CHAPTER XIV. CROSSING THE BORDER.
The time had now arrived when it was necessary for me to go toScotland, for a few days. I had two very powerful reasons for thisexcursion:--first, because an old and valued friend of mine was there,whom I had not met for many years, and whom I could not think of leavingthis country without seeing again; and secondly, because I was desirousof visiting the residence of my forefathers on the Tweed, which,although it had passed out of their possession many years ago, was stillendeared to me as their home, as the scene of the family traditions; andabove all, as their burial place.
The grave is the first stage on the journey, from this to the otherworld. We are permitted to escort our friends so far, and no further; itis there we part for ever. It is there the human form is deposited, whenmortality is changed for immortality. This burial place contains no onethat I have ever seen or known; but it contains the remains of thosefrom whom I derived my lineage and my name. I therefore naturallydesired to see it.
Having communicated my intention to my two American companions, I wasvery much struck with the different manner in which they received theannouncement.
"Come back soon, Squire," said Mr. Slick; "go and see your old friend,if you must, and go to the old campin' grounds of your folks; though thewigwam I expect has gone long ago, but don't look at anythin' else.I want we should visit the country together. I have an idea from whatlittle I have seed of it, Scotland is over-rated. I guess there is agood deal of romance about their old times; and that, if we knowed all,their old lairds warn't much better, or much richer than our Ingianchiefs; much of a muchness. Kinder sorter so, and kinder sorter not so,no great odds. Both hardy, both fierce; both as poor as Job's Turkey,and both tarnation proud, at least, that's my idea to a notch.
"I have often axed myself what sort of a gall that splenderiferous,'Lady of the Lake' of Scott's was, and I kinder guess she was ared-headed Scotch heifer, with her hair filled with heather, andfeather, and lint, with no shoes and stockings to her feet, and that
"Her lips apart Like monument of Grecian art"
meant that she stared with her eyes and mouth wide open, like othercounty galls that never see'd nothing before--a regilar screetch owlin petticoats. And I suspicion, that Mr. Rob Roy was a sort of thievin'devil of a white Mohawk, that found it easier to steal cattle, thanraise them himself; and that Loch Katrin, that they make such a toussabout, is jist about equal to a good sizeable duck-pond in our country;at least, that's my idea. For I tell you it does not do to follow artera poet, and take all he says for gospel.
"Yes, let's go and see Sawney in his "Ould _Reeky_." Airth and seas! ifI have any nose at all, there never was a place so well named as that.Phew! let me light a cigar to get rid of the fogo of it.
"Then let's cross over and see "Pat at Home;" let's look intomatters and things there, and see what "Big Dan" is about, with his"association" and "agitation" and "repail" and "tee-totals." Let's seewhether it's John Bull or Patlander that's to blame, or both on 'em; sixof one and half-a-dozen of tother. By Gosh! Minister would talk, moresense in one day to Ireland, than has been talked there since therebellion; for common sense is a word that don't grow like Jacob'sladder, in them diggins, I guess. It's about, as stunted as GineralNichodemus Ott's corn was.
"The Gineral was takin' a ride with a southerner one day over his farmto Bangor in Maine, to see his crops, fixin mill privileges and whatnot, and the southerner was a turning up his nose at every thing amost,proper scorney, and braggin' how things growed on his estate down south.At last the Gineral's ebenezer began to rise, and he got as mad as ahatter, and was intarmed to take a rise out of him.
"'So,' says he, 'stranger,' says he, 'you talk about your Indgian corn,as if nobody else raised any but yourself. Now I'll bet you a thousanddollars, I have corn that's growd so wonderful, you can't reach the topof it a standin' on your horse.'
"'Done,' sais Southener, and 'Done,' sais the General, and done it was.
"'Now,' sais the Giniral, 'stand up on your saddle like a circus rider,for the field is round that corner of the wood there.' And the entirestranger stood up as stiff as a poker. 'Tall corn, I guess,' sais he,'if I can't reach it, any how, for I can e'en a'most reach the top o'them trees. I think I feel them thousand dollars of yourn, a marchin'quick step into my pocket, four deep. Reach your corn, to be sure Iwill. Who the plague, ever see'd corn so tall, that a man couldn't reachit a horseback.'
"'Try it,' sais the Gineral, as he led him into the field, where thecorn was only a foot high, the land was so monstrous, mean and sobeggarly poor.
"'Reach it,' sais the Gineral.
"'What a damned Yankee trick,' sais the Southener. 'What a take inthis is, ain't it?' and he leapt, and hopt, and jumped like a snappin'turtle, he was so mad. Yes, common sense to Ireland, is like Indgiancorn to Bangor, it ain't overly tall growin', that's a fact. We must seeboth these countries together. It is like the nigger's pig to the WestIndies "little and dam old."
"Oh, come back soon, Squire, I have a thousand things, I want to tellyou, and I shall forget one half o' them, if you don't; and besides,"said he in an onder tone, "_he_" (nodding his head towards Mr.Hopewell,) "will miss you shockingly. He frets horridly about his flock.He says, ''Mancipation and Temperance have superceded the Scripturesin the States. That formerly they preached religion there, but now theyonly preach about niggers and rum.' Good bye, Squire."
"You do right, Squire," said Mr. Hopewell, "to go. That which has tobe done, should be done soon, for we have not always the command of ourtime. See your friend, for the claims of friendship are sacred; and seeyour family tomb-stones also, for the sight of them, will awaken a trainof reflections in a mind like yours, at once melancholy and elevating;but I will not deprive you of the pleasure you will derive from firstimpressions, by stripping them of their novelty. You will be pleasedwith the Scotch; they are a frugal, industrious, moral and intellectualpeople. I should like to see their agriculture, I am told it is by farthe best in Europe.
"But, Squire, I shall hope to see you soon, for I sometimes think dutycalls me home again. Although my little flock has chosen other shepherdsand quitted my fold, some of them may have seen their error, and wish toreturn. And ought I not to be there to receive them? It is true, I am nolonger a labourer in the vineyard, but my heart is there. I should liketo walk round and round the wall that encloses it, and climb up, andlook into it, and talk to them that are at work there. I might give someadvice that would be valuable to them. The blossoms require shelter, andthe fruit requires heat, and the roots need covering in Winter. The vinetoo is luxuriant, and must be pruned, or it will produce nothing butwood. It demands constant care and constant labour; I had decorated thelittle place with flowers too, to make it attractive and pleasant.
"But, ah me! dissent will pull all these up like weeds, and throw themout; and scepticism will raise nothing but gaudy annuals. The perennialswill not flourish without cultivating and enriching the ground; _theirroots are in the heart_. The religion of our Church, which is the sameas this of England, is a religion which inculcates love: filial lovetowards God; paternal love to those committed to our care; brotherlylove, to our neighbour, nay, something more than is known by that termin its common acceptation, for we are instructed to love our neighbouras ourselves.
"We are directed to commence our prayer with "Our Father." How muchof love, of tenderness, of forbearance, of kindness, of liberality, isembodied in that word--children: of the same father, members of the samegreat human family I Love is the bond of union--love dwelleth in theheart; and the heart must be cultivated, that the seeds of affection maygerminate in it.
"Dissent is cold and sour; it never appeals to the affections, but itscatters denunciations, and rules by terror. Scepticism is proudand self-sufficient. It refuses to believe in mysteries and deals inrhetoric and sophistry, and flatters the vanity, by exalting humanreason. My poor lost flock will see the change, and I fear, feel it too.Besides, absence is a temporary death. Now I am gone fr
om them, theywill forget my frailties and infirmities, and dwell on what little goodmight have been in me, and, perhaps, yearn towards me.
"If I was to return, perhaps I could make an impression on the minds ofsome, and recall two or three, if not more, to a sense of duty. What agreat thing that would be, wouldn't it? And if I did, I would get ourbishop to send me a pious, zealous, humble-minded, affectionate, ableyoung man, as a successor; and I would leave my farm, and orchard, andlittle matters, as a glebe for the Church. And who knows but theLord may yet rescue Slickville from the inroads of ignorant fanatics,political dissenters, and wicked infidels?
"And besides, my good friend, I have much to say to you, relative tothe present condition and future prospects of this great country. I havelived to see a few ambitious lawyers, restless demagogues, politicalpreachers, and unemployed local officers of provincial regiments,agitate and sever thirteen colonies at one time from the government ofEngland. I have witnessed the struggle. It was a fearful, a bloody andan unnatural one. My opinions, therefore, are strong in proportion as myexperience is great. I have abstained on account of their appearing likepreconceptions from saying much to you yet, for I want to see more ofthis country, and to be certain, that I am quite right before I speak.
"When you return, I will give you my views on some of the greatquestions of the day. Don't adopt them, hear them and compare them withyour own. I would have you think for yourself, for I am an old man nowand sometimes I distrust my powers of mind.
"The state of this country you, in your situation, ought to bethoroughly acquainted with. It is a very perilous one. Its prosperity,its integrity, nay its existence as a first-rate power, hangs by athread, and that thread but little better and stronger than a cottonone. _Quem Deus vult perdere prius dementat_. I look in vain for thatconstitutional vigour, and intellectual power, which once ruled thedestinies of this great nation.
"There is an aberration of intellect, and a want of self-possession herethat alarms me. I say, alarms me, for American as I am by birth, andrepublican as I am from the force of circumstances, I cannot but regardEngland with great interest, and with great affection. What a beautifulcountry! What a noble constitution! What a high minded, intelligent, andgenerous people! When the Whigs came into office, the Tories were nota party, they were the people of England. Where and what are they now?Will they ever have a lucid interval, or again recognise the sound oftheir own name? And yet, Sam, doubtful as the prospect of their recoveryis, and fearful as the consequences of a continuance of their maladyappear to be, one thing is most certain, _a Tory government is theproper government for a monarchy, a suitable one for any country, butit is the only one for England_. I do not mean an ultra one, for I ama moderate man, and all extremes are equally to be avoided. I mean atemperate, but firm one: steady to its friends, just to its enemies, andinflexible to all. "When compelled to yield, it should be by the forceof reason, and never by the power of agitation. Its measures should beactuated by a sense of what is right, and not what is expedient, forto concede is to recede--to recede is to evince weakness--and to betrayweakness is to invite attack.
"I am a stranger here. I do not understand this new word, Conservatism.I comprehend the other two, Toryism and Liberalism. The one is amonarchical, and the other a republican word. The term, Conservatism,I suppose, designates a party formed out of the moderate men of bothsides, or rather, composed of Low-toned Tories and High Whigs. I do notlike to express a decided opinion yet, but my first impression is alwaysadverse to mixtures, for a mixture renders impure the elements of whichit is compounded. Every thing will depend on the preponderance of thewholesome over the deleterious ingredients. I will analyse it carefully.See how one neutralizes or improves the other, and what the effect ofthe compound is likely to be on the constitution. I will request ourAmbassador, Everett, or Sam's friend, the Minister Extraordinary,Abednego Layman, to introduce me to Sir Robert Peel, and will endeavourto obtain all possible information from the best possible source.
"On your return I will give you a candid and deliberate opinion."
After a silence of some minutes, during which he walked up and downthe room in a fit of abstraction, he suddenly paused, and said, as ifthinking aloud--
"Hem, hem--so you are going to cross the border, eh? That northernintellect is strong. Able men the Scotch, a little too radical inpolitics, and a little too liberal, as it is called, in a matter of muchgreater consequence; but a superior people, on the whole. They will giveyou a warm reception, will the Scotch. Your name will insure that; andthey are clannish; and another warm reception will, I assure you, awaityou here, when, returning, you again _Cross the Border_."