But, whether or not we may be disposed to assign to it a character of so much authority as M. Bourgoing attributes to that document, we cannot but regard it as a curious illustration of the kind of memoirs that Russian diplomatists, "les plus habils et les plus instruits," present to the emperor, and that the Russian government tacitly consents" to have transmitted to a German capital to be printed "sur-le-champ." after all. the Emperor of Russia is but a man-occasionally peep out somewhat thinly clothed, but one man in an empire containing above sixty though they are generally well wrapped up, millions of people. He is the greatest, no doubt, we should infer that the "ancien ministre de the most powerful, perhaps the ablest and wisest France en Russie" does not consider his connec-the presiding and the guiding mind, with author- tion with the court of St. Petersburg as finally ity apparently absolute-but they little know the terminated; and we do not doubt that he has good details of an autocratic government, who suppose warrant for all he says of the history of this methat he is uninfluenced by the will of the nation, moir. or has power to follow out his own intentions. He must see with other men's eyes, he must hear with other men's ears, he must speak with the tongues of other men. How much of what is said and done in his name, in his vast empire, and in every foreign country, is it possible that he can ever know? How much of his general policy must, from time to time, be directed by events prepared or consummated in furtherance of their own views, by his servants, and without his knowledge! How often must he be guided by the form in which facts are placed before him, and by the views of those who furnish them! It is important, therefore, to inquire what are the feelings and opinions, not of the emperor only, but of his servants and guides-of the men who pioneer for him, and prepare the roads on which per force he must travel. 66 The Russian memoir commences with the following general proposition In order to understand what constitutes the great crisis into which Europe is about to enter, it is necessary to state that for a long time there have existed in Europe only two real powers: Revolution and Russia. These two powers have now come face to face, and to-morrow they may be at blows. Between them there can be no treaty-no communion. the issue of the contest between them-the greatest struggle which the world has seen-will depend for ages the future politics and religion of humanity. Russia is, beyond all others, a Christian empire. The Russians are Christian, not merely as orthodox in their belief, but by something still deeper than creeds. They are so by the giving up of self-by self-sacrifice-which is at the very foundation of All of true national life which remains in Bohemia, consists of those Hussite opinions, that everliving protest of her oppressed Sclave nationality against the usurpation of the Church of Rome, as well as against the domination of Germany. That is the link which unites her to past strife and glory. and that may be the means hereafter of uniting the Tcheque of Bohemia to his Oriental brethren. Shortly after the French revolution of Febru-The life of the one is the death of the other. Upon ary, 1848, a Russian diplomatic memoir was handed about with an air of mystery in certain circles in Paris. M. de Bourgoing, formerly French minister at St. Petersburg, and author of a recent work, entitled, Les guerres d'idiome et de nationalité, has published a commentary upon the Russian memoir, which he tells us was prepared by their nature. one of the ablest and best-informed employés in Fortunately, there is upon their throne a soverthe Russian Chancellerie, after the events of Feb-eign in whom the Russian mind is embodied; and, ruary. He further informs us that it was pre- in the present state of the world, the Russian mind sented to the Emperor of Russia, and with the is the only one far enough from the revolutionary tacit consent of the Russian government, was sent centre, to be able to form a sound opinion upon to be printed in a German capital, (the impreswhat takes place there. sion being limited to twelve copies,) under the title of "Politique et moyens d'action de la Russie impartialement apprécié." The object of M. Bourgoing's commentary, as well as of his previous publication, appears to be to remove exaggerated apprehensions of the aggressive power and tendencies of Russia, and the fears of a general war in Europe, which her anticipated intervention in Aus- just these sympathetic reminiscences of the EastWe cannot enough insist upon this point, for it tria, and the occupation in force of Wallachia and ern Church-these returns to the old faith, of which Moldavia by her troops, had excited in France. Hussism was in its time only an imperfect and disHis fundamental position appears to be, that the figured expression-which make a profound differwars of 1848 and 1849 are essentially wars of lan-ence between Poland and Bohemia; between Boguage and race; that France has therefore noth-hemia which bears, only because she cannot help ing to fear from them; and that Russia has neither it, the yoke of the West, and Poland, factiously a sufficient disposable force, nor the slightest de- Romanist, seat of western fanaticism, and always sire to interfere, in a manner injurious to France, in the affairs of Western Europe. With this view he combats, with a gentle opposition, the reasoning of the Russian memoir, which he represents une déclaration où l'on est autorisé à voir une espèce de manifeste envoyé sans éclat par la Russie à ce qu'elle intitule la révolution." From the tendencies of M. Bourgoing's writings, which as 66 is traitor to her own family. We add a few more extracts : It is What will Bohemia do with the peoples who surround her, Moravians, Slovacks, that is to say, with seven or eight millions of men of the same worth while to notice the steady favor which Rusrace and language with herself? sia-the Russian name, glory, and destiny-always find among the national leaders at Prague. Further on, we find the following observations see, rising like a holy ark, this empire stronger than upon Hungary ever, who then can doubt its mission? And shall we, its children, show ourselves doubtful or cow This enemy is Hungary-I mean Magyar Hun-ardly? gary. Of all the enemies of Russia it is this one which hates her with the most furious hatred. The Magyar people, in whom the revolutionary fervor associates itself, by the strangest combination, with the brutality of an Asiatic horde-and of whom we may say, as truly as of the Turks, that they only encamp in Europe-exists surrounded by Sclave nations who are equally hateful to it. Personal enemies of this race, it finds itself, after ages of agitation and turbulence, still imprisoned in the midst of them. All the nations which surround it, Serbes, Croats, Slovacks, Transylvanians, even to the Little Russians of the Carpathians, are the links of a chain which it wrongly believes forever broken. And yet it feels above it a hand which, when it pleases, can reunite those links, and draw together the chain at pleasure. This is what causes its instinctive hatred of Russia. Such then, it appears, are the sentiments of some of the most enlightened of the Russian diplomatists-such are the opinions and views presented to the emperor by the men on whose reports and statements his foreign policy must of necessity be chiefly founded-such, above all, are the feelings and aspirations, the enmities and the means of action, which the nation fosters and on which it relies. It has been said that, in attacking the Hungarians, Russia is but fighting her own battle against the Poles, who are said to compose a large proportion of the Hungarian army; and those who desire to throw discredit on the Hungarian movement have nicknamed it a Polo-Majjar revolution. They On the other side, believing in foreign journalism, must have been ignorant or regardless of the facts. the actual party leaders have seriously persuaded Whatever the Austrian journals or proclamations themselves, that the Magyars have a great mission may assert, Russia must know full well that in to fulfil in orthodox Europe-in one word, that it the Hungarian army there are not more than five belongs to them to hold in check the destiny of thousand Poles, and only two Polish general Russia. officers, Dembinsk and Bem. If these are the mutual sentiments of Russians and Majjars, we may form some idea of the kind of warfare that is about to be waged in Hungary. It is curious to observe the confidence with which the Russian diplomatist assumes that the influence of his master over all the Sclavonic tribes of Hungary is completely established, and points to the Emperor of Russia, not to their sovereign, as the hand that is to clench the chain by which the Majjars are enclosed. When it is remembered that this memoir was circulated at Paris before any differences had arisen between Austria and Hungary-that the first movement hostile to the Majjars was made by Sclavonic tribes of the Greek Church, headed by the patriarch-that Austria long hesitated before she resolved to break faith and peace with Hungary—that her own resources were inadequate to the enterprise she undertook-that her own interest appeared to forbid her undertaking it one is forced to ponder and reflect on the means and influences by which she may have been led into so fatal an error. We cannot refrain from giving one other extract from the Russian memoir, which is too pungent to be omitted: Into what horrible confusion the nations of the West would fall, in their revolutionary struggles, if the legitimate sovereign, the orthodox Emperor of the East, should long delay to appear among them! The West is going!--it shakes; the whole of it buries itself in a general conflagration. THE EUROPE OF CHARLEMAGNE as well as the Europe of the treaties of 1815; THE PAPACY OF ROME, and all the kingdoms of the West; Catholicism and Protestantism; faith long lost, and reason reduced to absurdity; order hereafter impossible, liberty hereafter impossible; and upon all this ruin heaped up by her, civilization destroying herself by her own hands! And when, above the unbounded shipwreck, we That the Poles may think they see in a war between Russia and Hungary a favorable opportunity to revolt, is not improbable, and that, if the Poles should rise, they will find sympathy and support in the nation that Russia is attacking, must be inevitable. In the mean time, the Hungarians are preparing for the unequal contest. They have a well. equipped army of 160,000 men in the field, and a levy of 200,000 more has been ordered. Such is the national enthusiasm, that this whole number may probably be raised. This feeling is not confined to the Majjars, but extends to the Sclavonic population also. The following extracts from a letter received on the 14th May, by one of his correspondents, from an intelligent English merchant who has just returned from a visit to the Sclavonic districts of northern Hungary, on his commercial affairs, gives the latest authentic intelligence we have seen of the state of things in the Slovack counties, the only part of the country which the writer visited I am just returned from Hungary. I was exceedingly surprised to see so much enthusiasm. My candid opinion is that, even if the Russians join against them, the Hungarians will be victorious. They are certainly short of arms; if they could procure one or two hundred thousand muskets, the affair would be closed immediately. In the mountains the cultivation of the land proceeds as usual, although the whole neighborhood was full of contending troops. As I came out of Hungary, the advanced guards were only two German miles apart. However, I found no inconvenience; the roads were quite safe; and if it were not for the guerillas, whom one expects every minute to issue from the woods, the thing would go on, for a stranger, comfortably enough. The new paper money (Kossuth's) is taken everywhere, not only for the common necessaries of life, but also for large business transactions-the idea being that there is about equal security for Hungarian as for the Austrian bank-notes. It must be confessed, that in circumstances calculated to try her prudence, Russia has acted with singular composure and wisdom. She abstained from interfering in the affairs of western Europe while the tide of republican frenzy was in flood. She contented herself with carefully and diligently increasing and organizing her army-then, probably, in a more inefficient state than at any time during the last thirty years-and gradually concentrated her disposable troops on her western frontier, where magazines have been prepared for it. While continental Europe was convulsed by revolutions, she made no aggression-the occupation of Wallachia and Moldavia was her only move in advance. She avoided giving umbrage to the people, to the sovereigns, or to the successive governments, that were formed, and established a right to demand confidence in her moderation and forbearance. She came to the aid of Austria at first with a small force in a distant province, just sufficient to show that the Austrian government had her support, and not enough to excite the jealousy of Germany. Now that her military preparations are completed, she comes to protect Austria, not until she is called, and at a time when the most formidable dangers she has to encounter are such as the friends of order, triumphant in the west, and we trust dominant everywhere, would be the last to evoke. Yet it is impossible to deny that the successful execution of her present project would be a great revolution that it would more seriously derange the relative positions of nations, and the balance of power, than any or all of those revolutions which the two last eventful years have witnessed. The adjustment of the differences between Austria and Hungary would avert this danger-would remove all hazard of throwing the power of Hungary into the scale with the enemies of monarchy would reestablish the Austrian empire upon the only basis on which, as it appears to us, it is possible to reconstruct it as an independent empire; and would be "a heavy blow and great discouragement" to the anarchists, whose element is strife, whose native atmosphere is the whirlwind of evil passions. But if this may not be-if Austria uses the power of Russia to enforce injustice, and, with that view, is prepared to sacrifice her own independencewe should refuse to identify the cause of monarchy and order-the cause of constitutional liberty, morality, and public faith-with the dishonest conduct of Austria, or the national antipathies and dangerous aspirations of Russia. MY VOCATION. FROM THE FRENCH OF BERANGER. THROWN upon this earthly ball, Trampled under foot by all, Conscious of my nothingness; From my lips a plaintive cry Sadly mounts to heaven's King, Of the rich, the proud, the great; Everywhere they leave their sting; Yet the whisper comes from high, "Thy vocation be-to sing." Life's uncertain path I tread, Sore perplexed, in doubt, in fear; Would I earn my daily bread, Slavery's fetters I must wear. Though oppressed by poverty, Fain I'd soar on freedom's wing, Love vouchsafed his healing ray, While my footsteps linger here; E. A. B. Fraser's Magazine. Yet not unreal the burden ye have pressed, SOWING AND REAPING.-ENGLISH BROTHERS. SOWING AND REAPING. SOMETIMES the heart grows weary with the load Of others, God's appointed cups for love; And then the Small Voice saith," Sow on in faith! Shall reap. Has thou not garnered many fruits Of others' sowing, whom thou knewest not? Canst tell how many struggles, sufferings, tears, All unrecorded, unremembered all, Have gone to build up what thou hast of good? Canst tell how many died, that thou shouldst pray? All unrecorded, unremembered... Nay, Not unrecorded all, even though forgotten; Not unrecorded He who died for thee. The seed thou sowest, is it thine to say, I will or will not sow it,' as it falls Ripe with all blessing from that fruitful cross, That tree of life, rich with His blood? "Up, man! -DEATH OF MISS EDGEWORTH. Only not to sordid gain Be the angrier strife perverted; Greedy getting parts again Every bond that peace asserted. Oh, for chivalry in love! Oh, for hearts that care for others! Oh, for harmony to prove England's sons are English brothers! 115 DEATH OF MISS EDGEWORTH.-Maria Edgeworth, the celebrated Irish novelist and the author of those delightful juvenile tales, which have made her name a household word wherever the English language is spoken, died on the 21st of May at Edgeworth Town, in the county of Longford, Ireland. She was in her 83d year, and expired after only a few hours' illness. The following notice of this remarkable woman is from the London Morning Chronicle: But "The death of one who has done such solid service as Miss Edgeworth rendered to the cause of education and social morality, cannot be recorded without a passing word of retrospective praise. Miss Edgeworth had long since ceased to take an active part in life, or in that world of literature of which she was once so bright an ornament. she has taken her rank, and will keep it so long as youth have to be instructed in the elements of social morality. As a woman of singular intellectual acquirements she takes her place by the side of some of the most distinguished of her sex who have adorned the present era. "Her novels and miscellaneous works, more especially her descriptions of Irish life-which are in the main as true now as they were some twenty or thirty years ago-will always retain for her a high place in the literature of her country. But the works in which she especially shone, and for which she will hereafter be remembered, were those de Up, worthless one! up in God's strength! go forth! down to the capacity of children, in which the childish mind is made first to comprehend its part in the great drama of social life. Who that has read in early life her Harry and Lucy,' Early Lessons,' 'Frank,' 'Harrington,' and 'Ormond,' has forgotten the fine moral lessons these conveyed in such simple incidents and homely language and thoughts? But Miss Edgeworth's literary talent was not confined to this class of works. A mere list of her different writings shows her versatility, and is enough to show that Miss Edgeworth was a worker'-that she fairly performed her share of the duty allotted to us-the more honorable in her because it was for the most part spontaneous service. "Miss Edgeworth was the daughter of Mr. Richard Lovell Edgeworth, of Edgeworth Town. Her life presents no incidents. It was divided between literary composition and the performance of local duties. She was a woman of a very superior order-beloved by all who approached her, and respected for her talents and accomplishments, by some of the first men of the age. Although what is commonly termed a 'blue,' she had none of the characteristics which have attached to learned ladies' the reproach of too much learning. She was most unaffected and agreeable in private intercourse, and, as in her books, never obtruded her knowledge and her opinions." Wednesday. never make me the mother of a son, for if I s JOURNALL, I have nobodie now but you, to see Mr. Milton strike him, I should learn to hate whome to tell my little griefs; indeede, before I | yo father.— married, I know not that I had anie; and even now, they are very small, onlie they are soe new, that sometimes my heart is like to burst. -I know not whether 't is safe to put them alle on paper, onlie it relieves for y° time, and it kills time, and perhaps a little while hence I may looke back and see how small they were, and how they mighte have beene shunned, or better borne. 'Tis worth y triall. Learning there was like to be companie at Doctor Davies', I was avised to put on my brave greene satin gown; and my husband sayd it became me well, and that I onlie needed some primroses and cowslips in my lap, to look like May;—and somewhat he added about mine eyes' "clear shining after rain," which avised me he had perceived I had beene crying in the morning, which I had hoped he had not. Soone -Yesterday morn, for very wearinesse, I looked Arriving at y Doctor's house, we were shewn alle over my linen and Mr. Milton's, to see could into an emptie chamber at least, emptie of comI finde anie thing to mend; but there was not a panie, but full of everything else; for there were stitch amiss. I woulde have played on ye spin- books, and globes, and stringed and wind instrunette, but was afrayd he should hear my indiffer-ments, and stuffed birds and beasts, and things I ent musick. Then, as a last resource, I tooke a know not soe much as y names of, besides an book-Paul Perrin's Historie of y° Waldenses; easel with a painting by Mrs. Mildred on it, and was, I believe, dozing a little, when I was which she meant to be seene, or she woulde have aware of a continuall whispering and crying. I put it away. Subject, "Brutus' Judgment:" thought 't was some child in y street; and, hav- which I thought a strange, unfeeling one for a ing some comfits in my pocket, I stept softlie out woman; and did not wish to be her son. to y house-door and lookt forth, but no child could she came in, drest with studdied and puritanicall I see. Coming back, y door of my husband's plainnesse; in brown taffeta, guarded with black studdy being ajar, I was avised to look in; and velvet, which became her well enough, but was saw him with awfulle brow, raising his hand in scarce suited for y season. She had much to say y very act to strike y youngest Phillips. I could about limning, in which my husband could follow never endure to see a child struck, soe hastilie her better than I; and then they went to y° globes, cryed out "Oh, don't!"—whereon he rose, and, and Copernicus, and Galileo Galilei, whom she as if not seeing me, gently closed y door, and, called a martyr, but I do not. For, is a martyr before I reached my chamber, I hearde soe loud one who is unwillinglie imprisoned, or who fora crying that I began to cry too. Soon, alle was mally recants? even tho' he affecteth afterwards quiet; and my husband, coming in, stept gently to say 't was but a form, and cries " eppure, si up to me, and putting his arm about my neck, muove ?" The earlier Christians might have sayd, "My dearest life, never agayn, I beseech sayd 't was but a form to burn a handfull of inyou, interfere between me and the boys; 't is as cense before Jove's statue; Pliny woulde have let unseemlie as tho' I shoulde interfere between you them goe. and your maids-when you have any-and will weaken my hands, dear Moll, more than you have anie suspicion of." Afterwards, when y Doctor came in and engaged my husband in discourse, Mistress Mildred devoted herselfe to me, and askt what progresse I I replied, kissing that same offending member had made with Bernardo Tasso. I tolde her, none as I spoke," Poor Jack would have beene glad, at alle, for I was equallie faultie at Italiques and just now, if I had weakened them.”—“ But that Italian, and onlie knew his best work thro' Mr. is not the question," he returned, "for we should Fairfax's translation; whereat she fell laughing, alle be glad to escape necessary punishment; and sayd she begged my forgivenesse, but I was whereas, it is the power, not the penalty of our confounding y father with y" sonne; then laught bad habits, that we shoulde seek to be delivered agayn, but pretended 't was not at me but at a from."-"There may," I sayd, "be necessary, lady I minded her of, who never coulde remember but need not be corporal punishment." "That to distinguish betwixt Lionardo da Vinci and Lois as may be," returned he," and hath alreadie renzo dei Medici. That last name brought up y* been settled by an authoritie to which I submit, recollection of my morning's debate with my husand partly think you will not dispute, and that is, band, which made me feel sad; and then, Mrs. the word of God. Pain of body is in realitie, or Mildred, seeminge anxious to make me forget her ought to be, sooner over and more safelie borne unmannerliness, commenced "Can you paint?”than pain of an ingenuous mind; and, as to ye" Can you sing?". "Can you play the lute?"shame-why, as Lorenzo de' Medici sayd to Soc- and, at the last, "What can you do?" I mighte cini, 'The shame is in the offence rather than in have sayd I coulde comb out my curls smoother the punishment.' than she coulde hers, but did not. Other guests I replied, Our Robin had never beene beaten came in, and talked so much agaynst prelacy and for his studdies;" to which he sayd with a smile, y right divine of kings, that I woulde fain we had that even I must admit Robin to be noe great remained at astronomie and poetry. For supper scholar. And so in good humor left me; but I there was little meat, and noe strong drinks, onlie was in no good humor, and hoped heaven might a thinnish foreign wine, with cakes, candies, 66 |