nsuch was not the case. Peals of laughter were heard, and, regardless of\nthe flight of Dove and the departure of Bliss, the young ladies talked\nmerrily of Love during the entire day.\nToney, Tom, and the Professor were at the railway and witnessed the\ndeparture of Love, Dove, and Bliss with manifest regret. They turned\naway and walked for some moments in profound silence, when Seddon\nexclaimed,--\n\"Yonder comes Captain Bragg!\"\nThe cosmopolite approached them at a hurried pace, and apparently in\nmuch excitement. He was introduced to the Professor, and then Toney\ninquired about the condition of his health.\n\"I am physically well, Mr. Belton,\" said Bragg, \"but am mentally\nafflicted.\"\n\"Indeed!\" said Toney. \"I trust that there has been no serious cause for\nthis disturbance of your usual equanimity.\"\n\"I have met with a great, I fear an irreparable, loss,\" said Bragg.\n\"A ship foundered at sea without any insurance on her?\" inquired the\nProfessor.\n\"My monkey,\" said Bragg.\n\"Alas!\" exclaimed Tom Seddon in pathetic tones, \"is the monkey no more?\"\n\"Is he dead?\" said Toney, apparently in great anxiety to learn its fate.\n\"I know not,\" said Bragg. \"He is missing. I have searched for him in\nvain.\"\n\"He may have run away and escaped over Mason and Dixon's line,\" said the\nProfessor. \"Could you not reclaim him under the fugitive slave law?\"\n\"That monkey would never have run away, Mr. Tickle. I have fed him and\nprotected him, and he could never have been guilty of such gross folly\nand base ingratitude.\"\n\"A negro, who is clothed and fed and protected, will occasionally run\noff from a comfortable home, and why not a monkey?\" said Seddon.\n\"A negro may run away from the mush-pot of his master because he is a\nslave, and is impelled by a natural and laudable desire for liberty. But\nmy monkey was not a slave, Mr. Seddon. He was a friend and a companion.\nMonkeys and apes, Mr. Tickle, have emotions and sentiments. All they\nlack is the power of speech to give expression to their thoughts and\nfeelings.\"\n\"They sometimes, though rarely, have that faculty,\" said the Professor.\n\"On one occasion I heard a venerable baboon express himself in emphatic\nand excellent English.\"\n\"Indeed!\" said Bragg.\n\"It was in Kentucky,\" said the Professor, \"There was a traveling\nmenagerie exhibiting in a small village. A number of negroes were\nexamining the baboon with much curiosity, and one of them insisted that\nhe could talk but would not, because if he did the white people would\nput him to work, and he was too lazy to work. I was present and heard\nthe baboon indignantly exclaim, 'You lie, you ugly, nasty nigger! I am\nnot as lazy as you are! Begone! or I'll bite your nose off!' The\nAfricans tore a hole in the tent in their efforts to get out.\"\nHere there was heard an uproar in the street and a crowd of boys was\nseen approaching. One of them was carrying an animal, which he grasped\nby the tail and held with its head hanging down.\n\"What is that?\" asked Seddon.\n\"A dead monkey,\" said the boy. \"We found him in the grove by the\nfountain lying on his back in the bushes.\"\nBragg rushed forward and the boy dropped the monkey, which lay on the\nground with its hideous face turned upward.\n\"My monkey! my monkey!\" exclaimed Bragg. He stooped down and examined\nthe dead body. Its skull had been cracked by a terrible blow which must\nhave produced instant death. \"This monkey has been foully murdered! Oh,\nthat I knew the villain who perpetrated the bloody deed! Who killed my\nmonkey? I say who killed my monkey?\" said Bragg.\n\"Botts!\" said a voice apparently issuing from the mouth of the monkey.\nBragg started back with a look of amazement. The crowd of boys opened\nand they fell back in awe and terror.\n\"Bill,\" said a boy to his companion, \"that monkey spoke.\"\n\"True as preaching!\" said Bill. \"I heard it.\"\nBragg stood speechless for some minutes. Then, in solemn tones, he\nexclaimed,--\n\"Gentlemen, did you not hear that?\"\n\"What?\" said Toney, who with Tom stood at a distance of some paces. \"I\nheard nothing.\"\n\"Did you not hear a voice issuing from the mouth of the corpse and\nproclaiming the name of the murderer?\" exclaimed Bragg.\n\"Impossible!\" said Seddon.\n\"By no means impossible,\" said the Professor. \"Shakspeare, who is good\nauthority on all such subjects, tells us that\n Stones have been known to move and trees to speak;\n Auguries and understood relations have,\n By magot-pies and choughs and rooks, brought forth\n The secret'st man of blood.\"\n\"True, Mr. Tickle,\" said Bragg. \"And as sure as yonder sun is shining in\nthe heavens I heard a voice issuing from that monkey's mouth and\nproclaiming Botts to be the murderer!\"\n\"Botts could prove an alibi,\" said Toney. \"He has gone back to\nMapleton.\"\n\"The conscience-stricken villain!\" exclaimed Bragg. \"He has imbrued his\nhands in innocent blood and then fled. I will follow him to the ends of\nthe earth!\" And Bragg started off as if in pursuit of the murderer.\n\"Captain!\" shouted Seddon, \"What will you do with the corpse?\"\n\"Bury it,\" said Bragg, coming back,--\"and then I will seek out that\nvillain Botts.\"\nAccompanied by the boys, Bragg proceeded to bury his monkey.\n\"That man is insane,\" said the Professor.\n\"All excitable people are insane at times,\" said Toney.\n\"Bragg has monkey-mania,\" said Tom.\n\"And pseudomania,\" said Toney.\n\"His lies are harmless,\" said Seddon.\n\"And amusing,\" said Toney. \"Bragg can beat Baron Munchausen.\"\n\"That was an amusing story he told about his residence in Africa among\nthose long-tailed gentlemen,\" said Seddon.\n\"What was that?\" asked the Professor.\nHere Tom gave an account of Bragg's residence in Africa as related by\nhimself.\n\"The man is demented,\" said the Professor. \"But do you think he will go\nafter Botts?\"\n\"As sure as his name is Bragg,\" said Toney. \"Yonder he comes now.\"\nBragg was seen walking towards them rapidly, carrying a carpet-bag.\n\"Good-by, gentlemen!\" said he, hurrying along.\n\"Are you going, captain?\" said Toney. \"When will you return?\"\n\"As soon as I have settled with that villain Botts. Good-by!\"\nBragg hurried to the railway. A train of cars was just ready to start.\n\"All aboard!\" shouted the conductor, and the train moved off. Bragg\nseated himself with an ominous frown on his brow, for he was thinking of\nBotts. Immediately in front of him sat a man who had a large bundle by\nhis side. The cars soon stopped at another station. The man got up and\nwent out, leaving his bundle behind.\n\"Here, my man, you have left your bundle!\" exclaimed Bragg.\nThe man made no answer, but had disappeared. The whistle sounded and the\ntrain was moving off, Bragg jumped up and threw the bundle out the\nwindow. It was picked up by a ragged loafer, who ran off with it. Just\nthen the man re-entered the car.\n\"Where is my bundle?\" exclaimed he.\n\"That man threw it out the window,\" said a passenger, pointing to Bragg.\n\"What!\" exclaimed the man, and he looked out the window and saw the\nloafer running of with his bundle. \"You infernal thief!--threw my bundle\nout the window for one of your gang to carry off!\"\nBragg protested his innocence and endeavored to explain.\n\"Oh, that's a pretty story!\" said the man. \"You are a sharp rogue! If\nyou don't pay me for my bundle I will have you arrested at the next\nstation and carried back to jail.\"\n\"How much was your bundle worth?\" asked Bragg.\n\"Twenty dollars,\" said the man.\n\"Here's the money,\" said Bragg.\nThe man took the twenty dollars and resumed his seat. The train now\nstopped at another station and two constables rushed on board. They\nlooked around with keen and searching glances.\n\"Jim,\" said one of them to the other, \"that's the man. Arrest him!\"\n\"I arrest you in the name of the law,\" said Jim, laying his hand on\nBragg's shoulder.\n\"Arrest me!\" exclaimed the astonished captain. \"For what?\"\n\"Burglary!\" said the constable.\n\"By the powers of mud, stand back!\" shouted the indignant Bragg.\n\"Come along, my lad!\" said the constable. And Bragg, struggling with the\nofficers and uttering volleys of oaths, was dragged from the car and had\nhandcuffs put on his wrists.\n\"I knew that fellow was a thief,\" said the man who had lost his bundle.\nA daring burglary had been committed in the neighborhood of Bella Vista.\nAt about twelve o'clock on the preceding night the store-room which\nadjoined the dwelling-house of a country merchant had been broken open.\nThe merchant was aroused and entered the store-room, but was knocked\ndown and gagged by the burglars, and his goods carried off before his\neyes. He had described the leader of the gang as a tall, raw-boned man,\nwith a Roman nose. The appearance of Captain Bragg corresponded to the\ndescription, and hence he was arrested by the vigilant constables.\nGreat was the astonishment of Toney and his two friends when the train\nstopped, and they beheld Bragg led from the cars by the officers, with\nhandcuffs on his wrists.\n\"Good heavens!\" said Toney, \"Bragg has encountered Botts and murdered\nhim, and has been arrested for the crime.\"\n\"That is just what has happened!\" exclaimed Seddon, with a look of\nhorror.\n\"It is shocking to think of!\" said Toney.\n\"Murder a man on account of a monkey!\" said Seddon.\nThe constables kept off the crowd, and would allow no one to speak to\nthe prisoner.\n\"Mr. Belton!\" exclaimed Bragg, \"I want you to be my attorney.\"\n\"Very good,\" said Jim, \"you can talk to your lawyer.\"\nToney was permitted to converse with Bragg, who explained to him the\nnature of the charge which had caused his arrest.\n\"Thank Heaven!\" exclaimed Toney.\n\"Thank Heaven for what?\" asked Bragg, in astonishment.\n\"That it is no worse,\" said Toney.\n\"What could be worse? Arrested as a burglar!\" said Bragg.\n\"Where were you at twelve o'clock last night?\" inquired Toney.\n\"At my boarding-house,\" said Bragg.\n\"Can you prove that?\" said Toney.\n\"Yes,\" said Bragg.\n\"By whom?\" inquired Toney.\n\"By my landlady and a dozen of her boarders. I was playing cards, and\nwon a hundred dollars,\" said Bragg.\n\"Tom Seddon,\" shouted Toney, \"run to Captain Bragg's boarding-house, and\ntell the landlady and her boarders to come immediately to the\nmagistrate's office.\"\nCaptain Bragg was brought into the office.\n\"Take off the handcuffs,\" said the justice. \"A party accused should be\nunmanacled when he has a hearing.\"\nJim took off the handcuffs, and then stationed himself at the door with\nhis hand on his revolver, ready to shoot down the desperate burglar if\nhe should attempt to escape.\n\"Now, Mr. Belton,\" said the justice, \"we will proceed with the\nexamination.\"\nThe landlady swore that Captain Bragg was in her house at twelve\no'clock on the preceding night. Her testimony was fully corroborated by\nthat of a dozen of her boarders. An alibi had already been clearly\nestablished by the evidence, when the merchant who had been robbed\nwalked into the room. He approached Bragg and scrutinized his\ncountenance.\n\"This is not the man,\" said he. \"The robber was a much handsomer man\nthan the ugly old fellow you have got here.\"\nIn consequence of this testimony Captain Bragg was discharged from\ncustody; but he was so mortified and humiliated at having been\nhandcuffed and charged with burglary that he immediately took his\ndeparture from Bella Vista; telling Toney that he intended to leave the\nUnited States, and seek an asylum among the islands of the Pacific\nOcean.\nCHAPTER XVII.\n\"It is too bad! it is too bad!\" exclaimed Tom Seddon, rushing into the\nroom which Toney and the Professor were quietly fumigating with a couple\nof havanas. \"It is terrible to think of!\"\n\"What's the matter, Tom?\" said Toney. \"Has old Crabstick been afflicted\nwith another fit of canine rabies, and bit you on the calf of the leg?\"\n\"Harry Vincent and Clarence Hastings have gone to Mexico!\" said Tom.\n\"Well, what of that?\" said Toney. \"Thousands of young men have gone\nthither, and many have won distinction; and from my knowledge of Harry\nand Clarence, I am certain that both of them will soon gather luxuriant\ncrops of laurel on the field of battle.\"\n\"But Claribel Carrington is dying,\" said Seddon.\n\"What?\" exclaimed Toney.\n\"Dying?\" said the Professor.\n\"I fear it is so,\" said Tom. \"I was at Colonel Hazlewood's house this\nmorning when the newspaper was brought in. Claribel took it in her hand\nand was glancing over it when she suddenly let it drop; sat speechless\nfor a moment; put her hand to her brow, and then, with a faint cry, sank\nsenseless on the floor. She had seen the paragraph announcing the\ndeparture of Clarence and Harry. We lifted her up and her lips were\ndiscolored with blood. I fear that the sudden shock produced the rupture\nof a blood-vessel. She was carried to her room, and two doctors are in\nattendance.\"\n\"But what of Imogen?\" asked Toney.\n\"She hastily snatched up the paper and glanced at the paragraph, and\nthen it fell from her hand. She never uttered a word. I do not know\nwhether that stately beauty is possessed of feeling,\" said Seddon.\n\"As much perhaps as the other,\" said the Professor. \"Some women are like\nthe Laconian boy, with the fox eating away his life. With them agony has\nno outward expression. They suffer and are silent.\"\n\"Women are enigmas,\" said Toney.\n\"They are like pigs,\" said the Professor.\n\"How so?\" asked Toney.\n\"If you want them to go to Cork you must make them suppose you desire\nthem to go to Kilkenny.\"\n\"I believe you are right,\" said Toney. \"Now, here are Claribel and\nImogen who have been bestowing their smiles on everybody but Clarence\nand Harry. For those two gentlemen, who are handsome, educated, and\naccomplished, neither of these young ladies has had a kindly look or\nfriendly word for a whole week. One who was unacquainted with the secret\nworkings of a woman's heart would have supposed that Claribel was deeply\nin love with Rosebud's purple proboscis.\"\n\"Who is Rosebud?\" asked the Professor.\n\"Wiggins,\" said Toney.\n\"The fellow with the long rubicund nasal protuberance?\" asked the\nProfessor. \"He who is supposed to be the Most Worthy Donkey of the\nMystic Brotherhood?\"\n\"The same,\" said Toney. \"And Imogen appeared to be equally infatuated\nwith the Long Green Boy.\"\n\"Who is he?\" inquired the Professor.\n\"Sam Perch,\" said Toney.\n\"Oh, you mean the Great Green Gosling,\" said the Professor. \"The\ninteresting young gentleman who was so unsuccessful in his elaborate\nattempt at suicide.\"\n\"That's the youth,\" said Toney. \"And now, when Clarence and Harry,\nworried and maddened by the caprice of these two young ladies, have gone\noff to Mexico, you see what has happened.\"\n\"It was all the doings of your Seven Sweethearts, as you call them,\"\nexclaimed Tom Seddon. \"They must be made to leave the town.\"\n\"They have all gone but two,\" said Toney. \"The exodus of Love, Dove, and\nBliss leaves Pate and Wiggins alone to conduct the operations of\nlady-killing and making havoc among hearts.\"\n\"And Wiggins has killed Claribel, if I am not mistaken,\" said Seddon.\n\"They must be made to leave,\" said he, with emphasis. \"Pate has been\nbobbing his big bald head about in the mansion of old Crabstick, and has\nbeen gallanting Ida all around. He has magnetized her eccentric\nguardian, who is under the impression that Pate is wealthy, and\ncordially welcomes him to his house; while he will hardly allow me to\nexchange a word with Ida, and sometimes when I am in the parlor he will\nhave one of his fits of hypochondria, or whatever you may call it, and\nwill come bounding in on all fours, barking and pretending to bite. It\nis all put on; for the old Cerberus is polite enough in the presence of\nM. T. Pate.\"\n\"Well, Tom, how do you propose to effect the expulsion of the Noble\nGrand Gander and the Most Worthy Donkey?\" asked Toney.\n\"They met me on the street about an hour ago,\" said Seddon, \"and\nproposed that we three should accompany them on a serenade, intended for\nthe entertainment of Ida.\"\n\"How far does Crabstick live from the town?\" inquired Toney.\n\"About two miles,\" said Tom.\n\"Let us go,\" said Toney.\n\"I will arrange with some young men in Bella Vista, who will eagerly\nparticipate in the performance. We will have fun,\" said Seddon.\n\"There is nothing like fun,\" said the Professor. \"I am about to\noriginate a sect to be called the Funny Philosophers. Let's organize it\nat once. We three,--Toney, Tom, and Tickle.\"\n\"Agreed,\" said Toney.\n\"And now we will commence operations by going on the proposed serenade,\"\nsaid the Professor.\n\"And Pate and Wiggins shall leave this town!\" said Tom Seddon.\nCHAPTER XVIII.\nThere was no moon, but the stars were brightly twinkling, when Toney,\nTom, and the Professor started, in company with Wiggins and M. T. Pate,\non a pedestrian excursion to the mansion of Samuel Crabstick, situated\nat a distance of about two miles from the town of Bella Vista. They had\nproceeded some distance when they came to a rustic stile which had been\nerected over a fence on the side of the main road, and from which a path\nled through a field into a forest. Toney seated himself on the stile and\nproposed that they should diverge from the main road and follow the path\nacross the field; saying that it was the most direct route to their\nplace of destination.\n\"I would prefer the main road,\" said Pate. \"It is more circuitous; but\nthere is no moon, and it will be very dark in yonder forest. We will\nhave difficulty in finding our way through it.\"\n\"Not at all,\" said Toney, \"I know every foot of the path, which runs in\na straight line to the place we are going.\"\n\"Then, let us take the path,\" said the Professor. \"When beauty is the\nattraction I always want to make a bee-line for her abode.\"\n\"That is in accordance with natural laws,\" said Toney. \"Who ever saw\npyrites of iron taking a circuitous route to the magnet? Ida is the\nmagnet. Is it not so, Tom?\"\nTom nodded assent.\n\"And we are the pyrites,\" said the Professor. \"Let us go straight to the\nattraction, and not be acting contrary to the laws of nature.\"\nPate was overcome by these arguments, and, ascending the stile, was\nabout to pursue that path, when Toney called out,--\n\"Don't be in a hurry, Mr. Pate. We have plenty of time.\"\n\"In fact, it is too early yet for a serenade,\" said the Professor. \"We\nshould wait until the young lady has put on her nightcap. If we wake her\nout of her first nap, when she has been wandering in the fairy-land of\ndreams, her impression will be that angels are singing around her\nwindow.\"\n\"That is so,\" said Toney. \"Let us wait. I have a proposition to make.\"\n\"What is that?\" asked the Professor.\n\"Here we are going on a serenade,\" said Toney. \"Now, I move that each\nman furnish evidence of his musical accomplishments by singing a song.\nLet Mr. Pate lead off.\"\n\"A song from Mr. Pate!\" cried the Professor.\n\"A song from Mr. Pate!\" shouted Seddon.\n\"Mr. Pate will now sing,\" said Toney.\nThus urged, Pate seated himself, and in loud if not mellifluous tones\nsang as follows:\n The summer day's faded and starlight is streaming\n In beautiful showers from heaven above;\n And welcome sweet midnight! for then in its dreaming\n My spirit is wafted away to my love.\n Let others rejoicing, then welcome Aurora,\n As fann'd by zephyrs she blushes so bright;\n But midnight! sweet midnight! I'll ever adore her,\n And mourn when the morning returns with its light.\n\"Mr. Pate,\" said the Professor, \"if you wake the young lady up by\nwarbling that melody under her window, she will think that you are an\nangel of magnificent proportions and tremendous vocal powers. Now, Mr.\nWiggins, it is your turn.\"\nWiggins cleared his throat and sang the following ditty:\n Oh, maiden fair,\n With raven hair,\n And lips so sweetly pouting,\n I do avow,\n That until now,\n I've in my mind been doubting\n If 'twere not sin\n To rank you in\n The race of us poor mortals;\n Thinking you might,\n By some fair sprite,\n Escaped from heaven's own portals.\n But as I now\n Gaze on that brow\n So fondly and so madly,\n I am afraid,\n My lovely maid,\n My fancy's lowered sadly;\n For while 'mid bliss\n So sweet as this\n My soul's to rapture given,\n Alas! my mind\n Is more inclined\n To earth than 'tis to heaven.\n\"Indeed, Mr. Wiggins, you must not warble that song under the young\nlady's window,\" said the Professor.\n\"I do not intend to do so,\" said Wiggins.\n\"I am glad of that,\" said the Professor, \"for if you did she would\nimagine that you were some fallen angel on a midnight peregrination. And\nnow, Toney, let us hear from you.\"\nToney sang:\n Come to the green grove! where wild vines are clinging\n Around the tall elms, whose broad boughs are flinging\n Their shade o'er the roof of the cottage so near\n To the banks of the streamlet meandering clear.\n There we'll recline 'neath the shade of the willow,\n Where roses and lilies have wreathed a sweet pillow,\n And the goldfinch concealed in the green boughs above\n Is warbling all day to his beautiful love.\n There we will watch the blithe humming-bird roving,\n And purple-winged butterflies fairy-like moving\n Among the blue violets that bloom at our feet,\n And throw all around us their fragrance so sweet.\n There thou shalt sing, love, and then as I hear thee,\n Drink in thy soft tones, and know that I'm near thee,\n I'll fancy 'tis Eden around me I see,\n And thou art an angel to share it with me.\n\"Toney,\" said the Professor, \"when the young lady hears that she will\nsuppose that the spirit of a troubadour is warbling under her window.\nAnd now, Mr. Seddon.\"\nTom sang:\n The green wood is ringing with mocking-birds' notes,\n And melody springing from turtle-doves' throats,\n And wild flowers growing so beautiful there,\n Their fragrance are throwing all over the air.\n But see! in yon bower, that wild vines inclose,\n A lovelier flower than lily or rose;\n Your beauties have vanished, ye lilies so fair,\n To her cheeks are banished; go seek for them there!\n Your sweetness, ye roses, which butterflies sip,\n Hath gone--it reposes upon her soft lip;\n Thy music, sweet dove, now no more thou'lt prolong!\n Oh, list to my love now! she's stolen thy song.\n\"Mr. Seddon, the young lady will be persuaded that you are a twin\nbrother to the troubadour,\" said the Professor.\n\"And now, Charley,\" said Toney, \"we are waiting to hear you warble.\"\nThe Professor sang:\n Come hasten with me, love,\n Come hasten away!\n Come haste to yon lea, love,\n Where flow'rets so gay\n Their beauties have blended,\n As richly as though\n 'Twere fragments all splendid\n Of yonder bright bow,\n By fairy hands riven\n In moments of mirth,\n And flung from yon heaven\n T' embellish the earth.\n Come haste to yon lea, love,\n Come hasten with me!\n And then thou shalt see, love,\n Naught fairer than thee.\n\"How do you expect her to see in the dark?\" said Toney.\n\"Oh, she must have patience and wait until morning,\" said the Professor.\nThe serenaders now arose from their seats, and, proceeding across the\nfield, soon entered the forest, which was traversed in various\ndirections by paths made by the cattle that were accustomed to browse on\nthe bushes. The path pursued by the party soon led them to a spot where\nthe foliage was dense, and, entirely excluding the starlight, enveloped\nthem in gloomy darkness. Tom Seddon now exclaimed,----\n\"Toney, why did you select this road? Let us go back. This is the very\nspot where a man was found, not long ago, with his throat cut, and three\nbullet-holes through his head.\"\n\"Horrible!\" exclaimed Pate.\n\"Let us go back!\" cried Wiggins.\n\"Numerous robberies and murders have been committed in this forest,\"\nsaid Tom. \"In fact, it is infested by a gang of desperadoes. If we go\non, none of us may ever return to Bella Vista alive.\"\n\"Oh! oh!\" groaned Pate.\n\"Let us go back!\" exclaimed Wiggins,--\"I will not--ugh!\"\nThere was a sudden flash from the bushes, followed by a loud report, and\npoor Tom dropped dead at the feet of M. T. Pate. Before a word could be\nuttered, another shot was fired, and Toney staggered against a tree and\nthen fell to the ground with a groan.\n\"Run!--run!\" exclaimed Pate.\n\"Run!--run!--run!\" cried Wiggins.\n\"Run!--run!--run!--run!\" said the Professor, when there was another\nreport, and he exclaimed, falling to the earth, \"Oh!--oh!--oh!--I am\nshot!--help!--help!--murder! murder!\"\nPate and Wiggins fled through the forest with the murderers shouting and\nfiring in their rear. As it happened, they soon became separated, and\neach got into a path which led him away from the other. After running\nwith unexampled speed for some time, Pate suddenly found himself on the\nback of some huge horned monster, which rose from the earth with a loud\nroar and galloped off with him. How far he rode on the back of his\nterrible courser he never could tell; but at last the creature leaped\nover the trunk of a fallen tree, and Pate rolled off and sank to the\nearth in a comatose condition, induced by extreme terror.\nWhen he became conscious, he got up and wandered for hours, through the\nforest, lost and bewildered, and in the utmost dread of falling into the\nhands of the desperadoes, who had slain poor Toney, Tom, and the\nProfessor. At length the day broke; and as he wandered on he espied some\none coming towards him who had a most hideous appearance. Pate was about\nto turn and fly, when the man called to him, and he recognized the voice\nof William Wiggins.\nWiggins had fled in headlong haste until he had emerged from the forest,\nand entered an inclosure surrounding a farm-house. Here he was so\nunfortunate as to overturn a bee-hive and was so badly stung by the\ninfuriated insects that he rushed blindly around, and got among the\npoultry. Hearing the commotion among his fowls, the farmer came out with\na club, and vigorously belabored the supposed thief, until the latter\nescaped, and fled back to the forest, with his face shockingly swollen\nby the stings of the bees, and his body terribly bruised by the blows\nfrom the farmer's cudgel.\nWhen Wiggins had told his doleful story, Pate proceeded to relate how he\nhad been carried off on the back of some horned monster, which had\nsuddenly risen out of the earth, and must have been the devil. It now\nbeing broad daylight, they succeeded in finding the way to the town,\nwhere they told a tale of horror to the landlord at the hotel. But while\nthey were describing the bloody murder in the forest, the landlord, with\na smile, pointed out Toney, Tom, and the Professor standing on the\nopposite side of the street, in the midst of a group of young men, who\nwere laughing immoderately at something which was being told. Pate and\nWiggins were now informed that they had been made the victims of a\nsingular custom, which was peculiar to that locality, and was termed,\n\"running a greenhorn.\" Apprehensive of the ridicule which would be\nheaped upon them, they immediately took their departure from the\nbeautiful town of Bella Vista.\nCHAPTER XIX.\n\"The Funny Philosophers have caused the exodus of the Seven\nSweethearts,\" said the Professor, as the three friends sat in Toney's\nroom in the hotel the morning subsequent to the departure of Pate and\nWiggins.\n\"Our sect must flourish,\" said Toney.\n\"And Pate's big bald head will not be seen bobbing about in Bella\nVista,\" said Tom.\n\"Mr. Seddon, you should not speak irreverently of bald heads,\" said the\nProfessor. \"Remember the forty irreverent young lads and the she-bears,\nand learn that bald-headed people are under the especial protection of\nProvidence. I am partially bald myself, and am under the impression that\nthis calamity came upon me in consequence of my having once deprived an\nunfortunate individual of his hair.\"\n\"Did what?\" exclaimed Toney.\n\"On one occasion I helped to scalp a man,\" said the Professor, gravely\nand mournfully.\n\"Helped to scalp a man!\" exclaimed Seddon.\n\"I am sorry to say that I did, Mr. Seddon,\" said the Professor.\n\"How was it?\" asked Toney.\n\"It is a strange story,\" said the Professor.\n\"Let us have it,\" said Seddon.\n\"Some years ago,\" said the Professor, \"I was on a steamboat going down\none of the large rivers in the South-west. The boat stopped at a landing\nand a big fellow came on board. He was a rough, unpolished individual,\nwith long hair reaching down to his shoulders. He appeared to be in a\nbad humor with himself and with all mankind; being one of those peculiar\nspecimens of humanity who believe that the whole duty of man is to\nfight. As soon as he came on board it was apparent to the passengers\nthat he was a bully in quest of a quarrel. But everybody avoided him,\nand for a long while he was unsuccessful in finding what he was seeking\nfor. Finally, however, his perseverance was amply rewarded. The bell\nrang for dinner, and there was a rush for the saloon. The bully seated\nhimself at the head of the table. At intervals, among the dishes, were a\nnumber of apple-pies. 'Waiter,' exclaimed the bully, 'bring me that\npie.' It was placed before him. 'And that one,' said he. The waiter\nobeyed, and the bully reiterated his order until he had every apple-pie\non the table directly under his nose.\"\n\"The glutton!\" said Toney.\n\"Did he eat all the pies?\" asked Tom.\n\"No, Mr. Seddon, he did not,\" said the Professor. \"Having collected all\nthe pies before him, he sternly glanced at the two rows of indignant\nfaces along the table. He saw anger in every eye; a frown upon every\nbrow; but not a word had been spoken. There was a dead silence, when the\nbully brought down his fist on the table with tremendous force, and\nfiercely shouted, 'I say that any man who don't like good apple-pie is a\nd--d rascal!' This was more than human nature could endure. In an\ninstant every man was on his feet. The table was overturned, and hams,\nand turkeys, and roast-pigs rolled on the floor. There was a general\nfight. Pistols exploded, bowie-knives were brandished, and fists\nflourished!\"\n\"All endeavoring to get at the daring monopolizer of the apple-pies, I\nsuppose?\" said Tom.\n\"By no means, Mr. Seddon,\" said the Professor. \"There was promiscuous\nfighting. Many who had no opportunity of dealing a blow at the bully,\nfought and pommeled one another. I retreated to a corner.\"\n\"But what became of the bully?\" asked Toney.\n\"I was about to tell you. As I stood on the defensive, warding off the\nblows which were occasionally aimed at me, I saw a huge head coming\ntowards me like a battering-ram, the body to which it belonged being\npropelled by kicks in the rear. The head was about to come in contact\nwith this portion of my anatomy--what do you call it?\" said the\nProfessor, placing his hand on the part designated.\n\"The bread-basket,\" said Toney.\n\"No, that is not it,\" said the Professor.\n\"The abdomen,\" said Tom.\n\"That's the scientific term,\" said the Professor. \"In order to protect\nmy abdomen from injury, I involuntarily reached out and convulsively\ngrasped the head by its long hair. As I did so, a bowie-knife descended\nand shaved off the scalp, leaving it, with its long locks, in my grasp.\"\n\"What did you do with your trophy?\" asked Toney.\n\"I rushed from the saloon, yelling like an Indian, with the scalp in my\nhand. It belonged to the bully. He soon came upon deck howling for his\nhair.\"\n\"Did you restore it to the owner?\" asked Tom.\n\"No,\" said the Professor. \"To the victor belong the spoils. I escaped\ninto the cook's galley, and carefully wrapped the scalp in some loose\nsheets of the Terrific Register, and put it in my pocket, and afterwards\ntransferred it to my trunk. It is now in the possession of the learned\nProfessor Boneskull, who has been informed by his oracle that it was one\nof the trophies found by the Kentuckians in the possession of the\ncelebrated Tecumseh when he was slain in battle.\"\n\"But the bully?\" said Toney. \"I am interested in his fate.\"\n\"He was like Samson. The loss of his hair seemed to deprive him of\nstrength and courage. His belligerency departed from him. He became\nquiet and orderly, and during the rest of the passage never meddled with\nthe apple-pies, but behaved with perfect decorum. He was soon afterwards\nseen on the anxious bench at a camp-meeting, and he is now a bald-headed\nMethodist preacher, remarkable for his piety and mild and dovelike\ndisposition.\"\n\"The loss of his locks seems to have been of essential service to him,\"\nsaid Seddon.\n\"I wish, however, that I had given him back his hair,\" said the\nProfessor. \"I suffered severely in consequence of depriving him of it.\"\n\"In what way?\" inquired Tom.\n\"It was retribution, I suppose,\" said the Professor. \"As soon as I had\npocketed the fellow's hair I began to lose my own. It fell out by\nhandfuls, and in a few months I had a bald patch on the top of my head\nof ample area. It made me melancholy and poetical.\"\n\"I must confess that I cannot perceive any necessary connection between\na bald head and poetry,\" said Toney.\n\"Why, Toney, my dear fellow,\" said the Professor, \"you must know that\nwhen a man gets a bald pate he naturally begins to think of domestic\nbliss and connubial felicity, which are poetical subjects. If he\nmeditates long on these subjects, versification will be the inevitable\nresult. It was so in my case. As I titillated the top of my bald head\nwith my forefinger, I plainly perceived that the time had come for me to\nmarry. So, like a bird on Saint Valentine's day, I began to look around\nfor a mate.\"\n\"You were like Dobbs, seeking for an angel and seven sweet little\ncherubs,\" said Tom.\n\"No, Mr. Seddon, I was seeking for a dovelike little woman, and I\nthought I had found one. In my imagination Dora was like a gentle white\ndove. I cooed around her, and courted for weeks, and wrote some verses\nin her album. I remember them well.\"\n\"I would like to hear them,\" said Toney.\n\"They can be produced from the archives of my memory,\" said the\nProfessor; and he recited the following verses:\n When morn had sown her orient gems among the golden flowers\n That blushed upon their purple stalks in fairy-haunted bowers,\n Among the glowing throng around, a tender bud I spied,\n That meekly held its humble place the verdant walk beside.\n No gaudy beauties decked its crest with variegated dyes,\n Like blinding splendors blazing o'er the summer's evening skies;\n With simple moss encircled round, it hung its head to earth,\n And yet in Flora's language it denotes superior worth.\n And--what from poet's eye is hid, by others though unseen?--\n It was the favorite palace of the lovely Fairy Queen;\n Adown its tender petals oft her tiny chariot rolled,\n And she within its fragrant folds her Elfin court did hold.\n 'Twas then I thought of one who blooms 'mid beauty's living flowers,\n Like this sweet bud among its mates within the garden's bowers,\n With unassuming, modest grace--her charms she never knew--\n Superior worth her brightest charm. And, lady, is it you?\n\"I read these verses to Dora, and then I asked her the question\npropounded in the last line.\"\n\"What did she say?\" inquired Tom.\n\"She said no!\"\n\"Perhaps she was offended by the comparison to so humble a flower,\" said\nSeddon.\n\"It may have been so,\" said the Professor. \"I then asked her a question\nin relation to the annexation of our destinies.\"\n\"What did she say?\" asked Toney.\n\"She said no! I then asked her again in more unequivocal terms. I told\nher that I was seeking for domestic bliss and connubial felicity, and\nearnestly inquired if she would not assist me in the search.\"\n\"What was her reply?\" asked Tom.\n\"She said no! And this time the dovelike Dora laughed in my face.\"\n\"After having answered no three times?\" said Tom.\n\"Three negatives do not make an affirmative, Mr. Seddon, especially when\nthe final negation to your very serious and sentimental proposal is\naccompanied by laughter. I was mortified and angry, and so I hurried\nhome----\"\n\"To do like Perch--procure a pint of laudanum?\" inquired Toney.\n\"Not at all,\" said the Professor. \"Upon arriving at my homestead I ate a\nvery hearty dinner; for I was hungry and had a wolfish appetite; after\nwhich I immediately went into the arms of Morpheus. I did not wake until\nnext morning, when, as I stood before a mirror making my toilet, I\nperceived that the bald patch on my head was considerably enlarged. A\nfit of melancholy and poetry came upon me, and resulted in the\nproduction of some verses, which, with your permission, I will repeat.\"\n\"Do so,\" said Toney.\n\"By all means!\" said Seddon.\n\"It is a simple little ballad,\" said the Professor, \"in which I\nendeavored to mingle as much pathos as did Goldsmith in his Hermit. Its\nrecitation has often drawn tears from very obdurate individuals, and,\ngentlemen, I now notify you to produce your pocket-handkerchiefs.\"\nThe Professor then recited the following stanzas:\n The gentle spring is breathing\n Its fragrance all around,\n Rich with the scent of flow'rets\n That blossom o'er the ground;\n As if the glorious rainbow,\n When thunders rolled on high,\n Had parted into fragments\n And fallen from the sky,\n And scattered o'er the meadows,\n And through the orchards green,\n Its variegated colors\n To beautify the scene;\n The while, on golden winglets,\n The humming-bird so gay,\n Moves with a fairy motion,\n And rifles sweets away:\n So rich his purple plumage,\n So beautiful his crest,\n 'Tis to the eye of fancy\n As if some amethyst,\n Carved into a bright jewel\n All gloriously to deck,\n With its surpassing splendors,\n Some lovely lady's neck,\n Hath felt the life-blood flowing\n From a mysterious spring,\n And fled a gaudy truant\n Upon a golden wing,\n Filled with a fairy spirit\n To sport upon the air,\n With never-tiring pinions\n Among the flow'rets fair.\n Adown the sloping mountain,\n Where wave the ceders green,\n And ever-verdant laurel\n In blooming clusters seen,\n Leaps the wild, flashing streamlet\n With a loud shout of mirth,\n As though some mine of silver,\n Deep buried in the earth,\n By hidden fires were melted\n Within its gloomy caves,\n And from its dark cell bursting,\n With its translucent waves,\n Now sparkles in the sunbeam,\n Now hid by ivy's shade,\n Till o'er a steep ledge pouring,\n It forms a wild cascade,\n Where, dashed into bright fragments,\n It glitters in the beam,\n And with its brilliant colors\n Unto the eye doth seem,\n That showers of liquid rubies,\n And molten gems of gold,\n With sapphire and with amber,\n In mingling waves are rolled\n O'er these high rocks in torrents\n Unto the vale below,\n Then gain a course of smoothness,\n And gently on do flow\n 'Mid banks of blooming roses\n And snow-white lilies fair,\n Where butterflies are floating\n Upon the balmy air,\n With many-colored winglets,\n O'er fragrant violets blue,\n And gayly sip their nectar\n Mixed with the honey'd dew;\n To gaze upon their beauties\n 'Twould seem as if some fay,\n When roving through some garden\n Upon a sunny day,\n Had waved his wand of magic\n O'er rose and tulip bright,\n That filled with life had started\n Upon a joyous flight,\n And down the grassy meadows,\n And 'mid the blooming trees,\n To visit now their kindred,\n Are floating on the breeze:\n While from the woodland's thickets\n At intervals are heard\n The soft, melodious music\n Of the sweet mocking-bird;\n Which from those green recesses\n Echoes the merry notes,\n The little feathered songsters\n Pour from their warbling throats.\n Thus nature ever smiling,\n Each living creature gay\n Seems filled with sunny gladness\n Throughout the cloudless day;\n While I, a lonely bachelor,\n Do bear a bleeding heart,\n Just like a wounded wild goat\n When stricken by a dart.\n I've seen each tie dissolving\n Of love and friendship sweet,\n Like lumps of sugar-candy\n When held unto the heat:\n My friends they all proved traitors,--\n I'm told it's always so,--\n Fidelity's a stranger\n In this rude world below.\n They smoked my best havanas\n And drank my best champagne,\n And borrowed many a dollar\n They ne'er returned again:\n But soon as fortune left me,\n They all deserted too--\n They made me half a Timon--\n The sycophantic crew!\n I turned from man to woman--\n Sweet woman to admire!\n But from the pan 'twas leaping\n Into the blazing fire!\n I met a lovely maiden,\n Who looked so very kind,\n I thought she was an angel,\n But I was very blind!\n Like a deceitful siren,\n She led me far astray;\n I wandered in love's mazes\n Until I lost my way;\n But when I knelt to worship,\n Why, then she laughed outright--\n I told her I was dying,\n And Dora said I might.\n At that I grew quite angry,\n And feeling partly cured,\n Went home and ate my dinner,\n And then was quite restored:\n I ate six apple-dumplings,\n Then laid me down to sleep,\n Nor woke until next morning,\n Then from my couch did creep,\n And gazing in the mirror,\n The sight my soul appall'd,\n For I beheld with horror\n That I was growing bald:\n Since then I've known no pleasure!\n Man's treachery I could bear,\n And the deceits of woman,\n But not the loss of hair!\n\"Goldsmith never wrote anything like that,\" said Seddon.\n\"Nor Tennyson, neither,\" said Toney.\n\"Tennyson be hanged!\" exclaimed Tom. \"I'll match Tickle against him any\nday.\"\n\"The composition of this poem fully developed my poetical genius,\" said\nthe Professor. \"I discovered that I could be a bard; and so I composed a\nwhole book of poems.\"\n\"What did you do with it?\" asked Toney.\n\"I published it,\" said the Professor. \"Did you never hear of it?\"\n\"I must candidly admit that I never did,\" said Toney.\n\"The critics cut and slashed away at my little book for about a month;\nand then they let it alone. It was not until several years after its\npublication that I heard a word in its praise; and that was under\npeculiar circumstances. I was looking over a lot of second-hand books on\na stall at the corner of a street, when I discovered my own poems. I\nasked the price. The man said it was a work of rare genius and very\nscarce, but that as a favor I could have it for a dollar. This sounded\nlike posthumous praise, and was very flattering. So I bought the book,\nand you can read it at your leisure.\"\n\"Now we are on literary subjects,\" said Seddon, \"I must remind Toney of\nhis promise to read his biography of Pate.\"\n\"Of whom?\" asked the Professor.\n\"Of M. T. Pate, the illustrious founder of the Mystic Order of Seven\nSweethearts,\" said Seddon. \"Toney has written his biography.\"\n\"Only one chapter,\" said Toney. \"I can clearly foresee that Pate is\ndestined to become a very distinguished man. As he makes materials for\nhis biography the work will progress. The first chapter has been\nwritten.\"\n\"Read it,\" said Tom.\n\"Read it! read it!\" exclaimed the Professor.\nCHAPTER XX.\nIn compliance with the wishes of his two friends, Toney drew from a\ntrunk his manuscript, and laying it on a table before him, said, \"You\nwill perceive, gentlemen, that in my first chapter of this biography I\nspeak of Pate as an eminent personage. This requires a word of\nexplanation. Pate may not yet be considered as a very eminent man, but\nbefore the completion and publication of the work I am confident that he\nwill rank among the most distinguished personages of the age; and that\nthe adjective which I have used will then be recognized as strictly\nappropriate.\"\nWith these prefatory remarks, Toney proceeded to read as follows:\n\"We have been baffled in our efforts to obtain satisfactory information\nin relation to the birthplace of the eminent personage whose biography\nwe have undertaken to write. It is known that he was born somewhere in\nthe South; but whether among the cotton-plantations of the Carolinas or\nthe tobacco-fields on the borders of the Chesapeake, we have never been\nable to ascertain. It is said that the honor of having been the natal\nplace of the immortal M\u00e6onides was claimed by seven famous cities of\nancient Greece; and it may be that, in future ages, at least seven\nStates of the South will contend for the great glory of having produced\nthe illustrious M. T. Pate. It is perhaps fortunate that at the period\nof his birth the number of those States did not exceed seven; otherwise\na satisfactory adjustment of the apprehended difficulty would be even\nmore hopeless than it is at present.\n\"It is equally out of our power to designate the particular period when\nthis eminent man entered the world in which he was destined to make so\nremarkable a figure. There is a tradition that he was born in the year\nof the embargo; and the inability of the administration of that day to\nprohibit all kinds of importations, seems to have been a fortunate\ncircumstance at the very commencement of his career. It is said that he\nwas a very big baby at his advent, and grew prodigiously, but was\nremarkable for his gravity, to such a degree that the wise women who\nassembled in frequent consultations around the cradle used to\nasseverate, with much emphasis of expression, that he looked as grave as\na judge. One of his parents was pious, and both were respectable; and at\nthe proper period he was brought to the baptismal font and Christianized\nwith the usual solemnities. Some difficulty was encountered in the\nselection of a name. An elderly maiden lady, a friend of the family, had\npredicted that he would be a bishop, and now insisted that he should\nhave a scriptural name, as most appropriate for one who was destined to\noccupy the very highest position in the church. The male head of the\nfamily had been perusing an odd volume of the History of Greece, in\nwhich he was much interested, and was desirous of naming his heir after\none of the heroes of that classic land. These opposite views led to many\nwarm discussions, which eventually resulted in a judicious compromise,\nit being agreed that the wonderful baby should have two names, and that\neach party should select one of them. So the good old lady seated\nherself, and putting on her spectacles, opened the Bible at the Book of\nDaniel where the King of Babylon was put into the pasture-fields. She\nwas much struck with the passage, and proposed the name of\nNebuchadnezzar, as exceedingly sonorous and quite uncommon. To this a\nserious objection was urged by the old gentleman, who sagaciously\nremarked that the name was so long that nobody would ever give the boy\nthe whole of it, and he would be nicknamed Nebby or Neb. This suggestion\nhad its effect, and the pious old lady proceeded to search the\nScriptures again, and finally selected the name of Matthew, saying that,\nin her opinion, he was about the best of all the apostles, although he\nhad once been a publican, for he was the first one of them who had ever\nthought of writing a gospel. So the boy was named Matthew Themistocles,\nafter an evangelist and a heathen; as if he were destined to combine in\nhis character the opposite qualities of a saint and a sinner.\n\"It is believed that even in the cradle this robust and remarkable baby\ngave evidence of superior intelligence; and it is much to be regretted\nthat he had no admiring Boswell at that early period of his existence to\ndescribe his extraordinary doings. But no historian ever makes a record\nof the wisdom which proceeds from the mouths of babes and sucklings; and\nwhen we behold the learned and illustrious man swaying mighty masses by\nhis eloquence, or dignifying and adorning the bench, imagination finds\nit difficult to travel back and discover him in the cradle, so puny and\ninsignificant that the portly old crier of the court could have\nenveloped him in his handkerchief, like a bit of bread or cheese, and\nstowed him in the capacious pocket of his overcoat.\n\"When the moon stood still in the valley of Ajalon, the people on the\nother side of the hills knew not that a great luminary was in their\nimmediate neighborhood. But when she got in motion and slowly arose,\nuntil her silvery edges were seen above the surfaces of the surrounding\neminences, the crowds began to collect and watch with absorbing interest\nthe increasing proportions of the magnificent phenomenon. And when, in\nfull effulgence, she was over the tops of the trees, all admired her\nsplendor, and many began to dispute about her apparent size: some saying\nthat she seemed to them as big as an ordinary platter; others, that she\nwas equal in dimensions to a fine large cheese; while a few affirmed\nthat her circumference was as great as that of the wheel of the\nwar-chariot of Joshua, the son of Nun. Thus has it been with each\nintellectual light which has shone on the world; at one time hid in the\nvale of obscurity,--in the valley of Ajalon,--then surmounting the\nintervening obstacles, the first rays of the rising luminary are seen,\nand people begin to talk and admire, until finally it becomes visible in\nfull-orbed splendor, when a variety of opinions are heard in reference\nto its actual magnitude. We once heard an old lawyer, who was _laudator\ntemporis acti_, assert with savage emphasis that a certain occupant of\nthe bench was 'a picayune judge,' thus intimating that this splendid\nluminary of the law did not seem to him bigger than an insignificant\nfive-penny bit. But the eyes of old men are weak and watery, and not to\nbe trusted. Some of the junior members of the legal fraternity said that\nhe was as large as a dinner plate; others were of opinion that he had\nattained the size of an ordinary cheese; while many of the\nnon-professional multitude loudly asserted that he was fully equal in\nmagnitude to the hindmost wheel of an omnibus.\n\"During several years after he had emerged from babyhood, M. T. Pate was\nhidden from public observation, and hoed corn in the valley of Ajalon.\nHere he laid a permanent foundation for that powerful constitution which\nhas enabled him to perform the Herculean labors of his later years. His\nconstant exercise in the open air gave him the extraordinary appetite\nwhich clung to him so faithfully amidst all the misfortunes of life. It\nalso strengthened his digestion, and enabled him to consume enormous\nquantities of food without the slightest inconvenience. It is said that\nhe was extremely fond of buttermilk, and would loiter around the dairy\non churning days to obtain a supply. When he could not get buttermilk,\nhe was contented with bonny-clabber and cottage-cheese. Many a sickly\nyouth in our large cities would be benefited by such a system of diet,\nand might become a stout, athletic man, instead of looking like a puny\nexotic, soon to wither and fade away. Vigorous constitutions are\nnecessary to enable men to conquer in the great battle of life; and\nnearly every distinguished personage in this country, from George\nWashington to Daniel Webster, was born and reared amidst rural scenery.\n\"Nourished on buttermilk and bonny-clabber, M. T. Pate grew rapidly, and\nbecoming quite a big boy, began to exercise the privilege of thinking\nfor himself. His sagacious intuition, even at that early age, enabled\nhim to perceive that although the cultivation of the soil was an\nhonorable, useful, and healthful occupation, its tendency to increase\nhis pecuniary resources was exceedingly doubtful, as there was no\nprobability that he would ever become the owner of a farm, either by\ndescent or purchase. So he determined to engage in mercantile pursuits,\nas offering greater facilities for the speedy acquisition of wealth.\nWith this end in view, he went into a store in which crockery was sold;\nand here he remained during three entire years, first in the capacity of\nshop-boy and afterwards as salesman.\n\"While thus actively engaged in commerce, his industry was untiring and\nhis economy almost without a precedent. In those early days of his\neventful career this eminent man was frequently seen on the street\nfollowing a customer and carrying articles of crockery-ware which had\nbeen purchased. On one occasion he met with a serious misfortune; for\nwhile walking in the wake of an old gentlewoman, and carrying in his\nhand a vessel intended for her sleeping apartment, he inadvertently trod\non an orange-peeling, and was precipitated forward on the pavement with\nsuch force as to break the brittle piece of pottery into atoms and cause\nthe blood to stream from his nostrils. This was the only occasion on\nwhich he ever received a reprimand from his employer; and he bore the\nsevere trial with fortitude and resignation.\n\"For services rendered on various occasions, he frequently received\ngratuities from the purchasers at the store; and having resolved to\nbecome rich as rapidly as possible, he procured a little brown jug with\nan opening in its side, just wide enough to admit a quarter of a dollar\nedgewise. In this treasury he carefully deposited his earnings; and had\nit not been for this commendable economy, the world might never have\nseen him in the exalted positions which he afterwards occupied; for a\ncommercial crisis occurring, the store was closed, and, like a ship\nstruck by a sudden squall, he was thrown on his beam-end. But the solid\ncontents of the little brown jug afforded him sufficient ballast, and he\nthus succeeded in gallantly weathering the storm.\n\"A great man, struggling with adversity, is a spectacle upon which the\ngood-natured old gods of Greece and Rome are said to have gazed with\nmore than ordinary interest. It is impossible to imagine a more sublime\nexample of patience and perseverance than that exhibited by M. T. Pate\nin his early days, when he first broke open his little brown jug and\ncounted his coppers and quarters. His rigid economy had resulted in a\nconsiderable accumulation of coin, and an accurate enumeration of the\ncontents of his treasury exhibited the sum of two hundred and sixty-four\ndollars and thirty-seven and a half cents, all in specie. With these\nresources he determined to begin the battle of life in earnest, and to\nbecome a great man as speedily and as cheaply as possible. The pious old\nlady, who had furnished him with one of his names, now urged him to\nenter upon a course of theological studies, so that she might soon have\nthe satisfaction of seeing him in holy orders and on the high road to a\nbishopric. But upon inquiry, he ascertained that to become a bishop it\nwould be necessary for him to understand Hebrew as well as Greek; and he\nwas apprehensive that before he could master even the rudiments of those\ndifficult languages the accumulations of his industry and economy would\nbe entirely exhausted. The good old lady promised him pecuniary\nassistance, and thus encouraged he began with the Greek; but his hopes\nwere soon blasted by a singular misfortune, which deprived the church of\none of its brightest ornaments, and multitudes of sinners of the counsel\nand consoling advice of a learned, pious, and venerated pastor. Upon a\nbright morning in May, as he sat at an open window, repeating the\nletters of Cadmus aloud, his benefactress, who was in the garden below\nwith a negro servant named Alfred, engaged in horticultural pursuits,\nwas shocked by hearing certain sounds, which in her ignorance and\nsimplicity she supposed to be of terrible significance. She rushed into\nthe house and began to upbraid the astonished student with his base\ningratitude and treachery. In vain did the unfortunate victim of her\nlamentable ignorance protest his entire innocence. She had the highest\nkind of evidence--that of her own senses--against the plea of not\nguilty. Had she not heard him say, and reiterate it again and again,\n'Alfred, beat her! d--d her! pelt her?' She would listen to no\nexplanation, but indignantly ordered him to get out of her house. Her\nanger burned perpetually, like the lamp of a vestal virgin, and from\nthat time forth she would have nothing to say to him. Thus was the\nunlucky youth thrown once more upon his beam-end, and was compelled to\nabandon all hope of ever becoming a bishop.\"\nHere the reading was interrupted by Tom Seddon, who exclaimed,--\n\"Toney, you had better leave that out. Nobody will believe that Pate,\nwho was about to commence his theological studies, would sit on the sill\nof the window and swear so profanely at the pious old lady in the\ngarden----\"\nTom was here interrupted by a loud laugh from the Professor.\n\"You do not see the point,\" said Toney.\n\"What is it?\" asked Tom.\n\"Why,\" said the Professor, \"Pate was repeating the first four Greek\nletters, Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and the old woman supposed that he\nwas swearing.\"\n\"Oh, that's it!\" said Tom. \"I was dull, indeed!\"\n\"But,\" said the Professor, \"I think that I have heard this anecdote\nbefore.\"\n\"Undoubtedly you have,\" said Toney. \"Pate is a much older man than you.\nHe was the unlucky student who met with this sad misfortune. It happened\nwhen you were in your nurse's arms. You heard the anecdote after you\ngrew up, but never learned until now that the student was M. T. Pate.\nBut shall I resume my reading?\"\n\"Do so,\" said the Professor. \"I am much interested.\"\nToney took up the manuscript, and read:\n\"Having been constrained to give up the gospel, he determined to betake\nhimself to the study of law, in which a knowledge neither of Hebrew nor\nof Greek was necessary. Having labored at Latin for a few weeks, he\nentered a law-school, where he continued for some time; the contents of\nthe little brown jug miraculously holding out like the oil in the\nwidow's cruse, owing to his great economy. It is not to be supposed that\neven this able jurist could without an earnest effort overcome every\nobstacle which lies in the path of the student of law. On the contrary,\nwhen he first encountered Coke, he was much discouraged and sometimes\nafflicted with fits of despondency. But plucking up courage, he went\nvigorously to work, and in six weeks had mastered all the learning of\nthat great and voluminous author which he believed it possible for any\nhuman intellect ever to comprehend. In performing this Herculean labor\nhe scratched a considerable quantity of hair from his head; and\ncontinuing this singular practice during the whole course of his\nstudies, before he had finished the fourth book of Blackstone,\n Bald, barren surface shone like the bare Alps.\"\n\"In other words, he became a bald Pate,\" said Tom.\n\"Mr. Seddon,\" said the Professor, \"you are strangely forgetful of the\nadmonition to speak reverently when you refer to a depilous cranium.\nNow, here you are punning with the most unbecoming levity on a nude\nnoddle. You had better beware! Although there are no she-bears in this\nvicinity to perform their painful duty, you may not escape with\nimpunity.\"\n\"Peccavi,\" said Tom.\n\"Absolution is granted;\" said the Professor. \"Toney, proceed with the\nreading.\"\nToney resumed:\n\"A celebrated Irish barrister attributed his success in the profession\nto the fact that he started without property of any sort save only a\npair of hair-trigger pistols. M. T. Pate carried no carnal weapons. He\nhad neither hair-trigger pistols nor much hair on his head; but he had a\nlittle learning, which is said to be a dangerous thing. When he was\nadmitted to practice, the contents of the little brown jug had been\nexpended; and he started in his profession with a vigorous constitution\nand a small volume of legal lore, entitled 'Every Man his own Lawyer.'\n\"The members of the legal fraternity are indebted to M. T. Pate for an\nimportant discovery immediately subsequent to his admission to the bar.\nWe are told--\n There is a language in each flower\n That opens to the eye;\n A voiceless but a magic power\n Doth in earth's blossoms lie,\nand we find that the poet selects as an appropriate symbol of his\ndelightful occupation 'the dew-sweet eglantine.' The soldier chooses\n The deathless laurel as the victor's due.\nThe young maiden selects the rosebud, and the weeping widow the cypress.\nThe lover's flower is the myrtle; the player's, the hyacinth; the\npugilist's, the fennel. But there never was a symbol for the legal\nprofession until the sagacity of M. T. Pate discovered it in the\n_arbutus unedo_, or strawberry, which, upon a careful perusal of Flora's\nlexicon, he found to be emblematic of perseverance. And as the\ngladiators of ancient Rome were accustomed to mingle large quantities of\nfennel with their food, because it tended to give them strength and\ncourage, so did this industrious lawyer never fail, when an opportunity\noffered, to devour a great abundance of strawberries; being fully\npersuaded that the fruit imparted a wonderful degree of patience and\nperseverance. In the spring strawberries and cream were consumed by him\nin immense quantities; and at other seasons of the year the preserved\nfruit was never absent from his table.\"\n\"Mr. Seddon,\" said the Professor, \"pay attention to that. You are a\nyoung lawyer, and I would advise you to have the example of M. T. Pate\never in contemplation.\"\n\"I most certainly will,\" said Seddon.\n\"Never turn your back on a bowl of strawberries and cream,\" said the\nProfessor.\n\"Never!\" exclaimed Seddon,--\"never!\"\n\"Be assured,\" said the Professor, with much solemnity, \"that a sincere\ndevotion to this delicious little berry will finally bring its reward.\nIt will enable you to wait with admirable patience for the big case\nwhich is to come and place you prominently before the public. Toney,\nexcuse this interruption. Read on,--I am becoming deeply interested.\"\nToney proceeded with the reading as follows:\n\"We occasionally meet with an instance of the falsification of the old\nadage that fools are the recipients of fortune's favors; for this\nillustrious man, at the very outset of his professional career, met with\nno ordinary good luck. A few days subsequent to his admission to the\nbar, the pious old maiden, whose deplorable ignorance of the Greek\nalphabet had deprived one profession of an ornament and added it to\nanother, left these sublunary scenes for her supernal abode in Abraham's\nbosom. She had never forgotten nor forgiven the supposed ingratitude of\nher former prot\u00e9g\u00e9. So far from this, she had, on every occasion,\ndenounced him, with all the vehemence of virtuous indignation, as the\nblack-hearted instigator of a meditated assault on her person. What,\nthen, was his astonishment when he found that she had left a will in\nwhich she had bestowed on him all her worldly possessions. This\ntestamentary document had been executed many years anterior to the\nmelancholy event which had caused so wide a breach between them. She had\nput it carefully away and must have entirely forgotten it; for had her\nmind once reverted to the circumstance of its existence, nothing short\nof a supermundane interposition could have saved it from the devouring\nflames. She left him a beautiful farm, and personal property to a\nconsiderable amount, with the unusual proviso in the will that he should\nbe a bishop. Some of her relatives seemed disposed, at first, to contend\nfor the property, on the ground that as he was not a bishop he could not\nclaim under the will. But this learned jurist cited the legal maxim _lex\nnon cogit ad impossibilia_, and said that although he was not a bishop\nat that particular period, he would endeavor to carry out the intentions\nof the testatrix by becoming one as soon as a favorable opportunity\nshould offer. To manifest his sincerity he immediately became a devout\nmember of the church, and would sometimes read the service when the\npastor was absent; and this he continued to do even after his secular\nduties had got to be exceedingly onerous; being apprehensive of trouble\nabout his title unless he observed this wise precaution. Thus was this\nthreatened lawsuit nipped in the bud; and M. T. Pate took peaceable\npossession of his beautiful farm, which he soon found was mortgaged\nnearly to the extent of its actual value in the market.\n\"Pecuniary difficulties, like the rowels of a Spanish spur applied to the\nflanks of a donkey, impel a man onward in his career. Now, let no one\nimagine that we perceive any particular resemblance between this eminent\njurist and an ass; and we hope that none of his numerous and ardent\nadmirers will be shocked by the simile which we have employed, for it is\nnot only appropriate in its present connection but it is undoubtedly\nclassical. The mighty Ajax was compared by Homer to an ass; but it was\nonly to show what sturdy qualities he possessed, and what an immense\namount of beating he could stubbornly endure. With intentions equally as\ninnocent, we have likened the eminent M. T. Pate to an ass, merely to\nshow how stoutly he stood up under the burden he bore, and how he was\nimpelled to vigorous efforts by the spur of necessity. Had his beautiful\nfarm been unincumbered, he might have remained in obscurity, up to his\nknees in clover, and daily growing fatter and more lazy in the luxuriant\npastures of prosperity. But with the burden of a heavy mortgage on his\nback, and the rowels of pecuniary difficulties goring his flanks, he got\nbriskly into motion, and in his onward career, whether by accident or\notherwise, took the right direction, and finally reached the glorious\ngoal at which so many are aiming, but which so few will ever attain.\"\n\"What glorious goal has Pate reached?\" asked the Professor.\n\"You forget the observations with which I prefaced the reading of the\nmanuscript,\" said Toney. \"This is only the first chapter of what is\nintended to be a very voluminous work. It is true that M. T. Pate has\nnot yet reached the goal designated, but long before I have written the\nconcluding portion of his biography I am confident that you will behold\nhim on the very pinnacle of the temple of fame.\"\n\"Toney is a prophet,\" said Tom. \"He truly predicted what has since\nhappened to the two young ladies and their lovers who have gone to the\nMexican war.\"\n\"Poor Claribel!\" said Toney. \"I sincerely wish that my vaticinations\nhad not been verified.\"\n\"Pooh! pooh!\" said the Professor. \"Their lovers have taken wing and\nflown away, but they will come back little turtle-doves in the spring,\nand then, after a little billing and cooing, you will see two pretty\npairs building their nests. And besides, although love is a disease\nwhich is supposed to attack the heart, it is seldom fatal in its\nresults.\"\n\"Is it not?\" said Tom.\n\"Why, no,\" said the Professor. \"Dora jilted me, and am I dead? Ecce\nhomo! fat and flourishing, and the founder of the sect of Funny\nPhilosophers.\"\n\"I would really like to know the condition of Claribel's health,\" said\nToney.\n\"It had much improved when I called and made inquiry this morning,\" said\nTom. \"But I thought that I was about to witness war and bloodshed in the\nhouse.\"\n\"How so?\" asked Toney.\n\"Hostilities have broken out between the two doctors,\" said Tom. \"They\nwere quarreling in the hall when I entered, and left the house shaking\ntheir fists in each other's faces.\"\n\"What about?\" inquired Toney.\n\"I was unable to ascertain,\" said Tom.\n\"Well, never mind,\" said the Professor. \"Who shall decide when doctors\ndisagree? Toney, let us hear the concluding portion of your manuscript.\nBut, by Jove! what's that?\"\nA loud noise was heard in the street; men shouting and boys hurrahing.\nTom Seddon snatched up his hat, and, followed by Toney and the\nProfessor, ran from the room.\nCHAPTER XXI.\n\"Hurrah for Bull!\" shouted a boy, as Tom reached the pavement in front\nof the hotel.\n\"Bully for Bear! Pitch in! Hit him again! He called you another liar!\"\nyelled a ragged urchin on the opposite side of the street.\n\"Who are those belligerent gentlemen?\" asked the Professor.\n\"The very two doctors I saw shaking their fists in each other's faces at\nColonel Hazlewood's door,\" said Tom Seddon. \"I thought there would soon\nbe active hostilities between them.\"\n\"Good for Bull!\" cried an urchin.\n\"Wade in, Bear!\" shouted another.\n\"I bet on Bull!\" said a third.\n\"Bear's the man for my money!\" yelled a fourth.\n\"Which is Bull?\" asked the Professor.\n\"The red-faced man with spectacles on his nose, who is standing up in\nthe buggy without a top, and is menacing his antagonist with the butt\nend of his whip,\" said Tom Seddon.\n\"And Bear is the short fat man on horseback, brandishing his cane?\" said\nToney.\n\"The same,\" said Seddon.\n\"Right cut against cavalry!\" shouted a soldier on the pavement, as Bull\naimed a blow at Bear with his whip.\n\"By jabers! that's the prod!\" cried an Irishman, as Bear thrust the end\nof his cane in his adversary's face.\nThe horse attached to the buggy now moved on a few paces and halted.\nBear sat still on his horse, fiercely gazing at his antagonist.\n\"At him again!\" cried a boy.\n\"Don't be afraid! Show the blood of your mother!\" yelled a second\nurchin.\n\"Charge, Chester, charge!\" shouted a third.\nBear furiously spurred his horse and rushed up to the buggy. A blow\nfrom Bull's whip knocked off his hat, and his bald head shone in the\nsun. At the same time a thrust from Bear's cane deprived Bull of his\nspectacles.\n\"Hurrah for Bear! He has knocked out Bull's eyes!\" shouted a boy.\nBull seized Bear's cane and pulled it from his hands. Bear reached out\nand grasped Bull by the top of his head. Bull's wig came off.\n\"Hurrah! hurrah! he has scalped him!\" shouted a boy.\nBull was infuriated. He grappled Bear by a tuft of hair that grew on the\nside of his head. Bear's horse started back and the rider fell over his\nneck into the buggy. Then both belligerents commenced furiously fighting\nwith their fists.\n\"I command the peace! I command the peace!\" cried a portly gentleman on\nthe pavement.\n\"They are at close quarters,\" said a soldier. \"It is too late to command\nthe peace.\"\nThe belligerents in the buggy were furiously dealing blows and loudly\nuttering profanity, and the horse was frightened and ran off with the\nvehicle. Tom Seddon leaped on Bear's horse and galloped off in pursuit.\nOn the main road leading from the town was a company of cavalry\nreturning from a parade. The troopers opened to the right and left, and\nthe two doctors passed through, furiously pommeling each other in the\nbuggy.\n\"By fours, right about wheel!\" shouted the captain. \"Trot! Gallop!\nCharge!\" and away went the cavalry, clattering down the road in pursuit\nof the belligerent doctors! Tom Seddon brought up the rear.\nOn went the doctors in their war-chariot, each dealing blows at his\nantagonist, and shouting and swearing in utter unconsciousness of the\nsurroundings! On rode the gallant captain at the head of his company! On\ngalloped Tom Seddon in the rear! Over a hill and down a descent they\nrushed at a terrific rate! On the top of the next hill stood a\ntoll-gate. The keeper, seeing a horse running at full speed with a\nvehicle, closed the gate and stopped his career. \"Halt!\" shouted the\ncaptain. \"Halt! halt!\" cried the lieutenants. And the troopers halted\nand sat on their panting horses, surrounding the buggy.\n\"Draw sabers!\" shouted the captain. And every saber leaped from its\nscabbard.\n\"Surrender!\" said the captain, riding up to the buggy. \"In the name of\nthe State I demand your surrender!\" But Bull and Bear heard not, and\nheeded not. Each had grappled his antagonist by the throat, and was\nfiercely fighting.\n\"Sergeant, dismount two sections and secure the prisoners,\" said the\ncaptain.\nEight stalwart troopers, headed by a sergeant, leaped from their horses,\nand, rushing to the buggy, seized Bull and Bear by the legs and pulled\nthem apart.\n\"Tie their hands behind their backs,\" said the captain, \"or they will go\nat it again.\"\nThe prisoners were securely bound with cords, and each mounted behind a\ntrooper, and were thus conducted back to the town.\n\"I commit you both to jail for an outrageous breach of the peace,\" said\nthe magistrate, who still stood on the pavement. \"Here, constable, is\nthe commitment. Take them both to jail. Put them in separate cells, and\ndon't let them get at one another again.\"\n\"Good heavens!\" said Colonel Hazelwood, as he saw the two physicians led\naway in the custody of the constable, \"what am I to do? I have a sick\nperson in my house, and the only two doctors in the town have been sent\nto jail for fighting in the street.\"\n\"What did they quarrel about?\" asked Toney.\n\"Why,\" said the colonel, \"the young lady was nervous, and could not\nsleep; and Bull wanted to give her a decoction of hops, while Bear was\nof opinion that she should drink a cup of catnip-tea.\"\n\"Colonel,\" said the Professor, \"allow me to give you some advice.\"\n\"What is that?\" inquired the colonel.\n\"Never admit two doctors into your house, unless you desire to be the\nspectator of a pugilistic combat.\"\nCHAPTER XXII.\n\"That was a brilliant charge of cavalry in which you so gallantly\nparticipated, Mr. Seddon,\" said the Professor, when the three friends\nhad returned to Toney's room. \"In promptness and impetuosity it will\ncompare with Colonel May's famous charge at the battle of Resaca de la\nPalma.\"\n\"It was decisive,\" said Seddon. \"Put an end to hostilities.\"\n\"And now, Toney, do not let these two doctors be instrumental in\nbringing the life of M. T. Pate to an abrupt termination,\" said the\nProfessor.\n\"Two doctors are enough to bring any man's life to a termination,\" said\nSeddon. \"If the walls of the jail were not solid and strong, it would be\na very heavy premium which would induce me to insure the lives of their\npatients in Colonel Hazlewood's house.\"\n\"It is not becoming in one of the Funny Philosophers to joke on such a\nsad and serious subject,\" said the Professor. \"Toney, proceed with the\nreading of the biography of M. T. Pate.\"\nToney took up the manuscript and read as follows:\n\"The mighty oak, whose massive timbers entered into the construction of\nthe magnificent steamship, was once an insignificant acorn, and the\nillustrious man whose wisdom and eloquence are the admiration of the\nmultitude was once a humble attorney practicing in the petty court of a\njustice of the peace. A few miles from his residence was a village where\nJustice Johnson held his court on every second and fourth Saturday in\neach month. He had civil jurisdiction in actions of debt where the\namount involved did not exceed the sum of fifty dollars; to which were\nsuperadded powers of adjudication in certain criminal causes, where the\nslave population were accused of sundry peccadilloes, such as nocturnal\naggressions on the hen-roosts of the farmers in the neighborhood. From\nthe decisions of the justice in civil suits there was an appeal to the\ncounty court.\n\"In the court of the learned and dignified Justice Johnson M. T. Pate\ncommenced his professional career; and here he continued to practice for\na number of years before he ventured upon a more extended field of\naction. The fees were small, but with many cases and much economy his\naccumulations might be considerable. And, besides, like many men of\nmerit, he was diffident of his abilities, and dreaded to meet a trained\nadversary in the field of forensic controversy. He hoped that this\ndiffidence would wear off by degrees, and that he would not be like\nCounselor Lamb, who said that the older he grew, the more sheepish he\nbecame----\"\n\"Stop, Toney, stop!\" said the Professor. \"Do you think that a pun is\nallowable in the biography of a great man, which should be almost as\ngrave and dignified in its style as the history of a great nation?\"\n\"It is not a pun,\" said Toney. \"It is the serious remark of a very\nlearned lawyer. Lamb is a meek old lawyer in Mapleton, remarkable for\nhis modesty. For many years he contented himself with a lucrative\nchamber practice, and never attempted to address a court or jury. But on\none occasion a favorite negro servant of the lawyer was indicted for\ncutting off a bull's tail. Lamb undertook to defend him before a jury.\nHe arose with much trepidation; his voice faltered; he could not\narticulate a word. A profuse perspiration bathed his brow, and he took\nout his handkerchief and wiped his face. There was some ugly unguent on\nthe handkerchief, and it left a black spot on his brow.\n\"'Look at old Lamb's face,' said a young attorney, in a loud whisper.\n\"'It is--lam'black!' said another.\n\"The twelve jurors in the box grinned. Lamb shook from head to foot. He\ngrew desperate, and, in a loud voice, exclaimed, 'Gentlemen of the jury,\nthe prisoner is indicted for cutting off a bull's tail. What--what----'\nThere was an awkward pause.\n\"'He was going to ask what should be done with the bull,' whispered a\nyoung limb of the law.\n\"'Sell him at wholesale--you can't retail him,' said another attorney,\nin a whisper so loud as to be distinctly audible.\n\"The jury were convulsed with laughter, which so increased the agitation\nof the advocate that he shook like an aspen, and finally dropped into\nhis seat and covered his face with his handkerchief. The judge rapped\nwith his gavel, and repressing the merriment which pervaded the\ncourt-room, told the counselor to proceed with his argument. But he\ncould not utter another word. Some days afterwards as Lamb sat in his\noffice, lamenting his infirmity to a friend, he said that the older he\ngrew, the more sheepish he became.\"\n\"Your explanation is perfectly satisfactory,\" said the Professor,\ngravely. \"Resume the reading of Pate's biography.\"\nToney read on:\n\"But even in this quiet little court he had an adversary who was a thorn\nin his side, often causing him great affliction, and sometimes intense\nagony. This adversary was a carpenter with a hooked nose and a most\nsingular physiognomy, known by the name of Peter Piddler, and supposed\nto be crazy on all subjects except those appertaining to the law. On\nlegal questions he exhibited great astuteness, and, having renounced the\njack-plane and procured an odd volume of Burn's Justice, he had been\npracticing for some years before Justice Johnson, when M. T. Pate made\nhis d\u00e9but. The carpenter considered himself the monarch of that bar, and\nwhen his youthful antagonist entered the arena, the contest between them\nwas watched with nearly as much interest in the little village as was\nthe meeting of Pinkney and Webster on a more celebrated forum. Many\npredicted that Piddler had now met with his match, and might even have\nto succumb; but their vaticinations were not verified in every instance.\nExtraordinary as it may seem, the carpenter usually came off victorious,\nand the learned attorney frequently left the court and went home deeply\ndejected by the humiliation of defeat.\n\"In that neighborhood many people still talk about those celebrated\ntrials, where Justice Johnson presided and Piddler and Pate contended\nfor victory. Most of these accounts are legendary, and no more reliable\nthan are those in relation to the early efforts of the eloquent orator\nof the Old Dominion. One, however, we have ascertained to be strictly\nauthentic. A stout African, a slave named Sam, and an incorrigible\nsinner, had been brought before Justice Johnson on the grave charge of\nhaving purloined a hen, the property of a widow lady in that vicinity.\nPate was for the defense and Piddler for the prosecution. The widow's\nson, a lad of twelve years, who was the principal witness, testified\nthat he had set the hen, putting twenty eggs under her, which was more\nthan she could conveniently cover. With an admonition to the patient\nfowl to 'spread' herself, he left her, and, climbing a cherry-tree, was\neating the fruit, when he saw Sam carry off both the hen and the eggs.\nThe testimony was conclusive of the prisoner's guilt, and his counsel\nhad to assail the character of the witness. But he was ably vindicated\nby Piddler, and the unfortunate Sam was convicted of petty larceny.\nJustice Johnson, being a humane man, in passing sentence, said, with\ntears in his eyes, 'Sam, it gives me great pain to order corporal\npunishment to be indicted on any one, but my solemn duty must be\nperformed. The sentence of the court is, that you be taken hence to the\nhorse-rack, and have twelve lashes laid on your bare back, and may the\nLord have mercy on your soul!'\n\"Sam was taken to the place of execution, and having undergone his\npunishment with heroic fortitude, was about to be released by the\nconstable, when his counsel appeared in court and moved for a new trial.\nThe court ordered the officer to keep a sharp lookout on Sam, and sent\nfor Piddler, who was celebrating his victory in a neighboring bar-room.\nPate argued his motion with much ability, and demonstrated that the hen\nwas worth so much, and that when the twenty eggs were hatched each\nchicken would be worth so much, and that the aggregate would amount to a\nsum sufficient to constitute the offense of grand larceny, over which\nthe court had no jurisdiction. Piddler was fuddled, and failing to\nperceive any other weak point in his adversary's argument, contented\nhimself with saying that he did not think that his learned brother had\nany right to count his chickens before they were hatched. Justice\nJohnson very properly rebuked him for his levity; and firmly expressing\nhis determination to maintain the dignity of the court, finally granted\na new trial. So the case was again tried and with the same result. Sam\nwas convicted and sentenced to receive another installment of twelve\nlashes on his bare back. Piddler always boasted of his success in this\nprosecution, and said that if he was defeated on the motion for a new\ntrial, nevertheless he had got the curly-headed rascal twenty-four\nlashes on his bare back instead of twelve. On the other hand, Mr. Pate,\nafter he had acquired more experience in his profession, candidly\nacknowledged that the motion for a new trial was an error on his part,\nas it could do his client no good under the circumstances, and actually\ndid him a deal of harm. But he said he was then young, and allowed\nhimself to be carried away by too eager a desire for the glory of a\nvictory over his vaunting antagonist.\n\"So frequently defeated before Justice Johnson, Mr. Pate had many\nappeals to the county court. These were usually tried by other attorneys\nwhom he employed before the cases were called. But he was regular in his\nattendance, and each morning, during the terms, might be seen mounted on\nhis favorite nag, Old Whitey, and traveling towards the metropolis of\nthe county. Although there were many stables in the town where hay and\noats could be had for hungry horses, he always fastened his steed to a\ntree, where the animal remained from nine o'clock in the morning until\nlate in the afternoon, with nothing to satisfy his natural craving for\nfood. Thus did the lawyer not only save the expense of provender, but\nalso of whip and spur, for Whitey was always in a hurry to get home and\nenjoy the luxury of the abundant pastures on the farm. The tree which\nwas thus used as a stable withered and died many years ago, having been\nentirely stripped of its bark by the teeth of the hungry horse. Being an\nobject of great curiosity, it was cut down and manufactured into canes,\nwhich were in great demand and sold at extravagant prices. One of these\nwalking-sticks was purchased by a gentleman from Louisiana, who carried\nit home and presented it to General Taylor; at the same time giving him\na history of the lawyer and his horse. The old hero, who admired\nsimplicity of character, was much struck with the story, and named his\nfavorite war-horse Old Whitey. And thus did it happen that the gallant\ncharger which carried Old Rough and Ready through the glorious battle of\nBuena Vista, had the honor of being named after the horse which had so\noften carried this distinguished lawyer with all his learning to court.\"\n\"Is that all?\" said the Professor, as Toney laid aside the manuscript.\n\"That ends the chapter,\" said Toney. \"And it was more than enough for\nTom Seddon, for he has been asleep for the last fifteen minutes.\"\n\"Mr. Seddon,\" said the Professor, \"has probably glided into a condition\nof trance, and now has before him a beautiful vision of a bowl of\nstrawberries and cream. It would not be in accordance with the\nprinciples of genuine philanthropy to awaken him to the unsavory\nrealities of ordinary existence. Shall we leave him to wander in the\nland of Nod, and take a walk through the town?\"\n\"Agreed,\" said Toney. And, putting on their hats, they left Tom Seddon\nsnoring on Toney's bed, and proceeded on a promenade.\nCHAPTER XXIII.\n\"That man on the other side of the street looks like one of the\nbelligerent doctors,\" said the Professor, as he and Toney stood on the\npavement in front of the hotel.\n\"It is Doctor Bull, minus his spectacles, and with the addition of a\nvery black eye,\" said Toney.\n\"His vision seems not to be very clear! There! he has stumbled over a\ndog, and is indignantly bestowing on the unlucky cur a couple of kicks,\"\nsaid the Professor.\n\"Bull is very near-sighted,\" said Toney. \"He will get along badly\nwithout the aid of his spectacles.\"\n\"I wonder how he got out of jail?\" said the Professor.\n\"Colonel Hazlewood bailed him out,\" said the landlord. \"The colonel\nneeds his services in attendance on his niece, Miss Carrington, who is\nstill in a critical condition.\"\n\"Did the colonel also bail out the other physician?\" asked the\nProfessor.\n\"No, indeed!\" said the landlord. \"The colonel said he was afraid to let\nthe other fellow out while the young lady was ill. The two doctors might\nget to fighting again, and their patient might die while they were\nsettling their difficulties.\"\n\"I perceive that the colonel is an apt scholar in the school of\nexperience,\" said the Professor. \"It is not advisable to allow more than\none doctor to run at large at a time in a small town like this.\"\n\"I am glad that Bull is out,\" said the landlord.\n\"Why so?\" asked Toney.\n\"He has a patient in my house. The gentleman is quite sick. He is in the\nroom next to the one occupied by you, Mr. Belton. I hope you have not\nbeen disturbed.\"\n\"Not at all,\" said Toney. \"He has been very quiet. I was not aware that\nthere was a sick person in the apartment. Come, Charley, let us walk to\nthe post-office.\"\nA letter was handed to Toney at the post-office, which he read, and then\nexclaimed,--\n\"Well, Charley, my holiday is over. I must go back to Mapleton by the\nnext train.\"\n\"Indeed!\" said the Professor. \"What urgent business renders your\npresence necessary in Mapleton?\"\n\"The great case of Simon Rump _vs._ the Salt-Water Canal Company is to\nbe argued next week. I am counsel for the company, and my distinguished\nfriend M. T. Pate is Rump's attorney. It is a claim for damages. The\ncompany are about to construct a portion of their canal through Rump's\nreal estate, and a jury are to assemble on the ground and assess the\ndamages which should be paid to Simon Rump.\"\n\"Who is Simon Rump?\"\n\"You have heard Tom Seddon and myself speak of Simon Dobbs?\"\n\"The unfortunate individual who was baffled by the Mystic Order of\nSweethearts in his efforts to obtain an angel and seven sweet little\ncherubs?\"\n\"The same,\" said Toney. \"Well, Simon Dobbs is now Simon Rump.\"\n\"Simon Dobbs is now Simon Rump? I don't comprehend.\"\n\"It is so. Simon Dobbs is now Simon Rump, and in his domicile dwell an\nangel and seven sweet little cherubs.\"\n\"I am glad that the poor fellow has at last obtained the companionship\nof angelic beings after so much tribulation. But how did it happen that\nhis name was changed? Had the angel changed her name, when she came to\ndwell with Dobbs, it would have been more in accordance with established\nusage.\"\n\"The angel would not consent to change her name. I might as well tell\nthe story at once, for I see that your curiosity is aroused.\"\n\"Indeed it is,\" said the Professor. \"I am as curious as a maiden lady\nwho has accompanied this terrestrial orb in fifty annual revolutions\naround the center of the solar system. How did Dobbs become Rump?\"\n\"After the poor fellow met with so serious a mishap, when he wanted to\npurchase a wife and a couple of children, he lived in melancholy\nseclusion during several years. He has a fine farm in the neighborhood\nof Mapleton. On the east side of his farm, and nearer to the town, is\nthe estate of the Widow Wild, and on the west was the land of Farmer\nRump who was also named Simon. Rump had fine possessions, and a buxom\nwife, and seven children, and was prosperous and contented. But he was\ntaken sick, and a doctor being sent for, in about a week Simon Dobbs\nfollowed the hearse of his friend and neighbor Simon Rump to the\ncemetery. The widow wept and the seven children were in deep affliction.\nDobbs had a soft heart, and went frequently to the house to console the\nwidow and orphans. The widow was buxom and blooming and the children\nwere chubby. An idea entered the head of Dobbs. Here were an angel and\nseven sweet little cherubs. Could he not persuade them to come and dwell\nin his domicile? In the solitude of his home he again had visions of\nfuture felicity. In due time he presented the question of annexation for\nthe consideration of the widow. It was decided in the negative. She said\nthat she had been the wife of Simon Rump, and when she planted a rose on\nthe grave of that good man she had solemnly vowed that she would never\nbe the wife of anybody but Simon Rump. Dobbs went home and had a fit of\nthe blues. He thought of his first love and of his subsequent\nmisfortunes. He thought of Susan and the Seven Sweethearts. He thought\nof the dreadful beating he had received when he wanted to buy a wife and\na couple of children. He thought of the refusal of the Widow Rump, and\nhe was in despair. His home would never be the abode of an angel and\nseven sweet little cherubs.\"\n\"Poor fellow!\" said the Professor. \"His was, indeed, a sad fate! Excuse\nme, Toney, if I apply my handkerchief. A tear will ooze from the corner\nof my eye.\"\n\"There is no need for your handkerchief. Dobbs's prospects now began to\nbrighten. Fortune smiled on him at last.\"\n\"The cruel jade!\" said the Professor. \"She sometimes becomes ashamed of\nher barbarity and makes amends. I trust it was so in the case of poor\nDobbs.\"\n\"It was,\" said Toney. \"A few days after the rejection of his suit by the\nwidow, a splendid opportunity, which presented itself, for an amazing\ndisplay of his gallantry, enabled him to win her heart. On a bright\nmorning in July there was an unusually large congregation assembled in\ngroups in front of the village church, which stands in a grove of fine\nold trees, affording a delightful shade. While the people were thus\nawaiting the arrival of their pastor, the widow rode up, accompanied by\nher eldest son, a boy of twelve years of age. The lad dismounted and led\nthe widow's steed to a big chestnut stump, then used as a horseblock.\nShe attempted to dismount, but just at that moment the horse suddenly\nstarted to one side, and she was caught on the pommel, and there hung\nsuspended, like Mohammed's coffin, between heaven and earth. The gawky\nboy exclaimed, 'Great golly!' and stood holding the horse. The ladies\nshrieked and put down their veils, and the gentlemen, instead of going\nto the rescue, turned away as if seized with a sudden panic. In this\nemergency the remarkable presence of mind of Simon Dobbs was wonderfully\ndemonstrated. Hearing the cries of the distressed lady, he coolly put\nhis hand in his pocket and drew forth a large knife, which he was\naccustomed to use in his orchard for pruning purposes; then turning his\nback and opening the blade, he advanced backward until his shoulders\nalmost touched her as she hung in a state of awful suspense; when with a\nskillful movement of the knife he cut off the end of the dress which\nclung to the pommel, and the lady fell unharmed to the ground. A shout\nof applause rewarded this noble achievement; and from that day the heart\nof the buxom widow was the property of Simon Dobbs.\"\n\"So it should have been,\" said the Professor. \"In books of chivalry and\nromance a valorous knight, who rescues a fair one in distress, is always\nrewarded by the possession of that important organ.\"\n\"The pastor did not come,\" said Toney. \"The reverend gentleman was sick;\nbut the congregation found an efficient substitute in M. T. Pate, who\nmounted the pulpit and read the usual prayers, and then selected the\nninth chapter of Genesis. When in his loud and solemn tones Pate read\nthe twenty-third verse, every eye in the congregation was directed first\ntowards the widow and then towards Simon Dobbs. The widow went home and\nread the chapter over and was deeply impressed. She was convinced that\nSimon Dobbs was a good man, and could be compared to the favorite sons\nof the patriarch. She knew that he would make a devoted husband. When\nDobbs called on the following day to inquire after her health, she\nblushed until her face was as ruddy as the morning, and Dobbs saw in her\nblushes the beams of an Aurora which was the harbinger of his\nhappiness.\"\n\"Too poetical, Toney,\" said the Professor. \"But proceed. What did Dobbs\ndo?\"\n\"He drew his chair close up to the widow; and this time as he approached\nher he did not turn his back.\"\n\"Well, what did he do?\"\n\"He took hold of her hand.\"\n\"Well.\"\n\"He squeezed it.\"\n\"Good!\"\n\"He advanced his mouth in close proximity to her lips.\"\n\"Excellent!\"\n\"He kissed her.\"\n\"And then?\"\n\"One of the little cherubs ran into the room, and bawling out, 'You stop\nbiting my mamma!' struck Dobbs with a stick.\"\n\"Horrible!\"\n\"Dobbs saw a servant-maid's grinning face at the door. He snatched up\nhis hat and rushed from the house. The widow seized the little cherub,\nand laid him over her lap and spanked him.\"\n\"What became of Dobbs?\"\n\"He returned next evening. The cherubs were all put to bed. He again\npresented the question of annexation for the consideration of the widow.\nThis time it was debated on both sides. The widow told him that she had\nsolemnly vowed never to be the wife of anybody but Simon Rump. She could\nnot break her vow. Dobbs then proposed to change his name to Rump. This\nproposition was satisfactory. M. T. Pate filed a bill in chancery for\nDobbs, and a decree was passed changing his name to Rump; and Simon\nDobbs is now Simon Rump; and an angel dwells with him, and seven sweet\nlittle cherubs run about his domicile with their bare feet.\"\n\"Cherubs are always barefooted,\" said the Professor. \"They are painted\nso on canvas. It couldn't be otherwise.\"\n\"Why not?\" said Toney.\n\"Because no shoemaker ever entered the kingdom of heaven.\"\n\"I cannot see why the disciples of St. Crispin should be excluded,\" said\nToney.\n\"They never tell the truth, and liars--you know the text. Did you ever\nsee the picture of an angel with a pair of shoes on his feet?\"\n\"Never!\"\n\"They have no shoemakers among them,\" said the Professor.\nThey had now reached the hotel, and, after Toney had directed Hannibal\nand C\u00e6sar to come for his trunks, were approaching his room, when they\nheard a loud noise, and Tom Seddon's voice furiously shouting \"Villain!\"\nThis was followed by the sound of some heavy body falling on the floor.\nToney and the Professor rushed into the room. In the middle of the floor\nstood Tom Seddon with his clothes covered with blood. A crimson stream\nspouted from his person and sprinkled the floor. In a corner of the room\nlay Dr. Bull, having just been knocked down by a blow from Seddon's\nfist. On the bed was a basin turned upside down. With the ferocity of a\ntiger Tom was about to spring at Bull again when Toney caught him and\nheld him back.\n\"Let me at him!\" shouted Tom, savagely. \"He has had my blood and I want\nhis!\"\n\"Are you not Jones?\" groaned Bull, in the corner.\n\"Jones! who is Jones? You bloody old villain!\" cried Tom.\n\"Good heavens!\" said Bull, \"I fear I have made a mistake! I have bled\nthe wrong man!\"\nToney roared with laughter, and the Professor fell on the bed and\nemitted violent explosions of mirth.\nBull, who had been deprived of his spectacles in his desperate encounter\nwith Bear, was nearly blind, and going into the wrong room had\napproached the bed. Tom was snoring. Bull felt his pulse. \"Symptoms of\napoplexy!\" exclaimed Bull. \"A decided change for the worse! He must be\nimmediately depleted or the attack may be fatal!\" Bull got a basin,\nrolled up Tom's sleeve, took out a lancet and sprung it. The blood\nspirted, and Tom jumped up and knocked Bull down.\nAll this was explained after Tom's arm had been bound up by the\nProfessor; Bull being too much disabled by the blow and his fall to\nrender any assistance.\n\"The doctor has amply apologized,\" said Toney.\n\"By Jove! does such an outrage admit of an apology?\" said Tom, looking\nat Bull with savage ferocity.\n\"My dear sir, it was a mistake! I thought it was Jones!\" said the\ndoctor, making for the door.\n\"Good-by, doctor!\" said Toney. \"You have let the bad blood out of him,\nand he will soon be in a better disposition.\"\nBull hastily departed with both eyes in a damaged condition.\n\"He has had my blood and I would like to have his,\" said Tom.\n\"Mr. Seddon, you should cultivate a more benign disposition,\" said the\nProfessor. \"Bull practiced phlebotomy on you with the best intentions.\"\n\"And now, Tom, I must leave you,\" said Toney, as C\u00e6sar and Hannibal\nentered the room to carry his trunks to the railway.\n\"Are you going?\" said Tom.\n\"Must go,\" said Toney. \"I have to prepare for the great case of Simon\nRump vs. The Salt-Water Canal Company. I leave Charley with you, who\nwill attend to your wound, and when it has healed you and he come to\nMapleton and hear the argument of my distinguished adversary M. T.\nPate.\"\nBoth promised to do so; and shaking hands with his two friends, Toney\nwent out and closed the door, but immediately opened it again and\nsaid,--\n\"Tom, when you take another siesta, remember to bolt the door and keep\nBull out. Good-by!\"\nCHAPTER XXIV.\n\"Simon, my love,\" said Mrs. Rump, as she handed her affectionate spouse\na cup of coffee at breakfast, \"what lawyer have you got to speak to the\njury in our great case against the Canal Company?\"\n\"Why, my angel,\" said Simon, \"I have got Mr. Pate, the great lawyer in\nMapleton.\"\n\"Is Mr. Pate the bald-headed man who sometimes reads the prayers in\nchurch?\" asked the angel.\n\"He is the man,\" said Simon.\n\"He must be a very good man,\" said the mother of the seven sweet little\ncherubs.\n\"He is,\" said the lord of the mansion; \"and he is also a very learned\nman. He has more than a dozen books in his office as big as the Bible,\nand he reads in them every day.\"\n\"Oh, my!\" said Simon's angel. \"No wonder he is bald! Reads all those big\nbooks! What a heap he must know!\"\n\"Indeed, he does,\" said Simon. \"And he has promised to make a great\nspeech against the Canal Company, and get us a power of damages.\"\n\"How much?\" inquired the angel.\n\"Thirty thousand dollars--not a cent less.\"\n\"Gracious goodness! thirty thousand dollars! We will be as rich as the\nWidow Wild almost! Indeed, my love, you must buy a nice new carriage. I\ndon't like to ride to church on horseback and see the Widow Wild coming\nin her carriage.\"\n\"And I want a hobby-horse,\" said one of the male cherubs.\n\"And I want a nice new doll,\" said a female cherub.\n\"Hush, you noisy brats!\" said the angel. And she slapped the male cherub\non the side of the face, and in the operation overturned her cup, and\nspilt the hot coffee on the female cherub's head. The two cherubs tried\nthe strength of their lungs; and Simon Rump arose from the table, and,\nputting on his hat, opened the door to go forth and talk with his lawyer\nabout the big case.\nThe angel followed Simon to the porch and said,--\n\"Thirty thousand dollars! Oh, my! But how much are you to pay Mr. Pate?\"\n\"One-tenth,\" said Simon.\n\"How much is that?\" asked the mother of the cherubs.\n\"Three thousand dollars,\" said Simon.\n\"Three thousand dollars! Gracious! That is a heap of money to pay a\nlawyer for talking to a jury for an hour.\"\n\"But Mr. Pate has to read all those big books. It would take me ten\nyears to read all those books; and then I would not understand what is\nin them,\" said Simon, scratching his head.\n\"Three thousand dollars! How much will we have left?\"\n\"Twenty-seven thousand dollars,\" said Simon.\n\"Twenty-seven thousand dollars! That is a heap of money! I must have a\nbrand-new carriage with eagles painted on its sides. I don't like to\nride to church on horseback.\"\n\"Before we were married I used to like to see you coming to church on\nhorseback,\" said Simon.\nThe mother of the cherubs bestowed a connubial kiss on Simon, who went\nfrom his gate merrily whistling, as any man might who had an angel and\nseven sweet little cherubs dwelling in his domicile, and expected soon\nto get twenty-seven thousand dollars from a wealthy corporation.\nToney Belton had been occupied since his return to Mapleton in\npreparation for the proper presentation of his case to the jury. His\ndistinguished adversary had composed a great speech to be delivered on\nthe occasion. Pate had determined to operate on the feelings and\nprejudices of the jury, and thus obtain a verdict for the thirty\nthousand dollars which he had confidently promised to his client Simon\nRump.\nOn the morning of the day on which the jury were to assemble on the\nground, Tom Seddon and the Professor arrived in the cars from Bella\nVista. The jury were conveyed to the ground in an omnibus in charge of\nthe sheriff. M. T. Pate arrived on Old Whitey, and, dismounting, tied\nhis steed to a tree, which the animal immediately commenced divesting of\nits bark.\nThe twelve peers deliberately walked over the ground, and having\ncarefully examined that portion of it through which the canal was to be\nconstructed, seated themselves on two benches, which had been prepared\nfor their accommodation, under the shade of a spreading beech. Simon\nRump's counsel was then informed that the jury were ready to hear his\nargument.\n\"Pate is going to make a great speech,\" said Tom Seddon, as Pate drew\nfrom his pocket a number of papers and laid them on a stump which he\nused as a table. \"With that black coat and white cravat he looks very\nmuch like the picture of old John Bunyan in the Pilgrim's Progress.\"\n\"John Banyan was an eloquent man,\" said the Professor. \"And from the\nvery profound and extremely solemn look of the advocate now preparing to\naddress the jury, I expect to listen to eloquence of the highest order.\nBe ready with your handkerchief, Mr. Seddon, for or some burst of pathos\nmay find you wholly unprepared for the flood of tears which you will be\ncompelled to shed over the wrongs of Simon Rump.\"\n\"Hush!\" said Tom Seddon, \"Pate is wiping the top of his big bald head\nwith his handkerchief. He is about to begin.\"\n\"Mr. Seddon,\" said the Professor, \"must I continually admonish you to\nspeak reverently of bald heads? Remember the she-bears!\"\n\"Hush!\" said Tom,--\"listen!\"\nM. T. Pate spoke as follows:\n\"Gentlemen of the jury,--No more important case than this ever came\nbefore a jury either of ancient or modern times. An outrage unparalleled\nin the whole history of Christian jurisprudence is about to be\nperpetrated upon my law-abiding, inoffensive, and patriotic client,\nSimon Rump. And by whom? By a powerful, an overgrown, a gigantic\ncorporation! And, gentlemen, what is a corporation? It is defined by the\ngreat Judge Marshall to be 'an artificial being, invisible, intangible,\nand existing only in contemplation of law.' In addition to this, I\nassert, that these corporations have neither souls to be saved nor\nbodies to be damned. Gentlemen, we read of no such thing in the Bible as\na corporation. I have carefully searched the five books of Moses, from\nGenesis to Deuteronomy, and I cannot find that God's chosen patriarchs,\nAbraham, Isaac, Jacob, or Noah, ever chartered a single corporation.\nNeither do we find that such monopolies were ever tolerated by David or\nSolomon, or any of the kings or judges of Israel. And I challenge my\nlearned brother on the other side to produce from the whole of the New\nTestament one single text in favor of corporations. Have I not, then, a\nright to assert that these soulless corporations are not sanctioned by\nthe Christian religion, but are of heathen invention?\n\"Gentlemen, is it necessary for me to tell you who is the plaintiff in\nthis cause? Is there an individual now within the sound of my voice who\nhas not known and loved the name of Rump since the days of his boyhood?\nSimon now lives upon the very spot where he was born, and where the\nbones of his ancestors are buried. Few men can boast of so glorious a\nlineage. His forefathers fought against the Frenchmen, the Indians, and\nthe British; and had Simon lived in those days, he would have fought as\nvaliantly as they did; for he is a worthy descendant of illustrious\nsires.\n\"Gentlemen, if you have tears to shed, prepare to shed them now. A few\nweeks ago a worthy farmer of your county, upon a bright, warm summer's\nday, was seated by his own cheerful fire, with his venerable wife and\ninnocent little ones playing around him. There he sat with his head\nproudly erect, for he knew that no mortal man could take from him one\nfoot of that sacred soil without his own free consent. But what it was\nout of the power of mortal man to do he learned could be done by a\nsoulless corporation. Imagine the feelings of Simon Rump then, and\nimagine the feelings of Simon Rump now. Imagine the feelings of Simon\nRump's venerable wife then, and imagine the feelings of Simon Rump's\nvenerable wife now. Imagine the feelings of Simon Rump's innocent\nlittle ones then, and imagine the feelings of Simon Rump's innocent\nlittle ones now.\n\"But, gentlemen, Simon Rump is not the only man, nor is Mrs. Rump the\nonly woman, nor are the innocent little Rumps the only children who will\nbe made to suffer from the outrage of this heathen defendant. A whole\ncommunity will be divided in twain. Permit this canal to be dug, and\nwill not your county be virtually divided as if into two separate\nkingdoms? It is to be forty feet wide and six feet deep, and not one\nword is said about bridges over it. What will be the consequences? Will\nthere not be a separation of friends and relatives; and what money can\ncompensate for that?\n\"Gentlemen of the jury, in behalf of Simon Rump; in behalf of Simon\nRump's venerable wife; in behalf of Simon Rump's innocent little ones;\nin behalf of Simon Rump's friends and Simon Rump's neighbors; and in\nbehalf of an insulted and outraged community, I appeal to you by your\nlove of right and your abhorrence of wrong, and by your devotion to your\ncountry, and your pride for your country, to inflict upon this soulless,\ntyrannical, and heathen defendant such a tremendous verdict as will ever\nhereafter operate as a shield to the weak and a warning to the proud.\"\n\"What do you think of that?\" said Tom Seddon to the Professor when Pate\nhad concluded.\n\"Mr. Seddon, you might live longer than an antediluvian and never hear\nsuch a speech again,\" said the Professor, with impressive solemnity.\n\"Toney will find it difficult to make a reply,\" said Tom.\n\"Toney looks serious,\" said the Professor. \"He seems to be aware that he\nhas to surmount huge difficulties, and is going to work with due\ndeliberation.\"\n\"What a grave aspect he has assumed as he now rises before the jury!\"\nsaid Tom. \"One might suppose that, instead of answering Pate's speech,\nhe was about to deliver a funeral oration over his dead body.\"\nToney Belton now spoke as follows:\n\"Gentlemen of the jury,--While listening with the most profound\nattention and admiration to the solemn and powerful appeal just made by\nmy learned and eloquent brother; and while beholding, at the same time,\nthe evident wonder thereby created among this large and respectable\nassemblage, I was reminded of what is written in the fourth chapter of\nthe First Book of Kings,--'And there came of all people to hear the\nwisdom of Solomon.'\n\"Gentlemen, I shall not even attempt to reply to all the arguments\nadvanced to you by my learned brother. I have too much respect for Simon\nRump's venerable wife, and Simon Rump's innocent little ones, and for\nthe bones of Simon Rump's buried ancestors, to say one word in\ndisparagement of any of the aforesaid individuals.\n\"But there are other portions of my brother's argument which I must\nnotice, for I fear that they were calculated to produce a powerful\neffect upon a jury of humane and benevolent men.\n\"The learned counsel tells us that this county is to be divided into two\nseparate kingdoms, as distinct from each other as if an impassable gulf\nhad suddenly opened between them. He informs us that such must be the\ninevitable result of the construction of this canal. As he alluded to\nthe heart-rending scenes about to ensue from this separation, the\ndescription was so graphic that the picture became visible, not only to\nthe imagination, but almost to the naked eye.\n\"Behold the canal already dug not less than forty feet wide and six feet\ndeep! On either side are assembled groups of men, women, and children;\nfor the locks are about to be opened and the waters to rush in. Tears\nare standing in their eyes, and their sighs and lamentations burden the\nair. On the east side of the canal is the fond father, and on the west\nhis favorite son. On the east side of the canal is the anxious mother,\nand on the west her prettiest daughter. On the east side of the canal is\nthe pensive maiden, and on the west her lover 'sighing like a furnace.'\nThere they stand about to part forever! For the lock has been opened\nabove, and the water is now rushing into the canal. The moment of\nseparation is at hand, and they are about to part never to meet again\nbeneath the skies!\n\"Instinctively each one of these disconsolates stretches forth the right\nhand to take a last embrace of a parent, child, brother, sister,\nmistress, or lover! But even this small consolation is denied; for,\nbehold, the water is already forty feet wide, and nearly six feet deep!\nThen there are groans, and moans, and loud lamentations; and tears gush\nforth, falling like a summer's shower into the dividing waters. There is\ncast from each face one last, long, agonizing look; and those\nbroken-hearted friends and relatives depart to their respective homes,\nto meet no more until they meet in heaven, and to smile no more on\nearth.\n\"But hark! what sudden, horrid shriek is that? It comes from the Rumps!\n Yon sight that it freezes my spirit to tell!\nOne of the little Rumps has been left on the other side of the canal!\n\"Gentlemen of the jury, my feelings so overcome me that I can proceed no\nfurther, and must therefore submit the rights of my heathen client\nsolely to your Christian mercy.\"\nThe effect produced by Tony Belton's speech was extraordinary. Shouts of\nlaughter burst from the spectators and the jury. Indeed, some of the\nlatter were so overcome with merriment that they rolled from their\nbenches upon the grass; the tears streaming from their eyes, and their\nwhole frames apparently convulsed with laughter.\n\"Where is Mr. Pate?\" cried Simon Rump, when the tumult had, in some\ndegree, subsided. \"Mr. Pate! Mr. Pate! Where is Mr. Pate?\"\n\"Yonder he goes!\" said a boy. \"Great golly! ain't he riding!\"\n\"Go fetch him back! Go fetch him back!\" cried Rump.\n\"It would take Flying Childers to catch that old white horse!\" said one\nof Rump's neighbors. \"Your lawyer has gone, and you will now have to\nmake a speech yourself.\"\n\"My lawyer has run away! I am ruined! I am ruined!\" exclaimed Rump.\n\"Mount my horse, and ride after your attorney,\" said the sheriff, his\nsides shaking with laughter. \"Make haste, Mr. Rump! The jury are waiting\nto hear his argument in reply to Mr. Belton.\"\nSimon Rump shook his head in despair. Rendered frantic by the ridicule\nof his merciless adversary, his attorney had rushed wildly from the\nscene of his discomfiture, mounted his horse, and galloped away, and\npoor Rump was left _inops consilii_.\n\"Mr. Rump,\" said the sheriff, \"the jury have requested me to inform you\nthat they are ready to hear anything which you have to say. You are\nentitled to the closing argument.\"\n\"I can't make a speech,\" said Rump; \"and my lawyer has run away.\"\n\"Then the case is submitted for the decision of the jury without further\nargument,\" said the sheriff.\nRump mournfully nodded his head in acquiescence. Whereupon the twelve\npeers arose from their seats, and walked aside in consultation. They\nsoon returned, and rendered a verdict for the defendant. Rump had to pay\nthe costs, which amounted to one hundred dollars. He pulled out his\npocket-book, and handed ninety dollars to the sheriff.\n\"Ten dollars more,\" said the sheriff.\n\"Mr. Pate will pay the other ten dollars,\" said Simon.\n\"How so?\" asked the sheriff.\n\"He was to get one-tenth of the money recovered,\" said Rump.\n\"Well?\"\n\"As we have lost the case, he should pay one-tenth of the costs.\"\n\"That is strictly in accordance with the principles of law applicable to\ncopartnerships,--is it not, Mr. Seddon?\" said the Professor.\n\"Certainly,\" said Tom; \"profits and losses must be in proportion to the\ninterest which each partner has in the firm.\"\nThe sheriff thought otherwise, and Rump reluctantly paid the whole\namount; saying that he would sue M. T. Pate for the ten dollars paid on\nhis account. A few days afterwards he actually brought suit before\nJustice Johnson, who rendered a judgment against M. T. Pate for ten\ndollars and costs.\nSimon Rump went home a melancholy man. As he entered his door he was met\nby the mother of the cherubs, who threw her arms around his neck and\nembraced him with connubial fondness.\n\"Oh, Simon, my love, I am so glad you have come back! There is a\nbrand-new carriage in Mapleton now offered for sale. It will just suit\nus. Have they paid all the money? How much have you got?\"\nSimon Rump was silent.\n\"How much money have you brought home with you?\" asked Simon's angel.\n\"Not one cent,\" said Simon, sadly. \"I went away this morning with one\nhundred dollars in my pocket-book, and now it is empty. I had to pay\nsome money for Mr. Pate.\"\n\"But Mr. Pate will pay it back to you out of the three thousand\ndollars,\" said the angel.\n\"No he won't,\" said Simon.\n\"Yes he will,\" said the angel. \"Mr. Pate is a good man. He reads the\nprayers in church.\"\n\"I'll sue him,\" said Simon.\n\"What?\"\n\"I'll sue M. T. Pate for ten dollars,\" said Simon, savagely.\n\"Sue your own lawyer?\" exclaimed the mother of the cherubs. \"Your own\nlawyer, who has made a great speech, and gained our case?\"\n\"He didn't gain our case,--he lost it.\"\n\"Lost our case?\" screamed the angel. \"Simon Rump, you don't mean to say\nthat Pate lost our case?\"\n\"That's just what happened,\" said Simon Rump.\n\"Did he make a speech?\"\n\"He made a speech, and then he ran away.\"\n\"What made him run away?\"\n\"He got scared,\" said Simon.\n\"What did he say in his speech?\"\n\"He talked to the jury about you, and me, and the children.\"\n\"What did Pate say about me?\"\n\"He called you venerable.\"\n\"What?\"\n\"He called you Simon Rump's venerable wife.\"\n\"Me? Me?\"\n\"Yes, you,\" said Simon. \"He called you venerable several times.\"\n\"Several times?\"\n\"Yes, four or five times.\"\n\"Said so to the jury?\"\n\"Yes.\"\n\"What did you do?\"\n\"Nothing.\"\n\"Simon Rump, you are a brute!\" said the angel.\n\"But, my duck,\" said Simon, \"I could not----\"\n\"Don't call me your duck! Duck, indeed! Simon Rump, you are a brute! You\nhave no feeling. What! stand there and hear that bald-headed booby call\nme venerable! Well, I'll give Mr. Pate a piece of my mind. Venerable!\nvenerable!\" And the mother of the cherubs rushed from the room in a\nstate of unangelic excitement, while Simon Rump seated himself in his\nbig arm-chair and looked doleful and desolate.\nOn the following morning as M. T. Pate sat on his porch, brooding over\nthe humiliation of his defeat, a sable son of Africa rode up and handed\nhim a letter. He opened it and read as follows:\n \"Mr. M. T. PATE,--Simon has told me that in your speech to the jury\n you several times called me venerable. No wonder you lost our case!\n for after such a whopper about me it was not likely that a single\n man on the jury would believe one word you might say. How dare you\n call a decent woman like me venerable? I am not so venerable as you\n yourself, with your big head almost bare of hair outside and\n altogether bare of brains inside.\n \"You ran away because you were afraid to look twelve honest men in\n the face after what you had said about me. You may have better luck\n when you have learned to tell the truth. No more at present.\n \"ABIGAIL RUMP.\"\nThis letter, though mortifying at the time, was afterwards of essential\nservice to M. T. Pate. He perceived that adjectives suggestive of\npersonal qualities were often, like edged tools, to be used with extreme\ncaution, especially in their application to the female sex; and that the\nequanimity even of the mother of seven sweet little cherubs might be\nseriously disturbed by an indiscreet use of the word venerable.\nCHAPTER XXV.\n\"Mr. Pate made an astonishing speech,\" said the Professor to Toney and\nTom, the day after the trial; \"such a speech as has been seldom listened\nto by any audience,--a speech that was unanswerable by argument.\"\n\"And Toney knew it,\" said Tom, \"and did not attempt to answer it by\nargument.\"\n\"Toney,\" said the Professor, \"was like a wild Indian, dodging around and\naiming his arrows at Pate, who had come on the ground with a heavy piece\nof artillery.\"\n\"Why do you compare me to a savage?\" said Toney.\n\"Because you use merciless weapons,\" said the Professor. \"Civilized men\ndo not employ the scalping-knife and tomahawk.\"\n\"Nor did I,\" said Toney.\n\"Figuratively and metaphorically speaking, you did,\" said the Professor.\n\"You brought into the field of forensic controversy a most barbarous and\ncruel weapon.\"\n\"What was that?\" asked Toney.\n\"Ridicule,\" said the Professor. \"It may be termed the oratorical\nscalping-knife. Why, sir, Demosthenes, with all his thunder, would have\nbeen powerless against it. Now, M. T. Pate, though not equal to the\ngreat Athenian, is an eloquent man. He drew tears from Mr. Seddon, who\nwept profusely over the wrongs of Simon Rump, and his venerable wife,\nand innocent little ones. But of what avail is the most touching pathos\nand sublime eloquence when met by ridicule? Do you not recollect what\nthe poet and philosopher Pope says on this subject?\"\n\"I do not,\" said Toney.\n\"Let an ambassador,\" says he, \"speak the best sense in the world and\ndeport himself in the most graceful manner before a prince, yet if the\ntail of his shirt happen (as I have known it to happen to a very wise\nman) to hang out behind, more people will laugh at that than attend to\nthe other.\"\n\"That is as true as a text from Holy Writ,\" said Tom Seddon.\n\"It is a truth, Mr. Seddon, by no means creditable to the good sense of\nmankind, as we have seen in the case of the learned, eloquent, but\nunlucky M. T. Pate,\" said the Professor. \"Pate's unfortunate allusion to\nthe prospective division of families, resulting from the construction of\nthe canal, afforded an opportunity for ridicule, and the great beauty\nand eloquence of his speech were lost sight of the very moment the\naudience beheld Tony Belton's finger pointing to the visible protrusion\nof his nether garment.\"\n\"Pate rode away at a terrific speed,\" said Seddon. \"I have not heard of\nhim since. If he has unfortunately broken his neck, Toney Belton will be\nanswerable for the awful catastrophe.\"\n\"No responsibility can possibly attach to me,\" said Toney. \"You are\nentirely mistaken in reference to the cause of his abrupt departure. Mr.\nPate had promised to make a speech in behalf of Simon Rump. He did make\na speech, and then, looking at his watch, he hurried away; for he had\nmore important business on hand than any which lawyers have to transact.\nHe was to preside at a committee. The hour for its meeting had nearly\narrived, and hence he was compelled to make a liberal use of whip and\nspur.\"\n\"A committee!\" exclaimed Tom.\n\"What committee?\" asked the Professor.\n\"A committee composed of several of the most distinguished members of\nthe Mystic Order of Seven Sweethearts,\" said Toney.\n\"What is its object?\" asked the Professor.\n\"A tournament,\" said Toney.\n\"A what?\" exclaimed Seddon.\n\"A tournament,\" said Toney. \"To M. T. Pate belongs the distinguished\nhonor of being the originator of a tournament in this age and country.\"\n\"How did such an extraordinary idea ever enter his head?\" said Seddon.\n\"Great men,\" said Toney, \"are often led to important discoveries by\ncertain phenomena, which, to ordinary minds, are devoid of significance.\nSuppose you, Tom Seddon, had been sitting under an apple-tree, instead\nof Newton, and an apple had fallen and hit you on the head; what would\nyou have done?\"\n\"Scratched my cocoanut,\" said Tom.\n\"In the situation supposed,\" said the Professor, \"it is highly probable\nthat Mr. Seddon would first have vigorously titillated the top of his\nhead, and then picked up the pippin and devoured it.\"\n\"It was not so with the great Newton,\" said Toney. \"The sudden shock\nwhich his cranium received awakened an idea, and that idea expanded into\na magnificent system of philosophy. And so it was with M. T. Pate.\"\n\"Did Pate sit under an apple-tree?\" asked Tom.\n\"No,\" said Toney; \"it was a cherry-tree. He was seated on the greensward\nunder its shade, when his attention was attracted to the curious pranks\nof a couple of urchins. They had paper caps on their heads with the\ntail-feathers of a rooster stuck in their crowns. Pate heard one of the\nlittle fellows say, 'I'll be Bonaparte,' and his companion immediately\nrejoined that he was Wellington. The illustrious Napoleon was armed with\na bean-pole, and the Iron Duke held in his hand the fragment of a\nfishing-rod. After marching and countermarching, and performing many\ndifficult evolutions, the martial enthusiasm of Napoleon finally rose to\nsuch a pitch that he could no longer restrain himself. As impetuously as\nwhen he was leading his valiant legions over the bridge of Lodi, he\ncharged upon Wellington, and, before the latter could parry the thrust,\ninserted the end of the bean-pole in his mouth, to the no small damage\nof his ivory. The hero of Waterloo having his mouth thus unexpectedly\nopened, gave utterance to a cry which was, by no means, so warlike as\nmight have been anticipated. It had the effect to bring a certain\nbelligerent dame to the door, who had thus got an intimation that\nhostilities had actually commenced between Bonaparte and Wellington. She\nsallied forth, and seizing upon the illustrious Napoleon, she laid him\nover her lap, and gave him what, in the technical phraseology of the\nnursery, is termed a good spanking. Poor Bonaparte bellowed lustily\nunder the operation, and as soon as he had escaped from the hands of his\nruthless captor, went and sat on the sill of the door and sobbed\nsorrowfully over his disgrace. All his martial enthusiasm had been\nsuddenly quenched. 'No sound could awake him to glory again,' and for\nthe space of one whole hour he indignantly refused to eat even\ngingerbread.\"\n\"I can sympathize with poor Bonaparte,\" said the Professor, \"for I was\nonce the unhappy victim of a similar misfortune in days gone by, when I\nwas not much taller than a gooseberry-bush. I had been diligently\nperusing that good old book, the Pilgrim's Progress, and under the\ndelusion that I was the valiant Great-heart, I assaulted an urchin who\nwas supposed to be Giant Despair. I overcame the giant, and was\nimprisoned in the pantry, and afterwards tried, and convicted, and\nsentenced to undergo the cruel ordeal of a tough twig for a forcible\nentry into sundry jars of jelly. But what impression did the fall of\nNapoleon make upon the mind of M. T. Pate?\"\n\"While meditating upon this event, an idea entered his head, which\nultimately led to an important discovery. His wonderful sagacity enabled\nhim to perceive that if a little boy could be Bonaparte, a little man\nmight impersonate any hero of whom history makes mention.\"\n\"Even Jack the Giant-killer,\" suggested Tom Seddon.\n\"If,\" said Toney, \"the unlucky urchin, who had been spanked by his\nindignant mamma, could arm himself with a bean-pole, and assault Lord\nWellington with such vigor and impetuosity, could not a number of\ndelicate and dainty youths be mounted on diminutive horses, and\nrepresent Richard the Lion-hearted, or Ivanhoe, or any of the\nmail-covered barons whose valorous deeds are immortalized in the pages\nof Froissart or of Walter Scott?\"\n\"Is it meant that the Dainty Adorer or the Winsome Wooer could do this?\"\nasked Tom Seddon.\n\"So thought M. T. Pate,\" said Toney.\n\"What would be the effect of a moderate blow from the ponderous fist of\none of the aforesaid barons on the head of little Love?\" inquired Tom.\n\"Immediate work for the undertaker,\" answered the Professor.\n\"Or suppose,\" said Tom, \"that Dove was spanked by Richard, as was the\nlittle boy by his mother?\"\n\"He would be crushed like a pepper-corn pounded by a pestle in a\nmortar,\" remarked the Professor.\n\"And,\" said Seddon, \"the immense load of iron and steel carried by one\nof the knights at the tournament of Ashby-de-la-Zouch, where three\ncombatants were killed, one smothered in his armor, and thirty wounded,\nif put upon Bliss----\"\n\"Would cause the dainty creature to think of Pelion piled upon Ossa,\"\nobserved the Professor.\n\"But,\" said Toney, \"Pate was well acquainted with the wonder-working\npowers of the imagination, and knew that with the aid of this faculty he\ncould easily induce young maidens, who were diligent students of\nromance, to believe that the Noble Nonentity, the Dainty Adorer, and the\nWinsome Wooer, mounted on ponies, and flourishing long poles, were\nvalorous knights, armed for the performance of doughty deeds; just as\nthe unsophisticated birds are made to imagine that the effigies placed\nby a farmer around his cornfield are the dangerous and destructive\nbipeds in whose images they have been cunningly fashioned.\"\n\"You now perceive, Mr. Seddon,\" said the Professor, \"in what various\naspects the same subject will be contemplated by different minds. Mr.\nPate is a man of an original and sublime genius, and entertains ideas\nwhich would never enter into either your head or mine.\"\n\"But,\" said Tom, \"what did he do with his grand idea?\"\n\"Having thoroughly elaborated it,\" said Toney, \"he called a meeting of\nthe Mystic Order of Seven Sweethearts and made known his important\ndiscovery. The announcement was received with acclamations of applause,\nand the projected tournament pronounced worthy of the illustrious\nfounder of their noble order. A committee was appointed, composed of the\nPrince of Pretty Fellows, the Noble Nonentity, the Dainty Adorer, and\nthe Winsome Wooer, with the Noble Grand Gander himself as chairman; and\nupon this dignified body was devolved the onerous duty of developing all\nthe details of the intended tourney. Numerous meetings were held by the\ncommittee, and many discussions ensued. Books of chivalry and romance\nwere referred to, and the Chronicles of Froissart diligently perused.\nBut by far the highest authority on the subject was the novel of\nIvanhoe, in which the most graphic and intelligible account of a\ntournament was to be found. But when Pate read to the committee Walter\nScott's description of the passage of arms at Ashby----\"\n\"I remember it well!\" exclaimed Tom Seddon, enthusiastically. \"How the\nknights met in the encounter,--how the lances were shivered, the\npowerful steeds thrown back on their haunches, and many combatants\nhurled from their saddles by the terrible shock,--how Richard assailed\nthe gigantic Front de Boeuf, and struck down horse and rider at a\nsingle blow, and then, wresting the battle-axe from the hands of the\nbulky Athelstane, dashed him senseless to the ground! It is sublime! it\nis magnificent!\"\n\"What effect did the reading of this description by Walter Scott, which\nhas so aroused the enthusiasm of Mr. Seddon, produce on the committee?\"\nasked the Professor.\n\"Every member of the committee turned pale,\" said Toney. \"Bliss trembled\nand was silent; while Love loudly exclaimed that he would not take part\nin any such performance, and Dove said that indeed it was too\ndangerous.\"\n\"But the ultimate result?\" said the Professor.\n\"The panic produced by the reading of this passage from Ivanhoe was so\ngreat,\" said Toney, \"that it nearly caused an abandonment of their\nintention to hold a tournament. The committee adjourned to meet on the\nfollowing day for further deliberation. M. T. Pate went home and passed\na sleepless night in profound meditation.\"\n\"One might suppose,\" said the Professor, \"that the activity of his mind\nwould have enabled him to surmount the difficulty which had presented\nitself. Could he not recollect that in the encounter between Napoleon\nand Wellington, neither of them had used artillery or any of the deadly\nweapons employed in modern warfare? If these illustrious heroes could\ndispense with fire-arms, why could not Richard and Ivanhoe get along\nvery well without their heavy defensive armor and ponderous swords and\nbattle-axes?\"\n\"That was precisely the conclusion arrived at by M. T. Pate in his\nnocturnal meditations,\" said Toney. \"He perceived that the whole danger\nof a tournament might be avoided by mounting his knights on small\nhorses, with chicken-feathers in their caps, and long poles in their\nhands; when, instead of charging at each other, they could, in\nsuccession, charge at a mark in the shape of a ring; and he who was the\nmost expert in thrusting his pole through the ring, could be proclaimed\nthe victorious champion, entitled to crown the Queen of Love and\nBeauty.\"\n\"It is to be hoped,\" said the Professor, \"that this grand idea entered\nthe mind of M. T. Pate cautiously and on tiptoe. If it rushed in\nunannounced, like a daring intruder, there was danger of its upsetting\nall the furniture, and disturbing him as much as was Archimedes when he\nleaped out of the bath exclaiming, 'Eureka! eureka!'\"\n\"Pate jumped out of bed,\" said Toney, \"and danced over the floor,\nexclaiming, 'I have got it! I have got it!' His old housekeeper, who had\nbeen fast asleep in an adjoining apartment, was aroused by these loud\ncries, and thinking that there were robbers in the house, ran to the\nwindow and commenced shrieking, 'Help! help! help! murder! murder!\nmurder!' with the whole strength of her lungs.\"\n\"Now, here was a fuss in the family,\" said Seddon. \"What did Pate do to\nquell this disturbance?\"\n\"He called to her in loud and angry tones, and ordered her to cease her\nfrightful outcries. But the more loudly he called, the more loudly the\nold woman bawled, and finally four or five neighbors came running to the\nhouse armed with axes and pitchforks. These men, hearing the cries of\nmurder from the old woman, and Pate's angry voice in denunciation, under\nthe impression that the latter had gone crazy and was about to commit a\nhomicide, broke down the door, and, rushing in, seized him and threw him\nupon the floor, and bound him fast with the bedcords. The housekeeper,\nwhen she heard the men rushing into the house, was convinced that\nrobbers had possession; and, in the utmost terror, the poor creature\nfled down a back stairway and out the door, and ran across a field until\nshe entered a forest, where she fell down in a state of insensibility.\"\n\"But what did the men do with their prisoner?\" said Seddon.\n\"Pate being bound with cords now conducted himself like a furious\nmaniac. He raved, and swore, and kicked, and foamed at the mouth, and\nendeavored to bite his captors with his teeth. But he was held down on\nthe floor by two stalwart farmers, while the others consulted together;\nand the unanimous opinion was that so dangerous and murderous a lunatic\nshould be immediately confined in a hospital. A horse was harnessed to a\ncart, and they put Pate, securely bound with cords, in the bottom of the\nvehicle, and while one drove, the others walked alongside, with their\naxes and pitchforks on their shoulders, and thus conveyed him to a\nlunatic asylum situated a few miles from Mapleton.\"\n\"It is under the superintendence of Dr. Mowbray,\" said Seddon. \"I know\nhim well.\"\n\"Dr. Mowbray was awakened by the farmers loudly calling at the door.\n'What do you want?' said he, putting his head out the window.\n\"'We've got a crazy man here,' said Farmer Brown, 'and want to get him\noff our hands. Come down, doctor, and take him in.'\n\"The doctor dressed himself and came down. 'Here he is,' said Farmer\nJones. 'He is as mad as the moon can make a man!'\n\"'I am not mad! I am not mad!' exclaimed Pate, in the bottom of the\ncart.\n\"'He is talking poetry,' said Brown. 'I heard my little boy speak that\nat school.'\n\"'My men,' said the doctor, 'whom have you got here? Why, it is Mr.\nPate! When did he go mad?'\n\"'I am not mad! I am not mad!' piteously exclaimed poor Pate.\n\"'Don't you hear that, doctor?' said Jones. 'He is as crazy as an old\ncow with a wolf in her back!'\n\"'Who sent him here?' asked the doctor.\n\"The farmers now told their story.\n\"'My men,' said the doctor, 'I fear that you have acted without\nsufficient authority. Let me talk to Mr. Pate.'\n\"After a conversation with the unhappy captive, the doctor told his\ncaptors that they had better go home and attend to their own business;\nthat Pate was not crazy, and might have every one of them prosecuted for\na burglarious entry into his house in the night-time. When the farmers\nheard this they fled with precipitation, leaving their captive in the\nhands of the doctor, who unbound him and treated him kindly, and, after\nbreakfast, loaned him a horse, on which he rode back to his home.\"\n\"What did Pate do after he was declared sane by the doctor and released\nfrom captivity?\" asked the Professor.\n\"He proceeded with his preparations for the tournament,\" said Toney.\n\"His views in relation to tilting at a ring were unanimously approved by\nthe committee; though the Noble Nonentity suggested, that as the weather\nwould be very sultry, each knight should be allowed to carry an umbrella\nto protect himself from the heat of the sun. This prudent suggestion,\nintended to guard against the danger of _coup de soleil_, is still under\nconsideration, and is a matter yet to be decided by the committee, to\nmeet which was the cause of Pate's hurried departure on yesterday.\"\n\"When does the tournament come off?\" asked Tom Seddon.\n\"Next Monday,\" said Toney. \"Tom, you must be here on that day.\"\n\"I most certainly will,\" said Tom.\n\"And I, too,\" said the Professor.\n\"Are you going back with Tom?\" asked Toney.\n\"I intend to return to Bella Vista for the purpose of protecting Mr.\nSeddon from Dr. Bull, if that eminent physician should undertake to make\nany more experiments in phlebotomy,\" said the Professor. \"But I will be\nhere on the day of the tourney. Good-by, Toney.\"\n\"Good-by, Charley; good-by, Tom,\" said Toney, shaking hands with his two\nfriends, who proceeded to the cars, and took passage for Bella Vista.\nCHAPTER XXVI.\nIntense excitement prevailed in the community when the day for the\ntournament arrived. The governor of the State was expected to be present\nwith his military staff, the adjutant-general, and other distinguished\npersonages. It was anticipated that the array of beauty would be\nimmense; and, for a week anterior to the eventful day, each fair maiden\nhad held frequent consultations with her mirror, in order to ascertain\nwhether there was a probability that she might have the high honor of\nbeing crowned Queen of Love and Beauty by some valorous and victorious\nknight.\nTom Seddon and the Professor had arrived on the preceding evening from\nBella Vista. Tom was now supremely happy, for Ida Somers had temporarily\nescaped from the supervision of her cynical uncle, and was the guest of\nthe Widow Wild. The Professor told Toney that when Tom heard that Ida\nhad gone to Mapleton to attend the tournament, he could hardly content\nhimself to wait for the next train, but wanted to be off like a pyrite\nof iron after the magnet; and that, when on the cars, he was continually\ncomplaining of the sluggishness of the iron horse, which failed to go\nfaster than twenty miles in an hour.\nTom escorted the beautiful Ida to the ground, who bestowed on her\nescort many a smile, and furtively glanced at his face, radiant with\nhappiness, and came to the conclusion that Tom was a very handsome\nfellow; but would not for the world have permitted anybody to know that\nsuch was her decided opinion.\nToney walked behind Ida and Tom, with Rosabel by his side, while the\nProfessor had the Widow Wild under his protection. They were soon\ncomfortably seated, and cast their eyes around to survey the scene\nbefore them.\n\"Who are those military gentlemen standing in a line in front of their\nhorses?\" said Rosabel to Toney.\n\"Those are the knights,\" said Toney. \"The big man on the right is\nRichard.\"\n\"Who is Richard?\" asked Rosabel.\n\"Richard the Lion-hearted,\" said Toney.\n\"Why, he looks like Mr. Pate,\" said Ida.\n\"Richard and Pate are one and the same person to-day,\" said Toney. \"M.\nT. Pate is now Richard Plantagenet, Miss Somers; and if he should prove\nvictorious in the lists he may crown you Queen of Love and Beauty.\"\nTom Seddon was silent, but he gazed at Richard with a look of savage\nferocity, which reminded the Professor of the expression of his\ncountenance just after he had been bled by Doctor Bull.\n\"The knight standing next to Mr. Pate, who is he?\" asked Rosabel.\n\"Ivanhoe,\" said Toney.\n\"It is Mr. Wiggins,\" said Ida.\n\"Formerly Mr. Wiggins, now the son of Cedric,--the disinherited knight,\nthe valiant Ivanhoe.\"\n\"And the little man whose head hardly reaches to his horse's mane? How\nin the world will he ever mount?\" said Rosabel.\n\"Oh, never fear. His esquire will help him on his horse. He is a Knight\nTemplar,\" said Toney.\n\"What is his name?\" said Rosabel.\n\"Brian de Bois Guilbert,\" said Toney.\n\"It is Little Love,\" said Tom Seddon.\n\"And the one next to him is Dove,\" said the widow.\n\"Formerly Dove, but now Athelstane the Saxon,\" said Toney. \"He is a\nknight of great prowess, and has royal blood in his veins.\"\n\"And the other little man standing in front of the black horse, who is\nhe?\" asked Rosabel.\n\"Why, that is Bliss,\" said the widow.\n\"No longer Bliss,\" said Toney, \"but the accomplished and gallant Maurice\nde Bracy.\"\n\"And Ned Botts and Sam Perch,\" said the widow, \"who have they become?\"\n\"Those two gentlemen,\" said Toney, \"have selected their designations\nfrom localities to which they are strongly attached and desire to honor\nby their valorous deeds of knighthood. Mr. Botts, who formerly resided\nin a village where each householder was required by an immemorial custom\nto keep at least six of the canine species, whose barking and howling at\nnight were supposed to be good for persons afflicted with typhoid fever,\ncalls himself the Knight of Cunopolis.\"\n\"Cunopolis!\" said Ida. \"Oh, what a pretty name!\"\n\"It is composed of two Greek words,\" said the Professor.\n\"What is the signification?\" asked Rosabel.\n\"Dog Town,\" said the Professor.\n\"Dog Town! Oh, horrid!\" said Ida.\n\"Mr. Botts is the Knight of Cunopolis, or Dog Town,\" said Toney.\n\"And Perch?\" asked the widow.\n\"The father of that young man,\" said Toney, \"had heard that N. P.\nWillis, while residing in Wyoming Valley, had named his place Glenmary\nin compliment to his wife, and in honor of his own wife has named his\nplace Glenbetsy. So Perch is the valorous Knight of Glenbetsy.\"\n\"Glenmary is a very beautiful name,\" said Ida.\n\"And so is Glenbetsy,\" said the Professor.\n\"Tastes may differ,\" said Toney.\n\"Mr. Belton,\" said the widow, \"what is Barney Bates doing there--holding\nthat horse?\"\n\"He is esquire to Richard Plantagenet,\" said Toney. \"Each one of those\nboys is esquire to a gallant knight, and holds his horse until the\nchampion is ready to mount.\"\n\"Barney is a bad boy,\" said the widow.\n\"Indeed, he is a bad boy!\" said Rosabel.\n\"The only harm I ever knew Barney to do,\" said Toney, \"was to turn a\ntavern-keeper's sign upside down, and when Boniface came out in the\nmorning, he beheld an Irishman standing on his head before the door\ntrying to read the letters which were inverted.\"\n\"He tied bells to my horse's tail,\" said the widow.\n\"He did worse than that,\" said Rosabel.\n\"What was it?\" said Toney.\n\"Why,\" said Rosabel, \"some pious people were engaged in holding a\nprayer-meeting, and he tied a bundle of firecrackers behind an unlucky\ncur and applied a torch.\"\n\"Oh, I recollect!\" said Toney, laughing. \"The demented dog ran into the\nmidst of the meeting, carrying terror and confusion wherever he went.\nThe worthy minister said that he saw the hand of Satan in this trick;\nand ever since that time Barney has been supposed, by good people, to\nact by the instigation of that great designer of mischief.\"\n\"That boy will play some trick on those knights,\" said the widow.\n\"Why, mother,\" said Rosabel, \"how can he? They have him right before\ntheir eyes.\"\n\"Never mind,\" said the widow. \"Mark what I say. Barney will play some\ntrick on the knights.\"\n\"Look yonder!\" exclaimed Tom Seddon.\n\"Oh, splendid!\" cried Ida.\n\"Who is he?\" asked Rosabel.\n\"The governor of the State,\" said Toney.\n\"What a noble horse he is riding!\" said Rosabel.\n\"And what a beautiful uniform he has on!\" said Ida.\n\"Who is the fat man riding on his right?\" asked Rosabel.\n\"The adjutant-general,\" said Toney.\n\"And these other gentlemen?\" asked Ida.\n\"His military staff,\" said Toney.\nThe governor and his staff, in gorgeous uniforms and magnificently\nmounted, rode over the ground, and halting in front of the knights, who\nwere standing in a line, each by the side of his steed, his Excellency\naddressed them in a brief but eloquent and impressive speech. He told\nthem that this was a great occasion, and that the eyes of fair women and\nbrave men were fixed upon them; and urged them to comport themselves as\nchivalrous and valiant knights. His Excellency, amidst loud applause,\nthen retired to the extremity of the lists, where he gracefully sat on\nhis horse, a few paces in advance of his staff, with the\nadjutant-general on his right.\nThe valiant champions now proceeded to mount. It devolved on Richard to\nmake the first tilt at the ring. The Marshal blew a trumpet, and\nexclaimed, in a loud voice, \"_Preux chevaliers! faites vous devoirs!_\"\nRichard leveled his pole and was about to make an impetuous charge at\nthe ring, when Old Whitey began to kick up behind, and becoming\nunmanageable, ran off in the direction of the governor and his staff.\nRichard still held his pole horizontally, and had not his Excellency\nskillfully handled his horse, he would have been hurled from his saddle.\nAs it was, the unfortunate adjutant-general received the shock. The end\nof the pole struck him fair on the breast, and down he went in the dust;\nfor who could withstand the terrible charge of Richard the Lion-hearted?\nHaving unhorsed the adjutant-general, on went the indomitable Richard,\nscattering the crowds, until he suddenly left the lists, and was seen\ndashing down the road, with his pole still poised, and his horse kicking\nup his heels and casting clouds of dust behind him.\nJust then Ida uttered a shriek as Love was thrown over the head of his\nhorse and fell at her feet.\n\"Pick Love up!\" exclaimed the widow.\n\"Oh--oh--oh, mercy!\" screamed Rosabel, as Bliss came charging towards\nher; and his horse, rearing and kicking, hurled the rider over his head\nand almost deposited Bliss in the young lady's lap.\n\"Look out for Dove, ladies!\" exclaimed Toney, as Dove took flight from\nthe back of his horse and fell at the feet of the fair candidates for\nthe crown.\n\"Gracious heavens! look yonder!\" cried the widow.\nAll eyes were turned in the direction indicated.\nThe other knights, emulating the example of their illustrious leader,\nwere charging the governor's staff. The Knight of Cunopolis headed the\nonset; and after dismounting two captains and one colonel, the three\nvalorous knights, with an amazing clatter of hoofs, went off after\nRichard the Lion-hearted.\nHis Excellency was astounded at this novel manner of conducting a\ntournament; but, being admirably mounted and fond of excitement, he\ngalloped off with a portion of his staff in pursuit of the fugitive\nknights. About a mile on the road his horse leaped over Ivanhoe, who had\nsought repose on the bosom of his mother earth. Farther on the valorous\nKnight of Glenbetsy was seen floundering among the frogs in a pond of\nwater. They now came in sight of the Knight of Cunopolis, who was going\nalong at a furious speed, still carrying his pole in his hand, when down\nwent his horse in a gully. Leaving one of his staff to assist the fallen\nhero, on went his Excellency in pursuit of Richard the Lion-hearted.\nReaching the top of an eminence, he beheld Richard on his white charger\nriding along at a terrific speed. His Excellency, who was a famous\nfox-hunter, now stood in his stirrups and shouted, \"Tallyho! tallyho!\"\nand then applied whip and spur with redoubled vigor.\nThey soon crossed a stream which formed the boundary of two counties.\nRichard was now hidden from their view by an angle in the road; and when\ntheir panting and foam-covered horses had galloped another mile, they\nbeheld him lying on the ground by the side of his gallant charger. Old\nWhitey had fallen, thoroughly exhausted; and Richard, dismounted at\nlast, now lay in the road, gasping for breath, but still grasping his\nlong pole.\nWhen he had been restored to consciousness, his Excellency complimented\nhim on his admirable horsemanship, and said that the chase had afforded\nhim fully as much enjoyment as he had ever found in the most exciting\nfox-hunt.\nIn the afternoon of the same day, as Rosabel and Ida were seated on the\nporch of the Widow Wild's mansion, in company with Toney and Tom, they\nbeheld, on the road leading to Mapleton, a procession of people on\nhorseback following a carriage, in which were seated a Caucasian and an\nAfrican.\n\"What is that?\" said Rosabel. \"It looks like a funeral.\"\n\"Nothing like a funeral,\" said Toney, who had applied an opera-glass to\nhis eye.\n\"What can it be?\" asked Rosabel.\n\"A triumphal procession in honor of Richard Plantagenet,\" said Toney.\n\"The governor and his staff are conducting him back to the town.\nRichard's chariot is driven by an Ethiopian, and another African is\nleading his white charger, which seems much exhausted.\"\n\"I do wonder what made those horses run away with the knights?\" said\nRosabel.\n\"We have made the discovery,\" said the widow, coming on the porch in\ncompany with the Professor. \"It was just as I had predicted. That Barney\nBates was at the bottom of the mischief.\"\n\"What did he do?\" asked Rosabel.\n\"Why,\" said the Professor, \"in anticipation of the tournament, Barney\nhad procured pieces of leather perforated by a number of long and sharp\ntacks, the points of which were carefully covered by other pieces of\nthinner leather, so arranged that it required the weight of the rider to\ncause the tacks to pierce through. Bates had seduced the other boys from\ntheir allegiance to their respective knights, and under each saddle was\none of these cruel instruments of torture, ready to give the steed great\nagony as soon as the valiant knight had mounted.\"\n\"And that caused the horses to kick up and run off?\" said Ida.\n\"That was undoubtedly the cause of their extraordinary excitement,\" said\nthe Professor.\n\"I wonder what has become of Love?\" said Ida.\n\"He fell at your feet,\" said Toney.\n\"And Bliss?\" said Rosabel.\n\"Bliss endeavored to bestow himself on you,\" said Toney.\n\"Indeed, he was very near falling in Rosabel's lap,\" said the widow.\n\"And what did they do with Dove?\" asked Ida.\n\"Ladies,\" said the Professor, \"I have made inquiry, and can answer your\nquestions. Those three gallant knights were carried from the lists to\nthe town. No bones had been broken, but their nerves were terribly\nshattered. They were conducted to a chamber in the hotel, and strong\ntonics brought from the bar and skillfully administered by the landlord.\nAt this very moment, Love, Dove, and Bliss are snugly sleeping in the\nsame bed, and probably dreaming of future fields of glory.\"\nCHAPTER XXVII.\nIn the society of the beautiful Ida, Tom Seddon passed seven days of\nrapture. Every morning and evening he was at the mansion of the Widow\nWild, and had eyes and ears for nobody but Ida. The Professor informed\nToney that in their walks homeward by moonlight, Tom was usually as\nsilent as a man who had a difficult problem in his head for solution,\nand that on several occasions, when he had endeavored to engage him in\nconversation, he had started from a reverie, and exclaimed, \"Indeed,\nMiss Ida, what you say is very true.\"\n\"He mistook you for Ida?\" asked Toney.\n\"To be sure he did,\" said the Professor. \"Mistook me for a young lady.\nIs it not a pretty piece of business for the founder of the sect of\nFunny Philosophers to have the imagination of one of his disciples\nclothing him in petticoats? Toney, tell me, candidly, do I look like\nIda?\"\n\"Not much, I must confess,\" said Toney, laughing. \"But Ida's image is\nimpressed on Tom's organ of vision, and when he looks at you the image\naforesaid is dancing in the intervening space.\"\n\"And so he mistakes me for the young lady. Tom Seddon is getting to be\nreally disagreeable,\" said the Professor. \"During the day, when Ida is\nnot present, he is as absent-minded as was ever old Sir Isaac Newton;\nand at night, as we occupy the same room in the hotel, I am annoyed by\nhis somniloquism.\"\n\"What does he say?\" asked Toney.\n\"I cannot comprehend his incoherent mutterings, but sometimes hear 'Ida,\nIda,' articulated with tender emphasis. I do wish that Tom would get out\nof Doubting Castle.\"\n\"What sort of a place is that?\" asked Toney.\n\"A place in which all young ladies compel their lovers to dwell for a\nperiod, either long or short, according to their whim or caprice. I have\nknown some maidens, who looked as meek and gentle as the doves that\ncooed in the garden of Eden in the days of primeval innocence, exhibit\nas much cruelty to their captives as did Old Giant Despair to the poor\nPilgrims who had fallen into his hands. Indeed, I have known some lovers\nheld in Doubting Castle for years.\"\n\"Do you think that Tom's term of imprisonment will be of long duration?\"\n\"I think not. Ida's uncle is opposed to Tom's suit, is he not?\"\n\"Oh, very much. He puts almost insuperable barriers between Tom and Ida.\nHe sometimes chases Tom out of his house by pretending to have a fit of\ncanine rabies.\"\n\"This opposition on the part of the old Cerberus will be the means of\nsoon liberating Tom from Doubting Castle.\"\n\"How so?\"\n\"As I said on a former occasion, women are like pigs: if you try to head\nthem off they will give a squeal and bolt by you, and travel the very\nroad you didn't want them to go. Old Crabstick will soon find this out.\nTom Seddon will not long remain in Doubting Castle.\"\n\"Yonder he comes now,\" said Toney.\n\"He is out of the Castle,--I know it,\" said the Professor.\n\"What makes you think so?\"\n\"Look at how he walks. His head is up. His step is as light as if his\nfeet were feathers. Yesterday he held his head down, as if he were\ncalculating the distance to the antipodes, and walked as if he had a\nlarge quantity of lead in the bottom of his boots. I'll bet that he\ndon't call me Miss Ida after to-day.\"\nTom Seddon approached them with his face radiant with smiles. He took\nToney by the hand and shook it energetically. He then seized the\nProfessor by both hands and gave him a violent shaking.\n\"It is a beautiful day,\" said Tom.\n\"It is always so,\" said the Professor, \"after----\"\n\"After what?\" asked Tom.\n\"After the sun comes from behind the clouds,\" said the Professor.\n\"Toney, my dear fellow, I want to speak to you,\" said Tom, taking Toney\nby the arm and leading him aside.\n\"I knew it,\" muttered the Professor to himself. \"The gates of Doubting\nCastle are wide open. He is out. How happy he looks! I wonder if it\nalways makes a man feel so happy? I wish I could find Dora. I'd risk\nanother negative.\"\nTom told Toney his secret. He had walked with Ida in the Widow Wild's\ngarden, and had told the young lady how---- But this ought not to be\nrepeated. He and Ida had exchanged vows of eternal fidelity, and Miss\nSomers had promised to become Mrs. Seddon at some future period not yet\nclearly designated. This was a profound secret between Toney and Tom,\nand the latter was confident that the Professor did not even guess at\nit, as was evident from the very grave manner with which he remarked, as\nthey came where he stood,--\n\"Toney, it is about time for me to go home and prepare for the\nexhibition. You will be there to-night?\"\n\"Yes, Tom and I will be there, and bring the ladies.\"\nThe Professor proceeded to his lodging, while Toney and Tom walked to\nthe residence of the Widow Wild, and sat on the porch with Rosabel and\nIda.\nJoseph Boneskull, the learned phrenologist, was to make a public\nexamination of heads, and, as a sort of afterpiece, the Professor had\npromised to make some experiments in biology. This he did merely as an\namateur, and for the entertainment of his friends. The profits of the\nexhibition inured to the benefit of Boneskull.\nThere was a large crowd gathered in the town hall of Mapleton. Toney\nand Tom escorted Ida, Rosabel, and the widow to the exhibition, and\nsecured for them comfortable seats.\n\"Who is that little man seated on the platform?\" asked Rosabel.\n\"That is the phrenologist,\" said Toney.\n\"What is that thing on the table before him?\" asked Rosabel.\n\"The phrenologist informed me that it was the skull of a distinguished\nnegro lawyer of Timbuctoo,\" said Toney.\n\"It looks like a sheep's head,\" said the widow.\nBoneskull now arose and made a few remarks, tending to show what\nimportant results the science of phrenology was destined to produce;\nsaying that in the administration of justice the guilt or innocence of\nparties accused of crimes could be ascertained with certainty by an\ninspection of their craniums; that men could thus know what occupation\nor calling they should pursue, and whom they should marry; remarking,\nwith emphasis, that no gentleman should venture upon matrimony until he\nhad first made a critical examination of the young lady's head.\n\"What's that he says?\" asked the widow.\n\"Why, mother, he says that gentlemen should examine young ladies' heads\nwhen they court them,\" said Rosabel.\n\"If I were a young lady,\" said the widow, \"I would like to see any man\ncome pawing about my head.\"\nTom looked at Ida, and Ida blushed, and Tom was satisfied and willing to\nventure on matrimony without an examination of that beautiful head\ncovered with long and luxuriant tresses.\n\"What is Mr. Pate going to do?\" asked Rosabel, as Pate took a seat on\nthe platform.\n\"He has presented himself for examination,\" said Toney.\nThe phrenologist carefully manipulated the big bald head before him, and\nthen exclaimed, with enthusiasm,--\n\"This gentleman has a most magnificent cranium. His perceptive faculties\nare large, and so are the organs of firmness, benevolence, and\nconscientiousness; comparison is very large, and causality is immense. I\nhave never met with a finer development of the reasoning faculties\nexcept on the skull of the distinguished lawyer of Timbuctoo, which now\nlies before me on the table. This gentleman would excel in intellectual\npursuits, and might make a great and distinguished judge, the equal of\nMansfield or Marshall.\"\nPate retired from the platform a proud and happy man, and from that day\nbecame an enthusiastic student of the science of phrenology.\nPerch seated himself in the chair which he had vacated.\n\"This gentleman,\" said Boneskull, \"is better fitted for domestic life.\nHe would be a devoted lover, and a disappointment in love might drive\nhim to despair, and even suicide.\"\nPerch hastily retired, for he recollected the bottle of brandy which he\nhad swallowed in a fit of desperation after his unfortunate interview\nwith the beautiful Imogen in Colonel Hazlewood's garden. Love and Dove\nnow seated themselves in two chairs, and were examined by Boneskull, who\nsaid,--\n\"The organs of these gentlemen correspond in every particular. Each can\nsing sweetly, and either could easily win a woman's heart.\"\n\"What's that?\" exclaimed the widow.\n\"Listen,\" said Rosabel.\n\"They could conquer in affairs of love, and either could drive a woman\nto despair; but neither would do so, for in both the organ of\nbenevolence is immensely developed.\"\n\"Did you ever hear such talk?\" said the widow. \"Dove drive a woman to\ndespair! Well, I wonder what he is going to say about Ned Botts?\" said\nshe, as that uncomely individual ascended the platform and seated\nhimself in the chair.\n\"Perhaps,\" said Boneskull, with a look of embarrassment, \"you might be\noffended if I were to say what is revealed by the bumps?\"\n\"Not at all,\" said Botts. \"Speak out.\"\n\"The organ of destructiveness is very large. This man might commit----\"\n\"What?\" said Botts.\n\"Murder,\" said Boneskull.\nBotts jumped up and knocked Boneskull down, and kicked him off the\nplatform.\n\"Murder! murder! murder!\" roared the phrenologist as he rolled on the\nfloor among the audience.\nThe ladies shrieked, and two constables rushed forward, and, seizing\nBotts, who was swearing vociferously, led him from the room.\n\"Where is Boneskull?\" exclaimed a man in the crowd.\n\"Here he is under my feet,\" said another.\nThe little man was lifted up and placed on the platform.\n\"Oh, dear,\" said Rosabel, \"he is almost murdered! Look how he is\nbleeding.\"\nBoneskull put his handkerchief to his nose, from which a crimson stream\nwas copiously flowing, and hastily retreated from the room by a back\ndoor.\nThe Professor followed him out, and soon returned and announced that the\nphrenologist was too much disabled to resume his position on the\nplatform. It was therefore proposed to entertain the audience with some\nexperiments in biology, and to show them the wonderful effects of a\npsychological illusion.\n\"Let any one who is so disposed,\" said the Professor, \"sit for fifteen\nminutes with his eyes closed and his right thumb on his left pulse. At\nthe end of that time I will commence my experiments.\"\nSeveral persons immediately put themselves in the required position. The\nProfessor held his watch in his hand, and at the expiration of the time\nnamed, approached M. T. Pate, who was sitting with his eyes closed and\nhis thumb on his wrist. \"Open your eyes! open your eyes, if you can!\"\nsaid the Professor, in an abrupt tone of command. Pate's eyes flew wide\nopen. \"You won't do,\" said the Professor, and he approached Simon Rump.\n\"Open your eyes! open your eyes, sir, if you can,\"--but Rump's eyes were\nas tightly closed as if he had padlocks on the lids, and the Professor\nconducted him to the platform. Dove and Bliss were also unable to open\ntheir eyes, and were seated by the side of Simon Rump.\n\"This is a nice young lady,\" said the Professor, addressing Dove and\npointing to Rump. \"She is in love with you and expects you to court\nher.\"\nDove drew his chair close up to Rump and put his arm around his neck\nand kissed him. Rump looked modest and blushed deeply.\n\"Will you allow that?\" said the Professor. \"The young lady is in love\nwith you and he is kissing her.\"\nBliss seized Dove and commenced pulling him away. There was quite a\nstruggle between them, when the Professor sternly cried out,--\n\"What are you doing there? Quarreling over that ugly black woman?\"\nDove and Bliss started back with horror depicted in their countenances.\nTo each of them Simon Rump had assumed the appearance of a hideous\nnegress.\n\"Look out! it is a snake! it will bite you!\" said the Professor,\nthrowing down his cane. Rump, Dove, and Bliss ran around the platform\nwith cries of terror. \"It is a telescope! Pick it up! you can see the\ncapitol at Washington through it.\" Rump put it to his eyes and beheld\nthe national capitol.\n\"Stand here,\" said the Professor to Rump. \"Now, whom would you like to\nsee?--the dead?\"\n\"No, no!\" exclaimed Rump.\n\"The absent?\"\n\"Yes.\"\n\"Whom?\"\n\"Susan,\" said Rump.\n\"There she is!\" said the Professor, pointing to a female form at the far\nend of the room. Rump uttered a cry of rapture, and, leaping from the\nplatform, ran to the female, and threw his arms round her neck, and\nkissed her on both cheeks.\n\"Look at Simon Rump!\" said the Widow Wild. \"The miserable dog! he is\nkissing my cook, who is as black as Beelzebub.\"\nThe cook screamed, and fought Simon Rump with her nails; and another\nbelligerent now appeared in his rear. This was Simon's angel, who had\nbeheld his conduct with intense indignation, and was now fiercely\nassaulting him with her parasol. Two of the cherubs also took part in\nthe combat, and Rump was driven from the door into the street. The crowd\nfollowed, cheering the angel and the two cherubs. Rump was overpowered,\nand turning his back, ignominiously fled, leaving the angel and cherubs\nin possession of the field. While men and women stood in the street in\nwild excitement, the Professor locked the door of the hall and proceeded\nto his lodgings.\nCHAPTER XXVIII.\nLike one who has committed a great crime, and knows that retributive\njustice is in close proximity to his heels, Simon Rump fled homeward, on\nfoot, a miserable man. The blows and the hair-pulling, of which he was\nthe recipient, had driven the delusion from his brain, and he was\nconscious of his guilt, and in trembling apprehension awaited his\npunishment. In the house, where he had spent so many hours in days gone\nby, contemplating the blissful period when it would be the abode of an\nangel and seven sweet little cherubs, he now sat and listened with a\nfeeling of extreme terror for the sounds which would indicate the\napproach of the angel aforesaid.\nAt length the clatter of horses' hoofs was heard, and peeping through\nthe window, poor Rump beheld the angel ride up with a female cherub on\nthe pillion behind her. A male cherub was mounted on the other horse. As\nRump saw them in the act of dismounting, the manly fortitude which he\nhad endeavored to summon up instantly forsook him, and he seized his hat\nand fled with precipitation from the house through a back door. The\nwretched man ran with speed until he reached a wood on the outskirts of\nhis farm, where he wandered for hours, like one who had been driven an\noutcast from association with his kind. Tired and sleepy, he at last\nventured into his barn, and throwing himself on a bundle of hay,\nendeavored to recruit his exhausted faculties in the arms of Morpheus.\nWith the ruddy dawn of the day the consciousness of his misery\nreturned. Rump rubbed his eyes and looked around. At the distance of one\nhundred yards from where he sat on his bundle of hay he beheld his\ndomicile, in which dwelt an angel and seven sweet little cherubs, who\nhad become to him the beings he most dreaded to encounter. The hour for\nbreakfast at length arrived, and he knew that hot coffee and buttered\ncakes were on the old mahogany table, and he was a miserable wretch\nbanished from his own board. Hunger at length drove him forth, and with\ntimidity he approached his house, ascended the steps, and attempted to\nopen the door. It was bolted. Rump rapped.\n\"Who is there?\" asked the angel, in shrill and abrupt tones.\n\"It is I,\" said Simon.\n\"Who is I?\" asked the mother of the cherubs.\n\"Simon Rump,\" said the lord of the mansion.\n\"Simon Rump is dead. I planted a rose over that good man's grave more\nthan a year ago. What do you want?\"\n\"I am hungry; I want my breakfast,\" said Simon.\n\"Go around to the kitchen and eat with the cook,\" said the angel.\nSimon Rump now knew that the angel was inexorable, and that henceforth\nhe was a stranger at his own door. He walked away with a sad heart and\nobtained a breakfast at a neighbor's house. This benevolent individual\nendeavored to comfort the poor exile, and offered him an asylum until\nthe wrath of the angel should be appeased. In his new abode Simon\nremained during the day, and at night he would wander around his own\nhouse, which he was now forbidden to enter.\nOne night, as he was wandering on the boundary between his farm and the\nestate of the Widow Wild, he heard a commotion among a herd of swine.\nRump had recently lost several porkers, and was confident that some one\nwas now in the act of stealing a hog. He followed in the direction of\nthe sound, and in the moonlight beheld a negro dragging, by its legs, a\nlarge animal of the porcine species to the door of his cabin. The\nAfrican here threw his squealing victim on its back, and instantly\nplunged a large knife into its throat. Rump rushed forward, and seizing\nthe assassin by the collar, commenced severely belaboring him with a\nstout hickory, at the same time indignantly denouncing him in terms of\nvituperation. The negro was astounded at this sudden assault on his\nperson, and bounding about with extraordinary agility, loudly\nexclaimed,--\n\"Take care, Massa Rump! take care, or you will hurt yourself!\"\nBut Rump, regardless of this advice, continued his vigorous exercise\nuntil he had broken his hickory, when he exclaimed,--\n\"Who are you?\"\n\"I am Sam.\"\n\"You are the infernal thief who was whipped for stealing the hen and\neggs! Whose hog is that?\"\n\"It belongs to the Widow Wild.\"\n\"I thought it was mine,\" said Rump. \"But, no matter, you have got to go\nto jail. Come along!\"\nThis predatory African was incarcerated in the jail of the county, and\nbeing unacquainted with any lawyer except the eloquent advocate who had\nonce so ably defended him in the court of Justice Johnson and obtained\nfor him a new trial in spite of the efforts of Piddler to prevent it, he\nsent for M. T. Pate, and employed him in his defense against this charge\nof felony.\nHere, then, was an opportunity for the aspiring advocate to distinguish\nhimself.\nThe eulogy pronounced by the learned phrenologist on his intellectual\ndevelopments had awakened ambitious hopes in his bosom, and Pate\ndetermined to prepare in the most elaborate manner for the defense of\nhis sable client, and was confident of redeeming his reputation, which\nhad been so badly damaged in his encounter with Toney Belton. It was\nexceedingly fortunate for him that the trial could not take place until\na week subsequent to the time when he was employed as counsel. Unlike\nsome other able advocates, he had none of that superficial but\nconvenient talent which enables its possessors to make some of their\nbest efforts almost impromptu. Like the bird of wisdom, he meditated\nmuch before he opened his mouth, and seldom ventured upon any public\neffort without having previously thrown his thoughts into the shape of a\nwritten composition, which was carefully committed to memory, to be used\non the proper occasion. Had there not been an opportunity for\npreparation during a whole week, that portion of his speech in defense\nof Sam, which he succeeded in producing from the archives of his memory,\nwould, without doubt, have been far less remarkable for its beauty and\neloquence.\nDemosthenes would never have been the foremost man in the Athenian forum\nif he had not labored assiduously to correct his imperfections by going\ndaily to the seashore, with his vocal organ well ballasted with pebbles,\nand delivering his orations with the winds howling around him and the\nwaves roaring at his feet. In imitation of so illustrious an example, M.\nT. Pate, having composed an elaborate speech in defense of the\nincarcerated African, daily resorted to some secluded spot, and gave\nutterance to his eloquence with the birds twittering their delight, and\nthe frogs croaking their hoarse notes of approbation.\nOn a certain afternoon Toney and Tom were walking in the direction of\nthe Widow Wild's mansion, engaged in earnest conversation.\n\"But,\" said Toney, \"Ida is entirely dependent on her eccentric uncle,\nand you have but little property.\"\n\"Ida is willing to wait until I have acquired sufficient----\"\n\"To buy a cottage big enough to hold an angel and seven sweet little\ncherubs?\" said Toney. \"But a cottage is not all. Angels must eat, and\ncherubs must have bread and butter, and it takes money to obtain a\nconstant supply of such articles. Love cannot live on earth without the\naid of the butcher and baker.\"\n\"I will go to work at my profession and make money,\" said Tom.\n\"That you can do,\" said Toney; \"but it takes time.\"\n\"Ida is willing to wait for ten years,\" said Tom. \"I wish somebody would\ntell me where there is a gold mine.\"\n\"What would you do?\" asked Toney.\n\"I would dig sixteen hours in each day until I had a hundred thousand\ndollars,\" said Tom.\n\"And so would I,\" said Toney; \"for I want exactly one hundred thousand\ndollars.\"\n\"I wonder if there is not gold in our newly-acquired territory on the\nPacific coast?\" said Tom.\n\"Would you go there?\" asked Toney.\n\"Yes,\" said Tom, \"and stay for five years, if necessary, to get enough\ngold to buy a home----\"\n\"For Ida and the cherubs?\" said Toney.\n\"What noise is that in the wood?\" exclaimed Tom.\n\"Two drunken men quarreling over an empty bottle,\" said Toney.\nThey now entered the wood and proceeded in the direction of the noise.\n\"Stop!\" said Tom. \"Look yonder!\"\nToney looked in the direction indicated, and beheld the robust form of\nM. T. Pate perched upon a stump, his arms and legs in violent motion,\nand words rolling from his lips with amazing volubility.\n\"What is he doing?\" said Tom, \"Has he gone mad?\"\n\"No; he is practicing oratory; it is a rehearsal,\" said Toney.\n\"How would he look if we were to go up and speak to him?\" said Tom.\n\"Like an unfortunate dog taken in the act of assassinating a sheep,\"\nsaid Toney. \"Don't let him see us. Listen! What's that he is saying?\"\n\"Something about the Widow Wild,\" said Tom. \"Hear that! He says she has\na heart of flint.\"\n\"Calls her a harpy,\" said Toney.\n\"It's well for him the widow does not hear him,\" said Tom. \"What's it\nall about?\"\n\"Pate's client has stolen the widow's hog, and the lawyer is getting\nready to abuse the owner of the property. Hark! What's that?\"\nThere was a noise in the bushes, and two men sprang out with clubs in\ntheir hands, and ran towards Pate, loudly shouting,--\n\"Here he is! Catch him! catch him!\"\nPate looked around, and then leaped from the stump and fled through the\nwood with the speed of a frightened antelope.\n\"Stop! stop! Halt! halt!\" cried Toney and Tom.\nThe men halted, and coming towards them, were recognized as two laborers\nemployed on the Widow Wild's estate.\n\"What were you going to do?\" asked Toney.\n\"Give that fellow a good beating,\" said one of the men.\n\"What has he been doing?\" inquired Tom.\n\"He comes here every day and gets on that stump, and abuses the Widow\nWild, who is as nice a woman as a man ever worked for, and we won't\nstand it! So we cut these clubs and lay in the bushes for him.\"\n\"You had better let him alone,\" said Toney. \"He is a lawyer.\"\n\"Let him come here again!\" said one of the men.\n\"Even if he was a priest!\" said the other.\n\"What would you do?\" asked Toney.\n\"Break every bone in his body!\" said the man, brandishing his club. And\nwith this emphatic declaration of their intentions, the men returned to\ntheir work, while Toney and Tom proceeded on their way to the residence\nof the Widow Wild.\nCHAPTER XXIX.\nThe frequent delivery of his elaborate speech, before an audience of\nfeathered bipeds and amphibious quadrupeds, had fully prepared M. T.\nPate for the day of trial. On the morning of that eventful day he was\nseen seated in court with a grave aspect, which indicated that he\nsensibly felt the weight of the tremendous responsibility which rested\nupon him.\nThe prisoner was put in the dock, when the Commonwealth's attorney and\nMr. Pate announced themselves ready for trial, and were each furnished\nwith a list of the jurors in attendance. The offense charged in the\nindictment being felony, the prisoner was entitled to twenty peremptory\nchallenges. In exercising this important privilege, Mr. Pate displayed\nhis great knowledge of human nature acquired by a thorough study of\nphrenology. He scrutinized closely the head of each juror as he was\ncalled to the book, and when the organ of benevolence appeared to be\ndiminutive, he cried out, with a loud voice, \"Challenge!\" But if that\nmerciful organ was largely developed, he eagerly exclaimed, \"Swear\n_him_! swear _him_!\" putting a strong emphasis on the word \"_him_.\"\nA jury having been impaneled, after a brief statement of the case by the\nCommonwealth's attorney, the Widow Wild was put upon the stand and\nproved property as alleged in the indictment. Pate put her under a\ncross-examination, and asked,--\n\"Madam, what was the sex or gender of your hog?\"\nThe widow hesitated and looked at the judge, who told her to answer the\nquestion.\n\"It was a gentleman hog,\" said she.\n\"How do you know it was a gentleman hog?\" asked Pate.\n\"I know it just as well as I know that you are not a gentleman hog,\"\nsaid the widow, tartly.\n\"You may take your seat,\" said the lawyer.\n\"Thank you, sir,\" said the widow. And with a toss of her head, and a\nfiery look of indignation at the attorney, she glided to a seat in the\ncorner of the room, where she announced to the Professor her intention\nto repay Pate for his impudence.\nSimon Rump was now sworn, and testified to the facts already stated in\nthe preceding chapter, and which appeared to be conclusive proof of the\nguilt of the accused. But Pate was not discouraged. He put Rump under a\nrigorous cross-examination, and asked him if he was not subjected to\npsychological illusions. The opposite counsel interposed an objection to\nthis question, and the court inquired of Mr. Pate his object in asking\nit.\n\"May it please your Honor,\" said Pate, \"I expect to show that this man\nRump is one of those unfortunate individuals who are continually\nsubjected to psychological illusions. This class are quite numerous, and\nnot long ago I heard one of them say that he had seen a heavy piano get\nup of its own accord and dance on nothing, half-way between the ceiling\nand the floor, all the while playing a tune, and keeping time with its\nfeet to its own music.\n\"Another man told me that he had seen a certain doctor walk on the air,\nand pass out at one window in the third story of a house and come in at\nthe other. And it is said that this Simon Rump alleges that he once saw\na white ghost, in a clump of willows, in the rear of his barn. Now,\nlearned men inform us that these objects have no real existence, but are\nsimply projections from the disordered brain of the person who imagines\nthat he sees them. May it please your Honor, it is not at all unlikely\nthat Sam and the hog were nothing more than projections from the\ndisordered brain of Simon Rump. If a man's brain can project a heavy\npiano and cause it to dance a jig on the air, could not Rump's brain\nproject a big negro with a whole hog on his shoulder?\"\nIn anticipation of this testimony, Pate had carefully prepared his\nargument at home and had committed it to memory.\nHe now succeeded in carrying his point, the court deciding that, upon\ngeneral principles, there was nothing to preclude the prisoner's counsel\nfrom proving, if he could so do, that Rump's brain was in such a\ndisordered condition as to render his testimony unreliable. So the\nquestion was put to Rump, who said that he had walked at all hours of\nthe night, and had never seen a psychological illusion; that he had\nnever \"heard tell of them\" before, and did not know what they were.\nAfter much badgering, however, he admitted that he had seen something\nbehind his barn, which, to the best of his knowledge and belief, was a\nghost. Having been worried until he had made this admission, poor Rump\nwas finally dismissed from the stand.\nThe testimony of the State was here closed.\nThe court now inquired of Mr. Pate if he had any witnesses to examine on\nthe part of the defense.\n\"Yes, may it please your Honor,\" was the reply, \"we have one very\nimportant witness. Call Professor Joseph Boneskull.\"\nThereupon the crier called, in a loud voice, \"Professor Joseph\nBoneskull! Professor Joseph Boneskull!\"\nImmediately a bald-headed little man, about five feet two inches in\nstature, walked up to the witness-stand, carrying in his hand a\nphrenological plaster cast of a human head. All eyes opened in amazement\nand looked with wonder, first at the head on the little man's shoulders,\nand then at the head in his hand.\nThis strange witness, who seemed to come on the stand under the\nimpression that two heads were better than one, was sworn by the clerk\nin the usual form, when Mr. Pate asked,--\n\"What is your profession, trade, occupation, or calling?\"\n\"My profession,\" said the witness, \"is one of which all sensible men\nmight be proud. I am a phrenologist. I tell the diversified mental and\nmoral characteristics of men, women, and children, whether they be white\nor whether they be black, by a manipulatory examination of the\nsuperficial, distinctive developments of their respective craniums,\nvulgarly denominated skulls.\"\n\"Have you, or have you not, made, very recently, a critical examination\nof the cranium of the prisoner at the bar?\"\n\"I answer, most unequivocally, I have.\"\n\"Can you inform the jury what are the respective developments of the\nprisoner's organs of alimentiveness, acquisitiveness, and\nconscientiousness?\"\nHere the opposite counsel rose and objected to the question; saying that\nthe introduction of such testimony was wholly unwarranted by any of the\nestablished rules of evidence.\nAfter an argument of some length, the court decided that the testimony\nin relation to the phrenological developments of Sam was inadmissible.\nThereupon Professor Boneskull retired from the stand, carrying both\nheads with him as he went.\n\"Mr. Pate, have you any further testimony to offer?\" inquired the court.\n\"None whatever,\" was the mournful response.\n\"Then, gentlemen, go before the jury,\" said the judge.\nThe remarks of the Commonwealth's attorney, which were very brief, are\nnot remembered; but a portion of Mr. Pate's great argument has been\nretained in the memory of men in a fine state of preservation. He spoke\nas follows:\n\"May it please your Honor, and gentlemen of the jury,--No advocate ever\nrose to address a Christian jury under so many and such tremendous\ndisadvantages as now encompass me and my unfortunate but innocent and\nvirtuous client. The prisoner is unjustly and falsely accused of\nstealing the Widow Wild's hog; and that ruthless woman is here to-day\nwith a heart of flint in her bosom, and with all the influence which the\nwealth she has grasped and retained with the harpy hand of avarice\nenables her to exert,--she is here to-day not to prosecute, but to\npersecute, to calumniate, to crush, and to ruin this poor, unfriended,\ninnocent, and unoffending African.\n\"There is another disadvantage under which my client labors. In the\nlanguage of a great Roman poet, _hic est niger_, and while men of the\nCaucasian race are tried by their peers, that sacred right is withheld\nfrom Sam, simply because he is an African, although it is possible, and\neven probable, that he has royal blood in his veins as one of the\ndescendants of the heroic kings of Timbuctoo. Has not Sam the right to\nbe tried by his peers? and who in that jury-box can be considered as the\npeer of Sam?\n\"Gentlemen of the jury, I am aware of the tremendous peril which now\nenvirons my client; and I know that my zeal in behalf of this unhappy\ncriminal has made me many enemies; but, in the eloquent language of that\nvenerable patriot and signer of our glorious Declaration of\nIndependence, old John Adams, 'Sink or swim, live or die, survive or\nperish,' I give my heart and my voice in defense of Sam.\n\"Did not the great Cicero defy public opinion when he stood before\nPompey in defense of Milo, who had been indicted for the murder of the\nunprincipled Clodius? Did not the celebrated William H. Seward brave\npublic prejudice when he boldly defended the negro Freeman, who had\nmurdered six or seven white men and women in a single night? And shall I\nhesitate to risk my popularity by defending this innocent African who\nhas stolen the Widow Wild's hog?\n\"Gentlemen, may my right hand wither, and my tongue cleave to the roof\nof my mouth, when I am afraid to lift my voice to advocate the cause of\nmy innocent and calumniated client.\n\"Gentlemen, Luther Martin was one of the greatest lawyers in America,\nand did he not say, in his celebrated speech in defense of Aaron Burr,\nthat 'the law presumes every man to be innocent until he is proved to be\nguilty?' And where is the proof of guilt in this case? Do they expect\nyou to believe the testimony of Simon Rump? Who is Simon Rump? A\nmiserable and deluded man, who sees a thousand things which never had\nany existence except in his disordered imagination. Rump swore on that\nstand that he had never seen a psychological illusion.\n\"Gentlemen, I watched his countenance when he made that statement under\noath, and I observed his lip quiver and his cheek turn pale, for Simon\nRump knew that he was swearing to an unmitigated falsehood. Did he not\non a recent occasion mistake a hickory stick for a snake? and afterwards\nuse it as a telescope, and said that he beheld the capitol at\nWashington? Did he not publicly kiss the Widow Wild's black cook on both\ncheeks, believing her to be a beautiful young lady of Caucasian\ncomplexion? Why, gentlemen, Rump's disordered brain is a perfect\nmachine-shop for the manufacture of psychological illusions, which are\nprojected as he walks abroad during the day, or sits in the chimney\ncorner smoking his pipe in the evening. The brain of this unhappy man\nprojected a hobgoblin as he wandered about in the dark in the rear of\nhis barn; and could it not just as easily have projected a hog? Why,\ngentlemen, the disordered brain of Simon Rump is capable of projecting\nan elephant or a rhinoceros! And could it not, then, have projected the\npitiful porker which he alleged he saw in the possession of Sam?\n\"Gentlemen of the jury, Simon Rump never saw either Sam or the hog on\nthe occasion referred to in his testimony; he only saw a phantom created\nby his diseased mental organization; and when this miserable man\nreproduces the illusive images projected from his disordered cranium,\nfor the purpose of convicting my unfortunate client, each one of you\nshould exclaim, in the language of the immortal William Shakspeare:\n 'Hence, horrible shadow!\n Unreal mockery, hence!'\n\"Gentlemen of the jury, had this honorable court permitted me to examine\nthe learned Professor Boneskull, I could have easily proved by him that\nthe guilt of Sam is a natural impossibility. This was the very Gibraltar\nof our defense, and it has been partially demolished by the court. But,\ngentlemen, although you have not the testimony of Professor Boneskull\nbefore you, the prisoner himself is seated in full view, and you can\ncertainly rely upon the evidence of your own senses, which, according to\nGreenleaf, affords the strongest kind of proof. I entreat you to look\nupon the goodly countenance of my client and to scrutinize closely his\nphrenological developments. The organ of alimentiveness is remarkably\ndiminutive. Is it not, then, a natural impossibility that Sam should\nhave so enormous an appetite that he would seek to devour a whole hog?\nHis organ of acquisitiveness is still smaller, and he could not covet\nnor desire another man's property; while his immense development of\nconscientiousness renders it impossible for him to steal.\n\"Gentlemen, the bumps clearly demonstrate that the guilt of the prisoner\nis a natural impossibility. Nature herself cries aloud that he is\ninnocent. Sam--Sam--I say--Sam!\" Here Mr. Pate commenced pulling\nvigorously at the drawer in the table before him, while Sam, who was\ndozing in the prisoners' dock, suddenly started up and exclaimed, in a\nloud voice, \"Sir!\"--at which the bailiffs called out, \"Silence!\nSilence!\" and the judge rapped with his gavel.\nBad luck had been watching the eloquent advocate from the moment he\ncommenced his argument, and the ugly demon now pounced upon him as he\nstood, in anticipation of his triumph, on the ramparts of his Gibraltar.\nHis oration had been written on half-sheets of paper, which, with two\nlaw-books, he had put in a drawer of the table, intending to take out a\nfew sheets at a time in the order in which he might want to use them.\nWhen the speaker had concluded the last sentence as above, he put his\nhand to the drawer to get the next sheet of manuscript for the purpose\nof refreshing his memory; but how great was his horror on finding the\ndrawer closed in such manner that he could not open it! By some awkward\narrangement of the books one of them had opened, and was acting as a\nlock to prevent the drawer from being pulled out.\nMr. Pate pulled vigorously at the drawer, but in vain; at the same time\nrepeating, in hysterical tones, the words, \"Gentlemen of the\njury,\"--\"Gentlemen of the jury.\" He was then heard to exclaim, in a sort\nof soliloquy, \"Gracious heavens! Sam will be sent to the penitentiary\nunless I can get that drawer open!\" Here he gave another tremendous tug\nat the drawer, and saying, \"Gentlemen of the jury,\"--\"Gentlemen of the\njury,\"--\"A natural impossibility!\" sank back in his seat with his face\nbathed in a profuse perspiration.\nThe attention of the jury and spectators was attracted by the strange\nconduct of the speaker, and a general peal of laughter broke forth as\nsoon as they perceived his awkward dilemma. These demonstrations of\nmirth, which the court could not wholly repress, so increased the\nagitation of poor Pate, that he sprang up and rushed from the court-room\nlike a man on a wild hunt after his wits.\n\"He has suddenly seen a psychological illusion,\" said a pitiless limb of\nthe law in a loud whisper.\n\"No,\" said Toney Belton, \"he has gone for a locksmith to open the\ndrawer, and will soon return and conclude his argument.\"\nBut the eloquent advocate never came back to conclude his powerful\nappeal in behalf of Sam, who was convicted by the jury and sentenced by\nthe court to confinement in the penitentiary for the term of two years\nand six months.\nCHAPTER XXX.\n\"There are persons so peculiarly constituted as to suppose that all the\ninhabitants of the terrestrial globe have their minds occupied with\nthoughts of them,\" said Toney to the Professor.\n\"And that all the people of the planets are peeping through telescopes\nand making critical observations on their actions,\" said the Professor.\n\"The unfortunate M. T. Pate must have been in some such mental condition\nafter his lamentable break down in court.\"\n\"What has become of him? I have not seen him for a whole month.\"\n\"During several weeks he remained in seclusion, and manufactured an\nimmense amount of melancholy for home consumption. His stock being\nfinally exhausted he came forth into the world again.\"\n\"To discover that the world was occupied with its own affairs and\nthinking very little about him?\"\n\"Yes; some were engaged in making money; some in making mischief----\"\n\"And Tom Seddon in making love with indefatigable industry----\"\n\"While the earth revolved on her axis as if nothing extraordinary had\never occurred in the court-room.\"\n\"What is Pate now doing?\"\n\"He has become a collecting lawyer.\"\n\"What is that?\"\n\"An attorney who, for a moderate commission, rides over the country\ncollecting money for his clients.\"\n\"A dun? Why, yonder comes Pate now on his old white horse!\"\n\"Good-morning, Mr. Pate,\" said Toney, as the lawyer rode up.\n\"Are you riding far to-day?\"\n\"Only to the Widow Wild's residence. I have a claim to collect for Mr.\nClement. Good-morning, gentlemen.\" And Pate rode on.\n\"Did he say he was going to the Widow Wild's residence?\" asked the\nProfessor.\n\"Yes; to dun her for a debt.\"\n\"If my identity was merged in that of M. T. Pate, I would be afraid to\nventure within a hundred yards of the widow's house.\"\n\"Why?\"\n\"I sat by her side in the court-room, and heard her declaration of war\nagainst M. T. Pate.\"\n\"He denounced her terribly in his speech to the jury.\"\n\"And she denounced him terribly in her speech to me.\"\n\"I wish Tom Seddon was here; we might send him to witness the interview\nbetween the widow and M. T. Pate.\"\n\"His absence is to be deplored. Ida has done the sect of Funny\nPhilosophers great injury by carrying off one of its most efficient\nmembers, who is so much needed in this emergency. But when that young\nlady returned to Bella Vista she took Mr. Seddon's heart with her; and,\nof course, it was not to be expected that he should exist in one\nlocality, and that important organ, which is supposed to be the seat of\nvitality, in another.\"\nThe Professor here proceeded to animadvert on the conduct of young\nladies in appropriating other people's hearts, and was making sundry\nremarks on the subject, when he was interrupted by Toney, who\nexclaimed,--\n\"Why, yonder comes Clement and his clerk from the direction of the Widow\nWild's house! Good-morning, Mr. Clement. Have you seen Mr. Pate?\"\n\"I saw him ride up the avenue leading to Mrs. Wild's house, and\ndismount,\" said Clement.\n\"I saw him pull the bell at the front door,\" said the clerk.\n\"Was the door opened to him?\" asked the Professor.\n\"It was opened by the widow herself, who, with a smiling countenance and\nan extended hand, seemed to bid him welcome,\" said the clerk.\n\"That is strange!\" said the Professor.\n\"Not so strange as it may seem,\" said the clerk; \"for, though Pate is\nsometimes bad-mannered among men, he will purr as softly as a pussy cat\nas soon as he comes in proximity to a petticoat. It is just as likely as\nnot that the widow has taken a fancy to him.\"\n\"Women are enigmas,\" said Toney.\n\"The Widow Wild certainly is,\" said the Professor. \"She would puzzle the\nbrain of an Oedipus.\"\nThe deadly hostility of the widow to M. T. Pate was well known to the\npeople of Mapleton, and a crowd collected around Clement; and, in a\nprolonged discussion, endeavored to solve what now appeared to be a\nmystery.\n\"She was glad to see him!\" said one.\n\"Shook hands with him!\" said another.\n\"Invited him in!\" said a third.\n\"But why does he stay so long?\" said Clement.\nDuring the day this question was often repeated by the gossips, who\nassembled in groups, with their gaze fixed on the road leading from the\nwidow's mansion to the town.\nSuddenly a horse and rider are seen approaching from that direction at a\nfurious speed. As they come nearer, the man seems to be without a hat,\nand with a heavy suit of black hair, and huge black whiskers. The steed\nis spotted like a leopard. The people behold the strange horse and rider\nwith amazement as they enter the town with the speed of Tam O'Shanter.\nAt this moment a shout goes up from the crowd.\n\"Stop! stop!, stop!\" cried a number of voices.\nBut, Mazeppa-like, the mysterious apparition dashes through the town;\nand while men, women, and children are gazing in gaping wonderment, the\nbare-headed rider and spotted steed disappear beyond a distant hill.\n\"Who do you think it was?\" said a group of astonished people to the\nProfessor.\nThe Professor shook his head and was silent.\n\"What is your opinion, Mr. Clement?\" asked a man in the crowd.\nClement was puzzled, and said nothing.\n\"Who was that hatless and hugely-whiskered rider?\" said Toney to the\nProfessor.\n\"It is a mystery yet to be solved,\" said the Professor, as he took\nToney's arm and walked with him to the latter's office.\nCHAPTER XXXI.\n\"What may be the subject of your meditations?\" said Toney to the\nProfessor on the following morning, as he dodged aside to avoid coming\nin collision with the latter, who was walking with his gaze apparently\nfixed on the toes of his boots.\n\"I beg pardon!\" said the Professor, with a look of surprise. \"I had no\nintention of converting myself into a battering-ram. I am in no\nbelligerent mood, I assure you. To tell the truth, Toney, I am very\nsad.\"\n\"What may be the cause of your melancholy?\"\n\"Disappointment in my fondest wishes.\"\n\"In love?\"\n\"No, not in love. I was once disappointed in love, and I know what that\nis. It is a sore trial, but nothing to the affliction which I now\nendure.\"\n\"I cannot imagine the nature of your trouble. From what does it\nproceed?\"\n\"Breach of promise.\"\n\"What?\"\n\"Breach of promise unadvisedly made to five respectable maiden ladies.\"\n\"To all five? Why, you must be a Turk!\"\n\"What am I to do?\" said the Professor, with a look of despondency. \"I\ncannot fulfill my promise.\"\n\"I should think not, unless you emigrate to Salt Lake.\"\n\"I wish Tom Seddon were here. He could assist me.\"\n\"Do you suppose he would abandon Ida?\"\n\"Toney, my dear fellow, you can help me.\"\n\"By taking one of the respectable maiden ladies off your hands? I beg to\nbe excused. There is but one woman in the world I would marry, and that\nI would do quickly enough if I had a hundred thousand dollars.\"\n\"I was not speaking of marriage.\"\n\"Did you not say that you had promised five respectable maiden ladies?\"\n\"Not to conduct them to the altar.\"\n\"What, then?\"\n\"To unravel the great mystery which is now agitating the minds of the\nentire population of this town, and more especially of the female\nportion.\"\n\"What is that?\"\n\"Who was the bare-headed rider on the Woolly Horse? Toney, can you tell?\nIf I do not discover this secret, what will become of me when I return\nto my boarding-house where the five respectable maiden ladies are\nwaiting to receive the information, which I have solemnly promised to\nobtain and impart? Toney, do you know who was the man on the Woolly\nHorse?\"\n\"I do not.\"\n\"Have you been to the Widow Wild's house since the apparition dashed\nthrough the street on yesterday?\"\n\"I was at the widow's house last night.\"\n\"What did you discover?\"\n\"Nothing?\"\n\"Did you allude to M. T. Pate?\"\n\"I did.\"\n\"What did the widow say?\"\n\"She said he was a very smart lawyer, and then changed the topic of\nconversation.\"\n\"That woman is a mystery I cannot solve. She will drive me mad! But what\ndid Rosabel say when Pate's name was mentioned?\"\n\"She and her cousin, the widow's niece, tittered.\"\n\"Well?\"\n\"The widow sharply rebuked them for their levity.\"\n\"What then?\"\n\"The young ladies attempted to smother themselves.\"\n\"How?\"\n\"By holding their handkerchiefs to their mouths.\"\n\"Did they succeed?\"\n\"They did not. The attempt was a failure. There were explosions of\nlaughter, and the young ladies jumped up and ran from the room. I saw\nthem no more that night, but I heard from an adjoining room loud\nshrieks----\"\n\"What! shrieks? Nothing serious, I hope?\"\n\"Shrieks of laughter.\"\n\"And you have discovered nothing?\"\n\"Nothing.\"\n\"Toney, what am I to do? I cannot return to my boarding-house, and look\nthose five respectable maiden ladies in their faces, and say I know\nnothing.\"\n\"Have you seen Mrs. Foot?\"\n\"No.\"\n\"Let us go to her house.\"\n\"Why should we go there?\"\n\"It is the headquarters of all the female gossips in the town.\"\n\"Then we will go. It is the place for information. Who is Mrs. Foot?\"\n\"The mother of the three tall young ladies whom you have seen escorted\nby Love, Dove, and Bliss.\"\n\"The giraffes in petticoats? What are their names?\"\n\"Cleopatra, Theodosia, and Sophonisba.\"\n\"They are very tall women with very long names. Which of them was\ncarrying little Love hooked to her arm?\"\n\"That was Cleopatra.\"\n\"And the one who was looking down so benignly on Dove?\"\n\"Theodosia.\"\n\"And Sophonisba had secured Bliss. Toney, I seldom vaticinate, but I now\npredict that those three little men will marry those three stupendous\nsisters.\"\n\"That would be against the rules of the Mystic Order of Seven\nSweethearts, of which order Love, Dove, and Bliss are active and useful\nmembers.\"\n\"When a very little man,\" said the Professor, not heeding Toney's last\nobservation, \"comes in daily contact with a woman of gigantic\nproportions, a marriage is inevitable.\"\n\"How do you account for such a phenomenon?\"\n\"Upon very obvious principles. A little man like Bliss, promenading with\na giantess like Sophonisba, looks up to her when he speaks, and his\nnumerous soft and tender expressions ascend like prayers addressed to\nsome superior being above him. Sophonisba looks down and beholds poor\nlittle Bliss walking by her side like a motherless lamb needing\nprotection. A feeling of pity takes possession of her bosom, and pity is\nnearly akin to love.\"\n\"The big woman first pities the little man, and then loves him?\"\n\"That is just it. Did you ever see a very large woman married to a man\nof similar proportions?\"\n\"Indeed, I have. Mrs. Foot is as tall as Sophonisba, and much more\nrobust. Her husband, Gideon Foot, looks like Winfield Scott; while her\nson, who is called Hercules, stands six feet seven in his stockings.\"\n\"A race of giants! descended, perhaps, in a direct line from Ogg, the\nKing of Bashan.\"\n\"Here is the house, and we have arrived at about the right time in the\nafternoon. The gossips usually assemble at this hour.\"\n\"Why, this is the very place where we discovered Love, Dove, and Bliss,\none night, singing so sweetly.\"\n\"They come here and warble nearly every night under the windows.\"\n\"Serenading the giantesses, I suppose?\"\n\"Yes; serenading the young ladies,--the Feet.\"\n\"Toney, is that correct?\"\n\"What?\"\n\"The Feet.\"\n\"Do you not say the Browns and the Smiths?\"\n\"Certainly.\"\n\"What is the plural of Foot?\"\n\"Feet.\"\n\"Of course. You would not have me say Foots?\"\n\"It is a question of philology which I am unable to determine.\"\n\"Let us go in,\" said Toney.\nHe pulled the bell, and a servant appeared, and ushered them into a\nparlor, where sat Mrs. Foot with her three daughters, and three female\nfriends. The Professor was introduced by Toney to the lady of the house,\nand then to Cleopatra, Theodosia, and Sophonisba; after which ceremony,\nthe two gentlemen were introduced by Mrs. Foot to Mrs. Cross, Mrs.\nHobbs, and Mrs. Smart.\n\"Oh, Mr. Belton,\" said the gigantic mother of the three stupendous\nsisters, \"I am so glad you have come! Have you heard anything?\"\n\"In respect to what?\" asked Toney.\n\"The Woolly Horse!\" said Mrs. Foot.\n\"The Woolly Horse!\" exclaimed Mrs. Cross.\n\"The Woolly Horse!\" cried Mrs. Hobbs.\n\"Who was the man on the Woolly Horse?\" eagerly inquired Mrs. Smart.\nThe young ladies said nothing; but half a dozen blue eyes belonging to\nthe young ladies aforesaid were intently fixed on Toney, in expectation\nof his answer. Toney was silent. Mrs. Foot arose from her chair and came\nclose to him. Her three female friends made a similar movement, and\nToney was surrounded.\n\"Have you heard anything?\" reiterated Mrs. Foot.\n\"Who was the man on the Woolly Horse?\" screamed Mrs. Smart.\n\"Indeed, madam, that is just what I would like to know,\" said Toney.\nThe expression of eager expectation on the countenance of each lady was\ninstantly changed to one of sad disappointment.\n\"He don't know,\" sighed Mrs. Foot.\n\"He don't know,\" said Mrs. Cross, with a profound suspiration.\n\"It is too bad!\" exclaimed Mrs. Hobbs.\n\"That nobody should know who was the man on the Woolly Horse!\" said Mrs.\nSmart, in extreme vexation.\n\"My friend Mr. Tickle may know,\" said Toney, with a mischievous twinkle\nof his eye, as he directed their attention to the Professor, who was\ninstantly surrounded.\n\"Who was it, Mr. Tickle?\" said Mrs. Foot.\n\"Who was it?\" exclaimed Mrs. Cross.\n\"Oh, dear! who was it?\" cried Mrs. Hobbs.\n\"Mr. Tickle, who was the man on the Woolly Horse?\" screamed Mrs. Smart.\n\"Ladies,\" said the Professor, with profound gravity, \"it may have been\nan Osage Indian carrying a Woolly Horse, which he had captured in the\nRocky Mountains, to Barnum.\"\n\"It was an Osage Indian on the Woolly Horse!\" screamed Mrs. Smart.\n\"No, it wasn't an Osage Indian,\" said Mrs. Tongue, who had entered the\nroom unobserved.\nShe was instantly surrounded.\n\"Who was it? Who was it?\" was asked and reiterated.\n\"Wait until I get my breath,\" said Mrs. Tongue, sinking into a chair.\n\"Bless me! I have walked so fast!\"\n\"Who was it? Who was it? Who was it?\" came with reiterations from\nseveral female voices while the lady was employed in getting her breath.\n\"Will you all promise not to say a word about it?\" said Mrs. Tongue.\n\"Yes--yes!--not a word--not a syllable!--we will not breathe it!\" was\ninstantly and unanimously promised by the female portion of Mrs.\nTongue's audience.\n\"You know the Widow Wild's cook?\" said Mrs. Tongue.\n\"Yes,\" said Mrs. Foot.\n\"The black woman whom Simon Rump kissed!\" screamed Mrs. Smart.\n\"The miserable dog!\" cried Mrs. Cross.\n\"The cook,\" said Mrs. Tongue, \"was at my house about half an hour ago,\nand told me----\"\n\"What? What? What? What?\" exclaimed four female voices simultaneously.\n\"That Mr. Pate rode up to the Widow Wild's house, on yesterday morning,\nand, dismounting, pulled the bell at the front door. The widow opened\nthe door herself, and received Mr. Pate with much cordiality. Having\ninvited him in, she introduced him to her daughter and niece; and he and\nthe three ladies soon got to be so sociable that they sat down to a game\nof whist. Time passed pleasantly and rapidly until dinner was announced.\nAfter dinner the widow proposed a game of blind-man's-buff; and the\nthree ladies and Pate began the game with much merriment. It came to the\nlawyer's turn to be blinded; and, as soon as the handkerchief was over\nhis eyes, the widow rang a bell and her two big negro men, Juba and\nJugurtha, rushed into the room and caught Pate, and Juba held him while\nJugurtha smeared tar over his head and face. The widow then took a\nbasket of black wool, and stuck the wool all over his head, and put some\nbig bunches on his checks, so as to look like very large whiskers. The\nlawyer cried like a child and begged for mercy; but the widow laughed\nimmoderately while she was decorating him with the wool. When released,\nthe lawyer fled to the door, and there stood his horse in much the same\ncondition as himself. He mounted and rode wildly away; the widow calling\nafter him, 'Mr. Pate! Mr. Pate! be sure to come back and get your money\nto-morrow!'\"\n\"Did you ever hear the like?\" said Mrs. Foot.\n\"Never!\" exclaimed Mrs. Cross.\n\"No; never!\" cried Mrs. Hobbs.\n\"And so Mr. Pate was the man on the Woolly Horse!\" screamed Mrs. Smart.\n\"Hush!\" exclaimed Cleopatra, who was sitting at a window. \"Here is Mr.\nLove.\"\n\"Hush!\" said Theodosia, \"Here is Mr. Dove.\"\n\"Hush!\" said Sophonisba. \"Here is Mr. Bliss.\"\n\"They are Mr. Pate's particular friends,\" said Mrs. Foot. \"It will not\ndo to say anything about him before them,--it might hurt their feelings.\nLet us talk about something else.\"\nThe three little men now entered the room, and Toney and the Professor\narose, and, bowing to the ladies, withdrew. They walked together until\nthey reached Toney's office, when the Professor said, \"Well, Toney, I\ncan now face the five respectable maiden ladies without trepidation.\nEureka! eureka! Good-by, old fellow.\"\n\"Good-by,\" said Toney, laughing. And he entered his office, while the\nProfessor proceeded with rapid strides towards his boarding-house.\nCHAPTER XXXII.\nCircumstantial evidence seemed to corroborate the extraordinary\nstatement of Mrs. Tongue, recorded in the preceding chapter. It was now\nrecollected that no other horse and rider had been observed to come from\nthe direction of the Widow Wild's mansion during the day on which it was\nknown that the lawyer had gone thither to see that eccentric lady in\nreference to Clement's claim. For about a week subsequent M. T. Pate was\nsaid to be confined to his house by sickness; and when his friends\ncalled to inquire after his health, they were told by his housekeeper\nthat he declined to receive any visitors. When he again appeared in\npublic it was noticed that he traveled as a pedestrian; and several\nyouths, curious to know what had become of old Whitey, having\nclandestinely visited the stable which he had always occupied, upon\npeeping through a crevice in the door were astonished at beholding in a\nstall a horse which was as hairless as a Chinese dog of the edible\nspecies. They promulgated the opinion that old Whitey had been subjected\nto a tonsorial operation, and that his hair had been closely shaven off\nby a razor or some other sharp instrument. Another link in the chain of\ncircumstances was the fact that M. T. Pate now wore a wig; and calling\nat the house of Mrs. Hobbs on a certain afternoon, a little daughter of\nthat lady ran into the room and was taken by the lawyer on his lap. The\ninnocent child playfully caught hold of Pate's locks, and screamed with\nhorror at beholding the top of his head coming off. The child was\ncarried out, vociferously shrieking, and from that day would never\nventure in the room when the lawyer visited the house. Although Pate\nquickly replaced his wig, the observant Mrs. Hobbs had discovered the\nentire nudity of his noddle; and, with all convenient speed, repairing\nto the house of Mrs. Foot, gave a detailed account of the catastrophe\nwhich had so frightened her little daughter; emphatically asserting\nthat all the hair which once grew on the sides of Mr. Pate's head had\nmysteriously disappeared, and that his head, deprived of the wig, was as\nsmooth and depilous as a pumpkin.\nNotwithstanding the strange rumors in relation to his ride on the Woolly\nHorse, the manners of Mr. Pate in the presence of the gentler sex were\nso bland and fascinating that he soon recovered his popularity in the\nsocial circle. The wig, which he now wore, had greatly improved his\npersonal appearance, and transformed him into quite a handsome man. In a\nfew weeks the excitement produced by the startling apparition of the\nbare-headed rider on the Woolly Horse had subsided, and other subjects\noccupied the public mind. Old Whitey was still invisible, but Pate moved\nabout on foot, and was frequently seen escorting the young ladies of the\ntown, on their promenades, and to social parties and places of\namusement.\nOn a bright Sabbath morning Toney walked with the Professor to the fine\nold church, which had been built in colonial times, on the suburbs of\nthe town. The pastor failed to appear; but M. T. Pate ascended the\npulpit and read the usual prayers, together with several chapters from\nthe Bible, and gave out the first and fourth verses of Part 13 of the\nninety-seventh selection of Psalms. When Pate joined in the exercises\nwith his loud bass voice, the singing was very interesting and\nimpressive; especially when they came to the last two lines.\nAfter the services were concluded, he came down into the aisle, and\ngradually made his way to the door, surrounded by the female portion of\nthe congregation. He seemed to be endeavoring to talk to more than a\ndozen ladies at the same time, and each of them appeared anxious to get\nnearest to his honored person. His manner in the pulpit had been most\nsolemn and impressive; but now he had put off his clerical gravity, and\nwas exceedingly merry and gallant; while his little pleasantries were\ndelivered\n \"In such apt and gracious words\n That aged ears play truant at his tales,\n And younger hearings are quite ravished;\n So sweet and voluble is his discourse.\"\nBut it was quite evident that he gave a decided preference to the\nyounger and prettier portion of this circle of his female admirers. He\nwas soon seen to march off with a nice young lady hanging on his arm.\n\"Who is that beautiful girl whom the parson's proxy has captured and is\ncarrying off?\" said the Professor to Toney.\n\"It is Miss Juliet Singleton, the daughter of the wealthy old gentleman\nwho lives in the rural retreat on the top of yonder hill.\"\n\"There is a young gentleman standing with his arms folded and his back\nagainst a tree, who does not seem to have much of the milk of human\nkindness in his bosom just at this moment,\" said the Professor, pointing\nto a stalwart young man, who was gazing at Pate and his fair companion\nwith eyes in which indignation was plainly expressed.\n\"It is Juliet's discarded lover,\" said Toney, \"and, by a singular\ncoincidence, his name is Romeo.\"\n\"A discarded lover is usually of a very ferocious disposition.\"\n\"Especially when he sees his rival walk off with the object of his\naffections.\"\n\"I know of no more savage animal, unless it be a man with the toothache.\nIf I were walking in Mr. Pate's boots I would not like to meet that\nRomeo,--what's his cognomen?\"\n\"Lawton.\"\n\"I would not like to meet Lawton in a lonely place upon my return from\nJuliet's abode. After beholding the menacing aspect of Romeo's visage, I\nthink it highly probable that I shall, to-night, dream of M. T. Pate\nwending his way homeward with a pair of black eyes. How did it happen\nthat Pate succeeded in stealing the affections of Juliet from that young\nman, who must be very handsome when he is not so diabolically\nferocious?\"\n\"Immediately subsequent to Pate's return from Bella Vista he discovered\nthat Romeo was visiting Juliet----\"\n\"With the obsolete idea of connubial felicity in his head, I suppose?\"\n\"Juliet seemed to dote on her adorer. Love and Dove had serenaded her\nin vain. Bliss had visited her, but she regarded him not. It was\ntherefore a matter of astonishment to all the gossips, male and female,\nwhen they learned that, in a few weeks after M. T. Pate became\nacquainted with her, Romeo was a discarded lover.\"\n\"Poor Romeo! He had a perception of the miraculous power of superior\ngenius. What are Pate's intentions? Does he propose to lead the young\nlady to the hymeneal altar?\"\n\"Of course not. He is the founder of the Mystic Order of Seven\nSweethearts, and is merely performing his duty. His object is to prevent\na marriage.\"\n\"I must consult the five respectable maiden ladies in relation to this\npeculiar case,\" said the Professor. And bidding Toney good-morning, he\nwalked towards his boarding-house.\nDuring the above conversation, Pate was escorting the beautiful Juliet\nto her abode. His attentions to this young lady were extraordinary.\nEvery evening he was seated by her side. In the mornings they would take\nlong and romantic walks to gather wild flowers in the forest; and in the\nafternoons they had many pleasant drives in his buggy; he having\npurchased a magnificent gray horse as a substitute for the invisible\nWhitey.\nHe soon discovered that the young lady was exceedingly sentimental, and\nliked to listen to conversations in which love was the prominent topic.\nSo he adopted a euphuistic style of speech, and became a successful\nimitator of Sir Piercie Shafton. He would address her as his adorable\nperfection; would sometimes lift her fair fingers to his lips; and,\noccasionally, in a sort of rehearsal, would go down on his knees and\nshow her how love ought to be made. On one occasion the Irish servant\nfound Pate in this attitude in the parlor, and hastily retreated,\nbelieving that he was making a proposal of marriage. She told her master\nthat Miss Juliet was seated in a rocking-chair, and that Pate was\nkneeling before her, and praying to her as if she was the Blessed\nVirgin, and that she had heard him ask Juliet if she had no heart \"at\nall, at all.\" The old gentleman was wonderfully pleased, when he\nreceived this information, at the prospect of soon having so\naccomplished a son-in-law. Pate inserted many pretty verses, which had\nbeen written for him by a young poet, in the lady's album; and on one\noccasion, when he was absent from home, wrote her a number of\nsentimental letters, in one of which he spoke of the promise which he\nhad made to her, and which he would never forget. On the seal, which he\nhad used, were engraved the figures of two doves putting their bills\ntogether, as if in the act of exchanging a connubial kiss. In fact, so\nassiduous were his intentions, and so numerous his rehearsals of\ncourtship, that the simple-minded girl actually believed that he had\nmade her a promise of marriage, and that he was the man who had been\npredestined, from the beginning of the world, to be her wedded lord.\nThere was a sweet, sequestered spot near her father's mansion, where a\nnumber of trees threw a delightful shade over a bubbling fountain. Under\nthe trees was a rustic bench; and this was a favorite resort of the fair\nJuliet, where she was often found by Pate sitting in the moonlight, and,\nusually, in a very sentimental mood. One evening, just after twilight,\nshe not being at the house, he proceeded to the fountain, and discovered\nher sitting on the rustic seat. She seemed pensive, and, when he spoke\nto her, only answered with a deep sigh. He seated himself by her side\nand inquired into the cause of her melancholy; but there was no\nresponse. He took her left hand in his and lifted it to his lips. As\nwith tender devotion he was about to imprint an impassioned kiss, she\ndrew suddenly back, and dealt him a powerful blow, with her right fist,\nunder the eye, which knocked him from his seat, and he fell on the\nground. She then sprang to her feet, and, drawing a bludgeon from\nbeneath her garments, commenced beating him cruelly, regardless of his\ncries for mercy, until, at last, he was stunned by the shower of blows\nwhich descended in rapid succession, and lay senseless on the earth.\nCHAPTER XXXIII.\nWhen Pate became conscious he was in bed, having been carried home by\nsome laborers, who found him in a sad condition, and thought at first\nthat he was a murdered man. A doctor sat by his side, who had bandaged\nhis wounds and bruises, and given proper attention to an arm which had\nbeen broken. It was many weeks before he could leave his house; and when\nhe went abroad his bosom was boiling with indignation at the treatment\nwhich he had received at the hands of the fair Juliet, who, he believed,\nwas a fiend or a fury in disguise.\nSo intense was his anger at the conduct of the beautiful Amazon that he\ntreated her with the greatest indignity, and, when he met her at church,\nturned his back on her with a scornful curl of his lip. He publicly\naccused her of an atrocious assault on his person, and said that she had\nfirst knocked him down with her fist, and had then broken his arm, and\nattempted to murder him with a heavy bludgeon.\nThe greatest enemy which a man may have is the little organ which lies\nin his mouth just behind his teeth. The experience of M. T. Pate\nunfolded this truth when, one morning, the sheriff of the county called\nupon him with two interesting documents. The one was a writ of summons\nin an action for slander, and the other a similar process in a suit for\nbreach of promise of marriage. He had accused the fair Juliet of an\nassault on him with intent to murder, which accusation, if true, would\nsubject her to a criminal prosecution. The words spoken were therefore\nactionable. He had also treated her with contempt; and the poet tells us\nthat\n \"Hell holds no fury like a woman scorned.\"\nBy the advice of her father, who was greatly enraged at the treatment\nwhich his daughter had received, both suits had been instituted.\nWhen the day of trial arrived, there was an immense crowd in the hall\nof justice, all of whom sympathized with the young lady. In the action\nfor slander, Pate had pleaded the truth in justification. By the rules\nof pleading, in so doing he admitted the speaking of the words\ncomplained of, and undertook to prove that they were true. But to his\nutter dismay he had no witnesses to establish the proof, as no one but\nJuliet and himself were present when the assault was made upon him. To\nput him in a worse position before the jury, the fair plaintiff\nsucceeded in proving an alibi, by calling several witnesses to the stand\nwho swore that, on the very evening when the assault was alleged to have\nbeen committed at the fountain under the trees, Juliet was some ten\nmiles away at the house of her grandmother. Pate, when he heard this\ntestimony, was immeasurably shocked at the corruption and villainy of\nmankind; for had he not sat by her side on the rustic bench? had he not\ntaken her fair hand in his own and lifted it to his lips? had he not\nfelt the blow from her fist which had knocked him from his seat? had he\nnot beheld her standing over him with her garments fluttering in his\nface, and the terrible cudgel in her hand? had he not besought the\ninfuriated Amazon to have mercy on him, while she was ruthlessly beating\nhim, until he became insensible?--and now these false and perjured\nwitnesses, bribed, no doubt, by her father's money, had sworn that she\nwas some ten miles distant from the scene of the outrage!\nPate being unable to establish the truth in justification, the counsel\nfor the plaintiff took occasion to arouse the indignation of the jury\nagainst the defendant. He traveled beyond the evidence, as zealous\nadvocates will often do, and told them that this man had basely\nslandered a respectable young lady in order to extenuate his own\ndishonorable conduct in trifling with her affections by shamefully\nviolating his promise of marriage. He called the attention of the jury\nto the absurdity of the charge which Pate, by his plea, alleged to be\ntrue. Could any sane person believe that a young lady, with a hand so\nsmall and delicate, could double her fist and knock down a bulky man\nlike Pate, and then beat him unmercifully with a heavy bludgeon? And\nwhere was the proof of the allegation in the defendant's plea? While he\nhad produced no evidence in support of his preposterous charge, the\nplaintiff had demonstrated its falsity by establishing an alibi. In a\nperoration, abounding in vituperation, he then demanded vindictive\ndamages as a punishment for this base and abominable slander. When he\nhad closed his argument, the feelings of the jury were so excited that\nthey retired, and in a few moments returned, with a verdict awarding\ntwelve thousand dollars to the plaintiff as damages for the injury which\nshe had sustained.\nOn the following day the suit for breach of promise of marriage was\ntried. As men seldom make promises of marriage in the presence of\nwitnesses, in actions of this sort much of the proof is inferential. It\nwas proved that Pate was in constant attendance on the young lady; that\nevery evening he was seated by her side in her father's parlor, or\ntaking romantic walks in her company, by moonlight, with her arm locked\nin his own; that in the morning he would walk with her to gather wild\nflowers in the forest; that in the afternoon he would be seen riding\nwith her in lonely and unfrequented roads; and several witnesses swore\nthat they had seen him on his knees before her, apparently making a most\ntender appeal. The Irishwoman testified to the scene in the\nrocking-chair, and said that he was praying to her, and asking her \"if\nshe had no heart at all, at all.\" The woman was asked if she could\nrecollect what day it was on which she had witnessed the scene in the\nrocking-chair. She said it was the twenty-first day of May, because on\nthat day the bantam hen had hatched a brood of chickens, and she had\nmarked the date of the successful incubation on the top of the hen-coop.\nA letter, from Pate to Juliet, was then produced, dated the twenty-fifth\nof May, in which he spoke of the promise he had made her, and which he\nwould never forget. The nature of this promise was not explained by the\ncontext; but so powerful was the impression made on the minds of the\njury, that, after the closing argument of the counsel for the plaintiff,\nin which the character of M. T. Pate was torn to tatters, they retired,\nand soon returned with a verdict awarding damages to the injured lady to\nthe amount of twenty thousand dollars.\nIn each case a motion for a new trial failed, and the judgments were\nsoon followed by executions, under which the whole of Pate's property\nwas seized and sold. He bore his reverses with fortitude until he saw\nold Whitey under the auctioneer's hammer, when his firmness forsook him,\nand he was seen to shed tears. When the judgments were satisfied but a\nsmall sum remained. Pate was compelled to remove from his beautiful\nresidence, and obtained lodgings in the boarding-house where the\nProfessor and the five respectable maiden ladies had dwelt for many\nmonths.\nNot long afterwards he was informed by one of the respectable maiden\nladies that Juliet, with the proceeds arising from the sale of his real\nand personal estate in her possession, had been married to Romeo, to\nwhom she had become reconciled. M. T. Pate had no ill feelings towards\nthis young man, and could not help pitying him. He predicted, in the\npresence of the Professor and the five respectable maiden ladies, that\nRomeo would be murdered by Juliet, in cold blood, before the end of the\nhoneymoon.\nAt the very moment when Pate was predicting this homicide, the young\nwife was seated by Romeo's side on the rustic bench by the fountain. One\narm was around Romeo's neck and her head rested fondly against his\nshoulder. And it so happened that their conversation was about M. T.\nPate.\n\"And he asserted,\" said Juliet, \"that on this very spot he was\ndreadfully beaten. How strange that a man, who reads the prayers from\nthe pulpit, should tell such a falsehood!\"\n\"Dearest Juliet,\" said Romeo, \"Mr. Pate did not tell a falsehood.\"\n\"Oh, Romeo! can you believe that man's story?\"\n\"Indeed, I do.\"\n\"Believe that Mr. Pate was beaten?\"\n\"Yes; dreadfully beaten.\"\n\"By me?\"\n\"No; not by you.\"\n\"By whom?\"\n\"By him who is now your loving husband.\"\n\"By you?\"\n\"Yes; by me. When I heard that you had been suddenly called from home to\nattend upon your grandmother, who was sick, I clothed myself in female\nattire, and seated myself on this bench, to settle accounts with M. T.\nPate. It was this arm which dealt him the blow under the eye, and\nafterwards wielded the cudgel which bruised his body and fractured his\nlimb.\"\n\"Oh, Romeo! you nearly murdered him.\"\n\"Had it not been for the approach of the laborers I would have murdered\nhim!\"\n\"You would?\"\n\"Dearest Juliet, I loved you so that I would have murdered twenty men\nfor your sake!\"\nJuliet threw her arms around Romeo's neck and kissed him a countless\nmultitude of times; and, strange as it may seem, she loved her husband\nmore deeply after he had confessed that he was capable of committing\ntwenty homicides for her sake.\nCHAPTER XXXIV.\nThe marriage of Juliet to Romeo had made one young man supremely happy,\nand another intensely miserable. At a distance of about three miles from\nthe residence of the fair Juliet dwelt Farmer Lovegood, having an only\nson, who, as he grew up, looked so like a picture of the leader of the\nIsraelites in the farmer's old family Bible, that he was called Moses by\ncommon consent, and was soon known by no other name. This\nunsophisticated youth had always been remarkable for bashfulness in the\npresence of the opposite sex. So vividly had his imagination depicted\nthe horrors of a captivity in the hands of these merciless foes of the\nmasculine gender that, at the first glimpse of a petticoat, he would\nfrequently glide away as if he had beheld \"the devil in disguise.\" But\non a certain Sabbath he saw the beautiful Juliet, seated in her father's\npew, and was cruelly enamored. He became a regular attendant at the\nchurch; but instead of joining in the devotions of the congregation, he\nsat in a corner and silently worshiped the lovely owner of the pair of\nblue eyes and golden tresses. During the week he profoundly meditated on\nthe beauty of Juliet, and on each successive Sunday repaired to the\nchurch, and devoutly adored her in the seclusion of his corner.\nAt length Moses manfully resolves on a pilgrimage to the hallowed spot\nwhich holds the object of his adoration. Accordingly he starts from his\nrural home, and, with infinite toil, wends his way in solitude beneath\nthe silvery light of the twinkling stars, through tangled thickets and\nthorny fields; floundering through bogs and briers, and tumbling over\nsnake-fences, with thoughts so delicious that, could they have escaped\nfrom his bosom and taken a beautiful embodiment, they would have planted\nhis pathway with flowers as sweet as if steeped in the honeyed dews of\nHymettus. And now he comes in view of the mansion in which dwells the\nlovely idol of his worship. He stands beneath the spreading boughs of\nthe trees which shade the sacred spot. He sees the lights within the\nneatly-furnished parlor. He even hears the siren song of the\nenchantress, giving utterance to the sweet emotions of her soul, as if\nmagnetically informed of his approach and inviting him to enter. But he\npauses. His faculties are seized with a sudden panic, like raw recruits\nwhen first brought into action. His heart palpitates, and, with a\npit-a-pat motion, comes mounting up to his mouth. His joints tremble. He\nwalks to and fro under the trees, like a fellow sent upon a fool's\nerrand, who has forgotten his message. Finally the lights disappear, and\nthe fair Juliet has retired to rest, while the toil-worn swain proceeds\nhomeward, breathless, and faint, and leaning upon his hickory cudgel.\nMoses made many nightly pilgrimages in the same manner, and with similar\nresults; until, one morning, he accidentally heard that Juliet was\nmarried to Romeo.\nThe unfortunate Moses now became intimately acquainted with misery.\nSleep forsook his pillow, and after several nights of wakefulness, he\nbegan to meditate upon the various methods of putting one's self to\ndeath; but for a number of days his conclusions were unsatisfactory. He\nput the muzzle of a pistol in his mouth, but there was a mutiny among\nhis fingers, and they rebelliously refused to obey his will, and pull\nthe trigger. He seated himself on a beam in his father's barn, with one\nend of a rope around his neck and the other securely fastened to the\nbeam, when he suddenly recollected that a man who is hanged usually\nturns black in the face and presents a hideous appearance. He stood on a\nbrow of a precipice, overhanging a deep and turbid stream, and was about\nto leap into the water below, when he recoiled with horror at the\nprospect of being eaten by the fishes, and thus deprived of decent\nsepulture.\nMoses now wisely determined to pass away without any unnecessary\nsuffering. He supposed that on the shelves of the apothecary, in\nMapleton, were potent drugs which would put him in a condition of\nsomnolency, during which he could easily glide out of this sublunary\nstate of existence. So he proceeded to the town, and having procured the\nproper material for his purpose, was hurrying homeward with deadly\nintent, when he inadvertently ran against a man who was standing in the\nstreet reading a newspaper to a crowd of people. The rapidity with which\nMoses was walking caused him to collide with great force, and nearly\noverthrew the reader of the paper. The man turned round, and, grasping\nMoses by the collar, shook him fiercely.\n\"I beg pardon!\" exclaimed Moses, aroused, by the rude shaking he had\nreceived, to a consciousness of his surroundings,--\"I beg pardon! I did\nnot see.\"\n\"Did not see!\" said the man. \"Where are your eyes that you can't see a\nwhole crowd of people?\"\n\"I beg pardon!\" reiterated Moses, meekly.\n\"It is granted; but mind how you walk next time!\" And with this\nadmonition, the man resumed the reading of the paper, as follows:\n\"Immense discoveries in the placers! Captain M. reported to have already\nfifteen barrels buried!\"\n\"Fifteen barrels of what?\" asked Moses of a man standing near him, and\nwho happened to be M. T. Pate.\n\"Fifteen barrels of gold!\" said Pate.\n\"Of what?\"\n\"Of gold.\"\n\"Have they discovered gold near Mapleton?\"\n\"No--no--not here.\"\n\"Where, then?\"\n\"In California. Have you not heard the news? The papers have been full\nof the accounts for the last three weeks. Where have you been living?\"\n\"At home.\"\n\"And not heard of the gold discoveries! People are digging out gold-dust\nby the barrel. In a week a man can become as rich as John Jacob Astor.\nWe have formed a company and are going to California as soon as the ship\nis ready to sail.\"\n\"I would like to go,\" said Moses.\n\"You can join our company.\"\n\"I will go,\" said Moses.\n\"Come along with me,\" said Pate. And he conducted his recruit to a room\nwhere several members of his company were assembled. Here Moses was\nintroduced to Wiggins, Love, and Dove, and a long and earnest\nconversation ensued; after which Moses signed a paper purporting to be\nthe constitution of a mining association; to which were already\nsubscribed the names of the persons present, and also of Messrs Botts,\nPerch, and Bliss.\n\"When does the ship sail?\" asked Moses.\n\"In about a week,\" said Wiggins.\n\"We leave Mapleton to-morrow,\" said Pate. \"We must be in the city to\nmake arrangements for the voyage.\"\n\"I wish we were off,\" said Moses. \"I will go home and bid my father\nfarewell, and come here to-night.\"\nMoses hurried home, and on the way threw the deadly drug, which he had\npurchased of the apothecary, into a stream of water to poison the\nfishes. He thought no more of suicide. Avarice had entered his soul, and\nexpelled another powerful passion, which had been impelling him to the\ncommission of _felo de se_. Love, like a cruel leopard, had clutched the\nheart of Moses, when Avarice, like a mighty lion, appeared and\ncompelled the leopard to abandon its prey.\nThe father of Moses had already heard of the wonderful discoveries of\ngold on the Pacific coast, and was willing that his son should go\nthither and secure his fortune. The parent was a pious man, and he bade\nMoses kneel before him, while he laid his hands on his head and gave him\nhis blessing. He then proceeded to his barn, and procuring two sacks\nmade of stout canvas and each capable of containing a couple of bushels,\nhe presented them to Moses, saying,--\n\"My son, be not greedy of gold. Moderate your desires; and when you have\nfilled these two sacks return again to your father's house.\"\nMoses dutifully vowed obedience to the injunctions of his venerable\nsire. He received the sacks with a light heart, for he felt that light\nwas the task imposed upon him. He departed with the pleasing\nanticipation of a brief sojourn in the distant land and a speedy return\nto the halls of his ancestors.\nCHAPTER XXXV.\n\"It was the saddest hour of my life when I parted from Rosabel,\" said\nToney to the Professor, as they stood on the platform at the railway in\nMapleton waiting for the train which was to convey them to the\nMonumental City, where they were to embark for California.\n\"Rosabel was willing that you should go?\" asked the Professor.\n\"The dear girl wept as if her heart was breaking. I never knew how\ndeeply I loved her until then. Only to think that I may be absent for\nfive years! But we both thought that it was better that I should go.\"\n\"And make the hundred thousand dollars.\"\n\"There can be no hope of our union until I have the hundred thousand\ndollars. You know the Widow Wild's eccentricity.\"\n\"That woman is a profound mystery. And Tom Seddon, whom we expect in the\ntrain,--do you think that he can part from Ida?\"\n\"Poor Tom's situation is like mine. He can never hope to marry Ida while\nher uncle is alive, unless he has an ample fortune.\"\n\"You refer to the old Cerberus, who used to pretend to have fits of\ncanine rabies, and drive Tom out of the house?\"\n\"He has entirely excluded Tom from the house.\"\n\"Where does Tom manage to see Ida?\"\n\"At Colonel Hazlewood's residence. Ida is the only companion of Claribel\nand Imogen, who see no other company.\"\n\"See no company! They used to be gay enough.\"\n\"When Clarence and Harry went to Mexico, they secluded themselves from\nsociety.\"\n\"What has become of those young men? They did not return when the troops\ncame back from Mexico.\"\n\"At the battle of Molino del Rey, where both were distinguished for\nheroic daring, Clarence was badly wounded; and, after our army entered\nthe City of Mexico, he was in the hospital for several months, and was\ntenderly nursed by Harry until he recovered. When peace was concluded,\nand the army was about to march back to Vera Cruz, they resigned their\ncommissions and proceeded to the port of Acapulco on the Pacific coast.\nSince then there have been no tidings of them.\"\n\"Look yonder!\" said the Professor. \"Are they going to California?\"\nToney's eyes followed the direction indicated by the Professor's finger,\nand beheld what seemed like a procession of giants. In front towered\nMrs. Foot by the side of her tremendous husband; while behind them\nwalked the three stupendous sisters, followed by Hercules, who brought\nup the rear.\n\"A fine morning, Mrs. Foot,\" said Toney.\n\"How do you do, Mr. Belton?\" said the towering lady. \"Have you seen Mr.\nLove?\"\n\"He has gone to the city to embark for California,\" said Toney.\n\"He has!\" exclaimed Mrs. Foot. \"And Dove? And Bliss?\"\n\"Gone with Mr. Love,\" said Toney.\n\"I told you so!\" said Gideon Foot, looking around at the young giantess\nin his rear.\n\"Going to California--are they?\" cried Mrs. Foot.\n\"Yes, madam,\" said Toney.\n\"If I catch Dove I'll wring his neck!\" said the gigantic Gideon.\n\"Oh, father!\" exclaimed Theodosia.\n\"Come!\" said Gideon, gruffly. \"Yonder is the train!\"\nThe harsh scream of a steam whistle was heard, and a train of cars\nthundered up to the platform. Gideon Foot and his family went on board,\nand were followed by Toney and the Professor, who found Tom Seddon,\nseated in a car, looking pale and melancholy. After an exchange of\nsalutations, poor Tom relapsed into silence, for he was thinking of Ida.\nToney was also extremely taciturn, and hardly uttered a word until they\nreached the depot in the suburbs of the city. Here they took a carriage,\nand were driven directly to where the ship lay at the wharf, and went on\nboard,--their arrangements having been made on a former visit to this\nbeautiful metropolis of Maryland.\nMrs. Foot and her three daughters proceeded to the residence of her\nsister, who lived in the city, and was the wife of a Mr. Sampson. Gideon\nand Hercules went in search of Love, Dove, and Bliss. In about an hour\nthey encountered these three adventurous gold-hunters daintily dressed,\nwith nice silk hats on their heads, and polished French leather on their\nlower extremities. Each had white kid gloves on his hands, and carried a\nslender cane, with which he occasionally tapped the toe of his boot.\nThey looked like little bridegrooms going to be married.\n\"Good-morning, Mr. Love,\" said Gideon, blandly.\n\"I am glad to see you, Mr. Foot,\" said Love. And he and his two\ncompanions shook hands with Gideon and Hercules.\n\"You seem to be in a hurry,\" said Gideon.\n\"The ship sails to-day, and we must be aboard,\" said Love.\n\"Going to California?\" said Gideon.\n\"Yes; going to dig gold,\" said Love. And he and Dove tapped the toes of\ntheir boots with their little canes, while Bliss pulled off his new silk\nhat and smoothed his odoriferous locks.\n\"Hercules is going,\" said Gideon.\n\"Are you, indeed?\" asked Love, looking up at Hercules.\n\"Yes,\" said Hercules, \"as soon as I have bid my mother good-by.\"\n\"Is Mrs. Foot in town?\" inquired Love.\n\"She is, and would be so glad to see you,\" said Gideon. \"Come with us\nand bid Mrs. Foot good-by, and Hercules will go with you to the ship.\"\n\"Let us go and bid Mrs. Foot good-by,\" said Love, looking at his two\ncompanions.\n\"We will go,\" said Dove.\n\"Let us go,\" said Bliss.\n\"Come,\" said Gideon. And the three little men accompanied the gigantic\nfather and son to the residence of Mrs. Sampson. They entered the house,\nand were conducted by Gideon, through a large front apartment, to a back\nparlor, which communicated, by a door, with a room in the rear.\n\"Take seats, gentlemen,\" said Gideon. \"Mrs. Foot will be with you in a\nmoment.\"\nGideon returned to the hall where Hercules was waiting.\n\"Go fetch the parson,\" said Gideon. \"Make haste!\"\nHercules hurried away, and Gideon returned to the back parlor and locked\nboth doors. He then stood in the middle of the floor and elevated\nhimself to his full height, so that his head almost seemed to touch the\nlow ceiling, as he gazed sternly at Love, Dove, and Bliss, who sat on a\nsofa, and who now began to tremble.\n\"Look here!\" said Gideon, \"I am a man of few words. Do you know what you\nhave got to do?\"\n\"What?\" said Love, looking dreadfully frightened.\n\"You three fellows have been hanging around my daughters for the last\nsix months,\" said Gideon. \"You have come to the house in the morning;\nyou have come in the afternoon; you have come at all hours, and the\ngirls have had no time to do any household work on account of you. Even\nat night, when they were in bed, you would be under their windows making\nmore noise than so many tomcats with your serenades. Now, what do you\nintend to do?\"\n\"Nothing,\" said little Love, very meekly.\n\"Nothing!\" exclaimed the gigantic Gideon Foot. \"Nothing! Just say that\nagain and I will wring your neck! Come! I'll have no fooling! You have\ngot to marry my three daughters!\"\nThe eyes of the three little men widely dilated, and were fixed on\nGideon's towering form, but their tongues were silent; they were dumb\nwith terror.\n\"You have got just ten minutes to make up your minds. If you don't agree\nto marry my daughters, I will come back in ten minutes and wring your\nnecks.\"\nGideon left the room and locked the door.\n\"What shall we do?\" said Love.\n\"He has locked the door,\" said Dove.\n\"He'll murder us!\" said Bliss.\n\"We had better marry the young ladies,\" said Love.\n\"You will take Cleopatra,\" said Dove.\n\"And you will take Theodosia,\" said Love.\n\"And Bliss will marry Sophonisba,\" said Dove.\nThe three little men now held a hurried consultation, and were\nunanimously in favor of matrimony, when Gideon opened the door.\n\"Your ten minutes are out,\" said Gideon.\n\"We have agreed to be married,\" said Love.\n\"Very good,\" said Gideon. \"The parson is waiting in the front room, and\nI have the three licenses in my pocket. Which one do you marry?\"\n\"Cleopatra,\" said Love.\nGideon went to the door opening into the back room, and unlocking it,\nput his head through and uttered a few words. Cleopatra came forth,\nblushing.\n\"Stand up!\" said Gideon to Love.\nLove arose from his seat trembling from head to foot.\n\"Take her arm,\" said Gideon. \"That's right. Now, come along!\"\nGideon opened the door, and Love walked with Cleopatra into the front\nroom, where stood the parson with his book open ready to make them man\nand wife. In a very brief space of time Love and Cleopatra were united\nin the holy bands of matrimony. The parson looked as if he expected to\nsee the happy man salute his bride; but Love was unable to reach up, and\nCleopatra did not bend down, and so this formality was not observed. The\nwedded pair walked into the back parlor, followed by Gideon, who turned\nto Dove and said,--\n\"Whom do you marry?\"\n\"Theodosia, if you please,\" said Dove, with meek resignation.\nAt the summons of Gideon, Theodosia appeared and was united to Dove, and\nthen Sophonisba was married to Bliss. Mrs. Foot then rushed from the\nback room and fondly embraced her daughters, and also her three little\nsons.\n\"There, now,\" said Gideon, \"we are through with the business. Are the\ncarriages at the door?\" asked he of Hercules, who went out to ascertain\nif they had arrived.\n\"We will go home in the next train,\" said Gideon.\n\"Can't we go to California?\" whimpered Love.\n\"No,\" said Gideon, \"of course not. You must go home with your wives.\"\n\"And be happy,\" said Mrs. Foot.\n\"Hercules is going to California,\" said Gideon. \"He can dig gold enough\nfor the whole family.\"\nHercules was standing in the street before the door, when Pate and\nWiggins approached him.\n\"Have you seen Mr. Love?\" asked Pate.\n\"He is in there,\" said Hercules, pointing to the house.\n\"And Dove and Bliss?\" said Pate.\n\"In there with Love,\" said Hercules.\n\"We have been looking for them,\" said Wiggins.\n\"The ship will sail in a few hours, and they should be on board,\" said\nPate.\n\"I don't think they are going,\" said Hercules.\n\"Not going!\" exclaimed Pate.\n\"I think not,\" said Hercules.\nTwo carriages were now driven up, and stopped in front of the house.\nThe door opened, and out came Love hanging on the arm of Cleopatra.\n\"Mr. Love! Mr. Love!\" exclaimed Pate, \"the ship is about to sail and you\nshould be on board. Come with us.\"\n\"I can't go; I am married,\" said Love, with a look of despair.\n\"Come along!\" said Cleopatra. And she and her little husband entered one\nof the carriages.\n\"Good heavens!\" ejaculated Pate.\n\"Married!\" exclaimed Wiggins.\n\"Mr. Dove! Mr. Dove! you will be left!\" cried Pate, as Theodosia led her\nhusband down the steps.\n\"I can't go; I am married,\" said poor Dove, as his wife conducted him to\nthe carriage.\n\"Indeed, Mr. Bliss, you will be left behind!\" said Pate, as Bliss and\nhis bride descended the steps.\n\"I can't go; I am married,\" said the little man, dolefully, as\nSophonisba led him to the carriage.\n\"All married!\" exclaimed Wiggins.\n\"What does it mean?\" said Pate.\n\"Good-by, Hercules,\" said Gideon.\n\"God bless you, my son,\" said Mrs. Foot. And she threw her arms around\nhis neck and kissed him.\n\"Good-by, father! good-by, mother!\" said Hercules. And then he rushed to\none of the carriages, and putting in his head, exclaimed, \"Good-by,\nsisters! good-by, little brothers!\"\nThe three brides kissed Hercules and wept, while their husbands shook\nhim by the hand. After many fond embraces and wishes for his welfare the\ncarriages were driven off, leaving Hercules standing in the street, with\nWiggins and Pate gazing up at him with looks of perplexity.\n\"Are you going to California?\" asked Pate.\n\"I am,\" said the giant, wiping the tears from his eyes.\n\"And Love, Dove, and Bliss are not going?\" said Wiggins.\n\"No; they have married my sisters, and are going home to be happy,\" said\nHercules. And he wiped away some more tears that came into his eyes.\n\"What made them marry your sisters?\" asked Pate.\n\"I reckon it was because they loved them,\" said Hercules.\n\"They should have given us notice,\" said Wiggins.\n\"We have lost three men from our company,\" said Pate.\n\"Did my little brothers belong to your company?\" asked Hercules.\n\"They did,\" said Pate.\n\"And have left us without giving notice,\" said Wiggins.\n\"Will you take me in their places?\" said Hercules. \"I can dig more gold\nthan they could.\"\n\"Will you join our company?\" asked Pate.\n\"Yes, if you will give me as much gold as my three little brothers were\nto get. I can do more digging than all three of them.\"\n\"So he can,\" said Wiggins.\n\"I have no doubt of it,\" said Pate, looking at the towering form and\nbroad shoulders of the giant with enthusiastic admiration.\nAfter a brief conference, the proposition of Hercules was acceded to,\nand the three gold-hunters hurried on board the vessel, which was about\nto spread her white wings, and proceed on her way to the land where\nrivers were said to be rolling between banks of golden sands, which\nglittered in the last rays of the setting sun.\nCHAPTER XXXVI.\nAs the ship moved away from the wharf, and was towed by the steam-tug\ninto the stream, M. T. Pate stood upon the deck, humming a stanza of\nByron's celebrated adieu to his native land, when he heard a strain of\nmusic as if coming from the clouds. From the foretop, in clear and\nmellifluous tones, was heard the following melody:\n Farewell! farewell! but ever,\n When wand'ring o'er the sea,\n Though worlds of water sever,\n This heart shall turn to thee.\n Though thy sweet smile be hidden\n Unto my soul so dear;\n Though I be then forbidden\n Thine angel voice to hear;\n Though stern fate bid me wander\n Away from thee afar,\n Yet hope will turn the fonder\n Unto its one bright star.\n The bird that on the bough, love,\n So sweetly sang of late,\n Hath often been ere now, love,\n Thus driven from his mate;\n But still he wakes his song, love,\n Returning there anew;\n And thus, oh, thus, ere long, love,\n Will I return to you.\n\"A sweet little cherub sits up aloft to cheer us with his soothing\nsymphony,\" said Professor to Toney.\n\"It is Tom Seddon,\" said Toney, glancing upward. \"Just now he climbed up\nthe rigging, inserted his person through the lubber's hole, and seated\nhimself in the foretop.\"\n\"Where he is laudably exercising his lungs for the entertainment of the\ncompany below,\" said the Professor.\n\"Poor Tom is not thinking of the company below,\" said Toney. \"His\nthoughts are far away.\"\n\"With Ida?\" said the Professor. \"Yet one of the company below seems to\nbe wonderfully excited by his music. Did you ever hear such a clatter of\nhoofs?\"\n\"You refer to the young gentleman on the top of the cook's galley, who\nis occupied with certain saltatory movements which appear to be an\nawkward imitation of dancing?\" said Toney.\n\"Who is he?\" asked the Professor.\n\"Sam Perch,\" said Toney.\n\"The verdant youth who is sometimes called the Long Green Boy?\" said the\nProfessor.\n\"The same,\" said Toney.\n\"This extraordinary lad seems to possess the chameleon-like faculty of\noccasionally changing his color,\" said the Professor.\n\"How so?\" said Toney.\n\"He has ceased to be green for the present, and has become exceedingly\n_blue_.\"\n\"Is punning allowable?\" said Toney.\n\"That depends entirely on circumstances,\" said the Professor. \"If on dry\nland a man makes a pun in your presence, knock him down if you are\nable.\"\n\"And at sea?\" said Toney.\n\"Pun away as much as you please. In Neptune's dominions the area of\nliberty is ample, and freedom of speech is seldom interfered with.\"\n\"Do you recognize that solemn personage standing at the bow and gazing\nso intently over the broad waters?\" said Toney.\n\"It is Moses,\" said the Professor. \"He hopes soon to get a glimpse of\nthe land of promise.\"\n\"I heard him tell Hercules just now that he only wanted four bushels of\ngold-dust,--two for himself and two for his father. He said that he\nexpected to fill his two sacks in about a week after he reached the\nmines, and should then immediately start for home.\"\n\"His absence will be of short duration,\" said the Professor. \"But who is\nHercules?\"\n\"The big fellow to whom Botts has just administered a potation from the\nblack bottle which he now holds in his hand,\" said Toney.\n\"The giant smacks his lips in approval at the quality of the contents,\"\nsaid the Professor.\n\"I certainly recognize that nose,\" said Toney, pointing to an individual\nwhose face was covered with an impenetrable thicket of black beard,\nleaving only two twinkling eyes and his nasal protuberance visible.\n\"That extraordinary nose belongs to William Wiggins,\" said the\nProfessor.\n\"To Rosebud?\"\n\"No longer Rosebud,\" said the Professor. \"As soon as he came on board\nthe sailors called him Old Grizzly. He will be known by no other name at\nsea, for when the jolly tars are in the nominative case, the designation\nthey give a man always clings to him. Hereafter we may as well cease to\ncall him Wiggins, and speak of him as Old Grizzly.\"\n\"He must have been at enmity with the barbers for the last four weeks,\"\nsaid Toney.\n\"When he determined to seek his fortune in the auriferous regions of the\nfar West, he made a solemn vow not to allow a razor to come in contact\nwith his countenance until he had dug two barrels of gold, which he said\nwas enough for any one man. So his beard must continue to grow longer\nuntil he gets his two barrels of gold.\"\n\"It will be long enough before he gets the gold,\" said Toney.\n\"Pun away boldly,\" said the Professor; \"we are now on the water. But\ncome, let us go below, and look after our goods and chattels.\"\nDuring the night the ship anchored in the bay; and next morning the\npilot was sent off, and she stood out to sea.\nComing on deck at an early hour in the morning, Toney and the Professor\nwere watching the silvery spray darting off from the bow, when they\nheard a singular sound, as if proceeding from some huge sea-monster\nseized with a fit of the colic. Looking along the bulwarks, they beheld\npoor Hercules, with outstretched neck and dilated eyes, pouring out\nlibations to the inexorable god of the seas. And soon, with pallid\ncheeks, M. T. Pate appeared, followed by the Long Green Boy, Old\nGrizzly, and Moses, who, with many others, silently glided to the side\nof the giant, who, as he stood thrusting out his head and neck with\ncertain indescribable jerks, and towering above his companions, engaged\nin similar exercises, resembled some tall and bulky Shanghai rooster,\nwith all his numerous progeny around him, grievously afflicted with that\nterrible visitation of the poultry-yard which hen-wives denominate the\ngapes.\nThe Professor was a benevolent little fellow, with a high opinion of his\nmedical skill; so he proceeded to the cabin, and brought forth a bottle\ncontaining a beverage much more potent than that in which Adam was\naccustomed to drink the health of Eve when in the garden of Eden. He\nfirst applied to Hercules; and holding the neck of the bottle in close\nproximity to his lips, earnestly exhorted him to try the infallible\nremedy of absorption, assuring him that it was a sovereign cure for his\nailment in particular, as well as for nearly every other ill in this\nsublunary state of existence. But Hercules, grinning \"horribly a ghastly\ngrin,\" turned quickly away, and gave expression to his abhorrence of the\nproposition in loud and boisterous sounds, which seemed to come from the\nvery bottom of a soul intimately acquainted with sorrow.\nThe kind-hearted Professor then proceeded to the Long Green Boy, who was\nrapidly projecting out and drawing back his head in a horizontal\ndirection, and giving utterance to a succession of sounds which\nresembled a small hurricane of hiccoughs. The verdant youth cast a look\nof disgust at the sparkling fluid, and waving his hand impatiently,\nturned away, and continued in the awkward but faithful performance of\nhis part in the exercises of the morning. Moses gave the Professor a\nlook of indignation, while Old Grizzly so far forgot himself as to\nadvise the benevolent little fellow, in the emphatic phraseology usually\nemployed by the sons of Belial, to locate himself in a certain remote\nquarter of the universe not proper to be mentioned to \"ears polite.\"\nThe Professor then entreated M. T. Pate to imbibe from the bottle\ncontaining his catholicon. But poor Pate was busily engaged in the\nperformance of sundry remarkable and difficult evolutions; thrusting out\nand drawing in his head with unexampled vigor.\n\"He is trying to swallow his own head,\" said Toney, taking the Professor\naside and pointing to Pate.\n\"And actually seems to entertain the most sanguine hopes of succeeding\nin his hazardous undertaking,\" said the Professor.\n\"What undertaking?\" asked Tom Seddon, who just then came on deck.\n\"He is seeking to swallow his own cocoanut,\" said the Professor.\n\"Who?\" asked Tom.\n\"M. T. Pate,\" said the Professor. \"Look at him! I am apprehensive that\nhe will succeed.\"\n\"You could not induce any of them to imbibe?\" said Toney.\n\"No,\" said the Professor; \"they are teetotalers, and Hercules is the\nPresident of the association. Come, let me introduce you to the\namphibious animals who inhabit the forecastle.\"\nThe Professor and his two friends walked forward, and saw seated on the\nanchor an old sea-monster, with a very short pipe in his mouth. His\noriginal name was Timothy; but several reefs had been taken in it by his\nshipmates, and it had been finally tucked up into Tim.\nTom Seddon, like most young lovers who have just parted from the objects\nof their affections, had a tender heart, and, pitying the old sailor\nreduced to the necessity of endangering the end of his nose when he\nperformed the important ceremony of fumigation, handed him a pipe with a\nlong stem.\nOld Tim examined this valuable present with a cool glance of criticism;\nand then proceeded to break the stem.\n\"Don't,\" said Tom. \"What are you doing?\"\n\"Too much timber!\" said the old tar, laconically. And he broke off the\nstem within an inch of the bowl, which he filled with chips from a plug\nof tobacco; putting on top a live coal procured from the cook's galley.\n\"That beats thunder!\" said Tom.\n\"Let him alone,\" said the Professor. \"If he wants to give his proboscis\nthe benefit of an auto da fe, it is his own business.\"\n\"Look at him!\" said Tom.\n\"His nasal protuberance enveloped in vapor looks like an altar\nabundantly supplied with incense,\" said the Professor. \"But who are\nthose dusky gentlemen with whom Toney seems to be so intimate?\"\n\"This one is from the island of Madeira,\" said Toney.\n\"Si, se\u00f1or,\" said the sailor.\n\"His name is Pedro,\" said Toney.\n\"Which being interpreted is Peter,\" said the Professor.\n\"Pete,\" said Old Tim, with a puff at his pipe.\n\"Probably that is a corruption of the text,\" said the Professor,\nsuggestively.\n\"And here is a Sardinian whose name is Pablo,\" said Toney.\n\"Which when translated is Paul,\" said the Professor.\n\"Jupiter!\" exclaimed Tom Seddon, jumping back.\n\"It is Jupiter's brother,\" said the Professor, as a huge head appeared\nover the bow, followed by an immense body, which had been down in the\nforechains. \"Neptune is coming on board to give you a fraternal hug.\"\n\"Old Nick!\" said Tim, with another puff at his short pipe.\n\"Old Nick?\" said the Professor. \"I was not aware that he was an aquatic\nanimal. I had always understood that he delighted to dwell in another\nelement.\"\n\"Who is that lad running down the rigging?\" said Tom to Timothy.\n\"Young Nick,\" said the salt, with another puff at his pipe.\n\"Old Nick and Young Nick!\" said the Professor. \"Undoubtedly these are\nnicknames bestowed on them for euphony.\"\n\"What port is that?\" asked Tim, taking the pipe from his mouth.\n\"It lies on the south side of the Anonymous Islands,\" said the\nProfessor.\n\"I have been there,\" said Old Nick. \"Sailed with Captain Morrell in the\nship Tartar. Good port. Rum cheap and tobacco plenty.\"\n\"I have no doubt of it,\" said the Professor, as he arose from his seat\non a coil of rope, and, at the sound of the steward's bell summoning\nthem to breakfast, walked with Toney and Tom to the cabin.\nCHAPTER XXXVII.\n\"Look at M. T. Pate,\" said Tom Seddon, as he sat with Toney and the\nProfessor on deck one morning, about a week after they had been at sea.\nThe ship was running at the rate of nine knots, with the wind on the\nquarter.\n\"He treads as tremulously as a turkey condemned to the ordeal of\ntripping over a liberal sprinkling of hot ashes,\" said the Professor.\n\"Getting his sea-legs,\" said Old Tim, as he toddled by with a rope in\nhis hand.\n\"Our venerable friend suggests that Pate is about to undergo a\nmetamorphosis and become amphibious,\" said the Professor.\n\"What are Wiggins and Botts doing yonder?\" said Toney.\n\"Hugging!\" said Tom.\n\"The hug of the Old Grizzly is dangerous,\" said the Professor.\n\"And Perch and Hercules seem to have fraternized,\" said Toney.\n\"The Long Green Boy is clinging to the giant as the vine clings to the\noak,\" said the Professor.\n\"Poor Moses!\" said Toney.\n\"Look at him!\" said Tom.\n\"His eyes are amply dilated,\" said the Professor.\n\"He is afraid that the ship will be upset,\" said Tom.\n\"How do you think that Pate would now perform on the light fantastic\ntoe?\" said Toney.\n\"Speaking of that suggests an idea,\" said the Professor.\n\"What is that?\" asked Toney.\n\"Next Thursday will be Washington's birthday,\" said the Professor.\n\"Well?\" said Toney.\n\"Let us have a ball,\" said the Professor.\n\"A ball!\" exclaimed Toney.\n\"A ball!\" cried Tom.\n\"Yes,\" said the Professor, \"let us have a ball for the fun of the\nthing.\"\n\"We are the Funny Philosophers,\" said Toney.\n\"Let us have the ball,\" said Tom.\n\"But where are the ladies?\" said Toney.\n\"There are no representatives of these sweet 'wingless angels' on board\nexcept the captain's spouse,\" said the Professor.\n\"Who has sailed in company with her weather-beaten consort for some\ntwenty years,\" said Toney.\n\"And is as good a seaman as himself,\" said Tom.\n\"Do not be tossing the queen's English on the horns of an Irish bull,\"\nsaid the Professor. \"Yet what you say is measurably true; for when the\nvenerable Timothy is more than ordinarily sad and susceptible of\nmelancholy impressions, he is often heard to bitterly complain of his\nhard lot in being compelled to serve under a 'she boss,' who, he\nalleges, is the better man of the two.\"\n\"I have no doubt,\" said Tom, \"of the ability of this ancient lady to\ncarry the ship safely through the dangers of the most difficult\nnavigation.\"\n\"But,\" said Toney, \"I hardly suppose that she would be able to steer\nthrough the intricate mazes of a fashionable hop without the imminent\ndanger of running aground.\"\n\"Yet,\" said the Professor, \"her presence on board relieves us from a\nperplexing dilemma.\"\n\"How so?\" asked Toney.\n\"There can be no doubt,\" said the Professor, \"that in sundry sea-chests\nshe has stowed away an incalculable quantity of female attire. Now, if I\ncan but obtain the run of her wardrobe, the preparations for the ball\nwill be made without difficulty.\"\n\"Let us call a meeting in the cabin,\" said Toney.\n\"A most excellent suggestion!\" said the Professor. \"Let the meeting be\nimmediately convened.\"\nA meeting of the passengers resulted in a determination to have a grand\nball in honor of the birthday of the immortal Washington, and the\nProfessor was unanimously chosen to make the arrangements. He\nimmediately entered upon the performance of his arduous and important\nduties. After a negotiation, which was conducted on his part with the\nskill of a consummate diplomatist, he succeeded in concluding an\nadvantageous treaty with the captain's lady, and obtained an abundant\nsupply of female apparel. A number of the most youthful of the\npassengers were then subjected to a tonsorial operation, obliterating\nevery indication of a nascent beard from their features; after which\nthey were arrayed in the garments obtained from the old lady's wardrobe.\n\"Don't they look beautiful?\" said Tom Seddon.\n\"Just like a bevy of blushing and modest maidens,\" said Toney.\n\"The susceptible Long Green Boy has fallen in love with one of them\nalready,\" said Tom.\n\"I fear that he will again be the victim of a hopeless attachment,\" said\nToney.\n\"I regret the absence of Love and Dove,\" said the Professor.\n\"What nice little ladies they would have made!\" said Tom.\n\"Their dancing days are over,\" said Toney.\n\"Matrimony imposes important duties,\" said the Professor; \"and the\nlittle Loves and Doves will soon claim their undivided attention.\"\nThe ball-room was a long apartment, under the forecastle, called the\nforward cabin. It was illuminated by a number of lamps, which \"shone\no'er fair women and brave men\" assembled to enjoy that \"scene of revelry\nby night.\"\n\"Look at Moses!\" said Tom Seddon.\n\"The young man seems to be greatly terrified,\" said the Professor.\n\"He is like one under an optical illusion,\" said Toney.\n\"Moses believes he is now in the presence of more than a dozen beautiful\nwomen,\" said Tom.\n\"And has shrunk timidly in a corner to avoid the observation of the\nenemy,\" said Toney.\n\"He has attracted the attention of a young maiden who has fixed her\nbright glances on him, as if meditating mischief,\" said the Professor.\n\"She is a bold girl,\" said Toney.\n\"Strangely forgetful of the obvious rules of propriety!\" said the\nProfessor.\n\"Poor Moses is protesting,\" said Toney.\n\"But in vain; for she has grappled him around the waist,\" said Tom.\n\"And is carrying him by main force into the middle of the floor,\" said\nToney.\n\"Was ever such vigor witnessed among virgins!\" said Tom.\n\"Never since the extinction of the Amazonian race!\" said the Professor.\n\"Moses and his partner lead off,\" said Toney.\n\"Clear the way!\" said Tom, as each gayly attired gallant selected a\npartner; and soon \"the fun grew fast and furious.\"\n\"Mr. Pate seems to be perfectly at home in the dance,\" said the\nProfessor.\n\"And so does the Long Green Boy,\" said Toney.\n\"Old Grizzly is performing his part admirably,\" said Tom.\n\"He is peeping from behind a masked battery of black beard upon the\ncharms of his agreeable partner,\" said Toney.\n\"The young lady should beware of his hug,\" said Tom.\n\"The pair forcibly remind one of the old story of Beauty and the Beast,\"\nsaid the Professor.\n\"Hercules and the damsel with whom he is dancing require an immense\namount of sea-room,\" said Toney.\n\"Heads up!\" exclaimed Tom. And, as he uttered this exclamation, the\nship, which had been running on an even keel, gave a sudden lurch to the\nlarboard, upsetting all the fun in an instant, and spoiling the poetry\nof motion.\n \"Ah, then and there was hurrying to and fro,\"\nand Hercules pitched headforemost with his partner into a bunk. The\nindignant damsel arose and gave utterance to a wish the literal\nfulfillment of which would have found Hercules, poor fellow! sadly in\nneed of the aid of an experienced oculist.\nAfter the ceremony of a general prostration there was a tumultuous rush\nfor the companion-ladder. The Professor reached the deck, after having\ninadvertently perpetrated the atrocious outrage of tearing away a\nconsiderable portion of female finery from the person of a fair damsel\nwho was boldly mounting ahead, and who bestowed upon him sundry\nbenedictions of singular import. The first object he beheld was M. T.\nPate on his knees in an attitude of supplication.\n\"What's the matter, Mr. Pate?\" exclaimed the Professor.\n\"Now I lay me down to sleep!\" ejaculated Pate, with extreme fervor.\n\"What has happened?\" cried Tom Seddon.\n\"Now I lay me down to sleep!\" reiterated Pate.\n\"No time for praying! You had better cut your yarn short and lay hold on\na rope,\" said the mate, in emphatic terms by no means in unison with\nPate's devotional sentiments.\n\"What's broke loose?\" said Toney.\n\"The ship has been taken aback!\" cried the mate. And he rushed forward\nand commenced kicking old Tim, who was lying supinely on his back in a\ncondition of somnolency.\nThe crew had been inspired with patriotic emotions equal to those of the\npassengers, and, while getting up water from below, had discovered a\ncase of brandy, and secretly conveyed it to the forecastle. Here the\nmultitude of libations in honor of the father of his country had been\nproductive of serious consequences.\nIn the course of the evening the mate saw approaching one of those\nsudden squalls so common in those latitudes, and ordered all hands\naloft. But he might as well have been issuing his orders to the inmates\nof a bedlam. There lay Timothy on the deck, a picture of perfect repose\nand innocent tranquillity. Peter and Paul were engaged in a hot\ncontroversy with Old Nick, whose youthful namesake was occupied with\ncertain saltatory movements on the top of the forecastle. Just then the\nsquall struck the ship and nearly carried the lee-rail under. In an\ninstant the instincts of the sailor were aroused, and all had an idea\nthat something was to be done; but there was a strange want of unanimity\nin reference to the measures proper to be adopted. Forth rushed the\ncaptain from his cabin; but his occupation was gone. There stood Old\nNick, giving orders vociferously, evidently under the impression that he\nhad been recently promoted and was an admiral of the _blue_. This daring\nusurper was finally disposed of by the second mate, who put himself in\nthe attitude of a shoulder-striker and laid him at his length in an\nundignified position in the lee-scupper.\nIt was then that the dancers from the ball-room rushed upon deck.\nThese--ladies and all--laid hold on the ropes; and under the direction\nof the officers the canvas was taken in, and the vessel was relieved\nfrom her perilous situation and brought before the wind.\n\"Great praise is due to the petticoats,\" said the Professor, \"who, by\nlaying aside their modesty and climbing into the rigging, materially\nassisted in saving the ship.\"\n\"The women have behaved like men,\" said Toney.\n\"Let us drink their health,\" said Tom.\n\"That proposition is carried unanimously,\" said Toney. And they\nproceeded to the cabin and toasted the ladies over a bottle of wine.\nCHAPTER XXXVIII.\n\"Mr. Pate seems to be profoundly meditating upon the immensity of the\nwater contained in the ocean,\" said the Professor, one afternoon, as he\npointed to Pate, who was leaning over the bulwarks apparently in a\ncondition of mental abstraction.\n\"It is probable that he is now calculating how long a period it would\ntake to pump the Atlantic dry,\" said Toney.\n\"Land ho!\" cried a loud voice in the direction of the forecastle.\nThere was a general rush forward at this announcement; and on the bow\nstood Peter, pointing with extended arm to some object which he asserted\nwas land. But nobody could see it except himself; and Moses soon became\nskeptical, and finally declared that the fellow was a fool. This he\ndemonstrated from the fact that Peter kept pointing to a dim cloud,\nabout as big as the crown of his hat, with the absurd affirmation that\nit was _terra firma_. The opinion of Moses was warmly supported by M. T.\nPate and others, who promulgated it with considerable emphasis. But\nPeter still stood at his post pointing prophetically afar off, and he\nnow had Old Nick at his elbow, who stoutly corroborated all that he had\nuttered.\nIn the mean while the vessel, borne along by the breeze, kept steadily\non her way, and the little cloud loomed larger on the horizon, and\ngradually grew more and more distinct. The almost imperceptible shade\ndeepened into a substantial blue, and finally brightened into a\nbeautiful green, and Cape Frio became plainly visible.\nThe prospect of soon getting on shore caused much excitement in the\ncabin, after supper, and considerable conviviality.\nAfter partaking of several glasses of wine, the Professor turned to\nToney and Tom, and gravely remarked,--\n\"We are informed, by the highest authority on the subject, that there\nis a very great difference between _ebrius_ and _ebriolus_. It is not\nbecoming in one of the Funny Philosophers to be anything more than\n_ebriolus_. Let us leave these devotees of Bacchus to their orgies in\nhonor of the god of the grape, and go upon deck.\"\n\"Come!\" said Toney. \"I have no wish to carry a headache on shore with me\nto-morrow.\"\n\"Nor I,\" said Tom, ascending the companion-ladder.\nThey walked forward until they came to the cook's galley, when the\nProfessor stopped suddenly and exclaimed, pointing to a hog which had\nbeen butchered and hung up with its head downward,--\n\"Here has been a bloody deed!\"\n\"Not a homicide?\" said Toney.\n\"No; a suicide,\" said Tom.\n\"Let your puns be in plain English,\" said the Professor.\n\"Latin puns are too obscure,\" said Toney.\n\"Mr. Seddon must atone for this offense by doing penance,\" said the\nProfessor.\n\"In what way?\" asked Tom.\n\"You must immediately climb into the rigging and run a rope around the\nforetop-gallant yard,\" said the Professor.\n\"What's your purpose?\" asked Toney.\n\"To suspend this deceased porker from the masthead,\" said the Professor.\n\"We will have fun,\" said Tom.\n\"Fun is the true philosophy of life,\" said the Professor.\nTom did as directed, and in a few moments the porker rapidly ascended\nand was lashed to the masthead. The Professor then walked to the bow,\nwhere was seated Old Nick, telling a wonderful yarn to Tim, who was\nsmoking his pipe.\n\"On the Gold Coast six months. The niggers brought us gold-dust in\nquills. One day their duke died.\"\n\"Have the negroes dukes among them?\" asked Toney.\n\"Their head-man. They put all his wives and slaves in a pen.\"\n\"What for?\" asked Tom.\n\"To knock them on the head and bury them with the duke. Never heard such\nhowling. One nigger jumped over the pen, ran down to the shore, and swam\nto the ship. They came around in canoes after him. Captain told me to\nthrow him overboard. Had to obey orders. They took him ashore and\nknocked him on the head with clubs. Next night I was on the beach.\nSomething jumped right up before me and grinned in my face. Looked like\nthe big nigger I had pitched overboard.\"\n\"I thought they had knocked him on the head,\" said Toney.\n\"His ghost. It gave a whoop and jumped clean over my head, and then\njumped back again.\"\n\"Like a circus-rider,\" said Tom.\n\"Kept jumping back and forth over my head, whooping and grinning. I got\nmad, and struck at it with a stick. Jerked stick from my hand and beat\nme over the back with it. I grabbed at the tarnal ghost, and if I could\nhave got a grip on it I'd downed it. Couldn't hold it; got scared.\"\n\"No wonder,\" said Toney. \"Any man would have been scared with this great\nugly bugaboo whooping and yelling, and jumping backward and forward over\nhis head, and beating him with his own cane.\"\n\"Ran for the boat. Ghost followed me. Priest had come ashore in the boat\nwith a bottle of holy water in his pocket. He flung it in the critter's\nface, when it gave a whoop and vamosed.\"\n\"You infernal thieves!\" said the cook, coming forward with a large\nbutcher's knife in his hand and confronting the sailors, \"what have you\ndone with my hog?\"\n\"Didn't touch your hog,\" said Old Nick.\n\"Don't be lying there,\" said the ireful cook. \"You have stolen that hog\nand hid it in the forecastle. Not a taste of lobscouse will you lubbers\nget until you give up my hog. I'll cut off your rations, you blasted\nrogues! I'd like to see one of you get any duff for his dinner on\nSundays, after this.\"\nThe sailors were alarmed, for the cook is the great man on shipboard.\nThey humbly protested their innocence, but were sternly denounced as\nliars and thieves who had stolen the porker, intended for the\npassengers' dinner, and hidden it in the forecastle. As the cook was\nbrandishing his knife, and growing more violent in his denunciations, he\nwas startled by hearing loud squeals overhead. The sounds were like the\nshrill cries of a large hog which was having a knife plunged into his\nthroat.\n\"Great thunder!\" exclaimed Tom.\nThe cook and the sailors gazed upward with looks of amazement.\nThere was a reiteration of loud squeals. The cook dropped his knife and\nran into his galley. The sailors fled with precipitation, until they\nreached the quarter-deck. Tom Seddon stood gazing upward, while Toney\nwhispered to the Professor.\n\"Yes,\" said the Professor, \"a faculty occasionally exercised. It must be\na profound secret.\"\n\"Shall I tell Tom?\"\n\"Whisper it to him, and warn him to be reticent.\"\nToney whispered to Tom, who nodded his head and seemed to comprehend.\n\"You lying lubbers!\" said the mate, coming forward, followed by the\nsailors. \"Telling your yarns about a hog in the----\"\nHere there was a succession of loud squeals from the masthead. The hog\nseemed to be in great agony. The sailors fled to the stern, and the mate\nrushed into the captain's cabin. The captain came forward. The squeals\nwere louder and more prolonged. The mate trembled and turned pale.\n\"What is it?\" said the captain.\n\"The cook killed a hog and hung it alongside his galley, and the devil\nhas carried it up there!\" said the mate, pointing to the masthead.\n\"The devil is in the habit of getting into hogs,\" said Toney.\n\"He once got into a whole herd of swine,\" said Tom.\n\"There is Scripture for that,\" said the mate.\n\"I must have that hog down,\" said the captain.\n\"Here--Nick--Tim--Peter--Paul! up to the masthead and lower the hog!\"\nNot a man would stir. The crew loudly swore that they would not go up\nthere for any captain that ever trod a quarter-deck.\n\"You go up,\" said the captain to the mate.\n\"Nary time,\" said the mate. \"My business is to navigate the ship,--not\nto fight the devil. You go up.\"\nThe captain laid hold on a rope, and was about to ascend, when loud\nsqueals were heard, and cries of \"Murder! murder! murder!\" from the\nmasthead. The captain let go his hold and fell on the deck.\n\"There are more than a dozen devils up there!\" shouted the mate.\n\"What's to be done?\" said the captain, rising on his feet and looking\naghast.\n\"Let them alone until we get into port, and then hire a lot of priests\nto sprinkle the ship with holy water,\" said the mate.\n\"I'll have her swabbed with barrels of holy water!\" exclaimed the\ncaptain.\n\"Thank God, it is daylight,\" said the mate.\nIt was now morning, and the ship sailed on, and was soon abreast of the\ncastle of Santa Cruz.\n\"American ship ahoy!\" was shouted through a trumpet from the ramparts.\n\"Hello!\" was the response from the deck.\n\"How many days did you come from?\"\n\"Baltimore--forty-two.\"\n\"All right!\" And the vessel glided along, and, passing the Sugar-Loaf,\nsoon anchored in the spacious and beautiful harbor of the Brazilian\nmetropolis, with the hog at her masthead.\nCHAPTER XXXIX.\n\"Why does your captain carry that hog at his masthead?\"\nThis question was asked by a midshipman who came alongside in a boat and\nwas recognized by Toney and the Professor as a former acquaintance. They\nand Tom Seddon were seated in the boat and about to go ashore.\n\"Every man has his idiosyncrasies,\" said the Professor. \"Van Tromp\nsailed through the British Channel with a broom at his masthead; and our\ncaptain never enters a harbor without a hog hanging on his\nforetop-gallant yard.\"\n\"Van Tromp's broom was a symbol of victory,\" said the young officer.\n\"And our captain's hog is a symbol of good living,\" said the Professor.\n\"He wishes to have it known that, while other vessels come into port on\nshort rations, he carries an abundance of grub wherever he goes,\" said\nToney.\n\"He must be an eccentric old codger,\" said the middy.\n\"He is, indeed,\" said the Professor.\n\"Here we are,\" said the middy. And he sprang on shore, followed by his\nthree friends, whose sea-legs were of very little use to them; for they\nstaggered about as if they had freely participated in the conviviality\nof the preceding night and still sensibly felt its effects. They managed\nat length to waddle along with the earth apparently rocking and rolling\nunder their feet, and finally reached Pharoux's Hotel in Palace Square,\nwhere comfortable quarters were secured.\nOn the following morning the Professor, in company with his three\nfriends and M. T. Pate, walked forth into the Square. As they passed in\nfront of the Palace, the negro sentinel, with a staid demeanor, was\npacing to and fro, while squads of his sable comrades lounged around,\nlike lazy black dogs, basking in the sun.\n\"Look at that gigantic American standing among the Brazilian soldiers\nwho seem like pigmies by comparison,\" said the midshipman.\n\"It is Hercules,\" said the Professor.\n\"Or Goliath of Gath,\" said the midshipman. \"Do you know him?\"\n\"He came out in our ship,\" said Toney.\n\"If your captain carried many such giants on board, I wonder that he had\na spare porker to hang at his masthead.\"\n\"Hercules seems to be on terms of intimacy with those _black guards_ of\nthe House of Braganza,\" said Toney.\n\"No punning now, if you please; we are on land,\" said the Professor.\n\"But on foreign land, where the points of our puns cannot be perceived\nby the natives,\" said Toney.\n\"Your apology is perfectly satisfactory,\" said the Professor.\n\"Let us see what Hercules is going to do,\" said Tom Seddon.\nThey approached, and stood in close proximity to the tail of his coat.\nHe had taken a musket from the hands of a grinning Brazilian of African\ndescent, and, pointing to the flint lock, with a sagacious shake of his\nnoddle, informed him that he was far behind the age; at the same time\nexpatiating on the manifest superiority of the percussion principle. To\nthe instruction of this able tactician the soldiers, although unable to\ncomprehend a word of English, seemed to be listening with profound\nattention, when a loud laugh from Toney and Tom interrupted this\nmorning's first lesson.\nIn the course of their wandering through the town they came to a\nnavy-yard, where they saw several vessels in an interesting condition of\nrottenness. While examining these hulks, an astonishing confusion of\ntongues was heard in their rear; and, turning around, they beheld a\nfellow as black as Beelzebub, who wore an officer's uniform and was\nendeavoring to hold a colloquy with M. T. Pate, who listened and replied\nwith an amiable condescension; but, as neither understood a word that\nwas addressed to him, the utterance of each was an enigma to the other.\nThe Professor winked at Toney, and then gravely remarked, \"Mr. Pate,\nthis negro is doubtless begging for a dump,\"--a huge copper coin of the\nvalue of several cents, which the Brazilians have invented for the\nconvenience of commerce.\nPate, who in his own country was of Southern birth and accustomed to\nnegroes solely in a menial capacity, drew forth a ponderous dump from\nhis pocket, and bestowing it upon the officer of his Imperial Majesty\nwith a benevolent smile, went on his way, leaving the object of his\nbenefaction astounded by this evidence of his generosity.\nAs they proceeded up a street they encountered a pair of sturdy Africans\ncarrying a sedan-chair attached to a couple of poles. Its sides were\nsurrounded with gaudy curtains, for the protection of the timid se\u00f1orita\nseated within from the bold gaze of the common multitude. Walking behind\nit were Botts, Old Grizzly, and the Long Green Boy, who appeared to have\nattached themselves to the procession as a committee of investigation;\nwhile, ranging up alongside, like a vigilant cruiser about to overhaul a\nsuspicious craft in quest of a contraband cargo, was the adventurous\nMoses in a prodigious state of excitement, staring at the object of his\namazement with dilated eyes, in blissful ignorance of his dangerous\nproximity to a petticoat. But great was his consternation when informed\nthat there was a young lady behind the curtain. He started back with a\nterrified expression; and the Professor afterwards said that had not his\nlimbs failed him, and his knees come in collision, like bones in the\nhands of an Ethiopian serenader, they would have been entertained with\nthe sight of a desperate fugitive darting up the street with the caudal\nappendage to his coat taking a horizontal projection as he hurried\nalong.\nHaving during the day visited various localities in the city, they\nreturned to the hotel, and on the following morning proceeded on an\nexpedition to the Imperial gardens. They rode in a huge omnibus drawn by\nfour couples of mules, and navigated by four adventurous natives, each\nseated on the back of one of the animals, with prodigious rowels on his\nheels, which seemed to indicate a ruthless determination to gore out the\nvitals of the beast if he showed the least signs of a refractory\ndisposition, and dared to dispute the supremacy of the rider. Under the\nshade of cocoa- and coffee-trees they rumbled over the road, and at\nlength arrived at the gates of the gardens.\nThis inclosure, equal in area to a large farm, was cultivated with great\ncare and filled with every variety of flowers and fruitage. At\nintervals, among the trees, were fanciful little tenements for the\naccommodation of those whose business it was to plant and to prune.\nTom Seddon became poetic, and declared that they had discovered a\nparadise in which an Adam and Eve were probably then dwelling in\nimmortal youth and innocence.\nAfter exploring the gardens for several hours, the Professor seated\nhimself in a beautiful arbor, and, while the gorgeous butterflies and\nbirds of variegated and magnificent plumage were flitting around him, he\nsang:\n The op'ning rose doth brightly glow\n With pearly dews of even,\n Like a fragment fall'n from yonder bow,\n Which hangeth like Hope in the heaven.\n And gayly on a golden wing,\n At the sweet evening hour,\n The humming-bird comes like a fairy thing\n To flit round the beautiful flower.\n Oh, be not like that humming-bird\n Around the sweet rose roving,\n That is ling'ring there, while e'er is heard\n The breezes of summer moving,\n But when the chilly blast has blown\n And wint'ry storms are brewing,\n He flieth away to a milder zone,\n And leaveth it then to its ruin;\n Be like that bird we oft have seen,\n Whose mellow notes were ringing\n Among the willows when all was green,\n And flowers around us were springing.\n And when those boughs are all stript bare,\n By wint'ry storms o'ertaken,\n That faithful bird is still ling'ring there,\n Nor hath ever that spot forsaken.\n\"A song from Mr. Seddon,\" cried the Professor, as he concluded his own\nmelody. Tom sang as follows:\n Though many days have vanished\n Since last I sighed adieu,\n Yet time has never banished\n The love I feel for you:\n Though many leagues now sever,\n Yet I forget thee never;--\n True love grows the stronger\n As it endures the longer.\n Though absence bringeth sorrow\n Upon the soul like night,\n Yet on that night a morrow\n Shall shed its golden light,--\n And hope's lone star shall burn, love,\n Brightly till I return, love,\n And in thy smile discover\n That night's last gloom is over.\n\"Poor Tom is thinking of Ida,\" said the Professor, in a whisper to\nToney, as Tom turned aside and furtively wiped away a tear that stood in\nhis eye.\n\"How can he help thinking of her?\" said Toney.\n\"And Rosabel?\" said the Professor.\n\"Do you suppose,\" said Toney, \"that I ever forget her? I am mirthful,\nfor it does not become a true man to be moody and melancholy. But I\nnever forget.\"\n\"Nor does it become one of the Funny Philosophers to sport with such\nfeelings,\" said the Professor, visibly affected. \"I do not forget Dora.\"\n\"Do you not?\"\n\"No; though she has long since forgotten me,\" said the Professor, sadly.\n\"A song from Mr. Perch,\" exclaimed a voice in the crowd, and in\nplaintive tones the Long Green Boy gave utterance to the following\nmelody:\n Oh, give me now the heart that thou once stole away from me\n When list'ning to thy treacherous vow beneath the greenwood tree;\n The flowers then bloomed above the ground, fanned by the breath of\n spring;\n The humming-bird was sporting round upon a purple wing.\n The gentle May hath passed away, the rose-leaves all are dead;\n That faithless humming-bird so gay on wanton wing hath fled,\n Nor cometh there to mourn their fate, but seeks a southern sun;\n And thou hast left me desolate, thou false and cruel one.\n\"Perch is thinking of the beautiful Imogen and the scene in Colonel\nHazlewood's garden,\" said Toney to the Professor. \"Neither you nor he\nseem to have a very favorable opinion of the humming-bird.\"\n\"The little creature always reminds one of a fickle beauty, and Perch\nand I are forsaken lovers; each having felt the full force of a\nnegative. But what is Hercules about to do?\"\nThe giant had seated himself under the shade of a blooming bough, and\nfor the first, and probably for the last time, until translated to a\nhappier sphere, was endeavoring to give vent to the blissful emotions of\nhis soul by attempting the execution of a difficult piece of music; in\nstentorian tones invoking a certain Susannah and imploring her on no\naccount to weep for him. As with the voice of a Cyclops, at the close of\neach stanza, he bellowed forth,--\n \"Oh, Susannah! don't you cry for me!\n I'm going to California with my wash-bowl on my knee!\"\nthe whole party gathered around him and listened in breathless wonder.\nAt length the Professor remarked,--\n\"What a pity it is that Susannah is not now present!\"\n\"Do you think she would stop her crying?\" said Toney.\n\"I imagine she would,\" said the Professor. \"Unless the young lady's\nperception of the ludicrous is very obtuse, I cannot help thinking that\nthe musical invocation of Hercules would have the desired effect.\"\n\"Will that big fellow never cease his bellowing?\" asked the midshipman.\n\"Not until he has sung the last verse,\" said Tom Seddon; \"and the song\nis longer than the ninety-seventh selection of Psalms as versified by\nSternhold and Hopkins.\"\n\"He has already finished a multitude of staves,\" said Toney.\n\"Enough to make himself a butt,\" said the Professor.\n\"That is an atrocious pun,\" said Toney; \"and perpetrated on dry land.\"\n\"But on foreign land, and in the Emperor's gardens,\" said the\nProfessor.\n\"Very true,\" said Toney; \"you escape with impunity; being on Brazilian\nsoil.\"\n\"Let us be off!\" said Tom Seddon; \"the sun is getting low.\"\n\"And come back for Hercules to-morrow. We will find him concluding the\nlast stanza,\" said Toney.\n\"Will he sing all night?\" asked the midshipman.\n\"Hercules has great powers of endurance,\" said the Professor.\n\"Come!\" said Tom Seddon. And the party started for the omnibus; when\nHercules arose and followed, still singing his interminable melody.\nThe sun had disappeared behind the horizon and the full moon had arisen\nin all her magnificence long before they reached the suburbs of the\ncity. As they rode along listening to the chimes of the church bells,\nwhich in Catholic countries are sounding every evening, the voice of\nHercules was heard, at intervals, bellowing forth,--\n \"The bulgine burst, the horse run off; I thought I'd surely die!\n I shut my eyes to hold my breath; Susannah, don't you cry!\n Oh, Susannah, don't you cry for me!\n I'm going to California with my wash-bowl on my knee!\"\nCHAPTER XL.\nUpon returning to the city, M. T. Pate met with a misfortune, which gave\nhim sad affliction when he afterwards came to reflect upon his folly. He\nhad throughout the whole course of his life been a very temperate man,\nand on Sundays was exceedingly pious. But he and Hercules were now\nseduced by a party of dissolute fellows, who kept them in a state of\ninebriation for several days. In fact, Hercules got profoundly\nintoxicated, and continued in that condition until he was carried on\nboard the ship when she was about to sail; while Pate became boisterous\nand broke a number of goblets and decanters, and even challenged the\nproprietor of the hotel to a pugilistic combat. The latter earnestly\nimplored the interposition of Toney Belton, who, upon going to Pate's\nroom, found him standing in the midst of a number of boon-companions,\nwith a bottle in his grasp, making as much noise as was possible by\nbellowing forth the following bacchanalian melody:\n The ruby wine sparkles so bright in the bowl,\n To pleasure it seems to invite;\n And, by heavens, I vow he's a pitiful soul\n Who scorneth our revels to night.\n Let sages discourse on the follies of man,\n And learnedly talk of his woes;\n But boys, we'll be happy whilever we can,--\n So toss off the goblet!--here goes!\n Oh, why should we mourn o'er the sorrows of earth,\n And turn from its pleasures away?\n He's wiser by far who turns sorrow to mirth,\n And tastes of life's joys while he may.\n When all that the sages have taught is summed up,\n Can it lessen one moment our woes?\n Oh, no! but they linger not over the cup,--\n So toss off the goblet!--here goes!\nWhen this song was concluded, Toney began to express his astonishment at\nPate's conduct, but his voice was soon drowned by several fellows loudly\nsinging,--\n Silvery dews are falling lightly,\n Golden stars are twinkling brightly,\n Now's the hour when Pleasure greets us,\n Round the festive board she meets us,\n When we mingle heart and soul\n O'er the flowing, foaming bowl.\n\"But, Mr. Pate, you will be sorry for this when----\"\n Farewell now to care and sorrow!\n They our moments ne'er shall borrow;--\n We, the joyous sons of folly,\n Leave to sages melancholy,\n When we mingle heart and soul\n O'er the flowing, foaming bowl.\n\"Yes, this is fine fun,\" said Toney; \"but after awhile you will have\ntrouble, and----\"\n If the ills of life surround us,\n If misfortune's arrows wound us,\n Still a balm we may discover\n In the bumper running over,\n When we mingle heart and soul\n O'er the flowing, foaming bowl.\n\"By heavens, you ought to have a strait-jacket!\" said Toney. \"Ain't you\na pretty picture?--standing there with your coat off and your breeches\nrent in the rear! I wish some of the ladies whom you used to be making\nlove to could now see----\"\n Cupid is a treacherous urchin,\n With his darts each bosom searching;\n If we've false and cruel found him,\n On the bumper's brim we'll drown him,\n When we mingle heart and soul\n O'er the flowing, foaming bowl.\n\"Pate, you'll be singing another song to-morrow, when----\"\n Fortune, whom we've trusted blindly,\n She may deal with us unkindly;\n At her freaks we're lightly laughing,\n As the bright wine we are quaffing,\n When we mingle heart and soul\n O'er the flowing, foaming bowl.\n\"You are as crazy as a bedlamite!\" exclaimed Toney, \"When you come to\nyour senses, you will consider this the greatest misfortune that----\"\n Glorious rainbows, shine forever\n O'er misfortune's clouds, and never\n Fade away from a good fellow\n In his glasses growing mellow,\n When we mingle heart and soul\n O'er the flowing, foaming bowl.\n\"Well, go ahead!\" said Toney, turning on his heels. \"Go ahead, if you\nthink there is no hereafter----\"\n Give the night to song and laughter,--\n Care may come, perchance, hereafter;\n We will linger till the morning\n Smileth with a rosy warning,\n When we'll mingle heart and soul\n O'er a flowing, parting bowl.\nPate continued to conduct himself in this outrageous manner,\nnotwithstanding the repeated and earnest remonstrances of his friends,\nuntil the morning on which the vessel was to sail, when the Professor\nfound him, with a rueful countenance, sitting on the stool of\nrepentance. They proceeded to the office of the hotel to settle their\nbills.\nIn Brazil they have an imaginary coin, corresponding to the mill of our\ndecimal currency, in which, when making out a bill, they compute the\namount, putting before the sum charged the identical mark which is\nprefixed to the Federal dollar, so that a stranger, whose debit is ten\ndollars, sees on the bill $10.000. The Professor was aware of this mode\nof computation, but M. T. Pate was not. The latter was therefore utterly\nastounded when his bill was handed to him, and he saw charged on it\n$55.000. Pate turned deadly pale when he perceived the heavy sum he was\nexpected to pay; and Toney and the Professor took him aside and told him\nthat, while so dreadfully intoxicated, he had broken and destroyed much\nvaluable property in the hotel, and that the damage was charged in the\nbill. Pate was now shocked at the consequences of his indiscretion, and\nexclaimed,--\n\"Oh, that a man should be such a fool!\"\n\"As to put an enemy in his mouth to steal away his brains,\" said the\nProfessor.\n\"What am I to do?\" cried Pate.\n\"Pay the bill,\" said Toney.\n\"I cannot. It is impossible for me to pay so large a sum of money,\" said\nPate.\n\"I am sorry for that,\" said the Professor. \"In Brazil there is\nimprisonment for debt.\"\n\"What?\" exclaimed Pate, in extreme terror.\n\"There is imprisonment for debt in this country,\" said the Professor;\n\"and if you do not pay the bill, the proprietor of the hotel will have\nyou put in the calaboose.\"\n\"Where you may have to remain during your whole life,\" said Toney.\n\"Oh! oh!\" cried Pate, looking as pale as a ghost. \"What--what shall I\ndo?\"\n\"Get the money and pay the bill,\" said Toney.\n\"I cannot--I cannot!\" said Pate, perspiring from every pore.\n\"This is a great calamity,\" said the Professor. \"Only to think of a man\nhaving to spend, perhaps, forty years of his life in prison!\"\n\"To end his days in a dungeon!\" said Toney, sadly.\n\"Gentlemen--gentlemen! what--what shall I do?\" exclaimed Pate, groaning\npiteously.\n\"Toney,\" said the Professor, \"an expedient suggests itself to my mind,\nbut I am doubtful of its propriety.\"\n\"What is it?\" asked Toney.\n\"Do you think that it would be morally wrong for Mr. Pate to take French\nleave?\"\n\"I do not,\" said Toney. \"He cannot pay the bill, and unless he escapes\nas speedily as possible he may have to die in prison. A man may do\nanything to preserve his liberty. Besides, when Mr. Pate returns from\nCalifornia with his gold, he can stop at Rio and pay the bill.\"\n\"I will! I will!\" exclaimed Pate. \"I will pay every dollar of it!\"\n\"Come here, Mr. Pate,\" said the Professor. And he and Toney conducted\nhim to the street and pointed towards the harbor.\n\"Run!\" said the Professor.\n\"Run!--run!\" exclaimed Toney.\n\"Run, Pate!--run!\" cried Tom Seddon, who had followed them out.\nThe delinquent debtor looked around to see if his ruthless creditor was\nwatching him, and then darted down the street and ran at full speed\nuntil he reached the water's edge, when he leaped into a boat, and told\nthe men to row as fast as they could for the ship. In the mean while\nToney and the Professor returned to the office of the hotel and quietly\nsettled the bill with the contents of Pate's purse, which they had taken\nfrom his pocket while he was intoxicated, and still retained in their\npossession for safe keeping.\nWhen M. T. Pate came near the ship, he beheld the extraordinary\nspectacle of a human body rising from the surface of the water and\nhanging high in the air, with its arms and legs desperately striking\nout, as if seeking to test, by a practical experiment, the possibility\nof swimming in that uncertain element. After dangling over the deck for\na short space of time, it disappeared behind the bulwarks.\nPate witnessed the awful spectacle with a feeling of intense horror.\n\"Great heavens!\" he exclaimed, \"has the captain taken upon himself the\nresponsibility of ordering an execution? What a daring exercise of\narbitrary power! It is dangerous to go on board! The brutal tyrant might\nhang any of his passengers!\"\nHe was about to order the men to row back to the shore when he\nrecollected the danger which there awaited him. He was between Scylla\nand Charybdis. In the mean while the Brazilian boatmen, who, with their\nbacks towards the ship and their ignorance of the English language,\nneither witnessed the startling phenomenon nor understood the meaning of\nPate's exclamation, vigorously plied their oars, and soon brought the\nboat to the vessel's side. Pale with terror and trembling in every\njoint, Pate looked up and beheld a number of passengers on deck laughing\nimmoderately. Their mirth convinced him that no tragedy had been\nenacted, and he went on board where he learned that Hercules had been\ncaptured on shore and brought alongside lying in the boat in a helpless\ncondition superinduced by inebriation. A perplexing consultation among\nhis captors was cut short by Old Nick, who, having made ready a rope,\nleaped into the boat, and putting a stout band around the body of the\ngiant, hooked on,--and up he went, with his imperfectly articulated\nmaledictions mingling with the hearty \"Heave ho!\" of Peter and Paul, who\nwere hoisting him on deck.\nThus was Hercules held up as an example to all evildoers; and when the\nProfessor reached the ship, and was informed of the circumstance, he\ngravely remarked that men who were so imprudent as to indulge in the\nexcessive use of strong drinks would sometimes become wonderfully\nelevated.\nCHAPTER XLI.\nThe mortification of M. T. Pate at having been compelled to leave the\nBrazilian Empire as an absconding debtor was intense, and he was now\nteased and tormented by his comrades in the most unmerciful manner.\nThey told him that as soon as his ruthless creditor discovered his\nflight he would apply to the Emperor for redress, who would dispatch a\nswift-sailing man-of-war to capture him; and that he would be carried\nback and imprisoned in the calaboose until he had paid the last dump of\nthe debt. Whenever a sail hove in sight, some one would cry out, \"There\ncomes the Brazilian vessel in pursuit of Pate;\" when all would advise\nhim to secrete himself in the hold of the ship, and said that they would\ninform the captain of the man-of-war that he had unfortunately fallen\noverboard when off Cape Frio.\nHe was so worried by these pitiless jokes that he became misanthropic,\nand finally refused to associate with any of the passengers. He would\nleave the cabin, where at night there were usually much fun and\nmerriment, and where he was sure to be the butt of some cruel jest, and,\ngoing upon deck, would seat himself upon a stool and brood in solitude\nover his misery, until he was in a sound sleep.\nOne night there was a dead calm upon the waters, and not a sound was\nheard except the flapping of a sail as the ship rolled over a wave, or\nthe monotonous notes which proceeded from the perforations in the nasal\nprotuberance of the melancholy Pate, who had fallen asleep as he sat on\nhis stool. But suddenly there is an unnatural noise, and a frightful\nfluttering overhead, and down it comes--a ghostlike creature!--long,\nlean, and spectral!--with two gigantic wings beating wildly about! With\na chorus of strange cries it tumbles upon deck, upsetting the unlucky\nPate, who with a loud yell of terror, rolls over and over into the\nscupper; while Peter and Paul, headed by Old Nick, rush thither and\nmingle with a crowd of passengers who come from the cabin. And there\nthey behold poor Pate lying on his back in the scupper, and yelling\n\"murder,\" with the strength of his lungs; while over him stands Moses,\nglorying in his achievement. He had espied a booby-bird roosting upon\nthe mainyard, and with a catlike step crept up and effected its capture.\nAnd thus the sudden and unexpected descent of the two boobies upon the\ndeck was the cause of all this commotion. The position of Pate, as he\nlay on his back in the scupper, bawling \"murder!\" with the booby beating\nhim with its wing, was exceedingly ludicrous. He was now teased until he\nwas driven to the border of desperation. Tom Seddon had, with\nthoughtless levity, revealed the existence of the Mystic Brotherhood,\nand made known the fact that M. T. Pate was the Noble Grand Gander of\nthe order. After this revelation there was no more peace for poor Pate\non board the ship. At the table some one would call out in a loud voice\nand inquire if the Noble Grand Gander would be helped to a piece of the\nduff, when there would be a general roar of laughter. In the morning,\nwhen he came from his bunk, many would inquire, with mock respect, after\nthe health of the Noble Grand Gander. And now, in the unfortunate affair\nwith the booby, the passengers generally expressed their profound regret\nthat the great American Gander had been overthrown by a Brazilian booby.\nIn the mean while the ship sailed on; the weather gradually grew colder,\nand the three curious spots in the heavens, called the Clouds of\nMagellan, were visible at night, and indicated an approximation to the\ncoast of Patagonia.\nThe Professor had a sympathy for Pate, and would sometimes endeavor to\nalleviate his sufferings by cheerful conversation. They were one day\nstanding on deck conversing about the Clouds of Magellan, and the\nProfessor was suggesting the propriety of sending up an artist in a\nballoon to paint them red, white, and blue, so that the American colors\nmight hang over these regions in anticipation of their annexation to the\ngreat republic, when they heard the voice of Moses exclaiming,--\n\"Look yonder!\"\n\"What is it?\" said Pate, pointing to an enormous creature sailing\nthrough the air and coming towards the ship.\n\"It is one of the Clouds of Magellan riding on the back of Old Boreas,\"\nsaid the Professor.\n\"No,\" cried Tom Seddon, \"it is the gigantic ghost of the poor booby\ncoming to haunt Moses for the deep damnation of his taking off.\"\nThe optical orbs of Moses expanded wider and wider, as the form of the\nwinged monster loomed larger and larger, until, with a flap of its\ntremendous pinions, it came alongside, and, after several times sweeping\naround the ship, finally settled down on the water in the wake.\nThe Professor having ascertained that this object, on which Moses was\ngazing with wonder and awe, was an albatross, attached a piece of pork\nto a line and threw it overboard, with an invitation to the stranger to\nlay hold, so that he might hoist him on board. The gigantic bird eagerly\naccepted the invitation, and snatching the delicious morsel in his beak,\nheld on with a pertinacity which indicated his appreciation of the\nprize. And now he was seen to stretch out his neck with an extraordinary\nprojection, and his huge body following it at a run, beating the water\nwith two enormous wings, over the poop he came, with a tremendous\nfluttering, and down on the deck, where he stood like a prodigious\ngoose, wholly unable to define his position.\nThe creature walked the deck with a curious stare, until coming in\nproximity to M. T. Pate, it stopped and gazed in his face, when some\nwicked wag cried out,--\n\"Put a saddle and bridle on him, Mr. Pate.\"\n\"By all means,\" cried another passenger; \"and if the Brazilian\nman-of-war should overhaul the vessel, you can ride away on the back of\nyour winged courser and easily effect your escape.\"\nThese suggestions so irritated Pate that he suddenly seized a handspike\nand dealt the albatross a blow, the lethal effects of which laid it a\nlifeless corpse at his feet. There was a loud hurrah for the Noble Grand\nGander, and Pate, boiling with indignation, walked forward and leaned\nagainst the forecastle.\nHe was now sternly denounced by Old Nick, who told him, in emphatic\nterms, that he would never have any more good luck as long as he lived;\nand Peter and Paul coincided with him in the prediction. Not many\nmoments elapsed before these vaticinations of ill fortune began to be\nverified. Neptune, with indignation, had beheld the murderous deed, and\nprepared a fitting punishment. He sent a huge wave, which broke over the\nbow with a crash. The sailors saw it coming and sprang into the rigging;\nwhile the assassin of the albatross was knocked off his feet and went\nwallowing into the scupper. Amidst loud and boisterous laughter, M. T.\nPate hurried into the cabin with a stream of salt-water flowing from the\ntail of his coat; while a number of voices commenced singing,--\n \"A life on the ocean wave,\n A home on the rolling deep,\" etc.\nA few days subsequent to these events, they came in sight of Tierra del\nFuego; and as the ship ran down within a league of the shore, there was\na suggestion that the officers had determined to leave the slayer of the\nalbatross on this desolate coast; being afraid to venture round the Horn\nwith such a Jonah on board. The Professor told Pate to pay no attention\nto these remarks, as the captain had a cousin who had emigrated to this\npart of the world and opened a hotel, and he was going to take the\npassengers on shore and give a \"general treat.\" But the ship stood away\nto the south, and, followed by clouds of Cape pigeons and albatrosses,\nwent rolling around the Horn, and after a rough controversy with old\nocean, which lasted for several weeks, eventually came in sight of the\nIsland of Juan Fernandez.\nSeveral of the passengers expressed an opinion that the captain would\nnow put Pate on shore, and said that he would have to live here in\nsolitude and clad in goats' skins like Alexander Selkirk. But the vessel\nsailed on, and the peaks of the famous island were soon hid behind the\nhorizon; and this was their last sight of _terra firma_ until they\nbeheld the tops of the Andes, and soon afterwards entered the harbor of\nCallao.\n\"There was a scene of revelry by night\" in the cabin, like that which\nhad preceded their landing on Brazilian soil. The Professor, with Toney\nand Tom, remained on deck until the sounds of conviviality had ceased,\nand then proceeded to \"turn in.\"\n\"What is this?\" said Tom Seddon, coming in contact with a huge head\nhanging over the side of a hammock.\n\"It is a remarkable case of suspended animation,\" said the Professor.\n\"Hercules has again become wonderfully elevated,\" said Toney.\n\"And has turned Wiggins out of his hammock,\" said Tom.\n\"Old Grizzly and M. T. Pate seem to prefer the floor,\" said Toney,\npointing to the two individuals named, who were lying supinely on their\nbacks by the side of a sea-chest under the hammock.\n\"Hercules seems to be hovering over them like a benignant spirit with\nthe most benevolent intentions,\" said the Professor; and he and his two\nfriends passed on, and, stowing themselves away in their bunks, were\nawaiting the approach of \"tired nature's sweet restorer,\" when a hideous\nhowl, like the outcry of a wounded dragon, rang through the cabin. A\nscore of startled passengers leaped hurriedly up, and rushing forward\nbeheld the catastrophe. Hercules had pitched headforemost from his\nhammock, and precipitating himself first on the sea-chest, had rolled\nover, and covered with his huge body the prostrated forms of Old Grizzly\nand M. T. Pate.\nUnable to account for his sudden descent, and wholly confounded by his\nfall, he was giving utterance to his emotions in a succession of\ndiabolical howls.\nOld Grizzly slowly arose, and assuming a sitting posture, growled out\nhis decided disapprobation of such proceedings, while M. T. Pate was\nwrithing and wriggling under his heavy burden, and uttering piteous\ngroans.\n\"Pate is like old John Bunyan's poor pilgrim,\" said Tom Seddon.\n\"Groaning under his load of sin,\" said Toney.\n\"Let us shrive him,\" said the Professor. And he and Toney seized Pate\nby the legs, and, pulling vigorously, succeeded in relieving him from\nthe immense load of iniquity which rested upon him.\nCHAPTER XLII.\nAfter spending a day in Callao, and visiting the site of the ancient\ntown, which had been destroyed by an earthquake, the band of\ngold-hunters proceeded to the city of Lima. This splendid capital\npresents many objects of interest to the stranger. The Professor and his\ncompanions were astonished at the number and magnificence of the\nchurches; and as he was going through a gallery in one of these sacred\nedifices, Wiggins discovered three holy men playing at monte, and was\nonly prevented from taking a hand by his ignorance of the Castilian\nlanguage. Moses was shocked at seeing the countrywomen riding astraddle\non donkeys when they entered the town on their way to the market; and he\nwas inexpressibly alarmed when a young female stopped him on the street,\nand, producing a cigar, politely asked him for a light. So great was his\nagitation that, instead of complying with her request, he dropped his\nown cigar in the gutter and hastily retreated behind Botts, whose ugly\nvisage frightened the woman away. Hercules, having constituted himself\nan inspector of the pale brandies of the country, on a certain night\nwent up on the flat roof of the hotel and fell through a glass door\namong some Spaniards engaged in a quiet game below; and the Dons,\nsupposing, from his novel mode of entrance, that he came with\nburglarious intent, fled from the apartment, leaving him lying in the\nmiddle of the floor, and uttering the most terrific yells.\nToney and the Professor rushed into the room, and with some difficulty\nlifting the giant on his feet, discovered that he had sustained no\ninjury from his sudden descent. As Hercules staggered out of the room,\nthe Professor pointed towards him, and gravely remarked,--\n\"I am now convinced of the utter falsity of what has been so long\nreceived as an axiom in natural philosophy.\"\n\"What is that?\" asked Toney.\n\"That confined fluids press equally in all directions,\" said the\nProfessor.\n\"That only holds good in hydrostatics,\" said Toney.\n\"Where water is concerned, the principle may be correct,\" said the\nProfessor, \"but it is not applicable to the juice of the grape. But\nwhere is Tom Seddon? I haven't seen him during the whole day.\"\n\"He and M. T. Pate have just returned from a visit to the tomb of\nPizarro,\" said Toney; \"and Pate has been much shocked at a discovery\nwhich he there made.\"\n\"What is that?\" asked the Professor.\n\"Most of the bones of that celebrated conqueror have been stolen,\" said\nToney.\n\"By whom?\" asked the Professor.\n\"By visitors to the tomb,\" said Toney.\n\"_Sic transit gloria mundi!_\" said the Professor. \"Pizarro stole the\nInca's possessions, and now his own bones have been carried off by\npilfering hands, and, perhaps, manufactured into knife-handles. I hope I\nnever may be a great man; a General, or a President, or anything of that\nsort.\"\n\"Why not?\"\n\"The very idea is horrible!\"\n\"How so?\"\n\"To see one's name in large letters over the picture of a horse on a\nhand-bill posted against the door of a blacksmith's shop; or to have a\nmangy hound for your namesake!\"\n\"Here comes Tom,\" said Toney, as Seddon entered the apartment and\ncommenced telling them about the bull-fight which was to take place on\nthe next day, which would be Sunday.\n\"We will all go,\" said the Professor; \"but I am hungry. Let us go into\nthe eating-room and order three plates of lizards.\"\n\"I would prefer a beefsteak smothered in onions,\" said Seddon.\n\"_De gustibus non disputandum est_,\" said the Professor as he entered\nthe eating-room, and, seating himself at a table, ordered his lizards.\nCHAPTER XLIII.\nOn the bright Sabbath morning Toney Belton and his companions were\nfollowing an immense crowd of people along the banks of the Rimac, in\nthe direction of the bull-fight, when they were compelled to halt and\nlisten to a polemical controversy between the Professor and M. T. Pate.\nThe latter had followed along quietly, and without observation, until\naccidentally discovering their destination, he stood still and refused\nto proceed. In vain did the Professor try argument and blandishment to\nremove his scruples of conscience. On the first day of the week Pate was\nimmovably pious.\n\"Come along, Mr. Pate!\" said the Professor, in a coaxing tone.\n\"This is the Sabbath,\" said Pate, \"and a day of rest.\"\n\"But,\" said the Professor, \"in this country the churches are always\nopen, and the people are praying every day in the week, and the only way\nfor them to rest is to stop praying on Sunday and do something else.\nWhen you are in Rome do as Rome does.\"\n\"Everybody is going to the bull-fight,\" said Toney.\n\"Yonder is a carriage-load of bishops,\" said the Professor.\n\"And look at those two shovel-hats jogging along on their mules,\" said\nTom Seddon.\n\"This is Sunday,\" said Pate, solemnly shaking his head.\n\"I have been informed by the oldest inhabitant that Sunday has never yet\ngot around Cape Horn,\" said the Professor.\nBut Pate was deaf to their sophistical arguments, and, shaking his head\nwith a melancholy look, turned on his heels and took his departure.\nThe Professor and his companions were soon seated in the amphitheater,\nwhich formed an immense circle, with seats rising in tiers, one above\nthe other. A strong barricade of stout timbers protected the twenty\nthousand men, women, and children who, with the Priests, the President,\nand the Congress of the country were here assembled, and waited with\nimpatience until a gate was opened and several of the combatants\nappeared, some on horseback armed with long lances, and others on foot.\n\"Great thunder! what are those?\" exclaimed Tom Seddon, pointing to four\nuncouth shapes stalking into the arena wearing ugly masks with enormous\nbeaks, and having dusky wings ingeniously fitted to their sides.\n\"They look like very large turkey-buzzards,\" said Toney.\n\"Half men and half birds,\" said Moses.\n\"They are Peruvian fairies,\" said the Professor, turning round and\nimparting this information to Moses.\n\"Fairies!\" exclaimed Moses, his eyes opening in astonishment.\n\"A gigantic species of fairy peculiar to this country,\" said the\nProfessor.\n\"What are they going to do?\" asked Moses.\n\"They are exceedingly fond of bull-beef,\" said the Professor. \"They will\nwait until the animal is slain, and then dine on the carcass.\"\n\"After which,\" said Toney, \"they will spread their wings and fly away to\nFairy-land, supposed to be located somewhere among the peaks of the\nAndes.\"\n\"And which was never visited by mortal man,\" said the Professor.\nMoses now gazed at the fairies with wonder and awe; while Tom Seddon\nexclaimed, \"Look at that handsome woman standing in the center of the\narena!\"\n\"She is splendidly dressed,\" said Toney.\n\"Who is she?\" asked Moses.\n\"The President's wife,\" suggested Toney.\n\"Is she going to fight the bull?\" asked Moses.\n\"That may be her intention,\" said Toney.\n\"She has no weapon,\" said Wiggins.\n\"She will take the bull by the horns,\" said Toney.\n\"She is in great danger,\" said Moses.\n\"It is the Blessed Virgin,--you may behold a miracle,\" said the\nProfessor.\n\"Is she alive?\" asked Moses.\n\"She does not move,\" said Wiggins.\n\"She stands stoutly on her feet,\" said Toney.\n\"Look yonder!\" exclaimed Tom Seddon, as a gate flew open, and in came,\nwith a bound and a bellow, a huge black bull, with his eyes fiercely\nglaring, as if he were smarting under some recent insult and expected\nother indignities to be offered. But beholding the image, he moved\ntowards it, bowing his head and scraping his foot.\n\"He seems disposed to be very polite in the presence of a lady,\" said\nToney.\n\"He is making a very profound obeisance,\" said Tom.\n\"Only in mockery,\" said the Professor as the bull rushed forward, and,\nthrusting his horns through the robes of the Holy Mary, lifted her from\nthe earth. But hardly had he touched her sacred person when a succession\nof loud reports ensued, such as are heard when idle urchins have\nfastened their fire-works behind the flanks of some venerable parent of\npuppies.\n\"A miracle!\" exclaimed the Professor.\n\"A miracle!\" cried Toney.\n\"A miracle!\" shouted Tom.\nThe eyes of Moses widely dilated, and he gazed in intense wonder. Off\nwent the bull with the image hanging on his horns, roaring and running\naround; while ever and anon the Blessed Virgin would emit an explosion\nwhich added an increase to his speed. Finally she fell to the ground,\nand was sacrilegiously trampled under hoof, and lay with her gaudy robes\nscorched, and smoking, and torn to tatters.\n\"What a shocking sight!\" exclaimed Tom Seddon.\n\"Will nobody go to her rescue?\" said Toney.\n\"Yonder comes her avenger!\" said the Professor, as a man on foot\nadvanced, with one hand brandishing a dart having a small streamer\nattached to it, and shaking a red flag with the other. The bull,\nindignant at the insult, came at him with a bound, when, nimbly leaping\naside, he planted his missile in the flank of his foe, and the\ninfuriated animal charged on another assailant with similar results.\nSoon his sides were covered with little javelins, each having a gaudy\npennon on its end waving in the wind. He fought with pluck and\ndetermination, but evidently at a disadvantage; for his antagonists,\nwhen hard pressed, would retreat behind a circular palisade of posts,\nwhither he could not follow them. Making a charge on one of the\nbuzzards, however, he tore off a wing before the clumsy bird could get\nout of the way. The disgusting fowl uttered a loud squall, such as was\nnever heard from one of its species before.\n\"The poor fairy has lost one of his pinions,\" said Tom.\n\"He will not be able to soar away to his home in the Andes after he has\ndined,\" said Toney.\n\"The cavalry are about to take part in the engagement,\" said the\nProfessor, as the horsemen galloped around and added to the torments of\nthe animal by pricking him with their lances.\n\"He fights _manfully_,\" said Tom.\n\"Mr. Seddon,\" said the Professor, \"be so good as to keep your Irish\nbulls in the background. You should not venture to introduce them among\nSpanish cattle.\"\n\"He exhibits great courage against overwhelming odds,\" said Toney.\n\"But, as has been asked on numerous occasions, what can a single hero do\nagainst a host?\" said the Professor.\n\"What is that big man going to do with his long knife?\" asked Moses, as\na stalwart fellow, armed with a short, straight sword, advanced on foot\nand fixed his gaze on his victim. With eyes wildly rolling, and red\ntorrents of blood streaming from his wounds, the bull moved towards this\nnew antagonist, with his head to the ground, hoping to toss him on his\nhorns. But the wily matadore, with a dexterous thrust, pierced the spine\nof the neck, and the agonies of the animal were over. Hardly had he\nfallen when the four buzzards rushed forward and commenced pecking at\nthe carcass.\n\"The fairies are hungry,\" said the Professor, turning round and speaking\nto Moses.\n\"The one-winged gentleman seems determined to have his share of the\nfeast,\" said Toney.\n\"Look! look!\" cried Tom Seddon, as up went a rocket and in came six\nwhite horses splendidly harnessed, by whose united strength the\nmutilated body of the bull was dragged out at a gallop, to make room for\nanother victim.\n\"Look at yonder fellow riding his horse around the arena, with his side\ngored open and torrents of blood gushing from the ghastly wound!\" said\nToney.\n\"This is pretty sport, but I think that I will put an end to it,\" said\nthe Professor to Toney, in a low and confidential tone.\n\"That is impossible,\" said Toney.\n\"The celebrated Arago says that he who, outside of pure mathematics,\nuses the word impossible, lacks prudence,\" said the Professor.\n\"Here he comes!\" cried Tom Seddon, as a bull of prodigious size and\nsavage ferocity bounded into the arena, and after moving around and\nwildly glaring at the assembled multitude, finally halted within a few\npaces of the seats occupied by Toney and the Professor. The enraged\nanimal was pawing the earth with his foot, when one of the combatants\nadvanced towards him, brandishing a dart. The bull elevated his head and\nsurveyed him with an indignant look. The man poised his missile and was\nabout to hurl it when, in the Castilian language, from the mouth of the\nangry animal come forth the words,--\n\"Hold, villain! hold!\"\nThe man dropped his dart and instantly fled. On the seats in proximity\nto the Professor there were great commotion and alarm, while from those\nafar off there were loud cries of derision at the cowardice exhibited by\nthe combatant who had fled. Several men now advanced on foot, and the\nhorsemen followed, with the four buzzards in the rear, flapping their\nwings. They surrounded the bull, and each footman brandished his dart,\nwhile the horsemen poised their lances. The animal regarded them with a\nferocious aspect, and, as they were about to attack him with their\nweapons, a hoarse voice was heard issuing from his throat, and\nexclaiming,--\n\"Stand back! ye bloody villains, forbear!\"\nThe men recoiled in horror, and, dropping their weapons, fled with\nprecipitation, exclaiming, \"El diablo! el diablo!\"\nThe buzzards hurried over the barricades followed by the footmen, who\nthrew themselves among the spectators, crying out, \"El diablo! el\ndiablo!--it is the devil! it is the devil!\" The horsemen galloped\nfrantically around, and finally fled through a gate, which was instantly\nclosed and barred. \"El diablo! el diablo!\" was shouted by hundreds of\nvoices.\n\"It is Satan! it is Satan!\" exclaimed several priests, who sat near the\nProfessor, as the bull, after running around, stood still and glared at\nthem with fiery eyes.\n\"I am Beelzebub!\" roared the bull.\nWith loud cries of \"Satan!\" \"Beelzebub!\" \"the devil!\" the priests and\nthe people leaped from their seats, and, tumbling over each other,\nrolled out of the amphitheater into the open air. Along the banks of the\nRimac, men, women, and children were flying in terror, with loud cries\nof \"El diablo! el diablo!\"\n\"Where is Moses?\" asked the Professor, as with Toney and Tom he sat in\nthe deserted amphitheater.\n\"He and Wiggins have gone with the crowd,\" said Toney.\n\"The bull will have to perform before empty benches,\" said the\nProfessor.\n\"That animal has created more commotion than any of the Pope's bulls in\nthe Dark Ages,\" said Toney.\n\"He is equal to Apis, the sacred bull of the Egyptians,\" said the\nProfessor, as they arose from their seats and left the amphitheater.\nCHAPTER XLIV.\nAt the hotel in Lima the Professor and his friends found the supercargo\nof the ship who had come to hunt up the passengers. The captain had been\nin trouble; the crew having mutinied and refused to work because they\nwere not allowed the privilege of a cruise on shore. The controversy\nbetween the quarter-deck and the forecastle was finally adjusted, and\nthe crew agreed to go to work on condition of afterwards having one day\nof liberty. The supercargo said that they were now on shore in Callao,\nand that the vessel would sail on the following morning.\nUpon receiving this information, the passengers made preparations to\nproceed on foot to Callao; it being impossible to obtain any vehicle on\nthat day, as everything which had wheels or hoofs had gone to the\nbull-fight and had been left behind in the general stampede which\nensued. The Professor inquired for M. T. Pate, but he was not in the\nhotel, and from information received, it was supposed that he had\nalready left the city and proceeded to the port.\nLima, unlike most American cities, is encompassed by a wall. Just beyond\nthe gate, which opens on the six miles of level road leading to Callao,\nare a number of mounds heaped up by the ancient inhabitants of the\ncountry for the purpose of hiding the remains of mortality. But as these\npoor pagans were unwilling to leave the world as unadorned as they had\nentered it, numerous excavations had been made by their Christian\nsuccessors, who had stripped them of their heathenish ornaments, and\ncarried them off, to be converted into the images of saints.\nThe Professor and his companions turned aside from the road and\nproceeded to an inspection of the place.\nHercules had already thrust his long neck into one of the excavations,\nwhen, with a loud exclamation, he drew suddenly back as if he had\ncertainly seen a sight. The Long Green Boy now peeped into the\naperture, and, starting back, looked as if he were about to exclaim,\n\"Angels and ministers of grace, defend us!\" But lo! it starts up--it\nmoves towards them--long, lean, and spectral!--in robes as white as the\ndriven snow, like the shivering shade of an ancient Inca come hither to\nmourn over the extinction of his race.\nHercules assumes the posture of a racer ready to make a desperate\nspring, and only waiting for the word \"Go!\" The Professor throws himself\nin the attitude of Hamlet in his interesting interview with the ghost.\nBotts clutches the hilt of his bowie-knife and stands prepared to battle\nwith whatever may come forth. But hold! rash man, forbear! No horrible\napparition of an unbaptized infidel is this, but a pious Christian and a\npoor countryman in distress. It is the unfortunate M. T. Pate stalking\nforth with no covering except a single shirt.\nFinding no congenial society in the city, he had wandered hither to\nmeditate among the tombs. His reveries were rudely interrupted by\ncertain grim-looking fellows carrying carbines, one of which was\npresented to his breast with an observation which, for want of an\ninterpreter, he was unable to comprehend. Poor Pate was too much awed to\nanimadvert upon the sinfulness of such proceedings on Sunday; and these\nbold Sabbath-breakers, having rifled his pockets, stripped him of all\nthat he had, and left him in the condition in which he was found.\nHaving heard his dolorous story, the Professor exclaimed,--\n\"But, Mr. Pate, what is to be done? You cannot travel along the public\nhighway in that condition of nudity.\"\n\"If he does,\" said Toney, \"the people will suppose that he is a model\nartist.\"\n\"The weather is hot,\" said Tom Seddon. \"And he will not feel\nuncomfortable with nothing on but his shirt.\"\n\"If Pate goes into Callao, in a nude condition, he will frighten the\nwomen into fits,\" said Toney.\n\"And he will be arrested and put in the calaboose,\" said the Professor.\n\"What is to be done?\" asked Toney. \"Our trunks are in Callao, and there\nis no spare clothing among us.\"\n\"Mr. Pate can have my drawers,\" said Wiggins. And he pulled them off and\nhanded them to his unfortunate friend.\n\"And I will let him have my coat,\" said Hercules, pulling it off.\n\"That coat is like charity,\" said the Professor.\n\"How so?\" asked Toney.\n\"It covers a multitude of faults,\" said the Professor, pointing to the\ngiant's linen coat, which completely enveloped the person of Pate and\nhung down to his heels.\n\"What will Mr. Pate do for a pair of boots?\" said Moses.\n\"Never mind,\" said Tom Seddon, \"the road is sandy and will not hurt his\nbare feet.\"\n\"And when he comes to stony places I will carry him on my back,\" said\nHercules.\n\"Come along, Mr. Pate,\" said Toney.\n\"And when you return from California with your gold you should by all\nmeans carefully avoid these localities,\" said the Professor.\nPoor Pate uttered not a word in response to these advisory remarks, but\nall were convinced by the quivering of his lip and other outward signs\nthat he was inwardly vowing that he would do so.\nThey now hurried on; Toney, Tom, and the Professor leading the advance,\nand when about half-way between Lima and Callao, they espied a curious\nkind of cavalry coming up the road. It was the ship's company ashore on\nliberty and making the most of that inestimable blessing. Each jolly tar\nwas mounted on a little donkey, and at the head of the cavalcade rode\nOld Nick, having a leadline in his hand; and this steady and experienced\nseaman, apprehensive of shoals or hidden rocks, kept constantly heaving\nthe lead and calling out the number of fathoms each time that it fell.\nOnce he was heard to cry out \"No bottom!\" and down went his donkey in a\nhole; but the dauntless navigator assured his shipmates that, though the\nlittle craft had her lee-rail under, she would soon right up without\nlosing a stick of her timber; and the result was just as he had said.\n\"Where is Pate?\" asked the Professor.\n\"Yonder he is,\" said Toney, pointing to Pate, about a quarter of a mile\nbehind, mounted on the back of Hercules, with Wiggins walking on one\nside and Perch on the other; Botts and Moses bringing up the rear.\n\"Hercules is carrying him over the stony road,\" said Tom.\n\"The giant has a big body and a big heart,\" said the Professor; \"but he\nshall not be treated like a beast of burden. Pate shall ride Old Nick's\ndonkey.\"\n\"Old Nick will not give up his donkey,\" said Toney.\n\"We will see,\" said the Professor. And he advanced near the spot where\nthe huge sailor sat on the little animal with his feet touching the\nground. Just at that moment Old Nick gave the bridle a jerk.\n\"Oh--oh! You hurt! Get off my back, you drunken lubber!\" exclaimed a\nvoice issuing from the mouth of the beast. Old Nick leaped off and fled\ndown the road.\n\"Avast there!\" cried Tim.\n\"Hush up, you old fool! you are drunk too!\" said Tim's donkey. The\nsailor rolled off.\n\"Get off my back!\" exclaimed another donkey.\n\"Get off! get off! you ought all to be hung at the yard-arm for mutiny!\"\nshouted each donkey in succession. With wild yells of terror, the\nsailors fled down the road to Callao, ran at full speed through the town\nto the water's edge, leaped into a boat and went on board the vessel.\n\"Here, Mr. Pate, mount on this donkey,\" said the Professor, as Pate came\nriding along on the back of Hercules. The Professor selected an animal\nfor himself, and he and Pate rode into Callao, and halted at the hotel,\nwhere they had left their trunks when they had started for Lima.\nAt the hotel, Pate retired to a room and made his toilet; but when he\nagain appeared he was so teased and tormented by certain wicked wags\nthat he abruptly left the hotel and rushed into the street. He was seen\nno more. The passengers went on board and the ship was ready to sail.\nThe captain went on shore and made inquiry for Pate. Nothing could be\nheard of him, and, after losing several days in a fruitless search, the\nship finally put to sea.\nDuring the voyage there were numerous discussions in relation to his\nprobable fate; but ultimately the opinion prevailed that he had gone\nback to Lima, to pay his bill at the hotel, and had thus been left\nbehind. The ship sailed on without him, and after a voyage of two\nmonths, passed through the Golden Gate, and anchored in the harbor of\nSan Francisco.\nCHAPTER XLV.\n\"This seems to be a city of tents,\" said the Professor, as they stood on\na hill which has long since been removed, and now forms a portion of the\nartificial foundation for the immense warehouses which stand where their\nship anchored between Happy Valley and Goat Island.\n\"I see very few houses,\" said Tom Seddon.\n\"Only the old Spanish structures built a hundred years ago with adobe\nbrick,\" said the Professor.\n\"In two years from the present period,\" said Toney, \"you will see houses\nall over this space,--hotels of six stories, and commodious dwellings\nand warehouses.\"\n\"Toney is a prophet,\" said Tom.\n\"On the very spot where we now stand there is gold in abundance,\" said\nToney.\n\"In these sand-hills?\" exclaimed Tom.\n\"Yes; in these very sand-hills where we now are,\" said Toney; \"if a man\nhas sagacity enough to perceive his chance and avail himself of it.\"\n\"I divine your meaning,\" said the Professor. \"Let us buy one of these\nsand-hills.\"\n\"That was just what I was about to propose,\" said Toney.\n\"What will we do with it?\" asked Tom.\n\"Leave it here and go to the mines,\" said Toney.\n\"It won't run away,\" said the Professor.\n\"Of what use will it be to us, or anybody else?\" said Tom, kicking the\nsand about with his feet.\n\"In a few years an immense city will extend for miles around,\" said\nToney. \"Our lot will be in the very center of the town.\"\n\"Hurrah! hurrah!\" cried Tom, throwing up his wool hat. \"I see! I see!\nlet us buy the sand-hill.\"\n\"How much money have you?\" asked Toney.\n\"Five thousand dollars,\" said Tom.\n\"I have about an equal amount in my trunk,\" said the Professor.\n\"And I can raise about as much more,\" said Toney. \"Come, let us make our\npurchase without delay.\"\nBusiness was then rapidly transacted in the El Dorado of the West,\nwhere, at that period, immense fortunes were frequently made and lost in\na month. In a few hours the three friends were the owners of the\nsand-hill, and had their titles secured by deeds duly executed.\nOn the following morning they hunted up Hercules and his companions, who\nwere feasting on wild geese and quails at a tent in Montgomery Street,\nand embarked in a boat for Stockton, from which point they intended to\nproceed across the country to the mines on the Moquelumne River. In the\nafternoon of the same day they were entering the mouth of the San\nJoaquin when a schooner ran by them.\n\"What place is this?\" shouted Toney.\n\"New York,\" answered a man on the schooner.\n\"Not much like New York,\" said the Professor.\n\"What place is it?\" asked Tom Seddon.\n\"New York!\" shouted the man, with vehemence.\n\"He knows,\" said Toney.\n\"Let us go ashore and dine at the Astor House,\" said the Professor.\nThey went on shore, but were unable to find the hotel designated, and\nmade a meal on elk meat, in a tent kept by a one-eyed Hibernian; after\nwhich they again proceeded up the river until about the middle of the\nnight, when they lashed to the tulas on the bank, and lay in the bottom\nof the boat, sometimes snoring and at other times fighting the\nmosquitoes.\nIn the morning they hoisted sail, and in so doing Moses fell over the\nbow of the boat and was hauled in at the stern. After Moses had thus\nperformed his ablutions, they sailed on until about ten o'clock, when\nTom Seddon exclaimed, \"This river is as crooked as the track of a snake!\nWhat mountain is that? It sometimes seems on the larboard, and sometimes\non the starboard.\"\n\"That is Mount Diablo, I suppose, from the description I have had of\nit,\" said the Professor.\n\"The Devil's Mountain,\" said Tom.\n\"In plain English, the Devil's Mountain,\" said the Professor.\n\"I never was so hungry; I could eat a bear,\" said Tom.\n\"Better eat a bear than that a bear should eat you,\" said the Professor.\n\"I will starve before we get to Stockton,\" said Tom. \"Let us go on shore\nand shoot some game.\"\n\"Agreed!\" said Toney. And they ran in along shore, and, fastening their\nboat to the bough of a tree, landed and proceeded through the tulas in\nthe direction of Mount Diablo. When they had gone about a mile they\nreached an open space surrounded with thickets. Here they halted, and\nwere gazing around in search of game, when Tom Seddon suddenly\nexclaimed, \"Look! look!\"\nAbout two hundred paces from where they stood a man rushed out from the\nthicket, and behind him came forth a huge and ferocious monster\napparently in pursuit. The hideous beast ran after the man, and striking\nhim with its nose under the tail of his coat hurled him headforemost\nabout twenty feet. The man fell on his hands and knees, and the monster\nstood still and gazed at him intently.\n\"The devil!\" exclaimed Tom Seddon.\n\"From Mount Diablo,\" said the Professor.\n\"It is a grizzly bear,\" said Toney.\n\"Gracious!\" exclaimed Moses.\n\"That fellow had better run,\" said Tom.\n\"He has taken your advice,\" said the Professor.\n\"The bear is after him again,\" said Toney.\n\"Great thunder! I would as soon be shot out of a cannon!\" shouted Tom\nSeddon, as the huge creature thrust its nose under the man's coat and\npropelled him forward with prodigious velocity. The man again fell on\nhis hands and knees, and the beast stood still and regarded him with a\nsteadfast look.\n\"The bear is waiting for him to get up,\" said Tom.\n\"That's right,\" said the Professor. \"Never strike a man when he is\ndown.\"\n\"He is on his feet again,\" said Tom, as the man sprang up and commenced\nrunning.\n\"And the bear is at him again,\" said Toney, as the eccentric monster\nrushed at the man and hurled him headlong with tremendous force.\n\"Jupiter Tonans!\" exclaimed Tom. \"That was a settler.\"\n\"He is stunned,\" said Toney, as the man lay motionless with his face on\nthe ground. The bear stood still and looked intently at the prostrate\nform. The man did not move. After gazing at him for several moments, the\nbear walked up and smelled him from head to foot.\n\"Is he going to eat him?\" cried Tom.\n\"I do not believe that he is,\" said the Professor.\n\"Look there! Did you ever see the like?\" cried Tom, as the bear\ncommenced plowing up the earth with its nose and piling it on the man's\nbody.\n\"He is burying him,\" said Toney.\n\"That bear has good principles in his composition,\" said the Professor.\n\"He buries his dead.\"\nThe bear continued to pile the earth over the man until he had raised\nquite a mound, when he turned round, and, at a shuffling gait, went off\nin the direction of Mount Diablo, and was soon hidden in the thicket.\nToney and his friends now ran to the spot where the man was buried. The\nend of his coat was visible. Toney and Tom tugged at the tail of the\ncoat, while the Professor aided in the disinterment by kicking off the\nearth with his feet.\n\"By the powers of mud!\" was uttered in a hoarse voice, and the man\nsprang erect.\n\"Captain Bragg!\" exclaimed Toney, in astonishment.\n\"Great thunder!\" cried Tom.\nThe astonishment of Bragg was equal to that of Toney and Tom. He was\ncovered with dirt, and swore vehemently \"by the powers of mud.\" He\neventually became more composed, and, while walking to the boat,\naccounted for the condition in which he was found. In coming down the\nriver he had quarreled with the captain of the vessel, and challenged\nhim to single combat. The captain had rudely refused to accept the\nchallenge, and put Bragg on shore, where, in wandering about, he had\nencountered the bear.\n\"Look!--look!--what's that?\" cried Moses, as an agile creature with very\nlong ears sprang up before them.\n\"It is a young donkey,\" said Toney.\nTom fired his gun and the animal fell dead.\n\"In this country it is called a jackass rabbit,\" said Bragg, as Tom\nshouldered his game and carried it to the boat.\nA fire was kindled, and in a short time they were feasting on the\nbroiled flesh of the rabbit. During the meal Botts and Bragg regarded\neach other with looks of savage ferocity, but no words were exchanged\nbetween them. Toney's mind was relieved from anxiety when Bragg pointed\nto a schooner coming down the river, and said,--\n\"Mr. Belton, you would confer a great favor by putting me on board\nyonder vessel. I intend to proceed to San Francisco and settle with that\nvillainous captain.\"\nThe boat put off from the shore and conveyed Bragg to the schooner, and\nthen proceeded up the river. When they were about six miles from\nStockton, half a dozen barges filled with armed men came around a bend\nin the river.\n\"Boat ahoy!\" cried a tall man standing up in the foremost barge. No\nattention was paid to this hail, and the boat was kept on its course. In\nan instant more than fifty rifles were leveled at them, and Perch and\nWiggins crouched down in the bottom of the boat and covered themselves\nwith a buffalo robe.\n\"What do you want?\" cried Toney.\n\"We are hunting for Red Mike, Long-Nose Jack, and the Preacher,\"\nexclaimed several men in the barges, which now came alongside.\n\"They are not here,\" said Toney.\n\"We will see,\" said one of the men. \"Who is that hiding there?\" And he\njerked the buffalo robe aside and beheld Perch's fiery head of hair.\n\"Red Mike!\" he exclaimed.\n\"And that is Long-Nose Jack,\" said another man, pointing to Wiggins's\nextraordinary nasal projection.\n\"And there is the Preacher,\" said a big fellow, gazing sternly at Moses,\nwho, from his peculiar conformation, looked much like a parson in\ndisguise.\n\"The Preacher is the worst of the whole gang,\" said one of the men.\n\"We will hang him on the highest limb,\" said another.\n\"Good heavens, gentlemen! you are not going to hang them?\" exclaimed\nToney.\n\"They have done nothing!\" cried Tom.\n\"They have just landed in California,\" said the Professor.\n\"You three fellows shut up,\" said one of the men. \"We have got nothing\nagainst you, but we know these chaps. They are New York Hounds. Robbed a\ntent last night. We'll hang them as soon as we get back to Stockton.\"\nMoses and Perch were dumb with terror, as they were dragged into one of\nthe barges, while Wiggins ejaculated,--\n\"Oh, Lord! oh, Lord!\" With loud cheers the men rowed away in the\ndirection of Stockton. Toney and his friends followed, but were soon\nleft far behind.\nWhen the lynching-party reached Stockton with their captives, loud\nshouts were heard on shore.\n\"They have got them! they have got them! Ropes!--ropes!\" were the cries,\nas the unfortunate prisoners were dragged from the barge.\n\"Hang them! hang them!\" was shouted and screamed by infuriated men, who\ncame running with ropes prepared for the execution of the robbers. The\naffrighted prisoners were hurried to a large oak, which stood about a\nhundred yards from the main street. Three mules were now led to the\nspot, and the supposed felons, with ropes around their necks, were made\nto mount on the backs of the animals. A man climbed into the tree and\nfastened the ropes to a large horizontal limb. Each mule was held by\nits bridle, while a man stood behind with a whip, ready to apply the\nlash at a given signal.\n\"Now,\" said a tall individual, who seemed to be the leader of the\nlynchers, \"if you three fellows have got any thing to say, sing out. You\nhave got five minutes to live. When I fire off this pistol, the mules\nwill jump from under you, and you are gone.\"\n\"Oh!--oh!--oh!\" groaned Perch.\n\"Tell my father,\" said Moses, turning his head round and looking\npiteously at Perch, \"that I was hung for nothing.\"\n\"I can't tell him,\" said Perch, \"I've got to be hung\nmyself,--oh!--oh!--oh!\"\n\"You have three minutes left,\" said the man with the pistol, looking at\nhis watch.\n\"Oh, Lord! oh, Lord! oh, Lord!\" ejaculated Wiggins.\n\"If that's all you've got to say, you might as well shut up and be hung\nat once. Two minutes left!\"\n\"Oh! oh! oh!\" groaned Perch.\n\"One minute!\"\n\"Mercy!--mercy!--mercy!\" cried Moses.\nThe man cocked his pistol and elevated it over his head.\n\"Oh, Lord! oh, Lord! oh, Lord!\" screamed Wiggins.\n\"Hold on!\" cried a voice in the crowd.\n\"What's broke loose?\" said the man, lowering his pistol and turning\nround.\n\"Here comes the Alcalde!\" shouted a number of voices, as a rough fellow,\nwith long hair, galloped up and halted his panting horse in front of the\ngallows.\n\"What are you doing there?\" asked he. And he glanced at Moses and his\ncomrades, sitting on the mules, with the ropes around their necks.\n\"Hanging Red Mike, Long-Nose Jack, and the Preacher,\" said the man with\nthe pistol in his hand.\n\"You have waked up the wrong passengers. We caught the infernal thieves\non the road to San Jos\u00e9. Here they are,\" said the Alcalde, as a party of\nmen galloped up, having three prisoners in custody with their hands tied\nbehind their backs.\n\"Let these men go,\" said the Alcalde, pointing to Moses and the other\ntwo who were just about to be hung.\nThe supposed robbers were released and the real offenders placed on the\nbacks of the mules.\n\"Run!\" cried Moses, \"run! run!\" And he and his two companions fled in\nheadlong haste to the water's edge, and encountered Toney and the other\noccupants of the boat, who were just landing.\n\"Where are you going?\" said Toney, as all three leaped into the boat and\nseized the oars.\n\"Home!\" exclaimed Moses.\n\"Back to the States!\" cried Perch.\n\"I wouldn't stay here a week for all the gold in the mountains!\" shouted\nWiggins.\n\"Come back! don't be fools! it was all a mistake,\" said Toney.\n\"You'll be murdered,\" said Wiggins.\n\"Oh, Toney, come with us! They will hang you if you stay here!\" cried\nMoses.\n\"Don't make dunces of yourselves,\" said Toney.\n\"Good-by!\" said Wiggins.\n\"Farewell! farewell!\" cried Perch.\n\"God bless you, Toney!\" ejaculated Moses, as he and Perch commenced\npulling vigorously at the oars, while Wiggins laid hold on the tiller.\nThey rested not during the whole ensuing night, and in the afternoon of\nthe next day arrived at San Francisco. A steamer was about to sail, and\nthey immediately went on board, and in a fortnight were landed at\nPanama.\nHaving procured mules, they proceeded across the Isthmus to Cruces.\nHere they entered a public house, and behind the bar beheld a\nbald-headed man washing a bottle.\n\"Look there!\" exclaimed Perch.\n\"Mr. Pate!\" cried Wiggins.\nThe bald-headed man looked up, and, uttering a cry of recognition,\ndropped the bottle, and, running from behind the bar, threw his arms\naround Wiggins's neck and hugged him fraternally.\nCHAPTER XLVI.\nWhen M. T. Pate rushed from the hotel in Callao, he had been rendered\nfrantic by the ridicule of the merciless wags by whom he was surrounded.\nBlinded with passion, he was hurrying along, not knowing nor caring\nwhither he went, when he ran over a buzzard in the street and fell flat\non his face. Springing to his feet, he struck the bird a heavy blow with\na stick which laid it dead in the gutter. These industrious scavengers\nare protected by law in the Peruvian cities, and hardly had Pate\ncommitted this outrage when he was seized by a couple of soldiers and\ncarried to the calaboose. For many weeks Pate pined in prison, living on\nexceedingly low diet. He was plunged in the depths of despair, and\nsupposed that he would have to end his days in captivity as an expiation\nfor his offense. He could see but a single gleam of hope. An earthquake\nmight come and shake down the walls of his prison, and he might thus\neffect his escape. But there appeared to be a dearth of earthquakes in\nthe country just at that time. Pate had often, during a long drought,\nread the prayers in church for rain, and he now used the same formula\nand prayed for an earthquake. But no convulsion of nature occurred,\nalthough he would often put his ear to the floor, and eagerly listen for\nthe rumbling sounds which usually precede a subterranean commotion. One\nafternoon an old American tar was put in the calaboose for riotous\nconduct while drunk. The sailor lay on the floor, in the same room with\nPate, and slept soundly until about the middle of the night, when he\nwoke up sobered and in the full possession of his faculties. Pate was on\nhis knees, loudly and fervently praying for an earthquake. The old salt\nsat on the floor and listened until he began to comprehend, when he\nbecame much excited.\n\"Avast, you lubber!\" he cried out, springing to his feet.\nPate paid no attention. He was so absorbed in his devotions as not to\nbe conscious of exterior surroundings.\n\"Stop your yarn!\" said the sailor.\nPate heeded him not.\n\"Shiver my timbers!\" shouted the old tar, fiercely, \"if I don't plug up\nyour dead-lights!\" And he seized Pate by the collar and thrust his huge\nfist under his nose.\n\"Murder!\" cried Pate.\n\"Murder, and bloody murder, it will be, if you don't stop spinning your\nyarn,\" said the sailor.\n\"Who are you? who are you?\" cried Pate.\n\"Belong to the ship Fredonia,\" said the tar.\n\"Did you kill a buzzard?\" said Pate.\n\"No; I got drunk. They'll let me out in the morning. I've been here\nbefore.\"\n\"Will you get out? I'll have to stay here all my life.\"\n\"What sort of a cruise have you been on that brought you into this port?\nWhat did they put you here for?\"\n\"I killed a buzzard.\"\n\"If you'd killed a man they wouldn't have minded it much. But they think\nmore of their blasted buzzards than they do of their shovel-hats.\"\n\"Will I ever get out?\" cried Pate. \"Oh, that I could get a letter to my\nfriends!\"\n\"Are you an American man?\"\n\"I am! I am! And in a dirty prison for killing a buzzard!\"\n\"Give me your paw, shipmate! I'll stand by you. Good luck was the wind\nthat brought me under your stern.\"\nPate and the old tar now had a long talk, and it was determined that the\nformer should address a note to the American consul, which he did;\nwriting with a pencil on a blank leaf torn from his pocket-book. In the\nmorning the sailor was released, and carried Pate's communication to the\nconsul, who transmitted it to the American minister at Lima.\nThe condition of the unhappy captive thus came to the knowledge of the\nrepresentative of the great republic; who told the Peruvian government,\nin plain terms, that his country would not permit one of her citizens\nto remain in prison during so long a period, merely for the paltry\noffense of slaying a turkey-buzzard. An angry correspondence ensued; and\nduring its pendency, a heavy American frigate and two corvettes came\ninto the harbor of Callao, and anchored with their broadsides bearing\nupon the fort. The decided tone of the minister who was a man of nerve\nand determination, and the presence of this formidable force, convinced\nthe Peruvian authorities that his Excellency was in earnest; and being\nin no condition to risk a bombardment, much less a ruinous war with a\nnation so powerful as the United States, they consented to the release\nof the prisoner on condition that he should leave the country within\nforty-eight hours.\nPate now determined to return home without delay. He had long since\nbecome disgusted with gold-hunting; and the home-sickness, which came\nover him in the calaboose, continued after he got out. So he immediately\ntook passage on an English brig bound for Panama; intending to proceed\nby way of the Isthmus to New York.\nHaving purchased a monkey to keep him company during the voyage, he went\non board, and the vessel sailed. He had a pleasant passage until they\nwere within a day's sail of Panama, when he met with a sad mishap. He\nwas sitting on deck, dandling his monkey on his knee, when a careless\nlubber let a pot containing red paint fall from the tops. The paint was\nspattered over M. T. Pate, who thought that it was his own blood and\nbrains, and under this impression, supposing that he would have to give\nup the ghost, fainted away. But a bucket of salt-water being dashed in\nhis face by an old tar, he revived, and, looking around, perceived that\nhis monkey was dead. The pot had hit it on the head and killed it\ninstantly. He mourned over his monkey until he reached Panama, where he\nrested a day, and then bought a mule and started across the Isthmus.\nAt a short distance from Cruces, in sight of the road, is a large ship's\nanchor lying in the wood. How it came there nobody can tell. Many\nsuppose that it was conveyed from the Caribbean Sea up the Chagres River\nby Pizarro and his Spaniards, when they were proceeding to Panama to\nconstruct vessels for the conquest of Peru; and that being unable to\ntransport it any farther by land, they had left it lying in the forest.\nPate tied his mule to a tree, and, walking aside from the road, seated\nhimself on the anchor and began to meditate.\n\"Here,\" said he, in a soliloquy, \"once stood Pizarro the Conqueror. No\ndaring robber, animated by the sordid love of gold, was that great man.\nHe came to destroy the pagan superstitions of a benighted land, and to\nextend the blessings of civilization over an entire continent.\"\nAs Pate uttered these words, his guardian angel, who was anxiously\nhovering over him, wanted to warn him of his danger, but was unable to\ndo so. A man of savage aspect had crept from a thicket in his rear, and,\nwith a catlike step, was cautiously advancing, having a heavy club\nraised in readiness to strike.\n\"In those days,\" said Pate, \"all was darkness and barbarism; but now,\nthe benign influences of----\"\nThe club descended. Pate beheld a whole constellation, and several\nplanets at mid-day, and sank senseless to the earth.\nWhen Pate opened his eyes it was late in the afternoon. Flocks of\nparrots were fluttering around him, and multitudes of monkeys were\nchattering and nimbly leaping among the boughs of the trees. He arose\nfrom the greensward with a bad headache, and discovered that he had been\nrobbed. His money was gone, and his mule had disappeared. Without a\ndollar, he was in a strange land and thousands of miles from home. He\nstaggered on until he reached Cruces, where he entered a public house\nkept by an American, to whom he related his misfortunes.\nThe man had just lost his bar-keeper, and employed M. T. Pate to wait\nupon his customers until he could earn money enough to pay his passage\nto the United States. And here he was found by Wiggins and his\ncompanions washing a bottle.\nCHAPTER XLVII.\nWiggins and his friends furnished the unfortunate Pate with pecuniary\nmeans, and he accompanied them to Chagres and embarked for New York,\nwhere in due time they arrived, and immediately took passage on the\nSouthern train. About a week after his arrival in Mapleton, Pate\nreceived a visit from the father of the fair Juliet, who informed him\nthat his daughter, the wife of Romeo, had discovered that there had been\na misapprehension on her part in regard to Pate's conduct.\n\"There has been a sad mistake,\" said Mr. Singleton. \"You honestly\nbelieved that my daughter had beaten you, and did not intend to slander\nher when you so asserted.\"\n\"She did beat me, sir,\" said Pate, \"and most barbarously. She knocked me\ndown with her fist and then broke my arm.\"\n\"You thought so,\" said Mr. Singleton; \"but it was a mistake.\"\n\"How could it be a mistake?\" cried Pate. \"Did I not feel the blow from\nher fist? Did I not see her standing over me, kicking me with her foot\nand beating me with a terrible club? Was not my arm broken? Did I not\nlie in bed for weeks? And then to sue me! And now I am a ruined man! I\nhave not a dollar in the world!\"\nAnd the big tears rolled down his cheeks as he thought of his destitute\ncondition.\n\"Mr. Pate,\" said the father of the fair Juliet, visibly affected by\nPate's distress, \"I am rich, and so is my daughter's husband. She is my\nonly child and will inherit all my wealth. She don't want your property.\nYour farm has been purchased by us, and a deed prepared securing the\ntitle to you. Here is the deed, sir, and here is a check on my banker\nfor a sum equal to the value of your personal property, which was sold\nby the sheriff. Good-morning, Mr. Pate.\" And Mr. Singleton hurried away,\nleaving Pate dumb with amazement.\nAfter having been haunted by bad lack for a long period Fortune smiled\nupon M. T. Pate at last. The first thing he did, after being\nre-established in his former home, was to hunt up old Whitey, then in\nthe possession of Simon Rump. Simon's angel had gone to Abraham's bosom,\nand the eldest of the female cherubs, who had now assumed the appearance\nof a full-grown woman, kept house for the bereaved Rump. When Pate\ncalled at the house he found his friend Perch seated by the side of the\nfemale cherub, who was evidently delighted with his society. Perch was\nentertaining the cherub with an account of his adventures by sea and\nland, and, like Desdemona,--\n \"She swore, in faith, 'twas strange, 'twas passing strange;\n 'Twas pitiful, 'twas wondrous pitiful;\n She wished she had not heard it; yet she wished\n That Heaven had made her such a man.\"\nThe sagacity of M. T. Pate enabled him to perceive that Perch and the\ncherub were in the incipient stages of love, and he left them in that\nembarrassing condition and sought Simon Rump, whom he found feeding his\nhogs. Rump agreed to give up old Whitey, and Pate paid the ransom for\nhis horse and rode home in a happy mood of mind.\nNext morning, as he was riding his four-footed friend through the\nstreets of Mapleton, he perceived Wiggins walking with the widow whom he\nhad once led to the altar but failed to marry, owing to an unfortunate\nblunder. They had evidently become reconciled; and Wiggins was now\nperforming the part of Othello, and employing the witchcraft which that\ndusky hero had used in wooing Brabantio's daughter.\nAs Pate rode on he met Gideon Foot, who informed him that Bliss had been\nblessed with an heir, and the boy was to be named M. T. Pate. Love had a\nsweet babe several weeks old, that looked like a Cupid smiling in the\ncradle, and very recently a pretty pair of young Doves had made their\nappearance in the town of Mapleton.\nPate rode home in a meditative mood. A strange feeling came over him; a\nfeeling he had never experienced before; and as he sat in his lonely\nabode, absorbed in meditation, it became stronger, and finally obtained\nthe mastery.\n\"I see it plainly!\" he exclaimed, in a soliloquy. \"It is useless for man\nto seek to avoid his destiny. Inevitable Fate will pursue him wherever\nhe goes. He cannot escape. My time has come. I must marry.\" He uttered\nthese last words in great agitation, and trembled from head to foot. In\na few moments he started up and exclaimed,--\n\"I must marry;--but whom?\"\nHe could not answer this question, and held it under consideration for\nseveral months, without being able to arrive at a satisfactory\nconclusion.\nDuring this period he witnessed the marriage of Perch and the cherub,\nand waited on Wiggins when the latter again led the blushing widow to\nthe altar, and, on a second trial, responded pertinently and\nsatisfactorily to the interrogatories propounded by the parson. His two\nfriends were now in the midst of domestic bliss, while he was unable to\nsolve the question, which was perplexing him during the day and\ninterrupting his slumbers at night.\nWhile in this condition of mind, he visited the metropolis of the State,\nand on a bright sunny day drove a young widow in his buggy to see a\nmagnificent country residence, located a few miles from the city, which\nhad just been completed, but was not yet occupied by the owner. With his\nfair companion on his arm he entered the building, and much time was\nspent in a critical examination of the various apartments, from the hall\nto the attic. The widow at last complained of fatigue, and seated\nherself in one of the parlors. Pate blandly requested her to excuse his\nabsence for a few moments, and said that he would go down and explore\nthe cellar. The lady waited for a long time and then began to feel\nlonesome, and finally becoming quite uneasy, impatiently exclaimed,--\n\"What in the world has become of him?\"\nHardly had these words escaped her lips when she was horrified by\nhearing most singular and startling sounds coming up from the cellar\nbelow. It seemed as if a multitude of dogs, of every size and breed, had\nbeen let loose, and were all yelping and barking at the same time;\nwhile amidst this canine uproar could be distinguished a human voice\nlustily shrieking,--\n\"Get out! get out! Help! help! Murder! murder!\"\nThe lady was astonished and frightened, but had courage enough to rush\ntowards the scene of action. But as soon as she had reached the head of\nthe stairway leading to the cellar, a sight met her eyes which compelled\nher to retire; for modesty forbade her taking any part in the strife,\nalthough her companion was vastly overpowered and sadly in need of\nassistance. On the stairway stood M. T. Pate; having just escaped from\nthe combined assault made upon him by a large number of dogs which had\nbeen temporarily confined in the cellar by the proprietor of the\nmansion. The whole of poor Pate's under-garments had been torn from his\nperson, and there he stood in a tailless coat and a stout pair of boots,\nthanking a merciful Providence for the preservation of his life. In this\ncondition he did not dare to appear in the presence of his fair\ncompanion, and communication was carried on between them, by each taking\na position in a separate apartment and calling to the other in a voice\nraised to a high key. After a prolonged consultation conducted in this\nmanner, the widow proposed to leave one of her under-garments in the\nroom which she then occupied and retreat to another, while he came in\nand put it on. Poor Pate thankfully accepted the loan which the kind\nlady offered him; being driven to this shift to hide his nudity. He and\nthe widow were compelled to remain in that lonely mansion until the\nshades of night covered the earth, when he drove her in his buggy back\nto the city. He left her at her door and proceeded with his buggy to a\nlivery-stable. Here the sight of his strange habiliments created great\namazement among the hostlers and stable-boys; and when he started up the\nstreet in his robes he was arrested by the police and carried to a\nstation-house; where he spent the whole night weeping and wailing on a\nhard oaken bench. In the morning he was taken before a magistrate, where\nhis strange story was listened to with wonder mingled with much\nmerriment; and being entirely satisfactory, he obtained his discharge,\nas well as the loan of a coat and a pair of pantaloons.\nOn the following day Pate called upon the widow and restored the\ngarment borrowed from her, after the brutal assault upon his person in\nthe lonely mansion. She blushed when she received it, and sank into a\nchair overcome with emotion. The heart of a woman is an inexplicable\npuzzle. Newton, with his mighty mind, could comprehend the movements of\nsuns and planets and calculate their density; but woman was to him an\nincomprehensible problem, even when he pressed the hand of a fair lady\nwho sat by his side, and felt that he could make so free as to thrust\nher finger into the bowl of his pipe. Who can tell what caused the widow\nto bestow her affections on M. T. Pate? Perhaps, after he had so nearly\nfallen a bleeding victim to canine ferocity,--\n \"She loved him for the dangers he had passed,\n And he loved her that she did pity them.\"\nUpon no other hypothesis can we account for the fact that after he had\nbeen in constant attendance on the widow for several weeks they were\nmarried. A few days afterwards a carriage drove through the streets of\nMapleton, in which sat M. T. Pate and his bride. The event was announced\nin the local newspaper, which also contained an obituary notice of the\ndeath of Samuel Crabstick, who had left a will, by which he bestowed the\nriches he had so carefully hoarded on his niece, the beautiful Ida\nSomers.\nCHAPTER XLVIII.\nBy the will of her uncle, Ida was in possession of a large estate. The\nfair young girl was without a near relative in the world. Colonel\nHazlewood kindly undertook the management of her property; and, at the\ninvitation of Rosabel and her mother, she made her home in the mansion\nof the Widow Wild. On a certain day we there find her seated in her room\nand engaged in composition. Her little fingers run rapidly over the\npages, and soon finish a letter of several sheets of gilt-edged\nnote-paper. She gazes intently at her own name, written in a beautiful\nhand at the bottom of the last page, and then she kisses it. Having so\ndone, she folds the letter, and then opens it and imprints another kiss\non the same spot. Now, why did the young lady kiss her own name written\nat the end of the letter? Love has its unerring instincts, and Ida knew\nthat as soon as a certain young gentleman opened that letter, and saw\nthe name at the bottom of the last page, he would rapturously imprint a\nmultitude of kisses on that particular spot. How did the young maiden\nknow this? Had she not received a number of letters, and as soon as she\nsaw \"Tom\" written at the end of each, had she not looked around to\nascertain if any one was observing her; and then had not her ruby lips\nkissed the beloved name again and again in rapid succession? Thus Tom\nhad been kissing Ida and Ida had been kissing Tom, for the last six\nmonths, with a whole continent between them.\nThe kiss was carefully sealed up in an envelope and conveyed to the\npost-office at Mapleton. The iron monster attached to a train of cars,\nrushing through the hills and over the valleys, carried it to New York.\nA magnificent steamer transported it over the Atlantic's waves, and\nacross the Mexican Golf and the Caribbean Sea to the mouth of the\nChagres River; and from thence it traveled in a canoe to Gorgona and\nCruces; and then rode on the back of a mule to Panama, where another\nsteamer received it, and plowing through the billows of the Pacific,\nentered the Golden Gate, and took it as far as San Francisco; and from\nthence, on another steamer, it proceeded up the bay, and entering the\nriver, arrived at the city of Sacramento; and then rode on the back of\nanother mule across the prairies and among the mountains, and was safely\ndeposited in a post-office in a mining-town, where Toney Belton was\nawaiting the arrival of the mail. We thus see how many means of\ntransportation were required to convey a young lady's kiss to her lover.\nBut where was the lover? About three miles from that post-office, on the\nside of a ravine, stood a young man clad in a pair of loose trousers and\na red shirt. He appeared to be engaged in culinary operations, and was,\nin fact, cooking flapjacks. His rifle leaned against a tree; his wool\nhat lay on the ground; the sleeves of his red shirt were rolled up to\nthe elbow; his long beard was parted and tied in a knot behind his neck,\nso as to escape being scorched when he stooped over the fire; and he\ngrasped the handle of a frying-pan, used instead of an oven, and watched\nthe effect of the heat upon the material lying in the bottom of the pan.\nAnd now he lifts the pan from the fire and gives it a peculiar toss, and\nup flies a flapjack in the air about three feet above the pan, and,\nturning over as it descends, is caught and ready to be baked on the\nother side. Just as this feat was accomplished, a voice cried out,--\n\"Here, Tom, is a letter!\"\nTom dropped the flapjack on the fire, and, in great excitement, ran to\nthe spot where Toney Belton had just dismounted from a mule. The mule\nkicked at him, but Tom dodged, and, receiving the letter, hurried behind\na pine-tree, and, seating himself on a rock, opened it. He turned it\nover, and seeing the signature, he kissed Ida several times in quick\nsuccession. Thus was Ida's kiss, after having traveled more than ten\nthousand miles, safely conveyed to Tom's lips.\nTom Seddon read the letter and was the happiest man in the diggings.\nWhen he came to the last line he kissed Ida again. Tom read the letter\nover five times, and at the close of each reading his lips approached\nthe paper and tenderly pressed it. When he came from behind the tree,\nToney had eaten all the flapjacks which had been baked. He told Toney\nthat old Crabstick was dead and that he must go home.\n\"And so must I,\" said Toney.\n\"We will start to-morrow,\" said Tom.\n\"We will start from the mines to-morrow,\" said Toney.\n\"I wish you had a hundred thousand dollars,\" said Tom.\n\"I have more than a hundred thousand dollars,\" said Toney. \"Read that.\"\nAnd he handed Tom a letter addressed to himself. Tom read it, and then\nran to the place where his wool hat lay on the ground, and, seizing it,\nthrew it up in the air.\n\"Hurrah! hurrah!\" shouted Tom. \"You can now marry Rosabel!\"\nCHAPTER XLIX.\n\"Our sand-hill has been sold,\" said Toney, after Tom had concluded his\nenthusiastic demonstrations.\n\"And for five hundred thousand dollars!\" said Tom.\n\"Good news for Charley when he comes into camp.\"\n\"It is time he had returned. He and Botts and Hercules have been\nprospecting since last Monday.\"\n\"They will be here to-day.\"\n\"Yonder comes Hercules now. What is that he has got? It looks like a\ncoyote.\"\n\"No, it is a young deer.\"\nHercules walked up to the fire, and, nodding his head, threw his game on\nthe ground.\n\"Where is Charley?\" asked Toney.\nHercules pointed with his finger, and the Professor was seen\napproaching.\n\"Where is Botts?\" asked Tom.\n\"He is dead,\" said Hercules.\n\"Dead!\" cried Tom.\n\"Got killed,\" said Hercules, laconically; for he was tired and taciturn.\n\"Got killed!\" exclaimed Toney. \"How?\"\n\"He'll tell you,\" said Hercules, pointing to the Professor, who now came\nup.\n\"It is true,\" said the Professor. \"Botts is no more. He met with a\nviolent death.\"\n\"How did it happen?\" asked Toney.\n\"He fell a victim to his ungovernable temper,\" said the Professor. \"On\nyesterday morning he and I left Hercules cooking some game, and\nproceeded to a mining-town which we saw at a distance. Botts rode on a\nmule and I walked by his side. As we entered the town, Botts called out\nto a man whom we met,--\n\"'What place is this?'\n\"'Yuba Dam,' said the man.\n\"'What?' cried Botts, with a savage look. The man made no answer, but\nwent on his way whistling. We had gone a little farther when another man\napproached us.\n\"'What place is this?' asked Botts.\n\"'Yuba Dam,' said the man.\n\"'What's that you say?' exclaimed Botts, glaring at the stranger with a\nferocious aspect. The man was evidently of a timid disposition. He\nlooked frightened and hurried on. Botts swore vehemently, and said that\nthe next fellow who cursed him would catch it. As we went along we saw a\nman on the brow of a hill which rose abruptly from the river. The man\nhad his back towards us, and before him, standing on its hind legs, was\na kangaroo dog. The man seemed to be instructing the dog in the art of\ndancing.\n\"'I say, stranger,' cried Botts, 'what place is this?'\n\"'Yuba Dam,' said the man, without turning around.\n\"Botts uttered a howl of rage and sprang from his mule.\n\"'By the powers of mud!' shouted the man, facing about.\"\n\"It was Captain Bragg!\" exclaimed Toney.\n\"Yes; it was Bragg,\" said the Professor. \"Botts and Bragg eyed each\nother like two angry beasts. Both had weapons, but neither thought of\ndrawing them. Each sprang at his enemy's throat. They were soon rolling\non the ground and fiercely fighting. Botts was uppermost, when the\nkangaroo dog seized him by the seat of his breeches. A little bull\nterrier ran out from a tent and caught the kangaroo dog by the throat.\nUttering howls of rage, and clutching each other by the throat, men and\ndogs rolled over and over, down the hill and into the river.\"\n\"Into the water?\" exclaimed Tom.\n\"Yes; into the water ten feet deep.\"\n\"What became of them?\" cried Toney.\n\"The dogs ceased to fight and swam ashore,\" said the Professor.\n\"But the men?\" said Toney.\n\"They continued to clutch each other by the throat, and were swept away\nby the rapid current, and sank to rise no more.\"\n\"What an awful fate!\" exclaimed Toney.\n\"Too awful to talk about,\" said the Professor. \"Let us select some more\npleasant topic of conversation.\"\n\"We have good news for you,\" said Toney.\n\"What's that?\" asked the Professor.\nToney now informed him of the sale of the sand-hill, and of their\nintention to return to the States. A long consultation ensued, and by\nthe time it had ended, Hercules had cooked the deer and it had grown\ndark. While they were eating the venison, two men encamped, and kindled\na fire under a pine-tree, at a distance of about fifty yards from where\nthey sat. After Hercules had satisfied the keen demands of hunger, he\nwalked off, and, laying himself down by the trunk of a fallen tree, was\nsoon in a sound sleep. Toney, Tom, and the Professor continued their\nconversation until a late hour.\n\"And now, Charley,\" said Toney, \"as this is to be our last night in the\nmines, let us have some music.\"\n\"Give us 'Oft in the Stilly Night,'\" said Tom.\nThe Professor drew a flute from his pocket and played the air which had\nbeen requested. As he concluded, a clear, manly voice, at the\nneighboring camp-fire, was heard singing:\n The voice! the voice of music!\n The melancholy flute!\n Mournfully on the midnight air,\n When all else is mute!\n As if some gentle spirit,\n With softly trembling voice,\n Imprisoned in that hollow reed,\n Mourned o'er perished joys!\n Cease! cease that mournful music!\n Oh, cease that plaintive strain!\n It bids me feel as I would feel\n Never more again!\n The fairest hopes long blighted,\n And youth's bright visions o'er,\n And joys that shone so heavenly bright,\n Gone for evermore!\n These mem'ries rush upon me\n With each sweet, mournful air;\n Then, cease! in mercy, cease that strain!\n Forbear! oh, forbear!\n\"Good heavens!\" exclaimed Toney, \"I recognize that voice!\" And he sprang\nup and ran to the camp-fire. Two stalwart young men, in the rough garbs\nof miners, were standing with their backs to the blazing logs.\n\"Harry Vincent!\" cried Toney.\n\"Clarence Hastings!\" shouted Tom Seddon, as he rushed forward and\ngrasped his long-lost friends each by the hand.\nCHAPTER L.\n\"What a madman I have been!\" cried Harry.\n\"And what a crazy fool I have been for five long years!\" exclaimed\nClarence.\n\"I have been an idiot!\" said Harry.\n\"And I have been a brute!\" said Clarence, \"to desert her as I did!\"\n\"She is an angel!\" cried Harry.\n\"What must she think of me?\" groaned Clarence.\n\"Let us go back to the States!\" said Harry, springing up impulsively.\n\"You can't go to-night. We will all be off in the morning,\" said Tom\nSeddon.\nThese exclamations were uttered by the two young men after a\nconversation, in which all that has been long known to the reader was\nfully explained.\nIn the morning, before the woodpecker's tap was heard on the bark of the\nlofty pines, the young men were on their feet, and making preparations\nfor their departure.\n\"Where is Hercules?\" asked Toney.\n\"He is sleeping by the side of yonder old log,\" said Tom.\n\"I will wake him,\" said Toney. And he proceeded to the spot pointed out,\nand came running back as pale as a ghost.\n\"What's the matter?\" asked Tom.\nToney could hardly speak. He gasped out,--\n\"A rattlesnake is coiled up on his blanket!\"\nTom Seddon was about to run to the spot, when Harry Vincent held him\nback.\n\"Hush!\" said Harry. \"Make no noise, or he is a dead man!\"\nHe and Clarence then took their rifles and advanced cautiously to the\nplace where Hercules lay in a sound sleep. The reptile was coiled up\nwith its head nearly touching his shoulder. Harry put the muzzle of his\nrifle within an inch of the snake's head and fired.\nHercules leaped up and uttered a howl. He turned round and beheld two\nstrange men standing before him with rifles in their hands. With a wild\nyell of terror the giant fled across the ravine, and along a road\nleading over a mountain.\n\"Come back! come back!\" shouted Toney.\nBut Hercules continued his flight.\n\"Mount that mule, Tom, and ride after him, or the fool won't stop\nrunning until he gets to Oregon,\" said Toney.\nTom mounted the mule, and, after a long chase, captured the giant and\nbrought him back to camp.\n\"Look there!\" said Tom, pointing to the decapitated serpent.\n\"Was that it?\" said Hercules. \"He's a whopper!\" And he stooped down and\nexamined the dead body of his bed-fellow.\n\"Eighteen rattles and a button!\" said Tom.\n\"Which indicate that he has lived twenty-one years,\" said Clarence.\n\"The snake had arrived at years of discretion,\" said the Professor.\n\"He showed very little discretion in selecting Hercules for a sleeping\npartner,\" said Toney.\n\"The firm of Hercules & Co. would be a dangerous one to deal with,\"\nsaid the Professor.\n\"To avoid it would have been prudent during the lifetime of his deceased\npartner,\" said Toney.\n\"What are you going to do with them?\" asked Tom, as Hercules cut off the\nrattles and put them in his pocket.\n\"Carry them with me to the States, when I go,\" said Hercules.\n\"We are going back now,\" said Tom.\n\"Are you going?\" asked Hercules.\n\"Yes,\" said Tom; \"we are getting ready to start.\"\n\"I will go too,\" said Hercules; \"I have got gold enough.\"\n\"What will you do with your gold when you get home?\" asked Tom.\n\"Buy a farm, and then----\" Hercules hesitated and blushed.\n\"Well, what then?\" asked Toney.\n\"I will marry my little cousin,\" said the giant.\n\"That's right!\" said Toney.\n\"Who is your little cousin?\" asked Tom.\n\"Polly Sampson. She is a very little woman, but she is very pretty.\"\n\"Well, come help us to pack up, and we will all be off,\" said Tom.\n\"And you can go home and marry Polly Sampson,\" said Toney.\nHercules went to work with alacrity, and they were soon packed up, and\non the road to Sacramento; which place they reached late at night, and\non the following evening were in San Francisco. They were detained in\nthe city of Saint Francis several days; and the business relating to the\nsale of their sand-hill having been completed, Toney, Tom, and the\nProfessor went on board the steamer with their fortunes in their\nmoney-belts, in the shape of drafts on banking-houses in New York. They\nsoon passed through the Golden Gate and were on the broad waters of the\nPacific Ocean. The weather was fine, and the vessel was remarkable for\nher speed. In a few days they were running along in sight of the coast\nof Lower California, and about two leagues from the land. The Professor\nwas on deck, with a telescope in his hand, looking at the desolate\ncoast, when he suddenly cried out,--\n\"There are several persons standing on the beach.\"\n\"They are pelicans,\" said the captain. \"At a distance they are often\nmistaken for human beings.\"\n\"Human beings they are,\" said the Professor; \"and, good heavens! there\nis a woman among them. They have a white handkerchief elevated as a\nsignal of distress.\"\nThe captain took the telescope, and, after looking through it, said,--\n\"You are right. There are several men; and there is a woman among them.\"\n\"This coast is uninhabited,\" said the Professor. \"Who can they be?\"\n\"Persons escaped from some wreck,\" said the captain.\n\"Put the ship about! Run her in towards the land! They must be rescued!\"\ncried the Professor.\n\"I dare not do it; the water is shoal,\" said the captain. \"We must stop\nthe engines and lower a boat.\"\nThe order was given; the engines stop, and the boat lowered, and into it\nleaped Toney and the Professor; while six seamen manned the oars. The\nboat put off from the vessel; and the sailors pulling with a will, they\nwere soon approaching the shore. Several men were seen standing on a\nrock, and one of them was waving a white handkerchief. They cheered, and\nwere responded to by the loud huzzas of the party in the boat, which\ngrounded within a few yards of the shore. The Professor's gaze was\nintently fixed on some object at the base of the rock.\nIt was a young and beautiful woman. She was standing, with her eyes\nupturned and her hands clasped, as if thanking Heaven for their\ndeliverance.\nThe Professor leaped into the water, and rushed to the beach. He stood\nfor a moment gazing at the beautiful girl. He then rushed forward and\nexclaimed,--\n\"Dora!\"\nAs she heard his voice she started, and then, with a joyful cry of\nrecognition, uttered his name, and was caught in his arms as, overcome\nwith emotion, she was falling to the ground.\nCHAPTER LI.\nMajor Stanhope, the father of Dora, and an officer in the army of the\nUnited States, had been stationed at San Francisco. His wife was dead\nand he had no child except Dora. They had resided in California about a\nyear, when the gallant soldier, who had never recovered from the effects\nof a wound received in the storming of Chapultepec, found his health\nrapidly failing, and was soon removed to another sphere of existence.\nDora's nearest relative, her father's sister, resided in the State of\nVirginia, and the young girl had taken passage on a vessel bound for\nPanama, with the intention of returning to the place of her nativity and\nresiding with her aunt. The vessel was old and unseaworthy, and went to\npieces in a violent storm encountered off the coast of Lower California.\nThe boats in which the crew and passengers sought safety were swamped,\nwith the exception of one, which reached the shore in a leaky condition;\nand if the Professor had not happened to take up the captain's telescope\nwhen he did, Dora and the six other human beings, who were thus\ndiscovered, would have perished on that desolate coast.\nIn a romantic valley of the Old Dominion Dora and the Professor had\nknown each other in former days. The young man had tenderly loved the\nbeautiful maiden, and his affection was secretly reciprocated; but on a\ncertain occasion, while under the influence of temporary pique or\ncaprice, Dora had rejected the man whom she deeply and sincerely loved,\nand they met no more, until, after the lapse of seven long years, fate\nbrought them together on the shores of the Pacific Ocean.\nThe weather continued to be fine, and the day after Dora had been\nbrought on board, she had recovered from the effects of fatigue and\nexposure and came on deck with a beautiful bloom on her cheeks. The\ndeportment of the Professor was now strangely altered. He was no longer\nthe man of wit and humor, and during the remainder of the voyage never\nuttered a joke. When the young maiden was on deck, he was constantly at\nher side, and when she retired to her state-room, he would sit for hours\nin a mood of mental abstraction.\n\"What is the matter with him?\" said Tom to Toney, as, on a certain\nnight, they were pacing to and fro on deck and puffing their cheroots.\n\"Yonder he sits, gazing at the moon, and won't talk to anybody. What do\nyou think he called me just now?\"\n\"What?\" asked Toney.\n\"He called me Miss Dora.\"\n\"Did he?\" said Toney, laughing.\n\"He did, indeed.\"\n\"It was by way of retaliation,\" said Toney.\n\"Retaliation? How?\"\n\"You used to call him Ida.\"\n\"When?\"\n\"When you were in Doubting Castle.\"\n\"What sort of a place is that?\"\n\"You ought to know; you dwelt in it for some time. Poor Charley is in\nDoubting Castle. Let him alone. He will soon get out. I have observed\nthe demeanor of the young lady when they were together, and I know, from\ncertain unmistakable signs, that Charley will not have to listen to\nanother negative. All is right. He will soon be the same jovial and\nagreeable companion he has hitherto been.\"\n\"He is a very disagreeable fellow now,\" said Tom.\n\"He used to say the same thing of you when you called him Ida, and would\nnot let him sleep with your incessant somniloquism.\"\n\"I think we should call ourselves the Silent Philosophers,\" said Tom.\n\"Harry and Clarence are thoughtful and taciturn, except when they are\ncomplaining about the slowness of the vessel. As for Charley, I believe\nhe would not care if we were on a voyage of circumnavigation around the\nglobe, now he has Dora on board.\"\n\"Our voyage on the Pacific is ended,\" said Toney. \"Yonder is Panama.\"\n\"Where?\" cried Tom.\n\"Do you not see the lights along the land?\" said Toney.\nThe voice of the captain was now heard issuing orders, which satisfied\nTom that they were about to go into port.\nCHAPTER LII.\nOn the following morning, having landed on the soil of Central America,\nthey started across the Isthmus. Dora rode on a little mule, and the\nProfessor walked by her side, holding the bridle. Toney and Tom, with\nClarence and Harry, proceeded on foot, Hercules bringing up the rear\nwith a huge club in his hand. It was wonderful to witness the tender\nsolicitude of the Professor for Dora. Along the road were a number of\nsmall houses, where the natives sold fruit and coffee to travelers, who\ncame in crowds after a steamer had arrived at Panama. At these houses\nDora's mule would halt, and the Professor would go in, and come forth\nwith a nice cup of coffee; and as the young maiden put it to her lips\nher beautiful blue eyes would be peeping over the top of the cup at the\nsmiling face of her escort with a most tender expression. He would then\nselect the most delicious fruit and hand it to Dora, who would receive\nit with a sweet smile, which made some of the rough miners, passing,\nimagine that an angel sat on the back of the little mule.\nToney and his companions frequently halted to rest; and Dora's mule was\nfar in advance of them on the road. When within a short distance of\nCruces, they came to the spot where the anchor lay, near the side of the\nroad. Here they beheld Dora and the Professor seated on the anchor and\nthe mule quietly cropping the grass.\n\"Look yonder!\" said Tom. And he started towards the pair seated on the\nanchor.\n\"Come on!\" said Toney, with a peculiar look. Tom took the hint, and,\nwith his companions, continued to walk on in the direction of Cruces.\n\"All's right!\" said Toney, in a whisper, to Tom. \"The anchor is the\nemblem of hope.\"\n\"Do you think he will now get out of Doubting Castle?\" asked Tom.\n\"I know it,\" said Toney. \"Let us move on. Yonder is Cruces.\"\nThey stopped at the public house, where Wiggins and his companions found\nthe unfortunate M. T. Pate washing a bottle. In about an hour the\nProfessor arrived, leading Dora's little mule by the bridle. The\nProfessor's face was radiant with happiness; and Dora's cheeks were\ncovered with a multitude of the most beautiful blushes. Toney and Tom\nexchanged looks of peculiar significance.\nThe young lady rested at the public house; while the Professor walked\nwith Toney and his companions to the river, where they hired canoes to\nconvey them to Chagres. While they were bargaining with the negroes who\nwere to row them down the river, the Professor uttered a number of\njokes, which satisfied Tom that he was going to be an agreeable fellow\nagain. As they were returning to the public house, the Professor took\nToney aside, and informed him that, while seated on the anchor in the\nwood, he had again earnestly entreated Dora to assist him in his search\nfor domestic bliss and connubial felicity.\n\"Well,\" said Toney; \"and what was the result?\"\n\"The proposition was decided in the affirmative,\" said the Professor.\nToney grasped the Professor's hand, and shook it violently.\n\"Shall I tell Tom?\" asked Toney.\n\"You may, but with the injunction of secrecy,\" said the Professor.\nTom was informed of the event which had occurred on Pizarro's anchor in\nthe wood, and he laid hold on the Professor and hugged him.\n\"Confound it, Tom!\" said the Professor. \"You hug like a cinnamon bear.\"\n\"I can't help it!\" said Tom. \"I am so glad! And Toney has a hundred\nthousand dollars. Hurrah! hurrah!\"\n\"When we get home, let no one know that I have a hundred thousand\ndollars,\" said Toney.\n\"Why not?\" asked Tom.\n\"I wish the Widow Wild to suppose that I have come home as poor as I was\nwhen I left,\" said Toney. \"I will explain my reasons hereafter, and may\nneed your assistance.\"\n\"Can't I tell Ida?\" asked Tom.\n\"Rosabel and Ida must be informed; but with the injunction of secrecy.\nDo you promise to conceal my good fortune?\"\n\"I do; I will say nothing, except by your permission.\"\nOn the following day they arrived at Chagres, and took passage for New\nYork, which city they reached after a pleasant voyage, and on the next\nday were in Baltimore. Here the Professor left them, and accompanied\nDora to her home in Virginia. Toney and his friends arrived in Mapleton\nat night. They urged Clarence and Harry to remain here until morning;\nbut the two young men were impatient to reach Bella Vista, and, taking\nleave of Toney and Tom, were wafted away in the direction of the homes\nfrom which they had been absent during five long years.\nWhen Clarence Hastings and Harry Vincent approached Bella Vista it was\nmidnight. In their impatience, each young man had put his head out the\nwindow of a car.\n\"Good heavens! what means that light?\" cried Clarence.\n\"The town's on fire!\" exclaimed Harry.\nOn rushed the iron horse, and as they entered the town the street was\nilluminated by a conflagration.\nAround the mansion of Colonel Hazlewood are collected excited crowds of\npeople. Flames are bursting from the roof, and nearly the whole interior\nis in a blaze. The inmates had been aroused by the cry of fire, in the\nmiddle of the night, and all have escaped. No; not all! Where are Imogen\nand Claribel? Their shrieks are heard; they are in the burning house,\nand surrounded by the crackling flames.\n\"My child! my child!\" cries the gray-haired Colonel Hazlewood in an\nagony. He rushes into the building, and attempts to ascend the stairway,\nwhich is on fire. Suffocated by the dense smoke, he falls back\ninsensible, and is dragged from the door.\n\"Bring ladders! bring ladders!\" is shouted by a number of voices; but no\nladders are at hand.\n\"Oh, God! oh, God! must they perish? Can nobody save them?\" are the\nexclamations heard on every side. Several men rush into the house and\nare driven back by the smoke and the intense heat. While all stand\nstill, with horror depicted in their countenances, two men come running\nwith frantic speed to the spot. In an instant they seem to comprehend\nthe danger of the young females, whose shrieks are heard from an upper\nchamber. Into the midst of the smoke and flames they rush, ascend the\nstairway, regardless of the scorching heat, and in a moment are seen\nleaping through a window upon the roof of a portico, each holding in his\narms the form of a woman who has fainted. A loud shout goes up from the\ncrowd. A ladder has been brought, and the two men descend, and rush to\nthe opposite side of the street with their lovely burdens in their arms,\nas, with a terrific crash, the burning roof falls in. Colonel Hazlewood,\nrecovering from his swoon, staggers across the street to utter his\nthanks.\n\"Harry Vincent!\" he exclaimed. And Imogen opens her eyes and beholds her\nlong-lost lover, while Claribel is still unconscious in the arms of\nClarence Hastings.\nCHAPTER LIII.\nThe happiest month of Tom Seddon's life had rolled round,--the month\npreceding his marriage with the beautiful Ida. Toney Belton also seemed\nhappy, and so did Rosabel, and the only discontented person in the Widow\nWild's mansion was the widow herself. Nothing had been told her about\nthe sale of the sand-hill; and the eight thousand dollars, the amount of\ngold which Toney acknowledged he had gathered by hard labor in the\nmines, made but a small portion of the sum necessary to constitute a\nfortune for a gentleman. The widow was dissatisfied with Fate on account\nof her hard dealings with Toney Belton.\nRosabel knew better. Under the injunction of secrecy, she and Ida had\nbeen made acquainted with the good fortune of their lovers, and knew\nthat they were in the possession of wealth. Toney had considerable\ndifficulty, however, to induce Rosabel to co-operate with him in his\nplans for giving the widow an agreeable surprise.\n\"Why not go to my mother and ask her to consent to our marriage?\" said\nRosabel. \"She would interpose no objection, and you could inform her of\nyour good fortune afterwards.\"\n\"Rosabel,\" said Toney, \"when your mother, years ago, said, in my\npresence, with peculiar emphasis, that no man should marry her daughter\nwho was not worth a hundred thousand dollars, I made a solemn vow never\nto ask her consent.\"\n\"You did?\" exclaimed Rosabel.\n\"Yes; not even if I should some day be worth a million. I cannot break\nmy vow.\"\n\"I must consult with Ida,\" said Rosabel.\n\"Do so,\" said Toney.\nOn the following day Tom and Ida were to be married. Toney and Rosabel\nwere to accompany them to the church; and the widow would receive them\nat her house after the marriage ceremony was performed. Tom and the\nwidow were alone in earnest conversation.\n\"I would not swop with Adam if he were here with his Eden,\" said Tom.\n\"There could be but one addition to my happiness.\"\n\"What is that?\" asked the widow.\n\"I have a friend who dearly loves a young lady, and has loved her all\nhis life; but he is supposed to be poor.\"\n\"Well, what of that?\" said the widow.\n\"He has not obtained her parent's consent to their marriage,\" said Tom.\n\"Is your friend a worthy man--a clever fellow?\" asked the widow.\n\"He is, indeed,\" said Tom. \"I know of but one man who is his equal in\nall noble qualities.\"\n\"Who is that?\" asked the widow.\n\"Toney Belton,\" said Tom.\n\"If your friend is like Toney Belton, he is good enough to marry an\nemperor's daughter,\" said the widow.\n\"But the young lady's parent--her mother--may not consent on account of\nhis poverty,\" said Tom.\n\"Let your friend marry the young lady, and obtain her mother's\napprobation afterwards,\" said the widow, with much decision in her tone.\n\"Is that your advice?\" asked Tom.\n\"It is,\" said the widow. \"A parent is a fool to object to a man who can\nbe compared with Toney Belton.\"\n\"I want my friend to be married when I am,\" said Tom.\n\"Well, let him be married at the same time,\" said the widow.\n\"But where are they to go until the young lady's parent becomes\nreconciled?\" asked Tom.\n\"Bring them here,\" said the widow; \"I will welcome them; and they can\nremain here until the foolish mother becomes reconciled.\"\n\"I will do so,\" said Tom. And he hurried away to inform Rosabel and\nToney of the widow's advice.\n\"You will not act contrary to your mother's wishes?\" said Toney to\nRosabel.\n\"Certainly not,\" said Rosabel, with a sweet smile. \"I have always been\nher obedient daughter.\"\nOn the day appointed for the wedding, a carriage, containing Ida and\nRosabel, Toney and Tom, was driven away from the widow's door to the\nchurch. In about an hour the Widow Wild heard the sound of wheels on the\navenue, and rushed to the porch. As Tom handed Ida out, the widow caught\nthe beautiful bride in her arms, and kissed her with tender affection.\nShe congratulated the newly-married couple, and then said to Tom,--\n\"But where is your friend?\"\n\"Here he is,\" said Tom, pointing to Toney, who was getting from the\ncarriage.\n\"What! Toney?\"\nTom nodded.\n\"Is Toney your friend?\"\n\"He is, and ever has been, the best and noblest of friends,\" said Tom.\n\"But is Toney married?\" cried the widow, turning pale.\n\"He is,\" said Tom.\n\"Where is his wife?\" gasped the widow.\n\"Let me introduce you to her,\" said Toney, as he handed the blushing\nRosabel from the carriage.\n\"What? Rosabel?\"\n\"Rosabel,\" said Toney.\n\"Rosabel married?\"\n\"Yes.\"\n\"To whom?\"\n\"To Toney Belton.\"\nThe widow was speechless for a moment. She then took Toney and Rosabel\neach by the hand, and said,--\n\"Now, tell me,--are you two married?\"\n\"We are indeed,\" said Toney.\nThe widow kissed Rosabel, and then threw her arms around Toney's neck\nand kissed him. And then Mrs. Wild blubbered out,--\n\"Toney, why did you do so?\"\n\"I thought you would not let me have Rosabel.\"\n\"Toney Belton, you were a fool! You might have had Rosabel five years\nago if you had asked me.\"\n\"Did you not always say that no man should marry your daughter unless\nhe was worth a hundred thousand dollars?\"\n\"And were you not worth a hundred thousand dollars five years ago?\"\n\"Yes;--you. A man with nobility of mind, and heart, and soul,\" said the\nwidow, \"is worth more than hundred thousand dollars to the woman who\nmarries him; while many a mean fellow, who has a hundred thousand\ndollars in his possession, is not worth a pinch of snuff.\"\nCHAPTER LIV.\nAbout a week after they were married, Toney and Tom, with their brides,\nwent to Bella Vista, and witnessed the union of Harry Vincent and Imogen\nHazlewood, and of Clarence Hastings and Claribel Carrington. Upon his\nreturn to Mapleton, Toney received a letter from the Professor,\ninforming him of his marriage with Dora. Dora's aunt having died, about\nsix months before their arrival in Virginia, she had no near relative;\nand her husband had determined to purchase an estate near Mapleton,\nwhere they would, in future, reside. Toney was authorized to enter into\nnegotiations for the purchase of the property.\nWhile Toney and Tom were standing near the post-office, conversing about\nthe contents of the Professor's letter, Seddon suddenly exclaimed,--\n\"Look!--look yonder!\"\nOn the opposite side of the street they beheld what appeared to be a\nprocession of giants and dwarfs. In front walked Cleopatra with little\nLove on her arm. Next followed Theodosia with Dove, who looked like a\npigmy by her side. After them came Sophonisba with Bliss; and in the\nrear was Hercules with a very pretty but unusually diminutive woman. The\ngiant could not stoop to give her his arm, but led her by the hand. The\nprocession passed on, and entered the house of Gideon Foot.\n\"Who in the world was that little woman?\" asked Tom.\n\"His wife,\" said Toney.\n\"Is Hercules married?\"\n\"He was married about a week ago to his little cousin Polly Sampson. He\nbought a farm adjoining that of Moses, whose father is dead. Hercules\nlives out there with his little wife, and has, I suppose, brought her\ninto town on a visit to his relations.\"\n\"And what has become of Moses?\" asked Tom.\n\"Moses is also married.\"\n\"He is?\" exclaimed Tom, in astonishment.\n\"Yes; he is married notwithstanding his dread of the female sex.\"\n\"How did it ever happen?\"\n\"By the death of his father, Moses became a landed proprietor, and is\nthe owner of a fine farm in a high state of cultivation. Several\nenterprising young maidens endeavored to make an impression on his\nheart; but he could not be induced to go into their society until, on a\ncertain occasion, there was a rural festival in the neighborhood, called\nan apple-butter boiling.\"\n\"Did Moses go to that?\"\n\"He would not have gone had not some waggish young farmers first put him\nin an abnormal condition, by the consumption of a considerable quantity\nof hard cider. The cider imparted a wonderful degree of courage, and\nMoses went to the festival, where he soon found himself surrounded by\nrustic beauties. Moses drank more cider and became more courageous.\nFinally, as he sat in a corner with a pretty maiden, he popped the\nquestion.\"\n\"He did?\"\n\"The young maiden said 'Yes' with a sweet smile, and looked so pretty\nthat Moses kissed her.\"\n\"Great thunder!\" cried Tom.\n\"When Moses got sober he was greatly alarmed; but it was too late to\nrecede. More than twenty people had heard his promise of marriage. The\nyoung woman's father threatened to have a suit brought for breach of\npromise; and her big brother said that he would cudgel the swain if he\nproved false to his engagement. So Moses, dreadfully frightened, was led\nlike a lamb to the altar, and now has a very pretty wife, and looks\ncontented and happy.\"\nToney purchased the property for his friend, and in a few weeks the\nProfessor and Dora arrived with the intention of making it their\npermanent home. Tom became the owner of an adjoining estate. The three\nfriends, with their wives, frequently assembled in the parlor of the\nWidow Wild, with whom Toney and Rosabel continued to reside after their\nmarriage. Not long subsequent to the arrival of the Professor and Dora,\nClarence and Harry, with Claribel and Imogen, came to Mapleton on a\nvisit. During the conversation of the evening, Tom asked Toney if he\nstill adhered to the opinion which he once so emphatically expressed as\nthey sat on the veranda of the hotel in Bella Vista.\n\"What was that?\" asked Toney.\n\"That the right man is never married to the right woman.\"\n\"No; I do not,\" said Toney, with emphasis. And he looked at Rosabel.\n\"There must be a recantation of such opinions when experience has\ndemonstrated their fallacy,\" said the Professor, with a look of tender\naffection at Dora. Each husband looked at his wife, and each wife\nreturned the glance; and it was evident that the ladies and gentlemen\npresent were unanimously of opinion that the right men had been married\nto the right women.\n\"And what has become of the Mystic Order of Seven Sweethearts?\" asked\nTom.\n\"The organization has been destroyed by a power which man has never been\nable to resist,\" said Toney.\n\"What is that?\" asked Rosabel.\n\"Love,\" said her husband.\n\"_Amor vincit omnia_,\" said the Professor, as he arose from his seat;\nand, bidding his friends good-night, conducted Dora to their carriage.\nAs they rode homeward, Dora inquired the meaning of those Latin words,\nand they were translated by her husband; and she now learned that even\nthe stern old Romans recognized and acknowledged the\n OMNIPOTENCE OF LOVE.\nTHE END.\nPOPULAR WORKS\nPUBLISHED BY\nJ. B. 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It is a complete scientific, practical, historical and\ndescriptive treatise on the subject of which it treats, and will form a\nstandard for those who are seeking knowledge in this department of\nanimal life.... By the publication of this book, Messrs. J. B.\nLippincott & Co., of Philadelphia, have really done a service to science\nwhich we trust will be well rewarded.\"--_Boston Even. Traveler._\n _The Autobiography of Dr. Benjamin Franklin._\n The first and only complete edition of Franklin's Memoirs. Printed\n from the original MS. With Notes and an Introduction. Edited by the\n HON. JOHN BIGELOW, late Minister of the United States to France.\n With Portrait from a line Engraving on Steel. Large 12mo. Toned\n paper. Fine cloth, beveled boards, $2.50.\n\"The discovery of the original autograph of Benjamin Franklyn's\ncharacteristic narrative of his own life was one of the fortunate events\nof Mr. Bigelow's diplomatic career. It has given him the opportunity of\nproducing a volume of rare bibliographical interest, and performing a\nvaluable service to the cause of letters. He has engaged in his task\nwith the enthusiasm of an American scholar, and completed it in a manner\nhighly creditable to his judgment and industry.\"--_The New York\nTribune._\n\"Every one who has at heart the honor of the nation, the interest of\nAmerican literature and the fame of Franklin will thank the author for\nso requisite a national service, and applaud the manner and method of\nits fulfillment.\"--_Boston Even. Transcript._\n _The Dervishes._ _History of the Dervishes;_ _or,_ Oriental\n Spiritualism. By JOHN P. BROWN, Interpreter of the American\n Legation at Constantinople. With twenty-four Illustrations. One\n vol. crown 8vo. Tinted paper. Cloth, $3.50.\n\"In this volume are the fruits of long years of study and investigation,\nwith a great deal of personal observation. 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Cloth, $1.75.\n\"A more charming story, and one which, having once commenced, it seemed\nmore difficult to leave, we have not met with for many a day.\"--_The\nRound Table._\n\"Is one of the most intense, concentrated, compact novels of the day....\nAnd the work has the minute fidelity of the author of 'The Initials,'\nthe dramatic unity of Reade, and the graphic power of George\nElliot.\"--_Columbus (O.) Journal._\n\"Appears to be one of the most interesting stories that we have had from\nEurope for many a day.\"--_Boston Traveler._\n _Gold Elsie._ _From the German of E. Marlitt,_ author of the \"Old\n Mam'selle's Secret,\" \"Countess Gisela,\" &c. By MRS. A. L. WISTER.\n Fifth edition. 12mo. Cloth, $1.75.\n\"A charming book. It absorbs your attention from the title-page to the\nend.\"--_The Home Circle._\n\"A charming story charmingly told.\"--_Baltimore Gazette._\n _Countess Gisela._ _From the German of E. Marlitt,_ author of \"The\n Old Mam'selle's Secret,\" \"Gold Elsie,\" \"Over Yonder,\" &c. By MRS.\n A. L. WISTER. Third Edition. 12mo. Cloth, $1.75.\n\"There is more dramatic power in this than in any of the stories by the\nsame author that we have read.\"--_N.O. Times._\n\"It is a story that arouses the interest of the reader from the\noutset.\"--_Pittsburg Gazette._\n\"The best work by this author.\"--_Philada. Telegraph._\n _Over Yonder._ _From the German of E. Marlitt,_ author of \"Countess\n Gisela,\" \"Gold Elsie,\" &c. Third edition. With a full-page\n Illustration. 8vo. Paper cover, 30cts.\n\"'Over Yonder' is a charming novelette. The admirers of 'Old Mam'selle's\nSecret' will give it a glad reception, while those who are ignorant of\nthe merits of this author will find in it a pleasant introduction to the\nworks of a gifted writer.\"--_Daily Sentinel._\n _Three Thousand Miles through the Rocky Mountains._ By A. K.\n MCCLURE. Illustrated. 12mo. Tinted paper Extra Cloth, $2.\n\"Those wishing to post themselves on the subject of that magnificent and\nextraordinary Rocky Mountain dominion should read the Colonel's\nbook.\"--_New York Times._\n\"The work makes one of the most satisfactory itineraries that has been\ngiven to us from this region, and must be read with both pleasure and\nprofit.\"--_Philada. North American._\n\"We have never seen a book of Western travels which so thoroughly and\ncompletely satisfied us as this, nor one written in such agreeable and\ncharming style.\"--_Bradford Reporter._\n\"The letters contain many incidents of Indian life and adventures of\ntravel which impart novel charms to them.\"--_Chicago Evening Journal._\n\"The book is full of useful information.\"--_New York Independent._\n\"Let him who would have some proper conception of the limitless material\nrichness of the Rocky Mountain region, read this book.\"--_Charleston\n(S.C.) Courier._\nEnd of Project Gutenberg's The Funny Philosophers, by George Yellott", "source_dataset": "gutenberg", "source_dataset_detailed": "gutenberg - The Funny Philosophers, or Wags and Sweethearts. A Novel\n"}, {"title": "Abduction of Juan Francisco Rey: a narrative of events from his own lips, from the time he left Havana ... and his return to the United States, together with a compilation of the testimony in the preliminary investigation before Judge Bright and Commissioner Cohen, and a review of the same", "creator": ["Rey, Juan Francisco", "Scully, Daniel"], "description": "\"The narrative of the abduction of Juan Francisco Garcia, or--the name by which he is universally known in the United States--Juan Francisco Rey, which he assumed on his first arrival in this country, is drawn up from notes of conversations had with him on the subject.\"--Prefatory [notice by the compiler]", "publisher": "New Orleans, Printed for the publisher at \"The True delta\" Office", "date": "1849", "language": "eng", "page-progression": "lr", "sponsor": "The Library of Congress", "contributor": "The Library of Congress", "scanningcenter": "capitolhill", "mediatype": "texts", "collection": ["library_of_congress", "americana"], "call_number": "14849163", "identifier-bib": "0015995884A", "repub_state": "4", "updatedate": "2010-12-17 15:51:30", "updater": "SheliaDeRoche", "identifier": "abductionofjuanf00reyj", "uploader": "shelia@archive.org", "addeddate": "2010-12-17 15:51:32", "publicdate": "2010-12-17 15:51:38", "scanner": "scribe8.capitolhill.archive.org", "ppi": "400", "camera": "Canon 5D", "operator": "scanner-nia-lewis@archive.org", "scandate": "20110104120414", "imagecount": "66", "foldoutcount": "0", "identifier-access": "http://www.archive.org/details/abductionofjuanf00reyj", "identifier-ark": "ark:/13960/t0vq3rd2c", "curation": "[curator]abigail@archive.org[/curator][date]20110106033720[/date][state]approved[/state]", "scanfee": "14", "sponsordate": "20110131", "possible-copyright-status": "The Library of Congress is unaware of any copyright restrictions for this item.", "backup_location": "ia903607_34", "openlibrary_edition": "OL24586808M", "openlibrary_work": "OL15641219W", "external-identifier": "urn:oclc:record:1038762109", "lccn": "tmp96007973", "filesxml": "Wed Dec 23 1:40:08 UTC 2020", "subject": "Cuba -- History -- Insurrection, 1849-1851", "associated-names": "Scully, Daniel", "ocr_module_version": "0.0.21", "ocr_converted": "abbyy-to-hocr 1.1.37", "page_number_confidence": "79", "page_number_module_version": "1.0.3", "creation_year": 1849, "content": "LIBRARY OF CONGRESS\nConservation Resources Lig-Free\u00ae Type I\nAbduction of Juan Francisco Rey: Narrative of Events from His Own Lips, from the time he left Havana, in company with Villaverde and Fernandez, until his return to the United States, embracing a relation of what occurred on his first departure from Havana; the intrigues and violence by which his abduction was accomplished in New Orleans; his voyage back to Havana on the Mary Ellen; his imprisonment there, and his release and return to the United States, together with a compilation of the testimony in the preliminary investigation before Judge Bright and Commissioner Cohen, and a review of the same.\nCompiled and Edited by Daniel Scully\nNew Orleans, December, 1849.\n[Printed at The True Delta: Office, Poydras St.\nPrice: Twenty-five Cents\n\nEntered according to Act of Congress in the year 1849, by Daniel Scully, in the Office of the Clerk of the Eastern District of Louisiana.\n\nPrefatory.\n\nThe narrative contained in these pages of Juan Francisco Garcia, or the name by which he is now universally known in the United States \u2013 Juan Francisco II ey \u2013 was drawn up from notes of conversations had with him on the subject. Each interview lasted three or four hours.\n\nThe narrative form was adopted because of its facility in composition and for the reason that it is the most agreeable to the reader and easiest understood.\n\nJuan Francisco, almost entirely unacquainted with the proceedings in his case,]\nThe task of obtaining a detailed statement from an individual ignorant of the great interest surrounding his abduction was of no little difficulty, resulting in the lengthy time required. The disjointed facts delivered by him have been placed consecutively, and the first person singular adopted to avoid confusion. The following is the account as it was given by Key, with condensation applied.\nFrom the length of time Rey had for the recital and the latitude he was given, many important matters pertinent to the great national question involved in the abduction were elicited. By this publication, therefore, the Public will be possessed more completely of the facts than they would be even if the case came before the United States Circuit Court, which is now scarcely in session.\n\nThe Editor was fortunate in having the assistance of Mr. William Kane Wanton of this city, an accomplished lawyer, during his interviews with Rev.\nAllow Villett and Fernandez to escape; leave the Prison with them; sail far from the United States; Arrival at Apalachicola; Villaverde embarks for Savannah, and Fernandez and I for New Orleans; Become acquainted with Ayala and Llorente; Leave \"La Corrina\" and move to Morantes; Intrigues and threats of Ayala.\nI was under the jailer of the Real Cared, or Royal jail, in Havana, on the 31st of March last, to which office I had been appointed by the Junta Municipal of Havana about five months prior. There were two prisoners in the jail, Cirillo Villaverde and Vicente Fernandez, both confined in the same cell. Villaverde was charged with being implicated in the plan among the Creoles of the Island to sever the connection with Spain and either establish an independent government or annex themselves to the United States of North America. The accusation against Fernandez was fraudulent bankruptcy. Having, in the discharge of my duties, interacted with both prisoners, I observed their conversations and activities closely.\nFernandez spoke to me about assisting them in escaping from prison that day. He promised protection and other advantages if I helped. After discussing the matter, I agreed to their proposition. We left the prison together that night at half-past 7 o'clock. Villaverde separated from us in the streets, and Fernandez and I went to a certain house where we remained concealed for three or four days. On the night of April 4th, Fernandez and I left our place of concealment and embarked on an American vessel at the wharf of San Francisco. Villaverde came on board around the same time, and that night the vessel sailed for Apalachicola, where we arrived in seven days. The third day after our arrival, Villaverde took passage on a steamer.\nFor Savannah, Fernandez, and myself, we sailed for New Orleans, where we arrived safely after a short passage. For approximately a month after our arrival here, we stayed at the house of an American lady, whose name I do not recall, on Canal Street. At the expiration of that time, Fernandez moved to the boarding house of Callejas on Royal Street, and by his directions, I went to live at \"La Corrina,\" a segar shop on St. Charles Street, kept by his brother Jos6 Fernandez. I remained there until the 8th of June. In the meantime, I had become acquainted with Jose Ramon de Ayala. A few days before my leaving there, he called me out of the shop and invited me to take a walk. He led me to a coffee house at the corner of St. Peter and Levee Streets, and there he questioned me as to whether I knew where Fernandez had gone. It was the\n\n(Note: The text appears to be complete and readable. No major cleaning is required.)\nI had not heard the first intimation that he had left the city, and I answered in the negative. Ayala claimed to know where he had gone and immediately began asking me if I knew persons in Havana who had assisted him in his escape, to whom Ayala could write for money to ensure my silence. I replied that I wished no such letters written and knew no person to whom an application of that character could be made. He persisted in insisting that I did know those persons and importuned me to give him their names. I rid myself of him by saying I would reflect on the subject and give him an answer the next day. We then left the coffee house and separated at the door; he taking the direction of the Rue des Amis, and I walking down Rue Saint-Pierre. Turning into Rue Royale, I met Fulgencio.\nLlorente, introduced to me by Ayala beforehand, addressed me abruptly: \"You are in great danger.\" I asked, \"Why?\" He replied: \"Did you see Ayala V?\" I answered, \"Yes.\" \"Then it is all right,\" he passed on, ending the conversation as abruptly as he began it. Two days later, Ayala introduced the subject we had last spoken about and asked if I recalled any of the names I had mentioned I couldn't. I replied I couldn't. \"Well,\" he observed, \"I know the names of those who aided Fernandez and Villaverde myself.\" I expressed surprise. He told me he had written letters to two of those persons, as he had spoken of, and requested me to sign them, which I refused.\nHe repeatedly declined signing them, but finally told me in an ominous manner that I had better do it. This brought to mind the mysterious monition of Llorente, and I was reflecting upon it when Llorente himself stepped up. Ayala informed him of my obstinate refusal, and he joined him in their importunities. Both warned me, \"You had better sign those letters; if you do not, you will see a great deal of trouble.\" I asked for an explanation, but they refused it. I entered a store with them and put my name to the letters. Thereafter, wherever I met them, together or separately, they advised me to leave Fernandez's store (La Corrindon). They said I was running a great risk in stopping there, and that before Vicente Fernandez left the city, he had been heard to say it would be necessary to make away with me.\nThey alarmed my fears and suggested I leave uLa Corrina and go to the house of Mr. Jose Morante in the Third Municipality to live. Shortly after moving there, they attempted to persuade me to change my residence again, and on one occasion Ayala showed me a key, claiming he had rented a room for me, and I would be safer by lodging in it. I did not find their reasons sufficient for moving and declined their offer. They also urged me to make a demand upon Mr. Jose Fernandez for five or six hundred dollars, which they sought to make me believe he would be obliged to pay in the absence of his brother, and this proposition I also rejected, telling them I had no claim whatever upon Jose Fernandez. Dangers were constantly threatened to me now in the conspiracy.\nAyala and Llorente's conversations left me in a state of perpetual alarm. My spirits gone and a prey to melancholy, I was visited with sickness. While suffering severely from my ailment, Ayala and Llorente entered my room together one day. I was pleased to see them, hoping they might lighten my afflictions by their sympathy, but my feelings were soon changed. Scarcely had they passed the threshold when they ordered me to rise and dress myself, threatening punishment for disobedience. I told them I was too sick to leave the bed and craved them to spare me. Thereupon Ayala commenced walking up and down the room, drawing his coat on the left aside and slapping his hand significantly on a dagger he wore in the waistband of his pantaloons every time he passed me. It is difficult to imagine what their motive was for this suggestion.\nunless it was to effect a complete estrangement between Hey and Jose Fernandez, by presenting to the latter an insolent demand for money from the former. The subsequent course of those worthies favors the hypothesis.\n\nPresently both left the room together, and in a few minutes Llorente returned alone. Seating himself on a chair at the head of my bed, he buried his face in his hands, and apparently sobbing, he observed, \"Do not be astonished that I give way to my feelings.\" A quarter, perhaps half, an hour elapsed, Llorente still venting his apparent grief, when a coach stopped in front of the house. Llorente instantly rushed out, and returning told me a friend was waiting to see me outside. I requested him to invite my friend in. A stranger then entered in company with Ayala, who, together with Llorente, introduced him as a Doctor.\nAnd he sat down, one at the foot of my bed and the other at the head. The stranger saluted me, and looking me full in the face said, \"I am not a Doctor, Sir \u2014 I am the Spanish Consul.\" I replied that I had not the honor of knowing him. \"I do not come here as Consul, but as a good friend of yours,\" he added, as he took a seat and, unbuttoning his frockcoat, I perceived a pistol stuck in his waistband. On seating himself, he again addressed me and begged me to go with him, assuring me that his mission was a friendly one. I refused as long as I was only requested, but at last Ayala rose, drew his dagger from the sheath, and slapping it on the table said, \"Come with us, if you will,\" joined in the Consul and Llorente, \"but if you do not, we will make you.\" The tone was insistent.\nI submitted to the threats, which were unmistakable. I dressed myself, and the three men led me to the coach at the door, into which they followed. We were driven to a house entirely unknown to me, and I do not now know where it is situated. On driving up to the door, I was told to get out, and was conducted into the house by them. Without stopping, I was hurried through a corridor, up one flight of stairs, and into a room on that floor. As we passed through the corridor, Ayala took a paper from his pocket and handed it to the Consul. The moment we entered the room, the Consul held this paper towards me and told me I should sign it. I urged him to let me read it first.\nI did not know what it was. \"That is of no consequence to you,\" he answered, signing it, Sir. I reluctantly obeyed and, having done so, was about to peruse the paper when he grasped it from my hand. Ayala and Llorente then warned me never to make known that I had seen the Spanish Consul; that I should always know and speak of him as a physician who had visited me, and the Consul himself cautioned me never to reveal to mortal anything in relation to my interview with him or that I had been at his office. I made no reply, and there was a pause of some minutes. The Consul again addressing me, and now in a very impressive manner, said, \"You may say what you please, but remember, Sir, the police have their eyes on you, and wherever you may utter a word in relation to this matter, it will come to my ears.\"\nI tell you again, beware, Sir. He next requested that I return to Havana and pledged nothing would happen to me there, but I refused in the most positive manner. I was then dismissed. Ayala left the house with me and accompanied me to Mr. Morante's house. There we parted. I entered my room and, throwing myself on my bed, was lost for hours in reflections upon the strange events of that day and its antecedents. In vain I endeavored to penetrate the mystery surrounding me. I suppose from the excitement and the trials to which I had been subjected that day, my malady became worse. It was several days before I was able to leave the house again. The next morning, Mr. Morante asked me who the stranger was that had visited me in his absence. I told him it was a Doctor. He asked me several questions.\nI. Questions concerning the visit's purpose arose, as I suspected he might align with my enemies. I answered evasively. He persisted in wanting to know who the Doctor was. Having no reason to deny him, I revealed the Doctor was the Spanish Consul. That same day, Morante departed, and Llorente returned. His presence was now abhorrent to me, and, I presume, sensing this, he attempted to regain my confidence. He visited daily while I was confined, inquiring about my health and entertaining me with news. Occasionally, he discussed the Consul affair, assuring me their motives, his and Ayala's, though appearing harsh, were justified.\nI were friendly; and the act I had been compelled to execute would ultimately benefit me. Although reassured, and at times believing he was sincere, there was yet a lurking suspicion I was the object of some dark conspiracy. Perceiving this, he told me the Consul still kept an eye on me; that the plans he had in view for my good required that I should remain in New Orleans, and if I endeavored to follow Fernandez, who I had been informed had gone to Vera Cruz, I would find it impossible to obtain a passport, as the Consul had cautioned the Mexican Consul not to give me one.\n\nAs soon as I recovered sufficiently, I determined upon leaving.\nNew Orleans, escaping the toils of my enemies I needed to decide where to go next. Should I go to any other part of the United States, I would be a stranger and friendless among people whose language I neither spoke nor understood. Were I in Mexico, I would be in a country whose people were hostile to Spain, and whose language was my own. I therefore determined to go there and fixed upon Vera Cruz as the most desirable place, an important seaport, assuming, if, as had been reported to me, Fernandez was there, he might assist me. This was about the 26th or 27th of June. I at once communicated my design to Jose Fernandez, who informed me that whenever I wished to go to Vera Cruz, Mr. Louis Villerte, the agent of his brother, Vicente Fernandez, would advance me a sum sufficient for my expenses.\nI went to the Mexican Consul's office a few days later and, remembering Llorente's information that the Spanish Consul had taken precautions against me, I asked for a passport in the name of Francisco Jimenez. It was promptly issued, and I paid two dollars for it from my small stock of money. I wanted to go to Vera Cruz on a British steamer, but not knowing when she would arrive at Mobile, I decided to go directly in a sailing vessel from this port. I informed Mr. Yeoward, the clerk of Jose Fernandez, of my intention, and he agreed to negotiate my passage. The next day, Mr. Yeoward told me that the brig Titi was heading for Vera Cruz, and he would secure a berth for me. This continued until the 5th of July, Mr. Yeoward informing me that.\nDuring this intermediate time, he was trying to lower the passage price: forty dollars asked, and he believed he could get it for thirty. Pending this negotiation, my desire to leave was stimulated by a conversation I had with Llorente. Standing at the door of Mr. Morante's chocolate shop, Llorente approached me and signified that he wished to speak with me. I told him to go on. \"Not here,\" he said, \"come to the corner.\" I did so, and we entered the Cosmopolitan coffee house at the corner of Conde and St. Ann Streets, a few doors from the chocolate shop. Leading me away from the people in the coffee house, he told me there was a warrant out for my arrest.\n\n\"What for?\" I asked.\n\n\"I believe they are going to send you to Havana.\"\n\n\"Who is going to send me there?\"\n\n\"I believe it's the Spanish Consul.\"\n\n\"For what reason?\"\nHe showed me a paper and said, \"Because if he gets you back to Havana, he will obtain a Cross of Honor. You accompany me whenever you go abroad. I have the writ. I have the writ,\" he continued, holding up the paper I didn't understand the language of. \"As long as it is in my possession, you are safe. I know all the authorities in the city, and no harm shall come to you.\" He then advised me to go to the Consul's house and see him regarding the matter. I became angry at such a proposition after his telling me the Consul's course towards me and expressed my indignation freely. \"I make the suggestion,\" he said, \"because I know the Consul has received a favorable letter for your interests from the Captain General, and I am sure if you call on him, he will help you.\"\nOn him he will convince you of your error in refusing to return. I replied I had no favors to ask of the Consul or the Captain General, and had not the remotest idea of going back to Cuba. Stepping into the street, as we approached the chocolate shop, he enjoined upon me to place no confidence in anyone but himself, \"for you know I am your friend, and do not mention a word of what we have been speaking about to Morante, because he is a man of evil disposition and may do us harm.\" With this he left me and I returned to the chocolate shop. This was early on the morning of the 3rd July. The next day he called on me again, and taking me out of the shop he renewed the conversation on the subject of visiting the Consul. Finding me much displeased with his pertinacity we separated, not however without a renewal on his part of his request.\nThe consul gave me friendly assurances and claimed the best motives in all his actions concerning me. As we were about to part, he laid his hand on his heart and pledged his word of honor that if I returned to Havana, nothing would be done to me. I firmly refused to be guided by him in this matter and he dropped the subject. He then asked me where I intended to go. I replied that I didn't know. \"Look well to it,\" he then advised me; \"the Consul has learned you intend going to Vera Cruz, and he is enraged.\" I declared I had no such intention, although I had my passport in my pocket at the time, and added that if I left New Orleans, I would go to Lima.\n\nCHAPTER II.\nThe eventful 5th of July \u2013 Dine with Llorente and a stranger \u2013 Llorente insists upon accompanying me home \u2013 Walk along the Levee \u2013\nOn the evening of the 5th of July, around 5 or half-past 5 o'clock, Llorente came to Mr. Morante's chocolate shop where I had been since morning and asked me to take a walk. I pleaded fatigue as an excuse. \"Well,\" said he, \"at all events you can dine with me.\" I begged to be excused from this as well, as I invariably ate at Mr. Morante's house and was disposed to eat elsewhere. Urging me with much apparent warmth of friendship, I consented, and accompanied him to a sumptuously furnished restaurant on St. Peter Street, facing the Place (V Armcs). Upon entering the establishment, we seated ourselves at a table, and as we took our seats, a gentleman entered.\nwith mustaches approached us and saluted Llorente. A few words passed between them in French. He asked me in the same tongue if I spoke the language (Parlez-vous Fran\u00e7ais?). I answered him in the negative. He took his seat at the table and dined with us. The dinner was a capital one and Llorente seemed bent on his utmost to please me. His conversation was primarily directed to the stranger, to whom he spoke in French, which I neither spoke nor understood. He frequently pressed me to drink wine, but fearful of becoming intoxicated I always objected, and limited my indulgence to a glass of claret and water. Dinner over, the stranger left us, as I thought, very discourteously, without the usual kind expression at the parting of friends. After he left, I asked Llorente who he was. \"Without telling me his name, he...\"\nI cautioned me to be prudent in speaking to him. This was unnecessary as I spoke no French, and I supposed he did not speak Spanish. Llorente, answering that it was very true, added that we would have to await the return of our late companion, as he was gone in search of intelligence interesting to us both, and would be back at 7 o'clock. We waited until the Cathedral clock struck that hour, and no one appearing, we remained half an hour longer. I now told Llorente I could wait no longer and would go home. We started, and on reaching Royal Street, Llorente invited me into a house opposite the garden, in the rear of the Cathedral, to pay a visit, and after some conversation.\nWith the lady of the house, who spoke Spanish, and a gentleman named Mimoz, we bid farewell. Passing out through the hall, we met Madam Llorente, whom I had seen before at Calleja's. We exchanged pleasantries on my wearing spectacles, which I had done since my illness, in consequence of my eyes having become weak. After a few minutes' conversation, Llorente bid her goodbye, telling her he was going to accompany me on a walk. As we reached the street, I intimated to him that I was going directly home and it was unnecessary for him to walk so far. He politely offered to accompany me, complimenting me upon the pleasure my society afforded him, and suggesting at the same time that the evening was delightful and the most agreeable road to Mr. Morante's house would be along the Levee. Directing our steps to that road.\nWe strolled down the river side until we reached a coffee-house. There, we met our dinner companion who, speaking in imperfect Spanish, expressed his delight at seeing us and invited us to take a drink with him. We entered the coffee-house, and when I was asked what I would take, I ordered lemonade. Llorente asked me what I would have in it. I answered whatever he thought best. He then spoke to the barkeeper who produced a bottle, and Llorente, taking it and pouring a quantity into my lemonade, said, \"This is the bottle from which I usually take my drink.\" While we were drinking, a conversation was kept up in English between our mustached friend and another man who stood in the door, wearing a white hat. The latter frequently pointed to the interior of the coffee-house.\nHaving left the coffee-house, I asked Llorente where he was taking me, receiving no answer, I turned to return to the side walk and find my way home. Just as I turned my back to the Levee, a man in a light summer coat, cottonade pantaloons, and white hat seized me by the arm. Crying out to the \"traitors\" not to molest me, I wrenched my arm from his grasp and made an effort to escape. A voice in Spanish spoke from the coffee-house door, \"Put the rascal on board; the Stars of the American Flag are of no use to him now.\" Five men took hold of me, one of whom held my right arm.\nI was grabbed and gagged by clapping a hand over my mouth when I cried for help. I was carried in this way across the levee and along the wharf, and thrown on board a vessel lying at the pier head. When I got up, my first impulse was to jump ashore, but I was seized by two men, who I later found to be the steward, named Domingo, and one of the crew. They forced me down into the cabin as the vessel was cast off and floated into the stream. In a moment, I understood the truth. Every scheme and wile of my enemies was revealed. I was the dupe of Ayala and Llorente. Through their instrumentality, under the direction of the Consul, I was about to be offered to the vengeance of the Captain General of Cuba.\nI was certain to face death if I remained on the vessel. I was an expert swimmer \u2013 I decided to test my abilities in the element that separated me from life and liberty. I was stripping myself and had taken off my coat and waistcoat, when two men entered the cabin. \"What,\" said one of them, who I later discovered was Captain McConnell, the master of the vessel, \"are you going to throw yourself overboard?\" I replied that I was not, that I was very sick and wished to go on deck and cool myself. I went on deck, the two men following me. My thoughts were bent on escape. I surveyed the scene, and alas! Desperate as was my situation, I shrank from the attempt. We were in the middle of the river, in the rear of a steamer, which was towing two others.\nother vessels - one on each side - and ourselves some distance astern; the night had become intensely dark; nothing was seen of the shore, but the many lights of the receding city, now far behind us, and the hazard was more frightful as I knew full well the terrific force of the current I would brave. Thus I abandoned what I then deemed my last hope of returning to New Orleans. Soon I was attacked with vomiting and vertigo, and an unaccountable stupor came over me. Returning to the cabin, I was again followed by the Captain and his companion. The former pointed out my berth, and I undressed and laid down. Finding the oppressive heat aggravated my sickness, I rose in about ten minutes and found Captain McConnell and his companion seated opposite each other at the table, conversing in English. Addressing myself to the Captain.\nI asked him if he was the captain of the vessel. Receiving an affirmative answer, I desired to know if the Spanish Consul had been on board. He said the Consul was on board around 7 o'clock that evening. I was now confirmed in all my suspicions. I was the victim of the Consul's wiles. He had superintended my abduction, up to the very last moment. It was the Consul who was in the back room of the coffee-house when, in the conversation with the individual who had dined with Llorente and me, the man standing at the street door pointed to the rear of the building; it was the Consul, who, standing in the same door, a minute after, ordered the ruffians to seize me, and proclaimed the American flag was no longer my protection.\n\nI resumed my queries to the captain:\n\n\"Have you any documents for the Captain General?\"\n\"I don't have letters for him, I only have them for his secretary. Have you received a passport for me? We're going to Havana. I will give you thirty doubloons if you put me ashore and let me return to New Orleans. Do you have any money? It cannot be done. Why? Well, I can't tell you. If I do, I'll get into trouble with them. How will you get into a scrape? He turned on his heel and walked off without answering this question. I returned to my berth and lay there until morning, when, being much better, I went on deck. The sea was before us. We were at the mouth of the river. A boat, pulled by several oars, put off from the shore. A man was put on board and our sails were unfurled. She was towed in our wake.\"\nA man who boarded us immediately took charge of the vessel, and I recognized him as a pilot. Once the vessel gained a fair headway, we were called to breakfast. The captain, the chief mate, and the man I had frequently referred to as the captain's companion, whom I later learned was named Robinson, descended to the cabin with me, leaving the pilot in charge. I ate little, my stomach being weak and disordered, and during the meal no words were addressed to me. Thus, I was permitted to meditate uninterrupted on another escape plan that had occurred to me: jumping into the pilot's boat as soon as it was lowered.\nI came alongside and appealed to him for protection through my actions, if he couldn't comprehend my language. When we returned to the deck, I eagerly sought an opportunity for a moment's conversation with the pilot, apart from the officers. Intending, if he understood Spanish, to disclose my situation to him. This was denied me, for the captain engrossed his attention from the moment we stepped on deck, until the pilot made signals for the men in the boat to haul alongside. As they were doing this, I prepared to jump in the boat when the pilot got in, and she was cast off. In order to minimize what I would have on my person if a detainment attempt were made, and with the view of being encumbered as little as possible should I fall into the river in the anticipated struggle, I carelessly discarded various items.\nI took off my coat and laid it down. The captain, apparently penetrating my design, perhaps from my eyes being too intently fixed on the boat, approached, and with a scowl on his face ordered me below. I obeyed, and as I slowly and reluctantly stepped down the companion way, I saw the pilot leave the vessel, and his boat drop astern. We were now at sea. In twelve days we were in sight of the Moro Castle. Nothing of consequence occurred during the voyage. The only persons on board I found who could converse in Spanish were the captain and the steward Domingo. The former was sullen and unapproachable, and the latter I could have no association with, since I knew he was one of the two who prevented Nic from jumping ashore when the schooner was leaving the wharf. I therefore was very little on deck. I suffered\nI. Edged closely for the want of clothes, and the only change I had during the passage was an old cotton shirt, the captain ordered the cook to give me. Occasionally, he indulged me in the luxury of a segar, but frequently admonished me to smoke lightly, as he had only a few in his locker.\n\nOn the 18th of July, we hove in sight of the celebrated Moro. As we neared it, I asked Captain McConnell if he intended taking me back to New Orleans. \"Go down into the cabin,\" he said, \"and don't let them see you\" \u2014 at the same time waving his hand in a manner indicating he wished no farther conversation. Supposing that he referred to the authorities of the Island, in speaking of \"them,\" I kept myself, as he directed, closely confined to the cabin, while in quarantine on board the Mary Ellen, and never went on deck except at night.\n\nIII.\nAfter six days in quarantine, the Mary Ellen sailed for New Orleans. As we were heaving the anchor, Captain McConnell observed, \"They are coming for you.\" I looked in the direction he was gazing and saw a boat rowing towards us. \"Dress yourself,\" he added, \"and get ready. I cannot take you.\"\nI had cherished hopes from his telling me to keep the cabin, that he purposed concealing my presence from the authorities and bringing me back to New Orleans. But his words drove me back into despair. Incensed at his trifling with my feelings by his vague speeches, I charged him, \"How can you take me back, when you first bought me and have now sold me?\" He repeated the order to go below and get myself ready. I went below, and as I had no clothing other than was on me, my preparations were completed when I had washed myself. On reaching the deck again, the boat of the schooner was alongside, and I was ordered by the captain to go into it. I obeyed in silence and was rowed by one of the crew called John and the second mate to an American brig lying at anchor, in quarantine, four or five hundred yards from.\nAbout ten minutes after I was put on board the brig, the boat I have already spoken of, which was approaching in the distance, came alongside. A person who appeared to command came aboard and asked me my name. I informed him it was Juan Francisco Garcia y Rey. No other question was asked, and our visitor was about to return to his boat when I took the liberty of asking him to take a letter to a friend, hoping he would cause some clothes and cigars to be sent to me, and at the same time I communicated to the commander my distress for the want of clean garments. Without answering me, he spoke in English to the captain of the brig, and, as I supposed from his gestures, I was the subject of his conversation. I asked him if he had been giving any instructions to the crew regarding me.\ncaptain in relation to me, he said he had instructed the captain not to let any communication of mine go ashore unless taken in his boat, as quarantine regulations required that all letters sent from vessels from the United States should, before being sent to the city, be sprinkled with chlorine. I then hastened down into the cabin and scratched a few hurried lines to an acquaintance, Don Juan San Juan, at the railroad depot, begging him to see a friend in Havana and ask him to send me some clothing and cigars. The commander waited until I delivered the letter to him and then put off in his boat. On the 24th of July, I was sent aboard this vessel. I found my situation perhaps even more irksome and disagreeable than on the Mary Ellen, for, although I could have no objection to my fare or treatment, there was not a soul on board with whom I could converse.\nI. On board, a soul who understood a word of Spanish, and I was entirely shut up in myself. On the 26th, while sitting aft on the taffrail watching the movements of a boat in which an officer with a brilliant uniform was seated, the boat approached the brig, and passing close under the stern, the officer addressed me.\n\n\"By order of the Captain General, you will take good care not to reveal a word of what you know, and say nothing about your being taken away by force from New Orleans.\"\n\n\"What is the matter?\"\n\n\"Nothing. Nothing will be done to you if you do not reveal anything.\"\n\nHe then passed off, and returned to the shore. During our brief conversation, I observed he was a naval officer, and wore two epaulettes, indicating that he held the rank of captain.\n\nThe same afternoon, the government boat with the same officer returned.\nThe commander who visited me on the first day I was on board and who I later learned was the Port Captain, came alongside and handed me a letter addressed to Pedro Murga y Romero sea Juan Garcia. He informed me it was from the Political Secretary, and that the instructions contained in it must be obeyed instantly. I read it. It was later taken from me, and I therefore cannot provide a literal copy, but its contents were substantially as follows:\n\nWrite without delay to the Spanish Consul in New Orleans, intimating to him that your voyage to Havana was voluntary. It will be better for you and for him to say so. Enclosed you will find a draft of the letter as you are to write it. Address it to the Spanish Consul, and I will forward it. Regarding your clothes (they had opened my letter and I saw by this), when you come on board again.\nYou will know where they are. You have a few days longer to remain in quarantine.\n\nThis communication was signed \"By order of the Captain General \u2014 Crispen Ximenez Sandoval.\" I perused the letter several times, unsure of what to do. While pondering the matter, the Port Captain showed some impatience and indicated that he wished for me to join him in the cabin. Before descending, he spoke to one of the crew in English, who followed us down with pen, ink, and paper. As he laid the writing materials on the table, the Port Captain assumed an imperious manner and ordered me to copy the draft enclosed in Senor Sandoval's letter and to begin immediately. I copied the draft as instructed and, having addressed the letter to the Consul, delivered it to the Port Captain.\nCaptain, who returned to his boat and was rowed ashore. On the afternoon of the 27th, the government boat came. Crispen Ximenez Sandoval. The letter written by Hey was offered in testimony by the defense during the investigation before Judge Bright and Commissioner Cohen, but was ruled out because the statements in it were not sworn to, and because no witness could be procured who would testify it was Key's writing. Out again, in company with another boat pulled by five oars, in the stern sheets of which sat an elderly gentleman and a young man. Both boats being brought to alongside, the young man rose and interrogated me as follows:\n\n- \"Is your name Juan Garcia Rey?\"\n- \"It is Juan Garcia.\"\n- \"'Were you the turnkey of the jail?\"\n- \"Do you wish to return to the United States?\"\nThe young man was about to ask another question when the Port Captain said, \"Mr. Consul, you have no authority to question that man.\" Nothing more was said to me. In a few seconds, the boats were off. It occurred to me that the elderly gentleman in the strange boat was the American Consul, that the young man who interrogated me was his secretary, and that the Consul had come prepared to offer me protection if I had confided in him. I cursed my stupidity, but what could I have done? I didn't suppose I was in the presence of the American Consul until the interview was closed, and even if I did, there was the Captain of the Port during the whole time, directly under me, and constantly looking at me with a portentous frown, reminding me of the warnings I had received.\nI had been silent about my abduction. As the boats departed, the Consul's was about twenty or thirty yards behind the others. At every opportunity, when I thought those in the leading boat weren't looking at me, I made signs for him to return. But, I suppose, no one observed me, and they passed unnoticed.\n\nI had been almost indifferent to my fate. An uninterrupted contemplation of the darkest prospect had prepared me for the worst. But now I saw that there were those who had taken an interest in me. The reflection that it was only my own lack of nerve and presence of mind that prevented my escape nearly drove me mad. I went below and wrote a letter to the Consul, briefly informing him that I had been forcibly taken from New Orleans and explaining the reasons I had denied.\nI am called Juan Garcia Rey. I wish to return to the United States. I determined, if no other opportunity offered, to give this letter to the Port Captain when he next visited the brig. Although there was scarcely a hope it would ever reach the Consul, it was my last resort. I dated this letter \"On board the Terrible,\" as I took that to be the name of the vessel, having seen an engraving of a brig in a storm with the word \"Terrible\" suspended in the cabin.\n\nDuring the night, I had a nervous attack that completely prostrated me. Although somewhat better, I remained confined to my cabin.\n\n---\n\n\"Senor Consul of the United States,\n\nI am called Juan Garcia Rey. I wish to return to the United States. I determined, if no other opportunity offered, to give this letter to the Port Captain when he next visited the brig. Although there was scarcely a hope it would ever reach the Consul, it was my last resort. I dated this letter 'On board the Terrible,' as I took that to be the name of the vessel, having seen an engraving of a brig in a storm with the word 'Terrible' suspended in the cabin.\n\nDuring the night, I had a nervous attack that completely prostrated me. Although somewhat better, I remained confined to my cabin.\"\nI. Juan Garcia\nJuly 27, 1849, Onboard the Terrible\n\nI have been compelled to seek refuge under the American flag. I wish to return to the United States.\n\nJuan Garcia Rey\nOnboard the Terrible\n\nI did not speak freely to you earlier because the Captain of the Port was present.\n\nI was forcibly taken from the house of Don Jose Morante on a false order from the Recorder of the Second Municipality by the Spanish Consul from New Orleans. I was shipped aboard at nine o'clock at night. I fear for my life if not protected and returned again.\n\n(A true copy) EL Conde de Alcoy.\n\nThe following day, I was able to go on deck, but I was not entirely composed until the following night. While I was suffering from this attack,\nThe captain was attentive and kind, restoring my health. I handed a letter to the Captain of the Port the next morning, which I had written to the American Consul. A friend passed by boat the morning after the Consul's visit, warning me I would fare badly ashore. I wrote another letter to the Consul, keeping it hidden, ready to give it to someone who could deliver it. On the morning of July 30, around 7, the government boat arrived.\nI have visited us again, in the company of another boat. In the former was the naval captain I have previously mentioned, and in the latter a Tenicicit Comisario \"Gobicrno\" (Lieutenant of the Government police). He, upon coming aboard, showed me an order from the Political Secretary, Senor Sandoval, commanding me to go ashore with the lieutenant and accompany him to the Captain General. I was still under the American flag, and though respect for it had failed to protect me from violence and outrage, I still clung to it with a lingering hope that delay might bring relief. I refused to obey the order, urging my unfitness to appear in the presence of the Captain General, so disgustingly offensive as I was then attired. The naval officer observed, \"But the brig is about to obtain pratique* and you cannot remain on board.\" I positively refused to leave the vessel.\nI supplied with clothes and retreated to the cabin. The Commander and the lieutenant followed me. Both urged me to go ashore, assuring me that I was only required to go before the Captain General and would be liberated immediately after. I was uselessly putting myself in the lion's mouth, they added, by refusing. For, most assuredly, if I persisted, I would bring upon myself the vengeance of the Captain General. I consented to go, and was again cautioned to keep my lips sealed in relation to my affair, should I meet any acquaintances in passing through the city. I went into the lieutenant's boat, and we landed at Pattla's wharf, leaving the Government boat at the quarantine anchorage. On the way, the lieutenant amiably communicated to me, \"They are afraid of you here, because they imagine you are under the protection of the American flag.\"\nAfter leaving the wharf with the lieutenant, I saw a friend whom I had complete trust in lingering behind us. I signaled him to approach, and as he did, I drew the last letter I had written to the Consul from my waistband. My friend brushed past us. I held the letter out to him; he took it, put it in his pocket, and continued on without acknowledging me. After taking some refreshment in a caf\u00e9, the lieutenant took me to a volante, in which we were driven to the Quinta de los Molhios, the country residence of the Captain General, a short distance from the city. We arrived at the Quinta around half-past 7 or 8 o'clock. My arrival there.\nThe announcement was made, and orders were given to admit me. The Tcnicnte and I were ushered into the hall where I found a gentleman dressed in civilian's clothes. Hearing the lieutenant address this personage as His Excellency, I was informed that I was in the presence of the Captain General. He opened with an inquisitorial tone, \"Are you Garcia?\" \"I am, Your Excellency.\" \"Why did you not communicate this occurrence to me then, and you would not have gotten into any difficulty?\" \"I did not communicate it to Your Excellency because I was taken to a house I did not know, and I could not leave until the evening when we went on board the vessel and sailed for New Orleans.\" He then gave instructions to send for Gallono, the Assessor.\n\"How did Villaverde and Fernandez escape? I let them out of prison to walk. Who were the persons implicated in their escape? No one but myself, for no other person was connected with it. How did you go through the streets when you left the prison? We walked together arm in arm. What street did you take? La Calzada de San Lazaro.\n\nThis letter the Consul received directly, without its having passed through the hands of Cuban authorities. With the exception of the reports received by the Consul through New Orleans papers, which he looked upon as unfounded, this was the only information he had after his interview with Rey at the Andrew Ring.\"\nThe consul received the first information regarding the abduction. Based on this letter, the consul corresponded with the captain general, resulting in Rey's release after the consul was denied an interview with him in an insolent note from the captain general. Letters from Havana suggest that the captain general received dispatches from the Spanish Ambassador at Washington, informing him of the intense excitement the affair had caused in the United States. In light of the probable consequences should the surrender of Rey to American demands be refused, the captain general was advised to grant Rey his freedom.\n\nThe government lawyer, whose duties are similar to those of a prosecuting attorney with us, is permitted to sit on the Bench with the Judge.\n\"Did the prisoners attack you with arms to effect their escape?\"\n\"They menaced me, and I was threatened with a dirk.\"\n\"Were it the prisoners or some other persons who thus attacked you?\"\n\"The prisoners menaced me first, and then some other person, unknown to me, commanded me, with a dirk in his hand.\"\n\"When they escaped, did you remain with that unknown person?\"\n\"Yes, he conducted me to the house, where, in company with Fernandez, I remained four days, but I knew neither the house nor any body in it, except Fernandez.\"\n\"What sum of money did they give you?\"\n\"They gave me nothing.\"\n\"During the time you were in that house, did they not offer you money?\"\n\"They promised me $12,000.\"\n\"Did you not know what causes were pending against Villaverde and Fernandez?\"\n\"I did not.\"\n\"Do you know nothing more of this matter than what you have related? Do you know the Se\u00f1ora de Blanco? I have only seen her once; that was at night, and I cannot say that I know her. Where did you see her? I saw her in the Calzado de Velasqui (very wide street) in company with Fernandez. Do you know Don Juan de Escauriza? Did the keeper of the prison have any hand in this escape? He had not. It is needless to say, my position being understood, that all I had said was not true. I, of course, endeavored to save myself and at the same time studiously avoided compromising the friends of Villaverde and Fernandez. An order was then written by Gallano to confine me in the Real Carcel, of which I was formerly the under keeper. The order,\"\nThe lieutenant of police read to me instructions that I should be placed in a cell and not allowed to communicate with anyone. He conducted me to the prison, where I was put in a cell about three and a half feet wide and twelve feet long. In the cell, I found only a few boards for my bed, a bucket of water, and a barrel for \"vulgar uses.\" As the turnkey showed me into the cell, I requested that one of the prisoners be allowed to keep me company and relieve the monotony of confinement. He said he would speak to the keeper, and on the same day, a negro of very offensive and insulting demeanor, with scarcely a rag to cover his nakedness, was put in the cell with me.\n\n* The lady of Fernandez's uncle, the head of Ihe house of Blanco &: Co., of which firm Fernandez was a member.\nHe remained a few days and was then removed to another part of the prison. I remained in the cell until the 6th of August, seven days, without anything of interest occurring. No change of clothing had yet been given to me. I was in the filthiest condition, and my food was always boiled rice or red beans, a dish of either of which was served to me in silence, twice a day, together with a small piece of stale bread. I was not, however, entirely without solace. On the fifth or sixth day of my imprisonment, a person, privileged to visit the prisoners at certain periods, cautiously advised me if a loaf of bread were sent me to be careful not to break it. It had some satisfaction in dwelling on this.\n\nOn the morning of the 6th of August, I was again summoned to appear.\nI was escorted before the Captain General, and upon reaching the outer door, I found a corporal and four soldiers with fixed bayonets waiting to escort me. We proceeded to the Quinta or foot, the prison keeper accompanying me. I was ushered into the same Audience Hall where I was first introduced to the Captain General. He handed me a letter, which I examined.\n\n\"Do you recognize this letter, which you wrote to the American Consul?\" the Captain General asked.\n\n\"Yes, your Excellency,\" I replied.\n\n\"Are you mad to write such things to the American Consul? With what object did you write to him?\"\n\n\"To request that he send me back to the United States.\"\n\n\"Then, even in my presence, you will also say you want to return to the United States?\" I made no answer.\n\nDuring the brief silence that followed, Gallano and the Notary entered, and the latter took me into another room, leaving the Captain General behind.\nCaptain General and Gallano in the Hall. A few minutes later, we returned, and the Captain General retired, remarking, \"Gallano, you will continue these proceedings. If any difficulty arises, send for me.\" Returning abruptly, he said to me, \"Ah, you have a letter from Senor Sandoval, written when you were in quarantine. Let me see it.\" I drew the letter from my pocket and presented it to him. He read it, placed it in his bosom, and was walking out of the hall when I suggested that I ought to keep the letter. He wheeled round, with a frown on his face, and exclaimed, \"What! No, Sir, I shall keep this letter.\" He then left the hall, and Gallano took up the examination.\nI wrote the letter to the American Consul because an individual warned me I would fare badly if I didn't accept his offer. I don't know who this individual was. No more questions were put to me. I asked if I could see the Captain General. Gallano wanted to know what I wished to see him for. \"That,\" I said, \"I shall tell him myself.\" Gallano left the hall, and in a short time, the Captain General returned with him. Winking at Gallano, the Captain General asked, \"What does he want, Gallano?\" \"I do not know, I'm sure,\".\n\"was the reply; \"he must tell your Excellency himself.\" Then addressing the Captain General, I expressed a hope that he would allow me to have communication with my friends from the jail. \"Well,\" said he, \"we will see about that,\" and turning to Gallano, he added, \"what do you think of it, Gallano?\" \"That will be as your Excellency pleases; but for my part, I would not allow it,\" replied Gallano. His Excellency addressing me said: \"You see, Garcia, it cannot be done. You will now be taken to the Castillo del Principe.\" \"I would prefer, your Excellency, if I am allowed a choice, being returned to the Real Carcel.\" \"Well, we will send you back to the Real Carcel, but you are not to hold communication with anybody. Before you go, I want to know from you again why you wrote that letter to the American Consul.\"\"\n\"Because I wished to be sent back to the United States, your Excellency. If the American Consul were here now, would you repeat the same thing to him? I was silent, and he continued: \"You were in the habit of carrying a pistol in New Orleans \u2013 why? \" I was silent, and he continued: \"You were in the habit of carrying a pistol in New Orleans. Why? \" I was in the habit of carrying a pistol in New Orleans. I had no evil designs against anybody. It was merely to defend my life. Do you know one Morante? \" Were you not sick at his house? \" Morante is a scoundrel, and he can never come back here. I don't know about that; while I was in his house, he appeared to me to be a very good man.\" The examination closed here, and I was returned to the prison; guarded.\nThe turnkey gave me a loaf of bread the next morning, saying one of my friends had brought it. He stated he would call again at three o'clock in the afternoon to see if I wanted anything else. I bent the loaf slightly and found it contained two incisions, which had been carefully cut in it. My heart leaped with joy. The incisions were the sides of a plug that had been removed from the loaf, the inside scooped out, and the plug replaced and fastened with two thin wooden pegs so cleverly that it was impossible to discover it without close inspection. In the loaf, I found a pencil, a small piece of blank paper, and a brief note from my friend. His note read: \"Be of good cheer. Your friends are not inactive. I am in the habit.\"\nI will see the American Consul every day. He is informed about your case and has requested permission from the Captain General to meet with you. I will be here again at 3 o'clock; write to me. Hide your note in the loaf and find a way to return it \u2013 say you don't like it and would prefer another loaf.\n\nI read and reread the letter. Every word brought me indescribable joy. The Consul, I was told, knew I had been forcibly taken from New Orleans, and he had taken up my cause. I grabbed a blank piece of paper, wrote a few heartfelt words of thanks to my friend, and begged him to encourage the Consul and inform him that I had been forcibly removed from New Orleans in the most despicable way. My note written, I placed it in the loaf, carefully inserted the plug, and secured it with the same pegs. In the loaf.\nIn the afternoon, the turnkey came and asked if I wanted anything else. I handed the loaf to the turnkey, disdainfully, and told him I didn't want to eat such bread and to return it to my friend, along with my message. We exchanged one or two more notes, and the correspondence only ceased when the turnkey reprimanded me to the Captain General for being too fastidious. Fearing his suspicions, I destroyed my friend's communications and wrote no more myself. Every note from my friend reassured me, and the last one contained the joyful news that I would be liberated in a few days.\n\nRey was still under the impression, he says, that Morante was secretly leagueed with his enemies, and avoided saying anything against him to the Captain General.\nAbout the 14th of August I was taken from my cell to the Audience \nHall of the Prison, where I found myself in the presence of Gallano. I \nwas again subjected to an examination by him, and a scribe recorded \nquestion and answer : \n\"Do you know where the property of Fernandez is ; his houses, \nnegroes, &c. \u2014 Do you know to whom he fraudulently transferred them ?\" \n\"I do not. I know nothing of his property.\" \n\"Do you know where he deposited his money?\" \n\"I do not.\" \n\"Have you seen Fernandez spend money in New Orleans lavishly, so \nas to make people believe he was rich? \n\"No I did not.\" \n\"Do you kuow whether Fernandez has any property in New Orleans?\" \n\"All that I know he has there is a se\u00b0;ar store.\" \n\"What is that segar store worth?\" \n\"I cannot tell; I am not an appraiser.\" \n\"Did you, before you left this city, accompany a stout lady, when she \nI went to a certain place and got some money?\nWhy do you deny accompanying the lady on that mission, when I know positively you were with her?\nLet the lady be brought before me, and see if she will say so confronting me.\n\nI was asked to sign the paper, on which this examination was recorded. There being nothing in it objectionable, I did so without hesitation. As I was about to be sent back to the cell, I asked Gallano if I was still interdicted from communicating with my friends. He said I should remain in every respect as I had been. I was then remanded to my cell.\n\nFrom that day to the 18th of August was a perfect blank. I had no communication with anybody, not even the turnkey. About 8 o'clock in the morning, I was informed the Captain General again required my presence and was taken to the Qintar. A marked difference in my treatment.\n\"was perceptible from that moment. The corporal and his guard, with fixed bayonets, did not present themselves. Myself and the keeper, who no longer treated me as a prisoner but as a companion, were driven in a coach. This time I found the Captain General alone, and immediately after my presentation, the keeper was motioned to withdraw. With a brusque salutation, His Excellency opened the conversation: \"Weil, Garcia, do you want your pardon now?\" \"If it pleases Your Excellency.\" \"Then you are at liberty and may go where you please; but are you not fearful somebody may harm you, if you go about the city?\" \"No, Your Excellency. Why should I? I have neither robbed nor killed anyone.\" \"Nevertheless, you had better go back to prison for a time. It will be best for you to go to the Castillo del Principe, because you will have to\"\n\"Your Excellency, I would rather return to the Real Carcel. Very well, but you had better not walk about the streets; you will be safer in jail. Will I, Your Excellency, be safe so far as the government and police are concerned? I suppose you will, but I will not be answerable for what may happen to you, if you leave the prison. The Captain General adjourned to the garden, and I followed him. We found the keeper in waiting. The Captain General tapped him on the shoulder, and they returned to the hall, where they remained about ten minutes and then rejoined me. His Excellency told me to go back to prison as he wanted to see me again at 3 o'clock. He courteously bid me adieu, kissing his hand, and the keeper and I left.\"\nI rode back to the prison in the same carriage. Upon entering the prison, the keeper informed me that I had the liberty of it, and added that I should dine with him, an invitation I gladly accepted. Our dinner was sumptuous, and my host was in excellent humor. He congratulated me on my liberation, extolled the justice of the Captain General, and iterated the prompt justice of his Excellency when he discovered the facts of my case. I heard all this with an air of profound credulity, but in reality, I found it much more agreeable to swallow my keeper's excellent wine. Feeling it impossible to simulate gratitude to \"His Excellency,\" I ambushed my feelings towards that distinguished personage behind a sincere compliment to my companion upon the temptations of his table and the choiceness of his liquids. Dinner over, we went to the Quinta, where I found the Captain General.\nHis Excellency presented me with three documents in the hall, asking me to sign them one by one. Handing me the first, he requested that I read it and recognize it. Upon examination, I found it to be a declaration allegedly made by me in New Orleans, signed by the Spanish Consul in his official capacity, and witnessed by W Llorente. I admitted that I had never seen the document before. The second paper was headed \"List of persons guilty of wishing the annexation of the Island of Cuba\" (comprometidos a la anexion de la Isla de Cuba). I recognized my true signature on it and immediately identified it as the paper I had been made to sign in New Orleans by the Consul Ayala and Llorente. The Consul's words ringing with exultation as he obtained my signature.\nThe truth flashed upon me: \"This is what I wanted. The Americans have despoiled Mexico, and now they want to rob us of Cuba.\" The Captain General asked me if I had signed it? I replied that I had. He then asked me if I knew Ayala? To which I answered that my acquaintance with him was very slight. In view of Ayala's villainous part towards me, jointly with Llorente and the Consul, and supposing it highly probable that he was in correspondence with the Cuban authorities, I deemed it prudent to conceal my knowledge of the man. The third document placed in my hands presented itself as a declaration made by me at the Quinta de los Molinos, in the presence of the Captain General, Gallano and the Notary. The object in producing these papers was to obtain my signature to the first and last, and my duplicate signature and rubric to the list of declarants.\nI remonstrated against the annexationists, whom I had only glanced over, and was refused permission to read them attentively. I remonstrated until the Captain General became highly excited. He told me they were necessary to save the Spanish Consul, against whom I had learned through the commas of my friends in prison that proceedings had been instituted for my abduction. He had no time for trifling and intimated that my liberty, if not my life, depended on my compliance. Reflecting a few moments, I saw that if the objective in obtaining my signature to the papers was to use them as evidence for the Consul in New Orleans, they would be wholly vitiated if my liberty followed, as I could falsify them with my own life. I therefore signed them.\n\n\"Now,\" said the Captain General, \"we are ready. You shall go on.\"\nThe board asks you today if you still wish to go back to New Orleans. \"I do, Your Excellency.\" \"Then you will require a passport, and you must write a petition for it. Here is your pardon. The pardon is now in Key's possession. Read it as follows:\n\nEl Consul de Alcoy, Caj of Cuba, etc.\nDon Juan Garcia, ex-officio the royal prison of this city, having made several revealing statements to the cause of her majesty, I have determined, in the exercise of my extraordinary powers, to grant him the royal pardon, which he solicited through the Spanish consul in New Orleans.\n\nAs concerns the cause, which is now being prosecuted against him in this court, owing to his escape, which was effected by Don Vincente and Don Oirillo Vill on the 31st of March last, and for the due execution of the aforementioned document.\nI was handed my pardon and dismissed, taken back to the Real Carcel where I wrote a petition for a passport as the keeper dictated. I do not remember any peculiarity in the petition and believe it was written in the ordinary style. This done, the keeper drew my passport from his pocket and handed it to me. I was taken on board the American brig Salvadora, and the keeper took a receipt from the mate for me. On the way to the vessel, he gave me four doubloons without indicating to whom I was indebted for the gratuity, observing that it would supply me with some necessities on my arrival at New Orleans. We parted without regrets. I was free of my tyrannical persecutors, and was once more beneath the protection of the law.\nI was provided with clean clothing for the first time since the evening of July 5th, an exception being the old cook's shirt I had worn since then. This was a great luxury after spending a month and thirteen days on the ship or in a filthy dungeon during the hottest part of the tropical summer. I was no longer at the mercy of the Captain and his men, to be kicked, wheedled, or bullied as their temper or interest dictated. Instead, I was in the hands of those who rejoiced in my deliverance and were proud of it as a national victory. Despite my humility, I was embarrassed by the friendly attentions.\nThe captain insisted I sleep in his berth that night and armed himself and his steward with revolvers, giving the steward directions to be prepared if any attempt was made during the night to take me from the vessel. These precautions were taken because excitement in the city, in relation to my affairs, ran high, and it was not possible the government party, feeling its pride humbled so lowly, might be guilty of any outrage in their lust for revenge. No attempt of the kind, however, was made, and with the lights I have now before me, it is not too much to assume that the government was zealous in suppressing the feeling which I was informed prevailed among its instruments.\nThe captain bided me good night as he was about to return to the deck, more, I presume, in a spirit of fervent patriotism than because of friendship for me, of whom he knew but little. He declared that no amount of money could induce him to forego the pleasure and satisfaction he enjoyed in taking me away from Havana, in the face of all in it, and bringing me back to the United States.\n\nI rose early in the morning refreshed with a comfortable night's rest and elated by the revolution in my circumstances which had taken place within a few hours. On ascending the deck, the first object that met my eye on the wharf was a crowd of military officers of every grade, from a colonel down. Their gesticulation and loud and earnest tones indicated that a fermentative subject was under discussion, and occasionally looking at me or addressing me directly.\nAbout 7 o'clock, the American Consul came on board, accompanied by the same young man who addressed me from the boat during the meat quarantine. The Consul asked me, through this young man, if I wished to return to New Orleans. My answer being affirmative, he conversed with me several minutes about what he had done on my behalf. I learned that the first letter I wrote to him was not received for several days after I had delivered it to the Captain of the Port, and not until after my second letter had been placed in his hands. Before departing, the Consul introduced me to Dr. Gage, stating that I would be under his care until I arrived in New Orleans.\nWe arrived on the 28th of August and set sail for the St. Charles Hotel. Dr. Gage procured a carriage, and we stopped at Morante's chocolate shop on the way. I met Morante cordially, my suspicions against him having been dispelled by Dr. Gage during the voyage. He informed me of the reports in the newspapers about Morante's active efforts on my behalf and his manly denunciations of those who violated his hospitality and carried out their nefarious schemes under his roof, while I was visiting as a friend. At the hotel, a large crowd had gathered, and among them I saw Ayala. Catching my eye, he hurried towards me and extended his hand. Finding no response to this gesture of friendship, he immediately withdrew, amidst the laughter of several people.\nBefore Judge Bright and United States Commissioner Cohen. Having given Rey's narrative, we now proceed to a compilation of the evidence in the preliminary investigation. A week or so after Rey disappeared, Mr. Jose Morante published a card in La Patria newspaper, printed in New Orleans, declaring his belief that Rey had been forcibly abducted and sent to Havana. This card caused excitement among the Spanish population, particularly among them.\nThose who preferred American to Spanish institutions attracted Mr. John Maginnis' attention with Morante's statement. In the absence of the senior proprietor, Maginnis controlled a New Orleans daily journal. He investigated the facts and found ample evidence that Rey was forced onto a vessel for Havana by the procurement of Carlos Espafia, the Spanish Consul. Maginnis openly denounced Espafia and his instruments and published a series of able articles, opening the public eye to the enormity of the outrage committed, arousing the patriotic indignation of the people, and emboldening those aware of the manner in which the abduction was effected but timid to proclaim the guilt of one so influential and respectable as Espafia.\nDon Carlos de Espafia came forward to publicly impeach the consul. The constituted authorities were invoked to take the necessary steps for the consul's punishment, but he attempted to escape public opinion by submitting papers privately to official dignitaries. However, this mode of procedure, considered inconsistent with our laws and institutions, exasperated the people and forced the consul to deny publicly the accusations against him and challenge his accusers to produce their evidence. This was done in a communication that appeared in the Commercial Bulletin on July 20th, signed by Mr. James Foulhouze as attorney for the consul, in which it was declared that Rey left New Orleans of his own free will.\nThe gauntlet was taken up by Mr. Cyprien Dufour, a young advocate, and Mr. Perry S. Warfield, another young member of the bar in New Orleans, in the prosecution. They were volunteers without promise or prospect of pecuniary reward, appearing at the forum as vindicators of the law, demanding the punishment due to a desecration of American soil.\n\nOn the very day Mr. Foulhoux's communication appeared in the Bulletin, the prosecution was based by Mr. Morante, at the instance of Mr. Dufour, who made affidavit before Judge Bright, setting forth the details.\nThe sudden disappearance of Rey was declared by believing him to have been absconded by Don Carlos de Espanii, Fulgencio Llorente, Henry Marie, William Eagle, and captain James McConnell of the schooner Mary Ellen. The Consul, Marie and Eagle were arrested the same day. After several days of search, Llorente was found concealed in the garrett of the store of Puig, Mir & Co., Spanish gentlemen and friends of the consul, and Captain McConnell, arriving from Havana in ten or twelve days, surrendered himself a few hours after his arrival.\n\nThe investigation opened on the 28th of July. Messrs. Foulhouze, Collins and Preaux appeared as counsel for the defense, and subsequently Mr. Larue, representing Captain M'Connell, was associated with them. Mr. Logan Hnton, District Attorney for the United States, and Mr. M. M. Reynolds, District Attorney.\nAttorney for the State were present on the invitation of the court, extended on motion of counsel for the prosecution. Don Carlos de Espafia, pleading his rights as a foreign consul, his case, at the suggestion of Mr. Hunt, was evoked to the federal tribunals. United States Commissioner Cohen was called in to sit with Judge Bright. Mr. Reynolds opposed the evocation, claiming jurisdiction for the State over him. But Judge Bright tacitly abandoned the alleged jurisdiction, by admitting the association of the rated States Commissioner. At the close of the inquest, he surrendering to the commissioner decreeal power in relation to the consul. The court thus organized, the case proceeded. Mr. Bufour filing the following notice to the court and the defence, of the line the prosecution would follow, there being no statute either.\nThe State or the United States providing punishment for the kidnapping or abduction of a white man:\n\nThe case of The State vs. Carlos de Bspana, et al. - Before George Y. Bright, Second Justice of the Peace, and M. M. Cohen, U. 8. Commissioner. The counsel for the prosecution respectfully informs the court and hereby gives notice to the defendants that the facts and charges related in the prosecutor's affidavit constitute two distinct and separate offenses, to-wit: assault and battery, and false imprisonment, and these are indictable and punishable offenses in the State of Louisiana.\n\nFrom the complexion of circumstances which have attended the violation of public law, as herein complained of, the present case is one of conspiracy for committing false imprisonment and assault, which has indeed and in fact, been done and effected.\nAnd all the defendants are principals in such violation of law, except Carlos de Espaiia, who is and will be shown to be an accessory before the fact. The examination was exceedingly prolonged, occupying together with the argument of counsel fourteen days, and did not terminate until the 13th of August, when judgment was rendered, and all the parties accused were committed for trial.\n\nThe following compilation consists of extracts from the testimony, containing all the material points on both sides \u2014 the examination of witnesses for the purpose of shaking their direct evidence, except where the object aimed at was achieved; the large quantity of extraneous matter, and of matter irrelevant to the issue; and the volume of evidence as to the identity of Key and the man who was identified as him.\nBefore entering into the compilation, the reader will premise that it was admitted by the defense that the insul was privy to Key's leaving New Orleans on the Mary Ellen and was in some measure accessory to his departure. This is acknowledged in the printed communication of Mr. Foulhouxe, from which the following extract is taken:\n\n\"Fernandez had promised Garcia twelve thousand dollars when in New Orleans. And though poor devil hoped that all was not lost to him; but once here, Fernandez left him without a solitary cent, and started for Mexico.\n\nGarcia, finding himself thus destitute and in the utter impossibility of repaying the hospitality which he had received, and being unable to obtain employment, became desperate and resolved to take the law into his own hands.\"\nHe had received a call on the Spanish consul to know if he could seek pardon and return to Havana, offering at the same time to make his declaration about the robbery committed by Fernandez, along with all other concerned persons.\n\nThe Spanish consul answered that he was ready to receive the declaration but was not the proper authority to grant a pardon and would write to the captain general at Havana to ascertain if the pardon could be granted if he (Garcia) should make a declaration.\n\nOn the 26th of June last, while waiting for the answer from Havana, Garcia made up his mind to declare before the consul all that he knew about the robbery.\n\nThe consul received his declaration and told him that he could do nothing for him until he received a response.\nThe consul communicated to Garcia, on the twenty-seventh of the same month, the special message from the captain general's office. With a regular passport and assurance of no danger, Garcia decided to leave for Havana, free of any restraint until his departure. The text intimates that the consul had obtained a pardon from the captain general.\nA general for Rev decided to leave for Havana with a regular passport, as he could return home without risk. Mr. Preaux argued for a continuance or postponement of the investigation until the officers and crew of the Mary Ellen returned to prove Hey went on board voluntarily. Key stated, \"They would show by Garcia's own testimony, before the American consul in Havana, that no such crime as was alleged was committed. The consul and all the accused were innocent. I would pledge my personal reputation that this would be shown; that Garcia left the city of his own accord; that he is now living in Havana, and has been reinstated in his former position.\"\nWe will take him beyond the jurisdiction of the Spanish Government and place him on an American man-of-war. There, he will make his deposition before the American consul. The defense offered testimony of a letter, Key claims he copied from the draft of Se\u00f1or Sandoval. It was addressed to the consul by order of the captain general and written on board the Andrew Ring under duress of threats. This letter reveals that the consul was mindful of Rey's health and provided him with medicine upon departure. Reports had reached Havana when the letter was written of the consul being threatened with a prosecution. This explains Rey's familiarity and the complimentary passage in which he politely requests the consul to tell \"those folks and rogues\" certain things.\nHavana, July 26, 1849\n\nTo Don Carlos de Espafia, Consul of her Catholic Majesty,\n\nMy Dear Sir,\n\nI have arrived here in good health and am in quarantine, which I shall soon leave. Then I will write to you more at length. For the present, I am rather out of news. My departure was a hasty one, as you informed me only at the last hour that I could effect it. I started of my own accord and free will, though I was a little unwell. The medicine you gave me before I embarked proved good, and I felt perfectly well when at sea.\n\nPlease tell those folks and rogues that T came before you voluntarily, and that I embarked at my own accord on board the American schooner Mariana. We were twelve days in our journey. Do me the favor to answer this letter as soon as you receive it.\n\nYour affectionate servant,\nJuan Garcia\nJOSE MORANTE, residing on Frenchman street and operating a chocolate manufactory at No. 52 St. Ann street, testified: I became acquainted with a man named Rey. One night, Llorante spoke to me and asked me to let Rey come to my house in St. Ann street. I was in company with a man named Ayala when Llorente took me aside and asked if I would be willing to help or favor a man - an unfortunate man in distress. He stated that Rey was at a cigar store on the corner of Gravier and St. Charles streets and was apprehensive that he was about to be arrested.\nI replied that if Rej had committed no crime against the country, I was ready to receive him. Llorente and I then returned to where Ayala was. Llorente clapped his hand on my shoulder and told Ayala, \"Did I not tell you we should meet with a good friend?\"\n\nOn what day did your introduction to Rey take place, and when did he come to the house?\n\nOn the 8th of June last, Llorente brought Rey to my house.\n\nFrom that day, how long did Rey remain with you? Until the 5th of July.\n\nIn the course of that time, was Rey sick or not? Rey fell sick twice while he was in my house. The first time was on the 10th of June, and the second time was between the 24th and 26th of the same month. Rey was apprehensive and told me he feared they would poison him at \"La\"\nIt was the reason he told me why he left there. He had no clothes at my house.\n\nWhat happened between you and Llorente on the day Ayala left for Havana?... Llorente came to my house about half past eight, at night, the day the brig P. Soule sailed for Havana. Llorente said to me that Ayala had gone to Havana, and asked Rey if he would not go with him to the wharf. Rey said two or three times that he would not. I then closed the door of my store. I told Rey that Ayala was going to Havana to put a rope around his neck. Llorente asked me why? I answered that a few days previous, Ayala had told me he wanted Rey to go to Havana to have him pardoned, and to be pardoned himself.\n\nDid you ever see Rey since the 5th of July?... No.\nFrom that moment your suspicions were aroused, hadn't you had a quarrel with Llorente the next day? On the night of 6th July, I called Llorente at the Eagle Coffee House, at the corner of Conde and St. Ann streets, to the entrance of the public square, (Place d'Armes). I asked him where Rey was? He answered that he had been told at Mr. Fernandez's house, that Rey had gone, or was going to Vera Cruz or St. Thomas. I became angry, and told Llorente that if Ayala was there, I would slap both their faces, (Llorente's and Ayala's), for having taken an unknown person to my house\u2014my house on Frenchman street. Llorente, pointing to a dirk or dagger, in his waist, said, \"this was the same dirk Ayala had when he went to my house.\" Llorente told me that the person whom he had taken to my house was a proper stranger.\nThe Spanish consul was the person I went with. He would satisfy me, and he was pleased with him. Did you know him? I hadn't at that time. I had seen him once, when he was pointed out to me. Did Rey not tell you something about his physician? Yes. On the day Ayala left for Havana, I asked Rey, at my house, what physician that was whom Llorente and Ayala had brought to my house. Rey said, \"I will tell you the truth \u2014 the doctor these persons brought, was Don Carlos de Espafia.\"\n\nI am employed by Mr. Joseph Fernandez, who keeps a cigar store called \"La Corrina,\" at the corner of St. Charles and Gravier streets. I knew Rey. He came to New Orleans with Vincente Fernandez, brother of Joseph Fernandez. From the time he came to this city, he resided with me, at the expense of Joseph Fernandez.\n\nWilliam Yeoward.\nFernandez stayed with Joseph Fernandez around late April or early May and remained until the beginning of June. After leaving, I continued to see him occasionally. He continued to visit Mr. Fernandez's shop. I asked him several times why he had left and he told me he was afraid. After leaving my house, I continued to provide for his needs when he requested. He never took his clothes from the store. While living with Morante, he would come to Fernandez's store to change clothes and the clothes were always washed there, paid for by Fernandez. His clothes are still in the store. Rey expressed a desire to me at one point.\nI took steps to help him go to Vera Cruz in late June. He requested to go on the English steamer from Mobile on the 30th, but preferred the Titi instead due to uncertainty about the steamer's arrival. We discussed his urgency to go and his anxiety during a conversation on the 30th. I accompanied him to John Alexander's office at 28 Common street to secure a passage on the Titi, but a passage was not taken as they asked for $10 and I only had $30. I later asked Captain Brown to try and secure a passage.\nThe passage was arranged for less than $40 as he was a friend of Captain Brown of the Titi. Captain Brown said he would, and he told Roe afterwards that he had engaged a passage for $35. It was Mr. Hart or Mr. Luis Villate who gave me the $30 for the passage. I returned him the unexchanged money after I had been paid by John Alexander. The Till was to sail for Vera Cruz on Saturday, the 7th of July.\n\nWhen he was about to sail on the Titi, in a conversation we had, he pulled a passport out of his pocket and asked me if it would be good for the Titi after it was taken out for the British steamer. I looked at it. [It was signed by the Mexican consul. The name in the passport was Jimenez. I'm not sure whether the first name was Juan or Francisco. I asked him then how come his passport was in my possession.\nKey, as I had always known, told me he was afraid they would not give him a passport if he used his own name. I had seen Ayala on one or two occasions with a knife or dirk by his side, in a netted sheath.\n\nLouis Villate.\n\nYeoward's statement about giving him money for passage to Vera Cruz was corroborated by Louis Villete. Captain W.S. Brown also corroborated Yeoward's evidence regarding the negotiation for Rey's passage on the Titi.\n\nJames Trescaze.\n\nHe had been with the First Municipality police for ten or twelve years, serving as a day policeman. He was now an inspector in the custom-house, appointed by Mr. Peters. He recognized the Spanish consul in court; had a conversation with him on June 2nd; was sent for by the consul.\nI went to the consul's house, located at the corner of St. Louis and Burgundy; I entered and the consul met me in his office. He took me up the stairs into his private office, where he told me there was a man in the city named Rey, who was one of the keepers of the prison in Havana. Two persons had been arrested in Havana and were being kept in prison. Rey was offered $12,000 to let them escape from prison, which he was to receive when he arrived in New Orleans, and he aided in their escape and came to New Orleans but did not get a cent. The consul then offered to pay me well if I would arrest this man and bring him aboard a vessel going to Havana. He did not specify the amount.\n\nThere was no one else present but the consul and me.\nYou once mentioned receiving an offer of $500 from the Spanish consul, to which I replied I believed he would offer at least that amount, based on our conversation. In your testimony on Saturday regarding the conversation with the Spanish consul, you stated you made no response to his proposal to arrest Rey. Did you not suggest something to him? Yes, I advised him that if he wished to have the man returned to Havana, the appropriate action would be to go before a magistrate, file an affidavit, secure a warrant, and have him removed from the country legally. He responded that there was no treaty between the two countries for the extradition of prisoners, and he couldn't do it that way.\n\nJ.F. Seixasnaydre.\n\nI am the First Lieutenant of the police in the First Municipality. I know the Spanish consul.\nI was playing dominoes with two or three friends at Mr. Quadras' coffee-house, located at the corner of St. Peter and Ohartres streets, either at the latter end of May or beginning of June. Mr. Quadras asked me where Mr. Trescascz was. I didn't know and told him that he was a night customs inspector. While we were talking, the Spanish consul approached our table and asked the same question in his presence. I gave him the same answer, and he asked me to tell Mr. Trescascz that he wanted to see him. The next morning, I met Mr. Trescascz and informed him of the consul's request. I didn't see him for two or three days after that.\nHe told me he had seen the consul. I did not tell you what had happened between him and the consul.\n\nJose Carnero. Do you know Mr. Llorente? I know him very well, and I would be very glad to have never met him.\n\nRelate what occurred between you and Llorente in connection with Mr. Rey on the 26th of June last. I was making some corrections in a pamphlet I now hold in my hand at the house of Mr. Sollee, a printer, on I Hartres street, between three and four o'clock that day, not willing to go to the Third municipality to dinner. I went into a restaurant opposite the Place d'Armes. I met Llorente at the door of the restaurant with two of his children. We ate together - Llorente, his two children, myself, and another of our friends. I paid a dollar. Llorente then took me aside and made a conversation with me.\nLlorente told me he was in a very unpleasant dilemma. He had either to shoot himself or fulfill an engagement with the Spanish consul. He lacked the courage for the first option and desired a friend for the second. He knew I was in indigent circumstances in New Orleans. He mentioned that the rich people in this city were those who committed base acts. There was a man in this city who had released several notable prisoners from confinement in Havana. Llorente considered himself a very able man for intrigue. If I wanted to help him, we could capture the man, who was then residing at Mr. Moraut's, and sail with him to Havana.\nWe would be very well paid. Llorente further said he had secured for himself a very good situation because Seior Don Carlos de Espafia was a very good friend of Seior Min, Minister of Finance in Spain; that I was born in Mexico at the time the Spanish Government owned it; Mr. Dufow: (to what did Llorente speak to you? He said if I became a Spanish subject, I would secure a good position and brilliant prospects. In reply, I said I lived quietly in this city under the American government and would not be an accomplice in carrying a man away from it and thus violate the laws.\n\nDid Llorente offer any specific amount? He said a very large sum.\n\nFrom whom was the money to be drawn? Llorente told me it was a respectable person, but did not tell me his name.\nI have known Mr. Morante only since the Rey affair has been discussed. Did you know Rey? I did not. Why didn't you inform Mr. Morante of this infamous project you speak of? I didn't think a man could seriously entertain such an infamous design or carry out such a plot. For this reason, and also his occupation, being at work all day, I didn't go to Morante's.\n\nDo you recognize the Spanish consul in court? \u2014 I do.\nDo you recognize Henry Marie? I do. I know him well. (Laughter.)\nHave you ever seen them together, and if so, state under what circumstances? On the night of the 2nd or 3rd of this month, I saw them walking together around half-past ten o'clock. I was standing.\nAt the time, I was standing at the gate of the Place d'Arras, facing the cathedral, under the lamp, with two other gentlemen - captain Delvaille and Mr. Georgiani, a fruit merchant. The consul and Marie approached us from the direction of St. Ann street, and passed down Royal street. They were walking arm in arm, and passed within a few inches of us. One of the company observed, \"See the Spanish consul walking with Marie?\"\n\nDid you ever see them together on any occasion? \u2014 Never.\n\nMR. DABELSTEIN.\n\nI am Mexican Vice Consul. Don Carlos de Espiau called upon me some time ago, in the month of May, and gave me two names, Juan Garcia and Vicente Fernandez, requesting me to inform him when the parties called to ask for passports. The Spanish consul did not explain why he wished to know.\nI. on the 29th of June, I issued a passport to Jimenez, who identified as a Spanish subject, to travel to Vera Cruz. The regulations between the Spanish and Mexican governments stipulate that Spanish subjects bound for Mexico do not require a passport from the Spanish Consul, only one from the Mexican Consul.\n\nJOS\u00c9 VILLARUBIA.\n\nI am familiar with Mr. Morante; I visit his shop almost every day, both in the morning and in the afternoon. I was there on the evening of the 4th of July, accompanied by the clerk, Antonio Ricardo. Morante was absent. Rey was in the back room, and I did not see him or know what he was doing. While I was in the shop, Llorente and Rey went for a walk between half-past six and seven o'clock.\nI left the shop at 9 o'clock and Rey had not returned. The shop was closed. Rey seemed to be going voluntarily - I saw nothing to the contrary. A few days before this occurrence, I had a discussion with Llorente about his claim that he could send rascals (hombres picarros) to Havana. I replied that he was not a man to do it; that neither he nor the Governor of Louisiana could do it.\n\nI know Mr. Llorente; he is in court. I knew Mr. Rey. On the 5th of July last, in going into Victor's restaurant, near the Place d'Arnes, in the company of a person now absent from the city, between five thirty and six o'clock in the evening, I saw Rey in front of the street, and seated opposite him at the same table, Llorente. Upon leaving the restaurant after having taken our dinner, we left Llorente.\nI saw Rey in the restaurant. I was astonished as I had never seen him there before. I was surprised because I knew he always dined at the adjacent restaurant where Fernandez's employees brought him. In May, the Spanish Consul came to my house and asked for me. He was told I was out. The consul asked the person he spoke to request me to call at his house the next day as he wished to speak to me. I went there the next day. The consul, knowing I was intimate with Fernandez and had seen him at my house, told me that as a friend, I should tell Fernandez not to go to Mexico as a treaty providing for the extradition of prisoners existed between Spain and Mexico, and he could be arrested.\nI and my friend had an audience with the consul and he sent us back. I thanked the consul for his kindness to my friend. (Laughter.) According to the consul, I warned Fernandez not to go to Vera Cruz, assuming it was true that an extradition treaty existed. It was due to a public rumor in the city that Fernandez hastened his departure to Vera Cruz. The rumor was that he was going to be sent away by the consul.\n\nAntonio Ricardo.\n\nAre you not employed at Mr. Morante's? I am.\n\nDo you recall Rey, alias Garcia? I do.\n\nDo you recall having seen him on the 5th of July last year? I do.\n\nWhere did Mr. Rey dine on that day? He dined at Mr. Morante's chocolate shop, 52 St. Ann street, with me.\n\nWas Morante absent from dinner? He was absent the whole day.\n\nAt what hour did you dine? That day we dined about five o'clock. We generally dine between\nFour and six, no regular time between these two hours. Was Rey in the shop before dinner? Yes, he had been there since morning and remained until he went out with Llorente. Do you recall seeing Mr. Villarubia that evening in your shop? I do. Do you recall seeing Llorente come in and take Rey away? I do. After or before dinner did Llorente take him away? After dinner.\n\nDo you not have a coffee house? - Yes.\nWhere? Adjoining the large Cotton Press in the Third Municipality, on Levee street, between Ferdinand and the street below.\n\nWhat did you see about your coffee house on the 5th of July? On that evening, the Mary Ellen was lying at the wharf opposite my coffee house. I saw persons coming from on board two or three different vessels.\n\nJoseph Rabeli.\n\nDo you not have a coffee house? - Yes.\nIt is located adjacent to the large Cotton Press in the Third Municipality, on Levee street, between Ferdinand and the street below.\n\nWhat did you observe concerning your coffee house on the 5th of July? On that evening, the Mary Ellen was moored opposite my coffee house. I noticed several individuals disembarking from two or three various vessels.\nI cannot tell if the men were crew or passengers at the house. I had no barkeeper and had to stay inside the house all the time. That is all I know about it.\n\nDid you see this man Garcia in your coffee house that evening? My house is public, and I do not pay attention to persons coming in and out. I do not know whether I saw him there or not.\n\nDo you know Garcia when you see him? I do not.\n\nDid you give any drugged liquor in your coffee house? (Mr. Dufoui \u2014 Of course he will say he didn't) \u2014 I give nothing but natural drinks.\n\nDid you see a man there that night with green specks? \u2014 I think I did, but cannot swear to it.\n\nDo you know Fulgencio Llorente? No, sir, I don't know any of them.\n\nMr. St. Germain.\n\nYou were employed at Lavalette's counting house on Common street, weren't you? ... Yes, sir.\nI am an engineer. On the evening of the 5th of July, I was walking down the levee around eight o'clock. I saw the schooner Ellen and Mary alongside the wharf. I knew the mate and captain many years and visited them often. I stayed there several minutes. During that time, the captain of the towboat asked Captain McConnell if he was ready. Captain McConnell replied he would be ready in a few minutes. He told the mate to get it ready and stand by the lines. I bid them good night.\nCaptain M'Connell and I were on the wharf together. I do not know if shipping master Air. John C. Smith was there. I saw hull, but I do not know if Smith was present. The cook and one of Smith's clerks were on the wharf. Smith picked up a rope and pretended to whip the cook for neglecting his hoard. Captain M'Connell said, \"Smith, don't hurt him.\" Smith and I then turned to leave. As I turned around, I saw four men carrying a man. Two held his legs, and two more his arms. One of them held his hat in his hand. One of them shouted, \"Captain M'Connell, here is your steward.\" The captain made no answer. The man shouted again, \"Captain, here is your steward.\" Another shouted, \"Captain, here is a passenger.\" The captain then said, \"Take him down to the cabin and be careful you don't hurt him.\"\nWhat kind of hat was it? I should judge it was a Panama; it was white or I couldn't have seen it. The man they were carrying had spectacles. Captain M'Connell did not assist in carrying the man on board. He merely told the men to be careful not to hurt him and put him in the cabin. The captain continued attending to his business. One of the men, who was with the four men and was acting as shipping master, said, \"See what strange business we have, putting drunken sailors and stewards on board after they have got their money.\"\n\nCan you point out that man in court? The witness stood up and looking around some time, at last fixed his eyes on one of the prisoners. That is the man, said the witness, pointing to Henry Marie, one of the prisoners. I thought it very strange to see the man I had known for many years and had never seen in court before.\nHim anywhere, but in coffee houses, at balls, and at courts, acting as shipping master, while the shipping master and his clerk were standing by. Saying nothing. The vessel was cast off immediately after the man was taken on board.\n\nDid the man look: like a steward? He looked anything but like a steward. (Laughter.)\n\nWhat sort of a coat had he on? He had on a back or dark dress coat. I should not have paid so much attention to him had he been shipped by a boarding house man, or a shipping master.\n\nBy Commissioner Cohen: Have you ever seen that man who made the observation, \"See what trouble we have with drunken sailors,\" acting as shipping master? Never. I have never seen him anywhere but in police courts, and where decent men ought not to be.\nI was about ten feet from him when he made the remark. Captain McMullen was about eight feet from me, and I was about twelve feet from the vessel. The night was pretty dark. I saw them lift the man across the railing into the schooner. I'm not sure whether he was put aft of the main rigging, but I think he was. I did not see him after he was taken on board. There were several people on the levee, but the only ones I recognized were Captain McConnell, Mr. Smith, and the others I have mentioned. The men appeared to be perfectly dead. He was cramped up, and I couldn't tell what bulk he was or what his size was. When I was going down the levee, I heard a bell ring; I did not know from what ship that was, but as I came near the Mary Ellen, I heard the Da Soto's bell ring.\nThe night was so dark. I looked into his lace and saw the man. That's why Marie made the remark to me. Laughter. Justice Bright: Did the man justify here in court, Marie had his hand on the marionette. He had a stick in his hand, walking alongside them. They were together. It was when I stooped over to look at the man that he observed me doing so and said what I have related. It was when he made the observation that I looked in his face and recognized him.\n\nCharles Rogers.\n\nPience: State what occurred on the evening of the 5th July.... I was met by somebody and told to go to the coffee house and wait. That was the last coffee house this side of the lower cotton pretzels.\nBy whom were you employed at that job? - By Mr. Eagle. (Witness identified him in court.)\nWhat sort of job was that - what kind of business? I was to wait at the coffee house, until a big, stout man came with another small man. Something was said about the two being the man, but I didn't believe it, as I didn't think that was the sort of man. So Mr. Eagle came across to me and said that was the man.\nBy what name did they call him? - I did not hear.\nPoint out the men. [The witness pointed out Mariej - I know him. (Llorente was brought forward) - He looks very much like the other man.]\nWhat countryman was the man with spectacles? - I don't know.\nWhat language did he speak? - He didn't speak at all.\nWho treated him in that coffee house? - I didn't take much notice, but they drank together.\nWhat occurred then: One of the small gentlemen walked out the lower door - this is the man I take to be Llorente. The other two walked out another door. Llorente, the man who walked out the lower door, headed towards the lower cotton press. The other two went about ten steps further up and crossed onto the Levee. Mr. William Eagle stood on the Levee. He called me and the other man who was employed. Two of them took hold of him and led him towards the wood-work of the Levee. Mendez touched me on the back with a stick and told me to go on, he knew all about it.\n\nDid you catch hold of him on the banquette?... I did not catch hold of him until he was falling, when they had hold of a leg and arm.\n\nDid he resist? Not at all.\n\nMarie is a very stout man, about five feet nine or ten inches high. Llorente is short and thick-set.\nAnd he was about five feet six or seven inches and comparatively slender. He wasn't Rebei, covered in mud; more so then, as he is in good health and has been for several months.\n\nDid he say anything?... He never spoke a word, sir.\n\nWas he drunk? No, sir, he stood mighty straight if he was drunk.\n\nWho were the men who had hold of him?... William Eagle and a man named John, who has gone to California.\n\nWho was the fourth man? Was it the man who was brought up here a moment ago (Llorente)? No; he had walked down to the press.\n\nCommissioner Cohen: \u2014 How did he fall? You say he was not drunk?... Because they were lifting him off the ground and the lift was sudden. He lost his hat. I picked it up and held it in my left hand while I helped to carry him with my other hand, which I put under his shoulder.\nWhere did you put him on the Schooner Wary Elien, one wharf above the coffee house? What did the Captain say when you brought him there? He said put him down in the cabin. Do you recognize Captain McConnell in court? Yes, sir. How long after did the schooner leave the wharf? I don't believe it was more than half a minute. What hour was that? I can't say exactly; it was between eight and ten in the night. When were you employed for this business? About half an hour before dark that day, by Mr. Eagle. What did he tell you about the business he had to do? He said it was a stubborn man, one of the crew I supposed, and he wanted me to help to put on board. He said it was a man who he supposed might be stubborn or unwilling to go on board.\nI was paid six dollars by Mr. Eagle the next day. Did Mr. Eagle tell you for whose account he was doing this? He told me a man approached him on the levee and asked if he didn't want to make a little money. He didn't tell me how much he got himself.\n\nWe (John and I) had been posted at the coffee house for about three quarters of an hour, waiting. Mr. Eagle was standing on the levee waiting.\n\nWhere did you let go of the man? I let go of him right at the rail of the vessel.\n\nWhat became of him then? Mr. Eagle and this man (John) passed him down into the cabin.\n\nDid they return immediately to the wharf? Yes, sir; and they had to jump quickly because the crew let go of the vessel's fasts, and it swung off.\nQ: Did you stay on the wharf while they went down into the cabin?... Yes.\nBefore these three men came, had not Mr. Eagle described Marie, the stout man?... He told me the man we were to put on board would come with the stout man, and when he came, I recognized him as Marie.\nWhat made you suppose it couldn't be the man you were to take on board?... Because he was not dressed like a sailor. He wore good clothes and spectacles.\nSince this case has commenced, have you not received offers not to come up as a witness?... Yes, sir.\nWho made the offer, sir?... Mr. Marie and Mr. Eagle.\nHow much was offered, sir? They told me I could make $300 or $400.\nFrom whom was the money to come? They did not say.\nWere Mr. Marie and Mr. Eagle together when they made the offer?... No, sir, they were not.\nMr. Eagle made the offer separately, at different places and times. Do you recollect who first made the offer? Mr. Eagle Can you recollect the substance of what Mr. Eagle said to you when making the offer? He told me there were some people uptown who told him to see me, and get me to say anything in their favor; they would give me two or three hundred dollars, and he would see that I got the money. Is that all? He wanted me to sign a piece of paper to satisfy the gentlemen that he had paid me the money. Can you recollect the substance of what Mr. Marie said? I met him at the Place d'Armes with a young man, I was in company with. He walked down as far as Ursuline street. He then called me aside\u2014I suppose because he did not want the young man to hear\u2014and told me we all could make three or four hundred dollars apiece.\nDid you ever understand from either of them \u2013 Mr. Marie or Mr. Eagle \u2013 who was to pay the money, or from whom it was to come? No, sir.\n\nJustice Bright.\u2014You say the man was not drunk, why then did he need carrying? I suppose, sir, because he was not willing to walk.\n\nDid he appear sick? No, sir.\n\nDid he struggle at all? No, sir.\n\nDid he appear to help himself, to use that phrase? No, sir.\n\nWhat appeared to you to be the matter with the man? Well, sir, I couldn't tell; he walked over the Levee as nice as any man.\n\nDid any person speak to him while they were carrying him? No, sir, nobody spoke.\n\nWhen you carried him to the railing?.... Nobody spoke but the Captain and Mr. Smith, the shipping agent.\n\nWhen you were about turning him over the railing, did he appear to try to help himself?.... No, sir, there were persons there ready to carry him.\nCommissioner Cohen: \"Was he gagged?... No sir. Was he weak? He was a small man. How long from the time they lifted him up did it take to carry him on board? Not more than a few minutes. What kind of hat was his? It was a small, narrow brim, a Panama hat. Justice Bright: \"Did you form any opinion as to what commodity he was?... No sir, I only had one glimpse at his face. That was in the coffee house. Was he a white man?... Yes sir. Was his countenance pale or flush?... I can't tell sir. Mr. Warfield: \"After the vessel shoved off, was anything said by Marie, Eagle, or any of the others then? I spoke to Mr. Eagle and asked him if he was going up? He said no, and asked me if I wanted any money? I told him no\u2014 I would call at his house in the morning.\"\nI. Laborde: I went towards the Lower Cotton Press. Did you think, at that time, or do you believe now, that this man was one of the crew of the resort? No, I do not.\n\nEvidence for the Defence.\nJ. F. Laborde.\nI have been acquainted with Captain McConnell for eight or ten years.\nDid he invite you to go to Havana on the last trip? He asked me frequently. I was sick the last trip and could not go.\nYou knew he was going to Havana?... Yes, sir, we sent letters by him.\n\nCross examination. - By whom are you employed?... By my uncle, J. V. Laborde.\nWhat is the name of the firm?... Laborde & Xiques.\nAre you acquainted with a young man named Thomas J. Burke?... I have known him intimately the last five or six years. We have lived together. We room together.\n\"The Agent demanded Mc200 doubloons or $3400 to take him away \u2014 He was tied on board under the hatches. The object of his being taken there is not that of punishing Rey so much as to ferret out of him who were the parties who employed him to set the two prisoners free from the castle. Some of the most influential families in Havana having been implicated in buying off this turnkey.\"\nA party of Spaniards, led by a speaker, visited the Consul last night. The Consul presented them with letters and papers, exonerating him from blame. Other Spaniards intended and formed a company to damage the Consul and send him to Havana in a similar manner. All Spaniards were enraged against this consul, and they praised the Delta for taking up the matter. The paper would gain respect and influence among the Spaniards if it continued criticizing the consul and bringing him to punishment.\n\nSomeone asked about the \"me\" referred to in the text. The witness pointed to Captain McConnell. McConnell was the person someone alluded to. Someone mentioned a specific agent, but no name was given. If allowed, the whole situation would be explained.\nMr. Cohen: That is a very plain question. I meant no allusion to any agent. I intended it as a hoax, a lie from beginning to end. To whom did you allude when you speak of \"him\" in the passage where you say, \"to take him away?\" ...Well, I suppose I allude to Rey. I refer to him throughout.\n\nMr. Warfield: We now file this document in evidence.\n\nExamination in chief resumed. \u2014 Knowing Thomas Burke was employed as a printer's devil in the Delta office, first gave me the idea of hoaxing the Delta. In a conversation I had with him that night, I said I had much importance to say to him, but was afraid to say it. I said so in order that he might think I knew a great deal about this case, and that he would give me credit for it. On the day following.\nMr. Burke came to my store and said he was from Mr. Maginnis of the Delta office, wanting to know all the facts of the case. I initially refused, but after much begging, I consented and wrote the paper. The first item of the 200 doubloons I heard in some bar room or conversation, and the rest I made up myself. I would have given a longer account, but I had no time that morning and could not tell any more lies.\n\nMr. Warfield: What did you say, any more lies? ... Yes, sir, I intended to give them a whole chapter of lies if I had time. That is all I know of the case.\n\nMr. Warfield: (The testimony being read by the clerk.) Insert there, that he would give a chapter of lies if he had had time... . Witness: Yes, and I would give them now.\nDistrict Attorney Reynolds: Not now, sir. You are on oath.\nMr. Warfield: Have you not had several conversations with Mr. Burke since?... Yes, sir, the last one today at one o'clock.\nIn reference to this document ... Yes, sir.\nAre you still in the employ of Laborde & Xiques? Yes, sir.\nIs not your uncle, Mr. Juan Ignacio Laborde, of the firm of Laborde & Xiquos, the security of Don Carlos da Espafia?... I have it so stated in the newspapers, and would know his writing if I saw it on the bond.\nMr. Warfield called for the bail bond of the Consul, when\nMr. Prcaur: We admit that Mr. Juan Ignacio Laborde, the witness's uncle, is the security of the Spanish Consul in this case.\nMr. Warfield: Was this document written about the time the newspapers commenced speaking of the matter?\nIt was written the day after the first article on the subject appeared in the Delta.\n\nJohn Smith.\nAre you a shipping master in this port? ... Yes.\nAre you acquainted with Captain McConnell, of the schooner Mary Ellen? I am.\nDid you ship his crew for the last voyage? - I did.\nWere you with him on the afternoon and evening of the 5th of July? I saw him that evening at his vessel. I went down to the vessel about 8 o'clock. Mr. McConnell and the mate went to see Mr. Wall. I told him it was not usual for tows to go away before 9 or 10 o'clock, and he would have time. He went down to Wall's store and sold him some coffee he had in the store, and came back again to the schooner. When he came back alongside the schooner, I asked the mate if all hands were on board. He said:\nmy clerk had been there and gone after the cook. We waited for more than half an hour, during which the steamboat bell rang several times and hailed the schooner. The steamboat captain did. I asked Captain McConnell if he was all ready? He said yes, as soon as the cook would come he would shove off; there was a passenger whose passage was engaged, but he could not wait for him. I saw the cook and two negroes carrying his baggage, and my clerk coming along at the head of the wharf. I ran up towards him and hurried him aboard. I called out to the steamer we were all ready. Captain McConnell called out to his men to single the lines and let go. I was then bidding Captain McConnell goodbye \u2014 shook hands with him. He ran aboard the steamer.\nI. Turned round, looking up the wharf, I saw three men coming along, arm-in-arm. Someone said, \"The schooner is off.\" They picked him up by the legs and shoulders, passed me, and passed him over the rail. The rail was nearly level with the wharf, below it. I sang out to Captain McConnell, \"Here's the passenger.\" Capt. McConnell said, \"Let him come aft.\" Or \"Let him go down in the cabin.\" The schooner's bows were then swung out, but her stern was still alongside the wharf. I saw a dark object, I believed was the same man, trying to get on the quarter-deck, with something white in his hand, which I supposed was his hat. The schooner swung off then from the wharf, and I left to go home, in two or three minutes after.\nThree men were walking towards the schooner when you first saw them, one of them carrying a stick. I believe three or four men helped lift the man over the rail. One of them was a black man, and I may have helped him over myself. There were four or five men there. They were not hurrying to get him on board when you first saw them, but only when the schooner shoved off. I cannot say for certain if the lifting over the rail was done to help him on board, as he could get on himself. It was very dark, and a sober man might have stumbled and fallen overboard that night. The man was about forty or fifty feet from the vessel when they first took hold of him.\nHe seemed desirous of getting on board himself? I don't know.\nDid he make any resistance? I did not see him make any resistance at all.\nYou saw him going aft, didn't you? I saw what I thought was the same object, a white hat, climbing up the poop.\nWas the vessel in the act of going at that moment? Yes, sir.\n\nMr. Hunton \u2013 You say Captain McConnell went down to Mr. Wall's and sold some coffee. Is that of your own knowledge? ... I went with him, sir. We were absent about half an hour.\n\nHow far were the men when you first saw them? They were about two hundred feet. The wharf was a short one. I was about going home; I was standing about half way down the wharf.\n\nDid you stop where you were when you saw them? No, I turned back with them.\nI knew one of the men - Charlie Rogers. I recognized him even in the dark. Did you know any of the other men? I saw Mr. Eagle after the man was put aboard. Did you see Mr. Orton there? I saw him when I put the cook on board and later on the levee. Captain McConnell made no other remark about the passenger except that he expected one. He mentioned that the passenger had the passport of the Spanish Consul and he would like him to go if he came in time. How long after returning from Mr. Wall's was it until the vessel left? About half an hour.\nYou had any reason to suspect who the passenger was? No, I thought nothing of it until I saw the affair in the papers. I supposed he was a late passenger, and that his friends were with him, seeing him off.\n\nDid you suppose Charlie Rogers was one of his friends? I did not know.\n\nDid you suppose so? No, I did not.\n\nHow did you say they came up? Three persons arm-in-arm and one alongside.\n\nNo baggage brought along? I didn't see any.\n\nYou said it was very dark that night, and that you could only recognize a well-known face near you\u2014are you sure they hadn't held of the man when you first saw them?\u2014No, sir, they had not.\n\nHow far did you say you were from them? About halfway along the wharf. The wharf is about two hundred feet long. I could see four persons there.\nCommissioner Cohen: Do you know this man, said to have gone to California? I don't, sir.\n\nMr. Hunton: I don't recall distinctly how far it was you said from the vessel they took hold of the man. The cry was made when they came upon the schooner to \"cast off,\" and they took hold of him and ran; I ran alongside. He stumbled on the way; they picked him up, and I don't know but I helped \"them to carry him by catching him by the thigh.\n\nA dispute arose as to whether the witness said the man stumbled before they took hold of him or after. The defense thought he said \"after.\" The prosecution thought \"before.\" The Court was of the same opinion as the prosecution and called upon the witness to say which was right.\n\nThe witness now said it was before they took hold of him.\nCross-examined by Mr Warfield: How far were you from them when they took hold of him?... About a yard.\nDid he say anything then or on the way to the vessel?... No.\nDid you hear anything said as they took him along?... When he got on board, someone said something about \"what trouble we have with these drunken stewards.\"\nDid you see this man from the time he was launched on board the vessel so as to know he got aft?... I supposed it was him I saw climbing up the poop.\nCould you see him after he got on board or not? \u2014 No. I suppose he fell on a spar or on his backside. [Laughter.]\nWell, did you see him after? Yes, I saw him going up the poop. I supposed him to be the same man, because I saw the white hat.\nWas there nothing said when he was launched on board by anyone \u2013 by him or those who put him on board? Not a word.\nWhat made you suppose those who put him on board were his friends?... I don't know whether they were friends or foes. I supposed he was late, and they were helping him aboard. You say you heard no words pass. When they got on board, did you not hear any words, such as goodbye, farewell, adieu, or adios? Not a word. You have spoken of a man with a stick \u2014 would you know him? He was a stout man. Mr. Warfield: Stand up there, Mr. Marie. (Mr. Marie did so.) Is that the man? He was the same size; he was a similar man. Did you ship the cook and cabin boy? I shipped a cook and a cabin boy who acts as steward. Was the ship certainly cast off before the man was put on board? ... No; her upper lines were yet fast to the wharf. Did Captain McOnnell ever mention the name of the passenger to you? He did not.\nDid Captain McConnell ask you to include this passenger in your shipping articles, as he was a sailor? No, sir. A few days before, he asked me to make room for a couple of passengers who had no passports. Did he not mention that the Spanish Consul had some wish regarding this matter? No; all he said the night before the vessel sailed was that this passenger was a friend of the Spanish Consul and he wanted him to come on board. Did you or did you not refuse to leave room for one or two poor passengers as part of the crew? I told him I would if I could provide protections, but I had no spare protections. A small vessel like that can only carry two hands without protections, and the cabin boy and steward had none.\nMr. Dufour: Have you not told someone, one or two days after this occurrence, that you had seen a Spanish rascal put on board the Mary Ellen? No, sir; I did not know whether he was Ichi, French, or Spanish. I might have said a thousand things like it, since this thing has been talked about. Some said he got a thousand doubloons, I did not say I wished I could get it. I would put hundreds on board for it.\n\nHave you not snid so since the 5th of July?... I've said a good many things. I don't know.\n\nThe question is a pointed one \u2014 have you not stated since the 5th of July that \"you had seen a Spanish rascal put on board the Mary Ellen?\"... Not that I remember.\n\nChas. Duquesny.\n\nThe chancellor of the consul since January, 1847. First heard of Juan Garcia and Vicente-\nOn the last day of May, a report from one of the judges of the Havana Tribunal was received by the consul in a letter from the captain general. The report was later returned to Havana once the desired information was obtained. The captain general's letter, which enclosed the report, reads as follows, translated:\n\n\"I forward you a report, No. 4, from the Alcalde Mayor regarding the criminal case concerning the escape of prisoners V. Fernandez and Cirillo Villaverde, facilitated by Juan Garcia, the second jailer of this city's prison. In order for justice to be served, please inform me of what actions can be taken against these delinquents who have fled to that country.\"\n\nThe consul responded to the report and this letter. The chancellor copied the original, written by the captain general.\nI return the document you sent me. The nature of the offense, the condition of the individuals, and the laws of the country prevent me from sending them away. However, I believe I will be able to provide better information about the case you have assigned me regarding the person who facilitated the prisoners' escape.\n\nSteps were taken to obtain this information. Mr. Trescasez came to the office around the middle of May. Mr. T. informed the consul that he was no longer in the police, and the consul replied, \"I'm sorry, for I want or am willing to have a watch on two individuals who have arrived from Havana.\"\nWhat next? He made one or two steps out of the office and went into the corridor. I believe they remained there for two or three minutes. Then the consul came in.\nDid the consul return with Mr. Trescasez? No, sir; he came alone.\nHow far is the street door from the office door? Perhaps six or seven steps.\nDid they go up stairs? Not that I know, sir.\nAt the time, did they go up stairs? I was under the apprehension - under the feeling - that they were the whole time in the corridor.\nAt the time, did they go up stairs together, hold a conversation together, and return? I do not believe it. They had time to go up stairs and return, but not to hold a long conversation.\nDo you think the consul would have had time, during that period, to hold the conversation in relation\nI. Rey and Fernandez-Jarcia were not the names given to Mr. Trescasez.\n\nThe names of the individuals were not disclosed to Mr. Trescasez.\n\nIf names had been given, they would have been Don Vicente Fernandez y Juan.\n\nThe Court found this questioning method irregular.\n\n\"Were there any other names in the office? No, sir.\n\nCommissioner Cohen expressed difficulty understanding the testimony. He did not comprehend how the witness could identify the names if they had been given.\n\nI do not recall the first time I saw Garcia. During his initial visit, I distinctly remember a carriage stopping before the consul's house. Some time afterward, a gentleman named Ayala entered the office and informed Don Carlos Espafia, \"Garcia is in...\"\nThe consul appeared displeased and went upstairs to get dressed. He and Ayala returned in an hour with Llorente and Garcia. In the office, the consul assured Garcia, \"You have nothing to fear here; this is the office of Her Catholic Majesty.\" He showed them the seals of office and introduced me as his clerk. After some time in the parlor, Ayala left, followed by Llorente and Garcia. This was the extent of the first encounter.\nI. Garcia and Llorente came together on the 15th of June, the day he made the declaration. They stood at the entrance of the office. Both men did not enter. The consul, who was in the office, went up the stairs with them. Some time after they were upstairs, Mr. Llorente came down into the office and asked me for the seal of office, which I gave him. Half an hour or three-quarters of an hour later, the consul himself came down with a paper in his hand, which he told me to copy, and so I did.\n\nAfter Garcia and Llorente went out, the Consul brought down a document with his own signature on it, as well as Garcia and Llorente's signatures. I copied it immediately, and the Consul told me he had sent the original to Havana. He informed me two or three days later that he had dispatched the original.\nThis document, purporting to be a declaration voluntarily made by Rey regarding the escape of the prisoners, was offered in evidence by the defence but was rejected after a lengthy argument due to the unproven signature of Rey. The court's decision was:\n\n\"That there cannot be a copy without a pre-existing original.\nThat the existence of any original is not proven, nor its absence accounted for. As the Consul's statement and certificate cannot make evidence for himself or any of the co-accused, one of the accused could not be heard as a witness in this case for himself or for any other parties charged \u2014\n\nThat, though it has been agreed that Rey's declaration be received, yet such declaration must first be authenticated.\"\nThe alleged declaration by Rey, with no proof of an original declaration by him, was not received as evidence by the Court. I saw Garcia in the Consul's house on the 3rd or 4th of July, believing him to be alone. I made a passport for him. The Consul asked me to make a passport for Don Pedro Gruma y Romeo on the 4th of July between 2 and 3 o'clock. The witness was positive about the name being Don Pedro Gruma until Collens pointed out it was Pedro Murga y Romeo. The witness then admitted he was mistaken.\nPedro Murga y Romeo. The prosecution objected to the defense's witnesses. Mr. Collins replied that the witness was mistaken.\n\nMr. Reynolds: You make those mistakes quite too often.\n\nWitness: I was mistaken, sir, and I told the truth.\n\nCom. Cohen: Yes, sir; but you never correct those mistakes until you are reminded of them by the court or counsel for the defense.\n\nWitness: The books will be here directly, and they will show I told the truth.\n\nMr. Reynolds: Yes, let the books be brought.\n\nMr. Fuulhouze: No, sir \u2014 never. We shall insist upon the immunity of the books.\n\nTo whom did you give that passport? To the Consul.\n\nDid you not know the Consul had directions to make out the passport in that name? Did you not see?\nTo Don Carlos de Espafia:\n\nMy Dear Sir and Esteemed Friend, by yesterday's steamer I received your interesting letter, dated June 19th and 20th. I avail myself of the departure of the other steamer to answer it. The matter at hand requires it, and there is not a moment to lose.\n\nShould the man spoken of comply with what he has offered, and should you decide to let him come, it will be proper to give him a passport under a supposed name, and to write to me at the same time his real name and the assumed one.\nOrder this information as soon as he arrives, taking all proper measures accordingly. If he has not departed when you receive this letter, send him here as soon as possible, giving him a passport under the name Don Pedro Murga y Romeo. I will be prepared from the moment the vessel enters the port's mouth, though the receipt of this letter may be delayed due to post-office obstacles. It is very important that the secret be kept; that everyone remains completely concealed; that he accelerates his journey after providing you with all possible information before departure, and under the seal of secrecy. You must also advise him on the conduct he will need to observe during navigation to remain unknown, ensuring his arrival here remains undisclosed.\nI will thank you for a few numbers of Nueva Telegrafo, which begins to speak. I am desirous to know his opinion. You may direct it to me under cover.\n\nIt is altogether false that the general has either sent, or intended to send, his resignation in any way or manner. He is well and much engaged at work.\n\nAs you have written to me that our man will leave by one of the vessels which are soon to sail for here, I am on the watch for the first which shall arrive. It will be of great use for us to obtain through this means some important information about the foolish designs of the traitors, and you will have rendered a great service.\n\nAt his arrival here, he will proceed so that he will have nothing to fear, and in no way be discovered. The quarantine will not impede it.\n\nVery respectfully, yours,\nCRISPEN X. DeSANDOVAL.\nCommissioner Cohen: Was the passport made in accordance with the letter's direction? It was, sir.\n\nCommissioner Cohen: Do you have any record of passports where evidence of this passport may be found? We have a book of passports that could be brought into court to show it.\n\nMr. WarHeld: That is what we have already asked.\n\nCommissioner Cohen: The defense comes in with incomplete evidence; their chain is imperfect, but it is their right to leave it incomplete as they see fit.\n\nHave you received any other papers related to this affair at the Consulate? Yes, sir.\n\nWill you please look at this package and identify it? I do. It arrived here on Thursday, the 2nd of the month, at 8 o'clock.\n\nTo whom was it addressed? The Consul of His Catholic Majesty.\nWas it not opened in your presence? It was, sir.\nHow many papers did it contain? Three.\nWhat were they? A letter from the Captain General; a letter from Mr. Sandoval, the treasurer of the Captain General; and a letter from Juan Garcia, the jailor of Havana.\nLetters were also included. The one from Garcia was a copy he was made to make on board the Andrew Jackson. Here are the other two letters:\n\nSecretaria Politica, Havana, July 26, 1849.\nThe Consul of Her [illegible] at New Orleans:\n\nI have received your communication, dated June 27th, along with the annexed list, of which the individual named in it is the hearer. I have also in hand the spontaneous declaration made before me and in the presence of one witness by the ex-jailor in the Royal Jail here, and formerly a fugitive in your place.\nSr. Don Carlos de Espana, My esteemed sir,\n\nThe individual, Juan Garcia, has arrived and is still in quarantine, anxious to leave. Jlo has informed your Excellency in writing and at length that he ratifies all that he declared before you in your consulate; that he declared it of his own free will, in order to obtain pardon, and that his coming here was of his own accord.\n\nHe has also sent me the enclosed letter, asking me to send it to you.\n\nThere is nothing new for the present. The cholera is decreasing, but yellow fever is beginning.\n\nVery truly yours,\n\nCrispin X. De Sandoval.\nTwo or three days passed between Garcia's first and second visit, not more than three days, on the 26th of June he came for the second time, and his second visit was after the SM June. When Ayala, the consul, Llorente, and Rey returned after Ayala told the consul that Garcia had arrived, they came in the same carriage Ayala and the consul had gone away in. Both Ayala and Llorente were quietly at the consul's house. I do not know if Mr. Ayala bore letters from Havana for him. I put letters aboard the P. Souie from the consul. On the 26th of June, when Llorente, Hey, and the consul were upstairs, it was Llorente who came down for the seals.\n\nIn your first examination, you said, addressing Mr. Garcia, the consul said, Mr. Garcia, you need not\nYou are in the old Spanish consul's office. Did he seem afraid? Yes, he appeared anxious.\nDid you not hear the consul tell Mr. Garcia on the 26th that he would send him to Havana first? - No, sir; the first time, I heard him recommend him to the general. I did not see Mr. Ayala on the 26th. He sailed for Havana on the evening of the 27th on the P. Soule.\nIs not the consul now residing in the house of Puigy Jur,* in the absence of his family? He dines there very often, and I find him there whenever I want him; but I don't know if he resides there, because I do not sleep in the house. The consul told me he could be found there if he was wanted.\n\n*This, it will be remembered, was the house in which Llorente was found secreted by the police.\nThe export was received on the 16th of May, and answered on the 1st of June. Was it before or after the answer that Mr. Trescasez was at the house - I think before.\n\nDon't you know now, that both Trescasez and the consul went upstairs? No, sir, I'm sure they did not.\n\nYou are sure? That is my impression.\n\nWe do not want your impression; we want what you know, sir. You say they did not go up stairs?\n\nWas Mr. Trescasez at the house ever before? He was, more than six months before.\n\nCommissioner Cohen: \"If they had gone up stairs, are you sure they could not have gone unnoticed, sir?\" ... No, sir, I'm not sure; that was my impression.\n\nCross-examination returned. Did Mr. Garcia, on his last visit, on the 3rd or 4th of July, come to the office alone? ... Yes, sir; I saw him pass the office.\nHe did not ask if the considerables were upstairs or not? No, sir; he passed through the corridor without saying a word. I was walking up and down my office.\n\nHe did not look at you, V he did not.\n\nWas he in the corridor, or was he turning the door? In the corridor.\n\nThe consul had told me he had written some private letters to those who sent the exorto, asking the pardon of Rey. I think he told me so in the beginning of June, some days after he returned the aqarto.\n\nThe letter concerning the passport was received on the 2d or 3d of July. I do not know when an answer was sent. I did not copy it. The consul himself makes the reservadas (copies of private letters), and he made a reservada of that letter. Captain McDonnell goes to the office every time he has a vessel to register.\nHe was at the consul's house last, from 1:15 to 2:00, on the 5th of July. He came alone.\n\nWere you aware, when drawing out the passport for Garcia, in the name of Pedro Murgo y Romeo, that it was a false passport? Yes, sir.\n\nThe name was fictitious? Yes.\n\nDid the description correspond to Juan Garcia? As well as I can remember, by the description given me by the consul. He stood by my side while I was writing.\n\nWhen did you write the passport? On the 5th of July, between two and three o'clock.\n\nWe next come to the testimony of the subordinate officers and the crew of the Mary Ellen. It is exceedingly voluminous, but of little consequence. None of them, except Coleman, the chief mate, would testify.\nThe men acknowledged they knew nothing of how Rey was put aboard. Their testimony was met with suspicion. When brought up for examination, they were separated upon the prosecution's motion. The officer in charge testified that while they were in the room, two of them were walking up and down, and one asked the other, \"Should we say we did or did not know his name?\" The officer did not hear the reply. This shocking disclosure of the horrid drill of subordination deprived their testimony of any weight whatever. Not one of them, according to their own statement, not even the first or second mate who ate with Rey at every meal, nor the steward who served at the table, knew his name or ever heard it mentioned by the captain or anyone else.\nThe second mate replied, \"The man called Rey comes to breakfast!\" Their testimony supports Rey's account. He had freedom on the vessel, they said, present when the pilot took charge at the river mouth and transferred to the Andrew Ring as he describes. No baggage was seen brought on board for him, and they claimed he had none. Coleman swore that Rey, accompanied by a man resembling Llorente, was on board the schooner on the afternoon of July 5th, around 4 or 5 o'clock, before its move from the First Municipality to the Third Municipality, where he requested passage.\nThe witness received no passengers; his orders were against it. Asked by the court to render this into Spanish, the language in which he claimed the conversation took place, he was unable to do so, but replied \"no quiero pasajero\" (I do not want a passenger). The witness declared that he entered the cabin a few minutes after the vessel left the wharf and proceeded to sea. He found Captain M'Connell and Rey sitting opposite each other at the table. Between them were some papers. Witness took up one and found it to be, in his own words, \"a real Spanish passport\" for Pedro Romeo. This information about the passport's genuineness was given without being questioned on the point, and the court observed his \"willingness.\" He was examined as to how he knew it to be a real Spanish passport.\nA passport was presented to Coleman, and he merely glanced at the paper for a moment, recognizing only the name \"Pedro Romeo\" and the Spanish Coat of Arms, but not the signature or any part of the document. Coleman's eagerness and exceptional memory were frequently commented upon not only by counsel but also by the court during and after his examination. This is the man Rey accuses of preventing him from jumping ashore. Rey's testimony revealed that he went aboard the schooner with two friends. The steward was on board the entire afternoon, and therefore, he could not have been the \"drunken steward\" mentioned.\n\nJohn Richardson.\nPilot at the Balise. Took the Mary Ellen out over the bar on the morning of July 6th.\nI. About an hour and a half on board. My boat was at times alongside, at other times astern. I saw two persons, whom I took to be passengers. One of them, whose description corresponds in general to that of Rey, I noticed particularly. This passenger, while I was on board, was at times on deck. The captain invited me down to breakfast. I told him I couldn't go, and then the passengers went down with the captain. Both passengers went down to breakfast. After I got the vessel out to sea, I went down myself to get my orders. I saw all three of them at breakfast.\n\nDid you notice anything of constraint or liberty about him (Rey)? He did not appear to be concerned more than any other. He appeared to be very observant.\n\nJohn Cook.\nResides at the corner of Ferdinand and Levee streets. Was on the wharf when the Mary Ellen left.\nIn the Cotton Press coffee house, I asked for a drink. While I was drinking, three or four men entered. One of the men, who was talking loudly, seemed anxious and swung his arms. He wore spectacles, I'm certain of it. He held a quarter dollar in his hand to pay for his drink. After finishing mine, I went to the levee by the Mary Ellen. Captain McConnell from the steam-boat asked if I was ready. He was waiting for a passenger and would be ready to depart soon. Around the time he spoke, someone answered that the passenger was present.\nSomebody on board the schooner said he would lose his passage if he didn't act quickly. I was going to let go, I couldn't wait any longer, and I helped him or he would have lost his passage. Then I saw three or four or five men - three or four with him - helping him. They took hold of him and lifted him on board.\n\nCommissioner Cohen: Don't tell us what you supposedly saw before, but what you saw then.\nThey passed him aboard. I saw him afterwards, standing on the deck with his hat in his hand, making gestures with it.\nI saw him trying to get on top of the cabin, and then they let the vessel go. I did not hear anybody speak. I recognized among those who were helping him, Mr. Smith, Charlie Rogers, and two others I did not know. The party was about 20 feet from the vessel when I first saw them.\n\nMr. Hunion: Did they lift him up, or in what position was he? They were walking up towards the vessel, and he was walking with them, until the word was given to pass him aboard.\n\nAnd how did they pass him aboard? They lifted him up.\n\nDid he step over, or did they throw him over? There was no throwing over about it; his feet were put on the rail, and he stepped on to some cargo on the deck.\n\nNow, sir, will you tell us whether they took hold of him by the legs or arms? Some took him by the legs, some by the arms, and they lifted him bodily.\nQ: Did the man not being carried from the Levee, on the wharf, up to the schooner? Wasn't the captain heard shouting \"put him in the cabin\"? I didn't hear such a word. I heard him ring out \"bring him aft.\" Someone said it might have been the captain or mate.\n\nWitness: I saw Eagle on the wharf. I was speaking to him a minute or two before. He was about 10 feet from the man when he was picked up. He came up with the man, and we followed to the edge of the wharf. When Eagle and I spoke, we were about 6 or 7 feet from the vessel.\n\nQ: How did you know it was the captain who answered the steamboat?\n\nWitness: I never said it was the captain.\ncaptain ; I said some body onboard; it might have been the captain or mate, or some body of that kind. \nWhat was said on board the steamboat?... .Some body on the towbuat, I suppose it was, sung out, \n'\u2022captain, are von ready 7\" \nWas that what was said ? They said, \" Captain M'Connell, are you ready V \nJustice Bright again enjoined upon the witness to be more particular and positive in his answers. No, \nmore questions were put to him. \nJOHN RING. \nI am the runner of John C. Smith. X was on the wharf when the Miry Ellen went off. I first saw \nthe passenger who was pui. on board about half past eight, on the levee close to the wharf. He was \nstanding up to the best of my knowledge I couldn't tell if he was speaking ; be was too far off. I wag \nstanding about the centre of the wharf. There were three or four with him. Next thing I saw wa3 all \nCommissioner Cohen: Who do you mean by \"him\"? I mean the passenger.\nDid you distinguish him from the others? No, sir, I slewed round and went towards the vessel.\nCommissioner Cohen: Who do you mean by \"him\" (referring to \"I saw him aboard\"). I mean the passenger.\nHow did you know he was a passenger? I heard them cry out.\nDirect Examination Resumed: Was it the same man you saw standing on the levee that you saw on the vessel? Yes, sir, I rather think so.\nWhat did he do? He walked aft.\nDidn't he go down in the cabin? I rather think he did.\nCommissioner Cohen: \"Don't put that down. It is a leading question. We have had enough of the witnesses and their affidavits. I saw Mr. Orton on the wharf that night. He was between drunk and sober. It was about ten minutes after the passenger had gone on board when I saw him.\n\nCross Examination: \"I had a conversation with you (Mr. Dufour) about what I had seen after Morante's affidavit was made.\n\nWas Captain Smith absent from the city at the time I had the conversation with you? Yes, sir.\n\nThis conversation took place in my office. Exactly.\n\nDidn't you tell me, sir, that the man you now call a passenger appeared to you to have been crowded forward into the schooner?... Yes, I did.\n\nDidn't you tell me, sir, that this seemed very strange to you?... It was likely.\"\nDidn't you tell me, sir, that you asked the persons crowding the man who he was, and that the answer was \"Yes\"? Didn't you mention Captain Smith's name as one of the number? I mentioned him particularly. Among other things, didn't you ask if he was a passenger, and no answer was given?... Very likely. Had you seen Mr. Orton before that night? He was a perfect stranger to me. Did you converse with him on that evening? I did not. How do you know the man to whom you allude is Mr. Orton? I can identify a man by his face once seen.\n\nWilliam Robinson.\u2014 (A Second Municipality Policeman)\n\nI cannot say I was a passenger on the Mary Ellen, the last trip. I was on the articles, with a fictitious name, and was entered as the captain's clerk. This fictitious name was put on for the purpose of getting myself aboard.\nI went on board on the 5th of July between one and two in the afternoon. I was on and off the vessel and on shore during the afternoon. I don't know what time I went aboard the vessel, when it went down to the Third Municipality \u2013 it was some time in the evening. I never saw the Spanish passenger until he was a few feet from the vessel, being put aboard.\n\nHow was he put on board, or how did he come on board?... He was carried on board.\n\nWas he thrown on board or was he carried after being aboard?... No, sir. The cook had just come on board, and they appeared to be in a great hurry casting off the lines.\n\nYou say he was carried on board. How far was he carried beyond the rail? Was he carried further or was he set down on his feet?... He was set down on his feet, sir.\nHow near was he set on his feet by the rail? The rail and the wharf appeared to be at a level.\n\nWas he set on his feet just by the rail? ... Yes, sir.\n\nDid anyone cry out to the captain \"there was a passenger,\" or anything of that kind? ... Some people cried out, \"hold on,\" I think, I don't know who they were.\n\nWhat was said then? I didn't hear a word from any of them, sir.\n\nWas he carried any further? Yes, sir, some people cried out, \"take him into the cabin; put him below,\" and the vessel cast off.\n\nWas it \"let him go down below,\" or \"take him into the cabin\"? They said let him go down below and he walked right down into the cabin; two of them, I think, shoving him by the shoulder, and they jumped ashore.\n\nJustice Bright.\u2014Did you say, sir, that they jumped ashore? Yes, sir.\nDirect examination resumed: Did they walk down to the cabin with him? No, sir. How far was the cabin door from the place they put him on board? Not very far. I could not say. Say how far? I could not say \u2014 perhaps three or four steps. On the passage, I observed no constraint on Rey; he manifested no reluctance to leave the vessel. When he was sent on board the Andrew Ring, he shook hands both with the witness and the captain, and was on the passage very friendly with Captain M'Connell, frequently laughing and joking with him. Never heard his name. He didn't speak English, and I couldn't speak BpaniiL. When did you first hear that a passenger was to go on the Mary Ellen? Never heard it at all until I saw him coming aboard.\nI was not on the Mary Elean three to four evening she left. I went ashore seldom.\n\nWhere were you standing when this passenger was brought on board 1... I was standing on the quarter deck when they had been taking the cook on board.\n\nDid you see this passenger before you went on board? No, sir.\n\nDid you ever hear his name? No, sir.\n\nDid you enquire? No, sir. He couldn't take English and I couldn't speak Spanish.\n\nI thought you might have enquired of the captain? No, sir.\n\nJose Ramond De Ayala.\n\nI know Llorente, and I know Juan Garcia from the moment he and Vicente Fernandez arrived in New Orleans, fugitives from the Havana jail. Garcia first lived at Mrs. Taylor's boarding house, then at La Corrina, and last at Morante's. He was known here by the name Francisco Rey.\nHad you any conversation with Garcia? Yes, on several occasions. What did Garcia say to you about Fernandez in those conversations, the one who went to Mexico? Garcia complained bitterly about Fernandez leaving him here in a strange country after he had liberated him from ten years' imprisonment. Fernandez had promised him a large amount of money, ten or twelve thousand dollars, which he had not received. Fernandez told him he left due to a suit about a lottery ticket which required Garcia's presence in New Orleans, as Fernandez's brother had given a bond of $500 for his appearance. The suit about lottery tickets was pending.\nBefore the Recorder, Baldwin. it was Llorente who brought Rey to Morantes. He was fearful he would be murdered at the segar store, La Corrina. There were many fugitives there from the Havana jail who knew him. Fernandez had suggested that he might be murdered and had prohibited him from talking to any person. This is what caused him to be frightened.\n\nWitness: I wish to explain something essential in relation to this matter.\n\nLlorente consulted me on the propriety of moving Garcia from the cigar store, as he was so frightened he might lose his senses. I told Llorente I thought it was very proper to do so and approved the suggestion to take Garcia to Morante's.\n\nWhat did Garcia say to you when he first spoke of returning to Havana?...He said he wanted to.\nThe Spanish Consul was asked to seek pardon and return to Havana. What next? After being at Morante's, he fell ill. What next? Mr. Llorens (the correct spelling is Llorente) informed me that Garcia was seriously ill and asked me to visit him. Garcia requested me to bring the Consul. I told Garcia that it was a rainy day, making it difficult to get the Consul to come. Urged by Garcia, I agreed to fetch the Consul and went to the Place d' Armes to take a carriage to the Spanish Consul's office. I informed the Consul of Garcia's request.\nThe Consul replied that he couldn't go see Garcia in his official capacity as Spanish Consul. He was well-acquainted with the country's laws. I told the Consul I wasn't calling on him as the Spanish Consul but as a citizen, an individual. The Consul agreed to go with me in the carriage. We arrived at Mr. Morante's house, where we met Mr. Llorens and Garcia. Garcia wanted to tell something to the Spanish Consul about Fernandez leaving and leaving him. Upon which the Spanish Consul said, \"I didn't come to see you in my official capacity as Consul, but as a friend.\" Garcia then entreated the Consul to hear him.\nHe could not answer unless it was at his own office. Garcia replied he was ready to go with the Consul. Then Mr. Llorens, the Consul, Garcia, and I entered the carriage. After arriving at the Consul's house, I paid the driver two dollars and retired.\n\nDid Garcia tell you, after, what occurred at the Consul's house? This happened between the 22nd and 24th of June, I believe. I was preparing to go to Havana and left for that place on the 27th. I saw Garcia on one or two days before I left, in a coffee house on St. Ann street, between Royal and Bourbon. Garcia told me he regretted very much he was not going with me. That although he was sick, he was not afraid of going on board. He added that he expected to see main Havana in a few days. (After a pause): I have a few words to add to Garcia's declaration. On the affair-\nWe had been at the Consul's office in the afternoon when I met Garcia. He expressed feeling bad and was willing to take brandy, ice cream, or anything. The witness was going to testify about Garcia's desires, as expressed in their interview, when he was interrupted by the Court, who deemed his story irrelevant to this matter.\n\nDid he mention making a declaration? I did not make that statement to add to Garcia's declaration; I only stated that I accompanied Garcia to Morante's house.\n\nDid he say anything to you, after we were at the consul's house, in relation to his declaration made before the consul?\n\nMr. Dufeur: We object to that question\u2014 it is leading, and of course, the witness will say yes. He has a remarkable memory and even recalls Garcia talking to him months ago about brandy.\nThe witness requires no prompting. The Court directed the question to be put in this manner:\n\nThis man, whom Rey speaks of frequently, was a fugitive from justice from Havana, charged with the murder of a relative. He was in Mexico at the time our army invaded it, and it is said he was employed as a spy by both Americans and Mexicans.\n\nThe case referred to here was a dispute about a lottery ticket, brought before Recorder Baldwin. All parties were discharged when the examination was had. Rey had no concern in it.\n\nDo you recollect Garcia talking to you at any other time, in relation to what occurred at the consul's? I didn't have a great many conversations with him, but it is over a month since, and I don't recall all.\nThe speaker said, I don't know which parts of the conversation are important.\nDid you have any conversation with Garcia regarding the pardon? I had no other conversation with Gbrda about this topic, except what I have related. I did not even call at his residence. I called at the chocolate shop of Mr. Morante, but not at Id's dwelling.\nDid Garcia give you any reason why he expected to meet you at Havana? Yes, he said he expected to be pardoned by the Spanish Consul.\nHave you seen Mr. Garcia write? I often saw him sign his name, particularly very often. What did you see him sign so often? I saw him sign letters to persons in Havana, concerning the failure of Pedro Blanco & Co., asking for money. I wrote the letters and he signed them.\nHid Garcia make threats to those people in those letters? According to all those letters, Garcia stated that if the persons to whom they were addressed did not send the money Fernandez promised him, he would make a declaration before the Spanish Consul, exposing them, and would go to Havana himself.\n\nThe witness was handed the letter Rey wrote from on board the Andrew Ring to the Spanish Consul, and he identified the signature. That was the object of the examination in relation to Key's writing.\n\nCross-examination: You said that when you asked the consul to go to Garcia, he said he would not go in his official character because he knew the laws of the country. Where did this conversation take place? In the office of the consul, in the presence of his chancellor.\nBefore the consul went out to see Garcia, did he do anything in your presence? (7...) The consul initially persisted in refusing to go. I then told him that Garcia seemed worried. The consul put on his coat and went out.\n\nYou say Garcia told you, when he said he expected to meet you in Havana in a few days, that he expected to be pardoned by the consul. When did that conversation take place? (7... It was either on the 24th, 25th, or 26th of June.) A few days before my departure.\n\nAre you not well acquainted with the Spanish Consul? (1...) I have known him since August last. It is only since June last that I have known him personally. Llorens introduced me on the 16th of June last.\n\nAre you not the person who soiled on the P. Soule on the 27th of June last? (7...) Yes, I am. I took passage under the name of Jose Augustin Dias.\nMr. Dufour: Ah, ha! The witness has anticipated me. Tell the witness, Mr. Gomez, that I do not wish anything more from him than in response to my questions.\n\nIs that your name?... No, sir. That is the name I used to go to Havana.\n\nDid the consul not give you a letter to go to Havana \"!\"... He did.\n\nDid the consul not give you money to make that trip... He did not.\n\nHave you not said to anybody that you got money from the consul to make that trip to Havana... No, sir.\n\nIf anyone has said so, it is false.\n\nDid you not return to this city on the P. Soule, which arrived yesterday... Yes.\n\nWhere did you remain while the P. Soule was in the port of Havana... While the P. Soule was in quarantine, I remained on board. That was eighteen days. On the 22nd of July, I came ashore.\nI arrived in Havana. I met my sister, having been absent sixteen years. The houses and people I found entirely new. I found new buildings everywhere. I called upon my sister, brother-in-law and niece. After being about five minutes with them, a person who is unknown to me invited me to accompany him. He took me to a house and lodged me in a small room, where everything was provided, bed-included.\nI remained there for several days when the same person who had taken me there came for me and took me aboard the P. Soule. I am related to the whole island of Cuba.\n\nDid you not feel curious to know what that house was (question 7)... I did not. There is no use in asking that question \u2013 it is nonsensical.\n\nYou do not know that house is the jail of Havana (question 7). It is false that I have been in the jail of Havana. In passing by the Morro, I have seen the new jail of Havana \u2013 it is a very large and beautiful building.\n\nWere you not actually confined in that house you were in (question 7)... I was warned not to go out by the person who took me there. As it was in my own interest to keep myself concealed, I did so, and therefore did not go out, knowing they were looking for me and that I was much sought after.\nIn my opinion, it was a private house. Who was the person that cautioned you? It was the same person who took me to the house and led me on board the vessel. Doctor Palmieri, who went with me on the P. Soule to Havana and resided with me two days at the house of Callejas, had been constantly advising me on board the vessel, at quarantine, and as he heard me always called by my real name, \"Ayala,\" he stated in Havana that it was not Jose Augustin Lasmas, who came on the vessel; it was Jose Ramon Ayala. When I went to my brother-in-law's house, my sister said to me, \"We object to any such relation. If it is allowed, we shall never come to a conclusion. The vituss' family, he says, covers the whole island of Cuba, and if he is allowed to go on relating his.\" (Mr. Dufour: We object to any such relation. If it is allowed, we shall never come to a conclusion. The vituss' family, he says, covers the whole island of Cuba, and if he is permitted to continue, he will never reach a conclusion.)\nMr. Collens: The gentleman seems anxious to know all about the witness. Why not let him go on?\n\nMr. Dufour: (Emphasis) I know too much about him.\n\nAfter some further conversation, the court decided that the witness, after answering a question, had a right, within reasonable limits, to give his explanations. The witness then went on:\n\nWhen I went to my brother-in-law's house, he said, \"I will recommend you to a person who will advise you what to do. Be guided by his counsel. He will take you to a place and conceal you.\" Do you know the name of that man... I was told the name, but I do not remember it. I only saw him the day he took me to the house, and the day he took me from it to the vessel.\nCommissioner Cohen: Do you understand English? Yes, I do, when it is spoken very slowly. Was this man neither a soldier nor an officer in the army? He was not dressed as a military man: He was dressed as a citizen, and had nothing with him but a silver-headed cane. I do not know it, but it is a custom adopted since I left Havana, sixteen years ago. In my time, police officers were distinguished by silk tassels on their canes. To whom was the consul's letter addressed \u2013 was it to the captain-general? No, sir. To whom was it given? To Senor Sandoval, the captain-general's secretary. Had you not given that letter to Senor Sandoval two days after the arrival of the vessel, the Board of\nWitness: I received a note from Senor Sandoval, asking that I, under the name of Dias, deliver a letter he requested. I enclosed my answer and handed it to Dr. Orta.\n\nMr. Hunton: Had you seen Senor Sandoval in Havana?\nWitness: I did not see him and do not know him.\n\nMr. Hunton: Had you any correspondence with him?\nWitness: None, except what I have mentioned. I had a conversation with an old acquaintance of mine from Vera Cruz, whom I met at the Place d'Armes.\n\nMr. Hunton: I don't want to know that. I only wanted to know if you had any conversation or correspondence with the Cuban authorities.\nWitness: I had not.\nWas you aware before you left Havana that this investigation was going on?.... The day I embarked \non the P. Soule, I was informed by the man whoput me on board, thatthe report was here (New Orleans) \nthat Rey had been taken to Havana by force, and that there was a g*eat fuss here about it. \nCom. Cohen: When did you hear that? lwenton board on the night of the 27th, and 1 was told \nthis on the morning of the 28th. Every body coming on board\u2014 all the passengers were talking about it. \nThe witness, being about to retire, said : I have a great deal to say about Garcia, and when the Court thinks \nproper to call on me, I can be found at Senor Callejas. \nCommissioner Cohen : Why, your name being Ayala, was your passport made out in the name of Di- \nss?....I would not go in my own name, hscause I had a fatal renconter with a cousin of mine, on the \nI have a case pending against me on the road. Did you obtain your passport from the consul or his chancellor? I got mine from the consul himself. He knew my name was Ayrla, but he gave me the passport as I wanted to go to Havana and try, in concealment, to benefit from the recent amnesty declared by the Queen of Spain. I have about $50,000 worth of property in Havana and two children there, one born after I left, and I have not yet seen either of them.\n\nThe rebutting testimony of the prosecution concludes this compilation.\n\nThomas J. Burke.\n\nI have known J.M. Laborde for five or six years; we have lived together, slept together, and been intimate. [The witness was handed the paper Laborde provided him for the Delta.]\nMr. Laborde gave me the document the day after the first article about the case appeared in the Delta, and four or five days before the Consul was arrested. The night before I obtained this paper, Mr. Laborde told me he had all the facts of the case written out for the Delta, but on account of the intimacy that existed between his uncle and the Spanish Consul, he had torn it up. The next morning I went to the Delta office and told Mr. Maginnis about the conversation. He requested me to go and see Laborde, and then I got the document. Mr. Laborde wrote it in my presence, and when he gave it to me, he said the Delta had already published all the facts of the case, and he had but very little to add.\nAre you a \" sort of printer's devil about the Delta office? I have never been employed in the \noffice. \nCross Examination. \u2014 Mr. Maginnis is of the Delta office, is he not ?. . . .Yes, sir. \nL. F. ARDREY. \nI am a member of the Bar. I know John Cook, who has testified here, and have known him for sev- \neral years. His reputation for truth and veracity, is of the very worst description. I would not believe \nhim on oath, under any circumstances. His character is notorious in the Third Municipality, and part \nof the First. \nW. H. WILDER. \nI am a member of the Bar, and an Alderman of the Third Municipality. I know John Cook. His \ngeneral reputation for truth and veracity is very bad. I would not believe him tinder oath. \nCross Examination. \u2014 I have heard speak against his character, Daniel Kennedy, late captain of the \nMr. Guirot, F.P. Nogues (secretary of the Recorder of the Third Municipality), John McCaffrey (lieutenant of the guard of the Third Municipality), Francis Siewerson, John Jones, Edward Meehan (late aldermen of the Third Municipality), alderman Collins, Flanders, Mr. Bertrand (of the Third Municipality police), and others have spoken about him for the past two or three years. I have heard Mr. Flanders say that he would not sit beside such a man when Cook was appointed inspector of elections. On another occasion, Mr. Flanders stated that Cook was eternally before the Court, a perfect nuisance, and constantly bothering the Municipality. I will add for myself that Cook is eternally in the hands of the police.\n\nThomas McGovern.\nMr. Dufour: Before examining the witness further, I will note in justice to Captain Smith, who is now out of town, that he acknowledged to me after he had testified that he had forgotten to mention all that Captain McConnell had said in his presence on the evening of the 5th. It is to supply that omission we call on Mr. McGovern.\n\nMr. Collens: Why not produce Captain Smith himself; where is he?\n\nMr. Dufour: I don't know. I presume the Spanish Consul can tell.\n\nRelate what Captain Smith said in relation to what Captain McConnell said to him concerning Rey on the evening of the 5th.\n\nWe had a conversation in a coffeehouse on the corner of Charter and 6th Peter streets, one afternoon. After we had been speaking there for some time, Mr. Urton came up to us and joined in the conversation.\nHo asked Mr. Smith if he did not recall what Captain McConnell said. Mr. Smith replied yes. He asked him if he did not recall that when Captain McConnell was hailed from the steamboat, he replied \"I am ready, and cannot wait any longer, and if the cook does not come Boon, I will get the Spanish Consul's man to cook,\" to which Captain Smith also replied yes.\n\nConclusion. The reader now has before him Key's statement and the evidence taken in the preliminary investigation. At the outset, it was our purpose to review and compare them in detail and show, in as brief space as we could, the striking coincidence of both, in every material point. After reading and re-reading the testimony before the Court, however, we have abandoned this design, feeling confident that the coincidence speaks for itself.\nIntelligent men, unable to disregard the complete chain of testimony presented, cannot avoid the conviction that one of the most flagrant outrages ever committed upon this Republic has been perpetrated by the Captain General of Cuba, through the agency of Don Carlos de Espana. With the revelations of Key himself, and the declarations of Morante, Trescasez, Carreno Dabelstein, Charlie Rogers, Orton, and Yeoward, there is an array of facts, a weight of proof that crushes and flattens out to transparency the corruption and subornation of the miscreant. Unfaithful guardians of the law, abandoning the nation's honor, would usher him from the Star Chamber with the phylactery of innocence on his brow, and threaten prosecution of patriotic citizens, who indignantly protest.\nThe Consul took from him the befouled endorsement concealing his guilt. In the very opening correspondence between El Conde de Alcoy and Carlos de Espafia, regarding Villaverde, Fernandez, and Key, there is proof of evil designs against those men. The Consul is requested to keep them under his surveillance. For what purpose? Whatever he might have hoped to do with Rey, he could have had no expectations of inducing the return of the other two, as there could be no objective in the inducement but punishment. This could not be done legally, as there is no treaty for the extradition of prisoners between Spain and the United States. How was it done? Villaverde was beyond the Consul's reach; he was in New York. Fernandez and Rey were in New Orleans. The Mexican Consul was requested to inform his brother Consul whenever they applied for passports. De Espafia suggests.\nTo an intimate friend of Fernandez, advising against his journey to Mexico due to Spanish authority. It was desirable to keep him in New Orleans, but his suspicion aroused, leading him to the very country his magnanimous friend wished to keep him away from. Rey is now the only one to ensnare.\n\nDid Rey leave the country voluntarily? He is here; he says not. In two letters, written at different periods at the Havana quarantine, to the American Consul, he states not. If he was returning voluntarily, with the promised pardon of the Captain General, intending to denounce the parties who aided Villa-verde and Fernandez in their escape, why was he cast into a dungeon, and fed on red beans and rice instead of being reinstated in his former position? Why was he denied communication with the Americans?\nWhy were the letters of the Russian Consul to General Campbell intercepted and opened? Why was General Campbell denied communication with him in person? There was nothing to fear from a conversation between General Campbell and him, if he had left New Orleans as a free agent. He would have asked General Campbell, as he did Don Carlos de Espana, to \"tell those folks and rogues\" to cease pestering the people any more with the \"great farce\" or the \"humbug\" of \"abduction.\"\n\nThere was truly a strong smell of abduction in all this.\n\nHow was it in New Orleans? The Consul did not unnecessarily expose himself to Trescasez by proposing to arrest the man and carry him on board a vessel for Havana, knowing there was no treaty for this.\nLorente did not, without a motive, commit himself when he proposed to Careuo that he purchase the patronage of Seiior Mon, the \"good friend\" of the Consul, and \"brilliant prospects,\" by doing an infamous deed. But neither Trescasez nor Careio were pliant. Men more ductile, less scrupulous, were sought and found. The Consul himself was seen, a night or two before the kidnapping, walking with one of them, Marie, whom Mr. Orton says he never saw in any place \"where a decent man ought to be.\" Carlos de Espana, indicted as a \"gentleman,\" is seen walking arm in arm with this man, at half past ten at night, through the streets. Those who see them, astonished at the association, exclaim, \"See, there is the Spanish Consul walking with Marie!\"\nThey are all assembled at the wharf in the Third Municipality on the night of the 8th of July. Marie is there, Eagle is there, and their employees, Charlie Rogers and California John. There were others too, willing \"to lend a hand\" to help load a late passenger. Rey, too, led by Llorenne, joined this crowd of strangers, but good and true friends, extremely apprehensive he may lose his passage, and willing to pay twelve or fourteen dollars to a couple of assistants. They not only put him on board, and in obedience to Captain McConnell's orders, he was taken aft and put in the cabin. The simpleton might have lost his passage, were he allowed to remain on deck! But they had forgotten his baggage. Never mind, he is nothing but a drunken steward. What trouble drunken stewards give us!\nWas there no violence there that night? Could a sober man, well able to walk or run, get on board a vessel, the bulwarks of which were as low as the wharf, if not lower? This was in July when the river was low. Could that man, we ask, run on board the schooner faster than four, five, or six men, seizing him by the legs, hips, and shoulders, could bear him along? Even if they easily and quickly rid themselves of him by slinging him on the deck as they would a sack of salt? Oh no, the poor fellow might lose his passage! And Charlie Rogers was paid six or seven dollars for half an hour's time; California John was surely equally well paid, and Charlie might have earned three or four hundred more if he could only be oblivious. There is not a single man who stood on that wharf, and...\nThe evidence given does not testify to violence on the wharf or on board. Rogers states he was paid for committing it. Orton saw them seize the man a long distance from the vessel. Smith saw it. Ring turned his back on it. Robinson on the schooner saw two men thrust Rey into the cabin, which Rey himself confirms.\n\nThe abduction was proven before Rey returned. His presence now confirms what was said and supplies an occasional link in the chain, explaining much that appeared mysterious and unaccountable.\n\nMr. Robinson's testimony implies the greatest cordiality between Capt. McConnell and Rey on the voyage. They laughed and joked together, he says. Perhaps they did, but Rey would scarcely have been prone to mirth, bearing in mind the Second Municipality writ of arrest Llorente harped so much.\non, had he known m officer of the Second Municipality police was his fellow passenger. He might have \nbeen the whole voyage as, the pilot says, he was going over the bgf \" very observing.\" An abducted \nman could scarcely become an absconding passenger going down the river, so long as the vessel was \narmed with legal authority. The Spanish Consul would not have slept very easy had he not provided \nfor every contingency. It would be improper, in the absence of any proof, to suppose Mr. Robinson \nwas connected with the affair. He found a true friend in Captain McConnell, who gave him his passage \nto and from Havana for $20, after declaring to Mr. Lallande, in the presence of Mr. St. Germain, he \nwould not take a passenger for $300. Travelling for the benefit of his health, too, Mr. Robinson was \nfortunate in the selection of the voyage, for when he appeared on the witness stand a few days after his arrival, there was not a more healthy or robust-looking man in Court. But Ayala tells us Rey begged to be permitted to see the consul; he saw him and made the celebrated declaration of the 27th June; Duquesne tells us he saw Rey three times at the consul's house, the last time the day before he left, and that a passport was made out for him, under the fictitious name of Pedro Murga y Romeo; and Coleman the mate tells us he saw this passport, \"a real Spanish one,\" lying between Captain McConnell and Rey, on the table, shortly after the Mary Ellen left. Coleman also tells us that Rey, with a man very like Llorente, applied for a passage between 3 and 4 o'clock on the afternoon.\nMr. Ricardo states Rey did not leave Morante's chocolate shop until after 5 o'clock. Rey and Llorente were seen eating in Victor's restaurant between 5 and half-past 5. This account is disposed of without any assistance from Rey. Regarding the passport, it is singular that one would be required at all. Furthermore, it was drawn up with a fictitious name, when the man was directly consigned to the captain general and was to be taken possession of by him upon arrival. In passing, we may note why Rey was not taken ashore the instant he arrived in Havana harbor. Vessels from New Orleans were subjected to quarantine due to the cholera existing in that port. It is true the disease had spread there.\nThe epidemic had disappeared but sporadic cases continued. The Mary Ellen's bill of health reported two or three cases in the Charity Hospital. El Conde de Alcoy or his Assessor or Notaries could not, therefore, be very eager for an interview with Rey until they were satisfied he brought no contagion. The quarantine was for twenty days, but Rey was taken ashore five or six days earlier, evidently as soon as the authorities were satisfied there was no danger to apprehend from contact with him. It will be remembered the Teniente Gobierno observed to Rey before he went to the Quinta the first time, \"They are afraid to leave you under the American flag.\"\nWe return to the passport and the evidence of Duquesne and Ayala. The improbability of Ayala is completely established, even without the aid of Key's revelations. A fact brought to the attention of the court by Mr. Reynolds establishes the implausibility of Ayala's story. Ayala claimed he went privately to Havana, with the Spanish Consul's connivance, to attempt in private to obtain the benefit of a general amnesty offered by the Queen of Spain; that he went to have wiped out the homicide of a kinsman. This is the way he endeavors to account for the mystery that surrounds him in his peregrination in Havana. When he said so, on his oath, he declared what was not true. He left New Orleans on the 27th of June. The amnesty was not promulgated in Madrid until the 5th of June\u2014only nineteen days before\u2014and was not in effect at that time.\nThe text was published and unknown in New Orleans until July 8th \u2013 twelve days after Ayalu left. For his objective in going to Havana, this is what happened. Regarding the passport, wouldn't it be strange if Mr. Duquesne, with his superactive memory, never wrote it out? It would also be odd if the truthful Coleman, with his extraordinary perfection of his mnemonic system, was proven wrong; if it was proven that he never saw the passport. Despite how astonishing all this is, it was mathematically demonstrated by Mr. Dufour through the evidence for the defense that the passport was ordered for Ayala.\n\nThe first mention of this passport is in Sandoval's letter to the consul, dated in Havana on June 26th. The letter begins:\nBy yesterday's steamer, I received your interesting letter of the 10th and 11th June. I use the departure of the steamer to answer it, as the matter at hand requires it and there is not a moment to lose.\n\nShould the man spoken of comply with what he has offered, and should you decide to let him come, it will be proper to give him a passport under a supposed name, and write to me at the same time, so that we may know it as soon as he arrives, and take all proper measures accordingly.\n\nIf he has not departed when you receive this letter, have a care to send him here as soon as possible, giving him a passport under the name of Don Pedro Murga y Romeo.\n\nWhen this letter was introduced, and was backed by the statements of Coleman and Duquesne, it was\nwith the view of showing that Rey was the man referred to, it was to perpetrate a stupendous fraud upon justice and with a motion of the hand, wipe off, as worthless, the mountain of evidence proving the abduction. Behold how easily the scheme is laid bare. Sandoval is answering a letter from the consul of the 19th and 20th of June, and says, if the man spoken of complies, &c, &c. Had the consul seen Key on the 20th of June or before it? No. The consul, according to Duquesne and Ayala, never saw Rey until the 23rd of June. It was on that day, or between it and the 26th of June, according to Duquesne, that the consul was informed by Ayala that Rey was in New Orleans; it was on that day too, according to Ayala, he besought the consul to allow Rey an interview.\nBoth Duquesne and Ayala affirm that the consul put on his coat upstairs before leaving with Ayala in the carriage, indicating they referred to the same day. This establishes that the consul first saw Rey between June 23 and 26. Was Rey the man Sandoval told the consul to give a passport to on June 19 or 20? Was Rey, on June 19 or 20, the man planning to go to Havana, and the consul's decision to let him go was at stake? However, Rey could have seen the consul before June 23 without Ayala or Duquesne's knowledge. He might have been preparing to go to Havana, and the consul might have been considering whether to allow him to leave.\nOn the twenty-sixth of June, Garcia made up his mind to declare before the consul all that he knew about the robbery. The consul received his declaration and told him that he could do nothing for him until he received a special message from the captain-general's office. The desired message arrived on the next day, the twenty-seventh of the same month, and the consul communicated it to Garcia. Seeing that he could return home without running any risk and with a regular passport, Garcia decided to leave for Havana.\n\nIt was on the twenty-sixth of June that Rey made up his mind to declare all he knew about the robbery.\nThe consul states that it was on the 23rd of June when Rey made up his mind to leave and Mr. Duquesne saw him at the consul's office on the same day. The question is, whom should we believe: Don Carlos de Espana, Ayala, or Duquesne? Regarding the \"special message\" sent by the consul before the 26th of June, or the one that arrived on the 27th, when Rey and the consul had already exchanged words? The consul might have communicated it to Rey on the 27th, allowing him to return home safely with a regular passport. Therefore, it was on the 27th of June that the consul could have either allowed or not allowed Rey to go back, not on the 19th or 20th.\n\nWho was the man who could return home without running any risk?\nReady to leave on the 19th or 20th of June? Rey could not return home without running any risk, for he was thrown into prison the instant he landed - into a cell three and a half feet by twelve - was fed on red beans and rice, and was interdicted communication with anybody.\n\nWho was the man, we ask again, that was ready on the 19th or 20th of June? It was Jose Ramon Ayala who left on the P. Soule on the 27th of June; it was he who could return home without any danger.\n\nRead again the letter of the captain general, dated the 26th of July:\n\n\"Secret. Political. Havana. July 26, 1340.\n\n\"The Consul, H.C.M., New Orleans:\n\nI have received your confidential communication, dated June 17, together with the annexed list, of which the individual mentioned is the bearer. I also have in hand the report from the intelligence bureau.\"\nThe ex-jailer of the loyal jail, Hernando de Alcoy, made this statement before you in the presence of one witness: \"I tell you this for your instruction as the case may be. God bless you.\"\n\nLet us recur again to Sandoval's letter of the 27th of June:\n\n\"As you have written to me that our man will leave by one of the vessels soon to sail to Torrejon, I am on the watch for the first which shall arrive. It will be of great use for us to obtain, through this means, some important information about the foolish designs of the traitors, and you will have rendered a great service. At his arrival here, we will proceed so that he will have nothing to fear, and, in no way, be discovered.\"\n\nAnd again, in another part of the same letter:\nI will be prepared as soon as the vessel enters the port's mouth, even if receiving his letter is delayed due to post office obstacles. Sandoval was prepared as soon as the vessel entered the port. Scarcely had Ayala entered the harbor when he received a letter from Sandoval and sent it to the worthy secretary for him. The consul or his defenders refused to produce the letter in response to Sandoval's communication above. Mr. Duquesne claimed it was a reservada, a private letter. He knew nothing of its contents. The court and both district attorneys pressed the defense to bring the complete correspondence into court and, if innocent, remove all suspicions.\nThe Consul's archives are sacred. They only brought in what they thought would suit their own purposes. We will not go over Ayales's ridiculous claims about not knowing where he went or who escorted him. It was to the Castillo de los Tres Reyes del Morro where the Prince went, and his guide, \"with the silver-headed cane,\" was an officer of the police. That is the sort of cane police officers carry in Havana. Sandoval, in his letter of June 27th, promises, \"Upon his arrival here, we will proceed so that he will have nothing to fear, and in no way be discovered.\" What did Ayala have to fear? Why this secrecy? For a very plain reason. Ayala was an outlaw; a prosecution for murder was pending against him. The Captain General does not have the power to pardon the crime of murder; his Mistress only has that power.\nand hence the necessity of a fictitious name in his passport; and the necessity of keeping his presence secret in Havana. What was that \"annexed list\" that was so important as to need a special messenger to bear it? What was the list presented to Rey, by the Captain General, and his signature demanded; that was the list of Annexationists. The discovery of Rey's abduction spoiled the scheme. The hope was that Rey, by constant solitary confinement and threats of the garrote, might be induced to acknowledge he had supplied that list. Then Carlos de Espafio would wear that \"Cross of Honor\" he ambitioned; then would El Conde de Alcoy baton on the spoils of the forfeited estates of disloyal Creoles, though it were necessary to wade through blood to reach them. Some forty or fifty were actually arrested, but nothing could be executed.\ntorted from Rey against them ; the demand of the United States for the surrender of Rey, took off the wit- \nness, who was to be forced to swear against them, and they were liberated. LetterBfrom several of those \nwho were arrested are now in New Orleans. The writers pronounce the conduct of Rey infamous, without \nknowing how little he was instrumental in the persecutions they have suffered. \nWe close here, and lay before the reader, without comment, the vote of the Grand Jury of the United \nStates for the Eastern District of Louisiana, upon the bill of indictment against Don Carlos de Espafia, \nfor assault and battery upon, and false imprisonment of Rey\u2014 all accessories to a misdemeanor being ad- \ndicted as principals. \nFor Finding a \" True Bill.\" \nH. R. W. HILL, Foreman \u2014 commission merchant, firm Hill, McLean &l Co. \nH. G. STETSON\u2014 Stationer, firmD. Felt & Co. \nJohn G. Cocks - cotton factor\nWilliam Henderson - China and Glassware merchant, firm Henderson & Gaines\nWilliam Laughlin - commission merchant, firm Laughlin & Co.\nJames D. Dameron - carpet warehouses, firm Chittenden & Dameron\nAlphonse Miltenberger - commission merchant, firm A. Ledoux & Co.\nHenry Hopkins - hardware merchant\nZalmon Taylor - wholesale clothier, firm Taylor & Hadden\nHypolite Gally - commission merchant\nCharles Gardener - cotton factor\nFor \"Not a True Bill\"\nJ. U. Lavillebauve - formerly grocer, retired\nH. Dufilho - sugar factor\nJoseph Lallande - commission merchant\nL. E. Forstall - note broker\nSam Herman - note broker\nA. A. Baudouin - note broker\nCharles de Blanc - commission merchant\nN. C. Folger - wholesale and retail clothier\nJames Robb - banker, and proprietor of Havana gas works\nLouis Berniaud - note broker and dealer in Havana lottery tickets\nJ. M. Lapeure - commission merchant, note discounter, and Havana trader. A. Vanbibber, one of the Jurors, was absent during the first day's examination and did not vote, having been excused at his own request. H. G. Schmidt, another member of the Jury, was also absent.\n\nLibrary of Congress", "source_dataset": "Internet_Archive", "source_dataset_detailed": "Internet_Archive_LibOfCong"}, {"title": "Address at the close of the Twenty-second annual fair of the American institute", "creator": ["Tallmadge, James, 1778-1853. [from old catalog]", "YA Pamphlet Collection (Library of Congress) DLC [from old catalog]"], "subject": "Industries", "publisher": "New York, W. E. Dean, printed", "date": "1849", "language": "eng", "page-progression": "lr", "sponsor": "The Library of Congress", "contributor": "The Library of Congress", "scanningcenter": "capitolhill", "mediatype": "texts", "collection": ["library_of_congress", "americana"], "shiptracking": "LC017", "call_number": "9731509", "identifier-bib": "00017666836", "repub_state": "4", "updatedate": "2011-08-09 13:12:44", "updater": "Elizabeth K", "identifier": "addressatcloseof00tall", "uploader": "loader-elizabeth-kornegay@archive.org", "addeddate": "2011-08-09 13:12:46", "publicdate": "2011-08-09 13:12:49", "scanner": "scribe10.capitolhill.archive.org", "repub_seconds": "195", "ppi": "500", "camera": "Canon EOS 5D Mark II", "operator": "scanner-lian1-kam@archive.org", "scandate": "20110810154040", "imagecount": "24", "foldoutcount": "0", "identifier-access": "http://www.archive.org/details/addressatcloseof00tall", "identifier-ark": "ark:/13960/t3kw6bk4t", "curation": "[curator]abigail@archive.org[/curator][date]20110812023534[/date][state]approved[/state]", "scanfee": "150", "sponsordate": "20110831", "possible-copyright-status": "The Library of Congress is unaware of any copyright restrictions for this item.", "backup_location": "ia903702_13", "openlibrary_edition": "OL24962429M", "openlibrary_work": "OL16064155W", "external-identifier": "urn:oclc:record:1038774450", "lccn": "42051613", "filesxml": "Wed Dec 23 2:14:20 UTC 2020", "description": "p. cm", "associated-names": "YA Pamphlet Collection (Library of Congress)", "ocr_module_version": "0.0.21", "ocr_converted": "abbyy-to-hocr 1.1.37", "page_number_confidence": "46", "page_number_module_version": "1.0.3", "creation_year": 1849, "content": "AT THE CLOSE OF THE TWENTY-SECOND ANNUAL FAIR OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE, Gen. James Tallmadge delivered his address at Castle Garden, October 25, 1849. Reported by Augustus Maverick, New York: William E. Dean, Printer, 2 Ann Street.\n\nAddress of Gen. James Tallmadge, on the Dose of the XXII Fair of the American Institute\n\nOn the evening of Thursday, October 25th, the Twenty-Second Fair of the American Institute came to a close. The reading of the Award of Premiums having occupied the preceding hours, Gen. James Tallmadge delivered his address at Castle Garden. The report of the proceedings was made by Augustus Maverick, New York: William E. Dean, Printer, 2 Ann Street.\nFriends and Fellow Citizens,\n\nWe are glad to meet you here this night at this Exhibition of the productions of Agriculture and the works of American Mechanics and Artisans. You have listened to the award of Premiums usually bestowed at the conclusion of these Annual Fairs and have witnessed the host of treasures spread out before you. We now invite your attention to the concluding ceremonies of this occasion.\n\nAt this Twenty-Second Anniversary of the American Institute,\n\nThe President of the Institute, Gen. James Tallmadge, being introduced upon the Stage, the vast assembly in the spacious area of Castle Garden was called to order. The speaker proceeded extemporaneously.\n\nFriends and Fellow Citizens,\n\nWe are glad to meet you here this night at this Exhibition of the productions of Agriculture and the works of American Mechanics and Artisans. You have listened to the award of Premiums usually bestowed at the conclusion of these Annual Fairs, and have witnessed the host of treasures spread out before you. We now invite your attention to the concluding ceremonies of this occasion.\nWe wish to express our gratitude at the outset of any remarks to the citizens of New York and this Nation, who have for the last twenty-two years nobly sustained all our efforts to encourage Agriculture, Commerce, Manufactures and the Arts, as evidenced by the brilliant and abundant examples before you tonight.\n\nLet us first briefly review the present condition of our Country. Cast your eyes abroad to the other nations of the earth. Where do we find, in them, causes or events from which we may learn wisdom or draw useful examples? Great Britain, having been about fifteen centuries and France perhaps ten, have reached their present condition. Meanwhile, young America, not yet seventy years of age, has taken her position in the front rank of nations and is holding competition with them.\nIn the Old World, the most advanced in Civilized Arts: can it be doubted that, while our Agriculture yields an annual product of BTt Million bushels of breadstuffs; and with the genius for industry and invention peculiar to our country; a wide field of promise lies open before us, can it be doubted that we shall continue to hold our place, eminent in the civilized world? We are a novel Republic - free and Independent: blessed with equal rights; and in the full enjoyment of Liberty, regulated by law; and made secure by the principle of Representation; and guiding every department of government under a respectful regard to public opinion and to public happiness. When we look around upon our Country, we find that the Arts are established here - Domestic happiness firmly planted - Labor respected - Agriculture elevated - and our Manufactures:\nSpeaker: Exhibitors display a variety of fabrics they are willing to bring in comparison with any portion of the earth. Reconsider our unique Institutions. Labor stands independent and elevated, not reduced to the condition of the subject, serf, or slave. Happiness is secure for every man; commerce is well-supported; our manufactures prosperous, and our artisans receive the full value of their industrial occupations. [Applause] I know no page in history that can produce a parallel with our country's recent attitude \u2013 at the same time feeding an Army abroad, sustaining a foreign war, carrying on all our domestic institutions, and our great system of internal improvements; affording breadstuffs to relieve Ireland in her famine \u2013 yet, without pledges or any new levies.\ngislative burdens on the country \u2014 taking a loan at premium, \nand which now stands in market at thirteen per cent, above \npar ! [Applause.] \nThe time was, when it was avowed in the British House \nof Paliament, that \"not even a hob-nail\" should be made in \nAmerica. The time is^ when our Country is able to manu- \nfacture articles for domestic supplies, and an increasing ex- \nport, of an equal or higher grade than any that can be brought \nin competition. The same spirit which was thus avowed in \nthe British Parliament has attended all our future progress ; \nand it now offers us \"Free Trade'^ \u2014 by the late Navigation \nLaw of Great Britain. It offers the trade of her Island \u2014 \nless in size than several of our States, and especially the \nState of Georgia, \u2014 and in this offer it withholds a recipro- \ncal Commerce v/ith all her Colonial institutions, spreafir in \nEvery quarter of the globe and which constitute the material part of her Empire. For such an offer, she gravely calls it \"Free Trade,\" and will claim access to this country, admitted into the many thousand miles of its coasting trade \u2014 with the right of free voyages even to California, and into the gold diggings. It is a trap, if not to catch flies, at least, like the artificial fly, used by boys to catch fish. She seems to fancy that our Government will be caught by the term \"Free Trade.\" It is the hope of my heart that our Government will be wide awake and better understand the great and growing interests of this Nation. We have the right and are able to demand thorough Equality. In our youth, we have borne our part in all the improvements of the age, and a full share in the advancement of the civil institutions of the world.\nThe United States have a better carrying trade than Europe combined. When \"Free Trade\" is granted to vessels, then comes \"the tug of war.\" England's readiness for conflicting duties and countervailing regulations will not be forgotten. Our laws established a nursery for American seamen and gave a bounty on the fisheries to create a carrying trade. How long was it before duties were provided by England, prohibitory on fish from a foreign country, and duty-free coming from a colony? These regulations make it necessary for a British vessel to touch only on its return voyage at a colony and then home, duty-free. Thus, our Bounty on the Fisheries was turned into a carrying trade and a nursery for British seamen, and with contiguity to British ports, explains the surplus of Foreign Entries and Clearances appearing at the Port of Boston.\nThe speaker said, the Timber Trade stated, its remarkable feature he could not now explain. The speaker said, if the encouragement of Domestic Industry must be withheld, and our laboring classes are to be reduced to the condition to which centuries of oppression have reduced the laboring classes of Europe, he was ready to admit that \"Free Trade\" was the appropriate means to accomplish such a result. To bring the productions of Europe, with its fifteen hours of daily labor for a stinted supply of necessities of life, and the absence of all intellectual culture for himself and his children, into competition with the productions of this country, with every abundance, and civil and religious freedom.\nThe ten-hour man must be driven from competition in the open market of the world. Agriculture, though necessary, is not a profitable employment. The artisan is the source of national wealth, and his encouragement should be a national object of policy.\n\nTo the question that has sometimes been sneeringly asked: \"What has America done?\" This occasion forbids a full reply. However, it seems appropriate to say that:\n\nIt was our Franklin who called down the lightning and with his rod, guided and directed its course in its mad career.\n\nIt is our Morse who has taught it to read and write \u2013 to overcome time and space \u2013 and to deliver forthwith tidings of business to the remotest parts of our land.\n\nIt was our Whitney who gave the Cotton-Gin to the country.\nTry and build up the world. It has constructed the Agriculture of the South, given value to its soil, and made us the second commercial nation in the world. It has, in addition, through its freights and return proceeds, increased one half the amount of our carrying-trade.\n\nIt was our Fulton who gave the world the Steam Engine applied to Navigation. Without it, how slow, how sluggish, how lingering, how tardy was our progress! With it, what efficiency, what speed, what promptitude and celerity of movement! It has enabled us to accelerate our advances, and, with our skill and genius for inventions, to overtake in the race of competition the most advanced nations of the world, in all the useful improvements.\n\nIt was Evans who gave us the High Pressure Steam Engine, singularly adapted to the navigation of rivers, and indispensable.\nFor the use of our railroads and various manufactures. It was our Blanchard who gave his country the lathe to turn unequal surfaces and produce ready for use the gun-stock for the soldiers of our country, which is now engaged and applied to the use of the Fine Arts in copying in marble any statuary which may be desired, as well as for the turning of the shoe-last. We have not time to add details. But in truth, the time is not far distant when it may better be asked: \"What has America not done!\"\n\nThe speaker here paused, while the Band struck up an enlivening piece of music.\n\nOn resuming, Gen. Tallmadge spoke of the recent remarkable improvements in the Mechanic Arts and labor-saving machinery. He called attention to some specimens of Cast Steel made in this country, under circumstances of great adversity.\nThe speaker mentioned progress in the department of manufacturing. He stated that the exhibited bars were pure American manufacture. It had been claimed that England alone could produce the highest grade of cast steel for cutlery, and that they held their advantage due to peculiar clay or other materials used in the manufacture. It is of national interest to us, and the Institute believes the discovery complete, that the Black Lead of this country makes the pots for the furnace to endure a heat adequate to the occasion, and that the power of manufacturing Steel is now thoroughly possessed by ourselves. The speaker made particular reference to the Cutlery and the specimens of Cast Steel on exhibition, manufactured at the Jersey City Works. He considered them articles of the highest interest from a national point of view.\nThe value of cast steel imported into the United States annually is not less than three million dollars. The Works referred to turn out about one ton per day \u2014 or, one-sixtieth of a supply. The immediate cause of this success is found in the fortunate experiment of using black lead melting-pots with anthracite coal \u2014 cast steel being made in England with clay-pots and coke for fuel. He held up to view a sample black lead-pot, now in use here.\n\nThe American Institute has heretofore encouraged a number of meritorious individuals for improvements in the manufacture of iron and steel. The handsome beginning now exhibited gives confidence to the hope that within five years, a full supply of the very indispensable article of Steel will be produced in our own country.\nPremiums have been offered by the Institute for some time to encourage improvements in iron manufacture, particularly in the use of Anthracite coal and a new formation of the foundry. The speaker announced that this objective had been accomplished, and good bar iron could be made directly from the ore using only Anthracite fuel. He considered this another great point gained, just as important as the manufacture of pig iron with that fuel a few years prior. He then pointed to several bars of Wrought Iron on exhibition, stating that they were made by the new process directly from the ore, and eminently worthy of attention. He made particular reference to the good effects of this improved mode of manufacture, in superseding various heatings and blasts.\nThe speaker increased expenses and brought the product into market at reduced rates using this ability. He then displayed a roll of fine and beautiful wire from Mr. Peter Cooper's Trenton Works, made from anthracite coal blooms specifically for railroad iron. Remarkable for its material's toughness and size, the speaker continued by stating that railroad iron was produced at the same factory, claimed to be of superior quality, and worth fifteen to twenty dollars per ton more than ordinary English railroad bars. Orders and receipts for railroad bars from England in 1849 were believed to amount to Fifteen Millions.\nDollars - a sum exceeding the amount of Breadstuffs shipped to England in the year of the Famine in Ireland - demonstrating the great importance of any improvement in the manufacture of Iron in our own country. The speaker then referred to the improved machine for Planing Iron, on exhibition, alleged to cause an annual saving of two million dollars, on the article of Files alone, which before were necessarily used for smoothing surfaces, a task this planing-machine claims to accomplish. He pointed to the Iron-tub Casting at the entrance of the Garden, made at the \"Novelty Works,\" for the Paper business. It is said to be one of the largest castings of the kind in this country; and, (Gen. T. added), without giving the details, he was authorized to say that the very modern improvements in iron manufacturing had been made there.\nThe process of Paper making were such, by means of labor-saving machinery, that we now produce a line of twenty-four miles of ordinary newspaper width in one day, where formerly the corresponding labor would only produce an extent of one mile.\n\nWe have been furnished with the following statement, relative to the processes and results of the Paper Manufacture, under the old and the new systems of operation:\n\nFormerly, the process was slow and laborious. Each sheet was made separately, and four and a half reams of newspaper, of the size of twenty by thirty inches, was technically termed \"a day's work.\" This required the constant labor of three men, with the occasional assistance of two more. These four and a half reams contained two thousand one hundred and sixty sheets, which, if placed end to end, would measure approximately twenty-four miles in length.\nThe speaker referred to the sewing machines in a line, which measured five thousand four hundred feet - over one mile. He then discussed the Sewing Machine on exhibition, where the needle was successfully powered by steam and demonstrated to sew a seam with extraordinary speed, surpassing manual labor. He also highlighted the improvement of the Pin-making machine. Before, it was a wonder of the age, producing and heading pins at a rate of two hundred per minute. Now, it expedites its work and produces perfectly made pins at six hundred per minute. The speaker mentioned Porter of Pennsylvania, who introduced new and improved machinery for slate manufacturing, particularly for common schools.\nAn experienced man could once polish and frame ten or twelve slates in a day. With this new labor-saving machinery, he can now complete ten or twelve dozen for market. The introduction of machinery has entirely changed this part of the paper-making process. The paper is now rolled off in one continuous sheet, and on the best machines, at the rate of forty-five feet per minute. Some machines in use are eighty-four inches wide, requiring the attention of two men and four girls to form paper of the size mentioned, twenty by thirty inches. Such a machine, working the same amount of time as the old-fashioned variety (twelve hours), will make thirty-two thousand four hundred feet of paper eighty inches wide.\n\nBut this is not all. When the three men and their assistants, under the old system,\n\n(Note: The text appears to be written in old English, but it is still mostly readable and does not require extensive translation. I have made some minor corrections to improve readability.)\nplan. They had finished their day's work and produced one mile of paper, which was wet and required drying on poles. If the weather was favorable, this could be done, taken down, and completed in five days - ten times longer than the time occupied in making it. Now, when the two men and four girls had made their twenty-four miles of paper in twelve hours, it was dry and ready for the printer once cut into sheets, regardless of the weather, be it rain or shine.\n\nThus, it is evident that formerly it took ten times as long to prepare the paper for market after it was molded into sheets as was now required to convert it from pulp. And that the labor of five persons in one day produced for the market only one-twenty-fourth of the paper now obtained through the use of labor-saving machinery.\nThe cost of slates is now approximately as many cents as shillings were before, causing a significant hindrance to importations. This improvement is one of the material pillars of the Common School System \u2013 of the wide dissemination of that Education, which is the glory of our nation; the blight of despotism; and the bane of monarchy.\n\nThe speaker then pointed to the agricultural productions of a mammoth character, which were on exhibition, specifically mentioning several of them. Among others, he held up and called particular attention to a sample of the fine Shawls manufactured at the Bay State Mills in Massachusetts \u2013 where the progress of this work is such that the Company employs one thousand people continuously.\nlaborers produce a thousand Shawls daily at their Mills. The speaker passed a well-deserved eulogy on the extent and character of this new American manufacture.\n\nThe premium piece of Broadcloth was then exhibited, among other pieces of great excellence and merit \u2013 made from American wool, and remarkable for its fineness and delicacy of manufacture.\n\nThe next subject of comment was one of peculiar interest: a specimen of American Linen, made from American flax. This Linen was of very fine and superior quality, and obtained as a premium \"The Tallmadge Gold Medal,\" which it well deserved.\n\nGeneral T. then asked the spectators, at their leisure, to continue their examination in detail. The occasion forbade him further comment, except to make a very brief allusion to it.\nDodge's Cop-Spinner, believed to be a new and decided improvement in the spinning of cotton. It was intended and fully able to spin both warps and fillings with equal accuracy. The importance of the improvement might be judged by the fact, that this machine was capable of running one-third faster, doing equal work, than the ordinary Cop-Spinner \u2014 a gain sufficiently large to revolutionize this pursuit. The spindles of this machine make with ease ten thousand turns per minute, throwing forty feet of thread in the same time.\n\nThe present consumption of Cotton in the United States is estimated at 500,000 bales per annum, which is more than the entire crop in 1824. This does not include a vast quantity, which goes up the Mississippi, Ohio, and also out from the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers, for the supply of the mills.\nThere are over two hundred and fifty Cotton mills in Indiana, Ohio, Western Virginia, and Pennsylvania to the south of Mason and Dixon's line. In these points and sources of consumption, it is believed that 150,000 bales are used, making a total of at least 650,000 bales worked up at home. The quantity of Cotton goods made in the United States is estimated at 720,000,000 yards, of which about 80,000,000 are exported, leaving 640,000,000 for home consumption. The improvements introduced in Machinery have a tendency to lessen the price of Manufactures, a truth too evident to need demonstration; but it by no means follows that they lessen the demand for useful labor. The number of laborers employed is really increased, by the useful improvements and inventions introduced in the Arts. We find that\nIn many cases, machines have not supplanted labor but multiplied it. Every abridgement of labor, by reducing the cost of production, carries the manufactured article to the door of a greater number of consumers. Experience proves that consumers multiply in a greater degree than the price decreases, especially when the method of manufacture improves the commodity. The diminution of the price by a fourth has been known to double the consumption. We will only cite two examples \u2013 printing and cotton spinning. Although the steam press enables one man to do the work of two hundred, the multiplication of books, the arts connected with them, such as the casting and typesetting industries, have also grown.\nThe fabrication of paper employs a thousand times more persons than before in its various professions, such as author, corrector, binder, etc. The difference in form and price between manuscripts of early times and the books of the present is vast. The perfection of machinery for spinning cotton and the admirable rapidity with which bobbin's are covered with thread make us imagine that the greater number of persons formerly employed in spinning have been thrown out of work. However, the reverse has happened. Before the invention of machinery, 5200 female spinners at the wheel, and 2700 weavers, altogether 7900 persons were employed in England. In 1787, ten years later, there were 150,000 spinners and 247,000 weavers, or 397,000 persons reckoned.\nIn this age of Invention and Patent Rights, it's curious to look at the Ancient Law of Patents in England and mark the source, from which certain modern statesmen obtained reasons for their opposition to Internal Improvements and encouragement of Domestic Industry. Sir Edward Coke, in his learned disquisition on the Law of Patents, lays down these two doctrines: First, he says, \"a patent is not grantable for an invention that is not generally convenient.\" He cites as an illustration of the rule, a solemn decision of which he highly approves, in the case of an invention, by means of which a material for bonnets and caps could be thickened in a fulling-mill in greater numbers in one day than by the labor of forty men. On the validity of this patent coming in question, the court determined it was void.\nThe account of its \"inconvenience,\" made laborers idle. Sir E. Coke's other doctrine is that no patent can be good for an addition to an old manufacture. For this, a grave decision is cited, in which the Court said, \"it was much easier to add than to invent, for adding was only putting a new button on an old coat.\" (Mpt. Institutes \u2013 5 vol., p. 184 \u2013 Title, 'Against Monopolists.')\n\nIn the same spirit of liberality, a prosecution for Treason was had in the Reign of Edward IV., when a man named William Walters, who kept the Crown Tavern in Cheapside, was hanged, drawn and quartered, for telling his little boy, \"one day, you will be Heir to the Crown.\"\n\nThe speaker said, \"how well, from such extracts, may we learn at this day the blessings of our age and country.\"\nWe do not hope that the violence of opposition will cease, despite countervailing measures and a just protection against foreign encroachments. After making a few other remarks on this and related subjects, the speaker brought his observations to a close. He availed himself of this opportunity to remark that he had received gratifying information from gentlemen of the South and reliable sources that the South had entered into manufactures. Georgia had forty-five cotton factories, South Carolina forty-five, Virginia forty, North Carolina thirty-five, and Alabama twenty. He felt that this circumstance was one of great national interest. The South also had several furnaces and had begun the manufacture of iron. The South had also entered into the railroad system.\nThese events seemed important, he said. They secured the advance in wealth and the prosperity of the South. By this new union in pursuit and the noble object of the employment of Domestic Industry, there is produced a unity of interest which calls for corresponding legislation. It begot a common interest and promised to abolish the odious distinctions of North and South in our country. Cemented together by the bonds of union, of country, of feeling and of interest, it secured the great result of the preservation of the perpetual Union of that common country, to which we all stand pledged. A union thus consummated and actuated with one heart, may be ready to stand, and to secure its preservation against a hostile world. With the undaunted spirit and the strong arms of such men in the field, and with our future Jacksons,\nOur Scottis and Taylors to lead, we need not fear but success and victory will ever fail to our lot. A living Hero has recently given \"Buena Vista\" as a watchword for us, and as a caution to the future foes of our Country. Gen. Tallmadge here concluded, amid the loud and continued plaudits of the assemblage, by whom his remarks were listened to, throughout, with great decorum and attention. The President stated that he was authorized to say that, the gross receipts for entrances at the present exhibition have amounted to $18,675. This sum is held to provide for the expenses and Premiums awarded, which are as follows:\n\n50 Gold Medals.\n238 Silver Medals.\n61 Silver Cups.\n430 Diplomas.\n152 volumes of Agricultural Works.\n8108 and 24 Certificates, (Apprentices' Premiums.)\n8110 and 6 Bronze Medals, (Van Schaick Premiums.)\n1 Gold Medal, (Tallmadge Premium.) \n825 Cash Premium. \nSo closed the Twenty-Second Anniversary of the American \nInstitute of the City of New York \u2014 an occasion of profit and \nof pleasure both to the owners and to the spectators of its \nwealth of American Products. \nErrata \u2014 p. 7, line 7 \u2014 for national, read material. \nLIBRARY OF CONGRESS \nillillil \nlltillillllllll \nLIBRARY OF CONGRESS \nllilllll ", "source_dataset": "Internet_Archive", "source_dataset_detailed": "Internet_Archive_LibOfCong"}, {"title": "An address commemorative of the part taken by the inhabitants of the original town of Leicester", "creator": "Washburn, Emory, 1800-1877. [from old catalog]", "publisher": "Boston, Printed by C.C.P. Moody", "date": "1849", "language": "eng", "possible-copyright-status": "NOT_IN_COPYRIGHT", "sponsor": "Sloan Foundation", "contributor": "The Library of Congress", "scanningcenter": "capitolhill", "mediatype": "texts", "collection": ["library_of_congress", "americana"], "call_number": "6786943", "identifier-bib": "0014078705A", "updatedate": "2008-10-08 11:43:24", "updater": "scanner-bunna-teav@archive.org", "identifier": "addresscommemora00wash", "uploader": "Bunna@archive.org", "addeddate": "2008-10-08 11:43:26", "publicdate": "2008-10-08 11:43:31", "ppi": "400", "camera": "Canon 5D", "operator": "scanner-elizabeth-kornegay@archive.org", "scanner": "scribe2.capitolhill.archive.org", "scandate": "20081008145655", "imagecount": "72", "foldoutcount": "0", "identifier-access": "http://www.archive.org/details/addresscommemora00wash", "identifier-ark": "ark:/13960/t7dr33c1t", "scanfactors": "1", "repub_state": "4", "curation": "[curator]gemma@archive.org[/curator][date]20081009145609[/date][state]approved[/state]", "sponsordate": "20081031", "backup_location": "ia903602_15", "openlibrary_edition": "OL19367897M", "openlibrary_work": "OL1488900W", "external-identifier": "urn:oclc:record:1038767742", "lccn": "01011464", "filesxml": ["Wed Dec 23 2:15:19 UTC 2020", "Thu Dec 31 20:25:28 UTC 2020"], "subject": "Leicester, Mass. -- History -- Revolution. [from old catalog]", "description": "p. cm", "ocr_module_version": "0.0.21", "ocr_converted": "abbyy-to-hocr 1.1.37", "page_number_confidence": "64", "page_number_module_version": "1.0.3", "creation_year": 1849, "content": "Book- L5-5JW3\nAn Address of L. Washburn on the Events of the Revolution, Delivered at Leicester, July 4, 1849.\nBy Emory Washburn.\nBoston: Printed by C. C. P. Moody, Old Dickinson Office, 52 Washington Street.\nIn suffering the following Address to be published, the writer assures the reader that the only motive is to furnish to those who desired it, the brief historical sketch which it contains of some of the events of the revolution in which the inhabitants of the original town of Leicester took part. Their posterity, which has become numerous and greatly scattered, it was thought, would naturally take an interest in a recital of these, and it was believed that by presenting them in an authentic form, many might be inspired to learn more about their history.\nEvery year reveals the significance of the event we are gathered to celebrate. Its history has been recited so often that it need not be repeated here. Looking back on it from our current perspective, the Declaration of American Independence.\n\nNote: The Address was delivered in a grove, a short distance west of the meeting-house, where a part of Gen. Burgoyne's army encamped as prisoners of war in Massachusetts in 1777.\nThe American Revolution stands out as the great political event of modern times, marking the commencement of a new era. The charm of antiquated systems was broken, and the mere force of brute power lost its terrors. Man, at last, stood forth the equal of his fellow man in the conscious dignity of a common nature.\n\nSeventy-three years have passed since that event, and our curiosity is naturally awakened to trace the causes which led to such a declaration. As we glance along the history of that period and mark the prominent incidents as they rise before the mind, we must still be conscious that there is something deeper to be sought among the elements of which the state is composed, which gave the first impulse to the American Revolution. We may read of the \"Stamp Act,\" the \"Tea Tax,\" and the other related incidents.\n\"Boston Port Bill\" and how our fathers rose as one man to resist those acts of oppressive legislation. But the reason why our fathers thus rose \u2014 why, when almost all Europe were content to be taxed to the utmost, the few and feeble and scattered colonies of America stood ready to repel the first attempt to levy duties upon them, against their consent \u2014 must be sought for at an earlier period of our history than that chapter which is recited in the Declaration of our Independence. We must go back to the character and opinions of the men who planted Plymouth, Salem, and Boston, if we would find the germ of that revolution. They were the men and the companions of the men who, in their zeal as republicans, bearded royalty in its own palace halls, and in their devotion as Christians, had rather worship God in the wilderness, than in temples built with human hands.\nThey mingled in what they regarded as the mummeries of human ordinance, though played off in the most gorgeous cathedral by the proudest prelate whom church and state ever bedizened with the robes of power. They came here with the rights of Englishmen, and there never was an hour, from the time the Pilgrims landed till the Treaty of Peace in '83, when these men or their descendants were willing to compromise or yield their birthright as Englishmen.\n\nWhen the struggle, therefor, came, when in an evil hour for the mother country, she undertook to levy taxes of the colonists which they had never granted, it found the country alive to the indignity. The spirit of Hampden was roused in every village in the land to resist at the threshold, the encroachment of royal prerogative.\n\nIf we undertake to ascertain how it was that this...\nThe spirit remained alive in these remote colonies, while it had been nearly extinct in England. I greatly mistake if few causes exerted a more direct influence than the institution and maintenance of town organizations. Remember that these municipal corporations, which blend the management of social, religious, and educational interests, are primarily of New England origin. They were, at first, identified with the maintenance of churches and religious worship. And when, as was soon the case, the common-school system was established, it was through the agency of towns that it grew up to its present beauty and strength. By this division of the territory, each municipality became a little independent democracy, in which its citizens had significant control.\nIn several members, while taking care of local interests, acted in the affairs of the whole Commonwealth. This way, a healthy circulation was kept up through every part of the body politic, and, as their government was representative in spirit as well as form, the feelings and opinions which prevailed in one quarter found a ready response throughout the colony.\n\nIn the history of almost any of the early towns in this ancient Commonwealth, we should be able to trace in no small degree, the progress of the struggle between the English government and the Colonies, and therein to read of the motives which impelled them to resist, along with the sacrifices to which they submitted, to sustain that struggle. It would be found that it was by means of these town organizations, that\nThe leading spirits in one section held intercourse with those in another, and through them, reached the masses to be moved. Newspapers were relatively rare, and intercourse through the post-offices and mails was slow, expensive, and, by no means, in general use. When, therefore, the noble band of patriots who had their home in Boston and its vicinity were desirous of moving the remote parts of the Province, they transmitted their letters or their pamphlets to leading individuals in the several towns, where they were read and discussed in open town meetings before all the inhabitants. In this way, much of that harmony of action, that generous self-devotion was awakened which burst forth, as if spontaneously, in every part of New England.\n\nI have thought these remarks were due to the occasion as we are, assembled to commemorate the.\nThis part of which town took part in the struggle for our independence? Humble as this part may have been, and limited as were its means to advance the great enterprise of the nation, we shall, if I do not greatly mistake, discover in its unpretentious history the same springs of action, the same sacrifices, the same hopes, and the same causes of discouragement which give our national annals of that period so much of their exciting interest.\n\nIt is well, therefore, that we have come up here to renew the associations which this spot is calculated to awaken. It is well, while a few yet remain to form a link, as it were, with revolutionary times, to come together and recall the simple story of what our fathers and mothers did and suffered so that we, their children, might be free. It binds us still stronger to this spot.\nThe town that gave us birth, to know that its history is not unworthy of awakening a feeling of something like a generous pride. If there be those who, without the sympathy of birth or parentage with these scenes, have honored us with their presence, they will hardly expect an apology, under the call by which we have been convened. Though, on a national holiday, we may indulge in a detail of local incidents or personal anecdote.\n\nBefore entering into those details, a word of explanation may be proper. Why, in a celebration intended to be local, a portion of four separate and independent towns were expected to unite. The original town of Leicester was incorporated in 1714, and embraced Spencer, Leicester, a part of Paxton, and a part of what is now Auburn. In 1753, Spencer was incorporated, and in 1765, Paxton was also incorporated.\nThe town became a corporation, but the royal governor's jealousy of popular representation resulted in these corporations not being granted the usual powers conferred upon towns. Instead, they remained united with the original territory as \"Districts,\" with election of representatives concerned. This continued until July 19, 1775. Consequently, in all pre-revolutionary measures and early revolutionary movements, these towns cooperated as one body politic. Their representative in the General Court or Provincial Congress was sometimes taken from one town and sometimes from another, indiscriminately. They came together in town meetings. Committees, selected from all, prepared the resolutions and instructions which embodied the opinions.\nThe representatives of the entire district were guided by one spirit, making it difficult at this day to distinguish the part which took part in the early movements that prepared the people to declare and maintain their independence. These remarks apply equally to the part of Auburn which remained united with Leicester till 1778. If I allude for brevity's sake to what was done by all these towns as the action of Leicester, I trust I shall not be misunderstood as indulging in an invidious eulogy of a part where all deserve commendation alike. The training and habits of the people of this town had prepared them to enter with intelligence and spirit into the discussions which preceded the revolution. Several\nThe leading families had removed here directly from England and brought with them a knowledge and love of their rights as Englishmen. They early established schools and had uniformly maintained religious worship under a succession of educated clergymen. They cherished moreover, all the feelings of English loyalty and had shown themselves ready to fight the battles of England whenever and wherever an enemy was to be encountered. Louisburg, Quebec, Crown Point, and \"Old Ti\" were as familiar to them as household words, and I could point out to you, on the muster rolls of the Indian and French wars, the name of many a citizen of Spencer and Leicester, who shared in their perils and rejoiced in the triumph of the British arms. But with all their loyalty, they were always jealous of prerogative and were ready to detect every encroachment.\nWhen the proposition for taxing the colonies was presented by Mr. Grenville in the British parliament in 1764, the people of these towns were prepared to address the question in whatever form it was presented. The proposition for the Stamp Act was made in March 1764, but the bill did not pass until March 1765, and it was not to take effect until November 1st following. Among these were the families of Stebbings, Stebbings' in Spencer, and of Denny's and Southgate's, in Leicester. In October, before the act had taken effect, a meeting of the town's inhabitants was called to consider, among other things, \"if the town will give instructions.\"\nThe instructions adopted on that occasion breathe a spirit of devoted loyalty, but a stern determination to stand by their rights under the English constitution and their own charter. They charged their representative \"by no means to give his assent to any measures whatever, that might imply their willingness to submit to [that act] or be in anywise aiding or assisting in putting the same in execution, but in every proper manner, they expect him to appear against it.\"\n\nIn 1768, Governor Bernard, finding the legislature unwilling to rescind the appeal they had made to the other colonies on the subject of the crown's encroachments, dissolved that body. In September following, it was ascertained that troops had been ordered.\nFrom Halifax to Boston, for the purpose of overawing the growing spirit of insubordination in the Province. The people of Boston issued a circular call for a convention of the various towns to be held on the 22nd of that month, to take these measures into consideration. The circular bore date the 14th, and Leicester, ever ready at a moment's call, assembled in town meeting on the 19th. A delegate was chosen and charged, in a series of able and spirited resolutions, but they were so cautious that while they recited the grievances which they desired to have removed, they limited his authority to consulting upon such measures as might come before that body, not being willing to yield their own judgment, in the last resort, as to the policy which ought to be adopted.\n\nIn 1778, the merchants of Boston entered into a commercial agreement.\nThe town did not import goods from England until the revenue laws were altered, and this resolution was renewed at the beginning of 1770. In January of that year, the town, in a public meeting, tendered a vote of thanks to those merchants. However, in the following year, they took more effective measures to meet any emergency. They voted to purchase 100 weight of powder, with bullets and flints in proportion. This was, in view of the entire powder in the Province, by no means an inconsiderable amount.\n\nThe year 1772 passed with comparative quiet for this town. But in January 1773, the people were called together to consider a letter from the town of Boston, accompanied by a pamphlet, \"wherein the rights of the colonists are stated, with the infringement thereof.\"\nThis paper, from the pen of James Otis, was sent to the several towns in the Province and was a bold and able vindication of the course pursued by the Colonies, and a manly appeal to their patriotism. The town adopted five spirited resolutions. In these resolutions, after fully recognizing their allegiance to George III, they asserted their right to enjoy all the liberties and privileges of subjects born within the realm, and their readiness to risk their lives and fortunes for the maintenance of these. And, in terms equally explicit, they demanded that the British Parliament or any other power on earth had any right to dispose of one farthing of their money without their consent in person or by representative. In their instructions to their representative, on that occasion, after recapitulating the grievances under which the country labored, they expressed their strong desire that the British Parliament would redress them or grant them a repeal of the obnoxious acts, and that they would be enabled to send deputies to Great Britain to lay their grievances before the King and Parliament. They also declared their determination, if redress was not granted, to adopt such other measures as their situation and the nature of the case might require.\nThey believed they were entitled to all the calamities an envious despot could inflict if they endured them tamely. It would be despising the bounties of our Creator, a shameful prostitution of ourselves, and a total disregard of posterity. This was strong language from a body of farmers scattered over the territory of an inland town more than two years before a hostile blow was struck. But it echoed the tone of feeling that pervaded the entire population. It was of little moment to them.\nBut they saw in the levy of that penny, a great principle involved, and they hesitated not to meet the invasion of their rights at its earliest point, though it came from the monarch whom they had been taught to revere, and armed with the terrors of the British empire.\n\nOn the 27th of November, 1773, a number of ships laden with tea arrived in Boston harbor. On the 16th of December, was the memorable destruction of their odious cargoes. On the 27th of December, the people of this district assembled, and adopted measures not only to prevent the use of tea by personal pledges, but to prevent its sale, by publishing the names of any who dared to outrage public sentiment by engaging in such a traffic.\n\nThe destruction of the tea was followed, in March, by the Intolerable Acts.\nThe year 1774, by the Boston Port Bill, dealt a fatal blow to the trade and business of Boston. Boston appealed to the other towns in the Province on May 12th. In response, the people of this town wrote a noble letter. I would gladely transcribe it if time permitted. \"The crisis is critical to all America, and all America must be convinced of its great truth, by uniting we shall stand. We hope, and believe, that Great Britain will soon be convinced that the Americans can live without their trade, as they can without them.\" The year 1774 was filled with stirring events. The revolution was approaching its crisis. A town meeting was held here on July 6th, and a manifesto adopted, wherein they recite a history of their connection with the mother country, the position in which they found themselves.\nThey were, in respect to their rights and the perils surrounding them, at a meeting of the inhabitants of the town of Leicester and the districts of Spencer and Paxton. It commences not tumultuously, riotously, and seditionally, but soberly and seriously \u2013 as men, as free-men, and as Christians \u2013 to take into consideration the present distressed state of our affairs, that posterity may know what our claims are and to what struggles we are called in defence of them.\n\nAmong the resolutions which they adopted at that meeting, there is one which I shall venture to transcribe: \"That it is the duty of every person whatever, arrived at years of discretion, as much as may be consistent with their business or occupation, for the support of the publick good, to give their votes and assistance to the choice of men, who are most likely to administer the same, and to the support of such government, as, according to the best of their judgments and understandings, seems most likely to secure the publick good and happiness.\"\nMen associated to discuss and form themselves of their rights and privileges as men and members of society, and by the English Constitution, so they may not be imposed upon by those men who envy and use every art to deprive the laborious part of mankind of the fruits of their labor, and wish to live in luxury on that of others. Such men, able to coolly and deliberately examine the question of their rights, were not likely to waste their zeal in mere abstract propositions. Accordingly, they found themselves voting to have their cannon mounted and directing the selectmen to furnish all citizens with fire-arms.\n\nIt was early in October of that year, the authority of the royal governor in administering the affairs of the colony.\nThe Province was practically and forever abrogated from that time until the 19th of July, 1775. During this interval, the Commonwealth was without any constitutional form of government. The history of this period is full of interest, as it reveals the character of the people. Civil government continued, civil society maintained its integrity, and the recommendations of the Provincial Congress became imperative as laws, enforced through the primary assemblies of the people in the several towns. Leicester and its associated districts were represented in the Provincial Congress, and as early as October, 1774, six months before the battle of Lexington, they instructed their representative in that body to have measures taken that the militia should be properly disciplined and taught the art of war.\nIn November, they voted to provide two and a half barrels of powder and four hundred weight of balls as ammunition for their cannon and raised a committee to supply those persons with provisions who might be called to march from Ipswich in defense of their rights and privileges. Paxton, in August of the same year, had voted to purchase a barrel of powder in addition to the stock which she had then on hand. In January, 1775, each of these towns raised a company of minute men by a draft from their standing militia companies, to be ready to march at the earliest alarm. Everything gave dreadful note of preparation. They not only saw that the storm was gathering, but they saw it must soon hit the land. And, indeed, we find no doubt or misgiving.\nOn the fifth of March, this town held a meeting and adopted a vote. Each minute man was allowed the sum of six shillings as a bounty for his service, and if called upon to march, was to be allowed Province pay. We have traced our fathers through that period which preceded the revolution up to the point when they saw there was no retreat. In the language of their vote, they saw that within sixty days \"some interesting events might turn up,\" and when their minute men \"might be called to march.\" In all this, we see no sudden outbreak, no manifestation of passion. All is calm, deliberate, and decided. They seem to have carefully calculated the cost and in view of all the consequences, resolved to meet them.\nWe may better estimate the courage of these men if we consider their condition at the time. Boston, the provincial capital and seat of its small trade, was filled with British troops. British war ships were stationed at its wharves, ready to attack should any hostile movement occur. No fortification or even breastwork protected the country from an inroad of these troops at any moment. The entire population of the Province was few and scattered. In 1765, Leicester had only 210 men above the age of sixteen, including that part of her territory.\nIn 1777, the militia of Paxton, Spencer, and Leicester collectively had 257 men in Paxton, 212 in Spencer, and 116 in Leicester. The total number of men on the rolls of the \"train bands\" of the three towns combined, excluding the \"alarm list,\" was under 300.\n\nHowever, their supply of warlike stores was even less than this. Leicester had approximately two barrels of powder, Paxton had more than one, and Spencer likely had a similar amount. In May 1775, shortly before the incident at Bunker's Hill, the Provincial Congress took steps to determine the quantities of powder belonging to the various towns in Massachusetts and how much they could contribute.\npublic service. The result of the investigation was, that \nless than sixty-eight barrels was all they could command \nin the whole Province, and of these, Leicester contrib- \nuted one. \nNo wonder they had to be sparing of their ammuni- \ntion in their first great struggle with the enemy. No \nwonder they were obliged to retreat, while yet victory \nseemed ready to crown their devoted courage. The \nwonder is that they should have dared, with such re- \nsources, to have resisted at all. The idea of entering \ninto a contest of arms with a power like that of England, \ncould only have been entertained by men who, relying \nupon the justice of their cause and the favor of a \ngracious Providence, resolved to stand by that cause, \nwhatever misrht be the hazard. \nThe scenes around us here, often witnessed, during \nthe early stages of the revolutionary struggle, exhibi- \nGo with me and stand on the little common east of the meeting-house, and watch the devoted band of \"minute men\" in their almost daily drill, under the direction of a foreign soldier whom they had hired to teach them evolutions. Side by side, you would see the stripling youth and the veteran with gray hairs; side by side, the father who had brought home scars from battles in the old French wars, and the son who, for the first time, had shouldered a musket. There they stand with the fire of youth and the coolness of age strangely mingled in them both, to fit them for the work upon which they were soon to be applied.\nWe enter the ancient meeting-house, without porch or ornament, lit by its little windows of diamond glass, during some of the numerous meetings held to consider what was to be done \"in that critical conjuncture.\" It is filled by eager, listening spectators, while their rights as Englishmen and their wrongs as freemen are portrayed with the eloquence of truth. Whom do we see in that assembly? A body of farmers, a few mechanics, two or three traders, as many physicians, and their clergyman, who has come to crave for them the blessings of Heaven upon their deliberations and their cause. Among them, too, are those who had fought under the good old Provincial flag of Massachusetts Bay, side by side with the troops of England, at Fort Edward and William Henry.\nCrown Point. I listen to the debate as one after another rises to utter the emotions of deep feeling and stern resolve, which animates them all. There is no discordant voice there. If there is a Tory in either of these towns, he is not there. One motivation, one sympathy animates them all, and when, in the impassioned language of some of these \"village Hampdens,\" the fearful alternative is presented, to yield or fight, there is a response from every heart which scorns the coward's choice \u2014 they will fight, fight though England, their mother country, with all her array of fleets and armies \u2014 in all the pride of her power, and in all the prestige of her centuries of glory, was to be their foe! Go read the records of what those men did, and see if this picture has been overcolored in the least.\nThen show me if you can, in the history of the world, examples of moral grandeur more worthy of admiration than what our fathers exhibited in their humble gatherings on this spot. Aye! And let it be remembered that every pledge they then gave was nobly and sacredly redeemed. Few, feeble, and poor as they were, there was never a call, be it for men or be it for money, which was not promptly answered until that long, dreadful struggle was over.\n\nBut I perceive that I am anticipating. The forebodings indicated by the vote which I have just now recited were realized. An \"event\" did turn up before the May meeting. It was the opening scene in the great drama of the revolution. Blood had been shed at Lexington and Concord. The British troops harassed, discomfited, and disheartened, had sought shelter in Boston.\nThe awakened vengeance of an outraged yeasury. The sword had been drawn that was never to be sheathed until Massachusetts, with her sister Colonies, had taken their stand among the independent nations of the earth. In this the people of these towns were by no means passive spectators. I have already spoken of the companies of \"minute men,\" which they had organized. The company of Leicester had been placed under the command of Seth Washburn, who took an early and an active part in the affairs of the revolution. The plan of organizing bodies like these is said to have originated with colonel William Henshaw of this town, who became the commandant of the regiment of minute men to which the Leicester company was attached. The company in Spencer was a part of colonel Warner's regiment, while that of Paxton belonged to the regiment\nColonel Doolittle of Petersham had the command. The military stores of the Province had been deposited in different places for safety and convenience. A quantity of ammunition and tents had been ordered by the Provincial Congress to be stored in Leicester, a larger quantity in Worcester, and a still larger one in Concord.\n\nIt was understood as early as the 30th of March that a descent was contemplated by the British troops upon some point in the country for the purpose of seizing or destroying these stores. But where the blow was to fall no one knew. At length all uncertainty was removed. A detachment of nearly a thousand men left their quarters in Boston about ten o'clock on the night of the 18th of April, and between four and five o'clock the next morning, the head of the column reached Lexington.\nThe alarm spread throughout the Province with the wind. Bells rang out an alarm where they existed, and where there were none, people were awakened by musketry fire and the hurried passing of messengers. The people were so alive to the intelligence and it spread so rapidly, that I suppose there was not a man within a hundred miles of Cambridge who did not know before nightfall that the British troops had marched for Concord that morning. It was like the summoning of the Scottish clans; the Highlands.\n\n\"Fast as the fatal symbol flies,\nIn arms the huts and hamlets rise,\nFrom winding glen, from upland brown.\"\nThey poured each hardy tenant down. Nor did the messenger slack his pace. He showed his sign, named the place, and pressing forward like the wind, left clamor and surprise behind.\n\nAn express rider reached here soon after noon, on the 19th. He found the captain of the minute company at his forge. Dropping a ploughshare on which he was working, he seized his musket and rushing into the street discharged it. The signal was understood, and messengers were at once on their way to every part of the town to summon the troops to march. Not a man of the company hesitated. The mechanic literally left his tools on his bench, and the farmer his plough in the furrow, and in about three hours time thirty-seven had answered to the roll-call. William \"Watson and Nathaniel Harrod were the first and second lieutenants of the company.\nA messenger was sent to Worcester that day for an additional supply of arms for the men. But they didn't wait for his return. Around four o'clock in the afternoon, they set off for Lexington. They halted for a moment before the house of the father of one of the company members and found they were short on musket balls. He quickly took the lead weights from his clock, melted them into bullets, and distributed them among the men. There was another military company in town, of which Thomas Newhall was captain, and Benjamin Richardson and Ebenezer Upham were lieutenants. Thirty-five men from this company, without waiting for formal orders, volunteered their services and soon followed in the rear of the \"minute men,\" making a total of seventy-two who were under arms.\nIn the fall of March, before sundown on the 19th of April, 1775, Leicester and Spencer sent troops to meet the enemy wherever they were found. Leicester was not alone; Spencer dispatched fifty-six men under the command of Captain Ebenezer Mason, with Abijah Livermore as lieutenant and Joseph Livermore as ensign. A company from Paxton promptly answered the call, with thirty-five men under the command of Captain Phinehas Moore, whose lieutenants were Josiah Newton and Seth Snow. The history of Spencer describes this event: \"The company from that town buckled on their knapsacks, shouldered muskets, and were immediately on their march. And although the town had not met to make provision for the exigency, yet the good wives, including Nathan Sargent, whose son Samuel belonged to the soldiers, and the selectmen, assisted in the preparations.\"\nThe men were hastily supplied with provisions and marched quickly towards Cambridge. Language is inadequate to describe the event. I try to recall the scene that unfolded here on the afternoon of the 19th of April, 1775. I see the men summoned in haste, pressing on towards the rendezvous on foot or horseback, by various roads and by-paths that led into the village of some half a mile along what was then called \"the country road.\" I hear the rapid beat of the drum calling the men to arms and listen for answers to the hurried roll call as one after another reaches the parade.\nThe ground is filled with men, each taking his place in the ranks. It is not a holiday parade. There is nothing to dazzle the eye in the dress or equipment of either officers or men. None of them wear ornaments or military decorations. Some are even destitute of guns, and the captain's own equipment is a simple cartridge-box and musket that had seen service in the wars of the former Georges.\n\nThere are others besides soldiers, clustering around and mingling with the men who are busily preparing to march. Wives and mothers are there, and gray-haired fathers, and children looking, with wondering eyes, upon this scene of strange commotion. I hear the parting charge and the parting blessing, and as the last man reaches his post, the word is given, and that little band of brave men have begun their march.\nIn 1757, there was no coach, chaise, or clair in Leicester. I will not attempt to describe the feelings of the groups that lingered, gazing on the receding forms of that company, until its last file had disappeared below the brow of yonder hill, and the last sound of the drum-beat had died on the ear.\n\n\"It was I assure you,\" said a daughter of the commander of that company, within a few weeks, \"an anxious and exciting moment. The people retired to their homes, but I doubt if there was an eye closed in the village that night. Soon after dark the Spencer men passed by, and before morning we heard the company from Brookfield in rapid march for Lexington.\"\n\nLet me close the attempt to picture that scene, by this simple recital of the excited emotions of childhood, still fresh in the memory of a living witness.\nFor over three score years and ten, there was an Englishman among us, born, educated, and feeling as an Englishman. He was a renowned physician in his profession and resided here. With his strong national prejudices, the idea of resisting the British crown was nearly madness to him. But when he saw, from what he then witnessed, the sentiment that permeated the entire community, and men like these eagerly courting the dangers and privations of a common soldier, his disbelief yielded \u2014 \"by heaven,\" he said, \"they will fight, and what is more, they will indeed!\" And the prophecy, thus reluctantly extracted from him, was in less than two months in the sure progress of fulfillment.\n\nThe companies from this town continued their march all night. Every house they passed had lights.\nThe windows were burning in Lexington as troops hastened from every quarter towards the town. They did not halt until they learned that the British had retreated into Boston. The men then repaired to Cambridge, where they lay until a new organization of the Provincial troops was effected. Several officers of higher grade than those mentioned earlier resided in these towns and were equally prompt in repairing to the scene of action. Colonel William Henshaw, the commandant of one regiment, Samuel Denny, its lieutenant-colonel, and John Southgate, its adjutant, all belonged to Leicester. Joseph Henshaw, another citizen of the town, was lieutenant-colonel of a regiment commanded by Colonel Artemas Ward of Shrewsbury, whose adjutant was James Hart.\nA resident of Auburn was Willard Moore of Paxton, who was the major in Colonel Doolittle's regiment. The Provincial Congress had adjourned on April 15th, but was called back together on the 22nd, three days after the affair at Lexington. On the 23rd, they resolved to raise an army of 13,600 men from Massachusetts for the defense of the Province. Enlisting orders were issued on the 24th, and Captain Washburn entered into \"the eight months' service.\" Thirty-eight men from Leicester, nine from Spencer, three from Paxton, and five from Oakham joined within a few days. Joseph Livermore of Spencer and Loring Lincoln of Leicester were the first and second lieutenants of the company. It was soon raised to sixty-four men and was attached to the regiment under the command of Colonel Jonathan.\nWard of Southboro's lieutenant-colonel and major were Edward Barns and Timothy Bge-low of Worcester. Seven other men from Leicester joined other companies in the same service, as did eleven of captain Moore's men. Captain Joel Green of Spencer raised a company at the same time, belonging to that town. It was attached to colonel Larned's regiment of Oxford. The remainder of the troops who had marched on the 19th, after remaining in camp two or three weeks, returned home. But they did not all remain inactive. Jason Livermore of Paxton raised a part of a company on his return home, with which he marched to Charleston on Connecticut river, and from thence to Ticonderoga, where he joined the army.\nThe northern army, led by General Schuyler, appointed William Henshaw as adjutant-general of the Provincial army at Cambridge. He held this position until the army joined the Continental service and came under General Washington's command. The soldiers enlisting from these towns were likely of similar character, dress, and discipline to the rest of the army under General Ward. The experiment was soon to determine if raw, undisciplined, ill-equipped, and ill-provisioned soldiers could withstand the flower of the British army, led by their finest and bravest officers. I have previously mentioned that they wore no uniforms. Colonel Pr'escott, the hero of the 17th of June and the principal commander during the battle, is well-known to have worn a calico frock on that day. Only sixteen men from Captain Washburn's company received pay.\nThe soldiers obtained their supplies, either of clothing or arms, from the public stores. The rest supplied themselves at their own charge. For arms, some had mere fowling-pieces, and some carried heavy, cumbersome pieces, which we used to see under the name of \"king's\" or \"queen's arms,\" due to their having been in service during the wars of Queen Anne or the two first Georges.\n\nLike the rest of the army, they were all sadly deficient in bayonets, a circumstance of most serious consequence to our cause when, at the battle of Bunker Hill, our troops found their ammunition exhausted, and themselves destitute of all means of repelling the enemy, as they were mounting the breastwork and the redoubt, except the huts of their muskets.\n\nThe dress in which the men had come into the camp must have been such as they had been accustomed to.\nIn their workshops and on their farms at home, and, in the then state of manufactures, was undoubtedly the product of the domestic loom and colored with some domestic dye by the hand of the frugal housewife. The captain's dress happened to be a camlet coat, and as he led on his men in their homespun, parti-colored garbs, the picture which they presented might have well furnished the original of that which recently appeared in one of the popular periodicals of the day.\n\nIn their ragged regimentals,\nStood the old Continentals,\nYielding not,\nWhen the grenadiers were lunging.\nAnd like hail fell the plunging\nCannot shot:\nWhen the files\nOf the isles,\nFrom the smoky night-encampment, bore the banner of the rampant Unicorn,\nAnd grummer, grummer, grummer, rolled the roll of the drummer,\nThrough the mist.\nAt length, the trial came. On the night of June 16, 1775, a detachment from the American army, specifically the New York Knickerbockers, were directed to occupy and throw up entrenchments on Blinker Hill, pursuant to a recommendation of a committee with Colonel William Henshaw as chairman, on behalf of the council of war. As soon as they were discovered by the enemy on the morning of the 17th, they began to take measures to dislodge the Americans by an attack upon their lines. The British crossed the river, and at about three o'clock in the afternoon, the battle began.\n\nTo reach Bunker Hill from the American camp in Cambridge, it was necessary, as you are all aware, to cross a narrow neck of land which was, at that time, raked by the guns of the British frigate Glasgow, lying in the stream. It was therefore scarcely less dangerous to cross this neck than to engage the enemy in battle.\nThe approach to the hill was more dangerous than manning the works, which the enemy were attempting to carry by assault. Both these dangers were shared by the Leicester company. I cannot better describe the part they took in the transactions of that day than in the simple narrative of some of the actors in its never-to-be-forgotten scenes. Of that company, only one remains, and he has been spared for more than seventy-four years to share the fruits of that glorious struggle for liberty in which he bore a part. The regiment was stationed at what is called \"Fort No. 2,\" on the plans which we sometimes see of the works on and around Bunker Hill. Its colonel was absent on that day, and the command devolved upon Lieutenant-Colonel Barns. They were ordered to march and left their quarters about noon. Before reaching the neck, they were halted and re-formed.\nThe men remained in that position for a considerable time. After a while, they resumed the march and quickly crossed the neck, reaching the foot of the hill some time after the action had begun. A messenger met them there, delivering orders that no more troops should go into the action. The regiment was accordingly halted, but the captain of the Leicester men, stepping from the column and addressing his men in a loud voice, declared that \"such orders are tory orders, and I will not obey them.\" He then demanded who would follow him. The answer was a movement of the entire company, every man quitting the ranks of the regiment and eagerly pressing on to the hill under the lead of their commander. On their way, they met loads of wounded and dying soldiers whom the Americans were bringing from the field.\nreached the top of the hill, the enemy had made their last fatal charge upon the American lines, and were about to surmount the breastwork and enter the redoubt. It was just before Major Pitcairn, of the British army, had been shot down by a black soldier named Peter Salem, whom many of us remember as having been a resident in this town for many years. The captain here turned to his men, and pointing to the scene of carnage before them and the evident fate of the battle, gave permission to all, who wished, to leave the field. Not one, however, availed himself of the liberty, but rushing forward into the midst of the light, they took their stand at the rail fence and fought with desperate courage, till nearly surrounded by the enemy, when, with the other troops, they withdrew from the field.\nThe anecdotes regarding their retreat indicate it was not a flight from fear. One sergeant received a shot in his thigh and another in his foot, disabling him from walking. The captain, upon seeing this, carried him, along with both their muskets, until his strength gave out. The wounded man insisted on being left, and the captain overtook his brother and neighbor and sent them back to retrieve him, facing the enemy's fire. Two others in the company were wounded but not severely, and none were killed. Several received balls through their clothes. Among them, the captain had a ball shot into his cartridge box, one through his wig, and four through his coat. One of the company\nA Panther had cultivated a long appendage to his head in the form of a queue, with as much affection as a modern exquisite nurses the hairy excrescence that sprouts from his chin or upper lip. It had been carefully braided and fastened into two strands, but upon coming out of the action, he was sadly disturbed to find that one of these had been unceremoniously shorn close to his head by an envious bullet from one of King George's men. Another man found the head of his canteen had been perforated by a ball which had taken the place of the contents it had discharged upon the ground, and was long preserved as a trophy of the fight. One other man, who had provided himself, among other creature comforts, with a small quantity of rum, which he carried in a canteen at his side, perceived while on his retreat that a ball from the enemy had struck it.\nHad cut the string by which it hung. Looking for the canteen, he discovered it in rapid progress towards the enemy who were approaching by a flank movement. With a desperate determination that \"I would be damned if the regulars should have my rum,\" he coolly turned and followed his canteen, till he overtook it, and then brought it off amidst a shower of bullets that whistled around him.\n\nI shall be pardoned, I trust, for indulging in trifling anecdotes like these. They serve to show the character of the courage and self-possession of those who, on that day, mingled for the first time in scenes of conflict, carnage, and death. But the dangers and hardships of a soldier's life were not new or altogether strange to:\n\nPerley Brown, Jonathan Sargent, Wm. Crossman, Kerley Ward, Daniel Hubbard, Samuel Sargent, Isaac Livermore.\nSome of that company. I have already alluded to the part which many men of that day had taken in the French and Indian wars, in which the Province had been involved. The captain had been in the service of the crown more than twenty-five years prior to that time, and others of the company had had a practical lesson what war was in the memorable campaign of 1757, at Crown Point and Fort Wm. Henry. There was one, too, from this vicinity, whose untimely fate on that day ought not to be forgotten on this occasion. Major Willard Moore, belonging to Paxton, lived just beyond the original line of the town of Leicester. Less is known of his personal history than his gallant conduct and death would seem to demand. He was, I suppose, a farmer, as were most of the men who fought in the American ranks at Bunker Hill. I find he had [no further information provided].\nAn ensign in a company in 1767. When the minute men were organized, he was made a major of one of the regiments, under Colonel Doolittle, and at the time of the Lexington alarm, he had stationed himself in Cambridge. Here, a new regiment was raised, under the command of the same colonel, and major =* among these were Perley Brown and James Greaton. Jebenezer Saunderson was in the army in 1761.\n\nMoore was commissioned, by the Provincial Congress, to the same place he had held in his former regiment. He came early, with his men, into the battle of the 17th June, and took a prominent post of danger. In consequence of the absence of his colonel, the command of the regiment had that day devolved upon him.\n\nIn the second charge of the enemy upon our lines, he was shot through the thigh and fell. His men were with him.\nHe was carried from the field after receiving another ball through his body, bearing a mortal wound, though not immediately so. It was an extremely hot day, and he suffered terribly from thirst. No water could be had, except for near the Neck, and two of his men, leaving him on the field, went in pursuit of it to relieve his suffering. On their return, the American troops were just leaving the redoubt in their retreat. His men offered to carry him from the field, but with the self-sacrifice of true heroism, he bid them save themselves and leave him to his fate. He fell in the first great struggle of the revolution, in the cause of his country and mankind. And so long as the glorious day, which declared that country independent, shall be remembered, his name should live in the record of her history.\nWhile their brothers were in the field, the citizens of these towns were, by no means, inactive or indifferent spectators of the passing events. On the 13th of July, 1755, they met to elect a representative to the general assembly, which was about to convene, and in instructions of considerable length, expressed their views of the then state of public affairs. \"At this most critical and important period,\" they say, \"on which are suspended the happiness or ruin of British America, you are called, by the suffrages of your townsmen, to represent them in the ensuing general assembly of this Province. To this important post, posterity will look back either with joy and admiration, secure in the possession of their inestimable liberties, or with the keenest sensations of grief while they drag the galling chain of servitude. Since the settlement of America, no period has been marked by greater moment than the present.\"\nThe river has been so replete with great and interesting events as the present, and it will require the utmost exertions of the human mind to counteract the designs of the enemy. But time compels me to forego the pleasure of transcribing the just and noble sentiments which are embodied in those instructions. It was the last occasion when these towns acted together in general meeting. From that period, the history of their efforts in the common cause was distinct. I greatly regret that, so far as my knowledge extends, it is primarily confined to one, only, of them. But judging from the spirit with which, to that date, they had cooperated, I have no reason to suppose that there was any stronger patriotism in any one than was to be found in them all.\nIf there was any apparent prominence in one over the others, it was probably the result of accident. It happened that several individuals in Leicester were not only spirited and influential men themselves, but were connected with Boston through family relations or by having, themselves, resided there. Consequently, they were early apprised of the measures which were contemplated, from time to time, at the fountain head of the political movements of the day. This was the case with Thomas Denny, a prominent man in the Province, who died just as the revolution began. So it was the case with the two colonels Henshaw, Joseph and William, as well as with the late Hon. Joseph Allen. To whose pens, I have reason to believe, the town owes many of the able and patriotic resolutions and instructions to their representatives, which are preserved in her records.\nI should have been glad to provide in detail the number of men and amount of money raised by each of these towns for the war. However, unfortunately, I can only approximate the truth regarding either of them. Even what appears of record now seems utterly incredible, if it were not fully sustained by the uniform testimony of witnesses who have, till within a few years, been alive and amongst us. I do not believe there is another nation in the world who ever met, with such limited means, such heavy, systematic, and repeated drafts of men and money for such a length of time as did Massachusetts. She was, as I have already said, comparatively poor and thinly populated. Yet, for eight long years, she continued to pour out the blood and treasure of her sons without stint and without one serious thought of shrinking.\nThomas Denny was the son of Daniel, who came from England and was an early settler in Leicester. His sister was wife of Rev. Dr. Prince, of Boston. He was born in 1724 and died October 23, 1774, while a member of the Provincial Congress. His brother Samuel was lieutenant-colonel of a regiment of minute men, as previously stated. He also was called into service at Claverack in 1777 as colonel of a militia regiment. He married a sister of Colonel Henshaw.\n\nThe Henshaws were the sons of Daniel Henshaw, who removed to Leicester in 1748 from Boston, where the sons above named, as well as his son David, were born. They all sustained important civil relations and were among the most prominent men in the town. William entered the army as a lieutenant at the age of 21 in what was\nOne of the \"French wars\" was known as the one under Lord Amherst, in which he was actively engaged as a lieutenant-colonel and, at times, commandant of a regiment during the years 1776-7. He took an important part in the battle of the 27th August on Long Island, and afterwards fought with General Washington during his passage of the Delaware, and at the battles of Trenton and Princeton. He died in 1820.\n\nMr. Allen moved from Boston to Leicester in November 1771, where he was engaged in business as a merchant until 1776, when he was appointed clerk of the courts and moved to Worcester.\n\nThe number of Massachusetts Continental troops furnished by the state amounted to more than eight thousand on average every year during the war. Or, if we regard them as having each served for a single year, their number would be at least eight thousand.\nSixty-eight thousand were the number of men Massachusetts contributed to the war, excluding fifteen thousand of the militia called into service at various times. This was out of a population where the total number of males above sixteen years of age scarcely exceeded seventy-five thousand. The proportion of the war expenses borne by Massachusetts was greater, I presume, than that of her men.\n\nCommissioners were appointed after the peace to settle the amounts of the several states for expenses incurred in the war, and the amount allowed by them to Massachusetts was but a fraction under $18,000,000. However, this sum must have fallen significantly below the total amount Massachusetts paid, if the contributions of towns and individuals, for which no account was ever rendered, were included.\nThe computation refers to a state whose ratable polls never exceeded seventy-seven thousand. The proportion of this amount that was furnished by the towns can never be accurately known. From Leicester's records, I find that there were twenty-eight drafts for men made on this town between May 1775 and July 1781. Two hundred and fifty-four men were furnished for the service during that period. However, this number does not include the seventy-two who marched at the time of the Lexington alarm, nor those who enlisted into the \"Continental service\" for the term of three years or during the war, nor the men supplied by the \"classes\".\nThe town was divided in 1781 for procuring complements of troops as they were required. I have not been able to ascertain the number of these. However, I find the names of thirty belonging to the town, who enlisted into the Continental army for at least three years during thirteen months in 1777 and '78. Many other names of her citizens are found upon the rolls of the army. We may easily imagine that their number was not small when we remember how many were met here a few years since, who could tell what they did, and saw, and suffered at White Plains, Trenton, Monmouth, and Valley Forge.\n\nIf we assume these premises as the basis of calculation, it would, I think, be found that if we consider each term of service as having been performed by a distinct set of individuals.\nMen, there were more soldiers drawn from this town during the war period than there were males residing here above the age of sixteen years, and more than double the whole number of names borne upon its train bands. So large were these drafts, and so often repeated, that committees were raised by the town to hire men from other towns to supply them. It became necessary, repeatedly, to elect new town officers because so many of those who had been elected were absent in the army. Indeed, so difficult did it last become to procure men to fill the quotas required of the town, that bounties as high as \u00a330 each were offered. Among them, William Grossman became a lieutenant, and Joseph Washburn, ensign, of a company in Colonel Bigelow's regiment, in January, 1777. Grossman soon after.\nThe service began, and Washburn was made lieutenant of the militia. They paid silver to those willing to enlist. To avoid this issue and relieve the town of the heavy charge, the principle of conscription or classing the inhabitants was adopted. This meant that the duty of the whole town devolved upon a certain number of its inhabitants, who were obligated to procure the required number of soldiers as needed. I have not been able to determine how many were furnished by classes in this town or at what expense. Nor do I have any reason to suppose that Spencer or Paxton were any less liberal than Leicester in their aid to the country. I find bounties paid by Spencer to thirty men between January 1777 and February 1778 who had joined the military.\nThe continental army received enlistments from Leicester, Spencer, and Paxton of seventeen, eighteen, and ten men respectively in 1777. In 1780, during a draft for six-month men, Leicester provided seventeen, Spencer eighteen, Paxton ten, and Auburn (then Ward) four. The people from these towns demonstrated their devoted self-sacrificing patriotism through this detail of those who went to battle for their homes and rights as freemen. However, their sacrifices were not limited to the field or camp alone.\nI apprehend that justice has never been done to those who remained at home and contributed to sustain the burden of expense created by the war. I say nothing of the sleepless nights and anxious days of the wives and mothers whose husbands and sons had left their homes desolate and their fields untilled. I say nothing of the ceaseless toil of the women in the revolution to supply, from their own looms and handiwork, clothing for the army and comforts for the sick and wounded. I say nothing of the widows made by that war, or of the mourning heard in almost every village over some friend, brother, or son who had fallen in battle or been the victim of the pestilence generated in the camp with its vices, fevers, and destitutions. These are but the incidents of war.\nWar, even in its mildest form, is impossible to measure, and it is vain to attempt to depict individual suffering scenes. II There is enough in the sacrifices our fathers made which can be measured by the ordinary standard of dollars and cents, to give us some idea of what that struggle cost them in treasure as well as suffering. It is difficult, as all must be aware, to fix the precise extent of the taxation to which the people were subjected, from what we read in the records of the time, due to the depreciation of paper money which formed the ordinary currency of the day. In ascertaining what the actual value of the sums of money was, which were raised by this town during the war, I have endeavored to apply what I supposed was as correct a scale as was within my reach.\nThe town of Leicester or its inhabitants paid out over $18,000 in bounties to soldiers upon enlistment during the first six years of the war. Nearly three thousand dollars were paid in the year 1777 alone. Additionally, the town raised large amounts to aid in the war, with the aggregate reaching at least seven thousand dollars.\nThis town, which is Leicester, contributed over $3,000 in less than eight years. It's worth noting that this town was not wealthy. Out of the 215 towns in Massachusetts in 1772, 107 had larger populations and higher property valuations than Leicester. Among the towns in our county, Leicester ranked no higher than 20th in either respect.\n\nThe amount Leicester furnished in bounties and supplies to its Continental soldiers was nearly $3,000. Paxton's charge for the same purpose was approximately $1,400. However, these sums do not include the advances of money and other things made on behalf of the state troops or the expenses of the war.\nI have no means of determining which charges I'm referring to. These were not the only burdens the towns were called upon to sustain in 1775. I find that the Provincial Congress imposed on the town of Leicester the charge of supporting thirty-six inhabitants of Boston who had fallen into distress due to the ruin of their trade. The town's inhabitants voted to abate taxes for those serving in the army. They voted to supply families of men who had enlisted into the three years' Continental service. They provided clothing for their soldiers while absent from home. Repeated drafts were made by the board of war upon the keeper of military stores in this town, during the years 1777 and 1778, for clothing for the army. Men were obliged to labor in-\n\n(Assuming the text ends here and there are no further meaningless or unreadable content)\n\nI find that the Provincial Congress imposed on the town of Leicester the charge of supporting thirty-six inhabitants of Boston who had fallen into distress due to the ruin of their trade. The town's inhabitants voted to abate taxes for those serving in the army and supplied families of men who had enlisted into the three years' Continental service with necessities. They provided clothing for their soldiers while absent from home and made repeated provisions for the army through the board of war during the years 1777 and 1778.\nThe sacrifices they were required to make in town meetings were significant. I find they were convened at least eighteen times during the year 1774. In May, 1780, they allowed one hundred and ten bushels of corn to every soldier who would renounce his wages. In January, 1781, they raised over four hundred dollars for the purchase of beef for the army, and in July of the same year, they supplied one thousand pounds of beef for the army as their proportionate contribution for a single month. I could expand the number of these votes and appropriations found in their records. However, I would be overstepping your indulgence if I did so. Make whatever reduction we may from any of these sums.\nAccount of any supposed error in the scale of depreciation which we are to apply, it seems incredible how such burdens could have been borne by a town, the whole of whose ordinary expenses before the war, for the support of their highways, their poor, their schools, and contingent charges, seemed not to have exceeded two hundred pounds by the year. And yet, while staggering under the enormous burdens of the war, when it was proposed in town meeting to suspend their schools, the proposition was at once rejected. To their glory, be it said, neither their schools nor their sanctuary were closed from any refusal on the part of the people to meet the necessary expenses during the whole of that dark period. Nor ought it to be overlooked, that this crushing weight fell, principally, upon the men who remained at home.\nAnd recalling that this was largely an agricultural community, we may believe the traditional anecdotes about the dire straits many were driven to meet the demands made upon their industry. Small farmers were forced to part with nearly all their animals, divide their meager crops of grain with the tax-gatherer, and often stint themselves and families in life's necessities to feed and clothe the men fighting their battles or sustain the families they had left behind.\n\nFull of interest as these incidents may be, both as local history and happy as I would have been to present a complete narrative of the events.\nIn the war where officers and men from these towns participated, I am reminded by the length of time I have already spent that I cannot pursue the subject further. Yet, enough has been exhibited to demonstrate that men and women who willingly made these sacrifices rather than submit to an unconstitutionally laid tax of a penny, would not shy away when the proposition came for declaring these Colonies independent. It was a bold act in the Congress of 1776 to publish such a declaration to the world, but they only expressed the determined will of the whole people when they made it. The nation was ready for it before Jefferson penned that immortal instrument. On May 22, 1776, a town meeting was called in this town, which was shortly after convened, in which it was decided.\nThe unanimous resolution was passed that in the event the Honorable Continental Congress declared the Colonies independent of Great Britain, they would support it with their lives. Spencer adopted a similar resolution on the 24th of the same year. The facts, which I have already mentioned, testify to how far they fulfilled this solemn pledge when the declaration came in July. God granted them success in their endeavors, and we, their descendants, celebrate the Independence they vowed to uphold amidst gloom, poverty, and weakness. However, they demonstrated their fitness to be free men in other ways than their courage and self-sacrifice in sustaining the war. They presented a moral character.\nThe spectacle was as striking as the extent of their physical endurance. I have already alluded to the fact that for more than nine months, the state was without any constitutional government to make or enforce laws. The body known as the \"Provincial Congress\" was but a convention of influential citizens, whose acts had no binding force beyond the favor with which they were received by an intelligent public. And yet, I have sought in vain for any evidence that there ever was a time in either of these towns, during that interval, when the voice of justice was silent, or order and domestic quiet did not prevail under the sanction of law.\n\nThese towns, in effect, were independent little republics, where committees of vigilance, aided by a vigorous tone of moral sentiment in the community, restrained the passions of the bad and enforced the dictates of justice.\nThe public will. Anecdotes illustrative of this state of self-government might easily be gathered from the history of either of these towns. But time precludes me from attempting it now. There is one other subject connected with the moral feeling of the people of that day, which I ought not wholly to omit, even at the risk of wearying you still farther by these necessarily protracted remarks, and that is slavery. It is probably known to us all that slavery once existed by law in this Commonwealth. Some of us are old enough to remember a few who were declared free by the constitution of 1780, but still continued to reside in the families of their former masters. But slavery was never in popular favor in Massachusetts. It had been imposed upon her by her connection with England, and though she struggled hard to rid herself of it,\nIn 1773, a majority of the legislature passed an act for the suppression of the slave trade. However, Governor Hutchinson, under direct orders from the crown, vetoed the bill. It is remembered that the first declaration in the Massachusetts Bill of Rights was \"all men are born free.\" The number of slaves in either of these towns must have always been very small. In 1755, Leicester had six slaves, and Spencer three. In '65, there were only seven black persons in Leicester and but five in Spencer. With the exception of some half dozen slaves brought here by the Jews upon their removal from Newport, I do not believe there were ten in both towns together at any time within ten years of.\nThe revolution. Nor was the relation they held to the rest of the community such as to shock anyone. They ate at the same table, worked in the same field, and wore the same homespun dress as their masters. They were rather the pets and favorites, especially of the younger members of the family, than objects, as in these modern days, for sprigs of chivalry to try their lessons upon, while fitting themselves to become rulers of free men.\n\nYet, even with all its mildness, the institution of slavery was justly odious to our ancestors. Whatever may be said on the subject at this day, the slaves of that day were, I believe, to a man, for a free soil. They anxiously sought to be rid of the disgrace which the existence of slavery entailed upon men professing to be free, and struggling to maintain their freedom.\nI recall with pride the record they left in this town of their sentiments on this subject. In their instructions to their representative in May 1773, they say, \"as we have the highest regard for, so even as we revere the name of,) Liberty, we cannot behold it with the greatest abhorrence, any of our fellow creatures in a state of slavery. Therefore we strictly enjoin you to use your utmost influence that a stop may be put to the slave trade by the inhabitants of this Province.\" Such were the sentiments then, and such, I thank God, are the sentiments now of the people of our glorious old Commonwealth, and such must they ever be, till she ceases to hold the rank among the republics of the earth for intelligence, enterprise, and moral power. I deeply regret that I have been compelled, thus.\nWhile I am still conscious of the injustice I have done to the subject and occasion, I will heavily discuss incidents that, at the time, were deemed unimportant but have grown in consequence due to their connection with events that have since excited the admiration of the world. We are now able to take a standpoint from which to view the events of the American Revolution in a light that the actors in its scenes, with all their foresight, could never have anticipated. We are witnessing the fruits of that movement which hurried our fathers in their march for Lexington and nerved them to meet the serried ranks of a British army at Bunker Hill, in the tottering thrones and crumbling dynasties of the old world, and in the constantly widening spread of American principles in the new. We have reached that point.\nHuman progress outpaces fancy, and the wildest dream of the most imaginative visionary of '76 has been left behind by actual history. The changes have been wrought in such a brief period that a human life has spanned them all. Six men, who at one time or another took part as soldiers in the dangers, sufferings, and triumphs of the revolution, are yet spared to share its fruits with us. Some of them we welcome to this jubilee \u2013 we greet them as representatives of a noble race, now, alas! almost extinct amongst us. Venerable man! the last of that little band who mustered on this spot and took up their midnight march to find and to meet the invader \u2013 we welcome you.\nAustin Flint and Asahel Matthews of Leicester, Nathan Craige, Joel Howe, Phinehas Jones, and Isaac Lamb of Spencer were present. Mr. Craige, Matthews, Jones, and Howe were present. Mr. Craige was 95 years old. Your presence \u2014 we recognize in you one of the connecting links between the royal Province of Massachusetts Bay, and the honored equal of thirty independent republics. Where the fathers stood, side by side, with you, on the 19th of April, 1775, the sons and the grandsons have come to do honor to their memories, and to thank God that there is yet one left to whom we can point our children, and say, it was such men who fought the battles of the revolution, and achieved the independence which we enjoy. It is impossible to stand upon this spot, surrounded by such associations, without feeling one's spirit stirred.\nWithin him, fancy unbidden brings back scenes of former days, peopled with the men who gathered here with anxious, earnest hearts in the days that literally tried men's souls. But it doesn't need the aid of fancy to read our duty in the light of their example. There comes a voice from the very graves of such men that speaks not to the dreaming ear, but the warm affections of every generous heart. It bids us stand by the ark of liberty which they bore through the toilsome march of the revolution, in safety and triumph. It bids us preserve, for our posterity, the priceless boon which they bequeathed to us. And when, in after days, our children shall gather here to celebrate this day, as we do now, let them have no cause to blush that we, their fathers, had been unfaithful to our father's trust.\nSeth Washburn, captain\nWilliam Watson, first lieutenant\nNathaniel Harrod, second lieutenant\nSamuel Watson, sergeant\nHenry King, sergeant\nEbenezer Kent, corporal\nJonathan Newhall, corporal\nBenjamin Convers\nAbner Dunbar\nThomas Parker\nAmbrose Searl\nJesse Green\nJonas Southgate\nSamuel Richardson\nJesse Smith\nPeleg Hersey\nJohn Brown\nWilliam Grossman\nHezekiah Saunderson\nDaniel Hubbard\nAbijah Stowers\nAdam Gilmore\nDavid Newhall\nDaniel Denny\nEbenezer Saunderson\nJonathan Jackson\nElijah Comins\nIsrael Saunderson\nJohn Weaver\nIsaac Livermore, Jr.\nJonathan Sargent\nJob Stetson\nJames Greaton\nMorris Huggins\nNathan Craige\nPhinehas Green\nPerley Brown\nStephen Taylor\nSamuel Sargent, William Brown, Daniel Sargent, Jason Livermore, James Tucker\nThomas Newhall (captain)\nBenjamin Richardson (lieutenant)\nEbenezer Upham (second lieutenant)\nLoring Lincoln, Isaac Choate, James Whittemore (sergeants)\nPhinehas Newhall, Phinehas Sargent (corporals)\nPeter Silvester Jr., Daniel Carpenter,\nJonathan Johnson, Reuben Earle,\nNathaniel Richardson, Wait Topham,\nMoses Hovey, Richard Bond,\nMicah Livermore, Reuben Swan,\nElijah Howe, Solon Green,\nJonathan Sargent Jr., Isaac Livermore Jr.,\nElisha Ward, Stephen Taylor,\nBenjamin Levinston, Daniel Sargent,\nThomas Snow, Elijah Cummings,\nThomas Green, Israel Saunderson,\nReuben Lamb, John Weaver,\nPhinehas Barton, David Newhall.\nCaleb Nichols.\nA roll of captain Ebenezer Mason's company, who marched as minute men for the defence of the Colonies on the 19th April, 1775, from Spencer, belonging to colonel Jonathan Warner's regiment.\n\nEbenezer Mason, captain.\nAbijah Livermore, lieutenant.\nJoseph Livermore, ensign.\nBenjamin Bemis, jr., William Green, William White, and Samuel Hall, sergeants.\nOliver Watson, Jonas Muzzy, Asa Sprague, and Jeduthan Green, corporals.\nJames Draper, drummer, Luther Prouty, fifer.\nJohn Draper, John Bemis, Jesse Bemis, John Ball, Isaac Prouty, David Livermore, Nathaniel Wilson, James Watson, Benjamin Sumner, Robert Watson, John Woodward jr., Thomas Whittemore, Jonas Lamb, Nathaniel Loring, Thomas Spiague, Isaac Livermore, Michael Hatch, Jonathan Rich, John Waite, John Knapp, Joseph Grout, Benjamin Gleason, Jospeh Wheat, Levi Thayer, Joshua Draper jr., Elisha Whitney, Reuben Lanab, John Hatch.\nAmos Willittemore, Wright Woodward, Samuel Bemis, Rand White, David Rice, Richard Hutton, Samuel Garfield jr., Nathaniel Cunningham, John Lamb jr., Asa Willittemore, John Worcester, Elijah Southgate, Knight Sprague, David Lamb, Timothy Capeu\n\nRoll of captain Phinehas Moore's company of minute men of Paxton, commanded by colonel Ephraim Doolittle, who marched on the alarm, the 19th April, 1775, from Paxton to Cambridge.\n\nPhinehas Moore, captain\nJosiah Newton, lieutenant\nSeth Snow, second lieutenant\nAdam Maynard and Ephraim Bellows, sergeants\nWilliam Heard, fifer\nDavid Knapp, Jeremiah Whitaker, James Green, Job Johnson, James Sproat, Joshua Bigelow or John Bigelow, Thomas Greenwood, Nathan Swan, Oliver Earle, James Logan, John Davis, Abijah Brown, Jonathan Waite, Thomas Lamb, Jonathan Hubbard, Thomas Hunt, Clark Earle, Joseph Knight, James Pike, Samuel Gould, Aaron Martin.\nSamuel Steward, Jr.\nDavid Snow, Jr.\nSilas Bellows\nJosiah Baldwin\nJonathan Clerons, Jr.\nJason Livermore\nWilliam Thompson\n\nMuster roll of a company under the command of Seth Washburn, in Colonel Jonathan Ward's regiment, in the eight months' service, in 1775.\n\nSeth Washburn, captain.\nJoseph Livermore, Spencer, lieutenant.\nLoring Lincoln, Leicester, second lieutenant.\nPeleg Hersey, John Brown, Anthony Sprague, and Wm. Crossman, Leicester, sergeants.\nHezekiah Saunderson and Daniel Hubbard, Leicester, Elijah Southgate, Spencer, and Kerley Ward, Qakham, corporals.\nElijah Torrey, Leicester, fifer.\nAdam Gilmore, Leicester.\nDavid Newhall,\nDaniel Denny,\nEbenezer Saunderson,\nElijah Comins,\nElias Green,\nLrael Saunderson,\nJohn Weaver,\nIsaac Livermore, Jr.,\nJonathan Sargent,\nJob Stetson,\nJames Greaton,\nMorris Huggins,\nNathan Craige,\nJames Richardson,\nWilliam Brown and James Tucker.\nPhineas Green, Jr., Perley Brown, Stephen Taylor, Samuel Sargent, Abner Livermore, Thomas Green, John Green, Daniel Sargent, Jason Livermore, Jonathan Jackson, Andrew Morgan, Spencer, Alexander McFarland, Oakham, Joseph Washburn, Leicester, Jonas Lamb, Spencer, Jesse Jones, Weston, John Thompson, Paxton, Matthew Jackson, Rutland (later Leicester), Peter Rice, Spencer, Silas Livermore, Weston, Thomas Sprague, Spencer, Samuel Underwood, Weston, Silas Bellows, Paxton, George Dunn, Oakham, Samuel Fairfield, Worcester, Joseph Prescott, Paxton, Thomas Stevens, Holden, Ebenezer Prescott, Paxton, John Hatch, Spencer, Thomas Gill and Robert Hooper, Oakham, enlisted July 1. Zillai Stickney, Holden, Wright Woodward, Spencer, Isaac Livermore, Spencer, Elisha Livermore, Brookfield, John Hagar, Weston, John Cleveland, Gloucester.\n[Abijah Stowers, Leicester, MA, July 4, 1849, Leicester: Original Town Delivered by Emory Washburn, Boston: Old Dickinson Office, 52 Washington Street, Address: Hommot'rtttt of the Original Town of Leicester]", "source_dataset": "Internet_Archive", "source_dataset_detailed": "Internet_Archive_LibOfCong"}, {"title": "An address commemorative of the part taken by the inhabitants of the original town of Leicester", "creator": "Washburn, Emory, 1800-1877. [from old catalog]", "publisher": "Boston, Printed by C.C.P. Moody", "date": "1849", "language": "eng", "possible-copyright-status": "NOT_IN_COPYRIGHT", "sponsor": "Sloan Foundation", "contributor": "The Library of Congress", "scanningcenter": "capitolhill", "mediatype": "texts", "collection": ["library_of_congress", "americana"], "call_number": "6786943", "identifier-bib": "00140787097", "updatedate": "2008-10-08 11:43:54", "updater": "scanner-bunna-teav@archive.org", "identifier": "addresscommemora00washi", "uploader": "Bunna@archive.org", "addeddate": "2008-10-08 11:43:56", "publicdate": "2008-10-08 11:44:00", "ppi": "400", "camera": "Canon 5D", "operator": "scanner-elizabeth-kornegay@archive.org", "scanner": "scribe2.capitolhill.archive.org", "scandate": "20081008144245", "imagecount": "68", "foldoutcount": "0", "identifier-access": "http://www.archive.org/details/addresscommemora00washi", "identifier-ark": "ark:/13960/t85h7s097", "scanfactors": "5", "repub_state": "4", "curation": "[curator]gemma@archive.org[/curator][date]20081009145609[/date][state]approved[/state]", "sponsordate": "20081031", "backup_location": "ia903602_15", "external-identifier": "urn:oclc:record:1038733606", "lccn": "01011464", "filesxml": ["Wed Dec 23 2:15:19 UTC 2020", "Thu Dec 31 20:25:27 UTC 2020"], "subject": "Leicester, Mass. -- History -- Revolution. [from old catalog]", "description": "p. cm", "ocr_module_version": "0.0.21", "ocr_converted": "abbyy-to-hocr 1.1.37", "page_number_confidence": "61", "page_number_module_version": "1.0.3", "creation_year": 1849, "content": "[LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. PEDIGREE OF AMERICA. II. C Ce rt