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sat holding in our arms a . dear form , from which the soul was passing ?—the soul , for which gladly " we would lave given our own in exchange ; when we have felt it going with inconceivable rapidity from us , and we , ignorant and Wind , vainly striving to arrest the Inevitable doom , feeling evqry moment that some other thing might be done to save which is not done , and that that which we are doing may be only hastening 1 the course of the destroyer ! Oh > those awful agonized moments , when we watch the clock and no physician comes , and every stroke of the pendulum is like the approaching step of death ! Oh , is there anything in lieaven or earth for the despair of suck hours ? Not a moment was lost by the three around that dying bed , chafing those cold limbs—administering the stimulants which the dead exhausted system no longer felt . " She doesn ' t suffer ; thank God , at any rate , for that , * ' said Clayton , as he knelt over her in anguish .
A beautiful smile passed over her face as she opened her eyes and looked on them . all , andsaidj " No , my poor friends , I don't suffer . I ' m come to the land where they never suffer . I'm only so sorry for you , Edward , " she said to him . " Do you remember what you said to me once ? it has come now—you must bear it like a man . God calls you to some work—don ' t shrink from it : You are baptized with fire ; it all lasts only a little while—it will be over soon , very soon . Edward , take care of my poor people ; tell Tom to be kind to them . My poor , faithful , good Harry ! Oh ! I ' m going-so fast !" The vflice sank into a whispering sigh . Life now seemed to have retreated to tlie citadel of the brain . She lay apparently in her last sleep , -when the footsteps of the doctor were heard on tke veranda . There was a general spring to- the door ; and Doctor Butler entered , pale , haggard , and - ^ rorn , from constant exettion and loss of rest . He did not say ia words that there was no hope , but his first dejected look said it but to . o plainly . Slie moved her head a little—like one who is asleep—uneasily upon her pillow , opened her eyes once more , and said , " Good-by ! ¦• I will arise and go to my Father . '"
. The gentle breath gradually became faintei and fainter . All hope was over ! The night "waited on with silent and solemn footsteps , and soft showers fell without , murmuring upon the leaves . " Within all was still as death . Dred , the son of a negro executed with several others for conspiracy ^ is fourteea years of age at the time of his father's death : — He was a witness of the undaunted aspect with which h . e and the other conspirators met their doom . The memory dropped into the depths of his soul , as a stone drops into the desolate depths of a dark mountain lake . Sold to a distant plantation , he became noted for his desperate , unsubduable disposition . He joined in none of the social recreations and amusements of the slaves , laboured , with proud and silent assiduity , but , on the slightest rebuke or threat , flashed vp with a savage fierceness , which , supported by his immense bodily strength , made him an object of dread among overseers . He was one of those of whom they gladly rid themselves ; and , like a fractious horse , was sold from master to master . Finally , an overseer , hardier than the rest , determined on the task of subduing him . In the scuffle that ensued Dred struck him to the earth , a dead man , made his escape to the swamps , and was never afterwards heard of in civilized life .
The reader who consults the map will discover that the whole eastern shore of the southern states , with slight interruptions , is belted by an immense chain of swamps , regions of hopeless disorder , where the abundant growth and vegetation of nature , sucking up its forces from the humid soil , seems to rejoice in a savage exuberance , and bid defiance to all hucian efforts either to penetrate or subdue . These wild regions are the homes of the alligator , the mocassin , and the rattlesnake . Evergreen-trees , mingling freely with the de « iduou 3 children of the forest , form here dense jungles , verdant all the year round , and -which afford , shelter to numberless "birds , with whose warbling the leafy desolation perpetually resounds . Climbing vines and parasitic plants of untold splendour and boundless exuberance of growth , twine and interlace and hang , from the heights of the highest trees , pennons of gold and purple—triumphant banners which attest the solitary majesty of Nature . A species of parasitic moss wxeaths its abundant draperies from tree to tree , and hangs in pearly festoons , through , which shine the scarlet berry and green leaves of the American holly . What the mountains of Switzerland were to the persecuted Vaudois , this swampy belt has been to the American slave . The constant effort to recover from thence fugitives has led to . tie adoption , in these states , of a separate profession , unknown at this time in any other Christian land—hunters , who train and keep dogs for the hunting of men , women , and children . • • • • . . The negroes lying out in the swamp are not so wholly cut off from society as might at first he imagined . The slaves of all the adjoining plantations , whatever they may pretend , to secure tho good-will of their owners , are at heart secretly disposed , from motives both of , compassion and policy , to favour the fugitives . They very readily perceive that , in the event of any difficulty occurring to themselves , it might be quite necessary to have a friend . and protector in the swamp ; and therefore they do not hesitate to supply those fugitives , so far as they are al ) le , with anything which they may desire . Tho poor whites , also , who keep small shops in the neighbourhood of plantations , are never particularly scrupulous , provided they can turn a penny to their own advantage , and willingly supply necessary wares in exchange for game , withwliich the swamp abounds . Dred , therefore , came in possession of an excellent
rifle , and never wanted for ammunition , -which supplied him with an abundance of food . Besides this , there are , here and there , elevated spots in the swampy land , which "by judicious culture are capable of great productiveness ; and many such , spots Dred had brought under cultivation , either with his own hands or from those of other fugitives , whom ho had received and protected . From tho restlessness of his nature , he had not confined luvnself to any particular region , but had tTaversed tho vholo swampy belt of both tho Cnrolinas , as well as that of Southern Virginia ; residing a few months in one place and a few months in another . Wherever he stopped he formed a sort of retreat , where he received and harbouTed fugitives . On one occasion he rescued a trembling and bleeding mulatto woman from the dogs of tho hunters , who had pursued her into the swamp . Tliis woman ho made Ins wife , and appeared to entertain a very deep affection for her .
While we are anticipating the climax of the drama—conspiracy , insurrection , a fearful social conflict—the drama ends without a climax . ' Dred is killed in a slavo hunt , and all the characters vanish , leaving a very indistinct and unsatisfactory impression .
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of Forbonnais , Letnentey , and Thiers . The range of authorities is wide , and presents the financial ideas of Law from many opposite points of view . But M . Cochut , indifferent as a biographer , is altogether incompetent as a critic . His analysis of Law ' s character displays an absolute poverty of understanding . It is a mere repetition of the platitudes to be found in every superficial sketch of that'Golden . Age of speculation , in which the Scotchman appeared to his contemporaries as the Enchanter of Finance . Indeed , M . Cochut is a compiler of opinions as well as of facts . In one page he calls Law ' perfidious ; ' in another he says " it would be unjust to accuse him personally . " Therefore , we are relieved from the consideration of this book as a serious history . But it has two merits . The story appears to have been industriously put together , and the style is uncommonly picturesque . Not a paragraph is dull , though the remarks on men and events are , in general , mere impertinences : the anecdotes , some new . some true .
others oiily amusing , are abundant and cleverly arranged ; and the description iof the origin , maturity , and wreck of the Mississippi Scheme is , as M . Cochut , or his translator , pleasantly says it is , " graphic . " A necessary prelude to this epic of delusion and rapacity is an account of the financial disorganization , consequent upon the financial excesses of Louis XII . A debt of fourteen hundred millions , an empty treasury , a proposal of repudiation , the depreciation of the paper and metallic currency , the devouring cupidity of the contractors , and the confiscations of the Chamber of Justice , which destroyed confidence without enforcing restitution , prepared France for the next episode—the madness that comes after melancholy . To give effect to the arbitrary assessment of the rich—an Ottoman device- —it was necessary not only to bribe , but to guarantee from all injury those secret informers , who , under false names , accused their masters , friends
or fellow-citizens . Flagellation , exposure , and torture were among the pi-ocesses of " collection . " No doubt many of the contractors deserved all they suffered—Bourvalais , who was fined eight millions of francs ; Chatelain , who paid four millions and a half as the price of immunity j Bernard , -who offered to ransom his fortune by a gift of sixteen millions ; Crozat , 'who " got off"" for . twelve" millions . Some attempted to secrete their spoliations , others to transmit them , illicitly , across the frontier . Fourteen carts were stopped on one road laden -with casks of wine , in the centre of which were suspended little barrels filled with louis d'dr . The merchant Vermalet smuggled his enormous treasures of gold and silver into Holland in a cart piled with hay and straw , with which he made several journeys . But after several species of extortion bad been practised upon these extortioners , after
fines to the amount of more than two hundred millions of francs had been imposed upon thefbur thousandfourhundred and ten individuals condemned , the result was comparatively insignificant . What with escapes , remissions , bribes , percentages , corrupt appropriations , not more than half the fines were e-ver received by the exchequer . To cite one anecdote in illustration : A collector , who had been sentenced to a penalty of 1 , 200 , 000 livres , was visited b y a nobleman , who promised to have the sentence cancelled , for 300 , 000 livres . "U pon , my honour , count , " he said , " you . have come too late . I have just made a bargain with the countess for half the money . " Many-were the state schemes that followed for the restoration of the finances , but they were failures , and France under the Regency was virtually bankrupt . . .:- ¦ .-... .. \ ... •¦ : '; . ¦ ¦ . ¦ ;¦ " . "' ¦ . . ' ¦ ' . ¦ ¦ •' ¦ .
It was at this time that Law appeared . He had resided in Paris , indeed , during the latter years of the late king ' s reign , spending the relics of his patrimony , and avoiding the consequences of a penalty of death which had been recorded against him in London for killing a gentleman in a duel . At Amsterdam , Venice , Genoa , Florence , Naples , and Rome , he had gambled largely , successfully , and , says St . Simon , with invariable honesty . And why not gamble ? Louis XIV . liked men who played high . The Portuguese ambassador shocked nobody when , in a single night , he gained 1 , 800 , 000 livres from the Regent ' s daughter . But Law . associated with Dutch merchants as well as with French and Italian gamblers , and trusted more to science than to hazard . At last , he believed himself qualified to he a financial reformer , in the old sense of the term , and , as a patriotic Scotchman , first offered to make the fortune of the Scottish people . His plans were debated in parliament ! ¦
A large majority rejected the project , deciding against innovations in matters of finance . Law had jroposed the formation of a territorial bank , which should give to the Scotch landlords paper having a forced currency to the extent of a certain portion of the value of their estates . Suppress the forced currency , facilitate the negotiation of these territorial notes , and you will have the credit fonder ao much in favoux in our time . To Paris again , where he used to carry 100 , 000 livres in gold to Poisson ' a , in the Rue l ^ auphine . His hand not being able to grasp the quantity of gold he wished to stake at once , he had counters struck of the value of eighteen louis each . People wondered at him , as they would have wondered
at Cagliostro or Cazotte , and the police , being paid to suspect this too successful foreigner , sent him . across tho frontier . But John Law had fascinated the eager mind of the Duke of Orleans , who spoke of him to his comptroller-general as a man worth consulting . An order to leave Paris within twenty-four hours broke oft ? the connexion . Law travelled from capital to capital , a triumpliant gambler but a rejected economist . He gained money from everyone , but no one would have his theories . When forty-four years old , ho heard that Louis XIV . was dead , and the Duke of Orleans regent . Within a fortnight he was in Paris , for the regent had seemed " to understand his ideas : "—
JOHN LAW . TU Financier Law : Ilia Scheme and Times . J . Blackwood . Tnis is a translation of Cochut ' s narrative , compiled in great part from manuscripts in tho National Library of Franco . Tho journals of Marais and Barbier , as well as that attributed to Buvat , have aiso bden consulted , m addition to tho apology of Du Tot , tho ten plethoric volumes of Duhautcharap , tho Memoirs of St . Simon and Duclos , and tho historical summaries
Tho kind of life he was about giving up had been so profitable to him , that after extmvagnncea which equalled those of the highest nobles , he was able to > realize 1 , COO , 000 livres in hard cash , that is to say , 2 , C' 8 Q , 0 OO francs of our money . Tlic narrative now widens from biography into history . And here , says M . Cochut , tho Scheme should be described , which eight or ten writers have analyzed with eight or ten different results . More than one insists that lie comprehends Law ' s ideas better than Law himself . M . Cochut proposes to set aside tho difficulty by assuming that tho man , who was celebrated for a scheme , never had one . It would be more correct to any that he < lid not formulate his financial doctrines , hut that he had , and acted upon , a theory
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Seti : ember G 31856 . j THE LEADER . 857
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 6, 1856, page 857, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2157/page/17/
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