From the Piccadilly Papers. BOHEMIANISM. WHEN We talk of Bohemianism at the peripatetic. You see a gorgeous carriage present day, it is easier, as in so many others, and pair sweeping through the country. The to say what we do not mean rather than servants and liveries are perfection; so are what we do. We do not mean anything be- the trim lodges, the well-kept park, the nolonging to the people of the small central ble conservatories. The wines are of the country of Bohemia. Neither do we mean best, and that house is perhaps the only one the free wandering life of gypsydom: al- in that division of the country where a man though George Eliot's new poem, among the cook is kept. And yet no one goes to that excitements and novelties of the day, may house. The most ambitious squireen of an possibly give a new impetus in this direc-old country family will hardly be seen there. tion. "La vie Bohemienne" is the latest The reason is, that there is a very ugly chardevelopment of our social growth. The Bo-acter attached to the house. It was the hemian is the modern successor of the old dower house of a noble lady, but she ran historic Alsatian. Some persons have taken away with her footman, and she and the to the life, by a kind of moral necessity, and footman are residing there in guilty splendor. have afterwards abided in it by a process of Or the ugliest of all ugly divorce cases is deliberate choice. The artist, or the "spe- connected with the master or mistress of cial correspondent," have adopted Bohem- that stately hall. All the splendor they posianism in the way of business, but they find sess cannot disguise that hostile public conits habits too pleasant to be discarded. And spiracy to ignore them. They would set many a man who took kindly to Bohemian- before us the most gorgeous dinner we ever ism in early life, either through choice or beheld, my friendly reader, if only we would necessity, has become wedded to the life, and condescend to partake of it. Theirs is a henceforth it has not been in the power of Bohemian life on its most unfortunate and human institutions to make him an adscrip- disastrous side. There is also such a thing tus gleba. I heard of a man, the other day, as a Bohemian crowd, as well as Bohemian who married a very nice girl, making the solitude. I do not mean house where, after stipulation that he should be allowed to con- a certain hour, there are luxurious suppers, tinue his Bohemianism without let or hin- and the cards and the dice-possibly loaded drance. The young lady consented, being dice-are produced. There are such houses, in that state of mind in which she would I believe. "I know nothing about them consent to most things. Six months after myself," knowingly interrupts my friend marriage, the brute announced that he was Captain de Spurs, "but I know a man who about to make an expedition into the interi- has got a cousin whose brother says he has or of Africa, from which he would probably been to such." "Never mind, De Spurs," I return in a year and a half. This is, of course, rejoin. I will discuss a more modified Boan extreme case, but it showed a genuine hemiansm than that. We went to that touch of Bohemianism. evening party in Stucconia the other night. It was very good of you to take me there, for I had never heard of the people before, and being in the neighborhood next day, I tried to "spot" it again, but was utterly unable. But my instinct taught me it was a Bohemian house. There was something too decollete about the whole of it-too much rouge and stare and slang and falsity. I am used to some very queer things now. In the Now, as a Peripatetic, I myself am somewhat interested in the Bohemian. I am therefore desirous that the obscurity about the phrase should be cleared up. There is no very favorable meaning about it, but there is a less unfavorable and a more unfavorable meaning. Neither does a "Bohemian" always denote a wanderer. You have Bohemians stationary as well as Bohemians best society the great lady will wear the tinsel of the Palais Royal as well as the old family jewels; and I cannot be astonished by any audacity of phrase which " the girl of the period" may employ. Still, I know the difference between a true London house and a Bohemian mansion. There were too many foreign titles at the last, and, of the only two English noblemen present, one had no fortune and the other had no character. I was not surprised to hear that there was something wrong about the opulent owner of the house, and that he was the man that great Stock Exchange scandal was all about. at Munich or Rome; and he will wander into every region where he may "realize" nature and obtain pictorial effects. The literary man does much of the same thing; but, as a rule, his heart beats true in London, which he recognizes as the world's centre. He may be captivated by the gay society of foreign capitals; he may wander amid the remote seclusion of mountain and' forest; but he owns in his heart of hearts that there is only one Piccadilly after all. Other men there are, who, without an excuse, or the affectation of an excuse, feel upon them the Bohemian restlessness of travel: "I am become a name For always roaming with a hungry heart; The worst that can be said against them is "Is Mr. Jones at home?" I inquired of the flunkey who answered my ring at the doorbell of Jones' town-house. "No, sir," answered Jeames, rubbing his hands and grinning; "Mr. Jones is not at home just now, sir: if you please, sir, Mr. Jones has gone to China, sir." The flunkey spoke just as if Jones had gone into the next street, or had gone into Essex. I thought of that Bohem But your Bohemian is generally a rover, and does not often inhabit a mansion of his own. He cannot confine himself to a single spot. He is impatient of restraint. He cannot keep up his balance at his banker's. He chafes against everything in the shape of a tie. One of them told me that his minded upon one of these men some time ago. became utterly paralyzed when anything presented itself to him in the shape of a duty. Another man refused a very handsome appointment because he would have nothing to do with anything that looked like a moral obligation. I was going along a great London street one day, and I was told that a celeprated author, of Bohemian propensities, was in a state of honorable captivity at an oyster-shop. It appeared that he had plenti-ian Jones, who had gone off to China just fully partaken of oysters, mitigated by appropriate beverages, and was in such a state that the people of the shop thought it would be an act of common humanity to make him take a bed there. The notion pleased the illustrious Bohemian, who remained in bed, eating bread and butter and oysters, for several days, and washing them down," until some friends, to whom his services were essential, settled the score, and carried him off, by force of arms and violence, against his will. He certainly was a regular Bohemian. The artist and the literary man form the most favorable specimens of Bohemians. And so long as they have no domestic ties, and they may allege, with some show of reason, that their professional avocations call them away, there is nothing to be said against their Bohemianism. Both of the urge that it is their business to study nature and human nature. The artist declares that it is an absolute necessity that he should study as weaker men go off to Baden-Baden. Then there is my illustrious friend, Lady, who has a royal touch of Bohemianism. When she travels, she travels for something. The flunkey will tell you that she has gone to Bombay, or to California, or to Terra del Fuego. And so it is. The popular notion of a Bohemian is too narrow and limited a notion. It is the man who "loafs about" aimlessly; who has no stake in the country; who is uncertain in his income, and still more uncertain in his payments; who only lives on the outskirts of society; who never goes to a solid dinnerparty, and never gives one; who, according to Act of Parliament, is a mere vagabond, as he does not work and has no visible means of getting a living. Well, doubtless there is a flavor of Bohemianism about all that. But the true notion of a Bohemian is one on whose presence you can never surely count at any time, and who wanders on the face of the earth without any permanent settled abode. chase upon eastern seas; of mutiny or fire It is perfectly conceivable that this is the case on board ship; of strange, bearded men, for no very creditable reasons. And in every with wild oaths, wild daggers, in Californian case society looks upon this as something or Australian cities; of fearful tragedy or abnormal,unsatisfactory, and unconstitution- maddest comedy in the history of great al; and society is in the right; for if every-houses, or world-known individuals-tales body acted after this fashion there would be of peril, heroism, and temptation, which are no society at all. The community would be altogether out of tune with your own mind, resolved once more into its original elements. or the quiet, well-ordered English home in But it is also true that, without such men, which you hear them told. They have lived society would immensely lose in spirit and down their Bohemianism, and are in the flavor. Bohemianism gives practical form commission of the peace for the country. to those doctrines of Liberty which the im- But other men cannot thus live down their mortal Mill enunciates. Bohemianism rep- Bohemianism. They fall in their traveling resents the struggles, adventure, and enter- harness. Like Sue's Wandering Jew, they prise of men who, save for its great interest, forever hear that eternal Marchez ! marchez! would be altogether lacking in such experi- Io-like, there is an æstral gad in their hearts ences. It is said that Bohemianism may be that forever drives them on, and does not fit enough for young men, but is altogether let them rest the sole of the foot. You unfitted for those who are getting on in life. must know more than you know before you But this altogether depends upon the char- can explain or condemn all kinds of Boheacter of the Bohemian. For the most part, mianism. There is perhaps some fire in the men who have had a great deal of knocking brain, or some vacancy in the heart, that about are glad to creep into some quiet re- may account for it. And after all, there is a treat; and the more intense has been their wonderful system of order and compensacareer, the quieter has been their retreat at tion in the universe of human life. These last. O! I have seen men fastening up their wandering trackless stars have their eccenhoneysuckle, and discoursing for hours about tric orbit, which owns a purpose in the natheir roses, their whole soul absorbed in obture of things, and are fruitful in bringing taining a prize for turnips, or improving the to pass results which ordinary agencies do breed of sheep, who, during long evenings not achieve. There is philosophy in things in the curtained room, can tell strange tales in general; and philosophy even in Boheof Bohemian life-tales of pirates giving | mianism. MR. STEPHENS' "WAR BETWEEN THE STATES."* BY RUSS JAMES. the fact that he has honored the writer for a number of years with kind, and perhaps unmerited, consideration plead our excuse. We will nevertheless endeavor to regard him im-· partially and solely as an author. What Macaulay-himself one of the most pleasing historians in the English language ALMOST numberless are the “histories," or pretended histories, which have been written of the "War between the States; " but the great majority of these histories do not pretend even to give the causes which led to its inauguration. Now, history is only valuable in proportion as it furnishes us warning examples of the vices and follies of na--has said of Mackintosh and Fox is equaltions, and analyzes and sets forth the causes ly applicable to Mr. Stephens, and we will, which produced certain effects, by means of therefore, we trust, be pardoned for making which the same results, if good, may be the quotation: "They had one eminent again produced, or if bad, avoided-in short, qualification for writing history: they had it may be said to be the philosophy of uni- spoken history, acted history, lived history. versal experience. The description of a great The turn of political fortune, the ebb and and bloody battle may be such as to arouse flow of popular feeling, the hidden mechanpassion, kindle enthusiasm, and cause theism by which parties are moved, all these very blood to tingle in our veins, yet, if the historian stops at this point, comparatively little has been added to the general store of knowledge, and still less of lasting good accomplished. Yet these great truths have been ignored, or disregarded, by the great majority of the works claiming to be histories of the late civil war. It is not matter of surprise, therefore, that this class of writers have contented themselves with merely asserting, without bringing forward a single fact to sustain their position, that the opposite section from that to which they belong is responsible for that fearful outrage upon humanity. We may safely assume that posterity will require something more than mere assertion to fix the damning crime. The work at the head of this article, and from which we propose to draw very liberally, is an exception to the foregoing remarks. It is unnecessary for us to say anything of its author as a man, and as a statesman; his reputation is not confined to this country, but is well known and highly appreciated on the "other side of the water;" and if, in course of this article, our feelings towards him should seem enthusiastic, let A Constitutional view of the War between the States. Its causes, character, conduct, and results. By Alexander H. Stephens. National Publishing Company: Atlanta, &c. things were the subjects of their constant thoughts and of their most familiar conversation Gibbon has remarked that his history is much the better for his having been an officer in the militia and a member of the House of Commons. The remark is most just. In this respect Mr. Fox and Sir James Mackintosh have great advantages over almost every English historian who has written since the time of Burnett." ↑ In addition to this, Mr. Stephens brings to his task abilities of the highest order, and, above all, unquestioned candor and honesty. There has been, as yet, but one volume of the "View" published; but this, as Mr. Stephens tells us in the introduction, "is perfectly complete in itself upon the general head on which it treats; that is, the nature of the Government of the United States and those organic principles from which the conflict arose." As the author takes what we believe to be the correct view of the nature of the General Government, we hope that every sincere friend of Constitutional Liberty will examine it with unprejudiced care and attention. The mechanical execution of the work is +Essay on Mackintosh's History of the Revolution in England in 1688. View of the War, &c., 1: 56. in keeping with the importance of its matter, and the publishers deserve the thanks of every one who loves good, clear type, and neat and substantial binding. We would be glad, however, to see a cheaper edition, that would put it in the reach of every family in the country, and trust the publishers will find it to their interest to get up one of this sort. We propose to give a general idea of the nature of Federal Government, as set forth in the "View," and the general causes which led to the war, and thus vindicate the South from the unmerited abuse which has been heaped upon her in consequence of that conflict. We do not desire, nor is it our purpose, to engage in the discussion of present political differences, but to discuss, in a spirit of candor and impartiality, Constitutional questions which are to affect us for all time to come. Whoever would understand the correct principles of our Constitution and the true causes of the war must begin his investigations at a period antedating the American Revolution. He will there find that the sole cause of that war was not, as many suppose, an insignificant tax upon tea. While the Colonies stoutly denied the right of Parliament to tax, without allowing them representation, the cause which produced the greatest al irm was the effort of the British Government to destroy, without their consent, the Charters and Governments of the Colonies. "The first moving cause," says Mr. Stephens, "which aroused all the Colonies to that concert of action which ended in the Revolution was the direct assault of the British Government upon the chartered rights of Massachusetts." In this position he is fully sustained by Curtis (whom he cites), in his history of the Constitution. It was in consequence of this attempt to strike down the rights of the Colonies that Virginia called a "Congress of all the Colonies." Accordingly, a Congress, composed of twelve Colonies, met in Philadelphia, on the 5th of September, 1774, and from this Congress the present Union ultimately resulted. "The first thing settled in this Congress was the nature of its own character and organization. It was determined to be a Congress * View, 1: 56. of separate, distinct political bodies. Governments of the Colonies, Congress dis- It now became necessary, during the war which the British Government waged against the Colonies to reduce them to submission, to adopt some sort of union by which the war might be more vigorously and successfully prosecuted. This necessity gave rise to the Articles of Confederation, which were also termed a Constitution. This first Constitution was not adopted by all the States until 1781. These Articles were acceded to by all the States, each acting separately and for itself; or, to use the language of Curtis, (quoted also in the "View") "The parties to this instrument were free, sovereign and independent political communities-each possessing within itself all the powers of legislation and government over its own citizens, which any political society can possess."‡ Under these Articles the States retained every right and power not expressly delegat ed to Congress,-among them sovereignty, allegiance, (which necessarily followed) and the right of confiscation.§ The powers granted to Congress by the old Constitution were sufficient for the purpose intended; that is, a prosecution of the war. "By the terms of this compact, cognizauce and jurisdiction of foreign affairs; the power of declaring war and concluding peace, and authority to make unlimited requisitions of men and money were exclusively * View, 1: 57. + Ibid, 52. Hist. Const'n U. S., vol. 1, p. 142. § View, 1: 78. |