Current:

Northern Star (1837-1852), 17th March 1849, Edition 3 of 3, Page 3, Varieties

Page 3
Page 3
3 of 8

On this page

  • Departments (3)
    • ^ortri).
    • • Mebieto*
    • Varieties
  • Text (10)
  • Transcript

    • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

      Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

      Makch 17, 1849. The Northern Star. 3

      Makch 17 , 1849 . THE NORTHERN STAR . 3

      ^Ortri).

      _^ ortri ) .

      Retribution! [ Vide Thc Accounts, Inthe ...

      RETRIBUTION ! [ Vide thc accounts , inthe daily papers , of a late ' disastrous triumph" (!) in the Punjaub , and the critical position of the victors . )

      ( From Campbell ' s " Pleasures of Hope . " ) "Pvhen Europe sought your subject realms to gain , And stretched her giant-sceptre o ' er the main , Taught herprond harks the winding way to shape , And braved the stormy spirit of the Cape ; Children of Brama ; then was mercy nigh , To wash the stain of blood ' s eternal dye ? Did Peace descend to triumph and to save , "When freehorn (?) Britons cross'd the Indian wave ? Ah , no!—to more than Rome ' s ambition true , The nurse of Freedom gave it not to you 1 She the bold route of Europe's guilt began , And in Hie marcli of nations led die van . Bich in the _jrems of India ' s gaudy zone , ___

      And plunder pil'd from king doms not tneir own-Degenerate trade ! thy minions could despise The heart-born anguish ofa thousand cries ; Could lock , with impious hands , the teeming store , mile famished nations died along the shore ; - Could mock the groans of fellow-men and bear The curse of _kingdoms peopled with despair ; Could stamp disgrace on man ' s polluted name , And barter , with their gold , eternal shame ? But hark ! as bow * d to earth the Bramin kneels , From heavenly climes propitious thunder peals I Of India ' s fate her guardian spirits tell , Prophetic murmurs breathing on the spell , And solemn sounds that awe the listening mind , Roll on the azure paths of every wind .

      " Foes of mankind ( her guardian spirits say ) , Revolving ages bring the hitter day , " vVhen Heaven ' s unerring arm shall fall on you , And hlood for hlood these Indian p lains hedew ; Sine times have Brama s wheels of lightning hurl'd His awful presence o er the alarmed world ; _f Kine times hath Guilt , through all his giant frame , Convulsive trembled as the Mighty came ; Sine times hath suffering Mercy spar'd in vain—But Heaven shall burst her starry gates again ! He comes' dread Brama shakes the sunless sky _TTith murm ' ring wrath , and thunders from on hi gh ! Heaven ' s ficrv horse , beneath his warrior form , Paws the light clouds , and gallops on the storm ! "Wide -waves Ms flickering sword ; his bright arms glow Like summer suns , and lig ht the world below ! Earth , and her trembling isles in Ocean s bed , Are shook ; and Kature rocks beneath his tread !

      To pour redress on India's inpired realm , The oppressor to dethrone , the proud to whelm ; To chase destruction from her plundered shore "With arts and arms that triumphed once before , The tenth Avatar comes ! at Heaven ' s command , Shall Seriswatter wave her hallowed wand ! And Camdes bri g ht and Ganesa sublime , Shall bless with joy their own propitious clime ! Come Hcavenlv Power ! primeval peace restore love' Jlercv f "Wisdom ' - —rule for evermore ! _CiMPBEIX

      * While Famished Nations Died Along The ...

      * While famished nations died along the shore . The followin _*** account of British conduct , and its consequences _^ in Bengal , will afford a sufficient idea ofthe fact alluded to in this passage . After describing the monopoly of salt , bitel nut , and tobacco , the _Mstorian proceeds thus : — " Money in this current came only in drops ; it could not quench the thirst of those who waited in India to receive it . An expedient , such as it was , remained to quicken its p ace . The natives could live with little salt , but could not want food . Some of the agents saw themselves well situated for collecting thc rice into stores—they did so . They knew the Gentoos would rather die than violate the principles of their reli-** inn hv cathwr flesh . The alternative would ,

      therefore , he giving what they had , or dying . The inhabitants sunk ; they that cultivated the land , and saw the harvest at the disposal of others planted in doubt—scarcity ensued . Then the monopoly was easier managed—sickness ensued . In several districts the languid living left the bodies of their numerous dead unburied . — ShortBistory of tlie English Transactions in me East Indies , page 1-15 . i jV & ic times have Brama ' s wheels , < Ec . Among the lime fictions of the Hindoo mythology , it is one article of belief , that the Deity , Brama , has descended nine times upon the world in various forms , and that he is yet to appear a tenth time , in the

      fijrure of a warrior , upon a white horse , to cut off all incorriirible offenders . - 'Avatar" is the word used to express liis descent . [ The Sikhs are not orthodox followers of Brama and his kindred deities , their religion being more akin to that promulgated hvhim of Mecca , Carlyle ' s " true prophet ; ' but the late events in the region of the five rivers , may , nevertheless , prove " the voice of one crying in the ¦ wilderness . " And the sooner the real Simon Pure shows his bronze visage ( for black men ' s gods are of the colour of whitemen ' s devils , and vice versa ) the better for humanity . A Fraterxal Democrat . ] Dumfries , March 6 th , 1 S 49 .

      • Mebieto*

      • Mebieto *

      The Autobiography Op Trxscois-Rexe, Visc...

      THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP TRXSCOIS-REXE , VISCOUNT DE CHATEAUBRIAXD . Yolume 1 . London : Simms and _M'Intyke , _Patemoster-rovr . [ Second Notice . ] The charge of egotism is too generally levelled at men who write their own memoirs . If an author takes himself for his subject , how can he avoid continuall y speaking of himself ? The critic who expects anything else is a fool . Certainl y , there are two-ways of speaking of one ' s self—a modest and a hoastful way . We can conceive a man writing his autobiography

      and not one tinge of egotism shading his _fstory , hut we admit that autobiographies of that kind are not to he met with every day . Disinclined 95 we are to raise the cry of " egotist , " we must acknowledge that Cha-TEAL-bkiaXD seems to have had no ordinary conceit of himself , and he takes care to let his readers know it In describing his indifference to the great revolution of 1739 , he says , " _Iattachedno importance to the questions thea discussed , except as viewed in their general relation to liberty , and the dignity of human nature . " This is * a large exception _^ an exception wliich shoald have made him attach the

      ntmost importance to the questions then discussed . But he goes on : — " Personal p olitics wearied me . My true atmosphere was in loftier regions ' . 1 " 0 ! the vanity of some men His trne atmosphere was in regions loftier than those occupied hy all the genius—well or ill-directed—of France—occupied hy a Robespierre and a A & rabeatj !! ! "We could cull a hundred similar samples of the autobiogra phist _' s overweening vanity from these pages .

      But we will do him justice . His egotism seems to have been unaccompanied bv haughtiness or any offensive outward exhibition ofthe worship of self . That worship was an inward adoration , which , probably , is now for the first time foll y revealed . It will be seen m an extract we purpose quoting , that , when Ambassador in London , he was wearied and disgusted with the incense of flunhey dom , and happiest when he could quit his carriage to walk with "KingMob , " or be relieved from tlie attendance of all his servants , even thongh left to open Hs own door himself ! This exhibits his personal demeanour in a most pleasing light , and contrasts , oddly enough , with his undoubted , self-proclaimed vanity .

      Like most men who do themselves more than justice , CliATEAUBRiAXD , in spite of his possession of a feeling heart , is not free from the charge of being occasionall y unjust to others . He says;— "In vain does Rousseau tell us that he bad two charming little eyes ; it is not the less certain— -witness bis portraits—that he had the ah" of a schoolmaster , or of a morose shoemaker . " We Deg to say that our portrait of EoussEAU gives aflat denial to _Cua-IEAUBKLLNd ' s assertion . We , however , place smaD reliance on the evidence of portraits , which almost always either flatter or caricature the original . But even though the

      portraits of Rousseau universally confirmed _ChalEAraBiASp-g not very flattering pen-and-ink picture ofthe great philosopher , our autobiographist should have borne in mind that portraits of Rousseau were taken onl y after he had become famous—after he had lost his youth—and after persecution and _unhappiness had made his ph y siognomy the outward _porkaitof the tempest-tost man within . When Rousseau wrote his " Confessions , " and des-Cr 3 > ed himself as possessing " two charming _fctile eyes , " hewas describing himself not as fl then appeared , but as he was in his yonth , ? _Jen he captivated the heart of Madame de _^ abb-vs . and Madame 2 * and turned

      The Autobiography Op Trxscois-Rexe, Visc...

      the heads of nearly all the girls of his acquaintance . Ia love matters to the full as bashful and Billy as _Chateaubriand himself , Rousseau was , nevertheless , carried by stormbyhis female admirers . Would that have happened had he had " the air of a schoolmaster , or of a morose shoemaker ? " Rousseau , though a long way off being faultless , was not vain , and in his extraordinary memoirs has said but little of his own personal appearance ; but we would wager a trifle that could we summon before us the shades of both himself and his critic , and compare both at the same youthful age , justice would bid us award the palm not to the Breton , hut to the Genevese .

      _Chateaubriaijd , viewed as a politician must be pronounced contemptible . His glances at tbe Revolution show him in the light of a prejudiced aristocrat , utterly incapable of tracing that tremendous effect to its causes . So far as he witnessed the Revolution he saw nothing but the phantasmagoric movements of a grim and gory mob . On the memoorable " oth of October" he could see nothing but " filthy fishwomen , " " pickpockets , " " prostitutes , " " _fiaccaantes , " " rag-gatherers , " " butehers with their blood y aprons tied before them , " and " swarthy oufang-outangs , " surrounding the-Royal Famil y on their way from Versailles to the Tuileries . Supposing no exaggeration in all thisthese creatures were not

      , manufactured by the Revolution ; they had been made what the Revolution found themignorant , brutalised , and desperate—by that venerable system of which Cha teaubriand was so devoted an admirer . Governments , priesthoods , and aristocracies brutahse the masses , and drive them mad , and then pretend to he horror-struck at the work of their hands . The pickpockets , prostitutes , & c , described with such disgust by _Chateaubria _^^ d , never offended him or his order , as long as they were content to live and die quietl y under the rule of that system which doomed them to misery and crime . Not the people , but kings , p riests , and profitmongers , are answerable for all the " horrors" of the French Revolution .

      The following chapter is worth reading , al though we must warn the reader not to ewal low all _Chateaubriand ' s big words : exagge ration is a sin with which he is fairly charge able .

      MIRABEAI 7 . A sharer by the disorders and the vicissitudes of his life in the greatest events , and connected with the existence of culprits , _ravishers _, and adventurers , Mirabeau , the tribune of . ; the aristocracy , and the deputy ofthe democracy , had in his nature something of Gracchus and Don Juan , of Catiline and Guzman D'Alfrache , of Cardinal de Richelieu and Cardinal de Retz , of the row of the Regency and ofthe savage of the Revolution . Besides this , he had something of the Mrabeaus , a Florentine family who had been exiled from their native country , and who retained some characteristics of those armed palaces and those grand factions celebrated by

      Dante , a family naturalised in France , and in which the republican spirit of the middle ages of Italy , and the feudal spirit of our own middle ages , were united in a succession of extraordinary men . The ugliness of Mirabeau , overlaid on the groundwork ofthe peculiar beauty of his race , produced a sort of powerful face like those of the " Last Judgment" of-Michael Angclo , the compatriot ofthe Arrighetti . The seams furrowed by thc small-pox in the features ofthe orator had rather the" appearance of scars left by the flames . Nature seemed to have moulded his head for empire or for the gibbet , and formed his arms to strangle a " nation or to carry off a woman . "When he shook his mane and glared

      at the populace , he arrested their progress ; when he raised his paw and showed his claws , the people rushed on in fury . Amidst the frig htful disorders of a sitting I have seen him at the tribuno , sombre , ugly , and motionless ; he reminded one of the Chaos of Milton , impassible and without form , brooding in the centre of its own confusion . Mirabeau resembled his father and his uncle , who , like St . Simon , wrote immortal pastes to the devil . He was sometimes furnished with discourses for the tribune . He took from them what his mind could amalgamate with its own nature . If he adopted

      them entirely he pronounced them badly ; one could perceive that they were not his own by words which he interspersed here and there , and which revealed then- origin . He drew his energy from his vices . These vices have not their birth in a frigid temperament ; they are the offspring of deep , burning , stormy passion . A rudeness and brutality of manners , by annihilating all moral sense , introduces into society a . speeies * of barbarians . These barbarians of civilisation , skilled in destruction like the Goths , have not , like thein , the power of founding other structures . The latter -were the huge children of a virgin nature—the former aro the monstrous abortions of the same nature when

      depraved . Twice I met Mirabeau at a banquet ; on the first occasion at the house of Voltaire ' s niece , the Marchioness de Vilette , and on the second occasion at the Palais Royal , along with some deputies of the opposition , to whom Chapelier had introduced me . Chapelier went to the scaffold in the same tumbril as my brother and M . de Malesherbes . Mirabeau spoke much , and above all , much about himself . This cub of a lion race—a lion liimself with the head ofa Chimera—this man , so positive in facts , was all romance , all poetry , all enthusiasm , in imagination and language . You could recognise in him the lover of Sophia , lofty in his sentiments ,

      and capable of any sacrifice . "I found her , " said he , " that adorable woman—I learned to know what her soul was—that soul formed by the hands of nature in a moment of magnificence . " Mirabeau enchanted mc with tales of love , with longings after retirement , with which he relieved ana varied our dry discussions . He interested me also in another point of view . Like me he had been severely treated by his father , who had retained , as mine had done , the inflexible traditions of absolute parental authority . The great guest launched out on foreign , hut said almost nothing respecting domestic , politics .

      Nevertheless it was the latter which occupied his thoughts . He allowed a few words to escape him of sovereign contempt for those men who proclaimed themselves superior , hy reason of the indifference which they affected for misfortunes and crimes . Mirabeau was born with a generous disposition , sensible to friendship , and ready to pardon offences . _Notwithstanding his immorality , he never succeeded in stifling liis conscience . He was corrupted only as regards himself . His uprig ht and firm intellect never could view murder in the light of a lofty stretch of intellect , lie had no admiration for slaughter-houses and receptacles of offal .

      _Nevertheless , Mirabeau did not want for pride ; he boasted outrageously . _Although he had got himself appointed a woollen-draper for the purpose of being elected by the third estate , the order ofthe noblesse having had the honourable madness to reject him , he was proud of his birth : " A wild and vntameablcbird , ivhose nest was perched between four turrets , " is his father ' s expression . He never forgot that he had been presented at court , ridden in the king ' s carriages , and hunted with his Majesty . He required that he should be distinguished by the title of count . He was particular as to his colours , and

      clad his retainers in livery when every ono else left it off . He spoke on all occasions , and on no occasion , about his relative , the Admiral de Coligny . TheMoxiteurhaving called him "Riqueti , " "Do you know , " said he angrily to the journalist , "that with your Riqueti you nave puzzled Europe during three davs . " lie repeated often the following impudent pleasantly which is so well known : — "In any other family my brother the Viscount would be the man of wit and the rake ; in my family he is the fool and the uprig ht man . " Biographers represent the Viscount as intending by his speech to compare himself in humility with the other members of his

      family . At bottom , M . Mirabeau was a monarchist , and he left on record the following noble saying : — " I wished to cure the French of their superstition for monarchv , and to substitute in its place a proper worship . ' " ' In another letter , intended to be seen by Louis XVI ., he wrote thus , " I was unwilling to have laboured solely for a vast destruction . " Nevertheless that is what he did . Heaven , to punish us for our talents ill employed , afflicts us with remorse for our Bncoess .

      Mirabeau moved public opinion with two levers . On the one side lie took as his fulcrum the masses , wbosc defender he had constituted himself whilst despising them . On the other , although a traitor to his order , he retained its sympathy by aflinitics of caste and ties of common interest . That could ne . . er happen with a plebeian who should make _himijv ch _* unP " -n of the privileged classes . Hc would be abandoned by his own party without gaining thearistocracy , - which is in its nature ungratelui , and not to be won by any who is not born in its ranks . Moreover , aristocracy cannot make a nobleman on the spur ofthe moment , since nobility is the result of tune .

      Mirabeau has had many imitators . By freeing themselves from the tics of morality , people fancied that they were transforming themselves into statesmen . These imitations produced only petty villains . He who natters himself that he is corrupted and a robber , is only a debauchee and a scoundrel . He who thinks himself vicious is only rile ; ne who boasts that he is criminal is only infamous . Too soon for himself , too late for it , Mirabeau sold himself to the court , and the court bought him

      The Autobiography Op Trxscois-Rexe, Visc...

      He staked his renown against a pension and an embassy . Cromwell was ou the point of bartering his future glory for a title and the order of the Garter _, _notwithstanding his pride , Mirabeau did not value himself hi ghly enough . In the present day , when the abundance of money and of places has raised tho price of consciences , there is not a common jackanapes whose acquisition does not cost hundreds of thousands of francs , and the firsthonours ofthe state . Tho grave freed Mirabeau from his promises , and placed him out of the reach of perils which moat probably he could not have overcome . His life would have shown his weakness as regards good . His death has left him in possession of his power for doing evil . On leaving- the dinner-table a discussion arose

      respecting the enemies of Mirabeau . I was placed next him , and had not uttered a single word . He looked me in the face with his eyes so expressive of pride , of vice , and of genius , and pressing his hand on my shoulder , he said to me , "They will never pardon me for my superiority I" I still fancy 1 feel the impress of that hand , as n _satan had touched mo with his fiery claw . "When Mirabeau fixed his gaze on the youngmntc . had he a presentiment of my future fate ? Did he ever think he would one day appear before the tribunal of my recollections ? I waa destined to become the historian of high personages . They have defiled past before me without my having clung to their mantle and been drawn by them down to posterity . Mirabeau has already undergone the

      metamorphosis which takes place in those whose memory is to live after them . Carried from the Pantheon to the gutter , and back again from the gutter to the Pantheon , he is elevated by the lapse of time , which serves him at the present day as a pedestal . People no longer see the real Mirabeau , but the ideal Mirabeau ; Mirabeau , such as he was drawn by painters to express the symbol or the myth of the epoch which he represented . He thus becomes more false and more true than the reality . Of so many reputations , so many actors , so many events , so many vices , there remain but three men , each attached to one of the three great revolutionary epochs , —Mirabeau to the aristocraey , Robespierre to the democracy , Bonaparte to despotism . Monarchy has none ! France has paid dearly for the three renowns which virtue cannot claim as her own .

      "Wc must correct Chateaubriand . Virtue does claim the renown of Robespierre as her own ; and thousands of his and her followers are ready to back her claim . In 1791 , Chateaubhiaivd left France for the United States , influenced b y the mad idea of discovering , by some sort of an overland expedition , the north-west passage . Arrived in the States , a letter of introduction , procured him admission to Washington , with whom he dined . He is amongst the Indians of the Northern "States of the Union when this volume closes . The Prologue to Book II . ( devoted to an account of Chateaubmand ' s voyage to , and travels in , the United States ) written in London , April , 1822 , is , to our fancy , the most charming bit in the volume . Here it is : —

      POWER AND OBSCUKIt / . Thirty-one years after I had embarked a simple sub-lieutenant for America , I embarked for London with a passport couched in the following terms : — " Permit , " said this pasport , "his Lordship thc Viscount de Chateaubriand , peer of France , Ambassador ofthe king to his Britannic Majesty , & c & c . to pass . " No description of my person . My greatness was to make my features known in all p laces , A steam-vessel , chartered for myself alone , carried me from Calais to Dover . On placing my foot upon the English soil , on the 5 th of April , 1822 , I was saluted b y the cannon of the fort . An officer arrived , sent by the commandant to offer me a guard of honour . Having driven to the Shipwright Ian , the proprietor ana waiters received me with low bows and uncovered heads . The Lady Mayoress invites me to a soiree in the name of the fairest ladies of the town . M . Billing , an attache of my

      embassy , attended me . A dinner of enormous fish , and monstrous joints of beef , recruits his Lordship the Ambassador , who has no appetite and who was not at all fatigued . The populace , collected beneath my windows , make the air resound with huzzas . The officer returns , and in spite of me , places sentinels at my door . The following morning , after having distributed a considerable amount of the money of the king my master , I set out en route for London , amidst tne report of cannon , in a light carriage drawn by four handsome horses , driven at full trot by two elegant jockeys . My people followed in separate carriages , and couriers in my livery accompany the cortege . We dash through Canterbury , attracting the gaze of John Bull , and stared at by all the equipages we met . At Blackheath , a moor formerly infested with robbers , I find a village altogether new . In a short time I perceive tlie immense canopy of smoke which hovers over the city of London .

      Plunging into the gulf of carbonised vapour , as into onc of the jaws of Tartarus , and traversing the entire city , the streets of which I recognised , I drew up at the hotel of the embassy in Portland-place The charge d ' affaires , the Count George de Caraman the secretaries of the embassy , the Viscount de Marcellus , the Baron E . Decazes , M . de Bourqueney , and the attaches of the embassy , received me with dignified politeness . All the officers , porters , valets-de-chambre , and footmen of the hotel are drawn up on the pathway . I am handed cards of the English Ministers , and the foreign ambassadors , who have already been informed of my approaching arrival . On the 17 th May , in the year of grace , 1793 , 1 disembarked on my way to the same town of London , an humble and obscure traveller , at

      Southampton , coming from Jersey . No Lady Mayoress took notice of my appearance . The mayor of the town , William Smith , handed me , on the 18 th , a road-map for London , to which was attached an extract from the Alien Bill . My description was as follows : — "Francois de Chateaubriand , a French officer in the emigrant army , five feet four inches in height , slender figure , brown hair and whiskers . " I modestly shared the cheapest vehicle with some sailors on leave . I stopped at the meanest taverns on the way ; I entered , poor , ailing , and unknown , an opulent and renowned city , in which Mr . Pitt reigned absolute . I took lodgings , at six shillings _Jier month , in an attic , hired for me by a cousin rom Brittany , at the extremity of a little street adjoining Tottenham-court-road ,

      " Ah ! Monscigneur , how your life , To-day with luxuries so rife , Differs from those happy times !" At the present day another sort of obscurity overshadows me in London . My political station throws into the shade my literary renown . There is not a fool in the three kingdoms who does not prefer the ambassador of Louis XVIII . to the author of " The Genius of Christianity . " I shall see what turn affairs will take after my decease , or when I shall have ceased to replace Monsieur the Duke Decazes

      at the court of George IV . —a succession as bizarre as the rest of my life . When residing in London as French Minister , one of my greatest delights was to leave my carriage at the corner of a square , and to traverse on foot the little streets -which I had formerl y frequented j the cheap and popular suburbs where misfortune takes refuge under the protection of similar suffering- ; the obscure retreats which had been my haunts along with the companions of my distress , when I knew not if I should have sufficient bread for the morrow

      —I whose table is spread , at the' present day , with three or four courses . At all those mean and narrow doors , which were formerly open to me , I met none but strange countenances . I no longer saw , wandering to and fro , numbers of my countrymen , easily recognised by tlieir gestures , their manner of walking , the cut and antiquity of their clothes . I no longer perceived those martyr-priests , wearing the narrow collar , the large three-cornered hat , the long black riding-coat much worn , and who were saluted by the English in passing . Wide streets , lined with palaces , had heen laid out , bridges built , and walks planted . Regent _' s-park occupies , in the neighbourhood of Portland-place , the site of the meadows which were formerl y covered with groups of cattle . The cemetery , which could be 6 een from

      the dormer-windows of one of my _atticsr has disappeared within the boundary walls of a manufactory . When I called at Lord Liverpool ' s I could with difficulty recognise tlie empty space where the scaffold of Charles I . had stood . _INow buildings , hemming round the statue of Charles II . have advanced , carrying oblivion with them , over the site of these memorable events . How I regret , in the midst of my insipid pomp , that world of tribulation and of . tears , those times when I shared my suffering with those of a colony of unfortunates ! It is true , then , that everything changes—that misfortune itself perishes like prosperity ! What has become of my brothers in exile ? Some are dead ; others have undergone variouB vicissitudes . They have seen , like me , their

      relations and friends disappear from the scene . Ihey are less happy in their native country than they were in a foreign land . Had wo not in that land bur meetings together , our amusements , our fetes , and , above all , our youth . Mothers of families and young girls , who commenced life in adversity , brought the weekly proceeds of their labour to gladden their hearts with some dance of their native country . Attachments were formed in the conversations of the evening , after the day ' s work was done on the velvet meadows of Hampstead and of Primrose-hill . At chapels , adorned with our hands amid 6 t old ruins , we prayed on the 21 st of January , on the anniversary ofthe death of the Queen , and were melted to tears by the funeral oration pronounced by the emigrant curate at our native village . We wandered along the banks of the Thames ,

      The Autobiography Op Trxscois-Rexe, Visc...

      sometimes to view the vessels , loaded with the riches Of the world , _onteving the docks , sometimes to admire the country houses at Richmond—we so poor , we banished from our paternal abodes . All these things were real sources of happiness . When I returned here in 1822 , hi place of being received by my friend , shivering with cold , who opens the door of our garret to mc with a familiar salutation , and who reposes on his pallet beside me covering himself with his thread-bare saimenta and having as his onl y lamp the moonlight , I passed , amidst the glare of torches , between two files of lackeys , whose ranks were closed by five or six respectful secretaries . Overwhelmed on my way with a torrent of words— " Monscigneur "— " My Lord "" Your Excellency "— " Monsieur the Ambassador "—I reached a drawing-room carpeted with gold and silk .

      " I beseech you , gentlemen , leave me ' A truce to these ' My Lords . ' What do you wish me tb do for you ? Go and amuse yourselves at the chancery as if I _WGI'O not there . Doyou imagine that you can make me look on tins masquerade as serious ? Do you think that I am stupid enough to think my nature changed because I have changed my dress ?" We repeat our earnest recommendation of this volume , with thanks to the publisher for placing it within the reach of all classes .

      Home Colonies In The Netherlands. (Abrid...

      HOME COLONIES IN THE NETHERLANDS . ( Abridged from the Commomvealth for March . ) In the application of machinery to manufactu . ring processes this country took the lead ; our exertions in this branch of national industry were both earlier in point of time , and mere successful in point of effect , than those of other nations . This enabled us for some time to undersell all rivals , and by degrees to attract to our own market the great body of purchasers who had in former days been supplied with wrought goods from other European countries . The foreign consumer would not continue to give a quarter of corn for a piece of cotton cloth which we could give him for half a quarter .

      This extra demand to supply foreign markets obviated , for a time , the necessary effect of machinery in _throwing workmen out of employment s the additional demand for wrought commodities to be exported absorbed the quantum of human labour which would otherwise have been displaced by machinery . The men merely changed their employment ; instead of working with the hand , they worked with machines ; from handicraftsmen they became mechanical craftsmen ; one million of men , by the aid of machines , did the work that had formerly occupied two millions ; and the goods wrought by the other million found their way into foreign markets . At that period , therefore , the effect of machinery , in abridging the employment ofthe working _claases , was not felt in this country ; it was , however , very sensiblv felt in others , Tbe manufacturing classes

      on the _csntiaent were reduced to great distress under the overwhelming influence of our rivalry ; but , although we prospered , and that greatly for a time , from the circumstances of our . having taken the lead in abrid ging labour by mechanical contrivances , it was unreasonable to expect that this advantage should last for ever ; it was but natural that . other naiions , stimulated by our example , and burdened by a surplus population which our success had deprived of employment , should endeavour , to follow in our 8 teps . They , in turn , introduced machinery ; gradually acquired skill in its application ; and now some of them stand in tbat respect upon pretty nearly the same vantage ground as ourselves . 'Cotton goods , for example , are now fabricated as expeditiously , economically , aad with as little real outlay of labour , on the banks of the Seine as on those of the Rioble .

      But the period has at length arrived , when other nations have learnt to produce commodities with which we used to suppl y them—tbe foreign demand for our manufactured productions is no longer , considering the increase of population on both sides , what it was , —it has necessarily relaxed , — -and it now remains that we put our shoulders heartily to the wheel , and endeavour to extricate the labouring classes from the severe pressure of the difficulties occasioned , as we conceive , principally , if not exclusively , by these national changes . In short , the operations of these causes which , in the long run , are nearly as irresistable as the laws of nature , has rendered it indispensable , both for the welfare of the

      state and the happiness of individuals , that the labour of a considerable portion of the population of this country should be transferred to aome branch of national industry other than manufacturing operations . That , under any conceivable change , either in our policy or in that of other nations , the demand for manufacturing industry should revive to an extent which would permanently absorb the vast surplus of thatspecies of labour which now remains unoccupied in this country , is an expectation in which we dare not indulge . We feel , in short , a conviction , which no argument that readily presents itself te our minds can shake , that no measure can afford our

      labouring classes substantial relief which falls short of producing an entire change in the character of their industry—which does not transfer their labour from the manufactories in which they starve , to the soil of the country , on which we entertain no doubt , they mig ht be made to subsist in comfort at least , if not in affluence , This proposition may appear paradoxical , as we have already admitted that even our agricultural population is superabundant : it may sound somewhat strangely that we should propose pouring more water into a vessel which , upon our own showing , already overflows . With regard , however , to the idle hands which now press upon the resources of country parishes , it may be observed that their want of employment arises from the faultv

      organisation of the district , and from the defective cultivation which the occupiers bestow upon the soil . Every intelligent person conversant with the state of agriculture in this country , will acknowledge that scarcely one farm can be met with oo which a vast addition of manual labour might not be employed , to the great benefit not only of the labourer , but also of the occupier . But , leaving for the present out of our consideration the number of unemployed hand * which a better system of tillage undoubtedly would absorb , we venture to reiterate what we have already more than once stated , that we possess in our numerous waste and uncultivated districts a source of employment which cannot speedily be exhausted .

      The natural capability of our waste lands to yield a return for the labour which might be employed in cultivating thera is vehemently denied by certain economists of the day ; and we are well aware that to the task of bandying words with them there would be no end . The arguments and reasonings of a pure economist of the modern school , like a hydra ' s head , grow the more abundantly the more frequently you crop them . But , as it happens , we _aie in a condition to appeal to facts which leave no doubt that a soil , inferior in natural productiveness to most of our wastes and commons , can be made to yield the cultivator a produce exceeding the amount consumed by him while employed in tilling it .

      The Payes-de-Waes is , at this time , the most thickly peopled district belonging to the generally veil-cultivated kingdom ofthe Netherlands . Two huneredand fifty years ago it was nothing but a dismal tract of deep loose sand , scantily sprinkled with heath . About the middle of the sixteenth century , the Duke of Parma cut a canal' through this desert , in order to facilitate his military operations against the Flemings . This canal attracted many of that indsstrious people to settle on its banks , * they built huts and began to reclaim the moor in their

      vicinity : their numbers daily increased , and cultivation gradually extended until the whole surface was at length reclaimed and brought under the finest tillage . At the present moment , in this district , a field of two acres or even one , suffices for the support of a whole family . Even now the traveller finds tbat the wheels of his carriage sink into the sand ; but when he looks over the hedges , he sees the enclosures groaning under a weight of produce which has conferred upon the Payes-de-Waes no ordinary celebrity in the annals of successful agriculture .

      Another striking instance of the effect of tillage upon the productive powers of land , which , in its original state , would have been pronounced by the philosopher hopeless and incurable , may be seen in the duchy of Cleves . There is a yery interesting colony of agriculturists settled on the right hand of the road which leads from the little town of Goch to the city of Cleves . In the commencement of the last century , the land occupied by this thriving establishment was a barren heath : about the year 1707 , one of the inspectors of the royal forests

      caused some pines to be sowed in the neighbourhood . This was the first attempt of the kind which had been made in that district 5 and the plantation sprung up and prospered . Jud ging by the thriving appearance of these trees , a Dutch agriculturist was induced to believe that the land might be made to yield corn ; he resolved upon trying what could be done , and reclaim ed one bundred and seventy acres of heath , which he divided into six farms , and let to so many tenants . The experiment was completely successful ; and , inthe year 1740 , one hundred and

      Home Colonies In The Netherlands. (Abrid...

      forty-five persons were found subsisting , in mug } , comfort , upon the produce of one hundred and seventy acres land , which ten years previousl y , was nothing but a black moor . * * * But the most interesting , as well as successful experiment set en foot in any age , or In any country , to enable the indigent pauper to subsist independently of charity b y the cultivation of the soil , is that which lias been recently made in the Netherlands . The . inhabitants of the countries which now

      compose the kingdom of the Netherlands have been for ages remarkable for their manufacturing industry For a considerable period they supplied the less skilful , or less industrious , inhabitants of other parts of Europe , with a laree proportion of the wrought commodities which they consumed . By degrees the English rivalled , and then out-stripped them . Borne down by our competition , the manufacturers of the Low Countries sustained a granual declen sion until they were somewhat revived b y the operation of Buonaparte ' s prohibitory _decrees . If these did not prove altogether successful in excluding our wrought goods , it cannot be denied that thev threw such impediments i _« the wav of their introduction

      as secured to the manufacturers ofthe Netherlands a considerable advantage in the continental markets but with the peace of 1815 this partial monopolv disappeared ; and ever since , the demand for manufacturing labour has been rapidly declining in the Netherlands . A large proportion of the pnpn . lation has been thrown out of employment , aud forced to subsist upon alms . The misery suffered by these unemployed workmen , and the burden which their maintenance in a state of idleness imposed upon others , made a deep and general im . pression . Various plans for relieving them wera unsuccessfull y tried . Attempts were first made to give them employment in manufactories _establish * --

      for that purpose , by the communes to which they belonged * , but , as might have heen expected these entirely failed ; the market of the Netherlands was already overstocked with wrought commodities ; and adding to this superabundant mass , was making bad worse . In a word , it was apparent that too large a proportion ofthe population had devoted themselves to manufacture ? , and that relief could only be obtained by diverting their industry to other objects ; and it was proposed to transfer this surplus population from the districts in which their labour was no longer profitable , to agricultural colonies established on some of the wastes and heaths with which tbe country abounds .

      The plan of establishing agricultural colonies was warmly taken up b y the public ; and , in 1818 , a voluntary association was formed at the Hague for the purpose of carrying it into effect . The firstst _^ p was of course to raise funds to _commence their operations . This was speedily done by the donations of benevolent individuals , as well as by a small annual subscription ( about five shillings English money ) which each member contributed towards the resources placed at the disposal of the managing committee . As thirty thousand persons put down

      their names as subscribers the very first year , five thousand pounds were at once realised . Having thus laid a foundation , they determined to make in the first instance , an experiment upon a small scale , and purchased a tract " of land called Westerbeck Sloot , situated near the ' little town of Steenwyk , on the confines of the provinces of Drenthe , Friesland , and Overyssel . It contained between twelve and thirteen hundred acres of land , covered with heath and turf—except about one hundred and forty acres , which had alread y been in some measure reclaimed . The whole cost the

      association four thousand six hundred asd sixtypounds . The money for this purpose was _raissd by loan at six per cent ., the association engaging to li quidate the principal by regular instalments , in the course of sixteen years . The one hundred and forty acres in tillage were allowed to remain in the hands of the tenants by whom they were already occupied 5 and thtee hundred and fifty acres of the waste were marked out and enclosed for the foundation of the first colony . The King of the Netherlands' second son , who _interested himself warml y in the success of the undertaking , readily consented that the new establishment should bear his own name : hence it was called " Frederick ' s-Oord . "

      In order to facilitate the communication ot the colony with the neighbouring districts , and to reduce the expense of carriage , a little river , called the Aa , was rendered navigable a school-house , a warehouse , spinning-houses , and fifty-two dwellings , were then built . These works were begun in Sept , 1818 , and finished by the first day of the following November , when they were taken possession of by fifty-two indigent families , collected from different parts of the country ; and who , from that moment , ceased to be burdensome to the communities to which they belonged—the association taking upon itself exclusively the responsibility of their subsequent maintenance .

      It is _needless to observe that these fifty two families possessed no funds of their own on which they could subsist till thc ensuing harvest , which was the earliest , period at wliich they could expect to reap the fruits of the labour which they had bestowed upon the land . This difficulty had , of course , been foreseen and provided against : the association found them in clothing and food , and employed them in reclaiming and preparing the land tor the first crop : for this labour , the colonists themselves , were paid , just as strangers would have been paid , in proportion to the quantity of work which they executed . It was calculated beforehand , that to settle onc familv ,

      _consisting of from six to eight persons , upon one of these seven acre allotments , would require , on the pa-t of the society , an outlay of 1700 guilders , or £ 143 13 s . But most ofthe houses which have beensubsequently built have cost the society considerably less thau tho original estimate . All the labour of building is performed by the colonists themselves at the fixed rate of wages ; and all the bricks are made of clay , and burnt with turf—both of these materials being found on the land . " Por an account of the working of this system , we mus refer the reader to the full article in thc Commonwealth . The following extracts set forth the result : —

      " 1 have visited , " _eays the Baron de Keverberg . in his interesting account of this colony , " a great number of these family establishments . In every place the females were seen cheerfully occupied cither in cleaning their dwellings or in preparing the family meal : the children , neatly clothed , and full of health and spirits , rivalled one another in the alae ity with which they turned their spinning-wheels . The mothers boasted of their comfortable conditio _i , and the productive industry of their children : indeed , it is not by any means an unusual circumstance that these should , from the age of seven to eight , earn weekly ten , fifteen , or even twenty sols . The greater part of these earnings is carried to the account of

      each family ; but a small proportion is distributed among thechildren , to encourage them ia their industry . I have scarcely observed a single dwelling which did not exhibit some trace of extra _labour gratutiously performed by the colonists themselves , solely for the purpose of embellishing their modest habitations ; Their little gardens , tastefu'ly and carefully laid out , present models of well-regulated cultivation they are nearly all ornamented with flowers , which gracefully surround the beds in which the nu ' ritive vegetables are gro _** n . These not only delight the eye of the spectator , but leave a pleasing impression on the mind of the man who traces these embellishments back to the cause 3 to which they owe their origin . "

      Another traveller , who receetly visited these colonies , speaks thus of their condition in 1826 : — " The crops were luxuriant , the people healthful , and the houses comfortable . Several of the colonists had acquired considerable property . Many gardens were planted with currant-bushes , pear and apple trees , and tastefully ornamented with flowers . Additional live stock , belonging to the colonists themselves , was frequently pointed out ; and around not a few of the houses lay webs of linen bleaching , which had been woven , on tlieir own account , by persons who on _' y four years before were among the outcasts of society . The families found at dinner had quite the appearance of wealthy peasants ; an *! from the quantity and quality of the food before them , they might have been considered as not inferior to the smaller tenantry of this country . "

      We pass over a mass of interesting information , to make way for the answer ofthe writer of the article to the objections of those who oppose the very idea of trying the experiment of such colonies in this country : — ... , . ... , , , " Where , the dampers will ask , is the land to be found on which our unemployed paupers may be made to raise for themselves a supply of food by their own industry . ? We do not apprehend , that , in this respect , much difficulty could be experienced in a country which contains a trifle of between twenty and thirty millions of acres of waste land , setting aside some tenor twelve additional mil ions of meadow and dry pasture land , which , as far as concerns 1 the employment of our population , are little better than mere wastes . _ _»

      It will , perhaps be said , that , upon our own showing , a considerable outlay of capital will be required in the first instance ; it will be necessary to provide the means of maintaining the colonists wlvle tilling the ground during at - ' east one year and it may be urged , probably , as an additional objection , that this amount of capital must be withdrawn from the general capital ot the country 5 and that the gain of one

      Home Colonies In The Netherlands. (Abrid...

      sp - . t wi 1 be _ciunterbalanced bv m \ equivalent loss in atiotliet ' district . * ' * * The question is , not whether it may be expedient to transfer a certain _capital from a bramh of industry ,, in winch it _isinoiv p _' roduative , into another , 1 c-\ ZZ _?; t-b ut _? e « _' « _^ be expedient to render productive , both to the owners and the public , a certain amount of _capiM « liicli is nowutterl v wasted and yields no return to anybody . We speak of the enormous capital annually squandered upon the maintenance of able-bodied paupers . All that is repaired is , that those who now throw away their capital upon the unemployed labourer , should combine to lay it out in a manner which would enable the s une man to raise food for himself b y the sweat of his own brow . "

      Varieties

      _Varieties

      A Rufuullcas's Pluyelt.—" Strange That M...

      A _RufUULlCAS ' S PlUYElt . — " Strange that men , from ago to age , should consent to hold their lives at the breath of another , merely that each in his turn may have the power of acting the tyrant according to law ! Oh God ! g ive 1110 poverty ! shower upon me all tho imaginary hardships of human life ! 1 will receive thorn all with thankfulness . Turn me a prey to tho wild beasts of the desert , so I be never . * l « 'iUli the victim of man dressed in tho gore-dripping robes of authority . Suffer me at least to call life , and tbe pursuits of life , my own ! Let me hold ifc at the mercy of elements , bf the hunger of beasts , or the revenge of barbarians , but not of the coldblooded prudence of monopolists and kings . "Godwin ' s Caleb Williams . A Wife . —A wife , full of truth , innocence , and love , is tlio prettiest flower a man can wear next his heart .

      FntEXDS . —Ifa man does not make new acquaintances as he advances through life , he will soon find himself left alone . A man should keep his friendships in constant repair . —Johnson . A _Bachelors Life . —Miss Bremer tolls us that the life ofa rich old bachelor is a splendid breakfast , a tolerably flat dinner , and a most miserable supper . l-evEitTT . —Poverty is tho only load wliich is thc heavier the more loved ones there are to assist in supporting it . _—Itichter .

      _iEETH-UliJiCKEiisl- —In tho oast of Asia , whera black teeth aro admired , from China to lvnmtckatka , the profession of a tooth-stainur is quite as extensively followed , anil in no less repute , than that of the European dentist , whoso place it occupies . The duties annexed are , however , less comprehensive , being almost restricted to the blacking process , which , in a thousand cases , must be found more convenient than our contrary requisition . Dental diseases are by no means of such frequent occurrence in thoso regions as among the natious ot " Europe ; and physicians havo ascribed the fact to

      tho simpler diet oi the people , and the thoughtless , indolent current in whicli their lives flow onscarcely more chequered by change or mental excitement than those of their sheep or cattle , which keep their teeth equally sound . The blacking business is practised by both sexes nnd some of its chiefs enjoy considerable reputation and emolument from the permanence of their dye , and the jetty polish imparted by thoir art ; the scercts of wliich _tvve kept with Oriental tenacity , move especially from tlie h _& _vbaviaus , as Europeans _avo politely termed , the profession being determined against sharing their profits with thorn .

      Dickk . vs versus Cowpek . —Charles Dickens _havin- * declined , in somewhat disparaging terms , to subscribe for a monument to Cowpcr , has been thus tomahawked by Gilfillan : — " The Task' will outlive The Haunted Man . ' Dickens is but a 'Cricket ! on the Hearth . ' Cowpcr was an eagle of God ; and his memory shall be cherished , anil Tiis poems read , after the ' Pickwick Papers' are forgotten *" A Natiox canxoi Rebel . — " The only ends for which governments aro instituted , and obedience rendered to them , aro thc obtaining of justice and protection , and they who cannot provide for both give the people a right of taking such ways as best please themselves in order , to their own safety . The whole body of a nation cannot bo tied to any other obedience than is consistent vrith tho common good , according to their own judgment . The general revolt ; of a nation cannot be called rebellion . "—Algernon Sudneu .

      A Puzzler . — -If a ship is of the feminine gender , why arc not fighting vessels ealled women-of-war instead of men-of-war ? Important to Geologists . —At Wallasey the sea is encroaching on the people ; at _iiome tlie people are encroaching on the see .

      SOS . NET TO FAME . Fame , liko a wayward g irl , will still bo cov To those who woo her with too slavish knees , But makes surrender to some thoughtless boy , And doats the more upon a heart at case . She is a Gypsy—will not speak to those Who have not learnt to be content without her ; A Jilt , whoso ear was never whispered close , Who thinks they scandal her who talk about her ; A very Gypsy is she , Xilus-born _, Sister-in-law to jealous Poti phar ; Yo lore-sick Bards ! repay her scorn for scorn ; Ye Artists love-lorn ! madmen that ye are ¦ Make your best bow to her and bid adieu , Then if she likes it , she will follow you . Keats .

      A Whig . '— "We have , " the Nonconformist says , " a confident expectation that tlie word ' YYkig / as it passes down to posterity , will gradually supersede the use of that ill-sounding word 'humbug . ' In a few years , when one man wishes to denounce another as what Carlyle calls a wind-hag , a person of huge pretence and despicable performance , a _110-tovious impostor , an arrant cheat , he will thunder out , after exhausting all other and milder tonus of vituperation , ' You arc a _IIVkV ; . ' " " _Eteusity . "—A maker of gold pons advertises , that fifteen . years' experience justifies him in asserting that his pens are everlasting . ' From which ifc it would appear that fifteen years and eternity aro synonymous terms . ' _TllE AMERICAN'S __ AMD THEIR _Xl *\ VSPAW _* RS . —There is no native American in the northern states , and few in the southern , who cannot write and read . The result is shown in the smaller amount of crime .

      liio astonishing activity of the press in America baffles all conjecture of its progress , when the continent becomes better peopled . In England , in the provinces , the number of newspapers decrease ; six or seven have fallen during the fast year . Li tho old country , we have , or had recently , 470 newspapers to 28 , 000 , 000 of population , twelve of which appeared daily . In America , having 20 , 000 , 000 of population , there wove in 1840 , no less than 133 daily , 125 twice or thrice a week , and-1 , 141 weeklynewspapers , besides 227 periodical works . The circulation of a newspaper is free by post _withintlvvvty miles around the plaee of publication . Beyond that distance , one and a half cents are charged on each as postage . Let it not be said that their papers are small : they are as large as ours iu the larger towns , and some of them vie with ths T « ii «* in the number

      of advertisements . Mr . Mackay shows , too , that an English is cheaper than an American paper , excepting the duty , of which there is none in tho United States . The best papers cost 5 Jd . English . Every house , even in the most remote places , takea in a paper ; some take two . —Jen-old ' s Weekly Awjs . Irish Melodies done ixto Ikish ! — Moore ' s " Melodies" have been translated into In '*/ - by Mr . Sullivan , of Cork , "in a manner , " says the Galway Vindicator , " which does that gentleman tho very hig hest credit . " Ifc is rather curious that this was not done long ago .

      A . v Irish Verdict , —An Irishman was indicted at the assizes at Tralee for felony . His innocence was proved , but , notwithstanding that , the jury found him guilty . The judge was shocked , and said" Gentlemen , the prisoner ' s innocence was clearly proved . " " Yes , " said the foreman , " he is innocent of the crime now charged against _liim , but he stole my grey marc last Christmas . " The Wish Mex of the EiST . — " I thought the wise men came from the east , " said a western man to a Yankee . " And the further you go west the more you'll think so—I rajit / ier guess ,

      The Minister and his Man . — " Sam , " said a late minister of Drumblade one day to his man of all works , " you must bottle the cask of whisky this forenoon ; but as the vapour from the whisky may be injurious , take a glass before you begin to prevent intoxication . " _JN ow , Samuel was an old soldier , and never was in better spirits than when bottling whisky , * and having received from his master a special license to taste , wont to work most heartily . Some hours after the minister visited the cellar to inspect progress , and was horrified to find Sam lying his full length on the floor , unoonscious of all around . "OSaml" said the minister , " you have not taken my advice , and you see the consequence —rise , Sam , and take a glass yet , it may restore ) you . " Sam , nothing loth , took the glass from the minister ' s hand , and having emptied it , said , " Oh I sir , this is thc thirteenth glass l ' reta ' en , bit I ' m nae better . " " Board and lodging , and nothing to pay , " as the man said when he lay on the police stretcher .

      "What part of speech is kissing ?—It is a conjunction . "Why is tho letter N the most sorrowful of letters ? Because it is always in-coKsolable . The Supreme Power , — "Thero remains still inherent power in the people—a supreme power , to remove or alter the legislature , when they find the legislators act contrary to the trust reposed in them , for when such trust is abused it is thereb y forfeited , and devolves on those who gave | it . — Locke .

      A Mighty Mouth . —A man with an enormously large mouth called on a dentist to get » tooth drawn . After tho dentist had prepared his instruments , and was about to commence operations , the man of mouth began to strain and stretch bis mouth till he got it to a most frightful extent . " Stay , sir , " said the dentist self to stretch vour mouth tend to stand on the outside tooth . "

      , " Don't Tjtquhkvovrang Wm\%Wsri&- §2 J...

      , " don't _tjtQuhkvovrang wm \ % _wSri _& _- § 2 _jft _^ fo _^ a _^ fm _^ g _ft _£ f 4 _^ _- _* % _. st , " don'ttjMuhJevourh ang _wiuei * J . _mry _* i _^ - ide m _T _^^ fb _^^ _yMt _, _ _ * _feiV - * _.- " _y-. . W / _8 _$ _- >; - _* _% _C v Via " ' : -A

  • Citation
    • Northern Star (1837-1852), March 17, 1849, page 3, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/ns3_17031849/page/3/