“ She

" Who is that?” said she.

ter amazement. “ Your name?” said “Mrs. Menteith,” the jailer's wife re- she. “ 'T is a simple, country body, plied, softly, and asked leave to come and her name is Vint, — Mercy Vint." in.

Mrs. Gaunt was very much agitated, Now this Mrs. Menteith had been and said she felt quite unequal to see a very kind to her, and stoutly main- stranger. tained her innocence. Mrs. Gaunt “ Well, I'm sure I don't know what rose, and invited her in.

to do," said Mrs. Menteith. “ Madam,” said Mrs. Menteith, says she will lie at your door all night, “ what I come for, there is a person but she will see you. 'Tis the face of below who much desires to see you.”

a friend. She may know something. “I beg to be excused,” was the re- It seems hard to thrust her and her ply. “He must go to my solicitor at child out into the street, after their the ' Angel, Mr. Houseman."

coming all the way from Lancashire." Mrs. Menteith retired with that mes- Mrs. Gaunt stood silent awhile, and sage, but in about five minutes returned her intelligence had a severe combat to say that the young woman declined with her deep repugnance to be in the to go to Mr. Houseman, and begged same room with Griffith Gaunt's mishard to see Mrs. Gaunt. “And, dame,” tress (so she considered her). But a said she, “ if I were you, I ’d let her certain curiosity came to the aid of come in ; 't is the honestest face, and her good sense; and, after all, she was the tears in her soft eyes, at you deny- a brave and haughty woman, and her ing her: 'O dear, dear!' said she, “I natural courage began to rise. She cannot tell my errand to any but thought to herself, “What, dares she her.""

come to me all this way, and shall I “Well, well,” said Mrs. Gaunt; “but shrink from her?" what is her business?”

She turned to Mrs. Menteith with a “ If you ask me, I think her business bitter smile, and she said, very slowly, is your business. Come, dame, do see and clenching her white teeth: “Since the poor thing; she is civil spoken, and you desire it, and she insists on it, I she tells me she has come all the way will receive Mistress Mercy Vint." out of Lancashire o' purpose.”

Mrs. Menteith went off, and in about Mrs. Gaunt recoiled, as if she had five minutes returned, ushering in Mer

cy Vint, in a hood and travelling-cloak. “From Lancashire ?" said she, faint- Mrs. Gaunt received her standing, ly.

and with a very formal courtesy ; to “Ay, madam,” said Mrs. Menteith, which Mercy made a quiet obeisance, “and that is a long road; and a child and both women looked one another upon her arm all the way, poor thing !” all over in a moment.

“ Her name?” said Mrs. Gaunt, Mrs. Menteith lingered, to know sternly.

what on earth this was all about ; but “O, she is not ashamed of it. She as neither spoke a word, and their eyes gave it me directly."

were fixed on each other, she divined “What, has she the effrontery to take that her absence was necessary, and so my name ?"

retired, looking very much amazed at Mrs. Menteith stared at her with ut- both of them.

been stung.

a

THE USURPATION.

TH
CHERE are three passions to which must accept the same position ; for, if

public men are especially exposed, the right were once lost, it is impossifear, hatred, and ambition. Mr. ble to suggest how or when it was reJohnson is the victim and slave of all; gained. It is also known that, while and, unhappily for himsell, and unfor- the Johnston - Sherman negotiations tunately for the country, there is no were pending, Mr. Davis received writground for hope that he will ever free ten opinions from two or more persons himself from their malign influence. who were then with him, and acting as

It is a common report, and a com- members of his Cabinet, upon the very mon report founded upon the state- question in dispute between Congress ments of those best acquainted with and Mr. Johnson, - the rights of the the President, that he lives in con

then rebellious States in the governtinual fear of personal harm, and that ment of the United States. These he anticipates hostile Congressional opinions set up and maintained the action in an attempt to impeach him doctrine that the Rebel States would and deprive him of his office. He be at once entitled to representation in best of all men knows whether he is the government of the country, upon justly liable to impeachment; and he the ratification or adoption of the pendought to know that Congress cannot ing negotiations. It may not be just proceed to impeach him, unless the to say that the President borrowed offences or misdemeanors charged and his policy from Richmond ; but it is proved are of such gravity as to justify both just and true to say that the the proceeding in the eyes of the coun- leaders of the Rebellion have been intry and the world.

capable of suggesting a public policy There is nothing vindictive or harsh more advantageous to themselves than in the American character. The for- that which he has adopted. The Presibearance of the American people is a dent knows that the people have been subject of wonder, if it is not a theme quiet and impartial observers of these for encomium. They have assented proceedings; that the House of Repto the pardon of many of the most resentatives has never in public sesprominent Rebels ; they have seen the sion, nor in any of its caucuses or authors of the war restored to citizen- committees, considered or proposed ship, to the possession of their proper- any measure looking to his impeachty, and even to the enjoyment of pat- ment. ronage and power in the government; The grounds of his fear are known and finally, they have been compelled, only to himself ; but its existence exthrough the policy of the President, to erts a controlling influence over his submit to the dictation, and in some private and public conduct. sense to the control, of the men whom Associated with this fear, and probathey so recently met and vanquished bly springing from it, is an intense haupon the field of battle. The testi- tred of nearly all the recognized leaders mony

of Alexander H. Stephens every- of the party by which he was nominated where suggests, and in many particu- and elected to office.

Evidence upon lars exactly expresses, the policy of this point is not needed. He has exthe President.

hibited it in a manner and to a degree Mr. Stephens asserts that the States more uncomfortable to his friends than recently in rebellion were always enti- to his enemies, in nearly every speech tled to representation in the Congress that he has made, commencing with that of the United States; and Mr. Johnson delivered on the 22d of February last.

Superadded to these passions, which his own language he was a plebeian. promise so much of woe to Mr. John- The slaveholders were the patricians. son and to the country, is an inordi- He desired that all the white men of nate, unscrupulous, and unreasoning Tennessee, especially, and of the whole ambition. To one theme the President South, should be of one class, all is always constant, — to one idea he is slaveholders, - all patricians, if that always true, “ He has filled every

were possible; and he himself, for a office, from that of alderman of a village time became one. Failing in this, he to the Presidency of the United States." was satisfied when all became nonHe does not forget, nor does he permit slaveholders, and the patrician class the world to forget, this fact. In some ceased to exist. Hence, as far as Mr. form of language, and in nearly every Johnson's opinions and purposes are speech, he assures his countrymen that concerned, the war has accomplished he either is, or ought to be, satisfied everything for which it was undertaken. with this measure of success. But have The Union has been preserved, and not his own reflections, or some over- the patrician class has been broken kind friend, suggested that he has never down. been elected President of the United Naturally, Mr. Johnson is satisfied. States ? and that there yet remains the On the one hand he has no sympathy attainment of this one object of ambi- with the opinion that the negro is a tion ?

man and ought to be a citizen, and Inauguration day, 1865, will be re- that he should be endowed with the garded as one of the saddest days in rights of a man and a citizen; and, on American annals. We pass over its in- the other hand, he shares not in the cidents ; but it was fraught with an evil desire of the North to limit the represuggestion to our enemies, and it must sentation of the South so that there have been followed by a firm conviction shall be equality among the white in the mind of Mr. Johnson that he men of the country. He is anxious could not thereafter enjoy the confi- rather to increase the political strength dence of the mass of the Republican of the South. He fears the growing party of the country. He foresaw that power of the North. The same apprethey would abandon him, and he there- hension which drove Calhoun into nulfore made hot haste to abandon them. lification, and Davis, Stephens, and And, indeed, it must be confessed that others into rebellion and civil war, there was scarcely more inconsistency now impels Mr. Johnson to urge the in that course on his part, than there country to adopt his policy, which sewould have been in continuing his con- cures to the old slaveholding States nection with the men who had elected an eighth of the political power of the him. His nomination for the Vice- nation, to which they have no just tiPresidency was an enthusiastic tribute tle whatever. To the North this is a to his Union sentiments ; beyond a more flagrant political injustice than knowledge of these, the Convention even the institution of slavery. neither had nor desired to have any He once expressed equal hostility toinformation. Mr. Johnson was and is wards Massachusetts and South Caroa Union man; but he was not an anti- lina, and desired that they should be slavery man upon principle. He was a cut off from the main land and lashed Southern State-Rights man. He looked together in the wide ocean. The Presiupon the national government as a ne- dent appears to be reconciled to South cessity, and the exercise of any powers Carolina ; but if the hostility he once on its part as a danger. His political entertained to the two States had been training was peculiar. He had carried laid upon Massachusetts alone, he on a long war with slaveholders, but he ought to have felt his vengeance satishad never made war upon slavery. He fied when her representatives entered belonged to the poor white class. In the Philadelphia Convention arm in arm

was

with the representatives of South Caro- ment to the Constitution which provides lina, assuming only, what is not true, an equal system of representation for that the sentiment of Massachusetts the whole country? It is not enough, was represented in that Convention. in the estimation of the President, that As a perfect illustration of the Presi- the loyal people should receive these dent's policy, two men from Massa- enemies of the Union and murderers chusetts should have been assigned to of their sons and brothers as equals, each member from South Carolina, as but he demands a recognition of their foreshowing the future relative power superiority and permanent rule in the of the white men of the two States in government by a voluntary tender oi the government of the country. The an eighth of the entire representative States of the North and West will re- force of the republic. When before ceive South Carolina and the other were such terms ever exacted of the Rebel States as equals in political conqueror in behalf of the conquered ? power and rights, whenever those States If the victorious North had demanded are controlled by loyal men; but they of the vanquished South a surrender are enemies to justice, to equality, and of a part of its representative power to the peace of the country who demand in the government, as a penalty for its the recognition of the Rebel States treason, that demand would have been upon the unequal basis of the existing sustained upon the principles of justice, Constitution.

although the proceeding would have Of these enemies to justice, equality, been unwise as a measure of public and the peace of the country, the Presi- policy. As it is, the victorious North dent is the leader and the chief; and as only demands equality for itself, while it such leader and chief he is no longer offers equality to the vanquished South. entitled to support, confidence, or even Was there ever a policy more just, wise, personal respect. He has seized upon reasonable, and magnanimous ? all the immense patronage of this gov

Yet the President rejects this policy, ernment, and avowed his purpose to deserts the loyal men of the North by use it for the restoration of the Rebel whom he was elected, conspires with States to authority, regardless of the the traitors in the loyal States and the rights of the people of the loyal States. Rebels of the disloyal States for the huHe has thus become the ally of the miliation, the degradation, the political Rebels, and the open enemy of the loyal enslavement of the loyal people of the white men of the country. The Presi- country. And this is the second great dent, and those associated with him in conspiracy against liberty, against equalthis unholy project, cannot but know ity, against the peace of the country, that the recognition of the ten disloyal against the permanence of the AmeriStates renders futile every attempt to can Union ; and of this conspiracy the equalize representation in Congress. President is the leader and the chief. The assent of three fourths of the States Nor can be defend himself by saying is necessary to the ratification of an that he desires to preserve the Constituamendment to the Constitution. The tion as it was, for he himself has been fifteen old Slave States are largely in- instrumental in securing an important terested in the present system, and

alteration. “ The Constitution as it they will not consent voluntarily to a was” has passed away, and by the aid change. The question between the of Mr. Johnson. President and Congress is then this: Nor can he say that he is opposed to Shall the ten States be at once recog- exacting conditions precedent; for he nized, — thus securing to the old Slave made the ratification of the anti-slavery States thirty Representatives and thirty amendment a condition precedent to electoral votes to which they have no his own recognition of their existence title, or shall they be required to accept, as States clothed with authority. Thus as a condition precedent, an amend- is he wholly without proper excuse for

his conduct. Nor can he assert that state of mind, he would not be prethe Rebel States are, and ever have pared to grant. He has pardoned many been, States of the Union, and always of the leaders and principal men of the and ever entitled to representation and Rebellion, and some of them he has without conditions; for then is he guilty appointed to office. He has resisted of impeachable offences in demanding every attempt on the part of Congress of them the ratification of the constitu- to furnish protection to the loyal men tional amendment, in dictating a poli- of the South, and he has witnessed cy to the Southern States, in organizing and discussed the bloody horrors of provisional governments, in inaugurat- Memphis and New Orleans with colding constitutional conventions, in de- blooded indifference. Early in his priving officers elected or appointed by term of office he offered an immense authority of those States of their offices, reward for the person of Jefferson Daand, in fine, in assuming to himself su- vis ; and now that the accused has preme authority over that whole region been in the official custody of the Presiof country for a long period of time. dent, as the head of the army, for Thus his only defence of his present more than fifteen months, he has neipolicy contains an admission that he ther proclaimed his innocence and set has usurped power, that he has vio- him at liberty, nor subjected him to lated the Constitution, that he is guilty trial according to the laws of the land. of offences for which he ought to be Davis is guilty of the crime of treason. impeached. Thus do the suggestions of this there can be no doubt. He is which the President tenders as his de- indicted in one judicial district. The fence furnish conclusive evidence that President holds the prisoner by milihis conduct is wholly indefensible. tary authority; and the accused can

While then the President cannot not be arraigned before the civil tribudefend his conduct, it is possible for nals. Davis was charged by the Presiothers to explain it.

dent with complicity in the assassinaIts explanation may be found in some tion of Mr. Lincoln. There is much one or in several of the following propo- evidence tending to sustain the charge; sitions:

but the accused is neither subjected to 1. That the Rebel leaders have ac- trial by a military commission, nor quired a control over the President, turned over to the civil tribunals of through the power oi some circum- the country. These acts are offences stance not known to the public, which against justice; they are offences enables them to dictate a policy to against the natural and legal rights of him.

the accused, however guilty he may 2. That he fears impeachment, and be; they are offences against the honor consequently directs all his efforts to of the American people ; they are acts secure more than a third of the Senate, in violation of the Constitution. If the so as to render a conviction impossible. elections of 1866 are favorable to the

3. That he seeks a re-election, and President, they will be followed by the purposes to make the South a unit in release of Davis, and the country will his favor, as the nucleus around which see the end of this part of the plot. the Democratic party of the North must Upon any view of the President's gather in 1868.

case, it is evident that he has thrown 4. That he desires to reinstate the himself into the arms of the South, and South as the controlling force in the that his personal and political fortunes government of the country.

are identified with Southern success in In reference to the first proposition, the coming contest. He claims to stand we are restricted to the single remark, upon the Baltimore Platform of 1864, that it is not easy to imagine the Reb- and to follow in the footsteps of Presiels capable of making any demand upon dent Lincoln. The enemies of Presithe Executive which, in his present dent Lincoln are reconciled to this as