out the measures whereby, as he says, "present protection would be afforded to our traders, and on the expiration of the privilege granted to British subjects to trade on the waters of the Columbia, we should be enabled to remove them from our territory and to secure the whole trade to our own sovereignty to the northward of the river; | House of Representatives appointed another and we really do not see how, considering select committee on the subject, who made a the protection due to existing British inter- report, annexing a recommendation of Genests, our government could be reasonably eral Jesup, quartermaster-general, for the expected to consent to placing the navi-military occupation of the Columbia, pointing gation of that river and its tributaries at the exclusive command of the United States. The Americans appear to take it for granted that the Oregon territory has been destined by Providence for the ultimate use of the people of the United States. We have noticed the difficulties which have hitherto obstructed the progress of settlement from over-citizens." A committee of the Senate has land; those difficulties are altogether of a more recently investigated the question, and physical nature; the British government has Senator Linn, the chairman of that comnever placed any obstacles in the way of mittee, has introduced a bill for the military American settlers, nor would it have been occupation of the Oregon territory accomjustified in so doing. For ourselves, we do panied by a scheme for its systematic settlenot set any great value upon the country, as an emigration field, either for England or America; but what we do consider of importance to British interests is, that British subjects should not in any event be deprived of the free navigation of the Oregon river and its tributaries, or of the free use of the Strait of Fuca, and the several harbors comprised within the disputed territory. These are rights which it is incumbent on the British government to maintain, as well as to afford all due protection to those British subjects, who in the course of the last fifty-three years have established themselves as occupiers within the territory, pursuant to the terms of the convention of the Escurial. ment. How soon some bill of this description may pass both houses it is impossible to say, for great excitement prevails out of doors, which is, of course, fostered and kept alive by the press. We observe, for instance, that on the 1st of October last, a public meeting was held at Philadelphia, at which the rights of the United States were expounded at great length to the people by a Mr. Peter Brown, and it was resolved unanimously "that the United States have a clear and indisputable title to the Oregon territory." It is the feverish state of public opinion in America which makes it so difficult for the government of the United States to guide its foreign policy by the rules of jusWhatever means may be the best for bring- tice and moderation, and which also renders ing to a settlement the question of final sove-it incumbent upon the British government reignty, it is necessary that those means not to suffer existing breaches to widen, but should be resorted to without a day's delay. to do the utmost to settle all differences, We do not at present perceive any better which it may be possible to adjust upon mode of determining the point than by the ar- equitable principles and with a due regard bitration of a third power; nor could the to vested rights. We have said enough to United States reasonably object to refer the show that Great Britain ought to be now prepoint to such a tribunal. We shall sincerely pared to adopt and to carry out a decided rejoice in the adjustment of differences, which line of policy in regard to this territorial discannot subsist much longer without the ut-pute. Conciliation should be carried to the most danger to the maintenance of peace. utmost length which justice to British interThe American executive has for some years past been subjected to a strong pressure of public opinion with reference to this question, a pressure which threatens to compel the executive even to disregard the obligations of existing treaties. The legislature of the United States has frequently been urged to assert its exclusive sovereignty, and to take possession of the entire territory in dispute. In 1821, a Committee of the House of Representatives, appointed on the motion of Mr. Floyd, reported a bill for the occupation of the Columbia, and the regulation. of the trade with the Indians in the territories of the United States." In 1823, the ests will permit; but a firm decision should also be taken not to permit the infringement of treaty-rights, or of those acknowledged rules of international law which are binding upon all civilized states, and without whose observance there can be no permanent security for the preservation of peace. THE bells of Ghent were ringing a merry peal, flags and banners hung from steeple and tower, and the streets were overflowing with the citizens dressed in their holiday attire. It was the birthday of the mighty emperor who had first seen the light within its walls, and though to-day was not even the hundredth time of its celebration, yet it was evident that it could not pass without extraordinary festivity. matters not which." Soon after, however, as the carriage was again rumbling on, a sign caught the eye of the elder lady, and the checkstring was hastily pulled. It was of a secondrate inn, and her companion asked with surprise, "What! here ?" "And why not?" said the lady, slowly. "It is the sign of the Helpful Mother of God.' We are deserted by all: perchance the Blessed Virgin will shield me from the eyes of the world, and offer me a retreat where I may close my eyes in peace." We resume the history after a lapse of seven months. In the window of a small house in the street de la Crucé, a light might have been noticed burning deep into the night; within the small, scantily furnished apartment whence it issued, were four people standing mournfully around a bed, on which lay some one sick unto death. The elderly lady whom we have seen before, and an old attendant whom we recognize by his faded velvet coat and white hair, were two of these; the others were a sister of a religious order, and a celebrated physician of Ghent. The patient we have also seen before: she was a lady whose features still showed signs of beauty, though worn down low with bodily and mental suffering. "Doctor," said the elder lady, her eyes swelled with weeping, "you say, then, that there is really no hope ?" "It is a light about to be quenched," he answered. "Human skill is of no avail here." "There is then, indeed, no hope?" "A miracle alone could save her;" and he added, low down, "this is not the age of miracles." Our attention, however, is not to be called to a scene of mirth or rejoicing, nor have we to chronicle the fate of one, whose name threw a lustre over the place of her birth. But whatever were her failings, and they were not few nor light, who will say that they were not atoned for by the severity of her destiny? Whilst, then, the sounds of rejoicing were at the loudest, we must notice a heavy travelling carriage drawn by four horses, which came slowly lumbering along as it entered the gates of Ghent. It was an equipage which evidently belonged to some one of rank, for the mouldings were richly gilded, and the windows were of Venetian glass, in those days of great luxury. But it had seen its best days. The coats of arms, which nearly covered its panels, were scarcely any longer legible, the gildings were tarnished, and the horses, by their want of condition, showed that they were not fed by a pampering hand. Two ladies occupied the inside, one of whom, despite of her fifty years, might still have been called handsome. Her face and complexion betrayed her southerly extraction, and though her features were clouded with grief, there flashed forth every now and then from her eyes a glance of pride and self-consciousness. Her companion was a younger person, and altogether more feminine in "And I do not hope," the lady answered, afappearance, but still the expression of her face ter a pause. "You told me she would die. was of high spirit, struggling with dreadful ex-These eighteen years you have told me truly all haustion. Eight days only before the time we write of, her fair head had fallen in effigy by the hands of the headsman; outside the carriage sat two female attendants, with a young page, and one who seemed to show to the full the wretchedness which was depicted upon the faces of his mistresses. It was an old man, whose hair was already white, whilst the velvet-laced coat which he wore, accorded well by its threadbare look with the faded splendor of the equipage. The time had been when the travellers night have expected similar sounds of rejoicing to greet their ears, a concourse of people and the ringing of bells, and all in honor of themselves. Alas! those days were past. Just once the elder lady had allowed the noise to attract her attention to the street, but her look was speedily withdrawn. The memory of other times came over her, especially of the day on which she had made a pub- The invalid opened her eyes, her half-glazed lic entry into this very town, attended by all that look dwelt for a moment upon the speaker, a was fair and brilliant. Treachery and ingrati-placid smile played along her pallid fips; she tude had done much, and had yet their worst to do. The carriage at length stopped, and the page descended to the window to ask the direction the carriage was to take. "To an hotel, Paulo, it that was to come to pass; all my misfortunes. Just heaven, when will my cup of sorrow be full, how soon will thy wrath turn to compassion!" There was a long silence. The doctor was the first to speak. 'Heavy indeed must have been the blow, which brought one so young as she is into a situation like this." "You are right. 'Tis no light matter to have to leave country, children, friends, to escape the scaffold; yet so it has been; she had spoken against the king and the parliament. The tiger in human shape, not satisfied with having driven me forth into exile, must also kill my dearest, my only friend. Poor, unfortunate Isabella! death is the penalty you must pay for your devotion to one deserted by all beside.” sighed, it was a gentle sigh, but with it her spirit departed. All was hushed; no sob or expression of grief broke the silence. The mourner had sunk upon her knees, and her face was buried in her hands. It was a spasm of woe. At length she rose; and, after gazing for a moment on the face of the departed, her hands firmly clasped together, she stooped, and imprinted a kiss on the forehead of the corpse. Then turning round, and drawing her figure to its full height, whilst her eyes sparkled, and her whole form seemed dilated, "Triumph, vile priest!" she half screamed, "add another to your list of victims. Treacherous villain!-cowardly assassin!-take a woman's bitter curse-a curse," she articulated slowly, "heard by those blessed spirits who are even now wafting the soul of his victim to the courts of heaven." "With her it is well," she added, after a pause, "but I remain here, deserted of all." The old domestic threw himself at her feet. "By all, but no, not by me." My faithful Mascali," she said, motioning him to rise; and her grief at length found vent in tears. "Yes, I know you have courage to face a woman.' "As I hope for salvation, I will be revenged upon her." The lady rose, drew back the curtains of the bed, and, with a contemptuous smile, she said slowly, "There, then, revenge yourself upon her corpse." The color left the king's face, he staggered a pace or two backward, and laid a hand upon the speaker, as if for support. She drew back, as if from the touch of pollution. "What! I serve as a prop for you-Away with you instantly-rid me of your presence!" The monarch reeled towards the door, and the lady's glance followed him till he was gone. "The miserable creature!" she muttered; "and yet he can call me mother." The next morning, a chapel in the church of St. Bavon was hung with black. In the middle stood a catafalk ornamented with a count's coro The day was breaking, and, with a low obei-net; beside it stood the lady in prayer, and besance, the doctor and the servant had left the room. The old lady had sunk into an armchair, whilst the Beguine, kneeling at the side of the bed, was offering up prayers for the soul of the departed. It was high noon, when a gentle knock came to the door, and Mascali silently entered. "Your grace," he said, "his majesty the king is below, and would wait upon you." "Is his accursed favorite with him ?" "She is in attendance." "I will see the king:- but, understand, alone." A moment afterwards, Mascali opened the door for a young man richly dressed, who sank upon his knee, as he became aware of the lady's presence. us." Mascali, a seat for his majesty, and leave Mascali retired. "Veramente, I was not prepared for this visit," said the lady, bitterly. "I thought you had yet delicacy enough remaining to have spared me this." "I have been calumniated." "With words? It were idle, when deeds speak for themselves your latest deed has proved sufficient; comfort yourself with the thought that you need do no more." "Did you but know hind her Mascali, a page, and two female attendants, in deep mourning. On it was written, "Pray for the soul of the most noble Lady Isabella, Countess of Fargis, Embassadress to the Court of the King of Spain and Emperor of all the Indies." Twenty years ago an old house was still standing in Cologne, which showed to the street a frontage of five small windows. It was the house in which the first painter of the Flemish school, the immortal Rubens, was born, A. D. 1577. Sixty years later than this date, the ground floor was occupied by two old people, a shoemaker and his wife. The upper story, which was usually let to lodgers, was empty at the time we write of. Two, however, occupied the garret. The evening was cold and wet, and the shoemaker and his wife were sitting together in the room below. "You had better go up stairs again," said the man to his wife, "and see how the poor lady is. The old gentleman went out early, and has not been in since. Has she not taken any thing?" "It is only half an hour since I was up stairs, and he had not come in. I took her some broth up at noon, but she hardly touched it, and I was up again at three; she was asleep then, and at five she said she should not want any thing more." "I know enough, quite enough, too much-I know that whilst your friends were shedding their blood for you, you were a base coward and -ran away. I know that you have entered into a treaty with your most implacable enemy, the principal stipulation in which is, that I am to be given up. I know, too, that I am your mother, or naught could make me even suppose that you were the son of the bravest of monarchs, whose blood is already tainted by your infamous cow-her the best of every thing." ardice." "Poor lady! This time of the year, and neither fire nor warm clothes, and not even a decent bed to lie on; and yet I am sure she is somebody or other. Have you noticed the respect with which the old gentleman treats her?" "This is too much," cried the king, springing up. "You can get into a passion, then, yet! Is there, then, a single spark of courage still left ?" "O, I know the countess hates me, and never ceases to calumniate me; but, by she shall answer it." "If she wants for any thing, it is her own fault. That ring she wears on her finger would get Then came a knock at the door, and the woman admitted the old man they had just spoken of, whose grizzled beard fell upon the same tarnished velvet coat which we have seen before. The hostess sadly wanted to have a little gossip with him, but he passed by, and, bidding them a short "Good night," groped his way up the steep and crooked staircase. On entering the cham ber above, a feeble voice inquired the cause of| his long absence. "Permit me to attend your majesty to-" A slight color tinged the lady's features, as she answered, with a gently commanding tone, "Leave us, my lord duke, it is our pleasure." Guise bowed low, and, taking the lady's hand, "I could not help it," he said. "I had been copying manuscript, and as I was on my way here a servant met me, who was to fetch me to raise the horoscope of two ladies who were pass-he pressed it reverently to his lips. At the coring through; they were ladies whom I have ner of the street he met some one, to whom he known before. I thought I could get a little pointed out the old lady, and then hastened money to pay for some simples which will be of away. service to you." "I am cold." "It is fever cold. I will make you something which you must take directly." The flame of a small tin lamp sufficed to heat some water, and the patient, having taken what the old man had provided, was diligently covered up by him with all the clothes and articles of dress he could find. He stood by her motionless till he perceived that she was fast asleep, and indeed long after; he then retired into a small closet, and sought repose on the hard floor. The next morning the lady was so much better, that her attendant proposed she should endeavor to leave the house for a moment or two, and he succeeded in getting her forth as far as the Place St. Cecilia. It was seldom that she left the house, for, notwithstanding the meanness of her dress, there was that about her carriage which rendered it difficult to avoid unpleasant observation. The next morning, a knock at the door announced a person inquiring for Monsieur Mascali; she had a small packet for him, and also a billet. Inside this was distinctly written, "Two hundred louis d'ors constitute the whole of my present fortune; one hundred I send for your use. GUISE." And the packet contained a hundred louis d'ors. The sum thus obtained sufficed to supply the wants of the pair for two long years. But the last louis had been changed, and the lady and her companion were still without friendly succor. The shoemaker and his wife had undertaken a journey to Aix la Chapelle, to take up some small legacy. It was the thirteenth of February, 1642. A low sound of moaning might have been heard issuing from the garret; a withered female form, more like a skeleton than a thing of flesh and blood, was lying on a wretched bed of straw, in the agonies of death. The moans grew more and more indistinct; a slight rattling in the throat was at length the only audible sound, and this also ceased. An hour later, an old man, dressed in rags and tatat-ters, entered the chamber. One only word had escaped his lips as he stumbled up the failing staircase-"Nothing! nothing!" He drew near the bed listlessly, but in a moment he seized an arm of the corpse which lay before him, with an almost convulsive motion, and, letting it as suddenly fall, he cried, "Do you see that person yonder?" she said suddenly. "If I am not much mistaken, it is certainly the Duke of Guise." The stranger's attention had also been tracted, and he now approached them. "Parbleu!" said he, "why that is Mascali. What, are you married?" "He does not know me," sighed the lady. "I must indeed be altered." Mascali had, however, whispered a single word in the duke's ear, and he started as if struck by a thunderbolt; but instantly recovering himself, he hastily uncovered, and bowed nearly to the ground. "Dead, dead, of hunger, cold, and starvation!" And this lady was Mary of Medicis, wife of Henry IV., Queen Regent of France, mother of "I beg your forgiveness," he said; "but my Louis XIII., of Isabella, Queen of Spain, of Heneyes are grown so weak, and I could so little ex-rietta, Queen of England, of Christina, Duchess pect to have the honor of meeting your-" of Savoy, of Gaston, Duke of Orleans, dead of "For the love of God," interrupted the lady hunger, cold, and misery; and yet Louis XIII, hastily, "name me not here. A title would too the cowardly tool of Richelieu, his mother's strangely contrast with my present circum-murderer, is still called "the Just." stances. Have you been long in Cologne ?" "Three days. I am on my way from Italy. I took refuge there when our common enemy drove me forth, and confiscated all my earthly goods. I am going to Brussels." "And what are your advices from France? Is the helm still in the hands of that wretched caitiff?" "He is in the zenith of his power." "See, my lord duke, your fortunes and my own are much alike. You, the son of a man who, had he not too much despised danger, might well have set the crown on his own head, and I, once the queen of the mightiest nation in the universe: and now both of us alike. But adieu," she said suddenly, and, drawing herself up, the sight of you, my lord duke, has refreshed me much, and I pray that fortune once more may smile upon your steps." MADAME CATALANI.-By letters from Florence, it appears that Madame Catalani's villa at Sinigaglia is a thing in nubibus, though she herself has not yet gone in that direction. While the French and been lamenting over her supposed death, and putGerman journals (not to mention our own) have M. de Valabraque, the two have, it seems, been enting the date of 1828 on the grave of her husband, joying the "glimpses of the moon" at her less visionary villa in the neighborhood of the Tuscan capital; and, in a circle of friends gathered round them, on New-year's day, one of the amusements was derived from the reading of the paragraphs in the French papers, which, to the extent of their authority, made ghosts of them both.-Ath. REGINA'S REGINA: OR, REMINISCENCES OF HER MOST GRACIOUS MA- less. great interests, large and vast questions, and devoted to the glorious mission of raising his fellow-men, in all countries and climes, from degradation, misery, brutality, and bondage. Mr. Wilberforce looked, on that day, all And when did he look other WHEN first I saw the pale and pretty benevolence. daughter of the Duke of Kent she was father-wise? Never, but when the wrongs of huHer fair light form was sporting in all manity made his fine heart bleed, and caused the redolence of youth and health on the the flush of honest indignation to mantle his noble sands of old Ramsgate. It was a fine pale forehead. His kindly eye followed with summer day, not so warm as to induce lan- parental interest every footstep of the young guor, but yet warm enough to render the fan-creature; as she advanced to and then rening breezes from the laughing tides, as treated from the coming tide; and it was they broke gently on the sands, agreeable evident that his mind and his heart were full and refreshing. Her dress was simple; a of the future, whilst they were interested in plain straw bonnet, with a white riband round the present. "There is, probably, the futhe crown, a colored muslin frock, looking ture monarch of an empire, on whose domingay and cheerful, and as pretty a pair of ions the great orb of day never sets," was a shoes on as pretty a pair of feet as I ever re- thought which was evidently depicted on his member to have seen from China to Kam-face, as he pointed to the little dancing queen, schatka. Rove where you will, in the gal-who was so much amused at getting her leries of the Louvre, of Versailles, in David's shoes wet in a breaker, which had advanced atelier, or in the halls and museums of our farther and with more rapidity than she exown loved isle, I defy you all, my good mas-pected. The Duchess of Kent waved her ters and mistresses, to find me a prettier pair hand, and Victoria, obedient to the signal, of feet than were those of the belle Victoria, did not again risk the dangers arising from when she played with the pebbles and the damp feet. tides on Ramsgate sands. Her mother was her companion, and a venerable man, whose name is graven on every human heart that loves its species, and whose undying fame is recorded in that eternal book where the ac The scene was interesting. The old veteran in the cause of humanity and truth, placed between his hands the little fingers of the blooming girl of five years of age, and something was then said, which I would have given a great deal to have heard, which caused the blue eyes of our now beloved queen to stare most fixedly at her venerable instructor, whilst her devoted mother looked alternately tions of men are written with the pen of Truth, walked by her parent's side, and, doubtless, gave those counsels, and offered that advice, which none were more able to offer than himself,—for it was WILLIAM WIL-at both, evidently interested and affected by BERFORCE !! Yes, there he was, he, the mighty moral combatant of that now crushed giant, Slavery! who had fought so nobly and so well for the great principle that no man had a right, either real or imaginary, to the person and being of another man! Ah! never shall I forget with what irresistible force those lines recurred to my mind, as I gazed on the diminutive and trembling form of that moral Hercules, the contrast. No doubt some monitory, touching, truthful words had fallen from the lips of Mr. Wilberforce; and it may be that from that sacred moment she dated her first abhorrence of the principles and practice of slavery. Like arrows directed by a skilful marksman were the well-prepared words and thoughts of that universal philanthropist ; and, doubtless, they fell not in vain on the ear of the young Victoria. The conversation was deep and solemn for a few minutes, but Mr. Wilberforce, knowing so well the listlessness and versatility of youth, never wearied those he instructed by long and misplaced harangues, but gently led them on to some Yes, the mind, unchained, unfettered, un-point of interest, or to some great principle, enslaved, the mind, immortal as the Being and when he had made the impression, fixed from which it sprang, and as immortal as the the attention, and riveted the thoughts of his state of existence to which it is destined,- young friends, he entered into their juvenile "the mind's the standard of the man." And amusements, enjoyed their varied recreations, what a mind was there before me! Wilber- and caused them to feel that he sympathized force was not simply the benevolent, the vir- with all that was virtuous, beautiful, and tuous, and the pious; but he was a great good. Thus the little party I have described man, with a great mind, occupied about advanced to the edge of the tide, and the "Were I so tall to reach the poles, The mind's the standard of the man." |