{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_75032/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_75032","id":"gutenberg_75032","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/75032","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches","Category: Journals","Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Politics","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Category: Science - Earth/Agricultural/Farming","Category: Science - Physics","England -- Periodicals","Scotland -- Periodicals"],"text":"BLACKWOOD\u2019S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE.\n          NO. CCCCLXVIII.      OCTOBER, 1854.      VOL. LXXVI.\n\n\n\n\n                               CONTENTS.\n\n\n             SPECULATORS AMONG THE STARS.\u2014PART II.,    371\n             KING OTHO AND HIS CLASSIC KINGDOM,        403\n             STUDENT LIFE IN SCOTLAND.\u2014PART II.,       422\n             CIVILISATION.\u2014THE CENSUS,                 435\n             A RUSSIAN REMINISCENCE,                   452\n             RECORDS OF THE PAST.\u2014NINEVEH AND BABYLON, 458\n             THE OPENING OF THE GANGES CANAL,          475\n             THE USES OF BEAUTY,                       476\n             SPANISH POLITICS AND CUBAN PERILS,        477\n\n                               EDINBURGH:\n              WILLIAM BLACKWOOD & SONS, 45 GEORGE STREET,\n                    AND 37 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON;\n\n      _To whom all communications (post paid) must be addressed_.\n\n           SOLD BY ALL THE BOOKSELLERS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM.\n\n           PRINTED BY WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, EDINBURGH.\n\n\n\n\n                              BLACKWOOD\u2019S\n\n                          EDINBURGH MAGAZINE.\n\n          NO. CCCCLXVIII.      OCTOBER, 1854.      VOL. LXXVI.\n\n\n\n\n                    SPECULATORS AMONG THE STARS.[1]\n\n\n                                PART II.\n\n\n  Whatever we talk, Things are _as they are_\u2014not as we grant, dispute,\n  or hope; depending on neither our affirmative nor negative.[2]\u2014JEREMY\n  TAYLOR.\n\n\nLet us bear in mind the above passage, pregnant with solemnising\nreflection, while dealing with the question before us; always\nremembering that it is one purely speculative, however interesting,\nhowever exciting, to imaginative persons; but to weak and superficial\nones\u2014to those of unsettled opinions\u2014capable of becoming mischievous.\n\nThe state of that question is exactly this: The heavenly bodies around\nus, some or all of them, are, or are not, in point of fact, the abodes\nof intellectual and moral beings _like ourselves_\u2014that is, be it\nobserved, consisting of body and soul. That there are other and higher\norders of intelligent existence, both the Christian and the mere\nphilosopher may, and the former must, admit as an article of his\n\u201ccreed;\u201d but what may be the mode of that existence, and its relations\nto that physical world of which we are sensible, we know not, and\nconjecture would be idle. That beings like ourselves exist elsewhere\nthan here, is not revealed in Scripture; and the question, consequently,\nfor us to concern ourselves with is, whether there nevertheless exist\nrational grounds for believing the fact to be so. The accomplished and\neminent person who has so suddenly started this discussion, has, since\nhis _Essay_ appeared,[3] and in strict consistency with it, emphatically\ndeclared\u2014\u201cI do not pretend to disprove a plurality of worlds; but I ask\nin vain for any argument which makes the doctrine probable. And as I\nconceive the unity of the world to be the result of its being the work\nof one Divine Mind, exercising creative power according to His own\nIdeas; so it seems to me not unreasonable to suppose that man, the being\nwhich can apprehend, in some degree, those Ideas, is a creature unique\nin the creation.\u201d But what says Sir David Brewster, speaking of the\ngreatest known member of our planetary system, Jupiter?\n\n\n  \u201cWith so many striking points of resemblance between the Earth and\n  Jupiter, the unprejudiced mind cannot resist the conclusion, that\n  Jupiter has been created, like the Earth, for the express purpose of\n  being the seat of animal and intellectual life. The Atheist and the\n  Infidel, the Christian and the Mahommedan, men of all creeds, nations,\n  and tongues, the philosopher and the unlettered peasant, have all\n  rejoiced in this universal truth; and we do not believe that any\n  individual who confides in the facts of astronomy seriously rejects\n  it. If such a person exists, we would gravely ask him, for what\n  purpose could so gigantic a world have been framed?\u201d[4]\n\n\nI am such a person, would say Dr Whewell, and I declare that I cannot\ntell why Jupiter was created. \u201cI do not pretend to know for what purpose\nthe stars were made, any more than the flowers, or the crystalline gems,\nor other innumerable beautiful objects.... No doubt the Creator might\nmake creatures fitted to live in the stars, or in the small planetoids,\nor in the clouds, or on meteoric stones; but we cannot believe that he\n_has_ done this, without further evidence.\u201d[5] And as to the \u201cfacts of\nastronomy,\u201d let me patiently examine them, and the inferences you seek\nto deduce from them. Besides which, I will bring forward certain facts\nof which you seem to have taken no account.\n\nAs we foresaw, Dr Whewell\u2019s _Essay_ is attracting increased attention in\nall directions; and, as far as we can ascertain the scope of\ncontemporaneous criticism hitherto pronounced, it is hostile to his\nviews, while uniformly recognising the power and scientific knowledge\nwith which they are enforced. \u201cWe scarcely expected,\u201d observes an\naccomplished diurnal London reviewer,[6] \u201cthat in the middle of the\nnineteenth century, a serious attempt would have been made to restore\nthe exploded ideas of man\u2019s supremacy over all other creatures in the\nuniverse; and still less that such an attempt would have been made by\nany one whose mind was stored with scientific truths. Nevertheless a\nchampion has actually appeared, who boldly dares to combat against all\nthe rational inhabitants of other spheres; and though as yet he wears\nhis vizor down, his dominant bearing, and the peculiar dexterity and\npower with which he wields his arms, indicate that this knight-errant of\nnursery notions can be no other than the Master of Trinity College,\nCambridge.\u201d The reviewer falls, it appears to us, into a serious error\nas to the sentiments of Dr Whewell, when charging him with requiring us\n\u201cto assume that, in the creation of intelligent beings, Omnipotence must\nbe limited, in its operations, to the ideas which human faculties can\nconceive of them: that such beings must be men like ourselves, with\nsimilar powers, and have had their faculties developed by like means.\u201d\nIn the very passage cited to support this charge, Dr Whewell will be\nfound thus exactly limiting his proposition so as to exclude so impious\nand absurd a supposition:\u2014\u201cIn order to conceive, on the Moon, or on\nJupiter, a race of beings intelligent _like man_, we must conceive there\ncolonies of men, with histories resembling, more or less, the histories\nof human colonies: and, indeed, resembling the history of those nations\nwhose knowledge we inherit, far more closely than the history of any\nother terrestrial nation resembles that part of terrestrial history.\u201d[7]\nIn the passage which we have quoted in the preceding column, Dr Whewell\nexpressly declares, as of course he could not help declaring, that the\nCreator no doubt might make creatures fitted to live on the stars, or\nanywhere; but the passage misunderstood by the reviewer, appears to us\npossessed of an extensive significance, of which he has hastily lost\nsight, but which is closely connected with that portion of the author\u2019s\nspeculations with which we briefly dealt in our last number, especially\nthat which regards Man as a being of progressive[8] development. To this\nwe shall hereafter return, reminding the reader of the course of Dr\nWhewell\u2019s argument as thus far disclosed\u2014namely, that man\u2019s\nintellectual, moral, religious, and spiritual nature, is of so peculiar\nand high an order, as to warrant our regarding him as a special and\nunique existence, worthy of the station here assigned him in creation.\nIntellectually considered, man \u201chas an element of community with God:\nwhereupon it is so far conceivable that man should be, in a special\nmanner, the object of God\u2019s care and favour. The human mind, with its\nwonderful and perhaps illimitable powers, is something of which we can\nbelieve God to be mindful:\u201d[9] that He may very reasonably be thus\nmindful of a being whom he has vouchsafed to make in his own Image,\nafter His likeness\u2014the image and likeness of the awful Creator of all\nthings.\n\n\n  \u201cThe privileges of man,\u201d observes Dr Whewell, in a passage essential\n  to be considered by those who would follow his argument,[10] \u201cwhich\n  make the difficulty in assigning him his place in the Vast Scheme of\n  the universe, we have described as consisting in his being an\n  _Intellectual, Moral, and Religious_ creature. Perhaps the privileges\n  implied in the last term, and their place in our argument, may justify\n  a word more of explanation.... We are now called upon,\u201d proceeds the\n  Essayist, after a striking sketch of the character and capacity of\n  man, especially as a spiritual creature, \u201cto proceed to exhibit the\n  Answer which a somewhat different view of modern science suggests to\n  this difficulty or objection.\u201d\n\n  \u2014\u201cThe difficulty[11] appears great either way of considering it. Can\n  the earth alone be the theatre of such intelligent, moral, religious,\n  and spiritual action? Or can we conceive such action to go on in the\n  other bodies of the universe?... Between these two difficulties the\n  choice is embarrassing, and the decision must be unsatisfactory,\n  except we can find some further ground of judgment. But this, perhaps,\n  is not hopeless. We have hitherto referred to the evidence and\n  analogies supplied by one science, namely, Astronomy. But there are\n  other sciences which give us information concerning the nature and\n  history of the Earth. From some of these we may perhaps obtain some\n  knowledge of the place of the Earth in the scheme of creation; how far\n  it is, in its present condition, a thing unique, or only one thing\n  among many like it. Any science which supplies us with evidence or\n  information on this head, will give us aid in forming a judgment upon\n  the question under our consideration.\u201d\n\n\nThus the Essayist reaches the second stage of his inquiry, entering on\nthe splendid domain of GEOLOGY. To this great but recently consolidated\nscience Dr Chalmers made no allusion in his celebrated \u201cDiscourses on\nthe Christian Revelation, viewed in connection with the Modern\nAstronomy,\u201d[12] which were delivered in the year 1817, nearly\nthirty-seven years ago: and then he spoke, in his first Discourse, of\nAstronomy as \u201cthe most certain and best established of the sciences.\u201d Dr\nWhewell, however, vindicates the claims of Geology, in respect of both\nthe certainty and vastness of her discoveries, in a passage so just and\nadmirable, that we must lay it before our readers.\n\n\n  \u201cAs to the vastness of astronomical discoveries, we must observe that\n  those of Geology are no less vast: they extend through time, as those\n  of Astronomy do through space; they carry us through millions of\n  years\u2014that is, of the earth\u2019s revolutions\u2014as those of Astronomy\n  through millions of the earth\u2019s diameters, or of diameters of the\n  earth\u2019s orbit. Geology fills the regions of duration with events, as\n  Astronomy the regions of the universe with objects. She carries us\n  backwards by the relation of cause and effect, as Astronomy carries us\n  upwards by the relations of geometry. As Astronomy steps on from point\n  to point of the universe by a chain of triangles, so Geology steps\n  from epoch to epoch of the earth\u2019s history by a chain of mechanical\n  and organical laws. If the one depends on the axioms of geometry, the\n  other depends on the axioms of causation.... But in truth, in such\n  speculations, Geology has an immeasurable superiority. She has the\n  command of an implement, in addition to all that Astronomy can use;\n  and one, for the purpose of such speculations, adapted far beyond any\n  astronomical element of discovery. She has, for one of her\n  studies,\u2014one of her means of dealing with her problems,\u2014the knowledge\n  of life, animal and vegetable. Vital organisation is a subject of\n  attention which has, in modern times, been forced upon her. It is now\n  one of the main parts of her discipline. The geologist must study the\n  traces of life in every form\u2014must learn to decipher its faintest\n  indications and its fullest development. On the question, then,\n  whether there be, in this or that quarter, evidence of life, he can\n  speak with the confidence derived from familiar knowledge; while the\n  astronomer, to whom such studies are utterly foreign, because he has\n  no facts which bear upon them, can offer, on such questions, only the\n  loosest and most arbitrary conjectures, which, as we have had to\n  remark, have been rebuked by eminent men as being altogether\n  inconsistent with the acknowledged maxims of his science.\u201d[13]\n\n\nBefore we proceed to state the singular and suggestive argument derived\nfrom this splendid science,[14] we may apprise the reader that Dr\nWhewell\u2019s primary object is to show, that even \u201csupposing the other\nbodies of the universe to resemble the earth, so far as to seem, by\ntheir materials, forms, and motions, no less fitted than she is to be\nthe abodes of life, yet that, knowing what we know of Man, we can\nbelieve the earth to be tenanted by a race who are the _special_ objects\nof God\u2019s care.\u201d[15] The grounds for entertaining, or rather impugning,\nthat supposition he subsequently deals with after his own fashion in\nChapters VII., VIII., IX., X.; but the two with which we are at present\nconcerned are the fifth and sixth, respectively entitled, as we\nintimated in our last Number, \u201cGeology,\u201d and \u201cThe Argument from\nGeology.\u201d\n\nThe exact object at which this leading section of the Essay is aimed is,\nin the Essayist\u2019s words, this:\u2014\u201cA complete reply to the difficulty which\nastronomical discoveries appeared to place in the way of religion:\u2014the\ndifficulty of the opinion that Man, occupying this speck of earth but as\nan atom in the universe, surrounded by millions of other globes larger,\nand to all appearance nobler, than that which he inhabits, should be the\nobject of the peculiar care and guardianship of the favour and\ngovernment of the Creator of All, in the way in which religion teaches\nus that he is.\u201d[16]\n\nWhat is that \u201ccomplete reply?\u201d The following passage contains a key to\nthe entire speculation of the Essayist, and deserves a thoughtful\nperusal:\u2014\n\n\n  \u201cThat the scale of man\u2019s insignificance is _of the same order in\n  reference to time as to space_. That Man\u2014the Human Race from its\n  origin till now\u2014has occupied but an atom of time as he has occupied\n  but an atom of space.\u201d... \u201cIf the earth, as the habitation of Man, is\n  a speck in the midst of an infinity of space, the Earth, as the\n  habitation of Man, is also a speck at the end of an infinity of time.\n  If we are as nothing in the surrounding universe, we are as nothing in\n  the elapsed eternity; or rather in the elapsed organic antiquity\n  during which the Earth has existed, and been the abode of life. If Man\n  is but one small family in the midst of innumerable possible\n  households, he is also but one small family, the successor of\n  innumerable tribes of animals, not possible only, but actual. If the\n  planets may be the seats of life, we know that the seas, which have\n  given birth to our mountains, were so. If the stars may have hundreds\n  of systems of tenanted planets rolling round them, we know that the\n  secondary group of rocks does contain hundreds of tenanted beds,\n  witnessing of as many systems of organic creation. If the Nebul\u00e6 may\n  be planetary systems in the course of formation, we know that the\n  primary and transition rocks either show us the earth in the course of\n  formation, as the future seat of life, or exhibit such life as already\n  begun.\n\n  \u201cHow far that which Astronomy thus asserts as possible, is\n  probable\u2014what is the value of these possibilities of life in distant\n  regions of the universe, we shall hereafter consider; but in what\n  Geology asserts, the case is clear. It is no possibility, but a\n  certainty. No one will now doubt that shells and skeletons, trunks and\n  leaves, prove animal and vegetable life to have existed. Even,\n  therefore, if Astronomy could demonstrate all that her most fanciful\n  disciples assume, Geology would still have a complete right to claim\n  an equal hearing\u2014to insist on having _her analogies_ regarded. She\n  would have a right to answer the questions of Astronomy, when she\n  asks, How can we believe this? And to have her answer accepted.\u201d[17]\n\n\nWe regret that our space prevents our laying before the reader the\nmasterly and deeply interesting epitome of geological discoveries\ncontained in these two chapters. The stupendous series of these\nrevelations may be thus briefly indicated:\u2014That countless tribes of\nanimals tenanted the earth for countless ages before Man\u2019s advent; that\nformer ocean-beds now constitute the centres of our loftiest mountains,\nas the results of changes gradual, successive, and long continued; that\nthese vast masses of sedimentary strata present themselves to our notice\nin a strangely disordered state; that each of these rocky layers\ncontains a vast profusion of the remains of marine animals, intermingled\nwith a great series of fresh-water and land animals and plants endlessly\nvaried\u2014all these being different, not only in species, but in kind!\u2014and\neach of these separate beds must have lasted as long, or perhaps longer,\nthan that during which the dry land has had its present form.\n\nThe careful prosecution of their researches has forced on the minds of\ngeologists and naturalists \u201cthe general impression that, as we descend\nin this long staircase of natural steps, we are brought in view of a\nstate of the earth in which life was scantily manifested, so as to be\nnear its earliest stages.\u201d[18]\n\nIn the opinion of the most eminent geologists, some of these epochs of\norganic transition were also those of mechanical violence, on a vast and\nwonderful scale\u2014as it were, a vast series of successive periods of\nalternate violence and repose. The general nature of such change is\nvividly sketched by the Essayist, in a passage to which we must refer\nthe reader.[19] When, continues the Essayist, we find strata bearing\nevidence of such a mode of deposit, and piled up to the height of\nthousands and tens of thousands of feet, we are naturally led to regard\nthem as the production of myriads of years; and to add _new_ myriads, as\noften as we are brought to new masses of strata of the like kind; and\nagain to interpolate new periods of the same order, to allow for the\ntransition from one group to another.[20]\n\nThe best geologists and naturalists are utterly at fault, in attempting\nto account for the successive introduction of these numerous _new\nspecies_, at these immense intervals of time, except by referring them\nto the exercise of a series of distinct Acts of Creation. The chimerical\nnotion of some natural cause effecting a transmutation of one series of\norganic forms into another, has been long exploded, as totally destitute\nof proof: and \u201cthe doctrine of the successive CREATION of species,\u201d says\nthe Essayist, \u201cremains firmly established among geologists.\u201d[21] There\nis nothing known of the cosmical conditions of our globe, to contradict\nthe terrestrial evidence for its vast antiquity as the seat of organic\nlife,[22] says Dr Whewell: and then proceeds thus, in a passage which is\nwell worth the reader\u2019s attention, and has excited the ire of Sir David\nBrewster:\u2014\n\n\n  \u201cIf, for the sake of giving definiteness to our notions, we were to\n  assume that the numbers which express the antiquity of these four\n  periods\u2014the present organic condition of the earth; the tertiary\n  period of geologists which preceded that; the secondary period which\n  was anterior to that; and the primary period which preceded the\n  secondary\u2014were _on the same scale_ as the numbers which express these\n  four magnitudes:\u2014The magnitude of the earth; that of the solar system\n  compared with the earth; the distance of the nearest fixed stars\n  compared with the solar system; and the distance of the most remote\n  nebul\u00e6 compared with the nearest fixed stars,\u2014there is, in the\n  evidence which geological science offers, nothing to contradict such\n  an assumption. And as the infinite extent which we necessarily ascribe\n  to space allows us to find room, without any mental difficulty, for\n  the vast distances which astronomy reveals, and even leaves us rather\n  embarrassed with the infinite extent which lies beyond our furthest\n  explorations; so the infinite duration which we, in like manner,\n  necessarily ascribe to past time, makes it easy for us, so far as our\n  powers of intellect are concerned, to go millions of millions of years\n  backwards, in order to trace the beginning of the earth\u2019s\n  existence\u2014the first step of terrestrial creation.\u201d\n\n\nTo return, however, to the course of the argument. We hear the oppressed\nobserver asking, as he reascends this \u201clong staircase of natural steps\u201d\nwhich had brought time down to the mystic origin of animal existence;\nhis eye dimmed with its efforts to \u201cdecipher,\u201d in the picturesque\nlanguage of Sir David Brewster, \u201cdownwards, the pale and perishing\nalphabet[23] of the Chronology of Life\u201d\u2014WHERE, ALL THIS WHILE, WAS MAN?\n\nWere Europe at this moment to be submerged beneath the ocean, or placed\nunder a vast rocky stratum, what countless proofs would present\nthemselves to the exploring eyes of remote future geologists, of the\nexistence of both Man and his handiwork!\u2014of his own skeleton, of the\nproducts of his ingenuity and power, and the various implements and\ninstruments with which he had effected them!\n\nThe rudest conceivable work of human art would carry us to any extent\nbackward, but it is not to be found! Man\u2019s existence and history\nincontestably belong to the existing condition of the earth; and the\nEssayist now addresses himself to the two following propositions:\u2014\n\n_First_, That the existence and history of man are facts of an Entirely\nDifferent Order from any which existed in any of the previous states of\nthe earth.\n\n_Secondly_, That his history has occupied a series of years which,\ncompared with geological periods, may be regarded as very brief and\nlimited.\n\nHere opens the \u201cArgument from Geology\u201d\u2014and with it Chapter VI.\n\nThat the existence of man upon the earth is an event of an order quite\ndifferent from any previous part of the earth\u2019s history; and that there\nis no transition from animals to MAN, in even his most degraded,\nbarbarian, and brutish condition, the Essayist demonstrates, with\naffecting eloquence, and with great argumentative power. No doubt there\nare kinds of animals very intelligent and sagacious, and exceedingly\ndisposed and adapted to companionship with man; but by elevating the\nintelligence of the brute, we do not make it become that of the man; nor\nby making man barbarous, do we make him cease to be man. He has a\ncapacity, not for becoming sagacious, but _rational_,\u2014or rather he has a\ncapacity for PROGRESS, in virtue of his being rational.\n\nAfter adverting to Language, as an awful and mysterious evidence of his\nexalted endowments, and felicitously distinguishing instinct from\nreason, the Essayist observes that we need not be disturbed in our\nconclusions by observing the condition of savage and uncultivated\ntribes, ancient or modern\u2014the Scythians and Barbarians, the Australians\nand Negroes. The history of man, in the earliest times, is as truly a\nhistory of a wonderful, intellectual, social, political, spiritual\ncreature, as it is at present.[24] The savage and ignorant state is not\nthe state of nature out of which civilised life has everywhere emerged:\ntheir savage condition is one rather of civilisation degraded and lost,\nthan of civilisation incipient and prospective. And even were it to be\nassumed to be otherwise, that man, naturally savage, had a tendency to\nbecome civilised, that TENDENCY is an endowment no less wonderful than\nthose endowments which civilisation exhibits.\n\nWhen, however, we know not only what man is, but what he _may become_,\nboth intellectually and morally, as we have already seen; when we cast\nour mind\u2019s eye over the history of the civilised section of our race,\nwherever authentic records of their sayings and doings exist, we find\nrepeated and radiant instances of intellectual and moral greatness,\nrising into sublimity\u2014such as compel us to admit that man is\nincomparably the most perfect and highly endowed creature which appears\nto have ever existed on the earth.\n\n\n  \u201cHow far previous periods of animal existence were a necessary\n  preparation of the earth as the habitation of man, or a gradual\n  progression towards the existence of man, we need not now inquire. But\n  this, at least, we may say, that man, now that he is here, forms a\n  climax to all that has preceded\u2014a term incomparably exceeding in value\n  all the previous parts of the series\u2014a complex and ornate capital to\n  the subjacent column\u2014a personage of vastly greater dignity and\n  importance than all the preceding line of the procession.\u201d[25]\n\n\nIf we are thus to regard man as the climax of the creation in space, as\nin time, \u201ccan we point out any characters,\u201d finally asks the Essayist,\n\u201cwhich may tend to make it conceivable that the Creator should thus\ndistinguish him, and care for him\u2014should prepare his habitation, if it\nbe so, by ages of chaotic and rudimentary life, and by accompanying orbs\nof brute and barren matter? If man be thus the head, the crowned head,\nof the creation, is he worthy to be thus elevated? Has he any qualities\nwhich make it conceivable that, with such an array of preparation and\naccompaniment\u201d\u2014the reader will note the sudden introduction of these\nelements of the question, the \u201c_accompanying orbs!_\u201d\u2014\u201che should be\nplaced upon the earth, his throne? Does any answer _now_ occur to us,\nafter the views which have been presented to us? That answer,\u201d continues\nthe Essayist, \u201cis the one which has been already given:\u201d \u201cthe\ntranscendent intellectual, moral, and religious character of man\u2014such as\nwarrants him in believing that God, in very deed, is not only mindful of\nhim, but visits him.\u201d[26]\n\nThis may be, the objector is conceived to say; but my difficulty haunts\nand harasses me: that, while man\u2019s residence is, with reference to the\ncountless glistening orbs revealed by Astronomy, scarcely in the\nproportion of a single grain of sand to the entire terraqueous structure\nof our globe, I am required to believe that the Almighty has dealt with\nhim, and with the speck in which he resides, in the awfully exceptional\nmanner asserted in the Scriptures. Let us here remind the reader of a\ncoarser, and an insolent and blasphemous, expression of this\n\u201cdifficulty,\u201d by Thomas Paine, already quoted:\u2014[27]\n\n\u201cThe system of a plurality of worlds renders the Christian faith at once\nlittle and ridiculous, and scatters it in the mind like feathers in the\nair: the two beliefs cannot be held together in the same mind.\u201d With\nsuch an opponent Dr Whewell expressly states that he has no concern; he\ndeals with a \u201c\u2018difficulty\u2019 felt by a friend:\u201d wishing \u201crather to examine\nhow to quiet the troubled and perplexed believer, than how to triumph\nover the dogmatical and self-satisfied unbeliever.\u201d\n\n\u201cLet the difficulty,\u201d he says, \u201cbe put in any way the objector pleases.\u201d\n\nI. Is it that it is unworthy of the greatness and majesty of God,\naccording to our conception of Him, to bestow such peculiar care on so\nSMALL A PART of His creation?[28]\n\nBut a narrow inspection of the atom of space assigned to man, proves\nthat He _has_ done so. He has made the period of mankind, though only a\nmoment in the ages of animal life, the only period of Intelligence,\nMorality, Religion. If it be contrary to OUR! conception of Him, to\nsuppose Him to have done so, it is plain that these conceptions are\nwrong. God has not judged as to what is worthy of Him, as we have\npresumed to judge. He has deemed it worthy of Himself to bestow upon man\nthis special care, though he occupy so small a portion of TIME:\u2014why not,\nthen, though he occupy so small a portion of SPACE?\n\nII. Is the difficulty this:\u2014That supposing the earth, alone, to be\noccupied by inhabitants, all the other globes of the universe are\nWASTED?\u2014turned to NO PURPOSE?[29]\n\nIs \u201cwaste\u201d of this kind to be considered unsuited to the character of\nour Creator? But here again we have the like \u201cwaste\u201d in the occupation\nof this earth! All its previous ages, its seas and its continents, have\nbeen \u201cwasted\u201d upon mere brute life: often, apparently, on the lowest,\nthe least conscious forms of life:\u2014upon sponges, coral, shell-fish. Why,\nthen, should not the seas and continents of other planets be occupied\nwith life of this order, or with no life at all? Who shall tell how many\nages elapsed before this earth was tenanted by life at all? Will the\noccupation of a spot of land, or a little water, by the life of a\nsponge, a coral, or an oyster, save it from being \u201cwasted\u201d? If a spot of\nrock or water be sufficiently employed by its being the mere seat of\norganisation, of however low and simple a type,\u2014why not, by its being\nthe mere seat of attraction? cohesion? crystalline power? All parts of\nthe universe appear pervaded by attraction, by forces of aggregation and\natomic relation, by light and heat: why may not these be sufficient, in\nthe eyes of the Creator, to prevent the space from being \u201cwasted,\u201d as,\nduring a great part of the earth\u2019s past history, and over vast portions\nof its mass in its present form, they are actually held by Him to be\nsufficient? since these powers, or forces, are all that occupy such\nportions. This notion, therefore, of the improbability of there being in\nthe universe so vast an amount of \u201cwaste\u201d spaces, or \u201cwaste\u201d bodies, as\nis implied in the notion that the earth alone is the seat of life, or of\nintelligence, is confuted by matter-of-fact, existing, in respect of\nvast spaces, waste districts, and especially waste times, upon our own\nearth. The _avoidance_ of such \u201cwaste,\u201d according to our notions of\nwaste, is no part of the economy of creation, so far as we can discern\nthat economy in its most certain exemplification.\n\nIII. Is the difficulty this:\u2014That giving such a peculiar dignity and\nimportance to the earth is CONTRARY TO THE ANALOGY OF CREATION?[30]\n\nThis objection, be it observed, _assumes_ that there are so many globes\nsimilar to the earth, and like her revolving,\u2014some accompanied as she\nis, by satellites,\u2014on their axis, and that therefore it is reasonable to\nsuppose the destination and office of all, the same;\u2014that there are so\nmany stars, each, like our sun, a source of light, probably also of\nheat; and that it is consequently reasonable to suppose their light and\nheat, like his, imparted, as from so many centres of systems, to uphold\nlife;\u2014and that all this affords strong ground for believing all such\nplanets, as well those of our own as of other systems, inhabited like\nour planet.\n\nBut the Essayist again directs the eye of the questioner to the state of\nour own planet, as demonstrated by Geology, in order to show the\nprecariousness, if not futility, of supposing such an analogy to exist.\nIt would lead us to a palpably false conclusion\u2014viz., that during all\nthe vast successive periods of the Earth\u2019s history, that Earth was\noccupied with life of the same order\u2014nay, even, that since the Earth is\nnow the seat of an intelligent population, it must have been so in all\nits former conditions. For it was then able, and adapted, to support\nanimal life, and that of creatures pretty closely resembling man[31] in\nphysical structure. Nevertheless, if evidence go for anything, the Earth\ndid not do so! \u201cEven,\u201d says Dr Whewell, \u201cthose geologists who have dwelt\nmost on the discovery of fossil monkeys, and other animals nearest to\nman, have not dreamed that there existed, before him, a race of\nrational, intelligent, and progressive creatures.\u201d[32] Here, however, he\nis mistaken, as we shall presently see Sir David Brewster revelling in\nsuch a dream. As, then, the notion that one period of time in the\nEarth\u2019s history must resemble another in the character of its\npopulation, because it resembles it in physical conditions, is negatived\nby the history of the Earth itself; so the notion that one part _of the\nuniverse_ must resemble another in its population, because it has a\nresemblance in physical conditions, is negatived, as a law of creation.\nAnalogy really affords no support to such a notion.\n\nIV. Nay, continues Dr Whewell,[33] we may go further: instead of the\nanalogy of creation pointing to such entire resemblance of similar\nparts, it points in the opposite direction: it is not entire\nresemblance, but universal difference, that we discover: not the\nrepetition of exactly similar cases, but a series of cases perpetually\ndissimilar, presents itself: not constancy, but change\u2014perhaps advance;\nnot one permanent and pervading scheme, but preparation, and completion\nof successive schemes:\u2014not uniformity, and a fixed type of existences,\nbut progression and a climax.\n\nViewing the advent of Man, and what preceded it, it seems the analogy of\nnature that there should be inferior, as well as superior, provinces in\nthe universe, and that the inferior may occupy an immensely larger\nportion of Time than the superior. Why not, then, of Space?\n\n\n  \u201cThe earth was brute and inert, compared with its present condition;\n  dark and chaotic, so far as the light of reason and intelligence are\n  concerned, for countless centuries before man was created. Why then\n  may not other parts of creation be still in this brute and inert and\n  chaotic state, while the earth is under the influence of a higher\n  exercise of creative power? If the earth was for ages a turbid abyss\n  of lava and of mud, why may not Mars or Saturn be so still?... The\n  possibility that the planets are such rude masses, is quite as\n  tenable, on astronomical grounds, as the possibility that the planets\n  resemble the earth, in matters of which astronomy can tell us nothing.\n  We say, therefore, that the example of geology refutes the argument\n  drawn from the supposed analogy of one part of the universe with\n  another; and suggests a strong suspicion that the force of analogy,\n  better known, may tend _in the opposite direction_.\u201d[34]\n\n\nWe have now gone through a large portion, embracing two of the three\nsections into which we had divided this startling _Essay_; presenting as\nfull and fair an account of it as is consistent with our limits. Though\nthe author professes that he \u201cdoes not pretend to disprove the Plurality\nof Worlds, but to deny the existence of arguments making the doctrine\nprobable,\u201d his undisguised object is to assign cogent reasons for\nholding the opposite to be the true doctrine\u2014the Unity of the World.\nWhat has gone before is, moreover, on the assumption that the other\nbodies of the universe are fitted, equally with the Earth, to be the\nabodes of life. Before passing on, however, to the remaining section of\nthe _Essay_, which is decidedly hostile to that assumption, let us here\nintroduce on the scene Dr Whewell\u2019s only hitherto avowed antagonist, Sir\nDavid Brewster.\n\nThough it is impossible to treat otherwise than with much consideration,\nwhatever is published by this gentleman, we must express our regret that\nhe did not more deliberately approach so formidable an opponent as Dr\nWhewell, and, as we are compelled to add, in a more calm and courteous\nspirit. We never read a performance less calculated than this _Essay_,\nfrom its modesty and moderation of tone, and the high and abstract\nnature of the topics which it discusses with such powerful logic, and\nsuch a profusion of knowledge of every kind, to provoke an acrimonious\nanswer. It is happily rare, in recent times, for one of two philosophic\ndisputants, to speak of the other\u2019s \u201cexhibiting an amount of knowledge\nso massive as occasionally to smother his reason;\u201d[35] \u201cascribing his\nsentiments only to some morbid condition of the mental powers, which\nfeeds upon paradox, and delights in doing violence to sentiments deeply\ncherished, and to opinions universally believed;\u201d[36] characterising\nsome of his reasonings as \u201cdialectics in which a large dose of banter\nand ridicule is seasoned with a little condiment of science;\u201d[37] and an\nelaborate argument, of great strength and originality, whether sound or\nnot, as \u201cthe most ingenious, though shallow piece of sophistry, which\n_we!_ (Sir David Brewster) have encountered in modern times;\u201d[38]\nreferring his \u201ctheories and speculations to no better a feeling than a\nlove of notoriety.\u201d[39] It is not to be supposed that Sir David was not\nperfectly aware who his opponent was,[40] which occasions extreme\nsurprise at the tone adopted throughout _More Worlds than One_. In his\npreface, he explains as a cause of his anger, that he found that \u201cthe\nauthor\u201d of the _Essay_, \u201cunder a title calculated to mislead the public,\nhad made an elaborate attack upon opinions consecrated, as Sir David had\nthought, by reason and revelation,\u201d\u2014that the author had not only adopted\na theory (the Nebular) so universally condemned as a dangerous\nspeculation, \u201cbut had taken a view of the condition of the solar system\ncalculated to disparage the science of astronomy, and throw a doubt over\nthe noblest of its truths.\u201d We dismiss this topic with a repetition of\nour regret, that so splendid a subject was not approached in a serener\nspirit; that greater respect was not shown by one of his contemporaries\nfor one of the most eminent men of the age; and that sufficient time was\nnot taken, in order to avoid divers surprising _macul\u00e6_ occurring in\neven the composition, and certain rash and unguarded expressions and\nspeculations.\n\nIf Dr Whewell may be regarded as (_pace tanti viri!_) a sort of\nStar-Smasher, his opponent is in very truth a Star-Peopler. Though he\nadmits that \u201cthere are some difficulties to be removed, and some\nadditional analogies to be adduced, before the mind can admit the\nstartling proposition[41] that the Sun, Moon, and all the satellites,\nare inhabited spheres\u201d\u2014yet he believes that they are:[42] that all the\nplanets of their respective systems are so; as well as all the single\nstars, double stars, and nebul\u00e6, with all planets and satellites\ncircling about them!\u2014though \u201cour _faltering reason utterly fails_ us!\u201d\nhe owns,[43] \u201cwhen called on to believe that even the _Nebul\u00e6_ must be\nsurrendered to life and reason! Wherever there is matter _there must_ be\nlife!\u201d One can by this time almost pardon the excitement, the alarm\nrather, and anger, with which Sir David ruefully beheld Dr Whewell go\nforth on his exterminating expedition through Infinitude! It was like a\nfather gazing on the ruthless slaughter of his offspring. Planet after\nplanet, satellite after satellite, star after star, sun after sun,\nsingle suns and double suns, system after system, nebula after nebula,\nall disappeared before this sidereal Quixote! As for Jupiter and Saturn,\nthe pet planets of Sir David, they were dealt with in a way perfectly\nshocking. The former turned out, to the disordered optics and unsteady\nbrain of the Essayist, to be a sphere of water, with perhaps a few\ncinders at the centre, and peopled \u201cwith cartilaginous and glutinous\nmonsters\u2014boneless, watery, pulpy creatures, floating in the fluid;\u201d\nwhile poor Saturn may be supposed turning aghast on hearing that, for\nall his grand appearance, he was little else than a sphere of vapour,\nwith a little water, tenanted, if at all, by \u201caqueous, gelatinous\ncreatures\u2014too sluggish almost to be deemed alive\u2014floating in their\nice-cold waters, shrowded for ever by their humid skies!\u201d But talk after\nthis of the pensive Moon! \u201cShe is a mere cinder! a collection of sheets\nof rigid slag, and inactive craters!\u201d This could be borne no longer; so\nthus Sir David pours forth the grief and indignation of the Soul\nAstronomic, in a passage fraught with the spirit, and embodying the\nresults, of his whole book, and which we give, as evidently laboured by\nthe author with peculiar care.\n\n\n  \u201cThose ungenial minds that can be brought to believe that the earth is\n  the only inhabited body in the universe, will have no difficulty in\n  conceiving that it also might have been without inhabitants. Nay, if\n  such minds are imbued with geological truth, they must admit that for\n  millions of years the earth was without inhabitants; and hence we are\n  led to the extraordinary result, that for millions of years there was\n  not an intelligent creature in the vast dominions of the universal\n  King; and that before the formation of the protozoic strata, there was\n  neither a plant nor an animal throughout the infinity of space! During\n  this long period of universal death, when Nature herself was\n  asleep\u2014the sun, with his magnificent attendants\u2014the planets, with\n  their faithful satellites\u2014the stars in the binary systems\u2014the solar\n  system itself, were performing their daily, their annual, and their\n  secular movements unseen, unheeded, and fulfilling no purpose that\n  human reason can conceive; lamps lighting nothing\u2014fires heating\n  nothing\u2014waters quenching nothing\u2014clouds screening nothing\u2014breezes\n  fanning nothing\u2014and everything around, mountain and valley, hill and\n  dale, earth and ocean, all meaning nothing.\n\n                                      \u2018The stars\n                Did wander darkling in the eternal space.\u2019\n\n  To our apprehension, such a condition of the earth, of the solar\n  system, and of the sidereal universe, would be the same as that of our\n  own globe if all its vessels of war and of commerce were traversing\n  its seas with empty cabins and freightless holds; as if all the\n  railways on its surface were in full activity without passengers and\n  goods; and all our machinery beating the air and gnashing their iron\n  teeth without work performed. A house without tenants, a city without\n  citizens, present to our minds the same idea as a planet without life,\n  and a universe without inhabitants. Why the house was built, why the\n  city was founded, why the planet was made, and why the universe was\n  created, it would be difficult even to conjecture. Equally great would\n  be the difficulty were the planets shapeless lumps of matter, poised\n  in ether, and still and motionless as the grave. But when we consider\n  them as chiselled spheres, and teeming with inorganic beauty, and in\n  full mechanical activity, performing their appointed motions with such\n  miraculous precision that their days and their years never err a\n  second of time in hundreds of centuries, the difficulty of believing\n  them to be without life is, if possible, immeasurably increased. To\n  conceive any one material globe, whether a gigantic clod slumbering in\n  space, or a noble planet equipped like our own, and duly performing\n  its appointed task, to have no living occupants, or not in a state of\n  preparation to receive them, seems to us one of those notions which\n  could be harboured only in an ill-educated and ill-regulated mind\u2014a\n  mind without faith and without hope: but to conceive a whole universe\n  of moving and revolving worlds in such a category, indicates, in our\n  apprehension, a mind dead to feeling and shorn of reason.\u201d[44]\n\n\n\u201cIt is doubtless possible,\u201d observes Sir David, however, a little\nfurther on,[45] as if with a twinge of misgiving, \u201cthat the Mighty\nArchitect of the universe may have had other objects in view,\nincomprehensible by us, than that of supporting animal and vegetable\nlife in these magnificent spheres.\u201d Would that Sir David Brewster would\nallow himself to be largely influenced by this rational and devout\nsentiment! His book is, on the contrary, crammed with assertions from\nbeginning to end, and of a peremptory and intolerant character unknown\nto the spirit of genuine philosophy.\n\nThe Essayist, however, is not incapable of quiet humour: and the\nfollowing pregnant passage is at least worthy to stand side by side with\nthat which we have just quoted from his indignant and eloquent\nopponent:\u2014\n\n\n  \u201cUndoubtedly, all true astronomers, taught caution and temperance of\n  thought by the discipline of their magnificent science, abstain from\n  founding such assumptions upon their discoveries. They know how\n  necessary it is to be upon their guard against the tricks which fancy\n  plays with the senses; and if they see appearances of which they\n  cannot interpret the meaning, they are content that they should have\n  no meaning for them, till the due explanation comes. We have\n  innumerable examples of this wise and cautious temper in all periods\n  of astronomy. One has occurred lately. Several careful astronomers,\n  observing the stars by day, had been surprised to see globes of light\n  glide across the field of view of their telescopes, often in rapid\n  succession, and in great numbers. They did not, as may be supposed,\n  rush to the assumption that these globes were celestial bodies of a\n  new kind, before unseen, and that, from the peculiarity of their\n  appearance and movement, they were probably inhabited by beings of a\n  peculiar kind. They proceeded differently. They altered the focus of\n  their telescopes, looked with other glasses, made various changes and\n  trials; and finally discovered that these globes of light were the\n  winged seeds of certain plants, which were wafted through the air, and\n  which, illuminated by the sun, were made globular by being at\n  distances unsuited to the focus of the telescopes!\u201d[46]\n\n\nBefore proceeding to give our readers some idea of the mode in which Sir\nDavid Brewster encounters Dr Whewell, let us offer a general observation\nconcerning both these eminent gentlemen. While the latter exhibits\nthroughout his Essay a spirit of candour and modesty, without one harsh\nexpression or uncharitable insinuation with reference to the holder of\ndoctrines which he is bent upon impugning with all his mental power and\nmultifarious resources; the former, as we have seen, uses language at\nonce heated, uncourteous, and unjustifiable: especially where he more\nthan insinuates that his opponent, whose great knowledge and ability he\nadmits, either deliberately countenances doctrines tending really to\nAtheism, or may be believed \u201c_ignorant_ of their tendency, and to have\nforgotten the truths of Inspiration, and even those of Natural\nReligion.\u201d[47] To venture, however circuitously, to hint such\nimputations upon an opponent whom he had the slightest reason to suspect\nbeing one of such high and responsible academic position, is an offence\nequally against personal courtesy and public propriety; as we think Sir\nDavid Brewster would, on reflection, acknowledge. Both Dr Whewell and\nSir David Brewster must excuse us, if, scanning both through the cold\nmedium of impartial criticism, their speculations, questions, or\nassertions appear to us disturbed and deflected by a leading\nprepossession or foregone conclusion, which we shall indicate in the\nwords of each.\n\n\n  Dr WHEWELL.\u2014\u201cThe Earth is really the largest Planetary body in the\n  Solar system; its domestic hearth, and the Only World [_i. e._\n  collection of intelligent creatures] in the Universe.\u201d[48]\n\n  Sir DAVID BREWSTER.\u2014\u201cLife is almost a property of matter.... Wherever\n  there is Matter, there must be Life:\u2014Life physical, to enjoy its\n  beauties; Life Moral, to worship its Maker; and Life Intellectual, to\n  proclaim His wisdom and His power.... Universal Life upon Universal\n  matter, is an idea to which the mind instinctively clings.... Every\n  star in the Heavens, and every point in a nebula which the most\n  powerful telescope has not separated from its neighbour, is a sun\n  surrounded by inhabited planets like our own.... In peopling such\n  worlds with life and intelligence, we assign the cause of their\n  existence; and when the mind is once alive to this great Truth, it\n  cannot fail to realise the grand combination of infinity of life with\n  infinity of matter.\u201d[49]\n\n\nThe composition of Sir David Brewster, though occasionally too\ndeclamatory and rhetorical, and so far lacking the dignified simplicity\nbefitting the subjects with which he deals, has much merit. It is easy,\nvivid, and vigorous, but will bear retrenchment, and lowering of tone.\nAs to the substantial texture of his work, we think it betrays, in\nalmost every page, haste and impetuosity, and evidence that the writer\nhas sadly under-estimated the strength of his opponent. Another feature\nof _More Worlds than One_, is a manifest desire _provocare ad populum_\u2014a\ngreater anxiety, in the first instance, to catch the ear of the million,\nthan to convince the \u201cfit audience, though few.\u201d Now, however, to his\nwork; and, as we have already said, on him lies the labouring oar of\nproof. All that his opponent professes to do, is to ask for arguments\n\u201crendering probable\u201d that \u201cdoctrine\u201d which Sir David pledges himself to\ndemonstrate to be not only the \u201c_hope_\u201d of the Christian, but the\n_creed_ of the philosopher: as much, that is, an article of his belief,\nas the doctrines of attraction and gravitation, or the existence of\ndemonstrable astronomical facts.\n\nHe commences with a brief introduction, sketching the growth of the\nbelief in a plurality of worlds\u2014one steadily and firmly increasing in\nstrength, till it encountered the rude shock of the Essayist, whose\n\u201cvery remarkable work\u201d is \u201cably written,\u201d and who \u201cdefends ingeniously\nhis novel and extraordinary views:\u201d \u201cthe direct tendency of which is to\nridicule and bring into contempt the grand discoveries in sidereal\nastronomy by which the last century has been distinguished.\u201d In his next\nchapter, Sir David discusses \u201cthe religious aspect of the question,\u201d\nrepresenting man, especially the philosopher, as always having pined\nafter a knowledge of the scene of his future being. He declares that\nneither the Old nor the New Testament contains \u201ca single expression\nincompatible with the great truth that there are other worlds than our\nown which are the seats of life and intelligence;\u201d but, on the contrary,\nthere are \u201cother passages which are inexplicable without admitting it to\nbe true.\u201d He regards, as we have seen, the noble exclamation of the\nPsalmist, \u201cWhat is man,\u201d as \u201ca positive argument for a plurality of\nworlds;\u201d and \u201ccannot doubt\u201d that he was gifted with a plenary knowledge\nof the starry system, inhabited as Sir David would have it to be! Dr\nChalmers, let us remark, in passing, expressed himself differently, and\nwith a more becoming reserve: \u201cIt is not for us to say whether\ninspiration revealed to the Psalmist the wonders of the modern\nastronomy,\u201d but \u201ceven though the mind be a perfect stranger to the\nscience of these enlightened times, the heavens present a great and an\nelevating spectacle, the contemplation of which awakened the piety of\nthe Psalmist\u201d\u2014a view in which Dr Whewell concurs. Sir David then comes\nto consider the doctrine of \u201cMan, in his future state of existence,\nconsisting, as at present, of a spiritual nature residing in a corporeal\nframe.\u201d We must, therefore, find for the race of Adam, \u201c_if not for the\nraces which preceded him_!\u201d[50] \u201ca material home upon which he may\nreside, or from which he may travel to other localities in the\nuniverse.\u201d That house, he says, cannot be the earth, for it will not be\nbig enough\u2014there will be such a \u201cpopulation as the habitable parts of\nour globe could not possibly accommodate;\u201d wherefore, \u201c_we can scarcely\ndoubt_ that their future abode must be on some of the primary or\nsecondary planets of the solar system, whose inhabitants have ceased to\nexist, like those on the earth; or on planets which have long been in a\nstate of preparation, as our earth was, for the advent of intellectual\nlife.\u201d Here, then, is \u201cthe creed of the philosopher,\u201d as well as \u201cthe\nhope of the Christian.\u201d Passing, according to the order adopted in this\npaper, from the first chapter (\u201cReligious Aspect of the Question\u201d), we\nalight on the seventh, entitled \u201c_Religious Difficulties_.\u201d We entertain\ntoo much consideration for Sir David Brewster to speak harshly of\nanything falling from his pen; but we think ourselves justified in\nquestioning whether this chapter\u2014dealing with speculations of an awful\nnature, among which the greatest religious and philosophical intellects\ntremble as they \u201cgo sounding on their dim and perilous way\u201d\u2014shows him\nequal to cope with his experienced opponent, whom every page devoted to\nsuch topics shows to have fixed the DIFFICULTY with which he proposed to\ndeal, fully and steadily before his eyes, in all its moral,\nmetaphysical, and philosophical bearings, and to have discussed it\ncautiously and reverently. We shall content ourselves with briefly\nindicating the course of observation on that \u201cdifficulty\u201d adopted by Sir\nDavid Brewster, and leaving it to the discreet reader to form his own\njudgment whether Sir David has left the difficulty where he found it, or\nremoved, lessened, or enhanced it.\n\nDr Whewell, in his _Dialogue_, thus temperately and effectively deals\nwith this section of his opponent\u2019s lucubrations:\u2014\n\n\n  \u201cHis own solution of the question concerning the redemption of other\n  worlds appears to be this, that the provision made for the redemption\n  of man by what took place upon earth eighteen hundred years ago, may\n  have extended its influence to other worlds.\n\n  \u201cIn reply to which astronomico-theological hypothesis three remarks\n  offer themselves: In the first place, the hypothesis is entirely\n  without warrant or countenance in the revelation from which all our\n  knowledge of the scheme of redemption is derived; in the second place,\n  the events which took place upon earth eighteen hundred years ago,\n  were connected with _a train of events in the history of man_, which\n  had begun at the creation of man, and extended through all the\n  intervening ages; and the bearing of this whole series of events upon\n  the condition of the inhabitants of other worlds must be so different\n  from its bearing on the condition of man, that the hypothesis needs a\n  dozen other auxiliary hypotheses to make it intelligible; and, in the\n  third place, this hypothesis, making the earth, insignificant as it\n  seems to be in the astronomical scheme, the centre of the theological\n  scheme, ascribes to the earth a peculiar distinction, quite as much at\n  variance with the analogies of the planets to one another, as the\n  supposition that the earth alone is inhabited; to say nothing of the\n  bearing of the critic\u2019s hypothesis on the other systems that encircle\n  other suns.\u201d[51]\n\n\n\u201cIn freely discussing the subject of a Plurality of Worlds,\u201d says Sir\nDavid, \u201cthere can be no collision between Reason and Revelation.\u201d He\nregrets the extravagant conclusion of some, that the inhabitants of all\nplanets but our own, \u201care sinless and immortal beings that never broke\nthe Divine Law, and enjoying that perfect felicity reserved for only a\nfew of the less favoured occupants of earth. Thus chained to a planet,\nthe lowest and most unfortunate in the universe, the philosopher, with\nall his analogies broken down, may justly renounce his faith in a\nPlurality of Worlds, and rejoice in the more limited but safer creed of\nthe anti-Pluralist author, who makes the earth the only world in the\nuniverse, and the special object of God\u2019s paternal care.\u201d[52] He\nproceeds, in accordance with \u201cmen of lofty minds and undoubted piety,\u201d\nto regard the existence of moral evil as a necessary part of the general\nscheme of the universe, and consequently affecting all its Rational\nInhabitants.[53] He \u201crejects the idea that the inhabitants of the\nplanets do not require a Saviour; and maintains the more rational\nopinion, that they stand in the same moral relation to their Maker as\nthe inhabitants of the earth; and seeks for a solution of the\ndifficulty\u2014how can there be inhabitants in the planets, when God had but\nOne Son, whom He could send to save them? If we can give a satisfactory\nanswer to this question, it may destroy the objections of the Infidel,\nwhile it relieves the Christian from his difficulties.\u201d[54]... \u201cWhen our\nSaviour died, the influence of His death extended backward, in the Past,\nto millions who never heard His name; in the Future, to millions who\nnever will hear it ... a Force which did not vary with any function of\nthe distance.[55]... Emanating from the _middle_ planet of the system.\u201d\n\n\u2014\u2014The _earth_ the _middle_ planet of the system? How is this? In an\nearlier portion of his book (p. 56), Sir David had demonstrated that\n\u201cour earth is neither the _middle_ [his own italics] planet, nor the\nplanet _nearest_ the sun, nor the planet furthest from that luminary:\nthat therefore the earth, as a planet, has no pre-eminence in the solar\nsystem, to induce us to believe that it is the only inhabited world....\n_Jupiter_ is the _middle_ planet (p. 55), and is otherwise highly\ndistinguished!\u201d How is this? Can the two passages containing such direct\ncontradictions have emanated from the same _scientific_\ncontroversialist?\u2014To resume, however:\n\n\u2014\u201cEmanating from the middle planet of the system, why may it not have\n_extended to them all_, ... to the Planetary Races in the Past, and to\nthe Planetary Races in the Future?... But to bring our argument more\nwithin the reach of an ordinary understanding\u201d\u2014he supposes our earth\nsplit into two parts! the old world and the new (as Biela\u2019s comet is\nsupposed to have been divided in 1846), at the beginning of the\nChristian era![56]\u2014\u201cwould not _both fragments_ have shared in the\nbeneficence of the Cross\u2014the penitent on the shores of the Mississippi,\nas richly as the pilgrim on the banks of the Jordan?... Should this view\nprove unsatisfactory to the anxious inquirer, we may suggest another\nsentiment, even though we ourselves may not admit it into our creed....\nMay not the Divine Nature, which can neither suffer, nor die, and which,\nin our planet, _once_ only clothed itself in humanity, _resume elsewhere\na physical form, and expiate the guilt of unnumbered worlds_?\u201d[57]\n\nWe repeat, that we abstain from offering any of the stern strictures\nwhich these passages almost extort from us.\n\nHe proceeds to declare himself incompetent to comprehend the Difficulty\n\u201cput in a form so unintelligible\u201d by the Essayist\u2014that of a kind of\nexistence, similar to that of men, in respect of their intellectual,\nmoral, and spiritual character, and its _progressive_ development,\nexisting in any region occupied by other beings than man. He denies that\nProgression has been the character of the history of man,[58] but rather\nfrequent and vast retrogressions ever since the Fall; and asks \u201cwhich of\nthese ever-changing conditions of humanity is the _unique_ condition of\nthe Essayist\u2014incapable of repetition in the scheme of the Universe?\u201d[59]\nWhy may there not be an intermediate race between that of man and the\nangelic beings of Scripture, where human reason shall pass into the\nhighest form of created mind, and human affections into their noblest\ndevelopment?\u2014\n\n\n  \u201cWhy may not the intelligence of the spheres be ordained for the study\n  of regions and objects unstudied and unknown on earth? Why may not\n  labour have a better commission than to earn its bread by the sweat of\n  its brow? Why may it not pluck its loaf from the bread-fruit tree, or\n  gather its manna from the ground, or draw its wine from the bleeding\n  vessels of the vine, or _inhale its anodyne breath from the paradise\n  gas of its atmosphere_?\u201d[60]\n\n\nAnd Sir David thus concludes the chapter:\u2014\n\n\n  \u201cThe difficulties we have been considering, in so far as they are of a\n  religious character, have been very unwisely introduced into the\n  question of a Plurality of Worlds. We are not entitled to remonstrate\n  with the sceptic, but we venture to doubt the soundness of that\n  philosopher\u2019s judgment who thinks that the truths of natural religion\n  are affected by a belief in planetary races, and the reality of that\n  Christian\u2019s faith who considers it to be endangered by a belief that\n  there are other Worlds than his own.\u201d\n\n\nThis last paragraph induces us to go so far as to doubt whether Sir\nDavid Brewster has addressed his understanding deliberately, to the\nsubject to which so large a portion of the most elaborate reasonings of\nDr Whewell have been directed.\n\nSir David does not quarrel with the Essayist\u2019s account of the\nconstitution of man; and we must now see how he deals with the\nEssayist\u2019s arguments drawn from Geology.\n\nSir David \u201cis not disposed to grudge the geologist even periods so\nmarvellous\u201d as \u201cmillions of years required for the formation of strata,\nprovided they be considered as merely hypothetical;\u201d and admits that\n\u201cour seas and continents have nearly the same locality, and cover nearly\nthe same area, as they did at the creation of Adam;\u201d but demurs to the\nconclusion that the earth was prepared for man by causes operating so\ngradually as the diurnal change going on around us. \u201cWhy may not the\nAlmighty have deposited the earth\u2019s strata, during the whole period of\nits formation, by a _rapid_ precipitation of their atoms from the waters\nwhich suspended them, so as to reduce the period of the earth\u2019s\nformation to little more than the united generations of the different\norders of plants and animals constituting its organic remains? Why not\nstill further shorten the period, by supposing that plants and animals,\nrequiring, in our day, a century for their development, may in primitive\ntimes have shot up in rank luxuriance, and been ready, in a few _days!_\nor months! or years, for the great _purpose of exhibiting_, by their\ngeological distribution, the progressive formation of the earth?\u201d[61]\n\nThese questions, of which a myriad similar ones might be asked by any\none, we leave to our geological readers; and hasten to inform them, that\nin involuntary homage to the powerful reasonings of his opponent, Sir\nDavid Brewster is fain to question the \u201cinference that man did not exist\nduring the period of the earth\u2019s formation;\u201d[62] and to suggest that\n\u201cthere may have existed intellectual races in present unexplored\ncontinental localities, or the immense regions of the earth now under\nwater!\u201d\u2014\u201cThe future of geology may be pregnant with startling\ndiscoveries of the remains of intellectual races, even _beneath_ the\nprimitive Azoic[63] formations of the earth!... Who can tell what sleeps\nbeyond? Another creation may be beneath! more glorious creatures may be\nentombed there! the mortal coils of beings more lovely, more pure, more\ndivine than man, may yet read to us the unexpected lesson that we have\nnot been the first, and may not be the last of the intellectual\nrace!\u201d[64] Is he who can entertain and publish conjectures like these,\nentitled to stigmatise so severely those of other speculators\u2014as\n\u201cinconceivable absurdities, which no sane mind can cherish\u2014suppositions\ntoo ridiculous even for a writer of romance!\u201d This wild license given to\nthe fancy may not be amiss in a poet, whose privilege it is that his\n\u201ceye in a fine phrenzy rolling\u201d may \u201cgive to airy nothing a local\nhabitation, and a name:\u201d\u2014but when set in the scale against the solemnly\nmagnificent array of facts in the earth\u2019s history established by\nGeology, may be summarily discarded by sober and grave inquirers.\n\nThe Essayist\u2019s suggested analogy between man\u2019s relation to time and to\nspace appears to us not understood, in either its scope or nature, by\nSir David Brewster. At this we are as much surprised, as at the\nroughness with which he characterises the argument, as \u201cthe most\ningenious though shallow piece of sophistry he has ever encountered in\nmodern dialectics.\u201d The Essayist suggests a comparison between the\nnumbers expressing the four magnitudes and distances,\u2014of the earth, the\nsolar system, the fixed stars, and the nebul\u00e6\u2014and the numbers expressing\nthe antiquity of the four geological periods \u201c_for the sake of giving\ndefiniteness to our notions_.\u201d Sir David abstains from quoting these\nlast expressions, and alleges that the Essayist, \u201cquitting the ground of\nanalogy,\u201d founds an elaborate argument on the mutual relation of an atom\nof time and an atom of space. The \u201cargument\u201d Sir David thus presents to\nhis readers, the capital and italic letters being his own: \u201cThat is,\n_the earth, the_ ATOM OF SPACE, _is the only one of the planetary and\nsidereal worlds that is inhabited, because it was so long without\ninhabitants, and has been occupied only an_ ATOM OF TIME.\u201d[65] \u201cIf any\nof our readers,\u201d he adds, \u201csee the force of this argument, they must\npossess an acuteness of perception to which we lay no claim. To us, it\nis not only illogical; it is a mere sound in the ear, without any sense\nin the brain.\u201d This is the language possibly befitting an irritated\nProfessor towards an ignorant and conceited student, but hardly suitable\nwhen Sir David Brewster is speaking of such an antagonist as he cannot\nbut know he has to deal with. It does not appear to us the Essayist\u2019s\nattempt, or purpose, to establish any arbitrary absolute _relation_\nbetween time and space, or definite proportions of either, as concurring\nor alternative elements for determining the probability of a plurality\nof worlds. But he says to the dogmatic astronomical objector to\nChristianity, Such arguments as you have hitherto derived from _your_\nconsideration of SPACE, MULTITUDE, and MAGNITUDE, for the purpose of\ndepressing man into a being beneath his Maker\u2019s special notice, I\nencounter by arguments derived from recent disclosures concerning\nanother condition of existence\u2014DURATION, or TIME. Protesting that\nneither Time nor Space has any true connection with the subject,\nnevertheless I will turn your own weapons against yourself. My argument\nfrom Time shall at least neutralise yours from Space: mine shall involve\nthe conditions of yours, fraught with their supposed irresistible force,\nand falsify them in fact, as forming premises whence may be deduced\nderogatory inferences concerning man. The Essayist\u2019s ingenious and\nsuggestive argument is intended not to prove an opinion, but _to remove\nan objection_; which, according to the profound thinker, Bishop Butler,\nis the proper office of analogy. It is asked, for instance, _how_ can\nyou suppose that man, such as he is represented to be, occupies only an\nimmeasurably minute fraction of existing matter? and it is answered, I\nfind that man occupies only an immeasurably minute fraction of elapsed\ntime: and this is, to me, an answer to the \u201c_How_,\u201d as concluding\nimprobability. _How_ is balanced against _How_: Difficulty against\ndifficulty: they neutralise each other, and leave the great question,\nthe great reality, standing as it did before either was suggested, to be\ndealt with according to such evidence as God has vouchsafed us. We,\ntherefore, do not see that the Essayist is driven to say, as Sir David\nBrewster alleges he is, either that because man has occupied only an\natom of space, he must live only an atom of time on the earth;[66] or\nthat because he has lived only an atom of time, he must occupy but an\natom of space. In dismissing this leading portion of the Essayist\u2019s\nreasonings, we shall say only that we consider it worthy of the\nattention of all persons occupied in speculations of this nature, as\ncalculated to suggest trains of novel, profitable, and deeply\ninteresting reflection.\n\nThus far the Essayist, as followed by his opponent, on the assumption\nthat the other bodies of the universe are fitted, equally with the\nearth, to be the abodes of life. _But are they?_ Here we are brought to\nthe last stage of the Essayist\u2019s speculations\u2014What physical EVIDENCE\nhave we that the other bodies of the Solar System, besides the Earth,\nthe Fixed Stars, and the Nebul\u00e6, are structures capable of supporting\nhuman life, of being inhabited by Rational and Moral Beings?\n\nThe great question, in its physical aspect, is now fully before us: Is\nthere that analogy on which the pluralist relies?\n\nFor the existence of Life several conditions must concur; and any of\nthese failing, life, so far as we know anything about it, is impossible.\nNot air, only, and moisture, but a certain temperature, neither too hot\nnor too cold, and a certain consistence, on which the living frame can\nrest. Without the other conditions, an atmosphere alone does not make\nlife possible; still less, prove its existence. A globe of red-hot\nmetal, or of solid ice, however well provided with an atmosphere, could\nnot be inhabited, so far as we can conceive. The old maxim of the\nlogicians is true: that it requires _all_ the conditions to establish\nthe affirmative, but that the negative of any _one_ proves the\n_negative_.\n\nFirst, as to the smallest tenants of our system, the thirty[67]\nplanetoids, some of which are certainly no larger than Mont Blanc.\n\nSir David Brewster dare not venture to suggest that they are inhabited,\nor in any condition to become so, any more than meteoric stones, which\nmodern science regards as masses of matter, moving, like the planets, in\nthe celestial spaces, subject to the gravitating attraction of the Sun;\nthe Earth encountering them occasionally, either striking directly upon\nthem, or approaching to them so closely that they are drawn by the\nterrestrial attraction, first within the atmosphere, and afterwards to\nthe earth\u2019s surface.[68] Here our Essayist gives a thrust at his\nPluralist opponent not to be parried, asking him why he shrunk from\nasserting the planetoids and meteoric stones to be inhabited? If it be\nbecause of their being found to be uninhabited, or of their smallness,\nthen \u201cthe argument that they _are_ inhabited _because_ they are planets\nfails him.\u201d[69]\n\n\n  \u201cThere is, then,\u201d says elsewhere the wary Essayist,[70] \u201ca degree of\n  smallness which makes you reject the supposition of inhabitants. But\n  where does that degree of smallness begin? The surface of _Mars_ is\n  only one-fourth that of the Earth. Moreover, if you allow all the\n  planetoids to be uninhabited, those planets which you acknowledge to\n  be probably uninhabited far outnumber those with regard to which even\n  the most resolute Pluralist holds to be inhabited. The majority swells\n  every year; the planetoids are now thirty. The fact of a planet being\n  inhabited, then, is, at any rate, rather the exception than the rule;\n  and therefore must be proved, in each case, by special evidence. Of\n  such evidence I know not a trace!\u201d\n\n\nWe may add, also, that Dr Lardner, vouched by Sir David Brewster, as we\nshall soon see, to be a thoroughly competent witness, gives up the\nplanetoids as seats of habitation for animal life.[71]\n\nLet us now, would say our Essayist, proceed on our negative tour, so to\nspeak, and hasten to pay our respects to the Moon, our nearest\nneighbour, and whose distance from the Sun is admitted to adapt her, so\nfar, for habitation.[72] If it appear, by strong evidence, that the Moon\nis not inhabited, then there is an end of the general principle, that\n_all_ the bodies of the solar system are inhabited, and that we must\nbegin our speculation about each with this assumption. If the Moon be\nnot inhabited, then, it would seem, the belief that each special body in\nthe system _is_ inhabited, must depend upon reasons specially belonging\nto that body, and cannot be taken for granted without these reasons.[73]\nNow, as to the Moon, we have latterly acquired the means of making such\nexact and minute inquiries, that at the meeting of the British\nAssociation at Hull last year, Mr Phillips, an eminent geologist, stated\nthat astronomers can discern the shape of a spot on the Moon\u2019s surface,\nonly a few hundred feet in breadth. Passing by, however, the Essayist\u2019s\nbrief but able account of the physical condition of this satellite of\nours, we will cite the recent testimony of one accredited by Sir David\nBrewster[74] as \u201ca mathematician and a natural philosopher, who has\nstudied, more than any preceding writer, the analogies between the Earth\nand the other planets\u201d\u2014Dr Lardner, who, in the third volume (published\nsince our last Number appeared) of the work placed at the head of this\narticle, thus concludes his elaborate account of the Moon, as now\nregarded by the most enlightened astronomers\u2014after proving it to be \u201cas\nexempt from an atmosphere as is the utterly exhausted receiver of a good\nair-pump!\u201d\n\n\n  \u201cIn fine, the entire geographical character of the moon, thus\n  ascertained by long-continued and exact telescopic surveys, leads to\n  the conclusion, that no analogy exists between it and the earth which\n  could confer any probability on the conjecture that it fulfils the\n  same purposes in the economy of the universe; and we must infer, that\n  whatever be its uses in the solar system, or in the general purposes\n  of creation, it is not a world inhabited by organised races such as\n  those to which the earth is appropriated.\u201d[75]\n\n\nWe must leave Sir David and Dr Lardner to settle their small amount of\ndifferences together; for Sir David will have it that \u201cthe moon exhibits\nsuch proofs of an atmosphere that we have a new ground from analogy for\nbelieving that she either has, or is in a state of preparation for\nreceiving, inhabitants;\u201d[76] whom, \u201cwith monuments of their hands,\u201d he\n\u201chopes may be discovered with some magnificent telescope which may be\nconstructed!\u201d[77] And he is compelled to believe that \u201call the other\nunseen satellites of the solar system are homes to animal and\nintellectual life.\u201d[78] The Essayist would seem not to have deemed it\nnecessary to deprive the sun of inhabitants; but our confident Pluralist\nwill not surrender the stupendous body so easily. His friend Dr Lardner\nproperly regards it \u201cas a vast globular furnace, the heat emitted from\neach square foot of which is seven times greater than the heat issuing\nfrom a square foot of the fiercest blast-furnace: to what agency the\nlight and heat are due, no one can do more than conjecture. According to\nour hypothesis, it is a great ELECTRIC LIGHT in the centre of the\nsystem;\u201d[79] and \u201centirely removed from all analogy with the\nearth\u201d\u2014\u201cutterly unsuited for the habitation of organised tribes.\u201d[80]\nNevertheless Sir David believes that \u201cthe sun is richly stored with\ninhabitants\u201d\u2014the probability \u201cbeing doubtless greatly increased by the\nsimple consideration of its enormous size\u201d\u2014a \u201cdomain so extensive, so\nblessed with perpetual light;\u201d but it would seem that \u201cif it be\ninhabited,\u201d it is probably \u201coccupied by the highest orders of\nintelligence!\u201d[81] who, however, are allowed to enjoy their picturesque,\nand, it must be owned, somewhat peculiar, but doubtless blessed\nposition, only by peeping every now and then through the sun\u2019s spots,\nand so \u201cseeing distinctly the planets and stars\u201d\u2014in fact, \u201clarge\nportions of the heavens!\u201d[82] Perhaps it may be thought that this is not\na very handsome way of dealing with such exalted beings!\n\nThe Essayist has now our seven principal sister-planets to deal with\u2014the\ntwo _infra_-terrestrial, Mercury and Venus, and the five\n_extra_-terrestrial\u2014Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune;\u2014and as\nto all these, the question continues, do they so _resemble_ the earth in\nphysical conditions, as to lead us safely to the conclusion that they\nresemble it in that other capital particular, of being the habitations\nof intellectual and moral beings? Here, be it observed, that every\nsymptom of unlikeness which the Essayist can detect, greatly augments\nthe burthen of proof incumbent upon his opponents.\n\nWhen it was discovered that the old planets in certain important\nparticulars resembled the earth, being opaque and solid bodies, having\nsimilar motions round the sun and on their own axis, some accompanied by\nsatellites, and all having arrangements producing day and night, summer\nand winter, who could help wondering whether they must not also have\ninhabitants, reckoning and regulating their lives and employments by\ndays, months, and years? This was, at most, however, a mere guess or\nconjecture; and whether it is now more probable than then, depends on\nthe intervening progress of astronomy and science in general. Have\nsubsequent discoveries strengthened or impugned the validity of the\nconjecture? The limits of our system have been since vastly extended by\nthe discovery of Uranus and Neptune; and the planetary sisterhood has\nalso increased in number by thirty little and very eccentric ones.\n\nNow, as to NEPTUNE, says the Essayist, in substance, what reason has a\nsensible person for believing it peopled, as the earth is, by human\nbeings\u2014_i. e._ consisting of body and soul? He is thirty times further\nthan we are from the sun, which will appear to it a mere star\u2014about the\nsize of Jupiter to us; and Neptune\u2019s light and heat will be nine hundred\ntimes less than ours![83] _If_ it, nevertheless, contain animal and\nintellectual life, we must try to conceive how they get on with such a\n_modicum_ of those useful elements!\n\nBut have we general grounds for assuming _all_ the planetary bodies\ninhabited? Beginning with the moon, we have encountered a decided\nnegative. If any planet, however, have sufficient light, heat, clouds,\nwinds, and a due adjustment of gravity, and the strength of the\nmaterials of which organisation consist, there _may_ be life of some\nsort or other. Now we can measure and weigh the planets, exactly, by the\nlaw of gravitation, which embraces every particle of matter in our\nsystem, and find the mass of our earth to be only five times heavier\nthan water. Comparing it with JUPITER\u2014the bulk of which is 1331 times\ngreater than that of the Earth\u2014his density is, as a whole, only a\nquarter of that of the Earth\u2014not greater than it would be as a sphere of\nwater; and he is _conjectured_ to be such, and the existence of his\nbelts to be lines of clouds, fed with vapours raised by the sun\u2019s action\non such a watery sphere\u2014the lines of such clouds being of so steady and\ndetermined a character, in consequence of his great rotatory velocity.\nEqual bulk for equal bulk, he is lighter than the Earth, but of course\nmuch heavier altogether; and as he is five times the Earth\u2019s distance\nfrom the Sun, he must get a proportionally smaller amount of light and\nheat, and even that diminished by the clouds enveloping him to so great\nan extent. What a low degree of vitality, and what kind of organisation\nmust animal existence possess, to suit such physical conditions,\nespecially with reference to gravity, which, at his surface, is nearly\ntwo and a half times that on the Earth! Boneless, watery, pulpy\ninhabitants of the cold waters; or they may be frozen so far as to\nexclude the idea of animal existence; or it may be restricted to shallow\nparts in a planet of ice.[84] But if this be so, to what end his\ngorgeous array of satellites?\u2014his four moons? \u201cPrecisely the same,\u201d\nanswers our pertinacious Essayist, \u201cas the use of our moon during the\ncountless ages before man was placed on the earth; while it was tenanted\nby corals, madrepores, shell-fish, belemnites, the cartilaginous fishes\nof the old red sandstone, or the Saurian monsters of the lias. With\nthese _differences_, it is asked, what becomes of analogy\u2014of\nresemblances justifying our belief that Jupiter is inhabited like\nourselves?\u201d\n\nTo this answers Sir David Brewster\u2014Jupiter\u2019s great size \u201cis alone a\nproof that it must have been made for some _grand_ and _useful_\npurpose:\u201d it is flattened at its poles; revolves on its axis in nearly\nten hours; has different climates and seasons; and is abundantly\nilluminated, in the short absence of the sun, by its four moons, giving\nhim, in fact, \u201cperpetual moonlight.\u201d Why does the sun give it days,\nnights, and years? Why do its moons irradiate its continents and seas?\nIts equatorial breezes blow perpetually over its plains? To what purpose\ncould such a gigantic world have been framed, unless to supply the\nwants, and minister to the happiness, of living beings? Still, it is\nadmitted,[85] \u201cthat certain objections or difficulties naturally present\nthemselves.\u201d The distance of Jupiter from the sun precludes the\npossibility of sufficient light and heat from that quarter, to support\neither such vegetable or animal life as exists on the earth; the cold\nmust be very intense\u2014its rivers and seas must be tracks and fields of\nice.[86] But it may be answered, that the temperature of a planet\ndepends on other causes\u2014the condition of its atmosphere, and the\ninternal heat of its mass\u2014as is the case with our earth; and such \u201cmay\u201d\nbe the case in Jupiter; and, \u201cif\u201d so, may secure a temperature\nsufficiently genial to sustain such animal and vegetable life as ours;\nyet, it is owned, it cannot \u201cincrease the feeble light which Jupiter\nderives from the sun; but an enlargement of the pupil of the eye, and\nincreased sensibility of the retina, would make the sun\u2019s light as\nbrilliant to Jovians as to us.\u201d[87] Besides, a brilliant phosphorescent\nlight \u201cmay\u201d be excited in the satellites by the sun\u2019s rays. Again, the\nday of ten hours may be thought insufficient for physical repose; but,\nit is answered, five hours\u2019 repose are sufficient for five of labour. \u201cA\ndifficulty of a more serious kind,[88] however, is presented by the\ngreat force of gravity on so gigantic a planet as Jupiter;\u201d but Sir\nDavid gives us curious calculations to show that a Jovian\u2019s weight would\nbe only double that of a man on the earth.\n\nStruck by such a formidable array of differences, when he was in quest\nof _resemblances_ only,\n\n                    \u201cAlike, but, oh! how different!\u201d\n\nSir David rebukes the sceptic for forming so low an opinion of\nOmnipotent Wisdom, as to assume that \u201cthe inhabitants of the planets\nmust be either men, or anything resembling them;\u2014is it,\u201d he asks,\n\u201cnecessary that an immortal soul should be hung upon a skeleton of bone,\nor imprisoned in a cage of cartilage and skin? Must it see with two\neyes, and hear with two ears, and touch with ten fingers, and rest on a\nduality of limbs? May it not rest in a Polyphemus with one eyeball, or\nin an Argus with a hundred? May it not reign in the giant forms of the\nTitans, and direct the hundred hands of Briareus?[89] The being of\nanother world may have his home in subterranean cities, warmed by\ncentral fires; or in crystal caves, cooled by ocean tides; or he may\nfloat with the Nereids upon the deep; or mount upon wings as eagles; or\nrise upon the pinions of the dove, that he may flee away, and be at\nrest!\u201d[90]\n\nLet us pause at this point, and see how the question stands on the\nshowing of the respectively imaginative and matter-of-fact disputants\nthemselves. Sir David Brewster, being bound to show that analogy forces\nus to believe Jupiter inhabited, is compelled to admit a series of\nsignal discrepancies in physical condition; expecting his opponent, in\nturn, to admit such a series of essential alterations, both of inert\nmatter and organisation, as will admit of what?\u2014_totally different_\nmodes of animal and intellectual existence\u2014so different, as to drive a\nphilosopher into the fantastic dreams in which we have just seen him\nindulging. Not so the Essayist, a master of the Inductive Philosophy. He\ndoes not presume impiously to limit Omnipotence; but reverently owns His\npower to create whatever forms and conditions of existence He pleases.\nBut when it is asserted that He has, in fact, made beings wholly\ndifferent from any that we see, \u201che cannot believe this without further\n_evidence_.\u201d[91] And on this very subject of the imaginary inhabitants\nof Jupiter, he says, after reading what his heated and fanciful opponent\nhas advanced,\u2014\u201cYou are hard,\u201d he makes an objector say, \u201con our\nneighbours in Jupiter, when you will not allow them to be anything\nbetter than \u2018boneless, watery, pulpy creatures.\u2019\u201d To which he answers,\n\u201cI had no disposition to be hard on them when I entered upon these\nspeculations. I drew, what appeared to me, probable conclusions from all\nthe facts of the case. _If the laws of attraction, of light, of heat,\nand the like, be the same there as they are here, which we believe to be\ncertain, the laws of life must also be the same; and, if so, I can draw\nno other conclusions than those which I have stated._\u201d[92]\n\nSays the Essayist, I know that my Maker _can_ invest with the intellect\nof a Newton, each of\n\n               \u201cThe gay motes that people the sunbeams;\u201d\n\nbut before I believe that he has done so, give me reasonable and\nadequate evidence of so wonderful and sublime a fact; or I must believe\nin any kind of nonsense that any one can imagine.\n\nThe planet Jupiter affords a fair sample of the procedure of the\nEssayist and his opponent, with reference to all the other primary\nplanets of the Solar system. From Mercury, in red-hot contiguity to the\nSun, to Neptune, which is at thirty times the Earth\u2019s distance from it,\nand from which as we have seen it derives only _one nine-hundredth_ part\nof the light and heat imparted to ourselves by the Sun,\u2014Sir David\nBrewster will have all inhabited, and the physical condition of each\ncorrespondingly altered to admit of it: central heat, and eyes the\npupils of which are sufficiently enlarged, and the retina\u2019s sensibility\nsufficiently increased, to admit of seeing with nine hundred times less\nlight than is requisite for our own organs of sight! \u201cUranus and\nNeptune,\u201d concludes the triumphant Pluralist[93]\u2014nothing daunted by the\noverwhelming evidences of physical difference of condition\u2014\u201care\n_doubtless_\u201d\u2014with the Sun\u2014\u201cthe abodes of Life and Intelligence: the\ncolossal temples where their Creator is recognised and worshipped\u2014the\nremotest watch-towers of our system, from which his works may be\n_better_ studied, and his glories _more easily_ descried!\u201d\n\nWhy, with such elastic principles of analogy as his, stop short of\npeopling the Meteoric Stones with rational inhabitants? whom, and whose\ndoings, as in the case of the Moon, \u201csome magnificent\u201d instrument, yet\nto be constructed, may discover to us?\n\nThus much for the planets,\u2014before quitting which, however, we may state\nthat, according to Dr Lardner, about as staunch a Pluralist as his\nadmirer Sir David Brewster, a greater rapidity of rotation, and smaller\nintervals of light and darkness, are among the characteristics\ndistinguishing the group of major planets from the terrestrial group. He\nalso adds that another \u201cstriking distinction\u201d is the comparative\nlightness of the matter constituting the former. The density of Venus,\nMars, and our earth, is nearly equal\u2014about the same as that of\nironstone; while the density of the thoroughly-baked planet Mercury is\nequal to that of gold. \u201cNow it appears, on the contrary,\u201d he continues,\n\u201cthat the density of Jupiter very little exceeds that of water; that of\nUranus and Neptune is exactly that of water; while Saturn is so light,\nthat it would float in water like a globe of pine wood.... The seas and\noceans of these planets must consist of a liquid far lighter than water.\nIt is computed that a liquid on Jupiter, which would be analogous to the\nterrestrial oceans, would be three times lighter than sulphuric ether,\nthe lightest known liquid; and would be such that cork would scarcely\nfloat in it!\u201d[94]\n\nCommending these trifling discrepancies to Sir David\u2019s attention, while\nmanufacturing his planetary inhabitants in conformity with them, shall\nwe now follow his flight beyond the solar system, and get among the\nFixed Stars? Here we are gazing at the Dog-Star! \u201cI allow,\u201d says a\npensive objector to the Essayist,[95] \u201cthat if you disprove the\nexistence of inhabitants in the planets of our system, I shall not feel\nmuch real interest in the possible inhabitants of the Sirian system.\nNeighbourhood has its influence upon our feelings of regard,\u2014even\nneighbourhood on a scale of millions of miles!\u201d\n\nHere our Pluralist is quite at home, and evidently in great favour. The\nstars twinkle and glitter with delight at his gleeful approach, to\nelevate them into moral and intellectual dignity, and at the same time,\nperhaps, select \u201csome bright particular\u201d one, to be hereafter\ndistinguished as the seat of his own personal existence; whence he is to\nspend eternity in radiating astronomical emanations throughout\ninfinitude.\n\n                 \u201cThen, unembodied, doth he trace,\n                 By steps each planet\u2019s heavenly way?\n                 A Thing of Eyes, that all survey, ...\n                 A Thought Unseen, yet seeing all!\u201d[96]\n\nHe stands in the starry solitude, waving his wand, and lo! he peoples\neach glistening speck with intellectual existence, with the highest\norder of intelligence, as in the case of that little star, the sun,\nwhich he has quitted. Now as to these same FIXED STARS, we can easily\nguess the steps of Sir David\u2019s brief and satisfactory argument. _If_ the\nstars be suns, they are inhabited like our sun; and if they be suns,\neach has its planets, like our sun; and if they have planets, they are\ninhabited like our planets; and if they have satellites like some of\nours, they are also inhabited. But the stars _are_ suns, and they all\nhave planets, and at least some of these planets, satellites; therefore,\nall the fixed stars, with their respective planetary systems, are\ninhabited (Q. E. D.) Here are Sir David\u2019s words:\u2014\u201cWe are compelled to\ndraw the conclusion that wherever there is a sun, there must be a\nplanetary system; and wherever there is a planetary system, there must\nbe Life and Intelligence.\u201d[97] This is the way in which, it seems, we\nworms of the earth feel ourselves at liberty to deal with our Almighty\nCreator: dogmatically insisting that every scene of existence in which\nHe may have displayed His omnipotence, is but a repetition of that\nparticular one in which we have our allotted place! As if He had but one\npattern for Universal Creation! Only one scheme for peopling and dealing\nwith infinitude! O, that _the clay_ should think thus of _Him that\nfashioneth it_![98] Forgetting, in an exulting moment of blindness and\npresumption, His own awful words, _My thoughts are not as your thoughts,\nneither are your ways my ways. For as the Heavens are higher than the\nEarth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your\nthoughts!_[99]\n\nWe are now, however, about to people the Fixed Stars. The only proof\nthat they are the centres of planetary systems, resides in the\nassumption that these Stars are _like the Sun_; and as resembling him in\ntheir nature and qualities, so having the same offices and\nappendages:\u2014independent sources of light, and thence probably of heat;\ntherefore having attendant planets, to which they may impart such light\nand heat,\u2014and these planets\u2019 inhabitants living under and enjoying those\nbenign influences. Everything here depends on this proposition, that the\nStars are like the Sun; and it becomes essential to examine what\nevidence we have of the exactness of their likeness.[100] In the Preface\nto his Second Edition, the Essayist, whose scientific knowledge few will\nventure to impugn, boldly asserts that \u201cman\u2019s knowledge of the physical\nproperties of the luminaries which he discerns in the skies, is, even\nnow, _almost nothing_;\u201d and \u201csuch being the state of our knowledge, as\nbearing on the doctrine of the plurality of worlds, the time appeared to\nbe not inopportune for a calm discussion of the question,\u2014upon which,\naccordingly,\u201d he adds, \u201cI have ventured in the following pages.\u201d In the\nsame Preface he has ably condensed into a single paragraph his views on\nthe nature and extent of our present knowledge on the subject of the\nFixed Stars.[101]\n\nIn the opening of the chapter devoted to this subject (ch. viii.), he\nadmits \u201cthe special evidence,\u201d as to the probability of these stars\ncontaining, in themselves, or in accompanying planets, inhabitants of\nany kind, \u201cis, indeed, slight, _either way_.\u201d\n\nAs to Clustered and Double stars, they appear to give us, he says, but\nlittle promise of inhabitants. In what degree of condensation the matter\nof these binary systems is, compared with that of our solar system, we\nhave no means whatever of knowing: but even granting that each\nindividual of the pair were a sun like ours, in the nature of its\nmaterial, and its state of condensation, is it probable that it\nresembles our Sun also in having planets revolving about it? A system of\nplanets revolving about, or among, a pair of Suns, which are at the same\ntime revolving about one another, is so complex a scheme [apparently],\nso impossible to arrange in a stable manner, that the assumption of the\nexistence of such schemes, without a vestige of evidence, can hardly\nrequire refutation. No doubt, if we were really required to provide such\na binary system of Suns with attendant planets, this would be best done\nby putting the planets so near to one Sun that they should not be\nsensibly affected by the other; and this is accordingly what has been\nproposed. For, as has been well said by Sir John Herschell, of the\nsupposed planets in making this proposal, \u201cunless closely nestled under\nthe protecting wing of their immediate superior, the sweep of the other\nSun in his perihelion passage round their own, might carry them off, or\nwhirl them into orbits utterly inconsistent with the existence of their\ninhabitants.\u201d \u201cTo assume the existence of the inhabitants, in spite of\nsuch dangers, and to provide against the dangers by placing them so\nclose to one Sun as to be out of the reach of the other, though the\nwhole distance of the two may not, and as we know in some cases does\nnot, exceed the dimensions of our solar system, is showing them all the\nfavour which is possible. But in making this provision, it is overlooked\nthat it may not be possible to keep them in permanent orbits so near to\nthe selected centre. Their Sun may be a vast sphere of luminous vapour,\nand the planets plunged into this atmosphere may, instead of describing\nregular orbits, plough their way in spiral paths through the nebulous\nabyss of its central nucleus.\u201d[102]\n\nIn dealing with the Single Stars, which are, like the Sun,\nself-luminous, can they be proved, like him, to be definite dense\nmasses? [_His_ density is about that of water.] Or are they, or many of\nthem, luminous masses in a far more diffused state, visually contracted\nto points through their immense distance? Some of those which we have\nthe best means of examining are one-third, or even less, in mass, than\nhe: and if Sirius, for instance, be in this diffused condition, though\nthat would not of itself prevent his having planets, it would make him\nso unlike our Sun, as much to break the force of the presumption that he\nmust have planets as he has. Again: As far back as our knowledge of our\nSun extends, his has been a permanent condition of brightness: yet many\nof the fixed stars not only undergo changes, but periodical, and\npossibly progressive changes:\u2014whence it may be inferred, perhaps, that\nthey are not, generally, in the same permanent condition as our Sun. As\nto the evidence of their revolution on their axis, this has been\ninferred from their having periodical recurrences of fainter and\nbrighter lustre; as if revolving orbs with one side darkened by spots.\nOf these, five only can be at present spoken of by astronomers[103] with\nprecision. Nothing is more probable than that these periodical changes\nindicate the revolution of these stellar masses on their axis\u2014a\nuniversal law, apparently, of all the large compact masses of the\nUniverse, but by no means inferring their being, or having accompanying\nplanets, inhabited. The Sun\u2019s rotation is not shown, intelligibly,\nconnected with its having near it the inhabited Earth. In the mean time,\nin so far as these stars are periodical, they are proved to be, not\nlike, but _unlike_ our Sun. The only real point of resemblance, then, is\nthat of being self-luminous, in the highest degree ambiguous and\ninconclusive, and furnishing no argument entitled to be deemed one from\nanalogy. Humboldt deems the force of analogy to tend even in the\n_opposite_ direction. \u201cAfter all,\u201d he asks,[104] \u201cis the assumption of\nsatellites [attendant planets] to the fixed stars, so absolutely\nnecessary? If we were to begin from the outer planets, Jupiter, &c.,\nanalogy might seem to require that all planets have satellites:\u2014yet this\nis not so with Mars, Venus, Mercury;\u201d to which may now be added the\nthirty Planetoids\u2014making a much greater number of bodies that have not,\nthan that have satellites. The assumption, then, that the fixed stars\nare of exactly the same nature as the Sun, was originally a bold guess;\nbut there has not since been a vestige of any confirmatory fact:\u2014no\nplanet, nor anything fairly indicating the existence of one revolving\nround a fixed star, has ever hitherto been discerned;\u2014and the subsequent\ndiscovery of nebul\u00e6; binary systems; clusters of stars; periodical\nstars; of varied and accelerating periods of such stars,\u2014all seem to\npoint the other way: leaving, though possibly facts small in amount, the\noriginal assumption a mere guess, unsupported by all that three\ncenturies of most diligent, and in other respects, successful research,\nhave been able to bring to light. All the knowledge of times succeeding\nCopernicus, Galileo, and Kepler, (who might well believe the stars to be\nin every sense suns);\u2014among other things, the disclosure of the history\nof our own planet, as one in which such grand changes have been\nconstantly going on; the certainty that in by far the greatest part of\nthe duration of its existence it has been tenanted by creatures entirely\ndifferent from those which give an interest, and thence a\npersuasiveness, to the belief of inhabitants in worlds appended to each\nstar; the impossibility of which appears, in the gravest consideration\nof transferring to other worlds such interests as belong to our race in\nthis world;\u2014all these considerations, it would seem, should have\nprevented that old and arbitrary conjecture from growing up, among a\ngeneration _professing philosophical caution and scientific discipline_,\ninto a settled belief. Finally, it will be time enough to speculate\nabout the inhabitants of the planets which belong to such systems, as\nsoon as we shall have ascertained that there are such planets,\u2014or that\nthere is one such.[105]\n\nIn the _Dialogue_, written after the first edition of the \u201cEssay\u201d had\nappeared, the Essayist greatly strengthened the position for which he\nhad contended in it, by an important passage containing the results of\nthe eminent astronomer _M. Struve\u2019s_ recent examination of double stars,\nand the result of his elaborate and comprehensive comparison of the\nwhole body of facts in stellar astronomy. Among the brighter stars, he\narrives at the conclusion, that _every_ FOURTH such star is physically\ndouble; and that a completed knowledge of double stars may prove every\nTHIRD bright star to be physically double! And in the case of stars of\ninferior magnitude, that the number of _insulated_ stars, though indeed\ngreater than that of such compound systems, is nevertheless only three\ntimes, perhaps only twice as great. Thus the loose evidence of\nresemblance between our Sun and the fixed stars becomes feebler the more\nit is examined; and the assumption of stellar _planetary_ systems\nappears, when closely scrutinised, to dwindle away to nothing.[106]\n\nNow, to so much of the foregoing facts and speculations as are contained\nin the Essay, from which we have faithfully and carefully extracted the\nsubstance, in order that our readers may judge for themselves, Sir David\nBrewster answers, in effect, and generally in words, thus:\u2014\n\nThe greatest and grandest truth in astronomy, is the motion of the solar\nsystem, advancing with all the planets and satellites in the heavens, at\nthe rate of fifty-seven miles a second, round some distant invisible\nbody, in an orbit of such inconceivable dimensions, that millions of\nyears may be required for a single orbit. When we consider that this\ncentre must be a sun with attendant planets like our own, revolving in\nlike manner round our sun, [?] or round their common centre of gravity,\nthe mind rejects, almost with indignation, the ignoble sentiment that\nMan is the only being performing this immeasurable journey\u2014and that\nJupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, with their bright array of regal\ntrain-bearers, are but as colossal blocks of lifeless clay, encumbering\nthe Earth as a drag, and mocking the creative majesty of Heaven. From\nthe birth of man _to the extinction of his race_ [!] the system to which\nhe belongs will have described but an infinitesimal arc in that grand\ncosmical orbit in which it is destined to move. This affords a new\nargument for the plurality of worlds. Since every fixed star must have\nplanets, the fact of our system revolving round a similar system of\nplanets, furnishes a new argument from analogy; for as there is at least\none inhabited planet in the one system, there must for the same reason\nbe one in the other, and consequently as many as there are systems in\nthe Universe.[107] Thus our system is not absolutely fixed in space, but\nis connected with the other systems in the Universe.\n\nThe Fixed Stars are suns of other systems, whose planets are invisible\nfrom their distance, as are ours from the nearest fixed star. Every\n_single_ star shining by its own native light is the centre of a\nplanetary system like our own\u2014the lamp that lights, the stove that\nheats, and the power that guides in their orbits, inhabited worlds like\nour own. Many are _double_, with a system of planets round each, or the\ncentre of gravity of both. No one can believe that two suns would be\nplaced in the heavens, for no other purpose than to revolve round their\ncommon centre of gravity. It is \u201chighly probable,\u201d that our Sun is one\nof a binary system, and has at present an unseen partner; and we are\n\u201centitled to conclude\u201d that all the other binary systems have at least\nan inhabited planet: wherever there is a self-luminous fixed or movable\nSun there must be a planetary system; and wherever there is a planetary\nsystem, there must be life and intelligence.[108]\n\nApart from the assertion of his cardinal principle with which we are\nfamiliar, namely, that since our Sun has an inhabited planet, all others\nmust; and also that all planets must be inhabited;\u2014the argumentative\nvalue of these two chapters seems to lie in this that they annihilate\none of the Essayist\u2019s points of _unlikeness_ between our Sun and other\nFixed Stars, inasmuch as it, together with so many of them, is one of a\nbinary system: wherefore what is true of it, is true of them, _et vice\nversa_. He bases this proposition, viz., that our Sun is one of a binary\nsystem, on \u201chigh probability,\u201d from \u201cthe motion of our own system round\na distant centre.\u201d[109] The great truth of this motion, he says the\nEssayist \u201chas completely misrepresented, foreseeing its influence on the\nmind as an argument for more worlds than one.\u201d[110] What the Essayist\nhad said on the subject, was this:[111] he speaks of \u201cthe _attempt_ to\nshow that the Sun, carrying with it the whole solar system, is in\nmotion; and the further attempt to show the direction of that\nmotion;\u2014and again, the hypothesis that the Sun itself revolves round\nsome distant object in space.\u201d These minute inquiries and bold\nconjectures, he says, \u201ccannot throw any light on the question, whether\nany part besides the earth _be inhabited_: any more than the\ninvestigation of the movements of the ocean and their laws can prove or\ndisprove the existence of _marine plants and animals_. They do not, on\nthat account, cease to be important and interesting objects of\nspeculation, but they do not belong to our subject.\u201d As to the Sun\u2019s\nmotion, we are bound to say, that the Astronomer Royal has recently\ndeclared that \u201cevery astronomer who has examined the matter carefully,\nhas come to the conclusion of Sir William Herschell, that the whole\nsolar system is moving towards a point in the constellation\nHercules.\u201d[112] Before quitting this part of the subject, we may state\nthat the Essayist, in his second Preface,[113] points out the insecure\ncharacter of astronomical calculations as to the amount of absolute\nlight ascribed to some of the fixed stars. It has been estimated that\nthe illuminating power of _Alpha_ Centauri is nearly double that of the\nSun, placed at that distance, which is two hundred thousand times as far\noff as is the Sun; but Sir John Herschell will not concur in more of the\ncalculation than attributes to the star the emission of _more_ light\nthan our Sun. Surely the critical and precarious character of such\ncalculations should not be lost sight of by candid inquirers, but\nincline them to scan somewhat closely any pretensions tinctured by\nastronomic dogmatism.\n\nOne immense step more, however,\u2014and it is our last, brings to \u201cthe\noutskirts of creation,\u201d as the Essayist calls it,\u2014the _Nebul\u00e6_: and here\nwe find him once more confronted by his indefatigable and implacable\nopponent. We must therefore take our biggest and best mental telescope\nto behold these two Specks intellectual, so far off in infinitude,\nwrangling about a faint cloud vastly further off than themselves. Do you\nsee how angry one of them looks, and how provokingly stolid the other?\n\u2019Tis all about the nature of that same cloud, or Nebula; and if we could\nonly hear what they said, we might catch a chord or two of the music of\nthe spheres! The Essayist is required, by his brother speck, to believe\nthat the faintly-luminous patch at which they are gazing\u2014a thousandth\npart of the visible breadth of our own Sun\u2014contains in it more life than\nexists in as many such systems as the unassisted eye can see stars in\nthe heavens on the clearest winter night:\u2014a view of the greatness of\ncreation so stupendous, that the astounded speck, the Essayist, asks for\na moment\u2019s time to consider the matter. \u201cWe are entitled to draw the\nconclusion,\u201d says the other, \u201cthat these _Nebul\u00e6_ are clusters of stars,\nat such an immense distance from our own system, that each star of which\nthey are composed is the sun or centre of a system of planets; and that\nthese planets are inhabited\u2014like our Earth, the seat of vegetable,\nanimal, and intellectual life:\u201d[114] that all the Nebul\u00e6 are resolvable\ninto stars; and appear as Nebul\u00e6 only because they are more distant than\nthe region in which they can appear as stars.[115] The conclusion,\nhowever, at which the Essayist arrives, after an elaborate examination\nof evidence, and especially of the latest discoveries in this dim and\ndistant region by Sir John Herschell and the Earl of Rosse, is\u2014that\n\u201cNebul\u00e6 are vast masses of incoherent or gaseous matter, of immense\ntenuity, diffused in forms more or less irregular, but all of them\ndestitute of any regular system of solid moving bodies.... So far,\nthen,\u201d he concludes, \u201cas these Nebul\u00e6 are concerned, the improbability\nof _their_ being inhabited appears to amount to the highest point that\ncan be conceived. We may, by the indulgence of fancy, people the summer\nclouds, or the beams of the aurora borealis, with living beings of the\nsame kind of substance as those bright appearances themselves; and in\ndoing so, we are not making any bolder assertion than when we stock the\nNebul\u00e6 with inhabitants, and call them, in that sense, inhabited\nworlds.\u201d[116] The Essayist contends that the argument for the vastness\nof the scheme of the Universe, suggested by the resolution of the\nNebul\u00e6, is found to be untenable:\u2014inasmuch as the greatest astronomers\nnow agree in believing Nebul\u00e6 to have _distances of the same order_ as\nFixed Stars. Their filmy appearance is a true indication of a highly\nattenuated substance: so attenuated as to destroy all probability of\ntheir being inhabited worlds. With this opinion as to the tenuity of\nNebul\u00e6 agrees the absence of all _observed_ motion among their parts;\nwhile the extraordinary spiral arrangement of many of them, prove that\nnevertheless many of them really _have_ motion, and suggests modes of\ncalculating their tenuity, and showing how extreme it is. \u201cIt is\nprobable,\u201d said Lord Rosse, in a paper which we ourselves heard him read\nnot long ago, from the chair of the Royal Society, \u201cthat in the Nebular\nsystems, motion exists. If we see a system with a distinct spiral\narrangement, all analogy leads us to conclude that there has been\nmotion; and that if there has been motion, that motion still\ncontinues.\u201d... \u201cAmong the Nebul\u00e6,\u201d he says, \u201cthere are vast numbers,\nmuch too faint to be sketched or measured with any prospect of\nadvantage: the most powerful instruments we possess showing in them\nnothing of an organised structure, but merely a confused mass of\nnebulosity, of varying brightness.\u201d[117] The Essayist makes powerful\nuse, moreover, of Sir John Herschell\u2019s celebrated observation of the\nMagellanic Clouds, lying near the South Pole; exhibiting the\ncoexistence, in a limited compass, and in indiscriminate position, of\nstars, clusters of stars, nebul\u00e6 regular and irregular, and nebular\nstreaks and patches, things different not merely to us, but in\nthemselves: nebul\u00e6, side by side with stars and clusters of stars;\nnebulous matter resolvable, close to nebulous matter irresolvable;\u2014the\nlast and widest step by which the dimensions of the Universe have been\nexpanded, in the notions of eager speculators, being checked by a\ncompleter knowledge, and a sager spirit of speculation.[118] In\ndiscussing such matters as these, he finely observes\u2014\u201cIt is difficult to\nmake men feel that so much ignorance can lie close to so much knowledge;\nto make them believe that they have been allowed to discover so much,\nand yet are not allowed to discover more.\u201d[119]\n\nIn alluding to the Nebul\u00e6, as subjects of our most powerful telescopic\nobservation, the Essayist speaks in a tone of sarcasm concerning the\n\u201c_shining dots_,\u201d\u2014the \u201c_lumps of light_\u201d which are rendered apparent\namidst them: asking, what are these lumps? (1.) How large? (2.) At what\ndistances? (3.) Of what structure? (4.) Of what use?\u2014adding, he must be\na bold man who undertakes to answer the question, that each is a Sun,\nwith attendant systems of planets. Sir David, exceedingly irate, says,\n\u201cWe accept the challenge, and appeal to our readers:\u201d\u2014(1.) The size of\nthe dot, or lump, is large enough to be a Sun. (2.) He cannot answer\nthis, for want of knowing \u2018the apparent distance between the centres of\nthe dots.\u2019 (3.) Like our Sun\u2014\u2018It will consist of a luminous envelope,\nenclosing a dark nucleus.\u2019 (4.) Of no conceivable use, but to give light\nto planets, or to the solid _nuclei_ of which they consist. In his turn,\nhe asks the Essayist\u2014what is the size, distance, structure, and use of\nthe dots, upon his hypothesis? The Essayist, he observes, is\nsilent;[120] but in his Essay, he had said, distinctly enough, \u201cLet us\nnot wrangle about words. By all means let these dots be stars, if we\nknow about what we are speaking: if a star mean, merely, a luminous dot\nin the sky. But that these stars shall resemble, in their nature, Stars\nof the First Magnitude, and that such stars shall resemble Our Sun, are\nsurely very bold structures of assumption, to build on such a basis.\nSome nebul\u00e6 are resolvable into distinct points: but what would it\namount to? That the substance of all nebul\u00e6 is not continuous; separate,\nand separable into distinct luminous elements:\u2014nebul\u00e6 are, it would then\nseem, as it were of a curdled or granulated texture; they have run into\n_lumps_ of light, or been formed originally of such lumps.\u201d And then\nfollow some very ingenious and refined speculations, into which we have\nnot space to enter; and indeed we may be well content with what we have\ndone, having travelled from a tolerable depth in the crust of our own\nlittle planet, past planet after planet, star after star, till we\nreached the nebulous \u201coutskirts of creation;\u201d accompanied by two Mentors\nof Infinitude,\u2014whispering into our ear\u2014one, that life, animal,\nintellectual, moral, was swarming around us at every step; the other,\nthat that life ceased with our own Earth, as far as we were able to\ndetect its existence, and giving us very solemn and mysterious reasons\nwhy it should be so.\n\nOur Essayist, however, is not exhausted by the efforts he has made in\nhis destructive career. If he be a \u201cproud setter down\u201d of cosmological\nsystems, he determines, in turn, to be a \u201cputter up:\u201d and so presents us\nwith his own _Theory of the Solar System_; and an explanation of the\nmode in which all appearances in the Universe beyond may be reconciled\nwith it. \u201cIt may serve\u201d he says, \u201cto confirm his argument, if he give a\ndescription of the system which shall continue and connect his views of\nthe constitution and peculiarities as to physical circumstances of each\nof the planets. It will help us in our speculation, if we can regard the\nplanets as not only a collection, but a scheme;\u2014if we can give not an\nEnunciation only, but a Theory. Now, such a SCHEME, such a THEORY,\nappears to offer itself to us.\u201d[121] The scope of this scheme, or\ntheory, is, as we some time ago saw, to make our earth, in point of\nastronomical fact and reality, the largest Planetary Body in the solar\nsystem; its domestic hearth; the only part of the frame revolving round\nthe Sun which has become a \u201cWORLD.\u201d We must, however, make short work of\nit.\n\nThe planets exterior to Mars\u2014especially Jupiter and Saturn\u2014appear\nspheres of water, or aqueous vapour. The Earth has a considerable\natmosphere of air and of vapour; while on Venus or Mercury\u2014so close to\nthe sun\u2014we see nothing of a gaseous or aqueous atmosphere; they and Mars\ndiffering little in density from the earth.\n\nTHE EARTH\u2019S ORBIT, according to the Essayist\u2019s theory, IS THE TEMPERATE\nZONE OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM, where only the play of hot and cold, moist and\ndry, is possible. Water and gases, clouds and vapours, form, mainly, the\nplanets in the outer part of the solar system; while masses, such as\nresult from the fusion of the most solid materials, lie nearer the Sun,\nand are found principally within the orbit of Jupiter. After a further\nexposition of his \u201ctheory,\u201d the Essayist observes that it agrees with\nthe nebular hypothesis, SO FAR as it applies to the _Solar System_;\nexactly, and very sternly, repudiating that hypothesis as it applies to\nthe Universe in general.[122] \u201cIf we allow ourselves,\u201d says he, \u201cto\nspeculate _at all_ on physical grounds respecting the origin of the\nEarth, the hypothesis, that it has passed through a fluid and a gaseous\ncondition, does not appear more extravagant than any other cosmogonical\nhypothesis: not even if we suppose that the other bodies of the Solar\nSystem have shared in the like changes. _But_, that all the stars and\nthe nebul\u00e6 have gone, or are going through, a series of changes such as\nthose by which the Solar System has been formed,\u2014the nebular hypothesis,\nas it applies to the _Universe_ in general, is precisely the doctrine\nwhich I here reject, giving my reasons.\u201d[123]\n\nThe whole of the Chapter devoted to \u201cthe Theory of the Solar System,\u201d is\ndistinguished by remarkable ingenuity and originality. It is, however,\nthat entitled _the Argument from Design_, which, independently of all\nconnection with the speculations of the author as already laid before\nour readers, is worthiest of consideration, by all interested in Natural\nTheology. It touches many topics which must have occupied the\nprofoundest thoughts of mankind, and touches them with the utmost\ncaution and delicacy. In the 34th Section will be found a passage of\nsingular boldness and imaginative eloquence; but liable, in our opinion,\nto serious misconception, and susceptible of misrepresentation\u2014by those,\nat least, who are either unable, or indisposed, to weigh the entire\nchapter, and ascertain its real value and tendency. Some expressions\nhave startled us not a little, when reflecting that they relate to the\npossible mode of action of Omniscient Omnipotence; and we shall be\ngratified by seeing them vindicated or explained in the next edition of\nhis \u201cEssay.\u201d\n\nEach of our speculators closes his book with a chapter devoted to \u201cThe\nFuture.\u201d The ideas of Sir David concerning the duration of the human\nrace upon the earth (which Inspiration tells us is so awfully uncertain,\nand will be cut short suddenly\u2014in a moment\u2014in _the twinkling of an\neye_), seem to be curiously definite; for we have seen that in his sixth\nchapter he states that \u201cfrom the birth of man to the extinction of his\nrace, the Solar System to which he belongs will have described but an\ninfinitesimal arc in that grand cosmical orbit in which it is destined\nto move.\u201d Without pausing to ask who told him this, let us intimate,\nthat in his final chapter he says that the scientific truths on which\ndepends the plurality of worlds are intimately associated with the\nfuture destiny of man: he turns to the future of the sidereal systems,\nas the hallowed spots in which is to be spent his immortal existence.\nScripture has not spoken articulately of the future locality of the\nblest; but Reason has combined the scattered utterances of Inspiration,\nand with an almost oracular voice declared that the Maker of the worlds\nwill place _in these_ the beings of his choice. In what region, reason\ndoes not determine; but it is _impossible_ for man, with the light of\nRevelation as his guide, to doubt for a moment that on the celestial\nspheres his future is to be spent in lofty inquiries; social\nintercourse; the renewal of domestic ties; and in the service of his\nAlmighty benefactor. The Christian\u2019s future, not defined in his creed,\nenwrapt in apocalyptic mysteries, evades his grasp: it is only Astronomy\nthat opens the mysterious expanse of the Universe to his eye, and\ncreates an intelligible paradise in the world to come: wherefore, says\nSir David, we must impregnate the popular mind with the truths of\nnatural science; teaching them in every school, and recommending, if not\nillustrating, them from every pulpit: fixing in the minds and\nassociating in the affections, alike of age and youth, the great truths\nin the planetary and sidereal universe, on which the doctrine of More\nWorlds than One must respectively rest\u2014the philosopher scanning with a\nnew sense the sphere in which he is to study; and the Christian the\ntemples in which he is to worship.\u2014Such, in his own words, is Sir David\nBrewster\u2019s final and authoritative exposition of the CREED of the\nphilosopher, and the HOPE of the Christian:\u2014of such a nature are to be\nthe _new heavens and the new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness_; and\nsuch, henceforth, as he has indicated, becomes the duty of the Christian\nteacher in the Family, in the School, in the Pulpit! So absolutely and\nirrefragably, it seems, are demonstrated the stupendous facts of\nastronomical science on which this Creed and this Faith depend: so\nunerring are our telescopes and other instruments, that he who does not\nreceive this \u201cCreed\u201d is no philosopher, nor he who rejects the \u201cHope\u201d a\nChristian. But, in the mean time, how inconceivably embarrassing to such\na philosopher, and to such a Christian, is the possibility that many, or\na few years hence, such immense improvements may be made in telescopes,\nor in other modes of acquiring a knowledge of the celestial structures,\nas to demonstrate to the sense, as well as reason, of us impatient and\npresumptuous tenants of the earth, that the planets are _not_ inhabited!\nthat the fixed stars are not suns, and have not a planet a piece\u2014no, not\neven a solitary planet among them! Thus rendering our astounded and\ndismayed philosopher homeless and creedless, and the Christian helpless\nand hopeless:\u2014the former one of those who _professing themselves to be\nwise become fools_;[124] the latter, _likened unto a foolish man which\nbuilt his house upon the sand_.[125]\n\nThe \u201c_Future_\u201d of the Essayist is of a different kind, and adumbrated\nwith becoming humility and diffidence. \u201cI did not,\u201d he says, \u201cventure\nfurther than to intimate, that when we are taught, that _as we have\nborne the image of the Earthy, we shall also bear the image of the\nHeavenly_, we may find, in even natural science, reasons for opening our\nminds to the reception of the cheering and elevating announcement.\u201d[126]\n\nWe have now placed before our readers the substance of the arguments for\nand against a plurality of worlds, so far as developed in the essays of\nDr Whewell and Sir David Brewster. The former is a work so replete with\nsubtle thought, bold speculation, and knowledge of almost every kind,\nused with extraordinary force and dexterity, as to challenge the patient\nand watchful attention of the most thoughtful reader; and that whether\nhe be, or be not, versed in astronomical speculations. Great as are the\npower and resources of the author, we detect no trace of dogmatism or\narrogance, but, on the contrary, a true spirit of fearless, but patient\nand candid, inquiry. It is a mighty problem of which he proposes a\nsolution, and he does no more than propose it: in his Preface declaring\nthat, to himself at least, his arguments \u201cappear to be of no small\nphilosophical force, though he is quite ready to weigh carefully and\ncandidly any answer which may be offered to them.\u201d\n\nWe feel grateful to the accomplished Essayist for the storehouse of\nauthentic facts, and the novel combination of inferences from them, with\nwhich he has presented us; and we are not aware that he has given us\njust reason to regret confiding in his correctness or candour. And in\ntravelling with him through his vast and chequered course, we feel that\nwe have accompanied not only the philosopher and the divine, but the\ngentleman: one who, while manifestly knowing what is due to himself, as\nmanifestly respects his intelligent reader. In several of his\nastronomical assumptions and inferences we may be unable to concur,\nparticularly in respect of the nebulous stars. We may also well falter\nat expressing a decisive \u201cAye\u201d or \u201cNo,\u201d to the great question proposed\nby him for discussion, on scientific grounds, and independently of\nScriptural Revelation; yet we acknowledge that he has sensibly shaken\nour opinion as to the validity of the reasons usually assigned for\nbelieving in a plurality of worlds. He remorselessly ties us down to\nEVIDENCE, as he ought to do; and all the more rigorously, because the\naffirmative conclusion, at which many heedless persons are disposed to\njump, is one which, if well founded, occasions religious difficulties of\na grave character among the profoundest and perhaps even devoutest\nthinkers. To suppose that Omnipotence may not have peopled already, or\ncontemplate a future peopling of the starry spheres with intelligent\nbeings, of as different a kind and order as it is possible for our\nlimited faculties to conceive, yet in some way involved in physical\nconditions, altogether inexplicable to us, would be the acme of impious\npresumption. When we look at Sirius, in his solitary splendour in the\nmidnight sky, pouring forth _possibly_ fifty times the light and heat of\nour sun, upon a prodigiously greater planetary system than our own, it\nis natural to conjecture whether, among many other _possibilities_, it\nmay be the seat of intelligence, perhaps of a transcendent character.\nHere the imagination may disport itself as it pleases: yet we shall feel\nourselves compelled\u2014those who can _think_ about the matter\u2014to own, that\nour imaginations are, as it were, \u201ccabined, cribbed, confined,\u201d by the\nobjects and associations to which we are at present restricted; and as\nthe late eminent Prussian astronomer, Bessel, observed, those who\nimagine inhabitants in the moon and planets, \u201csupposed them, in spite of\nall their protestations, as like to _men_, as one egg to another.\u201d But\nwhen we proceed further, and insist on likening these supposed\ninhabitants to ourselves, intellectually and morally, then it is that\nboth philosophy and religion concur in rebuking us, and enjoining a\nreverent diffidence. We have probably read as much on these subjects as\nmany of our readers, and that with deep interest and attention; but we\nnever met with so cogent a demonstration as is contained in this Essay,\nof the theological difficulties besetting the popular doctrine of a\nplurality of worlds. Had God vouchsafed to tell us that it was so, there\nwould have been an end of the matter, and with it all difficulty would\nhave disappeared, to one whose whole life, as the Christian\u2019s ought to\nbe, is one continued act of faith; but God has thought fit to preserve\nan awful silence concerning his dealings with other scenes of physical\nexistence: while He has as distinctly revealed that of spiritual beings\nwhose functions are vitally connected with man, as he exists upon the\nearth, the subject of a sublime economy, which, we are assured by\nInspiration, that _the angels desire to look into_. The Christian\nimplicitly believes that there IS a HEAVEN, where the presence of the\nadorable Deity constitutes happiness, to the most exalted of His\nministers and servants, perfect and ineffable: happiness in which He has\nsolemnly assured us that we may hereafter participate: _for since the\nbeginning of the world, men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear,\nneither hath the eye seen, O God, beside Thee, what He hath prepared for\nhim that waiteth for Him_.[127] This, our Maker has told us; he has not\ntold us the other, nor anything about it: no, not when He visited the\nearth, unless we can dimly see such a significance in the words, \u201cIn my\nFather\u2019s house (\u03bf\u1f30\u03ba\u03af\u1fb3) are many _mansions_ (\u03bc\u03bf\u03bd\u03b1\u03b9): if it were not so, I\nwould have told you. I go to prepare a place (\u03c4\u03cc\u03c0\u03bf\u03bd) for you.\u201d The word\n\u03bc\u03bf\u03bd\u03b7 is used twice in the New Testament, and in the same chapter:[128]\nin the verse already quoted, and in the 23d\u2014\u201cIf a man love me, he will\nkeep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him,\nand make our abode (\u03bc\u03bf\u03bd\u1f74\u03bd) with him.\u201d Here are the three words in the\nsame verse, \u03bf\u1f30\u03ba\u03b9\u03b1, \u03bc\u03bf\u03bd\u03b7, \u03c4\u03bf\u03c0\u03bf\u03c2. In my Father\u2019s house there are \u03bc\u03bf\u03bd\u03b1\u1f76\n\u03c0\u03bf\u03bb\u03bb\u03b1\u1f76, many places of _abode_. Heaven is the \u03bf\u03b9\u03ba\u03b9\u03b1, our common place,\nand it has many subdivisions, room enough for angels, as well as for the\nspirits of just men made perfect. It is possibly an allusion to the\ntemple, God\u2019s earthly house, which had many chambers in it. But who\nshall require us to believe that this \u03bc\u03bf\u03bd\u03b7, was a star, or planet? It\nmay be so, it may not; there can be no sin in a devout mind conjecturing\non the subject; but the Essayist does not meddle with these solemn\ntopics: confining himself to the physical reasons for conjecturing, with\nmore or less probability, that the stars are habitations for human\nbeings. We take our leave of him with a quotation from his Dialogue,\ncouched in grave and dignified terms:\u2014\n\n\n  \u201c_U._ But your arguments are merely negative. You prove only that we\n  do not know the planets to be inhabited.\n\n  \u201c_Z._ If, when I have proved that point, men were to cease to talk as\n  if they knew that the planets _are_ inhabited, I should have produced\n  a great effect.\n\n  \u201c_U._ Your basis is too narrow for so vast a superstructure, as that\n  all the rest of the universe, besides the earth, is uninhabited.\n\n  \u201c_Z._ Perhaps; for my philosophical basis is only the earth\u2014the only\n  known habitation. But on this same narrow basis, the earth, you build\n  up a superstructure that other bodies ARE inhabited. What I do is, to\n  show that each part of your structure is void of tenacity, and cannot\n  stand.\n\n  \u201cIt is probable that when we have reduced to their real value all the\n  presumptions drawn from physical reasoning, for the opinion of planets\n  and stars being either inhabited, or uninhabited, the face of these\n  will be perceived to be so small, that _the belief of all thoughtful\n  persons on this subject will be determined by moral, metaphysical, and\n  theological consideration_.\u201d[129]\n\n\n\u201cMore Worlds than One\u201d will not, we are constrained to say, in our\nopinion, add to the well-earned reputation of Sir David Brewster. It is\na hasty and slight performance, entirely of a popular character; and\ndisfigured throughout, not only by an overweening confidence and\nperemptoriness of assertion, but by tinges of personality and outbursts\nof heat that are indeed strange disturbing forces in a philosophical\ndiscussion. Dr Whewell\u2019s Essay is a work requiring, in a worthy answer,\ngreat consideration; and we do not think that \u201cMore Worlds than One\u201d\nevidences a tithe of such consideration. Nor does Sir David show a\nproper respect for his opponent; nor has he taken a proper measure of\nhis formidable proportions as a logical and scientific disputant, one\nwho should be answered in a cold and exact spirit; or it were much\nbetter to leave him alone. Sir David must forgive us if we quote a\nsentence or two from devout old John Wesley, a man who had several\npoints of greatness in him:\u2014\n\n\n  \u201cBe not so _positive_, especially with regard to things which are\n  neither easy, nor necessary to be determined. When I was young, I was\n  _sure_ of everything. In a few years, having been mistaken a thousand\n  times, I was not half so sure of most things as before. At present, I\n  am hardly sure of anything, but what God has revealed to me!... Upon\n  the whole, an ingenious man may easily flourish on this head. How much\n  more glorious is it for the great God to have created innumerable\n  worlds than this little globe only!... Do you ask, then, what is This\n  Spot to the great God? Why, as much as millions of systems. GREAT and\n  LITTLE have place with regard to us; but before Him, they vanish\n  away!\u201d[130]\n\n\nFontenelle has much to answer for, if we may judge from what has been\nsaid concerning the extent and nature of the influence he has exercised\non thoughtless minds. That flippant but brilliant trifler, Horace\nWalpole, for instance, declared that the reading Fontenelle had made him\na sceptic! He maintained, on the supposition of a plurality of worlds,\nthe impossibility of any revelation! That the reception of this opinion\nwas sufficient, with him, to destroy the credibility of all\nrevelation![131] This ground he has, if this report be true, the honour\nof occupying with Thomas Paine.\n\nLet us, however, think and speak and act differently, remembering\nfearfully, how often _the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God_.\nIs it, indeed, consistent with even mere worldly wisdom, on the ground\nof an assumption with regard to inhabited planets, to reject a belief\nfounded on direct and positive proofs, such as is the belief in the\ntruths of Natural and Revealed Religion?\n\n\n  \u201cNewton,\u201d says Dr Chalmers, in his discourse on the Modesty of True\n  Science, \u201cknew the boundary which hemmed him. He knew that he had not\n  thrown one particle of light on the moral or religious history of\n  these planetary regions. He had not ascertained what visits of\n  communication they received from the God who upholds them. But he knew\n  that the fact of a Real Visit to THIS PLANET had such evidence to rest\n  upon that it was not to be disposted by any aerial imagination.\u201d Let\n  this noble and devout spirit be in us: both Faith and Reason assuring\n  us, that we stand, in Scriptural Truth, safe and immovable, like _a\n  wise man, which built his house upon a rock_.[132]\n\n\n\n\n                   KING OTHO AND HIS CLASSIC KINGDOM.\n\n\nThe actual condition of Greece is a disgrace to the political\ncivilisation of Europe. There is hope for the Othoman Empire, for the\nTurks are sensible that they have much to learn; but for the kingdom of\nGreece there is no hope, unless the modern Hellenes lay aside the\nself-conceit which induces them to boast of their superior orthodoxy\nwhen the question relates to their practical ignorance. Englishmen and\nRussians, despots and demagogues, princes and people, Europeans and\nAmericans, all agree in pronouncing King Otho\u2019s kingdom a satire on\nmonarchical institutions, constitutional legislation, and central\nadministration. The valour and patriotism displayed by the Albanians of\nSuli and Hydra, and by the Greeks of Messolonghi and Psara, were the\ntheme of well-merited praise, and were rewarded by liberal gifts of\nmoney and other supplies from the friends of Greece in Germany,\nSwitzerland, France, England, and the United States of America. Greece\nhas great obligations to the people of Western Europe, whom she now\nstigmatises as hostile Latins. It was the voice of the people that moved\nthe Cabinet of London to take the initiative in the negotiations which\ncaused the battle of Navarino, and conferred on Greece the rank of an\nindependent kingdom by the treaty of 1832.\n\nNo political experiment during the present century\u2014fruitful as the\nperiod has been in producing new States\u2014excited higher expectations or\nwarmer wishes for its success. Twenty-two years have now elapsed since\nGreece became a kingdom under the sceptre of Prince Otho of Bavaria. He\nwas then a minor, and he was selected to fill the new throne more for\nhis father\u2019s merits than from any promise of superior talent in his own\nperson. King Louis of Bavaria loved art, and his want of political\ncapacity and military power removed any feelings of jealousy on the part\nof the greater powers in Europe to the addition thus made to the dignity\nof the house of Wittelsbach. King Otho was known to be a youth of very\nmoderate attainments; but his natural deficiencies being fortunately\nunited to an amiable disposition, it was expected that he would prove a\ndocile monarch, and listen to good counsellors. It has proved otherwise.\nHis limited capacity has not been more remarkable than his obstinacy and\nperverseness in following a line of policy which has inflicted serious\ninjury on Greece. Notwithstanding a natural love of justice, and a good\nmoral character, his misgovernment has degenerated into corruption,\nthough it has not assumed a character of systematic tyranny. On the\nwhole, his incapacity to perform the duties of his station, and his\nsilly eagerness to assume the appearance of being a despotic sovereign,\nwhile he was unable to make any use of the greater part of the\nprerogatives willingly conceded to him by his subjects, have made him a\nvery apt regal type of the anarchical and rapacious nation he rules. The\nresult is, that the hopes of ardent Philhellenes, the expectations of\nenthusiastic scholars, and the wishes of cautious statesmen, have all\nbeen utterly disappointed by the government of King Otho. More than\nthis, while the King of Greece has shown himself a bad monarch, the\nGreeks have displayed extreme ignorance in all their attempts to supply\nhis deficiencies. Instead of suggesting better principles for his\nguidance, they have become the steady supporters of his system whenever\nhe condescended to purchase their support by places and pensions. It\nseems as if the Bavarian monarchy had infused a morbid lethargy into\nRomaic society, so rapidly has the central administration of Athens\nquenched the fervour of patriotism throughout liberated Greece. The\nAlbanian population has lost its valour and perseverance; the Greek has\nsunk back into that normal condition of rapacious imbecility which has\ncharacterised the Hellenic race ever since the time of Mummius.\n\nThe revolution which freed Greece from the Turkish yoke broke out early\nin the year 1821, so that the inhabitants of the kingdom have now\nenjoyed the advantages of political independence for thirty-three years.\nA generation has grown up to manhood in possession of a greater degree\nof freedom than is possessed by most of the continental nations of\nEurope. Municipal institutions existed, to some extent, under the Turks,\nand they acquired considerable importance during the revolutionary war.\nThe fullest exercise of the liberty of the press has prevailed ever\nsince the first year of the revolution. Nor has this liberty been\ngreatly abused, though it has often been misused\u2014a circumstance not to\nbe wondered at in a country so torn by faction as Greece has been ever\nsince she commenced her struggle for independence. This fact must be\nweighed against the many vices and corruptions of the Greeks which it\nwill be our task to notice, for it affords decisive evidence that there\nstill exists among the mass of the population a sound basis of public\nopinion.\n\nThe establishment of free and orthodox Greece as an independent State,\nunder the protection of Great Britain, France, and Russia, was a\nconception of George Canning\u2019s genius, and it received the sanction of\nthe Duke of Wellington. After Canning\u2019s death, his enemies made it a\nsubject of reproach. It is said that, when his statue was erected in\nPalace Yard, a royal duke, walking beside it with the late Lord Eldon,\nbegan to pour out a diatribe of harmless accusations against the\nhonoured dead, which he summed up, saying, \u201cHe caused the battle of\nNavarin, Eldon, and he was not nearly so big as that statue;\u201d to which\nthe great Lord Chancellor, whose patience had been long tried, expanded\nhis bushy eyebrows, and exclaimed, \u201cNo, truly\u2014nor so green:\u201d the statue\nbeing then, as some of our readers may remember, more remarkable for the\nverdant colour of its patent verdigris than for its size. Whether the\nbattle of Navarin was absolutely necessary to save Greece from Ibrahim\nPasha and his Arabs, may still admit of dispute; but unquestionably it\nwas the battle of Navarin which did save Greece. When, however, the\nbusiness of selecting a king, and of organising the institutions of a\ncentral administration on monarchical principles came to be performed,\nthe genius of Canning was represented by the torpor of Aberdeen, and the\nsagacity of Wellington by the belligerent amenity of Palmerston.\n\nThe Russian sympathies of Capodistrias succeeded in delaying the final\nsettlement of the Greek question, with the hope of placing Greece in a\nstate of vassalage to the Czar. Lord Aberdeen combated the policy of the\nCorfiote feebly and unsuccessfully. He barely succeeded in preventing\nthe execution of the Russian schemes, when the dagger of Mavromichalis\nopened the way for making Greece an independent kingdom by the\nassassination of Capodistrias.\n\nThe only candidate worthy of the throne of Greece was Leopold of\nSaxe-Cobourg, the present King of Belgium. He was compelled to resign\nhis pretensions on account of the mutilated form of the territory\noffered to him by Lord Aberdeen and the Duke of Wellington. Lord\nPalmerston improved the territorial position of Greece by giving it a\nbetter frontier than Lord Aberdeen, but it remained still a very bad\none, as Colonel Leake pointed out at the time. In 1832, moreover, Lord\nPalmerston administered his antidote to an improved frontier, in the\nshape of a Bavarian prince, whom, for some years, he supported with his\nusual vigour and contempt of consequences. King Otho being a minor, a\nregency accompanied him from Bavaria to Greece in 1833, to govern in his\nname. This regency consisted of three statesmen of purblind views\u2014men of\nthe limited political intelligence which distinguishes the artistic city\nof Munich. Yet Lord Palmerston, in concert with the other protecting\npowers, consented to strangle the Greek Chambers, in order to vest\nunlimited power in the hands of these Bavarian regents. Count Armansperg\nwas chosen to do the honours, M. Maurer was intrusted with the duty of\norganising the civil administration, and General Heideck was allowed to\nsketch uniforms for the Greek army, and instructed to paint pictures for\nthe cabinet of King Louis. These three statesmen soon quarrelled among\nthemselves, and, with Teutonic _bonhomie_, called in the Greeks as\nspectators of their contests. The foreign policy of the regency was\nquite as ill-judged as their domestic behaviour. M. Maurer, who got the\nupper hand for a year, was ultra-Gallican; Count Armansperg, who at last\nsucceeded in getting him shipped off to Bavaria, was ultra-Anglican. The\nfollies of the regency, however, did not prevent the three protecting\npowers from heaping benefits on the Greek nation. A large loan,\namounting to two million four hundred thousand pounds, was placed at the\ndisposal of the Royal government. The object which the protectors of\nGreece had in view, was to remove any difficulties which the finances of\nGreece might have offered to a reform in the general system of taxation,\nand at the same time to afford facilities for immediately commencing the\nconstruction of roads, and other necessary improvements. The Greek\ntreasury was rendered completely independent of the receipts of the\nannual revenues for the period necessary to effect a thorough\nreorganisation of every branch of the public service, civil, military,\nnaval, and judicial. Greece had everything done for her which her\nfriends could desire. But the Greeks, instead of employing their\nenergies, and making use of the liberty of the press to restrain the\nBavarians from wasting the loan, aided them to dissipate it in every way\nby which they could profit. The whole force of public opinion, it is\ntrue, was employed in driving the Bavarians from profitable employments;\nbut when success attended the clamours of the Greeks, instead of\nabolishing the offices which they had previously declared to be useless,\nthey installed themselves in the vacant places, and employed the\ninfluence thus acquired to diminish even the scanty sum devoted to\nnational improvements by the Bavarians. Accordingly, we find that the\nBavarians did as much for improving Greece during their short period of\npower, as the Greeks during their long subsequent administration. Yet\nevery traveller hears the Greeks constantly declaring that all the evils\nin the country are caused by foreign interference. The only truth in\ntheir observation is, that they were and are utterly unfit to be trusted\nwith the administration of any money beyond what they levy on themselves\nin the way of taxation. Nothing, indeed, shows the moral obliquity of\nthe Greeks more than the ingratitude with which they receive every\npublic and private gift.\n\nWe consider _that_ ingratitude a sufficient excuse for recapitulating\nsome of the favours which the British Government has conferred on them\nsince Otho the beloved ascended the Hellenic throne. Nothing but the\nblindest self-conceit, or the blackest ingratitude, can prevent their\nacknowledging that the English Cabinet has done infinitely more for\nadvancing the commercial prosperity and extending the agricultural\nindustry of Greece, than King Otho\u2019s ministers or the Greek Chambers.\nThe personal interest which several members of our Government took in\nthe success of the kingdom they had contributed to found, induced them\nto conclude a reciprocity treaty with the King\u2019s government at an early\nperiod. To the same feeling we may ascribe the early repeal of the duty\non currants imported into the British dominions from the Greek kingdom.\nThis change of duty, by placing the currants, a most important product\nof the Morea, on the same footing as those of Zante, was a direct boon\nto the currant-growers of Achaia, a bounty on the cultivation of fruit\nin the Greek kingdom, a premium to commerce at Patras, and a\nconsiderable gift to King Otho\u2019s treasury. Lord Palmerston was Foreign\nSecretary during these changes, and we therefore request the public\nwriters at Athens, when they think fit to reproach him for quarrelling\nwith their beloved monarch, whom they believe is ever ready to sacrifice\nhis throne for their orthodoxy, to bear in mind that these measures have\ndone more for the agricultural and commercial prosperity of Greece, than\nany which King Otho or the Greek Chambers have adopted since they freed\nthemselves from foreign domination.\n\nFor nearly five years\u2014that is, from the beginning of 1833 to the end of\n1837\u2014the Bavarians continued to waste the loan granted by the three\npowers, partly in large salaries to themselves, and partly in creating\nplaces and jobs for the Greeks, to induce the most influential and\nclamorous to consent to their mode of dissipating the public money.\nNotwithstanding this, there can be no doubt that Greece received some\npermanent benefit from the regency. The Greeks were not in a condition\nto establish an equitable system of laws. M. Maurer endowed the country\nwith this invaluable boon. To him Greece owes its excellent judicial\norganisation, and its code of civil procedure. Whatever were the defects\nof M. Maurer as a statesman, he was an able legislator, practically\nconversant with every detail of legal administration. The judicial\nsystem he planted in Greece was so complete in all its parts, that it\nhas become an element in the political civilisation of the kingdom; and\nit affords the strongest grounds of hope to those who look forward to\nthe Greek nation as the instrument for extending political civilisation\nin the East. Count Armansperg governed Greece much longer than M.\nMaurer, but his improvements were not so beneficial. He made court balls\nand political bribery national institutions.\n\nDuring the whole of the Bavarian domination, a well-filled treasury, a\nnumber of foreign officers and native councillors of state, political\nsycophants, dressed in handsome uniforms and speaking good French, a\nhired press, and a liberal distribution of King Otho\u2019s Order of the\nRedeemer of Greece, with its ribbon and star, to foreign diplomatists\nand English peers, concealed from Western Europe the discontent, civil\nwars, and brigandage that fermented in the little kingdom. The bands of\nrobbers that infested Greece during this period became so numerous as to\ngive their system of plunder the character of a civil war. In the year\n1835, during the administration of Count Armansperg, a body of about 500\nbrigands remained for more than a month levying contributions under the\nwalls of Lepanto, in which it kept the garrison blockaded until relieved\nby a general from Athens with a strong detachment of Bavarian and Greek\nregular troops. These armed bands repeatedly resisted the central\ngovernment, which drew all the money of the country to the capital\nwithout making any improvements in the provinces. Several foreign\nofficers were charged with the task of re-establishing order. Generals\nSchmaltz, Gordon, and Church, each made a campaign against the brigands,\nwho rendered Messenia, Etolia, Acarnania, Doris, and Phthiotis in turns\nthe scene of their skirmishes with King Otho\u2019s troops. Besides this\nextensive system of brigandage, a regular civil war was caused in Maina\nby the same central rapacity and want of judgment on the part of the\nRegency. In Maina, the Bavarian troops were defeated, and a considerable\nnumber were compelled to lay down their arms.\n\nDuring the whole of the Bavarian domination, the Greeks enjoyed the\nliberty of the press. M. Maurer placed the newspapers under some\nreasonable restraints, and Count Armansperg made one or two feeble\ndemonstrations against them, for he was timid in everything but emptying\nthe Greek treasury. His attacks were easily repulsed, and the Greeks\nhave the honour of retaining the liberty of the press by their own\nexertions, though they have hitherto not rendered the privilege of much\nuse to the nation. At length, in the month of December 1837, the\nChevalier Rudhart, the last Bavarian prime-minister, resigned his\noffice, and from that time King Otho has governed his kingdom with Greek\nor Albanian prime-ministers. This office has been more than once held by\nmen who could hardly read or write; but the individuals have invariably\nbeen persons of some mark in the factions that divide the place-hunters\nof Athens. The ignorance and want of education of his ministers, which\nis often made a reproach to King Otho, ought to be considered as a\nnational disgrace, for the court would never have selected men so\ndestitute of administrative knowledge, had they not possessed\nconsiderable influence and a numerous following.\n\nEver since the commencement of the year 1838, the Greeks have possessed\na predominant influence in King Otho\u2019s cabinet. They are entirely\nresponsible for the faults of his government from that time; for if the\nGreek ministers had used their power with a very little honesty, and one\nsingle grain of patriotism, they might have retained the direction of\nthe internal administration in their own hands, and effected every\nimprovement the nation could desire. Indeed, if they had ever shown a\nwish to improve the material condition of the population, it is probable\nKing Otho would have given them his support in their endeavours. But\nwhen the King saw them intent only on profiting by office to enrich\nthemselves and create places for their partisans, in order to perpetuate\ntheir tenure of office, he very naturally looked about for means to form\na royal party, and thus render the court independent of the ministers.\nWe shall soon explain to our readers how effectually his Hellenic\nMajesty accomplished this object. The Greek ministers never made any\nserious effort to diminish the weight of taxation, either by economy or\nby improving the barbarous manner in which the agricultural taxes are\ncollected; they thought only of appropriating the national lands, and\ncreating new places to reward their supporters. Instead of establishing\nsystematic regulations for securing a respect to seniority and merit in\ncivil, judicial, and military appointments, they destroyed the system\nthe Bavarians had established, and disposed of the highest offices in\nthe most arbitrary and unprincipled manner. Judges have been appointed\nin violation of the law, and men have been made generals who had never\nserved in a military capacity. Worthless politicians and intriguing\nsecretaries were decorated with military titles in order to enrich them\nwith high pay. These men may be seen at the balls in King Otho\u2019s palace,\nflaunting in vulgar embroidery, and imitating with Greek pertness the\nsumptuous Albanian dress and Mussulman gravity of the chiefs who filled\nthe halls of Ali Pasha of Joannina. The Greeks alone have enjoyed the\nprofits of the corruption which has reigned in the administration since\nthe year 1838; they are consequently not entitled to throw the blame on\nforeigners.\n\nIn consequence of the misconduct of the Greek ministers and the\nservility of a council of state filled with official sycophants, the\nGreek government became such a scene of corruption that the patience of\nall ranks was exhausted, and an attempt was made to reform the vicious\nsystem by a revolution in the year 1843. A representative chamber and an\nimitation of Louis Philippe\u2019s senate of officials, called in France a\nHouse of Peers, were constituted. The deputies were chosen by universal\nsuffrage, but the election of the municipal authorities was left subject\nto the oligarchical restrictions imposed by the Regency. Ten years have\nnow elapsed since the constitutional system was established, so that for\nten years the Greeks have made their own laws and voted their own\nbudgets. At the same time, the enjoyment of the fullest liberty of the\npress, and the existence of sixteen newspapers at Athens, have enabled\nevery party and class to criticise the acts of the government with\nunrestrained license. If corruption and venality have been the leading\nfeatures of political society in Greece during this period, it is\nevident that the nation has been a party to the abuses, from its refusal\nto punish the offenders. The mass of those whose superior knowledge and\nrank have obtained for them the direction of public opinion in political\nmatters, have sacrificed the interests of the nation to advance their\nown personal schemes of profit. The Greeks ought not to feel surprised\nat the low estimation in which they are now held. It is entirely their\nown fault. They have hawked about their nationality at Munich, Paris,\nand St Petersburg, for illicit gains in a falling market at a very\nunpatriotic price.\n\nYet we collect from the newspapers published at Athens, that a\nconsiderable number of well-educated men of all parties, while they\nacknowledge the degraded state of their country, assert that the whole\nblame ought to be ascribed to the three protecting powers. Many of these\npatriots, it seems, are nevertheless in the receipt of large salaries\nfrom the public treasury; yet, though they feel that they are themselves\ndestitute of the patriotism necessary to lighten the burdens of their\ncountry, they take the liberty of supposing that Lord Palmerston had the\npower of making all Greeks honest men by the magic of a protocol. We are\nnot going to waste the time of our readers, as the Greek Senate and\nHouse of Representatives have wasted the resources of the country, by\nexposing the childishness of modern Greek political logic. If the\ndescendants of Lucian\u2019s contemporaries can find relief in their present\ndegradation, by swallowing any dose of vanity they can mix for\nthemselves, we have no wish to deprive them of the solace. But we cannot\nrefrain from advising them to try some other remedy to remove the evils\nthat are undermining the national strength and character. Instead of\nseeking for apologies to excuse their vices, they had better commence\nreforming their vicious habits.\n\nNothing has so much retarded the progress of the Greek race as the\ninconceivable vanity and unbounded presumption of the class who make\nletters a profession. Those who believe in the unmixed purity of the\nHellenic blood might cite this besotted pride, after two thousand years\nof national degradation, as a proof that the Greeks of the present day\nare lineal descendants of those who sold their country to the\nMacedonians and the Romans, as they have lately attempted to sell it to\nthe Russians. An admixture of foreign blood would probably have infused\ninto the people a wish to look forward to a glorious future, instead of\nleaving them to gaze at a reflection of the past, distorted by their own\nsenile visual orbits, at moments when action, not contemplation, is\ntheir business.\n\nThe strange manner in which the modern Greeks misrepresent history for\nthe gratification of their national vanity, is well displayed in their\necclesiastical history. We will select one anecdote from the _History of\nthe Patriarchs of Constantinople_, written by Malaxos, one of the Greek\n_logiotat\u1ecdi_ of the sixteenth century. His work was first published by\nMartin Crusius in his _Turco-Gr\u00e6cia_, and has lately been reprinted in\nthe new edition of the Byzantine historians, in the course of\npublication at Bonn.\n\nThe Greeks are in the habit of boasting that their Church preserved\ntheir nationality under the Turks. Considering the subserviency of the\ngreat body of the Greek clergy during that period, and the readiness\nwith which they acted as spies and policemen for the Othoman government,\nwe own that we entertain a very different opinion. We think it would be\nnearer the truth to assert that the people, having perpetuated their\nexistence by the toleration of their conquerors, preserved their\nnationality by their municipal organisation, and that this preservation\nof their nationality was the cause of their ecclesiastical establishment\nsurviving. Mohammed II. reconstituted the patriarchate of\nConstantinople, after he had conquered the city, merely as a branch of\nthe Othoman administration. Mr Masson and other enthusiasts fancy they\ncan discern Presbyterian doctrines in the Greek Church. It may be the\ncase. We have heard that chemists find gold in strawberries; but the\ngold rarely sits heavy on the stomachs of those who eat strawberries,\nand we opine that the Presbyterian doctrines of the Greek Church never\nprevent its votaries from worshipping images. So, in the anecdote we are\ngoing to extract from the Patriarchal History, we find that the Greeks\nregard violations of truth and honour as venial offences, if not\nabsolutely meritorious acts, whenever they are supposed to have turned\nto the profit of their ecclesiastical establishment.\n\n\u201cDuring the reign of the Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, when Toulphi\nPasha was grand vizier,[133] the attention of the Sublime Porte was\ncalled to the circumstance that the duty of the caliph of the Mohammedan\nfaith required the destruction of all places of worship belonging to\nInfidels in every city which the true believers had taken with the\nsword. Now, as Mohammed II. had taken Constantinople by storm, it was\nthe sultan\u2019s duty to destroy all the Christian churches within the\nwalls; and all the plagues and fires which had desolated the city, and\nwhich, it was observed, generally consumed more Turkish than Greek\nproperty, evidently arose from the Divine anger at the neglect of this\nimportant command of the Prophet. Sultan Suleiman was said to have\nconsulted the mufti on the necessity of only tolerating places of\nworship for the Christians without the walls; and it was believed that\nthe mufti had delivered a fetva, authorising the destruction of all the\nGreek churches in Constantinople. Sultan Suleiman then issued an order\nto his grand vizier, commanding him to carry the fetva into execution.\nAt this time Jeremiah was patriarch of Constantinople.\n\n\u201cThe patriarch heard the report, and, terrified at the news, mounted his\nmule, and hastened to the palace of the grand vizier, who received him\nwith kindness. The two dignitaries discussed the matter of the sultan\u2019s\norder, and concerted together a mode of evading its execution. A meeting\nof the divan was held, at which the grand vizier made a public\ncommunication of the imperial decree to the patriarch Jeremiah. But the\nhead of the Greek Church gravely observed, that the circumstances of the\nmufti\u2019s fetva were not applicable to the city of Constantinople. He\ndeclared that before Mohammed II. entered Constantinople, the Emperor\nConstantine, finding the place no longer tenable, had gone out of the\ncity and presented the keys to the Sultan, who had admitted him to do\nhomage as a subject for himself and the Greek people, before the gates\nwere thrown open to admit the conqueror. On this ground he pleaded that\nall the concessions made by Mohammed II. to the patriarchs and to the\nGreek Church were lawful. Well might all the members of the divan wonder\nat this strange tale concerning the conquest of Constantinople. But many\nhad received large presents from the patriarch, and many waited to hear\nthe opinion of the grand vizier before pretending to doubt its accuracy.\nThe grand vizier declared that the question was so important that it\nwould be proper to adjourn the business to a grand divan on the\nfollowing day.\n\n\u201cThe report having spread among the whole population of Constantinople,\nthat the Government intended to destroy all the Christian churches,\nevery class of society was in movement. Long before the meeting of the\ndivan, crowds of Turks, Greeks, Armenians, and Jews assembled at the\nPorte to hear the result of the deliberation. The whole space from the\ngate of the serai to the court of St Sophia\u2019s was filled with the\nmultitude. The Patriarch Jeremiah was waiting to be admitted to the\ndivan, and soon after the members had taken their places he was summoned\nto enter. When he reached the centre of the hall, he made his\nprostrations to the assembled viziers, and then, standing erect,\ndeclared himself ready to answer for his church. All admired the dignity\nof his presence. His white beard descended on his breast, and the sweat\nfell in large drops from his forehead. The Greeks declared that he\nemulated the passion of Christ, of whose orthodox church he was the\nrepresentative on earth. The archonts of the Greek nation stood\ntrembling beside him.\n\n\u201cAt length the grand vizier spoke. \u2018Patriarch of the Greeks, a fetva of\nour law has been delivered, and an order of the padishah has been\nissued, prohibiting the existence of any church in the cities which the\ntrue believers have conquered sword in hand. This city was taken by\nstorm by the great Sultan Mohammed the conqueror. Therefore, let your\npriests remove all their property from the churches in their possession,\nand, after shutting them up, deliver the keys to our master\u2019s officers,\nthat the churches may be destroyed.\u2019 To this summons the patriarch\nreplied in a distinct voice, \u2018I cannot answer, O grand vizier! for what\nhappened in other cities; but with regard to this city of Constantinople\nI can solemnly affirm that the Emperor Constantine Palaiologos, with the\nnobles, the clergy, and the people, surrendered it voluntarily to the\nSultan Mohammed.\u2019 The grand vizier cautioned the patriarch not to assert\nanything which he could not prove by the testimony of Mohammedan\nwitnesses, who were able to certify the truth of what he said. The\npatriarch immediately engaged to produce witnesses, and the affair was\nadjourned for twenty days.\n\n\u201cThe Greeks were in great alarm. Everybody knew that the patriarch had\nengaged to prove a lie; so that the only hope of safety appeared to be\nin the perpetual adjournment of the question. To effect this, the\nwealthiest Greeks\u2014Phanariotes and merchants\u2014offered to supply the\npatriarch with the sums of money necessary to bribe the grand vizier and\nthe members of the divan.\n\n\u201cBut the Patriarch Jeremiah and the grand vizier Toulphi did not wish to\nadmit any strangers into the secret of their proceedings. So the\npatriarch sent men of experience to Adrianople, who met agents of the\ngrand vizier, and at last two aged Mussulmans were found who were\nwilling for a large bribe to testify that the patriarch had spoken the\ntruth. These witnesses were conducted to Constantinople, and presented\nto the Patriarch Jeremiah, who embraced them, and took care that they\nshould be well fed, lodged, clothed, and carefully watched, until they\nappeared before the divan. When they had rested from the fatigues of\ntheir journey, they were conducted to the grand vizier, who spoke kindly\nto them, told them the patriarch was his friend, and exhorted them to\ngive their evidence without fear.\n\n\u201cOn the day appointed to hear the evidence, the Patriarch Jeremiah\npresented himself before the divan. The grand vizier asked if he was\nprepared to produce the evidence he had promised, and the Patriarch\nreplied that the witnesses were waiting without to be examined.\n\n\u201cTwo aged Turks were now conducted into the hall. Their beards were\nwhite as the purest snow, red circles surrounded their eyes, from which\nthe tears fell incessantly, while their hands and feet moved with a\ncontinual tremor. The viziers gazed at them with astonishment, for two\nmen so far advanced in years had never been seen before on earth\nstanding side by side. They looked like two brothers whom death had\nforgotten. The grand vizier asked their names, and encouraged them by\nmaking some other inquiries. They replied that they were both about\neighteen years of age when Constantinople was taken by the Sultan\nMohammed the victorious. Since that time they knew that eighty-four\nyears had elapsed, and therefore they were aware that they had reached\nthe age of a hundred and two. They then gave the following account of\nthe conquest of Constantinople:\u2014\n\n\u201cThe siege was formed by land and sea, and long and bloody engagements\ntook place, but at last several breaches were made in the walls, and it\nwas evident that the place would soon be taken. Preparations were making\nfor a final assault, when the Emperor of the Greeks sent a deputation of\nhis nobles to the sultan to demand a capitulation. The sultan, wishing\nto save the city from destruction, and to spare the blood of the true\nbelievers, granted the infidels the following terms of capitulation,\nwhich the witnesses pretended to remember with accuracy, because a copy\nhad been publicly signed by the sultan and read aloud to the troops: \u2018I,\nthe Sultan Mohammed, pardon the Emperor Constantine and the Greeks, and\ngrant their petition to become my subjects, and live in peace under my\nprotection. I allow the nobles to retain their slaves and property, and\nI declare that the people shall live free from all illegal exactions,\nand that their children shall not be taken to be enrolled in the corps\nof janissaries.[134] This charter shall be binding on me and my\nsuccessors for ever.\u2019 With this charter the Greek deputation returned to\nthe emperor, who came out immediately, and falling on his knees before\nMohammed the Second, presented to him the keys of the city. The sultan\nthen raised Constantine, kissed him, and made him sit down on his right\nhand. For three days the two princes rejoiced together, and then the\nemperor led the sultan into the city.\n\n\u201cAs soon as the members of the divan heard this account of the taking of\nConstantinople from the two old men who had witnessed the events, they\ndrew up a report and transmitted it to Sultan Suleiman. The sultan,\nconvinced that everything must have happened as the old Mussulmans\ndeposed, immediately ordered that the Christians should be allowed to\nretain possession of their churches, and that no man should molest the\npatriarch of the Greeks under any pretext.\u201d\n\nNow, the whole of this tale is an absurd forgery. Moreover, the\nignorance of the Greeks who framed it is even more extraordinary than\ntheir utter disregard for truth. The accomplished sultan, Suleiman the\nMagnificent, and the learned grand vizier, Loufti Pasha, are represented\nas stupid Turks, destitute of all knowledge of the history of the\nOthoman Empire. Greek vanity is flattered by an exhibition of the way in\nwhich Romaic genius nullifies the power of the padishah, by availing\nitself of the corruption in the Turkish administration. But the\nstrangest feature in the fable is the moral obtuseness of the Hellenic\nmind, which solicits admiration for the frauds and falsehoods of their\npatriarch. The inventor of the tale had in all probability heard that\nLoufti Pasha was an Albanian by birth, but was ignorant of the fact that\nhe was a man of learning. He could not have known that, when in exile at\nDemotika, Loufti wrote a history of the Othoman Empire, which is still\npreserved. Indeed, a comparison of the flourishing state of Turkish\nliterature with the degraded condition of Greek literature in the\nsixteenth century contrasts in a singular manner with the contempt\ndisplayed by the Greeks in their illiterate records for the accomplished\nand warlike Othomans. But the Greeks have always viewed the history of\nother nations through a mist of prejudices which has bewildered\nthemselves far more than their enemies.\n\nThis anecdote presents a faithful picture of the Hellenic mind, and of\nGreek political and historical knowledge, three hundred years ago. We\nshall now endeavour to place before our readers an equally correct\npicture of their mode of thinking and acting at present.\n\nThe constitutional system of government has proved as complete a failure\nin Greece as the absolute monarchy which terminated at the revolution of\n1843. Our description of the actual condition of the country will\nexplain the particular causes which have corrupted the representative\nsystem and the central administration. The court of King Otho is really\nquite as much the predominant feature in the political condition of\nGreece as his palace is in the landscape at Athens. Both are great\ndeformities in scenes of great interest. There is a grotesque mimicry of\nroyal state at the monster palace of the little capital of liberated\nGreece. A marshal of the palace and a master of the ceremonies, a\ngrandma\u00eetresse, military and naval aides-de-camp, ordinance officers,\nladies of honour, and young ladies-in-waiting, courtiers who cannot\nwrite, and courtiers who cannot ride; court carriages in a kingdom\nwithout mail-coaches; royal steam-yachts, but no packets even with oars;\ncrosses, ribbons, and stars; salaries, places, and pensions;\u2014everything\nwhich ruins a government, and nothing which enriches a people.\n\nThe power of the crown is great. It is supported by a civil list of one\nmillion of drachmas annually, in a state which has a net revenue of\ntwelve. The enormous amount of this civil list may be estimated from the\nfacts, that the salaries of the Greek ministers are only twelve thousand\ndrachmas a year, and of the Greek senators only six thousand. Besides\nthe influence which this exorbitant wealth confers on the monarch, he\npossesses still greater social influence, for the whole of the upper\nclasses at Athens consist of paid officials, every one of whom is liable\nto lose his place at a word from King Otho, who, with very little\nexertion on the part of that royal memory on which kings pride\nthemselves, may recollect every man who resides at his capital qualified\nto enter his palace. The desire of King Otho to extend his personal\ninfluence, and centralise power in his own hands, is so great, that\nevery individual who receives a public appointment, however\ninsignificant, whether at Athens or in the provinces, is compelled to\nwait on his majesty to thank him for the favour, which he naturally\npretends to consider as a reward for his attachment to the royal\nBavarian, not as a reward for his services to Greece. King Otho has been\nan apt pupil of Louis Philippe in the political corruption that renders\nthe constitutional system subservient to the royal power in a thoroughly\ncentralised administration.\n\nIn one branch of political corruption King Otho may boast that he has\noutdone all European sovereigns. It is true, he found in the Hellenic\nmind a rich soil, but he may claim the merit of having worked it like a\nfirst-rate farmer. The local institutions to which the friends of Greece\nlooked for a firm basis for liberal institutions, have in his hands been\nrendered the instrument for converting popular elections into royal\nnominations. When the Bavarian regency destroyed the communal system of\nGreece, they replaced it by municipalities of greater extent, and\nrendered the local authorities dependent on the Minister of the\nInterior. King Otho availed himself of the central control created by\nthe municipal law, to make the mayor and local magistrates everywhere\ndependent on his personal favour. The mayors are now agents and spies of\nthe court. This is effected in the following manner: By one of those\npreposterous regulations, framed by statesmen to delude the people with\na show of conferring on them free institutions, the nomination of the\nmayor is vested in the central government. An oligarchical college of\nelectors selects three members of the municipality, and from these his\nmajesty selects the most subservient to occupy the place. By availing\nhimself skilfully of this absurd law, King Otho has filled the towns of\nGreece with magistrates entirely dependent on his will\u2014men whom their\nfellow-citizens, if universal suffrage prevailed in the municipal\nelections of the mayors as it does in the more important elections of\ndeputies to the legislature, would not allow to remain an hour in\noffice. These nominees of the court are placed in possession of\nconsiderable salaries by the will of the central government, and as they\nare dependent on the court for their office, they act as its devoted\nagents. The consequence is, that King Otho is enabled to employ the\nfunds of the Greek municipalities in maintaining a species of court\npolicemen over the whole country. The influence thus gained may be\nestimated from the circumstance that upwards of two millions of drachmas\nare thus withdrawn from their legitimate use, in making roads and\nfacilitating communications by land and water, and are devoted to pay a\nband of royal _sbirri_. Many persons in England have felt astonished\nthat a man of such moderate talents as King Otho could render such\neffectual service to Russia, as to agitate the whole of Greece by making\nan invasion of Turkey appear a national movement. But the fact is, that\nthe power possessed by the central government through the municipalities\nis so great, that we have to thank the extreme incapacity of King Otho\nand the general corruption of the instruments he employed for rendering\nthe attack on Turkey as inefficient as it proved. The King gave the\nsignal for a general recruiting to aid the Russian cause, but his\ninstruments in the provinces employed the opportunity in attending to\ntheir own interests, before giving themselves much trouble about making\na diversion for the profit of the Czar or the Bavarian. King Otho on\nthis occasion paid the usual penalty of those who work by corruption.\n\nWe must not blame King Otho too severely for making use of corrupt\npersuasion as an instrument of parliamentary government. The proceedings\nof our Ministers rise up before us as an apology for the Greek monarchy.\nA Coalition of all the administrative talent of Britain cannot conduct\nthe non-centralised government of the empire without a little local\njobbery. Even Lord Aberdeen\u2019s own department publicly owns the necessity\nof throwing a few corrupt sops to a hungry and restive body of Liberal\nrepresentatives. In the Treasury report, recommending some reforms in\nour post-office, the following words will be found,\u2014it seems a very\nplain statement of adherence to the principles on which King Otho\ninfluences the Greek municipalities: \u201cMy Lords (of the Treasury\u2014_i. e._,\nMessrs Aberdeen & Co.) are of opinion that it is for the _public\ninterest_ that the appointments should be made as at present by my\nLords, after consulting, through the recommendation of the members for\nthe county or town, the convenience and wishes of the population.\u201d\nPopulation in this sentence, we presume, means the class who usually job\nsuch matters, for we have never before heard it asserted that the mob\nwas the best judge of administrative capacity.\n\nThe fact that a man so notoriously deficient in political wisdom as King\nOtho has succeeded in establishing a system, giving him a predominant\ninfluence over the Greeks, is a sad evidence of the extreme venality of\nGreek society; for there can hardly be a doubt that the Greeks suggested\nto their King the employment of the national resources in purchasing the\nservice of individuals instead of devoting them to the improvement of\nthe nation.\n\nWe have but few observations to make on the late treacherous attack of\nKing Otho and his subjects on their neighbour and ally, the Sultan Abdul\nMedjid. There could not be an act of greater folly; and even amidst the\nincapable and cowardly exhibitions of modern times, it is the national\nmovement which has been conducted in the most incapable and cowardly\nmanner. Of the complicity of King Otho there never was a doubt, in spite\nof the denials of the Greek and German press. The courts of London and\nParis have refrained from giving publicity to all the documents which\nfell into the hands of the Turks proving this complicity, as it was not\ntheir wish to increase the embarrassments of the hour by declaring the\nthrone of Greece vacant. Regarding the attack on Turkey, however, in the\nlight of a diversion for the advantage of Russia, it might have rendered\nimportant assistance to the Czar. Had it been conducted with energy and\nability, it might have inflicted a serious blow on the Othoman Empire.\nWhen King Otho violated the treaties to which he owed his throne, and\nappealed to force as the arbiter of his future relations with Turkey, he\nexpected, not without some chance of success, to become master of the\nline of fortresses that defend the frontiers of Turkey towards Greece.\nVolo, Domoko, Arta, and Prevesa, were almost without garrisons; and it\nwas only by the extreme incapacity of the Greek leaders, and the\nmisconduct of those who invaded Turkey, that these fortresses escaped\ncapture. The court of Athens acted on the conviction that the Russian\narmy would force the Balkan in a few weeks, and appear before the walls\nof Constantinople without encountering any serious resistance. It\nconsequently believed that it would not be in the Sultan\u2019s power to\ndetach a force sufficient to protect Thessaly and Epirus. Once in\npossession of the fortresses which command these provinces, the King\nbelieved that England and France would be compelled to treat with him,\nand leave him in possession of the spoil. Fortunately for the Othoman\nEmpire, both the Emperor Nicholas and King Otho are very bad generals.\nBoth appear to have calculated that the armed rabble of Greeks in\nfustanello could perform the duties of an army. And King Otho now finds\nthat he has sacrificed the most valuable portion of his subjects\u2019\ncommerce to Russian interests, without any advantage to his cherished\nscheme of making himself an absolute monarch.\n\nThe political morality of King Otho, in his foreign as in his internal\naffairs, deserves the severest condemnation. His behaviour to Turkey has\nmet with the most galling punishment. He retains his crown by the\nsufferance of those whom he has betrayed. His folly has ruined the\ncommerce of his subjects, and transferred the neutral trade, which might\nhave enriched the Greeks, to the ships of the Austrians, Genoese, and\nNeapolitans.\n\nLet us now contrast the conduct of the Greek monarch with the behaviour\nof the President of the United States in a similar case. Cuba is quite\nas desirable a possession to the Americans as Thessaly and Epirus are to\nthe Greeks. In both countries a large part of the population eagerly\ndesires the conquest. There is, however, this difference: The Greeks\ncould not make any impression on their enemy, even though they took him\nby surprise; but the Americans would probably soon gain possession of\nCuba, if their government only winked at the enterprises of private\ncitizens. Had the President of the United States been as impolitic and\nselfish as King Otho, he might have encouraged piratical attacks on\nCuba. The position of General Pierce bore a strong resemblance to that\nof the King of Greece, but his conduct was diametrically opposite. Even\nthough General Pierce is now engaged in demanding from Spain reparation\nfor acts of violence committed on the property of American citizens in\nCuba, and though it is possible that the disputes between the two\ncountries may soon lead to hostilities, the President of the United\nStates uses the following terms in his Message to the Senate:\u2014\n\n\u201cThe formal demand for immediate reparation (from Spain) has only served\nto call forth a justification of the local authorities of Cuba, which\ntransfers the responsibility to the Spanish government.... Meanwhile\ninformation was received that preparation was making within the limits\nof the United States, by private individuals, under military\norganisation, for a descent upon the island of Cuba, with a view to\nwrest it from the dominion of Spain. International comity, the\nobligations of treaties, and the express provisions of the law, alike\nrequired, in my judgment, that all the constitutional power of the\nexecutive should be exerted to prevent the consummation of such a\nviolation of positive law, and of that good faith on which mainly the\namicable relations of neighbouring nations must depend.\n\n\u201cIn conformity with these convictions of public duty, a proclamation was\nissued to warn all persons not to participate in the contemplated\nenterprise, and to invoke the interposition in this behalf of the proper\nofficers of government. _No provocation whatever can justify private\nexpeditions of hostility against a country at peace with the United\nStates._\u201d\n\nContrast these words with King Otho\u2019s declaration to the ministers of\nGreat Britain and France, that his royal conscience would not allow him\nto restrain the marauding forays and piratical expeditions of his\nsubjects against Turkey, and that rather than attempt it he would\nhimself march at their head. _International comity_ and _the obligations\nof treaties_ now compel the two protecting powers to employ against King\nOtho and the Greeks that force to which they appealed as arbiter of\ntheir relations with Turkey, and they must be forcibly obliged to\nobserve _that good faith on which mainly the amicable relations of\nneighbouring States must depend_. Unless, therefore, the Greek King and\nthe Greek nation can give ample security that no provocation will again\ninduce them to commence private acts of hostility against Epirus and\nThessaly while the Greek kingdom is at peace with the Othoman Empire,\nthe tranquillity of Europe requires that the independence of Greece\nshould be suspended, and the country remain in the power of a foreign\nforce, until a government be firmly established which will respect the\nprinciples of the law of nations as laid down by the President of the\nUnited States in his Message to the Senate.\n\nThe Greeks in general apologise for their treacherous attempt to\nsurprise the Turks, by declaring that the liberated territory is too\nsmall to constitute an independent State. They seem to overlook the\ncorollary which the European cabinets may be inclined to deduce from\ntheir violation of \u201cinternational comity and the obligations of\ntreaties,\u201d and extinguish their independence rather than increase their\nterritory. But the falsehood of the assertion is too apparent to deserve\nrefutation. The kingdom of Greece is more thinly peopled than any other\nState in Europe; but this want of population is caused by its\ncommunications, both by land and sea, being in a worse state than they\nare in any other country. Idle clerks in public offices, and armed men\nwho frequent coffee-houses, form a numerous section of the town\npopulation, and these men consume all the revenues of the State, which\nought to be devoted to public improvements. Indeed, the financial and\npolitical condition of King Otho\u2019s dominions is so bad, that it would be\nan act of inhumanity to transfer any portion of the population of the\nSultan\u2019s territory to the Greek government. If Chios or Samos were\nannexed to Greece tomorrow, the inhabitants would find their financial\nburdens greatly increased, and their trade very much diminished, without\nany corresponding improvement in their political condition for the\npresent. The benefits they would acquire might nevertheless awaken hopes\nof a better future. They would be placed in possession of the liberty of\nthe press, and of a good judicial system, so that when the corrupting\ninfluence of the court of Athens, of the Phanariot place-hunters, and of\nthe palikari, ceases to exist, amendment may be expected by the\nenthusiastic. Judging from actual appearances, King Otho\u2019s dominions\nseem to be much too large, both for the amount of the population, and\nfor the administrative capacity of the government. Even Athens, Syra,\nPatras, Nauplia, and Chalcis, are little better than undrained dirty\ntowns, destitute of proper municipal organisation and local police,\nwhile the other towns in the country are merely overgrown villages. With\nthe exception of a few drives for the court carriages round Athens, and\na road for the Austrian traffic across the isthmus of Corinth, there is\nnot a good cart-road in the kingdom, and very few tolerable bridle-roads\neven from one town to another. Twenty islands of the Archipelago, each\ncontaining a town, are not visited by any regular packets, and it\nfrequently happens that six weeks elapse without their receiving any\nnews from the capital. It is almost needless to say that a population\nliving in such a state of isolation must be in a stationary, if not in a\ndeclining, condition. If the numbers are kept up, the buildings of past\ntimes are allowed to fall to decay, and all the accumulated capital is\nrapidly deteriorating. Every traveller who has visited the islands of\nthe Archipelago, and the towns in the interior of the Peloponnesus, must\nhave noticed many proofs of this decay, quite independent of the\ndilapidation caused by the revolutionary war, or the civil broils which\nfollowed it.\n\nOther proofs of the incapacity of the existing government of Greece to\nconduct the centralised system, as established in the limited territory\nit now rules, may be found in the civil wars already noticed, in the\ngeneral anarchy and contempt for the rights of property that prevails,\nand in the enormous numbers of criminals in all the prisons of the\nkingdom. We have now before us Athenian newspapers of the month of July,\nfilled with complaints of acts of brigandage almost within sight of King\nOtho\u2019s palace. Some years ago a party of pleasure was robbed during a\npicnic at Kephisia; and the newspapers have frequently recorded cases of\nboiling oil having been poured on women to compel them to show the\nrobbers where the family hoards were concealed. We have seen an\noccurrence of this kind recorded in Attica while the Chambers were in\nsession. The inference from these facts seems to be, that King Otho, the\nGreek Chambers, and the existing central administration, are incompetent\nto establish order and security for life and property in the territory\nthey now pretend to govern. We ask whether it is possible for Great\nBritain and France to entertain the question of an augmentation of such\na kingdom?\n\nWe may now turn from examining the position of King Otho and the Greek\ngovernment in relation to their foreign policy, and take a glance at the\nsocial and political condition of the nation. We must commence by\nenumerating what the people have neglected to do. This will serve to\nshow how great the difficulties now are in the way of improving the\ncountry. During the ten years of representative government which have\nnow elapsed, the Greek deputies have made no systematic efforts to\nimprove the condition of the agricultural population, though\nthree-quarters of the inhabitants of Greece are chiefly dependent on\nagriculture for their subsistence. No attempt has been made to reform\nthe barbarous method of collecting the land-tax in kind, which retains\nthe population in the stationary condition into which it fell on the\ndecline of the Byzantine Empire. The municipalities have been allowed to\nbecome the vehicles of court corruption, and no measures have been taken\nto enforce regular publication of their receipts and expenditure. No\ncriminal statistics are published. Instead of appropriating annually a\nsum of money for the construction of roads, bridges, quays, and\nferry-boats, which are so necessary in a mountainous and insular State,\nthe national interests are sacrificed to the gains of individual\nsenators and deputies. New places are annually created, and the trade of\nGreece is transferred to Austrian and French steam-companies. The\ngreatest commercial advantages ever placed at the disposal of any people\nhave been neglected by the Greek nation, and perhaps completely thrown\naway by their late devotion to Russia. Yet the Greeks, who see the\nnumber of foreign steamers daily increasing in their ports, boast with\ntheir usual childish vanity of their superiority over every other people\nin naval skill. They even throw out hints in their political writings\nthat the real cause of Lord Palmerston\u2019s dissatisfaction with King Otho\nwas founded on a reasonable jealousy of the Greek navy, and a patriotic\nfear lest the subjects of that monarch should deprive England of her\ncommercial supremacy! Yet while boasting in this Hellenic strain, like\ntrue descendants of the contemporaries of Juvenal and Lucian, they have\nallowed the most profitable part of their own coasting trade to pass\ninto the hands of the Austrian Lloyd Steam Company.\n\nA tendency to social and political disintegration is quite as much a\ncharacteristic of the population of liberated Greece as it was of\nancient Hellas. National differences, municipal distinctions, local\ninterests, class prejudices, and individual pretensions, divide the\npeople.\n\nThe first great social division is one of race. Only about\nthree-quarters of the population of the Greek kingdom consists of\nGreeks\u2014the other quarter is composed of Albanians. These races rarely\nintermarry, and few Greeks ever learn the Albanian language; yet the\nAlbanian race is rapidly acquiring political importance in the present\ncondition of the Othoman Empire. It enjoys two immense advantages over\nthe Greek race. Its geographical location concentrates the population,\nand offers a strong barrier against any foreign conquerors; while its\nmilitary habits enables it to raise far larger and more efficient\narmies. It is also physically as much superior to the Greek as it is\nintellectually inferior. The bravest men and the most beautiful women in\nthe Greek kingdom are of the purest Albanian blood, unadulterated with\nany admixture with the Hellenic race. Marko Botzaris, Miaoulis, and\nKonduriottis were Albanians. If the Albanians should, like their\nfellow-citizens the Greeks, become more eager to identify their\nexistence with an ideal past than with a promising future, there is no\nreason for their being behind-hand in boasting. As descendants of the\nMacedonians, they may proudly vaunt that they have repeatedly conquered\nthe Hellenes; and, as a section of the great Thracian people, they trace\ntheir origin to a mightier source than the Greeks. Consequently, if race\nis to become a determining cause in the formation of independent States,\nor even national representations, within the limits of the Othoman\nEmpire, the warlike Albanians, in their inexpugnable mountains, are\nlikely to assume a more important position than the commercial Greeks,\ndispersed in exposed seaports and defenceless islands. The application\nof ethnology to politics, which the Greeks have strongly-advocated, is\nextremely likely to operate forcibly in preventing any considerable\nextension of their kingdom. A Greek empire would be an impossibility if\na natural ethnological development were adopted as a basis for\npartitioning Turkey in Europe. The Vallachians, Sclavonians, and\nAlbanians are as able and willing to arrest the progress of the Greeks\nto-day, as the Thracians, Macedonians, and Epirots were in ancient\ntimes.\n\nThe next strongly-marked line of separation in the population of the\nGreek kingdom is that between the agricultural population and the\ninhabitants of the towns, whether the citizens live by orchard and\ngarden culture, or by trade and foreign commerce. About three-quarters\nof the inhabitants of Greece live by agriculture; yet agricultural\nindustry remains in the rudest state. The Bavarian Regency, the Greek\nKing, and the representative Chambers, have hitherto done nothing to\nimprove the condition of the agricultural class, nor to increase the\nproduce of the country. The land which maintained one family four\nhundred years ago, will only maintain one family at the present day; the\ndistrict which supported a thousand families under the Turks, can do no\nmore under King Otho. The absurd fiscal arrangements concerning the\ncollection of the land-tax in kind, prevent the peasantry from planting\ntrees; so that in the richest plains devoted to the cultivation of\ncereals, the agricultural class is in the most miserable condition\u2014as in\nthe fertile districts of Thebes and Messenia. There is also no\ninducement to extend cultivation, as no roads exist; and a mule would,\nin a large part of Greece, eat its load of barley before it reached the\nnearest market. The agricultural class in Greece is poor, barbarous, and\nindustrious; the population of the towns, on the other hand, is in easy\ncircumstances, advanced in civilisation, and extremely idle. In no other\ncountry are coffee-houses so numerous or so well filled. The great\nnumber of persons living on places and pensions conferred by the central\ngovernment, or receiving pay from the municipalities with no duty to\nperform, fills the streets of every town in Greece with an amount of\nidle individuals which travellers view with wonder.\n\nThe third prominent feature in the social condition of the Greek\npopulation is the existence of a military caste called Palikars. These\npalikars are nothing more than the armed followers of certain military\nchiefs who have secured to themselves an acknowledged position and\nregular pay in the Greek kingdom. The palikars wear the Albanian dress,\nand pretend to be professional soldiers, though neither they nor their\nleaders know anything of military tactics or discipline. A small number\nonly are composed of the survivors of the irregular troops of the\nrevolutionary war. The greater part consists of idle young men who are\nincapable of learning a trade, and disinclined to submit to discipline.\nThe utter uselessness of the palikars in military operations was\ndisplayed in the ease with which they were defeated and dispersed by\nFuad Effendi. These armed bands, however, though they are useless\nagainst an enemy, are extremely dangerous to the native peasantry. They\nmarch about the Greek kingdom from one end to the other, living at free\nquarters on the villagers, and consuming annually as large a portion of\nthe produce of the soil as is paid to the central government in the\nshape of land-tax. In some disturbances which took place in the island\nof Eub\u0153a they were said to have consumed, in forced contributions from\nthe agricultural population, nearly one-third of the whole annual\nproduce of the island.\n\nWe do not intend to deny the services which the palikars rendered during\nthe war against the Turks. In a defensive warfare against an\nundisciplined enemy like the Turks of 1821, or an ill-organised force\nlike the Bavarians of 1833, they were very efficient. But against the\nFrench at Argos they were utterly useless, even though they had\nintrenched themselves in a manner which they fancied would give them a\ndecided advantage over regular troops. The French carried all their\npositions with the bayonet, and the palikars soon fled in dismay. The\nrevival of the system of palikarism is one of the many evils which Lord\nPalmerston\u2019s knavish prot\u00e9g\u00e9, Count Armansperg, bequeathed to Greece. M.\nMaurer had broken up the hordes of these children of anarchy in a very\neffectual manner, though perhaps with unnecessary violence and severity.\n\nThe object of Count Armansperg in restoring palikarism was to form for\nhimself a military party. By the formation of troops enrolled under\nchiefs attached to his own person, he expected to be able to keep down\npublic opinion in the provinces; while, by a lavish distribution of\nmoney and places, he knew he could silence it at Athens. The favoured\ncaptains were allowed to collect bands of armed followers, almost\nwithout any control on the part of the minister-of-war, and without the\nmen or the officers being subjected to any discipline. In the provinces,\nthese captains were intrusted with extraordinary powers, which they used\nfor party purposes; and the palikars became an organ of the government\nfor intimidating its opponents. The consequences of Count Armansperg\u2019s\nconduct were most injurious. Those captains who were unable to gain his\ngood-will collected bands of armed men, or joined the brigands, and\nendeavoured to increase the number of their followers by levying\nblack-mail on the peaceful agriculturists, in the hope that the\ngovernment would eventually be compelled to purchase their services.\nTheir calculation proved correct; and Count Armansperg ended by taking\ninto his pay the very men against whom he had employed his generals.\n\nKing Otho adopted with delight the corrupt system of his regent, and\neven extended its application. He filled his palace with palikars, and\nneglected the regular troops. Men ignorant of all military service were\nintrusted with military command in the provinces, where their services\nwere chiefly required to intimidate opposition, and secure the election\nof court candidates as deputies and mayors. Koletti, the favourite\nleader of the palikar class, became King Otho\u2019s favourite minister; and\nthe influence of that worthless Vallachian Aspropotamite enabled the\ncount to nullify the constitution of 1844. By the influence of the\npalikars, assisted, it is true, by his own anti-constitutional love of\nadministrative despotism, Mavrocordatos was driven from the ministry,\nand King Otho re-established in absolute power, by the assistance of\npalikarism and municipal corruption.\n\nThe late invasion of Turkey could hardly have taken place, if it had not\nbeen in King Otho\u2019s power to launch these irregular bands against his\nneighbour\u2019s frontier; for, with all his folly and imprudence, he would\nnot have ventured to march regular troops openly against the Sultan\nwithout a declaration of war. On the other hand, it was fortunate for\nEurope that the utter worthlessness of these undisciplined bands for all\nmilitary operations, except the defence of mountain passes, prevented\ntheir capturing the frontier fortresses of Epirus and Thessaly, and\nenabled Fuad Effendi to defeat their army with so much ease at Peta.\nNever, certainly, did any troops make a more despicable military display\nthan the palikars of Greece in their late attack on Turkey. While these\ninvaders made their patriotism a pretext for plundering their\nunfortunate countrymen who were subjects of the Othoman Empire, and\ndevoted their chief attention to carrying off cattle and sheep belonging\nto Greeks and Christians, instead of attempting to storm the\nill-fortified holds of the Turks, the Othoman troops displayed one of\nthe highest characteristics in which the Greek race has always been\ndeficient\u2014a sense of duty. They bravely defended the posts committed to\ntheir care, and success crowned their good conduct.\n\nWe have now given an impartial account of the faults of King Otho, and\nof the political vices of the Greek nation; we will proceed to enumerate\nthe virtues of the people with equal impartiality. The greatest enemies\nof the Greeks cannot deny that they possess a high degree of patriotism.\nWhatever its origin may be, and however much it may be disfigured by\nvanity, it is a great virtue, and produces abundant good fruit. The sums\nof money which have been employed by private individuals in the\nconstruction of churches and school-houses over all Greece, the liberal\ndonations they annually remit to Athens for advancing the cause of\neducation, the munificent presents of books, medals, and philosophical\ninstruments to the University and to the Observatory, and the immense\ncontributions collected to aid the late impolitic attack on Turkey, all\nprove that, under a better government, and with good guidance, the\npatriotism of the Greeks might be rendered of great use in advancing the\nmoral improvement and material prosperity of their country. But their\npatriotic feelings must be directed to the improvement of morality and\nreligion before much good can be effected. The importance of private\nvirtue is not sufficiently appreciated by the Greeks as a guarantee for\npolitical honesty. Individual character has more influence as an element\nof national strength and greatness, than the statesmen at Athens are\ninclined to believe. Without citing historical examples, we may remind\nthem that a dispersed nation, mingled as the Greeks are with foreign\nraces, is much more amenable to the public opinion of other nations,\nthan a race pressed together in close geographical contiguity, and with\nwhich foreigners rarely communicate.\n\nThe industry of the Greeks is attested by their commercial activity, and\nby their laborious agricultural operations. The mass of the population,\nit is true, derives so little benefit from their toils, that we might\npardon them if they were much idler than they are. Those who are most\nsuccessful in commerce are compelled to expatriate themselves, which is\nalways a great hardship to a Greek. Those who labour at the fields and\ndig the vineyards are unable to live in tolerable ease; for the want of\nroads prevents their finding a sale for their produce, and deprives them\nof the power of purchasing the luxuries they most eagerly desire.\n\nAnother honourable feature in Greek society is the good feeling\ndisplayed by the classes which live beyond the sphere of court and\npolitical influence. If a Greek is neither a courtier, a government\nofficial, nor a palikar, he is generally a tolerably honest man, and by\nno means a bad fellow, unless he be an Ionian or a Phanariot. We may\nmention an anecdote, which proves strongly the existence of virtue in\nthe great mass of the labouring classes, even on that most delicate of\nall subjects, honesty in paying taxes. When the Bavarians arrived in\nGreece, they had not time to take any strong measures for enforcing a\nvery strict collection of the national revenues. The probable amount was\nestimated at four millions, but the revenues of the preceding year had\nnot reached that sum. As it was necessary to leave much to the\nconscience of the people, Mr Gladstone might have been satisfied with\nthree millions and a half, with a few five-pound notes falling in from\ntime to time from the remorse of defaulters. But the Greeks paid down\nseven millions within the year; and the experience of subsequent revenue\nreturns proves that they must have paid the full amount to which\ngovernment had any claim.\n\nThe state of the legal profession at Athens impresses strangers with a\nfavourable opinion of the educated classes, when uncorrupted by the\nservice of a corrupted central administration. The advocates form a body\nof well-educated men, whose professional gains render them independent\nof court influence, and whose talents and character give them great\npower over public opinion on judicial matters. Hence they exercise a\nsalutary control over the minister of justice and the judges. This is\ndoubly necessary, from the circumstance that the judges hold their\noffices only during the pleasure of King Otho, who has frequently\nremoved those who have displeased him from office, or sent them into a\ndreary exile in some distant province in an inferior charge. The power\nof public opinion, as exercised by the bar, is consequently of great\nimportance to insure some degree of equity in the courts, and control\nthe general administration of justice in civil affairs; and it has been\nused in a manner highly honourable both to the Greek bar and to the\nnational character.\n\nThere is another quality which the Greeks possess in a high degree, and\nwhich, if properly directed by a good government, would aid greatly in\nraising them from their present state of political degradation. This is\ntheir aptitude for public discussion. Concentrated as at present on\nstate affairs, concerning which they are naturally quite ignorant, it\nbecomes a mere waste of words. But if employed on their local and\nmunicipal affairs, concerning every detail of which they are fully\ninformed, it would soon become the means of checking the corruptions of\nthe court and of the central administration. This aptitude for public\nbusiness enabled them to retain a large share in the local\nadministration of their provinces under the Turks, and to organise the\ncommunal system to which we are inclined to attribute their success in\nthe revolutionary war. The various central governments which followed\none another in succession during the war with Turkey, never displayed\nmuch talent, nor enjoyed much influence over the people. The naval\nforce, though admirably conducted by Miaoulis, was, in spite of the\ngallant deeds of Kanaris, inadequate to secure a decisive victory. The\nmilitary force was without organisation, powerless for attack, and\nextremely ill-directed. No general in Greece, native or foreigner,\ndisplayed any great military talent. In the navy, on the contrary, the\nname of Hastings, who first employed hot shot and shells from ship\nartillery, ranks justly with the glorious names of Miaoulis and Kanaris.\nThe war on land was entirely supported by the indomitable perseverance\nof the people. Their political and military leaders weakened their\npowers of resistance by their intrigues, avarice, and incapacity, but\nthe energy of the people never failed. Glorious examples are\ninnumerable, though Mr Tricoupi, the Greek historian of the war, has not\nthe judgment to select them. Lord Byron describes their behaviour, in\nspeaking of the Spaniards\u2014\n\n         \u201cBack to the struggle; baffled in the strife,\n         War! war! was still their cry\u2014war, even to the knife!\u201d\n\nMessolonghi attests its truth.\n\nThe friends of Greece,\u2014and she has still some sincere friends, in spite\nof all her faults\u2014may look forward to her communal system and local\nattachments as a basis on which political order and national prosperity\ncan be firmly established. But unless the restless activity of the\npeople be usefully occupied in the management of their local affairs,\nthey will employ it, as at present, injuriously, in profiting by the\ncorruption of the central government. The want of a proper sphere of\nenergy for a large class of the population is evidently preparing Greece\nfor a series of revolutions. A representative government and a free\npress, linked to a centralised administration, without the control of a\nmunicipal organisation, tends naturally to revolution. To remove a\nparish grievance, it becomes necessary to overthrow a minister; and a\nvery little experience in such countries reveals the secret, that it is\neasier to make a revolution than obtain a reform.\n\nSuch was the state of Greece when the French and English troops landed\nat the Pir\u00e6us in the month of June, to prevent King Otho from throwing\nthe country into a state of complete anarchy by his insane policy of\nassisting Russia. The Greeks, who had invaded Turkey, were already\ndefeated, strong garrisons were already placed in all the Turkish\nfortresses on the Greek frontier, and a fleet of Turkish steamers\ncommanded the Archipelago. The war had degenerated into a series of\nforays by land and piratical expeditions by sea, in which the Greeks\ncarried off the cattle, and plundered the warehouses and barns of the\nsubjects of the Porte. On the other hand, the Othoman government, unable\nto guard against these attacks, threatened to invade Greece, and occupy\nthe richest islands of the Archipelago as a material guarantee for\nindemnity. The interference of the Allies was quite as necessary to\ndefend the Greek people as the Turkish provinces. A change was of course\nimmediately effected in the government. M. Alexander Mavrocordatos, then\nGreek minister at Paris, was appointed Prime Minister. The name of\nMavrocordatos is well known to all who are acquainted with the history\nof the Greek revolution. His merits and defects are correctly stated in\nGeneral Gordon\u2019s excellent work. General Kalergy, another distinguished\nname in Greek history, was intrusted with the war department. M. George\nPsyllas, who for the last ten years has stood forward as the only\nconsistent supporter of liberal measures and communal interests in the\nSenate, was named Minister of Religion and Public Instruction. He is an\nAthenian, and represented Athens at the first National Assembly, held at\nthe commencement of the revolution, when the constitution of Epidaurus\nwas framed. These three men are undoubtedly the best men in Greece for\nthe offices committed to them. But their colleagues are not so well\nselected. Kanaris is Minister of the Marine\u2014no braver nor more patriotic\nman breathes, but he is no better suited to be a minister than an\narchbishop. The other ministers are positively very ill chosen. M.\nAnastasios Londos, whose tergiversation and folly caused the quarrel\nwith Great Britain in 1850, and the blockade of the Pir\u00e6us, is Minister\nof Justice. He is as deficient in knowledge of law and judicial\nadministration, as he has shown himself ignorant of the principles of\npolitical honesty, and destitute of sound judgment. The other\nindividuals may be left nameless.\n\nThe only question of interest in Great Britain is, whether these\nministers can do anything to improve the condition of the people, to\nestablish a greater degree of security for life and property than now\nprevails, open new fields for commercial and agricultural industry, and\nmake Greece an improving and prosperous country; for these changes alone\ncan guarantee the tranquillity of the East.\n\nThe first step to be taken must be, to abolish the existing manner of\ncollecting the tenth of the gross produce of the land, as a land-tax.\nThere is no other means of getting quit of the numerous fiscal\nregulations which deprive the agricultural classes of the power of\ndisposing of their labour in the way most conducive to their profit. The\nnext thing is, to restore life and energy to the municipal system, and\nextend the independent sphere of action of the municipal authorities.\nThe present Minister of the Interior is perhaps as well fitted to do\nthis as he is to swallow a camel. The Greeks generally have shown that\nthey are deficient in the temper and capacity requisite to conduct a\ncentral government. They still want the experience necessary to give\nordinary men a sense of the value of political honesty, and there is no\npossibility of their gaining it in any school but that of their own\nmunicipal practice. If they are incurably addicted to peculation, they\nhad better commit their acts of dishonesty at home, where the exact\namount of their frauds can easily be ascertained, and is sure to be made\npublic. Palikarism must be utterly rooted out. General Kalergy has\npromptly commenced the work which no man is so well able to complete.\nThe army and navy must be reformed. A corps of pioneers must be formed\nto build bridges; steam-packets, and galleys with oars, must facilitate\ncommunications.\n\nNow, is Alexander Mavrocordatos the man to do these things? We cannot\nsay. He has always shown himself too much the slave of bureaucratic\nprejudices for us to feel any very firm confidence in his political\nviews. Nevertheless, at this moment, he is the only Greek who possesses\nthe political honesty and diplomatic experience necessary for preserving\nfriendly relations with the allies of Turkey, and at the same time\nsaving the national independence of his country: he has, therefore, our\nbest wishes for his success.\n\nThe time is one of great difficulty. A mighty revolution has commenced\nin the East, which the Greek race has neither the energy nor the power\nto direct. If well and wisely governed, it may profit by the course of\nevents; but if its national vanity force it into collision with any of\nthe great actors in the scene, it may be brushed rudely aside, and sink\nback into the insignificant position it has held ever since the Franks\nconquered Constantinople and founded principalities in Greece in 1204.\nHellenism and orthodoxy must yield to philanthropy and Christian\ncivilisation. To us the future is dark; but of one thing we are assured,\nthat the occupation of Greece by the allied troops was absolutely\nnecessary to enable any ministry to commence the task of improvement in\nthe kingdom of Greece.\n\n\n\n\n                       STUDENT LIFE IN SCOTLAND.\n\n\n                                PART II.\n\nExemption from the authority of the ordinary legal or correctional\ntribunals was one of the remarkable features of the ancient\nuniversities, and the relics of it which have come down almost to the\npresent day in Scotland are very curious. The university was a state in\nitself, where the administrators of the ordinary authority of the realm\nhad no more power than in a neighbouring independent republic. So\njealously was this authority watched and fenced, that usually when the\ndispute lay between the liegemen of the university and those of the\nState\u2014between gown and town\u2014the university haughtily arrogated the\nauthority over both. To be sure, it was very much the practice of the\nage to adjust rights and privileges by balancing one against another\u2014by\nletting them fight out, as it were, every question in a general contest,\nand produce a sort of rude justice by the antagonism and balance of\nforces, just as in some Oriental states at this day the strangers of\neach nation have the privilege of living under their native laws; a\nmethod which, by pitting privilege against privilege, and letting the\nstronger bear down the weaker, saves the central government much\ndisagreeable and difficult work in the adjustment of rights and duties.\n\nSo, in the middle ages, we had the ecclesiastical competing with the\nbaronial interests, and the burghal or corporate with both. Nay, in\nthese last there was a subdivision of interests, various corporations of\ncraftsmen being subject to the authority of their own syndics, deans, or\nmayors, and entitled to free themselves from any interference in many of\ntheir affairs by the burghal or even the royal courts. Ecclesiastical\nlaw fought with civil law, and chancery carried on a ceaseless\nundermining contest with common law; while over Europe there were\ninexhaustible varieties of palatinates, margravates, regalities, and the\nlike, enjoying their own separate privileges and systems of\njurisprudence. But over this Babel of authorities, so complexly\nestablished in France that Voltaire complained of changing laws as often\nas he changed horses, what is conspicuous is the homage paid by all the\nother exclusive privileges to those of the universities, and the\nseparation of these grand institutions by an impassable line of\nvenerated privileges from the rest of the vulgar world. Thus, the State\nconceded freely to literature those high privileges for which the Church\nin vain contended, from the slaughter of Becket to the fall of Wolsey.\nIn a very few only of the States nearest to the centre of spiritual\ndominion, could an exclusive ecclesiastical jurisdiction extending to\nmatters both spiritual and temporal be asserted; and France, which\nacknowledged the isolated authority of the universities, bade a stern\ndefiance to the claims of the priesthood.\n\nIt can hardly be said that, invested with these high powers, the\nuniversities bore their honours meekly. Respected as they were, they\nwere felt to be invariably a serious element of turbulence, and a source\nof instability to their respective governments. In the affairs of the\nLeague, the Fronde, and the various other contests which, in former\ndays, as in the present, have kept up a perpetual succession of\nconflicts in turbulent Paris, the position to be taken by the students\nwas extremely momentous, but was not easily to be calculated upon; for\nthese gentry imbibed a great amount both of restlessness and\ncapriciousness along with their cherished prerogatives. During the\ncenturies in which a common spirit pervaded the whole academic body, the\nfame of a particular university, or of some celebrated teacher in it,\nhad a concentrating action over the whole civilised world, which drew a\ncertain proportion of the youth of all Europe towards the common vortex.\nHence, when we know that there were frequently assembled from one to ten\nthousand young men, adventurous and high-spirited, contemptuous of the\ncondition of the ordinary citizen, and bound together by common objects\nand high exclusive privileges\u2014well armed, and in possession of edifices\nfortified according to the method of the day\u2014we hardly require to read\nhistory to believe how formidable such bodies must have proved.\n\nAn incident in the history of a wandering Scotsman, though but a petty\naffair in itself, illustrates the sort of feudal power possessed by the\nauthorities of a university. Thomas Dempster, the author of _Etruria\nRegalis_, and of a work better known than esteemed in Scottish\nBiography, in the course of his Continental wanderings found himself in\npossession of power\u2014as sub-principal, it has been said, of the college\nof Beauvais, in the university of Paris. Taking umbrage at one of the\nstudents for fighting a duel\u2014one of the enjoyments of life which\nDempster desired to monopolise to himself\u2014he caused the young\ngentleman\u2019s points to be untrussed, and proceeded to exercise discipline\nin the primitive dorsal fashion. The aggrieved youth had powerful\nrelations, and an armed attack was made on the college to avenge his\ninsults. But Dempster armed his students and fortified the college walls\nso effectively that he was enabled, not only to hold his post, but to\ncapture some of his assailants, and commit them as prisoners to the\nbelfry. It appears, however, that like many other bold actions this was\nmore immediately successful than strictly legal, and certain ugly\ndemonstrations in the court of the Chatelain suggested to Dempster the\nnecessity of retreating to some other establishment in the vast literary\nrepublic of which he was a distinguished ornament\u2014welcome wherever he\nappeared. He had come of a race not much accustomed to fear consequences\nor stand in awe of the opinion of society. His elder brother had, among\nother ethical eccentricities\u2014or, as they would now be justly deemed,\nenormities\u2014taken unto himself for wife his father\u2019s cast-off mistress;\nand when the venerable parent, old Dempster of Muiresk, intimated his\ndisapproval of the connection, he was fiercely attacked by a band of the\nGordon Highlanders, headed by his hopeful son. Defeated and put to\nflight with some casualties, the heir hoisted the standard of an\nindependent adventurer in Orkney, where, setting fire to the bishop\u2019s\npalace, he rendered the surrounding atmosphere too hot for him. He made\nhis final exit in the Netherlands; and his conduct there must have been,\nto say the least of it, questionable, since his affectionate brother,\nwhose conduct in Paris is the more immediate object of our notice,\nrecords that his doom was to be torn to pieces by wild horses. In such a\nfamily, flagellation would have little chance of being condemned as a\ndegrading punishment, inconsistent with the natural dignity of man.\nIndeed, to admit the plain honest truth, the records of the Scottish\nuniversities prove to us that this pristine discipline was inflicted on\nits junior members; and it is especially assigned in Glasgow as the\nappropriate punishment for carrying arms. Local peculiarities of costume\ngave facilities for it in some instances, which were not so readily\nafforded by the padded trunk-hose and countless ribbon-points of the\nParisian \u201cswells\u201d of Louis XIII.\u2019s day. The Parisian aristocracy took\nserious umbrage at the conduct of Dempster; and he had to take his vast\nlearning and his impracticable temper elsewhere.\n\nThis is a digression; but Thomas Dempster is a good type of those\nScotsmen who brought over to us, from their own energetic practice, the\nobservance of the Continental notions of the independence and power of\nthe universities. His experience was ample and varied. He imbibed a\ntinge of the Anglican system at Pembroke Hall, Cambridge. Besides\nserving and commanding in different colleges at Paris, he held office at\nLouvain, Rome, Douay, Tournay, Navarre, Toulouse, Montpelier, Pisa, and\nBologna. A man who has performed important functions in all these places\nmay well be called a citizen of the world. At the same time, his\nconnections with them were generally of a kind not likely to pass from\nthe memory of those who came in contact with him. He was a sort of\nroving Bentley, who, not contented with sitting down surrounded by the\nhostility of nearly all the members of one university, went about like a\nroaring lion, seeking whom he might attack and insult, and left behind\nhim wherever he went the open wounds of his sword, or of his scarcely\nless direful pen, scattered thickly around him. He was one of those who,\nas Anthony Arnaud said of himself, are to expect tranquillity only in a\nremoval from that sublunary world in which, like pieces of clockwork\nwound up, they are doomed to a ceaseless motion during their vitality.\nThomas Dempster has many sins to answer for, and at this day the most\nconspicuous of them is the cool impudence wherewith, in his _Historia\nLiteraria Gentis Scotorum_, he makes every man whose birthplace is not\nnotorious, and whose name gives any excuse for dubiety, a Scotsman\u2014as,\nfor instance, Macrobius, who is claimed in virtue of his _Mac_, and in\nforgetfulness that his is a Greek name, signifying long-lifed. Yet peace\nto our countryman\u2019s long dispersed ashes. He was a fine type of the\nfervent, energetic, brave, enduring national character; and the\nungoverned waywardness of his career was an earnest of what his\ncountrymen might achieve when a better day should dawn upon their poor\ndistracted land.\n\nBut to return to the exclusive judicial authority of the universities,\nand the relics of the system found in Scotland,\u2014we do remember that on\nthe occasion of one of those great snowball _emeutes_, which at\nintervals of years make the Edinburgh students frantic, the police had\nentered the quadrangle of the College and captured some of their sacred\npersons. The occurrence was improved on by the students of Aberdeen\u2014then\nin possession of an organ of no despicable ability, called the _Aberdeen\nMagazine_\u2014who maintained that their own academical edifices were sacred\nfrom civic intrusion, and pointed the finger of scorn at their southern\nbrethren, who submitted without rebellion to invasion by a body of\nglazed-hatted constables, under the leadership of a superintendent of\npolice. It was said, in retaliation, that the reason why the\nuniversities of Aberdeen were exempt from the visitations of the police\nwas because there was no force of police constables in the northern\ncapital; and it was maintained that whenever they should make their\nappearance there, they would pay no more respect to the precincts of the\nuniversity than to those of the old privileged religious houses\u2014whose\nboundaries, sacred some centuries ago from civic intrusion, are still\nset forth in the title-deeds of burghal estates. We know not how the\nmatter may really stand, but we suspect that the broad-bonneted and\nbroad-shouldered gentry who now make so curiously conspicuous a police\nin the streets of Aberdeen, are not sufficiently acquainted with the\nprivileges of Marischal College to pay them the due deference.\n\nStill we do find curious practical relics of the privileges\nof the universities. On the 19th of June 1509, a general\nconvocation\u2014_congregatio generalis_\u2014of the University of Glasgow was\nheld in the chapter-house of the cathedral\u2014the now venerable University\nedifices had not then been built. In that assembly solemn discussion was\nheld upon certain momentous matters, the first and most important of\nwhich was a representation by the Chancellor and temporary Rector of the\nUniversity that the exclusive jurisdiction and adjudication of\ncauses\u2014_jurisdictio_, _causarumque cognitio_\u2014were falling into\ndesuetude, to the great prejudice of the University, and the no small\ndiminution of its valuable privileges. The next notice that one finds in\nthe _Records_ is a few years later\u201428th March 1522\u2014but it is rather a\nconflict between the privileges of two of the universities than between\nthe academic and the judicial authorities. In the general convocation of\nthe University, Peter Alderstoun is accused of having served a citation\nfrom the Conservator of the Privileges (_Conservator Priviligiorum_) of\nthe University of St Andrews on a certain Mr Andrew Smyth\u2014the\naristocratic spelling is older than we thought it had been in Scotland.\nThe breach of privilege was aggravated by its occurring in the\nhabitation of the Reverend David Kinghorn, Pensioner of Cross Raguel.\nThe bailiff, or whatever else he might be, pleaded ignorance of the\nnature of the writ; but he was obliged, barehead, to seek pardon from\nthe injured party. We find nothing more bearing on the question of the\nspecial university privileges, until, in the year 1670, a sudden and\nsingularly bold attempt appears to be made for their revival, a court of\njusticiary being held by the University, and a student put on trial on a\ncharge of murder. The weighty matter is thus introduced:\u2014\n\n\n  \u201cAnent the indytment given in by John Cumming, wryter in Glasgow,\n  elected to be Procurator-Fiscal of the said University; and Andrew\n  Wright, cordoner in Glasgow, neirest of kin to umquhile Janet Wright,\n  servetrix to Patrick Wilson, younger, gairdner there, killed by the\n  shot of ane gun, or murdered within the said Patrick his\n  dwelling-house, upon the first day of August instant, against Robert\n  Bartoun, son lawful of John Bartoun, gairdner in the said burgh, and\n  student in the said University, for being guilty of the said horrible\n  crime upon the said umquhile Janet.\u201d[135]\n\n\nA jury was impannelled to try the question. The whole affair bears a\nsuspicious aspect of being preconcerted to enable the accused to plead\nthe benefit of acquittal; for no objection is taken on his part to the\ncompetency of the singular tribunal before which he is to be tried for\nhis life; on the contrary, he highly approves of them as his judges, and\nin the end is pronounced not guilty. The respectable burgesses who acted\nas jurymen had, however, as it appears, their own grave doubts about\nthis assumption of the highest judicial functions; and we find them in\nthis curious little document, which we offer in full, expressing\nthemselves with that cautious and sagacious scepticism which is as much\na part of the national character as its ardour and enthusiasm.\n\n\n  \u201cPatrick Bryce, chancellor, and remanent persons who passed upon the\n  said inquest, before they gave in their verdict to the said court,\n  desired that they might be secured for the future, lest they might be\n  quarrelled at any time hereafter for going on, and proceeding to pass\n  on an inquest of the like nature, upon ane warning by the officer of\n  the said University; and that in regard they declared the case to be\n  singular, never having occurred in the age of before to their\n  knowledge, and the rights and privileges of the University not being\n  produced to them to clear their privilege for holding of criminal\n  courts, and to sit and cognosce upon crimes of the like nature;\n  whereunto it was answered by the Rector and his assessors that they\n  opponed their being content to pass upon the said inquest _in initio_,\n  and their making faith without contraverting their privilege; but\n  notwithstanding thereof, for their satisfaction and _ex abundanti\n  gratia_, they declared themselves and their successors in office\n  enacted, bound, and obliged for their warrandice of all cost, skaith,\n  danger, and expenses they or ane or other of them should sustain or\n  incur through the passing upon the said inquest, or whilk could follow\n  thereupon, through the said University their wanting of their original\n  rights or writs for clearing to them the privilege and jurisdiction in\n  the like cases. Whereupon the said Patrick Bryce, as Chancellor, for\n  himself, and in name and in behalf of the haill remanent members of\n  the said inquest, asked acts of court.\u201d[136]\n\n\nThough we are not aware of any instance in Scotland where the academic\ntribunals have arrogated, since the Reformation, so high a power, it is\nnot difficult to find other instances where exemption has been claimed,\neven at a later period, from the ordinary powers that be. Thus the\n_Glasgow Records_ of the year 1721 bear that\u2014\n\n\n  \u201cThe faculty, being informed that some of the magistrates of Glasgow,\n  and particularly Bailie Robert Alexander, has examined two of the\n  members of the University\u2014viz., William Clark and James Macaulay,\n  students in the Greek class\u2014for certain crimes laid to their charge\n  some time upon the month of February last, and proceeded to sentence\n  against these students, contrary to and in prejudice of the University\n  and haill members, do therefore appoint Mr Gershom Carmichael, &c., to\n  repair to the said magistrates of Glasgow, and particularly Bailie\n  Alexander, and demand the cancelling of the said sentence, and protest\n  against the said practice of the said bailie or any of the magistrates\n  for their said practice, and for remeid of law as accords.\u201d[137]\n\n\nIt was the principle, not the persons\u2014the protection of their\nprivileges, not the impunity of their students\u2014that instigated the\nfaculty on this occasion, since in their next minute they are found\nvisiting William Clark and James Macaulay with punishment for heavy\nyouthful offences. We offer no apology for quoting, on such an occasion,\nthese scraps from technical documents. It appears to us that when they\nare not oppressively long, or too professional for ordinary\ncomprehension, there is no other way of affording so distinct a notion\nof any very remarkable social peculiarity, such as we account the\nexclusive liability of the members of universities to their own separate\ntribunals to have been.\n\nAlthough the Scottish universities never boasted of the vast concourse\nof young men of all peoples, nations, and languages, which sometimes\nflocked to the Continental schools, and thus with their great privileges\ncreated a formidable _imperium in imperio_\u2014yet naturally there has\nexisted more or less of a standing feud between the citizen class and\nthe student class. The records before us show repeated contests by the\nauthorities of universities, against an inveterate propensity in the\nstudents to wear arms, and to use them. The weapons prohibited by the\nlaws of King\u2019s College, Aberdeen, are so varied and peculiar that we\ncannot venture to do their Latin names into English, and can only\nderive, from the terms in which they are denounced, a general notion how\nformidable a person a student putting the law at defiance must have\nbeen. But for the difference in the Latinity, one might suppose himself\nreading Strada\u2019s celebrated account of the weapons in the Spanish\nArmada.[138]\n\nFrom some incidental causes, a slight tinge of the desperado habits,\nindicated by such restrictions, lingered around the Scottish\nuniversities, and perhaps was most loth to depart from that northernmost\ninstitution to which the prohibitions specially applied. The main cause\nof their continuance may be attributed to the exigencies of the\nanatomical classes which gradually attached themselves to the schools of\nmedicine. In obtaining subjects there was a perpetual contest with\nunmitigable prejudices; and as in the smaller university towns there\nwere few or no people who followed systematically the trade of the\nresurrectionist, the students had to help themselves. It needed but the\nvery fact of their having an occasional \u201csubject\u201d in the dissecting-room\nto expose them to an odious reputation, which no argument about the\nblessed results of the healing art, and the necessity of studying it in\nthe structure of the human frame, could in the slightest degree\nmitigate. The feud thus caused was of a kind which widened as the\nprogress of scientific acquirement enlarged the study of anatomy; and it\nseemed as if a permanent and deadly hostility against the progress of an\nessential science were daily deepening and widening, until public wrath,\nconcentrated and accumulated, might be expected at last to burst on the\ndevoted pursuit, and annihilate it. Though the students of anatomy were\ngenerally among those who had passed through the ordinary curriculum of\nstudies, and no longer wore the distinguishing scarlet robe, yet their\nyounger brethren were, not entirely without cause, mixed up in their\nmisdeeds. Horrible stories of their waylaying children, and of their\nclapping plasters on the mouths of grown men met in lonely byways, which\nstopped the breath, and instantaneously extinguished life, were greedily\nbelieved, and founded tales capable of superseding _Bluebeard_ and _The\nOne-handed Monk_ at the winter chimney-corner. Young lads in their early\nblushing scarlet were sometimes savagely assaulted, as if the poor\ninnocents were ghouls in search of the horrible prey peculiar to their\norder. The public frenzy reached its climax on the revelation of the\ncrimes of Burke and Hare. It almost as suddenly collapsed after the\npassing of the Anatomy Act, which removed from dissection that odium\nwhich previous legislation had factitiously imparted to it as part of\nthe punishment of murder, and accompanied the change with special\nfacilities for the obtainment of subjects. Hence more than twenty years\nhave passed since the habits of our students were tainted by this\nincidental peculiarity, and its social effect must now be matter of\ntradition.\n\nIt can easily, however, be believed that the revolting preliminary which\nthe votary of science had to undergo must have had an influence on his\nhabits very far from propitious. The nocturnal expedition was\noccasionally joined by those who had not the excuse of scientific\nardour, and thus the influence of the practice spread beyond the limits\nof the medical profession. The mysterious horrors surrounding the\nreputation of such a pursuit were not without a certain fascination to\nthe young gownsmen, and some of them were supposed placidly to cultivate\nrather than suppress charges which would have seriously alarmed their\nmore knowing and practical seniors. Though there was thus a good deal of\nexaggeration and boasting both from without and from within, yet the\npractice did exist among the senior students, while at the same time an\noccasional junior, approved for his boldness and discretion, might be\nadmitted to act a subordinate part in a \u201cresurrectionising affair.\u201d\nPossibly he, if not the others, might find it necessary to employ some\nstimulant to brace his nerves for the formidable work in hand. Thus the\nadventure which provided the theatre of anatomy with the means of\nkeeping a few students at hard work in one of the most important\ndepartments of human knowledge, had probably occasioned more than one\nnight of fierce dissipation, and produced scenes which would have\nconsiderably astonished the good old aunts, deprecating the exhausting\nlabours of their virtuous nephews in the nasty hospitals and that horrid\ndissecting-room.\n\nThe excesses which concentrated themselves around this solemn and\ncheerless pursuit, ramified themselves into others of a more fantastic\nand cheerful character. Probably it is all changed now; but they are not\nvery old men who remember how the smaller university towns were subject\nto fantastic superficial revolutions. Trees, gates, railings, street\nlamps, summer-houses, shop signs, and other \u201caccessories of the realty,\u201d\nas lawyers call them, disappearing or changing places like the shifting\nof the side-slips in a theatre. Perhaps there may even be alive some who\nhave witnessed or participated in such divertisements. Is there any one\nwho will admit participation in that transmutation which scandalised the\nbailie, by exhibiting his suburban mansion under the auspices of the\nnational achievement, as \u201clicensed to sell spirits, porter, and ale,\u201d\njust at the moment when the licentiate of the Red Lion was lamenting the\ndisappearance of his insignia? Are none of those virtuous youths alive,\nwho called next day to express their horror of the deed, and hold\nconfidential communion with the bailie, thus obtaining access to his\narsenal, and receiving the comfortable secret information\u2014valuable for\nfuture conduct\u2014that the blunderbuss, the musket, and the brace of\npistols, were loaded with powder only, \u201cbut he wad warrant the scounrels\nwad get a fleg\u201d? Who was it, we wonder, that, on the myrmidons of\njustice coming to his chambers, under the well-warranted suspicion that\nhe possessed an extensive and varied collection of shop signs, had\nrecourse to his incipient Scripture knowledge by an apt quotation in\nreference to those who seek what they do not succeed in obtaining? Is it\nprobable that in any private neuks in old dwelling-houses there may\nexist relics of those prized museums not acquired without toil and\nrisk\u2014and exhibited with much caution only to trusted friends\u2014which\nconsisted mainly of watchmen\u2019s rattles and battered lanterns? Lives\nthere yet one of that laborious group, who wished to illuminate the\nmansion of Professor Blanc in proper style, and to that effect carried\nout a cluster of street lamps, and planted them all alight in his\ngarden, so encountering labour and risk with no better reward than a\nreflection on the professor\u2019s puzzled countenance when he should awaken\nand behold the phenomenon? _N.B._ Street lamps in those days were fed\nwith oil, and were supported on wooden posts, which it was not difficult\nfor a couple of strong youths to uproot.\n\nBut we are shocking the virtue and civilisation of the age by such\nqueries. They hint at practices which we believe to be entirely eschewed\nby the superior class of young gentlemen who now frequent our\nuniversities. If we have created a throb of terror in an amiable\nparent\u2019s breast, we humbly beg his pardon. He may take our word for it\nthat his hopeful son is incapable of such pranks. This is mainly an\nantiquarian article, and the matter contained in it belongs more or less\nto the past, and is founded on document or tradition.\n\nThe semi-monastic foundations by which the students live under the\ndiscipline of colleges or halls, and assemble together at a common\ntable, are indissolubly connected in English notions with the idea of a\nuniversity. Yet the system arose as an adjunct to the original\nuniversities, and, as late inquirers have shown, the parasites have so\noverrun the parent stem that its original character is scarcely\nperceptible beneath their more luxuriant growth. The origin of these\ninstitutions is simple enough. When the great teachers brought crowds of\nyoung men together from all parts of Europe, the primary question was\nhow they were to obtain food and shelter? and a second arose when these\nneeds were supplied\u2014how could any portion of the discipline of the\nparental home be administered to them among strangers? Certain\nprivileges were given to the houses inhabited by the students, and\nstreets and quarters sprung up for their accommodation, as we now see\nthe rows of red-tiled cottages sprout forth like lichens around the tall\nchimney of a new manufactory. To prevent fluctuation, and preserve the\nacademic character wherever it had once established itself, it was a\nfrequent regulation that the houses once inhabited by students could be\nlet to no other person so long as the rents were duly paid. We find\ntraces of this expedient in the records of Glasgow, where there seems to\nhave been great difficulty in accommodating the students of the infant\nuniversity, on account of the extreme smallness of the town. Since the\nhouse once occupied by the student was thenceforth dedicated to his\norder, speculators were induced to build entirely with a view to the\naccommodation of a certain number of young men living in celibacy, and\nthey naturally imitated the example set them in the construction of\nmonasteries. The edifice and its use thus suggested something like the\nmonastic discipline\u2014and, indeed, an establishment filled with young men,\nhaving their separate dormitories and common table, yet without any head\nor system of discipline among them, would have been a social anomaly of\nthe most formidable character. The university required to give its\nsanction to the well ordering of the separate institutions thus rising\naround it. At the same time munificent patrons of learning left behind\nthem endowments for founding such institutions, indicating at the same\ntime the method in which the founders desired that they should be\ngoverned, and appointing a portion of the funds to form stipendiary\nallowances to office-bearers. So arose those great colleges and halls\nwhich in England have buried the original constitution of the university\nbeneath them.\n\nIn the great Continental universities which contained separate colleges,\nthese were more strictly under the central control. In Scotland, the\nwealth at the disposal of the academic institutions, and the numbers\nattending them, were never sufficiently great to encourage the rise of\nseparate bodies, either independent or subordinate. The system of\nmonastic residence and a common table was adopted under the authority of\nthe university, but it is remarkable that while so many of the\nfundamental features of the original institution have been preserved,\nthis subsidiary arrangement has totally disappeared. The indications of\nits existence, however, as they are preserved in the records, have\nnaturally considerable interest as vestiges of a social condition which\nhas passed from the earth.\n\nIn the _Glasgow Records_ we have, of date 1606, a contract with Andrew\nHenderson touching the Boarding of the Masters and Bursars, commencing\nthus: \u201cAt Glasgow, the twenty-twa day of October, the year of God J^m\nVJ^c and aucht yeares: it is appoyntit and aggreit betwix the pairties\nfollowing, viz., Mr Patrick Schairp, Principal of the College of\nGlasgow, and Regentes thairof, with consent of the ordinar auditouris of\nthe said College compts, undersubscrivand on the ane part, and Andro\nHendersoun, Burges of the said burgh on the uther part, in manner\nfollowing.\u201d Having afforded this initial specimen of the document, we\nshall take the liberty of somewhat modifying the spelling of such parts\nof the \u201cmanner following,\u201d in quoting such portions of it as seem by\ntheir curious character to demand notice; and herein we may observe that\nwe follow the example of a judicious Quaker we had once the pleasure of\nbeing made known to, who, after a solicitous desire to know the\nChristian name of his new acquaintance, with a few preliminary thee\u2019s\nand thou\u2019s\u2014as much as to say, you see the set I belong to\u2014afterwards ran\ninto the usual current of conversation very much like a man of this\nworld. Well, the document, with much precision, continues to say:\u2014\n\n\n  \u201cThe manner of the board shall be this: At nine hours upon the flesh\n  days\u2014viz., Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday\u2014the said\n  Andrew shall prepare to the said masters, and others that pay as they\n  pay, ane soup of fine white bread, or ane portion of cold meat, as\n  best may be had, with some dry bread and drink. At twelve hours the\n  said Andrew shall cover ane table in the hall of the said College, and\n  shall serve them in brose, skink, sodden beef, and mutton, the best in\n  the market, rosted mutton or veel, as the commodity of the season of\n  the year shall serve, with a fowl, or the equivalent thereof, with\n  good wheat bread, the best in the market, without scarcity, and \u2018gud\n  staill aill, aucht or ten dayis auld, that sall be bettir nor the\n  haill aill in the town,\u2019 and at supper suchlike. And on fish days the\n  said Andrew shall furnish every ane in the morning \u2018ane callour fresch\n  eg, with sum cauld meit or milk and breid, and sum dry breid and\n  drink; at noone, kaill and eggis, herring, and thrie course of fische,\n  give thai may be had, or the equivalent thairof in breid and milk,\n  fryouris with dry breid as of befoir,\u2019 and at supper suchlike. The\n  mess of the bursars, which immediately follows, must be given\n  literatim: \u2018On the fleshe dayis, in the morning, everie ane of thame,\n  ane soup of ait breid and ane drink; at noone, broois with ane tailye\n  of fresche beif, with sufficient breid and aill to drink; at evening,\n  on the said manner, ane tailye of fresche beif to everie meiss. On\n  fische dayis, breid and drink as in the flesche dayis; at disjoone,\n  ane eg; at noone, eggis, herring, and ane uther course; at evening\n  sicklyke.\u2019\u201d[139]\n\n\nProbably such a bill of fare may dispel some notions about the sordid\nliving of our ancestors, and the privations especially of those who\ndedicated themselves to a scholastic life. The existence of meagre\ndays\u2014or fish days, as they are called\u2014in the year 1608, suggests\nexplanations which we have not to offer. It would almost appear,\nhowever, that, at least in the dietary of the superior class, a fish day\nwas one in which fish was added to a comfortable allotment of meat,\ninstead of being substituted for it. Another contract occurs in the year\n1649, varying little from \u201cthe said Andrew\u2019s,\u201d except in the addition of\na few luxuries. The mess to be laid in the hall for dinner is to be\n\u201cbroth, skink, sodden beef, and mutton, the best in the market, with\nroasted mutton, lamb, veal, or hudderin, as the season of the year shall\nserve, with wheat bread and good stale ale; and at supper suchlike, with\na capon or hen, or the equivalent.\u201d The fish days continue to be\ndistinguished less by the diminution of flesh\u2014since there is to be two\nroasts in the day\u2014than by the addition of fish. At supper there are to\nbe sweetmeats and \u201cstoved plumdamas,\u201d which may be interpreted stewed\nprunes. Another article there introduced is called \u201cstamped kaile.\u201d The\napplication of the participle is new to us, though, as every one ought\nto know, kail means broth, or what the French call _potage_; and a\ncritic in such matters suggests that the word stamped may refer to the\nmashing of the materials. In the earlier of the contracts which we have\nreferred to, the board-money was\u2014for the master\u2019s table, \u00a330 per\nquarter, (Scots money, of course); and for the bursars\u2019, \u00a316. 13s. 4d.\nThe value of money had so far risen that in the next period the sums\nwere respectively \u00a346 and \u00a324. The master\u2019s table was frequented by the\nyoung aristocracy of Scotland, apparently in as ample a proportion as\nthose of England are now to be found at Oxford and Cambridge. Thus, in\nan inventory of occupied rooms, apparently in one floor, the\naristocratic element has a decided preponderance in the nomenclature:\n\u201cLord James\u2019s chamber, Francis Montgomerie\u2019s chamber, Kilmarnock\u2019s\nchamber, Richard Elphinstone\u2019s chamber, George Smyth\u2019s chamber, James\nFleming\u2019s chamber, Joseph Gill\u2019s chamber, James Simson\u2019s chamber.\u201d[140]\n\nIt is not perhaps generally known that the practice of a common table\nwas continued in St Andrews down to about the year 1820. In evidence\nbefore the University Commission in 1827, Dr Hunter stated that \u201cthere\nwere two public tables; one of them, the higher table, was attended only\nby boarders, and by the bursars on the Ramsay mortification; the board\nwas high, and the entertainment altogether was better: the other was the\nbursars\u2019 table. The college was induced to contract with an economist or\nprovisor to supply both tables; and if the boards fell short, or if the\nexpense increased from the articles of subsistence being dearer than\nordinary in any year, or exceeded the amount allowed by the contract,\nthe College often compensated to him that loss.\u201d Having thus offered\nsome notices of the collegiate system in its full vitality, and traced\nit to its last lurking-place, we cannot help giving a place to the\nsignificant reflections which have occurred to the editor of the\n_Glasgow Records_ on the extinction of the system.\n\n\n  \u201cIn all the universities in Scotland, the old collegiate life, so\n  favourable for scholastic discipline, has been abandoned. Perhaps the\n  increasing numbers rendered living in college under the masters\u2019 eye\n  inconvenient; though some modification of the systems of living in the\n  universities and the great schools of England might meet the\n  difficulty. The present academic life in Scotland brings the master\n  and the student too little in contact, and does not enable the teacher\n  to educate in that which is more important than scholastic learning,\n  nor to study and train the temper, habits, and character. If the\n  alternative which has been chosen inferred that the student enjoyed\n  the benefit of parental or domestic care when out of the lecture-room,\n  the change might be less objectionable; but when we observe the crowds\n  of young men brought from distant homes to our universities, living at\n  large and altogether uncontrolled, except in the classroom, we may\n  look back with some regret to the time when the good regent of a\n  university, living among his pupils, came in the parent\u2019s place as\n  well as the master\u2019s.\n\n  \u201cBut it was not only the discipline of the university that was\n  benefited by the collegiate life. The spirit of fellowship that\n  existed among young men set apart for the common object of high\n  education, was on the whole favourable, though liable to exaggeration,\n  and often running into prejudice. Nearly all that common feeling of\n  the youth of a great university is gone. The shreds of it that are\n  preserved by the dress, scarcely honoured in the crowded streets of a\n  great city, and the rare occurrence of a general meeting of students,\n  serve only to suggest to what account it might be turned for exciting\n  the enthusiasm and raising the standard of conduct among the youth of\n  Scotland. If such collections as the present, in revealing the old\n  machinery of the scholar life, tend in any degree to the renewal of\n  the bond of common feeling among the younger students, and of sympathy\n  with their teachers, they will not be useless.\u201d\n\n\nWe were led towards the vestiges of the collegiate system by the\nobservation, that while in England it had overshadowed and concealed the\noriginal outline of the universities, it had in Scotland disappeared,\nleaving the primitive institutions in their original loneliness. When we\ncontemplate, with this recollection, the decayed remains of the older\nuniversities, it will be seen that they were not so inferior in wealth\nand magnificence to those of our neighbours, as the mass of collegiate\ninstitutions which these have gathered around the primitive university\nmight lead one to suppose. Undoubtedly Christ Church and King\u2019s Chapel\nare fine buildings; but the remains of the chapels of St Salvator at St\nAndrews, and of King\u2019s College in Aberdeen, are not to be despised. Of\nthe former, alas! there are little more than the truncated walls and\nbuttresses, with here and there a decoration to show what the edifice\nwas when it stood forth in all its symmetry. Near the end of last\ncentury a suspicion was entertained that the roof was decayed and would\nfall. So groundless was the supposition, that after the workmen who were\nremoving it had gone too far to recede, they found that they could not\ntake it to pieces, but must first weaken its connection with the wall\nplates, and let it fall plump down. Of course it smashed to atoms nearly\nevery interior ornament, and it just left enough of the marble tomb of\nits founder, Bishop Kennedy, to let us see what a marvellous group of\nrichly-cut Gothic work it must have originally been. Within it there\nwere found, among other ornaments, a heavy silver mace of Parisian\nworkmanship, wonderful as the tomb itself for the quaint intricacy of\nits workmanship.\n\nThe chapel of King\u2019s College has fared better. Like a modest northern\nwild-flower, its beauties are hidden from the common gaze of the peering\ntourist, but to the adepts who examine them they are of no ordinary\ncharacter. From the difficulty of working the indigenous granite, and\nthe cost of importing freestone, the Gothic builders of this district\nseem to have been frugal in their stone decorations, so that the glory\nof King\u2019s College consists in its interior wood-work of carved oak,\nworked in architectural forms, like fairy masonry. We question if there\nis anywhere a collection of specimens of Gothic fretwork more varied and\ndelicate.\n\nIt is difficult to conceive anything more depictive of high and daring\neducational aspirations than the planting of this beautiful edifice in\nso distant a spot, as the place of worship of those students who were to\nflock to it from the wild hills and dreary moors of the north. Its\nfounder was Bishop Elphinston, an ardent scholar, a traveller, and a\nfrequenter of the Continental universities, who might rather have been\nexpected, had he followed the dictates of his refined tastes instead of\nhis conscientious convictions, and his zeal for the spread of learning,\nto have spent his days among the Continental scholars, than to have\ncarried their learning across the Grampians. The character of the\nfoundation may be derived from the following abstract of the Bull of\nerection of 1495, prefixed to the Spalding edition of the _Fasti\nAberdonienses_.\n\n\n  \u201cBull of Pope Alexander VI., issued on the petition of James IV., King\n  of Scots, which sets forth that the north parts of his kingdom were\n  inhabited by a rude, illiterate, and savage people, and therefore\n  erecting in the City of Old Aberdeen a \u2018Studium Generale\u2019 and\n  University, as well for theology, canon and civil law, medicine, and\n  the liberal arts, as for any other lawful faculty, to be there studied\n  and taught by ecclesiastical and lay Masters and Doctors, in the same\n  manner as in the \u2018Studia Generalia\u2019 of Paris and Bologna, and for\n  conferring on deserving persons the degrees of Bachelor, Licentiate,\n  Doctor, Master, and all other degrees and honourable distinctions;\n  conferring on William, Bishop of Aberdeen, and his successors, the\n  office of Chancellor, empowering them, or, during the vacancy of the\n  See, the Vicar deputed by the Chapter, to confer these degrees in all\n  the faculties on such well-behaved scholars as shall, after due\n  examination, be deemed fit by the Rector, Regents, Masters, or Doctors\n  of the faculty in which the degree is sought; granting to such\n  graduates full power of teaching in this or any other _studium_,\n  without any other examination; giving power to the Chancellor or his\n  Vicar, the Rector for the time, and the resident Doctors, with the\n  assistance of a competent number of Licentiates in each faculty, and\n  of circumspect scholars of the said _studium_, and of two of the\n  King\u2019s Councillors at the least, to make statutes for the good\n  government thereof; and conferring on the students and graduates\n  thereof all the privileges and immunities of any other University. 10\n  February, 1494\u20135.\u201d\n\n\nThe character of the institution, and the extent to which it embodied\nthe matured practices of the foreign universities, will be more amply\nunderstood by a document, dated a few years later, in the shape of a\ncollegiate endowment by the Bishop, applicable, along with the\nfoundation of a certain Duncan Scherar, to thirty-six members.\n\n\n  \u201cOf the foresaid thirty-six persons, five to be Masters of Arts and\n  Students of Theology, exercising the functions of the priesthood, and\n  daily acting as readers and Regents in Arts, each having a stipend of\n  ten pounds, four of them being paid out of the lands and feu-duties\n  assigned by the Bishop, and the fifth out of the foundation of the\n  foresaid Duncan Scherar; thirteen to be scholars or poor clerks, fit\n  for instruction in speculative knowledge, and whose parents cannot\n  support them at scholastic exercises, twelve of them having each a\n  stipend of twelve merks from the revenues of the said churches, with\n  chambers and other college conveniences, and the thirteenth a stipend\n  of five pounds from the foundation of the said Duncan Scherar; the\n  five Students of Theology to be supported for seven years until they\n  are licensed, and one of these, of sweet temper, to be selected by the\n  Principal and Sub-principal to read and teach poetry and rhetoric to\n  the other Students; and the Students in Arts to be supported for three\n  years and a half until made Masters; at the end of which periods,\n  these Students of Theology and Arts, whether graduated or not, to be\n  removed, and others instituted in their stead; the Principal,\n  Canonist, Civilist, Mediciner, Sub-principal, and Grammarian, to be\n  nominated by the Bishop and his successors, Chancellors of the\n  University; the Students of Theology to be admitted by the Chancellor,\n  and nominated by the Rector, Dean of Faculty of the Arts, Principal\n  and Sub-principal; and the thirteen Scholars to be admitted in like\n  manner, and nominated by the above parties and the Regent of Arts; of\n  the thirteen Students in Arts, the two first to be of the name of\n  Elphinstoun, who, after being graduated in Arts, shall be admitted\n  among the Students of Theology, and three to be from the parishes of\n  Aberlethnot, Glenmyk, Abirgerny, and Slanis: all the members to have\n  their residence within the College, except the Canonist, Mediciner,\n  Grammarian, and Regent, who are to have manses without the College;\n  the Principal and the Students of Theology, after being made\n  Bachelors, to read Theology every reading-day, and to preach six times\n  a year to the people; and the Students, before being made Bachelors,\n  to preach by turns in Latin in the Chapter of the College on every\n  Lord\u2019s day and holiday throughout the year before all the students;\n  the Regents in Arts to give instruction in the liberal sciences, like\n  the Regents of the University of Paris; and the Canonist, Civilist,\n  and Mediciner to read in proper attire every reading-day, after the\n  manner observed in the Universities of Paris and Orleans; the Rector\n  or (if he be a member of the College) the Dean of the Faculty of Arts,\n  and the Official of Aberdeen, to visit the College once a year, and to\n  mark defects in the persons and property of the College, an account of\n  which shall be written by four persons, deputed for that effect, and\n  presented to the Chancellor, who, with their advice, shall administer\n  correction; a Procurator to be selected from the College by the\n  Principal, Canonist, Civilist, Sub-principal, Cantor, and Sacrist, and\n  to have for his pains, in addition to his stipend, five merks; eight\n  Prebendaries and four youths, accomplished in singing, to be in the\n  College, and to celebrate matins, vespers, and mass, in surplices and\n  black copes, in the presence of the members of the college; the first\n  of these Prebendaries to be called the Cantor, and the second the\n  Sacrist, each with a stipend of twenty merks; the other prebendaries\n  (from among whom the Chancellor must appoint one who is a proficient\n  on the organ) having sixteen merks, and each of the youths five merks.\n  17 September 1505.\u201d\n\n\nIt is curious to mark how distinctly the traces of its French origin\nhave remained in the northern University. In addition to some instances\nin the preceding article, it is worthy of notice that the Students, and\neven the common people, are still familiar with such words as Bejant and\nMagistrand.\n\nCan our chubby friend there, who blushes as brightly as the fresh\nscarlet gown in which he has gone forth to attract the gaze, more\nspiteful than admiring, of the untogaed schoolfellows whom he has left\nbehind him, tell why he is called a Bejant?\n\nDucange tells us that _Beanus_ means a new student who has just come to\nthe academy, and cites the statutes of the University of Vienna,\nprohibiting all persons from cheating or overcharging the new-comers,\nwho are called Beani, or assailing them with other injuries or\ncontumelies. Lambecius, in the _Epistol\u00e6 Obscurorum_, finds Beanus in a\nmonogram\u2014\u201cBeanus est animal nesciens vitam studiosorum.\u201d We come nearer\nthe mark, however, in France, the _Bejauni_ frequently occurring in\nBulleus\u2019s massive History of the University of Paris. Thus, in the year\n1314, a statute of the University is passed on the supplication of a\nnumber of the inexperienced youths, _qui vulgo Bejauni appellebantur_.\nTheir complaint is an old and oft-repeated tale, common to freshmen,\ngreenhorns, griffins, or by whatever name the inexperienced, when\nalighting among old stagers, are recognised. The statute of the\nUniversitas states that a variety of predatory personages fall on the\nnewly-arrived bejaune, demanding a _bejaunica_, or gratuity, to\ncelebrate a _jocundus adventus_; that when it is refused, they have\nrecourse to insults and blows; that there is brawling and bloodshed in\nthe matter, and thus the discipline and studies of the University are\ndisturbed by the pestiferous disease. It is thence prohibited to give\nany _bejaunica_, except to the bejaun\u2019s companions living in the house\nwith him, whom he may entertain if he pleases; and if any efforts are\nmade by others to impose on him, he is solemnly enjoined to give secret\ninformation to the procurators and the deans of the faculties.[141]\n\nThe etymology attributed to the word bejaune is rather curious. It is\nsaid to mean yellow neb\u2014_b\u00e9c jaune_\u2014in allusion to the physical\npeculiarity of unfledged and inexperienced birds, to whose condition\nthose who have just passed from the function of robbing their nests to\nthe discipline of a university are supposed to have an obvious\nresemblance. \u201cCe mot,\u201d says the _Trevaux_, \u201ca \u00e9t\u00e9 dit par corruption de\nb\u00e9c jaune, per m\u00e9taphore de oisons et autres oiseaux niais qui ont le\nb\u00e9c jaune\u2014ce qu\u2019on a appliqu\u00e9 aux apprentis en tous les arts et\nsciences.\u2014_Rudis Tiro Imperitus._\u201d Yet in the same dictionary there are\nsuch explanations about the use of the words _begayer_, to stutter, and\n_begayement_, stuttering, as might, one would think, have furnished a\nmore obvious origin than the ornithological. \u201cLes enfans,\u201d we are told,\n\u201cbegayent en apprenant \u00e0 parler. Ceux qui ont la langue grasse begayent\ntoute leur vie. Quand un homme a b\u00fb beaucoup il commence a _begayer_.\u201d\nBut it is used also figuratively: \u201cDes choses qu\u2019on a peine d\u2019expliquer,\nou de faire entendre\u2014Ce commentateur n\u2019a fait que begayer en voulant\nexpliquer l\u2019Apocalypse.\u201d Whatever were its remote origin, however, the\nterm was in full use in the University of Paris, whence it passed to\nAberdeen. We have now shown our scarlet friend the reason for his being\ncalled a Bejant, but why the word should be corrupted into Benjie, and\nstill more why he should be called a \u201cButtery benjie,\u201d are etymological\nproblems which we no more pretend to solve, than the reason why his\nfellow freshman at Heidelberg is called a Leathery fox.\n\nWe could notice several other relics of ancient university phraseology\nstill clinging round the usages of our humble institutions in Scotland.\nThe Lauration is still preserved as the apt and classical term for the\nceremony of admission to a degree; and even Dr Johnson, little as he\nrespected any Scottish form, especially when it competed with the\nlegitimate institutions of England, has given in his dictionary the word\nLaureation, with this interpretation attached thereto: \u201cIt denotes in\nthe Scottish universities the act or state of having degrees conferred,\nas they have in some of them a flowery crown, in imitation of laurel\namong the ancients.\u201d\n\nElsewhere we are honoured in the same work with a more brief but still a\ndistinctive notice. Among the definitions of \u201cHumanity,\u201d after \u201cthe\nnature of man,\u201d \u201chumankind,\u201d and \u201cbenevolence,\u201d we have\n\u201cPhilology\u2014grammatical studies; in Scotland, _humaniores liter\u00e6_.\u201d The\nterm is still as fresh at Aberdeen as when Maimbourg spoke of Calvin\nmaking his humanities at the College of La Mark. The \u201cProfessor of\nHumanity\u201d has his place in the almanacs and other official lists as if\nthere were nothing antiquated or peculiar in the term, though jocular\npeople have been known to state to unsophisticated Cockneys and other\nforeign persons, that the object of the chair is to inculcate on the\nyoung mind the virtue of exercising humanity towards the lower animals;\nand we believe more than one stranger has conveyed away, in the title of\nthis professorship, a standing illustration of the elaborate kindness\nexercised towards the lower animals in the United Kingdom, and in\nScotland especially.\n\nA curious incidental matter calls us back to King\u2019s College and its\nconnection with Paris. In his visit to Scotland in 1633, Charles I.\nobserved, or learned from his adviser, Archbishop Laud, who had more\nprying eyes, that the ancient formalities of the Scottish universities\nhad fallen into disuse. It appears that his hopes of a restoration were\nchiefly centred in Aberdeen, where he knew that the Presbyterian spirit\nhad its loosest hold, and he resolved to commence the work there. A\ncurious royal letter to Patrick Forbes, Bishop of Aberdeen, and\nChancellor of the University, drops mysterious hints about having\n\u201cobserved some things which we think fit to put in better ordour, which\nwe shall do as we shall find cause.\u201d But in the mean time there is a\nvery strong reprehension of the unacademic practice of sending the\nstudents \u201cto the parish churches to service and sermon, and there sit\npromiscuously with the rest of the audience, which loses much of the\nhonour and dignity of the Universities.\u201d\n\nThe cause of University restoration, after such a kingly hint, naturally\nreceived much local support; and at a sort of convocation of the\nUniversity dignitaries at the Bishop\u2019s Palace on the 19th of December\n1634, some investigations were made to obtain materials \u201cfor\nre-establishing of this University in her jurisdiction, conservatorie,\nand privileges, according to her ancient rights granted thereanent.\u201d\nAmong the other methods of inquiry, there is sent \u201ca special letter to\nour native countryman and special good friend, Dr William Davidson,\nDoctor of Physic, and resident in Paris in France, requesting him to\ndeal, in name of the said University of Aberdeen, with the rector and\nUniversity of Paris, for a just and perfect written double of the rights\nand privileges of that University of Paris, for the better clearing and\nsetting in good order the rights and privileges belonging to this\nUniversity of Aberdeen.\u201d[142]\n\nA letter from Archbishop Laud is read to the meeting, showing that he\nwas in communication with the restorers. \u201cFor the business which you\nhave recommended to me,\u201d he says, \u201cDr Gordon hath been with me, and\ndelivered me a copy of all those things which he hath to move the king.\nI have already spoken with his majesty about them, and shall continue to\ndo him all the kindness I can to help on his despatch, and to show all\nthe favour I can to the University.\u201d[143]\n\nIt would be interesting to know more than the printed documents show us\nof the projects then under discussion. Laud was a meddler with many\nthings\u2014in Scotland, unfortunately, with at least one too many. His\nactivity in university matters is sufficiently known to fame in the\nLaudeian Code of Oxford. But it has been the fate of that system to be\ncharged with a subversion of the fundamental principles of the English\nuniversities, while in Aberdeen the movement which its author seems to\nhave directed was towards the restoration of the old Parisian model. The\napparent difference, however, has been probably caused by unintended\npractical results in England,\u2014the object was doubtless the same in both\ncases.\n\nAmong the projects of King Charles with which his adviser of course\ninterfered, was the union of King\u2019s and Marischal Colleges in Aberdeen.\nIn fact, they are not only two colleges, but, in the literal sense of\nthe term, two universities; and thus, according to the statistical\ndistribution of these institutions, Aberdeen used to appear as well\nsupplied with the commodity as all England. Between the two\nestablishments, little more than a mile apart, there is, indeed,\nunfortunately, a gulf, wider than the mileage between Oxford and\nCambridge. The one was founded before, the other after, the Reformation;\nand there were elements so distinct and repulsive in the spirit of the\nfoundations, that nothing but great coercive force could bring the two\ninto union.\n\nKing Charles, who was too apt to suppose that fundamental changes could\nbe made by an Act of Visitation, or an Order in Council, professed to\nunite them, and called them, in conjunction, the Caroline University.\nBut in reality they never were chemically fused into one. On the\ncontrary, the documents connected with the nominal union, which at this\njuncture may perhaps be read with some interest, lead one to suppose\nthat the two bodies of office-bearers could hardly have met round the\nsame table without kicking each other\u2019s shins. The senior institution\nexhibits itself as overbearing and dictatorial\u2014the junior as sensitive\nto every slight. All latent hatreds seem to have sprung into vivid life\non the command to be united in peace. The juveniles appear to have taken\nthe matter up, and each college passes a law requiring that its students\nshall not insult the professors of the other,\u2014apparently with the same\neffect, if not intention, as the Irish injunction not to duck the\nbailiff in the horse-pond. We wonder if the same thing is to be repeated\nin this day. We have heard it, indeed, maintained from a very grave\nauthority, that nearly all things are possible save the fusion of these\ninstitutions; that it may have been easy to unite England and Scotland,\nor Great Britain and Ireland, but that the eternal laws of the universe\nshow it to be impossible to unite the King\u2019s College and University of\nAberdeen with the Marischal College and University thereof.\n\n\n\n\n                       CIVILISATION.\u2014THE CENSUS.\n\n\nMy dear Eusebius,\u2014If you wonder at the speculations with which I have\namused myself and bewildered all within reach of inquiry, remember what\na celebrated phrenologist said, that I should never make a philosopher:\nyou remarked, So much the better, for that the world had too many\nalready. I am not sure that I was not piqued; and, owing a little spite\nagainst these unapproachable superiors\u2014philosophers\u2014have rather\nencouraged a habit of posing them; and finding so many in this my\nexperience inferior to the common-sense portion of mankind, I amuse\nmyself with them, and treat them as monkeys, now and then throwing them\na nut to crack a little too hard for them. Wry faces break no\nsyllogisms, so we laugh, and they gravitate in philosophy. What is\ncivilisation? Is that a nut?\u2014a very hard one, indeed. I, at least,\ncannot tell what it is, in what it consists, or how this _summum bonum_\nis to be attained; but I am no philosopher. I have taken many a one by\nthe button, and plunged him head foremost into the chaos of thought, and\nseen him come out flushed with the suffocation of his dark bewilderment.\nLess ambitious persons will scarcely stay to answer the question\u2014What is\ncivilisation? The careless, who cannot answer it, laugh, and think they\nwin in the game of foolishness. Perhaps no better answer can be given,\nand the laughing philosopher, after all, may be as wise as the speaking\none. A neighbour, who had been acquainted with the money markets, told\nme he did not exactly know what it was, but he thought its condition was\nindicated by the Three-per-cent Consols. An economist of the new school,\nwho happened to be on a visit to him, preferred as a test \u201cAmerican\nbread-stuffs.\u201d He argued that such stuffs were the staff of life,\nsupported life, and were, therefore, both civilisation and the end and\nobject of civilisation. My neighbour\u2019s son Thomas, a precocious youth of\nthirteen years of age, stepped forward, and said civilisation consisted\nin reading, writing, and arithmetic: upon this, a parish boy, the\nInspector\u2019s pet of the National School, said with rival scorn, \u201cYou must\ngo a great deal farther than that\u2014it is knowledge, and knowledge is\nknowing the etymologies of cosmography and chronology.\u201d I asked the\nred-faced plethoric Farmer Brown;\u2014\u201cWhat\u2019s what!\u201d quoth he, with a voice\nof thunder, and, like a true John Bull, stalked off in scornful\nignorance. My next inquiry was of your playful little friend, flirting\nFanny of the Grove, just entering her fifteenth year. \u201cWhat a question!\u201d\nsaid she, and her very eyes laughed deliciously\u2014\u201cthe latest fashions\nfrom Paris, to be sure.\u201d Make what you please of it, Eusebius; put all\nthe answers into the bag of your philosophy, and shake them well\ntogether, your little friend\u2019s will have as good a chance as any of\ncoming up with a mark of truth upon it. The people that can afford to\ninvent fashions must have a large freedom from cares. There must be\nclasses who neither toil nor spin, yet emulate in grace, beauty, and\nornament the lilies of the field. If you were obliged to personify\ncivilisation, would you not, like another Pygmalion, make to yourself a\nfeminine wonder, accumulate upon your stature every grace, vivify her\nwholly with every possible virtue, then throw a Parisian veil of dress\nover her, and\u2014oh, the profanation of your old days!\u2014fall down and\nworship her?\n\nThere is no better mark of civilisation than well-dressed feminine\nexcellence, to which men pay obeisance. Wherever the majority do this,\nthere is humanity best perfected. Homer teacheth that, when he exhibits\nthe aged council of statesmen and warriors on the walls of Troy paying\nhomage to the grace of Helen. The poet wished to show that the\npersonages of his Epic were not barbarians, and chose this scene to\ndignify them. Ruminate upon the answer, \u201cThe latest fashions from\nParis.\u201d What a mass of civilising detail is contained in these few\nwords!\u2014the leisure to desire, the elegance to wear, the genius to\ninvent, the benevolent employment of delicate hands, the trades\nencouraged, the soft influences\u2014the very atmosphere breathes the most\ndelicate perfume of loves. It is not to the purpose to interpose that\nthis Paris of fashion suddenly turned savage, and revelled in brutal\nrevolution, sparing not man nor woman. It was because, in their\nanti-aristocratic madness, the unhappy people threw off this reverential\nrespect that the uncivilised portion slaughtered the civilised. It was a\nvile atheistical barbarism that waged war with civilisation. Think no\nmore of that black spot in the History of Humanity\u2014that plague-spot.\nRather, Eusebius, turn your thoughts to your work, and fabricate, though\nit be only in your imagination, your own paradise, and she shall be\nnamed Civilisation. In case your imagination should be at this moment\ndull, rest satisfied with a description of an image now before me, which\nI think, as a personification, answers the question admirably; for\nsupposing it to be a portrait from nature, what a civilised people must\nthey be among whom such a wonder was born\u2014not only born, but sweetly\nnurtured, and arrayed in such a glory of dress! If you think this\nindicates a foolish extravagant passion, know that this fair one must\nhave \u201cdied of old age\u201d some centuries before I was born. There she is,\nin all her pale loveliness, in a black japan figured frame, over the\nmantelpiece of my bedroom at H\u2014\u2014, where I am now writing this letter to\nyou. Mock not, Eusebius; she is, or rather was, Chinese. I look upon her\nnow as giving out her answer from those finely-drawn lips\u2014\u201cI represent\ncivilisation.\u201d If I could pencil like that happy painter\u2014happiest in\nhaving such uncommon loveliness to sit to him\u2014I would send you another\nkind of sketch; it would be a failure. Be content with feeble words.\nFirst, then, for dress: She wears a brown kind of hat, or cap, the rim a\nlittle turned up, of indescribable shape and texture: the head part is\nblue; around it are flowers, so white and transparent, just suffused\nwith a blush, as if instantaneously vitrified into china. Lovely are\nthey\u2014such as botanical impertinences never scrutinised. On the right\nside of this cap or hat two cock\u2019s feathers, perfectly white, arch\nthemselves, as if they would coquet with the fairer cheek. You see how\nfirm they are, and would spring up strong from the touch, emblems of\nunyielding chastity. The hair, little of which is seen, is of a\nchestnut-brown; low down on the throat is a broad band of black,\napparently velvet, just peeping above which is the smallest edging of\nwhite, exactly like the most modern shirt-collar, fastened above, where\nit is parted, by a gold clasp. The upper dress is of a pink red, such as\nwe see in Madonna pictures; below this is a dark blue-green shirt-dress,\nrichly flowered to look like enamel; over the shoulders a Madonna\nkerchief, fastened in a knot over the chest; it is of a clear brownish\nhue, such as we see in old pictures. The upper red dress does not meet,\nbut terminates on each, side with a gold border, of a pattern centre,\nwith two lines of gold. Thus a rather broad space is left across the\nbosom, which in modern costume is occupied by a habit-shirt; but such\nword would ill describe either the colour or the texture here worn; it\nis of a gossamer fabric, of a most delicately-greenish white, diapered\nand flowered all over; nothing can be conceived more exquisite than\nthis. It would make the fortune of a modern _modiste_ to see and to\nimitate it. A clasp of elegant shape fastens skirt to upper dress; the\nsleeve of upper dress reaches only half-way down the arm; the lower\nsleeve is of the rich blue-green, but altogether ample. Attitude,\nslightly bent forward; over the left arm, which crosses the waist, is\nsuspended a fruit-basket of unknown material, and finely patterned,\nbrown in colour, in which are grapes and other fruit; expression,\nsweetly modest; complexion\u2014how shall it be described? Never was European\nlike it. It is finest porcelain, variegated with that under-living\nimmortal ichor of the old divinities. Eyes clear-cut or pencilled,\nrather hazel in colour; background, rockwork garden, rising to a hill,\non which are trees\u2014but such trees! Aladdin may have seen the like in his\nenchanted subterranean garden. Then there is a lake, and a boat on it,\nat a distance, with an awning. She is the goddess, or the queen, of this\nElysium, which her presence makes, and has enchanted into a porcelain\nearth, whose flowers and trees are of its lustre.\n\nWherever, Eusebius, this portrait was taken, it was, and is, an epitome,\nan emblem of high civilisation. It speaks so plainly of all exemption\nfrom toil and care, of the unapproachableness of danger. There is living\nelegance in a garden of peace. It is, in fact, the type of civilisation.\nWhat! will the economist, the philosopher of our day, be ready to\nsay,\u2014Civilisation amongst Chinese and Tartars! and that centuries\nperhaps ago. Civilisation is \u201cThe Nineteenth Century!\u201d The glory of the\nNineteenth Century is the Press. We are Civilisation. Very well,\ngentlemen; nevertheless it would be pleasant if you could exhibit a\nlittle more peace and quietness, a little less turmoil, a little more\nunadulterating honesty, a little less careworn look in your streets, as\nthe mark of your boasted civilisation. You are doing wonders, and, like\nKaterfelto with his hair on end, are in daily wonderment at your own\nwonders. You steam\u2014annihilate space and time. You have ripped open the\nbowels of knowledge, and well-nigh killed her in search of her golden\negg. You are full, to the throat and eyes, of sciences and arts. You are\nhourly astonishing yourselves and the world. Nevertheless, you have one\ngreat deficiency as to the ingredients that make up civilisation; you\nare decidedly too conceited; you lack charity; you count bygone times\nand peoples as nothing and nobodies: yet you build a great Crystal\nPalace, and boast of it, as if it were all your own; whereas the whole\nriches of it, in the elegances of all arts, are imitations of the works\nof those bygone times and peoples. Who is satisfied with your\nmodel-civilisation? Eusebius, is not the question yet to be asked\u2014What\nis it? in what does it consist? how is it to be obtained? True\ncivilisation has no shams\u2014we have too many, and they arise out of our\nswaggering and boasting; so that we force ourselves to assume every\nindividual virtue, though we have it not. We are contemptuous; and\ncontempt is a burr of barbarism sticking to us still, even in this\n\u201cNineteenth Century,\u201d a phrase in the public mouth glorifying\nself-esteem. I must, for the argument, go back to the Chinese lady in\nher narrow japanned gilt frame. As I have drawn my curtains, Eusebius,\nat the dawn of day, and that placid beauty (though not to be admitted in\nany book of that name) has smiled upon me from lips so delicate, so\nunvoracious\u2014did she pick grains of rice, like Amine in the Arabian\ntale?\u2014I verily thought she must have lived in as civilised an age as\nours. Yes\u2014perhaps she was not very learned, excepting in Chinese\nromances, and very good learning that is: but neither you nor I,\nEusebius, lay very great stress upon knowledge, nor call it \u201cPower,\u201d nor\nthink that happiness necessarily grows out of it. One evil of it is,\nthat it unromances the age; and romance\u2014why not say it?\u2014romance is a\nmain ingredient in true, honest, unadulterated civilisation. You would\nprefer being as mad as Don Quixote, and be gifted with his romance, to\nbeing the aptest of matter-of-fact economists and material philosophers.\nRomance, then, springs from the generous heart and mind;\u2014methinks,\nEusebius, you are progressing, and reaching one of the ingredients of\nthis said desideratum, \u201cCivilisation.\u201d As a people, it may be doubted if\nwe are quite as romantic as formerly; if so, however we may advance in\nknowledge and sciences, we are really retrograding from the _summum\nbonum_ of social virtues. I remember once hearing a celebrated\nphysician, who knew as much as most men of mankind, their habits and\nmanners, speak of an American \u201cgentleman,\u201d adding, \u201cand he was a\nsavage.\u201d You can imagine it possible, that, in the presence and\nimpertinence of Anglo-Saxon vulgarity, the grave and courteous demeanour\nof a so-called barbarian would be a very conspicuous virtue. I read the\nother day, in Prince\u2019s _Worthies of Devon_, a quaint passage to the\npoint, which much amused me for its singular expression. It relates to\nSir Francis Drake, who, touching at one of the Molucca Islands, was, as\nthe author words it, \u201cby the king thereof, a true _gentleman pagan_,\nmost honourably entertained.\u201d Of this \u201cgentleman pagan\u201d Prince adds,\nthat he told General Drake \u201cthat they and he were all of one religion,\nin this respect, that they believed not in gods made of stocks and\nstones, as did the Portuguese; and further, at his departure he\nfurnished him with all the necessaries that he wanted.\u201d Yet, perhaps,\nsome of the habits of such gentlemen pagans had been scoffed at by\nEuropeans, and often met with worse usage than contempt. Whoever has no\nconsideration for others, no indulgence for habits contrary to his own,\nthough he may be born in nominally the most civilised nation under the\nsun, is really a barbarian. It was well said that, upon the accidental\nmeeting of the finest drest gentleman, with a powdered head, and a\ntatooed Indian, he who should laugh first would be the savage. The\nwell-known story of the horror expressed by different people at the\ndisposal of their deceased parents is curious, showing that opposite\nactions arise from the same feelings. In this case it was of filial\npiety. One party was asked if he would bury his father in the earth? He\nwas amazed at the question\u2014shocked. Not for the world; as an act of\npiety, he would eat him. The other, asked to eat his father, was hurt\nand disgusted beyond measure. Let us be a little more even in our\njudgments, and speak somewhat kindly, if we can, of these gentlemen\npagans all over the world. We may be often called upon to admire their\ndisinterested heroism, even when lavished upon mistaken objects. Here is\nan example from the misnamed weaker sex\u2014misnamed, for they are\nwonderfully gifted with fortitude. I have been reading of a poor young\ncreature, widow of a chief among some cannibal race. She was to have\nbeen immolated, according to custom, at the burial of her husband. Her\ncourage at the moment failed her: she was induced by, if I remember\nrightly, some good missionaries, to fly, and they protected her. In the\nnight she repented of her irresolution, escaped, swam across a river,\nand presented herself for the sacrifice and the feast. Scholars, you\nread with love and admiration of Iphigenia at Aulis; her first\nreluctance; her after self-devotion: you have imagined her youth, her\nbeauty, so vividly painted by the poet. Was Iphigenia more the heroine\nthan this poor girl whom we are pleased to pass unhistoried as a savage?\nShe gave herself up, not only to death, perhaps a cruel one, but with\nthe knowledge that she would be devoured also that night. Iphigenia was\ncertain of funeral honours, of immortal fame, and believed that her\nsacrifice would insure victory to her father and the Greeks. We have\nwritten exercises at school in praise of the suicide of Cato, whose act,\nin comparison with this poor savage\u2019s, was cowardice;\u2014more than that, we\nhave been taught to mouth out with applause the blasphemy of the\ncelebrated hexameter, \u201cVictrix causa Diis placuit sed victa Catoni.\u201d Why\nshould we not be a little more even in our judgments? The poor gentlemen\npagans of the islands would cut as good a figure as heathen Cato, if\ntheir names and deeds could be turned into tolerable Latin, and passed\noff as of the classical age. Henley, in a letter to Swift, tells the\nspeech of a farmer, who said, \u201cIf I could but get this same breath out\nof my body, I\u2019d take care, by G\u2014, how I let it come in again!\u201d Henley\nmakes the pithy remark, \u201cThis, if it was put into fine Latin, I fancy\nwould make as good a sound as any I have met with.\u201d\n\nI did not mean to induce a belief, Eusebius, that the Chinese excelled\nin the fine arts when I wrote down the description of the Chinese lady.\nThe portrait had its peculiarities, and would not have been hung upon\nthe line in the Royal Academy. I only chose it for its historical\nexpression, which spoke of civilisation of manners, of security, and as\ncontaining in itself things which civilised people boast of. But there\nthe argument is not very much in favour of this our \u201cNineteenth\nCentury;\u201d for the chiefest works of art in painting are of the _cinque\ncents_. It is not pretended that we have thrown into oblivious shade the\nmasters of old celebrity; nor that we have made better statues than did\nPhidias and Praxiteles; nor excelled the Greeks in architecture; nor\neven the artist builders of the ages which we are pleased to style\n\u201cDark;\u201d so that we have at least lost some marks of civilisation. Nay,\nto come to nearer times for comparison: It would be a hard thing for our\nswaggerers to find a dramatist willing to be taken by the collar, and\ncontrasted face to face with the portraits of Shakespeare and Ben\nJonson, taking their plays as their representatives. There were worthies\nof a high romance in the civilised days of the \u201cGlorious Gloriana.\u201d What\nmarks of essential civilisation are visible in the comedies of\nShakespeare\u2014what delightful mixture of the real and unreal\u2014the mind\nspringing from its own natural elasticity above the fogs and blight of\nworldly business, that ever tend to keep the spirits from rising! And\nwhy say comedies? Tragedies too. How fresh is the atmosphere mankind\nseem then to breathe. Humanity is made lovable or dignified. If we might\njudge of civilisation from the works of writers of that age, we might be\njustified in pronouncing it most civilised, for it was governed by a\nvivid and romantic spirit. Take as contrast the literature of Queen\nAnne\u2019s boasted time. It is quite of another spirit. There is a\ndescending, a degradation of the whole mind. There begins visible\nworldliness. We see man taking his part in the affairs of the world for\nwhat he can get as an individual. There is a prominence of the business,\nand less made of the enjoyments of life;\u2014the commercial spirit\npredominating, which has since overwhelmed the imaginative faculties,\nand buried the better, the more civilised pleasures of life, under the\nweight of avarice. We are, my dear Eusebius, too money-loving and\nmoney-getting to deserve the name of a thoroughly civilised people. Is a\ntrue and just perception of the fine arts a sign of civilisation? What\nis admired\u2014what is eagerly purchased\u2014what intellectual food do the\npurchases convey? Is the mere visual organ gratified by the lowest\nelement of the arts\u2014imitation\u2014or the mind\u2019s eye enlarged to receive and\nlove what is great and noble? In one sense, undoubtedly, the art of\nliving is better understood, because, the romance of life fading away,\npersonal comforts and little luxuries become exigencies, and engross the\nthoughts, filling up the vacancies that romance has left. Shall I shock\nyou, my dear Eusebius, if I add my doubts if liberty is either\ncivilisation or a sign of it? Great things have been done in the world,\nwhere there has been little of it enough, as well as where there has\nbeen much. The fine arts are certainly not much indebted to it.\n\nThere is much in the question which yet remains to be considered. The\nquestioned may well ask, as did the heathen philosopher on one more\nimportant, and of an infinite height and depth\u2014another day of thought to\nanswer it, and each succeeding day another still. Is civilisation that\ncondition in which all the human faculties may be so continually\nexercised, as to make the more intellectual moral and religious being?\nwhen the plant humanity, like every other plant, shall by cultivation\nassume a new character and even appearance? I fear this condition\nnecessarily implies a degradation also. For as in no state do the many\nreach the high standard, equality must be destroyed, so that inferiority\nwill not only have its moral mark, but also its additional toil, far\nabove the share it would have supposing a state nearer equality.\n\nBut then, it may be answered, the question is not about the many, but\nregards only examples, without considering number. Human plants may be\nexhibited of extraordinary culture and beauty\u2014beauty that must be seen\nand admired\u2014and, if so, imitated; and this law of imitation will draw in\nthe many, in process of time, to improvement. Very true, Eusebius; and\nin a race naturally energetic, this imitation\u2014while, on the whole, it\nwill improve general manners\u2014creates a social vice, affectation\u2014which is\nvulgarity. The example of our Anglo-Saxon race is to the point\u2014of\nwondrous energy, but in no race under the sun is vulgarity so\nconspicuous. If, then, the condition which forces all the human\nfaculties to exertion be that of civilising tendency, does it follow\nthat it is one of the greatest happiness? The history of the world says\nmanifestly that it is not one of peace, of quietness, of content, of\nsimplicity\u2014alas! shall we say of honesty? For it must be confessed\ncivilisation acts upon the mixed character which every man has, and\ntherefore gives progression both to vice and virtue. Man is only made\ngreat by trials; difficulties promote energies. It is the law of\npreparation for this world and for the next. Long, steep, and arduous is\nthe way to excellence. The verse of Hesiod brings to mind a passage of\ngreater authority. The smooth and broad way, and ever-ready way, is not\nso good.\n\n            \u201c\u03a4\u1fc6\u03c2 \u03b4\u2019\u1f00\u03c1\u03b5\u03c4\u1fc6\u03c2 \u1f31\u03b4\u03c1\u1ff6\u03c4\u03b1 \u03b8\u03b5\u03bf\u1f76 \u03c0\u03c1\u03bf\u03c0\u03ac\u03c1\u03b9\u03bf\u03b8\u03b5\u03bd \u1f14\u03b8\u03b7\u03ba\u03b1\u03bd.\n            \u039b\u03b8\u03ac\u03bd\u03b1\u03c4\u03bf\u03b9, \u03bc\u03b1\u03ba\u03c1\u03bf\u03c2 \u03b4\u1f72 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u1f44\u03c1\u03b8\u03b9\u03bf\u03c2 \u03bf\u1f37\u03bc\u03bf\u03c2 \u1f10\u03c0\u2019 \u03b1\u1f7a\u03c4\u1f74\u03bd,\n            K\u03b1\u1f76 \u03c4\u03c1\u03b7\u03c7\u1f7a\u03c2 \u03c0\u03c1\u1ff6\u03c4\u03bf\u03bd \u03b5\u03c0\u03b7\u03bd \u03b4\u2019\u03b5\u1f30\u03c2 \u1f04\u03ba\u03c1\u03bf\u03bd \u1f35\u03ba\u03b7\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9\n            \u03a1\u03b7\u1f34\u03b4\u03af\u03b7 \u03b4\u2019\u1f14\u03c0\u03b5\u03b9\u03c4\u03b1 \u03c0\u03ad\u03bb\u03b5\u03b9, \u03c7\u03b1\u03bb\u03b5\u03c0\u03ae \u03c0\u03b5\u03c1 \u1f10\u03bf\u1fe6\u03c3\u03b1.\u201d\n                                            \u2014HESIOD.\n\nHere we have toil, trouble, and a rough road.\n\nNow for a little entanglement of the subject. Who will sit for this\naspirant for all the virtues\u2014for civilisation? I look up to the portrait\nof the Chinese lady, who first set my thoughts upon this speculation.\nSurely she never got that placid do-nothing look from any long habit of\ntoil and trouble; she never worked hard. I confess, Eusebius, as I\nquestion her, she does look a little more silly than I thought her. She\nnever went the up-hill rough road. How should she? She was never shod\nfor it; nay, were the truth told\u2014for the painter has judiciously kept it\nout of sight\u2014she had no proper feet to walk withal. They had been\npinched to next to nothing. She never could have danced; would have been\na sorry figure in a European ball-room; and in the way she must have\nstood, would have made but (as Goldsmith calls it) \u201ca mutilated\ncurtsey.\u201d It is hard to give up a first idea. I proposed her as an\nemblem of civilisation\u2014and why not? She does not represent civilisation\nin its progress\u2014in its work; but in its result\u2014its perfection. For look\nat her,\u2014she stands not up with a bold impudence, like Luxury in the\n\u201cChoice of Hercules,\u201d puffed up and enlarged in the fat of pride, and\nredder and whiter than nature\u2014a painted Jezebel. Quite the reverse. She\nis most delicately slender; her substance is of the purity of the finest\nChina tea-cup. In fact, she seems to have been set up as the work of a\nwhole nation\u2019s toil,\u2014as a sign, a model, of their civilisation. They who\nimagined such a creature, and set her upon her legs\u2014yet I can hardly say\nthat, considering the feet\u2014must have made many after the same model, or\nseen many; and exquisite must have been the manners of such a piece of\nlife-porcelain.\n\nIndeed, Eusebius, we have greatly mistaken these people, the Chinese. I\nwill believe their own account of themselves, and that they were a\npolished people when the ancient Britons went naked, and painted\nthemselves with woad. Besides, here is another picture at hand, clearly\nshowing them to have been, as probably they are still, a sensible\npeople, for they evidently agree with the wisest man who said, \u201cSpare\nthe rod and spoil the child.\u201d Here they have pictured a school, and the\npedagogue is flogging a boy, and he has a very legitimate rod. If this\nis not a _mark_ of civilisation\u2014for it certainly leaves one, giving, as\nit were, a bottomry bond of future wisdom\u2014I should like to know what is.\nBirch-buds are the smart-money of education, and wonderfully improve the\nmemory without touching the head, but reaching the brain by a harmless\nand distant sympathy. I am sure the Chinese must be a people well worth\nstudying; and, with all our national conceit, we may learn a good deal\nfrom them. If we scatter them about with our artillery, and stick them\nupon bayonets, and despise them because they are innocent, or have been\ntill recently, in the arts of destruction, who are the most savage\u2014the\nslaughtered or the slaughterers? Are we to call war, civilisation?\nPerhaps it may be the \u201crough way\u201d it has to pass. Ask the Czar to answer\nthe question. He will undoubtedly say, that it is cutting the throats of\nthe Turks and filching their property; and he will show you one\nundoubted proof of the highest civilisation of modern times, consummate\nhypocrisy\u2014committing murder by wholesale in the name of religion.\n\nShall I advance a seeming paradox? Civilisation is impeded by\nknowledge\u2014that is, by the modern demand for it. The memory becomes\ncrammed, till there be no room in the brain for legitimate thought to\nwork in. Hence a bewilderment, a confusion of other men\u2019s ideas, and\nnone of our own; a general perplexity, and little agreement among people\nin sentiment, for they have no time left to consider upon their\ndifferences. The world is overstocked with the materials of knowledge,\nand yet there is ever a demand for more. The time of man\u2019s best wisdom\nwas when he was not overburthened with books. Happy are scholars that so\nmany of the classics are lost. Were all that have been written extant,\nthe youth that should graduate in honours would be the miracle of a\nshort time, and an idiot the remainder of his life. Then our own\nliterature: it is frightful to see the bulky monthly catalogue of\npublications. Had I to begin the world, I should throw down the list in\ndespair, and prefer being a literary fool, with a little common sense.\nBesides, the aspirant in education must learn all modern languages also.\nWhat a quantity! I made a note from a paper published, November 1851.\nHere is a quotation. A letter from Leipsic says\u2014\u201cThe catalogue for the\nbook fair of St Michael has been just published. It results from it that\nduring the short space of time which has elapsed since the fair of\nEaster last, not fewer than three thousand eight hundred and sixty new\nbooks have been published in Germany, and that one thousand one hundred\nand fifty others are in the press. More than one-half of these works are\non scientific subjects.\u201d Mercy on the brains of the people!\u2014they will be\ninevitably addled. What with all this learning and reading, summing and\nanalysing, and making book-shelves of themselves, they are retrograding\nin natural understanding, which ought to be the strong foundation of\ncivilisation. And there is the necessity growing up of reading all the\ndaily papers beside. Better, Eusebius, that the human plant should grow,\nlike a cucumber, to belly, and run along the common ground, than shoot\nout such head-seed as is likely to come out of such a hotbed under a\nsurfeit of dry manure. Verily it must shortly come to pass, that\nIgnoramus will be the wisest if not the knowingest among us. He may have\ncommon sense, a few flights of imagination unchoked with the dust of\nlearning, or many wholesome prejudices, a great deal of honest feeling,\nand with these homespun materials keep his morals and religion pure,\nand, walking in humbleness, reach unawares the summit of civilisation.\nIf you think him an imaginary being, wed him to the Chinese Purity in\nthe japan frame, and no one will write the epithalamium so happily as my\nfriend Eusebius. I might here have ended my letter, rather expecting to\nreceive a solution to the great question than pretending to offer one.\nBut having written so far, and about to add a concluding sentence, I\nreceived a visit from our matter-of-fact friend B., whom people\nhereabout call the Economist General: he is a professed statist, great\nin all little things. He is alway at work, volunteering unacceptable\nadvices and schemes to boards of guardians and the Government. I told\nhim I was writing to you, and the subject of my letter,\u2014\u201cThen,\u201d said he,\n\u201cI can assist you. The census newly come out is the thing. In that you\nwill learn everything. You will, in fact, find civilisation depicted\nscientifically. I will send it to you.\u201d We conversed an hour; I promised\nto read his census return in the course of the day. He smiled strangely,\nbut said nothing. I soon understood what the smile meant, when I saw a\nlabouring man take out of a little cart a huge parcel, which upon\nopening I found to contain the Census in nineteen volumes or books,\nvarying in shapes and sizes, some of which being very bulky, I judged to\ncontain heavy matter. The idea of reading over and digesting the Census\nin an afternoon appeared now so ridiculous that I could not refrain from\nlaughing myself. Nineteen books to examine in an afternoon! It was\nevident there would be six months\u2019 toil, and as many hands as Briareus\nwanted to turn over the leaves; to say nothing of the number of heads to\nhold the matter. What horsepower engine in the brain to work up a\ndigested process equal to the task! I was, however, being somewhat idle,\ncurious to see what could have made our friend such an enthusiast; I\ntherefore looked into some of the books\u2014became interested\u2014read more and\nmore, though in a desultory manner. It is wonderful to see society so\ndaguerreotyped in all its phases. What could have given rise to so much\nvaried ingenuity?\u2014What schemes, what contrivances for getting at\neverything!\u2014the commissioners must have been Titans in ingenuity. Was it\nthe necessity of the case that induced so much elaboration? I have read\nthat the cost of the Census exceeds \u00a3120,000. That accounts for it,\nEusebius; such a sum is not to be clutched without some inventive\npowers. Our friend thinks the Census will help to solve the question of\ncivilisation; so pray borrow the volumes of an M.P. If you cannot get at\nthe marrow of the thing you want, you will find much for after\nspeculation. There is something frightful, Eusebius, in the idea that no\nclass of men, no individuals, can henceforth escape the eye of this\nGreat Inquisitor-General\u2014a Census commission. There is no conceivable\nthing belonging to man, woman, or child that may not come under the\ninspection, and be in the books, of this great Gargantuan Busybody. In\ntruth, he was born a gigantic infant in 1801. Hermes, in the Homeric\nhymn, leaped out of his cradle upon mischievous errands almost as soon\nas born: so did our big Busybody. Ere he was six months old he took to\nknocking at people\u2019s doors, and running[144] away. He soon grew bolder,\nstood to his knock, and asked if Mr Thompson did not live there. Then he\nhad the trick of getting into houses like the boy Jones, and counted the\nskillets in the scullery, the pap-dishes in the nursery, turned over the\nbeds in the garrets, and booked men and maids who slept in them before\nthey could put their clothes on. With a thirst for domestic knowledge,\nhe insisted upon knowing who were married and who not. He would burst in\nupon a family at their prayers, and note what religion they were of. He\nwould know every one\u2019s age, condition, business, and be very particular\nas to sex female, why they married or why they lived single; he could\ntell to a day when any would lie in. The most wonderful thing was the\npaper case he carried with him wherever he went. It would have made\nGargantua himself stare with astonishment, for it is said, upon\ncompetent authority, to have weighed \u201cnearly forty tons.\u201d This paper\ncase contained particulars noted down of every one\u2019s possible concerns.\nHe had another at home, in which he kept circulars for distribution,\ndemanding further information. It was said to be bigger still;[145] as\nhe grew robust and bold, of course it took more to feed Busybody. It is\nalmost incredible what a number of the people\u2019s loaves he ate up in one\nyear; but that there is the baker\u2019s bill to vouch for it, no one would\nbelieve it. The quantity of food required for himself and his numerous\nretainers has already made him look about with some anxiety to foist\nupon the country a scheme for sure agricultural statistics, to ascertain\nthe number of loaves to the acre. It cannot be said of him, as of many,\nthat his eye is bigger than his belly, for the former cannot as yet see\n\u201cbread-stuffs\u201d enough to fill the latter. Besides, he has quite an army\nto maintain of officials, enumerators, and registrars, who all, after\nthe manner of benchers, must eat their way into the universal knowledge\nrequired of them. Such is Busybody. In my afternoon nap, I have dreamed\nof him, Eusebius, and offer you this description of him\u2014his birth, life,\nhabits, and manners\u2014as by a dreaming intuition I received them. What\nthink you of the monster? As perilous a beast as the Wooden Horse of\nTroy.\n\n\u201cInspectura domos, venturaque desuper urbi.\u201d It would not be surprising\nif Irish mothers, when they find that all their babes are registered,\nage and sex noted down, were to take into their heads that they are to\nbe fattened; and Swift\u2019s scheme, which a popular author has unwisely\ncharacterised as serious cannibalism, is at length to be realised, and\nthus Bigmouth of the old fair and puppet-show will appear as\nBusybody-General. Perhaps the \u201cKing of the Cannibal Islands,\u201d since we\nhave taught him to read and write, will avail himself of this new\nregistration system; for with him all is alike meat in the market. I\nhave been reading an account of such a people\u2019s doings, and find the\nonly difference between human and other is, that the former is sold as\n\u201clong pig,\u201d the other short pig.\n\nI mentioned the ingenuity displayed in the Census\u2014turn to the maps and\ndiagrams. You will see a map of England and Wales, shaded so that the\ndepth of colour shall denote the density of the population: there are\nfigures also to tell the number of persons to a square mile, and towns\nand cities are represented by round dots, larger or smaller, according\nto the number of inhabitants. It is a very curious and pretty plaything;\nbut of what imaginable use? It is like the shadowing on the maps of the\nmoon. London looks awful\u2014a horrible black pit\u2014and must give children,\nwho will be delighted with the plaything, a notion that our great\nmetropolis must be a sink of iniquity. Cobbett\u2019s notion of the \u201cgreat\nwen\u201d was by no means agreeable; to make it such a black pit of\ndestruction is far less flattering. There are diagrams also showing, by\nthe closeness of dots, the density of population at various periods. It\nwas certainly a very ingenious contrivance of the inventor, for the\nenlargement and continuance of his work and employment; in a matter,\ntoo, where, at first view, so little was required to be done. If not\nmore profitable, it at least provides as much amusement as Diogenes\nafforded when he rolled his tub about, to show that he must be busy. The\ninventor was, however, wiser than the philosopher; for the philosopher\naimed at satire only, the inventor of the maps and diagrams at pay and\nprofit. Everything should nowadays be turned into the channel of\neducation; it might be suggested to the educational purveyors, and to\nmasters and inspectors of schools, who stand a chance of wanting\nsomething to teach, to have these maps and diagrams printed cheaply on\nthick or board paper, that, even in their recreation hours, the scholars\nmay learn something, and the favourite \u201cgame of goose,\u201d of ominous name,\nbe profitably superseded. The two diagrams of London, the one for the\nyear 1801, the other 1851, may serve quite as well as the \u201cChinese\npuzzle\u201d to exercise growing or dull memories, having a like advantage of\nnot burthening the mind, already too full, with any useful knowledge\nwhatever. For instance, it will be quite sport to learn by heart that,\nas to density of London in 1801, \u201con an average, there were nearly 394\nsquare yards of land to every person, 2784 square yards to every\ninhabited house.\u201d As to proximity in 1801, that, \u201con an average, the\nmean distance from house to house (inhabited) was nearly 57 yards; from\nperson to person 21 yards.\u201d That, as to density in 1851, \u201con an average,\nthere were nearly 160 square yards of land to every person; 1234 square\nyards to every inhabited house.\u201d As to proximity, that in 1851, \u201con an\naverage, the mean distance from house to house (inhabited) was nearly 38\nyards; from person to person 14 yards.\u201d So that every person is\napproaching his neighbour in person, but not probably in love or liking,\nso rapidly, as that he has already seven yards of the area of his\nliberty taken from him since 1801. It will be comfortably and\nphilosophically answered, that most of those who enjoyed that liberty in\n1801, more than half a century ago, cannot complain, for they are now\nsilent, and in less space, that of six feet by four; and that the\npresent generation easily accommodate themselves in less space, having\nthe better liberty of making more noise. These are the trifles, the\ngames, and the plays that amuse children six feet high. Let them by all\nmeans roll about their tub in the streets, if they will remain contented\nwith their sport and their wages. They have, however, we may both of us\nsurmise and fear, done far less innocent work. It is not pleasant to\nknow that the pure, chaste secresy of your house has been invaded, taken\npossession of, and is no longer exclusively yours; that you are in name\nor in number, as No. 1 or No. 2, put away in a pigeon-hole somewhere in\nthat black pit you have seen in the map, to be drawn out, one of these\ndays, at the will of any impertinent official, and further questioned,\nperhaps, as the phrase is, _squeezed_, when anything is to be got out of\nyou. You may have a commission sent down to your house, and take\npossession of it, for some scrutiny or other, while you are taking your\nmorning walk; on your return, you will find two or three commissioners\nhave coolly taken your joint off the spit, and are politely drinking\nyour health out of your choicest sherry; and as an excuse of\nextraordinary business, question you about the age and property of your\ngreat-grandmother deceased. How do you or I know what use will be made\nof all these registered particulars about us? It would be far pleasanter\nto be let alone. I have an antipathy to curious questioning people. Dr\nFranklin, when he came to a strange place, knowing the inquisitive\ndisposition of the people, used to say at once, \u201cMy name is Benjamin\nFranklin; I come from such a place, and am going to such a place; age so\nand so, and on such business; and now let me have out a horse.\u201d I should\nfor one like to compound with this scrutinising government, on condition\nof exemption from place in their books, to put out weekly posted to my\ndoor the names, ages, and sex of every inmate, with a diary of their\nemployments the six days; requesting not to be called to account for my\ntime on the hallowed seventh. There is no chance of such a composition\nbeing accepted on their part; for you will see, Eusebius, there is\nnothing they are so busy about as to know what religion you are of.\nThere is a separate book for this very purpose; nay, they go\nfarther\u2014they have superseded all known authorities in these matters, and\nhave dictated what shall be your creed, giving you only a latitude of\n\u201c_Churches_\u201d\u2014such they call every denomination in their Report presented\nto Parliament, and her Majesty, who as yet happily has recognised but\none Church of England, in which matter the Report is undoubtedly at\nvariance with the fundamental law of the Constitution, and passes a kind\nof insulting suggestion upon her Majesty\u2019s highest prerogative, her very\ncrown and dignity. This is a matter for other consideration; the\nreligious Report must be examined; I only see at present, and note the\nfact, that the Church of England is put down as but one of the sects.\n\n\u201cIncrease and multiply\u201d was at the beginning, and from the beginning to\nthis day is, the Divine command. Some would infer that there must be a\nblessing attending obedience to it, others would in part abrogate the\nlaw, and, with Malthus, admit no crowding at the bountiful table which\nnature supplies. The presumption fairly is, that as security to life and\nhappiness is the main cause of increase; viewing this world only, such\nincrease must be a great good, and it implies advancement in\ncivilisation, which possibly may not be ill defined as the art of\npromoting life and happiness. It includes moral advancement. But the\nbeneficence of our Maker allows us to look beyond this world. Hence, the\nawful thought, and the responsibility incurred by its increase of\npopulation, is an increase of immortal souls. There is a depth in this\nargument beyond my scope. It is a curious fact which this Census shows.\nIn 1801, the population of Great Britain was 10,578,956; in 1851, it had\nreached 20,959,477. Thus the population has nearly doubled in fifty\nyears. But further, \u201cThe population of the United Kingdom, including the\narmy, navy, and merchantseamen, was 21,272,187 in 1821, and about\n27,724,849 in 1851; but in the interval 2,685,747 persons emigrated,\nwho, if simply added to the population of the United Kingdom, make the\nsurvivors and descendants of the races within the British Isles in 1821,\nnow 30,410,595.\u201d\n\nPerhaps, Eusebius, you never considered that you have only right and\ntitle to a certain limited area, to live and breathe in, in this your\nbeloved country. Your area is becoming more circumscribed every day.\nPeople are approximating fearfully. You may come to touch very\ndisagreeable people; at present you are only a few yards apart. There\nare two things, according to this Census, threatening you\u2014\u201cdensity\u201d and\n\u201cproximity.\u201d For \u201cdensity\u201d a French writer proposes \u201cspecific population\nafter the analogy of specific gravity,\u201d so that if there be an\naccelerating ratio, you may be run in upon and crushed by your\nneighbours, after the annihilating principle of some of our railroads. I\nremember when a boy hearing an old gentleman make a curious calculation,\nequalising rights to the air we breathe. He came to the conclusion that\na man who smoked tobacco took up more room in the atmosphere than he had\nany right to. This, now that we are so rapidly approximating, ought, you\nwill think, to come under the consideration of the Legislature. See your\ndanger\u2014\u201cthe people of England were on an average one hundred and\nfifty-three yards asunder in 1801, and one hundred and eight yards\nasunder in 1851.\u201d Thus the regular goers, the world-walkers, are coming\nin upon you; but there are some as erratic as comets, whose contiguity\nyou will dread. I say this is your danger, for you do not suppose such\ninfinite pains would have been taken, and such vast expense incurred,\nmerely out of idle curiosity to give you this information. Perhaps it is\nkindly meant to give you a hint that your room would be preferred to\nyour company. \u201cTempus abire tibi est.\u201d More than this\u2014not only persons,\nbut houses are encroaching upon each other. \u201cThe mean distance apart of\ntheir houses was three hundred and sixty-two yards in 1801, and two\nhundred and fifty-two yards in 1851.\u201d You see, then, you must not only\nset yourself in order to depart, but you must \u201cset your house in order\u201d\nalso. It is really astonishing that the Census Commission should have\ntaken such a world of trouble in making calculations which, at first\nsight, look so puerile; we must only conclude, that somehow or other the\nlabour is as much worth the hire, as the labourer is worthy _his_ hire.\n\nI dare to say, among your ignorances, you are ignorant of this, that the\nBritish Isles are at least five hundred in number. \u201cFive hundred islands\nand rocks have been numbered, but inhabitants were only found and\ndistinguished on the morning of March 31, 1851, in _one hundred and\nseventy-five_ islands, or groups of islands.\u201d I cannot very well tell\nwhat is meant by \u201c_distinguished_,\u201d but you will perceive that there is\na chance, if you fear the \u201ccrushing density and proximity\u201d of escape to\none of these islands, as yet uninhabited, where you may exist without\ncontact or contagion, as a very \u201c_distinguished_\u201d individual. You may be\nanother Alexander Selkirk, and \u201cmonarch of all you survey,\u201d and have the\nhonour of a distinction, in the next census, now enjoyed by a lone lady.\nYou will be enumerated as, and as solely taking care of, number one.\nThere are British isles that have each but two inhabitants. \u201cLittle\nPapa\u201d has but one\u2014a woman; and \u201cInchcolm one solitary man.\u201d What think\nyou of this \u201clast man\u201d and this \u201clast woman,\u201d each upon his or her\n\u201c_ultima Thule_?\u201d The motherless man-hating woman, in contempt of the\nparental name, alone treading under foot \u201cLittle Papa.\u201d The \u201csolitary\nman,\u201d if, as is likely he be, brutish, may live out of the fear of a\nrecent Act of Parliament. For if he disdains the marital luxury, he\ncannot be punished for beating his wife.\n\nThe writer of these statistics, aware that there is a good deal of dry\nmatter, prudently sprinkles it with a little saltwater poetry. Thus, as\na kind of preface to these British islands, he says, \u201cThe Scandinavian\nrace survives in its descendants round the coasts of the British Isles,\nand the soul of the old Viking still burns in the seamen of the British\nfleet, in the Deal boatmen, in the fishermen of the Orkneys, and in that\nadventurous, bold, direct, skilful, mercantile class, that has encircled\nthe world by its peaceful conquests. What the Greeks were in the\nMediterranean Sea, the Scandinavians have been in the Atlantic Ocean. A\npopulation of a race on the islands and the island coasts, impregnated\nwith the sea, in fixing its territorial boundaries would exhibit but\nlittle sympathy with the remonstrating Roman poet, in his Sabine farm\nover the Mediterranean:\n\n                   \u2018Nequidquam Deus abscidit\n                 Prudens _occano dissociabili_\n                   Feras, si tamen impi\u00e6\n                 Non tangenda rates trausiliunt vada.\u2019\u201d\n\nA writer or compiler of statistics should ride his own hobby. Pegasus is\nhard-mouthed to his hand; if he attempts the use of the curb, he is\nthrown, and thus is sure to be run away with. So here he has got quite\nbeyond the ground of matter-of-fact. By the Vikings\u2019 soul in the British\nseamen\u2014the burning soul too\u2014he declares himself of the Pythagorean\nphilosophy, quite gratuitously; and in the following sentence carries\nhis transmigration notions to a strange but practical conclusion, for he\ntells us of a race \u201c_impregnated with the sea_,\u201d imaging sailors\u2019\nmothers and wives as mermaids\u2014that is, previous to the marine and\nmarital alliances; by which unaccountable flight of poetic diction, I\npresume, he means only that the sea was rather a rough nursing-mother:\nand how could he imagine that such an untutored race ever read, or could\nread, a syllable of what Horace wrote? Doubtless, he must have been\nweary, counting up these five hundred mostly barren islands, and, coming\nin the list to \u201c_Rum_,\u201d it must have made for him a comfortable\nsuggestion; and in consequence, a pretty stiff tumbler set all his ideas\nat once afloat, and poetically, \u201chalf seas over\u201d among the islands,\nsteering, however, steadily, as he was bound towards Mull Port, and the\nmore pleasant hospitality of its 7485 inhabitants. Having descended from\nthis marine Pegasus, the author proceeds in his statistics.\n\nThe number of inhabited houses in Great Britain in 1801 amounted to\n1,870,476; in 1851, to 3,648,347: these contained 4,312,388\nfamilies\u2014persons, 20,816,351. Thus it is seen that the number of houses\nsince 1801 is nearly doubled. How commonly we boast, Eusebius, of things\nthat have passed away! You hear it now often said that an Englishman\u2019s\nhouse is his castle, the garrison of which has been hitherto supposed to\nbe known only to himself. There has been an idea that not only the\nmaster, but all down to the very scullion, are ready to stand with spits\nand skillets to keep out unwelcome invaders; whereas the truth is, as\nshown in this Census, that the castle has its government inspector, who\nnotes down and registers the numbers, ages, names, sexes, and\noccupations of every individual the said castle contains. Houses are a\nvery nice tangible property for the convenience of government taxation;\nby judicious scrutiny, of which the Census Commission provides ample\nmeans, it will be easily ascertained what each family has to live upon;\nor, what is quite the same thing for the getting the taxation, what on\n\u201can average\u201d the Commissioners may think the said family ought to have\nto live upon; thus the income-tax is facilitated in computation and\ncollection. These are surely encroachments, that, by little and little,\nare domineering over the subjects\u2019 liberty. There are other Acts of\nParliament also which affect this liberty in the \u201ccastle;\u201d some general,\nsome local. In few places can a man make alterations in his building,\ninside or out, without an application for consent, and of course a fee\nto some commissioner or other. If he succeeds, there is a further\npenalty upon his improvements, though they may have been required for\nthe very health of his family. He has, through this Census scrutiny, to\npay a tax upon his improvements, nor is he allowed any deduction for\nrepairs. This Englishman\u2019s castle, then, you see, is as much besieged as\nBomarsund! At first it was pretty well thrown out of its own windows by\nthe window-tax, and is always at the mercy of commissions, whether it\nshall or shall not be turned out of doors. Many a one is there that has\na ten-pound battery playing upon it all the year round. If, weary of\nwatching your besiegers, you turn yourself out of house, and live a\nrambling, roving life how you can, you will not so easily escape; you\nwill have an inspector after you with note-book and ink-horn, and you\nwill be booked and pigeon-holed for further use when wanted. \u201cFinally,\nthere is the population sleeping in barns, in tents, and in the open\nair, comprising, with some honest, some unfortunate people out of\nemployment, or temporarily employed, gypsies, beggars, strollers,\nvagabonds, vagrants, outcasts, criminals. The enumeration of the\nhouseless population, unsettled in families, is necessarily imperfect,\nand the actual number must exceed the 18,249 returned; namely, 9972 in\nbarns, and 8277 in the open air.\u201d The poor strollers! why should they be\nstigmatised and classed with vagabonds, vagrants, outcasts, and\ncriminals? are they not following their lawful vocation, and doing\nsomething, as it is hoped they are, towards civilising the people\nthrough legitimate amusement? Is the compiler of these statistics a\ndescendant of the old Puritans, and still retaining an unwarrantable\nprejudice? It were better he had the charity of the chimney-sweeper boy,\nwho remonstrated with a brother sweep, who pointed his finger at Garrick\nin the streets, and said, \u201cThere be one of the player-folk.\u201d \u201cDon\u2019t say\nso,\u201d said the discreet one, \u201cfor thee dostn\u2019t know what thee and I may\ncome to.\u201d But I know, as you rather patronise gypsies, you will be\npleased to hear that one tribe of them baffled the officials. \u201cIt is\nmentioned in one instance that a tribe of gypsies struck their tents,\nand passed into another parish in order to escape enumeration.\u201d\n\nThe great king whom we read of in history, who, in the excess of his\nfelicity, thought it needful to have a flapper appointed to remind him\nevery day that he was mortal, though he was made the example of many a\ntheme in our school days, I look upon now as a very silly fellow. I have\noften heard you express your dislike of any impertinent _memento\nmoris_\u2014you have even thought it irreligious, and unthankful for present\ngood; and tending to chill the life-blood, the little that is left in\nthe old, and to throw a wet blanket over the cheerfulness of the young,\nout of which cheerfulness elastic manhood is to spring, and to take upon\nitself to do the manly responsible duties of life vigorously. I repeat\nthat you have always maintained, that to thrust a _memento mori_ in\nevery man\u2019s face, or to carve it upon his walking-stick, is irreligious,\nbecause it is essential unthankfulness.\n\nIt is not pleasant, certainly, to have one\u2019s days numbered by other\npeople, and sent to you in circulars. I knew one of these\nlife-calculators; a clergyman called to condole with him on the recent\ndeath of his wife. All he could get from him was partly a submission to\na necessity, and partly a congratulation that death had not taken him.\n\u201cYes, sir,\u201d said he, \u201cif A does not die, in all probability B will; and\nif neither A nor B die, C must.\u201d You will be indignant, but your\nphilosophy will have the pleasure of its indignation, if I pointed out\nto your notice Busybody\u2019s table of mortality. When last he knocked at\nyour door, and booked your age, did his eyebrows arch with surprise?\nEusebius, that look meant to tell you that you had no right whatever at\nthat moment to be alive. He longed to filch your name out of his\npigeon-hole of life. You are a hale man, and will, I hope, doing so much\ngood as you do, outlive a couple of censuses yet. Have your eye upon\nBusybody when he next appears; not like Death, with one of his warnings,\nbut ready to receive a certificate of burial. There is a table showing\nhow very few who were alive in 1801 are now living, and so on, at every\nsucceeding census. \u201cBy the English Life Table it is shown that the half\nof a generation of men of all ages passes away _in thirty years_, and\nthat more than three in every four of their number die in half a\ncentury.\u201d But I pass by this unwelcome subject\u2014nor will I be the one to\nsay to you or to any man, \u201cProximus ardet, Ucalegon.\u201d Let Ucalegon\u2019s\nhouse escape if it can.\n\nIt is more agreeable to contemplate births than deaths. There is\nsomething very curious in that hidden law which evidently regulates the\nproportion of the sexes to each other. It has been commonly thought that\nthe males have exceeded the females, in order to make allowance for the\ngreater waste of life to which the males are subject by wars and the\nelements. But the facts show the contrary. \u201cThe number of the male\npopulation of Great Britain was 10,386,048, of the female population\n10,735,919; the females exceeded the males by 349,871; and the males at\nhome were 10,223,558; consequently the females exceeded by 512,361 the\nmales _in_ Great Britain. To every 100,000 females the males were\n96,741, including 1538 males abroad, the exclusion of whom leaves 95,203\nmales at home. The excess of females over males was nearly the same\nproportionally in 1801 and 1851. Thus, in 1801, to every 100,000 males\nthere were 103,353 females; in 1851, the females were 103,369 to the\nsame number of males. The proportion in both periods was nearly 30 males\nto 31 females.\u201d It may be inferred from this that there is rather a\ngreater waste of female life than of male. It would be worth while to\nascertain how long this excess has been found to have taken place; I am\ninclined to suspect that the unhealthy employments of young women, to so\nlarge an extent, may have been the cause; for it seems to be the law of\nnature to make a supply for the greater waste. Humanity requires a\nstrict scrutiny into the healthy or deleterious employments of young\nwomen, especially in our manufacturing districts, to account for this\nexcessive supply, that as far as is possible some remedial measures may\nbe adopted. That all is regulated by a law of Providence, there can be\nno doubt in any mind. My present knowledge of the Census is entirely\nconfined to the Report No. 1 of 1851. I shall look to the second Part\nfor an elucidation of this problem.\n\nIt is surprising, however, on the whole, to see how evenly the sexes are\nbalanced; it would be a speculation not uninteresting to see what causes\nmay have induced occasional variations. Thus speaks the Report:\n\n\u201cThe sexes have apparently increased at different rates in certain\ndecennaries, but the average annual rates of increase through the whole\nperiod have been so nearly the same (males 1.328, females 1.329 per\ncent) as to cause a slight difference only in the third decimal place,\nand have differed little from 1\u2153 annually. The decennial rates of\nincrease were, males 14.108, females 14.111.\u201d The \u201claw of population,\u201d\nas it relates to proportion of sexes, is a mystery. No human polity can\nprovide for that. It is plain to see, however, that there is a wise,\nbenevolent, superintending power which makes and maintains the law in a\njust equilibrium. Whether people shall marry or no may depend on human\nlaws and civil institutions; whether due encouragement be given, or the\nreverse.\n\nWe learn from Herodotus that among the Sauromat\u00e6, a people in the\nnorthern parts of Europe and Asia, the women dressed in the habits of\nmen, and, like them, engaged in battle; that none were allowed to marry\ntill she shall first have killed her man. Hence it happened, we are\nfurther told, that many died old maids, never having been able to fulfil\nthe conditions. How any population could be kept up under the existence\nof such a law, no one now can question the historian. I suppose, from\nthe necessity of the case, that a reform was demanded, and more peaceful\nmarriages were the first-fruits of a free trade. It must have been an\nadventurous thing for a man to marry a woman who had once killed her man\nto obtain one husband; he might have lived in continual fear that she\nmight kill a second man to have another husband.\n\nIt appears that marriage, though it is nominally free, is under\nrestriction; were it otherwise, the increase of population would be far\ngreater. \u201cIn ordinary times a large proportion of the marriageable women\nof every country are unmarried.\u201d The writer might have spared his ink;\nbut he adds: \u201cAnd the most direct action on the population is produced\nby their entering the marriage state.\u201d As one example may serve a\ngeneral purpose, the Census gives that of the south-eastern division,\ncomprising Surrey, Kent, Sussex, Hants, and Berks, in which \u201cthe number\nof women of the age of 20, and under 45, amounted at the last Census to\n290,209, of whom 169,806 were wives, and 120,403 were spinsters or\nwidows. 49,997 births were registered in the same counties during the\nyear 1850, or 10 children were born in 1850 to every 58 women living in\n1851.\u201d It is to be presumed that among matrimonial chances every lot is\na prize. The difficulty of a choice, where multitudes assemble,\nmaintains a law of hesitation\u2014of indecision\u2014by which it happens that\ncelibacy becomes wise, and is fond of repeating the philosopher\u2019s advice\nas to the time to marry: if young, not yet; if middle-aged, wait; if\nold, never. Let us see how the reverse operates where the choice is very\nlimited. St Kilda, in the parish of Harris, is 70 miles away from the\nmainland in the Western Hebrides; the population is 110\u201448 males, 62\nfemales; 32 families in 32 houses. \u201cThere are 19 married couples on the\nisland, 2 widowers, 8 widows. _Five unmarried men, 5 unmarried women of\nthe age of 20, and under 46._\u201d One would imagine these had only to meet\nand to marry. Five is no great choice; the greater haste, you would\nsuppose, to take a partner. Is the solution to be found in this\nextraordinary fact, that there is no clergyman to unite the couples\nresident on the island? The five couples must wait; and as the clergyman\non the mainland may hesitate to go 140 miles to marry one couple, he is\nprobably waiting for all five to come to a decision. It must have been\nsome such unfortunate place as St Kilda which supplied the wit to the\nepigrammatist upon the question of marriages ceasing elsewhere, the\npriest asserting that women are not to be found there; the reply being\u2014\n\n                    \u201cWomen there are, but I\u2019m afraid\n                    They cannot find a priest.\u201d\n\n\u201cOn St Kilda,\u201d says the Census, \u201cthere is a manse and a church, but no\nmedical man\u2014no clergyman resident on the island.\u201d\n\nWill the world be better, Eusebius, for all these statistics; will\ncivilisation be one jot advanced, by _registering_ our tailors as well\nas their paletots?\u2014by knowing how many tinkers there are in the world to\nmend our kettles? They will, be sure of it, trudge about just the same,\nand do their work as badly or as well as before. All trades will be\ngoverned by their own instincts, without the least difference; unless,\nindeed, statistics take a more useful turn, and fix their stigma upon\nthe adulterators of goods. We may have reason to say something in favour\nof the ScrutinizerGeneral, when he can tell us where the wines called\nport are manufactured that never came from Portugal, and who make them;\nwho adulterates our drugs, so that people are dying for lack of the\ngenuine; who, in fact, poison all we eat and drink, and put devils\u2019-dust\non our backs for woollen cloth. It is very little to the purpose to have\nthe number of thieves and rascals that infest the world, if the Augean\nstable of crime is left uncleansed. If dishonesty should ever be driven\nout of common trades, which it has so notoriously infected, a great\nthing would be done; and we might bear with a grateful quietude more\nnumbering and registering of us and all our concerns than we quite like;\nalthough it surely is not necessary for this to carry on such espionage\nas this Census contains. Perhaps even its absurdity is dangerous, for it\ninduces people to fix their minds upon that, not upon its ulterior\npurposes. While men are laughing at things, wilily ridiculous in\nthemselves, they know not what mischief is secretly brewing. I maintain\nthat it is a great offence in any way to touch the sanctity of the\nhearth\u2014that what economists and statistic inventors may please to call\npublic liberty, should be allowed to destroy home liberty. It is\nsomething monstrous that every one should be obliged to give an account\nof every inmate in his house, their ages, conditions, and their\nrelationship. It is better to let some of the peccadilloes of life\nescape notice, than register them and the house. If Miss or Mrs Debora\nWilkins shall receive under her hospitality a big nephew, it is very\nhard upon her to be obliged to certify the exact relationship, or induce\nher into the great error of writing down a falsehood. Men may be a\nlittle more careless in such matters, but feminine nicety is touched to\nthe quick. I remember once an Irishman walking into a drawing-room, and\nintroducing to the lady of the house a tall youth, as, \u201cGive me leave to\nintroduce my nephew;\u201d then putting his hand aside of his mouth, he\nadded, in a whisper which may be truly termed Irish, for it was quite as\nloud as the first introduction, \u201che\u2019s my son.\u201d Could you, having any\nbowels of compassion, extort a like confession from such an unprotected\nfemale as Miss Debora? A registration commission might, if encouraged,\nhereafter ransack her unfortunate boxes to find baby-linen. Is there to\nbe nothing but one rigid rule\u2014no charity shown to sex and age\u2014but the\nunsparing discovery of both on that fatal 30th of March? Must no female,\nthen, escape to her lover\u2019s arms in male attire\u2014no \u201clubberly boy\u201d pass\nfor a sweet Anne Page, that sweet Anne Page fall not to the lot of a\nfool? Must foibles, frailties, and follies be all registered in\ndamnatory schedules? Surely there might be a little decent connivance,\nsuch as would spare the two village ladies, who, being born in the same\n_anno Domini_, annually visited each other to determine what should be\ntheir ages for the ensuing year. Their only comfort will be in bribery\nand corruption, which they will be thankful is not yet put down, and a\nfee will spare what uncharitable census would expose. There may be\nsomething in attacking crimes and discovering frauds which touch the\nwhole community. These are not much harboured in homes, but in\npublic-houses, and in shops, which are not homes, but as having a public\ncharacter, and giving public invitation to all to enter them, ought to\ncome under some kind of surveillance; but when the citizen shuts his\nstreet-door, let none force an entrance. Let no Asmodeus take off his\nroof, and publish the within little histories, nor make gimlet-holes in\nwalls and ceilings. Such doings are but, as at present, a slight\nexaggeration or caricature of a census. Let there be a police, and a\ngood one; even with much secret scrutiny allowed them,\u2014it is for the\npublic safety; but there let it end in its admitted authority. Make not\na police of a census commission, nor let the one interfere with or usurp\nthe office of the other. Let a census be content to number the people\u2014a\npolice take crime under its cognisance. The undying, ever-seeing, and\nacting arrangement of a police is one of the most curious phenomena of\nsociety. For revolutions that appear to overturn everything, scarcely\ntouch a well-ordered police; the excellence of which is, that it lives\nand moves unseen, unfelt, by the good\u2014that it is a protector.\n\nI remember years ago reading an anecdote showing the perfection of the\nold Parisian police. A gentleman had sojourned in Paris a week or two,\nwhen one day he was requested to attend at the police-office. He was\nsurprised when told how he had occupied himself since he had been in\nParis\u2014what houses he had frequented, what friends visited, what business\nhe had transacted. He was finally asked the home-question, \u201cAre you a\nman of courage\u2014can you rely upon yourself?\u201d He thought he might. Then he\nwas told that there was a plot to murder him in his bed that night\u2014that\nhis own servant was in conspiracy with others for that purpose. He was\ndesired to go to bed as usual, and, if he did not sleep, to appear to\nsleep, and to fear nothing. In the night he heard his room-door open, a\nperson or persons enter\u2014he knew steps were softly approaching his bed\u2014he\nfancied the arm uplifted to murder him. His reliance and his courage\nfailed him not. Under his bed, and elsewhere in his room, soldiers had\nbeen secreted. To make the story short, his servant and the accomplices\nwere taken. The census which a police quietly makes has an object of\ngeneral safety. It has its one pursuit. It has its particular game, and\nwe may well give it its license. By it we sleep safely in our beds. It\ndoes its complicated but defined work silently; whereas the other census\nis perpetually knocking at every man\u2019s door, to ask impertinent\nquestions. It is a perpetual warning to \u201cbeware the Ides of March;\u201d for\nthen it will come and toss the clothes off your bed at earliest dawn,\nlest you should rise and escape; and you must give an account of all the\nbeds, and all who slept in them. And what is all this disturbance for?\nFor no earthly good that any of the persecuted can yet see, but all\nmistrust the end. Must every one of us have a ticket and number on his\nback? It is the same thing, if he and his concerns, and all the\nrelations of his life, are down in Busybody\u2019s book. There he sits in his\nCentralisation Office, with his millions of electric wires passing\nunderground, and coming up unseen in every man\u2019s house. He means to have\nhis hook in every man\u2019s nose, nay, every man\u2019s, woman\u2019s, and child\u2019s,\nand to draw them in when he wills, as a big spider does his flies, and\nperhaps to leave them sucked as dry, suspended in his million-threaded\nweb. And has he not as many eyes as that ugly creature, and as many ways\nof spreading out his ubiquitous legs\u2014backward, forward, or circular? Oh,\nthis Busybody!\u2014he means to have a line in every one\u2019s mouth, and to draw\nall after him as Gulliver did the diminutive fleet. But I say, Eusebius,\nthat, Liliputians as we are in his eyes, it is hard if we cannot\ncombine, get our multitudinous toils round his legs, and with a long\npull, and a strong pull, and a pull altogether, throw him on his back,\ntie him down hands and feet, search his pockets for his hooks, and then\nshoot our sharpest arrows into the body of this Quintus Flestrin. We\nwill not be any more gulled by this huge Gulliver. He is the Great\nHumbug and Deceiver, cajoling silly ones into a belief in the marvel of\nhis arithmetic; that all the commonest things of life must be done by\nhis mystical numbers, or will be done ill; that they must count and\nthink of how many joints, bones, muscles, and sinews they have in their\ntoes, before venturing their feet a single step.\n\nWhat is become of civilisation all this while, Eusebius? This Census,\nwhich was to tell so much, has not thrown light upon the question. Yet,\nperhaps, after all, it is a more simple one than you or I thought it to\nbe. I go back to the placidity of the Chinese lady in the picture. I am\nnow gazing on her expressive trustfulness\u2014upon a complexion that, if\nthere be many such, justifies the title of \u201cCelestial Empire.\u201d She, the\nfeminine representative of a nation, the prized pearl of the Romance of\nthe Porcelain Empire, the very \u201cGentilezza,\u201d the embodied purity of a\npeople\u2019s best thoughts, the endowed growth of a perfection above nature,\nfor so much worship as humanity may, for its improvement in\ncivilisation, be allowed to set up in the garden of imaginary virtues,\nthe very Goshen where grow plants and flowers, and sweet waters glide\nunknown to working nature, and all courting the enchanting and enchanted\nbeauty.\n\n\u201cL\u2019acqua la terra in suo favor s\u2019inchina.\u201d Not to be tedious with you in\nthis fancied passion, Eusebius, I come to the point I aim at. She is the\nemblem of civilisation, and that is feminine influence. Its ideal has\nbeautified that porcelain world, as it will ever beautify every other\nwhere it is felt and maintained.\n\nYes, Eusebius, civilisation, like common sense, aptly called mother-wit,\ncomes from the mother. He who, as child and boy, loved and reverenced\nfor all her purity, truth, and goodness, a mother, when he becomes man\nwill ever do his part in civilising the world. From the first romance of\nmother\u2019s love groweth every other romance; for romance is a noble and\ndelicate sentiment. To propagate this is to propagate civilisation. But\nif any lack this reverence, from whatever cause, and would palm upon\nsociety, as better than its romance, an idle knowledge, a low spirit of\ncalculation, an accumulation of mere facts and figures, trust him not\nwith the secrets of your breast; all his doings tend to selfishness and\nrebarbarism. A mother to him is but as poor old Mrs Bounderby ignored.\nFor my own part, Eusebius, when I see such glib statistical calculators\nboasting of their practical knowledge, I bethink me of the learned dog\nin the show, who with perseverance has acquired the trick of putting his\npaw upon letters and numbers, and of arithmetising required ages. Take\nheed to your pocket on such occasions; for though you have paid your\nadmission-ticket, there remains the last acquirement, the last main\ntrick to be exhibited, the going round the company with the hat in his\nmouth.\n\n\n\n\n                        A RUSSIAN REMINISCENCE.\n\n\nUpon one of the coldest days of February 1853, I left Paris by the\nOrleans Railway. The weather was extremely severe, the frozen snow lay\nthick in the streets, the asphalt of the boulevards was slippery as\nglass, sledges scoured the Champs Elys\u00e9es and Bois de Boulogne. An icy\nwind whistled round the train as we quitted the shelter of the station,\nand I regretted, as I buttoned myself to the chin, and shrank into my\ncorner, that the carriage was not full, instead of having but one\noccupant besides myself.\n\nOpposite to me sat a hale man of about sixty-five, with a quick bright\neye, an intelligent, good-humoured countenance\u2014somewhat\nweather-beaten\u2014and the red rosette of the Legion of Honour in his\nbutton-hole. During the first half-hour he pored over a letter, whose\ncontents, judging from the animated expression of his physiognomy,\ninterested him strongly. He seemed scarcely aware of my presence. At\nlast he put up the letter, and then for the first time looked me in the\nface. I had been but a few days out of a sick-bed, and was sensitive to\nthe cold, and doubtless my appearance was chilly and woebegone enough,\nfor I detected a slight approach to a smile at the corners of the\nstranger\u2019s mouth. To one or two commonplace remarks he replied\ncourteously but laconically, like a man who is neither unsociable nor\naverse to conversation, but who prefers his own thoughts to that bald\ntalk with which travellers sometimes weary each other rather than sit\nsilent. So our dialogue soon dropped. The cold increased, my feet were\nbenumbed, and I stamped them on the floor of the carriage to revive the\ncirculation. My companion observed my proceedings with a comical look,\nas if he thought me a very tender traveller.\n\n\u201cThis carriage must be badly closed,\u201d I remarked. \u201cIt is bitter cold to\nthe feet.\u201d\n\n\u201cFor that discomfort I have little pity,\u201d replied the Frenchman. \u201cA ride\non the railway is soon over, and a good fire or a brisk walk is a quick\nand easy remedy. Mine is a different case. For forty years I have never\nknown warm feet.\u201d\n\n\u201cFor forty years?\u201d I repeated, thinking I had misunderstood him.\n\n\u201cYes, sir, forty years; since the winter of 1812\u2014the winter of the\nRussian campaign.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou were in that terrible campaign?\u201d I inquired, in a tone of interest\nand curiosity. My companion, previously taciturn, suddenly became\ncommunicative.\n\n\u201cAll through it, sir,\u201d he replied; \u201cfrom the Niemen to the Kremlin, and\nback again. It was my first campaign, and was near being my last. I was\nin others afterwards; in Germany in 1813, when the combined Germans and\nRussians drove us before them, for want of the brave fellows we had left\nin Muscovy\u2019s snows; in France in 1814, when the Emperor made his gallant\nstruggle against overwhelming forces; and at the closing scene in\nFlanders: but not all those three campaigns put together, nor, as I\nbelieve, all that this century has witnessed, can match the horrors of\nthat dreadful winter in Russia.\u201d\n\nHe paused, and, leaning back in his corner, seemed to revolve in his\nmind events of powerful interest long gone by. I waited a while, in\nhopes he would resume the subject. As he did not do so, I asked him to\nwhat arm he belonged when in Russia.\n\n\u201cI was assistant-surgeon in a regiment of hussars,\u201d he answered, \u201cand in\nmy medical capacity I had abundant opportunity to make acquaintance with\nthe horrors of war. On the 7th of September, for instance, at the\nMoskwa\u2014Heavens! what a shambles that was! Ah, it was fine to see such\nvalour on both sides\u2014for the Russians fought well\u2014gallantly, sir, or\nwhere would have been the glory of beating them? But Ney! Ney! Oh! he\nwas splendid that day! His whole countenance gleamed, as he again and\nagain led the bloody charge, exposing himself as freely as any corporal\nin the ranks. And Eugene, the Viceroy, with what vigour he hurled his\nmasses against that terrible redoubt! When at last it was his, what a\nsight was there! The ground was not strewn with dead; it was heaped,\npiled with them. They had been shot down by whole ranks, and there they\nlay, prostrate, in line as they had stood.\u201d\n\nThe surgeon paused. I thought of Byron\u2019s beautiful lines, beginning,\n\u201cEven as they fell, in files they lay;\u201d but I said nothing, for I saw\nthat my companion was now fairly started, and needed no spurring.\n\n\u201c_Monsieur_,\u201d he presently resumed, \u201call those things have been brought\nstrongly to my mind by the letter you saw me just now reading. It is\nfrom an old friend, a captain in 1812, a general now, who went through\nthe campaign, and whom I was so fortunate as to save from a grave in\nthose infernal plains where most of our poor comrades perished. I will\ntell you how it happened. We were talking of the battle of Borodino.\nSeventy thousand men, it is said, were killed and wounded in that\nmurderous fight. We surgeons, as you may well think, had our hands full,\nand still could not suffice for a tithe of the sufferers. It was a rough\nbreaking-in for a young hand, as I then was. Such frightful wounds as\nwere there, of every kind and description\u2014from shot, shell, and bullet,\npike and sabre. Well, sir, all the misery and suffering I then saw, all\nthat vast amount of human agony and bloodshed, whose steam, ascending to\nHeaven, might well have brought down God\u2019s malediction on His creatures,\nwho could thus destroy and deface each other, was nothing compared with\nthe horrible misery we witnessed on our retreat. I have read everything\nthat has appeared in France concerning that campaign\u2014S\u00e9gur, Labaume, and\nother writers. Their narratives are shocking enough, but nothing to the\nreality. They would have sickened their readers had they told all they\nsaw. If anybody, who went through the campaign, could remember and set\ndown all he witnessed, he would make the most heart-rending book that\never yet was printed, and would be accused of gross exaggeration.\nExaggeration, indeed! there was no need to heighten the horrors of the\nwinter of 1812. All that frost and famine, lead and steel, could\ninflict, was then endured; all the crimes that reckless despair and\nruthless cruelty could prompt were then perpetrated.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd how,\u201d I asked, \u201cdid you escape, when so many, doubtless as strong\nand courageous, and more inured to hardship, miserably perished?\u201d\n\n\u201cUnder Providence, I owed my preservation to the trustiest and most\nfaithful servant ever master had. Paul had been several years in the\nhussars\u2014was an old soldier, in fact, although still a young man; and at\na time when all discipline and subordination were at an end, when\nsoldiers heeded not their officers, officers avoided their generals, and\nservants and masters were all alike and upon a level, Paul proved true\nas steel. As if cold and the Cossacks were not enough, hunger was added\nto our sufferings: there was no longer a commissariat or distribution of\nrations;\u2014rations, forsooth!\u2014dead horse was a luxury I have seen men\nfight for till death, lean meat though it was, for the poor brutes were\nas starved as their riders. What little there was to eat in the villages\nwe passed through fell to the share of the first comers. Empty\nlarders\u2014often smoking ruins\u2014were all that remained for those who came\nbehind. Well, sir, when things were at the worst, and provender at the\nscarcest, Paul always had something for me in his haversack. One day it\nwould be a bit of bread, on the morrow a handful of grain or some edible\nroots, now and then a slice of horse-beef\u2014and how delicious that seemed,\ngrilled over our smoky scanty fires! There was never enough to satisfy\nmy hunger, but there was always a _something_\u2014enough to keep body and\nsoul together. Paul, as I afterwards discovered, husbanded his stores,\nfor he well knew that if he gave me all at once I should leave nothing,\nand then I must have fasted for days, and perhaps have fallen from my\nhorse for weakness. But think of the courage and affection of the poor\nfellow, himself half-starved, to carry food about him day after day, and\nrefrain from devouring the share secretly set aside for me! There were\nnot many men in the army, even of general\u2019s rank, capable of such\ndevotion to the dearest friend they had, for extreme misery had induced\na ferocious selfishness, which made us more like hyenas than\nChristians.\u201d\n\n\u201cI should think the cold must have been even worse to endure than\nhunger,\u201d said I, screwing up my chilly extremities, which the interest\nof the doctor\u2019s conversation had almost made me forget.\n\n\u201cIt was, sir, harder and more fatal\u2014at least a greater number died of\nit; although, to say the truth, frost and famine there worked hand in\nhand, and with such unity of action, that it was often hard to say which\nwas the cause of death. But it was a shocking sight, of a morning, to\nsee the poor fellows lying dead round the bivouac fires. Unable to\nresist fatigue and the drowsy influence of the cold, they yielded to\nslumber, and passed from sleep into death. For, there, sleep _was_\ndeath.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut how then,\u201d I asked, \u201cdid any ever escape from Russia, for all must\nhave slept at times?\u201d\n\n\u201cI do not believe that any who escaped _did_ sleep, at least not of a\nnight, at the bivouac. We used to rouse each other continually, to\nprevent our giving way, and then get up and walk as briskly as we could,\nto quicken the sluggish circulation. We slept upon the march, in our\nsaddles, and, strange as it may seem to you, even those on foot slept\nwhen marching. They marched in groups or clusters, and those in the\ncentre slept, propped and supported by their companions, and moving\ntheir legs mechanically. I do not say that it was a sound, deep sleep,\nbut rather a sort of feverish dozing. Such as it was, however, it was\nbetter than nothing, and assuredly saved some who would otherwise have\nsunk. Others, who would have given way to weariness upon the long\nmonotonous march, were kept from utter despair and self-abandonment only\nby the repeated harassing attacks of the Cossacks. The excitement of the\nskirmish warmed their blood, and gave them, as it seemed, fresh hold\nupon life. In one of those skirmishes, or rather in a sharp combat, a\ndear friend of mine, a captain in the same regiment, had his left arm\ncarried off by a cannon-shot. After the affair was over, I came suddenly\nupon him, where he lay moaning by the roadside, his face ashy pale, his\narm still hanging by the sinews. His horse had either galloped away, or\nbeen taken by the fugitives.\n\n\u201c\u2018_Ah, mon ami!_\u2019 he cried, when he saw me, \u2018all is over\u2014I can go no\nfurther. I shall never see France again!\u2019\n\n\u201cI saw that, like the majority of those who received severe wounds in\nthat retreat, his moral courage was subdued, and had given way to\ndespair. I was terribly shocked, for I felt how slight was his chance of\nescape. I need hardly tell you there was very little dressing of wounds\nduring that latter part of the retreat; most of the surgeons were dead,\nthe hospital-waggons with medicine and instruments had been left on the\nroad; transport for the sick was out of the question. I assumed as\ncheerful a countenance as I could.\n\n\u201c\u2018Why, Pr\u00e9ville,\u2019 I cried, \u2018this will not do; we must get you along\nsomehow. Come! courage, my friend! You _shall_ see France again, in\nspite of all.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018Ah! doctor,\u2019 replied he, in piteous tones, \u2018it is no use. Here I shall\ndie. All you can do for me is to blow my brains out, and save me from\nthe Cossack lances.\u2019\n\n\u201cBy this time I had dismounted and was at his side. The intense cold had\nstopped the bleeding of his wound. I saw that there was no lack of\nvitality in him, and that, but for this mishap, few would have got out\nof the campaign in better plight. Even now, his despondency was perhaps\nhis greatest danger. I reminded him of his wife and child (he had been\nmarried little more than a year, and news of the birth of a daughter had\nreached him on our forward march), of his happy home, his old mother\u2014of\nall the ties, in short, that bound him to life. Whilst speaking, I\nsevered the sinews that still retained his shattered arm, and bound it\nup as best I might. He still despaired and moaned, but suffered me to do\nas I would. He was like an infant in my hands\u2014that man who, in the hour\nof battle, was a very lion for courage. But long suffering and the\nsudden shock\u2014occurring, too, when we seemed on the verge of safety\u2014had\novercome his fortitude. With Paul\u2019s help I got him upon my horse. The\npoor brute was in no case to carry double, so I walked and led it,\nalthough at that time I could hardly hobble.\n\n\u201c\u2018It is all useless, my dear doctor,\u2019 Pr\u00e9ville said; \u2018this is my last\nday; I feel that. Far better shoot me, or leave me by the roadside, than\nrisk your life for my sake.\u2019\n\n\u201cI took no heed, but tried to cheer him. Those unclean beasts, the\nCossacks, were hovering around us as usual, and at times the bullets\nfell pretty thick. Not a quarter of an hour had elapsed since I set\nPr\u00e9ville on my horse, when a shot struck his right eye\u2014not entering the\nhead, but glancing across the globe, and completely destroying the\nsight. Well, sir, then there occurred a physiological phenomenon which I\nhave never been able satisfactorily to account for. This man, whom the\nloss of an arm had reduced to despair, seemed to derive fresh courage\nfrom the loss of an eye. At any rate, from that moment he complained no\nmore of his fate, resumed his usual manly tone, and bore up like a hero.\nPaul was lucky enough to catch a riderless horse, which I mounted. The\nworst was over, and we soon got a respite. Without troubling you with\ndetails, and incredible though it may seem to you, my poor friend\nescaped with life, although with a limb and an eye the less.\u201d\n\n\u201cThere must have been many extraordinary escapes from that campaign,\u201d I\nremarked.\n\n\u201cInnumerable. There was a sergeant of dragoons, a former comrade of my\nservant\u2019s, who, for many days, marched beside me and Paul. He received a\nsevere wound. There were some vehicles still with us at that time, and\nwe got him a place in one of them, and made him as comfortable as we\ncould. The following night we stopped at a town. In the morning, as we\nwere about to march, the Cossacks came down. There was great confusion;\nseveral baggage-carts were captured in the street, and some of the\nwounded were abandoned in the houses where they had passed the night.\nAmongst these was Sergeant Fritz. Not many houses in the town were still\nin good condition\u2014most of them had been burned and knocked to pieces by\nthe soldiers. The house in which Fritz lay had still its doors and\nwindows, and was one of the most comfortable in the place, on which\naccount it had been converted into a temporary hospital. Well, the\nRussians came in, brought their wounded, and turned out our poor fellows\nto make room for them. Some, who could not move quickly enough, were\nbrutally pitched through a low window into a garden behind the house,\nthere to perish miserably. Fritz was one of these. Only just able to\ncrawl, he made his way round the garden, seeking egress. He reached a\ngate communicating with another garden. It was locked, and pain and\nweakness forbade his climbing over. He sat close to the gate, propped\nagainst it, and looking wistfully through the bars at the windows of a\nhouse, and at the cheerful glow of a fire, when he was perceived by a\nyoung girl. She came out and opened the gate, and helped him into the\nhouse. Her father was a German clockmaker, long settled in Russia, and\nFritz, a Swiss, spoke German well. The kind people put him to bed, hid\nhis uniform, and tended him like a son. When, in the following spring,\nhis health was restored, and he would have left them, the German\nproposed to him to remain and assist him in his trade. He accepted the\noffer, married the German\u2019s daughter, and remained in Russia until his\nfather-in-law\u2019s death, when he was taken with a longing to revisit his\nnative mountains, and returned to Switzerland with his wife and family.\nI met him since at Paris, and he told me his story. But although his\nescape was narrow, and romantic enough, there must have been others much\nmore remarkable. Most of the prisoners made by the Russians, and who\nsurvived severe cold and harsh treatment, were sent to Moscow, to labour\nat rebuilding the city. When the fine season came, some of them managed\nto escape, and to make their way, in various disguises, and through\ncountless adventures, back to their own country.\u201d\n\nI have set down but the most striking portions of our conversation\u2014or\nrather, of the doctor\u2019s narrative, since I did little but listen; and\noccasionally, by a question or remark, direct his communicativeness into\nthe channel I wished it to take. We were now near Orleans.\n\n\u201cThe letter I was reading when we started,\u201d said my companion, \u201cand\nwhich has brought back to my memory all that I have told you\u2014at risk,\nperhaps, of wearying you,\u201d he added with a slight bow and smile, \u201cand a\nhost of other circumstances, to me of thrilling and everlasting\ninterest, is from General Pr\u00e9ville, who lives in the south of France,\nbut has come unexpectedly to Orleans to pass a month with me. That is\nhis way. He lives happily with a married daughter; but now and then the\ndesire to see an old comrade, and to fight old battles over again, comes\nso strongly upon him, that he has his valise packed at an hour\u2019s notice,\nand takes me by surprise. He knows well that \u2018The General\u2019s Room\u2019 and an\naffectionate reception always await him. I received his letter\u2014full of\nreferences to old times\u2014yesterday evening, and am now hurrying back to\nOrleans to see him. He may very likely be waiting for me at the station;\nand you will see that, for a man who gave himself up for dead forty\nyears ago in the snows of Russia, and begged, as a favour, a bullet\nthrough his brain, he looks tolerably hearty and satisfied to live.\u201d\n\n\u201cThere is one thing, _Monsieur le Docteur_,\u201d I said, \u201cwhich you have not\nyet explained to me, and which I do not understand. Did you mean\nliterally what you said, that since the Russian campaign you have never\nhad your feet warm?\u201d\n\n\u201cLiterally and truly, sir. When we got to Orcha, where Jomini was in\ncommand, and where the heroic Ney, who had been separated from the army,\nrejoined us with the skeleton of his corps\u2014having cut his way, by sheer\nvalour and soldiership, through clouds of Platoff\u2019s Cossacks\u2014we took a\nday\u2019s rest. It was the 20th of November, the last day of anything\napproaching to comfort which we were to enjoy before crossing the\nRussian frontier. True, we made one more halt, at Molodetschino, whence\nNapoleon dated his bulletin of our terrible disasters, but then only a\nportion of us could find lodging; we were sick, half-frozen, and numbers\ndied in the streets. At Orcha we found shelter and tranquillity; the\ngovernor had provided provisions against our passage, the enemy left us\nquiet, and we enjoyed a day of complete repose. My baggage had long\nsince been lost, and my only pair of boots were torn to shreds. I had\nbeen riding with fragments of a soldier\u2019s jacket tied round my feet,\nwhich I usually kept out of the stirrups, the contact of the iron\nincreasing the cold. At Orcha, the invaluable Paul brought me a Jew (the\nJews were our chief purveyors on that retreat) with boots for sale. I\nselected a pair and threw away my old ones, which for many days I had\nnot taken off. My feet were already in a bad state, sore and livid. I\nbathed them, put on fresh stockings and my new boots, and contrived with\na pair of old trousers, a sort of leggings or overalls, closed at the\nbottom, and to be worn over the boots. From that day till we got beyond\nthe Niemen, a distance of one hundred and ten leagues, which we took\nthree weeks to perform, I never took off any part of my dress. During\nthat time I suffered greatly from my feet; they swelled till my boots\nwere too tight for me, and at times I was in agony. When we at last were\ncomparatively in safety, and I found myself, for the first time since I\nleft Orcha, in a warm room, with a bed to lie upon and water to wash, I\ncalled Paul to pull off my boots. Sir, with them came off my stockings,\nand the entire skin of both feet. A flayer\u2019s knife could hardly have\ndone the thing more completely. For a moment I gave myself up as lost. I\nhad seen enough of this kind of thing to know that my feet were on the\nverge of mortification. There was scarcely time to amputate, had any\nbeen at hand to do it, and had I been willing to preserve life at such a\nprice. Only one thing could save me, and I resolved to try it. I ordered\nPaul to bring a bottle of brandy; I put a piece of silver between my\nteeth, and bade him pour the spirits over my feet. I can give you no\nidea of the excruciating torture I then endured. Whilst it lasted,\nassuredly no martyr\u2019s sufferings ever exceeded mine. It was agony\u2014but it\nwas safety. I bit the florin nearly in two, and broke this tooth.\u201d (Here\nthe doctor drew up his lip and exhibited a defective tooth, in company\nwith some very white and powerful grinders.) \u201cThe martyrdom saved me; I\nrecovered, but the new integuments, which in time covered my scarred\nfeet, seem chilled by the recollection of their predecessors\u2019\nsufferings, and from that day to this I have never had my feet otherwise\nthan cold. But here we are at Orleans, sir, and yonder as I expected\nstands my old Pr\u00e9ville.\u201d\n\nThe train stopped as he concluded, and a fine-looking veteran, with\nwhite hair, an empty sleeve, and a silken patch over one eye, peered\ninquisitively into the carriages. Like most Englishmen, I have a\nparticular aversion to the Continental fashion of men kissing and\nhugging each other, but I confess I beheld with interest and sympathy\nthe cordial embrace of these two old comrades, who then quickly\nseparated, and, with hands grasped, looked joyously and affectionately\ninto each other\u2019s faces, whilst a thousand recollections of old kindness\nand long comradeship were evidently swelling at their hearts. In his\njoy, my travelling companion did not forget the attentive listener,\nwhose journey he had so agreeably shortened. Turning to me, he presented\nme to the general, as an Englishman and a new acquaintance, and then\ncordially invited me to pass the rest of the day at his house. But the\nbusiness that took me to Orleans was urgent, and my return to Paris must\nbe speedy. And had it been otherwise, I think I still should have\nscrupled to restrain, by a stranger\u2019s presence, the first flow of\nintimate communion to which the two friends evidently looked forward\nwith such warm and pleasurable feelings. So I gratefully declined, but\npledged myself to take advantage of the doctor\u2019s hospitality upon my\nnext visit to Orleans. When that occurs, I shall hope to glean another\nRussian Reminiscence.\n\n\n\n\n               RECORDS OF THE PAST.\u2014NINEVEH AND BABYLON.\n\n\nHistory must ever possess an undying fascination for the minds of men,\nfor its subject is the story of their race, and its interest is ever\nhuman to the core. Its burden is now a song of rejoicing at the\ntriumphs, or a wail of lamentation over the errors and sufferings, of\nmankind. How history, in gifted hands, exults as it reaches those\nblooming points in a nation\u2019s career\u2014those eras of Pericles, of\nAugustus, of Haroun-Alraschid, or of our own Elizabeth,\u2014or, piercing\nback through the veil of time, discerns with joy the brilliant era of a\nVicramaditya in the old world of the Hindoos,\u2014the grandeur of a Rameses,\nor still remoter monarchs in Egypt\u2014or a rule of then unequalled justice\nand beneficence extending back for countless ages in the early history\nof secluded China. And how it saddens to see these old empires pass\naway,\u2014to behold Rome, and Greece, and Nineveh, and Egypt, Susa and\nPersepolis, and the grand old cities of India, withered, rolled up like\na scroll, and vanishing from the face of the earth. Yet with what quiet\nhopefulness, with what assured resignation, does it contemplate all\nthose changes. \u201cPassing away,\u201d it knows, is written from the first upon\nthe brow of empires as well as of men; and even when the mighty fabrics\nof human power are seen crumbling into dust beneath internal decay or\nexternal assault,\u2014when the stores of knowledge, the monuments of art\u2014in\nfact, a whole civilisation\u2014seems rushing into oblivion before an\nonslaught of barbarism, the philosophic historian, with an assuredness\nof faith stronger than other men\u2019s, knows that the human race is but on\nthe eve of some new and higher development\u2014that all is ordered by One\nwithout whom not a sparrow falls to the ground, and that from out of the\npresent chaos will emerge new kingdoms and communities of men, purged\nfrom the dross of the old, yet inheriting the larger portion of their\nwisdom.\n\n          \u201cAll changes, naught is lost. The forms are changed,\n          And that which has been, is not what it was,\u2014\n          Yet that which has been, is.\u201d\n\nHistory has a grand work yet before it,\u2014one which mankind is just\nbeginning to long for, and which will yet one day be accomplished.\nHistory must grow wider in its scope and nobler in its aims as the\ncareer of our race advances. It must rise above the colourings of\nnational bias, and the prejudices of particular eras. It must cease\u2014and\nsome day it will cease\u2014to reflect but one phase at a time of that\nmany-sided thing Truth, and will seize and set forth for the instruction\nof mankind the priceless gem under whatever form it appear, however\nattired in the strange costume of distant times or foreign countries. It\nmust tell to man a continuous story of his existence. It must recognise\nthe truth that in all those various nations that have flourished and\npassed away, there has been enshrined the self-same human soul, which\nthe great Creator made in His own image, and which, however manifold in\nits aberrations, will still be found, on the whole, to reflect more of\ntruth than of error.\n\nNothing is more elevating than the study of the human race through its\nsuccessive phases of existence. Therein is to be discovered the scheme\nof God\u2019s Providence among the nations, slowly raising the race from one\nstage of progress to another and higher. The world advances slowly,\u2014but\nstill \u201cit moves!\u201d Severed into distinct nations, and divinely placed or\nled into climes congenial to the peculiar development of each,\u2014secluded\nbehind mountain chains, deserts, or seas, each section of mankind has\nbeen left to develop a civilisation of its own\u2014forms of government,\nreligion, art, science, philosophy, more or less peculiar to itself.\nThrough long ages this birth of nations has been going on, each learning\nfor itself the lessons of life. And each of those nations, whether\nancient or modern, has attached itself in a peculiar manner to some one\nof the many forms of truth, carrying it to greater perfection than the\nother sections of the race. Every one knows that such was the case among\nthe Greeks, the Romans, the Egyptians, the Hebrews,\u2014but do not let it be\nsupposed that the wisdom of the ancient world ends here. Do not suppose\nthat nothing is to be learned from the old history and writings of\nChina\u2014that land where social ethics and utilitarian science were first\ncarried to comparative perfection; or from the ancient Hindoos, who\nfirst pre-eminently devoted themselves to the study of the spiritual\nnature of man, and in whose lofty speculations may be found the germ of\nalmost every system of philosophy, whether true or false, to which the\nEuropean world has given birth. Hegel and Spinosa are but Hindoos\nreviving in the eighteenth century. Auguste Comte, with his boasted new\nscience of Positivism, is but a systematiser of the doctrines of\nConfucius and the old philosophers of China,\u2014and what are magnetism,\nclairvoyance, and suchlike researches at present making into the\nspiritual powers of man, but unconscious repetitions of what has been\nknown or imagined in India for three thousand years?\n\nHad the human race formed from the first but one nation\u2014swayed by but\none great impulse, and enlightened but by its own single experience, how\ncomparatively stationary would have been the condition of the species!\nBut severed into separate communities, each seeking truth for itself,\nand, as intercommunication became wider, comparing its experiences with\nthose of its neighbours, the march of mankind has been greatly\naccelerated. There have been a hundred searchers after truth instead of\none. It is only now, however, in these latter days, that mankind are\nbeginning to perceive and reap the benefit of the beneficent scheme of\nProvidence which has so long kept them secluded in location and\nantagonistic in feeling. It is in those days of running to and fro upon\nthe earth\u2014when commerce, and railways, and steam-navigation are uniting\nthe most distant regions\u2014that the varied stores of knowledge which have\nbeen accumulating in private hoards through long centuries are now being\nthrown into general circulation. The more advanced nations are teaching\nthe less enlightened. But the gain is not all on one side; and the\nformer will be unworthy of their high position, if they fail to perceive\nin how very many things they may receive instruction from those whom\nthey regard as their inferiors. The whole tendency of the\nrapidly-increasing communication between the various nations and\ncountries of the earth is to shake men loose from local prejudices, and,\nby expanding the mind, to fit it for the reception of that pure and\nentire truth, towards the attainment of which the human mind is\njourneying, and to which the matchless plans of Divine Providence are\nslowly but surely conducting the human race. To the eye of the\nphilosopher, the world is a prism through which Truth is shining\u2014and the\nnations are the various colours and hues of the spectrum into which that\nlight is broken. Hitherto mankind, split into sections, has only\nexhibited those scattered and disunited, but brilliant, rays,\u2014truth\nrefracted and coloured by the national mind through which it passed; but\nnow, in the fulness of time, the process is being reversed. The long\ntraining of isolated nations is drawing to a close; the barriers of\nspace or feeling which shut them in are being thrown down; an\ninterchange of intellectual as well as material benefits is commencing;\nand the dissevered rays of partial knowledge are beginning to be\nreunited into the pure and perfect light of truth.\n\nLet, then, some Newton or Humboldt of history\u2014some one who grudges not a\nlifetime of genius to the task, and to whom Providence may give length\nof days,\u2014let such an one take up the theme of those old nations. By the\nmight of his graphic pen let him evoke them and their crumbled empires\nfrom the dust, and place them in their pristine glory before the eye of\nthe reader. Let him paint the people, the land in which they dwelt, the\ntemples in which they worshipped;\u2014let him glance with graphic touch over\nthe leading points of their history, the master-spirits who influenced,\nand the poets who adorned it;\u2014let him depict the arts of life and the\narts of beauty which characterised them; and, hardest task of all, let\nhim dive into the depths of their religion and philosophy\u2014not the\nfantastic crust of superstition, but the more spiritual dogmas which lie\nbelow; and, wasting but little time upon what was false, set himself to\neliminate the true, and place it once more before the world. In this way\nlet him paint the Chinese, stout, square-set, and supple,\u2014ever labouring\ncontentedly in their rice-fields, and delighting in social intercourse;\nbut also, with a free and martial spirit, of which the world is now\nincredulous, repelling with slaughter the nomade hordes of Central Asia\nwhich subsequently overthrew the mighty empires of the West. Let him\ndepict the country covered with district-schools, and the people trained\nin social morals by a Government system of education, centuries before\nthe birth of Christ. Let him set forth the practical good sense and\nkindliness of spirit which characterised the inhabitants of that vast\nempire, as well as their eminence in the social and industrial arts of\nlife; yet glance with brief but warning words at the materialistic\ntendencies, alike in creed and practice, by which these good qualities\nwere in some degree counterbalanced. Or turn to the Hindoo, with his\nslim and graceful figure, symbolising the fine and susceptible spirit\nwithin. See him among the flowery woods, luxuriant vegetation, and\ncountless sparkling waters of the Indian land,\u2014so spiritual and alive to\nthe impressions of the external world, that he feels bound in lively\nsympathy with every living thing around him, whether it be beast or\nbird, tree or flower,\u2014and in the faith of the most imaginative pantheism\nthat the world ever saw, regarding himself and all created forms as\nincarnations of the Deity, animated directly by the spirit of the great\nCreator; and, a firm believer in the transmigration of souls, regarding\nevery object around him with plaintive tenderness, as possibly the\ndwelling of the soul of some lost friend or relative. See him under his\nmaster-sentiment of love. That passion, almost universally in the\nancient world, was a mere thirst of the senses; and the few instances in\nwhich it figures in the literature of Greece and Rome, it is made to\nstrike its victims like a frenzy. But among the Hindoos we perceive it\noften sweetened and refined by sentiment,\u2014a spiritual as well as a\nsensuous yearning,\u2014purer, as ardent, more pervading than the\nlove-passion of contemporaneous nations. And the same spirituality of\nnature which made the Hindoo thus, fitted him also for the subtlest and\nloftiest flights of speculation,\u2014savouring little of the utilitarian,\nindeed, but tending to gratify the soul in many of its highest and\npurest aspirations. Caste, unknown in China, was in India all-prevalent;\nand there, also, we meet in its sternest form that spirit of devoted\nasceticism by which the mystics of the East, and subordinately even in\nthe Christian Church, have striven to exalt themselves above the level\nof humanity by extinguishing all earthly passion, and so drawing into\nnearer communion with the Deity.\n\nOr pass to Egypt, and behold the now desolate valley-land of the Nile\nreinvested with its old splendour and fertility. Let a thousand\nirrigating canals spread again over the surface, re-clothing the land\nwith verdure; while up from the sands spring miles of temples, pyramids,\nand endless avenues of sphinxes, obelisks, and gigantic statues. And\nThebes with its \u201chundred gates,\u201d its libraries, and stately palaces,\u2014and\nMemphis with its immense population, whose bones are still seen\nwhitening the desert sands whereon the city once bloomed amidst\nverdure,\u2014reappear with crowds of artisans and professional men, carrying\nthe division of labour almost as far as it is done in modern times;\nwhile all around a rural population is tending herds or tilling the\nthrice-fertile soil; and, wearily and worn, innumerable bands of\ncaptives\u2014Nubians from the south, Negroes from the desert, Arabs from\nacross the Red Sea, and Syrians and Assyrians from Euphrates to the foot\nof Mount Taurus\u2014are toiling in digging canals, in making bricks, or in\nquarrying, transporting, or raising to their place, those huge blocks of\ngranite which fill with astonishment the engineers even of our own\ntimes. Turn from all this pomp and bustle and busy hum of life, along\nthat silent mile-long avenue of double sphinxes; and, passing beneath\nthe stupendous ornamented portals of Karnac or Luxor, or some other\ntemple of the land, enter the vast halls and countless apartments\ndevoted to sacerdotal seclusion,\u2014where the white-robed priests of the\nNile, bathing three times a day to maintain mental purity and calm,\nengaged in the abstract sciences, or searched deep into the secrets of\nnature for that magical power by which they fascinated and subjugated\nthe minds of the people, and which enabled them to contend on almost\nequal terms with the divinely-commissioned champion of the Hebrews.\n\nOr turn the eye northward, and see the Persian preparing to descend from\nhis mountains and conquer the world. Verdant valleys amidst sterile\nhills and sandy plains are his home, blazed over by a sun to whose\nbright orb he kneels in adoration as an emblem of the Deity. Hardy,\nhandsome, chivalrous, luxurious, despotic, and ambitious,\u2014yet animated\nby a spirit of justice, and by a religious belief so pure as at once to\nsympathise with that of the Hebrews, and to win for the Persian monarch\nthe title of the \u201cServant of God;\u201d they are the first in history to\nexhibit a nation, few in numbers, but strong in arms and wisdom, lording\nit over an immense tract of country, and over subjugated tribes\u2014Syrians,\nAssyrians, Asiatic Greeks, and Egyptians\u2014of divers origin and customs\nfrom themselves. The iron phalanx of Alexander at length caused this\nempire of satrapies to crumble into the dust; but under a new dynasty it\nrevived again, so as to wage war successfully even with the\nall-conquering legions of Rome.\n\nAway, around the shores of the lovely \u00c6gean\u2014on the sunny slopes of Asia\nMinor, among the sparkling vine-clad islets of the Cyclades, and on the\nrocky, picturesque, bay-indented peninsula of Greece, the gay and\nmartial Hellenic race disported themselves. As a race, young,\nimaginative, superstitious, and enamoured of the beautiful, they\nascribed every phenomenon in nature to the action of a god\u2014peopled the\nwoods, the hills, the waters, with graceful imaginary beings\nsympathising with and often visible to man, and filling even the highest\nheaven with divinities who were gods but in power, and wholly men in\npassion. Keenly alive to pleasure, and hearing little of the deeper\nvoices of the soul, their thoughts clung wholly to the beautiful world\naround them; and, while acknowledging the soul\u2019s immortality, they ever\nlooked upon Elysium, their world beyond the grave, as a shadowy land\nwhere joy becomes so diluted as hardly to be worth the having. The\ngreatest poets the world ever saw, they embodied their conceptions,\nalike in literature, in architecture, and the plastic arts, in forms of\nsuch divine beauty, that after-ages have abandoned in despair even the\nhope of rivalling them. The story of Greece is not easily told; it\nexcelled in so many departments of human effort\u2014producing almost\nsimultaneously an Alexander, a Socrates, a Plato, a Demosthenes, an\nAristotle\u2014not to speak of a Democritus, a Thales, an Anaxagoras, and\nothers, in whose daring but vaguely-framed systems of the universe are\nto be found not a few brilliant anticipations of world-wide truth, which\nmodern science is now recovering, and placing on the firm and only\ndefinite basis of experiment.\n\nAdd to the story of these nations that of the Roman\u2014the great conquerors\nand legislators,\u2014the story of a city that came to throw its chains over\nthe world,\u2014and thence pass over the dying ashes of Paganism into the new\nworld of Christianity, and to the congeries of kingdoms which arose\nunder its beneficent sway in medi\u00e6val Europe, at first small, and never\npresenting those great contrasts so observable in the old empires of\nPaganism, but each telling its lesson to those who study it, and some of\nthem already influencing the fortunes of the human race to an extent\nnever possible or dreamt of in prior times. The \u201cmeteor-flag\u201d of England\nis the great object which, in these latter days, arrests the eye of the\nphilosophic observer,\u2014bridging over the seas, peopling continents and\nislands with civilised man,\u2014and carrying the science, the religion, and\nthe beneficent sway of Great Britain over an empire upon which the sun\nnever sets, and to climes \u201cwhere C\u00e6sar\u2019s eagles never flew.\u201d\n\nParadoxical as it may seem, the further we recede from the era of those\nold nations, the better able are we becoming to write their history and\nunderstand their civilisation. Not only are mankind becoming tolerant of\ntruth in whatever attire it present itself, and thus learning to\nsympathise with, and so comprehend, those old forms of civilisation, but\nthe recent study of the languages of India and China have opened up to\nus the literature and life of those old countries. The discovery of a\nclue to the hieroglyphics of Egypt, to the rock-inscriptions of Persia,\nand to the arrow-headed chronicles of Assyria, constitutes a series of\nunexpected triumphs, which promises to rend the veil of oblivion from\nthe face of those long-perished empires. Lastly, the earth herself has\nbeen giving us back their skeletons. Two old Roman cities, Herculaneum\nand Pompeii, accidentally discovered, have been cleared of their\nsuperincumbent mass of lava and ashes, and given back to the light\nprecisely as they stood on the day when the eruption of Vesuvius\noverwhelmed them eighteen hundred years ago. Into those long-buried\nstreets we have descended, and seen the domestic civilisation of\nimperial Rome mirrored in those hastily-abandoned boudoirs and\ndining-rooms, baths, temples, and public buildings. In the wastes of\nPersia, Chardin stumbled upon the ruins of imperial Persepolis, whose\nvery site had for ages dropt out of the world\u2019s memory. The thousand\nmonuments of Egypt have been studied, their historic sculptures and\nmural paintings magnificently copied, and a portrait-gallery published\nof its ancient dynasties. Finally, Layard and Botta have carried the\nthirst of discovery to the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates, and have\nexhumed from the mounds of long-lost Nineveh striking and instructive\nvestiges of the first of the so-called \u201cuniversal\u201d empires.\n\nThe opportuneness of these revelations of the past cannot but strike one\nas remarkable. Knowledge revealed too early is lost. Steam, the compass,\ngunpowder, the principle of the electric telegraph, and a hundred other\ndiscoveries made of old might be mentioned, which, in consequence of\nmankind not being ready for them, wholly dropt out of mind again, or\nlanguished on as mere toys or curiosities. And had those old cities been\nunbared at some earlier period, would they not most lamentably have\nshared the fate of the monuments which remained above ground\u2014been\nwantonly destroyed by a barbarous population, or been used as quarries,\nfrom whence the degenerate successors of the elder race might indolently\ndraw their building materials? But the earth took them into her own safe\nkeeping, and covered them up until the world had grown older and wiser,\nand knew how to prize such monuments of memorable but long-forgotten\ntimes.\n\nOf all the great empires which have enduringly impressed themselves upon\nthe world\u2019s memory, no one has perished leaving so few visible marks of\nits existence as that which first rose into greatness in the land of\nAssyria. It was this memorable region which gave birth to the first of\nthe old \u201cuniversal empires.\u201d On the plains of Shinar, on the banks of\nthe Lower Euphrates, a community of civilised men was assembled more\nthan four thousand years ago. There, in course of time, arose Babylon,\nwith its impregnable walls, behind which the city might eat and drink\nand be merry, though the mightiest of ancient hosts were encamped\noutside. There were the fabled hanging-gardens, the wonder of the world,\nerected by one of its monarchs to please his young Median bride, whose\nheart yearned for the hills and groves of her native land. Towering\nabove all was the vast temple of Belus, unequalled for magnificence in\nthe ancient world,\u2014crowned with its gigantic golden statue of the\nsun-god, rising so high, and flashing so brightly in the upper air, that\nto the crowds below it seemed invested with the splendours of the deity\nwhom it symbolised. But more than two thousand years have elapsed since\nall this grandeur came to a sudden end; and so thoroughly has the city\nmouldered into the dust, and so completely has it buried itself in its\nown ruins, that during the recent excavations executed on its site,\nscarcely a detached figure in stone, or a solitary tablet, says Mr\nLayard, was dug out of the vast heaps of rubbish. \u201cBabylon is fallen, is\nfallen! and all the graven images of her gods He hath broken unto the\nground.\u201d\n\nTo the north, near the head of the great Mesopotamian valley, on the\nbanks of the Tigris, stood the sister or rival city of Nineveh\u2014Babylon\nand it forming, as it were, the foci of the Assyrian realm, which spread\nout like an ellipse around them. Nineveh, \u201cthat great city,\u201d against\nwhich Jonah of old uttered his prophetic warnings\u2014from whose gates\nSennacherib, Sargon, and Holofernes successively set forth, with their\nspearmen, and horses, and chariots against Damascus and Israel, and the\ncoasts of Tyre and Sidon,\u2014and around whose walls the combined armies of\nPersia and Babylonia encamped for three years in vain, fell at last by a\ndoom as sudden and overwhelming as that which overtook Babylon\u2014perishing\nso utterly, that when Xenophon and the Ten Thousand passed that way,\neven its name was forgotten, and he notices its mounds of ruins simply\nas having been those of \u201can ancient city,\u201d which he calls Larissa.\n\nAs Xenophon left those ruins Layard found them. Riding, in company with\na friend as daring and enthusiastic as himself, down the right bank of\nthe Tigris, in April 1840, he rested for the night at a small Arab\nvillage, around which are still the vestiges of an ancient town; and\nhere he got his first look of the buried city whose discovery was to\nimmortalise his name. \u201cFrom the summit of an artificial eminence,\u201d he\nsays, \u201cI looked down upon a broad plain, separated from us by the river.\nA line of lofty mounds bounded it on the east, and one of a pyramidal\nform rose high above the rest. Beyond it could be faintly traced the\nwaters of the Zab. Its position rendered its identification easy. This\nwas the pyramid which Xenophon had described, and near which the Ten\nThousand had encamped; the ruins around it were those which the Greek\ngeneral saw twenty-two centuries before, and which were even then the\nremains of an _ancient_ city.\u201d\n\nIt must not be supposed, because Nineveh and Babylon are the only cities\nmade much mention of in Assyrian history, that none others of importance\nexisted in the country around. On the contrary, again and again, in the\ncourse of his journeys, does Mr Layard speak of mounds of ruins, marking\nthe site of what must once have been \u201clarge cities.\u201d In truth, the\nvalley-land of Mesopotamia, with its rich alluvial plains, intersected\nby the Tigris and Euphrates and their numerous tributaries, presented a\nvast surface, which at any moment the industry of man might convert into\na garden. In remotest times, if in imagination we can recur to the\nperiod when first mankind began to settle on its plains, it must have\npresented a spectacle very much like that which now meets the eye\u2014wide\nplains of fertile soil springing into verdure wherever it is touched by\nwater, but desert almost everywhere for a great portion of the year. The\nlatent fertility of the region was forthwith developed by the race who\nthere took up their abode. The waters of the rivers were led over the\nflat plains in long canals, diffusing in all directions their irrigating\nstreams, and causing the teeming soil, under the rays of a glowing and\nnever-failing sun, to produce food in abundance for both man and beast.\n\u201cA system of navigable canals, that may excite the admiration of even\nthe modern engineer, connected together the Euphrates and Tigris. With a\nskill showing no common knowledge of the art of surveying, and of the\nprinciples of hydraulics, the Babylonians took advantage of the\ndifferent levels in the plains, and of the periodical rises in the\nrivers, to complete the water-communication between all parts of the\nprovince, and to fertilise, by artificial irrigation, an otherwise\nbarren and unproductive soil.\u201d[146]\n\nThis system of irrigation, it is true, was not carried to perfection\nuntil a late period in the history of the Assyrian empire; but it must,\nat the same time, be recollected, that as far back as the light of\nhistory penetrates, it is always civilised man that is discerned in the\nvalley of the Euphrates. The vague whisperings of tradition, even,\ncannot speak of a time when savage tribes wandered over its plains. If\nwe investigate who were the settled inhabitants of the land when first\nthe light of history breaks upon it\u2014the people among whom the old\nAssyrian empire arose\u2014we will come to the conclusion that the great mass\nof the population belonged to that purely Syrian race whose settlements\nhave in all ages extended from the banks of the Euphrates to the shores\nof the Levant. But mixed with this race, very much in the neighbourhood\nof Babylon, and more faintly as we proceed northwards, were offshoots of\nthe Cushite race,\u2014a people having its principal seats in southern\nArabia, along the coasts of the Indian and Red Seas, imperfectly\nrepresented by the Himyarite Arabs of the present day, and forming a\nconnecting link between the old races of Syria and Egypt. Into the\npopulation thus constituted descended the Chaldeans,\u2014a tribe from the\nhighlands which border the Mesopotamian valley on the north-east, and\nwho, though Syrians in the main, probably approximated somewhat in\ncharacter to the Persian race. This tribe obtained the ascendant among\nthe population at Nineveh and in the upper portion of the Mesopotamian\nvalley,\u2014imparting to that population, apparently, a sterner character\nthan prevailed in the lower part of the valley and around Babylon.\nFrequent wars occurred between these half-rival half-sister cities; the\ngeneral result of which was, that the people of Nineveh held the\nBabylonians in a more or less perfect state of dependence. In the course\nof time, too, the Cushite element in the Babylonian population (and\nwhich probably gave to it its turn for commerce and maritime enterprise)\nbecame extinct; while the Chaldean element, which differed but little\nfrom the general mass of the population, seems to have greatly\nincreased. It was from Ur of the Chaldees, in the vicinity of Nineveh,\nthat Abraham, in obedience to the Divine voice, went forth, journeying\nsouth-westwards, through the desert lying between the Euphrates and\nSyria, and, reaching Palestine, became the father of the Hebrew nation.\nFrom his loins also proceeded the Idumeans, who proved their superiority\nto the rest of the Arabian tribes by founding the kingdom of Edom, and\nexcavating the wondrous rock-city of Petra.\n\nSuch, then, appears to have been the old population of Assyria. In\nGenesis we are informed that Ashur went forth out of the land of Shinar,\nand founded new habitations in the north,\u2014\u201cNineveh and the city\nReheboth, and Calah, and Resen, which is a great city;\u201d but according to\nthe Chaldean historians, the builders of the cities of Assyria came down\nfrom the mountains of Armenia. These statements, so far from being\ninconsistent, tend to corroborate the conjecture which, from other\nconsiderations, we had arrived at,\u2014namely, that the Chaldeans were not\nthe first comers into the plains around Nineveh, but found there a\nlowland population in an advanced state of society, and closely allied\nin blood and language to themselves. Moses of Chorene expressly records\nthat such was the case; but the real strength of the supposition we rest\nupon general grounds, which it is needless here to enter upon. This\nChaldean tribe, then, which ultimately became the predominant one in the\nvalley of the Upper Tigris, were not the actual founders of the Assyrian\ncities; but under their ascendancy these cities were strengthened,\nextended, and embellished so much, as to become as it were the creations\nof their hands.\n\nThe architecture of a nation is ever dependent to a great extent upon\nthe building materials at its command. The alluvial plains of Assyria,\nunbroken by a single eminence, were singularly destitute of stone of any\nkind, especially in the lower portion of the valley; so that the\ninhabitants had to betake themselves to bricks, which they could\nmanufacture in endless abundance by mixing a little straw with the\nalluvial soil. In Babylonia, where not a slab of stone could be got\nwithin hundreds of miles, these bricks were carefully made,\u2014being\nkiln-dried, and often coloured, and, while the colours were still moist,\nglazed in the fire. Around Nineveh they were, for the most part, merely\ndried for a day or two in the hot sun,\u2014and with bricks of this\ndescription the houses of Mesopotamia are built to this day. But\nNineveh, being nearer the mountains, had a great advantage over Babylon.\nThe plains around it, and the lowlands lying between the Tigris and the\nhill-country, abound in a kind of coarse alabaster or gypsum, large\nmasses of which protrude in low ridges from the alluvial soil, or are\nexposed in the gullies formed by winter torrents. Ornamental from its\ncolour and transparency, and offering few difficulties to the sculptor,\nthis alabaster was used by the people of Nineveh in their public\nbuildings. Cut into large slabs, it was used as panels to cover the\ninner surface of the brick walls,\u2014each slab bearing on its back an\ninscription recording the name, title, and descent of the king\nundertaking the work, and being kept in its place by cramps and plugs of\nmetal or wood. After being thus fixed against the wall, the face of the\nslabs was covered with sculptures and inscriptions,\u2014in some edifices, as\nat Kouyunjik, each chamber being reserved for some particular historical\nincident, and each palace, it would appear, only recording in its\nsculptures the exploits of the king who built it. No pillars are to be\nfound in Assyrian architecture; and the difficulty experienced by the\nbuilders in the construction of expansive roofs is shown by the great\nnarrowness of the rooms compared with their length; the most elaborately\nornamented hall at Nimroud, although above 160 feet in length, being\nonly 35 feet broad. Forty-five feet appears to have been the greatest\nwidth spanned over by a roof; for the great central hall in the\nnorth-west palace at Nimroud (110 feet by 90) may have been entirely\nopen to the sky,\u2014and, as it did not contain sculptures, it probably was\nso. The rooms ranged from 16 to 20 feet in height; the side-walls being\ncovered to twice the height of a man by the sculptured slabs, and their\nupper portion being built of baked bricks richly coloured, or of\nsun-dried bricks covered by a thin coat of plaster, on which various\nornaments were painted. Of the mode of roofing these palaces we know\nnothing. Probably the roof was formed of beams resting solely on the\nside-walls; but as this method would not have sufficed for the larger\nrooms, from 35 to 45 feet in width, we may conjecture that the beams in\nsome instances were made to meet and rest against each other at a slight\nangle in the centre of the ceiling, or (more improbably) that wooden\npillars or posts were employed which have since entirely mouldered away.\nNo traces of windows are to be found, even in the chambers next the\nouter walls; so that, as in the temples of Egypt, there must have been\nsquare openings or skylights in the ceilings, which may have been closed\nduring the winter-rains by canvass or some such material. The pavement\nof the chambers was formed either of alabaster slabs, or of kiln-burnt\nbricks, covered with inscriptions relating to the king;\u2014and beneath this\npavement, drains led from almost every room, showing that water might\noccasionally have entered the rooms from above, by such apertures in the\nceiling as have been conjectured.\n\nThe interior of these Assyrian palaces must have been as magnificent as\nimposing. Mr Layard thus graphically describes the spectacle which, in\ndays of old, met the eye of those who entered the abode of the Assyrian\nkings:\u2014\n\n\n  \u201cHe was ushered in through the portal guarded by the colossal lions or\n  bulls of white alabaster. In the first hall he found himself\n  surrounded by the sculptured records of the empire. Battles, sieges,\n  triumphs, the exploits of the chase, the ceremonies of religion, were\n  portrayed on the walls\u2014sculptured in alabaster, and painted in\n  gorgeous colours. Under each picture were engraved, in characters\n  filled up with bright copper, inscriptions describing the scenes\n  represented. Above the sculptures were painted other events\u2014the king,\n  attended by his eunuchs and warriors, receiving his prisoners,\n  entering into alliances with other monarchs, or performing some sacred\n  duty. These representations were enclosed in coloured borders of\n  elaborate and elegant design. The emblematic tree, winged bulls, and\n  monstrous animals were conspicuous amongst the ornaments. At the upper\n  end of the hall was the colossal figure of the king in adoration\n  before the supreme deity, or receiving from his eunuch the holy cup.\n  He was attended by warriors bearing his arms, and by the priests or\n  presiding divinities. His robes, and those of his followers, were\n  adorned with groups of figures, animals, and flowers, all painted with\n  brilliant colours.\n\n  \u201cThe stranger trod upon alabaster slabs, each bearing an inscription,\n  recording the titles, genealogy, and achievements of the great king.\n  Several doorways, formed by gigantic winged lions or bulls, or by the\n  figures of guardian deities, led into other apartments which again\n  opened into more distant halls. In each were new sculptures. On the\n  walls of some were processions of colossal figures\u2014armed men and\n  eunuchs following the king, warriors laden with spoil, leading\n  prisoners, or bearing presents and offerings to the gods. On the walls\n  of others were portrayed the winged priests, or presiding divinities,\n  standing before the sacred trees.\n\n  \u201cThe ceilings above him were divided into square compartments, painted\n  with flowers, or with the figures of animals. Some were inlaid with\n  ivory, each compartment being surrounded by elegant borders and\n  mouldings. The beams, as well as the sides of the chambers, may have\n  been gilded, or even plated with gold and silver; and the rarest\n  woods, in which the cedar was conspicuous, were used for the\n  wood-work. Square openings in the ceilings of the chambers admitted\n  the light of day. A pleasing shadow was thrown over the sculptured\n  walls, and gave a majestic expression to the human features of the\n  colossal forms which guarded the entrances. Through these apertures\n  was seen the bright blue of an eastern sky, enclosed in a frame on\n  which were painted, in vivid colours, the winged circle, in the midst\n  of elegant ornaments, and the graceful forms of ideal animals.\n\n  \u201cThese edifices, as it has been shown, were great national monuments,\n  upon the walls of which were represented in sculpture, or inscribed in\n  alphabetic characters, the chronicles of the empire. He who entered\n  them might thus read the history, and learn the glory and triumphs of\n  the nations. They served, at the same time, to bring continually to\n  the remembrance of those who assembled within them on festive\n  occasions, or for the celebration of religious ceremonies, the deeds\n  of their ancestors, and the power and majesty of their gods.\u201d\n\n\nThis royal magnificence was well guarded. The external walls of the\nAssyrian cities, as we learn from the united testimony of ancient\nauthors, were of extraordinary size and height. According to Diodorus\nSiculus, the walls of Nineveh were one hundred feet high,\u2014so broad that\nthree chariots might be driven abreast along their summit,\u2014and fortified\nwith fifteen hundred towers, each of which was two hundred feet in\nheight. According to the same authority, the circumference of the city\nwas sixty miles,\u2014a statement which exactly tallies with the dimensions\ngiven in the Book of Jonah, where Nineveh is said to have been three\ndays\u2019 journey round about. This is an immense circuit,\u2014but it must be\nrecollected that the dimensions of an Eastern city do not bear the same\nproportion to its population as those of an European city. The custom,\nprevalent to some degree in Southern Asia, even in the earliest times,\nof secluding the women in apartments removed from those of the men, as\nwell as the heat of the climate, renders a separate house for each\nfamily almost indispensable, and is perfectly incompatible with that\neconomy of space, and close aggregation of dwellings, which we witness\nin the cities of the West. Moreover, within the circuit of those old\ncities there used to be a \u201cparadise\u201d or hunting-ground for the king, and\norchards, gardens, and an extensive tract of arable land; so that the\ninhabitants, behind their impregnable walls, could bid defiance alike to\nforce and to famine. From the expression of Jonah, that there was much\ncattle within the walls of Nineveh, it may be inferred that there was\nalso pasture for them. Many cities of the East\u2014as, for instance,\nDamascus and Ispahan\u2014are still built in this manner; the amount of their\npopulation being greatly disproportionate, according to our Western\nnotions, to the site which they occupy.\n\nIf we take the four great mounds of Nimroud, Kouyunjik, Khorsabad, and\nKaramles, as the corners of an elongated quadrangle (eighteen miles by\ntwelve), it will be found that the form as well as the circumference of\nthe city correspond pretty accurately with the statements of ancient\nwriters. Each quarter of this vast city, says Mr Layard, may have had\nits peculiar name; hence the palace of Evorita, where Saracus destroyed\nhimself\u2014and the Mespila and Larissa of Xenophon, which names the Greek\ngeneral applies respectively to the mound-ruins at Kouyunjik and\nNimroud. It is certain that large fortified enclosures existed within\nthe outer walls, surrounding the principal buildings or palaces, and\ncapable of defence after the rest of the city was stormed. These four\ngreat mounds, the scene of Mr Layard\u2019s excavations, mark the site of the\nprincipal public buildings of Nineveh,\u2014apparently at once temples and\npalaces,\u2014built upon elevated platforms of masonry, like the temples of\nthe ancient Mexicans, and, from their great strength, always placed so\nas to form part of the external defences of the city. But these were not\nthe only great buildings in Nineveh; for within the quadrangle described\nby these ruins, many other large mounds are to be seen, and the face of\nthe country is strewed with the remains of pottery, bricks, and other\nfragments. The space between the great public buildings was doubtless\noccupied by private houses, standing in the midst of gardens, and built\nat distances from each other; or forming streets which enclosed gardens\nof considerable extent, and even arable land. The absence of the remains\nof these houses, says Mr Layard, is easily accounted for. \u201cThey were\nconstructed almost entirely of sun-dried bricks, and, like the houses\nnow built in the country, soon disappeared altogether when once\nabandoned, and allowed to fall into decay. The largest palaces would\nprobably have remained undiscovered, had not slabs of alabaster marked\nthe walls. There is, however, sufficient to indicate that buildings were\nonce spread over the space above described; for, besides the vast number\nof small mounds everywhere visible, scarcely a husbandman drives his\nplough over the soil without exposing the vestiges of former\nhabitations.\u201d\n\nFrom the numerous large mound-ruins visible on the Mesopotamian\nplains, it is evident that the work of excavation is only commenced.\nThe long-sealed book of Assyrian history and antiquities has only\nbegun to be unrolled; and in the course of another generation the\nlabours of Layard will probably be as far exceeded as those of Belzoni\nin Egypt have been by the recent investigations of Lepsius and\nChampollion-le-Jeune. It is needless, then, at present to waste time\nin the discussion of moot points in Assyrian history, which in a few\nyears fresh discoveries may at once set definitively at rest. As yet,\nAssyrian chronology has been but little advanced by the recent\nresearches,\u2014and this principally owing to the circumstance, already\nmentioned, that the sculptures and inscriptions of each palace relate\nonly to the career of the particular king who erected or embellished\nit. All we know is, that the palaces at Nimroud (if we except the\nunfinished one) must have been built at least nine centuries B.C.; but\nthat the earliest of them may have been reared by the great Ninus\nhimself[147] (2000 B.C.),\u2014a most unsatisfactory state of knowledge;\nand that the palaces at the other angles of the city\u2014namely,\nKouyunjik, Karamles, and Khorsabad\u2014were erected, to all appearance,\nbetween the ninth and sixth centuries B.C. We know, however, with all\ncertainty, that a great crisis and convulsion in the fortunes of the\nState occurred between the erection of the earlier and later series of\npalaces. This convulsion was probably occasioned by the successful\nrevolt of the Medes under Arbaces, and the capture of Nineveh, about\n950 B.C., which brought to an end the ancient dynasty of Ninus and\nSemiramis, after thirteen centuries of power, and established a new\nfamily on the throne.\n\nNinus\u2014whose character as a great hunter of the lion and panther tallies\nwith the scriptural accounts of Nimrod\u2014is said, by the general consent\nof many ancient writers, to have founded the Assyrian monarchy more than\ntwo thousand years before Christ,\u2014doing so in the midst of a people far\nadvanced in civilisation, whose works, says Moses of Chorene, the\nnew-comers endeavoured to destroy, and whose knowledge of the arts was\ntaken advantage of by the conquerors in the erection and embellishment\nof their palaces. In corroboration of this it may be stated, that of all\nthe specimens of Assyrian art which have been discovered, the most\nancient are invariably the best,\u2014a curious fact, agreeing with, but not\nestablishing, the hypothesis that the builders of the most ancient\nedifices at Nineveh were assisted by a people of skill superior to their\nown.\n\nThe boundaries of the Assyrian monarchy, like that of every other\nlong-established empire, fluctuated from age to age. At the epoch of its\ngreatest power, it appears to have maintained an ascendancy over Persia\nand Media, and from thence westwards to the shores of the Levant; while\nit is indisputable that its rule was for long dominant in Asia Minor,\nwhere towns were built and colonies founded by the Assyrian\nmonarchs,\u2014Troy itself, according to Plato, having been one of their\ndependencies. The prowess of the Assyrian armies in later times made\nitself felt even in Egypt; but in the wars between these two great\nantagonists, there is reason to believe that the balance of success lay\nchiefly with the Egyptians. It would appear that for a considerable\nperiod, between the 14th and 9th centuries B.C., a close connection,\neither by conquest or friendly intercourse, existed between these two\nempires,\u2014which connection produced considerable changes in the arts and\ncustoms of Assyria, as may be witnessed in the introduction of the\nsitting sphinxes of Nimroud, and the lotus-shaped ornaments of Khorsabad\nand Kouyunjik. On the earliest monuments of Nineveh we read of\nexpeditions undertaken against Babylon, which city was at first\nunquestionably independent of the Assyrian princes, but which ere long\nbecame subject to them\u2014wearing their chains, however, unwillingly, and\noccasionally in name rather than in fact. When the Medes revolted under\nArbaces, the governor of Babylon took part with the rebels, and in\nalliance with them succeeded in capturing Nineveh, and destroying its\npublic buildings\u2014if not depopulating it. Under the new or later dynasty,\nhowever\u2014which counts in its brief roll the great names of Sargon and\nSennacherib\u2014Nineveh rose in renewed splendour and power: the palaces of\nKouyunjik, Karamles, and Khorsabad were built, the last of which\nexcelled all its predecessors in magnificence; and the city attained\nthose vast dimensions described by Diodorus and the prophet Jonah. But\nthe days of this great city and ancient empire were fast drawing to a\nclose. Headed by Cyaxares and Nabopolassar, the combined armies of the\nPersians and Babylonians again approached its walls; and after a\nprotracted siege of nearly three years, they at length (606 B.C.)\ncaptured the city at a time when the river had overflowed its bed and\ncarried away a portion of the wall. The city was then utterly\ndestroyed\u2014the torch was put to its noble palaces, and its inhabitants\nwere compulsorily distributed among the adjoining towns and villages.\nNineveh was no more. Twelve centuries afterwards (A.D. 627), the great\nbattle between Heraclius and Rhazates was fought within the space once\ncompassed by its walls. \u201cThe city, and even the ruins of the city,\u201d says\nGibbon, \u201chad long ago disappeared: the vacant space afforded a spacious\nfield for the operations of the two armies.\u201d\n\nThe primitive religion of the Assyrians appears to have been a form of\nSab\u00e6anism. It appears to have consisted in the worship of the sun\u2014not as\nthe Deity, but as an emblem of the Deity\u2014as the greatest, most glorious,\nand most beneficent of His works in the eye of man, and the mystery of\nwhose unbeholdable splendours not unaptly symbolised the presence of Him\n\u201cwho dwelleth in light that is inaccessible and full of glory.\u201d But the\npeculiar part of the Chaldean faith or philosophy was the influence\nwhich it ascribed to the planets over the life and fortunes of men. The\nbelief in astrology is one of the oldest, if not absolutely the very\noldest, which one meets with in the history of postdiluvian mankind. It\nwas not confined to any one nation, or any one era of the world. It has\nlived from the earliest times, down through several thousand years, to\nthe middle ages of Europe, and still lingers even at the present day. To\ntake the last spots in the world where one is likely to find old-world\nnotions lingering\u2014\u201cRaphaels\u201d and \u201cZadkiels\u201d are to be found even in the\ncapitals of England and France, where astrological almanacs are at this\nmoment yearly published, containing predictions of the future\u2014one of\nwhich modern Magi boasts that he correctly predicted the death of the\n\u201chero of Waterloo,\u201d and both of whom, we believe, prophesied two years\nago that 1854 is to be the death-year of Louis Napoleon! But the East is\nthe native land of astrology; and there, to this day, it is believed in\nas firmly as if it belonged to the domain of the positive sciences. It\nis curious to know that one of the causes of the disastrous issue of the\nlast battle (August 5) between the Turks and Russians in Asia, was the\nobstinate adhesion of the Turkish general to an astrological crotchet.\nThe Russians had detached a division of their army to Bayazid, where\nthey surprised and defeated a Turkish corps; but no sooner did General\nGuyon learn of this movement, than he counselled the Turkish commander,\nZarif Pasha, immediately to advance and attack the main body of the\nRussians while thus weakened. The Pasha, however, while assenting to the\nplan, would not move at the time required, alleging that neither that\nday nor the morrow would do for the attack, \u201cbecause the stars were\nunpropitious.\u201d Eight-and-forty hours were thus lost, big with the\nfortunes of the campaign; and the consequence was, that when the Turks\ndid at last advance, they found not only that the Russian detachment had\nrejoined the main body, but that the Russian general had been fully\napprised by his spies of the meditated night-march of his enemies.\n\nWe have not space here to undertake an investigation of the old Chaldean\nfaith, nor to point out the principles in human nature by a rash\nreasoning upon which astrology seems to have arisen. We would remark,\nhowever, that the convulsion which intervened between the fall of the\nfirst Assyrian dynasty and the rise of the second, occasioned, or was at\nleast accompanied by, a change in the State-religion of the country. In\nthe palaces at Khorsabad and Kouyunjik, built by the second dynasty, we\nfind no traces of the religious emblems so frequent in the sculptures of\nthe earliest palaces at Nimroud. The emblem of the great Divinity\u2014the\nwinged figure within the circle\u2014has never been found in the later-built\npalaces; and from the frequent representations of the fire-altar in the\nbas-reliefs from those ruins, and on cylinders, evidently of the same\nperiod, there is reason to believe that a fire-worship, like that\nintroduced by Zoroaster among the Persians, had succeeded to the purer\nforms of Sab\u00e6anism. Although eagle-headed figures, and other mythic\nforms, exist in the earliest sculptures at Nineveh, in no case do they\nappear to have been objects of worship. The king is only seen in\nadoration before one symbol of the Deity\u2014the figure of which we have\nalready spoken, with the wings and tail of a bird enclosed in a circle,\nresembling the Ormuzd of the Persian monuments. He is generally standing\nor kneeling beneath this circled figure with his hand raised in sign of\nprayer or adoration. This symbol of the Deity is never represented above\nany person of inferior rank, but appears to watch specially over the\nking\u2014who among the Assyrians, as among all the old nations, was regarded\nas the type and representative of the nation. It is seen above him on\nall occasions, in the sculptures, sympathising with and assisting him,\nlike a good Providence. If it presides over a triumph, its action\nresembles that of the king; and when represented over the king in war,\nit is seen, like a god of battles, shooting its arrows against the\nenemies of the Assyrians. The most superficial examination of the\nsculptures suffices to prove the sacred character of the king. Not only\nis the symbol of the great Deity above him, as well as the sun, moon,\nand planets; but the priests, or lesser divinities (whichever the winged\nhuman figures so frequently found on the Assyrian monuments may be), are\nrepresented as waiting upon or ministering to him. This is just a\ndevelopment of the old patriarchal principle, by which a father used to\nworship on behalf of his family. At this day the principle is carried\nout to the fullest extent in China, where the \u201chigher sacrifices\u201d can\nonly be offered by the Emperor in person, who actually regards himself\nas the father of the nation, and who, on occasion of national\ncalamities, fasts and makes public confession of his sins and\nshortcomings, looking upon them as the reason why the Divine wrath is\npoured out upon his people.\n\nA marked difference is likewise observable in the style of ornamental\nart under the earlier and later dynasties. What principally\ndistinguishes Assyrian from Egyptian sculpture is, that the former is\nentirely free from the angular mode of treatment so conspicuous in the\nlatter. It is more florid, and altogether more advanced; but at the same\ntime it must be said, that in regard to accuracy we incline to place\ngreater estimation upon the portrait-sculpture of Egypt than upon that\nof Assyria. In the later monuments of Nineveh we find direct, although\nnot very extensive, traces of Egyptian influence; but the principal\ndistinction between the earlier and later sculptures is, the greater\nknowledge of design and composition displayed in the former. The\nbas-relief representing the Lion-hunt, now in the British Museum, is a\ngood illustration of the earliest school of Assyrian art yet discovered.\nIt far exceeds the later sculptures in the vigour of treatment, the\nelegance of the forms, and in what the French aptly term _mouvement_,\u2014as\nwell as by the evident attempt at composition, the artistical\narrangement of the groups. The sculptors who worked at Khorsabad and\nKouyunjik perhaps possessed more skill in handling their tools, and\ntheir work is frequently superior to that of the earlier artists in\ndelicacy of execution\u2014as, for instance, in the details of the\nfeatures\u2014and in boldness of relief; but they are decidedly inferior to\ntheir ancestors in the higher branches of art\u2014in the treatment of a\nsubject, and in beauty and variety of form.\n\nThe domestic furniture, arms, utensils, and personal ornaments of the\nAssyrians show a very refined and cultivated taste. In their arms they\nrivalled even the Greeks in elegance of design. Their drinking-cups and\nvessels used on festive occasions were apparently of gold, like those of\nSolomon, or of silver; and they were frequently wrought into the shape\nof the head and neck of an animal\u2014such as a lion or bull\u2014and resembled\nthose afterwards in use among the Greeks, and found in the tombs of\nEtruria. Their thrones, tables, and couches were made both of metal and\nwood; and the tables and chairs were frequently shaped like our\ncamp-stools, and may have been made to close. On the earliest monuments,\nthe chair is represented richly cushioned, with the seat and legs\ntastefully carved, but without a back,\u2014in the later monuments the back\nis added, but the chairs exhibit less elegance. Indeed, in domestic and\npersonal ornament, as in the higher branches of art, the most ancient\nAssyrian monuments greatly exceed the later. \u201cMany forms had been\npreserved,\u201d says Mr Layard, \u201cas in the swords, bracelets, and armlets;\nbut they had evidently degenerated, and are more coarsely designed in\nthe sculptures. This is also evident in the embroideries of the robes,\nand in the details of the chariots. We see the same love of elaborate\nand profuse decoration, but not that elegance and variety so conspicuous\nin the ornaments of the first period. The kneeling bull or wild-goat,\nthe graceful flower, and the groups of men and animals skilfully\ncombined, are succeeded by a profusion of rosettes, circles, and\nsquares, covering the whole surface of the dress, or the sides of the\nchariots. Although there is a certain richness of appearance, yet the\nclassic forms, if the term may be used, of the earlier artists, are\nwanting.\u201d\n\nThe materials at our command are as yet too scanty to enable us to\narrive at definite conclusions as to the manners and private life of the\nAssyrians; but we do not doubt that future discoveries will yet supply\nthe desideratum. Mr Layard says:\u2014\n\n\n  \u201cFrom casual notices in the Bible and in ancient history, we learn\n  that the Assyrians, as well as those who succeeded them in the empire\n  of Asia, were fond of public entertainments and festivities, and that\n  they displayed on such occasions the greatest luxury and magnificence.\n  The Assyrian king, called Nabuchodonosor in the book of Judith, on\n  returning from his victorious expedition against Arphaxad, feasted\n  with his whole army for one hundred and twenty days. The same is\n  related by the Greek authors of Sardanapalus, after his great victory\n  over the combined armies of the Medes. The Book of Esther describes\n  the splendour of the festivals given by the Babylonian king. The\n  princes and nobles of his vast dominions were feasted for one hundred\n  and eighty days; and for one week all the people of Susa assembled in\n  the gardens of his palace, and were served in vessels of gold. The\n  richest tapestries adorned the halls and tents, and the most costly\n  couches were prepared for the guests. Wine was served in abundance,\n  and women, including even the wives and concubines of the monarch,\n  were frequently present to add to the magnificence of the scene.\n  According to Quintus Curtius, not only did hired female performers\n  exhibit on these occasions, but the wives and daughters of the nobles,\n  forgetting their modesty, danced before the guests, divesting\n  themselves even of their garments. Wine was drunk immoderately. When\n  Babylon was taken by the Persians, the inhabitants were celebrating\n  one of their great festivals, and even the guards were intoxicated.\n  The Babylonian king, ignorant of the approaching fate of his capital,\n  and surrounded by one thousand of his princes and nobles, and by his\n  wives and concubines, drank out of the golden vessels that had been\n  carried away from the Jewish temple. On the walls of the palace at\n  Khorsabad was a bas-relief representing a public feast, probably in\n  celebration of a victory. Men were seen seated on high chairs with\n  drinking-cups in their hands; whilst attendants were bringing in\n  bowls, goblets, and various fruits and viands, for the banquet. At\n  Nimroud part of a similar bas-relief was discovered. Music was not\n  wanting on these occasions.\u201d\n\n\nThe arts and civilisation of Nineveh represent those of Babylon also.\nBabylon, though it was long of attaining to the political greatness of\nher rival, was evidently an older city. It can hardly be doubted that it\narose from the first gathering of mankind upon the plains of Shinar.\nFrom notices of it on Egyptian monuments of the time of Thothmes III.,\nit is evident that it was a place of considerable note at least in the\nfifteenth century before Christ. Although for long politically\novershadowed by her neighbour Nineveh, Babylon at an early period became\nfamous for the extent and importance of her commerce. No position could\nthen have been more favourable than hers for carrying on a trade with\nall the regions of the known world. She stood upon a navigable stream\nthat brought to her quays the produce of the temperate highlands of\nArmenia\u2014running westward in one part of its course to within a hundred\nmiles of the Mediterranean, and emptying its waters into a gulf of the\nIndian Ocean. Parallel to this great river, and scarcely inferior to it\nin size, was the Tigris, flowing through the fertile plains of Assyria,\nand carrying their produce to the Babylonian cities. The inhabitants\nturned these natural advantages to the best account; and their industry\nand enterprise, cooperating with that of civilised people in the\nadjoining countries, greatly increased the means of locomotion.\nHighroads and causeways across the Desert connected Babylonia with Syria\nand Palestine. Fortified stations protected the merchant from the\nwandering tribes of Arabia,\u2014walled cities served as resting-places and\nstorehouses,\u2014and wells at regular intervals gave an abundant supply of\nwater during the hottest season of the year. One of those highways was\ncarried through the centre of Mesopotamia, and, crossing the Euphrates\nnear the town of Anthemusia, led into Central Asia;\u2014a second appears to\nhave left Babylon by the western quarter of the city, and entered\nIdumea, after passing through the country of the Nabath\u00e6ans;\u2014while\nothers branched off to Tadmor, and to other cities built in the Desert\nalmost solely for purposes of trade. To the east of Babylon was the\ncelebrated military and commercial road described by Herodotus, leading\nfrom Sardis to Susa in ninety days\u2019 journey, and furnished at intervals\nof about fifteen miles with stations and public hostelries, probably\nresembling the modern caravanserais of Persia. A very considerable trade\nwas likewise carried on with India, through Media, Hyrcania, and the\ncentre of Asia,\u2014by which route it was, probably, that the greater part\nof the precious stones and gold were supplied to Babylon. A coasting\ntrade existed along the shores of the Persian Gulf eastwards. The\nprophet Isaiah alludes to the ships of the Chaldeans; and we learn from\nthe Kouyunjik inscriptions that the inhabitants of the country at the\nmouth of the Euphrates possessed vessels in which, when defeated by the\nAssyrians, they took refuge on the sea. It is difficult to determine to\nhow far the Babylonians may have navigated the Indian Ocean; but of the\nmerchandise in which they traded, the pearls, cotton, spices, precious\nstones, ivory, ebony, silks, and dyes, a large portion, if not the\nwhole, must have been obtained from the southern coasts of Arabia, and\nfrom the Indian peninsula. Their exports consisted both of manufactures\nand of the natural produce of the country. Corn was cultivated to a\ngreat extent, and sent to distant provinces; and the Babylonian carpets,\nsilks, and woollen fabrics, woven or embroidered with figures of mythic\nanimals, and with exquisite designs, were not less famous for the beauty\nof their texture and workmanship, than for the richness and variety of\ntheir colours.\n\nBabylon reached her zenith of power and magnificence immediately after\nthe final destruction of Nineveh. Under Nebuchadnezzar she succeeded to\nthe proud position so long held by her rival. The bounds of the city\nwere extended; buildings of extraordinary size and magnificence were\nerected, and her victorious armies conquered Syria and Palestine, and\npenetrated into Egypt. But her greatness as an independent State was\nshort-lived. The Medians and Persians, who had been the principal agents\nin the overthrow of the Assyrian empire, now united under one king,\nturned their warlike strength against their former ally Babylon; and\nscarcely half a century had elapsed from the fall of Nineveh, when\n\u201cBelshazzar, the king of the Chaldeans, was slain, and Darius the Median\ntook the kingdom.\u201d\n\nFrom that time Babylonia sank into a province of Persia\u2014still retaining,\nhowever, much of its former power and trade; and, as we learn from the\nrock-inscriptions of Bisutun, as well as from ancient authors,\nstruggling more than once to regain its independence. When Alexander the\nGreat overthrew the Persian empire, Babylon opened its gates to him, and\nhe deemed the city worthy to become the capital of his mighty empire.\nThe early death of the conqueror, however, without leaving a successor,\nprevented his splendid projects being carried into execution; and the\nlast blow to the prosperity of Babylon was given by Seleucus, when he\nlaid the foundations of his new capital (Seleucia) on the banks of the\nTigris (B.C. 322). Nevertheless, a considerable population seems to have\nlingered in the fast-decaying city; for, five centuries afterwards, we\nfind the Parthian king Evemerus sending numerous families from Babylon\ninto Media, to be sold as slaves, and burning many great and beautiful\nedifices which still remained standing. At the time of the Arab\ninvasion, in the beginning of the seventh century, the ancient cities of\nBabylon were \u201ca desolation, a dry land, and a wilderness.\u201d Amidst the\nheaps that marked the site of Babylon herself, there rose the small town\nof Hillah, which, with its falling gateway, mean bazaar, and a few\nhalf-ruined mosques, still exists, as if in mockery of the power and\nsplendour which in long-departed ages had there its abode.\n\nMoral corruption was the ruin of Babylon, as of all the great empires of\nthe old world. Her vast trade, which rendered Babylon the\ngathering-place of men from all parts of the known world, which poured\nwealth into her coffers, and furnished her with luxuries of all kinds,\nhad the effect of producing an effeminacy and general profligacy, which\nmainly contributed to her fall. There is no necessary connection between\nprosperity and corruption; nevertheless, in nations as in individuals,\nit is generally found that a long lease of prosperity\u2014especially if\nconjoined with much wealth, which at once allows of indolence and\ninvites to self-indulgence\u2014dwarfs the generous and lofty feelings of our\nnature, and renders both men and nations selfish in feeling, and\nabsorbed in the material comforts and pleasures of life. In Babylon this\ntendency was aggravated, at least in later times, by the corruptions of\nits religion, promoted by a hierarchy which, in course of time, became\nat once too rich and too powerful for its own purity, and too profligate\nnot to insure the corruption of the people. The description given by\nHerodotus of the manners of the people, when under the dominion of the\nPersian kings, is sufficient to explain the cause of Babylon\u2019s speedy\nfall and ultimate ruin; and his account tallies perfectly with the\ndenunciations of the city\u2019s wickedness by the prophets of Israel. Her\ninhabitants, as generally happens, along with their moral integrity lost\ntheir warlike character. When the Persians broke into the city, they\nwere revelling in debauchery and lust; and when the Macedonian conqueror\nappeared at their gates, they received with indifference the yoke of a\nnew master.\n\n\u201cIt is not difficult,\u201d says Mr Layard, \u201cto account for the rapid decay\nof the country around Babylon. As the inhabitants deserted the city,\u201d\nand a foreign yoke pressed heavily upon them, \u201cthe canals were\nneglected; and when once those great sources of fertility were choked\nup, the plains became a wilderness. Upon the waters conveyed by their\nchannels to the innermost parts of Mesopotamia, depended not only the\nharvests, the gardens, and the palm-groves, but the very existence of\nthe numerous towns and villages far removed from the river-banks.\u201d Built\nof unbaked bricks, \u201cthey soon turned to mere heaps of earth and rubbish.\nVegetation ceased; and the plains, parched by the burning heat of the\nsun, were ere long once more a vast arid waste.\u201d\n\nSo flourished and so fell Nineveh and Babylon. For fourteen centuries\nthe Assyrian empire, of which they formed the pillars, was the leading\nPower in Western Asia,\u2014overlapping to the south with that of Egypt, with\nwhich it was sometimes at peace, sometimes at war, at first a dependent\nand latterly victorious. We think the character of these two old empires\nmay be symbolised by their different styles of architecture,\u2014Egypt built\nwith granite, and Assyria with alabaster and painted brick. It was not\nto geographical position that the difference was owing. The valley of\nthe Nile and that of the Euphrates are much alike. Both are alluvial in\ntheir character, and possess but little stone; and with both nations,\naccordingly, brick was the ordinary material employed in building. In\nboth countries quarries of granite and other stone existed in the\nmountains which bordered the valley-land, with rivers upon which the\nstone might be floated down on rafts. But the one nation used this\nmaterial, and the other did not. The Egyptians, indomitable in science,\nand animated by grander views than their Asiatic rivals, sent several\nhundred miles for intractable but everlasting granite, whereon to design\ntheir sculptures and inscriptions, and with which to rear those vast and\ncountless edifices which seem destined to perpetuate the fame and\nhistory of their founders to the end of time. The Assyrians, fonder of\nluxury than of fame, more desirous of display than of enduring strength,\ncontented themselves with materials which they could get without\ntrouble, but ornamenting the brick with colours, or coating it with\nslabs of soft alabaster, which they found protruding from the ground\nbeneath their feet. The architecture of Egypt was grand and strong\u2014that\nof Assyria was vast and showy. Egyptian sculpture was angular, and\nstrove to be correct,\u2014that of Assyria was round and florid. Although we\nknow as yet but little of the arts and customs of life among the\nAssyrians, we may confidently conjecture that they were left\ncomparatively unshackled by rule, and at the sway of individual impulse;\nwhereas in Egypt rule and system pervaded everything, alike in art and\nin society.\n\nOf all the empires of the first period of the world, the Assyrian is the\none whose history and civilisation most closely connect themselves with\nthe subsequent destinies of mankind. India and China were isolated\nempires, each developing a civilisation for itself, independent of and\nwholly uninfluencing the rest of the world. Egypt was less so; but it\nalso, secluded in position and unproselytising in spirit, stands apart\nfrom the community of nations, and may be studied like an isolated\nstatue placed in a niche. With Assyria, however, the case is far\notherwise. Its influence, extending for centuries over Western and\nSouthern Asia\u2014from the frontiers of Affghanistan to the Levant, from the\nPersian Gulf to the shores of the \u00c6gean Sea\u2014was potent in modifying a\nvast population, destined to give birth to many civilised States. From\nits loins proceeded the empire of Persia,\u2014which was, in fact, in all\nrespects only a modification of the empire which it supplanted; while\nthese two, by their great influence over all western Asia, including the\nGreek settlements of Ionia, must have affected in no slight degree the\nHellenic mind\u2014especially from the period when Alexander by his conquests\ndrew Greece bodily into Asia. As yet, as we have said, the book of\nAssyrian history and civilisation is only beginning to be unrolled; but\nthere are already in the possession of the literati of Europe written\ncylinders and inscriptions which, when deciphered, will cast important\nlight upon matters as yet in the dark. Doubtless many more will be found\neven in the ruins already opened,\u2014only one of which, let it be noted,\nhas been thoroughly searched. Above all, ruins upon ruins are to be seen\nscattered over the plains of Mesopotamia, which Mr Layard himself\ndescribes as the evident remains of ancient cities, and which offer\nample scope for the labours of more than one generation of\ninvestigators. We shall get at the truth at last. Years may roll by, and\nstill see but little progress made in the search;\u2014but there, underneath,\nlie the records of the past for which we seek, and earth will keep them\nsafe until we are ready to dig for them in earnest.\n\n\n\n\n                    THE OPENING OF THE GANGES CANAL.\n\n\n                                                       _8th April 1854._\n\n               From distant-lying lands,\n             Lone in grey surges of the misty north,\n             The little band came forth,\n           Who meet their God to-day with thankful prayer:\n               The myriads clap their hands,\n             Sons of the soil now desolate and bare,\n           And their glad voices rise upon the morning air.\n\n               It comes, long-wished-for, comes,\n             The tamed and friendly flood,\n               While blatant arms and rattling drums\n           Sway to the peaceful conquest their unwonted mood.\n\n               And you, O ancient peaks,\n             Cold-glancing in the early sun!\n               This crowd, in every murmur, speaks\n                 Your glory;\u2014now is done\n           Your lonely age; your true life is begun:\n\n           Still through the night, from ledge to ledge\n             The avalanches fall,\n           Still rears its crag and breathless edge\n             Your pr\u00e6memorial wall;\n           Yet may you swell our hymn to-day,\n           Your old reproach is taken away,\u2014\n\n               Barren no more! Like her who bore\n             In her white age the lost hope of her prime,\n           Yet heard the Heavenly pledge with glad surprise,\n             Ye, having won your heritage from time,\n           Lift your hoar heads with laughter to the skies.\n\n           And years to come shall hear your praise,\n             Far other than the fame of demon-gods,\n               Holding their grim abodes\n           On Meru\u2019s top through fabled s\u00e6cular days;\n             Years hence, some aged man may say\u2014\n               Of those who stand to-day\n           By the glad baptism of your youngest born;\u2014\n             Where, from his fruit-grove, far around\n             He eyes the green and affluent ground:\u2014\n           \u201cI stood among them on that shining morn,\n               I saw the ruler of the land\n             Let loose the waters with an easy hand;\n           The river, vainly idolised of yore,\n             Now first her servants blessed;\n           The white-topped mountains never bore\n               Us benefit before,\n           Till taught by those wise strangers of the West.\n\n\n             One shade alone hung o\u2019er us,\n             To cloud the scene before us,\n           And temper with humility our joy\u2014\n             One mild but earnest voice, though still,\n             Told us of mingled good and ill,\n           And the old moral of the world\u2019s alloy!\u201d\n\n           Ah!\u2014may our names, like his,[148] be known,\n             When we are passed and grown\n           But Memories, as Greek and Moghul are,\n               By deeds like these alone,\n               True triumphs, that atone,\n           And vindicate the violence of war.\n                                                       H.G.K.\n\n\n\n\n                          THE USES OF BEAUTY.\n\n\n           Heart-throbs of Poesy;\n             Old storied walls;\n           Tint-beams of brilliancy\n             When daylight falls;\n           Floods of wild melody\n             Through palace-halls;\n           Twilight mists on the deep;\n             Keen stars above;\n           Woman\u2019s sweet fellowship,\n             Holy home\u2014Love;\u2014\n\n           All that Earth preaches\n             By Beauty, is given\n           To train and to teach us,\n             And mould us for Heaven.\n                                                       H.G.K.\n\n\n\n\n                   SPANISH POLITICS AND CUBAN PERILS.\n\n\n                                          _Madrid, 14th September 1854._\n\nDear Ebony,\u2014The political chronicle, since last I wrote to you, is far\nfrom offering such stirring incidents as were recorded in my July and\nAugust despatches. There has been no fighting, although we were once on\nthe brink of it, and things have gone pretty quietly, and, upon the\nwhole, satisfactorily. After the fray comes the feast; and just as my\nlast letter went off, a banquet was given at the Theatre-Royal, by the\npress of Madrid, to the ministers and a large number of notable persons.\nThe press took an important part in the recent movements here, and has\nnot been unrewarded, several of its members having been appointed to\nhigh posts under government. After the dinner, at which speeches and\npatriotism were plentiful, the next incident of note was the return to\nMadrid of the small division that first, under O\u2019Donnell and Dulce,\nraised the banner of revolt against the Sartorius tyranny, and fought\nthe brief but sanguinary fight of Vic\u00e1lvaro. But the principal event of\nthe last thirty days, the only one which (with its consequences) is\nworth dwelling upon, is the departure\u2014I might almost say the escape\u2014of\nQueen Christina from Madrid and from Spain.\n\nIn former letters I have given you an idea of the detestation with which\nFerdinand\u2019s widow, once so beloved, has long been regarded. To those who\nremember the affection and enthusiasm testified for her during the early\nyears of her residence in this country, the contrast with the storm of\nhatred and execration amidst which she has quitted it, is very striking.\nThen she was the hope of Spain, the idol of the Liberal party; her\nappearance abroad was the signal for cheers as vehement and heartfelt as\nany that have since been raised for Espartero. Her name was the\nsoldier\u2019s battle-cry, when combating, amidst the rugged hills of\nnorthern and eastern Spain, the partisans of Charles V.; it was the\nburthen of the songs with which he enlivened his brief intervals of\nrepose, and beguiled the weariness of the march. As I write, there\nrecurs to my memory the burthen of one of those cheerful ditties, in\nwhich Spaniards are called upon joyfully to exclaim \u201c_Viva la Reina,\nMaria Cristina_, she who broke the chains that bound and oppressed\nus\u201d\u2014and more to that effect. Little more than a month ago, as I walked\nthrough the Puerta del Sol\u2014the heart of Madrid, which is the centre of\nSpain\u2014blind men and ill-favoured women shouted at every corner the\ntitles and contents of scurrilous pamphlets that recounted the misdeeds\nof \u201cMother Christina.\u201d It may truly be said that, of the fourteen\nmillions that people Spain, not one person (save her own creatures)\ncould be found to raise his voice in her favour. The charges brought\nagainst her are numerous, and but too well founded. She is accused of\ngross and wilful neglect of her daughter\u2019s education\u2014neglect which has\nbeen the main origin of the scandal Isabella has caused, and of the\nhumbled and perilous position in which she now finds herself; her crown\ntottering on her head, and her only chance of not losing it consisting\nin implicit obedience to her minister\u2019s directions. She is accused of\nhaving betrayed the liberties of Spain, which were intrusted to her\nkeeping; of having trampled on the laws she had sworn to maintain; of\nhaving built up a colossal fortune at the expense of the nation; of\nhaving, by her unscrupulous greed and shameful political intrigues, by\nher own conduct, and by her patronage of, and complicity with, some of\nthe worst men in Spain, destroyed all public morality, and augmented to\nan inconceivable extent administrative corruption. On all these charges,\nan immense jury, composed of the whole Spanish nation, has unanimously\nfound her guilty. And, since her departure, the general hope and prayer\nare that she may never again set foot in the country she has so deeply\ninjured. \u201cMay the accursed Italian,\u201d said a newspaper the other day,\n\u201cnever return hither to make a traffic of all that is most sacred and\nholy upon earth.\u201d But, before she had left, the feeling concerning her\nwas in one respect different. It was the opinion of many that it was\nneither safe nor just to allow her to leave the country. It was\nremembered how, during her three years\u2019 exile in France, she had\nintrigued and man\u0153uvred, and lavished treasure, until, aided by the\ndivisions in the Liberal camp and by the incapacity of the Liberal\ngovernment, she rode into Madrid in the triumphal car of Reaction. Then,\nit is true, she had a staunch and interested ally in the wily and\nunscrupulous chief of the house of Orleans. Deprived of his powerful aid\nand cooperation, she is manifestly much less to be dreaded. But a\nportion of the Spanish nation, and especially of the inhabitants of the\ncapital, well acquainted with her great cunning and skill in intrigue,\nand overrating, perhaps, the elements and resources she can command in a\nforeign country for the purpose of again disturbing Spain\u2019s\ntranquillity, insisted that she should be caged and not expelled, and\nmoreover that she should be brought to account before the Cortes for the\npeculations and robberies attributed to her by the voice of the entire\nnation. You will remember the scenes that occurred at the palace soon\nafter Espartero\u2019s arrival here, and the vain attempts then made to get\nher off in safety, whilst armed and menacing crowds were vigilant to\nprevent her passage, and could be induced to abandon their watch over\ntheir sovereign\u2019s palace, and their stations upon the roads from Madrid,\nonly by a promise from the government that the object of the popular\nwrath should not be allowed clandestinely to depart. But it soon was\nfound that if there was a probability of her being dangerous abroad,\nthere was a certainty of her being so at home. Her daughter\u2019s residence\nagain became a focus of intrigue. This got so well known, the\nreactionary party, encouraged by having their old protectress to lean\nupon, were so active, and symptoms were observed so dangerous to public\ntranquillity, that the chiefs of the national guard sent a deputation to\nthe government, urging strongly the removal of Christina from the\npalace. As the national guard of Madrid now consists of upwards of\ntwenty thousand men, and as they elect their own chiefs, who must\ntherefore be considered to represent the opinions and enjoy the\nconfidence of the majority, the prayer of such a deputation naturally\nhad weight; and at cabinet councils held on that and the following day,\nthe principal question discussed was\u2014What is to be done with the\nQueen-mother? The impossibility of preventing her intrigues, should she\nremain in Spain, except by confinement too rigorous to be legal,\ndetermined the council to expel her from the country; attaching her\nproperty until the Cortes should have investigated her conduct, and\ndecided concerning the charges brought against her. This plan resolved\nupon, it was immediately put into execution. The determination was come\nto on the evening of the 27th August. On the 28th, at seven in the\nmorning, the ministers were at the palace, to witness the Queen-mother\u2019s\ndeparture. The adieus were brief. Christina betrayed no emotion at\nparting from her daughter, who, on her part, dropped a few decorous\ntears, but was not very greatly afflicted. There has never been much\naffection between the two queens, although the elder of them, by her\nastuteness and superior strength of character, has exercised great\ninfluence over the younger. The Queen-mother then took leave of the\nministers, whom she must heartily detest; recommended her daughter to\nthe care and watchful guardianship of Espartero, and entered a large\ntravelling-vehicle, accompanied by her husband, who looked grievously\ndejected, and attended by an ecclesiastic of high rank, and by several\npersons of her household. Her children\u2019s departure had preceded hers.\nSome were in Portugal, others in France. Escorted by two squadrons of\ncavalry, under the command of the well-known General Garrig\u00f3, she\nreached, by short stages, and without molestation, the frontier of the\nformer country.\n\nFew persons were present at Christina\u2019s departure, although it was\nstated in the French papers, whose blunders concerning Spanish affairs\nare incessant and amusing, that the windows of the palace were filled\nwith ladies waving handkerchiefs, and that its roof was crowded with\nnational guards. The truth is, that hardly anybody in Madrid knew of the\nQueen-mother\u2019s going, until she had actually gone. As the news spread, a\ncertain excitement was manifested, and towards eleven o\u2019clock a crowd of\nmen, many of them armed, thronged the small square in front of\nEspartero\u2019s residence, with menacing shouts of Down with the Ministry!\nand loud demands for the return of Christina. An aide-de-camp presenting\nhimself at a window to address them, firearms were levelled at him, and\nhe was compelled to retire. The fermentation each moment increased.\nDeputations from various public bodies waited upon the premier to\nexpress their disapproval of the step taken. The general impression\nabroad was, that a trick had been played on the people, that faith had\nbeen broken with them, and that the government was pledged not to suffer\nthe departure of Christina until the Cortes had decided concerning her.\nThe verbal pledge given by Espartero to a deputation, at a time when it\nwas a great object to get rid of the bodies of armed men who beset the\npalace, and infested the environs of Madrid, making it their business to\nguard against the escape of the Queen-mother, was, that she should not\ndepart furtively, either by day or by night. Her departure, therefore,\nat eight in the morning, when the gazette containing its announcement\nhad been but an hour published, was held to be a violation of this\npromise, as far as regarded the people. On the other hand, the national\nguard had insisted, through its chiefs, that Christina should not remain\nat the palace; there was danger to the tranquillity of Madrid if she\ncontinued there; her property in Spain, and her pension of thirty\nthousand pounds a year, which was suspended, offered considerable\nsecurity for the financial improprieties of which she might be found to\nhave been guilty. To let her leave the country was manifestly the wisest\ncourse, and it was adopted. It has been urged that it would have been\nmore straightforward of the government, and would have prevented even\nthe imputation of a breach of faith, to have summoned commissions of the\nnational guards, the corporation, and other bodies, and from them to\nhave obtained, beforehand, that approval of the measure which was almost\nunanimously accorded to them a few hours after it had been taken. But in\ncases of this kind there is a wide difference between before and after.\nThe same men who, when the thing was done, supported the cause of order\nand the government, of whose good intentions they were sure, and of the\nwisdom of whose conduct they presently became persuaded, might have\nassumed a different attitude had they been consulted in advance.\nMoreover, by acting in that way, by deferring on every occasion to the\npopular voice, whether it spoke words of wisdom or words of folly, the\nministers could never hope to gain strength, which was what they most\nneeded. In short, it might have been a very difficult and dangerous\nbusiness to get Christina out of Madrid, had the intention been\npublished the day before; and doubtless the government preferred risking\nthe unfounded imputation of a deception, to incurring the responsibility\nof fresh collisions. In my opinion, as an eyewitness of all that passed,\nit would have been hazardous to have acted otherwise than the ministers\ndid. As it was, not a shot was fired, not a wound received; and three\ndays after the affair, everybody seemed convinced that the best had been\ndone.\n\nI shall not dwell upon the incidents of the afternoon and night of the\n28th August, of which you will have already seen accounts. For a short\ntime things looked menacing, and many expected a fight. The council of\nministers, assembled in the large building on the Puerta del Sol which\nis at once the Spanish \u201cHome Office\u201d and the main guard-house, received\nnumerous delegates from the corporation, the provincial deputation, and\nfrom other public bodies; expounded to them their views and reasons, and\nreceived promises of support. Meanwhile the national guard\u2014a portion of\nit somewhat sulky and dissatisfied\u2014took up arms and prepared to maintain\norder. A considerable number of barricades had been thrown up. The\npresence and exhortations of General San Miguel sufficed for some of\nthese to be removed by their makers. But in a small section of the town\nthey were maintained; and a few hundred malcontents busied themselves in\nstrengthening them, and declared their intention of defending them. Over\ntheir uneven summits were to be seen the barrels of muskets and\nfowling-pieces, and a few familiar faces which had often crossed my\nsight during the revolution of July. It was not certain what the\nbarricaders wanted; in fact, there was a strange combination of\nelements; but the chief demand they put forward was, the dismissal of\nthe ministry, whom they declared to have betrayed the people. As far as\nI could observe, Espartero was excepted from this verdict; but only by\nthose of the insurgents who, however mistaken in the course they\npursued, acted in good faith, and in support of their own political\nviews. There were many others who were actuated by widely different\nmotives. The reactionary and absolutist party had its representatives at\nthe barricades; foreign influence was also at work; and it has been\nsupposed by some that Christina had supplied funds\u2014not, perhaps, in\nanticipation of the outbreak (although even that she may have foreseen),\nbut to be in readiness for any occasion of mischief that might present\nitself. It was clearly for her interest, the revolution having gone so\nfar, to see it carried farther. If the ultra-democratic party, aided by\nthe rabble of the low districts of Madrid, could gain the ascendant, the\ncertain result was anarchy. Then would come reaction, and Christina and\nher friends might hope to resume their places and recommence their\nspoliations. Accordingly, there can be no doubt\u2014indeed, it were easily\nproved\u2014that agents of the expelled party\u2014the Palacos, as they are\ncalled\u2014stimulated and assisted in the disturbances of the 28th August.\nTheir efforts were of no avail against the steady attitude of the\nnational guards, who remained for eighteen hours under arms in the\nstreets, obedient to their officers, and turning a deaf ear to the\nperfidious insinuations of agents who sought to set them against the\ngovernment, and to divide them amongst themselves. The insurgents,\nseeing that their cause was hopeless, and having the promise, from\nEspartero\u2019s own lips, of a brisk cannonade at daybreak, abandoned their\nbarricades in the course of the night. Many of them left their arms\nbehind them; a considerable number were taken prisoners; more escaped by\nconcealing themselves in houses until such time as the national guards,\nall danger being over, retired to their homes. On the 29th, Madrid was\nas quiet as if nothing had occurred.\n\nA foreigner, lately resident in this capital, and who, within little\nmore than a year, has acquired a rather unenviable celebrity, is here\ngenerally believed to have had a hand in the outbreak of the 28th\nultimo. I refer to the Minister of the United States at Madrid. A\nFrenchman by birth, but compelled to abandon his country previous to the\nrevolution of 1830, in consequence of certain political writings, M.\nPierre Soul\u00e9 settled on the other side of the Atlantic, and became heart\nand soul an American. A man of great energy, vigorous intellect, and\nconsiderable astuteness, he attained to high practice at the bar, to a\nseat in Congress, and to the leadership of the party which seeks,\nwithout much regard to the means employed, to annex Cuba to the States.\nWith that unscrupulous party, his open profession of the most distorted\nviews on questions of international right made him highly popular. From\nhis seat in the Senate, early in 1852, he bitterly attacked the\ngovernment of Mr Fillmore for not taking up the cause of the adventurers\nunder Lopez; some of whom had been executed, and others sent to prison,\nfor their piratical attempt on the island of Cuba. In 1853, shortly\nbefore his appointment as minister at Madrid, he made a long and\neloquent speech, in which he lauded Lopez and his companions as heroes,\nindulged in stinging sarcasms on Spain and Spaniards, and, speaking of\nCuba, urged the government, in metaphorical phrase, not to delay too\nlong to pluck the fruit from the tree, lest it should rot upon the stem.\nThis is the man whom Mr Franklin Pierce thought proper to send as envoy\nto Spain. You will remember that, on his arrival at New York to embark\nfor Europe, a meeting was held in that city, composed of members of the\nLone Star Society, of fugitives from Cuba, and of other partisans of\nannexation, who proceeded to serenade him, bearing banners on which were\ninscriptions coupling Mr Soul\u00e9\u2019s name with the rescue of Cuba from the\nSpanish yoke. A member of the procession made a high-flown speech, in\nwhich he expressed a hope that, when the honourable envoy returned to\nhis own country with fresh claims upon the esteem of his\nfellow-citizens, a new star would shine in the celestial vault of Young\nAmerica. M. Soul\u00e9 replied to this address, referring to Cuba as a\nsuffering people; and declaring that, as an American minister, he did\nnot cease to be an American citizen; and that, as an American citizen,\nhe had a right to attend to the sobs of anguish of the oppressed. Taken\nin connection with his harangues in the Senate, and with the address to\nwhich it replied, his speech was certainly most significant, indiscreet,\nand offensive to Spain. It caused great scandal, not only in Europe, but\namongst the right-thinking portion of the people of the United States.\nMr Pierce was loudly censured for the appointment, and American\nnewspapers declared that it was his duty, as soon as he knew what had\npassed in New York, to send a steamer after Mr Soul\u00e9 to bring him back,\nsince he had proved himself completely unfit to fill the office of\nAmerican minister in Spain. I believe it to be a fact that the United\nStates did not expect their envoy to be received as such at Madrid. But\nthey underrated the meanness and pusillanimity of the Spanish ministry\nthen in power. After some delay at Paris, employed, it was said, in\nascertaining what sort of reception awaited him in the Spanish capital,\nMr Soul\u00e9 proceeded to his destination. He had been but a short time\nthere, when an unfortunate affair brought him into bad odour. At a ball\nat the French ambassador\u2019s, the Duke of Alba, referring to Mrs Soul\u00e9\u2019s\ndress, which struck him as peculiar, compared her to Mary of Burgundy.\nProbably the comparison was not very apt; possibly the grandee who made\nit was not particularly conversant with the costumes of the middle ages:\nthere certainly does not appear to have been any offensive intention of\ncomparing persons, but merely of criticising a costume. Mr Soul\u00e9\u2019s son,\nhowever, a very young man, overheard the remark, took it in bad part,\nand provoked the Duke of Alba. The result was a bloodless duel, fought\nwith very long swords, lasting a very long time, and followed up by a\nvery long letter to the papers, which Mr Soul\u00e9, jun., had, for his own\nsake, much better have left unwritten. Out of this affair grew a second\nduel, more serious in its character and results, between Mr Soul\u00e9 and\nthe French minister at Madrid. They fought with pistols, and the Marquis\nde Turgot received an unfortunate wound in the leg, which, to this day,\ncompels him to use crutches. The whole details of these unpleasant\ncircumstances were at the time placed before the public by the English\nand French press, and the general opinion certainly seemed to be that\nthe Soul\u00e9s had unnecessarily commenced, and afterwards wilfully\naggravated a foolish quarrel, which, as new-comers to the country and\nconsidering the diplomatic character of the senior, and the imputations\nof hostility to Spain under which he laboured, they ought to have done\ntheir utmost to avoid. Be this as it may, and without entering into the\npolitical animosities that are said to have mingled in the affair, the\nSpaniards naturally took the part of their countryman and of M.\nTurgot\u2014the case of the latter exciting particular sympathy, since he had\nbeen dragged into and maimed in a quarrel with which he had not the\nleast concern. Thenceforward the society of Madrid avoided that of the\nSoul\u00e9 family.\n\nThese unpleasant incidents had scarcely ceased to arrest the public\nattention, when the affair of the Black Warrior again brought Mr Soul\u00e9\u2019s\nname prominently before the world. This affair has been so much\ndiscussed that its main facts must be generally and well known, and I\nwill use the utmost brevity in here recapitulating them, which I do for\nthe sake of adding a few comments, and of relating one or two\ncircumstances in the dispute to which they gave rise that I believe are\nnot widely known. On the 28th February last, the Black Warrior\nsteam-ship, a regular trader between Mobile and New York, arrived from\nthe former place in the port of Havanah. She was entered at the\ncustom-house as in ballast, and the manifest presented was conformable\nwith that declaration, ship\u2019s provisions being the only cargo set down.\nHer clearance was then applied for; but on the searcher from the\ncustom-house visiting the vessel, she was found to be cotton-laden;\nwhereupon her departure was stopped, and judicial proceedings were\ncommenced, the delay having expired that is allowed by law for the\nrectification of the manifest. Article 162 of the Customs Regulations of\nthe Havanah states, that \u201cafter the twelve hours allowed by Article 15\nfor the rectification of, or addition to, the manifest, shall have\nexpired, all goods that may have been omitted in it shall be seized;\nand, moreover, the captain shall be fined to the amount of their value,\nprovided always the amount of duty which would have to be paid on the\ncontents of the package or packages do not exceed four hundred dollars;\nbecause if it exceed that sum, and if the goods belong, or are consigned\nto, the owner, captain, or supercargo, the fine shall not be imposed,\nbut, instead of it, the vessel, together with its freights and\neverything else available, shall be seized.\u201d This is explicit enough;\nand it is to be noted that a copy of the custom-house regulations,\nprinted in English, was handed to Captain Bullock, commanding the Black\nWarrior, as soon as he entered the port. By order of the authorities the\ncargo was landed, and found to consist of 957 bales of cotton. The\namount of seizure and of fines incurred was very large, and the Marquis\nof Pezuela, captain-general of the Havanah, desired the superior board\nof administration to consider the matter, with a view to its reduction.\nThat board fully confirmed the legality of the steps taken and fines\nimposed, but left it at the discretion of the captain-general to reduce\nthe latter if he thought proper. He consulted the attorney-general of\nthe island, who recommended their reduction to ten thousand dollars,\nexclusive of all expenses incurred in discharging the cargo; but general\nPezuela finally decided to reduce the penalty to six thousand dollars,\nincluding all costs and charges. In the mean time the consignees had\nmade various applications to the captain-general, admitting their fault,\ndeclaring the captain\u2019s omission to have arisen from ignorance, pleading\nignorance on their own part also, begging that the vessel might be\nallowed to depart upon payment of the transit duties, corresponding to a\nship laden as she was; and, finally, when the fine of six thousand\ndollars was definitely fixed upon, entreating its further reduction.\nThis, however, the captain-general, who had officially announced his\ndecision, refused to grant; but he forwarded a petition from the\nconsignees to the Queen of Spain, in which it was set forth that there\ncould have been no fraudulent intention\u2014cotton not being an article of\nconsumption in the island of Cuba\u2014in which the heavy loss arising from\nthe detention, discharge, and reloading of the vessel was urged, and the\nremission of the fine craved. This prayer was subsequently granted; but\nbefore that was done the dispute between Spain and the United States had\nassumed menacing proportions.\n\nThis statement of well-ascertained facts shows the Cuban authorities to\nhave acted strictly within the law throughout the whole business, and\nwith great clemency to the persons who had transgressed it. If it suited\nAmerican vessels, trading between Mobile and New York, to call at the\nHavanah to take in coals, or for other objects, they were bound to\ncomply in every respect with the laws and regulations of the colony, and\ncould not expect to get off scot-free if they transgressed them. But\nthere is a circumstance to be taken into consideration which somewhat\nmodifies this view of matters in the case of the Black Warrior. It\nappears that, owing to the remissness, indulgence, or\u2014it has been\nsuggested, but I have not seen it proved\u2014the corruptness of the Cuban\nauthorities, the Black Warrior had been in the habit of entering the\nport with a cargo, exhibiting a manifest that stated her to be in\nballast, and being entered and cleared accordingly, and that she had\nactually made more than thirty voyages in that manner without let or\nimpediment. It is scarcely possible that this should not have been known\nto the Cuban custom-house, and if so, it must be admitted that the\ncourse pursued on the occasion of the voyage made in February 1854 was,\nalthough doubtless strictly legal, harsh and injudicious. The neglect to\nenforce the law on more than thirty previous voyages might not suffice\nto abrogate it; but it should have induced the Cuban authorities\u2014though\nit had been but from considerations of prudence\u2014to re-enforce it less\nsuddenly. It is easy to understand that the new captain-general, and one\nor two other newly-appointed and high functionaries, who had gone out\nwith him to the Havanah only a few weeks before the occurrence of the\ndifficulty, were fired with zeal for reform; and it is stated that,\nduring the first few months of their administration, the revenue of the\nisland increased. But they should have gone to work more coolly and\ngradually. In consideration of the long impunity the irregularities of\nthe Black Warrior had enjoyed, it would surely have sufficed, on the\n28th February, to have warned the captain and consignees that such could\nbe no longer permitted, and that, on her next voyage, the law would be\nrigidly enforced, should occasion be given. Towards a country of equal\nor inferior power, this would have been the fairest and most proper\ncourse to pursue; but towards so potent and aggressive a neighbour as\nthe United States, it was most unwise to adopt any other. But although\nnumerous misrepresentations have been circulated on the subject, this\nfault of judgment is the only one in the affair of the Black Warrior\nthat can fairly be imputed to General Pezuela and his subordinates.\n\nOf course, the business was a godsend to President Pierce and the\nannexation party in the United States. The former forthwith sent a\nstrong\u2014I might almost say a violent\u2014message to the House of\nRepresentatives, declaring the seizure of the Black Warrior to present\n\u201ca clear case of wrong,\u201d attributing habitual misconduct to the\nauthorities of Cuba, and stating that he had already given instructions\nfor the demand of an immediate indemnity; in the event of the refusal of\nwhich, he declared, in menacing terms, that he would \u201cvindicate the\nhonour of the American flag.\u201d Now Mr Soul\u00e9 appears again upon the scene.\nThe demands addressed by him to the Spanish government were an indemnity\nof \u00a360,000 sterling, the dismissal of all those Cuban authorities that\nhad been concerned in the proceedings against the Black Warrior (this\nwould of course include General Pezuela, although his name appears not\nto have been mentioned in the note), and finally that, in future, the\ngovernor of Cuba should have power to settle disputes with the United\nStates without reference to the home government\u2014an arrangement directly\nopposed to the colonial policy of Spain. As may be supposed, the Spanish\nministry demurred to such exorbitant and unreasonable demands. Calderon\nde la Barca, the feeble and timid foreign minister of the Sartorius\ncabinet, was no match for Mr Soul\u00e9. He even suffered himself to be\nbullied by the American secretary of legation, who, on conveying to him\na communication, took out his watch and stated the exact time he would\nallow him to answer it. And although Sartorius came to the aid of his\naged and incapable colleague, he quickly disgusted Mr Soul\u00e9 by his\ndouble-dealing, evasions, and procrastination. None of the\ncommunications that have passed during the discussion of the Black\nWarrior affair have as yet been published in Spain, or, that I am aware\nof, in America. All the correspondence that passed in Cuba is before us,\nso that we are enabled to form an opinion on the merits of the case; but\nthere our documentary information stops. What is positively known from\nother sources is, that there seemed so little chance of the affair being\nsettled with Mr Soul\u00e9, that the Spanish government directed Se\u00f1or Cueto\nto try to arrange it at Washington, and sent after him, soon after his\ndeparture, by Se\u00f1or Galiano, notes and instructions to aid him in the\ntask. For a considerable time after that, scarcely anything was heard of\nthe matter; and there is strong reason to believe that Mr Soul\u00e9 was\nhimself left without communications from his government for a length of\ntime that annoyed and perhaps surprised him. This naturally awakens a\ndoubt whether his proceedings have been altogether approved at\nheadquarters. His friends here maintain that they have. It is presumable\nthat they derive their information from himself.\n\nOn the 1st of August last, in compliance with the desire of the United\nStates Senate, President Pierce sent to it a message with respect to the\nstate of American relations with Spain since his former menacing message\nof the 16th March. All that he said that directly referred to the Black\nWarrior affair, was that Spain, instead of granting prompt reparation,\nhad justified the conduct of the Cuban authorities, and thereby assumed\nthe responsibility of their acts. The tone of the whole message was\nthreatening to Spain, and the probability of war at no distant period\nwas plainly indicated. It nevertheless excited little apprehension here,\nwhere it was generally considered to be merely an unprincipled attempt,\non the part of Mr Pierce, to regain, by an appeal to the passions of the\npeople, the popularity he had lost, and at the same time to keep up\nalarm in Cuba, and to wear out the energies of Spain, in hopes that at\nlast, disheartened and intimidated, a Spanish government would be found\nwilling to sell the island. It is doubtful, however, whether any Spanish\nminister would dare to entertain proposals for its purchase. Mr Soul\u00e9\nhas declared himself, in his place in Congress, decidedly opposed to\nthat mode of acquiring Cuba, on the ground that it must, at no distant\ndate, fall into the lap of the Union without costing a dollar. This\ndeclaration is nearly tantamount to saying that it is less expensive to\ntake a thing by force than to buy it with money, and conveys pretty much\nthe sentiment for the practical carrying out of which on a small scale,\nmen used to be hung, and are now transported. Mr Soul\u00e9 is unquestionably\na man of talent\u2014eloquent, wary, skilful in adapting himself to the\npersons with whom he comes in contact\u2014but he is deficient in good taste,\nas he has more than once shown since he came to Madrid, and his\npatriotism and philanthropy, with respect to the island of Cuba, smack\ntoo strongly of piracy to obtain much respect in Europe, however\nacceptable they may prove, and however loudly they may be applauded, in\na lodge of the \u201cLone Star,\u201d or at a New Orleans public meeting. But\nalthough \u201cCuba without cost\u201d may be the device inscribed on his banner\u2014a\nblack one, it is to be presumed\u2014when he came to Spain as the\nrepresentative of his government, he was bound to obey his instructions,\nand these, there can scarcely be a doubt, were to offer a large sum of\nmoney for the much-coveted island. Knowing what we know of the Sartorius\nministry, we are justified in believing that they would have had no\nobjection to effect a sale which they assuredly would have made the\nmeans of filling their own pockets. But however inclined they may have\nfelt, they dared not do it.\n\nFor some weeks the Black Warrior question had been comparatively little\nspoken of in Madrid, and the general opinion seemed to be that it had\nbeen amicably adjusted at Washington, or was in a fair way to be so,\nwhen the O\u2019Donnell insurrection and the July revolution concentrated the\npublic thought on home politics. Things had scarcely begun to settle\ndown, when, on the 21st August, the arrival of the President\u2019s message\nof the 1st once more drew attention to Cuba, and to the state of affairs\nbetween Spain and America. Just a week later, on the 28th, occurred the\noutbreak I have described in the early part of this letter. On that same\nday, before the revolt was suppressed, it was said in Madrid that the\nAmerican minister was concerned in the insurrection. The next day, when\nthings were quiet, the part he was alleged to have played was matter of\ncommon conversation, and then the newspapers took up the matter. The\n_Diario Espa\u00f1ol_, usually one of the best written and best informed of\nthe Madrid journals, which supports the present government, and is\nbelieved to be the special organ of General O\u2019Donnell, published on the\n30th August a very strong article on the subject. It had been stated the\nday before with truth that Mr Soul\u00e9 was about to leave Madrid for\nFrance, and the supposition had been added that he did so in order to\navoid being in the Spanish capital when news should arrive of a\npiratical invasion of Cuba by citizens of the United States. Taking this\nfor a text, the _Diario Espa\u00f1ol_ indignantly asked if Mr Soul\u00e9 feared\nfor his personal safety, and mistrusted the honour of Spaniards. He\nwould have no cause for such apprehension, the paper continued, \u201ceven if\nhe had been wanting in the respect due to the nation, and had sought by\nevery means to favour projects tending to deprive Spain of her most\nprecious colony: even if it were certain that he had sought to profit by\nthe days of degradation of the Spanish government (under Sartorius), and\nto take advantage of the insatiable voracity of high and low influences:\neven if it were certain that he had endeavoured to profane the sanctity\nof the revolution, and to sow discord amongst the people, seducing the\nunwary, engaging in a vile intrigue, giving money and promising arms to\ndestroy the power of the honourable and patriotic men who now direct the\ndestinies of Spain: even if he had succeeded in gaining over a few\ndeluded persons who had failed to discern, through the cloud of his\nhoneyed and flattering words, the latent idea of keeping up agitation\nand disorder in the Peninsula, and so of depriving Cuba of the succours\nthe mother-country might otherwise send thither: even though the people\nknew that he had attempted to take advantage of a moment of\neffervescence traitorously to excite its indignation, and to hurry it to\nrevolt.\u201d This was pretty plain speaking. On the same day that the\narticle appeared, Mr Soul\u00e9 addressed an angry letter to the _Diario\nEspa\u00f1ol_, which did not publish it. The letter afterwards appeared in a\nFrench frontier newspaper. The following is a translation of its\ncontents, as given in the _Bayonne Messager_ of the 9th August:\u2014\n\n\n                                                 \u201cMADRID, _30th August_.\n\n              \u201c_A Monsieur le Directeur du Diario Espa\u00f1ol._\n\n  \u201cSir,\u2014The tone and character of the article concerning me published in\n  your sheet of this day, too plainly prove the influences that have\n  inspired it for me not to honour it by a word of reply.\n\n  \u201cI leave Madrid because it pleases me to leave it, and because I have\n  no account to render to anybody, either of my proceedings or of the\n  motives that determine them.\n\n  \u201cI will never absent myself from any place through fear of being\n  insulted or put in peril by those whom my presence may displease.\n\n  \u201cI do not fear impertinence, nor even assassins.\n\n  \u201cAnd especially, Sir, I do not fear the people.\n\n  \u201cThe people respects what deserves to be respected;\u2014it brands only the\n  miserable men who flatter and deceive it.... It fights\u2014but it does not\n  assassinate.\n\n  \u201cAs to the perfidious insinuations of which your article is full, they\n  are beneath my contempt.\n\n  \u201cI leave to you the merit of the varnish with which you have covered\n  them, and, to those who dictated them, the infamy of their invention.\n\n                                             \u201cI am, Sir, your Servant,\n                                                         \u201cPIERRE SOUL\u00c9.\u201d\n\n\nThe charges brought by the _Diario Espa\u00f1ol_, and to which the above\ncharacteristic epistle was the reply, were endorsed to a greater or less\nextent by public opinion in Madrid. On the 12th of August, Mr Soul\u00e9,\nunable to attend the banquet given by the Press, had addressed to the\ncommittee of management a letter, in which occurred the following\npassage: \u201cThe heart of Young America, doubt it not, will palpitate with\njoy and delight at the breath of the perfumed breeze that shall waft to\nit across the ocean the acclamations of liberated Spain. May I be\npermitted to say, that mine is intoxicated with felicity by the hope\nthat Europe, apathetic though it seem, will not suffer those germs of\nregeneration, which the sublime sacrifice of some of her sons has just\nso miraculously caused to sprout, to become debilitated, and to die.\u201d It\nis charitably supposed, by those who credit the American minister\u2019s\nparticipation in the events of the 28th August, that the intoxication\nreferred to in this flowery and figurative paragraph had not entirely\npassed away at that date, and that the writer of the letter to the\ndining committee thought it his duty, as the representative of Young\nAmerica, to contribute his aid to that germination of regeneration which\napathetic Spain showed herself tardy in promoting. At the same time,\nthere certainly are not wanting evil-disposed persons, who affirm that\nMr Soul\u00e9 has so concentrated his vision on his adopted country, that he\ncan scarcely discern any other; that he looks with contempt upon the\nherd of slaves who range about Europe, and that to him it would be\nmatter of indifference to see the Old World perish, so that the New\nWorld prospered\u2014and, with it, his ambition. It has further been said\nthat, neither prudent nor scrupulous in the means he employed, he\ncondescended assiduously to court that Dowager Queen whose whole life\nhas been a contradiction to the principles he professes, and to admit\nthe society of a yet more illegitimate influence at the Spanish court.\nIt has been declared, and believed by many, that Mr Soul\u00e9, knowing that\nthe government of Espartero and O\u2019Donnell was not one that he could\neither intimidate or buy, and beholding in its character an\ninsurmountable obstacle to the attainment of the great object of his\ndesires, resolved to work for its downfall by every means in his power,\nand that, notwithstanding his fervent sympathy with the welfare and\nliberties of Spain, he would have preferred either anarchy or despotism\nto the triumph of a system which, whilst maintaining those liberties,\nrendered more and more remote the prospect of realisation of that\ncherished project, whose accomplishment would introduce a new star \u201cinto\nthe celestial vault of Young America,\u201d and at the same time vastly add\nto the importance and popularity in the States of the American minister\nat Madrid. All these things have been said, and have found wide credence\nin this capital and elsewhere.\n\nEnough, however, on this branch of the subject. The sum of ten million\ndollars, demanded by Mr Pierce to make head against the possible\ncontingency of a war with Spain, having been refused him by the American\nSenate, the probabilities of such a war occurring are greatly\ndiminished, and the Spanish government entertains little apprehension on\nthat score. Upon the other hand, notwithstanding Mr Pierce\u2019s declaration\nin his Message of the 1st August that the whole of the means which the\nconstitution allows to the executive power should be employed to prevent\nthe violation of law, treaties, and international right, contemplated by\ncertain citizens of the United States, who, as the government was\nofficially and positively informed, were fitting out an expedition for\nthe invasion of Cuba\u2014notwithstanding this assurance, I say, there appear\ngrounds for fearing that, owing perhaps to the weakness of the executive\narm in the States, the expedition in question will yet sail for the\ncoveted shores of the Pearl of the Antilles. Whether, if attempted, it\nwill meet the fate of that under Lopez, or whether it will succeed, not\nonly in landing, but in holding its ground until it can receive those\nreinforcements which would probably flock to it from the Southern\nStates, as soon as it became known there that it had occupied, and was\nmaintaining, a position, is a matter of anxious uncertainty. The island\nis strongly garrisoned, but American riflemen are formidable opponents.\nThe Spanish government feels confident of the result, and fully reckons\non the fidelity and valour of the two or three and twenty thousand good\ntroops now in Cuba. Where the Americans will be most deficient will\ndoubtless be in cavalry and artillery. The Spaniards have a thousand\ndragoons, several batteries of field-artillery, and numerous large\nPaixhans guns garnishing the forts and batteries of the island. And\nalthough Spanish cavalry, judging from what we see here, is generally\nbut indifferently mounted, it is abundantly able to cope with irregular\ninfantry, and indeed would prove most formidable to the invaders, if\nthey ventured forth from the shelter of forests and hedges, or from the\nbroken ground favourable to sharp-shooters. As to the courage of the\nmen, when well led, there is no doubt of that. Good leading, which they\nhave rarely had, is all that Spaniards want to be as valiant troops as\nany in Europe. Only the other day, at Vic\u00e1lvaro, with General Garrig\u00f3\nand other brave and determined officers at their head, regiments of\ndragoons repeatedly galloped up to the very mouths of batteries, which\nreceived them, at a few yards\u2019 distance, with volleys of grape. Men who\nwould do this, would hardly flinch from charging irregular riflemen,\nhowever accurate and deadly their fire. The Spanish artillery is\nconsidered the best arm in the service; it is certainly the one with\nwhich the most pains are taken, and which possesses the best-instructed\nofficers. The infantry now in Cuba is about twenty thousand strong, well\ndisciplined, in good condition, and accustomed to the climate. Were\nthese forces, infantry, cavalry, and artillery, concentrated in the\nfield against the American pirates, it is difficult to believe that the\nlatter could succeed in getting together, or at least in landing, a\nforce capable of resisting their attack. To speak positively on this\npoint, however, it would be necessary to be somewhat in the confidence\nof the _filibusteros_, or at least to know more than is positively known\nof their resources, plans, and places of rendezvous. But even supposing\nthat they muster more than we, in our imperfect information, think\nprobable, it is to be borne in mind that the very best irregular troops,\nhowever formidable their valour and skill with their weapons may render\nthem in small numbers, are far less to be feared when they act in large\nmasses. Then the deficiency in discipline and drill tells heavily\nagainst them. I am far from underrating the indomitable pluck of the\nAmericans, or their coolness or steadiness when in peril, and only\ndesire to see those valuable qualities displayed in a better cause than\nthe one to which we are assured they are shortly to be devoted. But in\nan open plain, or in the attack of a fortress, and when opposed to\nregular troops of average bravery, something more than pluck and\ncoolness is required. Upon the other hand, it must not be forgotten,\nwhen we seek to strike the balance of chances, that the garrison of Cuba\ncould not be brought entire into the field. Certain forts, and towns,\nand positions must be held, and although it is probable that many of\nthese would be left to the keeping of the numerous volunteers that would\ntake up arms the moment an invasion occurred, still portions of the\ngarrison must be detached from the main body. An intelligent Spaniard,\nwho has spent several years in Cuba, and but recently returned thence,\ngave it me as his opinion that from ten to twelve thousand men could be\nemployed as the army of operation. He estimated the present garrison at\nrather under twenty thousand men effective for the field, which is\nsomewhat less than the government estimate. The European Spaniards in\nthe island he believed to be about fifty thousand, a large proportion\nBasques and Catalans, and who would readily enrol themselves as\nvolunteers in case of peril, would prove formidable antagonists, and\nfight desperately for their homes and property. As to the native Cubans,\nmany of them would be likely to join the Americans, if these were\nstrong, and gained advantages at first starting; but if the invaders\nwere worsted, the Cubans would fly to arms and vaunt their fidelity to\nSpain. The negroes, who have no wish to exchange Spanish for American\nmasters, and who are aware of the many disadvantages under which even a\nfree man of colour labours in the States, would all be ready to fight,\nif arms were given to them. The negro mode of fighting, as described to\nme by persons who are well acquainted with it, is peculiar and\ndangerous. They fire a volley, receive the enemy\u2019s fire, throw away\ntheir muskets, and rush in with cutlass or poniard.\n\nThe long narrow shape of the island of Cuba, which bears a strong\nresemblance to a lizard with the head looking eastward, is favourable to\nits defenders, since it facilitates the cutting off of the invading\nforce. It will be a great advantage if General Concha\u2019s arrival takes\nplace previously to any attack. He is the very man to command under such\ncircumstances. Quick of eye and ready of resource, he will inspire the\ntroops with confidence, and raise the courage of the Cubans. Amongst\nthese he has, what no captain-general of Cuba in our time has had, a\nstrong party\u2014persons who are attached to him, like his mode of\nadministration, prefer him to any other captain-general, and will stand\nby him to the utmost with all the influence and power they may possess.\nThis is a principal reason why he readily and gladly accepted the\ndestination towards which he is now steaming,\u2014if indeed he has not\narrived there, since his departure from Corunna took place upwards of a\nfortnight ago. The Spanish government\u2014and indeed Spaniards generally, as\nfar as my means of observation extend\u2014entertain a sanguine belief that,\nwith the troops at his command, and with the moral and physical support\nof the majority of the dwellers on the island, Concha will so handle the\nintruding annexionists as to make them heartily repent their unprovoked\nand unjustifiable aggression.\n\nThere are other points to be taken into consideration when we discuss\nthe probable issue of the anticipated conflict. One of these, on which\nsuch conflicting testimony has been given that it is scarcely possible\nto form a decided opinion with respect to it, is the amount of support\nthe Americans would find in the island itself. The Spaniards, as I have\nabove intimated, think it would be unimportant. Ask a Yankee\nannexionist, and he will tell you that the whole island, with the\nexception of the European Spaniards resident in it, pines for release\nfrom the intolerable yoke of Spain, longs to hoist the Stripes and\nStars, and to cling to the proud neck of the American eagle. I have been\ntold by Americans of the numbers of letters received from inhabitants of\nCuba, expressive of these sentiments, and imploring sympathy and\nassistance. But it must be observed that a few malcontents, or American\nsettlers in the island, would suffice to circulate an immense number of\nsuch complaints and prayers. One may imagine, for instance, the\nconsignees of the Black Warrior, after inditing their submissive and\npenitent letters to the governor-general, and their petition to the\nQueen of Spain for the remission of the fine, dipping their sharpest\niron pen into the ink-bottle, and relieving their afflicted souls by\nthrowing off screaming despatches to their friends in New York and New\nOrleans, inveighing against the tyranny of Spanish rule, and longing for\nthe day when Cuba should join the Union. By those to whom such letters\nwere welcome, they would naturally be made the most of; they would be\nhanded about, talked of, and their contents verbally repeated, until it\nwould seem as if a hundred letters had arrived instead of one. The\nSpaniards themselves admit that a part of the Creole population would be\nglad to see the island detached from Spain. To these I suppose we may\nsafely add, as partisans of Cuba\u2019s becoming a State of the Union, all\nthe Anglo-Americans resident in the island. Beyond this, I am in\npossession of no trustworthy evidence; and when I say that only a small\nportion of the Creoles or native whites are disaffected to the Spanish\ngovernment, I state it, as you will observe, on Spanish authority, but,\nat the same time, on the authority of Spaniards long resident in the\nisland, particularly capable, by their position and intelligence, of\nforming a correct judgment, and the sole drawback to the value of whose\nopinion is the admissible supposition that it may be biassed by their\nnatural wishes on the subject.\n\nSupposing that, in the autumn of 1854, an American expedition, starting\nfrom Florida, or from one of the small islands in the Bahama channel,\nmade a descent upon Cuba, were entirely worsted, and cut off or\ncompelled to re-embark. How long a time would elapse before a third\nexpedition were got ready? Would not the interval probably be shorter\nthan the one between the Lopez expedition and the present date? The\ndogged tenacity of a certain class of Americans, when bent upon\nacquisition, is well known. And is it not probable that each expedition\nwould exceed the preceding one in strength, until one went forth strong\nenough to triumph? The passage of the island from the feeble hands of\nbankrupt decrepid Spain into the strong ones of the young and vigorous\nUnion, is a mere question of time, unless other nations interfere. Are\nany prepared to do so? England and France are of course the only powers\nto which Spain might look for aid to prevent her being robbed of her\nlast valuable colony. And would she not look to them in vain, at least\nunder present circumstances? I do not believe that the Spaniards reckon\non such assistance. The reflecting portion of the nation\u2014those who think\nupon the subject at all\u2014seem convinced that the island must sooner or\nlater pass from them. Some would be disposed to sell it, whilst it still\nhas value, before the Americans feel so certain of getting it by other\nmeans that they will no longer feel disposed to disburse. Others, on the\ncontrary, are for holding it to the last, burning the last cartridge\nbefore giving in, and, as a last desperate resource, emancipating the\nslaves. The most rational and profitable of the two courses would\ndoubtless be the sale. And yet, owing to the ignorance and national\nconceit of a large number of Spaniards\u2014who believe that the valour of\nSpanish troops must always suffice to guard Cuba, and who have not\nsufficient knowledge of the past and present history of the world to see\nthat in the course of nature they must lose it\u2014it would be difficult for\nany ministry to brave the storm of indignation that would here be raised\nby the sale of the island. It could, of course, under the present\nregime, be done only with the sanction of the Cortes; and perhaps the\nwisest thing the Espartero ministry could do would be to bring forward\nthe subject when that body meets in November. To give advice to Spain\nis, I am aware, a delicate thing for foreign governments to do, but the\nmen at present at the head of affairs here are not likely to mistake the\nmotive, or to take offence at a well-intended counsel. If England and\nFrance be quite decided to take no steps towards the preservation of\nCuba to Spain, and if the government of this country be not already\nperfectly aware of that decision, it would be but right to give it the\ninformation, so that it might fairly and fully appreciate its position\nand chances, and not delude itself with vain hopes, never to be\nrealised, of ultimate succour from powerful allies.\n\nAssuredly no Spanish government was ever more in want than is the\npresent one of the pecuniary supplies which the sale of Cuba would place\nat its disposal. The state of the finances of the country is lamentable,\nand ministers are the more to be pitied, since their embarrassed\nposition is the consequence of no fault of theirs, but of the scandalous\nmisrule and malversation of several preceding governments, and\nespecially of that of Sartorius. The Spanish and English newspapers have\nalready supplied many details on this head. I will content myself with\nthrowing together a few of the principal and most striking facts. When\nthe present government assumed office, it found an empty treasury, and,\neven worse than that, the resources on which it might have reckoned for\nadvances were already anticipated. There was no money anywhere. The\nSartorius-Domenech-Collantes ministry had made a clean sweep of\neverything. The forced loan decreed on the 19th May, and which was to be\npaid during the months of June and July, had not flowed in with that\ngratifying rapidity announced by the organs of the _Polaco_ cabinet; but\nnevertheless about four hundred and seventy thousand pounds sterling had\nbeen collected, out of nearly two millions, which it was estimated that\nit should yield. Of the \u00a3470,000, about \u00a3140, or thirteen thousand\nreals, remained in the treasury. The confusion in the public accounts\nrendered necessary the appointment of commissioners to investigate them,\nand to report the real state of the finances. The labours of these\ncommissioners brought to light a whole system of iniquity and of\ndownright robbery. The most shameful jobs had been perpetrated; funds\nset apart for particular purposes, and which could not legally be\notherwise employed, had been misappropriated; enormous amounts had been\nexpended in secret-service money, of which no account was to be found;\neverything the government had to pay was in arrears, and all they had to\nreceive was in advance. The result of the examination was to exhibit a\nbalance against the treasury amounting to seven millions sterling, of\ntwo and a half millions of which the payment was urgent. To meet this\nheavy deficiency, equal to half a year\u2019s revenue, the new ministry had\nliterally nothing but their good intentions and recognised\nhonesty\u2014excellent things, but not always convertible into specie. The\nconsequences of the revolution added to their embarrassments. Nothing\nwas to be obtained from the provincial treasuries, which were found to\nbe nearly all empty, some of them having been drained to the last real\nby the departed ministers; whilst in other cases there is reason to\nconclude that the local juntas, formed during the revolution, had spent\nthe money. During the latter half of July, every place had its junta,\nlegislating as it thought fit, taking off taxes, admitting foreign goods\nfree of duty, sapping the foundations of the revenue. The effects of\nthis on the revenue for the month of July was a diminution of a quarter\nof a million sterling, or fully one-fifth. Although, early in August,\nthe juntas were prohibited from passing laws and altering the\nestablished system of the country, whilst since then many of them have\naltogether dissolved themselves, fears are entertained that for some\nmonths the revenue will continue below what it is in ordinary times. The\nperiod of revolution was a jubilee for the smuggler. At some points of\nthe frontier he was suddenly converted into a fair trader by the\nabolition, decreed by juntas, of all import duties. But, amidst the\nconfusion consequent on the revolution, he nowhere had any difficulty in\ncarrying on his commerce. From Gibraltar, from Portugal, from France,\nforeign goods poured in, to the exhaustion of the smuggling dep\u00f4ts in\nthose three countries. Those large illicit importations must for some\ntime to come have a serious effect on the custom-house revenue. It is\npredicted that the falling-off in the whole revenue for August will be\neven greater than in that for July. This appears to me doubtful,\nalthough nearly certain in the item of custom duties; and on the other\nhand, we may hope the expenditure will be less under an honest and\neconomical government\u2014whose economy, however, has not, in every\ninstance, been as rigorous as itself, I fully believe, earnestly\ndesired. The difficulties environing a government that is borne into\npower in Spain on the billows of a revolution like that of 1854, are not\nto be imagined by any who have not witnessed them. To form some faint\nidea of them, one must be acquainted with the ramifications and extent\nof the _empleomania_\u2014mania for place\u2014which is the great curse of Spain,\nand which, when one beholds the extent to which it is carried, makes him\nalmost despair of the improvement of the nation. It were reasonable to\nsuppose that when Espartero and his colleagues took office, under as\ndifficult circumstances, certainly, as any set of men that ever accepted\nit, even here, they would be allowed to give their whole time and\nundivided attention to the necessities of the country, to the getting\nrid of abuses, to the introduction of proper economics, to the adoption\nof measures calculated to improve the wretched financial situation. Not\nso: the idea of their supporters evidently was that their first duty was\nthe portioning out of places, not only to old friends, but to many new\nones\u2014_lib\u00e9raux du lendemain_. From the day they took office down to the\npresent date, ministers have been besieged, pestered, overwhelmed, by a\nstream of applicants eager to live upon the budget. Espartero, from his\npopularity and influence, was the chief victim of these cormorants. For\na very long time his anterooms were thronged from early morning till\nlate at night, by persons who could not go away, who _would_ see the\ngeneral, although perhaps the request they had to make had no possible\nconnection with his department, and should have been addressed to some\nother minister, to the intendant of the palace, the captain-general of\nthe province, or the civil governor of Madrid. Sometimes, when there\nwere thirty or forty persons waiting at the door of his cabinet, all\ndeaf to the remonstrances of weary _aides-de-camp_, he would come out\nhimself, as if in despair at ever obtaining repose, despatch them all,\none after the other, as quickly as might be, and then retreat with his\nsecretary into his private room, giving orders that nobody should be\nadmitted, to try to get two or three hours\u2019 uninterrupted work before\nthe usual hour for the sitting of the council arrived. And then the host\nof letters\u2014nearly all prayers and petitions, setting forth the services\nand sufferings of the writers, and their strong claims to place or\npatronage! The supplicants were of all kinds and classes; from the\ncolonel who thought his merits would not be over-rewarded by a\nbrigadier\u2019s embroideries, from the aspirant to some fat berth of many\nthousand reals a year, down to the suitor for a porter\u2019s place or a\nsergeant\u2019s stripes, and even to individuals desirous of being appointed\n_quitamanchas_, grease-spot extractors (fact) to the palace, and who\ncould think of no more fitting person to apply to than the\nprime-minister. Ah this greedy mob pestered, and still pester, the\npresident of the council, and in a less degree the other ministers, with\ntheir daily applications. The craving after place is disgusting to\nbehold, and extends, with a few honourable exceptions, through all\nclasses. As to patriotism in Spain, I have the utmost difficulty, after\nwitnessing what has followed upon this revolution, in crediting its\nexistence, except in the breasts of a small minority of the population.\nPatriotism here appears to consist in turning out one party in order\nthat another may step into the enjoyment of the good things it\npossessed. It is truly sickening to hear the selfish cuckoo-song of the\nseekers after places, to hear them vaunt their past services, and tell\nof their sufferings for the liberal cause during the eleven long years\nthat succeeded 1843\u2014sufferings consisting, for the most part, when they\ncome to be inquired into, simply in exclusion from those loaves and\nfishes for a share of which they now hungrily plead. With a certain and\ntoo-numerous class of Spaniards, a man is a patriot and a martyr by the\nmere fact of his drawing nothing from the treasury. There were many\npersons who really had done great service to the triumphant cause; men\nwho had risked their lives, laboured hard, and been forward and most\nuseful in the hour of danger. These men, on account both of their merits\nand of their abilities, had not to solicit, but were at once placed in\nhigh and responsible situations. For each one appointed, how many\nmalcontents were made! Of these malcontents some must be conciliated;\nothers had claims which deserved attention, and which they had not\nsufficient self-denial and love for their country altogether to\nwithdraw. Under these circumstances, how was it possible for the\ngovernment to economise as it should and might have done? The pressure\nbrought to bear upon it, the influences exerted, were more than it could\nresist, and many a place was given that ought to have been suppressed in\nthe interest of Spain\u2019s exhausted treasury. It gives small hope for the\nfuture of a country when one sees even the best of her sons doing\nnothing without hope of reward, nothing for the pure and disinterested\nlove of their native land. And to this rule, in Spain, I fear there are\nbut few exceptions.\n\nA careful investigation and calm review of the present state of the\nfinances of Spain, leave upon the mind a strong doubt as to whether a\nnational bankruptcy can possibly be avoided. I have exposed the misery\nof the treasury, as left by the ministry of Sartorius\u2014seven millions\nsterling deficiency, and not as many pence in the coffers of the State\nfor the pressing necessities of the new government. With some\ndifficulty, and by the aid of the signature of the San Fernando Bank,\nthe finance minister has obtained about fifty thousand pounds sterling,\nsecured on colonial revenues. Of course, a very short time will see the\nlast of that small sum; and what is then to be done, in presence of a\nrevenue which it is expected, with good show of reason, will, for some\ntime to come, be below an average? Economise, it may be said; but\neconomy is not to be effected, on an important scale, at a few days\u2019\nnotice. It is probably in the army that reform and reduction, if made,\nwould most rapidly be felt. It is said to be the intention of the\nminister of war greatly to reduce it; and no opportunity can be better\nthan the present, for when all the men who, in virtue of the boon of two\nyears\u2019 remission of service lately granted to the whole army, have\ncompleted their time, shall have received their discharge, the military\nforces of Spain will probably be smaller than they ever have been since\nthe beginning of the Carlist war. The expense of the Spanish army is\nabout three millions sterling\u2014an enormous burthen on the scanty revenue.\nThere are other burthens more difficult to diminish. The system pursued\nin this country of turning out numbers of public officers and employ\u00e9s\nwhen a new government comes in, to make room for its friends and\nsupporters, has loaded Spain with pensions, half-pay, and retired\nallowances. These amount to a million and a half sterling. How is this\nload to be lightened? But very gradually, it is evident;\u2014by filling up\nvacant places with pensioned men, whose pensions thereupon cease. To\nabolish all those pensions not due to long service or ill-health would\nbe to condemn thousands of families to starvation, and to raise a storm\nthat no government could withstand. Such a sweeping measure would not be\njust, nor is it practicable. A reform of the tariff is an obvious and\nmost effectual means of improving the financial position. Let the\ngovernment reduce the duties on foreign manufactured cottons to twenty\nper cent _ad valorem_. The importations (chiefly contraband) of that\nclass of merchandise at present amounts, as I am informed, to about\nthree millions sterling. A twenty-per-cent duty would demolish the\nsmuggler, and yield the revenue six hundred thousand pounds a year.\nWould it not then be possible for Spain to get a small loan on\nreasonable terms, the coupons being accepted, as soon as due, in payment\nof custom-house duties, and an arrangement, or the promise of an early\none, being at the same time made with respect to the amount of coupons\nwhich Bravo Murillo laid upon the shelf? It is, however, unnecessary to\nanswer this question until we have reduced the duty. Here, again, great\ndifficulties present themselves, and jealous interests bar the way.\nCatalonia and the smugglers would be in arms the very moment such a\nmeasure was promulgated. Catalonia, which produces (I speak from\nexperience of its goods) wretched wares at exorbitant prices, has long\nbeen the great impediment to Spain\u2019s prosperity, or at least\nimprovement. That one province pretends to make the whole country buy\nits inferior merchandise in preference to that of England and France;\nand this pretension it enforces, to the great profit and contentment of\nthe contraband trader. Time and a strong government are needed to bring\nabout that reduction of duties on foreign manufactures which would prove\nso great a benefit to Spain, and to its revenue. And at present, time is\nwanting. Something must be done quickly. As things now stand, it is hard\nto tell whence is to come the money for the next dividend on the home\nand foreign debt. At this date but a small portion of the last dividend\ndue on the home debt has been paid. It has been suggested that much will\ndepend on the composition of the constituent Cortes. If the country\nelects representatives who will support the present government, and so\ngive confidence in its duration and strength, it is thought that\ncapitalists will perhaps be found to come to its aid. But if the good\nsense of Spanish electors prove unequal to the emergency\u2014if they return\na Chamber composed of a mixture of demagogues and of partisans of\nreaction, and not containing a good working majority in favour of the\npolicy of moderate progress, which is that of the Espartero-O\u2019Donnell\ncabinet\u2014there is nothing but fresh trouble in store for Spain, and the\nquestion of finance will then appear almost hopeless.\n\nWhilst contemplating the gloomy, or at least uncertain, prospects of the\nSpanish treasury, I am forcibly reminded of Cuba and of American\nproposals for its purchase. I have not heard a statement of the exact\namount the States are disposed to give; but I have been assured, on no\nmean authority, that it would suffice to pay off the whole of the debt,\nhome and foreign, and that a handsome surplus would still remain for\nroads and railways. Besides these advantages, Cuba, once sold, Spain\nmight safely reduce her fleet and army, for she would then have no\nreason to apprehend war with the United States, as she at present has\nnone to anticipate aggression or interference on the part of any\nEuropean power. Relieved of her heaviest burthens, and blessed with an\nhonest government (if indeed it be possible that such endure in a\ncountry upon which the curse of misgovernment seems to rest), Spain\nmight soon and easily forget the loss of that cherished colony, whose\nretention, under present circumstances, is more a question of pride than\nof profit, and to whose loss without compensation, she must, I fear, by\nthe force of events, be prepared sooner or later to submit.\n\n                                                                VEDETTE.\n\n\n           _Printed by William Blackwood & Sons, Edinburgh._\n\n-----\n\nFootnote 1:\n\n  _Of the Plurality of Worlds; an Essay. Also a Dialogue on the same\n  subject._ Second Edition. Parker and Son, 1854.\n\n  _More Worlds than One, the Creed of the Philosopher, and the Hope of\n  the Christian_, By Sir DAVID BREWSTER, K.H., D.C.L. Murray, 1854.\n\n  _The Planets: Are they Inhabited Worlds?_ Museum of Science and Art.\n  By DIONYSIUS LARDNER, D.C.L., Chapters i., ii., iii., iv. Walton and\n  Maberly, 1854.\n\nFootnote 2:\n\n  _Works_, vol. xi. p. 198 (Bishop Heber\u2019s edition). The following is\n  the entire sentence of which the above is the commencing section:\n  \u201cWhatever we talk, things are as they are\u2014not as we grant, dispute, or\n  hope; depending on neither our affirmative nor negative, but upon the\n  rate and value which God sets upon things.\u201d\n\nFootnote 3:\n\n  _Dialogue_, p. 37.\n\nFootnote 4:\n\n  _More Worlds than One_, p. 59.\n\nFootnote 5:\n\n  _Dialogue_, pp. 5, 6.\n\nFootnote 6:\n\n  _Daily News._\n\nFootnote 7:\n\n  _Essay_, p. 120.\n\nFootnote 8:\n\n  _Ante_, p. 300, No. cccclxvii.\n\nFootnote 9:\n\n  _Essay_, p. 202.\n\nFootnote 10:\n\n  Ibid., pp. 134\u2013136.\n\nFootnote 11:\n\n  Ibid., p. 137.\n\nFootnote 12:\n\n  One or two of these \u201cDiscourses,\u201d all of which were delivered in the\n  Tron Church, Glasgow, at noon on the week day, were heard by the\n  writer of this paper, then a boy. He had to wait nearly four hours\n  before he could gain admission as one of a crowd, in which he was\n  nearly crushed to death. It was with no little effort that the great\n  preacher could find his way to his pulpit. As soon as his fervid\n  eloquence began to stream from it, the intense enthusiasm of the\n  auditory became almost irrestrainable; and in that enthusiasm the\n  writer, young as he was, fully participated. He has never since\n  witnessed anything equal to the scene.\n\nFootnote 13:\n\n  _Essay_, pp. 193, 194.\n\nFootnote 14:\n\n  In the \u201cDialogue,\u201d Dr Whewell states that it was not till after the\n  publication of his \u201cEssay\u201d that he became acquainted with the fact of\n  the coincidence of his views, on the subject of Geology, with those of\n  Mr Hugh Miller, in his \u201cFirst Impressions of England,\u201d with reference\n  to astronomical objections to Revelation.\n\nFootnote 15:\n\n  Ibid., chap. vii., \u00a7 1, p. 206.\n\nFootnote 16:\n\n  Ibid., chap. vi., \u00a7 27, p. 190.\n\nFootnote 17:\n\n  _Essay_, pp. 191, 192.\n\nFootnote 18:\n\n  Ibid., p. 148.\n\nFootnote 19:\n\n  Ibid., pp. 151, 152.\n\nFootnote 20:\n\n  Ibid., p. 154.\n\nFootnote 21:\n\n  Ibid., p. 166.\n\nFootnote 22:\n\n  Ibid., p. 155.\n\nFootnote 23:\n\n  _More Worlds than One_, p. 52.\n\nFootnote 24:\n\n  _Essay_, p. 188.\n\nFootnote 25:\n\n  _Essay_, pp. 198\u2013199.\n\nFootnote 26:\n\n  Ibid., p. 203.\n\nFootnote 27:\n\n  _Ante_, p. 289.\n\nFootnote 28:\n\n  _Essay_, p. 194.\n\nFootnote 29:\n\n  _Essay_, p. 195.\n\nFootnote 30:\n\n  Ibid., p. 196.\n\nFootnote 31:\n\n  Even of monkeys, there have been found fossil remains.\n\nFootnote 32:\n\n  _Essay_, p. 197.\n\nFootnote 33:\n\n  _Essay_, p. 198.\n\nFootnote 34:\n\n  Ibid., pp. 199, 200.\n\nFootnote 35:\n\n  _More Worlds than One_, p. 237, (we quote from the first edition).\n\nFootnote 36:\n\n  Ibid., p. 230.\n\nFootnote 37:\n\n  Ibid., p. 240.\n\nFootnote 38:\n\n  _More Worlds than One_, p. 202.\n\nFootnote 39:\n\n  Ibid., p. 199.\n\nFootnote 40:\n\n  In fact, in a note to page 247, Sir David thus slily alludes to those\n  \u201cconjectures\u201d of Dr Whewell in his _Bridgewater Treatise_, to which we\n  have referred (_ante_, pp. 290, 291):\u2014\u201cA very different opinion is\n  stated by Dr Whewell, in his _Bridgewater Treatise_;\u201d adding, after\n  citing the passages, \u201cthe rest of the chapter, \u2018_On the vastness of\n  the Universe_,\u2019 is well worthy of the perusal of the reader, and forms\n  a striking contrast with the opinions of the Essayist.\u201d\u2014This is\n  perfectly fair.\n\nFootnote 41:\n\n  _More Worlds than One_, p. 98.\n\nFootnote 42:\n\n  Ibid., p. 108.\n\nFootnote 43:\n\n  Ibid., p. 166.\n\nFootnote 44:\n\n  _More Worlds than One_, pp. 180, 183.\n\nFootnote 45:\n\n  Ibid., p. 185.\n\nFootnote 46:\n\n  _Essay_, ch. vii. sec. 17, p. 221.\n\nFootnote 47:\n\n  _More Worlds than One_, p. 248.\n\nFootnote 48:\n\n  _Essay_, chap. x. sec. 10, pp. 308, 309; chap. xii. sec. 1, p. 359.\n\nFootnote 49:\n\n  _More Worlds than One_, pp. 178, 179.\n\nFootnote 50:\n\n  _More Worlds than One_, p. 18.\n\nFootnote 51:\n\n  _Dialogue_, pp. 62\u201364.\n\nFootnote 52:\n\n  _More Worlds than One_, p. 131.\n\nFootnote 53:\n\n  Ibid.\n\nFootnote 54:\n\n  Ibid., p. 138.\n\nFootnote 55:\n\n  Ibid., p. 139.\n\nFootnote 56:\n\n  Ibid., p. 140.\n\nFootnote 57:\n\n  _More Worlds than One_, pp. 141\u2013142.\n\nFootnote 58:\n\n  Ibid., p. 151.\n\nFootnote 59:\n\n  Ibid., p. 152.\n\nFootnote 60:\n\n  Ibid., p. 153.\n\nFootnote 61:\n\n  Ibid., pp. 44\u201347.\n\nFootnote 62:\n\n  _More Worlds than One_, p. 47.\n\nFootnote 63:\n\n  Azoic signifies those primary rocks which contain no traces of organic\n  life, no remains of plants or animals.\n\nFootnote 64:\n\n  _More Worlds than One_, p. 52.\n\nFootnote 65:\n\n  Ibid., p. 206.\n\nFootnote 66:\n\n  _More Worlds than One_, pp. 206, 207.\n\nFootnote 67:\n\n  A thirtieth planetoid was discovered by Mr Hind since the publication\n  of the second edition of the _Essay_.\n\nFootnote 68:\n\n  LARDNER, _Museum of Science and Art_, vol. i. p. 156.\n\nFootnote 69:\n\n  _Dial._, p. 60.\n\nFootnote 70:\n\n  Ibid., p. 28.\n\nFootnote 71:\n\n  _Museum_, &c., vol. i. p. 64.\n\nFootnote 72:\n\n  P. 271. Her distance from us is 240,000 miles; and our Essayist, by\n  the way, tells us (chap. x. \u00a77) that \u201ca railroad-carriage, at its\n  ordinary rate of travelling, would reach her in _a month_.\u201d We should\n  not like to travel by the Lunar Express, but should prefer the\n  parliamentary train, and hope, starting from the Hanwell station, to\n  get to the terminus in a couple of years or so. Good Bishop Wilkins\n  intended to be taken up by birds of flight trained for the purpose.\n  When the Duchess of Newcastle asked him where he intended to bait by\n  the way, he answered, \u201cYour Grace is the last person to ask me the\n  question, having built so many _castles in the air_!\u201d\n\nFootnote 73:\n\n  _Essay_, p. 272.\n\nFootnote 74:\n\n  Pp. 80, 81.\n\nFootnote 75:\n\n  _Museum_, &c., vol. iii. p. 48.\n\nFootnote 76:\n\n  P. 108.\n\nFootnote 77:\n\n  P. 24.\n\nFootnote 78:\n\n  _Museum_, &c., vol. iii. p. 109.\n\nFootnote 79:\n\n  P. 112.\n\nFootnote 80:\n\n  Ibid., vol. i. p. 63.\n\nFootnote 81:\n\n  _More Worlds than One_, pp. 97, 101.\n\nFootnote 82:\n\n  Pp. 99, 100.\n\nFootnote 83:\n\n  _Essay_, p. 278.\n\nFootnote 84:\n\n  _Essay_, p. 281, 289.\n\nFootnote 85:\n\n  Brewster, p. 60.\n\nFootnote 86:\n\n  To descend, for a moment, to details. Sir David Brewster will not\n  allow himself to be driven to elect between the icy or watery\n  constituency of Jupiter. He declares direct experiment to have proved\n  that it is neither; that if Jupiter were a sphere of water, the light\n  reflected from his surface, when in his quadratures, must contain, as\n  it does _not_, a large portion of polarised light; and if his crust\n  consist of mountains, precipices, and rocks of ice, some of whose\n  faces must occasionally reflect the incident light at nearly the\n  polarising angle, the polarisation of their light would be distinctly\n  indicated. The Essayist, in his _Dialogue_, \u201cdoubts whether the remark\n  is applicable; for Jupiter\u2019s watery or icy mass must be clothed in a\n  thick stratum of air, and aqueous vapour, and clouds. But even were\n  the planet free from clouds, the parts of the planet\u2019s surface from\n  which polarised light would be reflected, would be only as points\n  compared with the whole surface; and the common light reflected from\n  the whole surface would quite overwhelm and obliterate the polarised\n  light.\u201d\u2014_Dial._ p. 64. We cite this as a sample of the ingenuity of\n  both disputants, in a point of scientific contact. Whether Sir David\u2019s\n  conjectural polarised light be or be not thus obliterated, in our view\n  the item in dispute is quite lost in the general question, and the\n  great principles on which its solution depends. If driven to elect\n  between ice and water, asks Sir David playfully, \u201cmay we not, upon\n  good grounds, prefer the probable _ice_ to the possible water, and\n  accommodate the inhabitants of Jupiter with very comfortable quarters,\n  in huts of snow and houses of crystal, warmed by subterranean heat,\n  and lighted with the hydrogen of its waters, and its cinders not\n  wholly deprived of their bitumen?\u201d\u2014Pp. 236, 237. The answer of his\n  opponent would be obvious.\n\nFootnote 87:\n\n  Brewster, p. 61.\n\nFootnote 88:\n\n  Ibid., p. 62.\n\nFootnote 89:\n\n  Ibid., pp. 65, 66.\n\nFootnote 90:\n\n  Ibid., pp. 68, 69.\n\nFootnote 91:\n\n  _Dial._, p. 6.\n\nFootnote 92:\n\n  Ibid., p. 23.\n\nFootnote 93:\n\n  _Dial._, p. 76.\n\nFootnote 94:\n\n  _Museum_, &c., vol. i. p. 35.\n\nFootnote 95:\n\n  _Dial._, p. 23.\n\nFootnote 96:\n\n  Lord Byron\u2014Hebrew Melodies. \u201cThe philosopher will scan,\u201d says Sir\n  David, at the close of his eloquent Treatise, \u201cwith a new sense, the\n  lofty spheres in which he is to study.\u201d\u2014P. 259.\n\nFootnote 97:\n\n  Pp. 164, 165.\n\nFootnote 98:\n\n  Isaiah, xlv. 9.\n\nFootnote 99:\n\n  Isaiah, lv. 8, 9.\n\nFootnote 100:\n\n  _Essay_, p. 244.\n\nFootnote 101:\n\n  Pp. vii.\u2013viii.\n\nFootnote 102:\n\n  _Essay_, pp. 243, 244.\n\nFootnote 103:\n\n  See them specified, p. 251.\n\nFootnote 104:\n\n  _Cosmos_, iii. 373.\n\nFootnote 105:\n\n  Ch. viii., _passim_.\n\nFootnote 106:\n\n  _Dial._, pp. 20\u201323.\n\nFootnote 107:\n\n  _More Worlds than One_, Ch. vi., _passim_.\n\nFootnote 108:\n\n  _More Worlds than One_, Ch. viii., _passim_.\n\nFootnote 109:\n\n  Ibid., p. 164.\n\nFootnote 110:\n\n  Ibid., p. 119.\n\nFootnote 111:\n\n  _Essay_, p. 257.\n\nFootnote 112:\n\n  _Lect. on Astron._, 2d edit. (1849.)\n\nFootnote 113:\n\n  Pp. ix. x.\n\nFootnote 114:\n\n  _More Worlds than One_, p. 176.\n\nFootnote 115:\n\n  _Essay_, p. 211.\n\nFootnote 116:\n\n  _Essay_, pp. 235\u2013236.\n\nFootnote 117:\n\n  _Dial._, p. 18.\n\nFootnote 118:\n\n  _Essay_, p. 214.\n\nFootnote 119:\n\n  Ibid., p. 216.\n\nFootnote 120:\n\n  _More Worlds than One_, p. 215.\n\nFootnote 121:\n\n  _Essay_, p. 298.\n\nFootnote 122:\n\n  _More Worlds than One_, p. 315, and note.\n\nFootnote 123:\n\n  Ibid., p. 315.\n\nFootnote 124:\n\n  Romans, i. 22.\n\nFootnote 125:\n\n  Matthew, vii. 26.\n\nFootnote 126:\n\n  _Dialogue_, p. 74.\n\nFootnote 127:\n\n  Isaiah, lxiv. 4; 1 Cor., ii. 9.\n\nFootnote 128:\n\n  John, xiv. 2, 23.\n\nFootnote 129:\n\n  _Dialogue_, p. 42.\n\nFootnote 130:\n\n  _Wisdom of God in the Worlds of Creation_, vol. iii. p. 265.\n\nFootnote 131:\n\n  _Monthly Magazine_, A.D. 1798\u2014art. \u201cWalpoliana.\u201d\n\nFootnote 132:\n\n  Matthew, vii. 24.\n\nFootnote 133:\n\n  This must evidently mean Loufti Pasha, who was grand vizier from A.D.\n  1539 to 1541.\n\nFootnote 134:\n\n  This passage may be admitted as a proof that the tribute of children\n  was not regularly exacted from the population of the capital. The\n  difficulty Mohammed the Second found in repeopling Constantinople\n  explains the exemption.\n\nFootnote 135:\n\n  _Glasgow Records_, ii. 341.\n\nFootnote 136:\n\n  Ibid., p. 343.\n\nFootnote 137:\n\n  Ibid., p. 422.\n\nFootnote 138:\n\n  \u201cGladios, pugiones sicas mach\u00e6ras rhomph\u00e6as acinaces fustes, pr\u00e6sertim\n  si pr\u00e6ferrati vel plumbati sint, veruta missilia tela sclopos tormenta\n  bombardas balistas ac arma ulla bellica nemo discipulus\n  gestato.\u201d\u2014_Fasti Aberdonienses_, 242. The Glasgow list is less\n  formidable: \u201cNemo gladium pugionem tormenta bellica aut aliud quodvis\n  armorum et telorum genus gestet; sed apud pr\u00e6fectum omnia\n  deponat.\u201d\u2014_Instituta_, 49.\n\nFootnote 139:\n\n  _Instituta Univ. Glasg._, p. 519, 520.\n\nFootnote 140:\n\n  _Fasti Univ. Glasg._, p. 548.\n\nFootnote 141:\n\n  _Hist. Univ. Paris_, iv. 266.\n\nFootnote 142:\n\n  _Fasti_, p. 400.\n\nFootnote 143:\n\n  Ibid., p. 400.\n\nFootnote 144:\n\n  There was an attempt to _enforce_ returns upon religious and\n  educational statistics, but, in the words of the Report, \u201cIt was,\n  however, considered doubtful whether, upon a rigid construction, the\n  Census Act rendered it compulsory upon parties to afford information\n  upon these particulars; and the inquiry was, therefore, pursued as a\n  purely voluntary investigation.\u201d\u2014_Report_, No. 1.\n\nFootnote 145:\n\n  \u201cThe weight of the schedules, blank enumeration-books, and other forms\n  despatched from the Central Office, exceeded fifty-two\n  tons.\u201d\u2014_Report_, No. 1.\n\nFootnote 146:\n\n  LAYARD. Alexander the Great, after he had transferred his seat of\n  empire to the East, so fully appreciated the importance of those great\n  works that he ordered them to be cleansed and repaired, and\n  superintended the work in person, steering his boat with his own hand\n  through the channels. Similar operations undertaken now would again\n  restore to Mesopotamia its old fertility, and fit Babylon, not only\n  for regaining her place as the emporium of the Eastern world, but for\n  becoming the great entrepot of commerce between the West and East,\n  which will ere long, in consequence of the introduction of railways,\n  again flow into its old overland route by Palmyra, through the\n  deserts, from the Levant to the head of the Persian Gulf.\n\nFootnote 147:\n\n  Ctesias and other writers speak of the Bactrian and Indian expedition\n  of Ninus and Semiramis; and in connection with this it is important to\n  notice, that upon the obelisk discovered at Nimroud\u2014which belongs to\n  the period of the earliest palace, having been erected by the son of\n  the founder of that building\u2014are represented the Bactrian camel, the\n  elephant, and the rhinoceros\u2014(all animals from India and Central\n  Asia)\u2014brought as tribute by a conquered people to the Assyrian king.\n\nFootnote 148:\n\n  The Hon. James Thomason, late Lieutenant-Governor of the North-West\n  Provinces, who lingered too long in India, chiefly in the hope to have\n  been present on the occasion above commemorated.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n                          TRANSCRIBER\u2019S NOTES\n\n\n \u25cf Typos fixed; non-standard spelling and dialect retained.\n \u25cf Used numbers for footnotes, placing them all at the end of the last\n     chapter.\n \u25cf Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.\n \u25cf The caret (^) serves as a superscript indicator, applicable to\n     individual characters (like 2^d) and even entire phrases (like\n     1^{st}).","title":"Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. 76, No. 468, October, 1854","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":86356}