CHAPTER I.

BLACKWOOD'S

Edinburgh

MAGAZINE.

VOL. LV.

JANUARY-JUNE, 1844.

[Illustration]

1844.

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BLACKWOOD'S

EDINBURGH MAGAZINE.

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No. CCCXXXIX. JANUARY, 1844. VOL. LV.

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CONTENTS.

STATE PROSECUTIONS, 1

ADVENTURES IN TEXAS. NO. III. THE STRUGGLE, 18

CLITOPHON AND LEUCIPPE, 33

THE NEW ART OF PRINTING. BY A DESIGNING DEVIL, 45

THE BANKING-HOUSE. PART THE LAST, 50

KÍEFF, FROM THE RUSSIAN OF KOZLÓFF, 80

MARSTON; OR, THE MEMOIRS OF A STATESMAN. PART VII. 81

LETTER FROM LEMUEL GULLIVER, 98

THE PROCLAMATION, 100

THE FIREMAN'S SONG, 101

POSITION AND PROSPECTS OF THE GOVERNMENT, 103

* * * * *

EDINBURGH:

WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, 45, GEORGE STREET;

AND 22, PALL-MALL, LONDON.

To whom all Communications (post paid) must be addressed.

SOLD BY ALL THE BOOKSELLERS THE UNITED KINGDOM.

* * * * *

PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE AND HUGHES, EDINBURGH.

* * * * *

STATE PROSECUTIONS.

The Englishman who, however well inclined to defer to the wisdom "of

former ages," should throw a glance at the stern realities of the

past, as connected with the history of his country, will be little

disposed to yield an implicit assent to the opinions or assertions of

those, who maintain the superiority of the past, to the disparagement

and depreciation of the present times. Maxims and sayings of this

tendency have undoubtedly prevailed from periods of remote antiquity.

The wise monarch of the Jewish nation even forbade his people to ask

"the cause that the former days were better than these;" "for," he

adds, "thou dost not enquire wisely concerning this." Far different

would be the modern precept of a British monarch. Rather let the

English subject "enquire _diligently_ concerning this," for he cannot

fail to enquire wisely. Let him enquire, and he will find that "the

former days" of England were days of discord, tyranny, and oppression;

days when an Empson and a Dudley could harass the honest and

well-disposed, through the medium of the process of the odious

star-chamber; when the crown was possessed of almost arbitrary power,

and when the liberty and personal independence of individuals were in

no way considered or regarded; days when the severity of our criminal

laws drew down from a French philosopher the sneer, that a history of

England was a history of the executioner; when the doomed were sent

out of the world in bands of twenty, and even thirty, at a time, at

Tyburn or at "Execution dock;" and when, in the then unhealthy tone of

public morals, criminals famous for their deeds of violence and

rapine, were regarded rather as the heroes of romance, than as the

pests and scourges of society. Let him enquire, and he will find that

all these things have now long since passed away; that the rigours of

the criminal law have been entirely mitigated, and that the great

charters of our liberties, the fruits of accumulated wisdom and

experience, have now been long confirmed. These facts, if universally

known and duly pondered over, would go far to banish discontent and

disaffection, and would tend to produce a well-founded confidence in

the inherent power of adaptation to the necessities of the people,

possessed by the constitution of our country. Thus, the social wants

of the outer man having been in a great measure supplied, the

philanthropy of modern times has been chiefly employed on the mental

and moral improvement of the species; the wants of the inner man are

now the objects of universal attention, and education has become the

great necessity of the age. Hitherto, the municipal laws and

institutions of this country have been defective; inasmuch as they

have made little or no provision for the adequate instruction of the

people. Much, no doubt, has been already done, and education, even

now, diffuses her benignant light over a large portion of the

population; among whom, the children of the ignorant are able to

instruct their parents, and impart, to those who gave them being, a

share in the new-found blessing of modern times. Much, however,

remains still to be done, and the splendid examples of princely

munificence which a great minister of the crown has recently shown the

wealthier classes of this wealthy nation, may, in the absence of a

state provision, have the effect of stimulating private exertion and

generosity. In spite, however, of the moral and intellectual

advancement of the present age, the passions and evil designs of the

vicious and discontented are still able to influence vast masses of

the people. The experience of the last few years unfortunately teaches

us, that increased knowledge has not yet banished disaffection, and

that though, during the last quarter of a century, the general

standard of the nation's morality may have been elevated above its

former resting-place, that education, in its present state of

advancement, has not as yet effectually disarmed discontent or

disaffection, by showing the greater evil which ever attends the

endeavour to effect the lesser good, by violent, factious, or

seditious means.

Within the last thirteen years, the government has been compelled, on

several occasions, to curb the violence and to repress the outbreaks

of men who had yet to learn the folly of such attempts; and the powers

of the executive have been frequently evoked by those who, of late

years, have wielded the destinies of this country. Several state

prosecutions have taken place during this period. They never occur

without exciting a lively interest; the public eye is critically

intent upon the minutest detail of these proceedings; and the public

attention is concentrated upon those to whom is confided the

vindication of the public rights and the redressing of the public

wrongs. It has been often asked by some of these critical observers,

How is it that, when great crimes or misdemeanours are to be punished,

when the bold and daring offender is to be brought to justice, when

the body politic is the offended party, when the minister honours a

supposed offender with his notice in the shape of criminal

proceedings, and the government condescends to prosecute--how is it,

it has been asked on such occasions, when the first talent, science,

and practical skill, are all arranged against the unfortunate object

of a nation's vengeance, that the course of justice should be ever

broken or impeded? Is the machinery then set in motion in truth

defective--is there some inherent vice in the construction of the

state engine? Is the law weak when it should be strong? Is its boasted

majesty, after all, nothing but the creation of a fond imagination, or

a delusion of the past? Are the wheels of the state-machine no longer

bright, polished, and fit for use as they once were? or are they

choked and clogged with the rust and dust of accumulated ages? Or, if

not in the machine, does the fault, ask others of these bold critics,

rest with the workmen who guide and superintend its action? Are the

principles of its construction now no longer known or understood? Are

they, like those of the engines of the Syracusan philosopher, lost in

the lapse of time? Is the crown less efficiently served than private

individuals? and can it be possible, it has even been demanded, that

those who are actively employed on these occasions have been so long

removed on the practice of what is often deemed the simpler portion of

the law, and so long employed in the higher and more abstruse branches

of the science, that they have forgotten the practice of their youth,

and have lost the knowledge acquired in the commencement of their

professional career? Lesser criminals, it is said, are every day

convicted with ease and expedition--how is it, therefore, that the

cobweb of the law holds fast the small ephemeræ which chance to stray

across its filmy mesh, but that the gaudy insect of larger form and

greater strength so often breaks through, his flight perhaps arrested

for a moment, as he feels the insidious toil fold close about him? It

is, however, only for a moment; one mighty effort breaks his bonds--he

is free--and flies off in triumph and derision, trumpeting forth his

victory, and proclaiming his escape from the snare, in which it was

hoped to encompass him. The astute and practised gentlemen thus

suspected, strong in the consciousness of deep legal knowledge, and

ready practical skill and science, may justly despise the petty

attacks of those who affect to doubt their professional ability and

attainments. Some in high places have not hesitated to hint, on one

occasion, at collusion, and to assert, that a certain prosecution

failed, because there was no real desire to punish.

Such is the substance of the various questions and speculations to

which the legal events of the last thirteen years have given rise. We

have now collected and enumerated them in a condensed form, for the

purpose of tracing their rise and progress, and in order that we may

demonstrate that, though there may possibly exist some reasons for

these opinions, founded often on a misapprehension of the real

circumstances of the cases quoted in their support, that they have, in

fact, little or no substantial foundation. With this view, therefore,

we shall briefly notice those trials, within the period of which we

speak, which form the groundwork of these charges against the

executive, before we proceed to state the real obstacles which do, in

fact, occasionally oppose the smooth and _rapid_ progress of a "State

Prosecution."

The first of these proceedings, which occurred during the period of

the last thirteen years, was the trial of Messrs O'Connell, Lawless,

Steel, and others. This case perhaps originated the opinions which

have partially prevailed, and was, in truth, not unlikely to make a

permanent impression on the public mind. In the month of January 1831,

true bills were found against these parties by the Grand Jury of

Dublin, for assembling and meeting together for purposes prohibited by

a proclamation of the Lord Lieutenant; and for conspiring to do an act

forbidden by the law. By every possible device, by demurrers and

inconsistent pleas, delays were interposed; and though Mr O'Connell

withdrew a former plea of not guilty, and pleaded guilty to the counts

to which he had at first demurred--though Mr Stanley, in the House of

Commons, in reply to a question put by the Marquis of Chandos,

emphatically declared, that it was impossible for the Irish

government, consistently with their dignity as a government, to enter

into any negotiation implying the remotest compromise with the

defendants--and that it was the unalterable determination of the

law-officers of Ireland to let the law take its course against Mr

O'Connell--and that, let him act as he pleased, judgment would be

passed against him--still, in spite of this determination of the

government, so emphatically announced by the Irish Secretary, the

statute on which the proceedings were founded was actually suffered to

expire, without any previous steps having been taken against the state

delinquents. There has ever been that degree of mystery about this

event, which invariably rouses attention and excites curiosity; the

escape of those parties was a great triumph over the powers, or the

expressed inclinations of the government, which was well calculated to

set the public mind at work to discover the latent causes which

produced such strange and unexpected results. After an interval of

seven years, another case occurred, which was not calculated

materially to lessen the impression already made upon the public; for

although, in the following instance, the prosecution was conducted to

a successful termination, yet questions of such grave importance were

raised, and fought with such ability, vigour, and determination, that

the accomplishment of the ends of justice, if not prevented, was

certainly long delayed.

On the 17th December 1838, twelve prisoners were brought to Liverpool,

charged in execution of a sentence of transportation to Van Diemen's

Land for having been concerned in the Canadian revolt. Here the

offenders had been tried, convicted, sentenced, and actually

transported. The prosecutors, therefore, might naturally be supposed

to have got fairly _into_ port, when they saw the objects of their

tender solicitude fairly _out_ of port, on their way to the distant

land to which the offended laws of their country had consigned them.

If justice might not account her work as done, at a time when her

victims had already traversed a thousand leagues of the wide

Atlantic, when could it be expected that the law might take its course

without further let or hindrance? On the 17th of December, as has been

observed, the prisoners arrived at Liverpool, and were straightway

consigned to the care and custody of Mr Batcheldor, the governor of

the borough jail of Liverpool; by whom they were duly immured in the

stronghold of the borough, and safely placed under lock and key.

Things, however, did not long continue in this state. In a few days

twelve writs of _habeas corpus_ made their sudden and unexpected

appearance, by which Mr Batcheldor was commanded forthwith to bring

the bodies of his charges, together with the causes of detention,

before the Lord Chief Justice of England. Mr Batcheldor obeyed the

command in both particulars; the judges of the Court of Queen's Bench

met; counsel argued and re-argued the matter before them, but in

vain--the prisoners were left in the governor's care, in which they

remained, as if no effort had been made to remove then from his

custody. All, however, was not yet over; for, as though labouring

under a strange delusion, four of the prisoners actually made oath

that they had never been arraigned, tried, convicted, or sentenced at

all, either in Canada or elsewhere! Upon this four more writs of

_habeas corpus_ issued, commanding the unhappy Mr Batcheldor to bring

the four deluded convicts before the Barons of the Exchequer. This was

done; arguments, both old and new, were heard with exemplary patience

and attention; the play was played over again; but the Barons were

equally inexorable with the Court of Queen's Bench, and the four

prisoners, after much consideration, were again remanded to the

custody of the governor of the jail, and, together with their eight

fellow-prisoners, were, in course of time, duly conveyed to the place

of their original destination.

The next of these cases, in chronological order, is that of the

Monmouthshire riots in 1839. This case, also, might tend to

corroborate the opinion, that the service of the state, in legal

matters, is attended with much difficulty and embarrassment. It will,

however, be seen upon examination of the facts of the case, that the

difficulty which then arose, proceeded solely from the lenity and

indulgence shown to the prisoners by the crown. On New-Year's day

1840, John Frost and others, were brought to trial, on a charge of

high treason, before a special commission at Monmouth. The proceedings

were interrupted by an objection taken by the prisoners' counsel, that

the terms of a statute, which requires that a list of witnesses should

be delivered to the prisoners _at the same time_ with a copy of the

indictment, had not been complied with. The indictment had, in fact,

been delivered five days before the list of witnesses. This had been

done in merciful consideration to the prisoners, in order that they

might be put in possession of the charge, to be brought against them,

as early as it was in the power of the crown to give them the

information, and probably before it was _possible_ that the list of

witnesses could have been made out. The trial, however, proceeded,

subject to the decision of the fifteen judges upon the question, thus

raised upon the supposed informality, which nothing but the _anxious

mercy_ of the crown had introduced into the proceedings; and the

parties were found guilty of the offence laid to their charge. In the

ensuing term, all other business was, for a time, suspended; and the

fifteen judges of the land, with all the stately majesty of the

judicial office, were gathered together in solemn conclave in

Westminster Hall. A goodly array, tier above tier they sat--the heavy

artillery of a vast legal battery about to open the fire of their

learning, with that imposing dignity which becomes the avengers of the

country's and the sovereign's wrongs. Day after day they met, heard,

and deliberated upon arguments, which were conspicuous from their

consummate learning and ability. At length these learned persons

delivered their judgments, and, amid much diversity of opinion, the

majority thought, upon the whole, that the conviction was right, and

that the terms of the statute had been virtually complied with. The

criminals, however, probably in consequence of the doubts and

difficulty of the case, were absolved on the most highly penal

consequences of their crime, and were, by a sort of compromise,

transported for life to one of the penal settlements.

The doubt which some have entertained of the real insanity of Oxford,

and others who have recently attempted the same crime which he so nearly

committed, has caused these cases also to be brought forward in

confirmation of the opinions, which we contend rest upon no real

foundation. The insanity of a prisoner is, however, a fact, upon which

it is the province of the jury to decide, under the direction of the

presiding judge. In each case the law was luminously laid down by the

judge for the guidance of the jury, who were fully instructed as to what

the law required to establish the insanity of its prisoner, and to prove

that "lesion of the will" which would render a human being irresponsible

for his acts. These verdicts, undoubtedly, gave rise to a grave

discussion, whether the law, as it now stands, was sufficiently

stringent to have reached these cases; and though this question was

decided in the affirmative, the mere entertaining of the doubt afforded

another specious confirmation of the impression, that a singular

fatality was attendant upon a state prosecution. This idea received

another support from the case of Lord Cardigan, who, about this period,

was unexpectedly acquitted, on technical grounds, from a grave and

serious charge. This, however, was no state prosecution, and we do but

notice it, _en passant_, in corroboration of our general argument.

We now come to the case of the Chartists in 1842. For some time

previous to the summer of 1842, great distress, it will be remembered,

prevailed among the manufacturing population of the northern and

midland counties. The misery of the preceding winter had been dreadful

in the extreme; emaciated, haggard beings might be daily seen

wandering about the country half naked, in the coldest weather;

sufferings, almost without a parallel, were borne with patience and

resignation. Despair there might be in the hearts of thousands, but

those thousands were mute and passive in their misery; all was dark,

all was hopeless; the wintry wind of penury blew untempered, keen upon

them, but still they cried not; hunger preyed upon their very vitals,

but they uttered no complaint. Let us not, even now, refuse a passing

tribute of honour and respect to the passive heroism which in many an

instance marked the endurance of the hopeless misery of those dreadful

times. At length, however, evil and designing men came among the

sufferers--remedies for the pressing evil, and means of escape from

the wretchedness of their condition, were darkly hinted at; redress

was whispered to be near, and they, the hungry fathers of famished

children, lent a greedy ear to the fair promises of men whom they

deemed wiser than themselves. The tempter's seedtime had arrived, the

ground was ready, and the seed was sown. Day by day, nay, hour by

hour, was the bud of disaffection fostered with the greatest care;

and, day by day, its strength and vitality increased. When, at length,

the people were deemed ripe for action, the mask was thrown off,

treasonable schemes and projects were openly proclaimed by the leaders

of the coming movement, and echoed, from a hundred hills, by vast

multitudes of their deluded followers. Large meetings were daily held

on the neighbouring moors, where bodies of men were openly trained and

armed for active and offensive operations. At length the insurrection,

for such in truth it was, broke forth. Then living torrents of excited

and exasperated men poured down those hillsides; the peaceful and

well-affected were compelled to join the insurgent ranks, busy in the

work of destruction and intimidation; when each evening brought the

work of havoc to a temporary close, they laid them down to rest where

the darkness overtook them. The roads were thus continually blockaded,

and those who, under cover of the night, sought to obtain aid and

assistance from less disturbed districts, were often interrupted and

turned back by bodies of these men. Authority was at an end, and a

large extensive district was completely at the mercy of reckless

multitudes, burning to avenge the sufferings of the past, and bent on

preventing, as they thought, a recurrence of them in future. The very

towns were in their hands; "in an evil hour" a vast body of insurgents

was "admitted" into one of the largest mercantile towns of the

kingdom, where they pillaged and laid waste in every direction. In

another town of the district a fearful riot was put down by force,

some of the leaders of the mob being shot dead while heading a charge

upon the military. The ascendancy of the law was at length asserted;

many arrests took place; the jails were crowded with prisoners; and

the multitudes without, deserted by those to whom they had looked up

for advice, their friends in prison, with the unknown terrors of the

law suspended over them, probably then felt that, miserable and lost

as they had been before, they had now fallen even lower in the scale

of human misery. Criminal proceedings were quickly instituted. Several

commissions were sent down to the districts in which these

disturbances had take place, in order that the offenders might meet

with _speedy_ punishment. The law officers of the crown, with many and

able assistants, in person conducted the proceedings. Temperate, mild,

dignified, and forbearing was their demeanour; in no case was the

individual the object of prosecution; it was the _crime_, through the

person of the criminal, against which the government proceeded. No

feelings of a personal nature were there exhibited; and a mild, but

firm, as it were, a parental correction of erring and misguided

children, seemed to be the sole object of those who then represented

the government. Conviction was heaped upon conviction--sentence

followed sentence--the miserable tool was distinguished from the man

who made him what he was--the active emissary, the secret conspirator,

also received each their proportionate amount of punishment. True, a

few of the more cautious and crafty, all included in one indictment,

eventually escaped the penalty due to their crimes; but, among the

multitude of cases which were then tried, this was, we believe, the

only instance even of partial failure. In spite of this single

miscarriage of the government, the great object of these proceedings

was completely answered; the end of all punishment was attained; the

vengeance which the law then took had all the effect which the most

condign punishment of these few men could have accomplished; the

constitutional maxim of "_poena ad paucos, metus ad omnes_," has been

amply illustrated by these proceedings; Chartism has been suppressed,

by the temperate application of the constitutional means which were

then resorted to for the correction of its violence, and the

prevention of its seditious schemes.

We must not omit to mention the instances of signal and complete

success which have been, from time to time, exhibited in other

prosecutions against Feargus O'Connor and different members of the

Chartist body, within the period of which we speak. On none of these

occasions has the course of justice been hindered, or even turned

aside; but the defendants have, we believe, without exception, paid

the penalty of their crimes by enduring the punishments awarded by the

court.

The recent trials of the Rebecca rioters were also signally successful

and effective; and the prejudices of a Welsh jury, which some feared

would prove a fatal stumblingblock, were overcome by the dispassionate

appeal to their better judgment then made by the officers of the

crown.

From a review of the cases, it therefore appears, that the failures of

a state prosecution have been comparatively few; and that the crown

has met with even more than the average success which the "glorious

uncertainty of the law" in general permits to those who tempt its

waywardness, and risk the perils of defeat. The welfare and interest

of the nation, however, lie in the _general_ results of these

proceedings, rather than the _particular event_ of an individual

trial. Therefore, though we should assume that a part only of what was

intended has been accomplished, still if that portion produces the

same general results as were hoped for from the successful

accomplishment of the whole, the object of the government has been

attained. Now, it may be observed, that, with perhaps the single

exception of the case of Mr O'Connell in 1831, the end and object of

all state prosecution has been uniformly and completely accomplished,

by the suppression of the evil which the crown in each instance was

anxious to put down. When this has taken place, there can have been no

failure. Beyond what is necessary for the welfare of the state, and

the general safety and security of the persons and property of

individuals, the crown has no interest in inflicting punishment; it

never asks for more than is required to effect _these objects_, and it

can scarcely be content with less.

There are, however, difficulties almost peculiar to the more serious

offences against the state, but which are entirely different, in their

nature, from those imaginary difficulties which have formed the

subject of so much declamation. A passing glance at the proceedings

now pending in Ireland, will give the most casual observer some idea

of what is sometimes to be encountered by those to whom is entrusted

the arduous duty of conducting a state prosecution. Look back on the

"tempest of provocation," which recently assailed the Irish

Attorney-General, on the vexatious delays and frivolous objections

which sprang up at every move of the crown lawyers, called forth by

one who, though "_not valiant_," was well known to the government to

be "most cunning offence" ere they challenged him, but who, "despite

his cunning fence and active practice," may perhaps find, that this

time the law has clutched him with a grasp of iron. In ordinary cases,

criminals may, no doubt, be easily convicted; and in the great

majority of the more common crimes and misdemeanours, the utmost legal

ingenuity and acumen might be unable to detect a single error in the

proceedings, from first to last. Still it must be remembered, that

even among the more common of ordinary cases, in which the forms are

simple, the practice certain, and in which the law may be supposed to

be already defined beyond the possibility of doubt, error, or

misconception--even in such cases, questions occasionally arise which

scarcely admit of any satisfactory solution--questions in which the

fifteen judges, to whom they may be referred, often find it impossible

to agree, and which may therefore be reasonably supposed to be

sufficiently perplexing to the rest of the world. State offences, such

as treason and sedition, which are of comparatively rare occurrence,

present many questions of greater intricacy than any other class of

crimes. In treason especially, a well-founded jealousy of the power

and prerogatives of the crown has intrenched the subject behind a line

of outposts, in the shape of forms and preliminary proceedings; the

accused, for his greater security against a power which, if unwatched,

might become arbitrary and oppressive, has been invested with rights

which must be respected and complied with, and by the neglect of which

the whole proceedings are rendered null and void. At this moment, in

all treasons, except attempts upon the person of the sovereign, "the

prisoner," in the language of Lord Erskine, "is covered all over with

the armour of the law;" and there must be twice the amount of evidence

which would be legally competent to establish his guilt in a criminal

prosecution for any other offence, even by the meanest and most

helpless of mankind. Sedition is a head of crime of a somewhat vague

and indeterminate character, and, in many cases, it may he extremely

difficult, even for an acute and practised lawyer, to decide whether

the circumstances amount to sedition. Mr East, in his pleas of the

crown, says, that "sedition is understood in a more general sense than

treason, and extends to other offences, not capital, of a like

tendency, but without any actual design against the king in

contemplation, such as contempts of the king and his government,

riotous assemblings for political purposes, and the like; and in

general all contemptuous, indecent, or malicious observations upon his

person and government, whether by writing or speaking, or by tokens,

calculated to lessen him in the esteem of his subjects, or weaken his

government, or raise jealousies of him amongst the people, will fall

under the notion of seditious acts." An offence which admits of so

little precision in the terms in which it is defined, depending often

upon the meaning to be attached to words, the real import of which is

varied by the tone or gesture of the speaker, by the words which

precede, and by those which follow, depending also upon the different

ideas which men attach to the same words, evidently rests on very

different grounds from those cases, where actual crimes have been

perpetrated and deeds committed, which leave numerous traces behind,

and which may be proved by the permanent results of which they have

been the cause. Technical difficulties without number also exist: the

most literal accuracy, which is indispensable--the artful inuendoes,

the artistical averments, which are necessary, correctly to shape the

charge ere it is submitted to the grand jury, may be well conceived to

involve many niceties and refinements, on which the case may easily be

wrecked. It must also be remembered that the utmost legal ingenuity is

called into action, and the highest professional talent is engaged in

the defence of the accused. The enormous pressure upon the accused

himself, who, probably from the higher or middle classes, with ample

means at his command, an ignominious death perhaps impending, or, at

the least, imprisonment probably for years in threatening prospect

close before him; his friends active, moving heaven and earth in his

behalf, no scheme left untried, no plan or suggestion rejected, by

which it may, even in the remotest degree be possible to avert the

impending doom; the additional rancour which politics sometimes infuse

into the proceedings, the partisanship which has occasioned scenes

such as should never be exhibited in the sacred arena of the halls of

justice, animosities which give the defence the character of a party

conflict, and which cause a conviction to be looked upon as a

political defeat, and an acquittal to be regarded as a party

triumph--all these circumstances, in their combined and concentrated

force, must also be take into consideration. In such a case every step

is fought with stern and dogged resolution; even mere delay is

valuable, for when all other hope is gone, the chapter of accidents

_may_ befriend the accused; it is one chance more; and even one

chance, however slight, is not to be thrown away. Such is a faint

picture of the defensive operations on such occasions: how is this

untiring, bitter energy met by those who represent the crown?

"Look on this picture and on that."

Here all is calm, dignified, generous, and forbearing; every

consideration is shown, every indulgence is granted, to the

unfortunate being who is in jeopardy. The crown has no interest to

serve beyond that which the state possesses in the vindication of the

law, and in that cool, deliberate, and impartial administration of

justice which has so long distinguished this country. Nothing is

unduly pressed against the prisoner, but every extenuating fact is

fairly laid before the jury by the crown; it is, in short, generosity,

candor, and forbearance, on the one side, matched against craft,

cunning and the resolution _by any means_ to win, upon the other. Such

are the real difficulties which may be often felt by those who conduct

a state prosecution. Surely it is better far that these difficulties

should, in some instances, be even wholly insuperable, and that the

prosecution should be defeated, than that any change should come over

the spirit in which these trials are now conducted; or that the crown

should ever even attempt to make the criminal process of the law an

instrument of tyranny and oppression, as it was in the days of Scroggs

and Jefferies, and when juries, through intimidation, returned such

verdicts as the crown desired. Our very tenacity of our liberties may

tend to render these proceedings occasionally abortive; and the twelve

men composing a jury of the country, though possibly all their

sympathies would be at once enlisted in behalf of a wronged and

injured subject, may, unconsciously to themselves, demand more

stringent proof, in cases where the sovereign power appears before

then as the party; and more especially, when the offence is of an

impersonal nature, and where the theory of the constitution, rather

than the person or property of individuals, is the object of

aggression. In the olden time such was the power of the crown, that,

whenever the arm of the state was uplifted, the blow fell with

unerring accuracy and precision; but now, when each object of a state

prosecution is a sort of modern Briareus, the blow must be dealt with

consummate skill, or it will fail to strike where it was meant to

fall. On this account, perhaps, in addition to then own intrinsic

paramount importance, the proceedings now pending in Ireland, have

become the object of universal and absorbing interest throughout the

whole of the United Kingdom. Under these circumstances it has occurred

to us, that a popular and accurate review of the several stages of a

criminal prosecution, by which the general reader will be able, in

some degree, to understand the several steps of that proceeding which

is now pending, might not be unacceptable or uninstructive at the

present moment. It must, however, be observed, that it is scarcely

possible to divest a subject so technical in it very nature from those

terms of art which, however familiar they may be to many of our

readers, cannot be understood by all without some explanation, which

we shall endeavour to supply as we proceed.

The general importance of information of this nature has been well

summed up by a great master of criminal law. "The learning touching

these subjects," says Sir Michael Foster, "is a matter of great and

universal concernment. For no rank, no elevation in life, and, let me

add, no conduct, how circumspect soever, ought to tempt a reasonable

man to conclude that these enquiries do not, nor possibly can, concern

him. A moment's cool reflection on the utter instability of human

affairs, and the numberless unforeseen events which a day may bring

forth, will be sufficient to guard any man, conscious of his own

infirmities, against a delusion of this kind."

Let us suppose the minister of the day, having before been made aware

that, in a portion of the kingdom, a state of things existed that

demanded his utmost vigilance and attention, to have ascertained the

reality of the apparent danger, and to have procured accurate

information as to the real character of the proceedings, and to find

that acts apparently treasonable or seditious, as the case may be, had

been committed. Suppose him, charged with the safety of the state, and

responsible for the peace, order, and well-being of the community, to

set the constitutional process of the law in motion against the

offending individuals; his first step, under such circumstances, must

be to procure full and satisfactory evidence of the facts as they

really exist. For this purpose agents must he employed, necessarily in

secret, or the very end and object of their mission would be

frustrated, to collect and gather information from every authentic

source, and to watch, with their own eyes the proceedings which have

attracted attention. This is a work of time, perhaps; but suppose that

it is complete, and that the minister having before him in evidence,

true and unmistakable, a complete case of crime to lay before a jury,

what, under these circumstances, is the first step to be taken by the

crown? Either of two distinct modes of procedure may be chosen; the

one mode is by an _ex officio_ information, the other is by

indictment. An indictment is the mode by which all treasons and

felonies must be proceeded against, and by which ordinary

misdemeanours are usually brought to punishment. An _ex officio_

information is an information at the suit of the sovereign, filed by

the Attorney-General, as by virtue of his office, without applying to

the court where filed for leave, and without giving the defendant any

opportunity of showing cause why it should not be filed. The principal

difference between this form of procedure and that by indictment,

consists in the manner in which the proceedings are commenced; in the

latter case, the law requires that the accusation should be warranted

by the oath of twelve men, before he be put to answer it--or in other

words that the grand jury must give that information to the court,

which, in the former case, is furnished by the law officer of the

crown. The cases which are prosecuted by _ex officio_ information, are

properly such enormous misdemeanours as peculiarly tend to disturb and

endanger the government or to molest or affront the sovereign in the

discharge of the functions of the royal office. The necessity for the

existence of a power of this nature in the state, is thus set forth by

that learned and illustrious judge, Sir William Blackstone. "For

offences so highly dangerous, in the punishment or prevention of which

a moment's delay would be fatal, the law has given to the crown the

power of an immediate prosecution, without waiting for any previous

application to any other tribunal: which power, thus necessary, not

only to the ease and safety, but even to the very existence of the

executive magistrate, was originally reserved in the great plan of the

English constitution, wherein provision is wisely made for the

preservation of all its parts."

The crown, therefore, in a case such as we have imagined, must first

make choice between these two modes of procedure. The leniency of

modern governments has of late usually resorted to the process by

indictment; and the crown, waiving all the privileges which appertain

to the kingly office, appears before the constituted tribunals of the

land, as the redresser of the public wrongs, invested with no powers,

and clothed with no authority beyond the simple rights possessed by

the meanest of its subjects. We shall, for this reason, take no

further notice of the _ex officio_ information; and as treasons form a

class of offences governed by laws and rules peculiar to itself, we

shall also exclude this head of crime from our consideration, and

confine ourselves solely to the ordinary criminal process by which

offenders are brought to justice.

In, general, the first step in a criminal prosecution, is to obtain a

warrant for the apprehension of the accused party. In ordinary cases,

a warrant is granted by any justice of the peace upon information, on

the oath of some credible witness, of facts from which it appears that

a crime has been committed, and that the person against whom the

warrant is sought to be obtained, is probably the guilty party, and is

a document under the hand and seal of the justice, directed generally

to the constable or other peace-officer, requiring him to bring the

accused, either generally before _any_ justice of the county, or only

before the justice who granted it. This is the practice in ordinary

cases; but in extraordinary cases, the warrant may issue from the Lord

Chief Justice, or the Privy Council, the Secretaries of State, or from

any justice of the Court of Queen's Bench. These latter warrants are,

we believe, all tested, or dated England, and extend over the whole

kingdom. So far the proceedings have been all _ex parte_, one side

only has been heard, one party only has appeared, and all that has

been done, is to procure or compel the appearance of the other. The

warrant is delivered to the officer, who is bound to obey the command

which it contains. It would seem, however, that, as was done in a

recent case in Ireland, it is sufficient if the appearance of the

accused be virtually secured, even without the intervention of an

actual arrest.

When the delinquent appears, in consequence of this process, before

the authorities, they are bound immediately to examine into the

circumstances of the alleged crime; and they are to take down in

writing the examinations of the witnesses offered in support of the

charge. If the evidence is defective, and grave suspicion should

attach to the prisoner, he may be remanded, in order that fresh

evidence may be procured; or the magistrate, if the case be surrounded

with doubt and difficulty, may adjourn it for a reasonable time, in

order to consider his final decision. The accused must also be

examined, but not upon oath; and his examination also must be taken

down in writing, and may be given in evidence against him at the

trial; for although the maxim of the common law is "_nemo tenebitur

prodere seipsum_," the legislature, as long ago as the year 1555,

directed that, in cases of felony, the examination of the prisoner

should be taken; which provision has recently been extended to

misdemeanours also. Care must be taken that his examination should not

even _appear_ to have been taken on oath; for in a very recent case,

in which _all_ the examinations were contained upon one sheet of

paper, and under one general heading--from which they all purported to

have been taken upon oath, the prisoner's admission of his guilt

contained in that examination, was excluded on the trial, and the rest

of the evidence being slight, he was accordingly acquitted. Now, if

upon the enquiry thus instituted, and thus conducted, it appears,

either that no such crime was committed, or that the suspicion

entertained against the accused is wholly groundless, or that, however

positively accused, if the balance of testimony be strongly in favour

of his innocence, it is the duty of the magistrate to discharge him.

But if, on the other hand, the case seems to have been entirely made

out, or even if it should appear probable, that the alleged crime has

in fact been perpetrated by the defendant, he must either be committed

to prison, there to be kept, in safe custody, until the sitting of the

court before which the trial is to be heard; or, he may be allowed to

give bail--that is, to put in securities for his appearance to answer

the charge against him. In either of these alternatives, whether the

accused be committed or held to bail, it is the duty of the magistrate

to subscribe the examinations, and cause them to be delivered to the

proper officer, at, or before, the opening of the court. Bail may be

taken by two justices in cases of felony, and by one in cases of

misdemeanour. In this stage of the proceedings, as the commitment is

only for safe custody, whenever bail will answer the same intention,

it ought to be taken, as in inferior crimes and misdemeanours; but in

offences of a capital nature, such as the heinous crimes of treason,

murder, and the like, no bail can be a security equivalent to the

actual custody of the person. The nature of bail has been explained,

by Mr Justice Blackstone, to be "a delivery or bailment of a person to

his sureties, upon their giving, together with himself, sufficient

security for his appearance: he being supposed to continue in their

friendly custody, instead of going to gaol." To refuse, or even to

delay bail to any person bailable, is an offence against the liberty

of the subject, in any magistrate, by the common law. And the Court of

Queen's Bench will grant a criminal information against the magistrate

who improperly refuses bail in a case in which it ought to have been

received. It is obviously of great importance, in order to ensure the

appearance of the accused at the time and place of trial, that the

sureties should be men of substance; reasonable notice of bail, in

general twenty-four or forty-eight hours, may be ordered to be given

to the prosecutor, in order that he may have time to examine into

their sufficiency and responsibility. When the bail appear, evidence

may be heard on oath, and they may themselves be examined on oath upon

this point; if they do not appear to possess property to the amount

required by the magistrates, they may be rejected, and others must be

procured, or the defender must go to prison. Excessive bail must not

be required; and, on the other hand, the magistrate, if he take

insufficient bail, is liable to be fined, if the criminal do not

appear to take his trial. When the securities are found, the bail

enter into a recognizance, together with the accused, by which they

acknowledge themselves bound to the Queen in the required sums, if the

accused does not appear to take his trial, at the appointed time and

place. This recognizance must be subscribed by the magistrates, and

delivered with the examinations to the officer of the court in which

the trial is to take place. With this, the preliminary proceedings

close: the accused has had one opportunity of refuting the charge, or

of clearing himself from the suspicion which has gathered round him;

but as yet, there is no written accusation, no written statement of

the offence which it is alleged he has committed. True, he has heard

evidence--he has heard a charge made orally against him--but the law

requires greater particularity than this before a man shall be put in

peril upon a criminal accusation. The facts disclosed in the evidence

before the magistrates must be put in a legal form; the offence must

be clearly and accurately defined in writing, by which the accused may

be informed what specific charge he is to answer, and from which he

may be able to learn what liability he incurs; whether his life is put

in peril, or whether he is in danger of transportation or of

imprisonment, or merely of a pecuniary fine. This is done by means of

the indictment. The indictment is a written accusation of one or more

several persons, preferred to and presented upon oath by a grand jury.

This written accusation, before being presented to the grand jury, is

properly termed a "bill;" and, in ordinary cases, it is generally

prepared by the clerk of the arraigns at the assizes, and by the clerk

of the peace at the quarter sessions; but, in cases of difficulty, it

is drawn by counsel. It consists of a formal technical statement of

the offence, which is engrossed upon parchment, upon the back of which

the names of the witnesses for the prosecution are indorsed. In

England it is delivered to the crier of the court, by whom the

witnesses are sworn to the truth of the evidence they are about to

give before the grand jury. In the trial now pending in the Court of

Queen's Bench in Ireland, a great question was raised as to whether a

recent statute, which, on the ground of convenience, enabled grand

juries in Ireland themselves to swear the witnesses, extended to

trials before the Queen's Bench. This question was decided in the

affirmative; therefore, in that country, the oath, in every case, must

be administered by the grand jury themselves; whereas, in this

country, the witnesses are sworn _in court_, and by the crier, as we

have already mentioned. The grand jury, ever since the days of King

Ethelred, must consist of twelve at least, and not more than

twenty-three. In the superior courts they are generally drawn from the

magistracy or superior classes of the community, being, as Mr Justice

Blackstone expresses it, "usually gentlemen of the best figure in the

county." They are duly sworn and instructed in the articles of their

enquiry by the judge who presides upon the bench. They then withdraw,

to sit and receive all bills which may be presented to them. When a

bill is thus presented, the witnesses are generally called in the

order in which their names appear upon the back of the bill. The grand

jury is, at most, to hear evidence only on behalf of the prosecution;

"for," says the learned commentator already quoted, "the finding of an

indictment is only in the nature of an enquiry or accusation, which is

afterwards to be tried and determined; and the grand jury are only to

enquire upon their oaths, whether there be sufficient cause to call

upon a party to answer it." They ought, however, to be fully persuaded

of the truth of an indictment as far as the evidence goes, and not to

rest satisfied with remote probabilities; for the form of the

indictment is, that they, "_upon their oath_, present" the party to

have committed the crime. This form, Mr Justice Coleridge observes, is

perhaps stronger than may be wished, and we believe that the criminal

law commissioners are now seriously considering the propriety of

abolishing it.

After hearing the evidence, the grand jury endorse upon the bill their

judgment of the truth or falsehood of the charge. If they think the

accusation groundless, they write upon it, "not found," or "not a true

bill;" in which case the bill is said to be ignored: but, on the other

hand, if twelve at least are satisfied of the truth of the accusation,

the words "true bill" are placed upon it. The bill is then said to be

found. It then becomes an indictment, and is brought into court by the

grand jury, and publicly delivered by the foreman to the clerk of

arraigns, or clerk of the peace, as the case may be, who states to the

court the substance of the indictment and of the indorsement upon it.

If the bill is ignored, and no other bill is preferred against the

party, he is discharged, without further answer, when the grand jury

have finished their labours, and have been themselves discharged. To

find a bill, twelve at least of the jury must agree; for no man, under

this form of proceeding at least, can be convicted even of a

misdemeanour, unless by the unanimous voice of twenty-four of his

equals; that is, by twelve at least of the grand jury assenting to the

accusation, and afterwards by the whole petit jury of twelve more

finding him guilty upon the trial.

This proceeding is wholly _ex parte_. As the informal statement of the

crime brought the supposed criminal to answer before the inferior

tribunal, so does the formal accusation call upon him to answer before

the superior court. The preliminary proceedings being now complete,

and every step having been taken which is necessary to put the accused

upon his trial, the _ex parte_ character of the proceedings is at an

end. The time approaches when the accused must again be brought face

to face with his accusers; and when, if he has been admitted to bail,

his sureties must deliver him up to the proper authorities, or their

bond is forfeited; in which case, a bench warrant for the apprehension

of the delinquent may issue; and if he cannot still be found, he may

be pursued to outlawry. It may be here mentioned, that the

proceedings may be, at any period, removed from any inferior court

into the Queen's Bench, by what is called a writ of _certiorari_. When

the offender appears voluntarily to an indictment, or was before in

custody, or is brought in upon criminal process to answer it in the

proper court, he is to be immediately arraigned. The arraignment is

simply the calling upon the accused, at the bar of the court, to

answer the matter charged upon him in the indictment, the substantial

parts, at least, of which are then read over to him. This is

indispensable, in order that he may fully understand the charge. So

voluminous are the counts of the indictment recently found against Mr

O'Connell and others, that the reading of the charges they contained

was the work of many hours. The accused is not always compelled

immediately to answer the indictment; for if he appear in term-time to

an indictment for a misdemeanour in the Queen's Bench, it is

sufficient if he plead or demur within four days; the court has a

discretionary power to enlarge the time; but if he neither pleads nor

demurs within the time prescribed, judgment may be entered against him

as for want of a plea. It he appear to such an indictment, having been

committed or held to bail within twenty days before the assizes or

sessions at which he is called upon to answer, he has the option of

_traversing_, as it is termed, or of postponing his trial to the next

assizes or sessions. He is also always entitled, before the trial, on

payment of a trifling charge, to have copies of the examinations of

the witnesses on whose evidence he was committed or held to bail; and

at the trial he has a right to inspect the originals gratuitously. In

prosecutions for misdemeanours at the suit of the Attorney-General, a

copy of indictment must be delivered, free of expense, if demanded by

the accused. These seem to be all the privileges except that of

challenge, which we shall explain hereafter, which the accused

possesses, or to which the law gives him an absolute indefeasible

claim as a matter of right. The _practice_ of different courts may

possibly vary in some degree on points such as those which have been

recently mooted in Ireland; for instance, as to whether the names of

the witnesses should be furnished to the accused, and whether their

address and description should also be supplied. In such matters the

practice might vary, in a considerable degree, in the superior courts

of England and Ireland; and yet each course would be strictly legal,

in the respective courts in which it was adopted; for, as it was

clearly put by one of the Irish judges on a recent occasion, the

practice of the court is the law of the court, and the law of the

court is the law of the land.

When the time has arrived at which the accused must put in his answer

to the indictment, if he do not confess the charge, or stand mute of

malice, he may either plead, 1st, to the jurisdiction, which is a good

plea when the court before whom the indictment is taken has no

cognizance of the offence, as when a case of treason is prosecuted at

the quarter sessions; or, 2dly, he may demur, by which he says, that,

assuming that he has done every thing which the indictment lays to his

charge, he has, nevertheless, been guilty of no crime, and is in

nowise liable to punishment for the act there charged. A demurrer has

been termed an issue in law--the question to be determined being, what

construction the law puts upon admitted facts. If the question of law

be adjudged _in favour_ of the accused, it is attended with the same

results as an acquittal in fact, except that he may be indicted afresh

for the same offence; but if the question be determined _against_ the

prisoner, the law, in its tenderness, _will not_ allow him, at least

in cases of felony, to be punished for his misapprehension of the law,

or for his mistake in the conduct of his pleadings, but will, in such

case, permit him to plead over to the indictment--that is, to plead

not guilty; the consequences of which plea we will consider hereafter.

A third alternative is a plea of abatement, which is a plea praying

that the indictment may be quashed, for some defect which the plea

points out. This plea, though it was recently, made use of by the

defendants in the case now pending in Ireland, is of very rare

occurrence in ordinary practice--a recent statute having entirely

superseded every advantage formerly to be derived from this plea, in

cases of a misnomer, or a wrong name, and of a false addition or a

wrong description of the defendant's rank and condition, which were

the principal occasions on which it was resorted to.

The next alternative which the prisoners may adopt, is a special plea

in bar. These pleas are of four kinds: 1. a former acquittal; 2. a

former conviction; 3. a former attainder; 4. a former pardon, for the

same offence. The first two of these pleas are founded on the maxim of

the law of England, that no man is to be twice put in jeopardy for the

same offence. A man is attainted of felony, only by judgment of death,

or by outlawry; for by such judgment, the prisoner being already dead

in law, and having forfeited all his property, there remains no

further punishment to be awarded; and, therefore, any further

proceeding would be superfluous. This plea has, however, been

practically put an end to by a recent statute. A plea of pardon, is

the converse of a plea of attainder; for a pardon at once destroys the

end and purpose of the indictment, by remitting that punishment which

the prosecution was calculated to inflict.

All these pleas may be answered by the crown in two ways--issue may be

joined on the facts they respectively set forth; or they may be

demurred to; by which step, the facts, alleged in the plea, are denied

to constitute a good and valid defence in law. In _felony_, if any of

these pleas are, either in fact or in law, determined against the

prisoner, he cannot be convicted or concluded by the adverse judgment;

and for this reason. Formerly all felonies were punishable with death,

and, in the words of Mr Justice Blackstone, "the law allows many pleas

by which a prisoner may escape death; but only one plea in consequence

whereof it can be inflicted, viz., the general issue, after an

impartial examination and decision of the facts, by the unanimous

verdict of a jury." The prisoner, therefore, although few felonies

remain still capital, is nevertheless still allowed to plead over as

before. In misdemeanours, however, which are never capital, and in

which, therefore, no such principle could ever have applied, the

judgment on these pleas appears to follow the analogy of a civil

action. Thus, if, upon issue joined, a plea of abatement be found

against the accused, the judgment, on that indictment, is final;

though a second indictment may be preferred against him; but if, upon

demurrer, the question of law is held to be against him, the judgment

is, that he do answer the indictment. If a plea in bar, either on

issue joined, or on demurrer, be determined against the defendant, the

judgment is in such case final, and he stands convicted of the

misdemeanour.

The general issue, or the plea of "not guilty," is the last and most

usual of those answers to the indictment which we have enumerated, the

others being all of extremely rare occurrence in the modern practice

of the criminal law. By this plea, the accused puts himself upon his

county, which county the jury are. The sheriff of the county must then

return a panel of jurors. In England the jurors are taken from the

"jurors' book" of the current year. It must be observed, that a new

jurors' book comes into operation on the first of January in each

year, having previously been copied from the lists of those liable to

serve on juries, made out in the first instance, between the months of

July and October, both inclusive, by the churchwardens and overseers

of each parish, then reviewed and confirmed by the justices of the

peace in petty sessions, and, through the high constable of the

district, delivered to the next quarter sessions. If the proceedings

are before the Queen's Bench, an interval is allowed by the court, in

fixing the time of trial, for the impanneling of the jury, upon a writ

issued to the sheriff for that purpose. The trial in a case of

misdemeanour in the Queen's Bench is had at _nisi prius_, unless it be

of such consequence as to merit a trial at bar, which is invariably

had when the prisoner is tried for any capital offence in that court.

But before the ordinary courts of assize, the sheriff, by virtue of a

general precept directed to him beforehand, returns to the court a

panel of not less than forty-eight nor more than seventy-two persons,

unless the judges of assize direct a greater or smaller number to be

summoned. When the time for the trial has arrived, and the case is

called on, jurors, to the number of twelve, are sworn, unless

challenged as they appear; their names being generally taken

promiscuously, one by one, out of a box containing a number of

tickets, on each of which a juror's name is inserted. Challenges may

be made, either on the part of the crown or on that of the accused,

and either to the whole array or to the separate polls. The challenge

to the array, which must be made in writing, is an exception to the

whole panel, on account of some partiality or default in the sheriff,

or his officer, who arrayed the panel, the ground of which is examined

into before the court. Challenges to the polls--_in capita_--are

exceptions to particular persons, and must be made in each instance,

as the person comes to the box to be sworn, and before he is sworn;

for when the oath is once taken the challenge is too late.

Sir Edward Coke reduces the heads of challenge to four. 1st, _propter

honoris respectum_; as if a lord of Parliament be impannelled. 2d,

_propter defectum_; as if a juryman be an alien born, or be in other

respects generally objectionable. 3d, _propter affectum_; for

suspicion of bias or partiality: and 4th, _propter delictum_; or, for

some crime that affects the juror's credit, and renders him infamous;

In treason and felony, the prisoner is allowed the privilege of a

limited number of _peremptory_ challenges; after which, as in

misdemeanours, there is no limit to the number of challenges, if the

party shows some cause for each challenge to the court. This cause is

tried by persons appointed for that purpose by the court, when no

jurymen have been sworn; but when two jurymen have been sworn, they

are the parties who must adjudicate upon the qualifications of those

who are afterwards challenged, who, except when the challenge is

_propter delictum_, may be themselves examined upon oath. The crown,

also, we have seen, can exercise this privilege, but with this

difference, that no cause for challenge need be shown by the crown,

either in felonies or misdemeanours, till the panel is exhausted, and

unless there cannot be a full jury without the persons so challenged.

When twelve men have been found, they are sworn to give a true verdict

"according to the evidence," and the jury are then ready to hear the

merits of the case. To fix their attention the closer to the facts

which they are impannelled and sworn to try, the indictment, in cases

of importance, is usually opened by the junior counsel for the

crown--a proceeding, by which they are briefly informed of the charge

which is brought against the accused. The leading counsel for the

crown then lays the _facts_ of the case before the jury, in a plain

unvarnished statement; no appeal is made to the passions or prejudices

of the twelve men, who are to pronounce upon the guilt or innocence of

the accused; but every topic, every observation, which might warp

their judgment, or direct their attention from the simple facts which

are about to be proved before them, is anxiously deprecated and

avoided by the counsel for the prosecution. The witnesses for the

crown are called one by one, sworn, examined, and cross-examined by

the accused, or his counsel. When the case for the crown has been

brought to a close, the defence commences, and the counsel for the

defendant addresses the jury. It is the duty of the advocate, on such

an occasion, to put forth all his powers in behalf of his client; to

obtain acquittal is his object: he must sift the hostile evidence, he

must apply every possible test to the accuracy of the testimony, and

to the credibility of the witnesses; he may address himself to the

reason, to the prejudices, to the sympathies, nay, even to the worst

passions of the twelve men whose opinions he seeks to influence in

favour of his client. He may proceed to call witnesses to disprove the

facts adduced on the other side, or to show that the character of the

accused stands too high for even a suspicion of the alleged clime; he

has the utmost liberty of speech and action He may indefinitely

protract the proceedings, and there seems to be scarcely any limit, in

point of law, beyond which the ultimate event of the trial may not be,

by these means, deferred. Whenever the defence closes, in those cases

in which the government is the real prosecutor, the representative of

the crown has the general reply; at the close of which the presiding

judge sums up the evidence to the jury, and informs them of the legal

bearing of the facts, on the effect and existence of which the jury

has to decide. This having been accomplished, it becomes the duty of

the jury to deliberate, decide, and pronounce their verdict. If the

verdict be "Not guilty," the accused is for ever quit and discharged

of the accusation; but if the jury pronounce him guilty, he stands

convicted of the crime which has been thus charged and proved against

him, and awaits the judgment of the court. In felonies and ordinary

misdemeanours, judgment is generally pronounced immediately upon, or

soon after, the delivery of the verdict; in other cases, when the

trial has been had before the Queen's Bench, the judgment may, in

England, be pronounced either immediately or during the ensuing term.

But whenever this event occurs, the prisoner has still one chance more

for escape: he can move an arrest of judgment, on the grounds either

that the indictment is substantially defective, or that he has already

been pardoned or punished for the same offense. These objections, if

successful, will, even at this late stage of the proceedings, save the

defendant from the consequences of his crime. But if these last

resources fail, the court must give the judgment, or pronounce the

measure of that punishment, which the law annexes to the crime of

which the prisoner has been convicted.

By the law of this country, the _species_ of punishment for every

offence is always ascertained; but, between certain defined limits,

the measure and degree of that punishment is, with very few

exceptions, left to the discretion of the presiding judge. Treasons

and some felonies are, indeed, capital: but, in the mercy of modern

times, the great majority of felonies, and all misdemeanours, are

visited, some with various terms of transportation or imprisonment,

which, in most cases, may be with or without hard labour, at the

discretion of the court. In these cases, the punishment is prescribed

by the statute law; but there are some misdemeanours the punishment of

which has not been interfered with by any statute, and to which,

therefore, the common law punishments are still attached. The case of

Mr O'Connell, which is now in abeyance, seems to range itself under

this head of misdemeanours. Such cases are punishable by fine or

imprisonment, or by both; but the amount of the one, or the duration

of the other, is each left at large to be estimated by the court,

according to the more or less aggravated nature of the offence, and,

as it is said, also according to the quality and condition of the

parties. That a fine should, in all cases, be reasonable, has been

declared by Magna Charta; and the Bill of Rights has also provided,

that excessive fine, or cruel and unusual punishments, should not be

inflicted; but what may or may not be unreasonable or excessive, cruel

or unusual, is left entirely to the judgment of the executive.

For crimes of a dark political hue, which, by their tendency to

subvert the government or destroy the institutions of the country,

necessarily assume a character highly dangerous to the safety and

well-being of the state, it might be difficult to say what degree of

punishment would be excessive or unusual. It seems probable, that in

cases of this nature, which include crimes, so varied in their

circumstances that there appears no limit to the degree of guilt

incurred--crimes, the nature and character of which could not possibly

be foreseen or provided for, in all their infinite multiplicity of

detail; it seems probable that, in such cases, a large discretion may

have been purposely left by the framers of our constitution, in order

that the degree of guilt, on each occasion, should be measured by an

expansive self-adjusting scale of punishment, applied, indeed, and

administered by the judges of the land, but regulated and adjusted, in

each succeeding age, by the influence of public opinion, and by the

spirit and temper of the times.

Even at this latest stage of criminal prosecution, in the interval

which must necessarily elapse between the pronouncing and the

infliction of the sentence, the convicted delinquent is not without a

remedy for any wrong he may sustain in the act which terminates the

proceedings. If any judgement not warranted by law be given by the

court, it may be reversed upon a _writ of error_, which lies from all

inferior criminal jurisdictions to the Queen's Bench, and from the

Queen's Bench to the House of Peers. These writs, however, in cases of

misdemeanour, are not allowed, of course, but on probable cause shown

to the Attorney General; and then they are understood to be grantable

of common right, and _ex debito justitiæ_. The crown, if every other

resource has failed the prisoner, has always the power of exercising

the most amiable of its prerogatives. Though the sovereign herself

condemns no man, "the great operation of her sceptre is mercy," and

the chief magistrate, in the words of Sir William Blackstone, "holding

a court of equity in his own breast, to soften the rigour of the

general law, in such criminal cases as merit an exemption from

punishment," is ever at liberty to grant a free, unconditional, and

gracious pardon to the injured or repentant convict.

We have now rapidly traced the progress of a criminal prosecution from

its commencement to its close, and we have given a summary of the

_ordinary_ proceedings on such occasions. Although it may be possible

that the practice of the courts in Ireland on minor points, should

occasionally differ in some degree from the practice of the English

Courts, we may, nevertheless, have rendered the proceedings now

pending in the sister isle, more intelligible to the general reader,

who may now, perhaps, be enabled to see the bearing, and understand

the importance of many struggles, which, to the unlearned, might

probably appear to be wholly beside the real question now at issue

between the crown and Mr O'Connell. Whatever be the result of that

prosecution, whether those indicted be found guilty, or acquitted, of

the misdemeanours laid to their charge; we feel assured, on the one

hand, however long and grievous may have been the "provocation," that

while there will be "nothing extenuate," neither will there be "set

down aught in malice;" but that the measure of the retribution now

demanded by the state, will be so temperately and equitably adjusted,

that while the very semblance of oppression is carefully avoided, the

majesty of the law, and the powers of the executive, will be amply and

entirely vindicated. On the other hand, if Mr O'Connell, and his

companions, in guilt or misfortune, should break through the cobwebs

of the law, and hurl a _retrospective_ defiance at the Government; we

feel the utmost confidence, that the learning, foresight, and ability,

of the eminent lawyers who represent the crown, together with the

firmness and integrity of the Irish bench, "_sans peur et sans

reproche_," will demonstrate to the millions who look on, that the

constitutional powers of the state still remain uninjured and

unimpaired in all their pristine and legitimate energy and vigour; and

that neither in the machinery now set in motion, nor with those who

conduct or superintend its action, but with others on whom, in the

course of these proceedings, will be thrown the execution of a grave

and all-important duty, must rest the real blame, if blame there be,

of the failure of _this_ "State Prosecution."

* * * * *

ADVENTURES IN TEXAS.

No. III.

THE STRUGGLE.

I had been but three or four months in Texas, when, in consequence of

the oppressive conduct of the Mexican military authorities, symptoms

of discontent showed themselves, and several skirmishes occurred

between the American settlers and the soldiery. The two small forts of

Velasco and Nacogdoches were taken by the former, and their garrisons

and a couple of field-officers made prisoners; soon after which,

however, the quarrel was made up by the intervention of Colonel Austin

on the part of Texas, and Colonel Mejia on the part of the Mexican

authorities.

But in the year '33 occurred Santa Anna's defection from the liberal

party, and the imprisonment of Stephen F. Austin, the Texian

representative in the Mexican congress, by the vice-president, Gomez

Farias. This was followed by Texas adopting the constitution of 1824,

and declaring itself an independent state of the Mexican republic.

Finally, towards the close of 1835 Texas threw off the Mexican yoke

altogether, voted itself a free and sovereign republic, and prepared

to defend by arms its newly asserted liberty.

The first step to be taken was, to secure our communications with the

United States by getting possession of the sea-ports. General Cos had

occupied Galveston harbour, and built and garrisoned a block-fort,

nominally for the purpose of enforcing the customs laws, but in

reality with a view to cut off our communications with New Orleans and

the States. This fort it was necessary to get possession of, and my

friend Fanning and myself were appointed to that duty by the Alcalde,

who had taken a prominent part in all that had occurred.

Our whole force and equipment wherewith to accomplish this enterprise,

consisted in a sealed despatch, to be opened at the town of Columbia,

and a half-breed, named Agostino, who acted as our guide. On reaching

Columbia, we called together the principal inhabitants of the place,

and of the neighbouring towns of Bolivar and Marion, unsealed the

letter in their presence, and six hours afterwards the forces therein

specified were assembled, and we were on our march towards Galveston.

The next day the fort was taken, and the garrison made prisoners,

without our losing a single man.

We sent off our guide to the government at San Felipe with news of our

success. In nine days he returned, bringing us the thanks of congress,

and fresh orders. We were to leave a garrison in the fort, and then

ascend Trinity river, and march towards San Antonio de Bexar. This

route was all the more agreeable to Fanning and myself, as it would

bring us into the immediate vicinity of the _haciendas_, or estates,

of which we had some time previously obtained a grant from the Texian

government; and we did not doubt that we were indebted to our friend

the Alcalde for the orders which thus conciliated our private

convenience with our public duty.

As we marched along we found the whole country in commotion, the

settlers all arming, and hastening to the distant place of rendezvous.

We arrived at Trinity river one afternoon, and immediately sent

messengers for forty miles in all directions to summon the

inhabitants. At the period in question, the plantations in that part

of the country were very few and far between, but nevertheless by the

afternoon of the next day we had got together four-and-thirty men,

mounted on mustangs, each equipped with rifle and bowie-knife,

powder-horn and bullet-bag, and furnished with provisions for several

days. With these we started for San Antonio de Bexar, a march of two

hundred and fifty miles, through trackless prairies intersected with

rivers and streams, which, although not quite so big as the

Mississippi or Potomac, were yet deep and wide enough to have offered

serious impediment to regular armies. But to Texian farmers and

backwoodsmen, they were trifling obstacles. Those we could not wade

through we swam over; and in due time, and without any incident worthy

of note, reached the appointed place of rendezvous, which was on the

river Salado, about fifteen miles from San Antonio, the principal city

of the province. This latter place it was intended to attack--an

enterprise of some boldness and risk, considering that the town was

protected by a strong fort, amply provided with heavy artillery, and

had a garrison of nearly three thousand men, commanded by officers who

had, for the most part, distinguished themselves in the revolutionary

wars against the Spaniards. Our whole army, which we found encamped on

the Salado, under the command of General Austin, did not exceed eight

hundred men.

The day after that on which Fanning and myself, with our four and

thirty recruits, reached headquarters, a council of war was held, and

it was resolved to advance as far as the mission of Santa Espada. The

advanced guard was to push forward immediately; the main body would

follow the next day. Fanning and myself were appointed to the command

of the vanguard, in conjunction with Mr Wharton, a wealthy planter,

who had brought a strong party of volunteers with him, and whose

mature age and cool judgment, it was thought, would counterbalance any

excess of youthful heat and impetuosity on our part. Selecting

ninety-two men out of the eight hundred, who, to a man, volunteered to

accompany us, we set out for the mission.

These missions are a sort of picket-houses or outposts of the Catholic

church, and are found in great numbers in all the frontier provinces

of Spanish America, especially in Texas, Santa Fe, and Cohahuila. They

are usually of sufficient strength to afford their inmates security

against any predatory party of Indians or other marauders, and are

occupied by priests, who, while using their endeavours to spread the

doctrines of the Church of Rome, act also as spies and agents of the

Mexican government.

On reaching San Espada we held a discussion as to the propriety of

remaining there until the general came up, or of advancing at once

towards the river. Wharton inclined to the former plan, and it was

certainly the most prudent, for the mission was a strong building,

surrounded by a high wall, and might have been held against very

superior numbers. Fanning and I, however, did not like the idea of

being cooped up in a house, and at last Wharton yielded. We left our

horses and mustangs in charge of eight men, and with the remainder set

out in the direction of the Salado, which flows from north to south, a

third of a mile to the westward of the mission. About half-way between

the latter and the river, was a small group, or island, of muskeet

trees, the only object that broke the uniformity of the prairie. The

bank of the river on our side was tolerably steep, about eight or ten

feet high, hollowed out here and there, and covered with a thick

network of wild vines. The Salado at this spot describes a sort of

bow-shaped curve, with a ford at either end, by which alone the river

can be passed, for although not very broad, it is rapid and deep. We

resolved to take up a position within this bow, calculating that we

might manage to defend the two fords, which were not above a quarter

of a mile apart.

At the same time we did not lose sight of the dangers of such a

position, and of the almost certainty that if the enemy managed to

cross the river, we should be surrounded and cut off. But our success

on the few occasions on which we had hitherto come to blows with the

Mexicans, at Velasco, Nacogdoches, and Galveston, had inspired us with

so much confidence, that we considered ourselves a match for thousands

of such foes, and actually began to wish the enemy would attack us

before our main body came up. We reconnoitred the ground, stationed a

picket of twelve men at each ford, and an equal number in the island

of muskeet trees; and established ourselves with the remainder amongst

the vines and in the hollows on the river bank.

The commissariat department of the Texian army was, as may be

supposed, not yet placed upon any very regular footing. In fact,

every man was, for the present, his own commissary-general. Finding

our stock of provisions to be very small, we sent out a party of

foragers, who soon returned with three sheep, which they had taken

from a _rancho_, within a mile of San Antonio. An old priest, whom

they found there, had threatened them with the anger of Heaven and of

General Cos; but they paid little attention to his denunciations, and,

throwing down three dollars, walked off with the sheep. The priest

became furious, got upon his mule, and trotted away in the direction

of the City to complain to General Cos of the misconduct of the

heretics.

After this we made no doubt that we should soon have a visit from the

worthy Dons. Nevertheless the evening and the night passed away

without incident. Day broke--still no signs of the Mexicans. This

treacherous sort of calm, we thought, might forbode a storm, and we

did not allow it to lull us into security. We let the men get their

breakfast, which they had hardly finished when the picket from the

upper ford came in with news that a strong body of cavalry was

approaching the river, and that their vanguard was already in the

hollow way leading to the ford. We had scarcely received this

intelligence when we heard the blare of the trumpets, and the next

moment we saw the officers push their horses up the declivitous bank,

closely followed by their men, whom they formed up in the prairie. We

counted six small squadrons, about three hundred men in all. They were

the Durango dragoons--smart troops enough to all appearance, capitally

mounted and equipped, and armed with carbines and sabres.

Although the enemy had doubtless reconnoitred us from the opposite

shore, and ascertained our position, he could not form any accurate

idea of our numbers, for with a view to deceive him, we kept the men

in constant motion, sometimes showing a part of them on the prairie,

then causing them to disappear again behind the vines and bushes. This

was all very knowing for young soldiers such as we were; but, on the

other hand, we had committed a grievous error, and sinned against all

established military rules, by not placing a picket on the further

side of the river, to warn us of the approach of the enemy, and the

direction in which he was coming. There can be little doubt that if we

had earlier notice of their approach, thirty or forty good

marksmen--and all our people were that--might not only have delayed

the advance of the Mexicans, but perhaps even totally disgusted them

of their attempt to cross the Salado. The hollow way on the other side

of the river, leading to the ford, was narrow and tolerably steep, and

the bank was at least six times as high as on our side. Nothing would

have been easier than to have stationed a party, so as to pick off the

cavalry as they wound through this kind of pass, and emerged two by

two upon the shore. Our error, however, did not strike us till it was

too late to repair it; so we were fain to console ourselves with the

reflection that the Mexicans would be much more likely to attribute

our negligence to an excess of confidence in our resources, than to

the inexperience in military matters, which was its real cause. We

resolved to do our best to merit the good opinion which we thus

supposed them to entertain of us.

When the whole of the dragoons had crossed the water, they marched on

for a short distance in an easterly direction: then, wheeling to the

right, proceeded southward, until within some five hundred paces of

us, where they halted. In this position, the line of cavalry formed

the chord of the arc described by the river, and occupied by us.

As soon as they halted, they opened their fire, although the could not

see one of us, for we were completely sheltered by the bank. Our

Mexican heroes, however, apparently did not think it necessary to be

within sight or range of their opponents before firing, for they gave

us a rattling volley at a distance which no carbine would carry. This

done, others galloped on for about a hundred yards, halted again,

loaded, fired another volley, and then giving another gallop, fired

again. They continued this sort of _manège_ till they found themselves

within two hundred and fifty paces of us, and then appeared inclined

to take a little time for reflection.

We kept ourselves perfectly still. The dragoons evidently did not

like the aspect of matters. Our remaining concealed, and not replying

to their fire, seemed to bother them. We saw the officers taking a

deal of pains to encourage their men, and at last two squadrons

advanced, the others following more slowly, a short distance in rear.

This was the moment we had waited for. No sooner had the dragoons got

into a canter, than six of our men who had received orders to that

effect, sprang up the bank, took steady aim at the officers, fired,

and then jumped down again.

As we had expected, the small numbers that had shown themselves,

encouraged the Mexicans to advance. They seemed at first taken rather

aback by the fall of four of their officers; but nevertheless, after a

moment's hesitation, they came thundering along full speed. They were

within sixty or seventy yards of us, when Fanning and thirty of our

riflemen ascended the bank, and with a coolness and precision that

would have done credit to the most veteran troops, poured a steady

fire into the ranks of the dragoons.

It requires some nerve and courage for men who have never gone through

any regular military training, to stand their ground singly and

unprotected, within fifty yards of an advancing line of cavalry. Our

fellows did it, however, and fired, not all at once, or in a hurry,

but slowly and deliberately; a running fire, every shot of which told.

Saddle after saddle was emptied; the men, as they had been ordered,

always picking out the foremost horsemen, and as soon as they had

fired, jumping down the bank to reload. When the whole of the thirty

men had discharged their rifles, Wharton and myself, with the reserve

of six and thirty more, took their places; but the dragoons had almost

had enough already, and we had scarcely fired ten shots when they

executed a right-about turn, with an uniformity and rapidity which did

infinite credit to their drill, and went off at a pace that soon

carried them out of reach of our bullets. They had probably not

expected so warm a reception. We saw their officers doing every thing

they could to check their flight, imploring, threatening, even cutting

at them with their sabres, but it was no use; if they were to be

killed, it must be in their own way, and they preferred being cut down

by their officers to encountering the deadly precision of rifles, in

the hands of men who, being sure of hitting a squirrel at a hundred

yards, were not likely to miss a Durango dragoon at any point within

range.

Our object in ordering the men to fire slowly was, always to have

thirty or forty rifles loaded, wherewith to receive the enemy should

he attempt a charge _en masse_. But our first greeting had been a

sickener, and it appeared almost doubtful whether he would venture to

attack us again, although the officers did every thing in their power

to induce their men to advance. For a long time, neither threats,

entreaties, nor reproaches produced any effect. We saw the officers

gesticulating furiously, pointing to us with their sabres, and

impatiently spurring their horses, till the fiery animals plunged and

reared, and sprang with all four feet from the ground. It is only just

to say, that the officers exhibited a degree of courage far beyond any

thing we had expected from them. Of the two squadrons that charged us,

two-thirds of the officers had fallen; but those who remained, instead

of appearing intimidated by their comrades' fate, redoubled their

efforts to bring their men forward.

At last there appeared some probability of their accomplishing this,

after a most curious and truly Mexican fashion. Posting themselves in

front of their squadrons, they rode on alone for a hundred yards or

so, halted, looked round, as much as to say--"You see there is no

danger as far as this," and then galloping back, led their men on.

Each time that they executed this manoeuvre, the dragoons would

advance slowly some thirty or forty paces, and then halt as

simultaneously as if the word of command had been given. Off went the

officers again, some distance to the front, and then back again to

their men, and got them on a little further. In this manner these

heroes were inveigled once more to within a hundred and fifty yards of

our position.

Of course, at each of the numerous halts which they made during their

advance, they favoured us with a general, but most innocuous discharge

of their carbines; and at last, gaining confidence, I suppose, from

our passiveness, and from the noise and smoke they themselves had been

making, three squadrons which had not yet been under fire, formed open

column and advanced at a trot. Without giving them time to halt or

reflect--"Forward! Charge!" shouted the officers, urging their own

horses to their utmost speed; and following the impulse thus given,

the three squadrons came charging furiously along.

Up sprang thirty of our men to receive them. Their orders were to fire

slowly, and not throw away a shot, but the gleaming sabres and rapid

approach of the dragoons flurried some of them, and firing a hasty

volley, they jumped down the bank again. This precipitation had nearly

been fatal to us. Several of the dragoons fell, and there was some

confusion and a momentary faltering amongst the others; but they still

came on. At this critical moment, Wharton and myself, with the

reserves, showed ourselves on the bank. "Slow and sure-mark your men!"

shouted we both. Wharton on the right and I on the left. The command

was obeyed: rifle after rifle cracked off, always aimed at the

foremost of the dragoons, and at every report a saddle was emptied.

Before we had all fired, Fanning and a dozen of his sharpest men had

again loaded, and were by our side. For nearly a minute the Mexicans

remained, as if stupefied by our murderous fire, and uncertain whether

to advance or retire; but as those who attempted the former, were

invariably shot down, they at last began a retreat, which was soon

converted into a rout. We gave them a farewell volley, which eased a

few more horses of their riders, and then got under cover again, to

await what might next occur.

But the Mexican caballeros had no notion of coming up to the scratch a

third time. They kept patrolling about, some three or four hundred

yards off, and firing volleys at us, which they were able to do with

perfect impunity, as at that distance we did not think proper to

return a shot.

The skirmish had lasted nearly three quarters of an hour. Strange to

say, we had not had a single man wounded, although at times the

bullets had fallen about us as thick as hail. We could not account for

this. Many of us had been hit by the balls, but a bruise or a graze of

the skin was the worst consequence that had ensued. We were in a fair

way to deem ourselves invulnerable.

We were beginning to think that the fight was over for the day, when

our videttes at the lower ford brought us the somewhat unpleasant

intelligence that large masses of infantry were approaching the river,

and would soon be in sight. The words were hardly uttered, when the

roll of the drums, and shrill squeak of the fifes became audible, and

in a few minutes the head of the column of infantry, having crossed

the ford, ascended the sloping bank, and defiled in the prairie

opposite the island of muskeet trees. As company after company

appeared, we were able to form a pretty exact estimate of their

numbers. There were two battalions, together about a thousand men; and

they brought a field-piece with them.

These were certainly rather long odds to be opposed to seventy-two men

and three officers' for it must be remembered that we had left twenty

of our people at the mission, and in the island of trees. Two

battalions of infantry, and six squadrons of dragoons--the latter, to

be sure, disheartened and diminished by the loss of some fifty men,

but nevertheless formidable opponents, now they were supported by the

foot soldiers. About twenty Mexicans to each of us. It was getting

past a joke. We were all capital shots, and most of us, besides our

rifles, had a brace of pistols in our belts; but what were

seventy-five rifles, and five or six score of pistols against a

thousand muskets and bayonets, two hundred and fifty dragoons, and a

field-piece loaded with canister? If the Mexicans had a spark of

courage or soldiership about them, our fate was sealed. But it was

exactly this courage and soldiership, which we made sure would be

wanting.

Nevertheless we, the officers, could not repress a feeling of anxiety

and self-reproach, when we reflected that we had brought our comrades

into such a hazardous predicament. But on looking around us, our

apprehensions vanished. Nothing could exceed the perfect coolness and

confidence with which the men were cleaning and preparing their rifles

for the approaching conflict; no bravado--no boasting, talking, or

laughing, but a calm decision of manner, which at once told us, that

if it were possible to overcome such odds as were brought against us,

those were the men to do it.

Our arrangements for the approaching struggle were soon completed.

Fanning and Wharton were to make head against the infantry and

cavalry. I was to capture the field-piece--an eight-pounder.

This gun was placed by the Mexicans upon their extreme left, close to

the river, the shores of which it commanded for a considerable

distance. The bank on which we were posted was, as before mentioned,

indented by caves and hollows, and covered with a thick tapestry of

vines and other plants, which was now very useful in concealing us

from the artillerymen. The latter made a pretty good guess at our

position however, and at the first discharge, the canister whizzed

past us at a very short distance. There was not a moment to lose, for

one well-directed shot might exterminate half of us. Followed by a

dozen men, I worked my way as well as I could through the labyrinth of

vines and bushes, and was not more than fifty yards from the gun, when

it was again fired. No one was hurt, although the shot was evidently

intended for my party. The enemy could not see us; but the notion of

the vines, as we passed through them, had betrayed our whereabout: so,

perceiving that we were discovered, I sprang up the bank into the

prairie followed by my men, to whom I shouted, above all to aim at the

artillerymen.

I had raised my own rifle to my shoulder, when I let it fall again in

astonishment at an apparition that presented itself to my view. This

was a tall, lean, wild figure, with a face overgrown by long beard

that hung down upon his breast, and dressed in a leather cap, jacket,

and mocassins. Where this man had sprung from was a perfect riddle. He

was unknown to any of us, although I had some vague recollection of

having seen him before, but where or when, I could not call to mind.

He had a long rifle in his hands, which he must have fired once

already, for one of the artillerymen lay dead by the gun. At the

moment I first caught sight of him, he shot down another, and then

began reloading with a rapid dexterity, that proved him to be well

used to the thing. My men were as much astonished as I was by this

strange apparition, which appeared to have started out of the earth;

and for a few seconds they forgot to fire, and stood gazing at the

stranger. The latter did not seem to approve of their inaction.

"D---- yer eyes, ye starin' fools," shouted he in a rough hoarse

voice, "don't ye see them art'lerymen? Why don't ye knock 'em on the

head?"

It certainly was not the moment to remain idle. We fired; but our

astonishment had thrown us off our balance, and we nearly all missed.

We sprang down the bank again to load, just as the men serving the gun

were slewing it around, so as to bring it to bear upon us. Before this

was accomplished, we were under cover, and the stranger had the

benefit of the discharge, of which he took no more notice than if he

had borne a charmed life. Again we heard the crack of his rifle, and

when, having reloaded, we once more ascended the bank, he was taking

aim at the last artilleryman, who fell, as his companions had done.

"D---- ye, for laggin' fellers!" growled the stranger. "Why don't ye

take that 'ere big gun?"

Our small numbers, the bad direction of our first volley, but, above

all, the precipitation with which we had jumped down the bank after

firing it, had so encouraged the enemy, that a company of infantry,

drawn up some distance in rear of the field-piece, fired a volley, and

advanced at double-quick time, part of them making a small _détour_

with the intention of cutting us off from our friends. At this

moment, we saw Fanning and thirty men coming along the river bank to

our assistance; so without minding the Mexicans who were getting

behind us, we rushed forward to within twenty paces of those in our

front, and taking steady aim, brought down every man his bird. The

sort of desperate coolness with which this was done, produced the

greater effect on our opponents, as being something quite out of their

way. They would, perhaps, have stood firm against a volley from five

times our number, at a rather greater distance; but they did not like

having their mustaches singed by our powder; and after a moment's

wavering and hesitation, they shouted out "Diabolos! Diabolos!" and

throwing away their muskets, broke into precipitate flight.

Fanning and Wharton now came up with all the men. Under cover of the

infantry's advance, the gun had been re-manned, but, luckily for us,

only by infantry soldiers; for had there been artillerymen to seize

the moment when we were all standing exposed on the prairie, they

might have diminished our numbers not a little. The fuse was already

burning, and we had just time to get under the bank when the gun went

off. Up we jumped again, and looked about us to see what was next to

be done.

Although hitherto all the advantages had been on our side, our

situation was still a very perilous one. The company we had put to

flight had rejoined its battalion, which was now beginning to advance

by _échelon_ of companies. The second battalion, which was rather

further from us, was moving forward in like manner, and in a parallel

direction. We should probably, therefore, have to resist the attack of

a dozen companies, one after the other; and it was to be feared that

the Mexicans would finish by getting over their panic terror of our

rifles, and exchange their distant and ineffectual platoon-firing for

a charge with the bayonet, in which their superior numbers would tell.

We observed, also, that the cavalry, which had been keeping itself at

a safe distance, was now put in motion, and formed up close to the

island of muskeet trees, to which the right flank of the infantry was

also extending itself. Thence they had clear ground for a charge down

upon us.

Meanwhile, what had become of the twelve men whom we had left in the

island? Were they still there, or had they fallen back upon the

mission in dismay at the overwhelming force of the Mexicans? If the

latter, it was a bad business for us, for they were all capital shots,

and well armed with rifles and pistols. We heartily wished we had

brought them with us, as well as the eight men at the mission. Cut off

from us as they were, what could they do against the whole of the

cavalry and two companies of infantry which were now approaching the

island? To add to our difficulties, our ammunition was beginning to

run short. Many of us had only had enough powder and ball for fifteen

or sixteen charges, which were now reduced to six or seven. It was no

use desponding, however; and, after a hurried consultation, it was

agreed that Fanning and Wharton should open a fire upon the enemy's

centre, while I made a dash at the field-piece before any more

infantry had time to come up for its protection.

The infantry-men who had re-manned the gun were by this time shot

down, and, as none had come to replace them, it was served by an

officer alone. Just as I gave the order to advance to the twenty men

who were to follow me, this officer fell. Simultaneously with his

fall, I heard a sort of yell behind me, and, turning round, saw that

it proceeded from the wild spectre-looking stranger, whom I had lost

sight of during the last few minutes. A ball had struck him, and he

fell heavily to the ground, his rifle, which had just been discharged,

and was still smoking from muzzle and touchhole, clutched convulsively

in both hands; his features distorted, his eyes rolling frightfully.

There was something in the expression of his face at that moment which

brought back to me, in vivid colouring, one of the earliest and most

striking incidents of my residence in Texas. Had I not myself seen him

hung, I could have sworn that _Bob Rock, the murderer_, now lay before

me.

A second look at the man gave additional force to this idea.

"Bob!" I exclaimed.

"Bob!" repeated the wounded man, in a broken voice, and with a look

of astonishment, almost of dismay. "Who calls Bob?"

A wild gleam shot from his eyes, which the next instant closed. He had

become insensible.

It was neither the time nor the place to indulge in speculations on

this singular resurrection of a man whose execution I had myself

witnessed. With twelve hundred foes around us, we had plenty to occupy

all our thoughts and attention. My people were already masters of the

gun, and some of them drew it forwards and pointed it against the

enemy, while the others spread out right and left to protect it with

their rifles. I was busy loading the piece when an exclamation of

surprise from one of the men made me look up.

There seemed to be something extraordinary happening amongst the

Mexicans, to judge from the degree of confusion which suddenly showed

itself in their ranks, and which, beginning with the cavalry and right

flank of the infantry, soon became general throughout their whole

force. It was a sort of wavering and unsteadiness which, to us, was

quite unaccountable, for Fanning and Wharton had not yet fired twenty

shots, and, indeed, had only just come within range of the enemy. Not

knowing what it could portend, I called in my men, and stationed them

round the gun, which I had double-shotted, and stood ready to fire.

The confusion in the Mexican ranks increased. For about a minute they

waved and reeled to and fro, as if uncertain which way to go; and, at

last, the cavalry and right of the line fairly broke, and ran for it.

This example was followed by the centre, and presently the whole of

the two battalions and three hundred cavalry were scattered over the

prairie, in the wildest and most disorderly flight. I gave them a

parting salute from the eight-pounder, which would doubtless have

accelerated their movements had it been possible to run faster than

they were already doing.

We stood staring after the fugitives in perfect bewilderment, totally

unable to explain their apparently causeless panic. At last the report

of several rifles from the island of trees gave us a clue to the

mystery.

The infantry, whose left flank extended to the Salado, had pushed

their right into the prairie as far as the island of muskeet trees, in

order to connect their line with the dragoons, and then by making a

general advance, to attack us on all sides at once, and get the full

advantage of their superior numbers. The plan was not a bad one.

Infantry and cavalry approached the island, quite unsuspicious of its

being occupied. The twelve riflemen whom we had stationed there

remained perfectly quiet, concealed behind the trees; allowed

squadrons and companies to come within twenty paces of them, and then

opened their fire, first from their pistols, then from their rifles.

Some six and thirty shots, every one of which told, fired suddenly

from a cover close to their rear, were enough to startle even the best

troops, much more so our Mexican dons, who, already sufficiently

inclined to a panic, now believed themselves fallen into an ambuscade,

and surrounded on all sides by the incarnate _diabolos_, as they

called us. The cavalry, who had not yet recovered the thrashing we had

given them, were ready enough for a run, and the infantry were not

slow to follow them.

Our first impulse was naturally to pursue the flying enemy, but a

discovery made by some of the men, induced us to abandon that idea.

They had opened the pouches of the dead Mexicans in order to supply

themselves with ammunition, ours being nearly expended; but the powder

of the cartridges turned out so bad as to be useless. It was little

better than coal dust, and would not carry a ball fifty paces to kill

or wound. This accounted for our apparent invulnerability to the fire

of the Mexicans. The muskets also were of a very inferior description.

Both they and the cartridges were of English make; the former being

stamped Birmingham, and the latter having the name of an English

powder manufactory, with the significant addition, "for exportation."

Under these circumstances, we had nothing to do but let the Mexicans

run. We sent a detachment to the muskeet island, to unite itself with

the twelve men who had done such good service there, and thence

advance towards the ford. We ourselves proceeded slowly in the latter

direction. This demonstration brought the fugitives back again, for

they had, most of them, in the wild precipitation of their flight,

passed the only place where they could cross the river. They began

crowding over in the greatest confusion, foot and horse all mixed up

together; and by the time we got within a hundred paces of the ford,

the prairie was nearly clear of them. There were still a couple of

hundred men on our side of the water, completely at our mercy, and

Wharton, who was a little in front with thirty men, gave the word to

fire upon them. No one obeyed. He repeated the command. Not a rifle

was raised. He stared at his men, astonished and impatient at this

strange disobedience. An old weather-beaten bear-hunter stepped

forward, squirting out his tobacco juice with all imaginable

deliberation.

"I tell ye what, capting!" said he, passing his quid over from his

right cheek to his left; "I calkilate, capting," he continued, "we'd

better leave the poor devils of dons alone."

"The poor devils of dons alone!" repeated Wharton in a rage. "Are you

mad, man?"

Fanning and I had just come up with our detachment, and were not less

surprised and angry than Wharton was, at this breach of discipline.

The man, however, did not allow himself to be disconcerted.

"There's a proverb, gentlemen," said he, turning to us, "which says,

that one should build a golden bridge for a beaten enemy; and a good

proverb it is, I calkilate--a considerable good one."

"What do you mean, man, with your golden bridge?" cried Fanning. "This

is no time for proverbs."

"Do you know that you are liable to be punished for insubordination?"

said I. "It's your duty to fire, and do the enemy all the harm you

can; not to be quoting proverbs."

"Calkilate it is," replied the man very coolly. "Calkilate I could

shoot 'em without either danger or trouble; but I reckon that would be

like Spaniards or Mexicans; not like Americans--not prudent."

"Not like Americans? Would you let the enemy escape, then, when we

have him in our power?"

"Calkilate I would. Calkilate we should do ourselves more harm than

him by shooting down his people. That was a considerable sensible

commandment of yourn, always to shoot the foremost of the Mexicans

when they attacked. It discouraged the bold ones, and was a sort of

premium on cowardice. Them as lagged behind escaped, them as came

bravely on were shot. It was a good calkilation. If we had shot 'em

without discrimination, the cowards would have got bold, seein' that

they weren't safer in rear than in front. The cowards are our best

friends. Now them runaways," continued he, pointing to the Mexicans,

who were crowding over the river, "are jest the most cowardly of 'em

all, for in their fright they quite forgot the ford, and it's because

they ran so far beyond it, that they are last to cross the water. And

if you fire at 'em now, they'll find that they get nothin' by bein'

cowards, and next time, I reckon, they'll sell their hides as dear as

they can."

Untimely as this palaver, to use a popular word, undoubtedly was, we

could scarcely forbear smiling at the simple _naïve_ manner in which

the old Yankee spoke his mind.

"Calkilate, captings," he concluded, "you'd better let the poor devils

run. We shall get more profit by it than if we shot five hundred of

'em. Next time they'll run away directly to show their gratitude for

our ginerosity."

The man stepped back into the ranks, and his comrades nodded

approvingly, and calculated and reckoned that Zebediah had spoke a

true word; and meanwhile the enemy had crossed the river, and was out

of our reach. We were forced to content ourselves with sending a party

across the water to follow up the Mexicans, and observe the direction

they took. We then returned to our old position.

My first thought on arriving there was to search for the body of Bob

Rock--for he it undoubtedly was, who had so mysteriously appeared

amongst us. I repaired to the spot where I had seen him fall; but

could discover no signs of him, either dead or alive. I went over the

whole scene of the fight, searched amongst the vines and along the

bank of the river; there were plenty of dead Mexicans--cavalry,

infantry, and artillery, but no Bob was to be found, nor could any one

inform me what had become of him, although several had seen him fall.

I was continuing my search, when I met Wharton, who asked me what I

was seeking, and on learning, shook his head gravely. He had seen the

wild prairieman, he said, but whence he came, or whither he was gone,

was more than he could tell. It was a long time since any thing had

startled and astonished him so much as this man's appearance and

proceedings. He (Wharton,) had been stationed with his party amongst

the vines, about fifty paces in rear of Fanning's people, when just as

the Mexican infantry had crossed the ford, and were forming up, he saw

a man approaching at a brisk trot from the north side of the prairie.

He halted about a couple of hundred yards from Wharton, tied his

mustang to a bush, and with his rifle on his arm, strode along the

edge of the prairie in the direction of the Mexicans. When he passed

near Wharton, the latter called out to him to halt, and say who he

was, whence he came, and whither going.

"Who I am is no business of yourn," replied the man: "nor where I come

from neither. You'll soon see where I'm goin'. I'm goin' agin' the

enemy."

"Then you must come and join us," cried Wharton.

This the stranger testily refused to do. He'd fight on his own hook,

he said.

Wharton told him he must not do that.

He should like to see who'd hinder him, he said, and walked on. The

next moment he shot the first artilleryman. After that they let him

take his own way.

Neither Wharton, nor any of his men, knew what had become of him; but

at last I met with a bear-hunter, who gave me the following

information.

"Calkilatin'," said he, "that the wild prairieman's rifle was a

capital good one, as good a one as ever killed a bear, he tho't it a

pity that it should fall into bad hands, so went to secure it himself,

although the frontispiece of its dead owner warn't very invitin'. But

when he stooped to take the gun, he got such a shove as knocked him

backwards, and on getting up, he saw the prairieman openin' his jacket

and examinin' a wound on his breast, which was neither deep nor

dangerous, although it had taken away the man's senses for a while.

The ball had struck the breast bone, and was quite near the skin, so

that the wounded man pushed it out with his fingers; and then

supporting himself on his rifle, got up from the ground, and without

either a thankye, or a d---nye, walked to where his mustang was tied

up, got on its back, and rode slowly away in a northerly direction."

This was all the information I could obtain on the subject, and

shortly afterwards the main body of our army came up, and I had other

matters to occupy my attention. General Austin expressed his gratitude

and approbation to our brave fellows, after a truly republican and

democratic fashion. He shook hands with all the rough bear and buffalo

hunters, and drank with them. Fanning and myself he promoted, on the

spot, to the rank of colonel.

We were giving the general a detailed account of the morning's events,

when a Mexican priest appeared with a flag of truce and several

waggons, and craved permission to take away the dead. This was of

course granted, and we had some talk with the padré, who, however, was

too wily a customer to allow himself to be pumped. What little we did

get out of him, determined us to advance the same afternoon against

San Antonio. We thought there was some chance, that in the present

panic-struck state of the Mexicans, we might obtain possession of the

place by a bold and sudden assault.

In this, however, we were mistaken. We found the gates closed, and the

enemy on his guard, but too dispirited to oppose our taking up a

position at about cannon-shot from the great redoubt. We had soon

invested all the outlets from the city.

San Antonio de Bexar lies in a fertile and well-irrigated valley,

stretching westward from the river Salado. In the centre of the town

rises the fort of the Alamo, which at that time was armed with

forty-eight pieces of artillery of various calibre. The garrison of

the town and fortress was nearly three thousand strong.

Our artillery consisted of two batteries of four six, and five

eight-pounders; our army of eleven hundred men, with which we had not

only to carry on the siege, but also to make head against the forces

that would be sent against us from Cohahuila, on the frontier of which

province General Cos was stationed, with a strong body of troops.

We were not discouraged, however, and opened our fire upon the city.

During the first week, not a day passed without smart skirmishes.

General Cos's dragoons were swarming about us like so many Bedouins.

But although well-mounted, and capital horsemen, they were no match

for our backwoodsmen. Those from the western states especially,

accustomed to Indian warfare and cunning, laid traps and ambuscades

for the Mexicans, and were constantly destroying their detachments. As

for the besieged, if one of them showed his head for ten seconds above

the city wall, he was sure of getting a rifle bullet through it. I

cannot say that our besieging army was a perfect model of military

discipline; but any deficiencies in that respect were made good by the

intelligence of the men, and the zeal and unanimity with which they

pursued the accomplishment of one great object--the capture of the

city--the liberty and independence of Texas.

The badness of the gunpowder used by the Mexicans, was again of great

service to us. Many of their cannon balls that fell far short of us,

were collected and returned to them with powerful effect. We kept a

sharp look-out for convoys, and captured no less than three--one of

horses, another of provisions, and twenty thousand dollars in money.

After an eight weeks' siege, a breach having been made, the city

surrendered, and a month later the fort followed the example. With a

powerful park of artillery, we then advanced upon Goliad, the

strongest fortress in Texas, which likewise capitulated in about four

weeks' time. We were now masters of the whole country, and the war was

apparently at an end.

But the Mexicans were not the people to give up their best province so

easily. They have too much of the old Spanish character about

them--that determined obstinacy which sustained the Spaniards during

their protracted struggle against the Moors. The honour of their

republic was compromised, and that must be redeemed. Thundering

proclamations were issued, denouncing the Texians as rebels, who

should be swept off the face of the earth, and threatening the United

States for having aided us with money and volunteers. Ten thousand of

the best troops in Mexico entered Texas and were shortly to be

followed by ten thousand more. The President, General Santa Anna,

himself came to take the command, attended by a numerous and brilliant

staff.

The Texians laughed at the fanfarronades of the dons, and did not

attach sufficient importance to these formidable preparations. Their

good opinion of themselves, and contempt of their foes, had been

increased to an unreasonable degree by their recent and rapid

successes. They forgot that the troops to which they had hitherto been

opposed were for the most part militia, and that those now advancing

against them were of a far better description, and had probably better

powder. The call to arms made by our president, Burnet, was

disregarded by many, and we could only get together about two thousand

men, of whom nearly two-thirds had to be left to garrison the forts of

Goliad and Alamo. In the first named place we left seven hundred and

sixty men, under the command of Fanning; in the latter, something more

than five hundred. With the remaining seven or eight hundred, we took

the field. The Mexicans advanced so rapidly, that they were upon us

before we were aware of it, and we were compelled to retreat, leaving

the garrisons of the two forts to their fate, and a right melancholy

one it proved to be.

One morning news was brought to Goliad, that a number of country

people, principally women and children, were on their way to the fort,

closely pursued by the Mexicans. Fanning, losing sight of prudence in

his compassion for these poor people, immediately ordered a battalion

of five hundred men, under the command of Major Ward, to go and meet

the fugitives and escort them in. The major, and several officers of

the garrison, doubted as to the propriety of this measure; but

Fanning, full of sympathy for his unprotected country-women, insisted,

and the battalion moved out. They soon came in sight of the fugitives,

as they thought, but on drawing nearer, the latter turned out to be

Mexican dragoons, who sprang upon their horses, which were concealed

in the neighbouring islands of trees, and a desperate fight began. The

Mexicans, far superior in numbers, received every moment accessions to

their strength. The Louis-Potosi and Santa Fé cavalry, fellows who

seem born on horseback, were there. Our unfortunate countrymen were

hemmed in on all sides. The fight lasted two days, and only two men

out of the five hundred escaped with their lives.

Before the news of this misfortune reached us, orders had been sent to

Fanning to evacuate the fort and join us with six pieces of artillery.

He received the order, and proceeded to execute it. But what might

have been very practicable for eight hundred and sixty men, was

impossible for three hundred and sixty. Nevertheless, Fanning began

his march through the prairie. His little band was almost immediately

surrounded by the enemy. After a gallant defence, which lasted twelve

hours, they succeeded in reaching an island, but scarcely had they

established themselves there, when they found that their ammunition

was expended. There was nothing left for them, but to accept the terms

offered by the Mexicans, who pledged themselves, that if they laid

down their arms, they should be permitted to return to their homes.

But the rifles were no sooner piled, than the Texians found themselves

charged by their treacherous foes, who butchered them without mercy.

Only an advanced post of three men succeeded in escaping.

The five hundred men whom we had left in San Antonio de Bexar, fared

no better. Not being sufficiently numerous to hold out the town as

well as the Alamo, they retreated into the latter. The Mexican

artillery soon laid a part of the fort in ruins. Still its defenders

held out. After eight days' fighting, during which the loss of the

besiegers was tremendously severe, the Alamo was taken, and not a

single Texian left alive.

We thus, by these two cruel blows, lost two-thirds of our army, and

little more than seven hundred men remained to resist the numerous

legions of our victorious foe. The prospect before us, was one well

calculated to daunt the stoutest heart.

The Mexican general, Santa Anna, moved his army forward in two

divisions, one stretching along the coast towards Velasco, the other

advancing towards San Felipe de Austin. He himself, with a small

force, marched in the centre. At Fort Bend, twenty miles below San

Felipe, he crossed the Brazos, and shortly afterwards established

himself with about fifteen hundred men in an entrenched camp. Our

army, under the command of General Houston, was in front of

Harrisburg, to which place the congress had retreated.

It was on the night of the twentieth of April, and our whole

disposable force, some seven hundred men, was bivouacking in and about

an island of sycamores. It was a cloudy, stormy evening: high wind was

blowing, and the branches of the trees groaned and creaked above our

heads. The weather harmonized well enough with our feelings, which

were sad and desponding when we thought of the desperate state of our

cause. We (the officers) were sitting in a circle round the general

and Alcalde, both of whom appeared uneasy and anxious. More than once

they got up, and walked backwards and forwards, seemingly impatient,

and as if they were waiting for or expecting something. There was a

deep silence throughout the whole bivouac; some were sleeping, and

those who watched were in no humour for idle chat.

"Who goes there?" suddenly shouted one of the sentries. The answer we

did not hear, but it was apparently satisfactory, for there was no

further challenge, and a few seconds afterwards an orderly came up,

and whispered something in the ear of the Alcalde. The latter hurried

away, and, presently returning, spoke a few words in a low tone to the

general, and then to us officers. In an instant we were all upon our

feet. In less than ten minutes, the bivouac was broken up, and our

little army on the march.

All our people were well mounted, and armed with rifles, pistols, and

bowie-knives. We had six field-pieces, but we only took four,

harnessed wit twice the usual number of horses. We marched at a rapid

trot the whole night, led by a tall, gaunt figure of a man who acted

as our guide, and kept some distance in front. I more than once asked

the Alcalde who this was. "You will know by and by," was his answer.

Before daybreak we had ridden five and twenty miles, but had been

compelled to abandon two more guns. As yet, no one knew the object of

this forced march. The general commanded a halt, and ordered the men

to refresh and strengthen themselves by food and drink. While they

were doing this, he assembled the officers around him, and the meaning

of our night march was explained to us. The camp in which the Mexican

president and general-in-chief had entrenched himself was within a

mile of us; General Parza, with two thousand men, was twenty miles

further to the rear; General Filasola, with one thousand, eighteen

miles lower down on the Brazos; Viesca, with fifteen hundred,

twenty-five miles higher up. One bold and decided blow, and Texas

might yet be free. There was not a moment to lose, nor was one lost.

The general addressed the men.

"Friends! Brothers! Citizens! General Santa Anna is within a mile of

us with fifteen hundred men. The hour that is to decide the question

of Texian liberty is now arrived. What say you? Do we attack?"

"We do!" exclaimed the men with one voice, cheerfully and decidedly.

In the most perfect stillness, we arrived within two hundred paces of

the enemy's camp. The _reveillée_ of the sleeping Mexicans was the

discharge of our two field-pieces loaded with canister. Rushing on to

within twenty-five paces of the entrenchment, we gave them a deadly

volley from our rifles, and then, throwing away the latter, bounded up

the breastworks, a pistol in each hand. The Mexicans, scared and

stupefied by this sudden attack, were running about in the wildest

confusion, seeking their arms, and not knowing which way to turn.

After firing our pistols, we threw them away as we had done our

rifles, and, drawing our bowie-knives, fell, with a shout, upon the

masses of the terrified foe. It was more like the boarding of a ship

than any land fight I had ever seen or imagined.

My station was on the right of the line, where the breastwork, ending

in a redoubt, was steep and high. I made two attempts to climb up, but

both times slipped back. On the third trial I nearly gained the

summit; but was again slipping down, when a hand seized me by the

collar, and pulled me up on the bank. In the darkness and confusion I

did not distinguish the face of the man who rendered me this

assistance. I only saw the glitter of a bayonet which a Mexican thrust

into his shoulder, at the very moment he was helping me up. He neither

flinched nor let go his hold of me till I was fairly on my feet; then,

turning slowly round, he levelled a pistol at the soldier, who, at

that very moment, was struck down by the Alcalde.

"No thanks to ye, squire!" exclaimed the man, in a voice which made me

start, even at that moment of excitement and bustle. I looked at the

speaker, but could only see his back, for he had already plunged into

the thick of the fight, and was engaged with a party of Mexicans, who

defended themselves desperately. He fought like a man more anxious to

be killed than to kill, striking furiously right and left, but never

guarding a blow, though the Alcalde, who was by his side, warded off

several which were aimed at him.

By this time my men had scrambled up after me. I looked round to see

where our help was most wanted, and was about to lead them forward,

when I heard the voice of the Alcalde.

"Are you badly hurt, Bob?" said he in an anxious tone.

I glanced at the spot whence the voice came. There lay Bob Rock,

covered with blood, and apparently insensible. The Alcalde was

supporting his head on his arm. Before I had time to give a second

look I was hurried forward with the rest towards the centre of the

camp, where the fight was at the hottest.

About five hundred men, the pick of the Mexican army, had collected

round a knot of staff-officers, and were making a most gallant

defence. General Houston had attacked them with three hundred of our

people, but had not been able to break their ranks. His charge,

however, had shaken them a little, and, before they had time to

recover from it, I came up. Giving a wild hurrah, my men fired their

pistols, hurled them at their enemies' heads, and then springing over

the carcasses of the fallen, dashed like a thunderbolt into the broken

ranks of the Mexicans.

A frightful butchery ensued. Our men, who were for the most part, and

at most times, peaceable and humane in disposition, seemed converted

into perfect fiends. Whole ranks of the enemy fell under their knives.

Some idea may be formed of the horrible slaughter from the fact, that

the fight, from beginning to end, did not last above ten minutes, and

in that time nearly eight hundred Mexicans were shot or cut down. "No

quarter!" was the cry of the infuriated assailants: "Remember Alamo!

Remember Goliad! Think of Fanning, Ward!" The Mexicans threw

themselves on their knees, imploring mercy. "_Misericordia! Cuartel,

por el amor de Dios!_" shrieked they in heart-rending tones but their

supplications were not listened to, and every man of them would

inevitably have been butchered, had not General Houston and the

officers dashed in between the victors and the vanquished, and with

the greatest difficulty, and by threats of cutting down our own men if

they did not desist, put an end to this scene of bloodshed, and saved

the Texian character from the stain of unmanly cruelty.

When all was over, I hurried back to the place where I had left the

Alcalde with Bob--the latter lay, bleeding from six wounds, only a few

paces from the spot where he had helped me up the breastwork. The

bodies of two dead Mexicans served him for a pillow. The Alcalde was

kneeling by his side, gazing sadly and earnestly into the face of the

dying man.

For Bob was dying; but it was no longer the death of the despairing

murderer. The expression of his features was calm and composed, and

his eyes were raised to heaven with a look of hope and supplication.

I stooped down and asked him how he felt himself, but he made no

answer, and evidently did not recollect me. After a minute or two,

"How goes it with the fight?" he asked in a broken voice.

"We have conquered, Bob. The enemy killed or taken. Not a man

escaped."

He paused a little, and then spoke again.

"Have I done my duty? May I hope to be forgiven?"

The Alcalde answered him in an agitated voice.

"He who forgave the sinner on the cross, will doubtless be merciful to

you, Bob. His holy book says: There is more joy over one sinner that

repenteth than over ninety and nine just men. Be of good hope, Bob!

the Almighty will surely be merciful to you!"

"Thank ye, squire," gasped Bob "you're a true friend, a friend in life

and in death. Well, it's come at last," said he, while a resigned and

happy smile stole over his features. "I've prayed for it long enough.

Thank God, it's come at last!"

He gazed up at the Alcalde with a kindly expression of countenance.

There was a slight shuddering movement of his whole frame--Bob was

dead.

The Alcalde remained kneeling for a short time by the side of the

corpse, his lips moving in prayer. At last he rose to his feet.

"God desireth not the death of a sinner, but rather that he may turn

from his wickedness and live," said he, in a low and solemn tone. "I

had those words in my thoughts four years ago, when I cut him down

from the branch of the Patriarch."

"Four years ago!" cried I. "Then you cut him down, and were in time to

save him! Was it he who yesterday brought us the news of the vicinity

of the foe?"

"It was, and much more than that has he done," replied the Alcalde, no

longer striving to conceal the tears that fell from his eyes. "For

four years has he dragged on his wretched existence, weary of the

world, and despised of all men. For four years has he served us,

lived, fought, and spied for us, without honour, reward, hope, or

consolation--without a single hour of tranquillity, or a wish for

aught except death. All this to serve Texas and his countrymen. Who

shall say this man was not a true patriot? God will surely be merciful

to his soul," said the Alcalde after a pause.

"I trust he will," answered I, deeply affected.

We were interrupted at this moment by a message from General Houston,

to whom we immediately hastened. All was uproar and confusion. Santa

Anna could not be found amongst the prisoners.

This was a terrible disappointment, for the capture of the Mexican

president had been our principal object, and the victory we had gained

was comparatively unimportant if he escaped. Indeed, the hope of

putting an end to the war by his capture, had more than any thing

encouraged and stimulated us to the unequal conflict.

The moment was a very critical one. Amongst our men were some thirty

or forty most desperate characters, who began handling their knives,

and casting looks upon the prisoners, the meaning of which it was

impossible to mistake. Selecting some of our trustiest men, we

stationed them as a guard over the captives, and, having thus assured

the safety of the latter, began questioning them as to what had become

of their general.

They had none of them seen Santa Anna since the commencement of the

fight, and it was clear that he must have made his escape while we

were getting over the breastworks. He could not be very far off, and

we at once took measures to find him. A hundred men were sent off with

the prisoners to Harrisburg, and a hundred others, capitally mounted

on horses found in the Mexican camp, started to scour the country in

search of the fugitive chief. I accompanied the latter detachment.

We had been twelve hours in the saddle, and had ridden over nearly a

hundred miles of ground. We began to despair of finding the game we

were in quest of, and were thinking of abandoning the chase, when at a

distance of about seven miles from the camp, one of our most

experienced hunters discovered the print of a small and delicate boot

upon some soft ground leading to a marsh. Following this trail, it at

last led us to a man sunk up to his waist in the swamp, and so covered

with mud and filth, as to be quite unrecognizable. We drew him from his

hiding-place, half dead with cold and terror, and, having washed the

dirt from his face, we found him to be a man of about forty years of

age, with blue eyes, of a mild, but crafty expression; a narrow, high

forehead; long, thin nose, rather fleshy at the tip; projecting upper

lip, and long chin. These features tallied too exactly with the

description we had had of the Mexican president, for us to doubt that

our prisoner was Santa Anna himself.

The only thing that at all tended to shake this conviction, was the

extraordinary poltroonery of our new captive. He threw himself on his

knees, begging us, in the name of God and all the saints, to spare his

life. Our reiterated assurances and promises were insufficient to

convince him of his being in perfect safety, or to induce him to adopt

a demeanour more consistent with his dignity and high station.

The events which succeeded this fortunate capture are too well known

to require more than a very brief recapitulation. The same evening a

truce was agreed upon between Houston and Santa Anna, the latter

sending orders to his different generals to retire upon San Antonio de

Bexar, and other places in the direction of the Mexican frontier.

These orders, valueless as emanating from a prisoner, most of the

generals were weak or cowardly enough to obey, an obedience for which

they were afterwards brought to trial by the Mexican congress. In a

few days, two-thirds of Texas were in our possession.

The news of these successes brought crowds of volunteers to our

standard. In three weeks, we had an army of several thousand men, with

which we advanced against the Mexicans. There was no more fighting,

however, for our antagonists had had enough, and allowed themselves to

be driven from one position to another, till, in a month's time, there

was not one of them left in the country.

The Struggle was over, and Texas was Free!

* * * * *

CLITOPHON AND LEUCIPPE.

When enumerating (in our number for July, last year) the principal

Greek romances which succeeded the _Ethiopics_ of Heliodorus, we

placed next to the celebrated production of the Bishop of Trica in

point of merit (as it is generally held to have been also in order of

time) the "Adventures of Clitophon and Leucippe," by Achilles Tatius.

Though far inferior, both in the delineation of the characters and the

contrivance of the story, to the _Ethiopics_, (from which, indeed,

many of the incidents are obviously borrowed,) and not altogether free

from passages offensive to delicacy, "Clitophon and Leucippe" is well

entitled to a separate notice, not only from the grace of its style

and diction, and the curious matter with which the narrative is

interspersed, but from its presenting one of the few pictures, which

have come down to these times, of the social and domestic life of the

Greeks. In the _Ethiopics_, which may be considered as an _heroic_

romance, the scene lies throughout in palaces, camps, and temples;

kings, high-priests, and satraps, figure in every page; the hero

himself is a prince of his own people; and the heroine, who at first

appears of no lower rank than a high-priestess of Delphi, proves, in

the sequel, the heiress of a mighty kingdom. In the work of Achilles

Tatius, on the contrary, (the plot of which is laid at a later period

of time than that of its predecessor,) the characters are taken,

without exception, from the class of Grecian citizens, who are

represented in the ordinary routine of polished social existence,

amidst their gardens of villas, and occupied by their banquets and

processions, and the business of their courts of law. There are no

unexpected revelations, no talismanic rings, no mysterious secret

affecting the fortunes of any of the personages, who are all presented

to us at the commencement in their proper names and characters. The

interest of the story, as in the _Ethiopics_, turns chiefly on an

elopement, and the consequent misadventures of the hero and heroine

among various sets of robbers and treacherous friends; but the lovers,

after being thus duly punished for their undutiful escapade, are

restored, at the finale, to their original position, and settle

quietly in their native home, under their own vines and fig-trees.

Of the author himself little appears to be certainly known. Fabricius

and other writers have placed him in the "third or fourth" century of

our era; but this date will by no means agree with his constant

imitations of Heliodorus, who is known to have lived at the end of the

fourth and beginning of the fifth century; and Tatius, if not his

contemporary, probably lived not long after him. Suidas (who calls him

_Statius_) informs us that he was a native of Alexandria; and

attributes to his pen several other works on various subjects besides

the romance now in question, a fragment only of which--a treatise on

the sphere--has been preserved. He adds, that he was a pagan when he

wrote "Clitophon and Leucippe," but late in life embraced

Christianity, and even became a bishop. This latter statement,

however, is unsupported by any other authority, and would seem to be

opposed by the negative testimony of the patriarch Photius, who (in

his famous _Bibliotheca_, 118, 130) passes a severe censure on the

immorality of certain passages in the works of Tatius, and would

scarcely have omitted to inveigh against the further scandal of their

having proceeded from the pen of an ecclesiastic. "In style and

composition this work is of high excellence; the periods are generally

well rounded and perspicuous, and gratify the ear by their harmony ...

but, except in the names of the personages, and the unpardonable

breaches of decorum of which he is guilty, the author appears to have

closely copied Heliodorus both in the plan and execution of his

narrative." In another passage, when treating of the _Babylonica_[1]

of Iamblichus, he repeats this condemnation:--"Of these three

principal writers of amorous tales. Heliodorus has treated the subject

with due gravity and decorum. Iamblichus is not so unexceptionable on

these points; and Achilles Tatius is still worse, in his eight books

of _Clitophon and Leucippe_, the very diction of which is soft and

effeminate, as if intended to relax the vigour of the reader's mind."

This last denunciation of the patriarch, however, is somewhat too

sweeping and indiscriminate, since, though some passages are certainly

indefensible, they appear rather as interpolations, and are in no

manner connected with the main thread of the story, the general

tendency of which is throughout innocent and moral; and whatever may

be said of these blemishes, it must be allowed that the pages of

Achilles Tatius are purity itself when compared with the depravity of

Longus, and some of his followers and imitators among the Greek

romancists.

[1] This work is now lost, and we know it only by the abstract

given by Photius in the passage quoted.

The period of time at which the adventures of _Clitophon and Leucippe_

are supposed to take place, appears to be in the later ages of Grecian

independence, when the successors of Alexander reigned in Syria and

Egypt, and the colonized cities in Thrace and Asia Minor still

preserved their municipal liberties. The story is related in the first

person by the hero himself; a mode of narration which, though the best

adapted for affording scope to the expression of the feelings of the

principal personages, is, in this instance, very awkwardly introduced.

A stranger, while contemplating a famous picture of the Rape of Europa

in the Temple of Astarte at Sidon, is accosted by a young man, who,

after a few incidental remarks, proceeds, without further preface, to

recount his adventures at length to this casual acquaintance. This

communicative gentleman is, of course, Clitophon; but before we

proceed to the narrative of his loves and woes, we shall give a

specimen of the author's powers in the line which appears to be his

forte, by quoting his description of the painting above referred

to:--"On entering the temple, my attention was attracted by a picture

representing the story of Europa, in which sea and land were

blended--the Phoenician Sea and the coasts of Sidon. On the land was

seen a band of maidens in a meadow, while in the sea a bull was

swimming, who bore on his shoulders a beautiful virgin, and was making

his way in the direction of Crete. The meadow was decked with a

profusion of bright flowers, to which a grateful shelter was afforded

by the dense overhanging foliage of the shrubs and clumps of trees,

which were interspersed at intervals throughout its extent; while so

skilfully had the artist represented the appearance of light and

shade, that the rays of the sun were seen to pass here and there

through the interstices of the leaves, and cast a softened radiance on

the ground underneath. A spring was seen bubbling up in the midst, and

refreshing the flowers and plants with its cool waters; while a

labourer with a spade was at work opening a fresh channel for the

stream. At the extremity of the meadow, where it bordered on the sea,

the maidens stood grouped together, in attitudes expressive of mingled

joy and terror; their brows were bound with chaplets, and their hair

floated in loose locks over their shoulders; but their features were

pale, and their cheeks contracted, and they gazed with lips apart and

opened eyes on the sea, as if on the point of uttering a cry

half-suppressed by fear. They were standing on tiptoe on the very

verge of the shore, with their tunics girt up to the knee, and

extending their arms towards the bull, as if meditating to rush into

the sea in pursuit of him, and yet shrinking from the contact of the

waves. The sea was represented of a reddish tint inshore, but further

out the colour changed to deep azure; while in another part the waves

were seen running in with a swell upon the rocks, and breaking against

them into clouds of foam and white spray. In the midst of the sea the

bull was depicted, breasting the lofty billows which surged against

his sides, with the damsel seated on his back, not astride, but with

both her feet disposed on his right side, while with her left hand she

grasped his horn, by which she guided his motions as a charioteer

guides a horse by the rein. She was arrayed in a white tunic, which

did not extend much below her waist, and an under-garment of purple,

reaching to her feet; but the outline of her form, and the swell of

her bosom, were distinctly defined through her garments. Her right

hand rested on the back of the bull, with the left she retained her

hold of his horn, while with both she grasped her veil, which was

blown out by the wind, and expanded in an arch over her head and

shoulders, so that the bull might be compared to a ship, of which the

damsel's veil was the sail. Around them dolphins were sporting in the

water, and winged loves fluttering in the air, so admirably depicted,

that the spectator might fancy he saw them in motion. One Cupid guided

the bull, while others hovered round bearing bows and quivers, and

brandishing nuptial torches, regarding Jupiter with arch and sidelong

glances, as if conscious that it was by their influence that the god

had assumed the form of an animal."

To return to Clitophon and his tale. He begins by informing his

hearer, that he is the son of Hippias, a noble and wealthy denizen of

Tyre, and that he had been betrothed from his childhood, as was not

unusual in those times,[2] to his own half-sister Calligone:--but

Leucippe, the daughter of Sostratus, a brother of Hippias, resident at

Byzantium, having arrived with her mother Panthia, to claim the

hospitality of their Tyrian relatives during a war impending between

their native city and the Thracian tribes, Clitophon at once becomes

enamoured of his cousin, whose charms are described in terms of

glowing panegyric:--"She seemed to me like the representation of

Europa, which I see in the picture before me--her eye beaming with joy

and happiness--her locks fair,[3] and flowing in natural ringlets, but

her eyebrows and eyelashes jetty black--her complexion fair, but with

a blush in her cheeks like that faint crimson with which the Lydian

women stain ivory, and her lips like the hue of a fresh-opened rose."

Love is not, however, in this case, as in that of Theagenes and

Chariclea, instantaneous on both sides; and the expedient adopted by

Clitophon, with the aid of his servant Satyrus, (a valet of the

_Scapin_ school,) to win the good graces of the lady, are detailed at

length, evincing much knowledge of the human heart in the author, and

affording considerable insight into the domestic arrangements of a

Grecian family.[4] An understanding is at last effected between them,

and Clitophon is in sad perplexity how to defer or evade his

approaching nuptials with his sister-bride, when Calligone is most

opportunely carried off by a band of pirates employed by Callisthenes,

a young Byzantine, who, having fallen in love with Leucippe from the

mere report of her beauty, and having been refused her hand by her

father, has followed her to Tyre, and seeing Calligone in a public

procession chaperoned by Panthia, has mistaken her for Leucippe! The

lovers are thus left in the unrestrained enjoyment of each other's

society; but Clitophon is erelong detected by Panthia in an attempt to

penetrate by night into her daughter's chamber; and though the

darkness prevents the person of the intruder from being recognised,

the confusion which this untoward occurrence occasions in the family

is such, that Clitophon and Leucippe, feeling their secret no longer

safe, determine on an elopement. Accompanied by the faithful Satyrus,

and by Clinias, a kinsman and confident of Clitophon, who generously

volunteers to share their adventures, they accordingly set sail for

Egypt; and the two gentlemen, having struck up an acquaintance with a

fellow passenger, a young Alexandrian named Menelaus, beguile the

voyage by discussing with their new friend the all-engrossing subject

of love, the remarks on which at last take so antiplatonic a tone,

that we can only hope Leucippe was out of hearing. These disquisitions

are interrupted, on the third day of the voyage, by a violent tempest;

and the sailors, finding the ship on the point of coming to pieces,

betake themselves to the boat, leaving the passengers to their fate.

But Clitophon and Leucippe, clinging to the forecastle, are

comfortably wafted by the winds and waves to the coast of Egypt, and

landed near Pelusium, where they hire a vessel to carry them to

Alexandria; but their voyage through the tortuous branches of the Nile

is intercepted by marauders of the same class, _Bucoli_ or buccaniers,

as those who figure so conspicuously in the adventures of _Chariclea_

and _Theagenes_. The robbers are at this juncture in expectation of an

attack from the royal troops; and, having been ordered by their

priests to propitiate the gods by the sacrifice of a virgin, are

greatly at a loss for a victim, when chance throws Leucippe in their

way. She is forthwith torn from her lover, and sent off to the

headquarters of the banditti; and Clitophon is on his way to another

of their retreats, when his captors are attacked and cut to pieces by

a detachment of troops, whose commander, Charmides, commiserates the

misfortunes of our hero, and hospitably entertains him in his tent.

[2] The laws of Athens permitted the marriage of a brother

with his sister by the father's side only--thus Cimon married

his half sister Elpinice; and several marriages of the same

nature occur in the history of the Egyptian Ptolemies.

[3] Fair hair, probably from its rarity in southern climates,

seems to have been at all times much prized by the ancients;

witness the [Greek: Xanthos Menelaos] of Homer, and the "Cui

_flavam_ religas comam?" of Horace. The style of Leucippe's

beauty seems to have resembled that of Haidee--

"Her hair, I said, was auburn; but her eyes

Were black as night, their lashes the same hue."

[4] One incident, where Clitophon pretends to have been stung

on the lip by a bee, and to be cured by a kiss from Leucippe,

has been borrowed by Tasso in the Aminta, (Act I. Scene 2.)

"Che fingendo ch'un ape avesse morso il mio labbro di sotto,"

&c., whence the idea has been again copied by a host of later

poetasters. This is not Tasso's only obligation to the Greek

romances, as we have already seen that he was indebted to

Heliodorus for the hint of his story of Clorinda.

A general attack on the buccanier force is projected for the next day,

but the advance of the troops is found to be barred by a trench so

wide and deep as to be impassable; and while preparations are made for

filling it up, Leucippe is brought to the opposite brink by two

officiating priests, sheathed in armor; and there, to the horror of

Clitophon, apparently ripped up alive before the altar. After

completing the sacrifice, and depositing the body in a sarcophagus,

the robbers disperse; the passage of the trench is at length effected;

and Clitophon is preparing to fall on his sword at the tomb of his

murdered love, when his hand is stayed by the appearance of his

faithful friends, Menelaus and Satyrus, whom he had supposed lost in

the ship. The mystery is now explained. They had reached the shore,

like Clitophon, on pieces of the wreck and having also fallen into the

power of the robbers, (as appears to have been the inevitable fate of

every one landing in Egypt at the time of this narrative,) were

surprised by finding Leucippe among their fellow captives, and

learning from her the dreadful fate which awaited her. Menelaus,

however, having recognized some former acquaintances among the

buccaniers, was released from his bonds; and having gained their

confidence by proposing to enrol himself in their band, offered his

services as sacrificer, which were accepted. He now contrived to equip

Leucippe with an artfully constructed _false stomach_, and being

further assisted in his humane stratagem by the discovery of a knife

with a sliding blade, among some theatrical _properties_ which the

robbers had acquired in the course of casual plunder, succeeded in

appearing to perform the sacrifice without any real injury to the

victim, who at his call rises from the sarcophagus, and throws herself

into her lover's arms.

It might be supposed, that after so portentously marvellous an escape

as the one just related, the unlucky couple might be allowed a short

respite at least from the persecutions of adverse fortune. But perils

in love succeed without an interval to perils in war. It is the

invariable rule of all Greek romances, as we have remarked in a

previous number, that the attractions both of the hero and heroine,

should be perfectly irresistible by those of the other sex; and

accordingly, the Egyptian officer Charmides no sooner beholds

Leucippe, than he falls in love with her, and endeavours to gain over

Menelaus to further his views. Menelaus feigns compliance, but

privately gives information of the designs of Charmides to Clitophon,

who is thrown into a dreadful state of consternation by his

apprehensions of this powerful rival. At this juncture, however,

Leucippe is suddenly seized with a fit of extravagant frenzy, which

defies all the skill of the Egyptian camp; and under the influence of

which she violently assaults her friends, and is guilty of sundry

vagaries not altogether seemly in a well-bred young lady. Both her

admirers, Charmides and Clitophon, are in despair, and equally in

ignorance of the cause of her malady; but before any symptoms of

amendment are perceptible, Charmides receives orders[5] to march with

his whole force against the buccaniers, by whom he is inveigled into

an ambuscade, and with most of his men either slain or drowned by the

breaking of the dykes of the Nile. The madness of Leucippe is still

incurable, till a stranger named Choereas makes his appearance, and

introducing himself to Clitophon, informs him that he has discovered

from the confession of a domestic, that Gorgias, an officer who fell

in the late action with the _Bucoli_, captivated, like every one else,

by the resistless charms of the heroine, had administered to her a

philtre, the undue strength of which had excited frenzy instead of

love. By the administration of proper remedies, the fair patient is

now restored to her senses: and the total destruction of the

robber-colony by a stronger force sent against them having rendered

the navigation of the Nile again secure, the lovers once more embark

for Alexandria, accompanied by Menelaus and Choereas, and at length

arrive in safety at the city, which they find illuminated for the

great feast of Serapis. The first sight of the glories of Alexandria,

at the supposed period of the narrative the largest and most

magnificent city in the world, and many ages subsequently second only

to Imperial Rome herself, excites the astonishment and admiration of

the newcomers:--and the author takes the opportunity to dilate, with

pardonable complacency, on the magnitude and grandeur of the place of

his birth. "When I entered the city," (says Clitophon,) "by the gates

called those of the sun, its wonderful beauty flashed at once upon my

sight, almost dazzling my eyes with the excess of gratification. A

lofty colonnade of pillars, on each side of the street,[6] runs right

from the gates of the sun on one side, to those of the moon, (for

these are its guardian deities,) on the other; and the distance is

such, that a walk through the city is in itself a journey. When we had

proceeded several stadia, we arrived at the square named after

Alexander, whence other colonnades, like those I saw extending in a

right line before me, branched off right and left at right angles; and

my eyes, never weary of wandering from one street to another, were

unable to contemplate separately the various objects of attraction

which presented themselves. Some I had before my eyes, some I was

hastening to gaze upon, when I found myself unable to pass by others,

while a fresh series of marvels still awaited me, so that my powers of

vision were at last fairly exhausted, and obliged to confess

themselves beaten. The vast extent of the city, and the innumerable

multitude of the population, produced on the mind the effect of a

double paradox; for regarding the one, the stranger wondered where

such a city, which seemed as large as a continent, could find

inhabitants; but when his attention was drawn to the other, he was

again perplexed how so many people, more numerous than a nation, could

find room in any single city. Thus the two conflicting feelings of

amazement remained in equilibrio."

[5] These orders are said to have come from the "_satrap_,"

the Persian title having been retained under the Ptolemies,

for the governors of the _nomes_ or provinces. The description

of the stronghold of the buccaniers, in the deep recesses of a

marsh, and approachable only by a single hidden path, (like

the stockades of the North-American Indians in the swamps, as

described by Cotton Mather,) if not copied, like most of the

other Egyptian scenes, from the _Ethiopics_, presents a

curious picture of a class of men of whom few details are in

authentic history.

[6] The main street, according to Diodorus, was "forty stadia

in length, and a _plethrum_ (100 feet) in breadth; adorned

through its whole extent by a succession of palaces and

temples of the most costly magnificence. Alexander also

erected a royal palace, which was an edifice wonderful both

for its magnitude and the solidity of its architecture, and

all the kings who have succeeded him, even up to our times,

have spent great sums in further adorning and making additions

to it. On the whole, the city may be fairly reckoned as the

first in the world, whether for magnitude and beauty, for

traffic, or for the greatness of its revenues."--"It

comprehended," says Gibbon, speaking of it under the Roman

Emperors, "a circumference of fifteen miles, and was peopled

by 300,000 free inhabitants, besides, at least, an equal

number of slaves."

Choereas, himself a native of the city, who had been called upon to

take service in the late expedition against the buccaniers, does the

honours of the locale to his new friends:--but he is not proof against

the fatal charms of Leucippe, and resorts to the old expedient of

procuring her abduction by a crew of pirates while on an excursion to

the Pharos. The vessel of the captors is, however, chased by a

guard-boat, and on the point of being taken, when Leucippe is brought

on deck and decapitated by the pirates, who throw the headless body

into the sea, and make their escape; while Clitophon stays the

pursuit, to recover the remains of his mistress for sepulture.

Clitophon now returns to Alexandria to mourn for his lost love, and is

still inconsolable at the end of six months, when he is surprised by

the appearance of Clinias, whom he had supposed to have perished when

the vessel foundered at sea. Clinias relates that having, like the

others, floated on a piece of the wreck, he had been picked up by a

ship, which brought him back to Sidon; and as his absence from home

had been so short as not to have been generally noticed, he had

thought it best not to mention it, especially as he had no good

account to give of his fellow-fugitives. In the mean time, as

Calligone is given up for lost, Sostratus, who has heard of his

daughter's attachment to Clitophon, but not of the elopement, writes

from Byzantium to give his consent to their union; and diligent

enquiries are made in every direction for the runaway couple, till

information is at length obtained that Clitophon has been seen in

Egypt. His father, Hippias, is therefore preparing to set sail for

Alexandria to bring back the truant, when Clinias, thinking it would

be as well to forewarn Clitophon of what had occurred in his absence,

starts without delay, unknown to Hippias, and reaches Alexandria

before him.

The intelligence thus received throws Clitophon into fresh agonies of

grief and remorse: he curses his own impatience in carrying off

Leucippe, when a short delay would have crowned his happiness; accuses

himself anew as the cause of her death; and declares his determination

not to remain in Egypt and encounter his father. His friends, Menelaus

and Clinias, in vain endeavour to combat this resolve; till the

over-ready Satyrus finds an expedient for evading the difficulty. A

young "Ephesian widow," named Melissa, fair and susceptible, who has

lately lost her husband at sea, and become the heiress of his immense

wealth, has recently (in obedience to the above-mentioned invariable

law of Greek romance) fixed an eye of ardent affection on Clitophon;

and it is suggested by his friends that, by marrying this new

inamorata, and sailing with her forthwith on her return to Ephesus,

his departure would at once be satisfactorily explained to his father

on his arrival, and he might return to his friends at Tyre after their

emotions at the tragical catastrophe of Leucippe had in some measure

subsided. After much persuasion, Clitophon accedes to this

arrangement, with the sole proviso that nothing but the _fiançailles_,

or betrothal, shall take place in Egypt, and that the completion of

the marriage shall be deferred till their arrival in Ephesus--on the

plea that he cannot pledge his faith to another in the land where his

beloved Leucippe met with her fate. This proposal, after vehement

opposition on the part of the amorous Ephesian, is at last agreed to;

and Clitophon, with his half-married bride, sets sail for Ephesus,

accompanied by Clinias; while Menelaus, who remains in Egypt,

undertakes the task of explaining matters to Hippias. The voyage is

prosperously accomplished; and Melissa becomes urgent for the formal

solemnization of the nuptials; while Clitophon continues to oppose

frivolous delays which might have roused the anger of a lady even of a

less ardent temperament. Her affection, however, continues

undiminished; but Clitophon, while visiting, in her company, her

country residence in the neighbourhood of the city, is thunderstruck

by fancying that he recognizes, in the disfigured lineaments of a

female slave, said to be a Thessalian of the name of Lacoena, who

approaches Melissa to complain of the ill-treatment she has received

from the steward, Sosthenes, the features of his lost Leucippe. His

suspicions are confirmed by a billet which Leucippe conveys to him

through Satyrus; and his situation becomes doubly perplexing, as

Melissa, more than ever at a loss to comprehend the cause of his

indifference, applies to Leucippe, (whom she supposes to possess the

skill of the Thessalians in magic,) for a love-charm to compel his

affections, promising her liberty as a reward. Leucippe is delighted

by the proof which this request affords of the constancy of her lover;

but the preparations for his marriage with Melissa still proceed, and

evasion appears impossible; when at the preliminary banquet, the

return of her husband, Thersander, is announced, who had been falsely

reported to have perished by shipwreck. A terrible scene of confusion

ensues, in which Thersander,

--"proceeding at a very high rate,

Shows the imperial penchant of a pirate."

Clitophon gets a violent beating, to which he submits with the utmost

tameness, and is thrown into fetters by the enraged husband; and

though Melissa, on certain conditions, furnishes him with the means of

escape from the house in the disguise of a female, he again unluckily

encounters Thersander, and is lodged in the prison of Ephesus.

Leucippe, meanwhile, of whose unrivalled charms Thersander has been

informed by Sosthenes, is still detained in bondage, and suffers cruel

persecution from her brutal master; who, at last, having learned from

an overheard soliloquy her true parentage and history, as well as her

attachment for Clitophon, (of her relations with whom he was not

previously aware,) forms a scheme of ridding himself of this twofold

rival, by sending one of his emissaries into the prison, who gives out

that he has been arrested on suspicion of being concerned in the

murder of Leucippe, who has been dispatched by assassins employed by

the jealous Melissa. Clitophon at once gives full credence to this

awkwardly devised tale, and determines not to survive his mistress, in

spite of the remonstrances of Clinias, who argues with much reason,

that one who had so often been miraculously preserved from death,

might have escaped also on the present occasion. But Clitophon refuses

to be comforted; and when brought before the assembly in the forum to

stand his trial, on the charge, (apparently, for it is not very

clearly specified,) of having married another man's wife, he openly

declares himself guilty of Leucippe's murder, which he affirms to have

been concerted between Melissa and himself, in order to remove the

obstacle to their amours, and now revealed by him from remorse. He is,

of course, condemned to death forthwith, and Thersander is triumphing

in the unexpected success of his schemes, when the judicial

proceedings are interrupted by the appearance of a religious

procession, at the head of which Clitophon is astonished by

recognizing his uncle Sostratus, the father of Leucippe, who had been

deputed by the Byzantines to offer sacrifices of thanksgiving, at the

Temple of Diana, for their victory over the Thracians. On hearing the

state of affairs, he furiously denounces the murderer of his daughter;

but at this moment it is announced that Leucippe, whom Thersander had

believed to be in safe custody, has escaped, and taken refuge in the

Temple of Diana!

The interest of the story is now at an end; but much yet remains

before the conclusion. Thersander, maddened at the prospect of being

thus doubly baulked of his prey, throws gross aspersions on the purity

of Leucippe, and even demands that Clitophon, in spite of his now

manifest innocence, shall be executed in pursuance of the previous

sentence! but the high-priest of Diana takes the lovers under his

protection, and the cause is adjourned to the morrow. Leucippe now

relates the circumstances of her captivity:--the Alexandrian pirates,

having deceived their pursuers by beheading another captive dressed in

her garments, had next fallen out with and murdered their base

employer Choereas, and finally sold her for two thousand drachmas to

Sosthenes: while from Sostratus, on the other hand, Clitophon receives

tidings that his long-lost sister Calligone is on the point of

marriage to Callisthenes, who, it will be remembered, had carried her

off from Tyre by mistake for Leucippe, (having become enamoured of the

latter without ever having seen her,) and on the discovery of his

error, had made her all the amends in his power by an instant transfer

of his affections. Thus everything is on the point of ending happily;

but the sentence passed against Clitophon still remains unreversed,

and Thersander, in the assembly of the following day, vehemently calls

for its ratification. But the cause of the defendant is espoused by

the high-priest, who lavishes on the character and motives of

Thersander a torrent of abuse, couched in language little fitting his

sacred character; while Thersander shows himself in this respect fully

a match for his reverend antagonist, and, moreover, reiterates with

fresh violence his previous charge against Leucippe. The debates are

protracted to an insufferably tedious length; but the character of

Leucippe is at last vindicated by her descent into a cavern, whence

sounds of more than human melody are heard on the entrance of a damsel

of untainted fame. The result of this ordeal is, of course,

triumphant; and Thersander, overwhelmed with confusion makes his

escape from the popular indignation, and is condemned to exile by

acclamation as a suborner of false evidence; while the lovers, freed

at length from all their troubles, sail for Byzantium in company with

Sostratus; and after there solemnizing their own nuptials, return to

Tyre to assist at those of Callisthenes and Calligone.

The leading defects observable in this romance are obviously the

glaring improbability of many of the incidents, and the want of

connexion and necessary dependence between the several parts of the

story. Of the former--the device of the false stomach and theatrical

dagger, by means of which Menelaus and Satyrus (after gaining,

moreover, in a moment the full confidence of the buccaniers,) save the

life of Leucippe when doomed to sacrifice, is the most flagrant

instance; though her second escape from supposed death, when Clitophon

imagines that he sees her head struck off by the Alexandrian pirates,

is almost equally liable to the same objection; while in either case

the deliverance of the heroine might as well have been managed,

without prejudice either to the advancement or interest of the

narrative, by more rational and probable methods. The too frequent

introduction of incidents and personages not in any way connected

with, or conducive to the progress of the main plot, is also

objectionable, and might almost induce the belief that the original

plan was in some measure altered or departed from in the course of

composition. It is difficult to conceive for what purpose the

character of Calligone, the sister and fiancée of Clitophon, is

introduced among the dramatic personae. She appears at the beginning

only to be carried off by Callisthenes as soon as Clitophon's passion

for Leucippe makes her presence inconvenient, and we incidentally hear

of her as on the point of becoming his bride at the conclusion; but

she is seen only for a moment, and never permitted to speak, like a

walking gentlewoman on the stage, and exercises not the smallest

influence on the fortunes of the others. Gorgias is still worse used:

he is a mere _nominis umbra_, of whose bodily presence nothing is made

visible; nor is so much as his name mentioned, except for the purpose

of informing us that it was through his agency that the love-potion

was administered to Leucippe, and that he has since been killed in the

action against the buccaniers. The whole incident of the philtre,

indeed, and the consequent madness of the heroine, is unnatural and

revolting, and serves no end but to introduce Choereas to effect a

cure. But even had it been indispensable to the plot, it might have

been far more probably ascribed to the Egyptian commander Charmides,

with whose passion for Leucippe we were already acquainted, and who

had, moreover, learned from Menelaus that he had little chance of

success by ordinary methods, from the pre-engagement of the lady to

Clitophon.

Nor are these defects compensated by any high degree of merit in the

delineation of the characters. With the exception of Leucippe herself,

they are all almost wholly devoid of individual or distinguishing

traits, and insipid and uninteresting to the last degree. Menelaus and

Clinias, the confidants and trusted friends of the hero, are the

dullest of all dull mortals--a qualification which perhaps fits them

in some measure for the part they are to bear in the story, as

affording some security against their falling in love with Leucippe, a

fate which they, of all the masculine personages, alone escape. Their

active intervention is confined to the preservation of Leucippe from

the _bucoli_ by Menelaus, and a great deal of useless declamation in

behalf of Clitophon before the assembly of Ephesus from Clinias.

Satyrus, also, from whose knavish ingenuity in the early part of the

tale something better was to be expected, soon subsides into a

well-behaved domestic, and hands his master the letter in which poor

Leucippe makes herself known to him at Ephesus, when she imagines him

married to Melissa, with all the nonchalance of a modern footman.

Clitophon himself is hardly a shade superior to his companions. He is

throughout a mere passive instrument, leaving to chance, or the

exertions of others, his extrication from the various troubles in

which he becomes involved: even of the qualities usually regarded as

inseparable from a hero of romance, spirit and personal courage, he is

so utterly destitute as to suffer himself to be beaten and ill

treated, both by Thersander and Sostratus, without an attempt to

defend himself; and his lamentations, whenever he finds himself in

difficulties, or separated from his ladye-love, are absolutely

puerile. As to the other characters, Thersander is a mere vulgar

ruffian--"a rude and boisterous captain of the sea,"--whose brutal

violence on his first appearance, and subsequent unprincipled

machinations, deprive him of the sympathy which might otherwise have

been excited in behalf of one who finds his wife and his property

unceremoniously taken possession of during his absence; while, on the

other hand, the language used by the high-priest of Diana, in his

invectives against Thersander and his accomplices, gives but a low

idea of the dignity or refinement of the Ephesian hierarchy. But the

female characters, as is almost always the case in the Greek romances,

are far better drawn, and infinitely more interesting, than the men.

Even Melissa, though apparently intended only as a foil to the

perfections of Leucippe, wins upon us by her amorous weakness, and the

invincible kindness of heart which impels her, even when acquainted

with the real state of affairs, to protect the lovers against her

husband's malpractices. Leucippe herself goes far to make amends for

the general insipidity of the other characters. Though not a heroine

of so lofty a stamp as Chariclea, in whom the spirit of her royal

birth is all along apparent, she is endowed with a mingled gentleness

and firmness, which is strongly contrasted with the weakness and

pusillanimity of her lover:--her uncomplaining tenderness, when she

finds Clitophon at Ephesus (as she imagines) the husband of another,

and the calm dignity with which she vindicates herself from the

injurious aspersions of Thersander, are represented with great truth

and feeling, and attach a degree of interest to her, which the other

personages of the narrative are very far from inspiring.

In the early part of the story, during the scenes in Tyre and Egypt,

the action is carried on with considerable spirit and briskness; the

author having apparently thus far kept before him, as a model, the

narrative of Heliodorus. But towards the conclusion, and, indeed from

the time of the arrival of Clitophon and Melissa at Ephesus, the

interest flags wofully. The _dénouement_ is inevitably foreseen from

the moment Clitophon is made aware that Leucippe is still alive and in

his neighbourhood, and the arrival of Thersander, almost immediately

afterwards, disposes of the obstacle of his engagement to Melissa; but

the reader is acquainted with all these circumstances before the end

of the fifth book; the three remaining books being entirely occupied

by the proceedings in the judicial assembly, the recriminations of the

high-priest, and the absurd ordeal to which Leucippe is subjected--all

apparently introduced for no other purpose than to show the author's

skill in declamation. The display of his own acquirements in various

branches of art and science, and of his rhetorical powers of language

in describing them, is indeed an object of which Achilles Tatius never

loses sight; and continual digressions from the thread of the story

for this purpose occur, often extremely _mal-à-propos_, and sometimes

entirely without reference to the preceding narrative. Thus, when

Clitophon is relating the terms of an oracle addressed to the

Byzantines, previous to their war with the Thracians, he breaks off at

once into a dissertation on the wonderful qualities of the element of

water, the inflammable springs of Sicily, the gold extracted from the

lakes of Africa, &c.--all which is supposed to be introduced into a

conversation on the oracle between Sostratus and his colleague in

command, and could only have come to the knowledge of Clitophon by

being repeated to him _verbatim_, after a considerable interval of

time, by Sostratus. Again, in the midst of the hero's perplexities at

his threatened marriage with Calligone, we are favoured with a minute

enumeration of the gems set in an ornament which his father purchased

as part of the trousseau; and this again leads to an account of the

discovery and application of the purple dye. The description of

objects of natural history is at all times a favourite topic; and the

sojourn of the lovers in Egypt affords the author an opportunity of

indulging in details relative to the habits and appearances of the

various strange animals found in that country--the crocodile, the

hippopotamus, and the elephant, are described with considerable spirit

and fidelity; and even the form and colours of the fabulous phoenix,

are delineated with all the confidence of an eyewitness.

Many of these episodical sketches, though out of place when thus

awkwardly inserted in the midst of the narrative, are in themselves

curious and well written; but the most valuable and interesting among

them are the frequent descriptions of paintings, a specimen of which

has already been given. On this subject especially, the author dwells

_con amore_, and his remarks are generally characterised by a degree

of good taste and correct feeling, which indicates a higher degree of

appreciation of the pictorial art than is generally ascribed to the

age in which Achilles Tatius wrote. Even in the latter part of the

first century of our era, Pliny, when enumerating the glorious names

of the ancient Greek painters, laments over the total decline, in his

own days, of what he terms (_Nat. Hist_. xxxv. 11) "an aspiring art;"

but the monarchs of the Macedonian dynasties in Asia, and, above all,

the Egyptian Ptolemies, were both munificent patrons of the fine arts

among their own subjects, and diligent collectors of the great works

of past ages; and many of the _chefs-d'oeuvres_ of the Grecian masters

were thus transferred from their native country to adorn, the temples

and palaces of Egypt and Syria. We find, from Plutarch, that when

Aratus was exerting himself to gain for the Achæan league the powerful

alliance of Ptolemy Euergetes, he found no means so effectual in

conciliating the good-will of the monarch, as the procuring for him

some of the master-pieces of Pamphilus[7] and Melanthius, the most

renowned of the famous school of Sicyon; and the knowledge of the high

estimation in which the arts were held, under the Egyptian kings,

gives an additional value to the accounts given by Tatius of these

treasures of a past age, his notices of which are the latest, in

point of time, which have come down to us from an eyewitness. We have

already quoted the author's vivid description of the painting of

Europa at Sidon--we shall now subjoin, as a pendant to the former

notice, his remarks on a pair of pictures at Pelusium:--

[7] Pamphilus was a Macedonian by birth, and a pupil of

Eupompus, the founder of the school of Sicyon; to the

presidency of which he succeeded. His pupils paid each a

talent a year for instruction; and Melanthius, and even

Apelles himself, for a time, were among the number.--Pliny,

_Hist. Nat_. xxxv. 36. The great talent of Melanthius, like

that of his master Pamphilus, lay in composition and grouping;

and so highly were his pictures esteemed, that Pliny, in

another passage, says, that the wealth of a city would hardly

purchase one.

"In this temple (of Jupiter Casius) were two famous works of

Evanthes, illustrative of the legends of Andromeda and

Prometheus, which the painter had probably selected as a pair,

from the similarity of the Subjects--the principal figure in

each being bound to a rock and exposed to the attack of a

terrific animal; in one case a denizen of the air, in the

other a monster of the sea; and the deliverers of both being

Argives, and of kindred blood to each other, Hercules and

Perseus--the former of whom encountered, on foot, the savage

bird sent by Jove, while the latter mounted on borrowed wings

into the air, to assail the monster which issued from the sea

at the command of Neptune. In the picture of Andromeda, the

virgin was laid in a hollow of the rock, not fashioned by art,

but rough like a natural cavity; and which, if viewed only

with regard to the beauty of that which it contained, looked

like a niche holding an exquisite fresh from the chisel; but

the sight of her bonds, and of the monster approaching to

devour her, gave it rather the aspect of a sepulchre. On her

features extreme loveliness was blended with deadly terror,

which was seated on her pallid cheeks, while beauty beamed

forth from her eyes; but, as even amid the pallor of her

cheeks a faint tinge of colour was yet perceptible, so was the

brightness of her eyes, on the other hand, in some measure

dimmed, like the bloom of lately blighted violets. Her white

arms were extended, and lashed to the rock; but their

whiteness partook of a livid hue, and her fingers were like

those of a corpse. Thus lay she, expecting death, but arrayed

like a bride, in a long white robe, which seemed not as if

woven from the fleece of the sheep, but from the web of the

spider, or of those winged insects, the long threads spun by

which are gathered by the Indian women from the trees of their

own country. The monster was just rising out of the sea

opposite to the damsel, his head alone being distinctly

visible, while the unwieldy length of his body was still in a

great measure concealed by the waves, yet so as partially to

discover his formidable array of spines and scales, his

swollen neck, and his long flexible tail, while the gape of

his horrible jaws extended to his shoulder, and disclosed the

abyss of his stomach. But between the monster and the damsel,

Perseus was depicted descending to the encounter from the

upper regions of the air--his body bare, except a mantle

floating round his shoulders, and winged sandals on his

feet--a cap resembling the helmet of Pluto was on his head,

and in his left hand he held before him, like a buckler, the

head of the Gorgon, which even in the pictured representation

was terrible to look at, shaking its snaky hair, which seemed

to erect itself and menace the beholder. His right hand

grasped a weapon, in shape partaking of both a sickle and a

sword; for it had a single hilt, and to the middle of the

blade resembled a sword; but there it separated into two

parts, one continuing straight and pointed, like a sword,

while the other was curved backwards, so that with a single

stroke, it might both inflict a wound, and fix itself in the

part struck. Such was the picture of Andromeda; the design of

the other was thus:--

"Prometheus was represented bound down to a rock, with fetters

of iron, while Hercules, armed with a bow and arrow, was seen

approaching. The vulture, supporting himself by fixing his

talons in the thigh of Prometheus, was tearing open the

stomach of his victim, and apparently searching with his beak

for the liver, which it was his destiny daily to devour, and

which the painter had shown through the aperture of the wound.

The whole frame of the sufferer was convulsed, and his limbs

contracted with torture, so that, by raising his thigh, he

involuntarily presented his side to the bird--while the other

limb was visibly quivering in its whole length, with

agony--his teeth were clenched, his lips parted, and his brows

wrinkled. Hercules had already fitted the arrow to the bow, and

aimed it against his tormentor: his left arm was thrown

forward grasping the stock, while the elbow of the right was

bent in the attitude of drawing the arrow to his breast; while

Prometheus, full of mingled hope and fear, was endeavouring to

fix his undivided gaze on his deliverer, though his eyes, in

spite of himself, were partially diverted by the anguish of

his wound."

The work of Achilles Tatius, with all its blemishes and defects,

appears to have been highly popular among the Greeks of the lower

empire. An epigram is still extant, attributed to the Emperor Leo, the

philosopher,[8] in which it is landed as an example of chaste and

faithful love: and it was esteemed as a model of romantic composition

from the elegance of its style and diction, in which Heretius ranks

the author above Heliodorus, though he at the same time severely

criticizes him for want of originality, accusing him of having

borrowed all the interesting passages in his work from the

_Ethiopics_. In common with Heliodorus, Tatius has found a host of

followers among the later Greeks, some of whom (as the learned critic

just quoted, observes) have transcribed, rather than imitated him. In

the "Hysminias and Hysmine" of Eumathius, a wretched production of the

twelfth century, not only many of the incidents, but even of the

names, as Sostratus, Sosthenes, and Anthia, are taken from Clitophon

and Leucippe: and to so servile an extent is this plagiarism carried,

that two books out of the nine, of which the romance consists, are

filled with descriptions of paintings; while the plot, not very

intelligible at the best, is still further perplexed by the

extraordinary affectation of making nearly all the names alike; thus,

the hero and heroine are Hysminias and Hysmine, the towns are

Aulycomis, Eurycomis, Artycomis, &c. In all these works, the outline

is the same; the lovers undergo endless buffetings by sea and land,

imaginary deaths, and escapes from marauders; but not a spark of

genius or fancy enlivens these dull productions, which, sometimes

maudlin and bombastic, often indecent, would defy the patience of the

most determined novel reader. One of these writers, Xenophon of

Ephesus, the author of the "Ephesiacs, or Habrocomas and Anthia," is

commended by Politian for the classical purity of his language, in

which he considers him scarcely inferior to his namesake the

historian: but the work has little else to recommend it. The two

principal personages are represented as miracles of personal beauty;

and the women fall in love with Habrocomas, as well as the men with

Anthia, literally by dozens at a time: the plot, however differs from

that of the others in marrying them at the commencement, and sending

them through the ordinary routine of dangers afterwards. The

_Ephesiacs_ are, however, noticeable from its having been supposed by

Mr Douce, (_Illustrations of Shakspeare_, ii. 198,) that the

catastrophe in Romeo and Juliet was originally borrowed from one of

the adventures of Anthia, who, when separated from her husband, is

rescued from banditti by Perilaus, governor of Cilicia, and by him

destined for his bride. Unable to evade his solicitations, she

procures from the "poverty, not the will" of an aged physician named

Eudoxus, what she supposes to be a draught of poison, but which is

really an opiate. She is laid with great pomp, loaded with gems and

costly ornaments, in a vault; and on awakening, finds herself in the

hands of a crew of pirates, who have broken open her sepulchre in

order to rifle the treasures which they knew to have been deposited

there. "This work," (observes Mr Douce,) "was certainly not published

nor translated in the time of Luigi da Porto, the original narrator of

the story of Romeo and Juliet: but there is no reason why he might not

have seen a copy of the original in MS. We might enumerate several

more of these later productions of the same school; but a separate

analysis of each would be both tedious and needless, as none present

any marked features of distinction from those already noticed. They

are all, more or less, indifferent copies either from Heliodorus or

Achilles Tatius; the outline of the story being generally borrowed

from one or the other of these sources, while in point of style,

nearly all appear to have taken as their model the florid rhetorical

display and artificial polish of language which characterize the

latter. Their redeeming point is the high position uniformly assigned

to the female characters, who are neither immured in the Oriental

seclusion of the harem, nor degraded to household drudges, like the

Athenian ladies in the polished age of Pericles:[9] but mingle without

restraint in society as the friends and companions of the other sex,

and are addressed in the language of admiration and respect. But these

pleasing traits are not sufficient to atone for the improbability of

the incidents, relieved neither by the brilliant fancy of the East,

nor the lofty deeds of the romances of chivalry: and the reader,

wearied by the repetition of similar scenes and characters, thinly

disguised by change of name and place, finds little reason to regret

that "the children of the marriage of Theagenes and Chariclea," as

these romances are termed by a writer quoted by d'Israeli in the

"Curiosities of Literature"--have not continued to increase and

multiply up to our own times.

[8] Some bibliographers have assigned it to Photius; but the

opinion of Achilles Tatius expressed by the patriarch, and

quoted at the commencement of this article, precludes the

possibility of its being from his pen.

[9] See Mitford's _History of Greece_, ch. xiii, sect. 1.

* * * * *

THE NEW ART OF PRINTING.

BY A DESIGNING DEVIL.

"Aliter non fit, avite, liber."--MARTIAL.

It is more than probable that, at the first discovery of that

mightiest of arts, which has so tended to facilitate every other--the

art of printing--many old-fashioned people looked with a jealous eye

on the innovation. Accustomed to a written character, their eyes

became wearied by the crabbedness and formality of type. It was like

travelling on the paved and rectilinear roads of France, after winding

among the blooming hedgerows of England; and how dingy and graceless

must have appeared the first printed copy of the Holy Bible, to those

accustomed to luxuriate in emblazoned missals, amid all the pride,

pomp, and vellum of glorious MS.!

Dangerous and democratic, too, must have appeared the new art, which,

by plebeianizing knowledge and enlightening the mass, deprived the law

and the prophets of half their terrors, and disrobed priestcraft and

kingcraft of their mystery. We can imagine that, as soon as a printed

book ceased to be a great rarity, it became an object of great

abhorrence.

There were many, no doubt, to prophesy, as on occasion of every new

invention, that it was all very well for a novelty; but that the thing

would not, and could not last! How were the poor copyists to get their

living if their occupation was taken from them? How were so many

monasteries to be maintained which had subsisted on _manuscriptum_?

And, then, what prince in his right senses would allow a

printing-press to be set up in his dominions--a source of sedition and

heresy--an implement of disaffection and schism? The free towns,

perhaps, might foster this pernicious art, and certain evilly-disposed

potentates wink at the establishment of type-founderies in their

states. But the great powers of Europe knew better! They would never

connive at this second sowing of the dragon's teeth of Cadmus.

Thus, probably, they argued; becoming reconciled, in process of time,

to the terrible novelty. Print-books became almost as easy to read as

manuscript; soon as cheap, and at length of a quarter the price, or

even less; till, two centuries later, benefit of clergy ceased to be

a benefit, books were plenty as blackberries, and learning a thing for

the multitude. According to Dean Swift's account, the chaplain's time

hung heavy on his hands, for my lady had sermon books of her own, and

could read; nay, my lady's woman had jest books of her own, and wanted

none of his nonsense! The learned professions, or black arts, lost at

least ninety-five per cent in importance; and so rapid as been the

increase of the evil, that, at this time of day, it is a hard matter

to impose on any clodpole in Europe! Instead of signing with their

marks, the kings of modern times have turned ushers; instead of

reading with difficulty, we have a mob of noblemen who write with

ease; and, now-a-days, it is every duke, ay, and every duchess her own

book-maker!

A year or two hence, however, and all this will have become

obsolete.--_Nous avons changé tout cela!_--No more letter-press!

Books, the _small_ as well as the great, will have been voted a great

evil. There will be no gentlemen of the press. The press itself will

have ceased to exist.

For several years past it has been frankly avowed by the trade that

books have ceased to sell; that the best works are a drug in the

market; that their shelves groan, until themselves are forced to

follow the example.

Descend to what shifts they may in order to lower their prices, by

piracy from other booksellers, or clipping and coining of authors--no

purchasers! Still, the hope prevailed for a time among the lovers of

letters, that a great glut having occurred, the world was chewing the

cud of its repletion; that the learned were shut up in the Bodleian,

and the ignorant battening upon the circulating libraries; that hungry

times would come again!

But this fond delusion has vanished. People have not only ceased to

purchase those old-fashioned things called books, but even to read

them! Instead of cutting new works, page by page, people cut them

altogether! To far-sighted philosophers, indeed, this was a state of

things long foreshown. It could not be otherwise. The reading world

was a sedentary world. The literary public was a public lying at

anchor. When France delighted in the twelve-volume novels of

Mademoiselle de Scudéri, it drove in coaches and six, at the rate of

four miles an hour; when England luxuriated in those of Richardson, in

eight, it drove in coaches and four, at the rate of five. A journey

was then esteemed a family calamity; and people abided all the year

round in their cedar parlours, thankful to be diverted by the arrival

of the _Spectator_, or a few pages of the _Pilgrim's Progress_, or a

new sermon. To their unincidental lives, a book was an event.

Those were the days worth writing for! The fate of Richardson's

heroines was made a national affair; and people interceded with him by

letter to "spare Clarissa," as they would not now intercede with her

Majesty to spare a new Effie Deans. The successive volumes of _Pope's

Iliad_ were looked for with what is called "breathless" interest,

while such political sheets as the _Drapier's Letters_, or _Junius_,

set the whole kingdom in an uproar! And now, if Pope, or Swift, or

Fielding, or Johnson, or Sterne, were to rise from the grave, MS. in

hand, the most adventurous publisher would pass a sleepless night

before he undertook the risk of paper and print; would advise a small

edition, and exact a sum down in ready money, to be laid out in puffs

and advertisements! "Even then, though we may get rid of a few copies

to the circulating libraries," he would observe, "do not expect, sir,

to obtain readers. A few old maids in the county towns, and a few

gouty old gentlemen at the clubs; are the only persons of the present

day who ever open a book!"

And who can wonder? _Who_ has leisure to read? _Who_ cares to sit down

and spell out accounts of travels which he can make at less cost than

the cost of the narrative? _Who_ wants to peruse fictitious

adventures, when railroads and steamboats woo him to adventures of his

own? Egypt was once a land of mystery; now, every lad, on leaving

Eton, yachts it to the pyramids. India was once a country to dream of

over a book. Even quartoes, if tolerably well-seasoned with suttees

and sandalwood, went down; now, every genteel family has its "own

correspondent," per favour of the Red Sea; and the best printed

account of Cabul would fall stillborn from the press. As to Van

Dieman's Land, it is vulgar as the Isle of Dogs; and since people have

steamed it backwards and forwards across the Atlantic more easily than

formerly across the Channel, every woman chooses to be her own

Trollope--every man his own Boz!

For some time after books had ceased to find a market, the periodicals

retained their vogue; and even till very lately, newspapers found

readers. But the period at length arrived, when even the leisure

requisite for the perusal of these lighter pages, is no longer

forthcoming. People are busy ballooning or driving; shooting like

stars along railroads; or migrating like swallows or wild-geese. It

has been found, within the current year, impossible to read even a

newspaper!

The march of intellect, however, luckily keeps pace with the

necessities of the times; and no sooner was it ascertained, that

reading-made-easy was difficult to accomplish, than a new art was

invented for the more ready transmission of ideas. The fallacy of the

proverb, that "those who run may read," being established, modern

science set about the adoption of a medium, available to those sons of

the century who are always on the run. Hence, the grand secret of

ILLUSTRATION.--Hence the new art of printing!

The pictorial printing-press is now your only wear! Every thing is

communicated by delineation. We are not _told_, but _shown_ how the

world is wagging. The magazines sketch us a lively article, the

newspapers vignette us, step by step, a royal tour. The beauties of

Shakspeare are imprinted on the minds of the rising generation, in

woodcuts; and the poetry of Byron engraver in their hearts, by means

of the graver. Not a boy in his teens has read a line of Don Quixote

or Gil Blas, though all have their adventures by heart; while

Goldsmith's "Deserted Village" has been committed to memory by our

daughters and wives, in a series of exquisite illustrations. Every

body has La Fontaine by heart, thanks to the pencil of Granville,

which requires neither grammar nor dictionary to aid its

interpretations; and even Defoe--even the unparalleled Robinson

Crusoe--is devoured by our ingenuous youth in cuts and come again.

At present, indeed, the new art of printing is in its infancy, but it

is progressing so rapidly, that the devils of the old will soon have a

cold birth of it! Views of the Holy Land are superseding even the Holy

Scriptures; and a pictorial Blackstone is teaching the ideas of the

sucking lawyers how to shoot. Nay, Buchan's "Domestic Medicine" has

(proh pudor!) its illustrated edition.

The time saved to an active public by all this, is beyond computation.

All the world is now instructed by symbols, as formerly the deaf and

dumb; and instead of having to peruse a tedious penny-a-line account

of the postilion of the King of the French misdriving his Majesty, and

his Majesty's august family, over a draw-bridge into a moat at

Tréport, a single glance at a single woodcut places the whole disaster

graphically before us; leaving us nine minutes and a half of the time

we must otherwise have devoted to the study of the case, to dispose of

at our own will and pleasure; to start, for instance, for Chelsea, and

be back again by the steam-boat, before our mother knows we are out.

The application of the new art is of daily and hourly extension. The

scandalous Sunday newspapers have announced an intention of evading

Lord Campbell's act, by veiling their libels in caricature. Instead of

_writing_ slander and flat blasphemy, they propose to _draw_ it, and

not draw it mild. The daily prints will doubtless follow their

example. No more Jenkinsisms in the _Morning Post_, concerning

fashionable parties. A view of the duchess's ball-room, or of the

dining-table of the earl, will supersede all occasion for lengthy

fiddle-faddle. The opera of the night before will be described in a

vignette--the ballet in a tail-piece; and we shall know at a glance

whether Cerito and Elssler performed their _pas_ meritoriously, by the

number of bouquets depicted at their feet.

On the other hand, instead of column after column of dry debates, we

shall know sufficiently who were the speakers of the preceding night,

by a series of portraits--each having an annexed trophy, indicative

of the leading points of his oration. Members of both Houses will be,

of course, daguerreotyped for the use of the morning papers; and

photographic likenesses of the leaders of _ton_ be supplied gratis to

the leaders of the press.

How far more interesting a striking sketch of a banquet, containing

portraits of undoubted authenticity, to the matter-of-fact

announcements of the exploded letter-press--that "yesterday his Grace

the Duke of Wellington entertained at dinner, at Apsley House, the

Earls of Aberdeen and Liverpool, the Dukes of Richmond and Buccleuch,

the Master of the Horse, the Lord Chancellor, Sir Robert Peel, Sir

James Graham, Sir Frederick Trench, Colonel Gurwood, and M. Algernon

Greville!" Who has patience for the recapitulation of a string of

names, when a group of faces may be placed simultaneously before him?

And then, accounts of races! How admirably will they be concentrated

into a delineation of the winner passing the post--the losers

distances; and what disgusting particulars of boxing matches shall we

avoid by a spirited etching. Think of despatches from India, (one of

Lord Ellenborough's XXXX,) published in a series of groupings worthy

the frescoes of the tomb of Psammis. As to the affairs of China, we

shall henceforward derive as much pleasure from the projects of Sir

Henry Pottinger, cut in wood by the _Morning Herald_, as in surveying

the Mandarins sailing on buffaloes through the air, or driving in

junks over meadows, in one of Wedgewood's soup plates!

It has long been the custom for advertisers in the continental

journals to typify their wares. The George Robinses of Brussels, for

instance, embody their account of some exquisite villa in a charming

perspective of the same, or of a capital town mansion in a grim

likeness; while the _carossiers_, who have town chariots or family

coaches to dispose of, make it known in the most designing manner. The

consequence is, that the columns of certain foreign papers bear a

striking likeness to a child's alphabet, such as "A was an archer, and

shot at a frog." Among ourselves, this practice is at present only

partially adopted. We are all familiar with the shape of Mr Cox

Savory's tea-pots, and Messrs Dondney's _point-device_ men in buckram;

while Mordan acquaints us, with much point, how many varieties he has

invented of pencil-cases and toothpicks. As to the London Wine

Company, the new art has long imprinted upon our minds a mysterious

notion of a series of vaults in the style of the Thames tunnel,

frequented by figures armed with spigots and dark lanterns, that

remind us of Guy Fawkes, and make us tremble for ourselves and Father

Mathew! Loose notions of the stay-making trade have been circulated by

the same medium; and we have noticed wood-blocks of wig-blocks,

deservedly immortalizing the pernquier.

But consider what it will be when the system is adopted on a more

comprehensive scale. The daily papers will present a series of

designs, remarkable as those of the Glyptothek and Pinacothek at

Munich; and in all probability, the artists of the prize cartoons will

be engaged in behalf of the leading journals of Europe. Who cannot

foresee her Majesty's drawing-room illustrated by Parris! Who cannot

conceive the invasion of Britain outdone in an allegorical leading

article: "Louis Philippe (in a Snooks-like attitude) inviting Queen

Victoria to St Cloud; and the British lion lashing out its tail at the

Coq Gaulois!"

As to the affairs of Spain, they will be a mine of wealth to the new

press--_L'Espagne Pittoresque_ will sell thousands more copies than

Spain Constitutionalized; and let us trust that Sir George Hayter will

instantly "walk his chalks," and secure us the Cortes in black and

white.

The Greek character will now become easy to decipher; and the evening

papers may take King Otho both off the throne and on. The designs of

Russia have long been proverbial; but the exercise of the new art of

printing may assign them new features. The representations of

impartial periodicals will cut out, or out-cut De Custine; and while

contemplating the well-favoured presentment of Nicholas I., we shall

exclaim--"Is this a tyrant that I see before me?" Nothing will be

easier then to throw the Poles into the shade of the picture, or to

occupy the foreground with a brilliant review.

As to Germany, to embody her in the hieroglyphics of the new press,

might be a study for Retsch; and who will care for the lumbering pages

of Von Raumer, or the wishy-washy details of Kohl, when able, in an

_augenblick_, to bring Berlin and Vienna before him; to study the

Zollverein in the copy of the King of Prussia's cogitative

countenance, and ascertain the views of Metternich concerning the

elder branch of the Bourbons, by a _cul de lampe_ in the _Morning

Chronicle_!

We have little doubt of shortly seeing announcements--standing like

tombstones in those literary cemeteries, the Saturday papers--of "A

new work upon America, from the graver of George Cruickshank;" or "A

new fashionable novel, (diamond edition,) from the accomplished pencil

of H.B." Kenny Meadows will become the Byron of the day, Leech the

Scott, Forrester the Marryatt, Phiz the Trollope; Stanfield and Turner

will be epic poets, Landseer preside over the belles-lettres, and

Webster and Stone become the epigrammatists and madrigalists of the

press.

All this will, doubtless, throw a number of deserving persons out of

employ. The writers, whose stock in trade consists of words rather

than ideas, will find their way to Basinghall Street, prose will be at

a discount, and long-windedness be accounted a distemper. A great

variety of small Sapphos must turn seamstresses*, at three-halfpence

a shirt instead of a penny a line; while the minor poets will have to

earn a livelihood by writing invoice, instead of in verse. But this

transposition of talent, and transition of gain, is no more than arose

from the substitution of railroads for turnpike roads. By that

innovation thousands of hard-working post-horses were left without

rack or manger; and by the present arrangement, Clowes, Spottiswoode,

and the authors who have served to afford matter for their types, will

be driven from the field.

*Transcriber's Note: Original "semstresses"

But the world (no longer to be called of letters, but of emblems) will

be the gainer. It will be no longer a form of speech to talk of having

"_glanced_ at the morning papers," whose city article will, of course,

be composed by artists skilled in drawing figures. The biographies of

contemporary or deceased statesmen will be limned, not by Lord

Brougham or Macaulay, but by the impartial hand of the Royal Academy;

and the catacombs at Kensal Green, like those discovered by Belzoni on

the banks of the Nile, exhibit their eulogistic inscriptions in

hieroglyphics. By this new species of shorthand we might have embodied

this very article in half a dozen sprightly etchings! But as the

hapless inventor of the first great art of printing incurred, among

his astounded contemporaries, the opprobrium of being in compact with

the evil one, (whence, probably, the familiar appellation of printers'

devils,) it behoves the early practitioners of the new art to look to

their reputations! By economizing the time of the public, they may

squander their own good repute. It is not every printer who can

afford, like Benjamin Franklin, to be a reformer; and pending the

momentum when (the schoolmasters being all abroad) the grand causeway

of the metropolis shall become, as it were, a moving diorama,

inflicting knowledge upon the million whether it will or no--let us

content ourselves with birds'-eye views of passing events, by way of

exhibiting the first rudiments of THE NEW ART OF PRINTING!

* * * * *

THE BANKING HOUSE

A HISTORY IN THREE PARTS. PART III.

CHAPTER I.

SYMPTOMS OF ROTTENNESS.

Michael Allcroft returned to his duties, tuned for labour, full of

courage, and the spirit of enterprise and action. Discharged from the

thrall which had hitherto borne hard upon his energies, and kept them

down, he felt the blessed influence of perfect Liberty, and the

youthful elasticity of mind and body that liberty and conscious

strength engender. Devoted to the task that he had inflicted upon

himself, he grudged every hour that kept him from the field of

operations. Firm in his determination to realize, by his exertions, a

sum of money equal to his parent's debts, and to redeem the estate

from its insolvency, he was uneasy and impatient until he could resume

his yoke, and press resolutely forward. Rich and independent as he

was, in virtue of the fortune of his wife, he still spurned the idea

of relying upon her for his release--for the means of rescuing his

fathers name and house from infamy. No; he saw--he fancied that he saw

a brighter way marked out before him. Industry, perseverance, and

extreme attention would steer his bark steadily through the difficult

ocean, and bring her safely into harbour: these he could command, for

they depended upon himself whom he might trust. He had looked

diligently into the transactions of the house for many years past, and

the investigation was most satisfactory. Year after year, the business

had increased--the profits had improved. The accumulations of his

father must have been considerable when he entered upon his ruinous

speculations. What was the fair inference to draw from this result?

Why--that with the additional capital of his partners--the influx and

extension of good business, and the application of his own resolute

mind, a sum would be raised within a very few years, sufficient to

reinstate the firm, to render it once more stable and secure. And

then--this desirable object once effected, and the secret of the

unfortunate position of the house never divulged--the income which

would afterwards follow for his partners and himself, must be immense.

It was this view of the subject that justified, to his mind, the means

which he had used--that silenced self-reproof, when it accused him of

artifice, and called him to account for the deception he had practised

upon his colleagues. It must be acknowledged, that the plan which he

proposed held out fair promise of ultimate success and that, reckoning

upon the united will and assistance of his partners, he had good

reason to look for an eventual release from all his difficulties and

cares. Yet it was not to be. "_We still have judgment here._"

Punishment still comes to us from those whom we would circumvent. It

was in vain that Michael set foot in the Bank with an indomitable and

eager spirit; in vain that he longed to grapple with his

fate--resolute to overcome it. The world was against him. The battle

was already decided. His first hard struggle for deliverance was

coincident with his last hour of earthly peace.

Before one year had passed over the respectable heads of our notable

Banking-House, Allcraft was involved in a net of perplexity, from

which it required all the acuteness of his apprehending mind to work

out a mode of extrication. Augustus Brammel continued abroad, spending

his money, and drawing upon the house, with the impudent recklessness

which we have already seen to be a prime ingredient in his character.

He did not condescend to communicate with his partners, or to give

them any information touching his whereabouts, except such as might be

gathered from his cheques, which came, week after week, with alarming

punctuality, for sums as startling. From this one source of misery,

where was a promise or a chance of a final rescue? Michael saw none.

What if he refused to cash his partner's drafts? What if he permitted

them to find their way back, as best they might, through the

various channels by which they had travelled on their previous

journey--dishonoured and disgraced? Who but himself would be the loser

by the game? Such a refusal would lead to quick enquiry--enquiry to

information--information to want of confidence and speedy ruin. What

reliance could repose upon a house, divided against itself--not safe

from the extravagance and pillage of its own members? The public eye,

ever watchful and timid, waits scarcely for the show of danger to take

alarm and withdraw its favour. Michael shrunk from the bare conception

of an act of violence. It was more agreeable, in an hour of

self-collectedness, to devise a remedy, which, if it did not cure the

disease, helped at least to cicatrize the immediate wounds. He looked

from Brammel to Brammel's father for indemnification. And the old man

was in truth a rare temptation. Fond, pitiable father of a false and

bloodless child! doting, when others would have hated, loving his

prodigal with a more anxious fondness as his ingratitude grew

baser--as the claims upon a parent's heart dwindled more and more

away. The grey-haired man was a girl in tenderness and sensibility. He

remembered the mother of the wayward child, and the pains she had

taken to misuse and spoil her only boy; his own conduct returned to

him in the shape of heavy reproaches, and he could not forget, or call

to mind without remorse, the smiles of encouragement he had given, the

flattering approbation he had bestowed when true love, justice, duty,

mercy, all called loudly for rebuke, restraint, wholesome correction,

solemn chastisement. Could he be conscious of all this, and not excuse

the unsteady youth--accuse himself? It was he who deserved

punishment--not the sufferer with his calamities _imposed_ upon him by

his erring sire. He was ready to receive his punishment. Oh, would

that at any cost--at any expense of bodily and mental suffering, he

could secure his child from further sorrow and from deeper

degradation! To such a heart and mind, Michael might well carry his

complaints with some expectation of sympathy and reimbursement.

Aggrieved as he was, he did not fail to paint his disappointment and

sense of injury in the strongest colours; but blacker than all--and he

was capable of such a task, he pictured the gross deception of which

he had so cruelly been made the subject.

"I could," he said to the poor father, in whose aged eyes, turned to

the earth, tears of shame were gushing, "I could have forgiven any

thing but that. You deceived me meanly and deliberately. The character

you gave with him was false. You knew it to be so, and you were well

aware that nothing but mischief and ruin could result from a connexion

with him."

"Indeed, Mr Allcraft," replied the unhappy man, "I had great hopes of

his reformation. He had improved of late years a little, and he gave

me his word that he would be steady. If I had not thought so, I should

certainly not have permitted you to receive him. What can we do, sir?"

"Ah! what, Mr Brammel. It is that I wish to know. The present state of

things cannot continue. Where is he now?"

"Indeed, I do not know. He is a bad boy to hide himself from his

father. I do not deserve it of him. I cannot guess."

"Are you aware, sir, that he is married?"

"They have told me something of it. I am, in truth, glad to hear it.

It will be to his wife's interest to lead him back to duty."

"You have not seen her, then?"

The old man shook his head.

"Well, well, sir," continued Allcraft, "this is not to the purpose. We

must protect ourselves. His profligacy must be checked; at all events,

we must have no connexion with it. Hitherto we have honoured his

drafts, and kept your name and his free from disgrace. I can do so no

longer. We have paid his last cheque this very day. To-morrow I shall

advertise publicly our determination, to honour his demands no more."

"No--no, no, Mr Allcraft," interposed old Brammel anxiously, taking

every word for granted, "that must not be done--I cannot allow it; for

the poor boy's sake, that determination must not be made at present. I

am sure he will reform at last. I should not be surprised if he

returned to business in a day or two, and settled steadily to work for

the remainder of his life. It is likely enough, now that he is

married. I have much to answer for on account of that youth, Mr

Allcraft, and I should never forgive myself if I suffered any thing to

be done that is likely to render him desperate, just when a glimmering

of hope is stealing upon us. You shake your head, sir, but I am

confident he will yet make up for all his folly."

"Heaven grant it, sir, for your sake!"

"Yes, and for his own, poor child--for what will become of him if he

does not! Now, as to these cheques, Mr Allcraft, let me have them all.

I will restore every farthing that you have paid on his account; and

should any more be presented, let them be duly honoured. I hold myself

responsible for their discharge. I am sure this is the wisest course

to pursue. It is quite reasonable for you to demur, and to object to

these demands. I like you the better, Mr Allcraft, for your scruples:

you are an honourable man, sir. I would lose my last drop of blood to

make my poor boy like you. It is wise and praiseworthy in you to look

so carefully to the good credit of your house; and it is fair and

right that I should take this matter upon myself. I do it, persuaded

of the propriety of the step, and satisfied that all will go well with

him yet. Be lenient with the unhappy boy, sir, and have yet a little

patience."

"I am afraid, sir, that he will but presume on your generosity and

good nature."

"Ah, but he is never to know it, Mr Allcraft; I would not for the

world have him hear of what I have done. Should you discover his

abode, write to him, I pray--tell him that I am enraged at his

proceedings--that I do not think that I can ever be reconciled to him

again. Say that my anger has no bounds--that my heart is

breaking--will break and kill me, if he persists in his ingratitude

and cruelty. Implore him to come home and save me."

The old man stopped and wept. Michael was not yet a father and could

not understand the tears: it appears that he understood business much

better; for, taking leave of Brammel as soon as he could after the

latter had expressed a wish to cash the cheques, he went immediately

to the bank and procured the documents. He presented them with his own

hand to the astounded father, from whom, also with his own hand, he

received one good substantial draft in fair exchange.

So far, so good; but, in another quarter, Allcraft suddenly discovered

that he had committed an egregious blunder. He had entrusted Planner

with the secret of his critical position--had made him acquainted with

the dishonest transactions of his father, and the consequent

bankruptcy of the firm. Not that this disclosure had been made in any

violent ebullition of unguarded feeling--from any particular love to

Planner--from an inability on the part of the divulger to keep his own

good counsel. Michael, when he raised Planner from poverty to

comparative affluence, was fully sensible of the value of his man--the

dire necessity for him. It was indispensable that the tragic underplot

of the play should never be known to either Bellamy or Brammel, and

the only safe way of concealing it from them, was to communicate it

unreservedly to their common partner, and his peculiar _protégé_. He

did so with much solemnity, and with many references to the

extraordinary liberality he had himself displayed in admitting him to

his confidence, and to a share of his wealth. "Maintain my secret," he

said to Planner, "and your fortune shall be made; betray me, and you

are thrown again into a garret. You cannot hurt me; nothing shall save

you." He repeated these words over and over again, and he received

from his confidant assurance upon assurance of secrecy and unlimited

devotion. And up to the period of Allcraft's return from France, the

gentleman had every reason to rely upon the probity and good faith of

his associate; nor in fact had he less reason _after_ his return. Were

it not that "the thief doth fear each bush an officer," he had no

cause whatever to suspect or tremble: his mind, for any actual danger,

might have been at rest. But what did he behold? Why, Planner and

Bellamy, whom he had left as distant as stage-coach acquaintances, as

intimate and loving, as united and inseparable, as the tawny twins of

Siam. Not a week passed which did not find the former, once, twice, or

three times a guest at the proud man's table. The visits paid to the

bank were rather to Mr Planner than for any other object. Mr Planner

only could give advice as to the alteration of the south wing of the

hall: Mr Planner's taste must decide upon the internal embellishments:

then there were private and mysterious conversations in the small back

room--the parlour; nods and significant looks when they met and

separated; and once, Michael called to see Planner after the hours of

business, and whom should he discover in his room but Mr Bellamy

himself, sitting in conclave with the schemer, and manifestly intent

upon some serious matter. What was the meaning of all this? Oh, it was

too plain! The rebel Planner had fallen from his allegiance, and was

making his terms with the enemy. Allcraft cursed himself a thousand

times for his folly in placing himself at the mercy of so unstable a

character, and immediately became aware that there had never been any

cogent reason for such a step, and that his danger would have been

infinitely smaller had he never spoken to a human being on the

subject. But it was useless to call himself, by turns, madman and

fool, for his pains. What could be done now to repair the error?

Absolutely nothing; and, at the best, he had only to prepare himself,

for the remainder of his days, to live in doubt, fear, anxiety, and

torture.

In the meanwhile, Planner grew actually enamoured of the

_Pantamorphica_ Association. The more he examined it, the more

striking appeared its capabilities, the fairer seemed the prospect of

triumphant unequivocal success. In pursuance of his generous

resolution, he communicated his designs to Allcraft. They were

received with looks of unaffected fright. Without an instant's

hesitation, Michael implored his partner to desist--to give up at

once, and for ever, all thoughts of the delusion--to be faithful to

his duty, and to think well of his serious engagement. "Your

Association, sir," he exclaimed in the anger of the moment, "is like

every other precious scheme you have embarked in--impracticable,

ridiculous, absurd!" Planner, in these three words, could only

read--_ingratitude_--the basest it had ever been his lot to meet. Here

was a return for his frankness--his straightforward conduct--his

unequalled liberality. Here was the affectionate expression of thanks

which he had so proudly looked forward to--the acknowledgment of

superior genius which he had a right to expect from the man who was to

profit so largely by the labour of his brains. Very well. Then let it

be so. He would prosecute the glorious work alone--he would himself

supply the funds needful for the undertaking, and alone he would

receive the great reward that most assuredly awaited him. Very

delicately did Michael hint to his partner, that his--Planner's--funds

existed, with his castles and associations, in the unsubstantial air,

and no where else; but not so delicately as to avoid heaping fuel on

the fire which he had already kindled in the breast of the offended

schemer. The latter bristled at the words, lost for an instant his

self-possession, said in his anger more than he intended--more than he

might easily unsay--enough to bruise the already smarting soul of

Allcraft. A threat escaped his lips--a reproach--a taunt. He spoke of

his _power_, and touched cuttingly upon the deep schemes of _other_

men, more feasible than his own perhaps, and certainly more honest.

Allcraft winced, as every syllable made known the speaker's actual

strength--his own dependence and utter weakness. He made no reply to

the attack of the man whom he had drawn from beggary; but he looked

him in the face steadily and reproachfully, and shamed him into

vexation and regret.

"I did not mean to speak unkindly, Michael," he stammered with a view

to apologize. "I am sorry that I lost my temper. You need not fear me.

Don't remember what I have said."

"You have threatened me, Planner," answered Allcraft, trembling with

irritation. "You have attempted to frighten me into compliance with

your demands. I say, sir, you have threatened me. It is the first

time--it shall be the last."

"It shall, Michael--I promise you it shall."

"I ask no promise from you," continued the excited and suspicious man,

writhing under a sense of his helplessness. "You have betrayed the

cloven foot. I thank you for it. I am aware of what is to follow--I

expect it--I shall hold myself prepared!"

"Do nothing of the kind, Allcraft. You know me better. You are safe

with me. I am ashamed of myself for what I have spoken. Forgive me"--

"But never mind," proceeded the unhappy Michael. "I defy you: do your

worst. Let this be your acknowledgment of past favours--the fulfilment

of your sacred promise. Betray me to Bellamy, and be at ease."

"Michael, you do not use me well. I spoke angrily, and without

consideration. I am sorry that I did so, and I have asked your

forgiveness. What can I do more? You should allow for wounded

feelings. It was hard to hear you ridiculing an affair that occupies

my serious thoughts. I was irritated--think no more about it."

"Answer me this, How much does Mr Bellamy already know?"

"From me--nothing. Make your mind happy on that score. It is not to

the interest of any one of us that secrets should be known. You need

not fear. Shake hands."

Michael took his hand.

"And as to this Association," continued Planner, "let me have my way

for once--the thing is clear, and cannot fail. The elements of success

are there, and a splendid fortune must be realized. I am not greedy. I

don't want to grasp every thing for myself. I told you just now that

we would share and share alike. You are not up to projects of this

nature. I am. Trust to me. I will engage to enter upon no new affair

if I am disappointed in this. The truth is, I cannot quietly let a

fortune slide through my fingers, when a little skill and energy only

are necessary to secure it. Come, Michael, this once you must not say

_no_."

The hope, however faint, of making money by this speculation, and the

fear of offending the depositary of his great secret, compelled at

length from Allcraft a reluctant acquiescence. He consented to the

trial, receiving Planner's solemn promise that, in the event of

failure, it should be the last. Planner himself, overjoyed at his

victory, prepared himself for action, and contemplated the magnificent

resources of the bank with a resolute and daring spirit that would

have gratified exceedingly the customers of the house, could they have

but known it. Planner conscientiously believed that he had hitherto

failed in all his schemes, because he had never commanded cash

sufficient to carry out his views. This great obstacle being removed,

he wisely determined to make the most of his good fortune. And in

truth he was without the shadow of an excuse for timidity and

forbearance. The anxiety which might have accompanied his ventures,

had the money been his own, was mercifully spared him; the thought of

personal danger and ruin could never come to cloud his intellect, or

oppress his energy. As for the ruin of any other party, the idea, by a

very happy dispensation, never once occurred to him. It took a very

few months to make Mr Planner the largest shareholder--the principal

director--the president and first man in the famous "_Joint-Stock

Pantamorphica Association._"

And whilst he was busy in the purchase of lands required for the

extensive undertaking, his dear friend Mr Bellamy was agreeably

occupied in paying off, by degrees, the heavy mortgages which, for

many years, had been weighing on his beautiful estate. In addition to

the ten thousand pounds which he had abstracted during the absence of

Mr Allcraft, he had not hesitated to draw large sums under the very

nose of his too easy and unsuspecting partner. The manner of Mr

Bellamy threw Michael off his guard. He walked so erect--looked upon

every body so superciliously--spoke even to Allcraft in so high a

tone, and with so patronizing an air, that it was quite impossible to

suspect him of being any thing but real coin, a sound man, and worthy

of all trust. It is certainly true that Mr Bellamy had not brought

into the concern as he had engaged, some twenty, or forty thousand

pounds--it does not matter which--but the reasons which he

condescended to give for this failure were perfectly satisfactory, and

accounted for the delay--so well accounted for it that Michael

entreated Mr Bellamy not to think about it, but to take his time. And

how very natural it was for a man of Mr Bellamy's consideration and

enormous wealth to secure the little property that adjoined his own,

and to borrow from the bank any sum of money that he might want to

complete so desirable a purchase! And how very natural, likewise, on

the part of Allcraft, ever fearful of discovery, ever desirous to keep

upon the best terms with Mr Bellamy (the great man of the country, the

observed of all observers)--to be at all times anxious to oblige his

friend, to render him sensible of his desire to please him, and of the

obligation under which, by these repeated acts of kindness and

indulgence, he was insensibly brought.

And so they reached the close of the first year of partnership; and

who shall say that the situation of Michael was an enviable one, or

that the persevering man had not good cause for despondency and dread?

He was already deeply indebted to his wife; not one of his three

partners had proved to be such as he expected and required. Danger

threatened from two of them: Mr Bellamy had not afforded the support

which he had promised. A stronger heart than Michael's might have

quailed in his position; yet the pressure from without animated and

invigorated _him_. In the midst of his gloom, he was not without a

gleam of hope and consolation. As he had foreseen, the business of the

house rapidly increased: its returns were great. Day and night he

laboured to improve them, and to raise the reputation of the tottering

concern; for tottering it was, though looking most secure. For

himself, he did not draw one farthing from the bank; he resided with

his wife in a small cottage, lived economically, and sacrificed to his

engrossing occupation every joy of the domestic hearth. The public

acknowledged with favour the exertions of the labouring man;

pronounced him worthy of his sire; vouchsafed him their respect and

confidence. Bravely the youth proceeded on his way--looking ever to

the future--straining to his object--prepared to sacrifice his life

rather than yield or not attain it. Noble ambition--worthy of a less

ignoble cause--a better fate!

The second year passed on, and then the third: at the close of this,

Michael looked again at his condition. During the last year the

business of the house had doubled. Had not the profits, and more than

the profits, been dragged away by Bellamy and Planner--his ardent mind

would have been satisfied, his ceaseless toil well-paid. But the

continual drafts had kept ever in advance of the receipts, draining

the exchequer--crippling its faculties. Even at this melancholy

exhibition, his sanguine spirit refused to be cast down, and to resign

the hope of ultimate recovery and success. He built upon the promise

of Mr Bellamy, who at length had engaged to refund his loans upon a

certain day, and to add, at the same time, his long-expected and

long-promised quota of floating capital: he built upon the illusions

of Planner's strong imagination--Planner, who suddenly becoming sick

of his speculation, alarmed at his responsibility, and doubtful of

success, had been for some time vigorously looking out for a

gentleman, willing to purchase his share and interest in the unrivaled

_Pantamorphica_, and to relieve him of his liabilities; and had at

last persuaded himself into the belief that he had found one. _He_

likewise fixed a period for the restoration of a fearful sum of money,

which Michael, madman that he was, had suffered him to expend--to

fling away like dirt. Upon such expectation, Allcraft stood--upon such

props suffered his aching soul to rest. There wanted but a month to

the acceptable season when claims upon the house poured in which

could not be put off. Michael borrowed money once more from his wife

to meet them. He did it without remorse or hesitation. Why should he

have compunction--why think about it, when the hour of repayment was

so near at hand? It was a proper question for a man who could slumber

on a mine that was ready to burst, and shatter him to atoms.