in fortitude, constancy, and integrity, nor for our prerogative and preeminence, but (what has never been the case these many ages) for our homes and lives. Vainly is it asserted that Russia can never hurt us, although it may indeed be conceded that she alone could never. But if Napoleon, in the blindness of his fury, had not attacked her where alone she was invulnerable, we should not at the present hour be arguing on moral duty and political expediency. Regiments of French cavalry would have been sounding the bugle in every town and every hamlet of our land.

Virtuous men, American and English, sigh after peace in the streets of Paris! Now they are so far on the road, let them proceed to Gaeta and convert the Pope to Protestantism. There never can be universal peace, nor even general peace long together, while threescore families stand forth on the high grounds of Europe, and command a hundred millions to pour out their blood and earnings, whereon to float enormous bulks of empty dignities. Nor is it probable, nor is it reasonable, that young men, educated for the army and navy, should be reduced to poverty and inactivity. No breast in which there is a spark of honor would suffer this rank injustice, nor would any prudent man, however mercantile and mercenary, venture to propose it. The navy and army are the cotton-mills and spinning-jennies of aristocracy, which she will shut up and abandon the very day Mr. Cobden and Company shut up and abandon theirs. Enough was there of folly to choose France for the schoolroom of order, equity, and peace. A Frenchman is patient under the ferule, if the stroke falls hard, but is always ready to filch and fib again, and play with fire, and to kick his master the moment he turns his back and suspends the chastisement. Blood is as necessary to him as to a weasel. He may dip his whiskers in milk; but with

a

rapid

and impatient motion he shakes his head and throws it off again. Away he goes, under the impulse of his nature, and washes out his disgrace in his own element. Scarves and speeches may fly about the dinner-table, but drums and fifes are the first things listened to in the morning. The people of France will presently have enough of this enjoyment. Two thunder-clouds so heavy and vast as are now impending in opposite directions on the horizon, cannot turn back; the world will be shaken to its foundations whether they collide or coalesce. Could nothing have obviated and dissipated these portents! Loudly did I denounce to Examiner," long ago, when the King of Prussia said he would march at the head of his army to resist the Russians, the perfidy of this man, and the certainty that he was conspiring with the two emperors against the freedom of Germany. It was easy at that time to seize and banish him; and, since he had broken his own compact between king and people, it was just. Nations will soon learn parables. Somebody will show them a vegetable by which they were long supported; will show them that the distemper, which is con

the

off this top in time, the sustenance of millions is secured. WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR. August 31.

At the late Peace Congress in Paris, a letter from Mr. Samuel Gurney to Mr. Joseph Sturge was referred to; it has been published, and its facts are seen to have been the foundation of effective parts of one of Mr. Cobden's speeches. The position of Mr. Gurney, as head of one of the greatest banking-houses in Europe, gives weight to his opinions on subjects of finance. He thus discloses them to his friend

Permit me to call thy attention to the standing armies and navies of the nations of Europe. I trust the congress will come to some strong resolution on the subject. The argument that one nation must pursue the practice because another does, is fallacious; mutual agreement to the contrary destroys the argument, if there be any force in it. I venture to throw before thee, however, some considerations on the subject, on grounds undoubtedly political, but certainly consistent with Christian propriety. In round numbers, I presume that not far short of 2,000,000 of the inhabitants of Europe, in the prime and strength of their lives, have been abstracted from useful and productive labor, and are made consumers only of the good gifts of the Almighty and of national wealth. The cost of the maintenance of these armies and navies cannot be very much less than two hundred millions of pounds sterling per annum, taking into consideration the subject in all its collateral bearings, at least, it must amount to an enormous sum. Does not this view of the subject in a large degree expose the cause of such masses of poverty, distress, and sin, which at present pervade many of the districts of Europe? Is not such the legitimate result of so vast a waste of labor, food, and wealth? Moreover, I venture to give it as my decided judgment-judgment formed upon some knowledge of monetary matters that unless the nations of Europe adopt an opposite system in this respect, many of them will inevitably become bankrupt, and will have to bear the disgrace and evils of such a catastrophe. I could particularize the financial state of many of these nations, but will confine myself to those of France and Eugland. Of the former I speak with great delicacy, seeing the generous reception she has given to the congress; but, deeply interested as I am in her welfare, I should rejoice to see her take possession of the benefits and prosperities that must arise to her in a financial point of view, as well as in other respects, by adopting an opposite course to that which she has hitherto done in respect of military establishments. I acknowledge I tremble for her if she persists in the plan hitherto pursued. In respect of my own country, I more boldly assert, that it is my judgment that, unless she wholly alters her course in these respects, bankruptcy will ultimately be the result. We have spent from fifteen to twenty millions sterling per annum for warlike purposes since the peace of 1815. Had that money been applied to the discharge of the national debt, by this time it would have been nearly annihilated; but if our military expenditure be persisted in, and no reduction of our national debt take place, at a period of our history certainly characterized by very fair prosperity and general political which we must from time to time anticipate in our

future history! Should such adversity come upon

us, I venture to predict that our revenue will not be maintained, nor the dividends paid, unless more efficient steps be taken to prevent such a catastrophe in these days of prosperity and peace.

Shabbiness has characterized the treatment of the Italians by France and England; the conduct of France being the more flagrant, of England the more mean. Not only did France swindle the Romans out of their revolution, but official men in Paris took pains to misrepresent the conduct of the Roman leaders. Thus, the rash Lesseps had described Mazzini in unfavorable terms, not knowing the man; and M. de Falloux did not scruple to make public use of this letter, although the same writer, on a better knowledge, had corrected that portraiture. The Italian leaders, especially if we consider their difficulties, have shown a far higher and abler spirit in the conduct of affairs than statesmen in more powerful countries. Yet not a word of hearty acknowledgment has been uttered by English statesmen who have

nor economy is forthcoming. The Roman cam

paign is not rich in laurels; and the gendarmerie

now engaged in collecting the arrears of the fortyfive centimes additional taxation, are not very likely to augment the preference of an imperial to a republican régime.

These are

France is now, in fact, in the position of a ship with sails and rigging that have opposite directions, and aspire to lift it out of the water. the monarchic tendencies of the country's upper classes. But the ballast in the hold is a popular and a republican mass, never more powerful than when motionless. It secures the steadiness and safety of the vessel, and to get rid of it would be instantly to sink her.

There is nothing left therefore for Louis Napoleon, but to act quietly the part of president for three years, and take his chance afterwards for what national gratitude may bestow. Already any effort of his, in imitation of his great uncle, to snatch at a crown, or at permanence of power, would awaken the hostility and opposition which at present slumber. To this conclusion, indeed,

of past days. And the whig governor of Malta has introduced the innovation of refusing British hospitality to political refugees. The British public professes to repudiate and detest such conduct, and, in default of more substantial testimony to its own generous feeling, will pass abundant "resolutions" to that effect of course the respected public will rejoice to perceive, by the advertisement which appears in another page of this journal, that a committee has been appointed to collect an " Italian Refugee Fund." By means of this fund the English public can pay its spontaneous tribute to humanity and justice. --Spectator, 8 Sept.

From the Examiner, 8 Sept.

LOUIS NAPOLEON'S POSITION.

LOUIS NAPOLEON's provincial tours have not been very successful. Not that the French President has committed any blunders. On the contrary, his allocations and responses have been rather felicitous; even when the addresses to which he replied were awkward and unwelcome. But, considered as fishing excursions to get bites for the imperial crown, the president's journeys have not turned out as his friends expected. The territorial grandees are, in fact, legitimists. The commercial grandees are Orleanists. The populace of towns are red republican. No doubt the great mass of the French population are not included in these three categories; and the great mass it was, being neither the high nor the low, who elected Louis Napoleon. But has he kept their affections, and rendered them either more firm in his behalf, or more enthusiastic? We doubt it. The arguments with which to win these masses were either those of glory or of economy, those that appeal either to the pride or the pocket. To do both

compelled to it by the cold and doubtful reception which, notwithstanding the panegyrics of his journals, he has received in many places.

It is certainly among the many singularities of that inexplicable country, that a president elected by such an overwhelming majority should nevertheless be obliged to select his government and his chief ministers from the ranks of the very party opposed to him in the presidential election. Dufaure, the leading man of Cavaignac's cabinet, and he who most strenuously supported Cavaignac's candidature, is now the leading man of Louis Napoleon's cabinet. It is not found possible or prudent to replace him. This alone is a striking proof of the power and weight of the republican principle, and of its forming, in fact, the indispensable ballast of the state for the time being.

An

If Louis Napoleon could have any chance of maintaining his power, and prolonging it beyond his term of three years, it would be evidently by his avoiding anything like a dynastic policy, or a sacrifice of national interests to family ones. alliance with Russia, or subservience to it by royal or imperial marriage, would so instantly and so plainly betray this, that what the president would gain in courts by such an alliance, he would lose in the to him far more important place of the electoral urn. We are not therefore surprised to hear the rumor of the marriage denied, and that all reports of a premature revision of the constitution are dying away.

This bodes well for Switzerland, for Turkey, and even for Rome. At least it makes out plainly that the policy of Louis Napoleon and his cabinet cannot yet be that of the tools of a new holy alliance.

Of course it is the foreign policy of the French cabinet that chiefly concerns us. Its domestic ad

From the N. Y. Courier and Enquirer.

AMERICANS IN JAPAN. CRUISE OF THE U. S. SLOOP-OF-WAR PREBLE.

We have already published from the China Mail a condensed notice of the rescue from Japan of a number of American sailors, who had been shipwrecked upon that coast, where they had been kept in prison and treated with the grossest barbarity for many months. The account, however, was very brief, and we are very glad, therefore, to find a much more extended narrative of it in the Chinese Repository, proof-sheets of which, sent out by S. Wells Williams, Esq., have been received by the editor of the Providence Journal. From this narrative we learn that the Preble left Hong Kong upon this cruise the 22d of March, and returned on the 20th of May. She reached Napa April 10th, and remained three days. Dr. Betelheim is there as a missionary, but has not been able as yet to open the slightest communication with the natives, who do not molest him in any way, but avoid him whenever he appears. The authorities desired the Preble to take him away, but he had no wish to leave. The Japanese requested Capt. Glynn to keep away from that place in future. They would not sell him any supplies, though they offered to give him whatever he might want; he refused to take anything, however, unless he could be allowed to pay for it. From Napa the Preble sailed for Nangasacki, which she reached April 17th.

Her appearance, says the narrative, was announced to the authorities of that town immediately, and a boat was seen approaching as soon as she anchored. This unusual haste, as well as the repeated inquiries subsequently made whether there was not another vessel in company, were not fully explained until Capt. Glynn learned at Shanghai, that the ship Natches had passed through the straits of Van Diemen only the day before his arrival. A Japanese boarding officer, Moreama Einaska, hailed the ship in English, to say she must anchor in a place he pointed out until the governor's order could be received; but Captain Glynn told him that place was unsafe, as well as his present anchorage, and he should stand in until he gained a safe berth inside the harbor. When the ship had reached the offing, abreast Happenberg Island, the man hailed her, saying, "You may anchor where you please." On coming aboard, when the ship was first hailed, he inquired why the Preble came to Japan; and that question being evaded, he asked the captain if he received a paper. "No. One of your boats came alongside, and threw a bamboo stick on deck, in which was thrust a paper; but, if it was intended for me, that is not the proper manner to communicate to CCLXXXIV. LIVING AGE. VOL. XXIII. 10

me, and I ordered it to be thrown overboard. Why do you choose this method of sending me a letter?" In the usual style of Japanese officials, after a thing has been done, the interpreter replied, "That was right! That was right! But our laws require that all ships should be notified of certain things. This was a common man; he had his orders as I have mine, from the chiefs over me, and you must not blame him." The paper here alluded to contained warning to ships, directions where they are to anchor, and what questions they are to answer.

After the Preble had anchored, a military officer, named Serai Tatsnosen, came aboard to learn her errand. His rank and credentials were carefully examined as a preliminary step; after which full particulars of the nation, object, and character of the ship were told through the same interpreter, Moreama Einaska, who spoke tolerably good English, but understood only as much as he wanted to. This chief was told that the commander of the Preble came with written instructions to bring away sixteen American seamen cast upon the Japanese coast. This announcement called forth a series of questions from him about the manner in which the shipwreck and number of men was ascertained, who sent the Preble after them, &c. &c. Captain Glynn replied in general terms, and endeavored to learn how long his countrymen had been there, what treatment they had received, and why two of them had died; but the interpreter parried these interrogatories in a very trifling manner. A promise was elicited, however, that he would inquire of the governor, H. E. Edo Tsokimano, whether the men would be delivered up without the delay of referring to Yeddo. The standing inquiry was made if the ship was in need of anything; but the chief was told that no provisions, fuel, or water, could be received unless the Japanese would take pay, as it was against the laws of the United States for a national vessel to receive anything in the way of presents. He declined the proposal to exchange salutes, saying they were never made, nor the compliment ever given, either by French or English men-of-war.

During the night everything was quiet in the harbor, but in the morning of the 19th, a large number of boats were seen under the land, and the forts near the entrance of the channel up to the town were manned with more men. These forts are even less skilfully built than the Chinese, the walls consisting of small unhewn stones, and the guns placed at such an elevation up the hill that a discharge would be sure to turn them quite over. Their battlements were, however, turned to a much more peaceful use than to train guns upon to drive away the Preble, for, during her stay, many parties of the people came there to look