From Chambers' Journal.

THE PRINCE.

neither handsome nor tall; his features were common, though sufficiently agreeable; he was of the middle stature; and, in short, he had nothing whatever to distinguish him, but a certain air of high life, and a singularly white and delicate skin, as if he had never, since his birth, been permitted to be visited too roughly even by the winds of heaven.

On

EXACTLY one hundred years ago, there arrived in the town of Rochelle in France a young man, apparently under twenty, of very elegant appearance, but simple and unpretending manners. He was attended, rather than accompanied, by an elderly gray- An incident occurred during the voyage which headed man, who seemed to be neither a domestic warmed the respect of the crew into affection. nor a parent, but who regarded him with all the an alarm of the approach of English cruisers, almost respect of the one, and all the careful fondness of all got into the shallop, to creep along the coast the other. The youth, indeed, appeared to require close in-shore; and so suddenly was the step taken, a certain watchful attendance, although surrounded, that no provisions were thought of. The result as one might have imagined, by some prestige which was extreme hunger in the boat; which was genprecluded familiarity; for, notwithstanding the cool, erously relieved by their passenger, who bought a quiet air supposed to distinguish the great, he was stock of refreshments from one of the native craft thoughtless and capricious in no ordinary degree, and distributed them, share and share alike, to all giving way habitually, and without the slightest on board. When they returned to the ship, the consideration, to the whim of the moment. Both youth was seized with an illness; and it was rewere plainly dressed. They neither courted nor marked, with more of interest than displeasure, that shunned observation; and the only singularity which a certain degree of haughtiness mingled with the distinguished them from ordinary travellers, was courtesy with which he received the anxious attentheir declining to take up their abode in the inn, tions that were pressed upon him from all quarters. even for the short period they intended to remain. His situation required care and tenderness, but he They at once furnished an apartment for themselves seemed to shrink from familiarity; till at length the at a private house, though by no means on an ex- necessities of his condition led him to select, as his travagant scale-the whole expense amounting only attendant, a young man only a few years older than to £20; and there they resided together, without himself. To this person, whose name was Rhodez, making a single acquaintance, very rarely stirring and who was of a respectable family and liberal abroad, and living chiefly on shell-fish, but more education, he gradually became attached, and at especially fresh-water crabs-a circumstance that length bestowed upon him even some portion of his excited some notice, from these delicacies being confidence. scarce and dear at Rochelle.

Rhodez reported that the stranger was the Count de Tarnaud, the son of a field-marshal; but this was by no means so lofty a dignity as to account for the respect of the confidant, which seemed to increase every day. In fact, the avowal of his rank only made the mystery more dense; till all speculations were at length ended for the time by the ap

It appeared to be their business here to find a passage for the younger of the two to some foreign country; but in consequence of the hot war with England, vessels did not sail so frequently as usual, and they were for some time disappointed. At length an occasion offered. A small merchantman was about to sail for Martinique; and this appear-pearance of the port of Martinique, blocked up by ing to be as good a theatre as any for the study of the world, it was determined that the youth should embrace the opportunity, and sally forth on his course of adventures. The moment of embarkation had nearly arrived, and he was in close conversation with his elderly companion, when the lady of the house inquired what he intended to do with his fur

niture.

me."

"What do you say?" said the young man absently. "Oh, the furniture! Keep it," continued he, with a courteous smile, "for a remembrance of The lady looked at the other in surprise, but the transaction appeared to make no impression upon him of any kind; and when the interruption was over, he resumed the conversation without remark. This would not, perhaps, have appeared extraordinary in very wealthy people; but the fact was certain, that the youth's funds, on embarking for the West Indies, hardly amounted to more than the value he thus heedlessly gave away; and the two strangers vanished from Rochelle, the one by sea, and the other by land, leaving behind them a grand enigma for the ingenuity of the townspeople. The youth's reputation in all probability had got on board before him; although the elderly traveller, in recommending him to the captain, could not be prevailed upon to say more than that he was a person of distinction, whose friends would one day show their gratitude for any services that were rendered him. This, however, was sufficient to insure his being treated with respect; and indeed the dignified manner of the youthful voyager would have extorted respect of itself. In his person he was

English cruisers. Under these circumstances, as it was impossible to save ship or cargo, the vessel was abandoned, and all on board took to their boats, and landed on the island in safety, but in total destitution. The count bore his misfortune very coolly, perhaps merely regarding it as one of the adventures he had come to seek; and, followed by Rhodez, went straight to the most respectable house he could find. Here he was received with much kindness by an officer called Duval Ferrol, whose attentions, ho accepted as a common matter of course; replying slightly and vaguely to his questions, and making himself as comfortable as possible. The host received but small enlightenment from Rhodez, who told all the little the reader already knows, but appeared either unable to proceed further, or terrified to do so; and the real mystery thus came to be thickened with all kinds of conjectures and exaggerations, each more absurd than the last.

The commandant of the port at length thought it high time for him to enter upon the scene, and, by way of putting beyond all doubt the real rank of the stranger, offered him the use of his house and table. This the count accepted with much satisfaction: and, always accompanied by Rhodez, as a sort of gentleman attendant, or humble friend, removed at once to the residence of the commandant. It happened on the first day that, when all were sitting down to dinner, he found that he had forgotten his handkerchief, on which Rhodez immediately got up and brought it to him. This incident made the company stare at each other with unspeakable perplexity; for at the time of which we write, a white

man waiting upon a white man, in the West Indies, was entirely unheard of. That Rhodez, who knew the customs of the place well, would submit to this dishonor in any ordinary case, was not to be supposed; and again the question recurred, who was this pretended count?

In the middle of dinner the commandant received a note from Duval Ferrol, the count's former host, containing these words: "You wish for information relative to the French passenger who lodged with me some days: his signature will furnish more than I am able to give. I enclose you a letter I have just received from him." The letter contained merely some common words of thanks, written in a schoolboy hand, and in a very bad style; but it was signed "Est," not Tarnaud. What could this mean? The commandant secretly despatched a friend to consult some persons better acquainted with the aristocracy than himself; and by the aid of an almanac, these gentlemen at length appeared to master the difficulty. The mysterious stranger could be no other than Hercules Renaud d'Est, hereditary prince of Modena, and brother of the Duchess de Penthièvre!

of the English landing, he would himself lead on the inhabitants to repulse them. Such speeches had a great effect, for the name of prince is associated with ideas of loyalty; and the people of Martinique came to think it their duty to be loyal to the Duke of Modena, since that potentate happened, by whatever extraordinary chance it occurred, to find himself in the West Indies.

The Marquis de Caylus now began to feel somewhat uneasy at Fort St. Pierre, and despatched an order to the commandant to send him his unruly guest. The commandant, however, suggested that he could by no means take such a liberty, since the individual in question was assuredly the hereditary Prince of Modena; and the marquis therefore addressed a letter to the Count de Tarnaud, inviting him to repair to his residence. "To him," replied his highness, "I am Hercules Renaud d'Est, although the Count de Tarnaud to the rest of the world. If he desires to see me, let him repair to Fort Royal, which is half-way, and in four or five days I shall be there." The officers who brought the missive reported the stranger's resemblance to the Duchess de Penthièvre, and the governor's doubts began to give way. He set out for Fort Royal as commanded; but his heart failed him, and he turned back. The prince, not finding him there proceeded to Fort St. Pierre, accompanied by a

from his windows; upon which the latter, exclaiming that he was the very image of his mother and sister, left the place in a panic, and retired to Fort Royal.

Although this, for the present, was only a conjecture, it so happened that they had the means of verifying it; for there were two persons among them (one a brother-in-law of the commandant) who knew the prince by sight. In the evening, therefore-retinue of gentlemen, and was seen by the governor for they would not intrude earlier upon the dinner party—they all repaired to the commandant's house; and there his brother-in-law had no sooner cast his eyes upon the illustrious guest, than he pronounced him to be the duke. Even this, however, would not have been conclusive testimony, for the witness was reported to be so much averse to speaking truth, that he never did so, even when drunk; but he was supported by the other officer, and the affair was decided. By and by a flourish of bugles was heard without, and the brother-in-law and his friends, who had been pushing the decanters about the whole afternoon, while waiting till it should be time for the visit, drank, with loud cheers, to the health of Hercules Renaud d'Est, hereditary Prince of Modena. The stranger was confounded by this scene. He had probably signed "Est" inadvertently, and the unexpected consequences filled him for a time with vexation and haughty displeasure.

The blockade of the English became in the mean time more and more strict, till it threatened at length to produce actual starvation. Supplies could be obtained only from Curaçoa and St. Eustatia, and these, at the best, would have been scanty and expensive, even if they had not to pass through the hands of men who took the opportunity of preying upon the public misery. The chief of the monopolists was the governor of the Windward Islands himself, the Marquis de Caylus, who resided at Martinique, and the derangement of whose private affairs had led to this contravention of his official duty. The discontent of the inhabitants became alarming; and as famine approached nearer and nearer, it assumed the aspect almost of insurrection. The presence of a reigning prince at this juncture was opportune; and the commandant, who hated the governor, intreated him to consecrate the cause of the people by becoming the head of the party. Our young paladin, we have seen, was humane, generous, thoughtless of consequences; and he was not long, therefore, of suffering himself to be prevailed upon to lend his countenance to the efforts of patriotism. He swore to put an end to the villany of the monopolists; and declared that, in the event

The Rubicon was now passed. It would be affectation to repudiate longer a rank which had been assigned to him without any agency of his own, and the Prince of Modena assumed his ancestral state, and appointed his household. The Marquis d'Eraguy had the honor of being nominated his grand equerry; Duval Ferrol, his first host on the island, became one of his gentlemen attendants; and the faithful Rhodez exulted in the office of page. He held a court, and gave formal audiences; and his levees were sedulously attended, not only by all who had complaints to make against the existing government, but by many of the officers of the administration, who conceived it politic to seek the protection of a hereditary prince. His palace was at first the convent of the Jesuits; but this excited so much the jealousy of the Dominicans, that after a time he removed to the establishment of the latter, where he was treated, if possible, with still more distinction. A table of thirty covers was laid for him and his guests every day. His dinner was a great spectacle, which passed on to the sound of trumpets; and as it was the custom to admit the people into the hall on the occasion, it became necessary to have the table defended by strong rails from the pressure of the crowd.

Under this régime, St. Peter's presented the aspect of a vast theatre. Serious business was no more thought of; the wheels of government stood still; money once more came into active circulation; provisions, liberated from the chains of monopoly, arrived from all quarters; eating, drinking, and dancing were the order of the day; and, as if fortune had determined to signalize the reign, as it may be called, of the duke by her choicest triumphs, the news of the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle came over the Atlantic to complete the general intoxication.

It may be supposed that the character of the royal adventurer was severely tested during a period of more brilliant fortune than he could have

THE PRINCE.

1

The prince wrote to his family; and the goverenjoyed on the ducal throne. We must remember, | however, that he was a mere lad, exposed to temp- nor, on his part, despatched a messenger to Europe tation of every kind, and not condemn too severely to relate the extraordinary circumstances that had the vagaries into which he was led by his wild and restless spirit. Accustomed to indulgence, as it appeared, from his cradle, he never knew what it was to repress a wish, or even feel a doubt; and he plunged madly into all the excesses of the time and place, and led the way in dissipation as zealously as he had offered to head the ranks of war. But the strange thing was, that even in his wildest moments he never forgot his rank. Neither the madness of wine, nor the witcheries of beauty, ever betrayed him into laying aside, for an instant, the dignity of the prince; and thus it was, that even the companions of his most unguarded hours continued to look upon him with a kind of awe.

the principal inhabitants waited upon him to pay
their respects; and sumptuous entertainments were
prepared for him; all of which he returned with a
magnificence conformable to his rank. In the midst
of this there came a new order for his arrest.

The prince was astonished, the people indignant,
and the women, more especially, furious. He had
taken up his abode at the convent of the Domini-
cans, who protected him for some time, but at
length, on the fermentation becoming serious, con-
sented to deliver him up to the authorities, provided
this could be done without bloodshed. One attempt
to take him was defeated by the courage of the
youth, who defended himself with his sword; but
at length a burly monk, who was accustomed to
wait upon him at table, clasped his arms round him
one day as he sat at dinner, and held him till the
alguazils, rushing into the room, took him prisoner.

Wildnesses of this kind, however, were now over,
for he was here in the school of the world. His
European education had only been begun, though
begun on a princely scale. He possessed a smat-
tering of half a dozen different sciences; he spoke,
though indifferently, several languages besides his
own, and understood a very little Latin. His draw-
He was at first thrown into a dungeon, and
ing was better than his writing; he was a capital
horseman; and, more than all, notwithstanding his strongly ironed; but the next day, for no reason
flightiness, he had a great fund of natural good sense that could be imagined-for he had haughtily re-
and precision of thought. If to this we add the fused to answer all interrogations-he was released
most absolute self-possession, and a serene tranquil- from his irons, and lodged in the best apartment in
lity of manner which nothing could disturb, it will the prison. The persons composing his retinue,
be felt that, both in his merits and defects, Hercules however, were treated with less ceremony; they
Renauld d'Est was every inch a prince.

were examined regarding a supposed conspiracy to

UNITED STATES AND MEXICO.

In a former number of the Living Age, we said that ulties, has taken possession of the best portion of ve should be willing to vote for the incorporation of the continent, stretching from the great chain of Mexico into our Union. For this expression some of our inland seas on the north to the Gulf of Mexico on hest friends blamed us. They did not (so we thought) the south, and indented on the Atlantic seaboard look at the matter in all its bearings. It was not our with numerous commodious and secure harbors. It meaning (the remark was made before the war) that this has acquired not only the free, but the sole navigashould be done without the consent of Mexico. Perhaps tion of the central river of the Mississippi valley. the strongest feeling against our suggestion was caused It has secured every harbor on the northern coast by the anticipation of the introduction of slavery there. of the Gulf of Mexico. It passes beyond the MissisOf this we were not afraid; but have always in private sippi-builds states upon its western shores-sweeps maintained the opinion that the annexation of Texas onward above the fortieth parallel of latitude, to the would weaken the political power of slavery, and that Rocky Mountains, surmounts those formidable barthe maintenance of that institution in Mexico was impos- riers, pours down their western declivities, and, in sible. This is a matter which we have no intention of 1846, finds itself in safe possession of seven degrees discussing at length, but we copy from the National Era of the Pacific coast. It has belted the continent a very remarkable article in favor of so making peace with its power-one people, one language, one with Mexico. This paper is established at Washington mind, prevailing from ocean to ocean. The governwith the intention of discussing the question of slavery ment which fifty years ago trembled for its stability with our southern brethren, and of so doing in a gentle at the bare idea of colonization beyond the Alleand rational manner. Pressed as we have been, we have not read it heretofore as much as we feel that its ability will oblige us to do hereafter.

But it was only above the fortieth degree of latitude that their energies had scope, and the tide of population could roll onward to the Pacific. Below that, reaching down ten degrees to the Gulf of Mexico, progress was arrested a short distance beyond the Mississippi, not by natural barriersmountains, lakes, or deserts-but by another empire, running up from the sixteenth degree of latitude to near the thirtieth, in a narrow slip between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean, and thence upwards from thirty to forty-two degrees, between the Pacific on one side and two thirds of the western boundary of this country, on the other; and this boundary, not natural, but artificial, depending upon parchment deeds and titles. The portion of Mexico thus bounded, pressed upon by the restless energies At the beginning of the century, few, if any, of the United States, constitutes its larger portion, statesmen foresaw the rapid growth of the United and yet contains scarcely any population, while the States, or the bearings of this growth on the for- whole of Mexico has but eight souls to the square tunes of the Spanish dominion in North America. mile. The race which made it an empire is scarcely During the last ten years of the last century, we one eighth of the entire population, and has failed were humbly negotiating for the free navigation of to establish institutions favorable to the assimilation the Mississippi; and Congress instructed Mr. Car- of the various classes of people under its ascendmichael, in 1790, to urge on the Spanish govern-ency, or to the development of their energies. The ment, as inducements to concede this, the consider- people languish. Five millions, when we were ations, that the United States would be a safer neighbor than Britain, to Spain; that conquest was repugnant to the genius of our government; that it was "not our interest to cross the Mississippi for ages;" that it " never will be our interest to remain connected with those who do." In the beginning of this century, all that President Jefferson asked of Napoleon was, the cession of New Orleans and of the Floridas, with the Mississippi as the final boundary of our possessions; and at last he was fairly forced to take the whole of Louisiana !

three, they are now only seven millions, while we are twenty. Agriculture, manufactures, commerce, are all at a stand. Civilization struggles for life.

What is to be expected when two such races, so contrasted in all the elements of power, are yet brought into immediate juxtaposition, without the impediment of any natural barrier-a vast wilderness owned by the one, inviting the reckless adventurers of the other? Texas is first settled, then annexed. This would have taken place, even though the curse which hastened that event, and has alloyed its consequences with evils not yet fully disclosed, had not been the immediate cause.

How shortsighted is the wisdom of the wisest! Some of those statesmen have lived to see the seat But the stronger race has overleaped its limits; of American empire transferred from the Atlantic slope to the west of the Alleghanies, and the Mis- it has passed to the Nueces, and then, by a second sissippi river, which was to be the perpetual western thought, to the Rio Grande, thus adding, at one boundary of American territory, passing far to the stroke, three hundred thousand square miles to its territory, grasping one third of the western shore east of its central point! Now, cast your eye on the map of North America. of the Gulf of Mexico, and bringing itself a thouAn energetic race of people, speaking one language, sand miles nearer the Pacific. The weaker race assimilated under one system of free institutions feels itself aggrieved; and for good reason. It has favorable to the utmost development of human fac- been foully dealt with. What has happened, would VOL. XV. 2

CLXXVII.

LIVING AGE.