The Pioneers; Or, The Sources of the Susquehanna Read online

  CHAPTER II

  All places that the eye of heaven visits Are to a wise man ports and happy havens: Think not the king did banish thee: But thou the king.--Richard II

  An ancestor of Marmaduke Temple had, about one hundred and twenty yearsbefore the commencement of our tale, come to the colony of Pennsylvania,a friend and co-religionist of its great patron. Old Marmaduke, for thisformidable prenomen was a kind of appellative to the race, brought withhim, to that asylum of the persecuted an abundance of the good thingsof this life. He became the master of many thousands of acres ofuninhabited territory, and the supporter of many a score of dependents.He lived greatly respected for his piety, and not a little distinguishedas a sectary; was intrusted by his associates with many importantpolitical stations; and died just in time to escape the knowledge of hisown poverty. It was his lot to share the fortune of most of thosewho brought wealth with them into the new settlements of the middlecolonies.

  The consequence of an emigrant into these provinces was generally to beascertained by the number of his white servants or dependents, and thenature of the public situations that he held. Taking this rule as aguide, the ancestor of our Judge must have been a man of no little note.

  It is, however, a subject of curious inquiry at the present day, to lookinto the brief records of that early period, and observe how regular,and with few exceptions how inevitable, were the gradations, on the onehand, of the masters to poverty, and on the other, of their servants towealth. Accustomed to ease, and unequal to the struggles incident to aninfant society, the affluent emigrant was barely enabled to maintainhis own rank by the weight of his personal superiority and acquirements;but, the moment that his head was laid in the grave, his indolent andcomparatively uneducated offspring were compelled to yield precedency tothe more active energies of a class whose exertions had been stimulatedby necessity. This is a very common course of things, even in thepresent state of the Union; but it was peculiarly the fortunes of thetwo extremes of society, in the peaceful and unenterprising colonies ofPennsylvania and New Jersey,

  The posterity of Marmaduke did not escape the common lot of those whodepend rather on their hereditary possessions than on their own powers;and in the third generation they had descended to a point below which,in this happy country, it is barely possible for honesty, intellectand sobriety to fall. The same pride of family that had, by itsself-satisfied indolence, conduced to aid their fail, now became aprinciple to stimulate them to endeavor to rise again. The feeling, frombeing morbid, was changed to a healthful and active desire to emulatethe character, the condition, and, peradventure, the wealth of theirancestors also. It was the father of our new acquaintance, the Judge,who first began to reascend in the scale of society; and in thisundertaking he was not a little assisted by a marriage, which aided infurnishing the means of educating his only son in a rather better mannerthan the low state of the common schools of Pennsylvania could promise;or than had been the practice in the family for the two or threepreceding generations.

  At the school where the reviving prosperity of his father was enabledto maintain him, young Marmaduke formed an intimacy with a youth whoseyears were about equal to his own. This was a fortunate connection forour Judge, and paved the way to most of his future elevation in life.

  There was not only great wealth but high court interest among theconnections of Edward Effingham. They were one of the few families thenresident in the colonies who thought it a degradation to its membersto descend to the pursuits of commerce; and who never emerged from theprivacy of domestic life unless to preside in the councils of the colonyor to bear arms in her defense. The latter had from youth been the onlyemployment of Edward's father. Military rank under the crown of GreatBritain was attained with much longer probation, and by much moretoilsome services, sixty years ago than at the present time. Years werepassed without murmuring, in the sub ordinate grades of the service;and those soldiers who were stationed in the colonies felt, when theyobtained the command of a company, that they were entitled to receivethe greatest deference from the peaceful occupants of the soil. Any oneof our readers who has occasion to cross the Niagara may easily observenot only the self importance, but the real estimation enjoyed by the humblest representative of the crown, even in that polar region of royalsunshine. Such, and at no very distant period, was the respect paid tothe military in these States, where now, happily, no symbol of war isever seen, unless at the free and tearless voice of their people. When,therefore, the father of Marmaduke's friend, after forty years'service, retired with the rank of major, maintaining in his domesticestablishment a comparative splendor, he be came a man of the firstconsideration in his native colony which was that of New York. He hadserved with fidelity and courage, and having been, according to thecustom of the provinces, intrusted with commands much superior to thoseto which he was entitled by rank, with reputation also. When MajorEffingham yielded to the claims of age, he retired with dignity,refusing his half-pay or any other compensation for services that hefelt he could no longer perform.

  The ministry proffered various civil offices which yielded not onlyhonor but profit; but he declined them all, with the chivalrousindependence and loyalty that had marked his character through life.The veteran soon caused this set of patriotic disinterestedness to befollowed by another of private munificence, that, however little itaccorded with prudence, was in perfect conformity with the simpleintegrity of his own views.

  The friend of Marmaduke was his only child; and to this son, on hismarriage with a lady to whom the father was particularly partial, theMajor gave a complete conveyance of his whole estate, consisting ofmoney in the funds, a town and country residence, sundry valuable farmsin the old parts of the colony, and large tracts of wild land in thenew--in this manner throwing himself upon the filial piety of hischild for his own future maintenance. Major Effingham, in declining theliberal offers of the British ministry, had subjected himself to thesuspicion of having attained his dotage, by all those who throng theavenues to court patronage, even in the remotest corners of that vastempire; but, when he thus voluntarily stripped himself of his greatpersonal wealth, the remainder of the community seemed instinctively toadopt the conclusion also that he had reached a second childhood.This may explain the fact of his importance rapidly declining; and, ifprivacy was his object, the veteran had soon a free indulgence of hiswishes. Whatever views the world might entertain of this act of theMajor, to himself and to his child it seemed no more than a naturalgift by a father of those immunities which he could no longer enjoy orimprove, to a son, who was formed, both by nature and education, todo both. The younger Effingham did not object to the amount of thedonation; for he felt that while his parent reserved a moral controlover his actions, he was relieving himself of a fatiguing burden: such,indeed, was the confidence existing between them, that to neither did itseem anything more than removing money from one pocket to another.

  One of the first acts of the young man, on corning into possessionof his wealth, was to seek his early friend, with a view to offer anyassistance that it was now in his power to bestow.

  The death of Marmaduke's father, and the consequent division of hissmall estate, rendered such an offer extremely acceptable to theyoung Pennsylvanian; he felt his own powers, and saw, not only theexcellences, but the foibles in the character of his friend. Effinghamwas by nature indolent, confiding, and at times impetuous andindiscreet; but Marmaduke was uniformly equable, penetrating, and fullof activity and enterprise. To the latter therefore, the assistance, orrather connection that was proffered to him, seemed to produce a mutualadvantage. It was cheerfully accepted, and the arrangement of itsconditions was easily completed. A mercantile house was establishedin the metropolis of Pennsylvania, with the avails of Mr. Effingham'spersonal property; all, or nearly all, of which was put into thepossession of Temple, who was the only ostensible proprietor inthe concern, while, in secret, the other was entitled to an equalparticipation in the profits. This connection was thus kept p
rivate fortwo reasons, one of which, in the freedom of their inter course, wasfrankly avowed to Marmaduke, while the other continued profoundly hidin the bosom of his friend, The last was nothing more than pride. Tothe descend ant of a line of soldiers, commerce, even in that indirectmanner, seemed a degrading pursuit; but an insuperable obstacle to thedisclosure existed in the prejudices of his father.

  We have already said that Major Effingham had served as a soldier withreputation. On one occasion, while in command on the western frontierof Pennsylvania against a league of the French and Indians, not only hisglory, but the safety of himself and his troops were jeoparded by thepeaceful policy of that colony. To the soldier, this was an unpardonableoffence. He was fighting in their defense--he knew that the mildprinciples of this little nation of practical Christians would bedisregarded by their subtle and malignant enemies; and he felt thein jury the more deeply because he saw that the avowed object of thecolonists, in withholding their succors, would only have a tendency toexpose his command, without preserving the peace. The soldier succeeded,after a desperate conflict, in extricating himself, with a handful ofhis men, from their murderous enemy; but he never for gave the peoplewho had exposed him to a danger which they left him to combat alone. Itwas in vain to tell him that they had no agency in his being placed ontheir frontier at all; it was evidently for their benefit that he hadbeen so placed, and it was their "religious duty," so the Major alwaysexpressed it, "it was their religions duty to have supported him."

  At no time was the old soldier an admirer of the peaceful disciples ofFox. Their disciplined habits, both of mind and body, had endowed themwith great physical perfection; and the eye of the veteran was apt toscan the fair proportions and athletic frames of the colonists witha look that seemed to utter volumes of contempt for their moralimbecility, He was also a little addicted to the expression of abelief that, where there was so great an observance of the externals ofreligion, there could not be much of the substance. It is not our taskto explain what is or what ought to be the substance of Christianity,but merely to record in this place the opinions of Major Effingham.

  Knowing the sentiments of the father in relation to this people, it wasno wonder that the son hesitated to avow his connection with, nay, evenhis dependence on the integrity of, a Quaker.

  It has been said that Marmaduke deduced his origin from thecontemporaries and friends of Penn. His father had married withoutthe pale of the church to which he belonged, and had, in this manner,forfeited some of the privileges of his offspring. Still, as youngMarmaduke was educated in a colony and society where even the ordinaryintercourse between friends was tinctured with the aspect of thismild religion, his habits and language were some what marked by itspeculiarities. His own marriage at a future day with a lady without notonly the pale, but the influence, of this sect of religionists, had atendency, it is true, to weaken his early impressions; still heretained them in some degree to the hour of his death, and was observeduniformly, when much interested or agitated, to speak in the language ofhis youth. But this is anticipating our tale.

  When Marmaduke first became the partner of young Effingham, he was quitethe Quaker in externals; and it was too dangerous an experiment forthe son to think of encountering the prejudices of the father on thissubject. The connection, therefore, remained a profound secret to allbut those who were interested in it.

  For a few years Marmaduke directed the commercial operations of hishouse with a prudence and sagacity that afforded rich returns. Hemarried the lady we have mentioned, who was the mother of Elizabeth, andthe visits of his friend were becoming more frequent. There was a speedyprospect of removing the veil from their intercourse, as its advantagesbecame each hour more apparent to Mr. Effingham, when the troubles thatpreceded the war of the Revolution extended themselves to an alarmingdegree.

  Educated in the most dependent loyalty, Mr. Effingham had, from thecommencement of the disputes between the colonists and the crown, warmlymaintained what he believed to be the just prerogatives of his prince;while, on the other hand, the clear head and independent mind of Templehad induced him to espouse the cause of the people. Both might havebeen influenced by early impressions; for, if the son of the loyaland gallant soldier bowed in implicit obedience to the will of hissovereign, the descendant of the persecuted followers of Penn lookedback with a little bitterness to the unmerited wrongs that had beenheaped upon his ancestors.

  This difference in opinion had long been a subject of amicable disputebetween them: but, Latterly, the contest was getting to be too importantto admit of trivial discussions on the part of Marmaduke, whose acutediscernment was already catching faint glimmerings of the importantevents that were in embryo. The sparks of dissension soon kindled into ablaze; and the colonies, or rather, as they quickly declared themselves,THE STATES, became a scene of strife and bloodshed for years.

  A short time before the battle of Lexington, Mr. Effingham, already awidower, transmitted to Marmaduke, for safe-keeping, all his valuableeffects and papers; and left the colony without his father. The war had,however, scarcely commenced in earnest, when he reappeared in New York,wearing the Livery of his king; and, in a short time, he took thefield at the head of a provincial corps. In the mean time Marmaduke hadcompletely committed himself in the cause, as it was then called, of therebel lion. Of course, all intercourse between the friends ceased--onthe part of Colonel Effingham it was unsought, and on that of Marmadukethere was a cautious reserve. It soon became necessary for the latter toabandon the capital of Philadelphia; but he had taken the precaution toremove the whole of his effects beyond the reach of the royal forces,including the papers of his friend also. There he continued serving hiscountry during the struggle, in various civil capacities, and alwayswith dignity and usefulness. While, however, he discharged his functionswith credit and fidelity, Marmaduke never seemed to lose sight of hisown interests; for, when the estates of the adherents of the crown fellunder the hammer, by the acts of confiscation, he appeared in New York,and became the purchaser of extensive possessions at comparatively lowprices.

  It is true that Marmaduke, by thus purchasing estates that had beenwrested by violence from others, rendered himself obnoxious to thecensures of that Sect which, at the same time that it discards itschildren from a full participation in the family union, seems everunwilling to abandon them entirely to the world. But either his success,or the frequency of the transgression in others, soon wiped off thisslight stain from his character; and, although there were a fewwho, dissatisfied with their own fortunes, or conscious of their owndemerits, would make dark hints concerning the sudden prosperity ofthe unportioned Quaker, yet his services, and possibly his wealth, soondrove the recollection of these vague conjectures from men's minds. Whenthe war ended, and the independence of the States was acknowledged, Mr.Temple turned his attention from the pursuit of commerce, which was thenfluctuating and uncertain, to the settlement of those tracts of landwhich he had purchased. Aided by a good deal of money, and directed bythe suggestions of a strong and practical reason, his enterprise throveto a degree that the climate and rugged face of the country which heselected would seem to forbid. His property increased in a tenfoldratio, and he was already ranked among the most wealthy and importantof his countrymen. To inherit this wealth he had but one child--thedaughter whom we have introduced to the reader, and whom he was nowconveying from school to preside over a household that had too longwanted a mistress.

  When the district in which his estates lay had become sufficientlypopulous to be set off as a county, Mr. Temple had, according tothe custom of the new settlements, been selected to fill its highestjudicial station. This might make a Templar smile; but in additionto the apology of necessity, there is ever a dignity in talentsand experience that is commonly sufficient, in any station, for theprotection of its possessor; and Marmaduke, more fortunate in his nativeclearness of mind than the judge of King Charles, not only decidedright, but was generally able to give a very good reason for it. At allevents, such was the
universal practice of the country and the times;and Judge Temple, so far from ranking among the lowest of his judicialcontemporaries in the courts of the new counties, felt himself, and wasunanimously acknowledged to be, among the first.

  We shall here close this brief explanation of the history and characterof some of our personages leaving them in future to speak and act forthemselves.