professes to see a moral connection between the fate which ultimately overtook Buonaparte himself, and the conduct which he pursued on this occasion towards the father of the faithful. The following are his words : "What does the pope mean?' said Napoleon to Eugene, in July, 1807, by the threat of excommunicating me? Does he think the world has gone back a thousand years? Does he suppose the arms will fall from the hands of my soldiers? Within two years after these remarkable words were written, the pope did excommunicate him, in return for the confiscation of his whole dominions; and in less than four years more, the arms did fall from the hands of his soldiers; and the hosts, apparently invincible, which he had collected, were dispersed and ruined by the blasts of winter: he extorted from the supreme pontiff at Fontainbleau, in 1813, by the terrors and exhaustion of a long captivity, a renunciation of the rights of the church over the Roman states; and within a year after, he himself was compelled, at Fontainbleau, to sign the abdication of all his dominions: he consigned Cardinal Pacca and several other prelates, the courageous counsellors of the bull of excommunication, to a dreary imprisonment of four years amidst the snows of the Alps; and he himself was shortly after doomed to a painful exile of six on the rock of St. Helena! There is something in these marvellous coincidences beyond the operations of chance, and which even a Protestant historian feels himself bound to mark for the observation of future ages. The world had not gone back a thousand years, but that Being existed, with whom a thousand years are as one day, and one day as a thousand years. And, without ascribing any deviation from ordinary laws to these events, or supposing that the common Father, who sees with equal eye, as Lord of all,' the varied modes of wor ship of his different creatures, had interposed in a peculiar manner in favour of any particular church, we may, without presumption, rest in the humble belief, that the laws of the moral world are of universal application; that there are limits to the oppression of virtue even in this scene of trial; and that, when a power, elevated on the ascendancy of passion and crime, has gone such a length as to outrage alike the principles of justice and the religious feelings of a whole quarter of the globe, the period is not far distant when the aroused indignation of mankind will bring about its punishment." Now upon this we must remark, that it is perfectly childish to make the words "Does he suppose the arms will fall from the hands of my soldiers?" and which were spoken with reference to the effect of a papal excommunica. tion in modern times, have their fulfilment more than three years after amidst the snows of Russia, when the French troops were benumbed with cold. was not the effect of intense frost which the French emperor meant to deny, but only of those weapons from the spiritual armoury of the Vatican, which formerly It were wielded with such tremendous power, but in his day had lost all their importance. In despite of that excommunication his soldiers still fought and traceable connection between the words conquered; nor is there any more and their presumed fulfilment, so as to justify a moral inference, than there can be imagined between the same words, and the causes which give rise to the severity of a Russian winter. But if the writer means that Buonaparte's downfall and punishment was a judgment upon him for his conduct to the pope, verily we must say that there were other events in his life which must have rendered him more obnoxious to the divine malediction ;-and that if he reflected at all in the solitude of St. Helena, it was not his treatment of the wily Italian that caused him most pain, and which, in comparison with other pungent remembrances, might well have been forgotten or disregarded; but his murder of Palm, his murder of Wright, his murder of the Duke de Engien, his murder of Touissant L'Overture, his base repudiation of his lawful wife, his profligate disregard of treaties, his unprincipled invasion of unoffending states, his determination to subordinate every consideration, human and divine, to the gratification of an all-devouring ambition-these were adequate causes of the divine displeasure, which we all can perfectly understand; but, omitting all consideration of them, to connect the overthrow and the exile of this extraordinary man, prominently, with his deposition and imprisonment of the pope, and that, by the misapplication of a metaphor, may fall in, very well, with the superstition of a monk, but is altogether unpardonable in a rational historian. The following observations upon the want of wisdom observable in the policy of revolutionary England, are very just, with the exception of the strong approval conveyed of the measure which erected Holland and Bel gium into a separate kingdom. Of that we have always doubted the policy. The materials were too heterogeneous ever to coalesce; and nothing, in our judgment, could have followed but dismemberment and alienation : "It is one of the most singular facts in the history of mankind, that the English government, after having for a hundred and fifty years contended for the attainment of this object, and at length secured it, by the restoration, under the guarantee of the European powers, of the seventeen provinces into one united dominion, should have voluntarily, within twenty years afterwards, undone the work of its own hands; aided in the partition of the Netherlands into two separate states, alike incapable of maintaining their independence, one of which necessarily fell under the dominion of her enemies; and at length actually joined her fleets to the Gallic revolutionary armies to restore Antwerp, the great stronghold prepared by Napoleon for our subjugation, to the son-in-law of France, and the sway of the tricolor flag! Such a proceeding would be unparalleled in history, if it were not equalled, perhaps exceeded, by the refusal at the same time to lend any assistance to the Grand Seignior, then reduced to the last straits by the defeat of Koniah, and consequent abandonment of him to the arms of Russia, who failed not, as the price of protection, to exact the humiliating treaty of Unkiar-Skelessi, and the exclusion of the British flag from the Dardanelles and the Black Sea. Thus, in our anxiety to restore Antwerp, the fulcrum from which our independence is to be assailed in Western Europe, to France, we have surrendered Constantinople, the bulwark of the east, the key of our eastern dominions, to Russia! The simultaneous occurrence of two such acts on the part of government, without any mark of disapprobation, save from the reflecting few in the country, proves that there are occasions in which, under the influence of faction and in the heat of political contest, a nation may not only lose its reason, but become insensible to the strongest even of all animal instincts, that of self-preservation." There is one other point upon which we are desirous of offering a very few remarks, as it is a position of our author which we feel the more anxious that he reconsider and qualify, because, in its true acceptation, it is most important; and that is, the value of an aristocratic, and the danger of a democratic government. He neglects no proper op portunity of enlarging upon the advantages of the one, and the disadvantages of the other, and is able to point to many instances, in which prudence, fortitude, foresight, have been evinced by the former; and many, in which rashness, imbecility, and narrow and the latter. The one have often lived for short-sighted views have characterised the future, at the expense of the present; the other, generally, live for the present, at the expense of the future, sibility, and scarcely any feeling of with but little sense of national responnational honour. Now all this is very true; but there is a deeper truth, of which Mr. Alison seems all unconscious-namely, that unless an aristocracy be enlightened by religious principles, it may be betrayed into errors as fatal as any into which the wildest democracy could fall; and that if a democracy be animated and actuated by sound views of religious truth, it will be preserved from much of the recklessness, by which it would inevitably be characterised, if it were without them. Was We would ask Mr. Alison, by whom were the taxes repealed in 1815 and 1816, which carried us triumphantly through the war, and would, if they had been continued, (and he well knows that either they themselves, or substitutes for them, might well have been continued, without any sensible inconvenience being felt by the nation,) have debt? Was it not by a corrupted and now nearly extinguished the national half-enlightened aristocracy? By whom was the sinking fund abolished? it not by the same? By whom was church patronage abused, and incompetency so frequently made to take the place of merit? Was it not by the same? By whom was the emancipation act opposed, during the whole of the period when it is just possible that it might have been safely and satisfactorily passed, and passed at the very time when it was most dangerous? Was it not by the same? By whom was the reform bill carried, which has already been productive of so many evils, and still bears in its womb the seeds of organic changes, the most perilous to which the British constitution has ever yet been exposed, and which, if it survive, it must be by the aid of views and principles very different from those which have been hitherto adopted? Was it not by the same? Against all these heavy charges our aristocracy have little or nothing to offer, except that they were deluded by the bubble of modern liberality, and regarded as antiquated prejudices those wise precautions of their ancestors, by which they would have been protected against such errors and such dangers. And what is the remedy? Not, assuredly, a recurrence to that aristocratic form of government, either as a consequence, or in spite of which these mistakes have been committed, but a diffusion of right religious principles throughout the bulk of the people. The aristocracy, as an aristocracy, have deliberately parted with their power, and it may not again be resumed; but much may be done to train and educate its present possessors in such a way as to prevent its abuse, and even to render its tempered exercise, conducive, still, to the national greatness and prosperity. A democracy brought fully under the action of religious teachers, by whom their minds and hearts may be beneficially influenced, would, we are persuaded, prove safer depositaries of supreme power, than an aristocracy such as that which it has superseded; and it now remains cur only hope of escape from the most fearful overthrow that ever befell a nation. We earnestly wish that Mr. Alison would lay this to heart. When he considers the immense disproportion between the population of the British empire, and the means for their moral and religious instruction, he will see the necessity, on the part of our rulers, for taking some prompt and efficient steps towards supplying so deplorable a deficiency—and a just appreciation of the church of England, in all its varied excellencies, must convince him, that it is only necessary to extend it, and to render it efficient, in order to the production of a greater amount both of moral and political good, than any one religious institute ever yet conferred upon the people by whom it was adopted. It would, iudeed, prove to be the cheap defence of the nation. Against many of the changes to which we have above referred, the religious people of England most strongly objected. O'Connell could never have swaggered after his present fashion, had their voices, or the voices of their representatives prevailed. But a spurious liberalism was then ascendant, and religious truth was set at nought upon grounds of political expediency. All this was the work of an aristocracy, who evinced, we are perfectly willing to admit, on other important occasions, much of enlightened patriotism and true wisdom; but they were occasions confined exclusively to the uses and purposes of the present world. Whenever they were called upon to look beyond it, and to contemplate man in his relation to a hereafter, their shortcomings became deplorably apparent. And it is our belief that a wellinstructed democracy-a democracy consisting predominantly of the middle classes, whose religious instruction was duly provided for might be relied upon with more confidence, for the upholding of those institutions which are essential to the promotion and the preservation of the morals of a nation, than a class more ostensibly elevated in rank, but without those sanctifying impressions which constitute the only infallible antisceptic to the contagion of radicalism and revolution. But we have already exceeded our limits, and must reluctantly leave unextracted many passages which we had marked for quotation, and which afford very favourable specimens of Mr. Alison's powers. Enough has, we trust, been exhibited, to stimulate the curiosity of our readers, and induce them to procure for themselves the volumes to which we have so frequently called their attention. He will, we are assured, forgive us, for using the freedom of literary censors, in animadverting as we have done upon such passages as we could not altogether approve of. But, upon the whole, his work is a valuable addition to the historical literature of the country; and, as his readers will find that it combines instruction with delight, so it is our fervent wish that the author may find it productive of present profit as well as lasting reputation. THE JOURNAL OF FRANÇAISE KRASINSKA.-PART III. 19th of March, 1759, Tuesday. THE Prince and Princess Lubomirska left us half an hour since, and here we are once more quite alone. They refused all entreaties to remain yester day, even though my father reminded them that Monday is an unlucky day for commencing a journey; so finding that they would not listen to reason, he took the wheels off their carriages, which, of course, reduced them to compliance with his wishes. During their stay here they loaded me with caresses, especially the Princess, who testifies the warmest interest in my welfare, and has engaged my parents to send me to Warsaw to finish my education. A lady, Mademoiselle Strumlé, (who has adopted the title of Madame,) established lately a school for young ladies, which is so excellent for forming the minds and manners, that all young persons of distinction are desirous of finishing their education there. For a lady to have spent some time with Madame Strumlé, is an equal recommendation as if you said of a young man that he had been to Paris or Luneville. The Prince Palatin recommends that I should be directly placed with her, saying that a short period in her establishment would do more towards my acquiring the manners of the court, than ten years spent elsewhere-that it is, in fact, indispensable to my having my education perfected. My mother prefers that I should go to the sisters of the Holy Sacrament, thinking that a convent is the only safe place of education for a girl when from under her mother's protection. I don't know what will be decided, but I am disquieted — agitated! I don't know how it is, but my reading no longer delights me, my work is tiresome, and I feel as if some event interesting to me ought to happen. Before this visit of the Prince and Princess I did not think so much of myself, and I was happier. I often now find myself dwelling with infinite complacency upon the thoughts of my beauty, of which my aunt spoke so much; and I can scarcely now recognize my former light-hearted, innocent self, in the self-centred creature I am lately become. Oh! that the Prince and Princess had not made this visit, or (for that is a very ill-natured and ungrateful sentence) that they had refrained from telling me so much of their thoughts respecting me! Sunday, 24th of March. Thank God! to-morrow we depart for Warsaw ! My parents are called there by pressing business, my father having succeeded to the large fortune of my uncle Blaise Krasinski, who has just died. I don't know if I am to be placed at school or not; but I suspect I am not to return here for a long time, from the circumstance that my mother has packed up all my wardrobe, and has altered for me two of her own dresses. This will be no doubt a most de lightful journey! We are to pass a few days with the Starostine at Sulgostow on our way. She has just returned to her palace from a tour. The Starost presented her to his cousins, his friends, and his neighbours, by all of whom she was favourably received. At present she writes that she is fixed at home, and the happier for being there. The Falatin Świdzinski spoke of her in such high terms, in one of his letters to my parents, that they shed tears of joy. Happy Barbara! she is destined never to be a source of any thing but joy to my parents! Warsaw, 7th of April, 1759. I can scarcely believe my senses, but surely here I am fixed at Madame Strumlé's celebrated establishment since yesterday! The counsels of the Princess my aunt have prevailed, and carried the day against the sisters of the Holy Sacrament, for which, and all his other mercies, God be praised. I had a great desire to be here, and have been very kindly received. On our way to Warsaw we rested at Sulgostow, and found the Starostine gay and happy, and the sight of us all completed her delight. She told me that the joy of receiving her parents in her own house could neither be divined nor described, that it must be felt to be comprehended. The table was spread with all the meats, pastry, and wines, that my parents prefer. Barbara remembered their tastes even to the least thing, and the Starost marvellously well seconds her in her dutiful behaviour to them. My mother happening to remark that Barbara was even more amiable since her marriage than before, he replied "Not more amiable, for she is precisely such as I received her from your hands, but she avails herself of this opportunity to testify to you the gratitude she owes you for making her the angel of goodness that she is. For those three days she has been to you only as she is every day of her life to me." In thus speaking, the Starost only expressed his feelings without the least exaggeration. He adores my sister, and she feels for him the highest respect, and honours and obeys him as a father. She acquits herself most cleverly of all her household management, of which she has a thorough knowledge, and her manner of reception and of doing the honors of her palace is perfect-replete with grace, ease, and dignity. All the people who accompanied her from Sulgostow are enchanted with their situation. My parents quitted the Starostine with great regret, and would have liked to prolong their stay at Sulgostow, but I confess I was not very sorry when letters arrived obliging them to take an immediate departure. It was a sort of happy instinct which led me ardently to desire coming here. I learn with ease, and feel that I shall make rapid progress towards perfection. My education will soon be completed, and I shall take pains to become a superior woman. This is the great desire of my heart, but to attain it I shall require to study much, and to use great perseverance-a quality I am not much blessed with, I fear. I must, first of all, collect my thoughts, and not suffer them to wander as they have been wont to do. Yesterday my mo ther came to seek me and brought me to a chapel where I confessed and received the sacrament with a view to obtaining the blessing of God upon the manner of life I am entering, and that I may be enabled to make a good use of the learning I shall acquire. When I am here long enough to become acquainted with the ways of my new residence, I shall resume my journal with great regularity, but at present I can find no time for any other occupation than the duties and tasks imposed on me by my gover nesses. 12th of April. Wednesday. I am now au courant of this mansion and its habits. Madame Strumlé pleases me exceedingly, as she has very good manners, and is distinguished in her good nature to me. I miss our court with its magnificence, its ease, and its noise; but there is a time for all things, and here we have many pleasures too, while the quiet and regularity is a necessary evil, since it forwards the end for which we are all here. What strikes me as most singular is, that in the whole establishment there is not a man of any sort, not even a little boy! No heidukes!-no chamberlains!___ women do all, even to attending at table! There are fifteen of us, all young, and all of families of the first distinction. A sister of the Starost's, Miss Marianne, (now married to the Castellan of Polaniec,) is much spoken of as a charming young person. She passed two years here, and has left an impression on all minds greatly in her favour. Madame Strumlé is passionately fond of her, and says she never had a pupil more amiable, accomplished, or persevering. My parents, after a careful examination of the routine of business here, have declared themselves perfectly satisfied with it as a residence for me; and with reason,for in no convent could the pupils be more carefuly kept from all contact with evil than here." Madame keeps herself the key of all the entrance doors, therefore no one can either enter or leave without her knowledge; and if it were not for the attendance of four or five masters to instruct in music and languages, (all as old as Methuselahs,) we would run some risk of forgetting what sort of creature a man is. We are expressly forbidden to receive the visits of our cousins within the house. Our dancing-master begged that the Messrs. Patocka might learn countrydances with their sisters and me; but Madame rejected the proposition very decidedly, saying "These gentlemen are not the brothers of all my pupils, therefore I deem it my duty to deny them an entrance into my house." I have a master for French and German, and am also learning drawing, music, and embroidery. I learn music on a very fine piano forte, which has five and a half octaves, a very different instrument from that on which I practised at Maleszow. Some of the pupils play Polonaises pretty well, but we |