University of Virginia Library

SCENE VI.

The interior of the City Hall of St. Louis. A raised platform in the centre. Citizens crowding about it. Chairman presiding and seated with other distinguished men. On one hand, Ferguson and others—opposite, Norman Maurice, Mercer, Brooks, &c. Norman Maurice discovered speaking.
Maurice.
Thus have we, sir, discuss'd the several questions
Involved in this upon the Constitution—
I trust that, on this instrument, I speak
The doctrines of Missouri. I would have it
A ligament of fix'd, unchanging value,
Maintain'd by strict construction,—neither warp'd,
Nor stretch'd, nor lopt of its now fair proportions,
By the ambitious demagogue or statesman,
Who, with the baits of station in their eyes,
Still sacrifice the State! Our policy,
Should hold ours as a linkéd realm of nations
Where each one sits secure, however feeble,
And, pointing to the sacred written record,
Finds in it her Palladium. Government,
We hold to be the creature of our need,
Having no power but where necessity,
Still under guidance of the Charter, gives it.
Our taxes raised to meet our exigence,
And not for waste or favorites—our people
Left free to share the commerce of the world,
Without one needless barrier on their prows!
Our industry at liberty for venture,
Neither abridged, nor pamper'd; and no calling
Preferr'd before another, to the ruin,
Or wrong of either. These, sir, are my doctrines!
They are the only doctrines which shall keep us
From anarchy, and that worst peril yet,
That threatens to dissever, in the tempest,
That married harmony of hope with power,
Which keeps our starry Union o'er the storm,
And, in the sacred bond that links our fortunes,
Makes us defy its thunders!—Thus, in one,—
The foreign despot threatens us in vain.
Guizot and Palmerston may fret to see us
Grasping the empires which they vainly covet,
And stretching forth our trident o'er the seas,
In rivalry with Britain. They may chafe,
But cannot chain us. Balances of power,
Framed by corrupt and cunning monarchists,
Weigh none of our possessions; and the seasons
That mark our mighty progress, East and West,
Show Europe's struggling millions, fondly seeking,
The better shores and shelters that are ours.
Enough, sir—I have yielded my opinions,
Freely deliver'd, frankly argued, fairly,
With deference to the learning and the wisdom,
Shown by my opponent! The rest is yours.

Chairman.
You have heard, citizens; what farther order
Is it your pleasure, that we—

Mercer.
Sir, it needs not!—
The ample range that this debate hath taken,
The spacious grasp of argument upon it—
How well discuss'd the questions—how complete
And clear, the several reasons which concluded,—
Leave none in doubt of what should be our judgment.
Methinks there's but one matter now before us,
And this decided, stays the whole discussion,—
By showing, in our preference for the man,
What still hath been our thoughts upon his measures.
Well have the advocates on both sides spoken,
Not equally, but well! For Ferguson,
His eloquence honors his experience past,
And ancient reputation;—but, methinks,
That none who listen'd to the speech of Maurice,
But must have yielded to his clear opinions;—
Enforced by illustrations near and foreign,
Such full analysis, such profound research—
Statements so fairly made,—objections battled
So fearlessly—and arguments sustain'd
With so much equal truth and eloquence!
His views are mine—are those of this assembly!
Nay more—I boldly challenge in their favor
The voices of Missouri! What remains—
But that we speak to her assembled wisdom?
This day they choose a Senator in Congress—
Whom shall we name to them of all our people?

1st Voice.
Why, Norman Maurice!

2d Voice.
Who but Norman Maurice?

3d Voice.
The widow's friend—the champion of the people!

Brooks.
Such is the popular will!

Ferguson.
A moment, sir!
If eloquence and talent, just opinion,
Were the sole requisite, for this high station,
I should be silent here, or probably,
Join with you in the shout for Norman Maurice.
But truth and virtue claim a place with talent,
And he who serves, our Senator in Congress,
Must know no smutch of shame upon his garments.

Maurice.
Ha! shame, sir?

Ferguson.
That was the word, sir.

Maurice.
Shame of mine?

Ferguson.
Of thine!

Maurice.
Speak, sir; I listen.

Ferguson.
It is charged, sir,
That Norman Maurice, ere he sought St. Louis,
Was once a resident of Philadelphia;
That there he forged a paper on a merchant,
Well known, by which he gain'd two thousand dollars!

Maurice.
A falsehood! false as hell! As God's in heaven,
I never did this thing!

Ferguson.
The proof is here!

Maurice.
The proof! What proof?

Ferguson.
Know you one Robert Warren?
Ha! you are silent, sir—you start, you redden!—

Maurice.
With scorn and indignation, not with terror!
I do know Robert Warren; that base reptile
Whom thrice I spared the scourge. Set him before me,
And you shall see whose tremors speak the guilty,
And whose the innocent, aroused to vengeance!

Ferguson.
Have then your wish! Accuser! Robert Warren!
Stand forth and answer!

[Pause.
Maurice.
He dare not!

Ferguson.
He will!

Maurice.
Shout for your man again. Set him before me.

Ferguson.
Call at the door, there—call for Robert Warren.

Voice without.
Ho! Robert Warren, Robert Warren! Ho!

Enter Harry Matthews hastily, and in great agitation.
Matthews.
Who calls for Robert Warren? He is murder'd,—
Stabb'd with a dagger, and was found a corse,
Within the wood behind the house of Maurice.
Here is the dagger, found upon the body,
And crusted with his blood.

[Showing dagger.
Maurice.
Murder'd! Give it me!
[Seizes the dagger, looks at and drops it.
Great God! 'tis hers! [Aside.]


Matthews.
Behold the murderer!
He staggers! It is he hath done the deed!

Ferguson.
Ay, truly,—who so like to do the deed,
As one who needs to silence such a witness.

Maurice.
Thy bitter jealousy and hate delude thee,
And make thee but a liar. I convict thee,
Out of the mouths of thine own witnesses.—
When saw you Warren last? [To Matthews.]


Matthews.
Noon yesterday:
He left me then to seek your house.

Maurice.
My house!
What would he at my house?

Matthews.
I do not know.
But know that from that hour until the present,
When now we find him by your house a corse,
He has no more been seen.

Maurice.
'Tis fortunate,
That we may get the truth from fraud and cunning,
Even when it makes against them. Noon yesterday
Found me in public court-house, on a trial,
Before a thousand eyes, till four o'clock!

Ferguson.
But after that?

Maurice.
My witness here is Mercer.

Mercer.
From that hour
Till sunset, he continued at my house,
Then left with Captain Catesby, to return
With dark, and to remain with us all night,
Most part in consultation with our friends,
Who did not separate until near the dawn.

Ferguson.
Then, till this hour?

Catesby.
With me! We slept together!

Maurice.
Man of a bitter malice, art thou answer'd?

Ferguson.
Thou 'scapest the murder, not the forgery.
Warren was not the only evidence;
Where's Richard Osborne?

Osborne,
[coming forward.]
Here!

Ferguson.
All do not fail us!
Your name is Richard Osborne! You know Maurice,
And know the crime which Warren charged upon him?
He named you as his witness.

Osborne.
He did wrong, then!
I know of no offence of Norman Maurice—
Yet know him well, and all I know of him,
Hath still approved him, to my sense and judgment,
The noblest, as he is the first of men!

1. People shout.
Hurrah for that!

2. People shout.
Hurrah for Norman Maurice!

Ferguson.
Confusion!

Matthews.
I'm off.

[Exeunt Matthews and Ferguson.
People,
[with cries and hisses.]
Away with Ferguson[illeg.]

Mercer,
[to Maurice.]
Your triumph is complete!

Brooks.
All's well!

Maurice.
Tell me that!—
All's well!—You spoke! Did you not say, my wife?
What of her—speak!

Mercer.
You're ill! Your lips are very pale!
But courage, all your trial's over now.

Maurice.
Art sure of that? Let me but understand it!—

Mercer.
'Twould seem so!—What a foul conspiracy,
So fatally arrested. For this murder—

Maurice.
What of it?

Mercer.
'Tis very strange!

Maurice.
Very strange indeed!

Mercer.
But stranger still the audacious charge against you.
Who was this Warren?

Maurice,
[with an effort.]
Who? but here is one,
To put you in possession of the story.
He knows how dexterously a lie was founded,
Most monstrous, on the basis of a truth,
By this same Warren, to my injury.
[Osborne comes forward.
Osborne, I thank you for your ready answer,
And good opinion.

Osborne.
It was but your right.

Maurice.
What is that cry? my fears—

[Noise without.
Enter Kate, followed by Mrs. Jervas.
Kate.
Oh! Sir! Your wife!

Maurice.
My wife! Be still my heart. What of my wife?

Kate.
She's sick! Oh! very sick!

Mrs. Jervas.
She's broke blood-vessel!

Maurice,
[with a cry.]
God! thou hast sent
This Terror, like a fate into my house,
And wreck'd the hope that nestled there in peace!—
Hence, woman, from my sight!
My wife! My wife!

[Rushes out.
Mercer,
[to Catesby.]
Follow him with a surgeon.

Brooks.
What a day's history of storm and sorrow!
There is some cruel mystery in these doings,
Which we must fathom! This conspiracy,
For such it clearly shows, makes for our party;
Let's hasten to the use of it. They'll never
Hold up their heads again. The people's with us,
The assembly waits us and will crown our triumph!