Mrs. Dawsey lay at the mansion, under guard, for several weeks. When
finally able to be moved she was conveyed to the 'furnished apartments'
bespoken for her by Joe. Her husband, after a short confinement in jail,
was set at liberty, and then made strenuous efforts to effect his wife's
release on bail. He did not succeed. Public feeling ran very high
against her; and that, probably more than the fact that she was charged
with an unbailable crime, operated to prolong her residence at the
public boarding house kept for runaway slaves and common felons at
Trenton.
At the next session of the 'county court,' after an imprisonment of
four months, she was arraigned for trial. Owing to the death of Selma,
Mulock was the only white witness against her. He told a straightforward
story, the most rigid cross-examination not swerving him from it, and
deposed to Dawsey's having attempted to bribe him to go away. His
evidence was conclusive as to the prisoner's guilt; but her counsel, an
able man, made so damaging an assault on his personal character, that
the jury disagreed. Mrs. Dawsey was then remanded to jail to await a new
trial, at the next sitting of the court.
Shortly after the trial, Mulock suddenly disappeared. Hearing of it, and
suspecting he had been spirited away by Dawsey, Joseph Preston went to
Trenton, and, procuring a judge's order for Mulock's arrest as an
absconding witness, caused a thorough search to be made for him in Jones
and the adjoining counties. He himself visited Chalk Level, in Harnett
County, and there found him, living again with his white wife. That lady
had previously won and lost a second spouse, but, it appeared, was then
in such straits for another husband, that she was willing to take up
with her own cast-off household furniture. Whether a new marriage
ceremony was performed, or not, I never learned; but I have been
reliably informed that Mulock complained bitterly of his wife for having
defrauded him of twenty-five of the fifty dollars she had agreed to pay
as consideration for his again sharing her 'bed and board.'
Mulock admitted having received four hundred dollars from Dawsey for
absenting himself, and gave, as an excuse for accepting the bribe, his
conviction that Mrs. Dawsey could not be found guilty on his testimony.
After his arrest he was confined in the same jail with the 'retired'
schoolmistress.
The second trial was approaching; but, late on the night preceding the
sitting of the court, the jailer's house--which adjoined and
communicated with the prison--was forcibly entered by four armed men
disguised as negroes. They bound and gagged the jailer, his wife, and
two female servants, and, seizing the keys, entered the jail, and
carried Mulock off by force. The keeper heard a desperate struggle, and
it was supposed Mulock was foully dealt by. The footprints of four men
were the next morning detected leading to a spot on the bank of the
river, where a boat appeared to have been moored; but there all traces
were lost, and the overseer's fate is still shrouded in mystery.
Mrs. Dawsey, whose cell adjoined Mulock's, was not disturbed, but public
suspicion connected her husband with the affair. There was, however, no
evidence against him, and he went 'unwhipped of justice.'
The lady was arraigned for trial on the following day, but, no witnesses
appearing against her, she was--after a tedious confinement of ten
months--set at liberty. Thus, at last, she achieved 'a plantation and a
rich planter;' but her darling object in life--to lead and shine in
society, for which her education and character peculiarly fitted
her--she missed. With the exception of her brutal husband, an ignorant
overseer, and a superannuated 'schulemarm,' imported from the North, she
has no associates. Society has built up a wall about her, and, with the
brand of Cain on her forehead, she is going through the world.
Larkin, after breaking off his connection with his 'respectable
associates,' descended from trading in human cattle, to trafficking in
fourfooted beasts, and all manner of horned animals. Joe offered him an
interest in his business; but the negro-trader had too long led a roving
life to be content with the dull routine of regular business. Young
Preston, and Cragin, Mandell & Co., stipulating for a half of his
profits, furnished him a capital of fifty thousand dollars; and with
that he embarked largely in 'cattle driving.' He bought in Texas, and
sold in New Orleans, and did a profitable business until the breaking
out of the rebellion. Since that event he has been an officer in the
confederate army.
Frank remained at my house for a fortnight after his return from the
South, and then, apparently restored, went to Boston. Business had grown
distasteful to him, and he sought a dissolution with Cragin; but the
latter prevailed on him to remain in the firm, and go to Europe. He
continued there until news reached Liverpool of the fall of Fort Sumter.
Then he took the first steamer for home. Arriving in Boston, he at once
effected a dissolution with Cragin, and then came on to New York to make
his 'mother' a short visit prior to entering the army. He expressed the
intention of enlisting as a private, and I tried to dissuade him from
it, by representing how easily he could raise a company in Boston, and
go as an officer. 'No,' he replied; 'I know nothing of tactics. I am
unfit to lead; I can only fire a musket. With one on my shoulder, I will
go and sell my life as dearly as I can.'
On the 18th of May, 1861, he left New York, a private in Duryee's
Zouaves (5th Regiment N. Y. V.), and on the 10th of June following,
while fighting bravely by the side of York, Winthrop, and Greble, at Big
Bethel, fell, badly wounded by a musket ball.
When he was fit to be moved, I had him conveyed home. His recovery was
slow, but, as soon as he was able to go out, and, while still suffering
from his wound, he went on to Boston to render Cragin some assistance in
his business. General Butler's expedition was then fitting out for New
Orleans. Weak as he was, Frank raised a company of Boston boys for it,
and went off as their captain.
He was present at the bombardment and capture of New Orleans; but
growing weary of the inactivity which followed those events, and hearing
of the stirring times in Tennessee, he resolved to resign his
commission, and seek service in the Western army.
After his resignation had been accepted, and on the eve of his departure
for the North, when returning, one night, to his lodgings, he was
accosted by a woman of the street. Her face seemed familiar, and he
asked her name. She answered, 'Rosey Preston.' He went with her to her
home--a miserable room in the third story of a tumbledown shanty in
Chartres street--and there found her child, a bright little fellow of
about six years. With them, on the following day, he sailed for the
North.
Arriving here, he settled on Rosey the income of a small sum, and
procured her apartments in a modest tenement house in East Thirtieth
street. There Rosey now works at her needle, and the little boy attends
a public school.
Within the week of Frank's arrival, and when he was about setting out
for the West, I was surprised one morning, by Ally's appearance in my
office. Newbern had fallen, and he had made his way, with his mother,
into the Union lines, and, after a good deal of difficulty, had secured
a passage on a return transport to New York. I provided employment for
his mother, but Ally insisted on going into the war with Frank. He went
as his servant, but fought at his side at Lawrenceburgh, Dog Walk,
Chaplin Hills, and Frankfort, and in three of those engagements was
wounded. His bones now whiten the plains of Tennessee. Rosey he never
saw, and never forgave.
Frank was with the small body of regulars who, at Murfreesboro, on the
31st of December, checked the advance of Hardee's corps after McCook's
division had been driven from the field, and who saved the day. He was
wounded in the arm, early in the morning, but kept the field, and joined
in that heroic movement wherein fifteen hundred men marched through an
open field, and charged a body of ten thousand posted in a grove of
cedars. Six hundred and forty-six of the brave band were left on the
field. Frank was one of them. A Belgian ball pierced his side, and came
out at his back. He saw and recognized the man who gave him the wound,
and, raising himself on his elbow, fired a last shot. It did its work.
The rebel lies buried where Frank fell.
The telegram which informed me of this event, said: 'He is desperately
wounded, but may survive.' He is now at home, slowly recovering. What he
saw and did while serving in Kentucky and Tennessee, I may at some
future time narrate to the reader.
In relating actual events, a writer cannot in all cases visit artistic
justice on each one of his characters; for, in real life, retribution
does not always appear to follow crime. But, whatever _appearances_ may
be, who is there that does not feel that virtue is ever its own reward,
and vice its own punishment? and what one of my readers would exchange
'a quiet conscience, void of offence toward God and toward man,' for the
princely fortune of John Hallet--who is still the great merchant, the
'exemplary citizen,' the 'honest man'?
LAST WORDS.
Whoever comes before the American people in a time of great _deeds_ like
this, with mere _words_, should have no idle story to tell. He should
have something to say; some fact to relate, or truth to communicate,
which may awaken his countrymen to a true estimate of their interests,
or a true sense of their duties.
The writer of these articles _has_ something to say; some facts to
relate which have not been told; some truths to communicate about
Southern life and society, which the public ought to know. Some of these
facts, gathered during sixteen years of intimate business and social
intercourse with the planters and merchants of the South, he has
endeavored to embody in this volume.
He has woven them into a story, but they are nevertheless facts, and
all, excepting one, occurred under his own observation. That one--the
death of old Jack--was communicated to him as a fact, by his friend, Dr.
W. H. Holcombe, of Waterproof, La., now an officer in the confederate
army.
The author does not mean to say that his story is true as a connected
whole. It is not. In it, persons are brought into intimate relations who
never had any connection in life; events are grouped together which
happened at widely different times; and incidents are described as
occurring in the vicinity of Newbern--the slave auction, for
instance--parts of which occurred in Alabama, parts in Georgia, and
parts in Louisiana. But all of the characters he has described _have_
lived, and all of the events he has related _have_ transpired. He would,
however, not have the reader believe that all he says of himself is
true. Some of it is; some of it is not. The story needed some one to
revolve around; and, as he began by using the personal pronoun, he
continued its use, even in parts--like the scenes with Hallet, wherein
the _I_ stands for entirely another individual.
The real name of the character whom he has called Selma (he can state
this without wounding the feelings of any one, as none of her relatives
are now living), was Selma Winchester. She was educated at Cambridge,
Mass., was a slave, and died of a broken heart shortly after being put
at menial labor in her mother-in-law's kitchen. Her character and
appearance, even the costume she wore on the occasion of her visit to
the opera--a scene which many residents of Boston and vicinity will
remember--are attempted to be described literally. She was not the
daughter of Preston; _her_ father was a very different sort of man. Nor
was she sold at auction. The young woman who was engaged to 'Frank
Mandell,' and bought at the sale by her brother, was equally as
accomplished, though not so beautiful as Selma. She committed suicide,
as herein related. The author has blended the two characters into one,
but in no particular has he departed from the truth.
The gentleman called Preston in the story was for many years one of the
writer's correspondents. He had two wives, such as are described, and
was the father of Joe and Rosey, whose connection was as is related. He
was _not_ the owner of 'Boss Joe.' The original of that character
belonged (and the writer trusts still belongs) to a cotton planter in
Alabama. He managed two hundred hands, and in no respect is he overdrawn
in the story. His sermon is repeated from memory, and is far inferior to
the original. He was a Swedenborgian, and one of the finest natural
orators the writer ever listened to. Old Deborah was his mother, and
died comfortably in her bed. The old woman who fell dead on the auction
block, was the nurse of the young woman who was engaged to Frank. The
excitement of the scene, and her anxiety for her 'young missus,' killed
her.
Larkin's real name is Jacob Larkin. He was at one time connected with
the person called Hallet. He was well known in many parts of the South,
and relinquished Negro trading under circumstances similar to those
related in the story. He is now--though a rebel in arms against his
country--an honest man.
John Hallet, the writer is sorry to say, is also a real character; but
he does not disgrace the good city of Boston. He operates on a wider
field.
* * * * *
That most excellent woman, Mrs. C. M. Kirkland, said to the author,
shortly after the fall of Fort Sumter: 'If you cannot shoulder a musket,
you can blow a bugle.' In this, and in a previous book, he has attempted
to blow that bugle. If the blasts are not as musical as they might be,
he has no apology to make for them. They have, at least, the ring of
_truth;_ and whether they please the public ear, or not, the author is
satisfied; for he knows that each one of his children will say of him,
when he is gone:
'_My_ father did not stand by with folded arms, while this great nation
was threatened with ruin. Against his best friends--against the
convictions of a lifetime--he spoke the TRUTH! He _tried_ to do
something for his country.'
'MAY MORNING'
Oh! the sky is blue, and the sward is green,
And the soft winds wake from the balmy west,--
The leaves unfold in their gilded sheen,
And the bird, in the tree top, builds its nest;
The truant zephyr plumes her wings
Once more, and quitting her perfumed bed,
Soft calls on the sleeping flowers to wake,
And sportive roams o'er each dewclad head.
The bluebells nod within the wood,
The snowdrop peeps from its milky bell,
The motley Thora bends her hood,
Whilst beauteous wild flowers line the dell;
The wildbrier rose its fragrance breathes,
The violet opes her cup of blue,
The timid primrose lifts its leaves,
And kingcups wake, all bathed in dew.
From flower to flower the wild bee roams,
Then buried within the cowslip's cup,
He murmurs his low and music tones,
Till she folds the wanton intruder up;
The spring bird, wakening, soars on high,
Gushing aloft its melting lay;
Whilst painted clouds flit o'er the sky,
All ushering in the dawn of May!
Like a laughing nymph she springs to light,
And tripping along in the world of flowers,
Brushes the dew, in the morning bright,
And weaves a joy for each heart of ours!
With frolic hands, the daisy meek,
From her lap of green she playful throws;
Whilst the loveliest flowers spring round her feet,
And fragrance bursts from the wild wood rose!
Oh! glad is the heart, as through leafing trees
The soft winds roam and in music play;
Whilst the sick come forth for the healing breeze,
And rejoice in the birth of the beauteous May,
And glad is the heart of the joyous child,
As bounding away through the tangled dell,
It roams 'mid the flowers in greenwoods mild,
And hunts the caged bee in the cowslip's bell!
Oh! bright is this world--'tis a world of gems--
And loveliness lingers where'er we tread;
On the mountain top--or in lone wood glens:
A spirit of beauty o'er all is spread!
Then warmed be our hearts to that kindly Power
That scatters bright roses o'er life's rough way;
That unfolds the cup of the snowdrop's flower,
And mantles the earth with the gems of May!
THE NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.
There is perhaps no branch of our service which is more efficient at the
present time than that of the navy. Since the war of 1812, we have been
comparatively inactive, with the exception of some coast service during
the Mexican war, which was scarcely worth mentioning. In the present
civil war, however, our navy has increased in a tenfold
proportion--increased in activity and efficiency--and to-day, with its
superior force of iron-clad steamers, will favorably compare with any
navy on the globe in power, even though it may be inferior in a
numerical point.
Though crippled at first at the commencement of this rebellion by the
traitors among her officers in command--crippled by the loss of vessels
and property destroyed by rebels--her ranks thinned by resignations and
desertions, the navy struggled onward, slowly but surely, gaining
vitality and power, until, under the present administration, it has
'lengthened its cords and strengthened its stakes,' attaining its
present efficiency. Accessions have been made in vessels, new grades of
officers have been appointed, the various bureaus have been enlarged,
and an immense number of volunteer officers have been appointed, mostly
chosen from petty officers and seamen, or from the merchant service, to
command armed transports and the smaller craft used for the shallow
waters of the Atlantic coast. A strong blockade has been effected, a
number of valuable prizes taken, and the navy has rendered invaluable
service by its bombardments of the enemy's towns and fortifications, on
the coast of the United States as well as along the banks of the
Mississippi, Ohio, and Tennessee rivers. In fact, much is due to the
navy for its great efficiency in the present civil war in America.
We will give to the reader some statistics, taken from the September
issue of the Naval Register for 1862, from which an idea can be formed
of the great strength of this branch of our service. As these statistics
are official, they will serve as a valuable source of information to
those who are interested in the welfare of the country. Let us then
review the organization of the United States navy.
The organization of the navy is as follows: The Navy Department, which
consists of the office of the Secretary of the Navy and its various
bureaus, and the officers of the navy, consisting of officers of the
navy, officers of the marine corps, and warrant officers, besides
volunteer and acting volunteer officers, these two last being new
grades. There is no list of petty officers and seamen published in the
Register, these being simply kept on the unpublished rolls, kept in the
office of the Secretary of the Navy.
In the Navy Department proper may be found the following officers: The
Secretary of the Navy; his Assistant; the chiefs of the bureaus of yards
and docks, equipment, and recruiting, navigation, ordnance, construction
and repair, steam engineering, provisions and clothing, and medicine and
surgery. Since the publishing of the last annual Register, one of these
bureaus is a new organization--the bureau of navigation not yet
perfected. It will be seen by referring to this Register that the office
of the Secretary of the Navy and the bureaus attached, require, besides
the chief officers, one engineer, forty-four clerks, five draughtsmen,
and eight messengers.
The officers of the navy proper are divided into the following grades:
Rear admirals, commodores, captains, commanders, lieutenant commanders,
lieutenants, surgeons ranking with commanders, surgeons ranking with
lieutenants, passed assistant surgeons ranking next after lieutenants,
assistant surgeons ranking next after masters, paymasters ranking with
commanders, paymasters ranking with lieutenants, assistant paymasters,
chaplains, professors of mathematics, masters in the line of promotion,
masters not in the line of promotion, passed midshipmen, midshipmen
detached from the naval academy and ordered into active service,
boatswains, gunners, carpenters, sailmakers, navy agents, naval store
keepers, naval constructors, officers of the naval academy, officers on
special service, engineers in chief, first assistants, second
assistants, third assistants, and officers of the marine corps.
The volunteer officers of the navy are acting lieutenants, acting
volunteer lieutenants, acting masters, acting ensigns, acting master's
mates, acting assistant surgeons, acting assistant paymasters and
clerks, and acting first, second, and third engineers.
The petty officers of the navy are comprised as follows: Yeomen,
armorers, boatswains, gunners, carpenters, sailmakers, and armorer's
mates, master-at-arms, ship's corporals, coxswains, quarter masters,
quarter gunners, captains of forecastle, tops, afterguard, and hold,
coopers, painters, stewards, ship's officers, surgeons, assistant
surgeons and paymasters, stewards, nurses, cooks, masters of the band,
musicians, first and second class, seamen, ordinary seamen, landsmen,
boys, first and second class firemen, and coal heavers.
The ranking of officers of the navy compared to the grades of the army
may thus be enumerated: An admiral of the navy ranks with a major
general in the army, a commodore as a brigadier general, a captain as a
colonel, a commander as a lieutenant colonel, a lieutenant commander as
a major, a lieutenant as a captain, a master as a first lieutenant, and
an ensign (the new grade) as second lieutenant. The senior rear admiral
of the navy, Charles Stewart of Pennsylvania, now on the retired list,
ranks as a major general commanding in chief, and is the highest
official in the navy except the Secretary.
The pay of the navy is quite an item in the list of Government
expenditures. A few statistics relative to the expenditures will not
prove uninteresting to the reader. The pay of seven admirals in the
active list, commanding squadrons, and of fourteen rear admirals in the
retired list, is $87,000; of twenty-six commanders and six on the
retired list, is $117,860; of seventy captains on the active list,
$239,300; thirty-two on the retired list, $85,400; one hundred and
seventy commanders on active list, $554,380, and nine on the reserved
list, $18,800; two hundred and forty-four lieutenant commanders, active
list, $672,000; one hundred and eighty surgeons of various grades,
$708,000; ten passed assistant surgeons, $8,700; two hundred and
eighteen assistant surgeons, $422,900; eighty-one paymasters, $81,000;
sixty assistant paymasters, $67,850; twenty-three chaplains, $34,500;
twelve professors of mathematics, $21,600; seventeen masters, $18,320;
three passed midshipmen, and one midshipman (old list), $4,308; four
hundred and eighteen midshipmen, graduates of the naval academy,
$259,600; fifty-four gunners, $67,500; forty-two acting gunners,
$33,600; sixty carpenters, $60,000; forty-six sailmakers, $43,650; eight
navy agents, $25,000; twelve naval store keepers, $18,000; nine naval
constructors, $16,200; engineers and assistants, $756,700; officers of
the naval academy, $759,000; officers of the marine corps, $536,000;
acting volunteer officers of the navy of all grades, $2,975,300, and
petty officers and seamen, $2,560,000; making a total of $10,863,118,
for pay alone.
Let us add to this, other expenses to swell out the list. For clerk hire
alone it is said that $600,000 is annually paid out; for navy yards and
depots, $12,583,280 64; for the different bureaus, $8,325,161; and for
contingent expenses, $2,600,000. Add to this the pay of the hospitals,
$1,200,000; for magazines, $200,000; repair and equipment, $11,400,000;
chartering and purchasing of vessels for naval purposes, $10,800,000;
thus making a total of $47,708,441 64, which, added to the pay of the
navy, makes the annual expenditure $58,571,559 64.
Let us now turn our attention to the vessels of the United States navy.
In this department has the navy greatly increased within a few years. To
give the reader an idea of our navy, we append the following statistical
account of the vessels, giving their class, tonnage, number of guns,
name, and station, which cannot but be of great interest to all who are
interested in the affairs of the nation. We will give them in the
following table:
SHIPS OF THE LINE--6.
Alabama 84 guns, 2,663 tons.
New Orleans 84 " 2,805 "
North Carolina 84 " 2,633 "
Ohio 84 " 2,757 "
Vermont 84 " 2,633 "
Virginia 84 " 2,633 "
Of these, the Alabama is on the stocks at Kittery, Maine, the New
Orleans on the stocks at Sackett's Harbor, and the Virginia on the
stocks at Boston. The Vermont is store ship at Port Royal, South
Carolina, while the North Carolina and Ohio are receiving ships at
Boston and New York. The Pennsylvania, 120-gun ship, was destroyed by
the rebels at Gosport, Virginia, last year. This class of vessels are
the most ineffective we have in the service, the Ohio being the only one
which has done good service.
SAILING FRIGATES--6.
Brandywine 50 guns, 1,726 tons.
Potomac 50 " 1,726 "
Sabine 50 " 1,726 "
Santee 50 " 1,726 "
St. Lawrence 50 " 1,726 "
Independence[2] 50 " 2,257 "
The Brandywine, Independence, and Potomac are used as receiving and
store ships. The Sabine is at New London recruiting, the Santee is in
ordinary at Boston, and the St. Lawrence is attached to the East Gulf
Squadron.
SAILING SLOOPS--21.
Constitution 50 guns, 1,607 tons.
Constellation 22 " 1,452 "
Cyane 18 " 792 "
Dale[3] 15 " 566 "
Decatur 10 " 566 "
Falmouth 2 " 703 "
Fredonia 2 " 800 "
Granite 1 " --- "
Jamestown 22 " 985 "
John Adams 18 " 700 "
Macedonian 22 " 1,341 "
Marion 15 " 566 "
Portsmouth 17 " 1,022 "
Preble 10 " 566 "
Saratoga 18 " 882 "
Savannah 24 " 1,726 "
St. Marys 22 " 958 "
St. Louis 18 " 700 "
Vandalia 20 " 783 "
Vincennes 18 " 700 "
Warren 2 " 691 "
BRIGS--4.
Bainbridge 6 guns, 259 tons.
Bohio 2 " 196 "
Perry 9 " 280 "
Sea Foam 3 " 264 "
Of the sailing sloops and brigs the following are in active service:
Saratoga, coast of Africa; Mediterranean Squadron, the Constellation;
the West Gulf Squadron, Portsmouth, Preble, and Vincennes; Pacific
Squadron, Cyane, and St. Marys; St. Louis on special service; the Dale
and Vandalia in the South Atlantic Squadron; the Constitution,
Macedonian, Marion, and Savannah, as school and practice ships; the
Falmouth, Warren, and Fredonia as store ships, and the sloop of war,
Decatur, in ordinary. In the West Gulf Squadron are the brigs Bohio and
Sea Foam; in the East Gulf Squadron is the brig Perry, while the
Bainbridge is at Aspinwall.
TRANSPORT SHIPS--14.
Charles Phelps 1 gun, 362 tons.
Courier 3 " 554 "
Fearnot 6 " 1,012 "
Ino 9 " 895 "
Kittatinny 4 " 421 "
Morning Light 8 " 937 "
Nightingale 1 " 1,000 "
National Guard 4 " 1,046 "
Onward 8 " 874 "
Pampero 4 " 1,375 "
Roman 1 " 350 "
Supply 4 " 547 "
Shepard Knapp 8 " 838 "
William Badger 1 " 334 "
The ships are divided as follows: The Supply and William Badger are in
the North Atlantic Squadron; the Ino, the Onward, and Shepard Knapp in
the South Atlantic Squadron; the Fearnot, the Kittatinny, and Morning
Light in the West Gulf Squadron; the Courier is used as a store ship at
Port Royal, the Charles Phelps as a coal ship, and the Roman as ordnance
vessel at Hampden Roads, Virginia.
TRANSPORT BARKS--16.
Amanda 6 guns, 368 tons.
Arthur 6 " 554 "
A. Houghton 2 " 326 "
Braziliera 6 " 540 "
Ethan Allen 7 " 556 "
Fernandina 6 " 297 "
J. C. Kuhn 5 " 888 "
Jas. L. Davis 4 " 461 "
Jas. S. Chambers 5 " 401 "
Kingfisher 5 " 450 "
Midnight 5 " 386 "
Pursuit 6 " 603 "
Release 2 " 327 "
Roebuck 4 " 455 "
Restless 4 " 265 "
Wm. G. Anderson 7 " 593 "
In the East Gulf Squadron are the barks Amanda, Ethan Allen, Jas. L.
Davis, Jas. S. Chambers, Kingfisher, and Pursuit. In the West Gulf
Squadron, the Arthur Houghton, J. C. Kuhn, Midnight, and W. G. Anderson.
In the South Atlantic Squadron the Braziliera, Fernandina, Roebuck, and
Restless, while the Release is a store ship in the Mediterranean. To
these may be added one barkantine, the Horace Beals, of 3 guns and 296
tons, employed in the Western Gulf Squadron.
SCHOONERS--8.
Beauregard 1 gun, 101 tons.
Chotank 1 " 53 "
Dart 1 " 94 "
G. W. Blunt 1 " 121 "
Hope 1 " 134 "
Sam Rotan 2 " 212 "
Sam Houston 1 " 66 "
Wanderer 4 " 300 "
In the Potomac Flotilla is the schooner Chotank. The G. W. Blunt and the
Hope are in the South Atlantic Squadron; the Dart and Sam Houston in the
West Gulf Squadron, while the Sam Rotan, Wanderer, and Beauregard (the
last named captured from the rebels) are in the East Gulf Squadron.
YACHTS--2
America: South Atlantic Squadron.
Corypheus: West Gulf Squadron.
These vessels are used chiefly as tenders and despatch vessels.
MORTAR SCHOONERS--18.
Arletta 3 guns, 199 tons.
Adolf Hugel 3 " 269 "
C. P. Williams 3 " 210 "
Dan Smith 3 " 149 "
Geo. Mangham 3 " 274 "
Henry Janes 3 " 261 "
John Griffith 3 " 246 "
M. Vassar 3 " 182 "
Maria A. Wood 2 " 344 "
Norfolk Packet 3 " 349 "
Orvetta 3 " 171 "
Para 3 " 190 "
Racer 3 " 252 "
Rachel Seman 2 " 303 "
Sophronia 3 " 217 "
Sarah Bruen 3 " 233 "
T. A. Ward 3 " 284 "
Wm. Bacon 3 " 183 "
Of these eighteen mortar schooners, five are at Baltimore, two in the
North Atlantic Squadron, five in the West Gulf Squadron, one in the East
Gulf Squadron, four in the Potomac Flotilla, and one in the James River
Flotilla.
We have thus given the statistics of the sailing vessels of the navy. We
now give a table of the steam vessels of all descriptions in our navy,
which are the most valuable auxiliaries we have. It is probably the
most effective steam navy in the world, and in its department of huge
iron-clads cannot be excelled even by the navies of the old world. The
steam vessels of our navy may thus be enumerated:
STEAM FRIGATES--9.
Colorado 48 guns, 3,435 tons.
Niagara 34 " 4,582 "
Powhatan 11 " 2,415 "
Minnesota 48 " 3,307 "
Mississippi[4] 12 " 1,692 "
Princeton 8 " 900 "
San Jacinto 12 " 1,446 "
Saranac 9 " 1,446 "
Susquehanna 17 " 2,450 "
The Niagara, one of the finest screw frigates in the navy, and which,
with the Colorado, is now repairing, is noted for being connected with
the Atlantic cable expedition, as well as for conveying the Japanese
embassy home. She is the pet of the navy, and great credit is due the
late George Steers for such a splendid specimen of naval architecture.
The Powhattan, Minnesota, and Mississippi are attached to the South
Atlantic Squadron; the San Jacinto to the East Gulf Squadron; the
Susquehanna to the West Gulf Squadron, and the Saranac to the Pacific
Squadron. The old Princeton is the receiving ship at Philadelphia. Of
these steam frigates, six are screw, and three sidewheel.
STEAM SLOOPS--10.
Brooklyn 24 guns, 2,070 tons.
Canandaigua 9 " 1,395 "
Dacotah 6 " 997 "
Hartford 25 " 1,990 "
Housatonic 9 " 1,240 "
Lancaster 22 " 2,362 "
Oneida 9 " 1,032 "
Pensacola 22 " 2,158 "
Richmond 26 " 1,929 "
Wachusett 9 " 1,032 "
The Brooklyn, Hartford, Housatonic, Pensacola, Richmond, and Oneida are
in the West Gulf Squadron; the Canandaigua in the South Atlantic
Squadron; the Lancaster in the Pacific, and the Dacotah and the
Wachusett in the West India Squadron.
STEAM GUNBOATS--40.
Conemaugh 8 guns, 955 tons.
Crusader 6 " 545 "
Cambridge 5 " 858 "
Chippewa 4 " 507 "
Cayuga 6 " 507 "
Chocura 4 " 507 "
Huron 4 " 507 "
Itasca 4 " 507 "
Kanawha 4 " 507 "
Kennebec 4 " 507 "
Kineo 4 " 507 "
Katahdin 4 " 507 "
Mohawk 7 " 459 "
Mohican 6 " 994 "
Mystic 4 " 451 "
Marblehead 4 " 507 "
Monticello 7 " 665 "
Miami 7 " 630 "
Naragansett 5 " 809 "
Ottawa 4 " 507 "
Owasco 4 " 507 "
Octorora 6 " 829 "
Pawnee 9 " 1,289 "
Pocahontas 5 " 694 "
Pembina 4 " 507 "
Penobscot 4 " 507 "
Panola 4 " 507 "
Penguin 6 " 389 "
Pontiac 8 " 974 "
Seminole 5 " 801 "
Sciota 4 " 507 "
Seneca 4 " 507 "
Sagamore 4 " 507 "
Sebago 6 " 832 "
Tahoma 4 " 507 "
Unadilla 4 " 507 "
Wyandotte 4 " 458 "
Wyoming 6 " 997 "
Wissahickon 4 " 507 "
Winona 4 " 507 "
Of these gunboats, some of them rated as steam sloops of the third
class, twelve are in the South Atlantic Squadron; five in the North
Atlantic Squadron; ten in the West Gulf Squadron; three in the East Gulf
Squadron; two in the Potomac Flotilla; one in the East Indies; one in
the Pacific; one at Philadelphia; and five under repairs at the
different navy yards.
AUXILIARY STEAM GUNBOATS--47.
Anacostia 2 guns, 217 tons.
Aroostook 4 " 507 "
Albatross 4 " 378 "
Currituck 5 guns, 193 tons.
Perry 4 " 513 "
Barney 4 " 513 "
Clifton 6 " 892 "
Ellen 4 " 341 "
E. B. Hale 4 " 192 "
Fort Henry 6 " 519 "
Genesee 4 " 803 "
Huntsville 4 " 817 "
Hunchback 4 " 517 "
Harriet Lane[5] 4 " 619 "
John Hancock 3 " 382 "
Jacob Bell 3 " 229 "
Louisiana 4 " 295 "
Mercidita 7 " 776 "
Montgomery 5 " 787 "
Mt. Vernon 3 " 625 "
Maratanza 6 " 786 "
Memphis 4 " 791 "
Norwich 5 " 431 "
New London 5 " 221 "
Potomska 5 " 287 "
Patroon 5 " 183 "
Paul Jones 6 " 863 "
Port Royal 8 " 805 "
Saginaw 3 " 453 "
Sumter 4 " 460 "
Stars and Stripes 5 " 407 "
Somerset 6 " 521 "
Sachem 5 " 197 "
Southfield 4 " 751 "
Tioga 6 " 819 "
Uncas 3 " 192 "
Underwriter 4 " 331 "
Valley City 5 " 190 "
Victoria 3 " 254 "
Water Witch 3 " 378 "
Wasmutta 5 " 270 "
Western World 5 " 441 "
Wyandank 2 " 399 "
Westfield 6 " 891 "
Yankee 3 " 328 "
Young Rover 5 " 418 "
Yantic 4 " 593 "
Six of these auxiliary steam gunboats are in the Potomac Flotilla; eight
in the West Gulf Squadron; thirteen in the North Atlantic Squadron; nine
in the South Atlantic Squadron; four in the Eastern Gulf Squadron; one
in the West India Fleet; one at San Francisco, and five in ordinary.
TRANSPORT STEAMERS ALTERED INTO WAR VESSELS--58
Alabama 8 guns, 1,261 tons.
Alleghany 6 " 989 "
Augusta 8 " 1,310 "
Bienville 10 " 1,558 "
Florida 10 " 1,261 "
Flag 9 " 963 "
Hatteras 3 " 1,100 "
Jas. Adger 9 " 1,151 "
Keystone State 9 " 1,364 "
Kensington 3 " 1,052 "
Massachusetts 5 " 1,155 "
Quaker City 9 " 1,600 "
Rhode Island 7 " 1,517 "
R. R. Cuyler 8 " 1,202 "
South Carolina 6 " 1,165 "
Santiago de Cuba 10 " 1,667 "
State of Georgia 9 " 1,204 "
Tennessee 1 " 1,275 "
Cimmerone 10 " 860 "
Connecticut 5 " 1,800 "
Dawn 3 " 391 "
Daylight 4 " 682 "
Delaware 3 " 357 "
Dragon 1 " 118 "
Flambeau 2 " 900 "
Issac Smith 9 " 453 "
Mahaska 6 " 832 "
Morse 2 " 513 "
Planter 2 " 300 "
Satellite 2 " 217 "
Shasheen 2 " 180 "
Sonoma 6 " 955 "
Thos. Freeborn 2 " 269 "
A. C. Powell 1 " 65 "
Alfred Robb 4 " 75 "
Ceres 1 " 144 "
C[oe]ur de Leon 2 " 60 "
Cohasset 2 " 100 "
Ella 2 " 230 "
Eastport 8 " 700 "
Henry Brinker 1 " 108 "
Hetzel 2 " --- "
John P. Jackson 6 " 777 "
John L. Lockwood 2 " 182 "
Leslie 2 " 100 "
Mercury 2 " 187 "
Madgie 2 " 218 "
O. M. Petit 2 " 165 "
Pulaski 1 " 395 "
Resolute 1 " 90 "
Reliance 1 " 90 "
Rescue 1 " 111 "
Stepping Stones 1 " 226 "
Teaser 2 " 90 "
Vixen 2 " --- "
Whitehead 1 " 136 "
Young America 1 " 171 "
Zouave 1 " 127 "
Most of these auxiliary altered steamers have been purchased and
refitted for naval service. A number of our ocean mail steamers have
been purchased by the Department, such as the Augusta, Florida, Alabama,
Quaker City, Keystone State, and State of Georgia; while others have
been taken from our rivers flowing into the Atlantic, on which this last
class of vessels were formerly plying. In the South Atlantic Squadron
are fifteen of this class of transport steamers; fifteen in the North
Atlantic; four in the Western Gulf; one in the East Gulf; one in the
Brazil, and three in the West India Squadrons. There are also twelve in
the Potomac Flotilla; one in the Western Flotilla; two supply steamers;
and three in ordinary; with one receiving ship. In the Potomac Flotilla
is the captured rebel gunboat Teaser. The De Soto may also be added to
this class, carrying 9 guns of 1,600 tons, and at present attached to
the Western Gulf Squadron.
We now call the attention of the reader to that most formidable class of
vessels in our navy,
IRON-CLAD STEAMERS--15.
The iron-clads of our navy are divided into two classes--the river and
ocean steamers, as also steam rams. We will first notice the ocean
class:
Galena 6 guns, 738 tons.
Monitor[6] 3 " 776 "
New Ironsides 18 " 3,486 "
Roanoke 6 " 3,435 "
The Galena and Monitor have been well tested in the present war, but the
Galena at present is considered a failure. The New Ironsides, now on
special service, is said to be one of the most formidable iron-clad
vessels in the world. Of the iron-clad river steamers, we enumerate the
following:
Benton 16 guns, 1,000 tons.
Baron de Kalb 13 " 512 "
Cairo 13 " 512 "
Cincinnati 13 " 512 "
Carondelet 13 " 512 "
Essex 7 " 1,000 "
Louisville 13 " 468 "
Lexington 7 " 500 "
Mound City 13 " 512 "
Pittsburgh 13 " 512 "
Tyler 9 " 600 "
The Galena is in the North Atlantic Squadron; the New Ironsides in
special service; the Roanoke repairing in New York; and the river
iron-clads are attached to the Western Flotilla.
IRON-CLAD RAMS--12.
General Bragg 2 guns, 700 tons.
Gen. Sterling Price - " 400 "
General Pillow 2 " 500 "
Great Western. - " 800 "
Kosciusko - " --- "
Lafayette - " 1,000 "
Little Rebel 3 " 400 "
Lioness - " --- "
Monarch - " --- "
Queen of the West[7] - " --- "
Switzerland - " --- "
Simpson - " --- "
Six of these rams, though finished, have not received their armament.
They are all attached to the Western River Flotilla. Five of these were
captured from the rebels, and one was purchased.
OTHER VESSELS NOT CLASSED--22.
Iroquois 9 guns, 1,016 tons.
Kearsage 7 " 1,031 "
Tuscarora 10 " 997 "
Wabash 48 " 3,274 "
Clara Dolsen -- " 1,000 "
Choctaw -- " 1,000 "
Conestoga -- " --- "
Darlington -- " --- "
Ellis 2 " --- "
Eugenie -- " --- "
Gem of the Sea 4 " 371 "
Gemsbok 7 " 622 "
Judge Torrence -- " 600 "
King Philip -- " --- "
Michigan 1 " 582 "
Mount Washington-- " --- "
Magnolia 3 " --- "
Oliver H. Lee 3 " 199 "
Philadelphia -- " --- "
Relief 2 " 468 "
Stetten -- " --- "
Ben Morgan -- " 407 "
Among these vessels unclassed, are one steam frigate, three steam
sloops, eight ocean and four river steamers, three barks, one schooner,
and one mortar schooner.
UNFINISHED VESSELS OF THE NAVY
STEAM FRIGATE--1.
Franklin 50 guns 3,684 tons.
STEAM SLOOPS--7.
Lackawanna 9 guns, 1,533 tons.
Ticonderoga 9 " 1,533 "
Shenandoah 9 " 1,378 "
Monongahela 9 " 1,378 "
Sacramento 9 " 1,367 "
Juniata 9 " 1,240 "
Ossipee 9 " 1,240 "
STEAM GUNBOATS--28.
Puritan (iron-clad). 4 guns, 3,265 tons.
Tonawanda 4 " 1,564 "
Tecumseh 2 " 1,034 "
Onondaga 4 " 1,250 "
Ascutney 8 " 974 "
Agawam 8 " 974 "
Chenango 8 " 974 "
Chicopee 8 " 974 "
Eutaw 8 " 974 "
Iosco 8 " 974 "
Mattabeeset 8 " 974 "
Mingoe 8 " 974 "
Mackinaw 8 " 974 "
Metacomet 8 " 974 "
Otsego 8 " 974 "
Pontoosac 8 " 974 "
Sassacus 8 " 974 "
Shamrock 8 " 974 "
Taconey 8 " 974 "
Tallapoosa 8 " 974 "
Wateree 8 " 974 "
Wyalusing 8 " 974 "
Lenape 8 " 974 "
Maumee 4 " 593 "
Com. Morris 1 " 532 "
Com. McDonough 6 " 532 "
Calhoun 4 " 508 "
Com. Hull 3 " 376 "
IRON CLAD OCEAN GUNBOATS--22.
Dunderburg 10 guns, 5,019 tons.
Dictator 2 " 3,033 "
Monadnock 4 " 1,564 "
Miantonimah 4 " 1,564 "
Agamenticus 4 " 1,564 "
Canonicus 2 " 1,034 "
Manhattan 3 " 1,034 "
Mahopac 2 " 1,034 "
Manayunk 2 " 1,034 "
Catskill 2 " 844 "
Camanche 2 " 844 "
Lehigh 2 " 844 "
Montauk 2 " 844 "
Nantucket 2 " 844 "
Nahant 2 " 844 "
Patapsco 2 " 844 "
Passaic 2 " 844 "
Sangamon 2 " 844 "
Weehawken 2 " 844 "
Moodna 2 " 677 "
Marietta 2 " 479 "
Sandusky 2 " 479 "
IRON CLAD RIVER GUNBOATS--12
Catawba 2 guns, 1,034 tons.
Tippecanoe 2 " 1,034 "
Chickasaw 4 " 970 "
Kickapoo 4 " 970 "
Milwaukee 4 " 970 "
Winnebago 4 " 970 "
Tuscumbia 3 " 565 "
Ozark 2 " 578 "
Osage 2 " 523 "
Neosho 2 " 523 "
Indianola[8] 2 " 442 "
Chillicothe 2 " 303 "
The most formidable class of these unfinished vessels are the iron-clad
gunboats. Of these are four of immense size, viz., the Puritan,
Tonawanda, Tecumseh, and Onondaga. The mammoth iron-clad of all is the
enormous Dunderburg, carrying 10 guns of from fifteen to twenty inches
in calibre, and having a tonnage of 5,019 tons. The Dictator is another
immense iron-clad. Of the river Gunboat Fleet, the Catawba and
Tippecanoe stand as first class, carrying heavy nine and eleven inch
Dahlgren guns.
The building of these ocean iron-clads is at the following places: Nine
of them are building at New York; three at Brooklyn; one at Portsmouth;
two at Jersey City; four at Boston; two at Chester; two at Pittsburgh;
one at Brownsville, Pennsylvania; and one at Wilmington, Delaware. The
river iron-clads are built at the following places: Five at Cincinnati;
six at St. Louis; and one at Mound City, Illinois. Of the first-class
steam gunboats, eleven are building at New York; four at Boston; two at
Portland, Maine; two at Portsmouth, New Hampshire; one at Bordentown,
New Jersey; one at Brooklyn; two at Philadelphia; one at Chester; and
two at Baltimore, Maryland.
The other vessels building in the yards are as follows: the steam
frigate Franklin, at Portsmouth, New Hampshire; the steam sloops
Juniata, Monongahela, and Shenandoah, at Philadelphia; the Lackawanna
and Ticonderoga, at New York; and the Ossipee and Sacramento, at
Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
There are a large number of contracts out for new gunboats and steamers,
which, when completed, will make us the most formidable navy in the
world. In conclusion, we will give to the reader the following table,
classifying the vessels now in our navy, and giving statistics of their
tonnage and the number of guns which they carry:
RECAPITULATION.
Vessels. Guns. Tons.
Ships of the line 6 504 16,124
Sailing frigates 7 348 14,161
Sailing sloops 24 372 21,151
Brigs 4 20 999
Transportation ships 16 64 11,420
Transportation barks 16 91 8,468
Schooners 8 12 1,081
Yachts 2 -- -----
Mortar schooners 18 52 4,316
Steam frigates 9 199 21,673
Steam sloops 10 161 16,205
Steam gunboats 40 200 24,783
Auxiliary steam gunboats 47 209 23,875
Transport steamers altered
to war vessels 58 240 36,170
Iron-clad ocean steamers 4 32 8,435
Iron-clad river steamers 11 130 6,640
Iron-clad rams 12 7 3,800
Other vessels not classed 14 9 3,788
Unfinished Vessels of the Navy.
Frigates 1 50 3,684
Steam sloops 7 68 9,669
Steam gunboats 28 184 35,160
Iron-clad ocean gunboats 22 58 26,955
Iron-clad river gunboats 12 33 8,682
The total number of vessels of all classes in the navy, is 376, having a
tonnage of 307,234 tons, and carrying 3,038 guns of heavy calibre.
With these statistics, compiled from 'official' sources, we conclude
this article, and in our next shall take up the subject of naval gunnery
in the United States.
THREE MODERN ROMANCES.
'GUY LIVINGSTONE,' 'SWORD AND GOWN,' AND 'BARREN HONOR.'
This terrible power of fictitious invention, wherewith God has endowed
man, and which now-a-days we take readily enough, without comment, is
yet the growth of comparatively modern times, the development within a
few centuries of a new faculty. The Greek never solaced his leisure with
the latest tale of a gifted Charicles or Aristarchus, and the grave
Roman would have been as much startled by a 'new novel' as by the
apparition of a steam engine. The famous Minerva press was the first
mighty wellspring whence gushed the broad and rapid torrent of cheap
fiction. This perennial fountain has long ceased to flow, yet has its
disappearance left no unsatisfied void. The procreation of human kind
has failed to support the elaborate theory of Malthus, but had the sage
philosopher transferred his calculations from the sons of men to works
of fiction, then indeed he might stand forth the prophet of a striking
truth. The extensive plain over which this flood is spread seems even to
be extending its limits, and a spongy soil of unlimited capacity is
ready ever to absorb the fresh advance of waves. It is indeed striking
to observe how authors and men of talent have increased, so vastly out
of all proportion with other classes of men. Observing it, the political
economist may well shout 'Io triumphe!' for that even in so delicate and
intangible a matter as intellectual gifts, the famous doctrine of supply
and demand is so thoroughly carried out. We raise, however, no hue and
cry after 'poor trash.' Neither have we the blood-thirsty wish to run to
ground the panting scribbler, or to adorn ourselves with the glories of
his 'brush.' Let those who countenance him by reading his works, and who
can reconcile the purchase thereof with their consciences, answer to
their fellow men for the inevitable consequences. But it must be
confessed that there is in this department a sad want. All readers of
moderate discrimination must have felt it painfully. In the literature
of fiction we need organization. How do we know a good tea from a bad?
Is it by the universal consent of the good people of China--by a
democratic 'censeatur' of the celestial nation? Not at all. Every
variety is tasted by men who rinse their mouths after each swallow, and
the comparative merits are gauged and graduated by adepts, who make it
the sole business and profession of their lives. A similar process we
need in fiction. The old system of criticism in reviews and magazines
worked well in its day, but it won't do now. The era of the
old-fashioned novel critic has gone by. He knows it, and his voice is
seldom heard. Even a numerous body, working promiscuously and without
conjunction, could not accomplish much. The only manner in which the
requisite result could be brought about would be by a regularly
organized set of men, working under direction and regulated by
authority, like the body of tax assessors or national judiciaries. Such
a corps should be trained to their work as to a profession like that of
law or medicine, having brotherhoods in every publishing town or city,
working together and subordinately, like the order of the Jesuits. They
should test every work before it was given to the public, and brand it
with precisely its mark of real merit. And thus might be accomplished a
most inestimable public service. In France such a system might be
practicable, and not hostile to the spirit and institutions of a nation
accustomed to have everything, even to the play programmes of the
theatre, regulated by the powers that be. But in America, home of
democracy and fatherland of individual independence, such a scheme, so
invaluable though so impossible, must, we fear, ever remain a
tantalizing vision. As it is, of course many a man of real ability is
drowned in the rushing waves of multitudinous authors, and his works
pass undistinguished to that unknown grave which gapes so mysteriously
in some hidden recess of the universe, and silently swallows yearly the
vast masses of printed paper which has done its brief work and been
thrown by read or unread, forgotten. It is to assist in the rescue of a
struggling author from this yawning abyss that the present article is
sent forth, a plank in the shipwreck.
Who may be the object of our present criticism, we must confess we know
not. Whether it be a brother man, or whether our words of praise may win
us the kind regards of a 'gentle ladye,' we can only conjecture. Our
process must be _in rem_, not _in personam_. 'It'--for thus perforce we
must speak of our Unknown--weareth an iron mask of inscrutable mystery,
as complete as that of the all-baffling Junius. The field, however, of
speculation is open to our wandering reflection. Herein we guide
ourselves by natural signs, the configurations of the stars and the
marks of the soil. We judge from the mould in which the favorite male
characters are cast, and from the traits invariably bestowed upon the
heroines, also by the general choice of scenery, by the groupings, the
'properties.' Upon such authority of intrinsic evidence we have no
hesitation in pronouncing the writer to be a man. Certain novel-writing
ladies indeed are given to depicting most royal heroes, types of the
ideal man, glorified beings endowed with every charm of physique and of
spirit. Such find an irresistible fascination in allowing their fancy to
run wild riot and poetic revel in contemplation of a wonderful male
creature, so graceful, so beautiful, so strong, so brave, so masterly,
so bad or so good as the case may be--a spirit of chivalry incarnate in
the perfection of the flesh. They cannot build a shrine too lofty, nor
burn too generous store of incense before this exalted one. The man, as
he reads, smiles. Such a brother has never been born to him of
woman--never since the days of Adam in paradise, neither ever shall be.
The fair votaress standeth without the vail of the temple, nor have its
mystic recesses ever disclosed to her scrutinizing vision actual 'Man.'
Let us not however harshly dispel such illusions, neither drench with
the cold flood of unnecessary ingenuousness the glowing embers of myrrh
and frankincense. Occasionally, perchance, some sinful human, conscious
within himself of no demerits beyond his fellows, may repine at passing
comparison with this shadowy conception. But as a general rule, it is
wise enough to tolerate such pleasant vagaries of worshipping woman. Of
this fair description are the proud statues which look out upon us in
Apollo-like majesty from the galleries in 'Guy Livingstone,' 'Sword and
Gown,' 'Barren Honors.' Guy, Royston Keene, and Alan Wyverne, are such
fanciful delineations, such marvels of bodily glory and chivalrous
spirit. They might be drawn by a woman. The accompaniments are in
admirable keeping; and the whole scenery is gotten up to match, and most
unexceptionally. Our characters are dissipated upon a scale suited to
the heroic age and the primeval constitution of the race. They gamble
quite _en prince_, and carouse most royally. They have a capacity for
terrible potations, should mischance or crossed affections so incline
them; yet they can seldom plead the latter excuse, for we are given to
understand that woman-kind are born to be their helpless slaves and
victims. They are perpetually doing deeds of terrible '_derring-do_;'
upon the backs of unmanageable steeds they leap limitless chasms and the
tallest of walls; they gallop to death in battle and dispel _ennui_ in
midnight conflicts with desperate poachers. Such scenes are quite within
the scope of some feminine imaginations, but scarcely such a power of
description as that wherewith we have them here set forth. Women thrill
sometimes at fierce tales of stalwart knock-down struggles, many of them
will back fearlessly the most mettlesome of thoroughbreds; but when it
comes to talk thereof, they strive in vain for adequate power of
language. The best words and the strongest sentences will not come.
These demand the clarion roundness and ring essentially masculine--very
_virile_ indeed. The muscular gripe of a man--not the white, tapering
fingers of any maiden--held the pen which wrote so gloriously of
Livingstone's terrible riding, of Royston Keene's bloody sabre charges.
We know it by unerring instinct, as we could tell a morsel of the smooth
cheek of the damsel from the grizzled jowl of man.
But as usual, the crowning glory of most anxious labor is to be sought
in the female characters. These are nearly all of the majestic, haughty,
and queen-like caste--tall, imperious beauties, empresses of society, to
whom men are slaves, and life a triumphal march of unbroken conquests.
So it is at least until they meet some one terrible subduer of woman--a
Guy or a Keene--in whom they recognize masterhood, and the right and
power to reign. With the last stateliness of royalty these magnificent
presences glide through the proud pomp and pageantry of their
surroundings, graceful as swans, faultless in classic form, and face as
white as Grecian marbles, domineering as sisters of Cæsars, violet eyed,
statuesque, cold upon the chiselled surface, but aglow with the white
heat of feeling and forceful passion beneath. How blue are their clear
veins interlacing beneath a crystalline skin!--for their blood is a more
sublimed fluid than that which waters the clay of ordinary humanity.
They have with them an unutterable glory of conscious power, the
magnificence of a perfect, God-given nature, such a haughty spirit of
rivalless dominion as might have swelled the soul of a Jewish queen,
monarch of Israel, ruler of God's chosen people in the day of their
unbroken pride, when she felt that none greater than herself dwelt upon
the globe. But with inevitable tread approaches the universal moral
which points the tale. The measured step of the godlike hero echoeth
along the corridors. The royal maiden, hearing the ominous tramp, is
cognizant of an unwonted thrill and a sensation unfelt before. Her
prophetic instinct telleth her too truly that her wild independence is
concluded, that the day of bondage and of fetters has dawned, that the
inexorable One, who alone in all the millions of created men is able, is
even now present with, the gyves of her slavery in his hand. But the
denouement is never at the bridal altar. Our host entertaineth us with
no loves of Strephon and Phillis, nor leads beneath shady arcades to a
vine-clad cottage, wherein is love and rich cream and homemade butter.
The three sisters, the dread Moiræ, in their darksome cavern, spinning
the golden thread of destiny, reel from their distaff no bright soft
film of wedded happiness. The polished metal, many times refined, would
never show half its qualities were it not subject to unwonted tests. We
suffer according to our powers of endurance, and are tried according to
our gifts. Else why are the powers and the gifts given to us by a
Providence which never wasteth, nor doeth in freakish negligence. The
yoke of love is not weighty enough to bow sufficiently the curving neck.
With a love which cannot be satisfied comes the mighty temptation to sin
and disgrace. Even into this black chasm our beauties look with steady
eye, and meditate the step. It is a part of their self-sustaining nature
and towering spirit to wreak their own will. Once let them give their
love to man, and it is the passion of their lives. Of gossip and the
wagging tongue of scandal, and of that vague, shadowy phantom,
reputation, they reck not. These unsubstantial fleeting barriers are
dissipated in an instant before the mighty breath of their omnipotent
passion. Their love is the great fact of their lives. Why should it
yield to less powerful sentiments, to inferior satisfactions. If the
laws and sentiments of the commonalty of mankind oppose, why gain the
lesser, palling pleasure of a fair character among our fellows whom we
care not for, and lose the one joy of existence? Such, in all three of
these novels, to a greater or less extent, is the theory of action of
the female characters.
They are however rescued from the last degree of actual crime in each
case by the good taste of the author, feeling that such chapters had
better not be written voluntarily in fiction, or perchance by his love
for his proud maidens, whom he cannot taint with degradation in act,
even if the sin upon their souls be wellnigh as black in the eyes of a
strict judge, arbiter alike of the seen and the unseen. Such are hardly
the conceptions wherewith the brain of a cultivated woman would teem. It
were too glaring treason to her sex and to her own nature. Although it
must be said that there is no word of coarseness or bold suggestion of
wickedness to be found upon any page. So far from it, we scarcely find
recognized the crime to which the maidens are tempted, and we
half-ignorantly wonder at the existence of compunctions, excited at we
can scarcely say what. But the author knew probably well enough, and if
she were one of the sisterhood of women, then must she be isolated and
at enmity with them all. Her hand is against every woman's and every
woman's hand against her.
Perhaps there is a fault in the tone of these novels. This may have been
inferred by some strict moralists from the preceding paragraph. But they
have indeed not the slightest trace of impropriety about them. They are
not tainted in the slightest with the insidious viciousness of French
novels. Their fault arises from rather an opposite tendency of mind and
a different train of feelings. They are of the world, worldly. They are
cold and sarcastic; they inculcate self-sufficiency, and preach to man
to be a tower of strength in himself, not always in the praiseworthy
Christian way. There is no single word of scoffing or disrespect for
religion, no slur upon it whatsoever. Only we are aware, as by an
instinct, that in the circle of our characters it is wholly ignored. In
their world it is not an agent, whether for themselves or others. It is
as unrecognized a system as is Mohammedanism or Buddhism with ourselves.
The heroes have all 'seen the world' in the most thorough and terrible
sense of those words. For them virtue and vice are much alike. Their
wills are iron. They fix their eye upon their goal, and straight thereto
they firmly march over the obstacles of precipices, through the
blackness of quagmires, crashing athwart laws, customs, and
conventionalities, as elephants calmly striding through underbrush. They
disregard the prejudices of the world equally for evil and for good. And
a moral independence which might furnish forth the most glorious of
martyrs in invincible panoply is quite as likely to assist a hardy
sinner. The sneer and sarcasm and contempt are for the conventionalities
of the world, for the belief of the mass of mankind in right and wrong,
and for the customs and habits which the republic of humanity has
established for better assistance in the paths of virtue--as if,
forsooth, such were vulgar because common, and to be despised by the
mighty because useful to the feeble. This is not the proper spirit for
the satirist. If he wields his pen in support of such a theory he will
do more harm than good. A conventionality is not necessarily bad or
contemptible merely as such. Not a promiscuous and indiscriminate
slashing, but a careful pruning is the proper method in the garden of
society. The indiscreet hand will cut what it should leave, and leave
perhaps what might have been better sacrificed. The artificial trellises
whereon we train our feeble virtues, which may hardly stand by their own
strength, must not be shattered in a general slaughter of weeds which
have taken root and nourishment in the rank soil of fashionable
etiquette. Let us not dash the image from the altar, nor quench the fire
at the shrine, before we have another idol and another shrine to give to
the old worshippers, who must worship still. Such reckless iconoclasm is
too dangerous. It is in this point of discretion that our author is most
reprehensible. The moral tone of his works might have been improved had
his independent tendencies been rather more judiciously indulged. There
is, however, one character of loveliness and purity almost sufficient to
leaven the whole mass and to dash our entire reprehension. In all the
scope of our novel reading, nowhere do we remember to have met a more
exquisitely charming character than that of fair Constance Brandon.
Every charm of spirit and of person is lavished upon her. At the same
time she is conceived with faultless taste. No feeble extravagance
offends our feelings; no tinsel or affectation thwarts our admiration.
The execution is worthy of the thought, which is simply beautiful. The
portrait is like Raphael's divinest Madonna, with the changing radiance
and velvety warmth of life thrown into the matchless face. Why could we
not have had more such, instead of such indifferent domesticities as La
Mignonne?
When we say that none of these three novels are destined to pass into
the eternal literature of the language, we pass no very harsh or damning
judgment. Men of the highest powers must bow to the same decree. Our
author, though his thews and sinews are stalwart, is yet hardly cast in
the mould to indicate such excessive vitality. He can hardly trouble the
stride of those lordly veterans of the turf, Scott or Thackeray; yet
without exertion spurning the rearward turf, he clicks his galloping
hoofs in the faces of the throng of the ordinary purveyors of fiction.
His fancy is exuberant; his imagination brilliant, florid, verging at
times almost upon the apoplectic. But the cognate mental member,
invention, is most sadly destitute of free and sweeping action. His
plots are of the simplest, and betray indubitably a numbness or
imperfect development of the inventive faculties of the brain. People
who read novels for the denouement, who ride a steeple chase through
them, leaping a five-page fence here, a ditch of a chapter there, and
anon clearing at a mighty bound a rasper of some score or more
paragraphs, resolute simply to be in at the death in the last chapter,
anxious to see the wedding torches extinguished, and the printer setting
up 'Finis'--such would find little satisfaction in 'Barren Honor,'
almost none in 'Sword and Gown.' Reading these works is like passing
through a wondrously beautiful country. But it is not the indolent
beauty of southern climes, to lounge through sleepily in a slow-rolling
travelling carriage. You must ride through it on the proud back of a
blooded steed. Canter, run, if you like, when the ground is fit and the
spirit moves, as often enough it may; but do not fix your eyes upon any
distant gaol, and time your arrival thereat. Enjoy what is close at
hand. Admire now the blue glories of the proud hills, recumbent in
careless grace of majesty in the indolent sunlit atmosphere; gaze then
into the sombre depths of solemn retreating forest; tremble anon in the
black shadow of the fierce rock beetling over your bridle way; and fill
your rejoicing being with the fresh-distilled vigor of the springy step
of your charger on the turf. It will put bounding manliness into your
sluggish civilian blood. Read each page, each chapter for itself; or
regard it as one handsome marble square in the tesselated pavement of a
haughty palace, not as a useful brick in the domestic sidewalk, which is
to carry you straight to a homely destination. Observe the description
of scenes, how powerful! the delineation of character, how fascinating!
and be pleased with the luxuriance of the style and the gorgeous drapery
of language wherewith so royally the thoughts are robed.
Our author is not true to nature--he is extravagant, high-wrought.
Nobody ever met his heroes or his heroines in real life, nor lived the
scenes told of in his poetry. His men and women are the men and women of
an enthusiastic fancy; his scenes and incidents are the scenes and
incidents of our romantic dreams. We know none so lovely as ethereal
Constance Brandon; we never gazed into the violet-flashing eyes of a
Cecil Tresilyan; none of our friends are quite prototypes of the
omnipotent 'Cool Captain;' they betray neither the athletic chivalry of
Livingstone nor the winning beauty and high-souled nobility of generous
Alan Wyverne. We never saw such models, for such never quitted their
ideal essences to become incarnate in the flesh. But why need this be an
insuperable objection? We don't find Achilles any the less interesting
because we doubt the ability of any degenerate modern to calmly destroy
such outnumbering hosts of his fellow beings, and send such a throng of
warrior souls to hades without scath or scar to his invulnerable self.
Ivanhoe got out of some very awkward scrapes by the exertion of a
prowess quite exceptional in such a 'light-weight.' The extravagance is
not glaring enough to discompose us. Surely a tolerable proximate
approach to possible existence ought to satisfy a not viciously captious
critic. We are reading of shadowy beings: why should not the facile
mists be permeated with a somewhat subtler light, and melt into somewhat
airier forms of perfection than we have been accustomed to catch
imprisoned in the substantial dulness of the flesh? If we will only
choose, we may revel in the company of somewhat glorified mortals. It
may be a luxury to us, if we will not be jealously illiberal and
envious. It is pleasant to emerge from our little chintz-furnished
parlor, and lounge in castles of dimly magnificent extent, where we are
sure to meet the choicest society; where some order their mighty hunters
from the capacious stables, and others go out to drop a stag, or run a
fox, or bag a few pheasants in the preserves, just to get an appetite
for dinner, from which stupendous meal, tended by hosts of velvet-footed
menials and florid old-family butlers, resplendent ladies rise to retire
to gorgeous drawing rooms of any draperied dimensions we may choose to
fancy, leaving perhaps a score of gentlemen guests to quaff cobwebbed
wines in unstinted goblets. Why isn't it pleasant to linger sometimes in
these royal abodes, and to saunter in the endless lawns and forest
glades of the rich and the great, where we may encounter ladies rather
handsomer and gentlemen rather haughtier than they are generally made in
our own circle? Let us not be captious, but agreeably appreciative.
In a short sentence in one of the opening chapters of 'Sword and Gown,'
our author proclaims probably the intention, certainly the result of his
literary labors--to produce a string of beautiful cameos, with just
thread enough of story to string them upon. This task is done, and well
done. The classical allusions are numerous, and seldom can we blame one
as out of place. Generally they are wrought into beautiful little
pictures, complete in themselves. He manages them with wonderful
dexterity, never making too much of them, nor dwelling upon them too
long; but with his masterly skill in language he handles his words as a
painter his colors, and now we have a bold royal sketch, cloudy outlines
of gigantic proportions, shadowy scenes of indefinite grandeur, done
with a few strong, words and magnificent adjectives; and now a little
paragraph, charming in its exquisite daintiness, like a miniature rarely
done upon the face of a costly gem. It is in this word-painting that he
is surpassingly admirable. Delineation, description, portraiture are his
forte. The same quality of mind which gives dreams of princely men and
divine women seems to have brought also a generous endowment of warm,
rich words, wherewith to do justice to the imaginings. All the beauty,
dignity, and glory of English logography seem to be his: he marshals an
array of adjectives and phrases which seem all of the blood royal of our
munificent mother tongue. Oftentimes his page sounds like the
deep-rolling anthem of a mighty cathedral organ. Might and music are in
his syllables; and without sifting his sentences for a noble thought or
a beautiful idea, we may be pleased by the stately tread of their
succession, and their rich harmonious cadences.
The scenes are apt to be rather melodramatic. Wonderful passions work
wonderfully. Eyes flash, lips are set, cheeks grow pale, quite often.
Great coolness, vast powers, are continually displayed; yet they are
well displayed, after the fashion of gentlemen, not of bravoes or
villains or highwaymen. He handles thunder and lightning, the terrific
weapons of the mighty Jove himself, in a very haughty, Jove-like
manner, it must be confessed. He isn't afraid of singing his fingers
with the thunderbolts, but seizes them with the familiar gripe of
unquestionable authority. In a glorified language he paints glorified
visions. Very little of the calm domestic sunlight of the working
noonday glimmers among his pages, but a perpetual, everlasting
gorgeousness of deep-colored sunset radiance. For merit of style all
these novels are well worthy of commendation and of study. Education and
extensive reading have preserved them from faults of gaudiness and
meretricious ornament. They are chastened by good taste and regulated by
gentlemanly cultivation. They are written by a scholar, and not by a
scribbler; and while reading their magnificent pages we need have no
misgiving that we are admiring the flashy ornaments of wordy or
half-educated mediocrity. Far the best of them is also the first, 'Guy
Livingstone.' The poorest is 'Sword and Gown;' this has the feeblest
plot, in fact a mere apology for a story, and contains more passages
which seem unfinished, and what on a second reading would scarce have
satisfied their own writer. 'Guy Livingstone,' though not faultless, is
a work of power, talent, and brilliancy. Guy himself is an Olympian
character, sketched upon the scale and model of a Torso, a giant in his
virtues and his vices and his frame--but exaggerated with such tact and
ability that even the impossible hugeness charms and fascinates. The
feats of the hero in the dance and carpeted salon, on his mighty hunter
leading the breakneck chase, carry us away with all the heat and ardor
of sympathy; nor do we stumble in our companionable excitement over any
unwelcome snag of commonplace thought or vulgar daring. Constance
Brandon, as we have above intimated, we consider a splendid
masterpiece--a woman lovely as the imagination of man fondly likes to
dream, with every winning grace of manner and amiable charm of purity.
She is the finest character and the fairest face beyond all compare in
the gallery; and the scenes in which she figures are the most able, the
most moving, and the most unexceptionable in every point of view, of all
that our author has given us.
MILL ON LIBERTY.
Any work from the pen of John Stuart Mill will arrest the attention of
readers and thinkers wherever the English language is spoken, and,
indeed, wherever the spirit of inquiry and improvement has aroused the
intellect of man. This author has proved himself a veritable instructor
and benefactor of his race. His writings have been always grave and
valuable, addressed to the understanding of men, indicating arduous
study on his own part, and eliciting reflection of the profoundest
character in the mind of his reader. In his well known work 'On Logic,'
published twenty years ago, he exhibited the highest capacity for
abstract speculation, and placed himself by the side of Aristotle and
Bacon in the rank of philosophers; while that 'On the Principles of
Political Economy,' more practical in its aims, entitles him to the
reputation of an able and enlightened statesman.
Last year we had published in this country, a treatise from the same
fertile pen on the subject of 'Representative Government,' which,
however, was subsequent in the order of composition to that which has
just now appeared in the United States from the press of Ticknor &
Fields, of Boston. Both these productions, that on 'Representative
Government,' and that 'On Liberty,' are valuable to the American people,
teaching lessons important to be learned even by them. From the nature
of our institutions, and especially from the vainglorious sentiments too
generally entertained by us, we are apt to consider ourselves so well
versed in the principles of civil liberty and of representative
government, as to be incapable of learning anything on these subjects,
especially from English writers. Unfortunately, recent events are
calculated rudely to disturb our self-satisfaction, and to arouse within
us a serious distrust, not indeed of the principles embodied in our
institutions, but of our practical ability to carry them out to their
legitimate results, and thus to enjoy, fully and permanently, the
advantages of the system of free government of which we have always been
so boastful.
It is perhaps natural that the mass of the American people should
conceive the whole of liberty as comprised in the privilege of voting,
and its substantial benefits as being fully secured by the popular form
of government. This, however, would be an inconsiderate conclusion,
involving a most pernicious error; and so far is it from constituting
any important part of the discussion, that in the whole of Mr. Mill's
work, there is scarcely more than a glance at this aspect of the
question. The liberty which the author investigates and commends by the
most unanswerable arguments, is not that which is embodied in political
institutions, so much as that which results from the liberal and
enlightened spirit pervading and controlling the social organization. It
is not the power to choose representatives and to make laws, but it is
rather the privilege, in all proper cases, of being a law to one's self,
and of representing in one's own individuality the peculiar ideas and
capacities which each one is best fitted to unfold and develop for his
own good without injury to society. Political tyranny, at this day, is
by no means the chief danger to which men are anywhere exposed; and that
subject has been so thoroughly understood in modern times, that books
are hardly required now to be written upon it. It is social
despotism--the tyranny of custom and opinion--which chiefly enlists the
intellect of our philosophical and interesting author, though he does
not fail to lay down the true limits of the legislative authority as
well. He is thoroughly versed in the history of 'the struggle between
liberty and authority,' which he says 'is the most conspicuous feature
in the portions of history with which we are earliest familiar,
particularly in that of Greece, Rome, and England. But in old times this
contest was between subjects, or some classes of subjects, and the
government. By liberty was meant protection against the tyranny of
political rulers.' This struggle has been carried on for ages, until it
has now come to be an axiom, universally received in civilized nations,
that government is instituted solely for the good of the governed. And
in the progress of amelioration and improvement, it has been supposed
that the popular principle of universal suffrage, with frequent
elections, and consequent responsibility of political agents, would
effectually prevent the exercise of tyranny in governments; and this
especially when governments are instituted under written constitutions,
with powers limited and clearly defined therein. The people, through
their chosen representatives, wielding the whole power of the national
organization, could not be expected to tyrannize over themselves.
Experience, however, soon proved that the tyranny of the majority in
popular governments is to be guarded against quite as carefully as that
of despotic rulers in any other form of polity. For, says Mr. Mill,
'when society is itself the tyrant--society collectively over the
individuals which compose it--its means of tyrannizing are not
restricted to the acts which it may do by the hands of its political
functionaries.' The obvious truth of this statement needs no elaborate
attempt at illustration. In all the departments of thought and action,
of opinion and habit, the power of society over its separate members is
tremendous and unlimited, sometimes penetrating 'deeply into the details
of life, and enslaving the soul itself.' It would not be difficult for
any man of intelligence and observation to recall instances, within his
own knowledge, in which this arbitrary power of the community has been
most unjustly exerted to oppress and injure individuals. The injury and
oppression have been none the less, because their operation has been
silent, attended with no physical force or legal restraint, but reaching
only the mind and heart of the sufferer, crushing them with the moral
weight of unjust opprobrium, and torturing them with all the ingenious
appliances of social tyranny.
The remedy for this sort of despotism--the most dangerous of all, if not
the only danger to be feared in civilized communities and in liberal
governments--is not to be found in laws or constitutions, but in the
enlightened liberality and trained habits and sentiments of society
itself. 'Some,' says Mr. Mill, 'whenever they see any good to be done or
any evil to be remedied, would willingly instigate the government to
undertake the business; while others prefer to bear almost any amount of
social evil, rather than to add one to the departments of human
interests amenable to governmental control.' And, upon the whole, he
thinks, 'the interference of government is, with about equal frequency,
improperly invoked and improperly condemned.' The only device which Mr.
Mill proposes, as the effectual means of counteracting this sort of
tyranny, either political or social, is the establishment of a rule or
principle, by which the limits of authority over individuals shall, in
both cases, be strictly and philosophically defined. He does not
undertake to say how this rule is to be enforced--by what sanctions, or
by what authority it can be made effectual for the protection of
individual rights. But as the evil to be remedied is one arising chiefly
from the errors of public opinion, the corrective would naturally seem
to be the inculcation of sound principles and just sentiments, infusing
them into the social organization, and gradually enthroning them in the
public conscience. The bare announcement of truth, in a matter of such
transcendent importance, is an immense progress toward the goal of
improvement. Principles, well founded and of real value, once
understood, will eventually make their way. With all the errors of
society, and the wrong-headed stubbornness and selfishness of humanity,
with the immense obstructive power of established interests, the haughty
despotism of old opinions, and the petrified rigidity of social customs,
the solvent energy of truth nevertheless will penetrate every part of
the imposing fabric, and gradually undermine its foundations. Underlying
the whole, there is a broad foundation for improvement; and there is a
natural tendency in society to seize upon and appropriate good, whenever
fairly exhibited to its view and placed within its reach.
As embodying the general purpose of the author, and the principle which
he seeks to establish, we give the following passage, in his own words:
'The object of this essay is to assert one very simple principle,
as entitled to govern absolutely the dealings of society with the
individual in the way of compulsion and control, whether the means
used be physical force in the form of legal penalties, or the moral
coercion of public opinion. That principle is, that the sole end
for which mankind are warranted, individually or collectively, in
interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number, is
self-protection. That the only purpose for which power can be
rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community,
against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good,
either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant. He cannot
rightfully be compelled to do or forbear, because it will be better
for him to do so, because it will make him happier, because, in the
opinions of others, to do so would be wise, or even right. These
are good reasons for remonstrating with him, or reasoning with him,
or persuading him, but not for compelling him, or visiting him with
any evil in case he do otherwise. To justify that, the conduct from
which it is desired to deter him, must be calculated to produce
evil to some one else. The only part of the conduct of any one, for
which he is amenable to society, is that which concerns others. In
the part which merely concerns himself, his independence is, of
right, absolute. Over himself, over his own body and mind, the
individual is sovereign.'
This statement has the great merit of being, at least, perfectly clear
and definite. In some particular cases, the principle may be difficult
of application; but in the principle itself, as defined in this passage,
there is not the slightest uncertainty or indistinctness. The author is
very careful, however, to except from its operation all persons who are
not in the maturity of their faculties, as well as all those backward
nations who are not capable of being improved by free and equal
discussion. The condition of society in which alone this liberal maxim
will be safe and appropriate, must be that of a people so far elevated
and enlightened, that persuasion and conviction are the most powerful
means of improvement. Wherever is to be found an advanced civilization,
with all the complex moral and social relations which grow out of it,
there the necessity for physical force will be found to have declined.
Public opinion will have acquired great authority, if not absolute
control; and the rights of individuals will require, for their
protection against the overpowering weight of the social combination,
all those safeguards against possible tyranny, which can only be
afforded by the general acceptance of the liberal principle just quoted.
The social authority must be educated and restrained by its own willing
recognition of individual rights. As the power most likely to be abused
for purposes of oppression is that of opinion and custom, too often
operating silently and insidiously, the corrective is only to be applied
by the establishment of a counteracting spiritual authority, in the
bosom of society itself, at all times ready to utter its mandate and to
proclaim the inviolable sanctity of individual liberty, within the
limits fixed by enlightened reason and conscience. In the earlier stages
of civilization, or in societies of more simple and primitive character,
individual development has not reached the point which either requires
such principles or admits of their application. The merely physical life
of such people can hardly give rise to these questions: political power
and actual force necessarily occupy the place of those subtle and
all-pervading moral and social influences which prevail in the
subsequent stages of progress. As men become more enlightened, they
become also more capable of self-control, and are consequently entitled
to greater liberty of action. Sooner or later, the necessity for
conceding it to the utmost limit of the principle stated, will be fully
acknowledged.
But it is notable that the author does not attempt to maintain his dogma
on the ground of right or morality, but solely on that of a wise and
broad utility. He foregoes all the advantage he might obtain in the
argument by resorting to the moral considerations which sustain it. It
is better for the real interests of society that individual members
should enjoy the largest measure of liberty; and if this be not
equivalent to the assertion that it is also their right, upon the
plainest moral grounds, it is at least certain that the two principles
are coincident in this case, as they will be found to be in all others,
where the real interests of mankind are concerned. So true is it, that
what ever, in a large sense, is best for the permanent advantage of any
society is, at the same time, always right and consistent with sound
moral principles.
In a matter of such vital importance as that of human liberty, which, in
the language of another eminent writer, 'is the one thing most essential
to the right development of individuals, and to the real grandeur of
nations,' it was necessary that its foundations should be made so broad,
in any correct philosophical analysis of its nature, as to comprehend
the whole field of human activity. Accordingly, Mr. Mill includes within
its proper domain the three great departments: consciousness, or the
internal operations of our own minds; will, or the external
manifestation of our thoughts and feelings in acts and habits; and
lastly, association, or coöperation with others, voluntarily agreed
upon, and not interfering with the rights and liberties of those who may
choose to stand aloof from such combinations. In reference to the first
of these, which asserts the undoubted right to enjoy our own thoughts
and feelings, with absolute freedom of opinion on all subjects, Mr. Mill
remarks that 'the liberty of expressing and publishing opinions may seem
to fall under a different principle, since it belongs to that part of
the conduct of an individual which concerns other people; but being
almost of as much importance as the liberty of thought itself, and
resting in great part on the same reasons, is practically inseparable
from it.' But, in truth, the right of expression, which does not
properly come under the head of consciousness or thought, but under that
of will or action, is the only one of the two which at this day is of
any practical importance. The idea of controlling thought or belief has,
in effect, been everywhere abandoned. Indeed, it may be questioned
whether any such control ever has been or could have been exercised; for
thought itself could never be known except through some outward
manifestation. It was therefore the _expression_ which was punished, and
not the inward consciousness. Opinions, it is true, have too often been
the avowed ground of oppression and persecution. Men have been injured
in various ways, on account of their known or suspected belief; even in
modern times and in communities claiming to be free, political
disabilities, social reprobation, and the stigma of disqualification as
witnesses have been imposed upon persons entertaining certain views on
theological questions. But these persecutions may have compelled the
suppression or disavowal of obnoxious opinions, and may have made
hypocrites; they never changed belief, or produced any other conviction
than that of wrong and outrage. The soul itself is beyond the reach of
any human authority, not to be conquered by any device of terror or
torture.