true character of the unfortunate heroine, and upon the charges which had been so recklessly permitted to defame and to destroy her. We have no space for the particulars of this investigation. Its result is thus stated by our author :

"On the 7th of July, [1456] the revision of the sentence was delivered at Rouen; the twelve articles on which the condemnation of the first judges had been founded were torn up in public, the odious sentence was abrogated and annulled, and processions solemnly proceeded to the cemetery of Saint Ouen, and to the old marketplace,-sites made holy by the martyrdom of Joan."

KANSAS.

THE sun, in its daily course, shines upon no fairer portion of the earth's surface than that embraced within the borders of the territory of KANSAS. Situated within the very heart of the United States, midway between the north and south, the east and west-presenting a varied aspect of mountain and valley, prairie and bluff, intersected by noble rivers, with a soil fertile beyond all comparison, productive of grain and fruits in boundless variety, together with a genial, healthy climate-it is scarcely possible to conceive of a more inviting resting-place for the weary feet of the emigrant, or a more promising sphere of operations for the enterprising and restless "settler," ever seeking a farther "far West." Its area surpasses in extent that of the thirteen Atlantic states; yet if we refer to a map three years old, we shall seek in vain for this word Kansas. The space it occupies on these maps marked "the Great American Desert ;" and, until recently, was occupied solely by various tribes of Indians-"the Indian territory.' But the savage daily recedes before the encroaching steps of the AngloSaxon. How many thousands of years has this region been a solitary and uncultivated waste! And although but a few months have elapsed since the white man sought there a new home, yet its soil is deeply stained with his brother's blood; and most hideous tragedies have been enacted in the never-ending strife between freedom and slavery, even on the very soil which, by solemn prohibition, was proclaimed for ever exempt from involuntary servitude.

By an Act of Congress, dated 30th of May, 1854, it was declared that "All the territory of the United States included within the following limits, except such portions thereof as are hereinafter expressly exempted from the operations of this Act, to wit: beginning at a point on the western boundary of the State of Missouri, where the parallel of 37° N. crosses the same; thence west on said parallel to the eastern boundary of New Mexico; thence north on said boundary to latitude 38°; thence following said boundary westward to the east boundary of the territory of Utah, on the summit of the Rocky Mountains; thence northward on said summit to the parallel of 40° N.; hence east on said parallel to the western boundary of said state to the place of beginning-is constituted the territory of Kansas; and when admitted as a State or States, the said territory, or any portion of the same, shall be received into the Union with or without slavery, as their constitutions may prescribe at the time of their admission."

The attractions and resources of this Eden were speedily made known through the newspapers; and it soon became evident that a great tide of emigration would naturally flow into Kansas from the northern and eastern States; and an association was formed for the purpose of "assisting emi

grants to settle in the West." The objects of this association were-to induce emigrants to move westward in such large bodies, that arrangements might be made with the railway and other trafficking companies, for effecting their transit at reduced rates; to erect saw-mills and boardinghouses, and establish schools in different localities, that the people might at once surround themselves with the resources of older states, and not waste years deprived of the privileges and blessings of social life, as most early settlers in the West had done.

The originators of this association were New-Englanders-men of honour, sterling integrity, and exalted views; who devoted their time and their money with untiring energy to the sacred cause of liberty. They were prompted to this undertaking from a consciousness that the battle of freedom must sooner or later be fought in this remote region, and that it required the stout hearts and willing hands of those who had been nursed in the "cradle of liberty," to plough the soil and sow the seeds of that priceless treasure for which their fathers had freely shed their blood, and which they, as true heritors, were bound not only to defend against the present foe, but also to transmit unimpaired to posterity.

On the 1st of August, 1854, a party of about thirty settlers, chiefly from New England, arrived in the territory of Kansas, and settled upon a spot previously selected for its peculiar beauty; and, in honour of a philanthropic citizen of Boston, named it Lawrence. On its way to the territory, this party had met with obstructions and abuse from bands of Missourians, who were violently opposed to the invasion of these missionaries of freedom; and by putting in pretended claims for every spot selected by the new settlers, and by various disputes on frivolous pretexts, attempted to frighten and drive them away. On the 28th of September, 1854, a "squatter" meeting was held at about two miles from Lawrence, at which the "free-state" men found themselves in the majority. They decided by vote that no person non-resident in the territory should be allowed to vote at their meetings, &c.; and for a time they made their own regulations.

A second New-England party arrived early in September, and settled also at Lawrence. As soon as it became known that a settlement of NewEnglanders was being made at Lawrence, every means were employed to break it up. The settlers, however, proceeded with their appointed task, and erected a saw-mill, boarding-houses, stores, &c. These buildings were of pole and thatch, of most primitive construction.

On the 1st of October the first sermon was preached, and the first Bibleclass formed, in Lawrence; and on the 9th, Governor Reeder, with the other officers appointed by the President, arrived in the territory. The first election was for a delegate to Congress; it was held on the 29th of November, 1854. Meanwhile a conspiracy against the rights of the settlers was gaining ground in Missouri, and before the day of election armed hordes poured over her borders. A candidate for delegate was told he would be maltreated, and probably killed, if he ventured to challenge a vote at the polls: he was compelled to seek protection of the judges. In one remote district, with a thin population, no less than fivehundred and eighty-four illegal votes were cast, and only twenty legal. At Leavenworth, then a small village, several hundred men crossed over from the adjoining State of Missouri, encamped about the place, and controlled. the polls. By these illegal votes, General (?) Whitfield was elected delegate to Congress.

In January, Governor Reeder ordered a census to be taken. The popu

from God, and by His command, as she believed that our Saviour has redeemed us from the sufferings of hell."

This was Joan's invincible conviction. But whether we agree with her and with her biographer in believing that she had in very truth a supernatural mission to fulfil, or regard her mysterious messages of counsel and command as delusions generated by an overheated imagination and an unenlightened devotion, it will be in either case clear that she had, in addition to the inspiration of her love of France, that still grander inspiration of a faith in God, which has in many another noble instance given birth to undertakings as romantic and successes as complete as hers. The efficacy of this faith was manifested first amidst the humble cares and occupations of her daily life at Domremy. She proved its temper well by the unwearied industry with which she plied her needle and her spinningwheel, or performed the common duties of the household; by her obedience and her affection to her parents; by her charitable succour to the poor; by her constancy and earnestness in prayer; and, in a word, by the whole tenor of a life-passed, be it observed, not, as is commonly supposed, as a shepherd-girl in the fields, but under a pious mother's eye at home-so striking for its goodness and its purity, as to win for her the admiration and esteem of peasants, priests, and nobles of the neighbourhood that she dwelt in and adorned. And this was no short or slight novitiate it continued throughout five years-during which there was no deviation from this beautiful blamelessness of conduct, and no cessation of the voices which, with an ever-increasing urgency, impelled her to set forth upon the crowning work they had commanded her to do.

It was in the beginning of her eighteenth year that Joan departed from Domremy on her strange and perilous expedition. By the very greatness. of her undertaking we may estimate the truth and strength of her dependence on Divine aid for its accomplishment. The untaught and inexperienced peasant-girl, with no protection but her purpose and her purity and faith, began a journey of a hundred and fifty leagues, throughout a district overrun by the insolent and unrestrained soldiers of a victorious army of invaders, in order-as the consummation of her enterprize to deliver France from her triumphant enemies, and to confer the crown, and the powers of actual sovereignty, upon that discredited Dauphin whom she had been taught by her mysterious visitants to look upon as rightful inheritor of the throne. As, with this intent, the maiden quitted her hamlet-home, how miserably inadequate, in any human judgment, must her means have seemed in relation to that momentous end!

But it was Joan's good-fortune to win new credit and support at every pause upon her way. At Vaucouleurs, her first resting-place, many believed in the reality of her mission; the captain of the place somewhat reluctantly accorded her an escort and a sword; and the common people zealously subscribed to provide for her a horse and a man's dress, which she regarded as an indispensable equipment on her journey. Above all, the two chiefs of her escort were so penetrated with her own undoubting faith, that, on arriving at the Dauphin's court, they manifested the utmost enthusiasm in making known to all whom they approached, how marvellously they had been preserved upon their perilous route, how matchless and how manifold were the heroine's virtues, and how complete was their own belief that her commission came from God.

It must be confessed that the train of events which followed Joan's arrival at the Dauphin's court were not ill-calculated, in a credulous age, to

give currency to this conviction of her guides. At her first interview she recognised the Dauphin in the midst of all his courtiers. Subjected to the strict and stern assay of bishops, counsellors, and university doctors, she came forth from it like fine gold from the fire. When asked for signs of the divine mission she laid claim to, her noble answer was, "Lead me, in God's name, to Orleans: it is there that I will give signs which shall make all believe in me." The wisest advisers of the Dauphin owned her inspiration, and urged their master to adventure on the enterprise to which this prophetess of victory invited him. Their recommendations overcame his scruples; and thus the first marvellous step in Joan's career-her attainment of the royal acknowledgment of her mission, and of the mastery of the instruments her undertaking called for-was happily accomplished. The redemption of the kingdom was confided to the saintly peasant-girl.

There was no slackness in preparing for the expedition, when it had been with judicious hesitation once determined on. Clothed in the suit of armour which the Dauphin had provided for her; mounted on the warhorse which had been presented to her by the Duke of Alençon, and equipped with her embroidered and emblazoned standard, and with the sword, dug by her direction, from a knight's tomb-" which was dear to her, because it seemed to her to have been blessed and consecrated by her venerated patroness, Saint Catherine,-Joan soon found herself at the head of a band of grim and hardy soldiers, who received her with enthusiasm, and submitted with alacrity to the discipline of strict morality and solemn prayer which she enforced. It was at day-dawn of a beautiful morning in the spring of the year 1429, that her army, singing the hymn of Veni, Creator, began its march towards Orleans. On the evening of the third day it arrived within sight of the beleaguered city, which Joan entered at nightfall and never, probably, was any mortal succour welcomed with a heartier delight. The fame of her heavenly mission had outstripped her own advance, and had filled the city with an atmosphere of joyous faith and trust. The streets were bright with the light of a thousand torches; men of all conditions-rich and poor, nobles, priests, and citizens, captains, and the soldiers they commanded-crowded hurriedly to meet her; and all the population of the place, male and female, rejoiced "as though they had seen Divinity itself descend amongst them."

The common hope which had occasioned this commotion of delight was not disappointed. Within six days she had, in spite of the impediments which were thrown in her way by the professional commanders of the troops, obtained her first victory over the besiegers. This was the prelude to other and more important successes. After a brief interval of religious observance and repose, as morning broke on the second day afterwards, Joan, at the head of her little army, left the ramparts, to be again successful in a harder and a bloodier combat. Much, however, yet remained to do which the military chiefs esteemed it madness to attempt without reinforcements. Scarcely had they come to this decision in their council, when Joan, who had been also seeking guidance from a wiser source, announced her resolution to resume the conflict on the following day. Her preparations for the assault were made without a moment's pause. The furious strife began betimes on the next morning, and was continued with a fluctuating fortune until night. More than once the inspiration of the heroine saved her party from defeat. Placing with her own hand the first ladder on the English rampart, she received a broad and deep wound, and was carried fainting from the field; but no sooner was her wound dressed,

and she was made aware of the consternation which her fall had given rise to, than she was again armed and mounted, and encouraging her wearied soldiers in their unrelenting work. At length, as the day waned, the courage of her troops began to waver, and then it was that Joan, withdrawing for a while in fervent prayer, returned to animate them to a last triumphant effort. As her standard touched the rampart, a white dove flew over her, and, availing herself of the augury, she cried out to her followers, "Enter, children; they are ours!" The impulse was an irresistible one, and the siege of Orleans was from that moment raised. The English commander, Talbot, set fire to his works on the following morning, and retired from them with the ruins of his army. At the same time, Joan "assembled at the foot of an altar raised in the open air, outside the city's walls, the whole of that population whom she had delivered in three days. The majestic hymn Te Deum burst forth from their united voices, and ascended towards heaven, just as the last battalions of the English were disappearing at the horizon."

Great as the public faith in Joan had been before, what bounds could be put to it after this unparalleled success? No wonder that the path she travelled by to meet the Dauphin was crowded by a grateful people anxious to behold her; no wonder that the women kneeled before her on her way, and the poor pressed forward eagerly to touch her armour, or to kiss her feet and hands; no wonder, even, to those who understood the simplicity of that piety from which her power arose, that these tokens of an admiration and a gratitude without bounds afflicted and alarmed, instead of gratifying, her; and that, in the midst of them, she sighed with her whole soul for solitary self-communing!

In spite, however, of the unexpected triumph of the French arms, there were amongst the advisers of the Dauphin many who were still afraid of depending upon Joan's guidance in an immediate march to Rheims. The country to be passed through was in the possession of the English and Burgundian troops; and commanders who had learned the art of war painfully, and by a long and dearly-bought experience, had naturally some reluctance in confronting enemies so powerful with what were, in any military estimate, at least, inferior and inadequate forces. They had not faith enough in Joan's announcement of a Divine arm outstretched to help them, or not philosophy enough to understand the influence of that faith in inspiring with a tenfold strength the sinews of the men who fought, as they believed, with saints and angels battling in their van. Her endeavours to surmount this obstacle were eager and unceasing. Casting herself, on one occasion, on her knees before the Dauphin and his council, she besought them, with a passionate earnestness, to put their trust in Him whose aid was promised them through her, and not to cast from them the great deliverance He had placed within their reach. The eloquent appeal persuaded them :—“ Renouncing the calculations of human wisdom, they suffered themselves to be carried away by an enthusiasm which came from God."

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The campaign which followed this decision was a succession of triumphs. In twice as many days, four strongly-fortified places had either yielded to her or been taken by force; she had been victorious in the hard-fought and important battle of Patay; and three memorable captains of the EnglishSuffolk, Scales, and Talbot-had become her prisoners. And all this had been achieved, not by the great commanders and the veteran knights who were her companions in the strife, but as they themselves were the readiest to bear witness-by the wisdom, and the courage, and the military skill of