without any true comprehension of patriotism or glory, and in fact, nothing more than a vast and mighty machine; is it at all likely that a body so composed could contend successfully with the armies of France and England? We speak nothing of inferior bodily strength, and of certain physical peculiarities which makes a long march more than usually fatiguing to a native of Great Russia; but we merely point out the original defects of the imperial military system, and add the inconceivable demoralization which their late tremendous defeats must have engendered. Once more we look to education, we know what it has done for our Allies and ourselves, and we remember how much has been said about the gigantic efforts made by the late emperor of Russia to promote its progress among his subjects. Yet when we come to investigate the matter, we find the brandy shop and the school in conflict; and the state supporting the former, because the license yields a large revenue, and discouraging and often virtually suppressing the latter. But if small schools be discouraged, surely the case must be different when we come to speak of establishments of a more dignified character. There are universities at Kiel and Moscow, at Dorpat and St. Petersburgh. Here the munificence of the Emperor Nicholas, was displayed to the uttermost. Here were gathered together the most illustrious scholars of Europe, whom the monarch, regardless of expense, had selected to instruct his rising empire. Such is the picture Russians have delighted to place before the eyes of Europe. Now let us again appeal to our German friend : "I speak of the army of institutions in the metropolis. But go thence into the provinces, where we must seek for enlightenment— as King Louis of Bavaria did for the illuminations at Athens,— lantern in hand. Am I speaking only of tutors and governesses? You would feel still more alarmed at the ignorance and immorality in the public educational establishments. Respect for my readers prevents me from giving any detailed description of them! Look around the most celebrated institutions of Petersburgh, and you will find there, at the present moment, Lübeck shopmen, Petersburgh students, all sorts of academicians, pensioned drummers, milliners, &c., appointed as inspectors and tutors, who all have an effective ration of fifty paper rubles. The following to serve as a sample: "A'fast' shopman in a German seaport made free with his master's cash, and escaped. He came to Petersburgh. His head was empty; his pockets the same. He became man- servant to a prince. In a few years he resigned his situation and became tutor RUSSIAN UNIVERSITIES. 437 in a Russian family. Thence he went into the service of the State. He had already obtained the title of commercial councillor when he was recognised by a former school-fellow at a public examination. The latter hurried to him. “How d'ye do, my dear N————? how did you get here?' Sir, you are mistaken, my name is S- and I am an Eng 66 6 lishman.' 66 6 2 Oh, you humbug! you fancy I do not know you againdon't play the fool; but tell me, have you any appointment?' "I assure you, you are mistaken, my name is S———.' "The comrade looked at him a long while and then went away. 'Well, if you do not want to be recognised, the devil take you! "The collegiate councillor went into a wine vault,—there another school-fellow was seated. “Oh, you blackguard! how did you get here? I recognised you directly, as you came down the stairs. 66 6 Sir, you are mistaken; my name is S, and I am an Englishman.' 66 The scene of recognition terminated as in the saloon of the school. 66 After • If During this time the father of the soi-disant Englishman had failed, and was now in prison. He learned his son's residence, and that he was doing well. He wrote to him; he explained his situation, and begged for assistance. The son did not reply. Another letter. No reply. The father put an end to his existence. this the collegiate councillor's own brother came to Petersburgh. He hurried to his brother, who was alarmed and annoyed. you dare to say that you are my brother,' the Russianized man threatened him, I will take care that you are got rid of at once; but if you are silent, I will try to get you an appointment somewhere.' He did not do so. The brother was silent. He now gains his living with difficulty. The collegiate councillor improved his temporal affairs more and more, and died recently a councillor of State."-pp. 321–323. Nor have we as yet gone more than half through those gangrenes which are eating into the very core of the czar's unwieldy dominions. On one more we must for a few moments rest before dismissing the subject. Religious intolerance is hanging over the whole state like a nightmare. It may be very well for those who know no better, to talk of the uniformity of creed and ritual in Russia, but very far from this is the real state of the case. Nearly one fourth of the inhabitants of Great Russia are dissenters, subject to severe laws, and hating with a bitter but conscientious hatred, the state establishment and religion. Roman Catholicism too is secretly spreading; the Poles are almost all zealous Papists, and the means which have been taken to scatter them through the empire, has with them disseminated also their religious principles. The oppression which the Catholic religion has endured from the Russians is well known. That things will not remain in their present state may be assumed certain as a mathematical axiom, and equally so, that the Evangelical Church within Russian confines will not fare one hair's-breadth better. Luthernism, which diverges still further from the Greek Church, is a a more odious object to the Russian clergy than Catholicism. Poland's latest attempt to break her hateful fetters, has also inflamed the hatred against her religion to such a degree, that it may be doubted whether the conduct of the Russian Government will not bear comparison with the Christian persecutions in the first centuries. Rome sees herself here as in a mirror, and may gain a hint as to what the absolute lay and clerical authority, united in one representative, are able to accomplish. The importance of the Catholic Church has been undermined in various ways. Its numbers have been weakened by frequent deportations to Siberia, or to the steppes of the adjacent desolate government. These transportations have affected not only the Poles on the left bank of the Vistula, but still more the old Polish districts of Wilna, Mohilev, &c., belonging to Russia. In this deportation was included a considerable portion of the Polish nation-the Odnodworzen, or lower nobility without estates. They were stripped of their privileges of nobility; and in order to make them feel their humiliation still more deeply, a number of this class, who had enjoyed a good education, were placed as privates in Russian regiments, and on terms of equality with Russian serf-peasant lads. In the engineers' school at Petersburgh, and in other establishments, they may be found as drummers and fifers. In order utterly to extirpate this caste, they are bound, by a recent ukase, to submit to every conscription, whether ordered for the Eastern or Western provinces. Thousands of deported Catholics have also been purposely sent into districts where they are deprived of all religious support, and where the want of Catholic clergy will eventually force them to resign their creed."-pp. 86, 87. It is hardly to be expected that the followers of the Church of Rome should be satisfied with a system which puts the whole affairs of their communion under a board ruled by a Russian general. Yet such is precisely the case with regard to Romanism in the realms of Alexander II. "The Russian Ministry of Worship has the inspection of the Catholic Academy at Petersburgh. În the Catholic department of this ministry a Russian state-counsellor is head. The influence of the bishop is quite ignored by the Academy; he dares not interfere either with the instruction or the management; the Russian general possesses the sole privilege of attending to the mental and spiritual welfare of all the inhabitants of the empire. But under ROMANISM PERSECUTED. 439 the pretence that the ministry cannot act according to its good pleasure alone, a Catholic Academical Council has been established, composed of Catholic clergymen and Russian lay professors. Any book for the Catholic Church, throughout the whole empire, can only be printed at the office of the Catholic Academy. The revenues of the clergy, derived from estates, funded property, and tithes, have been taken away; the extraordinary receipts from the parishes, restricted, or entirely forbidden. The principal supporters of the Catholic faith among the monastic and secular clergy, have been banished to Siberia, others relegated to Russian monasteries. The clergy of the United Greeks have become servants of the Greek Church, and nothing is left to the Melchites but to attach themselves, body and soul, to the schismatics. Most of their monasteries have been suppressed, and in the few that remain, religious instruction is entirely forbidden. "Mohilev, a diocese once extending over nearly the whole Russian empire, has lost its bishop and its seminary. The entire Catholic clergy of Poland and Russia have consequently only one university, namely, the Petersburgh Seminary, whose pupils, having been formed after the Russian fashion, can alone perform the priestly functions. I will only tolerate Roman Catholics on condition that they recognise my primate, and give up all communication with Rome.' These were the words of the Emperor in this seminary; they require no comment."-pp. 87, 88. We have now passed in brief review the hopes and prospects of that power which two years ago "Did bestride this narrow earth Like a Colossus." We have seen that serfism and ignorance, peculation and venality, persecution and bigotry, are as yet rampant. That if there be much natural power, there is also a great difficulty in its application; and that the very light which would permeate with vital force the whole mass of the people, would at the same time overturn that directing agency by which hitherto this power has been guided. Quarterly Report of Facts and Progress. THE ROYAL VISIT TO PARIS. THE prominent event of the quarter claims primary notice in our Report-we allude to the Royal Visit to Paris. It claims precedence, though we have to sound forth the pæan of victory, for the preservation of our alliance is incalculably more important to us than even the humiliation of our foe. This alliance is no mere torrent of passionate enthusiasm, to cease its impetuosity whenever its immediate cause has subsided; it is not the transient offspring of political intrigue or sympathy in a common peril; it is, we are persuaded, a strong and steady stream flowing, Mississippi-like, from the confluence of the hopes and fears of the two chief nations of the world, and adding day by day to the strength which will soon be irresistible. It is rooted firmly in the hearts of the best and bravest on both sides of the channel, and will gradually supplant all those jealous prejudices which have so long risen up impassably and immoveably between us. And it is because we view the alliance in this light, that we consider the Royal Visit to Paris as an event of such paramount importance for it is at once its sign and seal-its sign, as shewing us that the best feelings of Frenchmen are welded to our own-its seal, as serving finally and fixedly to stamp the union with permanence. We cannot think that our anticipations will fail us, for although we are always apt to indulge in sanguine hopes that what promises well in the blossom will ripen into prosperous maturity, yet there are in the present case all the marks of endurance, a firm root, a steady growth, a vigorous health. The visit of our Queen served, like sunshine to the flower, to call forth feelings which had before existed only in the bud: it gave occasion for the exercise of those noble faculties of our allies which had before slumbered in quietness because there was no reason for their awaking. It seems to be the universal opinion among sound thinkers in both nations, that the Anglo-French alliance is something to which events have long been converging, and that, having once taken root, nothing can stay its progress. A new era seems to have dawned on our united history—an era in which England and France shall march side by side into the future, trampling down every form of oppression, and plant |