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mariners but the shade of the cruel Iphigenia -so surely shall the whole fabric of Russian prestige fade out of view. A great sea-fight, a naval bombardment, even if achieving the same practical result, would produce far less moral effect than an operation on the dry land, where the enemy is parading paper armies of two millions of men.

Such is the loss to Russia when her stronghold falls; and this loss is the measure of our expected gain. To the Allies, on the other hand-to England more especially-a retreat from the walls of Sevastopol (if patriotism can contemplate the calamity) would involve consequences most disastrous to our 'fame and influence. Yet, in spite of the proverbial obstacles which impede the energetic action of armed coalitions-in spite of the insidious attempts of those who play the game of Russia-whether they be subterraneous spies, mediocre statesmen, or tipsy potentates we may venture to anticipate for the first campaign of St. Arnaud and Raglan, a result as triumphant as that which has been elsewhere achieved by the genius of Omar Pasha and the courage of his admirable soldiers. Looking to material considerations, the balance inclines in our favor. The descent on the Crimea has been prepared on a scale which, if compared with expeditions of a similar nature, must be pronounced to be without parallel in the history of modern military achievements. The numerical strength of the allied forces is fully adequate to the undertaking proposed, and there is no reason for supposing that the generals will be shackled by the want of proper means and appliances, or thwarted by the yelps and howls of domestic faction. It is improbable, we think, that the British and French commanders should have to struggle with the class of wants and hinderances which spring from the ignorance and impotence of an incompetent administration of the War Department, and which Wellington found, in his Peninsular campaign, at least as formidable a foe as the troops of his gallant enemy. And setting aside our natural military superiority-which we will assert, without fear of contradiction, to be immense-we have all the advantages conferred on us by the position we have so long occupied as the vanguard of the civilization of the world. When we state that the Russian army is not yet entirely supplied with percussion muskets, we indicate one of the points which lead us to believe that such troops as the Chasseurs de Vincennes and the Coldstream Guards are to the men of the regiments of

| Borodino and Minsk, what the sailors of the Napoléon and Agamemnon are to the "seasoldiers" of the Selaphael and the Uriel. And, looking to the events and issue of Prince Paskievitch's late campaign, it is difficult to see to what military gifts besides courage and endurance the Russian officers and privates can lay claim. The repeated obliviousness of the alphabets of strategy and tactics; the disastrous failure of an army of 50,000 bayonets, which was repulsed in repeated attacks upon a flèche; the futile attempts to imitate the more refined operations of skilled warfare, and the suicidal slaughter which followed; the reckless exposure of human life without reference to the chances of defeat or success; in all this there may be bravery and devotion, but the system is the science of ignorance. Such a system, even though the allied generals may not have inherited the mantle of Napoleon and Wellington, will hardly be imitated by the invaders of the Crimea.

We think it, then, reasonable to assume, and that without unduly depreciating the enemy, that the Frenchman and Englishman is a sounder fighting machine than the Russian, better prepared for war, and likely to be better led.

Passing to another element of the comparison, we may say that on neither side do we find commanders whose antecedents are in themselves guaranties of any particular result. There is no man living but Omar Pasha of whom it can be said with confidence that he is competent to manage an army of a hundred thousand men. There are, doubtless, great soldiers in embryo-in Russia, possibly; in England, probably; in France, certainly-but they are as yet unknown to fame. On this head, therefore, the balance is soon struck; unless, indeed, it should seem fit to that modest monarch, the Emperor Nicholas, himself to march with his hosts to the defence of the orthodox faith. Such a step might bring matters to a speedy issue. The genius of this proud sovereign, who is pleased to direct from a distant zone of his dominions the most minute details of the operations to be followed in the far southwho himself ordains the angle at which every spur and helmet in the empire shall be worn

might, if brought to bear against pagans, achieve unheard-of results. If his Imperial Majesty, flushed with the victories of the Champ de Mars, were to condescend to appear in person at the head of his forces in the Crimea, the Allied generals would be appalled by the evolutions which he would

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Rome against Tarquin the Tyrant, by the shores of the Lake Regillus. Often have England and France poured forth their blood and treasure for a paltry and a personal end; and sometimes they have been punished with well-deserved defeat. We now march to battle, not to crush the freedom of nations, not to set up or pull down some miserable royal race, not to repair the diminished dignity of a quibbling protocol; these were the meaner aims of the kings and statesmen by whose ambition we are warned. We go to punish falsehood and crime-to avenge the violation of the laws which bind the states of Europe-to fulfil our functions as the

cause to be executed. Nicholas the Great, as is known from the yearly experience of the manœuvres of Krasnoe Selo, is mighty in war. His army allows itself to be surprised, for the purpose of inflicting a severer correction on the foe; his cavalry does not pursue a beaten corps, that it may rest after its fatigues; his artillery roams about in perilous positions, that the antagonist may capture it without a blow. Against such astute devices St. Arnaud and Raglan might, we own, struggle in vain. Let us pray, then, that the Sclavonian Mars may not draw the sword in person; but, basking in the reputation he has gained for truth, for moderation, for magnanimity, content himself with tele-high police of civilization: these are the scopic scrutinies of hostile fleets, and musical thanksgivings for the favors rained by Heaven upon his hordes of Orthodoxy.

Apart, then, from the possible personal interference of the great Tartar strategist, we may be permitted to anticipate, and that without incurring the charge of presumption, a favorable issue to our first campaign. Some may say, too, that the justice of our cause is an additional guaranty of success. But theological illustrations of political transactions should be received with great caution; and the sceptical remark of Marshal Saxe, that his adversary might take Providence if he himself might only have one hundred thousand men, expresses an historic fact. The fortune of war has often run against the right between Leonidas and Kossuth, the victims of lawless aggression are neither few nor far between.

Our enemy has in some sort forestalled us, by monopolizing, for the benefit of his orthodox warriors, the soldier's text, In te, Domine, speravi; non confundar in æternum! We must needs, then, rely upon the good sword of St. Denis and St. George, who, as we pray, shall shortly leave such an imprint of their footsteps on the rocks of Sevastopol, as may be viewed by future generations with the veneration with which the ancient Romans looked on the hoofmarks of the great twin brethren who fought for

grander resolves of an age in which the power of the rulers is checked by the might of the people.

That this resolve will be at length attained come what will, cost what it may-is guaranteed by the unanimous voice with which the people of England and France call for vengeance on the marauder who has intruded upon the civilized world; by the splendid talents and fixed purpose of the Third Napoleon; by the presence in our councils of men who hate barbarism and oppression, with the noble scorn of Palmerston and Russell. How strange that a position of such unwonted grandeur should have been almost powerless to rouse a single spark of enthusiasm, to inspire one little word of eloquence to a generation of legislators brought up at the feet of Pitt and Peel. Stranger still it is that the care of drains and dungeons should still waste the energies of the man whose ardor would quickly inflame every soldier and sailor of the Triple Alliance with a double determination to conquer or die; the sound of whose dreaded name would alone shake the battlements of Cronstadt and Sevastopol. But England has this one consolation against an evil day—that she has yet as many in reserve who can enable her to realize the latest and noble boast, worthy the lips of Chatham and of Cromwell, "I care not who stands aloof."

From Tait's Magazine.

GENIUS, LITERATURE, AND DEVOTION.

JOHN FOSTER.

Or all human attributes, genius is the most truly imperial. In whatever combinations it may be found-to the illumination of what ever topic and the celebration of whatever pursuit it may be dedicated-whether it impart splendor to the humble, or absorb in its vaster glory the pride of the exalted, it is clothed in royal robes, and carries with it the evidences of that absolute authority with which it has been by Heaven invested. Imparted, rather than created, by God, it is too self-conscious to conceal itself, and too noble to make itself ridiculous by ostentation. The circumstances of life, however tragical, can never break, they can only illustrate its power. In every sphere it is its divine province to command, not to obey. Its majesty, being neither borrowed nor assumed, but self-contained, is essential, supreme, and everlast ing. If any laws exist to which it owes its homage, they are unseen, and are too subtle in their essence, and too sublime in their workings, to be confounded with those forces by which human experience and human action are ordinarily controlled-they rule in the subject rather than over it. Should genius, therefore, be encumbered by no practical responsibilities, other than those which it owes itself to the Great Spirit, it will, nevertheless, accomplish a mission more sacred than any which mere conscientiousness could enable a man to sustain, and far more glorious than any to which mere ambition would prompt a man to aspire; whilst, if its possessor should have immediate professional duties to discharge, it at once relieves the labor, and magnifies the virtue of their performance.

The most striking instance of the unlimited dominion of genius over the life and character of the man by whom it is possessed, may, perhaps, be found in the fact that it has been seen in fellowship with every form of religious opinion. Nothing is so enthralling over the imagination, the reason, the heart, the actions of a man, as the religious convictions VOL. XXXIII-NO. III.

which he entertains. The prime characteristic of his faith gives a tinge and a texture to his whole being. Nothing would so soon ruin an empire as the prevalence of a system of religion adverse to its main interests and inclinations. A theology of gloomy dread would sap the courage of any people; or, by breeding an impious and defiant recklessness, convert its courage into the ferocity of despair. A religion of soft sentimentalism મૈં unmitigated amiability (such as some mo preachers would have us believe Christianity to be) would, in time, enervate, enfeeble, and degrade a race even of heroes. A brave nation cannot live on solutions of sugar. But it is the peculiar office of genius to make a baneful dogma innocent by virtue of its own excellence, or else, by the energy of its higher revelations, utterly to explode it. Not only has it made poverty illustrious, and opulence, by comparison, contemptible; not only has it made weakness mighty, and power generous; not only has it inspired the warrior in battle, and given majesty to the repose of the victor; not only has it "soothed the savage breast" by its charms of song, and made the haunts of affliction radiant with its heavenly light, (thus sowing the elements of a noble equality among men, as members of society,) but it has triumphed over the bondage of sacred creeds, and, by relieving the conscience from terror, or the understanding from folly, has given to the world its immutable pledge of the equality of men, as the children of God. No sect has been barren of its immunities. Like an angel sent to bless mankind, it has gone from community to community, smiling an ineffable benediction on all in turn. It has proved its superiority over superstition; for what iconoclastic exploit may not be ascribed to its prowess? It has proclaimed its empire over prejudice; for what doctrine of confirmed orthodoxy has it not sometime attacked, and what heresy that synods and traditions have pronounced damnable, has it not sometime defended?

22

The cold ceremonies of a vain formalism have

It must be remembered that we speak now of genius in the combinations specified in the title of this paper. In the abstract, genius may be a hallowed thing. Its influences are essentially and universally good. It may be depraved in its applications and purposes, but in itself it is sacred, purifying, and divine. And in its lowest degradation it shows a glory that vindicates it from the dishonor of its prostitutions. It is itself so incorruptible a thing, that the judicial censures of the world fall ever on the man who, having its power, can be guilty of the double baseness of abusing it. Yet, though thus inherently holy, it would be unsafe to ascribe to it that lofty mission we have defined above, with

glowed with a strange vivacity when it has performed them, and it has made the ravings of fanaticism pregnant with supernal wisdom. The poetry of sacred symbols it has sung; and to the profoundest mysteries it has given a significance and simplicity all divine. When barbarism would have left piety a repulsive and disgusting thing, it has changed its cruelties into heroism, and its blasphemies to worship; when civilization would have trained it to a heartless and imbecile refinement, it has stirred it to a glorious zeal, and inflamed it with a magnificent enthusiasm. It has, therefore, been at once the reforming and the conserving element in the religious life of the world. It has counter-out carefully securing for it the support of a acted what would have proved injurious if unopposed, and has promptly destroyed what could exist no longer without danger. When corruption has grown shameless, and bigotry has become fierce, it has held up the one to scorn, and handed over the other to appropriate condemnation, and over both it has cast the oblivion of its glory. Faith has always cooperated with genius in these its grandest occupations, but faith of itself is publicly weak. Luther was preceded by many small martyrs; it required his stalwart genius to achieve the Reformation. Men of genius are the missionaries of progress and the prophets of brotherhood. Because every sect has had them, we may be sure that the quality which has given them distinction is a higher thing than the opinions which have brought them fellowship; and that, by its plastic and undecaying power, truth will yet be imprinted on the portals of the one universal temple. For, if genius be thus the life-power of the world, wherever it is seen it should receive admiration; and it may be seen every where. The Catholic cannot claim it exclusively for himself, neither can the Protestant. It has spoken in a louder tone than the thunders of the Vatican from the valleys of Switzerland, and has sent forth from the studio of an English poet sweeter music than the service of the cathedral. It has indulged its divine contemplations in the silence of the cloister, and chanted its praise amid the boisterous turmoil of revolution. It has given sanctity to the "dim religious light" of Rome, and wisdom to the restless speculations of Greece. It has its monuments in every ancient mythology, and will build them with every modern faith. Genius has a thousand times divided the Church to save it from death; it will once reconcile the churches, that the true life may be realized by all the world.

conscience free from guile, and a heart full of devotion, as well as an intellect well cultured and usefully active. We cannot revere as the instrument of public spiritual improvement any one of the three things we have combined together. Literature without genius is dull; without devotion it would be an embodied and elaborated hypocrisy. When the soul, originally endowed with the scarcest and the richest of all qualifications, is dedicated in adoring love to God, and to prove the integrity of its worship would contribute at once its grand intellectual energies and its profound spiritual peace as a willing service to humanity-then we have a man whose name shall be a centre of attraction to the whole community of the good; whose voice shall address the universal congregation in strains at once more mighty and more sweet than mere pulpit orators know how to employ; and whose memory shall serve as a beacon-light to the disciples of every creed through many generations. The preacher can but speak to a few people, for a short time, and on a contracted topic; the man of genius who is also a man of God, and who embodies in poetry, in philosophy, or in song, the raptures of his mind, instructs and edifies the world. The "Old Hundredth Psalm" has done more to confirm the faith and console the sorrows of the devout than all the volumes of heavy exegesis that were ever penned. And any man who shall catch a new glimpse of God, of truth, of destiny, and tell the world what he hath seen, shall cause more joy and administer more instruction than can be compassed by the diligence of a hundred pastors or the mere learning of a thousand critics. Exposition, if wisely done, is invaluable; but the world demands, at least once in a century, a new apocalypse of heavenly glory. This it is the office of genius to supply.

The spiritual function of genius being thus important, we may accept its supremacy over dogmatic conviction and sectarian partialities as a most merciful arrangement. If this mystic faculty could be enslaved by faith, (we use the word in its more secular signification,) its energies could only be devoted to the consolidation of stupendous prejudices, and the aggravation of evils already all but incurable. But when it rises to reign over prejudice, it governs not to strengthen but to subdue; when it appears amid the debris of ecclesiastical corruption, it does not merely disturb it, (which would be only to double the nuisance,) but it sweeps it away. Milton has done more for Puritanism than all its martyrs; they have made their own consistency famous, he has brought honor to the principles they attested with their blood. Protestantism is much given to rave against Rome; its condemnations often pause to give place to a reverential panegyric on the genius of Pascal. We feel that we cannot despise a society which has had so good and great a member. It is as though God would silence our scorn, by showing, even there, His radiant visage.

ing and to humanity, rendered by the labor ious Dr. Carey, the father of "Foreign Missions." Three months ago we gave our testimony of honest reverence to the memory of one of the most celebrated masters of pulpit eloquence; and now, with an admiration as unreserved, and a discrimination as conscientious, we propose to review the life and character of one of the clearest, serenest, and strongest thinkers modern times have produced. Again we say, it would be insolent folly to charge us with a sectarian purpose in undertaking this "labor of love;" our object is far higher and purer than this. We desire (no superfluous experiment even in these days) to illustrate the sublime catholicity of consecrated genius.

It may not be out of place very rapidly to summarize the chief incidents of this peculiar man's life, the facts of which are by no means too notorious. We propose to devote to this purpose one short paragraph.

John Foster was born at a small farmhouse situate in the parish of Halifax, on the 17th of September, 1770. His parents were distinguished for eccentric thoughtfulness and shrewd intelligence, and he inherited their peculiarities. "Old-fashioned," even when a child, he had, before he was twelve years of age, "a painful sense of an awkward but entire individuality." Reserved and taciturn, he found no genial companionships, and his solitude was painfully animated by strange reveries and terrible contemplations. He began early to assist his parents in weav ing; but his mind would wander from his occupation, and he frequently got into the bad books of his employer. He studied for three years under Dr. Fawcett, at Brearley Hall; from which place he removed to the Baptist College, Bristol, soon after Robert Hall had ceased to be classical tutor of that institution. Here he remained only one year, and shortly settled as minister to a small congregation at Newcastle-on-Tyne. Of his auditors, only a very few could appreciate his sermons; and he was so conscious of this, that he acquired the habit of looking down at the right-hand side of the" meeting' where they were seated. At Newcastle he remained only three months. His next en

Why do we dwell on this theme? Not to serve a sectarian purpose, assuredly, although it does so happen that the great names we have selected for criticism and eulogy both belong to the same denomination. It is a fact that the Baptists have been not less persecuted, and even more despised than any other of the many sects of evangelical Nonconformists. With this fact we have nothing more to do now than to remind those who are still superciliously bigoted enough to rejoice over it, that, at least in recent days, the Christian Church has gathered some of its brighest laurels from the soil which they have watered. To our mind it is not a little remarkable that so rich a cluster of names can be found, within so limited a period, among the annals of a body so slighted by public opinion. Andrew Fuller-for whom, it must be confessed, the highest qualities of mind cannot be claimed by the sobriety, deliberateness, extraordinary candor, clearness, and, above all, the rich, pious simplicity of his discussions, has entitled himself to be considered the father of modern evange-gagement was at Swift's Alley, Dublin, durlical theology. The severities of strict Calvinism on the one hand, and the less logical but more humane views taught by Baxter on the other, were by him ingeniously if not consistently balanced. Then, whilst partisans have over-estimated, it would be hard to respect too highly the services, both to learn

ing the continuation of which he engaged in violent democratic agitations, which exposed him to some apprehensions of chains and a dungeon. It was whilst in Ireland that he resolved on the form and character of his first literary experiments. Here also he reInounced his belief in the doctrine of eternal

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