may, I will tell you a secret, to begin with. Your father has had a letter from that Mrs M'Gruder, where you lived." "From her?" said Dolly, growing so suddenly pale that she seemed about to faint; "are you sure of this?" "My mother saw it; she read part of it; and here's what it implies, that it was all my fault-at least the fault of knowing me- -that cost you your place. She tells, not very unfairly, all things considered, about that unlucky night when I came under the windows and had that row with her husband; and then she hints at something, and I'll be hanged if I can make out at what; and if my mother knows, which I suspect she does not, she has not told me: but whatever it be, it is in some way mixed up with your going away; and knowing, my dear Dolly, that you and I can talk to one another as few people can in this world-is it not so? Are you ill, dear-are you faint?" 66 Put your head down here on my shoulder, my poor Dolly. How pale you are! and your hands so cold. What is it you say, darling? I can't hear." Her lips moved, but without a sound, and her eyelids fell lazily over her eyes, as, pale and scarcely seeming to breathe, she leaned heavily towards him, and fell at last in his arms. There stood against the opposite wall of the room a little horse-hair sofa, a hard and narrow bench, to which he carried her, and, with her head supported by his arm, he knelt down beside her, as helpless a nurse as ever gazed on sickness. "There, you are getting better, my dear, dear Dolly," he said, as a long heavy sigh escaped her. "You will be all right presently, my poor dear." "Fetch me a little water," said she, faintly. Tony soon found some, and held it to her lips, wondering the while how it was he had never before thought Dolly beautiful, so regular were the features, so calm the brow, so finely traced the mouth, and the well-rounded chin beneath it. How strange it seemed that the bright eye and the rich colour of health should have served to hide rather than heighten these traits! "I think I must have fainted, Tony," said she, weakly. "I believe you did, darling," said he. "And how was it? were we talking, Tony what I was saying to you." Of what Tell me Tony was afraid to refer to what he feared might have had some share in her late seizure; he dreaded to recur to it. "I think I remember it," said she, slowly, and as if struggling with the difficulty of a mental effort. "But stay; is not that the wicket I heard? Father is coming, Tony;" and as she spoke the heavy foot of the minister was heard on the passage. "Eh, Tony man, ye here? I'd rather hae seen ye at the evening lecture; but ye're no fond of our form of worship, I believe. The Colonel, your father, I have heard, was a strong Episcopalian.' "I was on my way to Coleraine, Doctor, and I turned off at the mill to see Dolly, and ask her how she was." 66 Ye winna stay to supper, then?" said the old man, who, hospitable enough on ordinary occasions, had no wish to see the Sabbath evening's meal invaded by the presence of a guest, even of one so well known as Tony. Tony muttered some not very connected excuses, while his eyes turned to Dolly, who, still pale and sickly-looking, gave him one little brief nod, as though to say it were better he should go; and the old minister himself stood erect in the middle of the floor, calmly and almost coldly waiting the words "Good-bye." "Am I to tell mother you'll come to us to-morrow, Doctor-you and Dolly?" asked Tony, with his hand on the door. "It's no on the Sabbath evening we should turn our thoughts to feastin', Master Tony; and none know that better than your worthy mother. I wish you a good evening and a pleasant walk.' "Good-night," said Tony, shutting the door sharply; "and," muttered he to himself, "if you catch me crossing your threshold again, Sab OUR NEUTRALITY. THE most earnest partisan of the Federal States of America in this country must admit that the friends of the South have been extremely moderate in the expression of their sympathies. All the clamour has been made by the friends of the North; meetings have been convened, violent articles written, claptrap appeals made, and prosecutions instituted, all in the interests of the Federals. So long as no substantial injustice was apparent, this was submitted to, and the good result at least followed that no grounds were afforded to the Northern Government on which to base a quarrel or an accusation. But unless the advocates of the South are much less warm in their sympathy than we suppose them to be, this comfortable state of things cannot be expected to last much longer. Α conviction that Lord Russell has permitted his private political predilections to influence the policy of the Government in American affairs has long been gaining ground, and is now beginning to find expression. If, then, the Confederate party in this country is provoked into attempting to redress the balance, and if, when it gives full and appropriate vent to its feelings, the public should join in the outburst in a way not at all conducive to the preservation of friendly relations with the North, the fault must lie with those indiscreet partisans of Messrs Lin coln and Seward whose words and acts have rendered reprisals inevitable. For ourselves, we have always regretted that the admiration for the people and army of the Confederate States, and the conviction of the justice of their cause, which are so undoubtedly felt by most of those whose education and intelligence qualify them to form opinions on the subject, should have found such inadequate expression. We should be glad if the friends of that brave people had shown their friendship more heartily. We should be glad if the tremendous calamities inflicted on them had been lightened by more cordial cheer, and by more earnest advocacy. Never has a nation struggling into life established by its sufferings and its heroism a better claim to support and honour than the South; never had a people striving to extinguish the independence of another less claim to forbearance than the North. When last we took occasion to say something like this, the steamrams had been already stopped. With the brave words before us that the spirited Foreign Secretary had recently uttered to Mr Adams, and to those officious gentlemen who had undertaken to apprise him of the character and destination of the rams, we could not suppose that they were detained on any but strong evidence. But the ap pearance of the new volume of American state-papers greatly disturbed this conclusion, for it became evident that, only three days before the detention of the rams, Lord Russell had replied to the urgent representations of Mr Adams by expressing his inability to interfere with vessels of the kind, except on evidence of an illegal act or purpose. It therefore became a particularly interesting question, whether the singular change wrought in his Lordship's determination in this short interval was caused by the sudden discovery of the requisite evidence, or by the urgency of the American Minister; while the fact that no steps have been taken in the prosecution of the owner, and that Government agents are still in search of evidence, seems altogether to preclude the first supposition. With such grounds existing for the belief that a British Minister had been induced, under foreign dictation, or perhaps menace, to commit an illegal and oppressive act, it was to be expected that, among the many who did not fondly rely on the discretion and valour of that nobleman, some would be found desirous of knowing more of the matter. It would not, perhaps, have been very remarkable, had the representatives of the people of England, as a body, deemed the business worthy of their attention, and supported the inquisitive member who demanded the papers necessary for clearing up the point. But a majority of twenty-five decided that this was not a matter which the House of Commons need concern itself to investigate. And not only the House, but a considerable portion of that other estate which especially boasts itself the denouncer of arbitrary power, the protector of the oppressed, and the assertor of national dignity and independence, stigmatised the inquiry as factious, and exerted all its powers of argument, with more or less ingenuity, to draw the public away from the true issue. The demand for papers was variously described as a party measure, as an attempt to involve the country in war for the sake of Mr Laird and his rams, as an endeavour to surprise the Government and obtain office, and as a means of causing one of two parties in a lawsuit prematurely to disclose its case. And all the organs of the press on the side of Government showed a singular unconsciousness that there could be any question at all between the Minister and Parliament. In fact, through ignorance, or negligence, or partisanship, they insisted on replying to a municipal and constitutional question on international grounds. Yet nothing could be more explicit than the statements of the Opposition. The demand for papers was fully significant of the object. Mr Seymour Fitzgerald, in beginning the discussion, clearly defined the aim of his inquiry; and Lord Robert Cecil pointed his speech with these unmistakable sentences: "It was obvious, as his hon. friend had said, that the Government, if it chose, without a vestige of proof to support its case, without an atom of law to justify its action, could ruin any man against whom, for any reason, whether grudge, it desired to point the artillery of political apprehension or of private of the law. (Hear, hear.) The Govern ment paid no costs, and law was costly. If it were defeated in one court, it could carry the case to another; if it were again defeated, it could turn off the question on a point of form; and thus it could so prolong and multiply proceedings that the resources of no citizen in the realm could bear up against the pressure. No similar power was known to the Constitution. The Government could not deprive a man of his liberty or of a sixpence of his money unless it could adduce adequate proof and valid law; yet it could fine a man to the amount of his whole fortune, under the pressure of legal proceedings, at the end of which it would have neither law nor evidence to justify its action. . . But, surely, when the Government was putting a man under the screw, and squeezing out of him all his fortune rights, and, in spite of adverse decisions by legal proceedings, trenching on his against itself, carrying the matter from court to court, the House of Commons had a right to satisfy itself that the Government was acting from legitimate motives, and that no secret and unworthy object had led it to take a course so detrimental to the interests of the country." The history of these celebrated rams is soon told. The American Minister, aware that they were in course of construction, had frequently, in language expressive of a sense of injury, and which occasionally rose to something like menace, demanded of Lord Russell that they should be seized. The Foreign Secretary, in that valorous language which would be very well worthy of applause if his acts accorded with it, but which experience shows to be generally the forerunner of some pusillanimous collapse, replied as often that he had no power to seize the vessels except on evidence given by credible witnesses of an illegal purpose, and no such testimony had been offered. Such was his reply on the 1st September, but on the 4th he resolved to detain the ships. In this interval, then, took place the change of purpose of which an account was demanded. Still, as evidence may arise at any time, and as a single day or hour might bring forth the conclusive proof which alone could justify the seizure, and which Lord Russell had already told his volunteer informers, in language singular from such an immaculate neutral, "he was in hopes they would propose to furnish him with," the shortness of the interval would not of itself necessarily imply that the change took place without reason. But certain circumstances gave to the case an extremely suspicious character. In the first place, Mr Adams, writing to his Government on the 3d September, says, "As the case seemed doubtful, I concluded that the wisest course would be to put in one more remonstrance. Accordingly, I have taken advantage of some depositions, of no great additional weight, furnished to me by Mr Dudley and others." Now, as the agents of the Federal Govern ment, so indefatigable in devising matter of complaint against England, had been able to discover nothing to render their case stronger, it seemed unlikely that our Government, which had acted throughout on their inspiration, should have been more successful. And on the ninth of September Lord Russell caused it to be announced to Messrs Laird, that "the vessels will not be permitted to leave the Mersey until satisfactory evidence can be given of their destination; or, at least, until the inquiries which are now being prosecuted to obtain such evidence shall be brought to a conclusion." Accordingly, the vessels were detained till, in October, the character of the embargo laid on them was changed, and they were seized by the Government. Up to the present moment, however, the case has never been brought to trial. Thus there appeared but too much reason to suppose that Mr Adams's "one more remonstrance" had been of such force as to supply the want of that evidence which many subsequent months have failed to elicit. Moreover, the bias of the Foreign Secretary is so well known, as to expose him to gravest suspicion whenever the balance of neutrality appears to incline strongly to the Federal side. In his Blairgowrie speech he revealed clearly the predilections of the ancient democrat and unsuccessful advocate of universal suffrage in favour of a country where democracy has certainly had rope enough given it, and has made of it the use that might be expected. We knew, after that oratorical display of his tendencies, what was to be expected of the noble Lord as holder of the scales. But the following case, quoted by Lord Robert Cecil-to which no Government speaker made any reply-is conclusive. Lord Robert said : "There was a curious circumstance connected with the case of the Gibraltar, which he thought would show the spirit in which the Government had acted in reference to vessels of this kind. Among pearance of the new volume of American state-papers greatly disturbed this conclusion, for it became evident that, only three days before the detention of the rams, Lord Russell had replied to the urgent representations of Mr Adams by expressing his inability to interfere with vessels of the kind, except on evidence of an illegal act or purpose. It therefore became a particularly interesting question, whether the singular change wrought in his Lordship's determination in this short interval was caused by the sudden discovery of the requisite evidence, or by the urgency of the American Minister; while the fact that no steps have been taken in the prosecution of the owner, and that Government agents are still in search of evidence, seems altogether to preclude the first supposition. With such grounds existing for the belief that a British Minister had been induced, under foreign dictation, or perhaps menace, to commit an illegal and oppressive act, it was to be expected that, among the many who did not fondly rely on the discretion and valour of that nobleman, some would be found desirous of knowing more of the matter. It would not, perhaps, have been very remarkable, had the representatives of the people of England, as a body, deemed the business worthy of their attention, and supported the inquisitive member who demanded the papers necessary for clearing up the point. Bat a mpority of twenty-five decided that this was not a matter which the House of Commons need eenovrn itself to investicita. And not only the House, bat a considersble portion of that ether estate which dsportaly Austs itself the denenANT ef ardusty power, the protector of De opgood, and the assertor of nator& cerity and independena measure, as an attempt the country in war for t Mr Laird and his rams. deavour to surprise the G and obtain office, and as causing one of two partic suit prematurely to disclo And all the organs of th the side of Government singular unconsciousness could be any question tween the Minister and P. In fact, through ignoranc gence, or partisanship, the on replying to a muni constitutional question o tional grounds. Yet nothing could be plicit than the statemen Opposition. The deman pers was fully significar: object. Mr Seymour Fitz beginning the discussion defined the aim of his and Lord Robert Cecil p speech with these unmistak tences: had said, that the Govern "It was obvious, as his h chose, without a vestige of pro port its case, without an aton justify its action, could ruin against whom, for any reason of political apprehension or grade, it desired to point t of the law. Hear, hear.) 1 ment paid no costs, and law If it were defeated in one ex carry the ease to another; spain defeated, it could t gestion on a point of form: ecali so prolong and multi ings that the resources of 1. the realm could bear up pressen. No similar power the Constitution. The well not deprive a man of er of a scxpence of his mon call slide adequate proc yet it well fine a Do to pastly its artic |