CHAPTER IX.

Violante's first evening at the Lansmeres, had seemed happier to her

than the first evening, under the same roof, had done to Helen. True

that she missed her father much--Jemima some what; but she so identified

her father's cause with Harley, that she had a sort of vague feeling

that it was to promote that cause that she was on this visit to Harley's

parents. And the Countess, it must be owned, was more emphatically

cordial to her than she had ever yet been to Captain Digby's orphan. But

perhaps the real difference in the heart of either girl was this, that

Helen felt awe of Lady Lansmere, and Violante felt only love for Lord

L'Estrange's mother. Violante, too, was one of those persons whom a

reserved and formal person, like the Countess, "can get on with," as the

phrase goes. Not so poor little Helen--so shy herself, and so hard to

coax into more than gentle monosyllables. And Lady Lansmere's favorite

talk was always of Harley. Helen had listened to such talk with respect

and interest. Violante listened to it with inquisitive eagerness--with

blushing delight. The mother's heart noticed the distinction between the

two, and no wonder that that heart moved more to Violante than to Helen.

Lord Lansmere, too, like most gentlemen of his age, clumped all young

ladies together, as a harmless, amiable, but singularly stupid class of

the genus Petticoat, meant to look pretty, play the piano, and talk to

each other about frocks and sweethearts. Therefore this animated,

dazzling creature, with her infinite variety of look and play of mind,

took him by surprise, charmed him into attention, and warmed him into

gallantry. Helen sat in her quiet corner, at her work, sometimes

listening with almost mournful, though certainly unenvious admiration at

Violante's vivid, yet ever unconscious eloquence of word and

thought--sometimes plunged deep into her own secret meditations. And all

the while the work went on the same, under the same noiseless fingers.

This was one of Helen's habits that irritated the nerves of Lady

Lansmere. She despised young ladies who were fond of work. She did not

comprehend how often it is the source of the sweet, womanly mind, not

from want of thought, but from the silence and the depth of it. Violante

was surprised, and perhaps disappointed, that Harley had left the house

before dinner, and did not return all the evening. But Lady Lansmere, in

making excuse for his absence, on the plea of engagements, found so good

an opportunity to talk of his ways in general--of his rare promise in

boyhood--of her regret at the inaction of his maturity--of her hope to

see him yet do justice to his natural powers, that Violante almost

ceased to miss him.

And when Lady Lansmere conducted her to her room, and, kissing her cheek

tenderly, said, "But you are just the person Harley admires--just the

person to rouse him from melancholy dreams, of which his wild humors are

now but the vain disguise"--Violante crossed her arms on her bosom, and

her bright eyes, deepened into tenderness, seemed to ask, "He

melancholy--and why?"

On leaving Violante's room, Lady Lansmere paused before the door of

Helen's; and, after musing a little while, entered softly.

Helen had dismissed her maid; and, at the moment Lady Lansmere entered,

she was kneeling at the foot of the bed, her hands clasped before her

face.

Her form, thus seen, looked so youthful and child-like--the attitude

itself was so holy and so touching, that the proud and cold expression

on Lady Lansmere's face changed. She shaded the light involuntarily, and

seated herself in silence, that she might not disturb the act of prayer.

When Helen rose, she was startled to see the Countess seated by the

fire; and hastily drew her hand across her eyes. She had been weeping.

Lady Lansmere did not, however, turn to observe those traces of tears,

which Helen feared were too visible. The Countess was too absorbed in

her own thoughts; and as Helen timidly approached, she said--still with

her eyes on the clear low fire--"I beg your pardon, Miss Digby, for my

intrusion; but my son has left it to me to prepare Lord Lansmere to

learn the offer you have done Harley the honor to accept. I have not yet

spoken to my lord; it may be days before I find a fitting occasion to do

so; meanwhile, I feel assured that your sense of propriety will make you

agree with me that it is due to Lord L'Estrange's father, that strangers

should not learn arrangements of such moment in his family, before his

own consent be obtained."

Here the Countess came to a full pause; and poor Helen, finding herself

called upon for some reply to this chilling speech, stammered out,

scarce audibly--

"Certainly, madam, I never dreamed of--"

"That is right, my dear," interrupted Lady Lansmere, rising suddenly,

and as if greatly relieved. "I could not doubt your superiority to

ordinary girls of your age, with whom these matters are never secret for

a moment. Therefore, of course, you will not mention, at present, what

has passed between you and Harley, to any of the friends with whom you

may correspond."

"I have no correspondents--no friends, Lady Lansmere," said Helen

deprecatingly, and trying hard not to cry.

"I am very glad to hear it, my dear; young ladies never should have.

Friends, especially friends who correspond, are the worst enemies they

can have. Good-night, Miss Digby, I need not add, by the way, that,

though we are bound to show all kindness to this young Italian lady,

still she is wholly unconnected with our family; and you will be as

prudent with her as you would have been with your correspondents--had

you had the misfortune to have any."

Lady Lansmere said the last words with a smile, and pressed a reluctant

kiss (the step-mother's kiss) on Helen's bended brow. She then left the

room, and Helen sate on the seat vacated by the stately, unloving form,

and again covered her face with her hands, and again wept. But when she

rose at last, and the light fell upon her face, that soft face was sad

indeed, but serene--serene, as if with some inward sense of duty--sad,

as with the resignation which accepts patience instead of hope.

(TO BE CONTINUED.)

PIPE-CLAY AND CLAY PIPES.

I have an eccentric friend, whom I meet occasionally. He can not be said

to have an inquiring turn of mind, or usually to busy himself with the

science of industrial economy. Babbage is an unknown writer to him; and

he has not yet contrived to "get up" any interest in the recent Reports

on Her Majesty's Customs. In fact, I should not be surprised if he never

opened the interesting volumes in question. He is a man with an active

mind, nevertheless; but this activity is expended, as a rule, in

eccentric pursuits. He has one confirmed antipathy--he hates a purpose.

Since he heard that I had written a paper on the wrongs of factory

children, he has treated me with marked coolness. Yet he is a man with

an excellent heart. Let me at once give the key to his character. Most

people have one serious object in life, therefore he is opposed to all

serious objects. Lately, I met him walking briskly on his way homeward,

and I consented to accompany him. Suddenly, he remembered that he must

make a call before he entered his chambers.

This call led us out of a great thoroughfare, through two or three

narrow and dark streets, to the door of a dingy house. As we paused on

the threshold, my companion asked me if I had ever seen a tobacco-pipe

manufactory. I expressed my inexperience; and, having been cautioned

against sermons on what I was about to see, followed my eccentric friend

down a dark passage, which terminated in a very dirty and a very dark

warehouse. A few samples of tobacco-pipes lay upon a counter, and one

side of the warehouse was skirted with drawers full of "yards of

clay"--my eccentric friend's ordinary expression when alluding to his

pipes. In a dark corner, a strong man was savagely punching huge blocks

of clay with a heavy wooden bar; in another corner lay a huge pile of

clay-blocks in the rough state--apparently a heap of dirt, of little use

to any body. A mild woman--the wife of the manufacturer--showed us about

with a cheerful manner. My friend, who took an evident interest in all

the processes we witnessed, still contrived to maintain his eccentric

habit, by continually expressing his unconcern. As we looked at the

skillful action of the workmen's fingers, my friend allowed that they

played the fiddle well, but added that they could _only_ play the

fiddle. However, I left him to pursue his eccentric way, and wandered

about with unfeigned curiosity.

Turning from the muscular fellow who was beating the rough clay with the

wooden bar, and moistening it, that it might yield to the pressure of

the mould, I suddenly saw a black gaping mouth before me, that seemed to

be in the agony of swallowing a dense stack of tobacco-pipes; this, I

learned, was the pipe-kiln. The pipes were arranged in exact rows, and

in vast quantities. I ventured to express my astonishment at the number

of pipes in the capacious kiln; whereupon the clay-beater paused from

his labor, and, with a smile that expressed pity for my ignorance,

declared that there was a mere handful on the premises.

"There are a few still, up there," he added, pointing to the roof of the

warehouse.

I followed the direction of his finger, and saw above me a roof of

tobacco-pipes piled in regular rows on brackets. The number appeared

incalculable, but the clay-beater contemptuously pronounced it

insignificant. He informed me that I might see "a few more," if I would

have the goodness to go up stairs. My eccentric friend vowed that the

trouble was excessive--that our business was with the pipes when they

had tobacco in them; and not with the people who made them; and, as he

remarked (having had a sharp pecuniary altercation with the

manufacturer's wife), who took particular care to charge a remunerative

price for them. But he mounted the stairs, in spite of his objections,

and followed me into the room where the battered clay of the beater

below was undergoing other processes. Here and there men seemed to be

printing off pipes--the action of their arms, and the movement of their

presses nearly resembling those of hand-printing. A pale woman sat in

the centre of the room with a counter before her, and two or three

delicate tools; but we went past her at once to the man who had a mound

of soft gray clay before him. He was working briskly. He first seized

two lumps of clay, each of the average size of an apple, and having

carelessly kneaded them with his fingers, seemed to throw them

contemptuously upon the board before him. Then, with the palms of his

hand he rolled them sharply out on the board, leaving one end of each

lump very thick, and producing, altogether, two clay tadpoles of a large

size. These he took up, and placed with others in a row, all pressed and

sticking together. The apparent unconcern and indifference with which

the entire operation was performed struck us particularly. When we had

sufficiently noticed the manufacture of gigantic tadpoles, we crossed

the room to an opposite bench where a man was working rapidly. Here we

found a confused heap of clay tadpoles, ready to be run through and

burnt into seemly pipes.

We watched the operations of the second skilled laborer with intense

interest. First, with a weary air he took up a bundle of limp clay

tadpoles, and threw them down close beside him. He then took a fine

steel rod in his left hand, and seizing a tadpole, drew its long slender

tail on to the rod. This operation was so dexterously performed, that

the rod never protruded the least to the right or to the left, but was

kept, by the fine touch of the right-hand fingers, exactly in the centre

of the tube. The spitted tadpole was then laid flat in the lower half of

the metal pipe mould; the upper part was pulled down over it, and then

pressed. On lifting the mould from the press, the workman quickly cut

away the superfluous clay that stood up beyond the bowl, opened the

mould, and disclosed, to the undisguised admiration even of my eccentric

friend, the graceful flow of his usual "yard of clay." But it was not

yet ready for smoking; very far from it.

It was still a damp, leaden gray pipe, with two broad seams of clay

projecting from it, throughout its entire length. It was ragged too. On

these deficiencies my friend began to offer a few pungent remarks; when

the workman interrupted him by pointing toward an industrious woman, who

seemed to be in a desperate hurry; yet she was not at all excited. My

friend suggested that steam must be circulating in her nimble fingers,

instead of blood. She smiled at the pleasantry; and said meekly enough,

that it was custom. She was as clumsy as I should be when she began--but

long, long days of experience--there, sitting before that board, and

cutting incessantly those seams that curl so neatly off the rough

pipes, give that dexterity, and it is well, perhaps severely, paid for.

The work-woman wears a serious, dull face generally. It struck me, as I

watched the repetition of her movements, that in their dreadful monotony

there must be a deadening influence upon the mind and heart. I even

thought that she must find it a relief now and then to break a pipe, or

drop one of the glistening steel rods. First, she took up one of the

rough pipes, and with a sharp steel instrument, smoothed all the rough

clay about the bowl. Then she smoothed the stem with a flat

instrument--then she cut the mouthpiece even. Having thus rapidly

traveled over the moulder's work, she withdrew the fine steel rod from

the tube, blew down the pipe to assure herself that the air passed from

the bowl to the mouth-piece, and then carefully added it to a row,

placed upon a frame beside her. The finished pipe was hardly deposited

in its place before another was in her hands, and in rapid process

toward completion.

A roaring fire crackled in the grate, and the heat of the atmosphere was

oppressive. Above were more endless rows and galleries of pipes; waiting

to be baked, and in a fair way, I thought, of undergoing that process

where they lay. I could hear the dull, heavy sounds of the clay-beater's

weapon below, and in the rooms the incessant click of the closing

moulds. The workmen were proud to show their dexterity, as they well

might be. Our friend in the farther corner, as he talked pleasantly to

us on various subjects, still carelessly made his clay tadpoles; the

woman never paused from her rapid work when she exchanged occasional

sentences with a boy who stood near her; and the wife of the

manufacturer surveyed the busy scene with sparkling eyes.

I thought once or twice of the damp clay streaming about these

workpeople; and of the hard, stern work going on to provide receptacles

for lazy men's tobacco. Pipe-clay seemed to force itself every where;

about the rafters, on the benches, on the floor, in the walls. My

friend's curiosity was soon satisfied: for his anxiety to avoid contact

with the raw material of his favorite manufactured article, drove every

other consideration from his mind. He vowed that he did not wish to

appear in the streets of London in the guise of a miller--that,

generally, he preferred a black coat to a piebald one, and that not

being a military man, the less pipe-clay he took away in the nap of his

clothes, the better. But I had one or two questions to put to the

tadpole-maker--not with the view, as my friend stoutly asserted, of

writing a sermon, but perhaps with an object sufficiently laudable. I

learned that a workman, "keeping to it" twelve hours, can make "four

gross and a half" of pipes per day.

My friend was struck with this astonishing fact; and, forthwith, began

to prove from this assertion that he ought to have the half-gross he

wanted at a very low price indeed. It was only when the workman paused,

for the first time, from his work to discuss the beauties of various

pipes, that my friend felt himself quite at home in the manufactory.

Hereupon, the workman placed a variety of pipes in juxtaposition, and

began to talk of their relative excellences and beauties with the tact

of an artist. This man was not without a shrewd sense of art; he had his

ideal of a tobacco-pipe, as the political dreamer has his ideal of a

model state, or a sculptor of his ideal beauty. He had shrewd,

unanswerable reasons for a certain roundness in the bowl; his eye

wandered critically down the graceful bend of the tube, and his hand

tested nicely the finish of the surface. His skill lay, certainly, only

in the manufacture of tobacco-pipes; but, still, herein his mind was

active, and his taste was cultivated.

"What would become of you if smoking were put down by Act of

Parliament?" my friend asked, with a sarcastic air. But the man was a

match even for the practiced eccentricity of my companion.

"Why, sir," said the man, "most likely more snuff would be consumed

instead, and I should shut up the kiln, and take to making snuffboxes."

My friend was silenced; and, as we walked away from the manufactory,

down the dark, narrow streets, he allowed, in a whisper, that there was

wisdom in the pipemaker's answer. And then he began to make calculations

as to how many people flourish in every country on the bad habits and

vices of their fellow-citizens. He wove a chain of terrible length, to

show how many men were interested in the drunkenness of the country. A

man reeled past us in the imbecile, singing stage of the vice. "That

man," said my eccentric friend, "has done the state some service

to-night. He has been helping to swell the Excise returns; presently, he

will create a disturbance; a policeman will gallantly walk him off to

the station-house, and be promoted; his hat will be broken, to the great

advantage of a hatter; his shirt front will be torn, to the benefit of

some poor, lone sempstress; and there, he has broken his yard of clay,

to the advantage of the manufactory we have just left. Delirium tremens

will come at last; and with it a surgeon; and, with the surgeon, herbs

which are now growing under the burning heat of Indian skies." Thus my

eccentric friend ran on, and I did not interrupt him; for, in his words,

I detected sparks of light that led us merrily forward to our journey's

end, where we found half-a-gross of "yards of clay;" "a perfect

picture," according to my friend--lying, all white as snow before us,

trimmed, I knew, by the serious, nimble-fingered woman we had seen at

her work. And she is at it now, still cutting the seams off, and blowing

down the tubes!

HABITS AND CHARACTER OF THE DOG-RIB INDIANS.[7]

[Footnote 7: From Sir John Richardson's Arctic "Searching Expedition,"

just published by Harper and Brothers.]

Few traces of the stoicism popularly attributed to the red races exist

among the Dog ribs; they shrink from pain, show little daring, express

their fears without disguise on all occasions, imaginary or real, shed

tears readily, and live in constant dread of enemies, bodied and

disembodied. Yet all, young and old, enjoy a joke heartily. They are not

a morose people, but, on the contrary, when young and in a situation of

security, they are remarkably lively and cheerful. The infirmities of

age, which press heavily on the savage, render them querulous. They are

fond of dancing, but their dance, which is performed in a circle, is

without the least pretensions to grace, and is carried on laboriously

with the knees and body half bent and a heavy stamping, having the

effect of causing the dancers to appear as if they were desirous of

sinking into the ground. It is accompanied by a song resembling a chorus

of groans, or pretty nearly the deep sigh of a pavier as he brings his

rammer down upon the pavement. They are great mimics, and readily ape

the peculiarities of any white man; and many of the young men have

caught the tunes of the Canadian voyagers, and hum them correctly.

The Dog-ribs are practical socialists; and, as much of the misery they

occasionally experience may be traced to this cause, the study of the

working of such a system may be instructive in a community like this,

whose members owe their condition in the social scale solely to their

personal qualities, and not to inheritance, favor, or the other

accidents which complicate the results in civilized life. Custom has

established among them a practice universally acted upon--that all may

avail themselves of the produce of a hunter's energy and skill; and they

do not even leave to him the distribution of his own game. When it is

known in the camp that deer have been killed, the old men and women of

each family sally forth with their sledges, and, tracing up the hunter's

footsteps to the carcasses of the animals he has slain, proceed to

divide them among themselves, leaving to the proper owner the ribs,

which is all that he can claim to himself of right. He has also the

tongue, which he takes care to cut out on killing the deer. It is not in

the power of these people to restrain their appetites when they have

abundance; and the consequence is, that when the chase is successful,

all the community feast and grow fat, however little many of the

men--and there are not a few idle ones--may have contributed to the

common good. The hunter's wife dries the rib-pieces, after cutting out

the bone, in the smoke, or over a fire, to carry to a fort for the

purposes of trade; but, unless there is a superabundance, little

provision is made by the party for a time of scarcity, which is sure to

arrive before long; since the deer, when much hunted, move to some other

district. Taught by their frequent sufferings on such occasions, the

more active hunters frequently withdraw themselves and their families

from the knowledge of the drones of the community, leaving them at some

fishing station, where, with proper industry, they may subsist

comfortably. A fish diet is not, however, agreeable to the palates of

these people for any length of time; and, as soon as rumors of a

hunter's success reach them--which they do generally much exaggerated by

the way--a longing for the flesh-pots is instantly excited, especially

among the old, and a general movement to the hunting-ground ensues. If,

on their march, the craving multitude discover a hoard of meat stored up

by any of the hunting parties, it is devoured on the spot; but they are

not always so fortunate. Before they reach the scene of anticipated

abundance, the deer may have gone off, followed by the hunters, with

uncertain hopes of overtaking them, and nothing remains for the hungry

throng, including the old and the lame, but to retrace their steps, with

the prospect of many of them perishing by the way, should their stock of

food have been quite exhausted. Such occurrences are by no means rare;

they came several times under our immediate notice during our winter

residence at Fort Confidence, and similar facts are recorded by Mr.

Simpson of the same tribe. This gentleman expresses his opinion that the

charge made against this nation, of abandoning their infirm aged people

and children, had its origin in the _sauve qui peut_ cry raised during a

forced retreat from some one of these most injudicious excursions; and I

am inclined fully to agree with him; for I witnessed several

unquestionable instances of tenderness and affection shown by children

to their parents, and of compliance with their whims, much to their own

personal inconvenience. The grief they show on the loss of a parent, is

often great and of long continuance, and it is the custom, both for men

and women, to lament the death of relations for years, by nightly

wailings.

Hospitality is not a virtue which is conspicuous among the Dog-ribs, who

differ in this respect from the Eythinyuwuk, in whose encampments a

stranger meets a welcome and a proffer of food. It is not customary,

however, for the Dog-rib to receive the traveler who enters his tent

with the same show of kindness. If he is hungry, and meat hangs up, he

may help himself without eliciting a remark, for the 'Tinnè hold it to

be mean to say much about a piece of meat; or he may exert his patience

until some cookery goes on, and then join in the meal; and should there

be venison at hand, he will not have long to wait, for every now and

then some one is prompted to hang a kettle on the fire, or to place a

joint or steak to roast before it.

Of the peculiarities of their religious belief I could gain no certain

information. The interpreters to whom I applied for assistance disliked

the task, and invariably replied, "As for these savages, they know

nothing; they are ignorant people." The majority of the nation recognize

a "Great Spirit," at least by name, but some doubt his existence,

assigning, as a reason for their atheism, their miserable condition; or

they say, "If there be such a being, he dwells on the lands of the white

people, where so many useful and valuable articles are produced." With

respect to evil spirits, their name in the Dog-rib country is legion.

The 'Tinnè recognize them in the Bear, Wolf, and Wolverene, in the

woods, waters, and desert places; often hear them howling in the winds,

or moaning by the graves of the dead. Their dread of these disembodied

beings, of whom they spoke to us under the general name of "enemies," is

such that few of the hunters will sleep out alone. They never make any

offerings to the Great Spirit, or pay him an act of adoration; but they

deprecate the wrath of an evil being by prayer, and the sacrifice of

some article, generally of little value, perhaps simply by scattering a

handful of deer hair or a few feathers.

MONTHLY RECORD OF CURRENT EVENTS.

THE UNITED STATES.

In Congress, during the past month, there has been copious discussion of

a great variety of subjects, but no important action upon any. The

influence of the approaching Presidential election makes itself felt

upon the debates of Congress, coloring every speech and often

superseding every other subject. Memorials have been presented in favor

of authorizing another Arctic expedition in search of Sir John Franklin,

for which Mr. Henry Grinnell again tenders the use of his ships--asking

only that the government will send a small steamer with them and men for

officers and sailors. Commander Wilkes has also addressed Congress on

the subject; proposing a very large Expedition--sufficient indeed to

establish a permanent settlement in the Arctic regions, from which the

search may be prosecuted. Nothing has been done with regard to

either.----Governor Kossuth has addressed to Congress a letter of thanks

for the reception given him, which was presented in the Senate on the

17th of February, and gave rise to a long debate on the proposition to

print it: it was ordered to be printed by 21 votes to 20 against

it.----In the Senate a bill has been reported by Commitee to establish a

branch mint in the city of New York, on condition that the city donate

land for a site and the State exempt it from taxation.----A good deal of

the attention of the Senate has been devoted to a debate upon the Public

Land policy of the country, the question coming up on a bill granting

large tracts of land to Iowa to aid in the construction of certain

railroads. Mr. Sumner, of Massachusetts, spoke in favor of ceding all

the public lands to the States in which they lie, mainly on the ground

that the exemption of those lands from State taxation had created in

those States an equitable title to them. On the 24th of February Mr.

Geyer, of Missouri, spoke in favor of the same policy, basing his

argument in its support upon the same facts. Mr. Underwood offered an

amendment to the effect of distributing among the seventeen States in

which there are no public lands, fifteen millions of acres. He

spoke in defense of it at length. No vote has been taken upon the

subject.----Further debate has been had upon the resolutions on the

subject of non-intervention. On the 26th of February, Mr. Miller, of New

Jersey, spoke against the policy of intermeddling at all in the affairs

of foreign nations. He represented intervention in foreigns affairs as

the habitual policy of European monarchies, which Washington had

resisted; and he urged the duty and necessity of adhering strictly to

the ground of neutrality which was adopted during the early history of

this country. The subject was then postponed until the 9th of March,

when Mr. Seward of New York, spoke upon it. He urged the absolute

independence of every State, and the duty of all States to recognize and

respect it. He entered upon a historical review of the connection of

Hungary and Austria to show that Hungary was fully entitled to this

right, and that it had been grossly violated when her freedom and

constitution were destroyed by the armed intervention of Russia. He then

urged that the United States, although recognizing the existing rule in

Hungary from motives of political necessity, can not be indifferent to

such usurpation, and may lawfully protest against it, and especially

against any new intervention should it be intended by Russia. He

referred to the diplomatic history of the United States to show that

this principle has always been recognized and practiced by them, and

insisted that there was no reason why it should now be abandoned. Upon

the conclusion of his speech the subject was postponed for a week.----A

debate of personal rather than general interest occurred in the Senate

on the 27th and 28th of February, between Mr. Rhett of South Carolina

and Mr. Clemens of Alabama. The former read a very long paper which he

had prepared to expose the political inconsistencies of Mr. Clemens, and

in which he used strong language in characterizing his course. Mr.

Clemens replied with passionate warmth and with increased vituperation

Their speeches have no general interest or importance.----In the _House

of Representatives_ discussion, although it has comprehended various

subjects, has grown mainly out of bills to appropriate public lands to

certain railroads in Missouri and Illinois. They have been debated with

a good deal of warmth, and almost every speaker has connected with them

the discussion of the Presidential question. In the course of the debate

a letter from Gen. William O. Butler, addressed to a personal friend,

was read, in which he declares his entire assent and approval of the

Compromise Measures of 1850. On the 1st of March, Mr. Fitch of Iowa

offered a resolution deprecating all further agitation of the questions

growing out of these measures as useless and dangerous: and a vote was

taken on a motion to suspend the rules so as to allow its introduction:

there were ayes 119, nays 74. As two-thirds were required to pass it,

the motion failed.----On the 20th of February a message was received

from the President, transmitting, in reply to a resolution of the House,

copies of the correspondence between the officers of the Mississippi and

the Government concerning Kossuth. It was quite voluminous, embracing

letters from other American functionaries as well as naval officers.

They show on the part of all of them a strong distrust of Kossuth's

plans and great dissatisfaction at the marks of respect paid to him at

the various ports on the Mediterranean, at which the Mississippi

touched. His returning thanks to the people at Marseilles who cheered

him, is especially censured.

The month has been marked by several literary discourses of more than

common interest. At the anniversary meeting of the New York Historical

Society, held on the 23d of February, Hon. Daniel Webster read an

elaborate paper upon the dignity and importance of History, and making

sundry detailed criticisms upon the historical writings of ancient and

modern historians. He dwelt somewhat minutely upon all the great writers

of Greece and Rome, and passed more hastily over those of England. He

sketched the early history of the United States, dwelling especially

upon the proceedings of the first Congress after the Constitution, and

pronouncing a high eulogy upon the great men to whose hands the

legislation of that important era was intrusted. He closed by alluding

to the dangers which had recently menaced the Union and the

Constitution, and declared himself ready to co-operate with those of

every party who would rally in their defense. The discourse was heard

with marked attention by an immense and intelligent audience.----On the

evening of the 27th, a very large meeting was held in New York to

testify regard for the memory of the late J. Fenimore Cooper. The

occasion was distinguished by the attendance, as presiding officer, of

Mr. Webster, and by the presence of a great number of distinguished

literary gentlemen. Mr. Webster made a brief address, expressing his

cordial interest in the occasion, and the high respect which he

entertained for the writings of Cooper, as being preeminent for their

thorough American feeling and high moral tone, as well as great

intellectual ability. William Cullen Bryant delivered a commemorative

address, rehearsing Mr. Cooper's life, and making passing criticisms

upon his successive works.----On the evening of March 8th, Archbishop

Hughes read a Lecture on the Catholic Chapter in the History of the

United States, the leading purpose of which was to show that in this

country no religious denomination has any claim to supremacy--that it is

neither Protestant nor Catholic--but that the Constitution prohibits all

legislation upon the subject, and that all stand upon precisely the same

level.----A Whig State Convention was held in Kentucky, at Frankfort, on

the 24th of February. Hon. Chilton Allan presided. A series of

resolutions was adopted, pronouncing in favor of the Compromise measures

of 1850, and of the course pursued by the President of the United States

in securing the execution of the laws. They also declared in favor of

public appropriations for internal improvements, against granting the

public lands to the States in which they lie, and in favor of

maintaining strict neutrality in the affairs of all foreign nations. The

Convention declared its willingness to abide by the nomination of a Whig

National Convention, but presented President Fillmore to the

consideration of that body, as a "statesman of such approved prudence,

experience, firmness, and wisdom as to unite the entire Whig vote of

Kentucky."----A large public meeting was held in New York, on the 5th of

March, of those in favor of the nomination of Mr. Webster for the

Presidency, subject to the decision of a National Whig Convention. Mr.

George Griswold presided. An address was adopted rehearsing the public

history of Mr. Webster, and referring to his services to the country in

the various public offices which he has held.----A Whig State Convention

in Indiana adopted resolutions nominating General Scott for the

Presidency.----Washington's birth-day was celebrated at the National

Capital by a banquet, got up mainly by members of Congress. Senator

Stockton presided, and speeches were made by several gentlemen--mainly

directed against the policy of intermeddling to any degree or for any

purpose in the affairs of foreign nations. Mr Clay, whose illness

prevented his attendance, wrote a letter, saying that the serious

efforts made to subvert the policy of neutrality established by

Washington, called for energetic measures of resistance. The attempts

made to induce this country to plunge, by perilous proceedings and

insensible degrees, in the wars of Europe, rendered it proper to recall

attention to his principles by celebrating his birth-day.

From CALIFORNIA we have intelligence to the 2d of February. Col. JOHN B.

WELLER (Democrat) has been elected United States Senator in place of

Col. Frémont. He was once candidate for Governor of Ohio and more

recently chief of the Mexican Boundary Commission.----Governor Bigler

has sent to the Legislature a special message, concerning the financial

affairs of the State, in which he urges upon the Legislature the early

adoption of measures to relieve the burden of the State's liabilities,

and exhibits the amount of her indebtedness. According to the

Controller's report, $1,000,000 still stands against the State from the

expenses of last year's military expeditions. The aggregate

indebtedness, civil and military, of the State, on the 31st December was

$2,242,339.74.----There had been no further disturbances from the

Indians, though further precautions against them had been taken by

sending troops into their neighborhood.----Hon. T. B. King has published

a letter recommending the relinquishment of the public lands to actual

settlers, and the confirmation by Congress of the rules established by

the miners themselves, defining the rights of those who may be employed

in the collection of gold, or who may invest capital in machinery for

the purpose of working the vein mines.----Intelligence from the mining

districts continues to be encouraging. The quartz mining companies are

generally doing well, though from defects in machinery some failures

have occurred. New discoveries continue to be made.

From OREGON our advices are to Jan. 24. The Legislature and Judiciary

disagree about the seat of government, part of the members meeting in

the place fixed by judicial decision, and others refusing to concur in

the decision and meeting elsewhere. The dispute has been transferred to

the people, by the adjournment of the Assembly on the 21st of Jan. It is

canvassed with great warmth and earnestness.----Some doubts having

arisen as to the true boundary line between Oregon and California, the

Surveyor-general has been directed to make the necessary observations to

determine it.

In the Territory of NEW MEXICO, from which we have news to Jan. 31st,

fresh Indian outrages have occurred. An escort of United States troops,

consisting of a sergeant and four men, was proceeding southward when

they were attacked by a band of Apaches in ambush, and four of the party

were killed; the other succeeded in making his escape. Four murders were

perpetrated also near Polvodera in the early part of January, and soon

after the Indians attacked a party of nine persons of whom they killed

five. The scene of these outrages is the desert region called the

Jornada, lying on the route from Santa Fé to Chihuahua. The daring

nature of the attacks of the several tribes of Indians had created great

alarm throughout the country. A body of troops had been sent out to

punish the Indians for these murders, but returned without

success.----Movements are in progress in Santa Fé to work the gold

placers known to exist in that vicinity. The chief difficulty has

hitherto arisen from the want of water for washing the dust: this is now

to be remedied by digging wells. A gold hunting company of forty men has

left Santa Fé for a thorough exploration of the Gila region: they

expected to find others on the way to join them, so as to swell their

number to a hundred and fifty which would be sufficient for

self-defense.

From UTAH the last California mail brought news that the Mormons at the

Great Salt Lake city had published a declaration of independence,

announcing their determination to setup a republic for themselves--that

they had put the United States' authorities at defiance--that all the

United States' officers had left, and the people were preparing to

resist all authority, by fortifying their settlements. The delegate in

Congress from Utah, Mr. John W. Bernhisel, published a card on the 1st

of March, pronouncing the report untrue, so far as the latest

intelligence from home which had reached him enabled him to give an

opinion. He said he thought the rumor was merely an exaggerated

statement of difficulties previously known. On the other hand, another

gentleman who left California on the 16th of December, expresses the

belief that the accounts are true. He says that the news was by no means

unexpected to the people of Oregon and California, as they had long been

aware of their hostile and ambitious designs. For decisive intelligence

we shall be obliged to wait for another arrival.

From NORTHERN MEXICO we have news of a renewed repulse of Carvajal, whom

our last Record left on the Rio Grande, recruiting his forces. General

Avalos fortified Matamoras against an expected attack, which had created

great alarm among the inhabitants. On the 20th of February Carvajal

attacked Camargo with a force of over 500 men, but he was repulsed with

decided loss. He succeeded in escaping to the American side of the Rio

Grande. Of his whole force it is stated that only 84 were Mexicans.

From SOUTH AMERICA we have intelligence of a later date. In _Venezuela_,

from which we have news to the 1st of February, Congress opened on the

25th of January. The Message of President Monagas announces a great

improvement in the financial condition of the country. All the

obligations on account of the public service have been met--the expenses

of the wars of 1848 and 1849 have been partially liquidated--the

interest on the domestic debt, which has not been satisfied since 1847,

has been paid, and the installments on the foreign debt, which have been

neglected for some years, have been promptly remitted to London--thus

improving the national credit abroad.----From the _La Plata_ we have

intelligence of an engagement, about the 1st of January, between the

forces of Rosas and Urquiza, which is said to have resulted in the

victory of the former, and in the desertion to his standard of five

thousand of Urquiza's troops. It is not easy to say how much of this is

reliable.----Political offenders in _Chili_ have been for some years

banished to the Straits of Magellan. An insurrection took place among

them lately, in which they killed the governor, seized the garrison, and

declared themselves independent of Chili. It is said that they have also

seized two or three American vessels.

GREAT BRITAIN.

The political events of the month in England have been of striking

interest and importance. The expulsion of Lord Palmerston from the

Cabinet, mainly for offenses against etiquette--the meeting of

Parliament, and the subsequent defeat and retirement of the Russell

Ministry, with the reinstatement of a Protectionist Cabinet, are

certainly events of more consequence than are usually crowded into a

single month.

Parliament met on the 3d of February, and was opened in person by the

Queen. Her speech announced that she continued to maintain the most

friendly relations with Foreign Powers. She had reason to believe that

the treaty between Germany and Denmark, concluded at Berlin year before

last, will soon be fully executed. Although tranquillity has prevailed

throughout the greater part of Ireland, certain parts of the counties of

Armagh, Monaghan, and Louth have been marked by the commission of

outrages of the most serious description. Bills have been prepared

founded upon the reports of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into

the practice and proceedings of the Superior Courts of Law and Equity,

which are commended to deliberate attention. The act of 1848 suspending

the previous act which conferred representative institutions on New

Zealand, expires early next year; and no reason exists for its renewal.

The large reductions of taxes which have taken place of late years have

not been attended with a proportionate diminution of national income.

The revenue of the past year has been fully adequate to the demands of

the public service, while the reduction of taxation has tended greatly

to the relief and comfort of the people. The Queen states that it

appears to her that "this is a fitting time for calmly considering

whether it may not be advisable to make such amendments in the act of

the late reign, relating to the Representation of the Commons in

Parliament, as may be deemed calculated to carry into more complete

effect the principles upon which that law is founded." She had "the

fullest confidence that, in any such consideration, Parliament would

firmly adhere to the acknowledged principles of the Constitution, by

which the prerogatives of the Crown, the authority of both Houses of

Parliament, and the rights and liberties of the people are equally

secured."

Previous to the meeting of Parliament, the public was taken completely

by surprise by the retirement of Lord Palmerston from the Ministry, and

the appointment of Earl Granville as his successor. In the House of

Commons explanations took place on the first day of the session. The

reply to the Queen's speech was moved by Sir Richard Bulkeley; but,

before the question was taken, Sir Benjamin Hall called upon the Premier

for explanations of the disruption of the Ministry. Lord John Russell

immediately entered upon the subject, and after declaring his former

confidence in Lord Palmerston's management of Foreign Affairs, and

stating that in 1835, and again in 1845 and 1846 he had strongly

recommended him for that department, went on to state his conception of

the position of the Foreign Secretary toward the Crown and the Prime

Minister. He believed it to be the duty of the Minister to give to the

Crown the most full and frank details of every measure, and either to

obey the instructions he may receive, or resign. It "did so happen," he

said, "that in 1850 precise terms were laid down in a communication from

the Queen to Lord Palmerston--in which Her Majesty required, first, that

Lord Palmerston should distinctly state what he proposes in a given

case, in order that the Queen may know as distinctly to what she is

giving her Royal sanction; and, secondly, that having once given her

sanction to a measure, that it be not arbitrarily altered or modified by

the Minister. The Queen further expected to be kept informed of what

passes between the Foreign Secretary and the Foreign Ministers, before

important decisions are taken based upon that intercourse--to receive

the foreign dispatches in good time, and to have the drafts for her

approval sent to her in sufficient time to make herself acquainted with

their contents before they must be sent off."--In reply to this

communication, Lord Palmerston said he would not fail to attend to the

directions which it contained.--As for the Prime Minister, Lord John

Russell said he considered him, in fact, responsible for the business of

the department. At a meeting of the Cabinet, on the 3d of November, Lord

John expressed his opinion on the situation of Europe, which he deemed

very critical. There was a prospect of seeing social democracy, or

absolute power triumphant on the Continent; and in either case the

position of England would be very critical. He thought it necessary,

therefore, for England to preserve a strict neutrality, and to exercise

the utmost vigilance to prevent any cause of offense being given. Yet

very soon after that, Lord Palmerston received a deputation, and

listened to addresses containing expressions in the highest degree

offensive to sovereigns in alliance with England. Still Lord John said

he was willing to take the responsibility for all this, as he thought

the Secretary had merely committed an error.--The next cause of

difference occurred immediately after the usurpation of Louis Napoleon

on the 2d of December. The next day a cabinet meeting was held, at which

a request was presented from Lord Normanby, the English Minister at

Paris, that he might be furnished with instructions as to the

continuance of diplomatic relations with the new Government. In

conformity with the decision then made, Lord Palmerston, on the 5th,

instructed him to make no change in his relations with the French

government. On the 6th, Lord Normanby wrote saying that he had called on

M. Turgot, the French Minister, and informed him of this decision, to

which M. Turgot replied that it was of less consequence as he had two

days since heard from M. Walewski, the French Minister in London, that

Lord Palmerston had expressed to him his entire approbation of the act

of the President, and his conviction that he could not have acted

otherwise than he had done. On seeing this dispatch, Lord John asked

Lord Palmerston for an explanation, but got no answer. On the 13th of

December, he received a letter from the Queen, requesting an

explanation; but Lord Palmerston maintained the same disdainful silence.

On the 17th, he received another dispatch from Lord Normanby to Lord

Palmerston, complaining that Lord Palmerston should use one language in

his instructions to him and another to the French Minister in London,

and that while enjoining him not to express any opinion of French

politics, he should himself have expressed a very decided judgment. Such

a course, he added, subjected him to misrepresentation and suspicion.

Lord Palmerston, in reply to this, stated that Lord Normanby's

instructions related only to his conduct, and not to opinions: but that

if he wished to know Lord Palmerston's opinion concerning French

affairs, it was, that "such a state of antagonism had arisen between the

President and the Assembly, that it was becoming every day more clear

that their coexistence could not be of long duration; and it seemed to

him better for the interests of France, and through them for the

interests of the rest of Europe, that the power of the President should

prevail, inasmuch as the continuance of his authority might afford a

prospect of the maintenance of social order in France, whereas the

divisions of opinions and parties in the Assembly appeared to betoken

that their victory over the President would be the starting-point for

disastrous civil strife." Lord John Russell said that this dispatch

contained no satisfactory explanation of Lord Palmerston's course; that

the merits of the French government had now nothing to do with the case:

but that the real question was, whether the Secretary of State was

entitled of his own authority, to write a dispatch, as the organ of the

Government, in which his colleagues had never concurred, and to which

the Queen had never given her sanction. He thought, therefore, that he

could not without degrading the Crown, advise her Majesty longer to

retain Lord Palmerston in the Foreign department, and he had accordingly

advised her to request his resignation, which she had done. In

continuing his remarks Lord John expressed his belief that the President

of France had acted under a belief that the course he had taken was the

one best calculated to insure the welfare of his country; and proceeded

to censure the course of the English press toward Louis Napoleon, as

calculated to excite the animosity of the French nation, and perhaps to

involve the two countries in war. Lord Palmerston replied in a very

moderate tone, substantially admitting the truth of Lord John's

statements, though denying the justice of his inferences. He repelled

the intimation that he had abandoned the principles he had always

maintained--that he had become the advocate of absolute power, or in

favor of the abolition of Constitutional governments. He concurred in

what Lord John had said of the relations that ought to exist between the

Foreign Secretary and the Crown, and said he had done nothing

inconsistent with them. In regard to the deputation he had received, he

admitted that he had been surprised into a false position. His delay in

answering the letters of Lord John Russell had been entirely owing to

the great pressure of business; and his expressions of opinion

concerning Louis Napoleon were unofficial and in conversation. Other

members of the cabinet had expressed the same opinions, and under

circumstances quite as objectionable, certainly, as those under which

his own conversation was held. Lord Palmerston rehearsed the outlines of

the policy he had pursued in managing the foreign relations of Great

Britain, and concluded by saying that, on quitting office, he left the

character and reputation of England unsullied, and standing high among

the nations of the world.----In the House of Lords the debates following

the reading of the Queen's speech, had greater incidental than direct

interest. The Earl of Derby took occasion to speak in very strong terms

of what he termed "the injudicious and unjustifiable language of a large

portion of the English press upon the French government." He insisted

that it was the duty of the press to maintain the same tone of

moderation in discussing public affairs which is required of public men;

and he styled it worse than folly for the press in one breath to provoke

a French invasion, and in the next to proclaim the unpreparedness of the

English people to meet it. He was followed by Earl Grey, who expressed

his hearty concurrence in what he had said of the press, as did also

Lord Brougham. The London journals, and among them pre-eminently the

_Times_ and the _Examiner_, have taken up the challenge thus thrown

down, and have vindicated the press from the censures of the Lords in

some of the ablest writing of the day.

On the 9th, Lord John Russell introduced his new Reform Bill. Its

provisions may be very briefly stated. The £10 franchise was to be

reduced to £5; the £50 county franchise gives way to one of £20; that of

copyholders and long leaseholders is to be reduced from £10 to £5; and a

new class of voters is to be created out of those who, resident in

either county or borough, pay direct taxes to the amount of 40

shillings. In 67 boroughs additions are proposed to the electoral

boundaries; the property qualification is to be abolished, and the oaths

of members to be put in such a form as to create no invidious

distinctions. A member taking office under the crown vacates his seat;

but if he merely changes it, he may retain his representative capacity.

The Premier made a speech upon the subject, over an hour in length, and

remarkably free from feeling of any sort. The main objections urged to

the bill are that it does not concede the ballot, that it does not

remedy the evils of unequal representation, and that the changes it does

make in the existing law are of very little importance. Notice has been

given of an intention to move amendments to the bill which would remedy

these defects.----On the 19th, Lord Naas proposed a resolution severely

censuring the Earl of Clarendon's employment of the _World_ newspaper to

support the government, as being "of a nature to weaken the authority of

the executive, and to reflect discredit on the administration of public

affairs." The Earl was defended warmly by Lords Russell and Palmerston,

both of whom urged that, irregular as the proceeding might have been, it

was of trifling consequence compared with his lordship's eminent

services to the country. The resolution was rejected 229 to 137.----On

the 16th, Lord John Russell introduced a bill for the establishment of a

local militia force. He gave a sketch of the recent history of the

military organization of England, and set forth the reasons which, in

his judgment, rendered it important that some more effectual provision

should be made for the defense of the country against possible

hostilities. The general provisions of the bill were that persons of the

age of 20 and 21 years should be subject to being balloted for as

militia men--that one-fifth of the whole number should be chosen--and

that they should be drilled for 14 or 28 days each year. The entire

force thus raised, he thought, would be about 70,000 the first year,

100,000 the second, and 130,000 after that; the forces could not be

taken out of their own counties, without their consent, except in case

of invasion or danger. The subject was very slightly discussed at that

time, but came up again on the 20th, when Lord John Russell again spoke

in support of the bill. Lord Palmerston expressed his entire concurrence

in the principle of the bill, but moved as an amendment, to strike out

the word _local_ from the title, in order to make the title correspond

with the character of the bill itself. Lord John Russell said he could

not understand the object of such a motion, and that he should oppose

it. After some further debate the amendment was put and carried, ayes

136, noes 125, showing a majority against the Ministry of 11. Lord John

Russell expressed great surprise at the vote, and said that he should

hold office no longer. The resignation of the Ministry under such

circumstances created a good deal of surprise. In the course of three or

four days a new cabinet was formed under the leadership of the Earl of

Derby--late Lord Stanley--which is thoroughly Protectionist in its

sentiments. The Earl is Prime Minister; Mr. Disraeli is Chancellor of

the Exchequer and leader in the House of Commons; Mr. G. F. Young is

Vice President of the Board of Trade; Duke of Northumberland, first Lord

of the Admiralty; Lord John Manners, Commissioner of Woods and Forests;

Sir F. Thesiger, Attorney General; Earl of Eglintoun, Lord Lieutenant of

Ireland; Duke of Montrose, Lord Steward; Lord Stanley, Under Secretary

for Foreign Affairs. It is supposed that the new Ministry will break

ground at once against the corn-law policy established by Sir Robert

Peel, hostility to which is the only bond of union among its members;

and the universal belief is that the new administration will fail to be

sustained by the country on that question.

One of the earliest topics to which the attention of the Earl of

Granville, Lord Palmerston's immediate successor, was called, was the

degree of protection which England should afford to political refugees

from other countries. In reply to representations on this subject from

the Austrian Government, Earl Granville, in a dispatch dated January 13,

spoke of the right of asylum which England always had granted, and could

never refuse to political refugees; and added that the English

government would, nevertheless, consider any intrigues, carried on there

against governments with which they were at peace, as a breach of

hospitality, and would not fail to watch the conduct of suspected

refugees, and to prevent them from abusing the privileges afforded them

by English laws. Prince Schwarzenberg, in reply, expressed satisfaction

at the tenor of these assurances, but said, that until the words of the

English government were followed by deeds, it would be necessary for

Austria to take measures of precaution and protection against the

dangers which the ceaseless machinations of foreign refugees on English

soil created. The Imperial government would be especially rigid in

regard to English travelers, and would, moreover, reserve the right of

taking into consideration ulterior measures, if, unhappily, the need of

them should still make itself felt.----A terrible disaster from floods

occurred in the north of England on the 5th of February. Several of the

factories of the town of Holmfrith, near Huddersfield, were supplied

with water by large reservoirs, in which an immense body of water had

been accumulated. Owing to the heavy rains one of the largest of them

broke its banks, and the water poured through the town, sweeping houses

away in its path and causing an immense loss of life and property. Over

one hundred persons were drowned. Very great injury had been sustained

by other towns in that vicinity. In the south of Ireland also,

especially in the counties of Limerick and Clare, much property and some

lives have been lost by the swelling of the smaller streams.----The

dispatches of Earl Grey recalling Sir Harry Smith from the government of

the Cape, have been published: they show that his incompetence for the

post has been the real cause of his removal, and that the policy of the

government is to prosecute the war with increased vigor, so as to reduce

the Kaffirs and Hottentots to unconditional submission.----We mentioned

in our Record for March, the repulse of the English slave squadron while

attempting to ascend the river, to the town of Lagos, on the coast of

Africa, contrary to the commands of the chief. Later advices report the

renewal of the attempt, and the overthrow of the chief's authority,

though at a very heavy cost on the part of the English. The town of

Lagos has long been the stronghold of the slave trade on that part of

the coast, and the English have directed their efforts toward the

suppression of the traffic there. The chief of the town named Kosoko,

was actively engaged in the trade himself, in connection with Portugese

and Brazilian dealers. He had obtained power by expelling a rival named

Akitoye, who sought aid against him in an alliance with the English.

When Kosoko, therefore, refused permission to the English to bring their

armed boats to Lagos, the commander of the squadron concerted an attack

upon the town, with the adherents of the expelled chief. The town was

defended with a good deal of skill and bravery, and the assault upon it

lasted three days, at the end of which time it was found to have been

deserted. The English lost 16 killed and 64 wounded. It is said that the

destruction of this town will do much toward the suppression of the

slave trade.----A new expedition in search of Sir John Franklin has been

resolved upon by the British Government, and Sir Edward Belcher has been

appointed to the command. He will leave England about the middle of

April, with the four ships which composed Captain Austin's late

expedition. His attention will first be directed to Beechey Island,

where Sir John is known to have passed the winter of 1845-6. The great

object of this new expedition is to examine the upper part of Wellington

Strait as far as possible beyond Captain Penny's northwest advance.

FRANCE.

Political affairs in France remain substantially unchanged. The law

organizing the Legislative body has been published. The Legislature is

to consist of 261 deputies, elected by the people, in the proportion of

one for every 35,000 electors in the first instance, with one more

deputy for every 25,000 beyond that number. Algeria and the Colonies are

not to be represented. All electors are eligible except public

functionaries. Every Frenchman of the age of twenty-one, who has not

forfeited his civil rights, has the vote.----We mentioned in our last

Record the protest of the testamentary executors of Louis Philippe

against the decree of confiscation, issued by the President. The Princes

of Orleans--the Duke de Nemours, and the Prince de Joinville--have

addressed a letter of thanks to the executors, in which they resent with

becoming indignation the insults heaped upon the memory of their father,

which they say are "especially odious when brought forward by a man who

on two different occasions received proofs of the magnanimity of King

Louis Philippe, and whose family never received any thing from him but

benefits." To the honor of the country which they had always loyally

served and would ever love, they say, "these disgraceful decrees, and

their still more disgraceful preambles, have not dared to appear except

under the _régime_ of a state of siege, and after the suppression of all

the guaranties which protected the liberties of the nation." The Duchess

of Orleans has also addressed the following brief and indignant protest

to the President:--"Monsieur--As I do not acknowledge your right to

plunder my family, neither do I acknowledge your right to assign to me a

dotation in the name of France. I refuse the dowry.--HELENA

D'ORLEANS."----The new Ministry of Police has been organized by decree.

The Minister is to have attached to his office three directors-general,

who are to appoint inspector-general, special inspectors, and

commissaries of police in the departments. Prominent among the duties of

all of these officials are those of watching and reporting every attempt

to influence public opinion against the government, keeping a close eye

on the press and on publications of every sort--upon theatres, prisons,

schools, and political and commercial associations. They are all to be

under the immediate direction and control of the Minister of Police. The

organization spreads a complete network of precaution over every form of

public opinion in France.----Louis Napoleon gave a magnificent

entertainment to a large number of the English nobility at Paris, on the

1st of February, at the Elysée---the whole party numbering 44. It is

stated that after the dinner was over, he took occasion to complain of

the attacks upon him in the English press, and to say that he should be

obliged to exclude them from France. He also spoke of the rumors that he

intended to invade England as absurd.----Jerome Bonaparte is appointed

President of the Senate, with the _petit_ Luxembourg as his official

residence in Paris, the Palace of Meudon for his country-seat, and a

salary of 150,000 francs, besides 800,000 francs for entertaining, a

year.----It is stated that Madame George Sand recently had an interview

with the President, and made very strong representations to him of the

sufferings of the peasantry in the rural districts from the immense

number of arrests that had been made of suspected persons, and urgently

requesting him to grant a general amnesty. The President is said to have

expressed great interest in the subject, but to have declined any

compliance with the request.----The decree for the regulation of the

press has been promulgated. It is almost needless to say that it

destroys every semblance of freedom of the press, and makes it a mere

subservient tool in the hands of the Government. It consists of four

chapters, and the following are their provisions: (1.) No journal can be

published without first obtaining permission of the Government; nor can

any foreign journal be admitted into France except by the same

permission: and any person bringing into France an unauthorized paper

will be liable to a year's imprisonment and to a fine of 5000 francs.

Every publisher must deposit caution-money, from 15,000 to 50,000

francs, before he can issue a paper, under heavy penalties. (2.) Stamp

duties are imposed upon all journals whether published in France, or

introduced from other countries; and the authorities are enjoined to

seize all publications violating these regulations. (3.) Every violation

of the article of the Constitution which prohibits Legislative reports,

is punishable by fine of from 1000 to 5000 francs. The publication of

false news subjects to a fine, and if it be of a tendency to disturb the

public peace, imprisonment is added. No account of the proceedings of

the Senate or Council of State, and no report of trials for press

offenses, can be published; and in all affairs, civil, correctional, or

criminal, the courts may forbid the publication of their proceedings.

Every editor is bound to publish official documents, relations, and

rectifications which may be addressed to him by any public authority; if

he fail to do so, he may be fined and his journal seized No one can

carry on the bookseller's trade, or issue or sell engravings, medals, or

prints of any kind, without obtaining permission of the authorities, and

becoming subject to the same restrictions as are imposed upon journals.

(4.) With regard to existing journals, three months are allowed for them

to deposit the caution money required, and to conform to the other

provisions of the new law.----The President, by decree, has abolished

all fête days except the birth-day of the Emperor, on the ground that

their celebration recalls the remembrance of civil discord; and that the

only one observed should be that which best tends to unite all minds in

the common sentiment of national glory----The Paris correspondent of the

London _Times_ reports that a correspondence of general interest has

taken place between the governments of France and Russia. It is said

that the Czar wrote to his minister in Paris, expressing dissatisfaction

at the adoption by the President of the emblems of the Empire, stating

that he saw in all these movements the preliminaries of the

re-establishment of the Imperial era. While he approved of the _coup

d'état_ which had put an end to republicanism in France, he could only

regard Louis Napoleon as the temporary chief, and could not approve any

attempt to give another and more important character to his authority.

It is said that Louis Napoleon replied to this note, when it was read to

him, by complaining that his intentions had been misunderstood and

misrepresented;--that, in re-establishing the emblems of the Empire, and

in reverting to the constitution of the year VIII., he only meant to

establish a strong authority in his hands; that the recollections of the

Empire constituted his strength, and invested him with popularity among

the masses; that there was nothing astonishing in the fact of his

seeking in the institutions of the Empire what was certain to

re-establish authority in France; that he had no intention of

re-establishing the Empire, or of making himself Emperor; that he did

not want either, for the accomplishment of the mission to which he had

been called; that his title of President sufficed for him; that he had

no reason to trouble himself about an Imperial dynasty which has no

existence; and that there was no reason for the Emperor Nicholas

troubling himself about it.

The relations of France to Belgium are assuming a character of

considerable interest and importance. The fact that most of the exiled

Frenchmen found refuge in Belgium, excited the fears of the government

that they would thence exert a dangerous influence upon French affairs.

Strong representations were therefore made to the Belgian authorities,

who have adopted every possible means of satisfying the French

government, by suppressing distrusted journals, exercising strict

vigilance over refugees, and ordering many of them out of the country,

or away from Brussels. It is also stated that the Duke of Bassano, the

new French envoy to the Belgian court, has been authorized to demand

from that government the removal of the monumental lion erected by the

British government to commemorate the battle of Waterloo, and to

demolish the other trophies. The rumors of hostile designs on the part

of Louis Napoleon, have led to the publication of an official denial in

the _Moniteur_. That article states that the French government has

addressed no demands whatever to foreign powers, excepting Belgium,

where it was necessary, in order to prevent a system of incessant

aggression. It has not armed a single soldier, neither has it done any

thing to awaken the least susceptibility in its neighbors. All the views

of the power in France are bent upon interior improvements. "It will not

depart from its calm demeanor, except on the day when an attack shall

have been made on the national honor and dignity." The London _Morning

Chronicle_ states, as a fact of considerable historical interest, that,

as early as 1849, Louis Napoleon distinctly solicited General Changamier

to join with him in such a usurpation as he has since achieved, offering

to make him Constable of France, with a million of francs a year and the

palace of the Elysée for a residence; and that he was met by a

peremptory refusal.

SPAIN.

An attempt to assassinate the Queen of Spain was made by a priest named

Martin Marino, on the 2d of February. The Queen was proceeding along the

principal gallery of her palace toward the grand staircase, intending to

go out upon a fête occasion, for which splendid preparations had been

made, when she was approached by the priest, who kneeled to present a

memorial. Her Majesty reached out her hand to take it, when he suddenly

drew a dirk and made a stab at her side. Her arm, however, partially

averted the blow, though she was severely wounded. She leaned against

the wall, and one of her aids came up just in time to prevent a second

blow. The assassin was arrested and confessed the crime--saying that his

object was to render a service to humanity; and denying that he had any

accomplices. He was tried on the 3d, and sentenced to death by

strangulation. On the 7th, he was executed by the _garote vil_. He

conducted himself with the most brutal indifference, refusing any of the

usual offices of religion, and abusing all who came near him. The Queen

suffered considerably from the wound, but was convalescent at the last

accounts. Several arrests had been made, of persons suspected of having

been concerned as accomplices with him, but no evidence was found to

implicate any.

CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE.

No events of special importance have occurred in any of the continental

nations. All the governments seem to be more or less agitated by rumors

of differences with England and France, and their policy is somewhat

affected by them. The suspicion of hostile intentions on the part of

Louis Napoleon toward Belgium has enlisted a good deal of suspicion, and

letters from Brussels, dated the 19th February, state positively that a

convention had been entered into, by which Russia agrees to furnish

100,000 men for the defense of that territory in case it should be

invaded or seriously menaced by France. Prussia has also promised

similar assistance, and the Prince de Ligne is said to be now in Berlin

for the purpose of arranging the details. These important statements,

however, do not seem to be made on authority sufficient to command full

credit.

In AUSTRIA, it is said, that Prince Schwartzenberg is preparing a

general statement of the views of Austria concerning the state of

Europe, and an indication of the line of policy which she will pursue.

The mediation of Austria between Sardinia and the Pope has also been

proposed, and amicable relations are again to be established between the

Sardinian and Austrian governments. A new treaty has been concluded, by

which Austria is to supply Russia annually with large quantities of

salt.

In SWITZERLAND the only movements of importance relate to the demand

made by the French government that the Council should promise hereafter

to expel any fugitive who might be designated as dangerous. The Federal

Government, while firmly refusing to enter into any such engagement,

avowed its readiness to take all proper and necessary precautions

against the sojourn of political refugees in Switzerland becoming a

source of disquietude to neighboring states. An official report on the

subject states that in June last there were but 235 political refugees

in the Swiss states, and that they were all under the strict

_surveillance_ of the police. Those who had taken any active steps

likely to compromise the interests of other states, had been promptly

expelled. There was a great deal of public interest manifested

throughout Switzerland concerning the relations between their country

and France, and considerable apprehension prevailed that their rights

and liberties might not always be rigidly respected.

The government of the Duchy of HOLSTEIN was formally transferred by the

Commissaries of Prussia and Austria to the Commissary of Denmark, Count

Reventlow-Criminil, on the 8th of February, in an official conference

held at Kiel.

In both GREECE and TURKEY there have been changes of Ministry. In the

former country the change has no general importance. In Turkey, it is

significant of reaction. Reschid Pacha, the most liberal and enlightened

minister ever placed at the head of affairs in the Ottoman empire, has

been dismissed, and is succeeded by Raaf Pacha, a man upward of eighty

years of age, who was prime minister in 1838. The negotiation in regard

to the Holy Sepulchre has been abandoned, and the French minister was to

leave Constantinople forthwith.

Editor's Table.

Science, it has been said, is essentially unpoetical. It must be

acknowledged, nevertheless, that it not unfrequently furnishes some of

our choicest similes. Homer had, indeed, long ago compared thought to

the lightning; but how much more definite, and, on this account, more

effective, is the kindred simile drawn from the discovery of the modern

electric telegraph. And yet, is there not here something more than

simile? Is not the communication from soul to soul literally, as well as

figuratively _tele-graphic_, that is, _far-writing_, or _writing from

afar_? We hope to interest our readers by a brief examination of the

query we have started.

An identity might, perhaps, be shown in the very medium of

communication, so far as the process has a material medium. There is no

difficulty, and no danger, in admitting that the electric fluid may be

the agent in the cerebral and organic transmission, as well as in the

galvanic battery. But it is mainly in the process itself that we may

trace the striking correspondence between the two modes of intelligence.

The primary element of all thought is a spiritual _emotion_. The end

of all communication, mediate or immediate, is to produce the same

emotion or feeling in another soul. To this every other step is

subordinate. Even thought is not so much an end, in itself, as is the

spiritual feeling, or exercise of soul corresponding to it. This

spiritual emotion, then, must first be brought under the form of a

conception, or an objective picture, without which it can not be

distinctly read and understood, even by the soul in which it first

exists, much less communicated to another. So far the process is

strikingly the same with that adopted in the telegraphic dispatch. The

soul, by its own spiritual energy, first turns the emotion or feeling

into a thought. It translates the thought from the abstract to the

concrete, from the intuitional to the conceptive. It brings it down into

the soul's chamber of imagery, and imprints it on the brain. In other

words, the message is reduced to writing and given to the clerk at the

station-house, who translates it into telegraphic signals. The more

immediate transmitting power is now set in operation. An influence is

imparted from the brain to the nerves (or wires) of the vocal organs. It

is continued to the lungs, and sets in motion a current of air. This

impinges on the outward atmosphere, and is carried on through successive

undulations until it reaches the other station for which it was

designed. It enters the office-chamber of the ear, communicates with the

other cerebral battery, and then writes off from the auditory nerve or

wire, the signals which, by the other logical and linguistic faculty, or

the clerk at the second station, are translated into the pictorial

symbols understood by all, and thus written on the second brain. The

spiritual inhabitant to whom it is directed, again translates it, in a

reverse order, from the verbal to the conceptive, from the conceptive to

the emotional--the intuition is spiritually _seen_--the emotion is

_felt_--and thus the circuit is completed.

This is substantially the process every time we hold intercourse by

means of speech. The operation is ever imperfect in all, and more

imperfect in some than in others. We make mistakes in translating our

own intuitions and emotions. We make still greater mistakes in taking

off from the wires, and in re-translating the conceptual language which

brings to us the feelings and intuitions of others. But there is no

other way. The author of our spiritual and material constitution hath

literally _shut us up_ to this, and we can not get out of the limits

within which He has confined our intercourse with other spirits.

Clairvoyance boasts of having broken through them, or over them; but

clairvoyance is yet a fact to be established. Even, too, if it has any

claims upon our belief, it will doubtless be found, in the end, to be

only a stenographic shortening of some of the steps, without being, in

reality, any more an _immediate_ action of mind upon mind than the

ordinary process.

Spirit can only communicate with spirit through outward symbols, and by

more or less steps, all of which may be regarded as _outward_ to the

most interior effect. By long familiarity this circuitous chain assumes

to us the appearance of directness. But in truth we never see each

other; we never hear each other; if by the terms be meant our very

_self_--our very spiritual form, our very spiritual voice. Even to our

human soul may be accommodated without irreverence the language which

Paul applies to the Deity. Even of us it may be said, although in a far

lower sense, "_Our invisible things are only understood by the things

that are done_," even our temporal power and humanity. Each soul is

_shut up_ in an isolation as perfect, in one sense, as that which

separates the far distant worlds in the universe. Had there been round

each one of us a wall of adamant a thousand feet in thickness, with only

the smallest capillary apertures through which to carry the wires of

telegraphic signals, we could not, as to the essential action of the

spirit, be more secluded than we are at present. We say the essential,

or first action of the soul--for doubtless there may be various degrees

of difficulty or facility in the modes of mediate communication. But in

this more spiritual sense each one of us exists by himself. We live

apart in utter loneliness. The seclusion of each spirit knows no

infraction. Its perfect solitude has never been invaded by any foreign

intrusion.

To one who deeply reflects on the fact to which we have been calling

attention, the first feeling, and a just feeling too, might be one of

pride. The dignity of our nature would seem enhanced by such a

constitution. Each man's "mind is his kingdom," in which he may be as

autocratic as he wills. It makes even the lowest in the scale of

humanity such an absolute sovereign within his own spiritual boundaries,

so perfectly secure, if he please, against all foreign intervention. It

sets in so striking a light what in its physical and etymological,

rather than its moral sense, may be styled the _holiness_--_the

wholeness_, _hale-ness_, or _separate integrity_ of each man's essential

being. It is in this point of view, too, that to every hale mind the

pretensions of clairvoyance must appear so inexpressibly revolting. We

allude to its assumption of having the power of committing what, for the

want of a better name, we can only characterize as spiritual

burglary--in other words, of breaking into our spiritual house, and

taking its seat in the very shrine of the interior consciousness. What

can be more degrading to our human nature than to admit that any other

human power, or human will, can at any time, and from any motive, even

for purposes of the most frivolous amusement, actually enter this inner

sanctuary, turning the immortal spirit into a paltry show-house, and

rudely invading, or pretending to invade, the soul's essential glory,

its sacred and unapproachable individuality?

There is, however, another aspect of the thought in which it may give

rise to a very different, if not an opposite emotion. There may be, too,

at times, a feeling of the deepest melancholy called out by that other

consideration of our spiritual solitude, of our being so utterly alone

upon the earth--a feeling which has never been set forth with so much

power and, at the same time, truthful simplicity, as in the touching

language of inspiration--"_The heart knoweth its own bitterness, and a

stranger meddleth not with its joy._" And then, again, although we would

in general shrink from it as a painful ordeal, there are periods when we

long for a more searching communion with other spirits than can ever be

expected from the most intimate methods of mediate intercourse. There

are periods when we are irresistibly drawn out to say--O that some other

soul were acquainted with us as we think we are acquainted with

ourselves, not only with our fancied virtues and our mere real sins, as

they appear imperfectly manifested by misinterpreted signals from

within, but with our very soul itself. Yes, there is sadness in the

thought that we are so unknown, even to those who would be thought to

know us best--unknown alike in that which makes us better as in that

which makes us worse than we seem;--for we are all better, and we are

all worse than we appear to our fellow-men.

And here, we think, may be found an argument for the existence of Deity,

built on stronger and more assuring ground than is furnished by any of

the ordinary positions of natural theology. It is an argument derived

from one of the most interior wants of our moral constitution. There is

no doubt that in our fallen state a feeling of pain--at times of intense

pain--may connect itself in our minds with the recognition of the Divine

idea; but there is also an element of happiness, and, if cherished, of

the highest and most serious happiness, in the thought that there is One

Great Soul that does penetrate into our most interior spirituality.

There is one Soul that is ever as intimately present with us as our own

consciousness--that holds communion with us, and with whom we may hold

communion, in a manner impossible for any other. There is One that

thinks our thoughts, and feels our feelings, even as we think them, and

as we feel them, although, along with this, in another manner, too, of

its own, that transcends our thinking "even as the heavens are high

above the earth," and is as far removed from all the imperfections of

our own spiritual exercises. There may seem an inconsistency in this

apparent mingling of the finite and the infinite in the Divine Nature,

but it is the belief of both which unlocks for us the meaning of the

Scriptures, and sheds light over every page of revelation and of

providence. There is a higher Soul that pervades our spiritual entity,

not as an impersonal or pantheistic abstraction, but as the most

distinctly personal of all personalities--not as a mere Law of nature,

but as a Father "who careth for us," as a Guardian "who numbereth the

very hairs of our heads," as a Judge who taketh note of every thought,

and gives importance to all our forgotten sins, while He is, at the same

time, present with, and caring for every other individual soul in the

universe. As in some previous musings of our Editorial Table, we might

have adverted to the Divine physical power as the ever-present dynamical

entity in the seeming vacuities of space, and binding together the

isolated material worlds, so here we may regard the Higher Spiritual

Presence as the true bond of union among all those isolated souls that

fill the spiritual universe. Thus viewed, the fact of such communion

would be the highest truth in philosophy, as a belief in the reality of

its possible consciousness would be the highest article of faith.

HISTORY IS PHILOSOPHY TEACHING BY EXAMPLE.

The thought has been deemed so profound as to give rise to some

discussion respecting its origin. As a definition, however, the maxim is

liable to serious objection. It presents, rather, the uses, or the chief

use, of history, than the essential idea. The individual memory may also

be said to be _philosophy teaching by example_; but then it becomes only

another name for that experience which is but the application of

remembered facts to the guidance of the future life. So history may be

called THE WORLD'S MEMORY--the memory of a race--of a nation--of a

collective humanity.

It is in vain, then, for us to say what facts, in themselves, _ought_ to

constitute history. The matter is settled. It is not what any

philosophy, or any theology, or any science of history may deem _worthy_

of remembrance, but what has actually been thus remembered, or is now so

entering into the common mind as to form the ground of memory in the

future. The parallelism in this respect between the individual and this

national, or common mind, is striking and complete. The true history of

each man is not so much what he has done, as what he has thought and

felt. The thought is the _form_ of the feeling, and the act merely the

outward testimony by which both are revealed. It is not, therefore,

every act, or _doing_, which enters into his history--not even those

which have formed the greater part of his constant daily exercise--but

simply such as for any reason have made the deepest impression on the

inner man, and which, therefore, stand out in the records of his memory

when all else has perished. What this chronicles is the man's veritable

history. However important other parts of his conduct may appear

externally, this is his true spiritual life. It is the record, the

imperishable record of that which has reached and stirred the depths of

his soul, while other acts, and other events, have had their lodgment

only in the outward un-emotional existence.

Such memory, or such history, may not be what it ought to have been; it

may not be the measure of accountability. All that we insist upon is the

fact, that, whether right or wrong, it is the true history of the

individual, because it is his real life. But then there are degrees of

memory. It is not always, in all its parts, either present to the mind,

or capable of recall at will. Still, what has once in this manner truly

_affected_ his soul, has by this become a part of it, and can,

therefore, never be lost. Like some old historical record it may be laid

aside for a season, but sooner or later must it come forth, and claim

its place as belonging to that individual personality into which it

enters as a constituent and inseparable portion.

The parallel may be traced to almost any extent. Like the memory of our

earliest years, so is the dawning history of a young world or nation,

except so far as positive revelation has shed its light upon it. Both

are _mythical_. In other words, facts are remembered, not as they are in

themselves, but as seen through the magnifying and coloring influence of

the emotional medium with which they are ever afterward associated. Like

stars observed through a densely refracting atmosphere, they stand

apart, each in its own seclusion, and hence they loom upon the vision

without any of those mutually connecting associations that belong to our

subsequent thinking. There is, too, in both cases, the same

chronicler--the pure remembrance, a _tradition_ unaided by any of those

outward helps that are afterward employed. At a later period more

regular annals succeed this mythic handing down of isolated facts. The

state has its formal remembrancer, its [Greek: syngrapheus], or

historical _arranger_ of events in a _connected_ story, and in their

mutual relations. Corresponding to this, then, arises in the individual

that orderly habit of thinking which produces associations, having a

similar effect in causing a stricter union between the outer and inner

relations of the soul.

Again, there are times when the man gets to himself what may be called

an _artificial_ memory. He would change the natural flow of thought,

and determine what he _will_ remember, and what he _ought_ to

remember--forgetting that before he can effectually do this he must be

changed himself in the innermost springs of his being. He studies

mnemonics. He manufactures new laws of association. But this effort ever

fails in the end. Nature will have her way. The old course of memory

will return; and with it the spiritual history of the man will go on as

before.

So, too, the state or nation may have its artificial periods, and its

systems of political mnemonics. The mythical, the epic, the heroic, and

not only these, but the later, yet not less thrilling chronicles of

stirring events that carried with them the whole heart of the national

humanity, give way to statistics, and documents of trade, or tables of

revenue, or in a word, to what are deemed the more important records of

_political economy_. Here, too, there may be an attempt to change the

course of nature, and make that to be history which never can be such,

except at the expense of some of those attributes, which, although

liable to great and dangerous perversions, are still the noblest parts

of our humanity.

Such artificial records of history may be highly useful in their

connection with the interests of particular classes and occupations. The

time also may come in which they may gather around them an antiquarian

value, blending with some of the more universal emotions of our common

nature. But aside from this, although they may furnish rich materials

for other departments of useful knowledge, they are not history, simply

because they lack that catholic element, by which alone they enter into

the common memory, and thus become a part of the common national mind.

Some say the world has heretofore been all wrong in the matter. History

has been but a record of wars, of tumultuous national movements, of

theological dogmas, of religious and political excitements. It has been

but the biography of monarchs and royal families, or a narrative of

popular commotions as connected with them. It has presented us only with

names of isolated pre-eminence. The time has now come when we "must

change all that." The daily pursuits of the masses, and all the

statistics of ordinary life--these ought to have been history, and good

writers will henceforth make them so, not only for our times, but for

the periods that are past. "The history of the world," it has been said,

"is yet to be written." But, alas! for these plausible and philanthropic

reforms, there are two serious obstacles in the way. In the first place,

the records of such matters as they would make the grounds of history

are too scanty and uncertain, because they never have had that catholic

interest which would give them an abiding place in the common national

memory. In the second place, it will be equally difficult to secure for

them such lodgment in the universal thinking of the present age, or of

ages yet to come. Not that the world will always continue the same, or

that there will not be ever new matters of genuine historical interest.

The course of things and thinking may greatly change. Wars may cease.

Monarchy may expire. Even democracies may become obsolete. Such changes

may be for the better or the worse. Faith may go out. Those religious

dogmas and discussions, which politicians and political economists have

regarded as such useless and troublesome intruders into the province of

history, may lose their hold upon the mind. Still our essential position

remains unchanged. It will not be what the masses severally _do_ but

what _moves_ the masses, not their _several_ occupations and pursuits,

but what has a deep and moving interest for the common national soul,

that will constitute history. The wars of the White and Red Roses were

the true history of England for that period, because they were the only

subjects that could be said to occupy all minds alike. It was not

because the chronicler forgot the masses, and thought only of the great,

but because he wrote for the masses, and for the masses not only of his

own time, but of times to come.

Events may have more or less of a personal connection with monarchs, but

it would not follow from this that the history which records them is a

history alone of kings and statesmen. It is only so far as they and

their acts were the representatives of the national heart, and the

national thought, that they came down in the national memory, and the

national records. The separate ordinary pursuits of men may, in one

sense, occupy more of our ordinary thinking, but the other or historic

interest we recognize as being of a higher, a more exciting, and even a

more absorbing kind, because belonging to us, and felt by us in common

with multitudes of other souls. The mechanic or farmer may consult books

of a professional or statistical nature, but _as history_ they will be

ever unreadable. Even in the workshop and in the field, although the

habitual current of his thoughts may be upon what would seem to him the

nearest, and therefore the more important concerns of life, these other

elements of history will yet have the greater charm, and occupy a higher

place both in his feelings and his intelligence.

It is what he thinks _with others_ that constitutes the higher life of

his being. Hence the tendency of the popular mind, in all ages, to be

absorbed in the recital of deeds most remote from the daily associations

of ordinary life. Hence the popularity of the rhapsodist, the minstrel,

the chronicler, and, in our own age, of the Magazine and the Newspaper.

Hence, too, in the more free and popular governments of modern times,

the universal devotion to what is called _politics_. Why is the farmer

more excited by an election than by the sale of his wheat? Most false as

well as unphilosophical is the view which would ascribe this to any

calculating patriotism, to any utilitarian vigilance, or to what is

commonly called an _enlightened self-interest_. The mechanic thinks more

of politics than of his trade; for the same reason that led his ancestor

to the crusade or the tournament. Instead of being the offspring of

utilitarian views, this _public spirit_ is often most blindly

destructive of the _private_ interest, and most directly opposed to all

the teachings of that political economy which recognizes its own

utilities as alone the true and rational ends of human action. In a much

higher sense, too, is all this true, when a religious element enters

into the common or catholic feeling.

To illustrate the view we have endeavored to present, let us select some

particular date--say the 5th day of March, in the year of our Lord one

thousand seven hundred and seventy. What was the history of our own

country for that day? What the masses were doing would be the answer

which some of the new school would promptly make. But even could this be

ascertained it would not be history. On that day the three millions of

our land were engaged in the various avocations connected with their

ordinary life and ordinary interests. On that day, too, there was a

particular, and, perhaps, ascertainable state of agriculture, of the

mechanic arts, of education, &c., such as might furnish the ground of a

most valuable statistical essay. There were also, doubtless, thousands

of striking incidents every where transpiring. But none of these

constituted the then history of our country. This was all taking place

in one narrow street of one single city, away off in one remote corner

of our land. A quarrel had arisen between a few foreign soldiers and a

collection of exasperated citizens, in the course of which some few of

the latter were slain. In this event was centred, for the time, the

whole history of the English colonies in North America, and of what

afterward became the great American nation. Among all the acts and

states, and influences of that day, this alone was history, because it

alone, whether right or not, entered into the universal national memory.

It was _thought_ by all, _felt_ by all, and therefore became, for the

time in which it was so thought and felt, the one common history of all.

Again--on the 19th day of April, 1775, the one fact which afterward

formed the common thought and the common memory, was the battle of

Lexington. On the 4th of July, 1776, it was the Declaration of American

Independence. On the 23d day of September, 1780, there might have been

seen, in a secluded valley of the Hudson, three rustic militia men

busily examining the dress of a British officer. One of them is in the

act of taking a piece of paper from the prisoner's boot. This, in a most

emphatic sense, was American history for that day; may we not say the

history of Europe also, and of the world. And so in other departments. A

single man is standing before a company of statesmen and ecclesiastics.

It is Luther before the Diet of Worms. This is the one common thought

which represents that momentous period in the records of the Church. The

subject tempts us with further illustrations, but we call to mind that

our Drawer and Easy Chair are waiting impatiently for the delivery of

their contents. It is time, therefore, to exchange the prosings of the

Editor's Table for their more varied, and, as we trust the reader will

judge, more attractive materials.

Editor's Easy Chair.

Our _now_, when we write, stands morally as far off from what will be

_now_ to our readers, when this sheet comes before them, as though the

interval measured half the circumference of the Ecliptic, instead of

being bounded between these dull March days and the bright April

morning, when our Magazine will be lying by many an open window from

Maine to Georgia. Our Easy Chair chit-chat must take its coloring from

our _now_, and not from that of our readers.

* * * * *

The town has just woke up from its wintry carnival of sleighs and bells,

and wears much the aspect of a reveler who is paying the penalty for too

free over-night potations. Broadway no longer flows along like a stream

of molten silver, but resembles nothing so much as the mud-river of

Styx--"darker far than perse" of the great Florentine; and instead of

the fairy-like sleighs of the month gone by, is traversed only by the

lumbering omnibuses, scattering far and wide the inky fluid. To cross

the street dry-shod is not to be thought of, save at one or two points

where philanthropic tradesmen, mindful of the public good--and their

own--have subsidized a troop of sweepers to clear a passage in front of

their doors. We accept the favor with all gratitude, and do not inquire

too closely into the stories of silver goblets, presented by grateful

ladies to these public benefactors. Under such circumstances all lighter

matters of gossip are things of the past--and of the future, let us

hope.

* * * * *

Into the current of graver talk several pebbles have been thrown, which

have rippled its surface into circlets wider than usual. The meeting in

commemoration of COOPER was a worthy tribute to the memory of one who

has shed honor upon his country by adding new forms of beauty to the

intellectual wealth of the world. It was singularly graceful and

appropriate that the funeral discourse of the greatest American

Novelist, should have been pronounced by the greatest American Poet--and

should we say the greatest living poet who speaks the tongue of Milton

and Shakspeare, who would dare to place another name in competition for

the honor with that of BRYANT?

* * * * *

Public "Lectures," or the "Lyceum," as one of the lecturing notabilities

not very felicitously denominates the institution, had begun to assume a

somewhat mythical character in the estimation of townsmen, as relics of

ages long gone by, of which man's memory--the Metropolitan man's, that

is--takes no note. We have indeed had rumors from the "Athens of

America," and other far-away places, that Lectures had not fallen into

utter desuetude; but we were, on the whole, inclined to put little faith

in the reports. During the last few weeks, however, the matter has again

forced its way into the town talk. The "Tabernacle" weekly opens its

ponderous jaws, for the delivery of the "People's Lectures," where, for

the not very alarming sum of one shilling--with a deduction in cases

where a gentleman is accompanied by more ladies than one--a person may

listen for an hour to the mystic elocution and seer-like deliverances of

EMERSON, or may hear KANE depict the dreamy remembrances of those

Hyperborean regions where sunrise and sunset are by no means those

every-day occurrences that they are in more equatorial regions. To us,

as we sit in our Easy Chair, it seems as though this system of cheap

popular public lectures were capable of almost indefinite expansion. Why

should not SILLIMAN or GUYOT address three thousand instead of three

hundred hearers? Why should they not unswathe the world from its

swaddling-clothes before an audience which would fill our largest halls?

Why should not ORVILLE DEWEY discourse on the great problems of Human

Destiny and Progress before an assemblage which should people the

cavernous depths of the "Tabernacle," as well as before the audience,

relatively small, though doubtless fit, assembled before the frescoes of

the Church of the Messiah? We throw these suggestions out lightly, by

way of hint; a graver consideration of them would belong rather to our

Table than to our Easy Chair discourses.

* * * * *

As a sort of pendant to the nine-days' talk of the Forrest divorce

case, we notice the unanimous verdict of approval which has been

accorded to the exemplary damages awarded in the case of a savage and

cowardly assault committed by one of the principals in that scandalous

affair. Though no pecuniary award can make reparation to the person who

has suffered the infliction of brutal personal outrage, yet as long as

there are ruffians whose only susceptible point is the pocket-nerve, we

are glad to see the actual cautery applied to that sensitive point.

* * * * *

If things continue much longer in their present downward course, it will

be necessary for any man who hopes to gain acceptance in respectable

society to have it distinctly noted on his cards and letters of

introduction, that he is not a Member of either House of Congress. The

last month has been signalized at Washington by several exhibitions of

Congressional scurrility, which in no other city in the Union would have

been tolerated beyond the limits of the lowest dens of infamy. In one of

these affairs, the summit of impudence was crowned by one of the

interlocutors, who, after giving and receiving the most abusive

epithets, excused himself from having recourse to the duello, that

_ultima ratio_--of fools--on the plea that he was a member of a

Christian church; which plea was magnanimously accepted by his no less

chivalrous compeer in abuse. It would be no easy task to decide which

was the most disreputable, the "satisfaction" evaded, or the means of

its evasion.

* * * * *

This is not the place to discuss the stringent "Maine Liquor Law," which

is proposed for adoption in the Empire State; but we can not avoid

chronicling the almost sublime assumption of one of its opponents, who

challenged its advocates to name any man of lofty genius who was not a

"toddy-drinker." As this side of the measure seems sadly in want of both

speakers and arguments, we consider ourselves entitled to the gratitude

of the opponents of the law, for insinuating to them that the defense of

punch by Fielding's hero, that it was "a good wholesome liquor, nowhere

spoken against in Scripture," is capable of almost indefinite extension

and application.

* * * * *