he succeeded to the captain's place, and seemed careful not to carry his authority too far. A mystery it is to this day, and will be to me till the last day, I suppose, how the captain came by his death after all. No one doubted that he had fallen overboard; but the question was whether any one had a hand in it. "When the intelligence was given by the mate, there was a general horse-laugh amongst the men, which would have sounded brutal, but for the character of the lost captain. 'You can't find him?' said a Boston man, who I knew had been at the wheel when the captain was standing where I saw him; then I calc'late you'd better turn to and play skipper yourself, sir, for want of another.' That's just it, I guess,' said another; and the whole crew turned on their heels and went forward. Nobody appeared to know more about the matter, however; the chief remark made was by the cook, who suggested that poor Tom's ghost had brought him up in his dreams, and beckoned him over the side. I noticed that the Norwegian, Andersen, was more stern and silent than ever from that day. "Whenever we got into port, I left the hateful brig, and joined with an English barque for Liverpool, where I felt myself another man. I was treated well, and began in reality to love the sea. And western air. Oh how beautiful that morning was after the gale; and Miles would never see it more, nor rise from under that dark surface! We'd never sit together again under the lee of the galley in a rough night, and talk of the old town, and of every man, woman, and child we remembered there. I've since seen many a poor fellow go down in his hammock like a stone, and many swept overboard into the wild sea that never gave them up, but I never realized the thing as I did when he was taken from my very side who had come step by step with me from my father's door. The men felt it more, because they had been often unkind to him; and no one looked up to that fore-to'gallant-sail without a shudder, or saying he hoped poor Tom had made a change for the better. The cook swore the yard was haunted, till the men, when they were at the wheel, fancied they saw Miles' face under the earring, looking back from over the yard, when the brig rolled to leeward. If their hearts smote them secretly, the whole went to add to the feeling against the captain, who, indeed, since that night, seemed more possessed with a fiend than ever; and at last matters came to a head. He worked the crew without mercy at Lima; and kept all hands on, instead of watch and watch, after we had got into the bad weather on the homeward voyage, though that was nothing like what it had been when we were outward- "We spoke an outward-bound East Indiaman bound. The men went aft all together to ask him off Madeira, the Marlborough, which I had reason for watch on watch, with Andersen, the Norwegian, to remember after I got home. I little thought, as spokesman. He got angry in a moment; swore when I saw her main-yard backed, and the water we were lazy; and when Andersen replied some- plashing up her bright copper sheathing, as she what boldly, he called down the cabin hatchway to rocked up and down along with our barque, that the the steward for his pistols. Mutiny!' shouted he; crowd of faces gazing over her bulwarks contained 'mutiny, by G-d! He and the mate took hold one I'd have rounded the world then to see. of the Norwegian, who flung the latter down, and when her stately topsails filled again, and she went burst from the captain's grasp. The steward hand-off with the wind abeam to the southeast, I was ed him his pistols, and the second mate having ap-glad I was turning the other way. It was three peared, he handcuffed Andersen by main force, the years after Miles and Ned and I ran off, that I saw men not having made up their minds to go all my mother and my little sister Bessie again, who lengths. Go forward,' said he to us, or I'll put was grown to a sweet pretty girl. But my poor you all in irons, and work the ship myself. I'll father had been dead a year, and his last word almake an example of him. I'll flog him when I've most had been, that he wished to have seen his son light to see his back; by the I will. Thomas once more, and to have given him a blessForward with you, you ; you see I'm master!' ing. I stood by his grave, and felt that grief is bit"It was our middle watch that night; and as terer when the love you bore has been mixed with the wind was steady, and nothing doing, though it harsher feelings. I question if I should have felt was pretty dark, I fell asleep between the galley such agony of heart if it had been even my mother and the long-boat when about two hours of the instead of him. And Ned-my little quiet playfelwatch was out. I don't know what woke me, but low and bedfellow from childhood up-was gone I did wake suddenly, and saw a figure leaning over for India, where he was to stay for years. He had the bulwarks aft, which I was certain was the cap- sailed a passenger in the Marlborough Indiaman ; tain, who generally slept all night in good weather. my only brother, whom I had longed so often to However, as he could not see me, and the mate clasp round the neck again, had been but a few was not visible, I went to sleep again, till I found fathoms from me in the midst of the Atlantic, and the other watch had been set some time. As I got I did not know it till now! I made my first voyage up and went below, I saw that the captain was no to Madras only to see him; but he was up the longer on deck, and the second mate was forward country, and the ship left without my seeing him. getting the men to set the flying jib. It was about Ten years after I did see him, in his own house in noon next day when the mate called us all aft, and Madras; but how changed he was from the boy told us very gravely that the captain was nowhere to that had parted from me! He was lying on a be found. He had not been seen since the last night, sofa, pale and weak with the heat, and did n't know when the mate and he locked Andersen, ironed, me when I came up the floor; though I knew him, into one of the state-rooms in the cabin, intending to and his very shape, for all he had grown to a man fulfil his threat next morning. He stated that the six feet tall. It was the last time, for a letter steward, who had sailed several years with the cap- reached home before me that he was dead." tain, mentioned his having a habit of walking in his sleep. I was much surprised when I found that Andersen had been in his hammock, as usual, since the watch went below, and I thought it strange how the mate did not pay attention to this. Perhaps he felt that he was in the power of the crew, as he showed quite a different way of going on after The worthy captain stopped here, raised his sleeve to his eye, and appeared to reconnoitre the rigging. "She lies pretty near her course, I think, Mr. Adams?" said he. "How 's her head, steersman?" "Sou'-west-by-south, sir," answered the sailor. "This wind freshens her way a little, Mr. Ad ams. I like to hear the Maria singing at her bows | stance, but prettier in a woman. again." "And how was it, captain," I asked, "you came to follow the sea as a profession, after your first hard lessons?" I wonder what fancy stood sponsor for that title with those who gave it her?" "Why," said the captain, smiling a little sadly as I thought, "I called her so myself. It was a fancy too, as you say; but it's the sole thing I have to remind me of one I liked better than ever I liked a woman. One does n't talk of these matters off-hand, though it's long since I lost being shamefaced about it; it only makes one think how things he would have wished to be seem all one in twenty years or so. I do believe if it had been, I should really have left the sea and settled down on land twenty years ago, without seeking to make money. It was after one voyage to China, I stayed a month or two with my sister, who was married to an old schoolfellow of my own; my mother, too, had fixed there for good and all. There was a young girl, a friend of Bessie's, living with them on a visit. Her name was Maria, and she was a slender, winning, happy creature, open as the day, and as pretty as Bessie herself when she was seventeen. I remember how she stood up, so quiet and smiling, when I was first made known to her, and how often I watched her tripping through the grass before the house with my sister's little boy. Bessie wanted to bring about the matter between us; she spoke about her often to me, and I think she did as much to Maria herself. She told me she believed Maria looked on me favorably, though she would not tell her so, and kept very close about it, which was one of Bessie's reasons for her belief. But I couldn't make up my mind to speak. I was a sailor; the young lady had some money; and I had very little if I left the sea, and couldn't bear the thought of seeming to want hers. Whatever things I had seen in the life a sailor leads, a pure and beautiful woman's presence always made me feel myself un "Why, I must confess I did like to sleep again all night with no watch to call me, or reef topsails' to startle one out of a dream of home; it was pleasant enough to be free of rule, and call my limbs my own; and most of all to see soft, kind faces, and near their voices about the house. My mother and little Bessie tried hard to get me to forswear the sea forever, and turn my hand to something on shore; and so I thought for a while. But, as poor Miles said, it's hard for one to get rid of the sea's hold when you've once been in it. I was almost spoiled for aught else. I might have lived independent, no doubt; but with my father's losing on his farm, there was little to spare from my mother's needs, and from what Bessie ought to have for a portion, if I could have consented to idleness. After all, there is somewhat even in going up to your watch on deck, and feeling the wind, and seeing the sea, and striving against danger with good shipmates, that creeps in between one and quieter things. You want to feel in motion, and have something to struggle with, or to see new sights and strange customs. I was weary of waking every morning, and seeing the trees and fields so steadfast and dull-like before the window. I don't well know how, but the ocean has not only something grander in itself, but it makes you feel more what a man may be. I got more and more restless after a while, in spite of all my mother and my sweet little sister could do to wean my thoughts. They saw what was going forward; and one night, while we were sitting together by the fire, my mother burst into tears, and said she supposed I must go. I pleased myself and them with the ex-worthy, and I had been out of the way of good cuse of going to Madras and seeing Ned; and indeed that at first was the main reason I had. So I shipped once more; and here I am. From that time, slowly enough, no doubt, I've risen through mate to master, and at last to make something of my own. It was longer, as I have been twice shipwrecked, and lost all I had gained; but now the Maria is two thirds mine, and I have some little matter in store besides against laying up in harbor. My mother, though she is an old woman, is still alive; and Bessie is grown a matron with five childrenwith the same sweet, cheerful face, notwithstand-nary. She was married in two years to a lawyer, ing, she ever had. I've resolved, however, on this being my last voyage, and if God carry me back, I think to end my days at their hearth. There's another little Bessie, my sister's fourth child, the image of her mother, as one daisy is like another, though it have withered long before; and what I have made by many a rough weather on the salt sea, shall go to make her home happy when she grows to need it, and that will be when I have forgotten the way it was gathered. I sometimes fancy the Maria' knows what she is about, when she swells out with all her canvass, like now, to the breeze, or works so gallantly across a head-sea; and that song at her bows sounds more pleasant to my ear for the sake of those she's serving all the while. It is cheering to a sailor to have those at home he strives for." "How is it, then, captain," I remarked, "that you never thought of this in a more tender point of view? Did it never occur to you to have a wife of your own to make the Maria strain her canvass for? A pretty name that Maria' in a ship, for in society for years. The last time I saw her was sitting in the summer-house, when I had gone intending to speak out. But I only kissed her hand, and said good-by, and left her; she looked so quiet and calm, and not expecting anything else. I did n't know what I felt for her till I was on board ship, and the land was sinking into the sky; and many a time the thought of her gushed into my heart after, and brought tears to my eyes I was ashamed of, especially when I wondered what she would have said to a word from me more than ordi and I have heard of her often from Bessie, whose only reproach she ever gave me was, that I didn't tell Maria Williams my own mind. I called my ship by her name; and I have thought, when I have gone out on the flying jib-boom, and looked at her coming on before a breeze, white from deck to truck, on the blue sea, that her shape was like Maria's; and the pleasant murmur at her bows somehow reminded me of her voice, when I heard it aside reading a story to Bessie's little boy." The good man sighed as he smiled at his own quaint conceit, and looked aloft, without speaking, at the full canvass of his ship, through whose openings, and all around, the multitude of stars were now apparent out of the blue depths of heaven; and I thought how beautifully the law of earthly separation-that sea in time-consecrates likewise the human affections by studding them, as it were, in the sky of memory; till sea and storm shall have exhaled like a vapor, and Necessity shall no more be at odds with Desire. The ship to me, also, was touched with the image of that long-past Maria, as if her idea, more permanent than her temporal beauty, now doubtless faded, were hovering on the sky beyond, and transforming the vessel, with its outspread wings, in the azure amplitude of night, to an ocean figure of calm, human grace. In the ocean we can deal with things earthly-distant as we will. Scarcely had the captain ceased when it struck eight bells, and thus ended our second dog-watch, CORRESPONDENCE. OFFICE OF THE LIVING AGE, 165 TREMONT ST., BOSTON. So far we find much good to result from taking the business department of the Living Age into our own hands. The orders from booksellers and newsmen are increased; and many of them write, that with early and punctual publication, they shall continue to increase their sales very largely. No pains will be spared by this office to comply with every reasonable demand. We have also been much gratified by opening a direct correspondence with many of the subscribers, and are cheered (as of old) by their kindness and good wishes. Many complaints come to us of irregularity and lateness of delivery of the numbers even of this year. This arises from the orders not having come directly to us. We cannot always ascertain from what bookselling house a country subscriber has ordered his copy. But, in order to get rid of all these irregularities, we have proposed to purchase the subscription lists of the houses we refer to, so that all parts of the machinery may act under our own notice. Some of the country subscribers complain that copies are sent with the covers on them, so as to subject them to pamphlet postage, instead of newspaper postage. It is only from this office that they are properly mailed in this Messrs. Harper & Brothers have published :-History of the Revolt of the Netherlands; Trial and Execution of Counts Egmont and Horn; and the Siege of Antwerp. Translated from the German of Frederick Schiller, by the Rev. A. J. W. Morrison, M. A. [No. 21 of Harpers' New Miscellany, to which it is an excellent addition.] The Pleasures of Taste, and other Stories; selected from the writings of Miss Jane Taylor; with a Sketch of her life, by Mrs. Sarah J. Hale. [Mrs. Hale and Miss Taylor are both good names. There is a profile likeness of Miss Taylor.] Messrs. Wiley & Putnam have issued, Songs and Ballads, by Samuel Lover. Including those sung in his "Irish Evenings," and hitherto unpublished. This work will have a very extensive sale. We shall grace some of our future pages by extracts from it. Mr. George W. Light, of Boston, has begun to edit and publish the "Young American's Magazine;" a handsome duodecimo pamphlet of about seventy pages. It is composed of papers original and selected. Among the latter are pieces by Longfellow, Dewey, Hillard, and Sumner. "The leading purpose of this magazine is to awaken a more general interest in self-improvement." It is published once in two months. The LIVING AGE is published every Saturday, by E. | LITTELL & Co., at No. 165 Tremont St., BOSTON. Price 12 cents a number, or six dollars a year in advance. Remittances for any period will be thankfully received and promptly attended to. To insure regularity in mailing the work, remittances and orders should be addressed to the office of publication as above. Twenty dollars will pay for 4 copies for a year. COMPLETE SETS to the end of 1846, making eleven large volumes, are for sale, neatly bound in cloth, for with its accidental little history of sea-life, called up by the peculiar feeling of that "soft hour which wakes the wish and melts the heart." Three hours after, I woke in my berth with the sound of the watch above "singing out" as they trimmed sails again, and the noise of feet and ropes thrown down on deck. And then I went to sleep again, and dreamt of my own home, and its own remembrances and loves. Jack Datchett, the Clerk: an Old Man's Tale-has been read for us by a friend, who likes it very well. We have delayed noticing it till we could have that pleasure ourselves, but are ashamed to postpone it longer. It is published, in very good style, by H. Colburn, Baltimore. "Sermons; by George W. Bethune, minister of the Third Reformed Dutch Church, Philadelphia." Philadelphia: Mentz & Rovoudt. Upon the publication of this volume, we copied, from one or two papers, the high commendations of the editors; not doubting, from our knowledge of the author's former works, that they were well deserved. When the beautifully printed book came into our own hands, we delayed to acknowledge it, until we should have become well acquainted with it. This has now been done, for we have read it from beginning to end, and almost all of it aloud to our own family. The author, in his preface, expresses some fear, "as they were written for oral delivery, with the aid of living gesture and emphasis," "lest his meaning might sometimes be more obscure than if he had chosen a more didactic style." We do not perceive any obscurity. While we read, we can imagine the earnest and effective delivery, because we have not seldom heard other sermons of this preacher. It is a loss to one of Dr. Bethune's sermons, not to be heard from his own lips. Yet the beauty, the tenderness, the force, are transferred to the printed page, and will live long after the preacher's voice shall be silent. We feel more at liberty to recommend this volume to the readers of the Living Age, because the writer is not of our church, so far as difference of denominations is concerned. We should be sorry to think that we do not both belong to the same great fold, to the same Shepherd. Here is no controversy-but "preaching the truth in love." The publishers have done their part well. The paper is beautiful; and the type is so large and so well printed, (by that excellent printer, Mr. John C. Clark,) that it is a pleasure to people who begin to grow old, to read it even at night. We can only copy the titles of the fourteen sermons, which (taking the advice we give) we shall forthwith begin to read again. A Divine Nature; Good News for the Poor; The Healing Touch of Christ's Garment; The Spirit of the World and the Spirit of Christianity; The Good Shepherd, or the Psalm of Faith; Faith, our best Reason; How to use the World, as not abusing it; Faith in the Son of God, Victorious; The way to win Good Wages; Love of Human Praise fatal to Faith; The Dignity of Serving; Victory through Christ, over Death and the Grave; Eternal Day; Longing for Rest. twenty dollars, or two dollars each for separate volumes. Any numbers may be had at 12 cents. AGENCIES.-The publishers are desirous of making arrangements in all parts of North America, for increasing the circulation of this work-and for doing this a liberal commission will be allowed to gentlemen who will interest themselves in the business. But it must be understood that in all cases payment in advance is expected. The price of the work is so low that we cannot afford to incur either risk or expense in the collection of debts. LITTELL'S LIVING AGE.-No. 143.-6 FEBRUARY, 1847. From the Spectator of 12th Dec. POLAND AND THE TREATY OF VIENNA. SOME doubt has been thrown upon the original report as to the drift of M. Guizot's protest against we should congratulate the East of Europe on the change which now may be looked forward to, first six months from the date of occupation, is to Cracow, which remains a free trading city for the be constituted eventually a trading dépôt; in which, at the instance of Prussia, magazines for the ware the annexation of Cracow. Guizot was described as having said that that violation of the treaty released France from her obligations under it; a well-housing of goods manufactured in the Zollverein states, and imported in bond, are to be established. informed Paris paper, the Portefeuille, now says Austria, it must be presumed, will grant no differthat he has protested against the breach of the ential favors on this occasion that will infringe the treaty, but has expressly declared that France will stipulations of the treaty of Milan. Cracow is an observe her engagements. It is not easy to be- important place of trade, from the practice and lieve that the French government, which had so respectability of the mercantile houses established much to resent, so little to lose in the treaty, there. It is very well situated to form an emporium and so much to gain, at least in the way of influ- for dealings in Polish and Hungarian wool. Nor ence, by opening the way to a new order of things is it matter of impossibility to pay for that article in throughout Europe, can have faltered in handling English manufactured goods by the same channel. the pen and have assumed so very weak a position. It is indeed conjectured, as a mode of reconciling the two reports, that M. Guizot planned the bolder, and King Louis Philippe compelled the more timid If so, the aged king really is beginning to forget the strong ground he stands upon. But La Presse confirms our doubts, and with some qualification reiterates the original statement. course. Whatever the French ministry have done, we regret to see that a chief ministerial organ in the English press is abotted in its hostile tone towards our neighbor. The course pursued by France may be inconsistent and impolitic, but how far more impolitic is it to foment ill feeling by taunts! What have we to do with that sort of foreign intervention? what purpose does it answer for us, of interest or of honor? Of all times indeed, this is the most inopportune for multiplying and fostering squabbles with foreign countries. A revival of 1840 in 1847, when Ireland should engross the whole attention of ministers and of Parliament, would be calamitous. WE are enabled to state the definitive arrangement respecting the incorporation of Cracow with Austria. We mentioned last week, that the new authorities at Cracow had treated that city as included in the Austrian customs line, and that the unforeseen inconveniences thus produced had made it necessary to revise the arrangement with respect to commerce. Our correspondent at Frankfort explains how it has been finally settled. He applauds the plan for its commercial advantages, and he is amply qualified to form a judgment. On its political consequences he touches but slightly; they are vast and as yet obscure. He does not fail to note, however, that even the beneficial arrangements involve breaches of treaty; such a fact shows how culpable is the conduct of any British minister who, drawing back in spleen, neglects to take his place in the international council on these sweeping alterations, in order to extract from them the maximum of public good. We subjoin our correspondent's letter "Frankfort, 6th December, 1846. "The plan to be followed by the partitioning powers respecting Poland has transpired. Were it not that the arbitrary step of annihilating the Polish nationality, deprives the acts of those implicated in the proceeding of all guarantee for their durability, CXLIII. LIVING AGE. VOL. XII. 16 "The second change that is to follow in the new plan of organization is the abolition of the customs frontier that has hitherto subsisted between Poland and Russia. Of late years the Russian government has put prohibitory duties on the cloths and linens manufactured in Poland. The consequence was, a great falling off in the trade carried on with China through Kiachta. The Chinese are luxurious consumers, and the Russian products did not supersede the Polish, when these were excluded. Of late, indeed, the Russian reports have represented the trade at Kiachta as very flourishing; but they must be credited with caution. The fact of the great decline in 1837 to 1840 was acknowledged in the official publications. The union of two large empires like those of Poland and Russia in one commer cial system, ought to be productive of results very beneficial to both. The want of roads will indeed long prove an impediment, were other obstacles removed. Russians, as well as Poles and Lithuanians, are likely to find, that although ill-judged. restrictions on trade can keep a land in a state of swamp and thicket for ages, yet the sudden removal of these desolating ordinances will not alone suffice rapidly to repair the mischief. Still, the commencement of the new system is, as we have said, matter of congratulation. The condition on which the admission of Polish manufacturers to a share in the spoils of the Russian protecting duties is granted, seems to be part of the equivalent demanded by Russia for selling Cracow to her rival. Poland is, in defiance of the treaty of Vienna, to be incorporated politically into the Russian empire. As no alternative of this kind is stipulated in the treaty, by which the independence of Cracow is recognized, this incorporation is a new invasion and partition of a neutral territory. "If we are to believe accounts received from Vienna, the removal of the customs' line that now separates Hungary and Transylvania from the rest of the Austrian empire, may also shortly be looked forward to. Heavy export-duties on Hungarian produce imported into Austria, and moderate import-duties levied at the frontier of Hungary on Austrian manufactured goods, form the plan of the Austrian minister to tax the Hungarians without asking leave of the Diet at Presburg. The success of this notable scheme is best illustrated by the mar ket prices at Vienna, where grain exactly sells for its price in Hungary plus the duty imposed on its exportation. The Hungarian peasant, with equal stoicism to that of the hungry Austrian, walks about in his undressed sheepskin, despising the superfine cloths of Moravia and Bohemia. In Austria, the Danube with its tributary streams forms excellent roads for traffic with Hungary; and those will shortly be extended by lines of railways. A rapid increase of prosperity may therefore be expected as soon as the measure is adopted. It will not be the less beneficial that it in no way interferes with Hungarian nationality, which it must on the contrary tend to confirm and invigorate."-Spectator, 12 December. if she neglects to enforce the treaty against the Three Powers now, she cannot in common decency claim to enforce it hereafter against France. The treaty of Vienna, therefore, is virtually annulled. The great statute in the public law of Europe is void, and we do not see how England can uphold the opposite doctrine. But free opinion has grown stronger than absolute authority, and therefore the loosening of old bonds is a source of hope rather than of fear. refused, why then the elements of change will be still more left at liberty. Not that the occasion of improving the new opportunity is as yet apparent. But it may be brought about in many ways. King Louis Philippe is said to have proposed a conference to repair the defects induced in the public law of Europe. If his wish be granted, care will of course be taken WE have said that the three northern powers that the new settlement of Europe shall be still have not yet finally disposed of Cracow; for the more favorable to the growth and extension of free ulterior consequences of the annexation are only be-institutions than the old treaty was. If he be ginning. There is every sign that the French government merely bides its time to improve the unknown opportunities made for it. Whatever the Nor do we presume the Poles to have yet learned exact tenor of M. Guizot's protest-still actively their true position. Hitherto their agitations and disputed the discretion of French statesmen is evi- turbulences have been of a kind to command but dently constrained; the general impulse is to action. imperfect sympathies in Western Europe, and posIn Germany, the smaller states are much dissatis- sibly even to indicate that there wants some great fied with the arrogant nonchalance which the great man to know the times and shape the conduct of powers have shown in making arrangements that his countrymen for practical and attainable ends. override the treaty of Vienna; the great powers, of The Poles, as a body, have labored simply for the course, rely on their own brute strength; the restoration of ancient Poland. Now Poland, with smaller powers, possessing only an aggregate and its feudal constitution of society, would be a scheme more precarious force, rely on public law and faith, of politics which would command no respect in and naturally view with dismay and disgust the England. On the other hand, many exiles have great hornets' breach in the web of the law that fallen into the "democratic" circles of London holds all together. The King of Saxony is said and Paris; they are misled by their immediate not to be silent upon the offence. Italy has signal- friends as to the feelings of the countries in which ized the event by a curious outburst—a line of bon-they reside; and they contemplate schemes which fires in the Apennines, to commemorate, it is under-no European state-not even the "republics" of stood, the breach of a treaty on which mainly rests Switzerland or San Marino-could sanction. the heterogeneous empire of Austria. These incidents confirm our belief that the annexation of Cracow is not to be accounted a "fait accompli."Spect., 26 Dec. A PUBLIC meeting was held at the National Hall in Holborn, to consider the extinction of Poland. Dr. Bowring presided; he and Mr. William Howitt being the chief speakers. Resolutions were affirmed, expressing satisfaction that the treaty of Vienna was annulled, as that fact deprives the three powers of an appeal to treaty in support of their tyrannies; declaring the right of every country to choose its own government, and suggesting that an association be formed to promote national liberty and advancement by establishing a good intelligence among the people of all countries. THE VOCATION AND THE HOUR FOR POLAND.In spite of many things untoward in the aspect of affairs, there are grounds for hope-as the stars shine brighter in the darkest nights. France has declared that the treaty of Vienna, infringed by the northern powers, is annulled. It is contended in this country that France is wrong, for there are other powers to the treaty besides France and the northern powers. That might have been a conclusive answer had the "other powers" united with France to resist the infraction. But the British government has fixed the utmost extent to which England can go for the enforcement of the treaty if England only protests against its violation by one party, she cannot in justice use a more stringent mode of enforcement against another It does not follow that Poland's occupation is gone, or that she might not be restored to the map. All will depend upon her leaders' discovering what is their true vocation-what the time for them to move. For ages, Poland, with her highly military genius, bravely played the part of an advanced guard for Europe against the Goths of modern times a similar office awaits her, if she could regain her capacity for performing it. Poland, the "natural" antagonist of the great absolute powers of the north, could only retrieve her nationality with the aid of constitutional Europe: she must especially go along with her geographical neighbors in political advancement-must, to obtain that concurrence, satisfy the judgment of those who love freedom in Germany, Prussia, and Austria. When those countries are ripe for some great movement in the direction of self-emancipation, then will be the time for Poland to take the initiative. How is she to do so? Not, assuredly, by begging for help from other countries as a charity. The " poor Poles" who subsist on the leavings of Guildhall, or hang in expectation of a paragraph in the address of the French Chambers, will never be the men to set their country up again. Nations that would stand, must do so of themselves. Poland has been a great nation; she is now split into many parts. Her vindicators say that the spirit of nationality is unextinguished-undiminished. It may be so; but in that case the fact is susceptible of being demonstrated. It is a matter of fact, unascertained but not unascertainable, whether the several parts of the Polish race are capable of reunion and of united action. Still, if they do retain that capacity, |