bably be Romanist. Moreover, both the as-dred and fifty thousand slaveholders have far sertion of nationality, and the destruction of more voice in the government of the twentythe old factious parties and personal coteries, three or twenty-six million inhabitants of the is an advantage. It is easier to deal with a United States, than have the landed aristocnation than with a clique; doubtless it is the racy in that of England. In the South, though more necessary for us to treat the former with even there but a small minority, they secure due respect and consideration, above all, almost all the other whites, by holding out to with straightforward openness. But if we do each one of them the chance of possessing huso, we have a right to expect that it will show man property, and by ensuring to them the respect to itself. Mr. Soulé's French birth luxury of oppressing a black man, even if too would of course place him under the ban of poor to own him. By appealing to the castethe Order; but even had he been a native feeling, they enlist the prejudices, and by the American, we should have been surprised if a work which they set their slaves to do, they "Know Nothing" President had given him an involve the interests, of both North and South office, and we shall also be surprised if a on their side; and by the compactness of their "Know Nothing" Adininistration does not party-organization and the singleness of their keep down the filibusterers with a much object, they hold the balance between, and stronger hand than does the present one. The therefore the rule over, every other party in mission of this party, however, will be speedily the Union. Every year, however, this preaccomplished; both the foreign and the popish dominance is becoming more difficult to proelements of the population will be restrained serve. within their legitimate limits, and all attempts The public opinion of the world is having to go further will be resisted by the sound its influence upon the North if not upon the sense and good feeling of the country. As South; the Slaves themselves, in spite of evesoon as it has done its work, like the parties it ry effort to keep them back, are becoming replaces, it will become a mere name; and its more enlightened, and therefore more diffisole difference from them will be, that if its se-cult to keep down; even the difference in crecy lasts, it will become a still greater nui- race and color-the great bulwark of slavery, sance. Again, there will remain in reality is gradually breaking down: already the only two political parties in the Republic, the two races are amalgamating; in 1850 there Free Party and the Slave Power. were above four hundred thousand mulat This subject of American slavery is so sor- toes in the Union, and the ratio of their rowful and wearisome, the Americans are so increase must of course become every year resensitive at its mere mention by an English-latively greater. Hardly a week elapses withman, that we had hoped to avoid its discussion out proof given in Southern papers of the inin this paper; but it is impossible: it recurs creasing number of "white slaves;" and those at every step of every argument, it enters into who watch the cases of the fugitives, will find the consideration of every contingency. The how difficult it is for the whites to keep as foreign policy of every nation is after all de- slaves their own children. Still, as the doom pendent on its internal policy, and with every of the system draws near, the efforts of its act of the Republic, slavery is involved. How advocates to maintain and even to extend it can it be otherwise? More than three mil- become more desperate. For a time, this deslion of native Americans are held as slaves; peration may appear to succeed, but every efthat is, are treated as though they were brutes, fort increases the power of their opponents. by three hundred and fifty thousand of their The Fugitive Slave Law made many Abo fellow-countrymen.* These slaves are increas-litionists; the Nebraska Act many more; the ing with fearful rapidity; in thirty years, at Missourian invasion of Kansas, even if it suc the rate of increase for the last ten years, there ceeds in adding one to the Slaves, will there will be above six million of them. The pro- by inflict far greater loss on the Slave-powe gress of civilization and the conscience of man- in the Free States. The South at first greed kind are against the slaveholders, and they know it, and therefore they are desperate. Here at least is a party which has an object,viz., the preservation of the privileges and of the property of its members. Hence that energy of purpose and constancy of action which make up for the badness of their cause and the fewness of their numbers. These three hun *See De Bow's "Census," p. 83. Of these ma lattoes about 250,000 are slaves. In the same sttistics we find that one-fourth of the slaves are of mixed blood in the district of Columbia, for the institutions of which, inasmuch as it is governed by Federal Congress, the Free States are responsible. We commend this fact to the notice of Mr. Baxter, who states (p. 173 of his work) that "slavery was abolished some time ago in this district." Seeing that the emancipation of these Federal Slaves is notoriously one of the chief aims of the Abolitionists, the ignorance evinced by this mistake makes Mr. Baxter's criticisms of their conduct of very little value. 4 ily seized hold of this "Know Nothing" agi-| Amid, however, all the fearful uncertainties of tation, in the hope that it might divert the this question, of one fact we have little doubt. North from the advocacy of freedom. Spite, There can be no interference by America in however, of the efforts of many of its leaders European affairs until the slavery problem be to shirk or postpone the Slavery question, al-solved; even if the Slave-party had the will ready the American party is divided upon it. to fight for European freedom, which it has not, In the South, they are of course pro-slavery however loud its professions, neither the Slave men; in the North, the "Know Nothing" nor the Free Party have the power. All the lodges of New Hampshire, - Pierce's own energies of both will be absorbed in their muState, have lately recorded their unanimous tual conflict, and all the strength of the Comdisapproval of the Nebraska Act; and Wil-monwealth will be needed to prevent this conson, the "Know Nothing" Senator of Massa- flict from causing it disruption. There may chusett's, has declared, in his place in the be, there will be, an alliance between the GovCapitol, what Slavery has to expect from the ernments of Great Britain and of the United North, with a confidence of power which cow- States; our mutual interests and relationship ed into civility even the hot-headed Southern will prevent a rupture; but there will be no ers. The North is freeing itself, and the entente cordiale. How can there be while South knows it. The foreign policy of the America has a Russia within her borders? South therefore is to indemnify the Slave- Let that American Russia be freed, and then power against the loss of Northern support; we shall indeed have an "Anglo-American Alto this object alone does the South confine it-liance," more powerful and beneficial than self, and every year will the foreign policy of | Kossuth has ever dreamt of; then may we the North be more and more restricted to a trust that the sympathy in action and in feelcounter-action of these efforts of the South. *By the last intelligence from the States, we find chat the Massachusetts Legislature, elected under "Know Nothsng" influence, has passed an act aullifying the Fugitive Slave Law. The defeat of the "Know Nothings" in Virginia is an evidence of the not unnatural Southern suspicion of the Order. ing of the two members of the Anglo-Saxon family, possessing as they will so large a portion of the earth, will be but a prelude to the meeting of the nations "In the Parliament of man, the Federation of the World." SALUTATION CUSTOMS.-In the Retrospective Review, I find the following: The proud and pompous Constable of Castile, on his visit to the English Court soon after the accession of James I., was right well pleased to bestow a kiss on Anne of Denmark's lovely maids of honor," according to the custom of the country, and any neglect of which is taken as an affront."... We should like to know when this passing strange custom died away-a question we will beg to hand over to our friend "N. & Q" In Hone's Year Book, col. 1087, this custom is also noticed by a correspondent as follows: Another specimen of our ancient manners is seen in the French embrace. The gentleman, and others of the male sex, lay hands on the shoulders, and touch the side of each other's cheek; but on being introduced to a lady, they say to her father, brother, or friend, Permettez moi, and salute each of her cheeks And was not this custom in England in Elizabeth's reign? Let us read one of the epistles of the learned Erasmus, which being translated, is in part as follows: "... Although, Faustus, if you knew the advantages of Britain, truly you would hasten thither with wings to your feet; and, if your gout would not permit, you would wish you postouch on one thing out of many here, there are sessed the heart [sic] of Dædalus. For, just to lasses with heavenly faces; kind, obliging, and you would far prefer them to all your Muses. ficiently commended. If you go to any place, There is, besides, a practice never to be sufyou, you are received with a kiss by all; if you depart on a journey, you are dismissed with a kiss; you return, kisses are exchanged. They come to visit you, a kiss the first thing; they leave you kiss them all round. Do they meet you anywhere, kisses in abundance. Lastly, wherever you move, there is nothing but kisses. And if you, Faustus, had but once tasted them! how soft they are-how fragrant! on my honor you would wish not to reside here for ten years only, but for life." Perhaps some correspondent will answer the Query of the editor of the Retrospective Review as quoted above.-Notes and Queries. From Household Words. Did some ancient Egyptian spelling-book fall into our hands, and were we able to read it, we should probably find the papyrus dilated upon like the English cow, as a natural concentration of general utility. It supplied not only the paper of the ancients, but food, physic, fuel, and a great deal more. Herodotus, when he introduces it to his readers by its other name, "byblos," puts down its comestible qualities first. "When." he says, 64 they pull up the byblos from the marshes, they cut off the upper part of it, and turn it to other purposes, but the lower part which is left, and is about a cubit in length, they eat raw, and sell. It appears that in the year one hundred and eighty-two before Christ, a scribe named Terentius, while digging up a field that belonged to THE writer of one of those extremely perma-him on the Janiculum, found a coffin which was nent spelling-books, which defy all ravages of deemed to be that of King Numa, who had reigntime, and changes of fashion, is extremely emed about five hundred and thirty years before. phatic in calling the juvenile mind to the con- In this were discovered some books made of patemplation of the various virtues of the cow, as per, and containing the doctrines of Pythagoras. a source of beef, milk, butter, horn, and leather. They were burned by the prætor Quintus PetiliTo borrow a French expression for which there us, on the singular ground that they were-phiis no precise equivalent, the youthful reader is losophical. Possibly this reason is somewhat regularly taught to exploiter a cow. loosely stated; for there is another version of the story, told by Varro, and cited by St. Augustine, according to which the senate ordered the books to be destroyed, because they contained the causes of the religious institutions founded by Numa, which were so trivial, that they thought an exposure of them would bring the national religion into contempt. Moreover, by the act of destruction, they complied with the will of the deceased monarch. However, much as Pliny is disposed to believe in the antiquity of paper, an assertion made by the Consul Mucianus, that while he was in Lycia, he read a letter written on paper by the Homeric hero, Sarpedon, staggers the natural historian not a little; because Homer, when he tells that wild tale of Bellerophon, in which the young hero is sent to Lycia with a written message that is to cause his destruction, mentions the folding pinax or tablet, as the instrument employed on the occasion. As for the use of papyrus in Egypt itself, manuscripts have been found by Champollion, the age of which is estimated at three thousand five hundred years. Probably the best method of reconciling all seeming contradictions is to assume that it was not until about the time of Alexander the Great, that the use of papyrus was generally known in Greece. According to the same illustrious authority, the refined way of enjoying your byblos is to steam it in a red-hot pan before you convey it to your mouth. The other purposes of which Herodotus speaks so indefinitely are catalogued by Pliny in his Natural History. The roots, he tells us were used as wood,-not merely as firewood, be it understood, but also as a material for the manufacture of divers utensils. From the stalk were made light boats; and the bark furnished sails, mats. raiment, ropes, and blankets. The combustible qualities of the plant were in such good repute, that the bier of a deceased person, before it was laid on the funeral pyre was strewed over with dried papyrus, that the corpse might burn the more readily. Martial, disappointed of the legacy which he expected from one Numa, illustrates by an epigram, not only the well-approved doctrine of the cup and the lip, but also this funereal use of the papyrus: Upon the pile is light papyrus cast, Pliny has left an accouut of the manner of making paper from the papyrus, which has caused no small controversy among the learned, but which, with the aid of a little conjecture, may be filled up into an intelligible statement. The layers of skin formed beneath the bark of the plant were, in the first place, detached from each other in strips by means of a sharp instrument. The skins, finest at the centre, became and the choice which was made of them, regucoarser and coarser as they approached the bark, Numa makes me his heir, and then-gets well. had been carefully taken off, they were laid lated the quality of the paper. After the strips Papyrus also had its medical uses. We are in-length-wise upon a table, wetted with the water formed by Pliny, that the ashes of the paper of the Nile. They were then woven together made from it will promote sleep, if swallowed cross-wise, being still moistened with the same with a draught of wine, and that the paper it-liquid, which answered the double purpose of ceself, moistened with water, makes an efficient plaster. The weeping wife buys scents of holy smell; Couch, washer, pit, are ready, when at last menting and bleaching. The operation of pressing followed, and uneven places were smoothed down with a tooth or a shell. However, the manufacture of paper was the great purpose for which the papyrus was employ- Nothing can be more plain and intelligible ed. According to Varro, this useful article was than all this; but, here a little disagreeable cirunknown before the time when the city of Alex- cumstance intrudes itself upon us with terrible andria was founded by the Macedonian conquer- force. One of the French commentators, to or; but Pliny, who cites Varro, also expresses a whom we are indebted for the admirable Paris doubt that the invention of paper was so recent, edition of Pliny, disbelieves altogether the sticky and tells, in illustration of his doubt, an old sto-properties of Nile-water, while M. Poiret, another ry about Numa Pompilius, on the authority of savant, doubts the capabilities of the papyrus for Cassius Hemina, a very early Roman histo- such a manufacture as that described above, and rian, of whom only a few fragments now exist. thinks that the popular plant has unfairly en grossed the reputation belonging to some other jest must have some foundation to rest upon. child of the Egyptian soil. We entreat our read-On one occasion, during the reign of the Emper ers to forget this paragraph as soon as they can, or Tiberius, there was a veritable paper famine for a firm belief that papyrus is papyrus, is abso- in Rome, and the senate, to meet the emergency, lutely necessary for the unity of our dissertation. appointed commissioners, who allowed every one Luckily the Italian method of making paper is a certain ration of the article according to his less obnoxious to doubt. According to this necessities. This sort of calamity is not to be method, a paste made of fine meal and vinegar, attributed solely to a want of enterprise on the or of crumb of bread softened by boiling water, part of the Romans, but to a scarcity of the pawas the cement employed, and the paper, when pyrus itself, occasioned by the cupidity of the the pieces had been pasted together, was beaten | Egyptian growers, who reared the plant scantily out with a hammer. Manuscripts by Augustus on purpose to keep up its price, thus, as Strabo Cæsar, Cicero, and Virgil, upon paper thus ma- observes, "increasing their own profit to the denufactured, were seen by Pliny. triment of the common weal." In the days of We have already stated, that the fineness of Alexander's successor, when the Ptolemies who the skins or layers of the papyrus, increased in reigned over Egypt were founding the famous proportion to their proximity to the centre. On Alexandrian library, they prohibited the exthis account the paper made from the inner skin | portation of the papyrus altogether, hoping thus was employed for sacerdotal purposes, and was to keep all the learning of the world to themcalled hieratic, while the article derived from the selves. Fortunately for mankind, a King of Peroutside was merely used for parcels. However, gamus loved books as well as the rulers of so great were the improvements in the days of Egypt, and he accordingly invented a material, the first Roman Emperors, that the old hieratic which has survived the use of papyrus itself, and paper soon lost its prestige. The Egyptian has been the chief means of bringing down to us priests were so jealous of this finer article that the treasures of ancient literature, namely, they would not sell it till it had been previously parchment. Etymologists may, if they please, written upon, but the Romans had a way of trace the English word parchment through a washing out the writing, that, it seems, rendered series of changes from the name of the kingdom it better than before, for the paper so washed in which its origin is placed. However, the aubore the name of the Emperor Augustus, and a thority of Varro is to be taken here, as in the second kind, that of his wife Lucia, nothing high- other case, with reservation,-for Herodotus, who er than the third rank being left for the once wrote long before the Ptolemies were thought supreme hieratic. The two kinds of imperial of, tells us that the Ionians called books by the paper as they were called, were in their turn name of diphtheræ (or skins), adding as a reaeclipsed by another kind, called Fannian, after son, that through the want of papyrus, they used the name of Rhemmius Fannius Palamon, a the skin of goats and sheep for the purpose of grammarian, who founded a paper-factory in the writing. It would seem judicious to agree with reign of the Emperor Claudius. The fault the writer of the article "Liber," in Dr. Smith's ascribed to the Augustan paper was an unplea- admirable Dictionary of Antiquities, that parch. sant transparency and an inability to bear a ment was rather improved than invented by the strong pressure of the pen. King of Pergamus. Whatever was his share in the production of such parchment as we have now, he was certainly well entitled to his name of Eumenes, or the Benevolent, as members of the legal profession will be most ready to admit. With all these improvements, paper was far from becoming an exceedingly common article among the ancients, and even the more opulent laid in their stores with economy and used it with caution. Cicero, in one of his letters to his friend Atticus, offers him a sum that he may buy paper, rather than discontinue his correspondence, and attributes the scantiness of his own sheet to a scarcity of material. The offer and the observation are made in jest; but even a Lastly, let us mention the fact that paper was taxed by the Roman emperors, and that it is narrated as great glory of the Gothic King of Italy, Theodoric, that he greatly lightened the oppressive burden. There is nothing new under the sun-not even a tax on paper! |