372 THE ROADS THROUGH THE WORLD. the number of his old friend Charles Wesley. It is unfortunate that no record remains of his reconciliation with John Wesley, who was the grand home missionary of England in the last century. The only intimation on the subject is in one of John Wesley's diaries, in which he notices a visit to Mr. Hutton, who, he believes, will be saved, but as by fire. The editor, Mr. Benham, has gone through his labours from attachment to their object, with much perseverance and zeal. The volume will be useful both to ecclesiastical students and his torians, while it gives to all many gratifying pictures of the domestic life of society a hundred years ago-vastly different in some respects to that of the present age. THE ROADS THROUGH THE WORLD. CHAPTER XX. THE DIGNITY OF SUFFERING. As I began to know exactly how long I had been ill, and how sickly I had been, and very like to die, with the consciousness of so many watchings having taken place with me, and of having been the subject of consultations between Dr. More and Dr. Groom, and that the neighbours had called carly every morning to hear how I had got over the night, and at night to learn how I had got through the day-those days and nights that were nothing to me-I gathered a sort of importance in my own mind, especially after I was duly impressed with the conviction that I should by nearly all precedents, have at this time departed this life, according to the phraseology of the gravestones. Also, I had something of the idea common to the man who has had losses, and can think of them as borne and fulfilled in all their parts. No small loss was mine-a whole spring time was gone to a boy almost clear of David Petrie; and unable to be corrected in the parish school-although it had once almost aspired to be considered an academy, and a boarding school for young gentlemen, while even Greek had been learned there, and the schoolmaster could speak French, although old Mrs. Stewart-Sergeant Stewart's wife-who had been with her husband in the South of France, declared that she never heard any French in its ain country in ony way coming near to Mr. Petrie's. course I could see that Mr. Petrie and Mrs Stewart were both right-she being not booklearned in the language, and he being nothing else, while the French are the most miserable pronouncers, as it has always seemed to me, who ever used a civilised form of letters, or anything before the marks, like cut nails, called cunieform characters, which Dr. More could get through and understand like A.B.C. Of Then I was to lose the summer likewise, being long weak and not able to go on with hard workand close reading is not easy work. Moreover, I seemed to grow like a rush bush in a bog, day by day perceptibly; and thus attained, in my own mind, a sort of artificial consequence and importance, very probably common to all boys, as they bid farewell for ever and for ever to boyhood's days and dreams. Before the longest day I was a resident at the Upper Burn, as idle as any of its sheep, except for two or three books. I could look over an expanse not so very vast either-of five or six miles to the confines of our valley; but the distance seemed far to me who had not been a land-louper or rolling-stone theretofore. Even that short distance had, however, made a great alteration in the climate, and the herbs that grew out of the earth, when left to itself. The mosses, living and prospering on the atmosphere alone, fastened their roots on the surface of the granite rocks, like elastic bands, and clung to their hard seat, as if they were instructed to make a layer of soil ultimately above the solid stone. They lived on the atmosphere, but they lived better on air and water, and when their roots touched a spring, they threw up long and slender stalks for eight or nine inches; and they were mosses still. The heath needed soil, hard and thin often, but always something to rest in; and perhaps might be at a third or fourth stage in making earth; while in its present state it supports vast flocks of sheep, and innumerable bees rob its flowers in the summer time. The trees that fringed the brooklets and the loch were different to ours-self planted, and more like giant's bushes than trees. The craggy mountains and the dark forests were nearer, and seemed almost to look down from above, threatening to topple over upon and crush the Upper Burn; but those who sought to climb them found a reasonable distance between the house and the cairn, from which, however, we could see the Eildon hills far, far away to the south, and the snow sheltered from the sun at all seasons in the crags and recesses of Lochnagar to the north. The prospect to the east and the south was formed by long reaches of fertile land, that melted away into mist-it might be the mist above the sea. Here and there blue wreaths rose from the land, and the shepherds gave them the names of towns-so far away that their very smoke was strange to see. To the north the scenery was absolutely different; for we could see little or nothing more than a host of mountain tops with deep chasms between them, as if they had been tumbled down together with out order, but as thick as they could stand. Strangely fantastic shapes had these mountains; and they were all different. The peak or the THE EMIGRANTS. full round top were uncommon. Generally they seemed to have been roughly used; and half torn up into jagged fragments, giving at first the idea of pain, and by and by of strength. They had little or no vegetation on their bare, grey, and hard tops; but where we could see far down upon them, the reddish heath with green broom and furze began first, and then the dark green pines. It might be possible that, seeing the world, as it were, made me a little more ambitious-helped to stretch the mind, and I could not clear myself from the thought that the few keepers and the shepherds who passed their days among these hills, saw more of life than the ploughmen on the inland farms; but it was only seeing, for their trade was lonely, while every day was not clear, dry, and warm. The tempests shook out. their strength upon the hills before they crept down' baffled and exhausted, to the glens. Never. theless, they came only slightly during my sojourn at the Upper Burn. At that time stories were commonly told of clearances far to the north, beyond the great belt of mountains. people of entire parishes were ordered out of their homes, according to these legends. Still, it was hoped that the narratives might be worse than the realities, only I heard the people speaking of the matter as a sore calamity; and it was said that similar schemes would be tried in our quarter. So one day a man came with a notice that there would be a sale of plenishing and stock, at a farm ten miles to the west, on another Laird's ground, and in another parish. It was said that the Laird, being a peer and never so rich, wanted out the people of the farm, because it stood close to the side of a deer forest that he had constructed. The The making of these deer forests is the easiest thing imaginable. You have just to turn a number of families out of their homes and way of life-and do nothing. The ground does not need to be sown with salt, as in China. It grows all wild herbs in profusion; but some years pass before they can fully hide the traces of man. It is useless to do more than unroof the houses and fling down the walls. The grass grows up among the stones and conceals them. Wild berry bushes get into the garden ground, and mantle over every vestige of man with a living green. Many years, however, pass before everything be fairly covered up and forgotten. CHAPTER XXI. THE EMIGRANTS. WHEN the day came, I went to the sale with some of the neighbours, not to buy, but to see; for I had nothing wherewith to pay, and was totally out of the need of stock. Still, I had been obeying Mr. Petrie's last injunctions, and reading my books, as I would have done if that worthy man had still 33 exercised personal power over me. Therefore, I thought, as Terence said, homo sum, but the assertion stuck on my mind as being false in the circumstances; yet, not being the only boy in the world, I got justified to myself for the journey in that way. Moreover, being curious to see a strange land minutely, that argument came to my help. The good man and good wife of Upper Burn had known David Campbell by name, and, in some measure, by sight, for many years. He was supposed not to be bare in the world, and the stock for sale confirmed the idea that he was not a penny behind with his rent. The roads were bad, and we spent three hours in partly riding there. The farm of Braeside was just what the name implied. It stretched over a vast quantity of land, of which the better portions were in crop, other parts in grass, and the larger proportion in heath. The cottages for the shepherds seemed comfortable in their way, and the farm-buildings were not old, but they were large. The great man had to pay a huge sum of money for them at the break in the lease, as I supposed; but he was so rich that it must have been a relief to get quit of some such sum, or he would not have thrown down the good houses, merely that the deer might not be frightened by the sheep and their keepers. The farmer would have paid more rent, if that had been wished, for the ground, but the answer to all applications on that subject was that Campbell would do better in Australia. He had, not for that reason, but with the determination of being independent of lairds' whims, decided to go to Australia. The four or five shepherds with their families had agreed to accompany him, so that the auctioneer was enabled to say that this was a clear sale, without reserve, of everything that could be moved from Braeside. As I conjectured, there were several persons of my time of life interested in the sale. There were young Campbells at the big house, and other young people at the smaller houses, and everyone of them seemed out of heart. The upbreaking of a household by public roup is a thoughtful thing, if rightly considered. All the odds and ends, and bits of furniture, not worth much set in a new place, seem thrown away; and yet they have all some association connected with them, it may be, to those who sell, and none, probably, to the buyers. Mrs. Campbell, the elder, was the farmer's mother; and she had lived on Braeside since she was married, where he was born, and all her other children; and there the old "Braeside" had died, and he was lifted from that house. She could not bear to see the scattering of all that she had lived to collect, and had gone away some days before with the younger children to the place from which they were to sail for a new world. The shepherds were all married men also and had families, and when that day's work was over, they were all to go their way for the night to some distant neighbours, on their road also to the deep seas. The displenishing of the big house was a distressing thing to the younger Mrs. Campbell, seeing that she had expected to live there all her days; for Braeside was within sight of Greyhill, and that was half way to Upper Burn-and she was the elder of the family at Greyhill. Thus, in a sense, she could have said like the Shunamite woman-that she dwelt among her own people, and neither wanted to be introduced to court nor courtier. And she was sore put out when the last cow in the byre was brought out for sale-a white and black cow -for the creature saw her and lowed so uncommon wise-like, that folks thought the beast was taking leave of its mistress. The auctioneer seemed to know them all well; and saw that the mistress would rather not sell that cow, for it is curious how in these hill places some dumb animals are greater favourites than others—and so he said "I suppose, Mr. Campbell, I can get nothing off this beast; she'll be better sent to Greyhill." The farmer was a proud sort of man, and did not like to seem down-hearted among neigbours or as if he were vexed; but he said "Well, I suppose she must be sent wi' the ponies." And the sale was ended-except the little sales down at the shepherds' houses. It was like enough that there also some of the beasts would have been kept, if poor folk had not needed money for such a long journey; and besides they had no Grey hill. There were two motherless children who dwelt with their father, and he had three or four sheep, or 66 39 may be more. When everything else was sold that belonged to himexcept the children's mother's chest, and such things as were to be needed on the voyage, a lamb of that year and his two girls-little things of four or five years old—were missing. And when they were found beneath some bushes a short way from the houses, they had the little lamb cowering between them—with ropes of wild flowers round its neck; and they were sore distressed when the men came to lead it away. The people at the sale were all sorry for the children and their pet lamb, for all the other children had mothers, and their's was gone. Mrs. Campbell was riding one of the ponies down the brae to Greyhill, and not by the way of the sale, for she had left her first house of her own and all its bien appurtenances, and was cast down and waesome; but one of her boys ran over from the crowd to her, and we heard him crying, "Mother, they're sellin' awa frae them Elsie an' Nannie Lang's wee lamb!" In one or two minutes the boy came running back, and when the lamb was put up for sale he bade the full price, and nobody bade on him, so it was sold; but some time after I heard that Mrs. Campbell persuaded her husband to let the children's pet go out with some of the best sheep that he had kept for his Australian farm. I heard little more of the Braeside flitting, except on the way to Upper Burn. Old Samuel Coutts greatly disliked the proceeding, and, as usual with him, quoted Scrip ture against those who add field to field. However applicable the text may be, that was the first of many clearings in the same quarter, until a country side was cleared out, and a large Kirkyard has grown like a jungle, for the weeds hide all the stones. Years after I met with Elsie Lang-many years after-but where, or how, can be told at the proper time. CHAPTER XXII. THE HEIRS OF BLINKBONNIE. SUMMER passed and autumn was wearing away, when my place of abode was changed. Ere then I became acquainted with all the curious points in the history of the heirs of Blinkbonnie. They were traced in the dream, which rests on no higher authority than that of Dr. More; for it may be easily supposed that I never inquired the particulars of such a man as Mr. Rose, of Blinkbonnie, H.E.I.C.S. That would have been impossible. Also, being opposed to inquisitive habits into other people's business, doings, or dreams, all my life over, I learned every particular without prying into things that did not concern me, in any other way than in my affection for the memory of the dead. The history of the Blinkbonnie heirship might be put into a short paragraph. Mr. Rose was born in the north country. He was one of a numerous family who all died young, that is before they had gone out into the world, except Miss Rose and himself. When their father and mother died, they removed to Edinburgh, and dwelt there for some time; while the brother completed certain studies. Miss Rose had been acquainted with, and one may say attached to, a Mr. Cameron, from the same country, before the death of her parents. He was the younger son of, I believe, the younger son of a proud Laird, who boasted of his relationship, as second cousin, to the great Lochiel. Mr. Rose was only an annuitant. Mrs. Rose possessed a very small property. Miss Rose was therefore respectable, but not rich. On that account, young Cameron, some years previously, formed the idea of purchasing a property in Canada, and acting as the pioneer of civilisation. He left his native land with that purpose; bought land on the edge of one of the great lakes, built a house, cleared some fields, and returned for his promised bride. They were married in Edinburgh, and Mrs. Cameron parted with her only brother, never in a long life to meet again. He went to India, and their correspondence was regular for many years; yet, one sees how, when the course of post was eighteen months out and in, that letters were less interesting than in our times. Mr. Cameron died, and Mrs. Cameron removed, with her only daughter, to one of the small Canadian towns. There they formed the acquaintance of a wild and young officer, who was then with his regiment at that station, Miss POLITICAL NARRATIVE. Cameron, rather in opposition to her mother's opinion, married the young gentleman. He was extravagant : he gambled, and he spent money freely. To shield him from disgrace, the lake property, cleared by Mr. Cameron, by this time extensive, and let well—an unusual thing in Canada then-was burthened to an intolerable amount. The family suffered penury. This was increased when the young husband was ordered with his regiment to a distant station. He was compelled to leave his wife and children in their native colony; because he could not pay for their removal. Mr. Rose had been made acquainted with Mr. Cameron's death, and with the death of his sister. His subsequent letters had not been answered, but he supposed that the family prospered. It was a case of Highland pride. The young wife and mother was also sunk in deeper distress by the death of her husband at the station to which his regiment had been ordered. Some people might have thought that such a worthless person might be spared much sorrow-knowing not how a loving heart clings to one's own, even through much folly. It seems, moreover, that the young officer, except that he spent his family means and made no provision for their wants-an important exception-was not otherwise cruel to them, and he had left all the papers connected with the mortgaged remuant of his family estates with his wife. She also had written at last to her uncle, but in the confusion incident to his change of residence, the letters had not been re 375 ceived. Then she came, with little money, to Scotland, and brought her family to examine into the condition of "that mortgaged remnant." She gathered information as she best could, from different quarters, without explain. ing the reason. These inquiries, must have been very shallow and timid, or she might have reached the truth. But everybody gave a bad report of the young laird, who died in a foreign land, and she shrunk from explaining her connexion. Another week might have compelled another line of action. No other week came to her; for, when Dr. More and Mr. Cairns read over the papers in their possession, they were convinced painfully that the mother of the three children, whom David Robertson found in the snow, dead, was the niece of the present owner of Blink Bonnie, and the wife of the previous laird, whose property had been sold at the expiry of the mortgage. A The roads of the two cousins who never met on earth met in the same Kirkyard and closed there; or both closed on a Saturday night of summer and one of winter-in the water and in the snow. dark, dark road had closed to one, and a darkening road brightened to three on that last evening. Nevertheless, the brighter road of the three had long a solemn shadow flung over it; flung from the great oak tree opposite these windows, and the new grave beside the wall of the old Kirk of Kirkhowe. POLITICAL NARRATIVE. THE new Parliament met on the last day of April to choose a Speaker, and Mr. Evelyn Denison was elected without opposition, The message from the throne was delivered on the 7th of May, and was rather long and rambling. MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN, We are commanded to inform you that her Majesty has availed herself of the earliest opportunity of having recourse to your advice and assistance after the dissolution of the last Parliament; and her Majesty trusts that there will be found sufficient time during the present session to enable you satisfactorily to deal with various important matters, some of which had occupied the attention of Parliament in the beginning of this year. We are commanded by her Majesty to inform you that the general aspect of affairs in Europe affords a well-grounded eonfidence in the continuance of peace. All the main stipulations of the Treaty of Paris have been carried into execution, and it is to be hoped that what remains to be done in regard to these matters will be speedily accomplished. The negotiations upon the subject of the differences which had arisen betwen the King of Prussia and the Swiss Confederation, in regard to the affairs of Neufchatel, are drawing to a close, and will, her Majesty trusts, be terminated by an arrangement honourable and satisfactory to all parties, The negotiations in which her Majesty has been engaged with the Government of the United States, and with the Government of Honduras, in regard to the affairs of Central America, have not yet been brought to a close. We are commanded by her Majesty to inform you that a Treaty of Peace between her Majesty and the Shah of Persia was signed at Paris on the 4th of March, by her Majesty's Ambassador at Paris, and by the Ambassador of the Shah; and her Majesty will give directions that this treaty shall be laid before you as soon as the ratifications thereof shall have been duly exchanged. Her Majesty commands us to express to you her regret that, at the date of the latest advices from China, the differ. ences which had arisen between the High Commissioner at Canton and her Majesty's Civil and Naval Officers, in China, still remained unadjusted. But her Majesty has sent to China a plenipotentiary fully instructed to deal with all matters of difference, and that plenipotentiary will be supported by an adequate naval and military force, in the event of such assistance becoming necessary. We are commanded to inform you that her Majesty, in conjunction with several other European Powers, has con cluded a Treaty with the King of Denmark for the redemp tion of the Sound Dues. This Treaty, together with a Sepa rate Convention between her Majesty and the King of Den mark, completing the arrangement, will be laid before you and her Majesty will cause the measures necessary for fulfil ing the engagements thereby contracted to be submitted for be considered fraudulent. The proceedings in the your consideration. GENTLEMEN OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, Her Majesty has directed the estimates for the present year to be laid before you. They have been prepared with a careful attention to economy, and with a due regard to the efficiency of the departments of the public service to which they severally relate. MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN, Her Majesty commands us to recommend to your carnest consideration, measures which will be proposed to you for the consolidation and improvement of the law. Bills will be submitted to you for improving the laws relating to the Testamentary and Matrimonial Jurisdiction now exercised by the Ecclesiastical Courts, and also for checking fraudulent breaches of trust. Her Majesty commands us to express to you her heartfelt gratification at witnessing the continued wellbeing and contentment of her people, and the progresive development of productive industry throughout her dominions. Her Majesty confidently commits to your wisdom and care the great interests of her empire, and fervently prays that the blessing of Almighty God may be vouchsafed to your deliberations, and may lead you to conclusions conducive to the objects of her Majesty's constant solicitude, the welfare and happiness of her loyal and faithful people. Following the approved pattern and precedent, it told nothing that was not previously known, and nothing that was known on which an amendment could have been prudently suspended. The members selected to move the address in reply were new men, according to the fashion which gives this duty to persons of limited Parliamentary experience; although for this season the Commoners did not want political experience. Mr. Buchanan, of Glasgow, is a gentleman of mature years, yet he dashed into the midst of the Chinese question, and intimated that the nation had defeated Cobden and Gladstone because their unsophisticated sense could not follow the opinions of these very talented gentlemen. Mr. Cobden was not there to answer. Mr. Gladstone was willing to hear the truth in silence. General Thompson alone seemed willing to maintain the scarcely doubtful reputation of Yeh. He also is an old friend of Sir John Bowring, who, more than any man of modern times, needs to dread his candid friends. Certainly those who remember General Thompson's good services to many liberal measures for many years must feel a little grieved to find him, in Parliament, defending the greatest tyrant, without exception, of the day. Although he spoke "in the name of his constituency, the hard-working men of Bradford," we have reason to believe them to be a civilised race, who have no particular affection for the greatest head chopper of the century. The message from the Queen mentioned only two measures that Parliament was expected to pass during the remainder of the session. One of them relates to the improvement of the English Ecclesiastical Courts, which are not without the need of some radical reform; and the other to the punishment of fraudulent directors and managers of jointstock companies. The declaration of a dividend without the means of payment from revenue will Royal British Bank and the Tipperary Bank would be considered criminal, and punished accordingly, under this proposed Act. It is even supposed that they may be punished under the present law. Although the message from the Crown was thus barren in domestic matters, the afternoon brought important announcements. The Secretary for the Colonies stated his intention to move for the appointment of a committee on the condition of the Hudson Bay Company's territories. The Chancellor of the Exchequer intimated the renewal of the Committee on the currency laws. The Premier stated that a new Reform Bill could not be passed in the session, but that the Government would prepare a measure during the recess, and submit it to Parliament at the commencement of 1858. Upon a subsequent evening the First Lord of the Admiralty defended the selection of the Transit steamer to convey the 90th Regiment to China, and proved conclusively that the ship was all right and proper ; but we deeply regret that the Transit makes very bad work on the water, and heartily wish, for the sake of Yeh and the 90th, that they were all safe in China. The Commons voted for the army £9,025,360, for the effective, and nearly twenty-five per cent, of the amount, or £2,221,875 for the non-effective part of the force. The latter charge will remain heavy for a considerable time to come. The expense of the German legion's transference to the borders of the Caffres, in the Cape Town colony, excited many ill-natured remarks; met by the Premier and others, by assurances that the Germans would have fought bravely if they had been required. No doubt is thrown upon the supposition that the Germans would have fought well by those who say that they should not have been better remunerated than those soldiers who did fight well. It was a bargain, said Viscount Palmerston, made by us when we could obtain no more trained men in Britain; but to that we reply that the Germans were not trained, and this is the probable reason why they never fired a shot in serious warfare. They were not ready, and British recruits, enlisted long after this legion was formed, fought, and fought well, many of them even to the death. We consider still that the German Legion was a job, and a very useless one, from which nobody gained anything; for we do not suppose that the German recruits were overpaid, if they had any pluck in them, a matter that has yet to be determined. Eight millions sterling have been voted for the Navy; and it is the most important business yet transacted by the new House of Commons. The match between the Princess Royal of England and the Prince of Prussia, the younger, is now a settled matter. The betrothal has occurred in Prussia in the usual form. It has also occurred here, in the shape of a message from the Crown announcing the fact, and a resolution of the Commons to grant a dowry of £40,000 in cash, and a |