Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. IV, No. 19, Dec 1851

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Various. Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. IV, No. 19, Dec 1851

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THE BOSTON TEA PARTY.1

THE AMERICAN ARCTIC EXPEDITION

NAPOLEON BONAPARTE.2

AN INDIAN PET

KOSSUTH – A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

THE LEGEND OF THE LOST WELL

THE BOW-WINDOW

THE FRENCH FLOWER GIRL

DIFFICULTY

MAURICE TIERNAY, THE SOLDIER OF FORTUNE.10

CHAPTER XLVI. A GLANCE AT THE "PREFECTURE DE POLICE."

CHAPTER XLVII "THE VILLAGE OF SCHWARTZ-ACH."

VAGARIES OF THE IMAGINATION

MYSTERIES!

CLARA CORSINI. – A TALE OF NAPLES

OUR SCHOOL

A STORY OF ORIENTAL LOVE

A BIRD-HUNTING SPIDER

PROMISE UNFULFILLED. – A TALE OF THE COAST-GUARD

THE TUB SCHOOL

GOLD – WHAT IT IS AND WHERE IT COMES FROM

EYES MADE TO ORDER

THE EXPECTANT. – A TALE OF LIFE

THE PLEASURES AND PERILS OF BALLOONING

MY NOVEL; OR, VARIETIES IN ENGLISH LIFE.13

CHAPTER II

CHAPTER III

CHAPTER IV

CHAPTER V

CHAPTER VI

YOU'RE ANOTHER!

THY WILL BE DONE

Monthly Record of Current Events

Editor's Table

Editor's Easy Chair

Editor's Drawer

Literary Notices

A Leaf not from Punch

Fashions for December

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Revolutions which dismember and overturn empires, disrupt political systems, and change not only the forms of civil government, but frequently the entire character of society, are often incited by causes so remote, and apparently inconsiderable and inadequate, that the superficial observer would never detect them, or would laugh incredulously if presented to his consideration as things of moment. Yet, like the little spring of a watch, coiled unseen within the dark recess of its chamber, the influences of such remote causes operating upon certain combinations, give motion, power, and value to latent energies, and form the primum mobile of the whole machinery of wonderful events which produce revolutions.

As a general rule, revolutions in states are the results of isolated rebellions; and rebellions have their birth in desires to cast off evils inflicted by actual oppressions. These evils generally consist of the interferences of rulers with the physical well-being of the governed; and very few of the political changes in empires which so prominently mark the course of human history, have had a higher incentive to resistance than the maintenance of creature comforts. Abridgment of personal liberty in the exercise of natural rights, excessive taxation, and extortion of public officers, whereby individual competence and consequent ease have not been attainable, these have generally been the chief counts in the indictment, when the people have arisen in their might and arraigned their rulers at the bar of the world's judgment.

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The troops introduced by Bernard had been removed from the city, and there was no legal power but that of the civil authorities, to suppress disorder. On the 12th, the captain-general of the province issued an order for the Governor's Guards, of which John Hancock was colonel, to stand in readiness to assist the civil magistrate in preserving order. This corps, being strongly imbued with the sentiments of their commander, utterly disregarded the requisition. Business was, in a measure, suspended, and general uneasiness prevailed.

On the 18th, another meeting was held in Faneuil Hall, and a committee was again appointed to wait upon the consignees and request them to resign. Again they refused, and that evening the house of Richard Clarke, on School-street, was surrounded by an unruly crowd. A pistol was fired from the house, but without serious effect other than exciting the mob to deeds of violence; the windows were demolished, and the family menaced with personal injury. Better counsels than those of anger soon prevailed, and at midnight the town was quiet. The meeting, in the mean while, had received the report of the committee in silence, and adjourned without uttering a word. This silence was ominous of evil to the friends of government. The consignees were alarmed, for it was evident that the people were determined to talk only, no more, but henceforth to act. The governor, also, properly interpreted their silence as a calm before a storm, and he called his council together at the Province House, to consult upon measures for preserving the peace of the city. During their session the frightened consignees presented a petition to the council, asking leave to resign their commissions into the hands of the governor and his advisers, and praying them to adopt measures for the safe landing of the teas. The council, equally fearful of the popular vengeance, refused the prayer of their petition, and the consignees withdrew, for safety, to Castle William, a strong fortress at the entrance of the harbor, then garrisoned by a portion of the troops who had been encamped on Boston Common. The flight of the consignees allayed the excitement for a few days.

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