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Well knowing that with ships alone he cannot after Russia had herself refused to maintain the reduce the granite forts of Russia by a coup de status quo. Russia having refused to abide even main, Sir Charles Napier has evinced a sound by the treaty of Adrianople, our Cabinet will not discretion: he is known to possess experience; admit that the treaty of Adrianople can be sehe has unbounded trust in the energy and brave- cured. The peace you have thrown away, says ry of his countrymen; he holds a carte blanche. our Government to Russia, you cannot have with It has sometimes been said that our soldiers in the privileges that you have abused. In other Turkey are ill-fed and comfortless: amongst the words, the protest which Lord Aberdeen wrote many detailed facts adduced by Mr. Sydney Her- against the treaty of Adrianople immediately bert, one alone would refute every statement of after its conclusion is now to be realized by the the kind-the sickness amongst the soldiers does action of the British Government. It is not this not exceed four per cent, including what springs Minister or that Minister who sustains the necesfrom voluntary intemperance. The slowness of sity of a firm and energetic course; not Lord our movements has been the subject of reproach: Aberdeen who still hankers after peace, and some Ministers are justified by the facts, that the Tur- other Lord who is eager for war. As Lord John kish commander has been enabled by our sup-Russell says, constitutionally, each Minister is port to act with renewed confidence, renewed answerable for the course of action adopted by energy, and renewed success, and that before a the entire Cabinet. Each Minister is separately single blow has been struck by the Allies the ad-responsible for the policy of peace or war, for the vance of Russia throughout her entire territory preparations of the Minister of War, the arrangeis stayed. Results thus attained, almost by anti-ments of the Lords of the Admiralty; and while cipation, can only be due to the completeness of such is the case constitutionally, it is also, Lord the plan in detail and in scope. John Russell certifies, the case in fact.

Our position with our allies is not less intelli- Clear in their position abroad and within the gible. With regard to France, who embarks her Cabinet Ministers appear now to be equally clear soldiers in English ships of war, there can be no in their position with Parliament. Mr. Disraeli question; none with regard to Turkey. The assailed Lord John Russell upon their policy, usrisks that Austria runs in definitively committing ing for his purpose any pretext, whether to be herself to war needed not Lord John's expound- got out of generalized inductions or special ing; but she has declared to the Western Powers, "that if the Principalities be not evacuated by Russia, she will use forcible means in order to compel their evacuation." The conduct of Prussia continues as obscure as the ultimate fate of her Monarch-he is trifling with the Western Powers, and with his own crown.

With a position clearly defined as respects Russia, our allies, and our preparations in the field, the position of the Cabinet itself is now rendered not less distinct. Whatever doubts may have formerly affected individuals - whatever separate conceptions may have seized upon ardent minds-it is evident that Lord John Russell has been empowered to speak on this point with distinctness. Lord Aberdeen clung to the hope of maintaining peace with the status quo, but not

phrases. Lord Dudley Stuart, however, brought them to a harsher and more distinct test. He proposed to take out of their hands the discretion of proroguing or summoning Parliament, and he enabled them to convert his motion into a question for the House of Commons, whether or not Ministers were fit to be trusted? whether or not the Commons desired to trust them? The answer was a reply in the affirmative, the unanimity of which neither the ingenuity of Mr. Disraeli nor the hardihood of Lord Dudley Stuart could disturb. On taking leave of Parliament therefore, Ministers will stand before the country with a position distinctly defined, as, by their declarations, their responsibility has also become defined.

From the Times, 7 Aug. CAPTURE OF THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS.

I had been sent home by Sir CHARLES NAPIER in the small steamer which had captured them? Improbable as the tale may appear-impossible "A MAN gets up in the morning on his own the catastrophe-it was fairly upon the cards premises, but little knows where he may sleep at within the last few weeks. The facts are these: night." The Czar of ALL THE RUSSIAS has-A short while back, while the allied fleets were lately been within an ace of offering in his own lying before Cronstadt, an English yacht belongperson a practical confirmation of this well-known ing to Lords LICHFIELD and EUSTON, with saying. What would the British public have Lord CLARENCE PAGET on board, ventured thought, what would Europe have thought,- somewhat too near the guns of the place. Sudwhat would the King of PRUSSIA in his cups denly a puff of steam was seen on the Russian have thought, what would OMAR PASHA in his side, and a small Russian steamer put out to sea, fez cap have thought-what would the allied with the evident intention of cutting off the Engtroops have thought, and, finally, what would lish yacht. On board of that steamer were the the Three per Cents. have thought, if, about this Czar NICHOLAS, his son the Archduke CONSTANtime, the Czar of ALL THE RUSSIAS, the Arch-TINE, the Archduchess his wife, and the Russian duke CONSTANTINE, and the Archduchess, and Admiral, who all went forth to enjoy the satisthe Russian Admiral in Command at Cronstadt, faction of an casy triumph over the poor little

yatch. She is, in point of fact, stated to have-while all Europe was in commotion upon his been in the most imminent danger of capture.- account? We are, of course, speculating upon The CZAR, however, was destined to be foiled in history of a very hypothetical character; but still his anticipated little triumph, as he has already the event did so nearly occur as to justify specubeen foiled in his hopes of many a great one. An lation upon its consequences. In our mind's eye English war steamer, seeing the danger to which we can see Lords ABERDEEN and JOHN RUSSELL the yacht was exposed, advanced with all speed communicating the information to the Houses in to her relief. Shortly she obtained such a posi- their own dry and cautious manner. What tion that the English yacht was safe; and the would Messrs. BRIGHT and COBDEN have said? only question that remained for discussion was What would Colonel SIBTHORP have said? The one between the two small war steamers-the newsmen would have gone bellowing the informa one under English, the other under Russian co- tion about the streets, and their cries would have lors. Could the English but have known the been regarded by the testy old gentlemen in Belgravaluable freight which that little yacht contained via but as mere leasings for the sake of deceiving the -could the captain but have known that by cap- lieges and interfering with their digestive functions. turing her, or sending her to the bottom, peace What should we have done with the CZAR, when would have been restored to Europe, and proba- we had got him? Reckless, unprincipled, and bly a million of human lives, first and last, be merciless as he has shown himself to be, we should saved, we have no doubt that he would have car- have been anxious to treat him like a gentleman, ried one or other of the alternatives into effect, and make him comfortable during his sojourn even though his own destruction, that of his among us. But at Berlin and at Potsdam !-let ship, and of every soul on board of her had been us suppose the information to have been brought the inevitable consequence. As it was, he saw in while the glasses were well charged with nothing before him but a little trumpery steamer champagne, and the KING and his Russian -he had carried his purpose of relieving the friends were devising a fresh counter-proposition English yacht into effect and remembered or to the counter-counter-proposition which had emders, which certainly had been issued, to the ef- anated from the Bamberg Conference. The fect that no English ship, upon the mere heroic CZAR is taken!-he is in England-he is in the impulse of her commander, should be thrust into Tower-he is pretty well after the voyage-as the lion's mouth. We have no doubt that this easy in his mind as can be expected-but he was was so, and that when the English captain gave very seasick. What would the good folks in his orders for putting the head of his steam-Wurtemburg and Bavaria who have bedizened er round, he did so with the feeling that he had their coats with Russian ribands and orders have very satisfactorily discharged the duty with which made of the intelligence-and M. MAZZINI and he had been intrusted. Little did he suppose at the Italian Reds? There is the Emperor of the moment, that he had lost probably the great- AUSTRIA, too, busy with his levies, and rejoicing est opportunity for obtaining personal distinction at his loan, which would have given him still which had ever been thrown in the way of a sin-higher gratification when he came to reflect that gle man. The English nation venerates the name the war being at an end, he was at liberty to ap of Lord NELSON for the sake of certain little af-ply the proceeds to other purposes. There are, fairs in which he was engaged off Cape St. Vin- however, two sets of people whose acts we should cent, at the Nile, at Copenhagen, at Trafalgar, have been most desirous to behold, as the fact of and elsewhere, but not all of these wonderful, important, and heroic achievements combined would have had such an important influennce on the history of the world, as the capture of that little Russian ship. It was given to the captain of a small steamer to change the face of Europe in ten minutes well employed, but in pure inno-lightful to stroll through the Bazaar at Constancence he missed the chance.

the capture was forced upon their convictions. We should have liked to be in Cronstadt while the CZAR was steamed away under the eyes of the garrison. Next to this, which would perhaps have been the most interesting point of observation, it would have been most peculiarly de

tinople, and listen to the gossip of the old Turks when they were at last convinced that their old enemy the CZAR was really within the grasp of the Allied Powers-a prisoner of war!

It is seldom, indeed, in modern warfare, still more rarely in naval warfare, that monarchs themselves run any danger of capture. NAPOLEON, to be sure, at Arcis-sur-Aube, was com- On the political consequences of such an event pelled to cross swords with a squad of Cossacks we must scarcely venture to speculate. The imin the twilight, but he was after all a general, not agination of the historian who is called upon to a king, by trade. If we remember right, upon write the history of the events which did not ocone occasion, poor old George III. was in danger cur may fairly recoil from the magnitude of the of capture from a French privateer off Wey-subject. Little petty questions, such as those mouth, and was only saved by some marine chance which has slipped from our recollection. In medieval history there are, of course, the cases familiar to every schoolboy of King JOHN of France at Poitiers, and of FRANCIS I. after Pavia. But what comparison would there have been between the case of the BLACK PRINCE waiting on a mediæval King, who went to battle in a coat of mail, and the grand surprise of the Russian CZAR landing at Portsmouth-no, at Newhaven

connected with the Sulina mouths of the Danube, the navigation of the Black Sea, the freedom of the Circassian mountaineers, the restoration of Finland to Sweden, etc., sink into comparative insignificance by the side of the chapter which might have been written on the result of the CZAR's yachting expedition of Cronstadt. The wonder of it is that all this time we are not dealing with a fable, nor with the result of a drunkard's inspiration, but with sober and serious fact.

The Czar of RUSSIA, the Archduke CONSTAN- Helena. And on this matter we consent to TINE, and the Archduchess, were the other day be guided by the decision of his Imperial as near capture and transmission to England as

it is possible to be without having actually in- Majesty Louis Napoleon.

The Times leaves

curred such a catastrophe. Such is life and his-him out of the question. What a pretty little tory-such a strange mixture of chances and end to the war it would have made for him! improbabilities! What an end to the Russian How much popularity it would have gained him war; and to think, in all soberness of thought, that it might really have come to pass, had the in France! After all the Russian talk about captain of a little English steamer known who Moscow! and more especially after Louis Napowere on board the little Russian steamer the leon's proposal for a Princess had been frowned other day off Cronstadt! down by Nicholas. Looking at the matter in ["Make him comfortable!" See the Russian this light we are exceedingly sorry that a pen. leaning of the Times! We would make him dant could not have been provided for the last as comfortable as we could, but at Saint years of Napoleon.-Liv. Age.]

From The Athenæum, 29 July.

MANNSCRIPTS OF THE POET GRAY.

Itaken-torn, in many instances from their rich bindings, and are now about to be offered, in their native simplicity, to the public under NINE years ago the autograph of the poet the hammer of Messrs. Sotheby & Wilkinson. Gray was one of the scarcest autographs of It is not our custom to announce all sales the great men of England in the century in beforehand; but there are cases-and such which he flourished. The possession of a we consider this to be-when it is our duty letter in the handwriting of Gray was either to call attention to such scatterings of properthe pride or the envy of collectors. Then ty interesting to the public. When, in 1845, came a change-what coin collectors call a Mr. Penn gave 1001. for the "Elegy," Eton "find;" and the once rare autograph became College was a competitor with Mr. Penn. comparatively common. Our readers will Public bodies move slowly; and we think it recollect the "find" to which we allude:- our duty to point out to the College this rea sale at Messrs. Evans's, in December 1845, newed opportunity for the acquisition of a of the original MS. of the "Elegy in a Coun- literary treasure. The precious MS. could try Church Yard," and many unpublished let- hardly be placed in a more appropriate localiters addressed to Mason and to the Principal ty. Cambridge, too, might not inappropriateof Pembroke College. The sale was duly ly become a bidder. We should like to see chronicled in our columns [Athen. No. 945], Gray's "Elegy" lying by the side of Milton's and a portion of the new knowledge thus "Lycidas" in the library of Trinity College. opened up to us has since been published by The importance of the MS. of the "Elegy the Rev. John Mitford. to be sold on the 4th of next month is not suf At the sale in 1845 the leviathan purchaser ficiently understood. It is full of verbal alwas Mr. Penn, of Stoke Pogeis. He bought terations, is the only copy known to exist,— the "Elegy" for 100l., and the Odes for 100 and is evidently Gray's first grouping together guineas, indeed, he may be said to have of the stanzas as a whole. As the " Elegy bought more than the cream of the collection. is known by heart to nearly every EnglishHe was proud of his purchase, so proud, in- man, and we believe American, we shall give deed, that Messrs. Clarke & Bedford were em- some of the hitherto unpublished readings. ployed to inlay them on fine paper, bind them The established text we print in Roman type, up in volumes of richly-tooled olive morocco, -the MS. readings in italics.

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with silk linings, and finally enclose each volume in a case of plain purple morocco. The Of such as wandering near her midnight bower order was carefully carried out, and the vol

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umes were deposited at Stoke Pogeis in the The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep great house adjoining the grave of Gray.

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Either whim or necessity induced Mr. The breezy call of incense-breathing morn, Penn, two years ago, to offer his valuable ac- For ever sleep; the breezy call of quisition for sale by public auction. A few The cock's shrill clarion, or the echoing horn lots came to the hammer; but they were all Or Chanticleer so shrill or bought in. Mr. Penn found the public un-Or climb his knees the envied kiss to share willing to pay for Messrs. Clarke & Bedford's

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From The Spectator.

any living knowledge of his subject. The LEATHER STOCKING AND SILK is an book has not been suggested by his own obAmerican tale, designed to illustrate country servation, but by the works of Washington life in Virginia at the beginning of this cen- Irving. The best descriptions recall the style tury, when the old Anglo-Colonial manners of that writer, and even seem occasionally to were encountering the habits and ideas of smack of Europe as well as of America. The young America. The story is in the main picture of the town of Martinsburg, where one of misconception between two rivals, who, the scene is chiefly laid, is English or German it turns out, are not in love with the same in many points; at least the manner of the lady but story is subordinate to charac- artist recalls descriptions of England and Gerters and manners. The incidents are rather many.

:

for what they show than for what they lead to. The exhibition is that of an old hunter, with There was about the town in those days a his simplicity and strong natural affections, thoughtful, slumbrous quietude, which was very surrounded by a new state of society, which striking to such travellers as stopped there; he is getting too old to leave behind him for more especially if among such travellers there the forest, as he once would have done. In were any artists armed with their sketch-books. conjunction with him are some old settlers, dreamless slumber upon the quiet borough, and All day long the atmosphere brooded like a and contrasted with these are the rising gen- the only sound that never died away was the eration, as well as several foreigners, who have come to cultivate the minds or bodies of the Virginians.

There is a perception of the "prisca fides" and the domestic affections in the writer, as well as some power of pleasant description: but the idea of the book is better than the execution. The topics and the dialogues are in many cases too minute in subject and weak in style to sustain even curiosity; the bulk of Leather Stocking and Silk is in fact linseyWoolsey.

It is probable, too, that the writer has not

Leather Stocking and Silk; or Hunter John Myers and his Times. A Story of the Valley of Virginia. Published by Low, Son, and Co.

sighing of the willows, which, stretching down their long arms to the stream, unceasingly complained to the waves. All day long the air was stirred by no other sound, unless it were the sudden roar of the rock-blaster's mine echoing along the stone fenced valley. No stranger, except at long intervals, made the stony street resound with hoof-strokes; no cur ran barking at the pedestrian's heels. Such horsemen and pedestrians were seldom seen, and the curs had got out of practice. The cloud-shadows floated across the streets, the tall old willows sighed and rustled, the corn tassels waved their silky fibres in the gentle lazy breeze; and Martinsburg might have sat for a sketch of Drowsyland.

land of the dolce far niente-which is so comOur story relates to this old Martinsburg—this pletely a thing of the past. But not wholly

The town was at the period when these veritable grandmothers took such delight, was slowly disevents occurred in the transition state. The appearing: stages had commenced running be-. habitudes and fashions-in costume, modes of tween the towns, thereby realizing the long thought, everything-were changing. The close dreamed of luxury of a weekly mail: and Marshaven and prim expression of our own day and tinsburg with her sister boroughs was enlivened generation had already begun to take the place from time to time by "professors " of music, of the bluff and joyous bearing of the elder time. dancing, fencing, drawing, all the accomplishPowdered heads were going out of fashion with ments, in a word, which are thought necessary fair-top boots and shoe-buckles and silken hose: parts of education by the inhabitants of a thrivthe minuet, that stately divertisement in which ing country town." those honest old folks our grandfathers and

From The Spectator.

to the gallant struggles which seem to have THE RUSSIAN CONQUEST OF FIN- taken place, nor are particular deeds of merit

LAND.*

altogether overlooked. Portions of the campaign are subjected to a critical examination ; THIS narrative of the conquest of Finland and the reader is introduced to a physical by the Russians, in 1808-9, was drawn up view of the country, salient and comprehenmany years since, by a Russian officer of rank, sive in its features, without the dry minutenow deceased; who printed the book for pri- ness which frequently characterizes military vate circulation, although it never was pub- topography. As any attempt to restore Finlished. A copy was given, by the author, to land to Sweden would involve a land-camGen. Monteith of the Madras Engineers. paign, the sketch of the country has a present Present circumstances have induced its ap-value beyond its graphic quality. pearance, under the superintendence of the General; and although its popular interest arises from the possibility that an allied army may be engaged in Finland, as our fleets are already operating upon its shores, the book is worthy of publication, as well for its subject as for its intrinsic merit.

The aspect of the Eastern part of the country does not differ materially from that of the portion of Finland anciently belonging to Russia. After passing Wiborg, the mountains are more considerable in size, and enormous masses of rock are heaped upon each other in every direction. In some places, the quantity of flints and of granite From the nature of the country, the climate, stones is so considerable that it would be difficult and the coast, a war in Finland will always be to find an unencumbered space, even of a few of a peculiar character, in which broad strayards square. The roads are narrow and tegical objects must be combined with a de- crooked, but tolerably firm, the forests dark, and gree of independence in particular officers; the general appearance of the country savage the scanty resources of the country render and gloomy. The numerous sheets of water with communication by sea indispensable to every which it is intersected, were at that time conarmy save a Russian; and the singular forma-verted into solid plains of ice, capable of bearing tion of the coast necessitates a peculiar flotilla. not only troops of every description, but even the Unless we are much mistaken, the book will heaviest artillery. be found a useful addition to military litera-* ture, illustrating by its narrative some princi- Another observation, which is perhaps worth ples of warfare in a difficult country; for making, concerns the manner in which the Rusalthough the difficulties are chiefly owing to sian army was broken up into small divisions; water in some form-lakes, torrents, and for it must have been remarked, that from the marshes — the similar difficulty of interrupted very beginning of the invasion, in spite of the paucity of their numbers, the troops were spread communication would arise from mountains or over the considerable extent of country comprised forests. The narrative itself is what is called between the Lakes of Upper Finland and the "military;" dealing with operations as a Gulf which washes the shores of its Southern exmathematical problem, rather than as a pic-tremity. This apparent dissemination is rendered ture of actions. The problems, for the most necessary by the very nature of the country. part, are clearly worked out to the attentive Although cut up and intersected in every direc reader; the narrative is rapid; and though events are not described with the broad and vivid pencilling of a Napier, full justice is done

Narrative of the Conquest of Finland by the Russians, in the years 1808-'09. From an Unpublished Work by a Russian Officer of Rank. Edited by General Monteith, K. L. S., F. R. S., Madras Engineers. Published by Booth.

tion by lakes, marshes, rocks, and forests, the means of communication are far from rare, and may all lead to results of greater or less importance. They may serve to protect a post, to transmit supplies to it, or to expose it to danger. These roads are constructed upon a firm and solid foundation, and are a noble trophy of the industry of man. They very seldom give way, and are almost always practicable for troops;

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