Crambambuli, that is the liquor That fires the blood, makes tough the brains: My panacea's in the beaker, For every ill that earth contains. At morning bright, at noon, at night, Crambimbambambuli, Crambambuli ! When on the road mine host receives me, No fuming roast or boil deceives me, When queasy qualms torment me sadly, Sir Doctor, devil take your drugs! Were I the Kaiser Maximilian, I'd make, and write in bright vermilion, "Toujours fidéle et sans souci, When to my pay my purse is debtor, I drink, from sheer melancholie, A little glass Crambambuli, &c. Could our dear parents bear in mind, O! Sip comfort from Crambambuli, &c. For while the bullets whisk and jig, Ye drink no wine, ye love no lasses, Drink water like the blessed swine, Whoso at us Crambambulisten The fool may bawl himself to death: yellow of from six to eight eggs, previously whisked properly into one homogeneous mass. Then stir the whole for a minute or two, and fill it into a punch-bowl, to be drunk out of tumblers. It tastes equally well cold or hot." This from a sure hand, a German. Is not this what we call in England Hor PINT, or something not very different? THE SOLDIER'S CRAMBAMBULI. ATTRIBUTED TO MR. LOCKHART. Crambambuli, the world all over, For colic, love, or devils blue; Blow hot, blow cold, from morn till night, Crambambimbambuli! crambambuli ! Hungry and tired with bivouacking, I'll rise at song of earliest bird; Crambambimbambuli! crambambuli ! Victory's ours, off speed despatches, Huzza! for once the luck is mine! Crambambimbambuli! crambambuli! When I'm the peer of kings and kaisers, Crambambimbambuli! crambambuli ! TEE-TO-TUM; OR, THE TEMPERANCE CRAMBAMBULI. Tee-totalism, that's the nostrum BY A TEE-TOTAL BURSCH. For every ill that flesh inherits; tee-to-tum! My muse in triumph mounts the rostrum, A Balaam banning ARDENT SPIRITS. At morning bright, at noon, at night, Tee-to-tee-totalism, tee-to-tum! The blood to madness' top it urges, "Tis "double-distilled damnation" SPIRITS ! But whoso drinks the fountain, knows, By tee-to-totalism, tee-to-tum! New schemes and projects transcendental, Tee-total once, you will confess, You have one headach then the less By tee-to-totalism, tee-to-tum! Blind fools! attend the birds' blithe carol; While I, so tight in all my joints, Tee-to-tee-totalism, tee-to-tum! Ye drink till night shrinks from the dawning, As poor magnetic maidens yawn; And sing, Tee-to-talism, tee-to-tum ! I tell ye truth, I don't deceive ye, One pious priest, a Papist brave; tee-to-tum ! By tee-to-totalism, tee-to-tum ! Against the Devil the only mail sure, Is to keep out of the Devil's way; tee-to-tum! Above the Church, the revenue— THE LADIES' CRAMBAMBULI. By tee-to-totalism, tee-to-tum! Like nectar, it both fires the heart and mellows, Fie on all prudes, on all strait-laced precisians, Ye icicles, we shall be free! + See Rabelais, Book I. chap. 57. The fair contributor of these verses (who belongs to an order of females now almost extinct, and which will soon be known only in the annals of science, with the great elk and the Dodo) has given eleven instead of nine syllables in the first and third verses of each stanza; an agreeable variation, which does not disturb the music, and gives the whole air a more brisk and lively character. It belongs to the national character of the Germans to sing even comic songs slower than is agreeable to our English taste; besides that the more full vocality of the German language more naturally admits the singing of one syllable to two notes. With friends around, with many a true and dear one, With him-ye all can guess my meaning-near one, With song and jest not show, that we Crambimbambambuli, &c. Chaplets they twined at feasts of old in far lands, To cool brows flushing high with wine; Wit, poesy, and song these, these shall be our garlands, To crown our feasts with rosy twine. LETTER TO MR. TAIT FROM RICHARD COBDEN, Esq., (THE "MANCHESTER MANUFACTURER,") ON THE EASTERN QUESTION. DEAR SIR,-The British Parliament, which is | That event left him at liberty to pursue an uninabout to assemble, will, I venture to prophesy, be found concentrating its earliest attention upon the affairs of a remote and barbarous people, to the omission or postponement of those vital questions that interest the people of these realms. Turkey, Syria, and Egypt, will take precedence of import duties, currency, corn-laws, and the Scotch Church; and the question of questions with our representatives will be, the maintenance of the integrity and independence of the Ottoman Empire. terrupted course of change; but instead of applying his mind to such reforms as would essentially alter the character of his people, and prepare them for important modifications of their institutions, he amused himself with mere externals-he compelled his courtiers to dispense with the turban, and adopt the costume of Franks-to substitute English saddles for the old wooden platform of the Turks, with similar innovations; whilst all beyond the circle in which he immediately moved remainunchanged. In the meantime he gave himself up to the guidance of a succession of favourites, who, having nothing to fear from the janissaries, plundered and oppressed the people, by selling the produce of the soil to monopolists. These favourites were generally raised from the lowest ranks of life, and had no other aim but to secure a fortune during the brief period that the sun of royal favour shone upon them. The Sultan was amusing himself with the most childish pursuits, whilst the world was giving him credit for bestowing all his thoughts upon the improvement of his country. One of his propensities was the multiplying of his residences. Thirtytwo palaces and kiosks adorned the shores of the Bosphorus, and whilst I was at Constantinople, he was erecting another which gave rise to the report that the astrologers (in whom he implicitly confided) had predicted, that when he ceased to build he would die. He was passionately addicted to the bottle; and his face, when I saw him, bore the usual evidences of deep potations: yet, whilst violating in this particular, the precepts of his religion, he lent himself to the most rigid enforcement of its forms upon the people. When I was at Constantinople, the populace were actually driven to the mosques five times a-day by the police with whips, pursuant to an order just before obtained from the Sultan by the ministers of religion. Having a few years ago, partly at your sugges-ed tion,* embarked in a controversy upon the Eastern question, I became so far interested in the subject as to be induced to pay a brief visit to Turkey, Egypt, and Greece, in the Spring of 1837, for the purpose of making inquiries on the spot, as to the actual state of things in those countries; the result of which effectually opened my eyes to the amount of misrepresentation that had for years been industriously spread respecting the alleged reforms and improvements going on in the Ottoman Empire. Ten years had elapsed since the complete destruction of the janissaries, during which time the Sultan had been, according to popular belief, industriously occupied in effecting the most important ameliorations in the social and political institutions of the country; judge then of my surprise at finding the unanimous opinion of all with whom I conversed in Turkey, to be-that the condition of the mass of the people had greatly deteriorated subsequently to the fall of that turbulent but powerful militia. The Janissaries formed a kind of national guard, drawn chiefly from the ranks of the population of Constantinople; but having their ramifications also throughout the provinces. Any extreme act of oppression, on the part of a minister or subordinate functionary, was taken cognizance of by this body; which was, to a certain extent, a shield between the government and the people. Had the massacre of the janissaries been really followed by those vigorous reforms in the public administration, which were expected from Sultan Mahmoud, it might have been the tragical precursor of an improved state of things: they were the conservatives of ancient institutions in Church and State; and no essential innovations could have been attempted whilst they were allowed to retain their powerful organization. But the Sultan was wholly unequal to the task of regenerating his country. Instead of possessing the genius of a Peter, or even a Mehemet Ali, he was weak and vacillating; and the sole act of vigour which characterized his reign, that of the destruction of the janissaries, was planned and executed by Hussein Pasha, and a few daring spirits, almost without the personal intervention of the sovereign. A silly charge is made against me in a recent pamphlet by Mr. Cargill, of having been instigated to write by the Ministry of the day. During the period that intervened between the destruction of the janissaries and the death of Mahmoud, great and systematic exertions were made by a school of writers, which one might dub the philo-Turk, to impress the public mind of England and Europe with the belief that Turkey was making rapid strides in the path of reform and civilisation. They went so far, indeed, as to point to the system of "direct taxation,” and to the "municipal institutions" existing in Turkey, as models worthy of imitation for other countries. Direct and indirect taxation I found in abundance; but I sought in vain for anything resembling the local self-government which constitutes our municipalities. The Turks have no such institutions at all; but the Rayas do associate themselves in a kind of religious fraternity, without, however, having any voice in the amount of the taxes imposed, their privilege, in fiscal matters, being confined to the mode in which they raise the arbitrary imposts laid upon them:-in fact, the LETTER FROM RICHARD COBDEN, ESQ., ON THE EASTERN QUESTION. municipalities may be described by reference to an incident in Anastasius, where the Turkish collector sends for the recognised heads of a village, mentions the amount he requires, and gives them the privilege of raising the money in any way they please; then, lighting his pipe, he adds, that if it be not ready by the time he has finished his tobacco, their heads must pay the penalty. But not only have writers been at work: our diplomatists and our armaments have been employed in "maintaining the integrity of the Ottoman empire!" A powerful fleet has, for many years, been employed in the Mediterranean, under the pretence of watching over the safety of Turkey: that fleet has latterly been occupied in demolishing the fortified and unfortified places, and destroying thousands of lives on the coast of Syria, in order to rescue that province from the hands of a rebel pasha, and place it again in the power of his socalled master :—all which has been done pursuant to a treaty entered into "in the name of the most merciful God," (!) and declared to have been agreed to by four parties, "animated by the desire to watch over the maintenance of the integrity of the Ottoman empire ;" and one of the parties is Russia!! It would be useless to go back to the origin of this treaty; because, when once the hand of a foreign minister is set to such things, the country must take the consequences; but that there has been treachery and duplicity in one quarter at least, and folly, if nothing worse, in others, nobody who has been in Turkey, or who has made himself acquainted with the actual condition of the country, can for a moment doubt. The evil under which the Ottoman empire suffers is a chronic disease of the heart, which it is proposed to cure by encumbering it with bruised and mortified extremities! To hand over Syria, in a state of anarchy, to Turkey,-to bestow on her the distant possessions of the holy cities,-to bid her build up fortresses, organize the population, and retain these worthless possessions now, which she could not hold when in a more vigorous state, is like putting a load upon the shoulders of a prostrate man, in order that he may be the better able to raise himself upon his feet, and walk. When in Turkey, I heard but one opinion from intelligent men-"This people cannot regenerate themselves; occupation from without must precede regeneration." In the meantime, we are deluding ourselves with the belief that Hatti Sheriffs and commercial treaties,-measures dictated by foreigners,-will resuscitate a people, the cause of whose decay lies in the profound depths of their religion, laws, institutions, and language ;-a people whose destiny is now in no better keeping than that of a boySultan, whose education has been that of a rigid Turk and Mohammedan, and who is governed by women, eunuchs, and slaves. As during the approaching debates in Parliament upon the Eastern question, much will be said about the necessity of "maintaining the integrity of the Ottoman Empire;" it is to be hoped, that some members will be found to insist upon definite information as to the means by which this 79 end is to be obtained. The facts of the case ought to be fully before the House before any legislative sanction be given to a course of foreign policy, involving this country in incalculable expense. It is not a little odd, that we think it necessary to send forth Commissioners in England, to collect evidence, before legislating upon factories or a constabulary force; but sit down very complacently to the task of "maintaining the integrity of the Ottoman Empire," in the absence of any such information. It will be said, probably, that our ambassadors afford sufficient means of supplying the knowledge we stand in need of; but, being themselves parties to those diplomatic intrigues, in which passions and prejudices become excited, they are the very last persons to judge coolly upon the facts of the case. Although no friend to Commissions in general, let me suggest, that if we are to "maintain the integrity of the Ottoman Empire," it would be well to ascertain the nature and extent of the undertaking, and the best mode of doing it; and this would be known, by taking evidence on the spot; or, if that be too great an innovation, let the most intelligent residents in Turkey be brought home to be examined before a Committee of Inquiry; and let one of these witnesses be our highly respected and experienced Consul-general, Mr. Cartwright, who has spent a long life in the Levant. As every addition, however slight, to the stock of facts possessed by the public, upon the subject of Turkey, will be of interest at the present moment, you will probably favour me with the insertion of the accompanying short extracts from my note-book, in your February number; and although my name can add very little weight or influence to the pages of your Magazine, yet, as it will be a voucher for the authenticity of the communication, I send it; and remain, Dear sir, your obedient servant, RICHARD COBDEN. MANCHESTER, 10th January, 1841. SCHOOLS IN TURKEY. Having read much respecting the great reforms which the late Sultan Mahmoud had effected in the education of his people,* I was naturally anxious, on arriving at Constantinople, to inspect some of the new schools. A Mr. a correspondent of a London paper, and one of the new sect of Philo-Turks, who had been actively engaged in writing-up this country, kindly undertook to accompany me to see an establishment conducted upon the Lancasterian principle, situated a little distance beyond Dolmé Backshé. We were detained about half an hour in an entrance-room whilst the boys were washing and praying; which ceremony, we were told, they performed five times a-day, according to the rites of the Mohammedan faith. We were shown over the school by a gentlemanly young Turk, who had been in Paris, and spoke French fluently. The Sultan had made it his hobby for a time, and everything was accordingly arranged in a rich and fanciful manner. The curtains of the little tent-beds (a novelty in the East) were hung in the French taste; and there was a magnificent little closet, beautifully |