adopt all the precautions that are now used to insure victory, they must lose their fanaticism, the inseparable companion of their ignorance: if they prefer the spirit of the soldier to the improvement of the art, how great must be the disproportion between an ill-disciplined ill-provided army and the legions which have decided the battles and swayed the fate of modern Europe!"

Sultan Mahmoud may be said to have formed the regular army of the Turkish Empire, and its strides towards efficient discipline have been immense; but it has lost little of its fanaticism and enthusiastic spirit, and for this very reason, far more than for its discipline (in which it is still vastly inferior to its enemies), it has beaten step by step the most vaunted of those armies "which have decided the battles and swayed the fate of modern Europe "-the legions of the Czar, which even Napoleon thought capable of over-running the world.

In 1829 the Catholic Emancipation Bill passed: Lord John voting in its favour. The Tories were disgusted with the measure, and withdrew their confidence from Wellington and Peel. Next year William IV. came to the throne, and a new general election took place. The Ministers were beaten on the Civil list question, and resigned. The Revolution took place in Paris, which placed Louis Philippe on the French throne; and its influence spread to England. "Reform and liberty" became the popular cry; the Tories were hooted; Earl Grey, the great leader of the Whigs, was called to office; and the country was forthwith to be set to-rights.

Lord John Russell was made Paymaster of the Forces in the new Ministry; but without a seat in the Cabinet. This was scarcely a grateful return for his hard and valuable services; but, truth to say, gratitude has never been a distinguishing Whig characteristic. To shew the estimation in which he was held, however, he was employed to introduce the Reform Bill into the House of Commons-which task he performed on the first of March, 1831. How the Bill passed, to the delight of the populace, the annoyance of country gentlemen, the indignation of the peers (threatened with being "swamped" by a new batch created from the highways and byways), the secret satisfaction of the King, and the overwhelming popularity of the Ministry, is a matter of recollection to many of us, and of well-known history to the rest.

The next great question, after the meeting of the reformed Parliament, was that of the Irish Church-establishment. Lord John wished to divert some of its revenues to secular purposes. Lord Stanley and others were violently opposed to such a measure: a split took place in the Cabinet: "Johnny had upset the coach," as Lord Stanley phrased it: the people began to distrust the Ministry: so did the King, and he turned them out. Peel came into power: a new Parliament was summoned, and Lord John became the leader of the opposition in the House of Commons.

The new Government were in a minority, and resigned. Lord Melbourne became Prime Minister and Lord John Russell Home Secretary. And now began his difficulties. It has been the subject of constant reproach against him that he has always done too little-less than he has promised.

We do not belong to Lord John Russell's party, but we wish to do him justice. It should be borne in mind then that he has never had much power, however the semblance may be the other way. The Whigs are a very small party; the Radicals are not a very large one, and are greatly sub-divided. Both call themselves Reformers, and as such look to Lord John Russell to lead them. But these Whigs and these Radicals, with their many sub-divisions, differ vastly among themselves. If Lord John goes too far in Reform, he is checked by the Whigs; if he does not go far enough, he is abused by the Radicals; if he steers a medium course, he is reproached for want of energy. How is he to satisfy all? True, he may pursue his own course-for he is a genuine Whig, and as much opposed to Democracy as the highest of Tories-but where would be his party then? Could a purely Whig Government retain power for a week without Radical aid? And supposing the Whigs turned out, could a Radical Ministry get a single majority? Undoubtedly, the only large, united, and compact party is the Conservative one. The rest are strong only when they coalesce, and act together; and we doubt whether any more skilful generalissimo of their combined forces could be found than Lord John Russell.

How Sir Robert Peel again came into power in 1841, and resigned in 1846, is too well remembered to be discussed here. And now, for the first time, the subject of our notice was Prime Minister of England, resigning office in 1852, when beaten on a motion regarding the Militia, introduced by his ex-colleague Lord Palmerston, with whom he had unwisely quarrelled.

In this same year Lord John Russell again appeared before the world as an author, or rather an editor, publishing the first two volumes of the Life, Letters, and Diary of Thomas Moore. Interesting as the book is, from its subject and materials, it will not add to the editor's fame; for his work has been loosely and carelessly performed, as might be expected from a man of his important avocations in the political world.

Last year his lordship edited the Memorials and Correspondence of Charles James Fox, a work commenced, but left unfinished, by the late Lord Holland. It was a labour of love to perform such a task, both from the friendship he bore to Lord Holland and the admiration he felt for Fox; but in a literary point of view the task was a light one, and while the

work is one of the greatest interest to every Englishman, it is not one that can be fairly criticised as Lord John Russell's.

We have thus sketched, briefly, the outline of Lord John's career as author and politician, down to the present time. We have purposely said as little as possible of him in his more important capacity, because it is beside our purpose. As an author we think he is not properly appreciated, and his works deserve more attention than they have received: as a dramatist we repeat that his production entitles him to an honourable place: as a biographer he is both careful and lucid: as an historian, without much pretension, he is accurate and candid: while as a Constitutional Essayist it would be difficult to instance many English names that we should feel inclined to set above his own.-De Lolme, be it remembered, was a Frenchman.

The talents of Lord John Russell have been variously estimated, according to the prejudice or party of the writers. Everyone has perhaps, at some period, believed him capable of great things; though few have been wholly satisfied with the attempts he has made to accomplish anything. Often giving utterance to sentiments which do him honour as a statesman, and declaring his sympathies to be all in favour of a bold and popular policy, he seems to falter when put to the test, and no longer to have faith in his own declared convictions; and, from a zealous friend of liberty, as he was at first believed to be, he has declined into a wary politician-not unmindful even, when out of office, that if he succeeds in overturning a Ministry it is not the People who will have to appoint its

successors.

The words used by Clarendon in describing his ancestor Lord Francis Russell, Earl of Bedford, who flourished in the reign of Charles I., may, perhaps, not inappropriately be applied to Lord John:

"He was there (in the House of Peers) the great contriver, and principal agent of those who were for asserting the liberty of the subject; but a wise man and of too great and plentiful a fortune to wish a subversion of the Government: and it quickly appeared that he only intended to make himself and friends great at Court, not at all to lessen the Court itself."

There is, nevertheless, a large portion of his countrymen who still have faith in the leadership of Lord John Russell, and who rely no less on his heart than on his head.

NOMADIC SKETCHES.

No. 2.

Having been interrupted, when last writing to you, by the arrival of an old acquaintance [our friend is still on the continent.-Ed.], it brought to my mind the circumstances of our first meeting. I was travelling to Munich, some time ago, in company with a black leather bag, to which was attached a card, inscribed "Mr. Hopkins, passenger to Vienna." A slight incident, not worth detailing, having broken the ice, I entered into a conversation with this gentleman; in the course of which I asked him what he thought of the town we were leaving in the distance.

"Can't say I went into Augsburg," replied he.

"Perhaps you visited Stutgard?"

"Well-no-I'm going to Vienna."

"You saw Heidelburg, I suppose?"

"No, it was dark when I passed through."

"What do you think of Frankfort?”

"Only saw it from the station: couldn't stop, as I'm going to Vienna."

"You came by Cologne, very probably?"

"Yes, but didn't see it a bit: just caught the Rhine boat, by three minutes, and came on direct."

"Do you admire Brussels ?"

"Can't say I was in it: passed near it though. This is my

abroad, sir, I'm going to Vienna."

first trip

Amused with the idea of meeting such an incurious traveller I

became as interrogative as a Yankee innkeeper.

"Do you intend to remain long in Munich?"

"Not five seconds. Bradshaw says this train meets the one o'clock 'diligence,' so I'll go on at once."

"To Saltzburg?"

"No, sir; to Vienna."

66

Well, you will surely stop at Gmunden, to see the lakes?"

"I'll do no such thing! Perhaps you may not believe me, sir, when I assert, positively, that I am going to Vienna; but if you'll just take the trouble to read this label, on my bag, you may satisfy yourself that I am a passsenger to that place!"

Mr. H. was evidently annoyed. I hastened to assure him that I did not, for one moment, question the truth of his assertion. I was merely suggesting that he was passing by very interesting towns on his way. As an apologetical appendix, I trusted none of his friends or relations were ill, in the Austrian capital, so as to demand such rapid locomotive expedition on his part.

"Oh! dear! no; nobody's ill, that I know of," quoth Hopkins: "the fact is, I can only spare a week for travel. So I determined to go as far as I could. I shall reach Vienna to-morrow, at eight in the morning; get seven hours sleep; dine; and start that evening, by four, for Prague; pass by Berlin and Hanover, like a shot, and just reach London as the week's up. That's sharp work, I think! that's what I call getting over the ground. Don't you?"

"In my opinion, too fast by many degrees!"

"Well, you see, as I shall have travelled so far, it will be supposed I must have seen all the intervening towns you have mentioned; as a man could n't go, where I am going, without passing through them—leastways, else he went in a balloon: so when anyone says to me, 'Mr. Hopkins, have you seen Ghent, Liège, Coblentz, Mayence, &c.?' I'll answer 'Oh, dear, yes, been to all of them, saw them all distinctly (that is, you know, the outsides) at the time when I took my journey to Vienna!””

"This is one mode of travelling!" I mentally reasoned, as I ranked the information which Hopkins would acquire, by his continental trip, not exactly on a par with, but considerably below, the mundane experience of his concomitant black leather bag; like which he himself appeared, in my eyes, simply and unmeaningly labled "To Vienna!"

Since the above colloquy has taken place, I have received the testimony of travellers, in general, with extreme caution.

Simply having been in Laibach will not suffice to persuade me now that a man must be conversant with the political economy of Austria; I doubt whether he who has visited Potsdam is intimately acquainted with the manners and customs of the Prussians; and I consider a person who has seen Paris may know no more of French character than had he never been there. For my part, I prefer a chat with him who having landed at Calais, passed his week in walking to Boulogne, viâ Guisnes, Wymille, and Marquise. The pedestrian who has visited Limburg is better authority, in my opinion, for a critique on German customs, than half the English tourists, who rush frantically up the Rhine; and I would rather hear the continental impressions of one who has wandered, wallet in hand, through any other country, than crude exotic remarks from a coalition of fifty men like Hopkins!