صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

settled with the United States these ques-, upon it with the American Commissioners, tions like all other questions with the Unit- and when the choice lay between the seted States, cares not the least in the world tlement of all the other differences between about them; scarcely knows of their ex- the two countries on terms which her istence; is intent on votes in Parliament, Majesty's Government believed to be honon English interests, on English public ourable to both, and beneficial alike to opinion, and will attend to nothing but Canada and the rest of the Empire, and these. The inevitable misfortune of such the frustration of all hope of bringing the a State as Canada, so ruled and so placed, negotiations to a satisfactory issue, they is often to have what she cares for sacri- could not hesitate as to the course which it ficed to what England cares for and she was their duty to take." does not, and always to be suspicious that this has happened when really it has not.

Now we cannot blame a Canadian for saying that this only means that he is not to be paid for the Fenian depredations, because England wants to settle with America about the Alabama. And a man who has himself been plundered will not like that reasoning, whatever a philosopher or Secretary of State may think of it.

cruisers, and wished to make a concession." We do not admit that it was so. The fishery question is most complicated. But still we can quite understand how a Canadian will persistently think so, and never be convinced to the contrary.

Upon two points this is precisely what the Canadians complain of in the Treaty of Washington. The first is the case of the inroads of the Fenians into Canada from the United States. Canadians say that the Fenians only came into Canada because it was a dependency of England, Secondly, there is a most difficult and the Fenians wanted to hurt England; question as to certain rights of fishery, that the American Government only con- which is always among the most vexatious nived (for they persist that it did connive) species of boundary questions. On this at the Fenian expeditions and preparations, point too the Canadians say boldly— because they wished to annoy and hurt" England gave up our fish because she was England. In this way Canada was hurt, in a diplomatic difficulty as to the escaped they say, because she belonged to us. They contend that we are bound to get them reparation—not only because they are, as much as if they were New Zealanders, subjects of the Queen, and therefore, as all will say, to be protected, but likewise since they were specially injured For these reasons the Canadian Governin an Imperial dispute, and in order to vex ment is dissatisfied with the Treaty of another and more considerable part of the Washington, and says that some equivaEmpire. But when England is making lent ought to be granted to it. And our the Treaty at Washington, she gives up Government have agreed (not indeed forthis claim on behalf of Canada at once. mally as an equivalent, but in a manner The correspondence explains it with grave which practically amounts very much to formality. "Your Lordship," says Lord the same thing), to guarantee a Canadian Kimberley, in writing to Lord Lisgar, the loan of 2,500,000l., the proceeds of which Governor of Canada, “your Lordship will are to be used in the construction of a observe from the Protocols of Conferences, railway from Canada to the Pacific. Of copies of which were transmitted to you in course this is objectionable scarcely anymy Despatch, No. 444, of the 17th inst., thing is so objectionable as a guarantee; that the American Commissioners declined scarcely anything is so objectionable as to entertain the proposal made by the paying a price to some of your own subBritish Commissioners to include these jects to do as you wish, and to be content claims in the Treaty. Her Majesty's Gov-with that which you have done. But the ernment were well aware of the serious real objection is not to this or that particdifficulties in the way of settling this ques- ular arrangement, but to the whole praction, and they could not, therefore, feel tice in which our relation to Canada consurprised at the result. At the same time, sists. When you begin with a great anomit was with much regret that they acqui-aly you must expect it to cause other esced in the omission of these claims from anomalies. If nation A undertakes to the general settlement of outstanding manage the foreign relations of nation B, questions between Great Britain and the nation B will always say that A is thinking United States. But it seemed to them ev- of its own interests and not of theirs; and ident that the British Commissioners were if this has really been so, or if there is a right in thinking that there was no reason-strong case for saying it has been so, able probability that by further pressing something must be given to B if the conthe point an agreement would be come to nection between A and B is to continue.

From The Specttaor.
WEAKNESS OF CÆSARISM.

all his confidence in the system he still at heart approved for doing the very thing THE immense importance attached in which it is now demonstrated in a manner France to the speech of M. d'Audriffet convincing even to his intelligence never Pasquier on the Imperial Army contracts to have done. It is of no use to tell him, is not at first sight very intelligible to Eng- as Bonapartists are telling Englishmen, glishmen. The Orleanist Duke did indeed that the corruption was no worse under show, past all doubt or question, or denial Napoleon than under Louis Philippe. from M. Rouher, that under the Imperialist Very likely it was not, indeed it may be régime corruption was rampant in the War frankly admitted it was not, but then the Department; that contracts for war ma- raison d'être of the Orleans House was not tériel, such as cartridges and rifles, were efficient administration. It was the raison given, paid for, and never fulfilled; that d'être of Cæsarism. The proof of the the accounts of the arsenals were cooked; Cæsar's failure to keep his arsenals full is that the numbers of guns, chassepôts, and proof to the French mind of his failure to cartridges ready for use were criminally be what he was enthroned and obeyed in exaggerated; that the charge of supply- order to be, and it will be accepted all the ing the most necessary articles was sold to more readily because it will gratify in a men who could not hope to supply them; strange but direct way the dominant nathat in fact the Supply department, on tional foible. If the French soldiers were which the efficiency of armies depends, was defeated because they were not " 'furcynically corrupt. But this had been sus- nished," they might when furnished be vicpected long before, and the first deduction torious, that is the sub-suggestion of the from the facts is not necessarily a new con- exposé, and it is one very comforting to tempt for the Emperor or his cause, but men who cannot conceive themselves secrather a new pity for a man who had been ond in war, except when betrayed, or sold, so systematically deluded. The Emperor or unprovided with munitions. They will certainly did not wish to be left without believe that not they, but the Empire, lost sufficient guns, and would, if a legitimate the provinces, and the belief is fatal to the monarch, have been held entitled to the Imperial cause. So clear was this to M. excuse that he as well as France had been Rouher, that for the first time since his betrayed and sold. The Assembly, how-election he rushed to the Tribune, and enever, regarded the revelation in a very dif- deavoured to deaden the blow by asking ferent light, as one fatally damaging to whether the present Administration had the Napoleonic cause; they ordered the remedied the evils shown to exist. That speech to be printed and circulated in was clever as a Parliamentary counter-hit, every commune of France, as a final argu- and it bothered the Ministry, who have been ment against the Emperor, and they were thinking of other things; but it will seem in all human probability in the right. to the people only an admission that the The speech destroys the one argument for charges were true. This régime may be inCæsarism in the minds of average French-efficient too, but Napoleonism would be no men, the belief that it was an efficient and effective substitute. It could not be relied strenuous form of administration. It on to secure the strength which is the proves to every Frenchman that in the de- compensation it offers for the refusal of partment supposed to be the strongest, all liberty. the most necessary, the one on which Na- The effect of this exposure on foreign poleon most prided himself, his supervision critics, though not perhaps on the French had been a hollow sham, that the Empire, peasantry, will be greatly heightened by which demanded so much on the ground the extraordinary fact that the corruption of its military necessities, did not give in did not extend to the Naval administrareturn ordinary military effectiveness. It tion. The Committee on Contracts indid not do even the one thing it professed quired of course into their transactions to do, did not prevent peculators from eat- as rigidly as into those of the Army, and ing up guns, rifles, and soldiers as vora- the President affirms that there was not ciously as the most imbecile Monarchy, or in them all a penny to condemn. The deRepublic, or Commune could have done. partment, notoriously the one in all counThe Liberals had all along suspected this, tries in which jobbery is easiest, was abbut the French peasant is not a liberal, is solutely pure, a fact which may explain in not moved by gossip, is slow to believe some degree its comparative efficiency in anything not certified on authority. But the field. As Admirals like money as he will believe Duke Pasquier and the As- much as Generals, and as pursers can rob sembly, and believing, will lose once for quite as effectively as paymasters, there

can be but one reason for this difference, that the Emperor had reasons for laxity in the Army which did not extend to the Naval service; that his great military officers knew their offences would be condoned, while his Admirals had no certainty of the kind. And we believe this to be exactly the truth, strange as the light is which it throws on the intellect of Napoleon. With all his knowledge of Frenchmen, and all his army of policemen, and all his confidence in plébiscites, the Emperor never was aware of his own foothold in France, never realized how powerless his agents were against him, never ceased to believe that the military chiefs stood between him and a disaffected people. He might have dismissed all the marshals by a decree in the Gazette, and there would have been no émeute; but he could not think so, and hesitated all through his reign to "create disaffection" by probing military scandals. We utterly reject, as it is clear the Assembly rejects, the theory of his ignorance. He remembered the Italian war and what he discovered then, and he must have received hints enough, if only from dissatisfied officers, to justify inquiries which he avoided partly because they involved trouble, but chiefly because he held the contentment of the War Department to be essential to his régime. It was not in the least essential, the mass of the Army being entirely uninterested in frauds, or rather entirely hostile to them; but he fancied it was, and under that fancy overlooked practices which any legitimate Sovereign or any elected President would have pnnished not only as State offences, but as personal affronts. The Navy, however, could not stand be

tween him and the people, could not defend the Tuileries, could not keep down Paris, and consequently in the Navy decent men were promoted and theft was rigorously and successfully prevented. If the corruption was due to the Emperor's ignorance, why was not the Navy corrupt? If it arose from the rotten state of society, how came the Marine Department to escape the noxious influence? If it was “a necessity of the system," why was the system not a necessity in every department? The plain truth of the matter is, that corruption existed only in the departments which were feared, and that among these the principal was the department which controlled, and guided, and provided the Army. It was the military tone of the Empire, the idea that it was based on the bayonet, which led by a direct consequence to Sedan; and this military tone was infused into it by the Emperor himself, who though absolutely free from militarism and often impatient of military dictation, never after the 2nd of December could gain self-confidence enough to see that the soldiers around him were his creatures, not he theirs; that in pampering them he did not conciliate but pro tanto alienated the affections of the Army. The blunder was the Emperor's own, and was due to the circumstances of the coup d'état much more than to any inherent weakness in the structure of the administration, which, as we see on the Naval side, remained honest, strong, and successful. In one service at least of the French organization no one has fled, or robbed, or intrigued, and the excellence attained in one service might have been attained in all.

SOME time in the summer of 1871 it was stat- composed of four rubber cylinders fastened toed that Mr. Octave Pavé, a young Louisiana gether on the decks by wooden slats, to which Frenchman, had started toward the North Pole the masts and riggings are attached. It is inby way of Siberia and Wrangell's Land, and tended to head, after leaving Cape Yakan, for that, in the absence of news from him, the Wrangell's Land, a large island discovered by assistance of the Siberian Government had been Captain Long in 1867. This being reached, the invoked, in consequence of grave fears for his island is to be crossed on sledges; and if an safety. It now appears that he has not yet open sea occur beyond, he is to take the raft started on his mission, but is to sail from San again, and endeavour to sail to Greenland or Francisco in May for Kamschatka, where he Spitzbergen. The entire enterprise is conducted will take in supplies, and proceed to Cape at the expense of the traveller; and however Yakan, on the north-east coast of Siberia. Here hazardous or chimerical the plan may be, we the vessel is to be abandoned, and a further ex- cannot but wish him success in his moveploration attempted on an India-rubber raft, ments.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small]

PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY BY

LITTELL & GAY, BOSTON.

[blocks in formation]

FOR EIGHT DOLLARS, remitted directly to the Publishers, the LIVING AGE will be punctually for. warded for a year, free of postage. But we do not prepay postage on less than a year, nor when we have to pay commission for forwarding the money; nor when we club THE LIVING AGE with another periodical.

An extra copy of THE LIVING AGE is sent gratis to any one getting up a club of Five New Subscribers Remittances should be made by bank draft or check, or by post-office money-order, if possible. If neither of these can be procured, the money should be sent in a registered letter. All postmasters are obliged to register letters when requested to do so. Drafts, checks and money-orders should be made payable to the order of LITTELL & GAY.

[blocks in formation]

By the side of the desolate hearth.

I listen, but not to the homeless leaves,
As they drift 'gainst the window pane;

Nor the soughing wind from the fir-crowned hill,
Nor the sigh and sob of the swollen rill,
Nor the whisper of careless rain.

I listen, I listen, and but to hear
The footsteps that fall around;

The footsteps that gladdened my life of yore,
The footsteps that seek my side no more,
That fall on no earthly ground.

The tiny steps of my first-born
Come pattering quick and soft;

He had trod like a man, had he stayed, by this,
Yet oh I yearn for the baby kiss,

He tottered to give so oft.

His firm tread rings out gallantly,

Just as it wont to do,

When I used to spring from this same low seat, The comer I loved the best to greet,

As he strode through the evening dew.

Slow and heavy, and quick and light
The echoes around me come,

The steps that through youth's gay footpaths ranged,

Of friends forgotten, of friends estranged,
Who once made life and home.

Ah well, poor salvage from the wreck

All memory saves and stores,

Yet the sounds that people the sweet Past's dreams

Are dearer to me than the light that gleams
On the lonely Present's shores.

All the Year Round.

THE LATE REV. F. D. MAURICE
APRIL, 1872.

WHO has not known some Author, Artist, Saint,
Whose image he has worshipped from afar,
But, drawing near, has felt the light grow faint,
Found meteoric stone for vanished star?
Scan not too closely; mighty men of war
In fighting Self have shown a coward taint;
The grandest actor dons peruke and paint,
Bring not full daylight in, his gifts to mar!
'Tis so with many, 'twas not so with thee,
Thou Christ-like man, new laid below the sod,
Fair in the distance, fairer near to see;
Pointing the way, thou walkest Gospel-shod.
From thy bright presence all things dark must
flee,

Or stay transformed and own thee child of God!
Spectator.
A. B.

From Lippincott's Magazine for June.
CARCASSONNE.

FROM THE FRENCH OF GUSTAVE NADAUD. Another translation of these beautiful verses will be found L. A. vol. 24, p. 578.

I'm growing old, I've sixty years;
I've labored all my life in vain :
In all that time of hopes and fears
I've failed my dearest wish to gain.
I see full well that here below

Bliss unalloyed there is for none.
My prayer will ne'er fulfilment know
I never have seen Carcassonne,
I never have seen Carcassonne !

You see the city from the hill,

It lies beyond the mountains blue,
And yet to reach it one must still
Five long and weary leagues pursue,
And to return, as many more!
Ah! had the vintage plenteous grown!
The
grape withheld its yellow store:

I shall not look on Carcassonne,
I shall not look on Carcassonne !

They tell me every day is there

Not more nor less than Sunday gay : In shining robes and garments fair The people walk upon their way. One gazes there on castle walls

As grand as those of Babylon,

A bishop and two generals!

I do not know fair Carcassonne,
I do not know fair Carcassonne !

The vicar's right: he says that we

Are ever wayward, weak and blind; He tells us in his homily

Ambition ruins all mankind;

Yet could I there two days have spent
While still the autumn sweetly shone,
Ah me! I might have died content

When I had looked on Carcassonne,
When I had looked on Carcassonne !

Thy pardon, Father, I beseech,
In this my prayer if I offend;
One something sees beyond his reach
From childhood to his journey's end.
My wife, our little boy Aignan,

Have travelled even to Narbonne; My grandchild has seen Perpignan, And I have not seen Carcassonne, And I have not seen Carcassonne !

So crooned one day, close by Limoux,
A peasant double-bent with age,
"Rise up, my friend," said I : "with you
I'll go upon this pilgrimage."

We left next morning his abode,

But (Heaven forgive him!) halfway on, The old man died upon the road: He never gazed on Carcassonne. Each mortal has his Carcassonne !

JOHN R. THOMPSON

« السابقةمتابعة »