ment. The vexatious exactions of custom-Italy, and gave Lombardy to understand that house officers and passport-people formed no we no longer looked with such abhorrence on small share of the work of our legations the Austrian rule in the north of Italy. It abroad; and ministers and secretaries of our was, doubtless, but fair dealing not to disturb different missions well know the pleasures of corresponding with the officials of the most stubborn of all bureaucracies.

the peaceful state of an ally's dominions-but was she an ally ?-there is the entire question. Has Austria played any other part, throughThe measures of severity extended to our out these negotiations and the war that countrymen in Tuscany are well known, and followed them, than that of a Russian agent? equally well understood is their source in the Where was her friendship for the Western hatred of Austria. Now, remembering all Powers, when the Russians crossed the these things, and well weighing their impor- Danube, and might have been taken in the tance, it is curious to see why our Govern- flank by an Austrian army, and thus stratement should ever have confided in Austria, getically checkmated? Where, when the and why we should have accepted the most equivocal and evasive promises as good and safe assurances of her co-operation and alliance.

Greek insurrection was hatching at Munich, at the very moment of the young Emperor's marriage with a Bavarian princess? Where, again, was her friendship-where even her From the very day and hour the Russians honesty, when from the port of Leghorncrossed the Pruth, her conduct has been false garrisoned by Austrian soldiers, and still in and treacherous. Always projecting a line of state of siege-armed followers of the Greek action to be taken under certain eventualities, revolt sailed forth to join the insurgents?— she has as constantly evaded the performance These are very troublesome facts to reconcile when these eventualities arose, by the pretext with friendship and good-will to our cause. that meanwhile new combinations had oc- We speak not of the tone maintained towards curred, and new circumstances taken place. all our legations abroad by the Ministers of Now it was a confidential communication from Austria-a tone of cold distrust, sufficient to Russia, that nothing was intended by her show that, in our hopes, our fears, and our beyond a mere "demonstration;" now it was expectations, they had neither part nor sym-simply a mode of hastening negotiations by pathy.

sense.

the assumption of a "material guarantee." It would almost appear as if misconception Later on, it was a grave complaint that the and mistake were destined to preside over Western Powers had entered the Bosphorus. every step in this unhappy struggle, and that In fact, subterfuge and deception at every we only escaped from one illusion to find ourstep marked the course of negotiations which selves in conflict with another. We by no none but a Lord Westmoreland could have means desire to raise the oft-mooted question conducted without frankly declaring them an of whether the war was necessary, or at least insult to his nation, and an outrage to common inevitable. The quarrels of nations, like those of individuals, occasionally involve matters of It is well known that our ally, France," amour propre" to an extent that retreat is never concurred in these delusions. It is even impossible without dishonor, and each party said, that the only coldness in our relations addresses himself to a combat that in secret he with her arose on this very point-the degree knows to have been evitable. That an earlier of trust to be reposed in Austria; the Em- demonstration of firmness on our part would peror Napoleon urgently insisting on the necessity of some distinct pledge of her future intentions, and a categorical assurance of what her scene of action would be.

have prevented the war, there are few now to dispute. The Russian Emperor totally miscalculated the spirit of our country, in supposing that any amount of its material interests would have blinded Englishmen when a question of personal honor was in view. He disbelieved also the possibility of a French alliance, or clung to the hope that such a union could never be lasting nor solid.

By what arguments this opinion was overruled, we are at a loss to conceive. They could scarcely have been founded in any confidence in Austrian friendship. Every despatch that reached Downing-street might have aided in dispelling such an illusion.- But were we, on our side, free of similar, or They may then have reposed on some imagin- even greater errors? Is not every estimate ary necessity to temporize with this power, we have formed of Russia a gross blunder? and possibly by the force of eventualities to We have measured her by a European standdraw her over to our side. With this view, ard, and calculated every eventuality that perhaps, too, we discouraged the employment might befall her by the gauge of European inof refugees in the Turkish army, and rejected terests. We have persuaded ourselves that the services of some of the most distinguished the same means of attack that succeed elseleaders of the Hungarian Revolution. We where must necessarily prevail against her, even condescended to hold stern language to totally forgetting that there is not a single

.

question of her polity, her trade, her finances, |gressive war upon her the most harassing and and her social condition, that is not diametri- exhausting of all undertakings. cally the reverse of our own. Let us manfully confront this question, and Newspaper writers have grown pathetic ask ourselves, what have we done, if Sebasto over the sad serfdom that is drafted into the pol should fall to-morrow? We have, doubtranks of the Czar's armies, torn from their less, inflicted a great blow on the Imperial homes and families to perish in some far away power, and destroyed the naval supremacy of land; but they have forgotten to commemo-Russia in the Black Sea. But are we the rate the burning fanaticism of these simple nearer to a Peace? Are we more likely to peasants, the holy zeal for their Church, and find the Emperor more tractable in his retheir devotion to their Emperor. They have verses, than when deeming himself all poweroverlooked the fact, that this war has been ful? Assuredly not; and still less should we popularized by every appeal to Russian nation- expect the Russian people disposed to accept, ality. To this enthusiasm we have nothing as an inevitable evidence of their inferiority, to oppose, save the splended heroism of our the fall of a fortress, of whose very wheretroops, who really know nothing of the cause abouts they are ignorant. To understand for which they combat-the Allies are fighting the conflict we are engaged in, let us bear in the Russians because the Russian guns and mind, that public opinion, at least as undersquadrons are drawn up against them. What stood in our country, has no existence in Rusdo, or by what possibility could, our soldiers sia. The word of the Czar is the first article know of Muscovite ambition, the balance of of their creed; the bulletin of his lieutenant power, and the rest of it! Now, doubtless, the an incontrovertible document. We need go bravery of such forces is a fund upon which no farther back than to the Te Deums celebrat we may draw at will! There is not an effort ed to commemorate the victory on the Alma, of human endurance, there is not an action to show us how far truth and fact are likely or an exploit of human daring and energy, to influence the public mind of that people. that cannot be accomplished by such men.- Let us not for a moment be understsood, Still let us not undervalue the sentiment that pervades our enemy, and makes him fancy himself a holy martyr in the great cause of his Church.

nor supposed, while thus enumerating the dif ficulties of our position, to be the advocates of any submissive policy. We are at war, now: the question is no longer whether the war was It would be a fatal error to imagine that we a wise or an unwise one-whether evitable or owe this war to the mere ambition of the the reverse. The point to be considered alone Czar: we owe it to the instincts, the passions, is, how best to meet our enemy. We live in and the hopes of the old Russian party-the a land of free discussion, and where each is strongest and most cohesive element of the at liberty to arraign the acts of our rulers, the nation. By them and by the priesthood has wisdom of their measures, nay, even to critithis struggle been suggested; the Emperor is cise the achievements of our gallant soldiers. but the head of a movement, too powerful Opposed to us we have a nation actuated by even for him to resist, were he so inclined. one impulse, directed by one will, neither Another mistake have we made, and by no daring to question nor inquire. With us a means an unimportant one-it is in supposing war will be always a battle-ground for rival that our blockade of the northern ports has parties: and to men whose patriotism or policy greatly damaged the commerce of Russia; the may shame them from disputing the justice of real fact being, that we have but thrown their our cause, a hundred questions will arise as to trade into new channels, and directed land- the conduct of operations, the skill, the energy, wise what formerly went seaward, to the in- and the promptitude that have guided them. conceivable benefit of Prussia, who assuredly Let us march shoulder to shoulder against is not over-zealous for our interests. Every- the enemy in the House as we could do in thing in this land of snows and serfilom is the field! Let us prove that the spirit of strange, anomalous, and unlike all the rest of that liberty, of which we boast so proudly, the world even her greatness has been ac- is no impediment to our patriotism-let us complished by reverses and defeats, and not discuss freely, but never hamper the action of by victories. Peter the Great capitulated our Government. Such a struggle as we are on the Pruth; Catherine effected the con- engaged in will, necessarily, demand great quest of the Crimea by a long series of disas- sacrifices; and there is little doubt that the ters. How was Poland subdued-the French nation will make them. The real difficulty army of 1812 annihilated-but by the steady will be, to make those smaller sacrifices of and persistent endurance of misfortune, a personal feeling and individual opinion, which power to survive the calamities that enfold make of each bystander a critic of passing both the conquerer and the conquered! This events. Petty differences of opinion, the most is the real strength of Russia; this is an cle- trivial discrepancies of judgment, are seized ment of resistance that will always make ag- upon by the Russian press as evidences of a

divided state of public opinion on the war; The difficulties of Austria-the phrase has and such a letter as Mr. Bright wrote a short become stereotyped in diplomacy-have hithtime since is calculated to cause irreparable erto exempted her from the stern demand of damage to the cause of truth. what she means to do. But can we delay the

There are but two methods in which a war question any longer? Can she hesitate about with Russia can be conducted. The invasion it when we see the lines of her policy on the of the interior, and the destruction of her Danubian provinces, where every effort is bestrongholds is one; to array against her the ing made to disparage the Turkish rule, and liberal force of European feeling, is the other. substitute the stern discipline by which she The experience of the great Napoleon should governs Lombardy? Are we still to preserve be final as to the possible success of the first silence, while the cross-fire of diplomatic notes of these. The same policy, the same resources, goes on with Berlin, suggesting the conditions the same snows and ice that overthrow the upon which a peace can be made- a peace grand army are yet in waiting for its succes- in which the great powers of the West have made no pledge to concur?

sor.

Let us not adventure upon so hopeless an en- We know that it is a fashionable doctrine, terprise. The conquest of the Crimea, the oc- and especially in diplomatic circles, that Auscupation of St. Petersburg, would be fatal tria should not be pushed to a declaration— events to countries constituted like our own; that the peculiarities of her position are such but in Russia such defeats would be as nothing. as should exempt her from a peremptory deShould we lay Sebastopol in ruins, the Czar mand of her intentions. But has not this dewould point to it as an evidence that we dared licacy been extended far enough? Has it not rebuild it. Should we date a despatch from not been pursued from the very commencethe Neva, an imperial ukase from Moscow ment of the present struggle to the very hour would proclaim that city the capital of the em- we live in? Above all, are we to persist in it pire. Heu! sirs; let us hope to weary out in the face of demonstrations the reverse of our enemy. This policy is his own. It is in the friendly to us, and conduct positively and unprotraction of the war, its terrible sacrifices, questionably injurious?

the wounds it inflicts on home-happiness and It has been said that Austria is only waitfamily affection, the injuries to the cause of ing to see to which side the balance of victory civilization-it is on these he builds his hopes inclines, to decide upon her alliance, and that of subduing us; and here, indeed, is the one the result of the siege of Sebastopol will detersolitary point in which barbarism is an over- mine her policy. Little complimentary as match for civilization. Aggressive war on this interpretation may be to her good faith, Russia must always prove unrewarding, even we do not believe it; nay, we go further, and where its success has been complete. The say, that our success in the Crimea would alwealth of the country is not of a kind to be most as certainly be the signal for her adhe assailable by forced conscription, nor are the sion to Russia. There is nothing which that material resources such as could be profitably empire dreads so much as the possibility of employed by the conqueror. Our true hope in English, or even French supremacy, on the such a struggle as we are now engaged in eastern frontiers of her own states. All her must lie in arraying against our enemy the dread of Russia is inferior to this; since it is whole force and strength of liberal opinion in not the force of armies-horse, foot, and draEurope; banding together in a holy league goons-to which she could oppose her own, the States who cherish the sentiments of lib- and wait the chances of war, that she has to erty and thoughts of civilization; evoking the fear, but the overwhelming power of those noextinct nationalities of Finland and Poland; tions of liberty that will flow over her statesand raising, if need be, the vast populations the influence of opinions which at once would of dissatisfied Germany to assert their free- strike at the root of her whole sovereignty. dom. But first of all, let us categorically de- What would become of all her possessions mand of Austria a declaration of her inten- along the Adriatic?-what of Hungary itself, tions. They are already more than doubtful, exposed to such a neighborhood? They who and even in their hesitation they are acting think that Austria must be with us know little, injuriously on our interests. To this wavering indeed, of the spirit that guides her counsels. policy is it owing that the Turkish forces un- The greater, therefore, this fear on her part, der Omar Pasha have been held inactive for the more imminently necessary is it that we weeks, and, in consequence, the Russians should press her as to her decision. It is, have been at liberty to reinforce the army in doubtless, a bold a daring step, but happily it the Crimea, without dread of an attack else- is one of which, to a certain extent, we can where. How long are we to accept of such an count the cost. Should she openly declare for alliance as this? How long are we to tamper our alliance, and guarantee that policy by with a treachery that has cost us the lives of prompt and efficient aid, the war must soon some of our best and most gallant defenders? terminate. The large army which could sud

2

7

denly act on the frontiers of Gallicia and Bes-her policy as ever dictated by a view to the
sarabia would be sufficient to close the cam- permanence of her present institutions, un-
paign. Should she incline to Russia, let there changed and unmodified. Perhaps she may
be no longer any hesitation in our policy. see that an alliance with the Western Powers
Rally round our standard-that of Liberty is the safest guarantee of this. At all events,
the scattered fragments of her dissatisfied we shall know upon what and whom we have
states. With Hungary in open revolt, Lom- to reckon. The folly of regarding a secret foe
bardy in arms, the Herzogovine supplied by as a friend will be eradicated, and we shall ad-
our coasters with means and munitions of war, dress ourselves to the wider conflict before us
she will have enough on her hands to occupy with only the more manly consciousness that
her without lending squadrons to the Czar. a more worthy task is before us than the
Without the aid of Russia in '48, Hungary emancipation of the Turk, and the integrity
had overpowered her. What will not that of the Ottoman Empire.
brave people be capable of, when aided by There will be despondency on the Stock
the sympathies of all western Europe? In the Exchange, and a fall in the funds, when the
last struggle, too, the revolutions of Hungary answer comes from Vienna. Very likely !
and Italy were not contemporaneous. Aus- There are many in England credulous enough
tria had subdued the former before the latter to pin their faith on Austria; but the spirit
broke out. A concerted movement would as of the nation, fully roused as to her great
certainly overwhelm her. From the hour that duties, and the gigantic resources then avail-
Hungary cries to Freedom, Austria is stripped able for her purpose-the whole force and
of the flower of her army. The most splendid power of liberal Europe-will soon restore
light cavalry in the world, seventeen regiments courage to the money-market; and with Eng-
of huzzars, each from twelve to fifteen land and France at the head of such a move-
hundred strong, twenty battalions of infantry, ment, the cause of civilization is assured, and
such troops as the French Zouaves, are ar- the dread of the Cossack exterminated for
rayed against her. With the French in occu- ever in Europe.
pation at Rome, and an English squadron in
the Adriatic, Italy will not present such a
struggle as in the year '48; nor will Venice
have to sustain an hour of that siege which her
gallantry supported for months long.

[It will be manifest to the reader that the
foregoing observations were written before the
Austrian treaty was laid upon the table of
Parliament. Nevertheless the views it puts
Such events as these are doubtless terrible forward are, we regret to say, by no means
to contemplate; nor can any man foresee the put out of date by the revelations of that re-
consequences. Who is to write the bounda-markable document. A treaty offensive and
ries of Europe after the first five years of defensive, which admits of the description giv-
such a struggle? Who can predicate the en to it by Kord John Russell "certainly not
destinies of humanity when such a conflict has containing anything very precise," is not
once begun? Happily, the eventuality is not worth the paper upon which it is written.
so certain. The peremptory demand upon This treaty may bind France and England to
Austria, if only accompanied by some demon- sustain Austria if she should be at war with
stration of our future policy, may exact from Russia: it in no way pledges Austria to enter
her fears what we could never hope from her into such a war.]
affection. They who know her best describe

MY FIRST HOME AND MY LAST.

Out of my first home, warm and bright

I passed to the cold world's lowering night;

From love more real than light or life,

To doubts and jealousy, fears and strife;

Ill hath it ended that well begun

Into the shadow, out of the sun.

Out of my last home, dark and cold,
I shall pass to the city whose streets are gold.
From the silence that falls upon sin and pain,
To the deathless joy of the angels' strain;
Well shall be ended that ill begun-
Out of the shadow, into the sun.

AN INVALID.

ORIGIN OF THE TERM "DUNNING."-Some falsely think it comes from the French, where donnez signifies "give me," implying a demand for something due; others from dunan (Saxon), to thunder," but the true origin of this expression owes its birth to one Joe Dun, a famous bailiff of Lincoln, so extremely active, and so dexterous at the management of his rough business, that it became a proverb, when a inan reDun him?"-that is, "Why don't you send Dan fused to pay his debts, to say, "Why don't you to arrest him?" Hence it grew into a custom, and is now as old as since the days of Henry VII.

From the Dublin University Magazine.

PERDITA.

whole family issued from its portals in a state of utmost alarm and confusion.

They sought for the child everywhere; "they sought her east, they sought her west," but she was not to be found. There was a large overshadowed pond adjoining the meadow which skirted the lane I spoke of; here the child had oft resorted with her nurse to see the cattle stand in the cool water on the hot summer afternoons; but now the pond was one solid plate of frost iron-and she was not there she was not there.

A COMPLETE and highly finished rural landscape smiling in the short-lived sunshine of a clear winter day; vast umbrageous oaks, wrinkled by storm and time, occupy the foreground, their massive and distorted arms almost touching the ground, as overpowered by their own weight and age, and looking like the spreading antlers of a herd of giant elks browsing on some primæval plain. There was an old mill with its rapid race and On the left, a wooden spire, springing from thundering reverberations from the grinding lofts, an ancient church-tower, overtops the trees; and white faced men passing in and out,-thiththere are hundreds of crows flying round it-na-er the child had loved to wander with her parents ture's black musicians-executing bass glees and and gaze at the huge and dripping, and revolving husky madrigals in hoarse acclaim, as if chal-wheel while sparkling in the sun, and mounting lenging in cawing chorus a responsive outburst and descending like the alternations of hope and from the chimes which sleep in their belfry tow- despair in the buman heart. But the wheel was still and motionless now, and paddle-axes, spoke and felly allestiffened to the ice-death, and armed with a thousand frost-daggers; and she was not there she was not there.

er.

On the right, in the centre of a green clearance, is a beautiful old parsonage, coated up to the roof with clematis, jessamine, and ivy, with deep, overlapping slate eaves, cornered with oak abutments. On the little close-shaven lawn stands many a green and flowering shrub, which like the true heart of friendship, has a blossom and a bright leaf for a wintry day.

There is the pyracanthus, or fiery thorn, with its clusters of splendid scarlet berries; and the modest laurel, cold and classical; and the graceful lauristinus, with its dark blue fruit springing from the stem which before had glowed with blossoms, purple, red, and white; and the bay, with the aroma on its leaves; and the inimitable, luxuriant, warm green of the loveliest arbutus, the type and symbol of angelic pity-for the coldest and bleakest rock that abuts on the waters of Killarney is not too bare or desolate for this rich and elegant shrub to grow from and overshadow, inserting its soft roots into the rock's hard fissures, like mercy comforting the riven heart of care; and the gentle acacia, whose branch was twisted round our Lord's head, and made the acanthine crown which bit into his august temples. The holly, too, was there, bright with green and gold, together with the lustreless yew, like Hope standing side by side with sor

row.

There was an ancient poplar tree at the end of the lane, standing in the middle of the road. It was all shattered by time and fast decaying, and had its legend, which made it to be prized, and there was a green mound round it, where travellers sat down, a kind of sylvan "rest and be thankful;" and here the child would delight to come to gather wild violets on the bank in summer; but now the place knew her not, for she was not there-she was not there.

And so, when the family had wandered despairingly through the meadows, and up the lane, rushing here and there, and calling her name distractedly amidst the ancient, deaf, unheeding oaks, they came back, and kept their mournful tryste under this old poplar, whose few leaves all wan and withering, seemed on their flexile stems to keep up a continual shaking and mysterious trembling, as if indicating to those who now stood beneath, the very palsy and decrepitude of despair.

But a faithful servant now runs up and brings tidings. She had lit upon the trail of our little Perdita, far down a road not yet explored;and just near the spot where the heavy snow shower had commenced to fall, the faithful flakes

that path the little foot-prints had turned, and were traccable up to the door, and there stopt.

On one side of the house is a garden-door surely they had been heaven's chroniclers-had swinging on easy hinges, out of which now is- preserved the foot-prints of the wanderer; and sues a little child about four years old, dressed the eager family now follow on, tracking them as for a walk. She is very beautiful; her blue till they stop at the small wicker road side gate and large eyes sparkle with purpose and good-which leads up to the old church; and along humor; her masses of silky brown hair fall off from her sweet and thoughtful face; her motions are marked with gracefulness and earnestness, as, with head erect and a grave smile upon her lips, she passed along the avenue, crossed a lov stile, and, turning abruptly down a long lane flanked with green banks, disappeared in the distance, just as a heavy but very short shower of snow had begun to fall.

Apparently the little one was not missed for a considerable time, as nothing occurred to break the still life of the wintry scene without, till suddenly the hall door was thrown open, and the

She had gone straight from her own home, without any deviation, to the church.

The church was unimaginably old, and always dark from thick, ancient yew trees which grew round it, and which were said to have been planted by an Irish king three hundred years ago;and the people loved this church, all damp and dim as it was, for many of those they loved were buried in the vaults beneath its chancel.

But our Perdita! what brought her here, and was