patriots aspiring to be leaders are sufficient comment upon Italian nationality, and disprove but too forcibly the fitness of the people for either absolute" or "federal unity."

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We once more repeat, the existing state of Europe is hostile to the genius of Italy. Concentration of forces and centralisation of government are the tendency, as they constitute the power, of the European nationalities. Even revolutions which have commenced by threatening disorganisation, seem to end in this same result-concentration of power in one central focus. The centralisation of France in Paris is proverbial. Spain, on the completion of projected railways all converging upon the capital, will in like manner consolidate her government by uniting her forces in Madrid. Germany, after the revolutionary disunion of '48, in which each kingdom or duchy, breaking loose in popular revolt, demanded a local government, became at length subject to this same European law of concentration, each minor state marshalling itself either under the leadership of Prussia or of ber rival Austria. If to this existing European status-to this subordination of local authority in one central and controlling government-if to this power of concentrating forces on any given focus, we contrast the disunion of Italy either during past periods of liberty or existing times of servitude, we discover at once the cause of her irretrievable weakness. Even the geographical configuration of Italy, as seen upon the map of Europe, is hostile to centralisation either in civil government or military command. France, Spain, Prussia, even Austria, have each a central capital to which all minor cities are naturally subject, from which all roads of empire seem to radiate, and towards which all interests and forces tend. Italy, on the other hand, since the breakingup of the Roman Empire, has been severed into hostile states, each with its separate city Naples, Rome, Sienna, Florence, Pisa, Genoa, Turin, Milan, or Venice-as a distinct centre of action or agitation. This, we say, is not only a political fact, but in great measure a geographical result. The narrow peninsula of Italy is ren

VOL. LXXXV.-NO. DXXI.

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dered again still more narrow by the chain of the Apennines cutting it from north to south, dividing the land into innumerable plains and valleys, the abode of isolated peoples, each bounded and separated by mountain-barriers-thus, as we have said, severing Italy geographically as she has for centuries been disunited politically. It is obvious that a country thus distributed, we may even say thus scattered, cannot easily be concentrated. And not only for the centralisation of civil governments, but not less for the co-operation of military forces and operations, its position is manifestly most calamitous. An army, to escape from being cut or pent up among the Apennines, is in danger of rushing down precipitously into the sea. fresh danger here threatens. Hostile fleets commanding the coasts may almost dictate terms to the army on the land. The French, in possession of Civita Vecchia, are of course masters of Rome. In the same manner Livorno commands Florence; while Naples, Genoa, and Venice, washed by the waters of the Mediterranean, are directly open to sea-attack. A hostile naval force might indeed almost cut this narrow peninsula in two at any point, and thus harass an army both in front and rear. Thus the causes which, as we have seen, sever the national territory into sections, and disunite the people into parties, equally scatter the national army, and break up the military operations into mere guerilla warfare. It is not one capital but many which require guard and garrison— not one leader but many who trouble the camp with jealousy and aspire to command. Thus that petty rivalry, that distrust and suspicion, that conflict of divided interests, so unfavourable to united civil government, are absolutely fatal to military command and concentrated action. Many may deliberate or even legislate, but one head alone must execute and govern; and republics, whether federal or simple, may possibly possess virtue in intention; but in the executive, whether civil or military, they are proverbially fickle and infirm. All this were true even were Italy independent, governed by native princes

2 A

instead of by foreigners. It were true even if she possessed a national army instead of an army of occupation. But when Italian liberty is not merely to be preserved but actually acquired-when the task is not how to concentrate but how to create a national military force, and even a national party-these difficulties become fatally aggravated. They are indeed in their very nature so insuperable as to reduce all attempts for their removal, through revolution or conspiracy, into the recklessness and madness of a forlorn hope. The closing act of Orsini's life seems indeed to have been the last desperate effort of despair. From his youth he had ever conspired against government authority he had been thrown time after time into prison, sentenced to the galleys, his life forfeited, and at length he finds his cause so utterly hopeless, through legitimate revolution and revolt, that he makes a last desperate venture, which even an Italian patriot or assassin would find difficult to excuse - so hopeless, in fact, is the cause of Italian nationality and unity. Even Louis Napoleon, the newly self-constituted champion of Italian independence, in the pamphlet already quoted, dictates to his amanuensis as follows:

"In fact, revolutions produce enthusiasts, but seldom practised warriors, or a solid military organisation, or that immense matériel requisite to struggle with a great power like Austria. Italy alone could not defend her independence, unless capable of bringing 200,000 disciplined men into the field, of which 20,000 should be cavalry, 500 field-pieces and 200 siege-guns, which implies at least 50,000 draught-horses. This simple statement shows that it would require at least ten years of a strong and energetic govern; ment to produce such a military power." And yet will it be credited that in face of all these military difficulties, in spite of all the political and civil disunion and discord which we have seen is tearing the peninsula asunder-will it be believed, we say, that the Emperor in this same pamphlet has seen fit to espouse the cause of "federal unity?" In defiance of notorious facts he ventures to assert that "in Italy confederations seem to arise like the natural produce of the earth." We would venture to

ask, By what natural process is the schism now waging between the dark despotism of the Papacy and the enlightened liberty of Sardinia to be reconciled with a federation united in one common bond of aim and purpose? By what natural growth will Ferdinand, in the south, foster a federal union with the turbulent patriots in Milan? And even should France, in the cause of oppressed nationalities, march across the Alps the "two hundred thousand disciplined men" demanded for the war of liberation,by what natural process, we would ask, might the imperial regime of France found a confederation with the grateful patriots eager to fraternise with their brave deliverers? Too late might it then be discovered that the only unity remaining to Italy, the only "confederation" possible for now dissevered and discordant nationalities, must "arise like the natural produce," not "of the earth," but of that armed imperialism which in France herself has betrayed the hopes of liberty for the sake of that unity and centralisation of which despotism is proud to boast.

On reading the Napoleon pamphlet, we naturally ask why is so little mention found of that most deadly of Italian difficulties, the party of It is well known that in Italy exists systematic and reckless revolution? a secret and yet avowed party of miscalled patriots, but rather of unscrupulous murderers, who take Sicilian Vespers and the massacre of St Bartholomew for their historic models. It is well known that, to attain a national end which wise men look upon with misgiving, this same revolutionary party scruple not to employ means to which wicked men only can stoop; that to them innocence is no protection, widespread death and suffering no hindrance in their march to seize the blood-stained crown of liberty. Mob-riot, pillage by lazaroni, intoxicated debauch as a reward to hungry and needy adventurers, a universal orgie of the passions-these are the ministers of vengeance which the heralds of liberty would invoke and unloose. Accordingly we find that Mazzini and Orsini issued instructions for assassination of Austrian officers to eighty "Brothers" in Milan. "Organise,"

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they say, a company of death." Let eighty young men, robust and decided, "vow with a terrible oath;" "let them promise silence, prudence, dissimulation; manage to arm them with daggers." "Some safe man," the document proceedssome safe man amongst you should consecrate himself to study and observe the habitation of the general and of the principal officers, heads of the staff, commandant of the artillery, &c., and their habits especially at the hours when the greater part of the officers are thoughtlessly out, and the operation might happen simultaneously. Two or three important men should serve for each of these important officers." "When the Austrian army has lost its officers, it is lost." "The people should be cared for, maintained well, kept in good-humour." "It would suffice that the good part of the populace should be made aware that at one toll of the bell, or at any other concerted signal, they should go into the square with weapons of their trade or any others that they could procure. The Vespers completed, the eighty would become the insurrectionary staff." Why, we again ask, does the Emperor of the French forget the desperate and deadly designs of this republican party of revolution? We reply, for this one sufficient reason because he remembers but too well the Orsini attack made upon his own life in the streets of Paris. We believe, moreover, that he abstains from speaking openly of this revolutionary party, because his recently-assumed policy has for its express purpose, if not to propitiate the favour of this party, at least to mitigate its personal hostility. Orsini sought to assassinate the Emperor because his life and rule were deemed an insuperable impediment to Italian independence; and socalled Italian patriots, it is understood, have not ceased to plot his destruction as the surest means of accomplishing their designs. We

must say we think it rather hard upon a ruler, who, with many errors, has yet done great service to the cause of law and order, that he should thus be specially chosen as the victim of Italian patriots and assassins. We can well

understand why he should seek in the championship of Italian nationality a diversion of the dagger and the grenade from his own person to the lives of Austrian officers in Milan

as

more legitimate victims. Yet when this passing purpose shall have been answered, and when the ulterior question of the final adjustment of Italian complications must be met by constitutional reforms, then this same revolutionary party, which like bandits and malaria rise as the natural product of the soil, will once more threaten even their new deliverer with conspiracy and revolt. They plot against the constitution in Piedmont; we see that they are ready for assassination in Milan. And surely it cannot be forgotten that they stabbed in the open streets of Rome the Pope's minister Rossi, even as he was entering the chambers to propose further concessions to the people. Napoleon III. would soon find in Italy, as indeed had been already proved in France, that the established law of revolutions knows no exception; that the people, once clamorous for change, know no moderation; that their appetite, once pandered to, is satiated only by recurring excess; and that thus authority is subjected to successive catastrophes, power at length falls into the hands of the most desperate and worthless. To stay the downward career of such a course, history teaches but one remedy,-the iron hand of military rule. That such a remedy is within the reach of the man who boasts that he can send 600,000 soldiers into the field, who can question? And thus may fitly end the dreams of "Italian independence ;" and thus may well be vindicated the claims of the elect of France to the gratitude of Italian patriots.

In conclusion, we have adduced abundant reasons why our Government should give no support to a utopian war of independence. The nationality of Italy, we have seen, is but the baseless phantom of political romance. "Nationality," "Independence," Republicanism," are words not of deliverance, but of delusion. And thus Italy, for past centuries, and even to present times, has remained a dependent nation-dependent, because incapable of asserting or maintaining her individual existence.

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SOME years ago there was much reason for apprehending that the encyclopedists, in their frantic zeal for the diffusion of useful knowledge, would lay violent hands on the ancient and established literature of the nursery and schoolroom, and ruthlessly consign it to the fate which befell the Alexandrian library at the hands of Amrou, General of the Caliph Omar. Certainly it was not owing to any compunctious visitings of conscience or tender suggestions of mercy, that those heavy-headed, hard-hearted, and cold-blooded utilitarians did not succeed in making one general bonfire of the fairy tales and legends which have so long delighted the youth of Christendom, and which have contributed largely to the intellectual training of the greatest masters of poetry and romance. More cruel even than her own sisters, they thoroughly hated Cinderella-they could see no gallantry in the achievements of Jack, that renowned queller of the giantsthey demanded historical evidence for the authenticity of Valentine and Orson and, wilful and obstinate heathens, they even dared to enunciate a doubt that such a being as Tom Thumb had ever been swallowed by the red cow, or had sat in a horse's ear! We are not persecutors; but we frankly own that such frightful infidelity as this seemed to us to warrant the infliction, if not of the pile and gibbet, at least of the thumbkin and boot. It was the deliberate intention of those fiends in human shape to sow the seeds of scepticism in the cradle, and by making a heretic of the suckling, to develop atheism in the man. Most fortunately their base, insidious, and diabolical attempts were utterly defeated by the vigilance and high feeling of that meritorious class of persons who constitute the bodyguard of our infants. The whole regiment of nurses-let us also in justice say, of governantes-rose in

wild wrath at the first mention of the monstrous project, and drove the miscreants, compared with whom Tom Paine was an angel of light, and Voltaire an innocent cherub, from their premises, under a pelting shower of Babes' Enlighteners, Infantine Instructors, Child's Mental Philosophies, Boys' Mathematical Recreations, and Good Girls' Pretty Problems, which, with whole stacks of such pernicious stuff, had been manufactured expressly for the deterioration of the youthful mind. Well and bravely did the nurses do their duty by routing the enemy of infant-kind in that headlong charge, which more than any other event, we rejoice to say, has confirmed the faith of our youngsters in their favourite traditions; it being now currently believed throughout the nurseries, that some years ago the ogres of Britain attempted a general onslaught, with designs similar to those of King Herod, but were repulsed and slain by the nurses, under the leadership of that kind fairy (known to mortals by the name of Maga the Munificent), who has been the godmamma of so many princesses, and also has always been the guardian of good and confiding children.

We doubt whether the earth can afford, or the mind of man conceive, an enjoyment more exquisite than that which is afforded to the child by the recitation of a fairy tale. As years advance and the intellect becomes matured, our faith in marvels woefully diminishes. The mention of a giant, whilome so tremendous a phantom to the imagination, suggests no picture save that of a crazy, knock-kneed, lubberly animal of the human species, measuring some two yards and a half in altitude, and cooped up in a yellow caravan. When we saunter in the summer gloaming by a haunted hillock, we no longer expect to hear sweet sounds of subterranean music, or to see a smart little dwarf, with a three

cornered hat, start up from behind a stone, and offer us a draught of elfin home-brewed from a horn of gold and ivory. The only dwarfs that we know of are waspish little creatures, exhibited by way of contrast to the aforesaid giants, and usually associated with a sickly and dyspeptic alligator. But no such doubts, no such idle questionings or obtrusive realities, obscure the imagination of the child. For him, Beauty and the Beast are actual shapes-no dim allegories they! Sister Lizzie, now merging upon sweet sixteen, whose caresses are scarce less sweet than the sugar-candy which she buys for her dear little brother, is Beauty, as a matter of course; and Beast is a kind of composite of Triton the old Newfoundland, and Haco the Shetland pony. There sits-oh, bliss of blisses-most favoured of creation he-the Yellow Dwarf, in a great big orange-tree, doing positively nothing from morning to night save devouring the juicy St Michaels! Then there's that wondrous enchanted palace, with the thick hedge of thorns round it, the tops of the turrets only being visible above the screen, wherein, for a hundred years-oh, what a terrible long time!-has lain the bonnie princess in a deep sleep, with her cat, which is as like our own pussy as can be, lying curled up beside her. Won't little Billy, when he grows bigger, try to get into that palace? Sooner than you think, brave Billy, shall you achieve that adventure; for this very night, so soon as sweet sleep has breathed upon your eyelids, shall you burst through the barrier of thorns, thread the long corridor where the guards lie sleeping, and awaken both Pussy and Princess from their century of unbroken repose. Talk, forsooth, of the enjoyment which a man derives from the perusal of the Waverley novels! What is that compared with the beatific ecstasy of a child while listening to a fairy tale ?

We are aware that our excellent parochial pastor, Mr Gideon Kettledrummle, who is president of a society for the dissemination of infantine tracts under the specious name of Manna (a title which we must consider unfortunate, seeing that manna

is only known to children as an ingredient in the decoction of nauseous senna-tea), disapproves of such tales, on the ground that they are not true. That was precisely what Solon the grim old snuffy lawgiver of Athens said to Thespis the tragedian, abusing him for the propagation of what he deemed to be palpable falsehood. But we submit that there is a vast difference between the cases. Thespis might not believe in what he represented; but a good, or, rather, firstrate nurse, judiciously selected from a rural district where the popular mythology still lingers, believes quite as firmly in the existence of fairies as Kettledrummle does in the articles of the Westminster Confession. Nor let the reverend Gideon turn up his eyes in horror at the thought that so much degrading superstition yet lingers in the land. Can he aver that even he is quite free from all tinge of superstition? Would he venture, even for an additional chalder of stipend, to spend a night alone in that old dreary kirk of his, the window of which looks directly on the Witches' Knowe, whereon, about two hundred years ago, his predecessor, who assisted at the Westminster Assembly, saw with approval three old women committed to the flames? Not he. It is firmly believed throughout the parish that the ghosts of the three murdered crones prowl nightly round the kirk in search of the cruel minister through whose evidence they were condemned; and if they should chance to light upon his successor, who shall insure Kettledrummle against receiving, not only the punishment originally designed, but the enormous accumulated interest which has since accrued? He knows that legend, and would not personally attempt to ascertain its truth for any augmentation in the power of the Teind Court to allocate. Moreover, if he regards superstition as a thing positively sinful, why, we may ask, did he set down his name as a member of the Wodrow Society? Wodrow was a firm believer in all manner of ghosts, apparitions, signs, tokens, and spiritualities; therein lies the whole merit, excellence, and raciness of his works. If Mr Kettledrummle loathes and despises these