urope to get them to
join with her in putting down the slave trade. It was a royal occasion;
and the enjoyment of it quite beyond description. To-day I have been
standing at Charing Cross, looking at the statue of Charles I., and
wondering at the world. My grand-uncle is a good Tory and held forth
eloquently as we stood there. Don't tell my mother! but privately, my
dear colonel, I seem to discover in myself traces of Whiggism. Whether
it be nature, or your influence, or the air of America, that has caused
it to grow, I know not; but there it is. My mother would be very
seriously disturbed if she suspected the fact. As to my father, I
really never discovered to my satisfaction what his politics are. To
Mr. Strahan I listen reverently. It is not necessary for me to say to
him all that comes into my head. _But_ it came into my head to-day, as
I stood gazing up at the equestrian statue at Charing Cross, that it
would better become the English people to have John Hampden there than
that miserable old trickster, Charles Stuart.'

Esther read and re-read.

'Papa,' she said at last, 'what is a Tory?'

'It is a party name, my dear; it is given to a certain political party.'

'You are not a Tory?'

'No! If I had been, I should never have found my way here.' The colonel
said it with a sigh.

'Then I suppose you are a Whig. And are Mr. and Mrs. Dallas Tories?'

'Humph!--Will says his mother is. He ought to know.'

'What is the difference, papa?'

'My dear, I don't know that you can understand. The names grew up in
the old days when the Stuarts were trying to get all the power of the
government into their own hands and to leave none to the people. Those
who stood by the king, through thick and thin, were called Tories;
those who tried to limit him and guard the people's liberties, were
Whigs.'

'What queer names! Papa, are there Whigs and Tories in England now?'

'What are called so.'

'Are the kings still trying to get away the liberties of the people?'

'No, my child. Those are pretty well secured.'

'And here we have no king at all. I don't see how you can be a Whig, or
Mrs. Dallas a Tory.'

'There are always the two parties. One, that sticks by the government
and aims to strengthen its hands, right or wrong; and the other, that
looks out for the liberties of the people and watches that they be not
infringed or tampered with.'

Esther thought a while, but not exclusively over the political
question. It might