-but are to be decided by such arguments as- if you don't do this, we will abandon Bilboa,'-or if you do that, we shall open the passes of the Pyrenees.' Such a mode of negotiating, with a pistol at the throat of the unfortunate ally, is not only disgraceful in itself, but is in the highest degree dangerous as a precedent for this species of burglarious interference with national independence. And let us observe the success of this system, compared with the old and legitimate practices of European diplomacy. Russia is supposed to be at the present juncture not over friendly to British trade or British policy-yet Lord Durham has, we are told, concluded a commercial arrangement-advantageous we hope to Russia, but at all events satisfactory to England, at a moment when our belligerent negotiators at Madrid and Lisbon have not merely failed, but have, in the instance of Lisbon, been the attesting witnesses of unprecedented fiscal aggression on British commerce.

Nor is it only with great public calamities-a profligate waste of public money—and a neglect of public interests, that our policy is reproachable. We have become the cause or the accomplices of the most lamentable private wrongs. The Duke of Wellingtonwhose long and glorious connexion with the Peninsula naturally interests him in the details of individual suffering, which to other eyes are lost in the general misfortunes-in reference to the Peninsular policy of His Majesty's ministers, said on the first night of the session :

'He objected to it, not only on account of its expense, but still more so on account of the injury which it inflicted on the parties existing in that country. To his own certain knowledge he could say, that three parties had been ruined in Spain by the intervention of his Majesty's government at different times. Individuals had been ruined, their properties destroyed, their fortunes sacrificed, by the course which his Majesty's government had pursued. Acting under the assurances of his Majesty's government, those individuals adopted a certain line of conduct. The government was obliged finally to go forward with the movement. Those persons were in consequence abandoned, their fortunes were sacrificed, and their prospects blighted for ever.'-Times, 1st Feb., 1837.

How just was Vergniaud's description not only of the revolution in which he played a part, but of every revolution, that it was Saturn devouring his own children! Such has been the fate of those Spanish constitutionalists referred to by his grace, who, seduced by the countenance of England to support the Estatuto Real, find themselves sacrificed to the new revolution of La Granja, and are now deploring in exile and poverty their misplaced confidence in British intervention.

But the case of the Portuguese refugees is, if we are not misinformed, still more striking. When the queen submitted to the

terms

terms of her besiegers, and was about to return to her betterfurnished palace and table, the councillors and companions of her flight inquired what was to become of them? They were kindly and discreetly advised to shift for themselves, and fortunately they were able to effect their escape to the British squadron. Our readers will recollect that in a former part of this article we quoted Lord Carnarvon's grateful testimony to the talents, the moderation, and the patriotism of Count Villa Flor, and the kindness of his beautiful and amiable lady. On the Miguellite revolution they thought it prudent to leave Lisbon, and embarked in an English vessel; on the turn of the tide in favour of Pedro, they re-appeared, with the title of Duke and Duchess of Terceira, and were placed at the summit both of political and social influence. Count Palmella, so well-known and respected in England, also created a duke by Pedro, was in similar circumstances. These two men-amiable in every point except their adoption of the revolutionary principles of their English protectors-began, when they had attained undisputed power, to discover that they had enough of revolution-they had opposed the military revolt-they were parties to the Belem attempt, and were amongst those left by royal gratitude to shift for themselves. In more danger from their late friends and disciples than they had been from their Miguellite antagonists, they had again to fly their native country, and again sought refuge in the English fleet, and, we presume, exile on the English shores.

We have heard that the interesting Duchess of Terceira, as soon as she heard the royal sauve qui peut, ran instantly without change of dress or even an attendant, down to the shore, threw herself into the first boat, and thought herself happy to reach in that condition the rough but kind hospitality of English

seamen.

What has since become of her and her husband, we do not know; but the Duke of Palmella may be seen every evening still busy with kings, queens, and knaves in a rubber of whist, at the Traveller's Club.

Such have been the fruits of revolutionary intervention-so powerful to disturb, so impotent to protect-which has degraded and desolated every country to which its baneful influence has been extended, with the agonies of civil war and the chaos of anarchy-with spoliation and massacre-with the ruin of individuals the dissolution of social order-the license of the populace, and the slavery of the people.

THE

QUARTERLY REVIEW.

ART. I.-1. Germany in 1831. By John Strang, author of Tales of Humour and Romance, from the German of Hoffmann, Langbein, Lafontaine, &c.' Necropolis Glasguensis,'

&c. 2 vols. 8vo. London, 1836.

2. Sketches of Germany and the Germans; with a Glance at Poland, Hungary, and Switzerland in 1834, 1835, and 1836. By an Englishman resident in Germany. 2 vols. 8vo. London, 1836.

IN reviewing, two or three years ago, Heine's History of recent German Literature,' we took occasion to refer the ignorance of the English public regarding the subject-matter of his book, to a habit of looking to Madame de Staël as the grand authority on German belles-lettres and philosophy, in entire forgetfulness of the changes effected since she wrote. With equal justice might the ignorance of the self-same public, regarding the social and political condition of Germany, be referred to the habit of relying on Mr. Russell's Tour, which concludes with the year 1822-since which society and government have made prodigious advances, though it may well be made a question whether these advances have been towards evil or towards good. There is thus a chasm of fourteen years, in stirring and eventful times, to be filled up; and had either of the authors before us succeeded in correcting Mr. Russell's errors, supplying his deficiencies, and finishing off an accurate picture of Germany as it is, he might have reckoned confidently on soon dividing the honours of his predecessor, and eventually superseding him. But neither of them can be complimented on having succeeded to this extent; not even Mr. Strang, who, for fullness of information and general accuracy of remark, deserves to rank far before his more immediate competitor. He is evidently well skilled in the language, and thoroughly conversant with what, for the sake of distinction, may be termed the classical literature of Germany. The translations mentioned in his title-page were also the means of procuring him introductions to many of the principal living writers. But he did not stay long enough to avail himself of these advantages to the full, and many of his impressions appear to have been hastily caught up; whilst the ultra-liberal turn of his political opinions affords strong additional ground for questioning the justice of his reflections on

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subjects

subjects directly or indirectly connected with government. Moreover, Mr. Strang's book was written six years ago, and much of it relates to matters belonging more to the last century than to this. It is obvious that he has, in many places, recently re-touched his letters, as the chapters are called, though there is nothing of the epistolary style or form about them,-but the effect has been rather to destroy their authenticity as actual impressions of what he saw in 1831, than to make them a faithful representation of what was to be seen in 1836.

The other gentleman is so extremely superficial that we have frequently been led to doubt the applicability of the designation which it is his pleasure to substitute for a name. At least, we should be glad to know the precise number of months, weeks, or days which, in his opinion, constitute residence in a place for his book (excepting the chapters on Vienna) contains little beyond what an ordinary traveller might collect from valets-de-place, guidebooks, newspapers, and tables-d'hôte, with the occasional assistance of a stationary acquaintance or two. His observations on so much of manners as may be seen in passing, are good, and some of his descriptions of scenery are striking, but whenever he attempts to penetrate an inch below the surface he is wrong. His literary taste and information may be estimated from the fact that he speaks of Rotteck (a radical rhetorician of Carlsruhe) as placed, by the united suffrages of his countrymen, at the head of German cotemporary literature'—which is about as correct as to term Lord John Russell the first English poet and historian of his age. We also think it a duty to reprobate, in the strongest terms, the tone adopted by this gentleman in alluding to English travellers on the continent, for matters are coming to a fine pass indeed if every man who has acquired a smattering of foreign habits is to set up for a Horace Walpole, and exclaim, I should like my country well enough, if it were not for my countrymen.' At page 3, for example, describing the company on board the steam-boat, he says, One family of my dear wandering countrymen, evidently better acquainted with pounds, shillings, and pence than Germany, had hired a French servant in London, who persuaded them that through Hamburgh was the most convenient route to the mineral baths of Nassau.' Matthews used to personate a Londoner starting on his first expedition to Margate with Cook's Voyages in his carpet-bag, and if our dear wandering countrymen' be characterized by one thing more than another, it is the eagerness with which they cram themselves for a trip to foreign parts by a preparatory course of maps, guide-books, and itineraries. Yet in the teeth of this known peculiarity, the author risks his credit at the commencement on such a story as the above.

We

We have briefly characterized these books, to which we shall have frequent occasion to refer, by way of showing what degree of reliance is to be placed in them.

Mr. Russell did not visit Hamburgh, and only passingly alludes to it. Hamburgh, however, is undeniably one of the best starting points for a tour, and both of the travellers now under review commence with it; the Resident giving us a short, dashing sketch, -Mr. Strang a long, elaborate account, occupying a full half of his first volume. Still, though this seems a most disproportioned space to be allotted to a town, we should rather say that too little labour has been expended on Berlin, Dresden, Vienna, and Munich, than too much on this northern Venice; so rich are the author's materials, and so valuable the observations he has blended with them. The times are gone when a colony or corporation of traders, possessing only a few square miles of territory, could contend with monarchs for the prize of empire; and the glories of Hamburgh and Lubeck, Venice and Genoa, are departed never to return. But Hamburgh still retains a highly respectable position as the grand mercantile emporium of the north, sufficient, without referring to history, to justify us in noting down a few particulars relating to it.

One singular anomaly in its legislation is the facility which seems to be afforded to insolvency. I am told,' says Mr. Strang, 'that an individual in Hamburgh makes a regular business and a very comfortable livelihood from manufacturing sets of false books for unprincipled debtors.' A privilege enjoyed by the wives of traders is said to add not a little to this facility

'The law holds that, for five years after marriage, the dowry of a wife is a preferable debt to all others upon the estate; and hence, should the husband see fit to become bankrupt, before the lapse of five years subsequent to his marriage, the fortune brought by his wife, from being preferable to all other debts, forms, as it were, a new capital to recommence with. The consequence of this peculiarly favourable law towards married men is, that of all eras in a mercantile man's history, the most important to creditors is the period when the debtor is called upon to decide with himself whether he shall or shall not take advantage of this privilege by declaring himself bankrupt; and let me tell you it is a privilege of which not a few are constantly found to avail themselves. There is a shrewd suspicion entertained that the early matrons of Hamburgh have had some hand in making this law, as holding out an encouragement to matrimony!'-Strang, vol. i. pp. 104, 105.

An important part of the population consist of the English

residents and the Jews. The Jews are about six thousand in number, and, as usual, amongst the wealthiest of the inhabitants; yet they are still persecuted with a degree of rancour for which nothing but the bitter spirit of commercial jealousy can account.

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