, and a qualified judge to hold the
balance between, the cause of truth and justice might be even more
thoroughly served than if the antagonist agents were to set themselves
to be as impartial and equal-handed as the magistrate himself. But I
could not extend the same tolerance to the special pleading of the
newspaper editor. I saw that, to many of the readers of his paper, the
editor did not hold the place of a law-agent, but of a judge: it was his
part to submit to them, therefore, not ingenious pleadings, but, to the
best of his judgment, honest decisions. And not only did no place
present itself for me in the editorial field, but I really could see no
place in it that, with the views which I entertained on this head, I
would not scruple to occupy. I saw no party cause for which I could
honestly plead. My ecclesiastical friends had, with a few exceptions,
cast themselves into the Conservative ranks; and there I could not
follow them. The Liberals, on the other hand, being in office at the
time, had become at least as like their old opponents as their former
selves, and I could by no means defend all that _they_ were doing. In
Radicalism I had no faith; and Chartism--with my recollection of the
kind of treatment which I had received from the workmen of the south
still strongly impressed on my mind--I thoroughly detested. And so I
began seriously to think of the backwoods of America. But there was
another destiny in store for me. My native town, up till this time,
though a place of considerable trade, was unfurnished with a branch
bank; but on the representation of some of its more extensive traders,
and of the proprietors of the neighbouring lands, the Commercial Bank of
Scotland had agreed to make it the scene of one of its agencies, and
arranged with a sagacious and successful merchant and shipowner of the
place to act as its agent. It had fixed, too, on a young man as its
accountant, at the suggestion of a neighbouring proprietor; and I heard
of the projected bank simply as a piece of news of interest to the town
and its neighbourhood, but, of course, without special bearing on any
concern of mine. Receiving, however, one winter morning, an invitation
to breakfast with the future agent--Mr. Ross--I was not a little
surprised, after we had taken a quiet cup of tea together, and beaten
over half-a-dozen several subjects, to be offered by him the
accountantship of the branch bank. After a pause of a full half-minute,
I