French and English: A Story of the Struggle in America Read online

  Chapter 3: Philadelphia.

  "I will go and tell my tale in the ears of my countrymen," saidCharles, with steady voice but burning eyes, "and then I will goforth and fight the French, and slay and slay till they be drivenfrom off the face of the western world!"

  The fever had left Charles now. Some of his former strength hadcome back to him. But his brother looked at him often withwondering eyes, for it seemed to him that this Charles was a newbeing, with whom he had but scant acquaintance. He could notrecognize in this stern faced, brooding man the quiet, homelyfarmer and settler whose home he had shared for so long.

  Their new comrades were glad of the rest afforded them by thenecessity of waiting till Charles should be fit to move. They hadbeen travelling for many months, and the shelter of a roof--eventhough it was only the roof of a shed--was grateful to them.

  Fritz and Charles took a strong mutual liking almost from thefirst. Both were men of unwonted strength and endurance, and bothwere fired by a strong personal enmity towards the French and theiraggressive policy.

  Julian told Humphrey, in their private conferences, something ofthe cause of this personal rancour.

  "There was a fair maid in our valley--Renee we called her--and herparents were French. But we were all friends together; and Fritzand she loved each other, and were about to be betrothed. Then camethese troubles, and the priest forbade Renee to wed a heretic; andthough she herself would have been faithful, her parents wereafraid. It seemed to all then that the French were going to bemasters of the land. There was another youth who loved her also,and to him they married her. That was just before we came away--adozen of us English youths, who could not stand the new state ofthings and the strife of party. Fritz has neither forgotten norforgiven. The name of France us odious in his ears."

  "And in yours, too?" asked Humphrey.

  Julian's face was grave and thoughtful.

  "I have my moments of passionate anger. I hate everything that isvile and treacherous and aggressive. But I would seek to rememberthat after all we are brothers, and that we all bear the name ofChrist. That is what Father Fritz of old sought to make usremember. Perhaps it comes the easier to me in that I have Frenchblood in my veins, albeit I regard myself now as an Englishsubject. I have cast in my lot with the English."

  Humphrey and Julian drew together, much as did Charles and Fritz.Julian was a year or two older than Humphrey, and Charles wasseveral years older than Fritz; but all had led a free open-airlife, and had tastes and feelings in common. They understoodwoodcraft and hunting; they were hardy, self reliant, courageous.

  It was of such men as these that the best soldiers were made in thedays that were at hand; although the military leaders, especiallyif they came from the Old World with its code of civilized warfare,were slow to recognize it.

  A heavy storm of wind and rain--the precursor of the comingwinter--raged round the little settlement for several days, duringwhich the party sat round their fire, talking of the past and thefuture, and learning to know each other more and more intimately.

  Charles recovered rapidly from the loss of blood and the feverweakness. His constitution triumphed easily over his recentillness, and he was only longing to be on the road, that he mightthe sooner stand face to face with the foe.

  And now the storm was abating. The sun began to shine out throughthe driving wrack of clouds. The woodland tracks might be wet, butlittle reeked the travellers of that.

  They bound upon their backs as much provision as would suffice fortheir immediate needs. They looked well to their arms andammunition. They had mended their clothes, and were strong andfresh and full of courage.

  The journey before them seemed as nothing to the pair who hadtraversed so many thousands of miles of wood and water. And thesettlers had friends at the other end who would remember them, andhave tears of sympathy to shed at hearing their terrible tale.

  The brothers stood looking their last upon the clearing which hadfor so long been their home. In Humphrey's eyes there was anunwonted moisture; but Charles's face was set and stern, and hislips twitched with the excess of restrained emotion. His eyes werefixed upon the mound which hid from his view the corpses of wifeand children. Suddenly he lifted his clinched hand towards heaven.

  "Strengthen, O Lord, this right hand of mine, that it may be strongagainst the nation whose crimes bring desolation upon Thy children.Be with us in the hour of vengeance and victory. Help us to renderunto them even as they have rendered to us."

  Julian and Fritz had withdrawn themselves a little, respecting theinevitable emotion which must come to men at such a moment.Humphrey turned away, and took a few uncertain steps, half blindedby the unwonted smart of tears in his eyes. He had come almost tohate this place of terrible associations; and yet it wrung hisheart for a moment to leave those nameless graves, and that littlelonely spot where so many peaceful and happy hours had been spent.

  Julian's hand was on his arm, and his voice spoke in his ear.

  "I know what it feels like; I have been through it. The smart iskeen. But it helps us to remember that we are but strangers andpilgrims. It is perhaps those who have no abiding city here whomost readily seek that which is theirs above."

  Humphrey pressed Julian's hand, feeling vaguely comforted by hiswords, although he could not enter fully into their significance.

  To Charles Julian said:

  "'We must remember, even in our righteous wrath, that God has saidHe is the avenger. We can trust our wrongs in His hands. He willuse us as His instruments if He thinks good. But let us beware ofprivate acts of vengeance of our own planning. We must not forgetthe reverse of the picture--the mercy as well as the anger of God.We must not take things out of His hands into our own, lest westumble and fall. We have a commandment to love our enemies, and todo good to those that hate us."

  Charles looked fixedly at him.

  "I have not forgotten," he said, in his strange, slow way; "I wasbrought up amongst those who refuse the sword, calling themselvesservants of the Prince of Peace. We shall see which the Lord willhave--peace or war. Do you think He desires to see a repetition ofsuch scenes as that?"

  Charles pointed sternly to the ruined homestead--the grave besideit, and his gloomy eyes looked straight into those of Julian; buthe did not even wait for an answer, but plunged along the foresttrack in an easterly direction.

  * * * * *

  In a wide street in Philadelphia, not far from the Assembly Roomswhere such hot debates were constantly going on, stood anold-fashioned house, quaintly gabled, above the door of which hungout a sign board intimating that travellers might find rest andrefreshment within.

  The whole house was spotlessly clean, and its aspect was prim andsober, as was indeed that of the whole city. Men in wide-brimmedhats and wide-skirted coats of sombre hue walked the streets, andtalked earnestly together at the corners; whilst the women, for themost part, passed on their way with lowered eyes, and hoods drawnmodestly over their heads, neither speaking nor being spoken to asthey pursued their way.

  To be sure there were exceptions. In some quarters there wereplenty of people of a different aspect and bearing; but in thiswide and pleasant street, overlooked by the window of the hostelry,there were few gaily-dressed persons to be seen, but nearly all ofthem wore the dress and adopted the quaint speech of the Quakercommunity.

  From this window a bright-faced girl was looking eagerly out intothe street. She wore a plain enough dress of grey homespun cloth,and a little prim cap covered her pretty hair. Yet for all thatseveral little rebellious curls peeped forth, surrounding her facewith a tiny nimbus; and there was something dainty in the fashionof her white frilled kerchief, arranged across her dress bodice andtied behind. She would dearly have loved to adorn herself with someknots of rose-coloured ribbon, but the rose tints in her cheek gavethe touch of colour which brightened her sombre raiment, and herdancing blue eyes would have made sunshine in any place.

  She had opened the window lattice and craned h
er head to look downthe street; but at the sound of a footstep within doors she quicklydrew it in again, for her mother reproved her when she found herhanging out at the window.

  "What is all the stir about, mother?" she asked; "there be so manyfolks abroad, and they have been passing in and out of the AssemblyRooms for above an hour. What does it all mean? Are they baitingthe Governor again? Are they having another fight about the taxes?"

  "Nay, child, I know not. I have been in the kitchen, looking to thesupper. Thy father came in awhile back, and said we had guestsarrived, and that he desired the supper to be extra good. That isall I know."

  "Something has happened, I am sure of that!" cried the girl again,"and I would father would come and tell us what it is all about. Healways hears all the news. Perhaps the travellers he is bringinghere will know. I may sit with you at the supper table, may I not,mother?"

  "Yes, child; so your father said. He came in with a smile upon hisface. But he was in a great haste, and has been gone ever since. Sowhat it all means I know not."

  Susanna--for such was the name of the girl--became at onceinterested and excited.

  "O mother, what can it be? Hark at that noise in the street below!People are crying out in a great rage. What can it be? It was sothat day a week agone, when news was brought in that some poorsettlers had been murdered by Indians, and the Assembly would donothing but wrangle with the Governor instead of sending out troopsto defend our people. Do you think something can have happenedagain?"

  The mother's face turned a little pale.

  "Heaven send it be not so!" she exclaimed. "I am always in fearwhen I hear of such things--in fear for my old father, and for mybrothers. You know they live away there on the border. I prayHeaven no trouble will fall upon them."

  Susanna's eyes dilated with interest, as they always did when hermother talked to her of these unknown relations, away beyond theregion of safety and civilization.

  To be correct, it should be explained that Susanna was not the realdaughter of the woman whom she called mother; for Benjamin Ashleyhad been twice married, and Susanna had been five years old beforeHannah Angell had taken the mother's place. But she never thoughtof this herself. She remembered no other mother, and the tiebetween them was strong and tender, despite the fact that there wasnot more than thirteen years' difference in age between them, andsome girls might have rebelled against the rule of one who mightalmost have been a sister.

  But Susanna had no desire to rebel. Hannah's rule was a mild andgentle one, although it was exercised with a certain amount of primdecorum. Still the girl was shrewd enough to know that her father'sleanings towards the Quaker code had been greatly modified by theinfluence of his wife, and that she was kept less strictly than hewould have kept her had he remained a widower.

  Hannah bustled away to the kitchen, and Susanna, after one morelonging look out of the window towards the crowd assembled in theopen space beyond, followed her, and gave active assistance in thesetting of the supper table.

  A young man in Quaker garb, and with a broad-brimmed hat in hishand, entered the outer room, engaged in hot dispute with anotheryouth of different aspect, whose face was deeply flushed as if inanger.

  "Your Franklin may be a clever man--I have nothing against that!"he exclaimed hotly; "but if he backs up the stubborn Assembly, andstands idle whilst our settlers are being massacred like sheep,then say I that he and they alike deserve hanging in a row from thegables of their own Assembly House; and that if the Indians breakin upon us and scalp them all, they will but meet the deserts oftheir obstinacy and folly!"

  "Friend," said the other of the sober raiment, "thee speaks as aheathen man and a vain fellow. The Lord hath given us a commandmentto love one another, and to live at peace with all men. We may notlightly set aside that commandment; we may not do evil that goodmay come."

  "Tush, man! get your Bible and look. I am no scholar, but I knowthat the Lord calls Himself a man of war--that He rides forth,sword in hand, conquering, and to conquer; that the armies inheaven itself fight under the Archangel against the powers ofdarkness. And are we men to let our brothers be brutally murdered,whilst we sit with folded hands, or wrangle weeks and months away,as you Quakers are wrangling over some petty question of taxationwhich a man of sense would settle in five minutes? I am ashamed ofPhiladelphia! The whole world will be pointing the finger of scornat us. We are acting like cowards--like fools--not like men! Ifthere were but a man to lead us forth, I and a hundred stoutfellows would start forth to the border country tomorrow to wagewar with those villainous Indians and their more villainous alliesthe crafty sons of France."

  "Have patience, friend," said the Quaker youth, with his solemnair; "I tell thee that the Assembly is in the right. Who are thePenns these proprietaries--that their lands should be exempt fromtaxation? If the Governor will yield that point, then will theAssembly raise the needful aid for keeping in check the enemy,albeit it goes sorely against their righteous souls. But they willnot give everything and gain nothing; it is not right they should."

  "And while they wrangle and snarl and bicker, like so many dogsover a bone, our countrywomen and their innocent children are to bescalped and burnt and massacred? That is Scripture law, is it? thatis your vaunted religion. You will give way--you will yield yourprinciples for a petty victory on a point of law, but not to savethe lives of the helpless brothers who are crying aloud on allhands to you to come and save them!"

  The Quaker youth moved his large feet uneasily; he, in common withthe seniors of his party, was beginning to find it a littledifficult to maintain a logical position in face of the pressingurgency of the position. He had been brought up in the tenets whichlargely prevailed in Pennsylvania at that day, and was primed withnumerous arguments which up till now had been urged with confidenceby the Quaker community. But the peace-loving Quakers werebeginning to feel the ground shaking beneath their feet. The daywas advancing with rapid strides when they would be forced eitherto take up arms in defence of their colony, or to sit still and seeit pass bodily into the hands of the enemy.

  Susanna was peeping in at the door of the next room. She knew boththe speakers well. Ebenezer Jenkyns had indeed been paying her someattention of late, although she laughed him to scorn. Much more toher liking was bold John Stark, her father's kinsman; and as therewas nobody in the room beside these two, she ventured to go a stepwithin the doorway and ask:

  "What is the matter now, Jack? what are you two fighting about sohotly?"

  "Faith, 'tis ever the same old tale--more massacres and outragesupon our borders, more women and children slaughtered! Settlersfrom the western border calling aloud to us to send them help, andthese Quaker fellows of the Assembly doing nothing but wrangle,wrangle, wrangle with the Governor, and standing idle whilst theirbrothers perish. Save me from the faith of the peace makers!"

  Again the other young man moved uneasily, the more so as he saw thelook of disdain and scorn flitting over the pretty face of Susanna.

  "Thee does us an injustice, friend," he said. "Was it not BenjaminFranklin who a few months back gave such notable help to GeneralBraddock that he called him the only man of honesty and vigour inall the western world? But the Lord showed that He would not haveus attack our brother men, and Braddock's army was cut to pieces,and he himself slain. When the Lord shows us His mind, it is notfor us to persist in our evil courses; we must be patient beneathHis chastenings."

  "Tush, man! the whole campaign was grossly mismanaged; all theworld knows that by now. But why hark back to the past? it is thepresent, the future that lie before us. Are we to let our provincebecome overrun and despoiled by hordes of savage Indians, or are weto rise like men and sweep them back whence they came? There is thecase in a nutshell. And instead of facing it like men, the Assemblytalks and squabbles and wrangles like a pack of silly women!"

  "Oh no, Cousin Jack," quoth Susanna saucily, "say not like women!Women would make up their minds to action in an hour. Say ratherlike men, like men such as Ebenezer loves--men wi
th the tongues ofgiants and the spirit of mice; men who speak great swelling words,and boast of their righteousness, but who are put to shame by thebrute beasts themselves. Even a timid hen will be brave when herbrood is attacked; but a Quaker cannot be anything but a coward,and will sit with folded hands whilst his own kinsmen perishmiserably!"

  This was rather too much even for Ebenezer's phlegmatic spirit. Heseized his broad-brimmed hat and clapped it on his head.

  "Thee will be sorry some day, Susanna, for making game of theQuakers, and of the godly ones of the earth," he spluttered.

  "Go thee to the poultry yard, friend Ebenezer," called Susannaafter him; "the old hen there will give thee a warm welcome. Go andlearn from her how to fight. I warrant thee will learn more fromher than thee has ever known before--more than thine own peoplewill ever teach thee. Go to the old hen to learn; only I fear theewill soon flee from her with a text in thy mouth to aid thy legs torun!"

  "Susanna, Susanna!" cried a voice from within, whilst Jack doubledhimself up in a paroxysm of delight, "what are you saying so loudand free? Come hither, child. You grow over bold, and I cannot haveyou in the public room. With whom are you talking there?"

  "There is only Jack here now," answered Susanna meekly, althoughthe sparkle still gleamed in her eyes; "Ebenezer has just gone out.I was saying farewell to him."

  "Come back now, and finish setting the table; and if John will stayto supper, he will be welcome."

  John was only too glad, for he took keen pleasure in the society ofSusanna, and was fond of the quaint old house where his kinsmanlived. He rose and went into the inner room, where Hannah receivedhim with a smile and a nod.

  Susanna would have asked him what special news had reached the townthat day, but the sound of approaching feet outside warned her ofthe return of her father with the friends he was bringing tosupper. She flew to the kitchen for the first relay of dishes, andHannah left her to dish them up, whilst she went to meet theguests.

  Jack and the maidservant assisted Susanna at the stove, and a fewminutes passed before they entered the supper room, where thecompany had assembled. When they did so, the girl was surprised tonote that her mother was standing between two tall strangers, oneof whom had his arm about her, and that she was weeping silentlyyet bitterly.

  Susanna put down her dishes on the table and crept to her father'sside.

  "What is the matter?" she asked timidly.

  "Matter enough to bring tears to all our eyes--ay, tears of blood!"answered Ashley sternly. "These two men are your mother's brothers,who arrived today--just a short while back--as I hoped withpleasant tidings. Now have we learned a different tale. Their oldfather and Charles's wife and children have been brutally murderedby Indians, and he himself escaped as by a miracle. We have beentelling the tale to the Assembly this very afternoon. Ah, it wouldhave moved hearts of stone to hear Charles's words! I pray Heaventhat something may soon be done. It is fearful to think of thesufferings which our inaction is causing to our settlers in thewest!"

  "It is a shame--a disgrace!" exclaimed Jack hotly, and then heturned his glance upon the two other men who were seated at thetable, taking in the whole scene in silence.

  Both wore the look of travellers; both were tanned by exposure, andwere clad in stained and curious garments, such as betokened thelife of the wilderness. Jack was instantly and keenly interested.He himself would willingly have been a backwoodsman had he beenable to adopt that adventurous life.

  Ashley saw the look he bent upon the travellers, and he made themknown to one another.

  "These friends have travelled far from the lands of the south, andhave been friends in need to our kinsmen yonder. Fritz Neville andJulian Dautray are their names.

  "Susanna, set food before them. Your mother will not be able tothink of aught just now. We must let her have her cry out before wetrouble her."

  The rest of the party seated themselves, whilst in the recess bythe window Hannah stood between the brothers she had parted fromten years ago, listening to their tale, and weeping as shelistened.

  Ashley turned to his two guests, who were eating with appetite fromthe well-filled platters placed before them, and he began to speakas though taking up a theme which had lately been dropped.

  "It is no wonder that you are perplexed by what you hear and see inthis city. I will seek to make the point at issue as clear to youas it may be. You have doubtless heard of the Penn family, fromwhom this colony takes its name. Much we owe to our founder--hiswisdom, liberality, and enlightenment; but his sons are hated here.They are absent in England, but they are the proprietaries of vasttracts of land, and it is with regard to these lands that thetroubles in the Assembly arise. The proprietaries are regarded asrenegades from the faith; for the Assembly here is Quaker almost toa man. They hate the feudalism of the tenure of the proprietaries,and they are resolved to tax these lands, although they will notdefend them, and although no income is at present derived fromthem."

  "Have they the power to do so?" asked Julian.

  "Not without the consent of the Governor. That is where the wholetrouble lies. And the Governor has no power to grant them leave totax the proprietary lands. Not only so, but he is expresslyforbidden by the terms of his commission to permit this taxation.But the Assembly will not yield the point, nor will they consent tofurnish means for the defence of the colony until this point isconceded. That is where the deadlock comes in. The Governor cannotyield; his powers do not permit it. The Assembly will not yield.They hate the thought of war, and seem glad to shelter themselvesbehind this quibble. For a while many of us, their friends,although not exactly at one with them in all things, stood by themand upheld them; but we are fast losing patience now. When it comesto having our peaceful settlers barbarously murdered, and ourwestern border desolated and encroached upon; when it becomes knownthat this is the doing of jealous France, not of the Indiansthemselves, then it is time to take a wider outlook. Let thequestion of the proprietary lands stand over till another time; thequestion may then be settled at a less price than is being paid forit now, when every month's delay costs us the lives of helplesswomen and children, and when humanity herself is crying aloud inour streets."

  Ashley, although he had long been on most friendly terms with theQuaker population of the town, was not by faith a Quaker, and wasgrowing impatient with the Assembly and its stubborn policy ofresistance. He felt that his old friend Franklin should knowbetter, and show a wider spirit. He had acted with promptness andpatriotism earlier in the year, when Braddock's luckless expeditionhad applied to him for help. But in this warfare he was sternlyresolved on the victory over the Governor, and at this moment itseemed as though all Philadelphia was much more eager to achievethis than to defend the borders of the colony.

  Hitherto the danger had not appeared pressing to the eastern partof the colony. They were in no danger from Indian raids, and theyhad small pity for their brethren on the western frontier. Betweenthem and the encroaching Indians lay a population, mostly German,that acted like a buffer state to them; and notwithstanding thatevery post brought in urgent appeals for help, they passed the timein wrangling with the Governor, in drawing up bills professing tobe framed to meet the emergency, but each one of them containingthe clause through which the Governor was forced to draw his pen.

  Governor Morris had written off to England stating the exceedingdifficulty of his position. His appeals to the Assembly to defendthe colony were spirited and manly. He was anxious to join with theother colonies for an organized and united resistance, but this wasat present extremely difficult. Others before him had tried thesame policy, but it had ended in failure. Petty jealousies did moreto hold the colonies apart than a common peril to bind themtogether. Political and religious strife was always arising. Therewas nothing to bind them together save a common, though rathercold, allegiance to the English King. Now and again, in moments ofimminent peril, they had united for a common object; but they fellapart almost at once. Each had its own pet quarrel with itsGovernor, which w
as far more interesting to the people at themoment than anything else.

  Julian and Fritz listened in amaze as Ashley, who was awell-informed man and a shrewd observer, put before them, as wellas he was able, the state of affairs reigning in Pennsylvania andthe sister states.

  "I am often ashamed of our policy, of our bickerings, of ourtardiness," concluded the good man; "yet for all that there isstuff of the right sort in our people. We have English blood in ourveins, and I always maintain that England is bound to be thedominant power in these lands of the west. Let them but send usgood leaders and generals from the old country, and I will answerfor it that the rising generation of New England will fight andwill conquer, and drive the encroaching French back whence theycame!"