Continental Monthly, Vol. I., No. IV., April, 1862 by Various

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But mind, immortal mind, could not be destroyed; for free thought, and
truth, and instruction, among the people, were companions of the
Reformation, and books would circulate among all ranks throughout
Protestant France. The works generally came from Holland through Paris,
and from Geneva, by Lyons or Grenoble. Inside of baled goods, and in
cases and barrels of provisions, secretly, thousands of volumes were
sent from north to south, from east to west, to the oppressed Huguenots.
The great work which Louis XIV. believed buried beneath the ruins of his
bloody edicts still went on silently. At Lausanne was established a
seminary, about the year 1725, where works for the French Protestant
people were printed and circulated. The Bishop of Canterbury, with Lord
Warke, and a few foreign sovereigns, actively assisted in the founding
of this institution. Thus did that beautiful town become the source of
useful and religious knowledge to thousands, although it was conveyed
far and wide in a very quiet and secret way. One man was condemned to
the galleys for having received barrels, marked '_Black and White
Peas_,' which were found full of 'Ostervald's Catechisms.'

How strange it seems to us, writing in our own Protestant land, that
cruel authority should ever have intervened with matters of faith! What
can be more plain or truthful than that there should be liberty of
conscience; and that God alone has the power and the right to direct it,
and that it is an abuse and a sacrilege to come between God and
conscience? After the revocation of the edict of Nantes and the death of
Louis XIV., his royal successor sometimes vaguely asked himself why he
persecuted his Protestant subjects? when his marshal replied, that his
majesty was only the executor of former edicts. He seemed to have
consoled himself that he had found the system _already_ established, and
he only carried out the errors of his predecessor. Forty years of
remorseless persecutions against his best subjects, without asking
himself why! Of all the weaknesses of his reign, this was the most
odious and the most guilty; his hand was most literally weary of signing
cruel edicts against the Protestants of his kingdom, without even
reading them, and which obedience to his mandates had to transcribe in
letters of fire and blood, on the remotest parts of his realm.

Let us return to the Frenchmen of Ulster, who for some time after their
emigration used their own language, until a consultation was held to
determine whether this, or the English or Dutch, should be adopted in
the families. As the latter was generally spoken in the neighboring
places,--Kingston, Poughkeepsie and Newburgh,--and also at the schools
and churches, it was decided to speak Dutch only to their children and
servants. Having for a while, however, continued the use of their native
tongue, some of the Huguenot descendants in the Paltz still write their
names as their French ancestors wrote them more than two centuries ago.
Dubois, Bevier, Deyeau, Le Fevre, Hasbroque, are well-known instances.

_Petronella_ was once an admired name among the Huguenot ladies, and
became almost extinct in Ulster at one time. The last was said to have
been Petronella Hasbroque, a lady distinguished for remarkable traits of
character. Judge Hasbroque, of Kingston, the father of the former
President of Rutger's College, was very anxious that his son would give
this name to one of his daughters. In case of compliance, a handsome
marriage portion was also promised; but the parents declined the
generous offer, whether from a dislike to the name, or a belief that the
property would be theirs, at any rate, some day, is not known. A
granddaughter, however, of a second generation, named her first-born
Petronella, and thus gratifying the desire of her near kinsman, secured
a marriage portion for the heir, and preserved the much-admired name
from oblivion--certainly three important results.

It was a well-known and distinguished trait of the New Paltz Huguenots,
that but few intermarriages have taken place among their own families
(_Walloon_); they differed in this respect from all other French
Protestants who emigrated to America and mingled with the other
population by matrimonial alliances. In Kingston, Poughkeepsie, and
other neighborhoods, near by, there is an unusual number of Dutch
names--the Van Deusens, Van Benschotens, Van Kleeds, Van Gosbeeks, Van
De Bogerts, Van Bewer, and others, almost _ad infinitum_, whilst for
miles around the populous and wealthy town of Old Paltz scarcely a
family can be found with such patronymics. Notwithstanding, somewhat
like the Israelites, these Frenchmen classed themselves, in a measure,
as a distinct and separate people; still, the custom did not arise from
any dislike to the Hollanders,--on the contrary, they were particularly
attached to that people, who had been their best friends, both in
Holland and America; and these associations were ever of a most friendly
and generous character. After a while, the Huguenots of Ulster adopted
not only the language, but the customs and habits of the Dutch. After
the destruction of the Protestant churches at Rochelle, in 1685, the
colonists of that city came in such numbers to the settlement of New
York, that it was necessary sometimes to print public documents not only
in Dutch and English, but French also.

We do not wish to make our articles a Doomsday-book for the Huguenots,
still it is pleasant for their descendants to know that they came from
such honorable stock, and, with all of our boasted republicanism, we are
not ashamed that we _are_ so born. Here are some of the names to be
found in the old records of Ulster:--Abraham Hausbrough, Nicholas
Antonio, 'Sherriffe' Moses Quartain, 'Leon,' Christian Dubois, Solomon
Hasbrook, Andries Lafeever, Hugo Freer, Peter Low, Samuel Boyce, Roeleff
Eltinge, 'Esq.,' Nicholas Roosa, Jacobus DeLametie, Nicholas Depew,
'Esq.,' Philip Viely, Boudwyn Lacounti, 'Capt.' Zacharus Hoofman,'
Lieut.' Benjamin Smedes, Jr., 'Capt.' Christian Dugo, James Agmodi,
Johannis Low, Josia Eltin, Samuel Sampson, Lewis Pontenere, Abra.
Bovier, Peter Dejo, Robert Cain, Robert Hanne, William Ward, Robert
Banker, John Marie, Jonathan Owens, Daniel Coleman, Stephen D'Lancey,
Eolias Nezereau, Abraham Jouneau, Thomas Bayeuk, Elia Neau, Paul
Droilet, Augustus Jay, Jean Cazeale, Benjamin Faneil, Daniel Cromelin,
John Auboyneau, Francis Vincent, Ackande Alliare, James Laboue
(Minister). In 1713-14 we find, in an address of the ministers and
elders of the Huguenot Church in New York, 'Louis Rou, Minister of the
French Church, in New York, John Barberie, Elder, Louis Cane, _ancien_
(the older), Jean Lafont, _ancien_, Andre Feyneau, _ancien_.' To another
religious document there are Jean la Chan, Elias Pelletrau, Andrew
Foucault, James Ballereau, Jaque Bobin, N. Cazalet, Sam'l Bourdet, David
Le Telier, Francois Bosset.

* * * * *

'TEN TO ONE ON IT.'

When the Union was broken, truly then
One Southron was equal to Yankees ten.
When the Union war began to thrive,
One Southron was equal to Yankees five.
When Donaldson went, 'twas plain to see
One Southron scarce equalled Yankees three.
Now, Manassas is lost; yet, to Richmond view,
One Southron still equals Yankees two.
And lo! a coming day we see,--
And Oh! what a day of pride 't will be,--
When a Northern mechanic or merchant can
Rank square with a Dirt-eater, man for man.
Perhaps this point we may fairly turn,
And Richmond, to her amazement, learn,
When peace shall have come, and war be fled,
And its hate be the tale of time long sped,
That where there is work or thought for men,
One Yankee is equal to Dirt-eaters ten.

* * * * *

LITERARY NOTICES.

UNDER CURRENTS OF WALL STREET. A Romance of Business. By Richard B.
Kimball, Author of 'St. Leger,' 'Romance of Student Life,' &c. New York:
G.P. Putnam; Boston: A.K. Loring. 1861.

In the United States about one person in a hundred is engaged in
mercantile pursuits--in other words, in 'broking,' or transferring from
the producer to the consumer. Of this number, a larger proportion than
in any other country are brokers in the strict sense of the word,
buying, selling, or exchanging money or its equivalents, and managing
credit so that others may turn it into capital. A more active, eventful,
precarious and extraordinary life, or one calling more for the exercise
of sharpness and shrewdness, does not exist, than that of these men.
They are among regular business men what the 'free lance' is among
military men, or the privateer among those of the true marine. Any one
who has been familiar with one of the 'craft,' has probably heard him
say at one time or another--'what I have seen would make one of the most
remarkable novels you ever read;' and he spoke the literal truth.

Realizing this fact, Mr. KIMBALL, a lawyer of twenty years' standing in
Wall St., and consequently perfectly familiar with all its
characteristics, has devoted literary talents, which long ago acquired
for him not merely an enviable American but a wide European celebrity,
to describing this broker-life, with its lights and shadows. Choosing a
single subject and a single class, he has elaborated it with a
truthfulness which is positively _startling_. As we often know that a
portrait is perfect from its manifest verisimilitude, so we feel from
every chapter of this book that the author has, with strictest fidelity,
adhered to real life with pre-Raphaelitic accuracy but without
pre-Raphaelitic servility to any tradition or set mannerism. The pencil
of a reporter, the lens of the photographer, are recalled by his
sketches, and not less life-like, simple and excellent are the
reflections of the business office as shown in its influence in the home
circle. The reader will recall the extraordinary popularity which
certain English romances, setting forth humble unpoetic life, have
enjoyed of late years. We refer to the _Adam Bede_ and _Silas Marner_
school of tales, in which every twig is drawn, every life-lineament set
forth with a sort of DENNER minuteness--truthful, yet constrained,
accurate but petty. In this novel, Mr. KIMBALL, while retaining all the
accuracy of _Adam Bede_, has swept more broadly and forcibly out into
life;--there are strong sorrows, great trials seen from the stand-point
of a man of the world, and a free, bold color which startles us, while
we, at the same time, recognize its reality.

The 'hero' of the work is a merchant, who, like many others after
incurring bankruptcy, takes to Wall Street--to selling notes as an
under-broker for a living. In describing his trials, the author has,
with consummate skill and extraordinary knowledge of both causes and
effects, pointed out the peculiarities, institutions, and good or bad
workings of the American mercantile system, in such a manner as to have
attracted from the soundest authority warm praise of his work, as
embodying practical knowledge of a kind seldom found in 'novels.' From
'broking' to speculating--from that again to the old course--alternately
buoyed up or cast down, through trials and troubles, the bankrupt, at
last, in his darkest hour, lands on that 'luck' which in America comes
sooner or later to every one. It is worth remarking that in all his
characters, as in his scenes, the author is careful to maintain the
balance of truth. He shows us that among the sharks and harpies of Wall
Street there are phases of honor and generosity--that the arrogance or
coldness of a bank-officer may have a rational foundation--that feelings
as intense are awakened in common business pursuits as in the most
dramatic and erratic lives. In this _just_ treatment of character,--this
avoiding of the old saint and angel system of depicting men,--KIMBALL is
truly pre-eminent, and under it even the casual SOL DOWNER strikes us
with an individuality and a force not inferior to that of the hero
himself.

We can not take leave of this truly remarkable book without referring to
the under-current of kindly, humane feelings with which it abounds.
There is a delicate, tremulous sympathy for the sufferings and joys
which he depicts, which reflects the highest credit on the author. There
are, in this book, unaffected touches of pathos, founded on the most
natural events in the world, which have never been surpassed by any
novelist.

We are glad that novelists are leaving romance and going to real life.
One breaking into the harsh industry of the factory and market, another
taking down the joys and sorrows of the humble weaver, another
describing, as in this work, the strange hurrying life of the 'outside
broker' to the sharpest-cut detail,--all giving us truth and observation
in the place of vague imagination;--such are the best results of late
literature; and prominent among these the future historian will place
the Under-currents of Wall Street.

MARGARET HOWTH. A Story of To-Day. Boston: Ticknor & Fields. 1862.

We know of no other truly American novel into which so many elements
have been forced by the strength of genius into harmony, as in _Margaret
Howth_. One may believe, in reading it, that the author, wearied of the
old cry that the literature of our country is only a continuation of
that of Europe, had resolved to prove, by vigorous effort, that it _is_
possible to set forth, not merely the incidents of our industrial life
in many grades, in its purely idiomatic force, but to make the world
realize that in it vibrate and struggle outward those aspirations, germs
of culture and reforms which we seldom reflect on as forming a part of
the inner-being of our very practical fellow-citizens. The work has two
characteristics,--it breaks, with a strong intellect and fine
descriptive power, into a new field, right into the rough of real life,
bringing out fresher and more varied forms than had been done before,
and in doing this makes us understand, with strange ability, how the
thinkers among our people _think_. We all know how it flows _in_ to
them, from lecture and book, from the _Tribune_ and school--but few,
especially in the Atlantic cities, know what becomes of culture among
men and women who 'work and weave in endless motion' in the
counting-house, or factory, or through daily drudgery and the reverses
from wealth to poverty. Others have treated a single **o [transcriber's
note: illegible word] of life, dramatically and by events, as well as
Miss HARDING, but no one American has dared such intricacies of thought
and character in individuals--has raised them to such a height, and
developed them with such a powerful will, without falling into
conventionalism or improbability. Unlike most novels, its 'plot,' though
excellent, is its least attraction--we can imagine that the superb pride
which gleams out in so many rifts has induced the author to voluntarily
avoid display of that ingeniously spinning romantic talent in which
novelists excel precisely in proportion to their lack of all nobler
gifts. It is a certain rule, as to literary snobs, that in proportion as
the food which they give diminishes in excellence, does the plate on
which it is served increase in value. But let none imagine that
_Margaret Howth_ lacks _interest_--it is replete with burning, vivid,
thrilling interest--it has the attraction which fascinates _all_
readers, based in a depth of knowledge so extraordinary that it can be
truly appreciated by but few. The immense popularity which it has
acquired and the general praise awarded it by the press, proves that it
has gone right to the hearts of the people--whence it came.

Those who accuse _Margaret Howth_ of harshness and a lack of
winsomeness, have neither understood the people whom it describes nor
the degree of stern strength requisite to wrest from life and nature
fresh truth. The pioneers of every great natural school (and every
indication shows that one is now dawning) have quite other than
lute-sounding tasks in hand, however they may hunger and thirst for
beauty, love, and rose-gardens. Under the current of this book runs the
keenest, painfulest craving to give freely to life these very
elements--its intensest inner-spirit is of love and beauty; it throbs
and burns with a sympathy for suffering humanity which is at once fierce
and tearful. As regards the minor artistic defects of _Margaret Howth_,
they are, if we regard it entirely, the shadows inseparable from its
substance, felt by those who remain in them, but in no wise detracting
from the beauty of the edifice when we regard it from the proper point
of view.

ETHICAL AND PHYSIOLOGICAL INQUIRIES, CHIEFLY RELATIVE TO SUBJECTS OF
POPULAR INTEREST. By A.H. Dana. New York: Charles Scribner, 124 Grand
Street; Boston: Crosby & Nichols. 1862.

A delightful collection of essays of the most valuable character, in
which the agreeable is throughout fully qualified with the useful. The
titles of several of these chapters are of themselves attractive: Races
of Men, Compensations of Life, Authorship, Influence of Great Men,
Lawyers, Hereditary Character, Sensuality, Health, Narcotic Stimulants,
Theology, and The Supernatural,--all of them treated with a clearness
and comprehensiveness which can not fail to earn for the work extensive
popularity.

BAYARD TAYLOR'S WORKS, VOL. III. Caxton Edition. At Home and Abroad.
Second Series. New York: G.P. Putnam.

The third volume of this exquisitely, printed and fully-illustrated
series of the works of BAYARD TAYLOR is, in all respects, fully equal to
its predecessors, both as regards typographic and literary merit.

THOMAS HOOD'S WORKS, VOL. III. 'Aldine Edition.' Edited by Epes Sargent.
New York: G.P. Putnam.

The materials of the present volume, as we are informed by the editor,
have been chiefly drawn from the collections of humorous pieces
published by THOMAS HOOD under the title of _Hood's Own_,
_Whimsicalities_, and _Whims and Oddities_. In connection with the first
volume of this series it completes the reprint of _all_ of HOOD'S poems.
The present volume is, like its predecessors, most exquisitely printed
and bound. It contains a grotesque title-page from the pencil of HOPPIN,
with a fine steel engraving of the author.

A SOUTH CAROLINA PROTEST AGAINST SLAVERY. New York: G.P. Putnam. 1861.

A very interesting letter from HENRY LAURENS, second President of the
Continental Congress, to his son, Col. JOHN LAURENS, dated Charleston,
S.C., Aug. 14, 1776, now first published from the original letter. It
contains a vehement plea for Emancipation, and speaks with bitter
contempt of England for encouraging the slave-trade in America.

THE REBELLION; ITS LATENT CAUSES AND TRUE SIGNIFICANCE. In Letters to a
Friend abroad. By Henry T. Tuckerman. New York: Jas. G. Gregory. 1861.

An excellent work, discussing the social peculiarities of the South with
great ability.

* * * * *

BOOKS RECEIVED

PAMPHLETS ON THE WAR.

Among the many publications on the War which have from time to time
found their way to our table, are the following pamphlets:--

RELATION OF THE AMERICAN BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS FOR FOREIGN MISSIONS TO
SLAVERY. By Charles K. Whipple. Boston: R.F. Wallcut. 1861.

WITHIN FORT SUMTER. By one of the Company. New York: N. Tibbals & Co.
1861.

A LECTURE ON THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. By Noble Butler.
Louisville, Ky.: John P. Maton. 1862.

THE WAR. Correspondence between the Young Men's Christian Association of
Richmond, Va., and the City of New York. New York: G.P. Putnam. 1861.

SPEECH OF GEN. HIRAM WALBRIDGE, of New York, at Tammany Hall, Aug. 21,
1856, on the Reorganization of our Navy. New York. 1862.

THE REBELLION: OUR RELATIONS AND DUTIES. Speech of Hon. Edward
McPherson, of Pennsylvania, delivered in the House of Representatives,
Feb. 14, 1862. Washington. 1862.

ARE THE SOUTHERN PRIVATEERS PIRATES? Letter to the Hon. Ira Harris,
United States Senator. By Charles P. Daly, LL.D., First Judge of the
Court of Common Pleas of the City of New York. New York: Jas. B. Kirker,
599 Broadway. 1862.

SPECIAL MESSAGE DELIVERED TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE
OF IOWA. By Governor S.J. Kirkwood. Des Moines, Iowa: F.W. Palmer. 1862.

PICTURES OF SOUTHERN LIFE--SOCIAL, POLITICAL AND MILITARY. Written for
_The London Times_, by William Howard Russell, LL.D., Special
Correspondent. New York: Jas. G. Gregory. 1861.

AN ADDRESS DELIVERED AT MT. KISCO, Westchester Co., New York, July 4,
1861. By John Jay, Esq. New York: Jas. G. Gregory. 1861.

THE REJECTED STONE; or, INSURRECTION _vs_. RESURRECTION IN AMERICA. By a
Native of Virginia. Boston: Walker, Wise & Co. 1861.

THE INDISSOLUBLE NATURE OF THE AMERICAN UNION, considered in connection
with the assumed Rights of Secession. A Letter to Hon. Peter Cooper, of
New York. By Nahum Capen. Boston: A. Williams & Co. New York: Ross &
Tousey. 1862.

THE UNION. An Address, by the Hon. Daniel S. Dickinson, delivered before
the Literary Societies of Amherst College, July 10, 1861. New York: Jas.
G. Gregory. 1861.

ALLEGHANIA. The Strength of the Union and the Weakness of Slavery in the
High Lands of the South. By JAMES W. TAYLOR. Saint Paul: James
Davenport. 1862.

A pamphlet deserving close study and general circulation.

AN ADDRESS DELIVERED BY HON. GEORGE S. BOUTWELL, in Tremont Temple,
Boston, Dec. 16, 1861.

This address has enjoyed great popularity, and will deservedly take
place among the most characteristic and valuable pamphlets of the war.

AMERICA, THE LAND OF EMANUEL; or, CONSTITUTIONAL LIBERTY A REFUGE FOR
THE GATHERING TO SHILOH. By Lorenzo D. Grosvenor, of Shaker Community,
South Groton, Mass. A. Williams & Co., 100 Washington St., Boston. 1861.

SPEECH DELIVERED BY HON. J.M. ASHLEY, OF OHIO, ON THE REBELLION, ITS
CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES, at the College Hall, in the City of Toledo,
Nov. 26, 1861, Towers & Co., Washington, D.C. 1861.

An excellent pamphlet, which has been extensively and favorably noticed
by the press, and been several times reprinted.

THE AMERICAN CRISIS, its Cause, Significance and Solution. By Americus.
Chicago, Ill.: John R. Walsh. 1861.

A vigorous and able document.

WAR AND EMANCIPATION. A Thanksgiving Sermon preached in the Plymouth
Church, Brooklyn, N.Y., on Thursday, Nov. 21, 1861. By Rev. Henry Ward
Beecher. Philadelphia: W. Peterson & Brothers. 1861.

Concise, spirited, and full of sound ideas.

* * * * *

EDITOR'S TABLE.

On the ninth of March President LINCOLN made the first announcement of
an official endorsement of the great principle of gradual Emancipation,
by transmitting to Congress a message recommending that the United
States ought to cooeperate with any State which may adopt a gradual
emancipation of slavery, by giving to such State pecuniary aid, to be
used at its discretion, to compensate for the inconvenience, public and
private, which may be produced by any such change of system.

Any member of Congress, with the census tables and the treasury
notes before him, can readily see for himself how very soon the
current expenditures of this war would purchase, at a fair
valuation, all the slaves in any named State. Such a position on
the part of the General Government sets up no claim of a right
by federal authority to interfere with slavery within State
limits, referring, as it does, the absolute control of the
subject, in each case, to the State and its people immediately
interested.

It is almost needless to point out to the reader that the views, both
direct and implied, which are urged in this message, are in every
respect identical with those to advance which the CONTINENTAL was
founded, and for which it has strenuously labored from the beginning.
There is nothing in them of the 'Abolitionism' which advocates
'immediate and unconditional' freeing of the blacks; while, on the other
hand, the only persons who can object to them are those who hold that
slavery is a good thing in itself, never to be disturbed. It is, in
short, all that the rational friends of progress can at present
desire--an official recognition of the great truth that slavery ought to
be abolished, but in such a manner as to cause the least possible
trouble.

It is amusing to observe the bewilderment of the pro-slavery Northern
Democratic press, which has so earnestly claimed the Executive as
'conservative,' and on which this message has fallen like a
thunder-clap. They have, of course, at once cried out that, should it
receive the sanction of Congress, it would still amount to nothing,
because no legislature of a slave State will accept it; an argument as
ridiculous as it is trivial. That the South would, for the present,
treat the proposal with scorn, is likely enough. But the edge of the
wedge has been introduced, and emancipation has been at least
_officially_ recognized as desirable. While such a possible means of
securing property exists, there will always be a strong party _forming_
in the South, whether they attain to a majority or not, and this party
will be the germ of disaster to the secessionists. There are men enough,
even in South Carolina, who would gladly be paid for their slaves, and
these men, while maintaining secession views in full bluster, would
readily enough find some indirect means of realizing money on their
chattels. It may work gradually--but it _will_ work. As disaster and
poverty increase in the South, there will increase with them the number
of those who will see no insult or injury in the proposition to buy from
them property which is becoming, with every year, more and more
uncertain in its tenure.

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