But it may be argued that by adopting any such course as that described, the Czar would be sapping the foundation of his own power, and the influence of these free institutions would extend, eventually, to Russia itself, and perhaps subvert the reigning dynasty-and this argument may be true if Russian laws be incapable of amelioration. The only throne in Europe which stands on a firm basis is that of England; and the reason is-that we believe that no change in the form of government, no new dynasty, could give us any advantages we do not already possess. The Sovereigns of England are safe within the constitutional exercise of the royal prerogative; and when dissatisfied with the government, the people are always appeased by a dismissal of the offending ministry. And if the Emperor of Russia were to relax gradually the laws of serfdom and vassalage-which are no worse now in Russia than they were in England, from the Conquest down to the time of King John is it likely that he would become unpopular at home any more than abroad?

But the question is, not what he would choose to do, as head of the Holy Alliance and acknowledged dictator of continental Europe, but what he can and may do, to damage those monarchs who conspire to pull him down from this eminence; nor does it require any unusual sagacity to perceive that a course is open to him still which would cause the tragedy of Sinope and the farce of the "Te Deum" to be forgotten, make him popular even in England-if not in France-and overwhelm with disgrace a ministry which, to use an expressive Irish term, had "sold the pass," and betrayed the nation into a war in which we were pledged, beforehand, not to assert the national principles. If a union between Russia and the discontented European nationalities, for instance, were to take place, Turkey would be immediately at the disposal of this new alliance; because they could offer her better terms than the Western Powers can ever obtain for her by fighting, and the Sultan must either join in the compact or make up his mind, at no distant period, to resign his European dominions and cross the Bosphorus, to return no more.

Ministers, of course, see and know all this. From the moment that declaration, that England and France would encourage no revolutions, was promulgated, the war became merely a "disorganized diplomacy," and the Czar, strengthened in his position, had no longer any interest in offering peace; and though England demands that the war be pursued with spirit and resolution, every new disaster to the Emperor of Russia must give a pang to our ministry, and fill the mind of Francis Joseph, of Austria, with terror and consternation. The only question is, how long will the patience of the Emperor hold out? When you have smitten him on one cheek will he turn the other also? or is it not more likely

that he will take up the weapon, you have placed within his reach, and belabour your own backs with it? We are not the apologists of the Emperor of Russia, but if this war was just and necessary it ought to have been entered upon in a different spirit; and had even that spirit been manifested, he would have seen, from the first, that he had not a chance. Instead of warning the nations that we would countenance no revolutions, would it not have looked more earnest and formidable if France and England had only declared their intentions to maintain the integrity of the Turkish Empire, and left the other European powers which were not inclined to join them to take the consequences? Would not this have been more dignified, than to be negociating interminably upon minor points, while the Czar still held possession of the forbidden lands?

Austria, which has been repeatedly praised by our government for its good faith and cordial co-operation, having amassed an alleged army of 400,000 men, and being actually in occupation of Wallachia, now declares, in the last circular to its diplomatic agents, that it "will maintain, for the present, an armed neutrality"!!

In fact, while the unpopular decree of the French and English governments remains in force there can be no results obtained in this war worthy of the British nation; and, in the meantime, it has deprived us not only of the sympathies of all Europe-except its tottering dynastiesbut has also rendered our cause contemptible and unpopular even in America and whatever temporary successes we may have gained, we have placed continental Europe still more completely at the disposal of the Emperorof Russia than ever it was before.

We do not say that the Emperor of Russia will pursue the course here indicated. Family pride, the hope of becoming again Autocrat of Europe without changing his policy, and apprehension that the new governments he might form would be less manageable than the old, may probably restrain him to a point of considerable extremity-to which there is little probability that he will ever be driven; but it is from despots in difficulties that the greatest popular concessions have been obtained. When all the monarchs of Europe have deserted him, we may expect to see the Czar's strength put forth; but will they dare him to the effort? If they fail him, he has a sure refuge in Kossuth, Mazzini, and Czartorinski, or whoever may be at the time the exponents of the disintegrated nations; nor would the people of England raise a finger to prevent it. It would, in fact, be regeneration to Europe, but death to its oligarchies, which will never hurry with eyes wide open to their own destruction; and the renewal of the negociations at Vienna sufficiently indicates the anxiety abroad. In vain does the Times now, in the innocence of its

heart, point out the imperative necessity of pushing on the war, ad interim. Every effort will be made by Austria and Prussia to embarrass and retard it; and if they must eventually take a decided attitude, it will hardly be against the Czar.

The government, by their mode of commencing the war, have placed England in a very questionable position. They are trying to run with the hare and hunt with the hounds: Turkey is to be saved, but Russia must not be injured: the Crimea must be taken, but the Czar is not to be exasperated. No easy task will it be for ministers to bring about this paradoxical solution of the difficulties by which they are surrounded, but unless they succeed in doing so the affairs of Europe will, probably, take a very different turn to that which they have attempted to give them.

Samson, shorn of his locks and with his eyes put out, made sport for the Philistines; but they gave him the pillars of the house to lean upon, and he avenged himself by pulling it down about their ears.

GOSSIP OF THE MONTH.

BY A MAN ABOUT TOWN.

Never do I remember to have seen the streets of London look so perfectly deserted as at the present moment. I should like to know how many people are left in it that would not leave it if they were able? Certainly the weather has not been such as to make the great city eligible intense heat-alternating with showery, gusty, thundery weather -has characterized the month.

Parliament is prorogued; and the Lawyers' long Vacation has commenced. M. P.s are bagging unheard-of quantities of grouse; and barristers and attorneys are inundating Ramsgate and the Rhine, Scotland and the Solent. It would be pleasanter, just now, to be a man about the country than a man about town!"

Of all the extraordinary literary productions it has been my misfortune to read, the most unsatisfactory is decidedly the Ministerial composition called "The Queen's Speech," on the late prorogation of Parliament. Professing to congratulate the Lords and Commons, it contains not one single subject for rejoicing. And how the Council, assembled at Buckingham Palace, could have had the face to write the first sentence-that "the state of the public business enabled her Majesty to release them, &c., &c."-passes the comprehension of a plain man. The state of the public

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business was this:-In the course of a session of seven months the Government had carried one unmutilated measure, viz., The Consolidated Fund Bill. It had also shuffled two other Bills-sadly impaired― through the House: the latter to be in force one year only! And it had passed one minor measure, The Merchant-Shipping Consolidation Bill. Large and small, integral and mutilated, it had got through four measures only. We appeal to any candid person-Whig, Tory, Radical, Conservative, or Liberal-did any Ministry ever do so little? "The war " is the excuse; but what has it done in the war?

Bomarsund has been taken, and the Austrians have entered the Danubian Principalities. These are the two great war facts of the month. Regarding the former, it may truly be said to reflect great credit on Sir Charles Napier and all concerned in it; for the operations were well planned and equally well executed. Two things especially strike us, on reading the accounts of the fighting, because they establish new features in connexion with modern warfare: the first is that granite walls must give way to cannon-balls, well aimed; the second, that Minié-rifles can pick off the gunners in the casemates of batteries with such certainty as to make it scarcely possible for the men to load their guns. Perhaps the first of these facts may induce Sir Charles to try the effect of his broadsides on the batteries of Cronstadt. Why not? The forts can be attacked separately-they are casemated, and they are partly of granite and partly of wood. As for the Russian fleet, those who have read authentic descriptions of it (by which we do not mean Russian ones) will think but indifferently of that.

Sanguine people expect an attack on Sebastopol. For my part I expect nothing energetic in that quarter at all, and shall only be agreeably surprised if anything be done worthy of the name of England and France. At the same time all my reading convinces me that there is much less to be afraid of at Sebastopol than is generally imagined. The forts are built of a kind of shell-stone, and even a good salute fired from one of them split its walls. The town is commanded by heights, where there are no defences the adjacent coast has half-a-dozen convenient harbours for landing troops: the highest estimate gives 50,000 as the number of men at Sebastopol the Allies, it is said, can throw 80,000 into the Crimea at once.

I don't profess to understand Spanish politics, and I cannot bring myself to feel any vast interest in the concerns of that miserable country -bankrupt in character as in pocket. What is to be done with Queen Christina?-the greatest perplexity of the new Spanish Government. That

Queen Isabella, her daughter, is now a mere puppet in the hands of Espartero, O'Donnell, and others, is little to be regretted. And yet a touch of pity always mingles in our feelings of condemnation towards this lady. The daughter of one of the most unprincipled women of the present century, called to rule at an early age over the most discontented and debased country in Europe, her crown secured only after a long civil war, surrounded by bad advisers, married to a man impotent in mind and body, how was this young Queen to escape contamination? That she had some fine qualities has been admitted by all, and her courage has been especially the theme of praise; but she must indeed have been purity and virtue incarnate to have passed unscathed through her frightful ordeal. I disapprove of the savage attacks that are constantly made on her private character. She may have sinned deeply; but let us recollect the fearful temptation.

The bibbers of Port-wine will hear with deep regret of the almost total failure of the grape crop in Portugal. Port of 1854, if not a very fine wine will certainly become a rare one, and, perhaps, be valued accordingly My wine-merchant has stuck on ten shillings a dozen, on the strength of it.

As a consolation for this misfortune, the wheat crops are declared to be everywhere superb. With a doubled income-tax, and other war impositions, the fact is really consolatory. Let it be remembered, however, that the crops are not yet all secure; and though the weather is now fine it is scarcely so steady as one would wish to see it for harvesttime. In South Wales the commencement of the shooting season has been postponed till the second week in September-little of the corn having yet been reaped there, or being yet ready for the sickle.

Lieut. Perry's Court-Martial has perhaps been the the most popular topic of the month. To write as one feels on the subject, would be to get into a pet. Besides which, everyone knows its history and every gentleman (I don't include all the officers of the 46th regiment in that term) feels the same regarding it. It is a strong sign of the sympathy felt for the lieutenant that a subscription has been commenced to pay his legal expenses, which must be heavy. One gentleman, signing his name "Honour," also suggests another subscription to purchase Perry a company. The writer says he spends his life in helping those that cannot always help themselves. If this gentleman will favour me with his name and address, I shall be most happy to cultivate his acquaintance.

I have heard, from very excellent authority, that Mr. Perry has received at least a hundred letters of condolence from influential people