In fact the Sterling household was still fluctuating;the problem of a task for Edward Sterling's powers,and of anchorage for his affairs in any sense,was restlessly struggling to solve itself,but was still a good way from being solved.Anthony,in revisiting these scenes with John in 1839,mentions going to the spot "where we used to stand with our Father,looking out for the arrival of the London mail:"a little chink through which is disclosed to us a big restless section of a human life.The Hill of Welsh Llanblethian,then,is like the mythic Caucasus in its degree (as indeed all hills and habitations where men sojourn are);and here too,on a small scale,is a Prometheus Chained!
Edward Sterling,I can well understand,was a man to tug at the chains that held him idle in those the prime of his years;and to ask restlessly,yet not in anger and remorse,so much as in hope,locomotive speculation,and ever-new adventure and attempt,Is there no task nearer my own natural size,then?So he looks out from the Hill-side "for the arrival of the London mail;"thence hurries into Cowbridge to the Post-office;and has a wide web,of threads and gossamers,upon his loom,and many shuttles flying,in this world.
By the Marquis of Bute's appointment he had,very shortly after his arrival in that region,become Adjutant of the Glamorganshire Militia,"Local Militia,"I suppose;and was,in this way,turning his military capabilities to some use.The office involved pretty frequent absences,in Cardiff and elsewhere.This doubtless was a welcome outlet,though a small one.He had also begun to try writing,especially on public subjects;a much more copious outlet,--which indeed,gradually widening itself,became the final solution for him.
Of the year 1811we have a Pamphlet of his,entitled _Military Reform_;this is the second edition,"dedicated to the Duke of Kent;"the first appears to have come out the year before,and had thus attained a certain notice,which of course was encouraging.He now furthermore opened a correspondence with the _Times_Newspaper;wrote to it,in 1812,a series of Letters under the signature _Vetus_:
voluntary Letters I suppose,without payment or pre-engagement,one successful Letter calling out another;till _Vetus_and his doctrines came to be a distinguishable entity,and the business amounted to something.Out of my own earliest Newspaper reading,I can remember the name _Vetus_,as a kind of editorial hacklog on which able-editors were wont to chop straw now and then.Nay the Letters were collected and reprinted;both this first series,of 1812,and then a second of next year:two very thin,very dim-colored cheap octavos;stray copies of which still exist,and may one day become distillable into a drop of History (should such be wanted of our poor "Scavenger Age"in time coming),though the reading of them has long ceased in this generation.[4]The first series,we perceive,had even gone to a second edition.The tone,wherever one timidly glances into this extinct cockpit,is trenchant and emphatic:the name of _Vetus_,strenuously fighting there,had become considerable in the talking political world;and,no doubt,was especially of mark,as that of a writer who might otherwise be important,with the proprietors of the _Times_.The connection continued:widened and deepened itself,--in a slow tentative manner;passing naturally from voluntary into remunerated:and indeed proving more and more to be the true ultimate arena,and battle-field and seed-field,for the exuberant impetuosities and faculties of this man.
What the _Letters of Vetus_treated of I do not know;doubtless they ran upon Napoleon,Catholic Emancipation,true methods of national defence,of effective foreign Anti-gallicism,and of domestic ditto;which formed the staple of editorial speculation at that time.I have heard in general that Captain Sterling,then and afterwards,advocated "the Marquis of Wellesley's policy;"but that also,what it was,Ihave forgotten,and the world has been willing to forget.Enough,the heads of the _Times_establishment,perhaps already the Marquis of Wellesley and other important persons,had their eye on this writer;and it began to be surmised by him that here at last was the career he had been seeking.
Accordingly,in 1814,when victorious Peace unexpectedly arrived;and the gates of the Continent after five-and-twenty years of fierce closure were suddenly thrown open;and the hearts of all English and European men awoke staggering as if from a nightmare suddenly removed,and ran hither and thither,--Edward Sterling also determined on a new adventure,that of crossing to Paris,and trying what might lie in store for him.For curiosity,in its idler sense,there was evidently pabulum enough.But he had hopes moreover of learning much that might perhaps avail him afterwards;--hopes withal,I have understood,of getting to be Foreign Correspondent of the _Times_Newspaper,and so adding to his income in the mean while.He left Llanblethian in May;dates from Dieppe the 27th of that month.He lived in occasional contact with Parisian notabilities (all of them except Madame de Stael forgotten now),all summer,diligently surveying his ground;--returned for his family,who were still in Wales but ready to move,in the beginning of August;took them immediately across with him;a house in the neighborhood of Paris,in the pleasant village of Passy at once town and country,being now ready;and so,under foreign skies,again set up his household there.