Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

We do not wish, however, to commit over this fallen man a pomp of pious impostures, He died firm at his post, and for a king he was brave; but in his death we see rather the vengeance of a people oppressed for ages by European preponderance than the unhappy fate of a brave player for crowns. It is allowable, it is true, to weep over a betrayed Archduke; but before that we think it right to refer to the tears of a whole country, which for three centuries has been hunted down, beaten, and insulted by Spanish, French, and Austrian conquest. Let us appeal to history.

On Holy Thursday in the year 1519, when Charles V. of Spain and Austria was reigning, a handful of Spanish soldiers, flying from the wrath of their supreme governor, landed, under the leadership of Cortez, at S. Giovanni d'Ulloa, in Mexico. They were led there by an insatiable thirst for gold, and that feverish love of adventure and unknown empires which then agitated the contemporaries of Columbus, and which, strangely enough, was mixed up with a religious sentiment for planting crosses in barbarous lands and breasts.

of persons. We do not hear so much horror expressed at the idea of a political execution as at the thought that the brother of an Emperor should so have suffered. Had Maximilian executed Juarez, there would have been less sympathy exhibited by those persons whose acquaintance with history does not reach to a knowledge of the antecedents of the European Powers which are now most vociferously irate. Let Austria, before she accuses the Mexicans of being a race of savages, wipe out the recollection of those gibbets which, after the capitulation of Komorn, hung out their ghastly trophies in the Hungarian capital. Let France, before she denounces the deed as an unheard-of outrage, look at almost any page of her own blood-stained annals. Let England remember that the very man whose untimely fate she deplores did himself publish one of the most infamous decrees which even guerilla warfare has called forth, by which any person belonging to the Juarist army, or who had sold provisions, horses, or arms to the army, was to be tried and executed within twenty-four hours, and that, among others, two Mexican generals were thus taken and shot. We do not at all seek to justify the execution of the unhappy prince who was made the scapegoat of Louis Napoleon's mistake. We should rejoice to see the punishment of death, for any political offence, abolished by the universal consent of all civilized nations. But while it is not abolished - while no one European nation can proclaim itself guilt- The union of the Aztecs with the Tolteless of this crime-while even in England chi produced good fruit: the two peoples a month has scarcely passed over since we mixed, and from their contact arose a civiwere on the verge of perpetrating this bar-lization in which remained some traces of baric reprisal upon the prisoner Burke, it the Aztec ferocity blended with the polish does not behoove us to inveigh with exagge- of the aborigines. rated emphasis against the Mexicans for committing an outrage which is so far justified by the code and example of Europe. Moral indignation is a fine sentiment; but it should be guided by some little regard for reason and consistency.

MEXICO AND EUROPE.

(Il diritto — Florence: Democratic, July 5.)

MAXIMILIAN of Hapsburg, by right divine Archduke of Austria, and by right of conquest Emperor of Mexico, was shot by the Republicans on the 19th of last month. We are sorry for this as for human blood which ought not to have been shed, and much less by Republicans.

The country where they landed, rich in the finest products, and having every variety of climate, was the present Mexico, which the natives called Tenochtillan. It was inhabited and governed by the Aztecs, a warlike and priestly race, who, having come from the North, had imposed themselves over the Ancient Toltechi.

They worshipped in the tescalli the god, Mexitli, god of war, they worshipped light also, and expected the Messiah.

Then came Cortez, who united all the Castilian bravery with the political art for which the Spanish school is famous. He contrived to gain over the Cacique of Cempoalla, and to spread discord amongst the inhabitants by stirring up the memories of the Aztec conquest, until at last, having allied himself with the party of Tlascala, he went toward Mexico, the capital, an uninvited guest, but still a guest.

He soon abused this hospitality, took the King Montezuma prisoner, fortified himself in Mexico, and, having to go forth from the city to oppose other Spaniards who had landed to divide the booty with him, he gave the command to the intrepid but brutal Alvarado. This wretch on the occasion of a

festival had almost all the nobility of the place massacred, and then the people, having rebelled against the foreigners, began the most heroical resistance.

The noche triste are well known in the annals of Spain, when Alvarado and Cortez, in the middle of Mexico, surrounded by desperate enemies, owed their life to superhuman efforts.

But the arms of the adventurers were superior; Cortez, saved by a miracle from the noche triste gained at Otumba, bloody battle by the help of the Tlascalesi, laid siege to Mexico again, and took the city by storm, destroyed the inhabitants, and tortured to death with barbarous cruelty the valorous King Quatimozin.

Mexico fell in the Plain of Anahuac where twenty cities once stood a desert appeared.

If the Aztecs, according to their horrid custom devoured their enemies, the Spaniards, who were at that time devouring Italian liberty in Europe, gave the bones of the poor natives to the dogs. Of the two, the Spniards were the worse.

How Mexico was afterwards governed by the Court of Madrid, and the cruel avidity of the Viceroy is evident to any who goes and sees the country. The original race, the Aztec Indians, were divided into repartimientos, given like land or sheep to the conquering whites, so that in a few years that people were decimated and completely brutalized.

The natives could not have civil rights, were confined in small villages, put under a priest and a European lord, They had to live as he liked, and die when Madrid and its followers thought proper. What a mass of ignorance, hatred, and savage customs accumulated in so many years of servitude history knows and Mexico now shows. Europe is reaping now what she sowed.

In 1810 the indignation of the native population broke forth-Hidalgo, a poor curate of Dolores, put himself at the head of the insurgents, guided them to the victory of Las Cruces, laying the foundation of Mexican liberty. Hidalgo having been conquered and shot by the Spaniard Calleja, Morelos arose with the flag of liberty; another priestsimilar to Hidalgo Ma tamoros, having been also shot by Calleja, the hatred of the foreigner remained as bitter as before, so that Iturbide - who was a native was able for a time to make himself Emperor, and to dictate the laws of the

piano d'Iguala which were the legal foundation of the Mexican autonomy. Independence then re-arose, and Iturbide and the empire died.

Thenceforth, Mexico, freed from foreign rule, fell a prey to internal discord.

However, how could one expect that a people which had no one to help it, and only the memory of past centuries of the most brutal condition, should rise all at once to a perfect State? One thing, one holy thing, however, had remained in the Mexi cans - the love of liberty, the hatred of foreign rule.

And this sole virtue Europe tried to suffocate: Napoleon III., Spain, and England. taking as their pretext some financial questions, decided to intervene by arms in the affairs of Mexico. They went; but Spain and England, more careful than Napoleon, soon drew back at Soledad, leaving Napoleon to manage the enterprise, and to rule the country, and encounter the tremendous jealousy of the United States.

The French were beaten at Pueblas, but afterwards conquered, and having shot the enemy's generals, succeeded in subjecting a part of Mexico, while the Republicans had withdrawn to the more distant provinces.

Then Maximilian of Austria was thought of, an ambitious spirit, although personally honest and good. Some notables got up for the occasion offered him the throne. He went to America, accepted it, and trusted to his good fortune and the help of the French.

[ocr errors]

The scene, however, was soon changed. The United States turned the French out by a few words, and Maximilian remained alone. He fought bravely, rushed boldly at his enemies, and was taken and shot...

We should have voted for his not been killed. But we shall not insult Mexico on that account. He who attacks the liberty of a people has to play a terrible game, for which he must be prepared.

The noche triste have been repeated, after 330 years, at Queretaro, Maximilian has fallen into the tomb into which the Europeans thrust Montezuma, Quatimozin, Hidalgo, Matamoros, and so many others. Juarez, a descendant of the conquered Aztecs, has killed Maximilian of Austria, a descendant of Charles V., the first conqueror of Mexico. . . .

The Archduke was a brave man, but that is all. For the rest, we hail the victory of Mexico with joy.

[blocks in formation]

MR. WRIGHT is not, we must admit, a

proof; and after a pause, putting his hand into his pocket, he took out a bunch of keys, which he threw at Grimaldi, saying, There, villain! take my keys, and behave better for the future.""

An

very interesting biographer. His subject Mr. Wright doubts this story, which came had a career well deserving record, he has direct from Wesley's own lips, apparently ample materials and he writes clearly from simple hatred of Wesley, but it is exenough, but he heaps up uninteresting de-ceedingly characteristic of both men. tails, has no clear notion of his hero, and is entirely deficient in picturesqueness. Still, the book seems accurate enough, except, as we suspect rather than know, when it treats of the Wesleys, who had a feud with General Oglethorpe, which has made his memory odious to the denomination, and it revives the memory of a very considerable though nearly forgotten personage, who was among the first of English philanthropists, and founded a great American State. James Oglethorpe was born on the 1st of June, 1689, the third son of Sir Theophilus Oglethorpe, Knight, representative of an old family in the West Riding, and owner of a considerable estate in Surrey. He served as a young man under Prince Eugéne, and in 1722 was returned to Parliament for Haslemere. Surrey, as a high Tory, which meant in those days something like what Newdegatism would be now. He was a Tory of the good kind, independent, high-principled, sincerely attached to the people, and with a fund of common sense and courage. His bravery, indeed. was rash, and he was to the end of his life prone to duelling, which he seems to have considered the only mode in which a gentleman could defend himself. He had a stern temper, too, which he himself thought a deal sterner than it really was; witness the following story:

"Mr. Wesley, hearing an unusual noise in the cabin of General Oglethorpe, stepped in to inquire the cause, on which the General immediately addressed him: Mr. Wesley, you must excuse me. I have met with a provoca tion too much for a man to bear. You know, the only wine I drink is Cyprus wine, as it agrees with me the best of any. I therefore provided myself with several dozens of it, and this villain, Grimaldi [his foreign servant, who was present, and almost dead with fear], has drunk nearly the whole of it. But I will be revenged. He shall be tied hand and foot, and carried to the man-of-war. The rascal should have taken care how he used me so; for I never forgive. Then I hope, Sir,' said Mr. Weslev, looking calmly at him, you never sin.' The General was quite confounded at the re

• Memoir of General James Oglethorpe. By R. Wright. London: Chapman and Hall.

almost precisely similar story is told of the
late Lord Durham, and as it is by no means
unusual to find good and kindly men who
are unable to put up with the, as they feel it,
impertinent dishonesty of domestic servants,
we see no reason whatever for supposing
that either Wesley or his biographer in-
vented the little incident.
That Ogle-
thorpe sympathized strongly with suffering
is certain, but is by no means a proof that
he would not flog a thief. Be that as it
may, he was the first to call attention to the
shocking state of the Debtor's Prisons,
which were private property, ruled by low
scoundrels with the power of feudal lords,
one of whom was accustomed to load his
prisoners with chains, while another used to
wreak his spite on debtors without money
by tying the dead to the living. That par-
ticular miscreant, Acton was the name
of him - bribed the jury which tried him,
but Oglethorpe, by the assiduous exertions
of three years and incessant references to
Parliament, reduced the prisons to some
sort of order and decency. He was a de-
termined free-trader; not, we imagine, from
our economic ideas, but from a general per-
ception that a differential duty involved a
fine to be paid by an innocent person, which
he could not abide. He wanted the colo-
nies, for example, to be placed commercially
on the precise footing of English counties,
and actually succeeded in convincing a
House, of Commons of that day that if a
machine would make silk better than a
handloom, the machine benefited the na-
tion, a bit of wisdom which even now can-
not be driven into some Unionists' heads.
The following sentence shows in very few
lines the businesslike shrewdness of the man.
The House was inquiring into the great
fraud known as the robbery of the Chari-
table Corporation, and there was a question
in the House whether the Corporation, which
was simply a bank on the Scotch principle,
was, or was not, charitable and beneficial.
Whereupon Oglethorpe says:

"People may call it "charitable," or not, as they please; but I always looked upon it as an act of charity to let necessitous persons have money to borrow upon easier terms than they

could have it elsewhere. Money, like other things, is but a commodity, and, in the way of dealing, the use thereof, as well as of other things, is looked upon to be worth as much as people can get for it. If this corporation let necessitous people have the use of their money at a cheaper rate than any other persons would lend money at, they were certainly useful to the public, and were so far to be reckoned a charitable corporation and if they had asked more than was usual to be given, they would not have had any customers.'

[ocr errors]
[blocks in formation]

ernor, only stipulating that he should have no emoluments, and that slavery should be prohibited as fatal to the industry and char acter of free labourers. He arrived in Georgia with his strange crew in January, 1733, and as his first act selected a spot for the future capital of the colony. His first day's proceedings reveal the man :

"Glad to be released from the confinement of their close vessels, and to find themselves once more on dry land, they had little time to look about them, for they must prepare some means of shelter. So the men immediately set pines, cedars, and evergreen oaks, with which to work, and tore branches from the nearest

to form rude tents or bowers. These were rapidly made by sticking two forked poles into the ground, and laying another on the top, over which were spread sheets, cloaks, and blankets. At nightfall à watch-fire was kindled, and when their Governor made his midnight round, all except the sentinels he had posted to guard the encampment seemed to be sunk in peaceful slumber. Next morning he again called the people together to thank God for His mercy in bringing them safely to the land of their adop of their duties as the founders of a new colony, tion Then, addressing them, he reminded them and told them that the seed sown by themselves would, morally as well as literally, bring forth its increase, either for good or for evil, in after generations. Above all, he warned them against drunkenness, from which some of them had already suffered. The importation of ardent spirits was illegal, but as, in spite of every care, rum might find its way amongst them, they be exposed. This he recommended not only must resist any temptation to which they might on their own account, but on that of their Indian neighbours. Experience had proved that the red man soon became addicted to the habit of drinking European fire-water,' which was invariably fatal to him. But it is my hope,' added Oglethorpe, 'that through your good example, the settlement of Georgia may prove a blessing and not a curse to the native inhab that it was necessary they should labour in Then, having explained to his hearers

In 1732 Mr. Oglethorpe betook himself to larger enterprises. He had read a "wild" scheme, framed by Sir Robert Montgomery, to found a colony in the border land between South Carolina and the Spanish dominions, to be called the Margravate of Azilia, with Sir Robert as Margrave, and bethought him that his unhappy debtors might in this way be made useful. He wrote:-"Let us cast our eyes on the multitude of unfortunate people in this kingdom of reputable families and of liberal education; some undone by guardians, some by lawsuits, some by accidents in commerce, some by stocks and bubbles, some by surety. ship; but all agree in this one circumstance, that they must either be burthensome to their relations, or betake themselves to little shifts for sustenance which, it is ten to one, do not answer their purposes, and to which a well-educated person descends with the utmost constraint. These are the persons that may relieve themselves and strengthen Georgia by resorting thither, and Great Britain by their departure." "To the objection which might be made, that such persons were unable for the drudgery of agriculture, he replies that in Georgia they would have land for nothing, and that land so fertile as to yield a hundredfold increase. 'Give here in England,' he adds, ten acres of good land to one of these helpless persons, and I doubt not his ability to make it sustain him; but the difference between no He carried his notion of duty to the Inrent and rack-rent is the difference between dians straightway into practice, compelled eating and starving." He therefore called his people to respect them, won the natives' on the public to aid him in founding a true confidence till they referred tribal disputes Cave of Adullam, a colony of debtors in to his arbitration, and throughout his reign Georgia, and the public subscribed him absolutely forbade all cruelty or oppression, 10,000l., and the Crown gave him and other even the taking of land clearly in occupatrustees power to found what was in fact a tion. So keenly did he sympathize with State. The applications were numerous, the Indians that he learned their language, the affair grew, and Oglethorpe at last con- and when one of their number died on a sented to take upon him the office of Gov-visit to England he took them all down at

itants.'

common until the site of the town was cleared, and having encouraged them to work amicably and cheerfully together, he dismissed them."

ample, that America could never be subdued by force, and recommended as a first step the removal of all just grievances. He was, in fact, up to his lights a just man, competent to govern other men, and we wish that this, the first clear biography of him, had been written in a style less like that befitting a family chronicle or diary of explor

From the Spectator.

THE OPEN POLAR SEA.*

great inconvenience to his country-seat, in
order that in the woods of Westbrook they
might wail for their dead in their own fash-
ion, without fear of ridicule, and so comfort
their minds. That little incident seems to
us to bear unmistakable testimony to Ogle-
thorpe's genuine kindness and sympathy
with the suffering, however far beneath him-
self. He was repaid by the unswerving ing adventure.
fidelity of his protégés, who during his reign
as founder, and subsequently as Command-
er-in-chief, were never tempted by the high
Spanish bribes, and never quarrelled with
him, except, when he refused peremptorily
to allow a niassacre. Oglethorpe, said a
great Creek chief to Spaniards, who piled
up scarlet clothes and silver before him, if
only he would betray his ally, can give us
nothing, but "We love him. It is true he
does not give us silver; but he gives us
everything we want that he has. He has
given me the coat off his back and the blan-
ket from under him." A body of persecut-
ed German Protestants, Salzburgers, were
subsequently added to the colony, while
from time to time Oglethorpe, returning to
England and resuming his seat in Parlia-
ment, brought out hundreds of needy or
impoverished settlers. His efforts even
touched the imagination of poets. Thom-
son sang his praise in his poems on "Liber-
ty." With intervals of English life he re-
mained in Georgia ten years, building,
planting, organizing, fighting Spaniards,
conciliating Indians, doing all the work of
a true ruler of men, and then, suspected at
home of Jacobite tendencies, he returned
home not one penny or one acre the richer,
to dwell in peace and honour for forty-two
more years in Essex, on an estate belong-
ing to his uncle. He lived to see the colo-
ny he had founded a great and independent
but slaveholding State- the colonists in-
sisting on their right to lease slaves, though
they could not buy them-retaining at
ninety-five his erect bearing, keen eyes,
and habitual activity. "His eyes," writes
Walpole in 1785, "ears, articulation, limbs,
and memory would suit a boy, if a boy
could recollect a century backwards. His
teeth are gone; he is a shadow, and a
wrinkled one; but his spirits and his spirit
are in full bloom. Two years and a half
ago he challenged a neighbouring gentle
man for trespassing on his manor.' To the
last he was a fierce Tory, declaring that
there could be no basis of authority save the
divine right of the King to rule, and to the
last was, as the English legitimists often
were, a fierce opponent of tyranny and op-
pression. He told the Government, for ex-

[ocr errors]

THIS remarkable book is not a work of science, but, in fact, the popular part of that which, if published, in full would be a work of science in the proper sense, namely, the record of a scientific exploration undertaken for public ends. The scientific part of Dr. Hayes's voyage, begun in 1860 and ended in 1861, is in the hands of the Smithsonian Institution awaiting publication, and the volume before us is a popular instalment of a work which is, or ought to be, an addition to the knowledge of the globe, since Dr. Hayes claims to have proved the existence of an open polar sea. Soon after his return from that sea, Dr. Hayes placed his principal records at the disposal of the Smithsonian Institution at Washington, comprising papers giving a full analysis of his magnetic, meteorological astronomical, geographical, pendulum, and tidal observations. Not a little, certainly. With Dr. Hayes, and in equal ignorance of the cause, we, too, regret that the publication of such records should have been so much delayed. From his preface, it is difficult to say (he dates October, 1866) if they have really not yet been published, and if not, why not? At all events, we have not seen them, and we understand him to say that they were not published when he published the present volume. We also understand him to hint that the Smithsonian Institution have failed him in some promise or other to publish his records, and he seems to speak of their publication as a contingency which might happen at any time, but one upon which, to use Lord Dundreary's expression, " no fellow" could calculate. If that is not Dr. Hayes's meaning, then all we can say is that his style is lucid,

[ocr errors]

The Open Polar Sea: a Narrative of a VoySchooner "United_States." By Dr. 1. I. Hayes. London: Sampson Low, and Co,

age of Discovery towards the North Pole, in the

« ZurückWeiter »