"I was unknown personally to King John, and under the name of Maelstrom I became nominally one of his tools-actually a frustrator of his plots, in league with her here whom he and his brother betrayed. To this end I became the captain of a band of contrabandists, and in league with Wladislas, King of Bohemia and Moravia, who had renounced the throne of those unhappy countries and taken refuge in the disputed territory between England and Scotland, I had laid a mine which would have shaken the vacillating tyrant from his throne. It hath pleased the ruler of all to unfold it prematurely But if John hath escaped, it hath not been scatheless, and Scotland hath been rescued from his grasp.' 66 Observing symptoms of a demonstration of feeling on the part of the people, he said: "Let me entreat those who hear me to maintain silence; my strength is failing me, and I have still much to disclose. Call Wladislas of Ettrick into court, with the princess Jeanne of Anjou, and her daughter, the Lady Anne of Ledburgh.' "A door at the back of the dais was thrown open, and the Chief of Ettrick entered, conducting the two ladies, followed by Blondel. A murmur of astonishment ran through the court, when, in the Lady Anne was recognized Deborah of the Crown and Anchor. "The scene which the Moot-hall of Newcastleupon-Tyne presented at that moment was in the highest degree interesting, impressive, and extraordinary. An Eastern monarch laid in the centre of the hall, a weak, helpless prisoner, accused of crimes of the deepest dye, yet restoring confidence, hope, and happiness to bosoms which he himself had been accused of wounding; the companion clumsy, and unintelligible it has never been our fate to read; and he must be blest with a most enviable memory, who, having reperused it, could tell the tale. Moreover, the complication of it appears quite unnecessary and gratuitous, insomuch that the reader is tempted to believe that it was intended as a puzzle to exercise his ingenuity. The origin and motives of some of the characters are left to the last utterly unexplained. The waiting maid at an inn turns out to be Lady Jeanne of Anjou, Queen of Sicily, the sister Anne of Ledburgh, daughter of the Princess of King John of England; and fifty other transformations, equally startling, can only be compared to the marvels of a pantomime. The treatment which this work has received at the hands of the critics has been remarkably various. Those who have believed in the possibility of its being a genuine production of Sir Walter Scott have palliated its glaring defects, and have exhibited such merits as it possesses in favorable comparison with the most inferior conceptions and passages of the Waverley Novels. Those on the other hand whose skill and research have at once detected the imposture-for an imposture it unquestionably is-have assailed it with unqualified condemnation, and denied it those merits which candor must admit it to possess. The author's powers of description, especially of natural scenery, and of scenes of rapid action, certainly reminded us of the author of the "Lady of the Lake," and one scene somewhat analogous to that of the White Lady of Avenel, displayed itself in a rather favorable light beside what we must regard as the capital failure of the Great Unknown. We refer to the following "Moredun" in one of the fanpassage. of lawless men, the perpetrator of deeds of darkness, summoning monarchs to be his judges, and looking with calmness and confidence for their verdict-claiming as his son-and that son proud of the appellation—the accepted suitor of the undoubted heiress of the English throne, and pointing to the most queenly form which ever graced a throne or bore a sceptre as the companion of all his intrigues, of his dangers and of his ambition; his retinue, the bowmen of Ettrick forest; his most alarmed listeners, the flower of the Scot-tastic aberrations to which his historian subtish nobility and court. Overlooking this singu- jects him, finds himself with a mysterious lar group the King and Queen of Scotland stood, minstrel, whose relevancy to the narrative is encircling in their embrace their newly-restored never explained, from whom he hears the son-scarcely conscious of whether they owed following verses, which will remind the bis disappearance or his restoration to the indi- reader of the feeblest part of the "Monasvidual before them; the abdicator of the throne of tery:" Bohemia, the English princess, supposed to lie buried at Clairvaulx, and her fair and blooming daughter, forming another royal group; the nobles of the Scottish Court and their ladies, in full costume, ranged on each side of the ample halland above all, the wide gallery filled with the citizens and the yeomen, with their wives and daughters, all in the gay holiday dresses of the period-it was a scene, take it for all in all, such as the banks of coaly Tyne never had before, and never could again witness."-Vol. iii. pp. 206-212. We have already alluded to the intricacy of the plot. Anything more disjointed, And she deemed him dead, And the dirge was sung on high; Many an hour, In her hall and bower, The lady did weep and mourn; She smiled and said, Ah! the valiant never return! But while it may be justifiable to estimate the merits of this work per se, it is futile to discuss the question of its authorship, inasmuch as it has now been demonstrated that it cannot have been the production of Sir Walter Scott. It is true that the author has succeeded, perhaps from being a Scotchman, in imitating the defects, and especially the grammatical defects, of the author of "Waverley." We have observed that the latter invariably uses the solecism of "farther" and "farthest" instead of further and furthest, forgetting that these comparatives and superlatives cannot spring from the root far, but from forth, which is compared further and furthest. Again, we find in "Moredun " it was "her," which error occurs not infrequently, with cognate grammatical errors, even in the mouths of cultivated persons throughout the Waverley Novels. tery," and by Sir Piercie Shafton, except that the knight speaks affected English, and the Scotch men and women plain English. But to a person ignorantly attempting what he thought would pass as an imitation of Scott, it would occur to make King John of England speak English and Malcolm the servant speak Scotch, such as it is. Up to a more advanced period, there was no difference between English and Scotch, though there was a difference between English and Celtic. But the absolute demonstration of the imposture is due, as has been said, to the "Athenæum." A single anachronism, like the water-mark on the paper of a disputed document, upsets the whole contrivance at once. "We have proved," says the writer, "that M. Cabany's theory as to the time and season of its composition is untenable. Yet M. Cabany is not content. He appeals against our judgmentand, let us say, against that of all our literary brethren, with one ridiculous exception. Inaccessible--as a foreigner-to the argument of style-the best argument of all-he will submit to nothing short of the stern despotism of facts. Well, we must try to humor him. It will be remembered that we proved, by the passages describing the fantastic rocks of the Simplon,' that the novel must have been written after the Peace; and, therefore, could not be the 'romance of more ancient manners' referred to by Ballantyne in 1814. This fact upset the whole of M. Cabany's argument. We may go further. The tale contains evidence that it could not possibly have been written until some years after Scott died. Here is the proof. Chap. IV. of Vol. I. begins: In one of the narrow streets which wound up tortuously from the Sandhill to the castle of Newcastleupon-Tyne-some traces of which still resist the improving hand of time, money, and Granger-a man, &c.' This passage offers us a date. The story must have been written after Mr. Granger had commenced re-building Newcastle, and probably was written after he had finished his task. Now, Scott died in 1832. Mr. Granger made the But it is needless to descend to such minute particulars. The whole structure of the tale betrays an imposture. Its clumsy plot, its awkward manipulation, its multiplication of irrelevant incidents, would of themselves be sufficient to vindicate the author of "Waverley" of the charge of its authorship. In the light of this evidence alone the boasted external proofs of Monsieur Cabany would go for nothing. But there are certain per-purchase which ultimately led to the vast altersons who ought to have particularly good memories, and the investigations of the "Athenæum" have reduced the matter to an absolute demonstration. Another critic has judiciously remarked that Sir Walter Scott, with his marvellous good sense, never puts the Scottish dialect into the mouths of his Scottish characters in those novels of which the scene is laid in ancient times. Neither Quentin Durward, nor Balafré, nor Halbert Glendinning, utter a word in contrast with the speeches of persons of other countries. There is no difference in the language used by the inmates and tenants of the "Monas ations in Newcastle in August 1834. It is therefore absolutely impossible that Moredun' could have been written until some years after the death of Scott." After this exposé it is unnecessary to say more. The fanatically curious will read the book. The circulating libraries have repudiated it; but as to its authorship by the Great Magician of the North, we can only say with the Roman critic of ancient fiction "Non homines, non Dî, non concessere columnæ." LIBERIA.* From the Wesleyan London Quarterly Review. THE President of an independent Republic, opening the Session of 1854, addressed the gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives in a speech, the first words of which were as follows:-"Every revolving year brings with it cause of congratulation and thankfulness to God, that the great work in which we are engaged, of rearing up on those barbarous shores a Christian State, is onward in its march, by gradually developing its practicability and excellence." Farther on in his speech the President makes use of these words,-words such as have not often fallen from the mouth of a chief magistrate upon an occasion of state: "But above all, God has been pleased to bless the people with a gracious visitation of His Churches, inspiring them with a spirit of pure and undefiled religion, thereby wonder-pel of truth. The white Missionary is soon fully extending the inestimable benefit of Christianity among the idolatrous tribes of this land, and dispelling the gloom of moral night which has so long overshadowed them." The Republic of Liberia, from whose President's speech we have transcribed these lines, has already taken an honorable position among the nations of the earth. To quote once more : | pecially its Western Coast, by the American Churches and people; and we are led to believe that the information conveyed by such publications as that above mentioned, will not be without interest, in this country, to the survivors and the descendants of a generation whose Anti-Slavery exertions constitute the noblest epos of the age. We believe that the fulfilment and glorious triumph of Anti-Slavery effort will be worked out by means of communities, of which Liberia is the most important, though not the only, specimen. The regeneration of Africa must proceed from her own sons; to them alone. will it be possible, in the exercise of a legitimate commerce, to introduce those influences which civilize a people; they alone can stand beneath her burning sky to proclaim the Gos "We continue to receive from her Britannic Majesty's Government assurances of friendly concern for our welfare. From the French Government we are also receiving tangible proofs of the interest his Imperial Majesty feels in the future prosperity of his infant State. As a present to this Government, the French Minister of War has forwarded recently one thousand stand of arms, to be followed shortly-as advised by our agent in Paris-by an equal number of equipments for our Militia. I am happy also to inform the Legislature that, during the year just passed, the independence of Liberia has been formally recognized by his Belgian Majesty, accompanied with expressions of friendship, and warmest wishes for our success and happiness." An increasing interest is taken in the colonization and the evangelization of Africa, es The Colonization Herald. Conducted by the Pennsylvania Colonization Society, Philadelphia. January to April, 1855. struck down by sickness; but the colored emigrants sent out by the various Colonization Societies of America speedily become acclimated. The mysterious sympathies which bind together individuals of the same race, will serve as the channels of an ameliorative influence; and we may assume that the numerous educated and Christian free blacks, who are now flocking to the country of their fathers, will draw from their abominable practices, and elevate in the scale of humanity, tribe after tribe of the population of Africa, until the cruelties and idolatries of its abject millions shall be replaced by the blessings of civilization and religion. There is, indeed, no organization which commends itself with stronger force to the sympathies and support of the Christian public, than the various American Colonization Societies. These Societies present a platform on which the followers of Christ, of every denomination, can stand and co-operate, without the least disturbing influence to mar their harmony, or interrupt their combined action. The cause is one of unequalled grandeur; it contemplates nothing less than the evangelization of the whole of Africa. For the accomplishment of this sublime object it presents, as it seems to us, the only feasible plan. The Colony of Liberia thus far has prospered beyond ance. LIBERIA. [Sept., all that its friends anticipated. It is now a veyed to the coast of Africa 400 blacks and 60 flourishing Republic, governed by wholesome Europeans. It was to this Colony, which in 1828 and wisely framed laws. Its President is numbered 1,500 Africans, that Jefferson proposed a man of acknowledged ability, and its Legis- had entertained this intention since 1801. Alto admit emigrants from the United States. He lature will compare favorably with that of ready, in 1816, this project had occupied the atany of the old established State Legislatures tention of the Legislature of Virginia: the Amerof America. Many of the friends of these So- ican Colonization Society was organized in 1817, cieties look only to results connected with by Mr. Finley. When objections were addressed the ultimate abolition of American Slavery. to him, he replied, 'I know the design of God.' This is itself an object of incalculable import- liberated 80-another 60. The Colony had difA lady gave 60 slaves to the Society-a planter It is, indeed, a matter of rejoicing, ficult times, but overcame them courageously. that present results are not unlikely sensibly A petty African King, who sold to it some lands, to hasten that happy consummation, since they open channels through which owners of slaves fearing, with some reason, that its presence would be an obstacle to the Slave-Trade, wished to decan liberate them, and give them homes where stroy it happily it had for its Chief a resolute they will have not only equal civil rights, but man, named Jehudi Ashmun. He explained to equal social advantages. But it is the mis- the colonists in simple and strong language, full of sionary aspect of the movement which forms confidence in God and in their good right, the nethe strong ground of our confidence in it. In doned 154 houses which they could not defend, cessity of an energetic resistance. They abanits probable future we see melting away the they surrounded the remainder with a palisade, vast mountains of difficulty which impede the and, after several attacks valiantly sustained, progress of truth and happiness amongst the the enemy was repulsed. Since then the repose victim-nations of a mighty continent. Eng. of the Colony has not been any more troubled. land sends to America that truth which al-In 1847 she proclaimed independence, which has ways and every where makes free. Its influence is felt by the poor slave, who is raised to feel the longing desire for all the rights of humanity. It is felt also by men mixed up with the most appalling evils by which Christians were ever surrounded; and they lend a hand to help the African, thus prepared for a great work, to reach theshores from which he or his ancestors were violently torn. Thus is presented an antidote to much past, and a preventive of much future, evil; thus is paid the first instalment of that mighty debt which the Anglo-Saxon race owes to the unhappy children of Ham. We do not think it necessary to give a detailed account of the early history of Liberia; but feel pleasure in transferring the following remarks from an able article in the "Reveu des Deux Mondes :" "A single effort in favor of the Negro has succeeded; that is, the establishment of Liberia, on the coast of Africa. This colony, composed of Slaves redeemed or emancipated, is now a little independent State which prospers, and to which a Society really philanthropic conveys annually a certain number of Negroes. This enterprise has had two adversaries, the slave-merchants and the excited Abolitionists; but it has not been discouraged, and the progress of Liberia has not been retarded from its commencement up to the present day. If it is to the English we must attribute the origin of Slavery in North America, it is just to say, that to them belongs the honor of the first commencement in Africa. After a De- been acknowledged by France and England. The Government is modelled after that of the United to London and Paris. He is a most intelligent States. The actual President, Mr. Roberts, came mulatto. The Republic of Liberia occupies a space of 500 miles along the coast of Guinea. Little numerous still, she extends her protection and her influence over more than 200,000 natives whom she civilizes. She has a flag, customhouses; has commenced and devoted herself to agriculture;-all her fields are well cultivated. contented with their condition. One of them said, In general, the blacks labor, and are happy and Here I am a white man.' There are in Liberia schools and newspapers, and we see that the Negro race emancipated is not every where the same that it has exhibited itself in Hayti. The establishment of Liberia offers several advantages: it the Slave Trade; it tends to introduce civilization is upon this part of the coast a great obstacle to among the barbarous nations which surround it ; it offers, in fine, a true country to men who, in coming out of slavery, would not have found one in the United States." cieties upon American Slavery, though, as we The bearing of the various Colonization Sohave said, secondary in comparison to the grand result of evangelizing Africa, is yet of present and unspeakable importance. In the Southern States a strong jealousy prevails, clusively their own, should be disturbed, their lest an "institution," which they consider expeace destroyed, and their safety endangered, by the zeal of its enemies in other parts of the Union. In the North, an universal alarm prevails, lest Slavery should invade territory hitherto free, and lest the power of who were recaptured slaves, making, in all, 10,012 United States. Of those sent by the Colonization "The expense of sending a colonist to Liberia, and supporting him there for six months after his arrival, together with a homestead of five acres of good land, &c., is from sixty to eighty dollars each one, both old and young. "The Colonization Society gives the passage, furnishes provisions and medical aid, with a comfortable house, for the first six months, and longer, when necessary, to each and every emigrant going to the Republic of Liberia, besides the gift of a homestead of five acres of land." All the materials for commercial prosperity are gradually accumulating in Monrovia and its sister towns. Steam-engines and saw-mills, and machinery for expressing the valuable oil from the palm nut and kernel, are the former is found in the great variety of timber which abounds in the Colony; the latter is required to develop a most important export trade, capable of almost boundless expansion. As a specimen of the rapid progress already made, we quote the following from a private letter, dated "Monrovia, December 23d, 1854: the Government should be wielded by the friends of this peculiar "institution." Under these circumstances the Societies have pursued the even tenor of their way, without meddling with the question whether Slavery shall be abolished, or whether it shall be perpetuated, whether it shall be restricted within narrower limits, or shall be allowed to occupy a wider sphere. While such questions agitate the Union, and in the opinion of some threaten its dissolution, the Societies follow out their noble objects, without becoming the means of party strife. They see a numerous class, scattered through the length and breadth of the land, who are free without the privileges of freedom; whose numbers are continually increasing, and whose condition in the United States seems without hope of improvement. The condition of the Africans, both in the Northern and Southern States, is indeed much to be deplored. In slavehold-rising in every direction. The necessity for ing States they have fewer privileges, but they enjoy a climate more congenial to their physical nature, and are less isolated in their condition. In the non-slaveholding States they feel the baneful influence of a prejudice which deprives them of many rights, and banishes them from the society of those among whom they dwell. These Colonization Societies do not stop to inquire whether or not they are suffering injustice at the hands of their fellow-men. They are equally entitled to commiseration in either case, and to relieve their miseries will be equally meritorious. They have no power to punish their oppressors if they are suffering wrongfully; nor can they elevate their condition while they continue in America. But a way is opened by which all the ends of benevolence will be accomplished, without disturbing any section of the Union, and by means of which both the white and the colored race will receive immediate relief. The way is one which required no genius, but that of benevolence, to discover. It is the plain and obvious way of restoring the free colored race to the land of their nativity, where is territory enough to accommodate all, a climate calculated to insure life and health, and a soil fertile enough to sustain them and their posterity. Though we are not in a position to give the very latest statistics of the Colony, the following figures are not without interest: "The Colonization Societies have sent, at their own expense and by the request of those who have gone, (up to the close of 1853,) 8,968 colonists. The United States Government have sent 1,044, "Our mill is in full operation, and we expect to send some lumber to New York, by Rev. Mr. Pinney, not that we cannot find sale here for it, but to have it tried by some of their first-class mechanics. We have cut some seventy or eighty thousand feet of lumber since we commenced, and are yet driving ahead with all our might. We have found sale for all we have sawed, up to this time, and the demand is still increasing. We hope, by the time the year is out, to have cleared our entire mill, and the expense of setting it up. We hope, too, to be able to pay off our loan of two thousand dollars before it is due. This, no doubt, is our hardest year, inasmuch as we have had the mill to set up, and a stock of logs to lay in; but I am in hopes that after we get through with this year, we will be able to do much better." We look upon every evidence of progress in this young community with interest. Amongst the recent items of news, we find an account of the Honorable D. B. Walker's (fancy a black Honorable!) new and elegant vessel, "T. L. Randal," of thirty-five tons, "the largest and finest vessel ever built in Liberia." The usual ceremony of christening was gone through; the vessel "glided down beautifully into the water," amid the vociferous cheers of the multitude; the accustomed speeches were made; and the whole affair reads like the account of an ordinary launch |