explained to him they were lawyers, he exclaimed: "Lawyers! why I have only two in my whole dominions, and I think of hanging one of them the moment I get home." With the utmost rigour and recklessness death has been dealt out to some of the loftiest dignitaries about the throne, wherever they incurred the frown of its arbitrary occupant. There is perhaps no country under the sun that has witnessed such revolutions in the wheel of fortune. The mighty have been degraded-the mean elevated. The scene of Haman and Mordecai in the days of old has been often repeated. Munich, the prime minister, becomes an exile of Siberia. Menschikoff, a youth who cried pies through the streets of Moscow, is lifted into his seat. By the way it becomes not him who now wears the title of Menschikoff (and whose blustering manifesto was the beginning of the present troubles) to assume such airs and get on such a high horse, when he considers his pie boy ancestor. In the case of Catharine I, too, we have another illustration that there is no romance equal to that of reality. Here we have the widow of a military sergeant promoted to share the imperial throne with the Great Peter, and singly to grasp the sceptre when he laid it aside. Special favor is shewn to foreigners, either from lack of native talent, or to wound the pride and weaken the power of the native nobles. "The German who was a tailor in Hanover may become a Professor in the Academy of Sciences; the Italian who carried an organ about the streets of Rome, may become a director of music; the Swiss who was a confectioner and constructed pyramids of ice and pagodas of pastry, may be made an imperial architect; the English inspector of a cotton mill may be made a general of Engineers; and the Frenchman who arrived as a valet, may turn tutor to a nobleman's sons, find his way up the ladder, and receive the appointment and title of a Counsellor of State."— (Maxwell.) Our sketch of the Civil Government of Russia would be necessarily incomplete, were not some reference made to the two rulers (who have cut the most conspicuous figure on the stage of her chequered history) who have done more than any before or since their time to develop her resources, and to give her that position in the scale of nations she now fills. Undoubtedly Peter I and Catharine II have cut the most conspicuous figure on the page of Russian History-and with all their failings proved real benefactors to their country. Peter's life is a romance of itself sufficient to furnish matter for a distinct article. To 1 follow him to the dock yards of Amsterdam and London, where, under the name of Peter Timmerman, he wrought as a mechanic. To view the early reverses and ultimate victories which marked his protracted struggle with Charles XII of Sweden.-To record the energetic efforts he made to rub over the rough face of his barbarous country the varnish of modern civilization, would exhaust our remaining time and space, and be foreign to our present purpose. Suffice it to say that he did not a little to extend the commerce, to increase the revenue, to consolidate the power, and to give lustre to the name of his country. His colossal stature (for he was 6 feet 7) and massive build (for his bulk was in proportion) pointed him out as one born to command. But though he could rule others, he had not the "rule over his own spirit." His ungovernable temper drove him to excesses which have stained his memory, and made the historian feel at a loss whether most to censure or to praise. There is too good ground for believing, that like Alexander the Great, he died the victim of that vice which has proved the ruin of millions. It is an interesting fact, that a woman stands side by side with this notable man. Catharine II, who reigned till towards the close of last century, gained a reputation which has thrown into the shade her namesake, who made the sudden transition from being a soldier's widow to being a sovereign's wife. Of her, it has been accurately observed, "Prudent in Council and intrepid in conduct; cautious in forming resolutions, but vigorous in carrying them into execution; ambitious, but of great and splendid objects only; passionately fond of glory, without the alloy, at least in public affairs, of sordid or vulgar inclinations; discerning in the choice of her counsellors, and swayed in matters of state only by lofty intellect; munificent in public, liberal in private, firm in resolution, she dignified a despotic throne by the magnanimity and patriotism of a more virtuous age." But these great qualities were counterbalanced by as remarkable vices and more truly perhaps of her than of the Virgin Queen of England, it might be said in Burleigh's words, that "if to day she were more than man, to-mormorow she would be less than waman." Vehement, sensual and capricious in private life, she seemed, as a woman, to live only for the gratifi cation of her passions; tyrannical, over-bearing, and sometimes cruel in her administration, she filled her subjects with unbounded awe for her authority. In the lustre of her administration however, the career of her victories, and the rapid progress of her subjects under so able a government, mankind overlooked her dissolute manners, the occasional elevation of unworthy favorites, ¡requent acts of tyranny, and the dark transaction which signalised her accession to the throne. They overlooked the frailties of the woman in the dignity of the princess; and paid to the abilities and splendor of the Semiramis of the North that involuntary homage which commanding qualities on the throne never fail to acquire-even when stained by irregularities in private life."-(Alison.) cheap in Russia that more than once at Leipsic, at Varna, in the Caucasus, when a Russian detachment, on the point of succumbing, has been liable to occasion the loss of an entire corps, volleys of grape shot have been poured on Russianɛ and enemies, mowing down both alike." From this testimony of an intelligent Russian whose patriotism alone would prevent him from unjustly slandering his country, you may infer what degree of credit is to be attached to the high-sounding eulogiums that have been pronounced on the magnitude and the discipline of the Russian army. The body guard of the Emperor certainly presents a magnificent spectacle, but, being made up of picked men, it forms no criterion by which to judge of the whole. IV. But we must hasten from the civil to the military aspect of Russia. This is a view which the present crisis invests with more than ordinary interest and importance. It is almost impossible to come to anything like certainty respecting the The beating about for recruits is very uphill military strength of Russia. We have already work. The serfs, from whom the majority of the alluded to the corrupt practice of not erasing the recruits are drafted, most thoroughly detest the names of the departed from the muster roll, that life of a soldier. They will submit to be beaten the pay may be continued. This practice is so without a murmur, but when the lot falls upon notorious and widely diffused that no reliance can them the air is rent with their cries. With poig. be placed on any official statements. These may nant anguish they tear themselves from the soil present a formidable array of figures, but let them on which they have been reared and the huts be rigorously sifted and they will be sadly pared around which their affections cluster. Their down. Multitudes are inserted that have been in march to the battlefield, so far from being (as has eternity for years. Although therefore we find an been said) like that of the fanatic or the crusader, infantry of nearly a million, and a cavalry of is more like that of the condemned criminal to the 250,000, we need not be alarmed. It is a mere scaffold. As they never expect to be other than flourish on paper. Let the roll be called, and in a race of Gibeonites-mere hewers of wood and regard to fully one-half, it would be a calling drawers of water-they have no spur to exertion, spirits from the vasty deep. But will they come? and the system of grinding tyranny to which they It is an historical fact that when Napoleon are subjected paralizes energy and quenches the entered the blazing Moscow, with his mammoth flame of loyalty and love. In deference to the army reduced to 180,000, Alexander could not Emperor a forced enthusiasm is sometimes evoked muster as many, even in the very centre of his-and the mutual interchange of such endearing dominions. The army has not certainly more titles as "Father” and “ Children," might lead than doubled since then. Considering the vast the casual observer to the conclusion that they extent of its territory and population,—the im- are happy and contented, but enter the barrackmense frontier exposed-the numerous posts re-room, or penetrate into the inmost souls of those quiring to be garrisoned, and the havoc made by who crowd them, and you will find the vast madisease and misrule, the available force of Russia is jority of them strangers to that generous ardour not in proportion to that of either France or Britain. which is now running like an electric current We speak not of bravery or skill-but of the through the combined forces of England and matter of numbers alone,-and we feel persuaded France, or which is directing the aim of Turkish that a close examination of the statistics of the shot, and the sweep of Turkish scimitars on the respective countries will bear us out in the state-plains of Asia and the banks of the Danube. ment. Golovine, a Russian of distinction, writes as follows:-"It is impossible to conceive all the ill usage to which the Russian soldier is exposed on the part of his superiors, high and low. With out pay, without suitable food, overwhelmed with oppression and stripes, he is destined beforehand to the hospital and premature death. Hence the Russian army loses nearly as many men in time of peace as in time of war. Men are still held so It must be confessed that in an emergency Russia can summon into the field, in addition to the regular troops, a monster militia, and that for this purpose Military Colonies are now in course of formation. But common sense may suggest whether she has much to hope, or her antagonists much to fear, from a motley mass comprising eighty-one distinct tribes, all more or less differing from each other. That mass contains an amount of combustible material which a spark all the fleets in the universe to lie in safety; a might ignite. And having little or no knowledge broad inland sea, inclosed within impregnable of European tactics, they would form no match gates, gives its navy the extraordinary advantage for the descendants of those accomplished vete- of a safe place for pacific exercise and prepararans who won laurels on the fields of Austerlitz tion: narrow and winding straits on either side and Waterloo. of fifteen or twenty miles in length, crowned by heights forming natural castles, render it impregnable to all but land forces. It is the only capital in the world perhaps which can never decline so long as the human race endures, or the present wants of mankind continue; for the more that the West increases in population and splendour the greater will be the traffic which must pass through its gates in conveying to the inhabitants of its empires the rich products of the Eastern Sun." V. We must reserve for another article the consideration of the Agriculture-the Arts-the Professions-the Habits-the Education and the Religion of Russia. In the meantime we would devote our brief remaining space to the question which is now keeping the world in suspense, and which is suggested by the view of Russia's Military resources we have just taken. No reasonable doubt can be entertained as to the real motives of the Czar in the present movement. The possession of the Key to the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem is a hollow sham. No one at all acquainted with the past relations in which Russia has stood to the Porte, can have difficulty in penetrating the mask he has assumed. Blasphemously he presses religion into the service as a cloak for his ambitious projects. His eye is fired on that matchless metropolis, the description of whose variegated beauties has taxed the powers of the most celebrated writers. His aim is to transfer himself from the cold climate and unhealthy marshes of St. Petersburgh to the glittering minarets and sunny terraces of Constantinople. Nor is it perhaps to be wondered at that a spot possessing such unequalled advantages should rouse his ambition. To find a fulcrum for her lever on this grand central station has been the policy of Russia from the earliest period of her history. Scarcely had the victorious prince got fairly settled down in the mud walled Novogorod, than he set out for the Bosphorus. The ninth century witnessed a succession of Russian invaders in substance the same with that of the nineteenth. The Greeks were subjected to similar treatment to that which has excited such sympathy in behalf of the Turks, although Russia received from Constantinople her religion in the 11th century, that very religion has been converted into a plea for seizing the spot that bestowed on her the boon. For nearly three centuries did the Musselman reign over Russia. Toleration was proclaimedwealth flowed in-the foundations of her future greatness were laid, and now Russia turns on the Mussulman, and exhibits her gratitude in fire and sword. To those who ruled in Constantinople prior to 1453 Russia owes her Christianity. To a people identified in sentiment and sympathy with those who have ruled in Constantinople since that memorable epoch, Russia to a large extent owes her commerce. And yet mark the return she makes! Since the beginning of the last century there have been almost half a dozen distinct wars The picture of Alison is no exaggeration :"Placed mid-way between Europe and Asia, it is at once the natural Emporium where the productions of the East and West find their obvious point of contact, and the midway station where the internal water communication of Europe, Asia, and Africa find their common centre; while the waves of the Mediterranean and the Ægean bring to its harbour the whole production of Egypt, Lybia, Italy, and Spain, the waters of the Danube, the Dniester, and the Volga waft to the same favored spot the agricultural riches of Hun-between Russia and Turkey, in all of which save gary, Germany, the Ukraine and Russia. The the first, Russia has, in the end, had the advancaravans of the desert, the rich loads of the tage. camel and dromedary, meet within its walls; the ample sails and boundless riches of European commerce, even the distant pendants of America and the New World-hasten to its quays to convey the best productions of the Old and the New Hemisphere. An incomparable harbour where a three-decker can, without danger, touch the quay, and from the yard arms of which, a bold assailant may almost leap on the walls, affords, within a deep bay, several miles in length, ample room for Emboldened by past success and encouraged by the supposed enmity between England and France, she has lit the torch and sounded the tocsin again. Eighty years ago Baron Thugut the keen sighted Austrian diplomatist predicted the very course which the Czar seems bent on following, and in eighteen hundred and thirty we find Count Nessel10de the present confidant of Nicholas, making use of the following modest language, 'it depended on our own armies to march on Constantinople and to THE CHRONICLES OF DREEPDAILY. overthrow the Turkish Empire. No power would have opposed it. No immediate danger would No. XXIV. have threatened us if we had given the last blow WHEREIN THE SEDERUNT OF THE HAGIS CLUB, to the Ottoman monarchy in Europe.' Nicholas and Nesselrode may perhaps find to their cost this time that "pride cometh before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.”— The crisis is eminent. The cause is eminently that of liberty and justice. AND THE FIRST SERIES OF THESE VERACIOUS IT is hardly necessary for me to say that the When the cloth had been removed, and the board garnished with sugar, hot water, and other materials which are essential for the en genderation of toddy, the "feast of reason, and the flow of soul," proceeded with enhanced smeddum. The question at stake will be no paltry one. It will be nothing short of this: "Whether that freedom at whose voice the kingdoms of Europe awoke from the sleep of ages, to run a race of virtuous emulation in everything great and good; (Want of space constrains us to withhold the freedom which dispelled the mists of su- from the world, (at least pro tempore,) a mass perstition and invited the nations to be- of gustatorial information, which here ensues hold their God whose magic touch kindled the in the Dreepdaily manuscript. The eating rays of genius, the enthusiasm of poetry, and the million, however, may yet be put in possession flame of eloquence. The freedom which poured of the substance of Mr. Powhead's collections into our lap opulence and arts and embellished in this department of fine arts. Mr. Maclear life with innumerable institutions and improve-is meditating the publication of a treatise on ments till it became a theatre of wonders." The question will be nothing short of this: "Whecookery, the joint production of Mrs. Grundy, ther this freedom shall yet survive, or be covered the Major, the Doctor, and the Laird, wherewith a funeral pall and wrapt in eternal gloom." in the savoury experiences of the excellent We need not fear the issue. God will defend barber-surgeon will, in all probability, be the right. It will be found that there is a hand incorporated.) on high to shield the brave." The rod of the oppressor will be broken. The tears of the oppressed dried up. The Lord reigneth-let the earth be glad. The clouds may gather and the billows foam, but a Father's hand grasps the helm-and he will so regulate the movements of the great vessel of human affairs, as best to carry out the purposes of Calvary and to extend the influence of the Cross. And of this we may rest assured that however other nations may be affected by the tempest, our's (if she be only One day the Laird entered his favourite true) herself will remain the assertor of human place of resort, the Parliament House, bearrights and the asylum of human liberty. The ing a stick of peculiarly formidable dimensions shock may be severe, but Before long he was surrounded by a plethoric shoal of lawyers, who eagerly interrogated him touching the device which he had provided for their amusement or instruction, as the case might be. Thus questioned, Robertson uplifted his staff, and struck it upon the floor with an emphasis which made the ancient Hall tremble. "That's Truth gentlemen!" he exclaimed. "It stands on ae leg! Can ony o' ye tell me how many legs it will take to make a lie stand?" "The meteor flag of England Shall yet terrific burn Till danger's troubled night depart, He who would pass the latter part of his life with honour and decency must, when he is young, consider that he shall one day be old; and remember when he is old, that he has once been young. In you'h he must lay up knowledge for his support, when his powers of action shall forsake him; and in age forbear to animadvert with rigour on faults which experience only can correct. recited the following additional anecdote of Referring to Laird Robertson, Mr. Keelevine that worthy. blown, uncompromising Jacobite; and many were the details which he gave relating to the chivalrous attempt of Charles Edward to regain the crown of his fathers. One or two of these I noted down. Persons acquainted with the old town of Edinburgh, must remember a tinsmith's shop with a large window, containing many small squares of glass, situated on the right side of the Netherbow, when you pass up from the region of the Cannongate to the High Street. In that region in the forenoon of twenty-first September, 1745, there occurred an unwonted bustle, which had the effect of drawing from the recesses of the aforesaid shop, a portly and buxom dame, Mrs. Macqueen to wit, the wife of the occupant thereof. The bustle alluded to arose from a respectable middle aged man, riding along at full speed, and ever and anon waving his bonnet, and shouting out-"Ring the great bells, for his Royal Highness has won the day!" Frigate Whins, (on which the watering place of Portobello now stands,) a Highlander in full costume, with a formidable fowling piece on his shoulder. This personage, who was evidently lacking in topographical knowledge, thus addressed the engenderer of angling wands: "Could she tell her whar 'ta army o' ta braw young Prince, is to be found?" "I am going in that direction," was the willing reply, "and I will conduct you to the spot with much pleasure." Donald, however, possessed a large amount of cautiousness, which is peculiar to the Celt, and was determined to insure the fidelity of his guide. Cocking his musket he exclaimed "You shoost walk your ways before her mainsel, and if a red coat is seen she'll ee'n be taking ta freedom o' blowing out your prains, oich, oich!" In this perilous fashion Grant was constrained to progress, the cold perspiration bursting from every pore, when any object of a scarlet hue met his vision. After an interval, however, which seemed an age, they reached the out posts of the Prince's army, when the Highlander benignly clapped his pilot on the shoulder with the observation— "Ah! she be ta pretty man!" "That is all very well," responded Grant, "but in future I would rather have your absence than your company! If a red coat had accidently appeared I should have been a pretty corpse!" Rushing forth to the equestrian, and seizing his hand, the worthy lady, who, like a majority of her country-women, was a devout adherent of the Stuarts, exclaimed, "Oh! my bonnie Tammy Grant, gie me a kiss! I kent ye wad bring good news!" Having gallantly complied with this request, the volunteer herald, whose mission was to proclaim the victory at Prestonpans, spurred up his steed, and resumed his triumphant slogan. Grant the younger followed faithfully the Ere he had reached his own house, however, chequered fortunes of Charles Edward, and which was situated at the head of Blackfriars took part in all the engagements fought by Wynd, he was pulled from his horse by a pru- the Prince, up to that climax of his misfortudent friend, as the only process by which nes the battle of Culloden. There he combahis Io triumphe could be silenced. This men- ted by the side of the amiable and true hearttor warned him that if the city bells were ed Earl of Kilmarnock, who was taken rung, in obedience to his directions, General prisoner, and subsequently put to death in Guest would assuredly fire upon the town. London. During the progress of the combat The above mentioned "Tammy" was Mr. Robert Grant frequently counselled the unforThomas Grant, a respectable and responsible tunate nobleman to fight on to the last, and citizen of Auld Reekie, and famed for his never to surrender. "You are a marked manufacture of fishing rods, and archer's bows. man, my Lord" said he,-"and are sure to Mr. Grant was such an enthusiast in the cause suffer if taken!" When Kilmarnock was asof the young Chevalier, that he dispatched cending the scaffold on Tower-hill, he exclaimhis only son Robert, a youth of some seven-ed with bitter emphasis--" Would that I had teen years, to join his ranks, whilst he him- taken that boy Grant's advice!" self paid daily visits to the insurgent army so long as it remained in the neighborhood of Edinburgh. Robert escaped the horrors of Culloden and was long in hiding. His father, who had made himself conspicuous by his zeal in favour One forenoon as he was making his wonted of legitimate monarchy, was apprehended on pilgrimage to the camp, he met, near the a charge of "treason," and for some time |