"Captain Peters, if you throw this chair | cleared, and this chair carried below at overboard, you will throw me with it. How once." dare you, Sir, to use such language toward me, or to lay hands upon private property intrusted to your care?" If the captain had been angry before, he was furious now, and roaring profanely, "Dare! I dare lay hands on any old Tory's goods!-ay, and on his brat too, if it comes to that!" he seized the girl's arm, and attempted to drag her from the chair. Dolly did not scream, but her mute resistance was more than the skipper counted upon, and he was grasping for the other arm, when a lithe figure flew with a bound from the top of the house to the deck beside the chair, and a sinewy hand upon the captain's throat hurled him backward with irresistible force. "Certainly, Captain Peters," replied Dolly, willing to accept even so rusty an olivebranch as this; and as she descended the steps of the companionway, followed by two seamen bearing the chair, John Belknap went forward to attend to his duties; but as the chair remained for a moment poised at the top of the steps, a sudden flaw caused the Dolphin to lurch so violently that chair, sailors, and all were precipitated down the steps and into the little after-cabin together, all suffering more or less in the descent -the men from bruises and abrasions, but the poor chair from the loss of a leg and fracture of an arm. The sailors would have | raised it upon the three remaining legs, but Dolly suddenly begged them to leave it alone, and without apparent intention, interposed between it and them so as to nearly hide it from view, while courteously turning them out of the cabin, and closing the door behind them. Soon after, Mistress Dolly herself left the cabin, begged a few nails and a hammer from the steward, and, returning, carefully reclosed the door, and proceeded to use them so vigorously that the sound of her hammer resounded even through the howling of the swiftly risen wind and the tramp the clear and rapid orders of the first officer. The breeze grew to a half gale, then to a gale, and at last to a storm so furious and resistless that at the end of the third day the Dolphin lay, mastless and rudderless, a mere unmanageable hulk rolling in the trough of an angry sea. The boats were got out, manned, and ready to push off, when John Belknap came down to the cabin for Dolly, who rose from her knees and met him with a white but very calm face. "What does this mean? What was that man saying or doing, Dolly? I'll fling him overboard, if you say so," panted John Belknap; but before Dolly could reply, the captain, foaming with rage, was upon them, threatening his mate with irons and close confinement on bread and water, and Dolly with nothing less than hanging on the same gallows with her old Tory father. But Belknap had already recovered his mental poise, and standing between Dolly on her throne and the captain, quietly said to the latter, "See here, Captain Peters; in the newing of the seamen overhead as they obeyed times that you are so fond of predicting, you say there are to be no masters and no servants, and one man is to be just as good as another, or better if he can prove himself so. Now why shouldn't we begin these new times here and now? Say I've as good a right as you to command this schooner, owned in part by my uncle, and say that I've as good a chance as you of the men's good-will, what's to hinder me from trying to take the head of the concern? I could do it, and you know I could, and five minutes from now could call myself master of the Dolphin, with the power of ordering irons and bread and water to any body I chose. I could do all this, I say; but I'm a quiet and law-abiding man, and apt to stick to my word when it's once passed, and I don't forget that I shipped for mate and not for skipper; so if this young lady and her property are to have such treatment as she has a right to expect, and such as was engaged and paid for by her father, and if she's content to have it so, I'll agree to let by-gones be by-gones, and return to my duty as mate. What do you say?" Captain Peters stood for a moment glaring at his mate with red and angry eyes, then turned away, paced the deck twice up and down, paused, and said, in as nearly his usual tone as he could manage, "Mr. Belknap, see every thing made snug for a gale; we shall have one before dark. Mistress Cathcart, I must have the decks Come, Dolly, they can not live a moment beside the wreck, and I think the captain would be glad of an excuse-" "He has found it!" interrupted Dolly, as a dark object swept past the cabin windows, breaking for an instant the sullen glare of the green and foamy waves. Belknap leaped on deck. It was true. The captain, perhaps unable to control his men, perhaps driven by the waves, had allowed the boats to leave the side of the vessel, and already a dozen oars' lengths divided them. "We are deserted," said a calm voice beside the young man, as he stamped and vociferated madly upon the deck. "Yes, Dolly; and, Dolly, I would give my life for yours, if so it might be saved." "We shall both be saved, John, I am sure of it, I feel it—we and the trust that my father has committed to me." "What trust, Dolly ?" "The arm-chair and the barrels and boxes below." John stared and wondered if the poor| child were going mad under this terrible strain; but the peril was too pressing for words, and John Belknap was a man of act rather than speech. Persuading Dolly to go below, he busied himself in rigging a rude substitute for a rudder, and then in getting up a slender spar to serve as jurymast. With them, feeble and incompetent as they needs must be, he gained some control over the schooner-sufficient at least to keep her before the wind, and thus avert the immediate danger of swamping. "In truth, that is the most wonderful part of the story," cried jolly old Ralph Cathcart. "Not one girl in a hundred would have shown your patience and courage, my lass; but not one in five thousand would have kept a secret so faithfully and long, especially with a sweetheart at her elbow. Well, when the young man comes to-night, tell him of your dowry, and tell him I'll answer for my brother's consent, as well as my own. He touched upon the matter in his letter." The next news from Pilgrim Vale told Dolly that her mother was at rest, and her father had accepted a brevet commission in the royalist army. Then came an interval of months, and then a hurried scrawl written upon the field of battle, and with it a letter from the chaplain of the regiment, telling Dolly that she was an orphan. "No one on earth now but you, John," sobbed the poor child in her lover's arms. "And I will try to be all that earth can give, with a looking on to something better," replied he. The night passed, and the next day. Dolly contrived to find and prepare food for her guardian, who never was able to leave the helm, although he slept grasping the tiller, and became almost too much exhausted for speech or thought. But help was at hand, and the storm was past. As the sun set he threw a clear flood of light across the subsiding waters, and in its gleam shone out the top-sails of a bark plunging along toward them. The signal raised by the girl, under her lover's direction, was seen, and an hour And tradition says he remembered his later the Fairy Queen lay alongside the Dol-promise, and that Mrs. Belknap was a happhin. The next morning the arm-chair, the twenty boxes and barrels, and, last of all, Dolly herself, were transferred to the British bark, whose captain had consented to carry the young lady's property as well as herself to the port where he as well as she was bound. Arrived, Dolly was welcomed by her uncle, to whom she at once confided her charge, and received in return no measured praise and commendation. "Your father says it is your own dowry, lass," remarked the uncle, folding up his brother's letter. "So let us see to what it amounts, and place it in safety." The china, the books, the stuffs, and the household gear were released from the boxes and barrels, and then the poor old arm-chair was ripped up, and the fine old family plate, brought from England by the major's father, the brocades and silks that had been treasures of Dolly's grandmother, and still waited for occasions grand enough to shape them into robes, a casket of hereditary jewels, and finally the title-deeds of property both in the Old and the New World, were all produced; and Dolly told of the perils the poor chair had passed on board ship, and how it had fallen down the companionway and the silver coffee-pot had peeped out and nearly betrayed the whole secret, and how she had protected it and cobbled it up, and how she had been glad to be left on board by the retreating crew that she might not abandon the charge her father had confided to her. "And now, uncle," said she, in conclusion, "I have promised, if you and my father approve, to marry John Belknap; and he never suspected a word of all this." py, a prosperous, and a most honored wife. And the old arm-chair? It stands beside me, hale and hearty, in spite of Dolly's cobbling. IN FUTURO. It seems to me the bud of expectation The lamps we light are but the stars of promise, The past was but the preface to the story Live scarcely in our thought. Whate'er we do falls short of our intending; By all the doubts and trials that so vex us, We know that unto mortals is not given The heart of earth has secrets yet withholden, Man has not touched the zenith of creation; Uncertain, undefined. The days wherein Time reaches its fruition, LETTER OF MR. GLADSTONE TO GENERAL SCHENCK, MINISTER OF THE UNITED STATES AT THE COURT OF LONDON, RESPECTING CERTAIN PASSAGES IN THE AMERICAN CASE LAID BEFORE THE ARBITRATORS AT GENEVA. LONDON, 11 CARLTON HOUSE TERRACE, MY DEAR SIR,—In the volume entitled the Case of the United States, to be laid before the Tribunal of Arbitration at Geneva, with respect to the claims commonly known as the Alabama claims, the second chapter purports to set forth "the unfriendly course pursued by Great Britain toward the United States from the outbreak to the close of the insurrection of 1861-65." word that could revive it. But it is open to me to do that which as a government we could not do—to adopt the tone of simple explanation. My desire at all periods of my public life has been to promote and not to impede good understanding and warm attachment between our two countries. I feel that the isolated and fragmentary citation which has been made from speeches of mine does not really represent the sentiments of those speeches. I take up this case not as Pages 87 to 100 are devoted to the exhi-matter of wrong done or suffered, but simbition of "proof of the unfriendly feeling of members of the British cabinet and Parliament." ply to show to you and to your government, if you think fit to use my letter for the purpose, that I did not at the delivery of those speeches, more than at any other time, deviate from the path of a sincere good-will toward the entire people of America. If I The members of the cabinet referred to are Lord Palmerston, Lord Russell, Lord Campbell, with his successor, Lord Westbury (though there is no citation from ei-am felt to have given reasonable evidence ther of these two high legal authorities), and myself. It may seem an impertinence on my part to do otherwise than assume that my own name is overshadowed and eclipsed by the names of these distinguished men. The circumstance, however, that I alone among them am now in office, and that at the moment of the publication of the American Case I chanced to be in office as first minister of the crown, gives a character to my personal share in what I shall for convenience call the Chapter of Motives such as it would not otherwise possess. that my words as they are employed in the Case are misinterpreted when taken to prove hostility, my object will have been gained. But if I do not thus far succeed with you or with your government, I shall not appeal to any other tribunal or take any other step, nor shall I regret having made an effort which I know is well intended, and which I am confident will not be misunderstood. Let me, then, describe, by a reference to particulars, the position in which I am exhibited by the chapter to the view of the two nations and the world. After the greater part of the chapter has been occupied in argument and denunciation on the "insincere neutrality" and the "tortuous courses" of the British government during the war, bers of the British cabinet" is adduced in the form of various quotations. So far as I am concerned, there seem to be two. First, a passage is cited from a report in the Times of a speech at Newcastle on the 7th October, 1862. This passage declares: But although it is the accident of office which alone gives the subject an aspect such as to acquit me of egotism in troubling you, I address you in a personal capacity, and I make my appeal to you as between gen-"proof of the unfriendly feeling of memtleman and gentleman, or rather, since there is something invidious in that form of expression, as between man and man. Further, it is not only in a personal capacity, but it is in a non-controversial and a friendly attitude that I present myself before you. For reasons which appeared more than sufficient, the British government declined to treat as part of the argument or controversy the charges against individuals in the Chapter of Motives. Now, when all contention is happily at an end, it is far indeed from my mind to use so much as a single 1. "That the leaders of the South had made a nation;" and, 2. That the separation of the Southern States was, in my belief, "as certain as any event yet future and contingent could be." The second passage is quoted from a speech in which, on the part of the government of Lord Palmerston (who was himself absent from the House, probably on account of illness), I resisted a motion in favor of of good-will, for which I am very grateful. They make the recognition of the South. This was on me desirous, in connection with the matter mentioned the 30th June, 1863.5 The material points in the title, to place before such among the people of of this quotation are: NOTE.-The object with which this letter is published is as follows: I constantly receive from America-and this from a multitude of various quarters-assurances the United States as may have given it attention the evidences contained in that letter of what have been at all periods alike my feelings toward their country. HAWARDEN CASTLE, CHESTER, August 19, 1876. 1. That the cessation of the war was to graver error in declaring it at a time when be desired, inasmuch as to warrant its con- I held public office as a minister of a friendtinuance, it must have an object "attaina-ly power. I neither conceal these errors ble," as well as otherwise just and adequate. nor will I attempt elaborately to extenuate 2. That in my opinion, and, as I believed, them by a reference to various motives in the general opinion, the re-incorporation which do not appear to have been taken of the Southern States was not an attaina- into account, or to those unexampled cirble object. cumstances which misled me, and, in a great degree, misled the world. These errors were confessed in a letter addressed by me some years ago to one of your countrymen, and published, with my full assent, both in American and in English newspapers. That there may be no stint in the measure of this avowal, I have procured, and I forward herewith, a copy of that letter.' I am sure you will not believe that the wishes with the expression of which it concludes were got up for the occasion. 3. That it was a fatal error, even for sincere and philanthropic men, to pursue the emancipation of the negro race through the bloodshed of the war. A further citation' without a reference, which I have not, therefore, verified, repeats the opinion No. 2 last cited, with the substitution of "we," the plural, as if on behalf of the ministry, for the singular. And lastly, I am quoted as having stated, when the House was engaged on the Budget of the year, that I should pass by the question of danger as "between British merchant ships and American or other privateers," which appears to have been mentioned by "an opposition member," not as thinking it insignificant, but from the necessity of discuss-language held by me, as well as by others, ining the matter then in hand, namely, the financial statement of the year. But the holding of this opinion and the expression of this opinion do not form the matter of the complaint prepared by the American government to go before the arbitrators at Geneva. The complaint is that the dicated a strong desire that the efforts of the government of the United States should not I presume that I need not treat these two succeed. And on this complaint an argulast-named references, under the circum- ment is founded that men governed by this stances, as adding any thing to the evidence desire could not but be adversely biased adin support of the charge against me. But, ministrators of British law for the performas I am about to exhibit the effects of omis-ance of international duty, and that accordsion, I have thought it a less evil to run the risk of tediousness, and of introducing irrelevant or unnecessary matter, rather than to fail in making a full and fair representation of that portion of the Case in which I am individually brought upon the stage. Such, then, is the evidence. Next I have to point out the use made of it. That is a very simple task. The Case propounds that the declarations now cited are evidence of "insincere neutrality,”3 of “unfriendly feeling of members of the British cabinet;" ;" there was a "conscious unfriendly purpose toward the United States;" there was "unfriendliness and insincere neutrality;" and finally, the matter is brought to a head in a perfectly distinct statement that "various members of the British cabinet," including myself, "are seen to comment upon the efforts of the government of the United States to suppress the rebellion, in terms that indicate a strong desire that those efforts should not succeed."" ingly we did allow sinister motives, whether in the shape of abstract hostility or of selfish regard to British interests, to lead us into a guilty neglect of the public obligations of the country. I might, as will be seen from words quoted above, have stated the charge more strongly, but I wish to keep within the truth. What I seek to show is that this charge against me is not true and not just. I seek to show it by evidence to which no fair exception can be taken. I will cite nothing that has been said by me since the triumph of the Union, or after the date at which it may be said that that triumph was distinctly or generally foreseen to be approaching. I shall show: 1. That my opinion always was that England had a special interest in the quarrel raised by the insurrection of the Southern States. 2. That this interest was that the North Upon this distinct allegation I desire to and South, far from being severed, should offer the following explanations: remain united. made by me in October, 1862, and June, 1863. | calamity which threatens to fall upon a And finally, great country. But I do not believe that the Hon. C D had any intention to speak in such a spirit." There could hardly be from a minister, consistently with the usages of Parliament, a more marked animadversion and appeal. And it was made although the honorable member concerned is reported as having already declared (which the Case omits to notice) "that no one word ever fell from his events which are now taking place in America," that his allusion was simply to the form of government, and that "he had referred to the events now taking place there as calamitous events, which we must all most deeply 5. That on the same days, and in the same speeches which are quoted to show my desire as an Englishman that the Union should be broken up, were delivered unequivocal expressions of my belief that English interests would be best served by its continuance. I shall also direct attention to the time when I delivered the speech at Newcastle, as that contained the passage to which, I believe, attention has been principally direct-lips of exultation over the most unfortunate ed. At that time-there is nothing paradoxical in saying it-motives of sheer humanity and hatred of the effusion of blood might well lead a man to desire, upon the terms either of reunion or of severance, the termination of the war. But whether this be para-deplore." doxical or not, I shall also show that men who had most vehemently supported in this country the cause of the North, and denounced the Southern Confederation as an inhuman and antisocial conspiracy, were admitting the efforts and struggles of the North, wonderful as they were, to be practically hopeless, and were recommending the cessation of the war by the acknowledgment, within a wide extent of territory, of Southern independence. I proceed to deal with these several points. At the outbreak of the insurrection, in 1861, a member of the British Parliament was unfortunately betrayed into describing what had taken place in America as the bursting of the "great republican bubble" of that country.1 In passing, I remark that neither this nor any one of the speeches quoted in the Case, or referred to in this letter, is reported with any corrections by myself. But I believe the main purport, apart from incidental allusions, to be truly represented, and I will not attempt by the aid of memory, at this distance of time, to modify the forms of expression. This was the evidence of my share in the alleged conscious hostility, in May, 1861. Several months after, and just when the country had been excited by the affair of the Trent, I had occasion to speak at Leith. This speech was on an occasion equally public with that subsequently delivered at Newcastle, and it was reported with not less fullness by the indefatigable activity of the The American Case notices this declara-press, though it has escaped the notice of tion, and pays Earl Russell the well-deserved compliment of adding that the member who spoke, and whom the American government considerately forbear to name, received from him a merited rebuke.2 the American government in drawing the Case. What would have been most satisfactory to me in the present circumstances would have been the republication of the whole of these and other speeches in extenso. But this proceeding would defeat its own object, as I at once admit that neither you nor any one either in England or America could fairly be expected to face the task of reading them. I have no choice, therefore, but to resort to extracts, which must, however, be longer than I could wish. But I am here busied only with the picture of my own performances; and I may therefore be permitted to remark that when it came to my turn to speak, also in the same debate in which the "bubble" had been introduced, I am reported to have expressed myself as follows: "I heard with deep regret last night the speech of the Hon. A B, though not, indeed, with the same regret as I heard some other remarks made by the Extract from Mr. Gladstone's Speech at Leith, January Hon. C D. [The "bubble" speech.] I hope that the Hon. CD will express his regret, before the conclusion of the debate, for having, with or without premeditation, spoken of the American government as a great republican bubble. [A cry of "Hear."] I am sorry to hear that phrase cheered by a single member; and had hoped that was the first and last time we should hear any member allude in a jeering way to the tremendous 1 27th May, 1861. Hansard, vol. 163, p. 134. 10, 1862. (Times, January 13.) "Mr. Provost, I heartily wish that it was in our power to exhibit to the country of the United States the precise and exact state of feeling that has subsisted in this country ever since the beginning of the tremendous convulsion which now agitates that continent, and threatens its peace and prosperity. I do not believe that, at the time when the convulsion commenced, there was one man in a thousand in this country who had any sentiment whatever toward 130th May, 1861. Hansard, vol. 163, p. 278. |