Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. IV, No. 19, Dec 1851

"Two years – nearly two years – yet – ah, ah!" said Randal; and his sister now appearing to announce that tea was ready, he threw his arm round her neck and kissed her. Juliet had arranged her hair and trimmed up her dress. She looked very pretty, and she had now the air of a gentlewoman – something of Randal's own refinement in her slender proportions and well-shaped head.

"Be patient, patient still, my dear sister," whispered Randal, "and keep your heart whole for two years longer."

The young man was gay and good-humored over his simple meal, while his family grouped round him. When it was over, Mr. Leslie lighted his pipe, and called for his brandy-and-water. Mrs. Leslie began to question about London and Court, and the new King and the new Queen, and Mr. Audley Egerton, and hoped Mr. Egerton would leave Randal all his money, and that Randal would marry a rich woman, and that the King would make him a prime-minister one of these days; and then she would like to see if Farmer Jones would refuse to send his wagon for coals! And every now and then, as the word "riches" or "money" caught Mr. Leslie's ear, he shook his head, drew his pipe from his mouth, and muttered, "A Spratt should not have what belonged to my great-great-grandfather, if I had a good sum of ready money! – the old family estates!" Oliver and Juliet sate silent, and on their good-behavior; and Randal, indulging his own reveries, dreamily heard the words "money," "Spratt," "great-great-grandfather," "rich wife," "family estates;" and they sounded to him vague and afar off, like whispers from the world of romance and legend – weird prophecies of things to be.

Such was the hearth which warmed the viper that nestled and gnawed at the heart of Randal, poisoned all the aspirations that youth should have rendered pure, ambition lofty, and knowledge beneficent and divine.

CHAPTER VI

When the rest of the household were in deep sleep, Randal stood long at his open window, looking over the dreary, comfortless scene – the moon gleaming from skies half-autumnal, half-wintry, upon squalid decay, through the ragged fissures of the firs; and when he lay down to rest, his sleep was feverish, and troubled by turbulent dreams.

However, he was up early, and with an unwonted color in his cheeks, which his sister ascribed to the country air. After breakfast, he took his way toward Hazeldean, mounted upon a tolerable horse, which he hired of a neighboring farmer who occasionally hunted. Before noon, the garden and terrace of the Casino came in sight. He reined in his horse, and by the little fountain at which Leonard had been wont to eat his radishes and con his book, he saw Riccabocca seated under the shade of the red umbrella. And by the Italian's side stood a form that a Greek of old might have deemed the Naiad of the Fount; for in its youthful beauty there was something so full of poetry – something at once so sweet and so stately – that it spoke to the imagination while it charmed the sense.

Randal dismounted, tied his horse to the gate, and, walking down a trellised alley, came suddenly to the spot. His dark shadow fell over the clear mirror of the fountain just as Riccabocca had said, "All here is so secure from evil! – the waves of the fountain are never troubled like those of the river!" and Violante had answered in her soft native tongue, and lifting her dark, spiritual eyes – "But the fountain would be but a lifeless pool, oh, my father, if the spray did not mount toward the skies!"

(TO BE CONTINUED.)

YOU'RE ANOTHER!

"You're another!" It's a vulgar retort, but a common one – though not much in use among well-bred people. But there are many ways of saying it – various modes of conveying the same meaning. "Et tu Brute," observed some one, on reading a debate in the House of Commons; "I often see these words quoted; what can they mean?" "I should say," was the answer, "they mean, 'Oh, you brute!'" "Well, I rather think they mean 'You're another!'" Let the classicist determine which interpretation is the right one.

"You're another!" may be conveyed in a mild tone and manner. For instance: – "The right honorable gentleman seems not to apprehend the points of the argument: he says he does not understand how so and so is so and so. We can only supply him with arguments level to the meanest capacity, not with brains. Nature having been sparing in her endowments to the honorable gentleman, must be matter of deep regret to those who are under the painful necessity of listening to the oft-times-refuted assertions and so-called arguments which he has advanced upon this very question."

The honorable gentleman, thus delicately alluded to, replies, "My honorable and learned friend (if he will permit me to call him so) complains that his arguments are not understood; the simple reason being that they are unintelligible. He calls them arguments level to the meanest capacity, and let me assure him they are level to the meanest capacity only, for they are his own. Let me hasten to relieve his anxiety as to the remarks which I have felt it my duty to make upon the question under discussion, by assuring him that they have been understood by those who have intelligence to appreciate them, though I am not prepared to vouch as much for my honorable and learned friend on the other side of the House." Thus,

Each lolls the tongue out at the other,
And shakes his empty noddle at his brother.

One honorable member accuses another of stating that which is the "reverse of true" – the other responds by a charge of "gross misrepresentation of the facts of the case." Coalheavers would use a shorter and more emphatic word to express the same thing, though it would neither be classical nor conformable to the rules of the House. The Frenchman delicately defined a white lie to be "valking round about de trooth." We know what honorable members mean when they talk in the above guise. It is, "You're another!"

Dr. Whiston accuses the Chapter of Rochester with applying for their own purposes the funds bequeathed by pious men of former times for the education of the poor. The reply of the Chapter is – "You Atheist!" and they deprive the doctor of his living. Sir Samuel Romilly once proposed to alter the law of bankruptcy, and to make freehold estates assets appropriable for debts, like personal property. The existing law he held to be pregnant with dishonesty and fraud against creditors. Mr. Canning immediately was down upon him with the "You're another" argument. "Dishonesty!" he said, "why, this proposal is neither more nor less than a dangerous and most dishonest attack upon the aristocracy, and the beginning of something which may end, if carried, like the French Revolution."

Worthy men are often found differing about some speculative point, respecting which neither can have any more certain knowledge than the other, and they wax fierce and bitter, each devoting the other to a fate which we dare not venture to describe. One calls the other "bigot," who retorts by calling out "idolater," or perhaps "fanatic;" and the phrases are bandied about with the gusto and fervor of Billingsgate – the meaning of the whole is, "You're another!"

Literary men have frequently ventured into this bandying about of strange talk. Rival country editors have sometimes been great adepts in it; though the fashion is gradually going out of date. There is nothing like the bitterness of criticism now, which used to prevail some fifty years ago. Godwin mildly assailed Southey as a renegade, in return for which Southey abused Godwin's abominably ugly nose. Moore spoke slightingly of Leigh Hunt's Cockney poetry, and Leigh Hunt in reply ridiculed Moore's diminutive figure. Southey cut up Byron in the Reviews, and Byron cut up Southey in the Vision of Judgment. Scott did not appreciate Coleridge, and Coleridge spoke of Ivanhoe and The Bride of Lammermoor as "those wretched abortions."

You often hear of talkers who are "good at a retort." It means they can say "You're another!" in a biting, clever way. The wit of many men is of this kind – cutting and sarcastic. Nicknames grow out of it – the Christian calls the Turk an Infidel – as the Turk calls the Christian a Dog of an Unbeliever. Whig and Tory retort on each other the charge of oppressor. "The priest calls the lawyer a cheat, the lawyer beknaves the divine." It all means "You're another!" Phrenologists say the propensity arises in the organ of combativeness. However that may be, there is need of an abatement. Retort, even the most delicately put, is indignation, and indignation is the handsome brother of hatred. It breeds bitterness between man and man, and produces nothing but evil. The practice is only a modification of Billingsgate, cover it with what elegant device we may. In any guise the "You're another" style of speech ought to be deprecated and discountenanced.

THY WILL BE DONE

BY GEN. GEORGE P. MORRIS

I

Searcher of Hearts! – from mine erase
All thoughts that should not be,
And in its deep recesses trace
My gratitude to Thee!

II

Hearer of Prayer! – oh guide aright
Each word and deed of mine;
Life's battle teach me how to fight,
And be the victory Thine.

III

Giver of All! – for every good
In the Redeemer came: —
For raiment, shelter, and for food,
I thank Thee in His name.

IV

Father and Son and Holy Ghost!
Thou glorious Three in One!
Thou knowest best what I need most,
And let Thy will be done.

Monthly Record of Current Events

UNITED STATES

The political events of the month just closed have been of considerable interest. November is the month for elections in several of the most important States: the interest which usually belongs to these events is enhanced in this instance by the fact that they precede a Presidential contest, which occurs next year, and they are scanned, therefore, with the more care as indicative of its results. In several of the States, however, the elections of this year do not afford any substantial ground for predicting their votes in the Presidential election, as questions were at issue now which may not greatly influence them then. In Georgia, for example the old political parties were wholly broken up, and the divisions which they occasion did not prevail. Both the candidates for Governor were prominent members of the Democratic party; but Hon. Howell Cobb, Speaker of the last House of Representatives in Congress, was put forward as the Union candidate, while Mr. McDonald, his opponent, was the candidate of those who were in favor of seceding from the Union, on account of the Compromise measures of 1850. The same division prevailed in the Congressional contest, the nominees being Unionists and Secessionists, without regard to other distinctions. The general result was announced in our November Record. The Union party elected six out of the eight members of Congress, and Mr. Cobb was elected Governor by a very large majority. The following is a statement of the vote in each of the Congressional districts, upon both tickets; and gives an accurate view of the sentiments of the people of the State upon that subject:

This shows a popular majority of over eighteen thousand in favor of the Union. The election of Members of the Legislature took place at the same time, and resulted in the choice to the Senate of thirty-nine Union and eight Secession Senators, and to the House of one hundred and one Union, and twenty-six Southern-rights men. Upon the Legislature thus chosen will devolve the duty of electing a Senator in the Congress of the United States, in place of Mr. Berrien, whose term expires next spring.

In South Carolina an election has taken place for members of Congress and delegates to a State Convention, in which the same issue superseded all others. One party avowed itself in favor of the immediate and separate secession of the State from the Union, while the other was in favor of awaiting the co-operation of other Southern States. Both held that the action of the Federal Government had been hostile to Southern interests and rights, and both professed to be in favor of taking measures of redress. They differed, however, as to the means and time of action, and the following table shows the relative strength of each party in the State – those in favor of the Union as it is, of course, voting with the Co-operationists:

Elections in Mississippi and in Alabama, involving the same issue, have been already noticed. The results of the canvass in these four Southern States are of interest as showing the relative strength of the two parties in that section of the Union. The following table shows the vote upon each side, in each State, in round numbers:

In Virginia the election was for members of Congress, and upon the adoption of the new Constitution. The result has been that the Congressional delegation stands as before, and the new Constitution was adopted by a very large majority. Among the Whig members defeated was Hon. John Minor Botts, who has since written a letter attributing his defeat to the stand which he took in Convention in favor of a mixed basis of representation. The new Constitution adopts the principle of universal suffrage in all elections, limited, however, to white male citizens who are twenty-one years of age, and who have resided two years in the State and one year in the county in which they vote. Persons in the naval or military service of the United States are not to be deemed residents in the State by reason of being stationed therein. No person will have the right to vote who is of unsound mind, or a pauper, or a non-commissioned officer, soldier, seaman, or marine in the service of the United States, or who has been convicted of bribery in an election, or of any infamous offense. In all elections votes are required to be given openly viva voce, and not by ballot, except that dumb persons entitled to suffrage may vote by ballot. Under the new Constitution, the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Attorney General are to be elected by the people. These officers for the ensuing term, as well as members of the Senate and House of Representatives, are to be chosen on the 8th day of December next. The seats of all members of the General Assembly already elected will be from that date vacated by the effect of the new Constitution.

In Pennsylvania the election for Governor, Canal Commissioner, and five Judges of the Supreme Court, occurred on the last Monday in October, and resulted as follows:

In the Legislature there are, Senators 16 Democrats, 16 Whigs, and one Native American; in the House of Representatives, 54 Democrats and 46 Whigs.

Elections have also been held in Ohio, New York, Wisconsin, Maryland, and Massachusetts; but up to the time of closing this record, official returns have not been received.

We have already mentioned the return of the expedition sent out by Mr. Henry Grinnell in search of the great English navigator, Sir John Franklin, and the general result of their Arctic explorations. Surgeon E. K. Kane, who accompanied the expedition, has since published a letter, in which he expresses the opinion that Sir John, while wintering in the cove near Beechy's Island, where unmistakable signs of his presence were discovered, found a path-way made by the opening of the ice, toward the north, and that he passed northward by Wellington Channel and did not return. The American expedition was caught in an ice drift nearly opposite the spot of Franklin's first sojourn, and borne northward in the ice for fifteen days. Into the region north and west of Cornwallis Island, which is open sometimes and may be always, a continuance of the drift a few days longer would have borne the American Squadron: and in that region Mr. Kane thinks Sir John Franklin must now be sought. The chances of his destruction by ice, or by want of food, he thinks, are not great. The British residents of New York gave Mr. Grinnell a public dinner on the 4th of November at the Astor House, at which a large company sat down, Mr. Anthony Barclay presiding. Great interest continues to be felt in the search for Sir John Franklin, and it is probable that it will be renewed in the early spring. In the preceding pages of this Number will be found an exceedingly interesting history of the Expedition, from the journal of one of its members – accompanied by numerous illustrations of the scenes and incidents encountered during the voyage.

The case of Mr. John S. Thrasher, an American gentleman resident at Havana, has excited a good deal of public interest. Mr. T. has resided there for a number of years. He was the editor and proprietor of the Faro Industrial, a paper devoted entirely to commercial matters, and which he had conducted with energy, ability, and success. While the American prisoners were in Havana, Mr. Thrasher took a marked interest in them, and did all in his power to alleviate the discomforts of their position. For some reason, which has never yet been assigned, he incurred the distrust of the authorities, and on the 1st of September he was prohibited from issuing his paper which was seized. Feeling confident that his property would soon be restored, he devoted himself to procure comforts for his countrymen who had been condemned to transportation. The police, however, were ordered strictly to watch his movements. His letters were stopped, seized, and examined; but they contained nothing to warrant proceedings against him. On the arrival of the steamer Georgia from the United States, two policemen followed him and saw him receive letters from the clerk. They arrested him on landing and searched his papers, but found nothing but a business letter. For two or three days he continued under arrest, when a letter was brought to him sealed, directed to him, and said to have been found upon his desk. It proved to be written in cipher, but Mr. Thrasher declared himself ignorant alike of its contents and its author. This, however, was of no avail. He was immediately committed to prison, and on the 25th of September was thrust into a damp, dark dungeon, cut from the rock and level with the sea, with a bare board for furniture, and where death will be the inevitable consequence of a few weeks' confinement. At the latest dates no charges had been publicly made against him, his trial had not taken place, and no one was admitted to see him. The result of the affair is looked for with great anxiety.

The late President Tyler has written a letter to the Spanish Minister in the United States, appealing for the pardon and release of the Americans taken prisoners in Cuba. He ventures to make the application in view of the friendly relations which existed between him and M. Calderon de la Barca during his administration, and ventures to hope that his request will be laid before the Queen of Spain. He concedes the flagrancy of their offense, but urges that sufficient punishment has already been inflicted, and that their pardon will do much toward softening the feelings of the people of this country toward the Spanish government, and preventing future attempts upon the peace of its colonies.

Gen. Wm. B. Campbell was inaugurated Governor of Tennessee on the 16th of October. His inaugural address referred briefly to national affairs. He spoke in the highest terms of commendation of those who secured the passage of the Compromise bills, in the Congress of 1850, and of the firm manner in which they have been maintained by the President. The disastrous results of secession were strongly depicted. He urged that it must inevitably lead to bloody civil wars, alike melancholy and deplorable for the victors and the vanquished. He pledged himself to maintain the Compromise measures, because he believed their continuance on the statute book will promote prosperity and happiness, while an interference with them will inevitably produce agitation, mischief, and misery.