admission of a foreign territory, in opposition to the dissent of even a small minority of the members of the confederacy. By making it now the successful watchword of the whig party, we render it for all time to come the glorious motto of constitutional conservatism. We wrest from the demagogue the hope of ever again playing the same game with Canada, or Čuba, or any other contiguous territory, from the accession of which a corrupt political party may seek to derive political strength, irrespective of all other considerations. Finally, we disappoint the hopes of English tories, and all European aristocrats, derived from what they have the sagacity to perceive must be the inevitable consequence of Locofocoism, in overthrowing everywhere all respect for free institutions. VOL. I. NO. I. WHO SHALL LEAD THE NATION? SOME POLITICAL LINES NOT REQUIRED TO BE SUNG. In the land of the West, where the sun hath rest We are strong when we gaze on his earnest face, At the beating we start of his dauntless heart, Oh! ever be blest the Man of the West, So bravely he stood, while the ceaseless flood With a voice and hand for his native land, And his well-won praise, in the former days, For the title he bore on many a shore Shone high with Liberty's name! Then dark grew the hours! Base, treacherous powers We triumphed-our trust was trampled in dust, A traitor had made us his spoil! Our credit was fled, our industry dead, The wide wings of commerce were furled, And the profits of vice were bought at a price, And error was rife in the highways of life, And the by-paths were planted with thorn; And comfort had gone from the cold hearth-stone, For confidence then from the hearts of men, 11 RANDOM RECOLLECTIONS OF TRAVELS. THERE are many things of diversified interest in the north of Ireland, both in the inhabitants and in the scenery, whether of land or water; and the Irish character is always a pleasant study. We left Glasgow, in a steamer, at four o'clock of a pleasant day, and sailed rapidly down the Clyde. The spires and smoke of the city were soon left behind us, but the spirit of the great emporium of commerce and manufactures was all the way visible in great pillars of smoke rising above it; and hundreds of black steamers, and sloops with sails nearly as black, were plying up and down the river; and the banks everywhere gave forth the full hum of busy life. A hearty, good-looking Scotch burgher sat next to me, and occasionally pointed out the objects of interest on the shore. "Yon' white monument's to the memmory of Watt, him that made the steamengin'. He was a benefactor." I ventured a remark about Fulton's labors in that line, but he seemed never to have heard of him. We soon came in sight of Dumbarton castle, a memorable fortress, associated with Bruce, and other glorious names in Scotland. It is situated on a rock some hundreds of feet high, which seems to have been made by nature for the express purpose of protecting the river. The last rays of the sun were falling upon the old gray walls,and the troops were beating the evening reveillée as we passed. Observing the evident pleasure with which I gazed upon the scene, the old Scotchman turned to me, and, with a quiet smile, observed: "Ay, it's a braw sight! And so is war alway, till the broken banes and brakin' taxes tell its cost; but, then, there's mony a man wad rather be marched after with the funeral-drum and a train o' soldiers on a distant shore, than be buried a few years later by a plain procession o' his ain townsmen, and the auld kirk service." I made no immediate reply to this singular comment upon the passion for glory "e'en at the cannon's mouth;" but our subsequent conversation showed my companion eloquent upon the useful arts of peace and the evil effects of war. There were some twenty or thirty cabin passengers, and, on the forward decks, some sixty or seventy Irish laborers, returning from the harvest in England. The men, women, and children were huddled together, in rags, wretchedness, and filth, apparently making their stumps of pipes serve the place of victual and drink; and for this purpose they gathered up with avidity every cigar-stump the passengers threw away. There was a great glistening of eyes when a few bottles of whiskey were added to their supply of creature comforts! They laughed and joked with each other, and made their very rags a subject of sport. The steward's bell summoned us to dinner, and about twelve of us took our seats at a neatly-laid table, in a cabin more tastefully painted and adorned than is usual on English steamers. The captain, a fine-looking old Scotchman, reverently asked a blessing, in which every one joined with, as I thought, increased earnestness from having just left the half-starved laborers on deck. I could not but feel the full force of Burns's blessing: "Some ha' meat and canna eat, And some wad eat that want it ; There was ham, and Scotch mutton- By degrees, the conversation became general, the captain taking the lead, and the topics being constantly variedthe free church, the state of Ireland, and the merits of potatoes-and, finally, when the crackers and cheese, the decanter of mountain-dew, the sugar and hot water, had been brought on, every one seemed to be on the best possible terms with himself and his neighbor. They were all, except myself, bound to Londonderry, which was the destination of the steamer, and they appeared to be plain farmers, or traders, in and about that place, with the exception of my friend the old burgher, who was a manufacturer at Glasgow. Anecdote and story-telling now became the order of the day, or rather night; and, finding that I was bound to the Causeway, they each contributed their share of information for my guidance. All the traditions concerning it were told over-how the giant Fingal had commenced building it in order to cross to Scotland, but he did not lay the foundations well, and it sunk into the sea-or, perhaps, he had given it up in despair the legend went both ways; how, too, the Spanish armada fired into a part of the basaltic-bound coast, thinking it a fortress. They came afterwards to more veritable history, relating all the pugnacious feuds between the McQuillans who originally owned the country, and the McDonalds, who now possess it, by which it seemed that McDonald, being a powerful leader of a gallant band of highlanders, seeking occupation in a warlike way, assisted McQuillan to fight his neighbor; in return for which kindness the latter invited the whole clan to his castle of Dunluce; but McDonald found his quarters so comfortable, that he first made love to the old man's daughter, and then, with her assistance, defeated all plans which McQuillan laid to get rid of him, till, at last, the proprietor was glad to give up possession to his guest. When we returned to the deck it was quite dark-a cold wind was blowing from the land-a few sea-sick passengers were lying about upon the settees, and the Irish harvesters were crouched together, wrapped up in awnings and old sails, and, for the most part, fast asleep. We were nearly off that part of the coast where the Causeway lies; but I was told that it was difficult to distinguish the columns even in the daytime, the whole coast being for miles formed of the same material. At about twelve o'clock we entered the harbor of Port Rush, distant a few miles from the Causeway, where I committed myself and trunk to the care of a solitary porter, who conducted me to quite a spacious hotel; but the beds were all occupied, so I camped down on a settee in the coffee-room, and, wrapping my cloak around me, was soon fast asleep. I arose at five o'clock, and finding no one up, unlocked the front door and wandered forth to look at the town, which I had concluded, from the appearance of the hotel, must be a place of some importance. My astonishment was of course proportionable at finding nothing but mud hovels around me. They were well whitewashed, however, and had an appearance of neatness which I have not seen since. Few of their occupants were yet out; the very pigs were snugly asleep around the doors. I found finally a straggler with a pick-axe on his shoulder, on his way to work upon a bit of road they were cutting through a hill. On asking him a few questions, he answered civilly, and, finding I was a stranger, seemed disposed to do the honors. He told me that it was a very thriving place-the people were all Protestants, and "as industhrious a set as ye'll find in all the county of Anthrim." "Are you repealers?" "No indade, sir-devil a bit do we care for O'Connell here!" "Have you any thing like a bookstore here ?" "A booksthore! ye'll find one, maybe, at Coleraine, a few miles off. Did you want a histhory, sir?" "No, a map of Ireland, or of the county." "Is't a map ye want? For the matther of the county of Anthrim, I can tell ye the way as well as any map can. See here, sir-here's Port Rush, (marking with his pick on the sand,) that's this place, sir; and there's Ballylough, that's five miles; and there's Ballycastle, that's a thrifle more than tin miles; and there's the Causeway-ye'll see the Causeway, sir!-and there's Coleraine, that's in the county of Derry. Is there any other place ye'd like to see, sir?" "No, I thank you; you are well entitled to the shilling I should have paid for the map." Returning to the hotel, the door of which was ornamented on each side by a pillar from the Causeway, I ordered breakfast, and immediately after mounted a jaunting car, (a queer vehicle, looking like two settees placed back to back upon wheels, with resting-places for the feet,) and was off at a brisk trot for the great point of interest. My driver, a bright little Irishman, entertained me constantly by his accounts of the people who lived here, nearly all of whom he knew, and whose intelligence and prosperity, as compared with those who lived further south, he was extremely anxious to impress upon my memory. "It's only in the south, sir, where the praists is, that they care about rapale; and, troth to tell, sir, it's hard to see where's the good they'll get out of it, down about Dublin.-Get along with ye! ye've ate too much braikfust to carry ye'r weight! He's a good horse, sir, when he gets a start-seeing, as I was a saying, that the parlyment can't make bread, sir, and that's the most-(how do ye do, Misther M'Kane?)—that's wanting, sir. They're a saying that it will kape the landlords more at home-(what are ye afther, shying so, for? If ye was a man I should think ye'd been a taking a dhrop too much!)-and maybe they would, sir; but it's not much of their rints they'd be a spinding at home, sir, except at the time of elaicshun. I'm thinking they'd find the worth of money betther at Dublin or London." "Take care that ye don't be a falling off with ye'r legs a danglin' that way, my darling!" exclaimed a bare-legged, thick-set Pat, who was driving his cow along the road. "It's grateful ye may be that it's not yerself behind me horse's heels, seein' it's none but jintlemen he's used to draw." So he rattled on, now enlightening me on the subject of repeal politics and the country at large, and now turning to exchange a joke with passers-by on the road. In about an hour we arrived at Dunluce castle, (the scene of the McDonald and McQuillan feud,) and were immediately surrounded by about fifty ragged urchins, offering to act as guides, each with his well-thumbed book of recommendations. I selected the bestlooking of them, in whose book I found several familiar names. A rocky island, about seventy feet in diameter, rises abruptly from the sea to the height of one hundred feet, and at a distance of only about ten feet from the land, so that on that side there is a deep gulf into which it might be dangerous for a man of weak nerves to look while crossing the frail bridge of boards, with the sea roaring in a perfect whirlpool among the rocks below. Upon this island is seated all that remains of the castle of Dunluce. Portions of the rock are much wider at the top than at the bottom, and a part of it broke off one stormy night, carrying away with it a portion of the castle in which several girls were sleeping; whereupon the rest of the occupants wisely deserted it, and the place has been left to go to ruin. So strongly is it built, however, that but few of its towers have yet fallen, though the hand of time has been busy with them for many centuries. It is a somewhat picturesque ruin, full of interest to the antiquary, though it does not appear to have been more than two stories high, and has not all that striking effect which we see in the more lofty towers of Scotch and English ruins. It belongs to the Earls of Antrim, who are descendants of the McDonalds, and also own the Causeway, to which we now proceeded, about two miles further on. The guide mounted the jaunting car by my side, and began to tell me all about the Antrim family. "They are a good family in the most part, sir, and arn't over hard on their tinants; but they thrayten a writ against any poor fellow who stales a bit o' the Causeway; so, sir, if ye should want a column shipped for you to ornamint ye'r libreery, and give an idea of the matther to others, jest be careful to spake to me privately, and won't I get one out in the night time for ye? It's the only way in which we can get at 'em, sir. Bein' a nathral curiosity, it's wrong they should kape it all to thimselves, and I don't think it staling, do you, sir?" The idea of such an act of ownership over the Causeway, struck me very much as would the possession by an individual of a fee simple in the falls of Niagara ; and I could not help coinciding with the guide, although I was informed afterwards that the practice of carrying away columns had become so general as to make such a regulation necessary in order to preserve the best ones. We stopped at a small bay, where a large boat with six stout oarsmen was ready to take us out to the front of the Causeway. We were followed to the water's side by a great number of boys, each of whom had some crystal or other minerals which they had picked up in the neighborhood, and which they insisted upon selling to you, taking no refusal. A man with a gun and powderhorn, for whom we had been waiting, having at last arrived, we pushed off and were pulled over a heavy sea around to the front of the bank, which formed a wall of dark rock, here and there vary |