that passage on friendship which gushes out so livingly from the stern heart of the satirist. And when old —— complimented me on my verses, my eye sought yours. Verily, I now say as then,
Audley turned away his head as he returned the grasp of his friend's hand; and while Harley, with his light elastic footstep, descended the stairs, Egerton lingered behind, and there was no trace of the worldly man upon his countenance when he took his place in the carriage by his companion's side.
Two hours afterward, weary cries of "Question, question!" "Divide, divide!" sank into reluctant silence as Audley Egerton rose to conclude the debate—the man of men to speak late at night, and to impatient benches: a man who would be heard; whom a Bedlam broke loose would not have roared down; with a voice clear and sound as a bell, and a form as firmly set on the ground as a church-tower. And while, on the dullest of dull questions, Audley Egerton thus, not too lively himself, enforced attention, where was Harley L'Estrange? Standing alone by the river at Richmond, and murmuring low fantastic thoughts as he gazed on the moonlit tide.
When Audley left him at home, he had joined his parents, made them gay with his careless gayety, seen the old-fashioned folks retire to rest, and then—while they, perhaps, deemed him once more the hero of ball-rooms and the cynosure of clubs—he drove slowly through the soft summer night, amidst the perfumes of many a garden and many a gleaming chestnut grove, with no other aim before him than to reach the loveliest margin of England's loveliest river, at the hour the moon was fullest and the song of the nightingale most sweet. And so eccentric a humorist was this man, that I believe, as be there loitered—no one near to cry "How affected!" or "How romantic!"—he enjoyed himself more than if he had been exchanging the politest "how-d'ye-do's" in the hottest of London drawing-rooms, or betting his hundreds on the odd trick with Lord De R—— for his partner.
Toward the close of the year 1836, I was hurriedly dispatched to Liverpool for the purpose of securing the person of one Charles James Marshall, a collecting clerk, who, it was suddenly discovered, had absconded with a considerable sum of money belonging to his employers. I was too late—Charles James Marshall having sailed in one of the American liners the day before my arrival in the northern commercial capital. This fact well ascertained, I immediately set out on my return to London. Winter had come upon us unusually early; the weather was bitterly cold; and a piercing wind caused the snow, which had been falling heavily for several hours, to gyrate in fierce, blinding eddies, and heaped it up here and there into large and dangerous drifts. The obstruction offered by the rapidly-congealing snow greatly delayed our progress between Liverpool and Birmingham; and at a few miles only distant from the latter city, the leading engine ran off the line. Fortunately, the rate at which we were traveling was a very slow one, and no accident of moment occurred. Having no luggage to care for, I walked on to Birmingham, where I found the parliamentary train just on the point of starting, and with some hesitation, on account of the severity of the weather, I took my seat in one of the then very much exposed and uncomfortable carriages. We traveled steadily and safely, though slowly along, and reached Rugby Station in the afternoon, where we were to remain, the guard told us, till a fast down-train had passed. All of us hurried as quickly as we could to the large room at this station, where blazing fires and other appliances soon thawed the half-frozen bodies, and loosened the tongues of the numerous and motley passengers. After recovering the use of my benumbed limbs and faculties, I had leisure to look around and survey the miscellaneous assemblage about me.
Two persons had traveled in the same compartment with me from Birmingham, whose exterior, as disclosed by the dim light of the railway carriage, created some surprise that such finely-attired, fashionable gentlemen should stoop to journey by the plebeian penny-a-mile train. I could now observe them in a clearer light, and surprise at their apparent condescension vanished at once. To an eye less experienced than mine in the artifices and expedients familiar to a certain class of "swells," they might perhaps have passed muster for what they assumed to be, especially amidst the varied crowd of a "parliamentary;" but their copper finery could not for a moment impose upon me. The watch-chains were, I saw, mosaic; the watches, so frequently displayed, gilt; eye-glasses the same; the coats, fur-collared and cuffed, were ill-fitting and second-hand; ditto of the varnished boots and renovated velvet waistcoats; while the luxuriant mustaches and whiskers, and flowing wigs, were unmistakably mere pièces d'occasion—assumed and diversified at pleasure. They were both apparently about fifty years of age; one of them perhaps one or two years less than that. I watched them narrowly, the more so from their making themselves ostentatiously attentive to a young woman—girl rather she seemed—of a remarkably graceful figure, but whose face I had not yet obtained a glimpse of. They made boisterous way for her to the fire, and were profuse and noisy in their offers of refreshment—all of which, I observed, were peremptorily declined. She was dressed in deep, unexpensive mourning; and from her timid gestures and averted head, whenever either of the fellows addressed her, was, it was evident, terrified as well as annoyed by their rude and insolent notice. I quietly drew near to the side of the fire-place at which she stood, and with some difficulty obtained a sight of her features. I was struck with extreme surprise—not so much at her singular beauty, as from an instantaneous conviction that she was known to me, or at least that I had seen her frequently before, but where or when I could not at all call to mind. Again I looked, and my first impression was confirmed. At this moment the elder of the two men I have partially described placed his hand, with a rude familiarity, upon the girl's shoulder, proffering at the same time a glass of hot brandy-and-water for her acceptance. She turned sharply and indignantly away from the fellow; and looking round as if for protection, caught my eagerly-fixed gaze.
"Mr. Waters!" she impulsively ejaculated. "Oh, I am so glad!"
"Yes," I answered, "that is certainly my name; but I scarcely remember—Stand back, fellow!" I angrily continued, as her tormentor, emboldened by the spirits he had drunk, pressed with a jeering grin upon his face, toward her, still tendering the brandy and water. "Stand back!" He replied by a curse and a threat. The next moment his flowing wig was whirling across the room, and he standing with his bullet-head bare but for a few locks of iron-gray, in an attitude of speechless rage and confusion, increased by the peals of laughter which greeted his ludicrous, unwigged aspect. He quickly put himself in a fighting attitude, and, backed by his companion, challenged me to battle. This was quite out of the question; and I was somewhat at a loss how to proceed, when the bell announcing the instant departure of the train rang out, my furious antagonist gathered up and adjusted his wig, and we all sallied forth to take our places—the young woman holding fast by my arm, and in a low, nervous voice, begging me not to leave her. I watched the two fellows take their seats, and then led her to the hind-most carriage, which we had to ourselves as far as the next station.
"Are Mrs. Waters and Emily quite well?" said the young woman, coloring, and lowering her eyes beneath my earnest gaze, which she seemed for a moment to misinterpret.
"Quite—entirely so," I almost stammered. "You know us then?"
"Surely I do," she replied, reassured by my manner. "But you, it seems," she presently added, with a winning smile, "have quite forgotten little Mary Kingsford."
"Mary Kingsford!" I exclaimed, almost with a shout. "Why, so it is! But what a transformation a few years have effected!"
"Do you think so? Not pretty Mary Kingsford now, then, I suppose?" she added, with a light, pleasant laugh.
"You know what I mean, you vain puss you!" I replied, quite gleefully, for I was overjoyed at meeting with the gentle, well remembered playmate of my own eldest girl. We were old familiar friends—almost father and daughter—in an instant.
Little Mary Kingsford, I should state, was, when I left Yorkshire, one of the prettiest, most engaging children I had ever seen; and a petted favorite not only with us, but of every other family in the neighborhood. She was the only child of Philip and Mary Kingsford—a humble, worthy, and much respected couple. The father was gardener to Sir Pyott Dalzell, and her mother eked out his wages to a respectable maintenance by keeping a cheap children's school. The change which a few years had wrought in the beautiful child was quite sufficient to account for my imperfect recognition of her; but the instant her name was mentioned, I at once recognized the rare comeliness which had charmed us all in her childhood. The soft brown eyes were the same, though now revealing profounder depths, and emitting a more pensive expression; the hair, though deepened in color, was still golden; her complexion, lit up as it now was by a sweet blush, was brilliant as ever; while her child-person had become matured and developed into womanly symmetry and grace. The brilliancy of color vanished from her cheek as I glanced meaningly at her mourning dress.
"Yes," she murmured, in a sad, quivering voice—"yes, father is gone! It will be six months come next Thursday that he died! Mother is well," she continued more cheerfully, after a pause, "in health, but poorly off; and I—and I," she added, with a faint effort at a smile, "am going to London to seek my fortune!"
"To seek your fortune!"
"Yes; you know my cousin, Sophy Clarke? In one of her letters, she said she often saw you."
I nodded without speaking. I knew little of Sophia Clarke, except that she was the somewhat gay, coquettish shopwoman of a highly respectable confectioner in the Strand, whom I shall call by the name of Morris.
"I am to be Sophy's fellow shop-assistant," continued Mary Kingsford; "not, of course, at first at such good wages as she gets. So lucky for me, is it not, since I must go to service? And so kind, too, of Sophy, to interest herself for me!"
"Well, it may be so. But surely I have heard—my wife at least has—that you and Richard Westlake were engaged?—Excuse me, Mary, I was not aware the subject was a painful or unpleasant one."
"Richard's father," she replied with some spirit, "has higher views for his son. It is all off between us now," she added; "and perhaps it is for the best that it should be so."
I could have rightly interpreted these words without the aid of the partially-expressed sigh which followed them. The perilous position of so attractive, so inexperienced, so guileless a young creature, amidst the temptations and vanities of London, so painfully impressed and preoccupied me, that I scarcely uttered another word till the rapidly-diminishing rate of the train announced that we neared a station, after which it was probable we should have no further opportunity for private converse.
"Those men—those fellows at Rugby—where did you meet with them?" I inquired.
"About thirty or forty miles below Birmingham, where they entered the carriage in which I was seated. At Birmingham I managed to avoid them."
Little more passed between us till we reached London. Sophia Clarke received her cousin at the Euston station, and was profuse of felicitations and compliments upon her arrival and personal appearance. After receiving a promise from Mary Kingsford to call and take tea with my wife and her old playmate on the following Sunday, I handed the two young women into a cab in waiting, and they drove off. I had not moved away from the spot when a voice a few paces behind me, which I thought I recognized, called out, "Quick, coachee, or you'll lose sight of them!" As I turned quickly round, another cab drove smartly off, which I followed at a run. I found, on reaching Lower Seymour-street, that I was not mistaken as to the owner of the voice, nor of his purpose. The fellow I had unwigged at Rugby thrust his body half out of the cab window, and, pointing to the vehicle which contained the two girls, called out to the driver "to mind and make no mistake." The man nodded intelligence, and lashed his horse into a faster pace. Nothing that I might do could prevent the fellows from ascertaining Mary Kingsford's place of abode; and as that was all that, for the present at least, need be apprehended, I desisted from pursuit, and bent my steps homeward.
Mary Kingsford kept her appointment on the Sunday, and in reply to our questioning, said she liked her situation very well. Mr. and Mrs. Morris were exceedingly kind to her; so was Sophia. "Her cousin," she added in reply to a look which I could not repress, "was perhaps a little gay and free of manner, but the best-hearted creature in the world." The two fellows who had followed them had, I found, already twice visited the shop; but their attentions appeared now to be exclusively directed toward Sophia Clarke, whose vanity they not a little gratified. The names they gave were Hartley and Simpson. So entirely guileless and unsophisticated was the gentle country maiden, that I saw she scarcely comprehended the hints and warnings which I threw out. At parting, however, she made me a serious promise that she would instantly apply to me should any difficulty or perplexity overtake her.
I often called in at the confectioner's, and was gratified to find that Mary's modest propriety of behavior, in a somewhat difficult position, had gained her the goodwill of her employers, who invariably spoke of her with kindness and respect. Nevertheless, the cark and care of a London life, with its incessant employment and late hours, soon, I perceived, began to tell upon her health and spirits; and it was consequently with a strong emotion of pleasure I heard from my wife that she had seen a passage in a letter from Mary's mother, to the effect that the elder Westlake was betraying symptoms of yielding to the angry and passionate expostulations of his only son, relative to the enforced breaking off of his engagement with Mary Kingsford. The blush with which she presented the letter was, I was told, very eloquent.
One evening, on passing Morris's shop, I observed Hartley and Simpson there. They were swallowing custards and other confectionary with much gusto; and, from their new and costly habiliments, seemed to be in surprisingly good case. They were smirking and smiling at the cousins with rude confidence; and Sophia Clarke, I was grieved to see, repaid their insulting impertinence by her most elaborate smiles and graces. I passed on; and presently meeting with a brother-detective, who, it struck me, might know something of the two gentlemen, I turned back with him, and pointed them out. A glance sufficed him.
"Hartley and Simpson you say?" he remarked after we had walked away to some distance: "those are only two of their numerous aliases. I can not, however, say that I am as yet on very familiar terms with them; but as I am especially directed to cultivate their acquaintance, there is no doubt we shall be more intimate with each other before long. Gamblers, blacklegs, swindlers I already know them to be; and I would take odds they are not unfrequently something more, especially when fortune and the bones run cross with them." "They appear to be in high feather just now," I remarked.
"Yes: they are connected, I suspect, with the gang who cleaned out young Garslade last week in Jermyn-street. I'd lay a trifle," added my friend, as I turned to leave him, "that one or both of them will wear the Queen's livery, gray turned up with yellow, before many weeks are past. Good-by."
About a fortnight after this conversation, I and my wife paid a visit to Astley's, for the gratification of our youngsters, who had long been promised a sight of the equestrian marvels exhibited at that celebrated amphitheatre. It was the latter end of February; and when we came out of the theatre, we found the weather had changed to dark and sleety, with a sharp, nipping wind. I had to call at Scotland-yard; my wife and children consequently proceeded home in a cab without me; and after assisting to quell a slight disturbance originating in a gin-palace close by, I went on my way over Westminster Bridge. The inclement weather had cleared the streets and thoroughfares in a surprisingly short time; so that, excepting myself, no foot-passenger was visible on the bridge till I had about half-crossed it, when a female figure, closely muffled up about the head, and sobbing bitterly, passed rapidly by on the opposite side. I turned and gazed after the retreating figure: it was a youthful, symmetrical one; and after a few moments' hesitation, I determined to follow at a distance, and as unobservedly as I could. On the woman sped, without pause or hesitation, till she reached Astley's, where I observed her stop suddenly, and toss her arms in the air with a gesture of desperation. I quickened my steps, which she observing, uttered a slight scream, and darted swiftly off again, moaning and sobbing as she ran. The slight momentary glimpse I had obtained of her features beneath the gas-lamp opposite Astley's, suggested a frightful apprehension, and I followed at my utmost speed. She turned at the first cross-street, and I should soon have overtaken her, but that in darting round the corner where she disappeared, I ran full butt against a stout, elderly gentleman, who was hurrying smartly along out of the weather. What with the suddenness of the shock and the slipperiness of the pavement, down we both reeled; and by the time we had regained our feet, and growled savagely at each other, the young woman, whoever she was, had disappeared, and more than half an hour's eager search after her proved fruitless. At last I bethought me of hiding at one corner of Westminster Bridge. I had watched impatiently for about twenty minutes, when I observed the object of my pursuit stealing timidly and furtively toward the bridge on the opposite side of the way. As she came nearly abreast of where I stood, I darted forward; she saw, without recognizing me, and uttering an exclamation of terror, flew down toward the river, where a number of pieces of balk and other timber were fastened together, forming a kind of loose raft. I followed with desperate haste, for I saw that it was indeed Mary Kingsford, and loudly called to her by name to stop. She did not appear to hear me, and in a few moments the unhappy girl had gained the end of the timber-raft. One instant she paused with clasped hands upon the brink, and in another had thrown herself into the dark and moaning river. On reaching the spot where she had disappeared, I could not at first see her, in consequence of the dark mourning dress she had on. Presently I caught sight of her, still upborne by her spread clothes, but already carried by the swift current beyond my reach. The only chance was to crawl along a piece of round timber which projected farther into the river and by the end of which she must pass. This I effected with some difficulty; and laying myself out at full length, vainly endeavored, with outstretched, straining arms, to grasp her dress. There was nothing left for it but to plunge in after her. I will confess that I hesitated to do so. I was encumbered with a heavy dress, which there was no time to put off, and moreover, like most inland men, I was but an indifferent swimmer. My indecision quickly vanished. The wretched girl, though gradually sinking, had not yet uttered a cry, or appeared to struggle; but when the chilling waters reached her lips, she seemed to suddenly revive to a consciousness of the horror of her fate: she fought wildly with the engulphing tide, and shrieked piteously for help. Before one could count ten, I had grasped her by the arm, and lifted her head above the surface of the river. As I did so, I felt as if suddenly encased and weighed down by leaden garments, so quickly had my thick clothing and high boots sucked in the water. Vainly, thus burdened and impeded, did I endeavor to regain the raft; the strong tide bore us outward, and I glared round, in inexpressible dismay, for some means of extrication from the frightful peril in which I found myself involved. Happily, right in the direction the tide was drifting us, a large barge lay moored by a chain-cable. Eagerly I seized and twined one arm firmly round it, and thus partially secure, hallooed with renewed power for assistance. It soon came: a passer-by had witnessed the flight of the girl and my pursuit, and was already hastening with others to our assistance. A wherry was unmoored: guided by my voice, they soon reached us; and but a brief interval elapsed before we were safely housed in an adjoining tavern.
A change of dress, with which the landlord kindly supplied me, a blazing fire, and a couple of glasses of hot brandy and water, soon restored warmth and vigor to my chilled and partially-benumbed limbs; but more than two hours elapsed before Mary, who had swallowed a good deal of water, was in a condition to be removed. I had just sent for a cab, when two police-officers, well known to me, entered the room with official briskness. Mary screamed, staggered toward me, and clinging to my arm, besought me with frantic earnestness to save her.
"What is the meaning of this?" I exclaimed, addressing one of the police-officers.
"Merely," said he, "that the young woman that's clinging so tight to you has been committing an audacious robbery—"
"No—no—no!" broke in the terrified girl.
"Oh! of course you'll say so," continued the officer. "All I know is, that the diamond brooch was found snugly hid away in her own box. But come, we have been after you for the last three hours; so you had better come along at once."
"Save me! save me!" sobbed poor Mary, as she tightened her grasp upon my arm and looked with beseeching agony in my face.
"Be comforted," I whispered; "you shall go home with me. Calm yourself, Miss Kingsford," I added in a louder tone: "I no more believe you have stolen a diamond brooch than that I have." "Bless you! bless you!" she gasped in the intervals of her convulsive sobs.
"There is some wretched misapprehension in this business, I am quite sure," I continued; "but at all events I shall bail her—for this night at least."
"Bail her! That is hardly regular."
"No; but you will tell the superintendent that Mary Kingsford is in my custody, and that I answer for her appearance to-morrow."
The men hesitated, but I stood too well at head-quarters for them to do more than hesitate; and the cab I had ordered being just then announced, I passed with Mary out of the room as quickly as I could, for I feared her senses were again leaving her. The air revived her somewhat, and I lifted her into the cab, placing myself beside her. She appeared to listen in fearful doubt whether I should be allowed to take her with me; and it was not till the wheels had made a score of revolutions that her fears vanished; then throwing herself upon my neck in an ecstasy of gratitude, she burst into a flood of tears, and continued till we reached home sobbing on my bosom like a broken-hearted child. She had, I found, been there about ten o'clock to seek me, and being told that I was gone to Astley's, had started off to find me there.
Mary still slept, or at least she had not risen, when I left home the following morning to endeavor to get at the bottom of the strange accusation preferred against her. I first saw the superintendent, who, after hearing what I had to say, quite approved of all that I had done, and intrusted the case entirely to my care. I next saw Mr. and Mrs. Morris and Sophia Clarke, and then waited upon the prosecutor, a youngish gentleman of the name of Saville, lodging in Essex Street, Strand. One or two things I heard necessitated a visit to other officers of police, incidentally, as I found, mixed up with the affair. By the time all this was done, and an effectual watch had been placed upon Mr. Augustus Saville's movements, evening had fallen, and I wended my way homeward, both to obtain a little rest, and hear Mary Kingsford's version of the strange story.
The result of my inquiries may be thus briefly summed up. Ten days before, Sophia Clarke told her cousin that she had orders for Covent-Garden Theatre; and as it was not one of their busy nights, she thought they might obtain leave to go. Mary expressed her doubt of this, as both Mr. and Mrs. Morris, who were strict, and somewhat fanatical Dissenters, disapproved of play-going, especially for young women. Nevertheless Sophia asked, informed Mary that the required permission had been readily accorded, and off they went in high spirits; Mary especially, who had never been to a theatre in her life before. When there, they were joined by Hartley and Simpson, much to Mary's annoyance and vexation, especially as she saw that her cousin expected them. She had, in fact, accepted the orders from them. At the conclusion of the entertainments, they all four came out together when suddenly there arose a hustling and confusion, accompanied with loud outcries, and a violent swaying to and fro of the crowd. The disturbance was, however, soon quelled; and Mary and her cousin had reached the outer-door, when two police-officers seized Hartley and his friend, and insisted upon their going with them. A scuffle ensued; but other officers being at hand, the two men were secured, and carried off. The cousins, terribly frightened, called a coach, and were very glad to find themselves safe at home again. And now it came out that Mr. and Mrs. Morris had been told that they were going to spend the evening at my house, and had no idea they were going to the play! Vexed as Mary was at the deception, she was too kindly-tempered to refuse to keep her cousin's secret; especially knowing as she did that the discovery of the deceit Sophia had practiced would in all probability be followed by her immediate discharge. Hartley and his friend swaggered on the following afternoon into the shop, and whispered to Sophia that their arrest by the police had arisen from a strange mistake, for which the most ample apologies had been offered and accepted. After this, matters went on as usual, except that Mary perceived a growing insolence and familiarity in Hartley's manner toward her. His language was frequently quite unintelligible, and once he asked her plainly "if she did not mean that he should go shares in the prize she had lately found?" Upon Mary replying that she did not comprehend him, his look became absolutely ferocious, and he exclaimed, "Oh, that's your game, is it? But don't try it on with me, my good girl, I advise you!" So violent did he become, that Mr. Morris was attracted by the noise, and ultimately bundled him, neck and heels, out of the shop. She had not seen either him or his companion since.
On the evening of the previous day, a gentleman whom she never remembered to have seen before, entered the shop, took a seat, and helped himself to a tart. She observed that after awhile he looked at her very earnestly, and, at length, approaching quite close, said, "You were at Covent-Garden Theatre last Tuesday evening week." Mary was struck, as she said, all of a heap, for both Mr. and Mrs. Morris were in the shop, and heard the question.
"Oh, no, no! you mistake," she said, hurriedly, and feeling at the same time her cheeks kindle into flame.
"Nay, but you were, though," rejoined the gentleman. And then, lowering his voice to a whisper, he said, "And let me advise you, if you would avoid exposure and condign punishment, to restore me the diamond brooch you robbed me of on that evening."
Mary screamed with terror, and a regular scene ensued. She was obliged to confess she had told a falsehood in denying she was at the theatre on the night in question, and Mr. Morris after that seemed inclined to believe any thing of her. The gentleman persisted in his charge; but at the same time vehemently iterating his assurance that all he wanted was his property; and it was ultimately decided that Mary's boxes, as well as her person, should be searched. This was done; and, to her utter consternation, the brooch was found concealed, they said, in a black-silk reticule. Denials, asseverations, were vain. Mr. Saville identified the brooch, but once more offered to be content with its restoration. This Mr. Morris, a just, stern man, would not consent to, and he went out to summon a police-officer. Before he returned, Mary, by the advice of both her cousin and Mrs. Morris, had fled the house, and hurried, in a state of distraction, to find me, with what result the reader already knows.
"It is a wretched business," I observed to my wife, as soon as Mary Kingsford had retired to rest, at about nine o'clock in the evening. "Like you, I have no doubt of the poor girl's perfect innocence; but how to establish it by satisfactory evidence is another matter. I must take her to Bow-street the day after to-morrow."
"Good God, how dreadful! Can nothing be done? What does the prosecutor say the brooch is worth?"
"His uncle," he says, "gave a hundred and twenty guineas for it. But that signifies little; for were its worth only a hundred and twenty farthings, compromise is out of the question."
"I did not mean that. Can you show it me? I am a pretty good judge of the value of jewels."
"Yes, you can see it." I took it out of the desk in which I had locked it up, and placed it before her. It was a splendid emerald, encircled by large brilliants.
My wife twisted and turned it about, holding it in all sorts of lights, and at last said—"I do not believe that either the emerald or the brilliants are real—that the brooch is, in fact, worth twenty shillings intrinsically."
"Do you say so?" I exclaimed as I jumped up from my chair, for my wife's words gave color and consistence to a dim and faint suspicion which had crossed my mind. "Then this Saville is a manifest liar; and perhaps confederate with—But give me my hat; I will ascertain this point at once."
I hurried to a jeweler's shop, and found that my wife's opinion was correct; apart from the workmanship, which was very fine, the brooch was valueless. Conjectures, suspicions, hopes, fears, chased each other with bewildering rapidity through my brain; and in order to collect and arrange my thoughts, I stepped out of the whirl of the streets into Dolly's Chop-house, and decided, over a quiet glass of negus, upon my plan of operations.
The next morning there appeared at the top of the second column of the 'Times' an earnest appeal, worded with careful obscurity, so that only the person to whom it was addressed should easily understand it, to the individual who had lost or been robbed of a false stone and brilliants at the theatre, to communicate with a certain person—whose address I gave—without delay, in order to save the reputation, perhaps the life, of an innocent person.
I was at the address I had given by nine o'clock. Several hours passed without bringing any one, and I was beginning to despair, when a gentleman of the name of Bagshawe was announced: I fairly leaped for joy, for this was beyond my hopes.
A gentleman presently entered, of about thirty years of age, of a distinguished, though somewhat dissipated aspect.
"This brooch is yours?" said I, exhibiting it without delay or preface.
"It is; and I am here to know what your singular advertisement means?"
I briefly explained the situation of affairs.
"The rascals!" he broke in almost before I had finished; "I will briefly explain it all. A fellow of the name of Hartley, at least that was the name he gave, robbed me, I was pretty sure, of this brooch. I pointed him out to the police, and he was taken into custody; but nothing being found upon him, he was discharged."
"Not entirely, Mr. Bagshawe, on that account. You refused, when arrived at the station-house, to state what you had been robbed of; and you, moreover, said, in presence of the culprit, that you were to embark with your regiment for India the next day. That regiment, I have ascertained, did embark, as you said it would."
"True; but I had leave of absence, and shall take the Overland route. The truth is, that during the walk to the station-house, I had leisure to reflect that if I made a formal charge, it would lead to awkward disclosures. This brooch is an imitation of one presented to me by a valued relative. Losses at play—since, for this unfortunate young woman's sake, I must out with it—obliged me to part with the original; and I wore this, in order to conceal the fact from my relative's knowledge."
"This will, sir," I replied, "prove, with a little management, quite sufficient for all purposes. You have no objection to accompany me to the superintendent?"
"Not in the least: only I wish the devil had the brooch as well as the fellow that stole it."
About half-past five o'clock on the same evening, the street door was quietly opened by the landlord of the house in which Mr. Saville lodged, and I walked into the front-room on the first floor, where I found the gentleman I sought languidly reclining on a sofa. He gathered himself smartly up at my appearance, and looked keenly in my face. He did not appear to like what he read there.
"I did not expect to see you to-day," he said at last.
"No, perhaps not: but I have news for you. Mr. Bagshawe, the owner of the hundred-and-twenty guinea brooch your deceased uncle gave you, did not sail for India, and—"
The wretched cur, before I could conclude, was on his knees begging for mercy with disgusting abjectness. I could have spurned the scoundrel where he crawled.
"Come, sir!" I cried, "let us have no sniveling or humbug: mercy is not in my power, as you ought to know. Strive to deserve it. We want Hartley and Simpson, and can not find them: you must aid us."
"Oh, yes; to be sure I will!" eagerly rejoined the rascal. "I will go for them at once," he added, with a kind of hesitating assurance.
"Nonsense! Send for them, you mean. Do so, and I will wait their arrival."
His note was dispatched by a sure hand; and meanwhile I arranged the details of the expected meeting. I, and a friend, whom I momently expected, would ensconce ourselves behind a large screen in the room, while Mr. Augustus Saville would run playfully over the charming plot with his two friends, so that we might be able to fully appreciate its merits. Mr. Saville agreed. I rang the bell, an officer appeared, and we took our posts in readiness. We had scarcely done so, when the street-bell rang, and Saville announced the arrival of his confederates. There was a twinkle in the fellow's green eyes which I thought I understood. "Do not try that on, Mr. Augustus Saville," I quietly remarked; "we are but two here certainly, but there are half-a-dozen in waiting below."
No more was said, and in another minute the friends met. It was a boisterously-jolly meeting, as far as shaking hands and mutual felicitations on each other's good looks and health went. Saville was, I thought, the most obstreperously gay of all three.
"And yet now I look at you, Saville, closely," said Hartley, "you don't look quite the thing. Have you seen a ghost?"
"No; but this cursed brooch affair worries me."
"Nonsense!—humbug!—it's all right; we are all embarked in the same boat. It's a regular three handed game. I prigged it; Simmy here whipped it into pretty Mary's reticule, which she, I suppose, never looked into till the row came; and you claimed it—a regular merry-go-round, ain't it, eh? Ha! ha! ha!—ha!"
"Quite so, Mr. Hartley," said I, suddenly facing him, and at the same time stamping on the floor; "as you say, a delightful merry-go-round; and here, you perceive," I added, as the officers entered the room, "are more gentlemen to join in it."
I must not stain the paper with the curses, imprecations, blasphemies, which for a brief space resounded through the apartment. The rascals were safely and separately locked up a quarter of an hour afterward; and before a month had passed away, all three were transported. It is scarcely necessary to remark, that they believed the brooch to be genuine, and of great value.
Mary Kingsford did not need to return to her employ. Westlake the elder withdrew his veto upon his son's choice, and the wedding was celebrated in the following May with great rejoicing; Mary's old playmate officiating as bride-maid, and I as bride's-father. The still young couple have now a rather numerous family, and a home blessed with affection, peace, and competence. It was some time, however, before Mary recovered from the shock of her London adventure; and I am pretty sure that the disagreeable reminiscences inseparably connected in her mind with the metropolis will prevent at least one person from being present at the World's Great Fair.—Chambers's Journal.
Reports of the same general tendency, although somewhat vague and contradictory in details, indicate that plans are on foot to organize another expedition for a descent upon Cuba. New Orleans, Savannah, and various places on the coast of Florida, would appear to be the centres to which the parties tend. It is supposed that funds to a large amount have been furnished from Cuba. The design seems to be to proceed in separate parties to some point beyond the jurisdiction of the United States before effecting any formal organization. The President, under date of April 25, issued his proclamation, attributing the project mainly to foreigners, "who have dared to make our shores the scenes of guilty and hostile preparations against a friendly power." These expeditions, he says, can only be regarded as adventures for plunder and robbery, undertaken in violation alike of the law of nations and of this country; by the latter of which they are punishable by fine and imprisonment. He warns all citizens of the United States who connect themselves with such expeditions, that they thereby "forfeit all claims to the protection of this Government, or any interference on their behalf, no matter to what extremities they may be reduced in consequence of their illegal conduct;" and calls upon every civil and military officer of the Government to use his efforts for the arrest of all who thus offend against the laws of their country.
In New York, information was given to the United States Marshal that a vessel had been chartered by persons concerned in the proposed expedition, and was anchored in the Bay, provided with munitions of war, and waiting for the arrival of a large number of men. On searching the harbor, no vessel answering this description was found, but a steamboat lying at a pier on the North River fell under suspicion, and was seized by the United States authorities. This was the Cleopatra, a large boat, formerly employed on Long Island Sound, and now in such a decayed condition as to be nearly unfit for service, having been built upward of fourteen years. Nothing was found on board to indicate the purpose for which she was destined. The forward hold and boiler room were filled with coal, of which a large quantity also covered the forward deck. She had on board a great number of empty water casks, but no firearms or gunpowder were discovered. She was placed in charge of a guard of marines from the Navy Yard, and no communication was permitted with persons on shore. The final disposition of the steamer has not yet been determined, but orders have been given by the Government to deliver her cargo to any claimant who could show evidence of proprietorship.
Soon after the seizure of the Cleopatra, the collector of this port received notice that a vessel engaged for the transportation of emigrants from South Amboy to Sandy Hook, was lying at her wharf, in the former place, under suspicious circumstances. Officers were immediately dispatched to the spot; the vessel was seized and ordered to anchor at Perth Amboy; and intelligence was obtained which resulted in the arrest of five persons, who were held to bail in the sum of $3000 each to appear for examination. These were John L. O'Sullivan, formerly editor of the Democratic Review, Captain Lewis, formerly of the steamer Creole, Pedro Sanches, a Spanish resident of New York, Dr. D.H. Burnett, and Major Louis Schlesinger of the Hungarian patriots. The offense with which they were charged was the violation of the Neutrality Act of April 20, 1818, in preparing the means for a military expedition against Cuba.
In consequence of various rumors which prevailed in the City of Savannah, concerning the invasion of Cuba, the United States Marshal chartered a steamboat for an exploring trip to the South. He proceeded as far as Jacksonville, Florida, and returned after a cruise of three or four days. Throughout the whole line of his route, he was met with accounts of encampments of armed men, but they proved to be without foundation, and no discoveries, pointing to any overt acts, were made. It was the general belief, among all with whom he conversed, that a movement of importance had been projected against the island of Cuba, but that from causes which have not transpired, the organization had been broken up, and the men connected with it had entirely dispersed. Between Savannah and Jacksonville, public opinion was found to be decidedly favorable to the expedition, the great majority of the people sympathizing with the Cubans, and ready to aid them in a struggle for independence.
The session of the Legislature of New York came to a sudden and unexpected close on the 17th of April, two days after the conclusion of our last Monthly Record. It being apparent that the bill for the enlargement of the Erie Canal, which had already passed the House by a large majority, would likewise pass the Senate, twelve of the fifteen Democratic Senators resigned their seats. One other Senator announced his intention to resign if the proposed measure were pressed; in which case there would be only nineteen members remaining; the Constitution requiring three-fifths of the whole, or twenty Senators, to form a quorum. When the bill came up for a third reading, there were 17 votes in its favor, and 2 against it. No quorum being present, the bill was laid upon the table. The Senate thereupon voted to adjourn sine die; in which resolution the House concurred. On the same day the Democratic members of the Legislature, comprising fifteen Senators and forty Representatives, issued an address to the Democratic Republican Electors of the State, in justification of their procedure. They bring severe charges against their opponents of mal-administration of the financial affairs of the State; and denounce the proposed measure as a palpable violation of the express provisions of the Constitution, and as an expedient to secure to their opponents the political supremacy in the State. The Whig members also issued a long address to the People of the State of New York, in which they denounce the conduct of the resigning Senators as a willful violation of the Constitution which they had sworn to support and as an outrage upon the fundamental principle of a republican government—the right of the majority to rule. They defend the course of adjournment adopted by the majority, on the ground that two-fifths of the State was unrepresented in the Senate; that for various important purposes for which the assent of two-thirds of the members elected is requisite, there was virtually no Senate at all; that it was in the power of a single member of that body, by a threat of resignation, to dictate upon any legislative question; and that one member had threatened, unless the order of business fixed by the Senate should be laid aside, that he would vacate his seat, and thus render any legislation impossible. They proceed to argue at great length the constitutionality and expediency of the bill. The Governor has issued his proclamation, convoking an extra session of the Legislature on the 10th June, and appointing an election to be held on the 27th of May, to fill the vacancies occasioned by the resignations of the Senators. Contrary opinions as to the constitutionality of the bill in question have been furnished by the ablest counsel. Among others Mr. Chatfield, the Attorney General of the State, pronounces it to be unconstitutional; while Mr. Webster argues in favor of the opposite opinion.
The steamer Pacific, which sailed from Liverpool April 10, accomplished the passage to New York in 9 days and 20 hours, being the shortest westerly passage ever made. The greatest distance run in a single day was 328, the least 302 miles. The shortest westerly passage previously made was by the same vessel, which was 10 days 4 hours. The shortest similar passage by a Cunarder was by the Asia, 10 days and 22 hours.
The number of passengers from foreign countries who arrived at the port of New York within the four months ending May 1, was above 60,000, being an increase of more than 30,000 over the arrivals of last year. During the month of April the arrivals were 27,779, of which 15,968 were from Ireland, 6372 from Germany, and 2679 from England.
The anniversaries of the principal religious and benevolent societies were celebrated as usual in New York in the early part of May. The occasion drew together a large attendance of persons from every section of the country. The Seaman's Friend's Society maintains chaplains in the Sandwich Islands, South America, California, the West Indies, France, and Sweden. At the Sailor's Home in New York, there have been, during the year, 2525 sailor boarders. A single bank has upon deposit, bearing interest, more than a million of dollars belonging to seamen. The receipts of the Society for the year were $20,399 21; the expenditures $20,446 27.—The American and Foreign Christian Union has for its object opposition to Romanism, by acting upon both Catholics and Protestants at home and abroad. It has during the past year employed at home, for greater or less portions of time, 78 missionaries, of whom the greater number are foreigners, preaching in seven different languages, and belonging to almost all the branches of the Protestant Church. It also employs 30 missionaries in foreign countries. The Society received during the year $56,265 20, and expended $55,169 12.—The American Tract Society has issued during the year 886,692 volumes, 7,837,692 publications; of its Almanacs have been circulated 310,000 copies; of the American Messenger 186,000, and of the German Messenger 18,000 copies are published monthly. It has employed 569 colporteurs, of whom 135 are students in colleges and seminaries. The receipts of the Society exceed those of any other kindred institution in the country. For the past year they were $310,728 32, of which $200,720 33 were the proceeds of the sales of publications, the remainder being donations. The expenditures were, for publishing, $179,984 48; for colportage, $73,278 23; donations to foreign countries, $20,000; miscellaneous expenses, $37,356 59, in all, $310,616 30.—The American Home Missionary Society has had in its service during the year 1065 ministers, who have performed an amount of labor equal to 853 years; these have been employed in twenty-six States and Territories: in New England, 311; in the Middle States, 224; in the Western States and Territories, 515; in the Southern States, 15. The resources of the Society for the year were $166,493 94; the liabilities, $163,457 18.—The American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society presented at its anniversary no statistics of its operations.—The American Anti-Slavery Society (known as the Garrison Society), whose meetings last year were violently interrupted, was unable to procure a place of meeting in this city. Its anniversary was accordingly held in Syracuse.—The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions have received for nine months of the current year $186,500, being an increase above the receipts of last year, of $17,384.—The ("Old School") Presbyterian Board of Missions have sent out during the past year 25 laborers. The operations of this Board are carried on mainly among the Indians and Jews of our country, in Western Africa, Northern India, Siam, China, and Catholic Europe. The Board has received and expended a trifle more than $140,000 during the year.—The American Bible Society has issued during the year 592,432 Bibles and Testaments, making a total, since the formation of the Society, of 7,572,967 copies. In addition to new editions of the English Scriptures, they have issued the Testament in Swedish and English in parallel columns, and have in preparation a similar Testament in French and English. They have also prepared a Spanish Bible, conformed to the Hebrew and Greek originals. A translation executed by Rev. Mr. Payne, a missionary to Western Africa, of the books of Genesis and Acts into the Grebo language, has been published at the Society's house. The receipts of the Society for the year past have been $276,882 52, which is somewhat less than those of the preceding year, when they were swelled by unusually large amounts given by way of legacy.—The anniversaries of those noble charities the Institution for the Deaf and Dumb and the New York Institution for the Blind were, as usual, of the utmost interest, and attracted large and delighted audiences. In the former of these are 247 pupils, of whom 163 are supported by the State, 30 by their friends or by other States, and 16 are maintained by the Institution. The Institution for the Blind contains 105 pupils, of whom 52 are males and 53 females; there are besides connected with it 39 other blind persons, in various capacities.—The meetings of several of the minor associations presented some interesting features. Among these we specify that of the New York Colonization Society, at which a letter was read from Hon. Edward Everett, describing the great benefits conferred by the colonization of Africa, in introducing civilization, and suppressing the slave-trade.—The total receipts of eleven of the principal religious societies of the country for the past year were $1,237,875 17, exceeding those of the preceding year by about $15,000.
The Erie Railroad is now completed, from the Hudson River to Dunkirk, 470 miles from New York. A train having on board the Directors of the road, went over the whole distance on the 28th and 29th of April. At the commencement of the enterprise, the State loaned to the road its bonds to the amount of three millions of dollars. Subsequently, an act was passed relieving the Company from the lien imposed by these bonds, on condition that a single track was completed, and engines passed over it, from the Hudson to Lake Erie, before the middle of May. On the day, therefore, in which the first train passed over the road, the earnings of the Company were three millions of dollars. The formal celebration of the opening of the Road took place on the 14th of May, and was attended by the President of the United States and a portion of the Cabinet, as will be seen by a somewhat detailed account in another page of our Magazine.
In Massachusetts, the Hon. Charles Sumner has at length been elected to the United States Senate, for the full term of six years. He has taken no prominent part in politics, but is widely known as a scholar and philanthropist.—Soon after the decision of an exciting Fugitive Slave case in Boston, a number of citizens who had invited Mr. Webster to address them on the political condition of the country, petitioned the Board of Aldermen for the use of Faneuil Hall on that occasion. A similar petition having been previously denied to the opponents of the Fugitive Slave Law, that of the friends of Mr. Webster was not granted. The Board subsequently reconsidered their action, and passed a vote concurring with the Common Council in raising a joint committee to invite an address from Mr. Webster, and tendering the use of the Hall for the purpose. The invitation was not accepted.—A violent storm commenced on the 15th of April, and raged for more than a week along the whole extent of the Atlantic coast. During the night of the 17th, the light-house on Minot's Ledge, near Cohasset, was swept away; two assistant keepers who were in the structure were lost.—The secret-ballot law has passed both branches of the Legislature. It provides that the ballots of voters shall be inclosed in envelopes previously to being deposited in the ballot boxes.
In Connecticut there was no choice by the people of State officers at the late election. Hon. Thomas H. Seymour, the Democratic candidate, has been re-elected as Governor by the Legislature. The Democratic candidates for Secretary and Comptroller, and the Whig candidates for Lieutenant-Governor and Treasurer, were elected by the Legislature. In his Message the Governor represents the finances of the State to be in a prosperous condition; recommends the passage of general corporation and banking laws; and of a law limiting the hours of labor, to contain a provision making it a misdemeanor to work children under fourteen years of age more than eight hours a day. He speaks in favor of the Compromise measures, which he says must be supported in good faith, or we can not hope to see this form of Government continue. "Whatever action then," he adds, "the Legislature may feel called upon to take, upon any of the questions to which reference has been made, I feel at liberty to indulge the hope that its course will be such as to place the State of Connecticut on patriotic and dignified ground in the presence of sister States and the nation, and the world."
A Convention of the Southern Rights Association assembled at Charleston, May 5. There were between three and four hundred members in attendance. Ex-Governor J.P. Richardson acted as President. In his address upon taking the chair, he said that the question was simply as to the time and manner of resistance. He spoke strongly of the want of affinity between the two sections of the country, and declared that no one should join together those whom God and nature have put asunder. A letter from Hon. Langdon Cheves was read, deprecating separate action on the part of South Carolina, which ought to wait awhile longer for the action of other States. An address and resolutions advocating the right and expediency of secession, were adopted. Mr. Rhett, one of the United States Senators from this State, has developed what he supposes to be the results of the policy of secession. Free trade would be proclaimed with all States south and west of the Potomac, and a duty of ten per cent. levied upon goods from the other States and from foreign countries. The result would be that goods would be twenty per cent. cheaper in Charleston than in New York. The trade of Georgia and North Carolina would be carried on with South Carolina; and it would not be in the power of the General Government to prevent it, by a line of custom-houses along the frontier. He declared the idea of a blockade of the ports of South Carolina to be ridiculous. Blockade was war, and Congress alone could declare war; and Congress must either let them go peaceably out of the Union or fight; and fight they would in defense of their rights, liberties, and institutions; and even if South Carolina should be subdued, the Union was not preserved; other Southern States would join in the contest. Should that State secede and remain for five years an independent State, a Southern Confederacy must be the result, or the South would have enforced the guarantees to which she is entitled. "I have been battling," he says, "in this cause for twenty-five years, and have now but a few more years to give to your service. As a citizen of South Carolina, I demand that she make me free. My counsel is, secede from the union of these United States. At every hazard, and to the last extremity secede. If I was about to draw my last breath, with that breath I would exhort you to secede."
In the Virginia Constitutional Convention some votes have been taken, which afford indications that the mixed basis proposition in a somewhat modified form, will prevail. The motion to strike out the proposition apportioning representation on the basis of the white population was carried by a vote of 65 to 56. Four Eastern men, among whom was Hon. Henry A. Wise, voted with the West. One of the mixed basis propositions failed by a single vote.
From the mining region of Lake Superior, the latest intelligence is highly favorable; large quantities of copper are preparing for market.—The President has directed that the lands occupied by the Hungarian Exiles in Iowa shall not be offered for sale previous to the meeting of Congress, when a petition will be presented for the grant of them to the exiles.—A riot occurred lately at Milwaukie upon occasion of a lecture upon Catholicism by Mr. Leahy, who claims to have once been a Trappist monk. More than a score of persons were seriously injured, and considerable damage was done to the Methodist church in which the lecture was given. The principal Catholic laity and the clergy published a card in which they express their unqualified condemnation of the conduct of the rioters, and engage to make good the pecuniary injury inflicted.—The Central Railroad of Michigan has for some time been annoyed by a gang, which has at length been brought to light. Their detection was effected by an agent of the Railroad, who in order to secure their confidence undertook to set fire to the dépôt; after, however, taking precautions to prevent any serious injury. Nearly fifty persons have been arrested and indicted; among whom are a judge, justices of the peace, constables, and professional men. The trial will come on in June.—The Legislature of Wisconsin have passed a bill for the protection of Seventh Day Baptists. It provides that any civil process issued against a person who habitually observes the seventh day as a day of rest, which is made returnable on that day, may be laid over until the Monday following, as though that were the return-day of the writ.—The small pox is raging with fearful violence among the Sioux Indians upon the Upper Missouri. It is also extending down the river, among the Sacs and Foxes. Several hundred are reported to have already died.
The Governor of Texas has issued an order for the arrest of the members of the Boundary Commission who took part in the recent summary executions of the desperadoes at Socorro. They are probably beyond the jurisdiction of Texas. Severe charges are in circulation against the officers at the head of the Commission; public opinion will, however, remain undecided until both sides are heard.—The population of New Mexico, according to the recent census, is 61,574, of whom 850 are Americans. Of the Mexican population above the age of twenty, only one in 103 is able to read.—A treaty has been concluded with the Apache Chief Chacon, who binds himself to keep the peace, under penalty of forfeiting his life.—An attempt is to be made to diminish the enormous expense of the military occupation of New Mexico. Colonel Sumner, the new commander, will take out with him seed, grains, stock, and farming utensils, and every effort will be made to develop the agricultural resources of the Territory. The head-quarters of the army will probably be removed from Santa Fé to Los Vegos.
From California the most striking feature of intelligence is the unexampled frequency of extra-judicial punishment for crime. The newspapers are filled with accounts of summary executions, not only for murder but for robbery and theft. Under the peculiar state of things occasioned by the great temptations to crime, and the utter want of all the ordinary apparatus of justice, during the earlier periods of the settlement of California, this was unavoidable. But instances of this sort, instead of becoming more unfrequent, seem to be rapidly increasing. A bill has passed the Legislature, and become a law, inflicting the punishment of death, at the discretion of the jury, upon the crime of grand larceny. This measure was insisted upon by the mining counties on the ground that, owing to the unexampled influx of desperadoes and criminals from all parts of the world, thefts and robberies had become so frequent, while prisons and places of detention were so few, that the only possible punishment was death; and the people had become so exasperated that the punishment would and must be inflicted, either by or against the law. The law imposing a tax upon foreign miners has been repealed, having been found to work most disastrously. It drove out of the country many thousands of the most industrious miners, especially Mexicans and Chilians, whose labors the State could ill spare. Indian hostilities have nearly ceased. A number of the tribes have signified a willingness to accept of fixed localities, and to enter into a treaty. The Legislature having granted to the Governor authority to call out 500 men to repress Indian hostilities in the Mariposa region, he made a tour of inspection, and came to the conclusion that the force was unnecessary. The population of the State is estimated at 314,000, of whom about 100,000 are supposed to be engaged in mining; and the whole amount of gold produced in the course of last year is estimated at about one hundred millions of dollars, giving about three and one-third dollars a day to each individual. It is anticipated that the amount produced the ensuing year will not fall short of one hundred and fifty millions. The recent accounts of the lately discovered gold bluffs are encouraging, and promise a large amount of gold from that source. A mine of quicksilver, stated to be the richest in the world, has been discovered about twelve miles from San José. In the case of a slave brought into the State by his master, it has been decided that he can not be removed against his will. A vessel has arrived at San Francisco having on board seventeen Japanese, who were picked up at sea from a wreck. It is supposed that they will be conveyed to their native country in a government vessel. They are thought to be the first Japanese who have ever set foot upon the American continent. A rich coal mine is stated to have been discovered about eight miles from Benicia. The quantity of land under cultivation has greatly increased. Professor Forrest Shepard, of New Haven, has made some remarkable discoveries of thermal action. In one place, where there was nothing on the surface to excite attention, on digging down the heat increased so rapidly that at the depth of two feet he could not bear his hand in the earth, and the thermometer indicated a temperature of 130 degrees. At another place, after wandering for four days through dense thickets, he came upon a chasm a thousand feet deep, through which followed a stream, the banks of which, on the 8th of February, were covered with vegetation. Following up the stream, the earth grew so hot as to burn the feet through the boots. There was no appearance of lava, and the rocks were being dissolved by a powerful catalytic action. From innumerable orifices steam was forced to the height of two hundred feet. The number of spouting geysers and boiling springs, on a half mile square, exceeded two hundred. The Professor, in the course of a lecture on the mineral resources of California, delivered in the Senate Chamber at San José, said that he did not doubt that silver, lead, and iron abounded in California.
In Mexico the finances are in a most deplorable condition. The revenue had fallen to about eight and a half millions of dollars, while the expenses exceed twelve millions. The indemnity paid by our government can afford only temporary relief in the face of so alarming a deficiency. The Minister of Finance has resigned his post, and has prepared a memoir on the condition of the department. The Government has made a formal complaint against that of the United States for failure in carrying out the provisions of the treaty in relation to the suppression of Indian depredations on the frontier; and assigns this failure as a ground for refusing to ratify the Tehuantepec treaty. The Commissioners of Public Works have been directed to ascertain the names, employment, and places of nativity of foreigners residing in the city. Several projects for a change of government are entertained. One party are desirous of returning to the dominion of Spain; another is in favor of annexation to the United States; the return of Santa Anna is desired by another. The Northern States are still harassed by Indian depredations. The hostilities in Yucatan are supposed to be nearly at an end. The municipality of the capital have petitioned for the suppression of bull-fights throughout the state.
Hostilities are brooding between Brazil and the Argentine Republic; but it is hoped that war may be averted. The dissentions in the latter state are favorable to the recognition of the claims of Brazil. Government is endeavoring to suppress the slave-trade, and its efforts meet with some success.
In Peru the eligibility of Echenique for the Presidency is disputed, on the ground that he is not a native of that republic. An especial congress has been summoned to decide the question, but so violent is party spirit between his partisans and those of Vivanco, that apprehensions of a civil war are entertained.
Cuba is in a state of intense excitement in regard to the anticipated invasion. The flower of the Spanish army, to the number, as it is said, of 40,000 men, are concentrated on the island, which is encircled by the entire disposable naval forces of Spain. The steamer Georgia, on her late trip, had the misfortune to run aground at the mouth of the Mississippi, by which she suffered a considerable detention. It was reported and believed at Havana that she was lying off for the purpose of taking on board the marauding expedition. On the day of her arrival, a man was executed for having endeavored to procure pilots for Lopez. He had been previously subjected to torture, in order to extort a confession. This is the first public execution that has taken place for political offenses.
From Hayti we have the particulars of a conspiracy against the Emperor Soulouque, in which a number of officers of the Government were implicated. Many arrests and some executions have taken place in consequence. The attempt of the American Commissioner and the French and English Consuls to settle the controversy between the Haytians and Dominicans, is supposed to have been unsuccessful. The Government has declined to pay the claims of certain American merchants to which our Government has repeatedly called its attention.
The event of the month has been the opening of the Great Exhibition. As if to concentrate attention upon it, all other affairs of interest have been withdrawn from the stage. No little surprise and indignation were aroused by the announcement made on the 15th of April, that the Queen would open the Exhibition in person, but that the holders of tickets and exhibitors would be excluded from the ceremony. Those who had purchased tickets for the express purpose of being present at the opening, were naturally indignant at losing the most interesting part of the show. The press was unanimous in condemnation of the contemplated exclusion. It was denounced as an unworthy insinuation that the person of the Queen would not be secure in public; and as giving countenance to certain absurd rumors of a projected insurrection. The opposition was so general that the offensive announcement was withdrawn, and a new programme substituted, in accordance with which holders of season tickets were allowed to be present. The rush for these was so great, that the Commissioners immediately raised the price another guinea. The Queen proved a greater attraction than Jenny Lind had ever been. We can only glance at the opening ceremonies. Early in the morning the exhibitors took their places at their stands; and the spectators came trooping in. At half-past eleven the Commissioners, foreign and domestic, stationed themselves in front of a platform of state, under the arch of the transept. Upon the platform were the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Ministers and great Officers of State, the Embassadors and Ministers from foreign Powers, in full dress. At high noon, the royal cortège entered the Crystal Palace, the choir upraising the national anthem of "God save the Queen." Then came addresses to the Queen from the Commissioners and the foreign Embassadors, to which the Queen read answers handed to her by the Secretary of State; then followed a prayer pronounced by the Archbishop of Canterbury, and an anthem; a marching in procession along the nave; a return to the platform, and the announcement by the Queen that the Exhibition was opened, proclaimed to the thousands without by a flourish of trumpets and a royal salute from the park.
Among the visitors to the Crystal Palace during the preparations, was the Duke of Wellington. Once as he entered the French department, the workmen uncovered two small silver statuettes of the duke himself and his great rival Napoleon. The bearded foreigners raised their hats to the conqueror of Waterloo, who, returning a military salute, passed on.
The proceedings of Parliament are not wholly destitute of interest. A motion was offered by Mr. Disraeli to the effect, that in the re-adjustment of taxation, due regard should be had to the distressed condition of the agricultural classes. This was looked upon as a covert attack upon the principle of free-trade and upon the Ministers. The Ministers had a majority of only 13 in a house of 513.—The income-tax has been renewed for the third time, by a vote of 278 to 230.—Mr. Locke King's bill for extending the franchise, upon the first reading of which, in February, the Ministers suffered the defeat which led to their resignation, came up for a second reading, April 2. It was lost by an overwhelming majority—299 to 83.—Lord John Russell introduced a motion that the House should resolve itself into a committee to consider the mode of administering the oath of abjuration to persons professing the Jewish religion. It was a simple question whether religious belief should disqualify men for the exercise of civil rights and political power. The proposed alteration consists merely in omitting from the oath, when tendered to Jews, the words, "on the true faith of a Christian." The motion was vehemently opposed by one or two ultra members. Sir Robert Inglis took occasion to remind the House that "the Jews regarded him whom we regarded as our Redeemer, as a crucified impostor." Mr. Newdegate thought that the Pope might well think it safe to adopt the course he had recently pursued, when he saw the British Government and one branch of the Legislature ready to put an end to the last remnant which distinguished it as a Christian assembly. The motion prevailed by a vote of 166 to 98. It will pass the Commons, but be lost in the House of Peers; and Baron Rothschild be as far as ever from his seat in Parliament.—Lord Ashley proposed a bill to encourage the establishment of lodging-houses for the laboring classes. It empowers the authorities of cities and towns to erect buildings for this purpose and to levy a small tax to defray the cost. When the sum expended shall have been met by the proceeds of the rents, the surplus rental, after defraying expenses and the cost of repairs, is to be applied in aid of the poor rates of the place. Startling statistics are presented, setting forth the condition of the laboring classes in this respect, and the consequent disease and immorality.—The subject of the management of the colonies excites no small interest. A most elaborate speech has been made on this subject in the House of Commons by Sir William Molesworth. He proposes that all the colonies, with the exception of those which possess a peculiar value as military stations, such as Gibraltar and St. Helena, and the penal colonies, should be made to pay the expense of their own government and protection; and that ample powers of self-government should be given them. The speech, which discussed all the details of the subject, was listened to with great attention. Lord John Russell, in reply, contended that difference in race would of itself prevent the colonies from profiting by free constitutions; and if the national troops were withdrawn, the colonies would fall into hands hostile to the mother country.
Lord Torrington, whose course as Governor of Ceylon, had been brought into question in the Commons, defended himself in the House of Peers in a labored speech. His conduct in declaring and enforcing rigid martial law, during a native insurrection, was defended by Earl Grey, who referred to the Duke of Wellington as having been obliged, under similar circumstances, to adopt measures of great severity. The "Iron Duke" sharply protested against being brought into comparison, and denied that he had ever been placed in similar circumstances; as he had never been suspected of acting as Lord Torrington was charged with having done. To govern by martial law was to do so by the sole authority of the military commander; but in such circumstances he had always acted on the principle, that the government should be conducted in accordance with the laws of the country itself.