He slept quietly the night preceding the time fixed for his execution,

and was early ready to take his place in the sad procession. Did no

thought cross Hyppolito's clear mind, that he was throwing away, in

weak passion, a life given to him by God for noble ends? We know not;

but there he was--calm, firm, and serious. His only request was, that

the procession might pass through the street of the Bardi, which some

thought was a sign of penitence, an act of humiliation. The sad train

moves on. An old man sitting at a door rises, strains his eyes to

catch a last glimpse of Hyppolito, and then covers them in anguish,

and sinks down again. This is an old man he had saved from misery and

death. Two youths, hand-in-hand, are gazing with sad faces, and tears

run down their cheeks. They are orphans: he had clothed and fed them.

Hyppolito sees them, and even in that moment remembers it is he who

deprives them of a protector: but it is too late to think now; for he

is approaching the scene of his fault and the place of his punishment,

and other feelings swell in his heart. His brows are contracted; his

eyes bent on the house of the Bardi, as if they would pierce the stones

of its walls; and now they are cast down, as though he would raise them

no more on earth. But he starts, for he hears a loud shriek, a rushing,

and an opening of the crowd: they seem to be awed by something that

approaches. It is a woman, whose violent gestures defy opposition; she

looks like a maniac just escaped from her keepers; she has reached

Hyppolito; his fettered arms move as if they would receive her, but in

vain. She turns to the crowd, and some among them recognize the modest

and beautiful daughter of Bardi. She calls out: "He is innocent of

every crime but having loved me. To save me from shame, he has borne

all this disgrace. And he is going to death; but you can not kill him

now. I tell you he is guiltless; and if he dies, I die with him."

The people stand amazed. At last there is a shout: "It must be true! he

is innocent!" The execution is stopped til the truth is ascertained,

and Dianora's statement is fully confirmed. And who shall paint the

return from death to life of poor Hyppolito? and to such a life!

for blazoned as the story of her love had been, Dianora's parents,

considering also her firm character, subjected even the spirit of

party to the voice of affection and reason; and Hyppolito's family,

softened by sorrow, gladly embraced their Ghibelline daughter. Whether

in after-life Hyppolito and Dianora were distinguished by the qualities

they had shown in youth, and whether the promise of affection was

realized by time and intimate acquaintance, no chronicle remains

to tell. This short glimpse of both is all that is snatched from

oblivion--this alone stands out in bright relief, to show us they once

were; the rest is lost in the darkness of time.

The moment chosen by the artist is when Dianora rushes from her house

into the midst of the crowd, and reaches Hyppolito, surrounded by

priests and soldiers. It is easy to see to what a varied expression of

passion and action this point of the story gives rise.

A CURIOSITY IN NATURAL HISTORY.

The crustacean class of animals, of which the lobster, crab, and shrimp

are familiar examples, have this peculiarity of structure--that their

soft bodies are inclosed within a coat-of-mail formed of carbonate

and phosphate of lime. In fact, they carry their skeleton outside

their bodies, both for defense of the vital parts within, and for the

attachment of the muscles which move their limbs, and every part of

their frame. No warrior of old was ever more completely enveloped in

his hard coat-of-mail, with its jointed greaves and overlapping scales,

than is the lobster in its crustaceous covering; with this exception,

that the warrior could at pleasure unbuckle himself from his armor,

whereas the body and limbs of the crustacea are completely incased in

hollow cylinders, firmly and accurately jointed, from which there is

no such ready release. Now, as this shelly integument envelops them

from their earliest youth, and as it does not expand and grow, the

natural growth of the soft body beneath would be entirely prevented did

not nature supply a remedy of a very curious kind--the exuviation, or

periodical throwing off of the external crust, and the formation of a

larger shell-covering fitted for the increasing growth of the animal.

This is a circumstance which has long been familiar to naturalists,

and indeed the most ordinary observer must have often remarked in the

crabs and lobsters brought to table, appearances indicative of their

change of external coverings. In the back of the edible crab, may often

be noticed a red membrane lining the inner side of the shell, but so

loose as to be readily detached. Along the greater part of its course

this membrane has already assumed a half-crustaceous consistence, and

is just the preparatory process to the old shell being thrown off

by the animal. There is another curious circumstance which has also

been long known--that crabs and lobsters can renew lost limbs. Some

misconception, however, had existed regarding the manner in which this

was effected, until the observations of the late Sir John Dalyell have

thrown more accurate light upon the subject.

This most amiable and eminent zoologist, who was lost to science last

year, afforded a pleasing illustration of the solace and delight which

the pursuit of the study of nature yields to the diligent inquirer into

her mysteries. With a feeble constitution and frame of body, which

precluded his mingling in the more active pursuits of every day life,

this sedentary philosopher collected around him examples of minute and

curious being from the depths of the ocean, from lake and river, and

for many long years found the delight of his leisure hours in watching

the habits of the animals, and in discovering and describing many

singular circumstances in the constitution of their bodies, and the

peculiar adaptations of their structure and instincts to their modes

of existence. One of his last communications to the public, imparted

with all the modesty and simplicity of true genius, at the last meeting

of the British Association in Edinburgh, was on this subject of the

exuviation of the crustacea.

It appears from Sir John's observations that crustaceans begin to

throw off their shells at a very early period of their life, even in

that embryo state in which they first appear after having left the

egg, and before they have yet assumed that real form of their mature

state. During every successive exuviation in this embryo state they

assume more and more of their perfect and established form. While the

crab is young and rapidly growing, frequent exuviations take place at

short intervals, from three to five times in the course of one year.

Previous to the change, the animal almost ceases to feed, and becomes

rather inactive; the proper time having at length arrived, exuviation

is effected in the course of a few hours, body and limbs being alike

relieved from their hard covering. Until the new shell acquires

firmness and strength, the creature is very shy, and in the state

of nature, retires into cavities below rocks or heaps of protecting

sea-weed. Sir John had kept for some time one of our smaller species

of shore-crabs (_Carcinus monas_), of medium size, of a brown color,

with one white limb. One summer evening it was put outside the window

in a capacious glass-vessel of sea-water. In the morning a form exactly

resembling its own, only somewhat larger, lay in the vessel. This was

the same animal, which had performed exuviation, and extricated itself

from the old shell during the night. The resemblance between both

forms was complete--every thing was the same, even the white limb was

seen in both. Another specimen kept was of smaller size, the opposite

extremities of the limbs being only thirteen lines asunder; its color

was green, with three white patches on the back. In the course of

little more than a year five exuviations took place at irregular

intervals, the new shell and animal becoming larger each time. The

third shell came on uniformly green, the white spots being entirely

obliterated. On the fourth exuviation, the limbs expanded two inches

and a half. From the long slender form of the limbs of crustacea, they

are very liable to mutilation. Crabs are also a very pugnacious family,

and in their battles limbs are often snapped off. These mutilations,

however, are readily repaired; although, contrary to what was the

common belief, the restoration takes place only at the next regular

period of exuviation.

The full-grown common crab (_Cancer pagurus_) is of a reddish-brown

color, the claws tipped black; but some of the young are naturally of

the purest white, which remains long unsullied. This does not arise

from confinement, which, according to Sir John, has no influence on

color. "A young white specimen of the common crab was subjected to

observation on 29th September. The body might have been circumscribed

in a circle three-quarters of an inch in diameter, and the extended

limbs by one and a half inch in diameter. Its first exuviation ensued

on 8th November, the second on the 30th of April following, and the

shell then produced subsisted till 12th September, when another

exuviation took place, introducing a new shell of such transparent

white that the interior almost shone through it. All the shells were

white, and increased somewhat in size successively. This last shell of

12th September subsisted until 29th March, being 197 days, when it was

thrown off during another exuviation."

But what was remarkable, the animal now had only the two large claws,

the other eight limbs were deficient. "Resting on its breast as it

was, I did not at first discover the fact, that the creature presented

a strange and very uncouth aspect. However, it fed readily, and

proved very tame, though helpless; often falling on its back, and

not being able to recover itself from the deficiency of its limbs. I

preserved this mutilated object with uncommon care, watching it almost

incessantly day and night: expecting another exuviation which might

be attended with interesting consequences, I felt much anxiety for

its survivance. My solicitude was not vain. After the defective shell

had subsisted eighty-six days, its tenant meantime feeding readily,

the desired event took place in a new exuviation on 23d June. On this

occasion a new animal came forth, and in the highest perfection, quite

entire and symmetrical, with all the ten limbs peculiar to its race,

and of the purest and most beautiful white. I could not contemplate

such a specimen of nature's energies restoring perfection, and through

a process so extraordinary, without admiration. Something yet remained

to be established: was this perfection permanent, or was it only

temporary? Like its precursor, this specimen was quite tame, healthy

and vigorous. In 102 days it underwent exuviation, when it appeared

again, perfect as before, with a shell of snowy white, and little red

speckling on the limbs. Finally, its shell having subsisted 189 days,

was succeeded by another of equal beauty and perfection, the speckling

on the legs somewhat increased. As all the shells had gradually

augmented, so was this larger than the others. The extended limbs would

have occupied a circle of four inches diameter. About a month after

this exuviation the animal perished accidentally, having been two years

and eight months under examination. It was an interesting specimen,

extremely tame and tranquil, always coming to the side of the vessel as

I approached, and holding up its little claws as if supplicating food."

The shrimp when in confinement becomes very tame, and readily

exuviates. The process is frequent, the integument separates entire,

and is almost colorless. In female crustaceans the roe is placed

outside the shell to which it adheres. During the period of such

adherence, the female crab, so far as observation goes, does not change

its shell--a marked provision of nature to preserve the spawn.

We may remark that other classes of animals exuviate in a similar

manner to the crustaceans. Thus serpents throw off in entire masses

their scaly coverings, even a slough from the eyes; and various insects

in their larva state are continually throwing off and renewing their

skins.

FROM GOLD TO GRAY.

Golden curls, profusely shed

O'er the lovely childish head--

Sunshine, caught from summer skies,

Surely here entangled lies:

Tossing to the light winds free,

Radiant clusters, what are ye?

Types of Time that ripples now

In bright wavelets o'er the brow--

Of the hopes and feelings blest

Dancing in the guileless breast,

Beautiful in their unrest:

Sparkling joys and willing faith

Rising to love's lightest breath;--

Of the future, seeming fair,

That may darken with the hair.

What are ye, dark waving bands

That, beneath the maiden's hands,

Sweep around her graceful head?

Fold o'er fold of changeful shade

Touch the cheek's contrasted bloom

With the poetry of gloom.

Offerings for a lover's eye;

Emblems of Love's witchery,

Round her heart that richly lies--

Shadows, while it beautifies;

Keepsakes Love delights to give.

Did each friend one tress receive,

Every shining tress were lost,

For the maiden had a host.

Ay! but trouble, stories say,

Locks as rich hath worn away.

What of this? But _friends_ grew spare

As the scant and falling hair!

Wherefore send your pallid ray,

Streaks of cold, untimely gray,

Through the locks whose burnish'd hue

Hath but seen of years a few?

Autumn leaves on summer trees

Were less sorrowful than these.

Portions of life's travel-soil;

Footprints left by Grief and Toil;

Relics, too, of watchings late,

When one curl was too much weight

On the hot brows, bending o'er

Some grave book of ancient lore.

'Tis the mourning Nature wears

For the hopes of younger years;

And the scorching breath of care

Thus can fade the brightest hair.

Hail to thee, thou glistening snow!

Full of placid beauty, flow

O'er the furrowed brows that bear

Life's long story, written fair.

'Tis the white foam, cast aside

After Time's receding tide.

Yea, and pleasant types are ye

Of each moonlight memory;

Shining from his far-off prime

To the old man's evening time.

More--ye are reflections shed

From the heaven above his head;

Pale, but still assuring ray,

Of his nearly risen day.

Mortal! may thy hoary hair

E'en such glorious meaning bear,

That its silver threads may be

Messengers of light to thee!

Monthly Record of Current Events.

THE UNITED STATES.

The increased activity of political parties has to some extent supplied

the place of the usual interest in public affairs, though it has

added little to the record of the events of the month. The meeting of

the Democratic Convention for the nomination of candidates for the

Presidency and Vice Presidency, has been fixed for the 1st of June, at

Baltimore. A meeting of the Whig members of Congress was held at the

capital on the 20th of April, to make similar arrangements for the Whig

Convention. Senator Mangum, pursuant to a previous election, presided.

Resolutions were offered by Mr. Marshall of Kentucky, declaring that

the Whig party would maintain the finality of the Compromise Measures.

Mr. Stanley of N. C. objected that they were out of order, the meeting

having been called for the sole purpose of fixing a time and place

for the National Convention. The Chair sustained the objection, and

ruled the resolutions out of order. An appeal was taken, and after an

animated debate the decision of the Chair was sustained by a vote of

46 to 18. Ten of the Southern Whigs then withdrew. A resolution had

been previously adopted calling the National Convention at Baltimore,

on the 16th of June. The Southern Whigs who withdrew from the meeting

have since published an Address, in which they seek to vindicate their

course, on the ground that the decision of Senator Mangum was improper,

and that the action they took was necessary to the vindication of

Southern rights. They deny that they have any wish to divide or disturb

the Whig party, but assert that they can not sustain any candidate,

except with the distinct avowal that he is in favor of the Compromise

Measures. They express a hope that such ground will be taken at the

Whig National Convention.

The debates of Congress have been of considerable interest. In the

_Senate_ the resolutions on the subject of Non-intervention have been

further discussed, but no vote has been taken upon them. On the 5th

of April, Senator Mason of Va. spoke against any declaration upon

the subject by the Government of the United States, upon the ground

that it would be a violation of the policy of neutrality which the

country has always adopted and would tend to involve us in the wars

of Europe. On the 13th, Senator Bell spoke upon the subject--saying

that he attached very little importance to the resolutions, inasmuch

as in his judgment their adoption would have no effect upon European

affairs. But the present state of Europe involved considerations of

great importance in regard to the United States, and to these his

speech was wholly devoted. He referred to the condition of the several

countries of Europe, to show that absolute power has become more firmly

established than ever, and he ascribed this fact to the fears inspired

by the movements of Socialists and fanatical reformers. He thought

there was great reason to believe that when the Absolute powers of

Europe shall have firmly established their authority at home, they will

turn their united arms against the United States, and gave at length

his reasons for this apprehension. In any such contest he thought

England would become the enemy instead of the ally of this country. Any

new disturbance in Europe, he thought, would inevitably involve the

United States, as opportunities would be constantly sought to bring

them into the contest. The reception already give to Kossuth was as

marked an insult to Austria and Russia as one nation could possibly

give to another. From these various considerations, he urged the duty

of immediately putting our national defenses in such a condition as

should enable us to defy the hostility of the world. We ought at

once to attend to our financial system, to establish an overland

communication with the Pacific, to take measures to secure a revenue

in case of war and the consequent stoppage of foreign trade, to allay

all sectional strife, and to make very large additions to our military

marine. He expressed deep regret that while the future seemed so full

of danger, the whole attention of the country should be so absorbed

in the strife of contending parties. ---- On the 6th of April, a

petition was presented from Mr. Henry O'Reilley, asking the protection

of the Government, by the establishment of military posts, for the

establishment of a line of telegraph from the Mississippi to the

Pacific. Detached posts of twenty men, at points twenty miles apart,

would be quite sufficient. ---- A communication was also received from

the Secretary of the Navy, in reply to a resolution of the Senate,

stating that a reconnaissance of the Chinese Seas could be conducted

by the American vessels already in the service, at small expense,

and to the obvious promotion of important public interests. ---- An

amendment to the apportionment bill, fixing the number of members of

the House of Representatives at 234, in order to give California one

more member, was adopted in the Senate on the 8th, by a vote of 23 to

15. ---- On the 14th, a bill granting to the State of Ohio the unsold

and the unappropriated public lands within her limits, was ordered

to be engrossed, by a vote of 28 to 13. ---- On the 19th, Senator

Gwin introduced a bill to establish a monthly mail between Shanghai,

China, and San Francisco, by way of the Sandwich Islands. ---- A bill

which has excited a good deal of interest, making an appropriation of

five millions of dollars for the payment of French Spoliation claims,

was passed by a vote of 26 to 13. These claims have been pressed

upon the attention of Congress for many years. ---- A bill to supply

deficiencies in the appropriations for government service during the

last year, having been several days under consideration, Senator Seward

on the 27th, spoke in favor of inserting a clause granting further aid

to the Collins line of steamers between New York and Liverpool. Under

the existing contract with the Government these steamers are to make

twenty voyages, out and back, annually, for which they are to receive

$380,000--which is about $19,000 for each voyage. It is proposed to

increase the number of trips to 26, and the pay to $33,000 each. Mr.

Seward urged the passage of the bill mainly on the ground that the

maintenance of this line of steamers is essential to the retention

by the United States of the commercial supremacy they have already

gained. He gave somewhat in detail a sketch of the measures taken by

England to secure the control of the seas, and insisted upon the policy

of our continuing the effort to gain for ourselves our share of the

postal communication of the world, in which we have hitherto been so

successful. No vote upon the subject had been taken when our Record

closed.

In the _House of Representatives_ discussion has mainly turned upon

the partisan preparations for the Presidential election. On the 5th of

April, Mr. Jackson of Georgia called up a resolution he had offered a

fortnight before, upon the subject of the Compromise Measures. It was

as follows:

"_Resolved_, That we recognize the binding efficacy of the Compromises

of the Constitution--and we believe it to be the determination of the

people generally, as we hereby declare it to be ours individually,

to abide by such Compromises, and to sustain the laws necessary to

carry them out--the provision for the delivery of fugitive slaves,

and the act of the last Congress for that purpose, included; and that

we deprecate all further agitation of the questions growing out of

that act of the last Congress, known as the Compromise Act--and, of

questions generally connected with the institution of slavery, as

useless and dangerous."

To this resolution Mr. Hillyer, also of Georgia, offered the following

as an addition:

"_Resolved_, That the series of acts passed during the first session

of the thirty-first Congress, known as Compromises, are regarded as a

final adjustment, and a permanent settlement of the questions therein

embraced, and should be maintained and executed as such."

Upon the latter the vote stood, ayes 103, noes 74. The first resolution

was then also adopted by a vote of 101 to 74--divided as follows:

YEAS.

Northern Whigs 7 Northern Democrats 35

Southern Whigs 20 Southern Democrats 39

-- --

Whigs 27 Democrats 74

Total 101.

NAYS.

Northern Whigs 29 Northern Democrats 21

Southern Whigs 1 Southern Democrats 10

-- --

Whigs 30 Democrats 31

Free-Soilers 3 Total 64.

The bill in regard to naval discipline and the one giving a lot of

the public lands to each actual settler, have been debated from day

to day, but without result. Warm political discussions in regard to

Presidential platforms and candidates have been held, while the last

bill has been before the House, but they have been too exclusively of

personal and temporary interest to merit notice here.

The letter of instructions from the Secretary of State to Com. Aulick,

in regard to the Japanese Expedition, has been published. Mr. Webster

states that in the opinion of the government, steps should be at once

taken to enable our merchants to supply the last link in that great

chain of oceanic steam navigation which unites all the nations of the

world, by the establishment of a line of steamers between California

and China. To facilitate this endeavor, it is desirable that we

should obtain, from the Emperor of Japan permission to purchase from

his subjects supplies of coal which our steamers may require. The

interests of our commerce require that we should make one more effort

to obtain from the Japanese Emperor the right of thus purchasing,

"not the manufactures of his artisans, or the results of the toil of

his husbandmen--but a gift of Providence, deposited by the Creator

of all things, in the depth of the Japanese Islands, for the benefit

of the human family." Mr. Webster therefore incloses to Commodore

Aulick, a letter from the President to the Emperor, which he is to

carry to Jeddo, the capital of Japan, in his flag-ship, accompanied

by as many vessels under his command as may conveniently be employed

in the service. He is also to take with him a number of shipwrecked

Japanese sailors recently picked up at sea by an American bark, and to

deliver them over to the Emperor, with the assurance that the American

government will always treat with kindness, any of the natives of

Japan whom misfortune may bring to the shores of the United States,

and that it expects similar treatment of such of its own citizens as

may be driven on the coasts of Japan. The Commodore is instructed, if

possible, to secure one of the eastern ports of Niphon for purchasing

supplies of coal; but if this can not be done, it is suggested that the

government may be willing to transport the coal by their own vessels

to some neighboring island, whence it may be procured by the American

steamers. He is also to impress upon the authorities that the American

government has no power over the religion of its own citizens, and

that there is, therefore, no cause to apprehend that it will seek to

interfere with the religion of other countries. He is empowered to sign

a treaty of amity and commerce, and is advised to fix the period for

the exchange of ratifications at three years. The expedition promises

to be one of no inconsiderable interest and importance.

The New York Legislature adjourned on the 16th of April, after a

session of a hundred days, the limit of the term during which,

according to the Constitution, the members can draw pay for their

services. The most important act of the session was a bill confirming

the contracts made under the law of 1851, for the completion of the

State canals. Doubt had been thrown upon their validity from the fact

that they had not been formally approved by the Canal Board, although

they were made under its direction. This law obviates that objection.

Their validity is now contested on the ground that the law of 1851 is

unconstitutional. The question has been ably argued before the Court

of Appeals, but the decision has not yet been pronounced. ---- A bill

forbidding the sale of intoxicating drinks within the limits of the

State was lost in the Assembly, the vote standing yeas 45, nays 69.

A Whig Stale Convention in _Virginia_ was held at Richmond on the 19th

of April, at which resolutions were adopted endorsing the Compromise

measures, approving of the Administration of President Fillmore, and

expressing their preference for him as a candidate over all others

named--desiring an equitable division of the public lands among all the

States--sustaining a moderate protective tariff, and appropriations

for internal improvement, and declaring in favor of maintaining the

policy adopted by Washington for the guidance of our foreign relations.

Delegates were appointed from all the Districts to the Whig National

Convention.

A State Election was held in Connecticut during the month, which

resulted in the election of Seymour, Democrat, Governor, by a majority

of 459. He received 31,574 votes: Kendrick, Whig, 28,312; Scattering,

2803. In the Senate are 15 Democrats and 5 Whigs: in the House

the Democratic majority is 41. ---- In Rhode Island, the election

resulted in the success of Philip Allen, Democratic candidate, for

Governor, by about 400 majority: S. G. Arnold, Whig, has been chosen

Lieutenant-Governor. In the House there have been 41 Whigs and 28

Democrats elected; three vacancies to fill. In the Senate, 16 Whigs and

13 Democrats have been chosen, and there are two seats vacant.

Mr. WEBSTER has written a letter to G. A. Travenner, Esq., of Virginia,

in reply to inquiries as to the proceedings in Congress on the

resolution of Mr. Jackson, noticed under our Congressional summary.

Mr. Webster reiterates his own entire approbation of the Compromise

measures, as necessary and expedient, and of the Fugitive Slave Law, as

"entirely constitutional, highly proper, and absolutely essential to

the peace of the country." He thinks that the public mind, both North

and South, will eventually come right upon this subject, and does

not believe that further agitation can make any considerable progress

in the North. He had noticed with regret the proceedings in Congress

referred to, and in regard to them, he had only to say, "that gentlemen

may not think it necessary or proper that they should be called upon

to affirm by resolution that which is already the existing law of the

land." He did not believe that any positive movement, to repeal or

alter any or all the Compromise measures, would meet with any general

encouragement or support. At all events, he adds, "my own sentiments

remain, and are likely to remain, quite unchanged. I am in favor of

upholding the Constitution in the general, and all its particulars. I

am in favor of respecting its authority and obeying its injunctions;

and to the end of life shall do all in my power to fulfill, honestly

and faithfully, all its provisions. I look upon the Compromise measures

as a proper, fair, and final adjustment of the questions to which they

relate, and no re-agitation of those questions, no new opening of them,

will ever receive from me the least countenance or support, concurrence

or approval, at any time, or under any circumstances."

A meeting of the Whig members of the New York Legislature was held at

the capital on the 7th, at which resolutions were passed expressing

a preference for General Scott as Whig candidate for the Presidency,

by a vote of 50 yeas and 1 nay. ---- The birthday of Henry Clay was

celebrated by a public dinner at New York. Senator Jones of Tennessee

was present, and made the principal speech. ---- The Whigs of North

Carolina met in State Convention on the 19th of April, and adopted

resolutions expressing a decided preference for Mr. Fillmore as

candidate for the Presidency, but avowing their willingness to support

any nominee of the National Convention who was "beyond doubt in favor

of sustaining the Compromise measures." They also opposed the doctrine

of intervention, and disapproved the action of Congress by which so

large a portion of the public lands is given to new States, or to

railroad companies.

Very heavy floods have been experienced in various parts of the

country. At Pittsburgh, on the 19th of April, the water in the Ohio

began to rise, and on the 21st it had risen thirty feet--submerging a

large portion of the lower parts of the city and adjoining villages.

Seven lives were reported to have been lost, and property to the amount

of very nearly half a million of dollars had been destroyed. Great

damage was also done to the Chesapeake and Ohio canal. In Western

Virginia and Maryland, in parts of Ohio, and in Central Massachusetts,

there have been very extensive and destructive freshets. ---- The month

has been marked by numerous and disastrous steam-boat explosions and

casualties at sea. The steamer _Saluda_, bound for Council Bluffs,

burst her boilers at Lexington, Mo., on the 9th of April, and nearly

one hundred lives were lost. All her officers, except the first clerk

and mate, were killed; many of her passengers were Mormon emigrants,

on their way to the Great Salt Lake.--The _Glencoe_ burst two of

her boilers on the 2d, while attempting to effect a landing at St.

Louis, and being driven into the stream by the force of the explosion,

immediately took fire. The number of persons killed and missing was

sixty-five, and thirty-five more were severely wounded. She had just

arrived from New Orleans, and had about a hundred and fifty passengers

on board.--On the 3d, the steamer _Redstone_, from Madison, Indiana,

for Cincinnati, burst her boilers while backing out from a landing

near Carrollton. Ten or twelve persons were killed.--The steamer

_Independence_, from New Orleans, was wrecked on the bar of Matagorda

Bay on the 26th of March, with a loss of seven lives.--The steamer

_Prairie State_, at Pekin, Ill., on the 25th of March, collapsed her

flues while leaving the wharf, scalding and wounding some twenty

persons, mostly of the crew or deck passengers.--An English bark,

the _Josepha_, from Bristol, went ashore on the 19th of April, off

Provincetown, Mass., thirteen of her crew, with two persons who

attempted to go from the shore to their rescue, perished.--The

schooner _Trumlett_, of Nova Scotia, went ashore on Squam Beach, N.

J., on the 28th, three persons being drowned; and the schooner _San

Luis_ was wrecked on the same beach on the 21st, with the loss of all

on board.--This is a fearful list of disasters for a single month.

---- A letter from Mr. Clay has been published, stating that he had

given Governor Kossuth no cause of offense by his remarks at their

interview in Washington, and denying that the meeting could properly be

considered private or confidential.

Governor Kossuth has returned from his Southern tour, and, having

visited New Haven, Hartford, and Springfield, was at Boston at the date

of our Record. He had a public reception from the Legislature, and on

the 31st was honored by a Legislative banquet in Faneuil Hall. His

speeches have been devoted to an exposition of the duty of nations to

aid each other in their struggles for freedom, and to urging the claims

of Hungary upon the people of the United States.

JOHN YOUNG, ex-Governor of the State of New-York, died in this City

on the 30th of April, in his fiftieth year. He was born in Vermont in

1802, and removed to Livingston County, New York, while very young. He

was admitted to the bar in 1829, and was elected a Member of Assembly

in 1830. In 1849 he was elected Member of Congress, and in 1844 went

again to the Assembly, where he took a prominent part in promoting the

call of a Convention to revise the State Constitution. In 1846 he was

elected Governor, and was appointed to the office which he held at the

date of his death by President Taylor in 1849. He was a man of great

energy of character, of good intellectual faculties, and of amiable

disposition and manners. Hon. Luther Bradish has been appointed to

succeed him.

Professor B. B. EDWARDS, distinguished as a scholar and a divine,

died on the 26th of April at Athens, Georgia, whither he had gone

for his health. He was a native of Northampton, Mass., a graduate of

Amherst College and Andover Theological Seminary, and first became

known as Editor of the Quarterly Register and Biblical Repository. He

subsequently became Professor of Biblical Interpretation and Literature

at Andover, and conducted the Bibliotheca Sacra. He has also written

several works of marked merit upon religious topics, as well as

classical books intended for the use of students. He was a scholar of

large acquirements, a most estimable man and a devoted Christian.

Gen. SOLOMON VAN RENSSELAER, of New York, distinguished in the last war

with England, died at his residence near Albany on the 23d of April,

at the age of 78.--Hon. JAMES A. MERIWETHER, of Georgia, died at his

residence in that State on the 19th April. Although in the prime of

life, he had been a prominent man in the State, and had filled many

distinguished stations with credit to himself and honor to the State.

He had filled the several offices of State Legislator, Representative

in Congress, Judge of the Superior Court, and Speaker of the House of

Representatives of Georgia, in all of which he evinced a high order

of talent, and a zeal and energy of character which pre-eminently

distinguished him among his associates.--Rev. Dr. ELIJAH HEDDING, the

senior Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, died at Poughkeepsie,

after a long and painful illness. He has been distinguished for over

half a century for extensive learning, for great purity and simplicity

of character, and the fervent admiration which he inspired in all who

came within his influence.

From CALIFORNIA we have intelligence to the 5th of April. The aggregate

shipments of gold at San Francisco, from the 1st of January to the

1st of April, amounted to $7,710,932; and two or three millions more

were sent out in steamers of the 2d and 5th of April. The Legislature

was still in session. The bill allowing long contracts to be made

for Coolie labor from China, and for calling a Convention to revise

the State Constitution, were still pending. The prevalent floods

had entirely subsided, and spring had fully opened. Great activity

prevailed at the mines, and their returns continued to be large. New

discoveries were constantly made, and every thing promised a season of

remarkable success. It would be useless to attempt to give here any

detailed notice of the several locations at which rich deposits have

been recently found; but from the Nevada placers, the Southern mines,

on the Yuba and Feather rivers and their branches, and in the Sonora

region, the reports are all in the highest degree encouraging.--At San

Francisco matters were quiet, the threatened action of the Vigilance

Committee having thoroughly alarmed the rogues. At Mokelumne Hill a

Mexican named Eslava was executed for robbery, under sentence of the

Vigilance Committee. It is stated that great numbers of Chinese are

on their way to California, and that over three thousand were already

located in the country. They are industrious, peaceable, and generally

successful. The projected establishment of a line of steamers between

San Francisco and the coast of China can not fail to exert a most

important influence on the affairs of Eastern Asia. The gentlemen

attached to the Boundary Commission had left San Francisco for San

Diego, preparatory to starting across the plains by the way of the Gila

and the Rio Grande, with a view to the completion of their work. The

winter in California has been very severe, and business of all kinds

in the country districts has been obstructed by heavy falls of snow.

Further Indian difficulties have occurred on the Klamath river. An

Indian was shot at Happy Camp for stealing a knife, and, in revenge, a

miner who was supposed to have killed him, was shot by the Indians. The

whites soon after collected a large company, and on the 12th surrounded

all the Indian lodges at the Indian ferry, and shot all the men, with

several squaws, and destroyed the rancho. A similar scene occurred two

miles above. About thirty or forty Indians were killed.

SANDWICH ISLANDS.

We have news from Honolulu to the 13th of March. An act has been passed

by the Hawaiian Parliament admitting all flour, fish, coal, lumber,

staves and heading from the United States, into the Islands free of

all duty, provided the government of the United States will admit the

sugar, syrup, molasses, and coffee of the Hawaiian Kingdom into all

United States ports on the same terms. The volcano of Mauna Loa is

in a state of renewed activity. The eruption is described as one of

the finest ever witnessed. A jet of molten lava, a hundred feet in

diameter, is hurled five hundred feet into the air, and on falling,

sweeps its fiery course toward the sea. The stream has filled up

ravines, and swept away forests. The altitude of the present eruption

is about ten thousand feet above the level of the sea.

SOUTH AMERICA.

The news of the downfall of Rosas is fully confirmed, and the dethroned

despot had reached Great Britain. We have further details of the

decisive battle at Santos Lugares, which was far less bloody than

was originally represented. Rosas had collected in the intrenched

camp there about 20,000 men, of whom the great majority were entirely

inefficient, and none were under proper organization. The vanguard

composed of 5000 men under General Pacheco was dispersed and driven

back by Urquiza upon the intrenchments, and three days after, the whole

army of Urquiza offered battle in front of the fortifications. The two

armies were about equal in numbers--the attack being general throughout

the whole line, which extended over six miles. Rosas, finding that

there was very great disaffection among his own troops, seems to have

abandoned the contest at an early stage, and to have sought personal

safety in flight. He left the centre of his line, composed of picked

infantry and artillery, under the command of Chilavert, a deserter

from Urquiza's army, but a man of undaunted courage. This was the only

part of Rosas' army which maintained the fight. When it was routed,

Chilavert was taken prisoner and immediately shot as a deserter. The

news of the result had been received with unusual satisfaction. One of

the earliest acts of the new Government was to appoint new justices

of the peace, both for Buenos Ayres and for the country districts. A

general amnesty had been proclaimed. Decrees had been issued restoring

to their owners, houses and other property which Rosas had confiscated.

Passports, which Rosas had required for traveling from one part of

Buenos Ayres to another, had been abolished. The property of Rosas had

been declared to belong to the State. Public affairs wore an appearance

of encouraging tranquillity.

From ECUADOR we have news of the progress of the invading force under

Gen. Flores. He had reached the Island of Puna, in the river a few

miles below the city of Guayaquil, and had taken possession of it.

He had under his command a large man-of-war and three other vessels,

transports, for conveying his troops. He had anchored off the island,

waiting for expected reinforcements. The Government of Ecuador had

a force of about 4000, with which it was preparing to resist his

invasion. It had addressed a circular to all the representatives of

foreign powers, threatening to treat as pirates all who should aid

him. The pretext for his attack grows out of proceedings while he was

President of Ecuador, an office which he held for two years. He then

packed a convention, caused a new constitution to be adopted, and had

himself proclaimed President for eight years longer. These proceedings

caused a revolution which drove him out of the country, first making an

agreement with the leaders of the revolution that they should pay him

$70,000 and an annual salary, with military pensions for his officers,

as the condition of his leaving. The present Government does not feel

bound to fulfill these stipulations, and has refused to pay him his

salary. The ostensible object of his expedition is to enforce its

payment; but its success would of course place the government in his

hands. He has no party of adherents in the country. It is stated that

the American ship _Lyons_ had left Valparaiso with 350 men and large

supplies of ammunition to join him.

MEXICO.

The Tehuantepec treaty with the United States has been rejected

by the Mexican Congress. The details of this action, which can not

fail to be considered as highly important to this country, have not

reached us. ---- From the city of Mexico we have dates directly only

to the 5th of March. The embassadors of Great Britain, France, Spain,

and the United States have addressed a remonstrance to the Mexican

government against the unfairness of the custom-house regulations

in Mexico. The Mexican Secretary has replied, that the matter is

before Congress, and that it does not call for any interference on

the part of foreign ministers. Tuspan has been made a port of entry.

---- A contract has been entered into by the King of Belgium and the

Mexican Government, for transporting 50,000 Belgians to the interior

of Mexico, where they are to receive lands to settle on, or work for

Mexican landholders, on certain stipulated conditions. ---- A bill has

been introduced into Congress repealing the stringent laws concerning

foreigners, and imposing the penalty of banishment on any foreigner

who may be judicially convicted of taking part in any revolutionary

government, of having abused the liberty of the press, or of smuggling.

At present foreigners may be expelled simply on suspicion, and without

any judicial inquiry whatever. ---- A letter from Louis Napoleon,

announcing the change in the government of France, to his "great and

good friend," the President of the Mexican Republic, is published in

the Mexican papers. ---- Complaints are constantly made against the

Mexican authorities at Acapulco, of maltreatment of Americans, and

insults to the American flag. Great numbers of emigrants to California

have been driven into Acapulco by wreck and other causes, and they very

frequently come into conflict with the local officers. Two or three

instances are mentioned in which Americans have been imprisoned on the

most frivolous pretexts, and the remonstrances of the U. S. consul

treated with contempt.

GREAT BRITAIN.

The news of the month from England, as from all parts of Europe, is

unusually destitute of interest and importance. The new Ministers

resist every endeavor to elicit from them any definite information as

to the policy they intend to pursue. In the House of Commons repeated

attempts have been made to procure some declaration of the intentions

of Government upon the financial policy of the country, but without

effect. Ministers avow their readiness to go to the people, but upon

what issues they do not distinctly state. The Earl of Derby denies that

there is any more necessity for settling the corn question now than

there has been hitherto, but declares his readiness to meet it whenever

it shall come up. Lord Brougham has introduced a bill to shorten the

time within which Parliament may meet after a dissolution, fixing it

at not less than thirty-five nor more than fifty days. The general

expectation is that the dissolution will take place in July or August.

Preparations, meantime, are made in various parts of the kingdom, for

new elections, and no inconsiderable share of the public attention

is absorbed in the various movements which these respective events

involve. The new Ministers, who resigned their seats in Parliament

upon taking office, have all been re-elected without opposition by

their previous constituencies, except Lord Naas, who has been succeeded

in the county of Kildare by a stanch supporter of Free Trade. This

result might seem like an indication of popularity on the part of the

new Cabinet, but for the fact that eight of its members have been

re-elected by constituencies numbering in the aggregate only 4,804

electors, which is only a fifth of the number represented by Lord

John Russell, and an eighth of that represented by Mr. Cobden. In the

House of Lords, on the 12th, Lord Lyndhurst protested warmly against

the agitation which was carried on to force an early dissolution of

Parliament, as injurious to the country; and he took occasion to pledge

the new Ministry to carry out nearly all the measures of law reform of

which the late administration had given notice. His assurances on this

subject were pronounced satisfactory by Lord Brougham. On the 15th,

Lord Beaumont asked Lord Derby to declare distinctly whether it was,

or was not, the intention of the Government to recommend an alteration

of the present policy in regard to the importation of corn, at the

opening of the new Parliament. In reply, Lord Derby denied that there

was any greater necessity for the solution of the free-trade question

now than before the accession to power of the present Government.

He thought that the appeal to the people should be made as speedily

as was consistent with the great interests of the country, but said

that "neither taunts, nor calumnies, nor mortifications would induce

him to recommend a dissolution one moment sooner than he thought it

expedient." He denounced the operations of the anti-corn-law league,

and complained warmly of the attempts which recently had been made by

Lord John Russell to organize an opposition to his government, and

thus force a dissolution. He denied the right of Parliament to put,

and declined to answer categorical questions as to the precise future

course of the Government; but he would say that he would never attempt,

by a mere majority of votes, to force upon the country a measure

distasteful to the great body of the people. Similar questions in the

House of Commons have been met by similar answers from the Chancellor

of the Exchequer, and other members of the Government. Mr. Disraeli

announced the intention of Government to advise a dissolution so soon

as measures deemed necessary for the security of the country should

be passed. In a debate upon the Army Estimates, Lord John Russell

contended very earnestly that it was unconstitutional and entirely

unprecedented for a Government, which was notoriously in a minority in

the House of Commons, to set up a claim to administer the affairs of

the country for a period of many months, without any declaration of

its policy, and without bringing forward any of the measures it had

advocated while in opposition, and without an immediate appeal to the

country. Subsequently Lord John said that the declarations of Lord

Derby concerning the intended dissolution were so far satisfactory,

that he should make no further opposition to immediate action upon

necessary measures. ---- On the 5th of April, during an incidental

discussion on the Austrian dispatches concerning political refugees

in England, the Earl of Malmsbury declared that Great Britain would

continue to be an asylum for all exiles who wished to avail themselves

of it. In the Commons, a proposition to establish voting by ballot

was rejected--there being in its favor 89 votes, and against it 244.

On the 6th, in reply to inquiries, the Chancellor of the Exchequer

announced that Sir C. Hotham would immediately proceed to Rio Janeiro

on a mission, in connection with a French ambassador, to place the

commercial relations of France and England with the countries on the

River Plate, on a more satisfactory footing.--Parliament adjourned over

the Easter holidays until April 19th.

The usual Mansion House banquet, given on Easter Monday, was signalized

by a speech from Lord Derby, in which he urged the great importance

of the confidence of the country to any Ministry which hoped to

administer its affairs with success. Mr. F. Peel, on the 12th,

addressed a large meeting of the electors of Bury, in Lancashire, and

took occasion to insist very strongly on the necessity of resisting

to the utmost every attempt to restore high duties upon articles

which, enter largely into the consumption of the masses of the people.

Considerable importance has been attached to a declaration made by

Sir R. Inglis, the new Solicitor-General for Scotland, who said, in

a recent address to his constituents, that he was not prepared to

vote for any measure calculated to promote mere class interests, at

the expense of the general welfare of the country; and that while he

was "very sensible of the great pressure under which agriculture was

suffering, he was satisfied that the evil might be greatly lessened, if

not removed, without the necessity of reimposing a tax on the people's

food." ---- A most painful sensation has been produced by the wreck

of the steam troop-ship Birkenhead, on her way to the Cape of Good

Hope, on the night of the 26th of February, attended by an immense

loss of life. In order to save distance, the captain had run very

close in to shore; and at a few minutes past midnight, while running

eight and a half knots an hour, off Point Danger, the steamer struck

a sunken rock, which penetrated her bottom just aft the foremast, and

in less than half an hour the steamer had thoroughly gone to pieces.

Out of 638 persons on board, only 184 survived. The rush of water into

the ship was so sudden that most of the men were drowned in their

hammocks. The rest of the men were called upon deck, and marshaled

under their proper officers. The cutter was launched with the women

and children. The large boat in the centre of the ship could not be

got at. Very soon after, the ship broke in two in the middle, and two

or three hundred persons struggling upon drift wood in the water were

all that remained. They were then a mile or two from the shore--the

water between was full of sea-weed and sharks, and but few reached the

land. Nine officers and 349 men perished. The good order and discipline

maintained on board after the wreck are spoken of in the highest terms

of admiration. Just as the vessel was going down, the commander called

out for all that could swim to jump overboard and make for the boats.

Two or three of the officers urged them not to do so, as it would

inevitably swamp the boats, in which were the women and children: it

is added that only three made the attempt. ---- Strenuous efforts are

still made to prevent the Crystal Palace from being removed, but with

slight prospects of success. On the 3d of April it was thrown open for

a grand promenade, and was visited by over 80,000 people. A public

meeting was subsequently held to urge upon Parliament the propriety of

taking steps to preserve it. ---- The penny subscription for a monument

to Sir Robert Peel has been closed, and is found to have yielded over

£1737, which has been placed in the hands of trustees. ---- A good deal

of interest has been excited by the report that on the 20th of April,

1851, the captain, mate, and others on board the ship Renovation,

on her way from Shields to Quebec, saw _two vessels_ imbedded in a

large iceberg, about thirty miles from Cape Race, the southern point

of Newfoundland. The captain of the ship has not been heard from in

regard to it; but two or three persons distinctly testify to having

heard him relate the facts; while the mate, a sailor who was at the

helm, and a passenger on board, concur in saying that they saw the

ships. Mr. Simpson, the mate, examined them with a glass, and describes

them as having been three-masted ships, with their masts struck and

yards down, and all made snug. They were near each other--one upright,

and the other with a slight inclination. The captain was sick at the

time, and no pains were taken to examine the ships more closely. The

Admiralty has pursued its inquiries into the accuracy of the statement,

under the supposition that the vessels seen may have been the ships of

Sir John Franklin; but no reliable conclusion can as yet be formed upon

the subject. ---- A new and well-appointed searching Expedition, under

Captain Belcher, set out for the Arctic Seas on the 15th of April.

Very remarkable accounts reach England of the abundance of gold in

Australia. According to a careful return, compiled from reliable

sources, it is stated that from the 29th of September, the date of the

discovery of the gold field, to the 17th of December, there had been

taken out gold valued at £730,242. The papers report that the field

seems to be unlimited--the indications of gold extending over scores

of miles, and each new deposit apparently surpassing all others in

richness.

FRANCE.

The opening of the new Senate and Legislative body took place on the

29th of March. In his speech on that occasion the President briefly

rehearses the reasons which made his usurpation necessary, and cites

the readiness with which the people have submitted to a temporary

abridgment of their liberties as proof of their conviction that they

had been abused. He says, with regard to the rumors that he intends to

make himself Emperor, that he has had the opportunity to do so on three

occasions if he had been so disposed, and he refers to his forbearance

then as evidence of the falsehood of the reports. He declares that he

is firmly resolved to maintain the government in its present form,

unless the machinations of the disaffected shall compel him to claim

greater powers. He repeats his assurances of peace, and declares that

he will restore popular freedom and rights as rapidly as the security

of the country will permit. ---- The ceremony of opening the chambers

was brilliant and imposing. General Cavaignac refused to take his seat,

as he could not take the oath required. Previous to the opening of the

session the President issued a decree regulating the mode of doing

business in the Senate, Council of State, and the Legislative Corps. No

member of the latter can publish his speech without having obtained the

authority of the Assembly, and any unauthorized publication subjects

the offender to heavy fines. ---- It was generally supposed that

fixing the budget, or making appropriations for the civil list, for

the current year, would be left to the Legislature; but just before

the meeting of that body the President established this also by a

simple decree. The expenses of the year are estimated 1,503,398,861

francs--the receipts at 1,449,413,404. There are some extra resources

from the reduction of interest on the national debt, from the Paris and

Lyons railroad, and from the alienation of the national forests. The

salaries of the Ministers are to be 100,000 francs a year, except the

Minister of War and of Foreign Affairs, who will have each 130,000. The

President's civil list has been fixed at twelve millions. ---- On the

evening of April 4th, the highest judicial authorities of the state

attended at the Elysée to take the oaths prescribed by the Constitution

in presence of Louis Napoleon, who received them surrounded by his

Ministers. A complimentary speech was made to him on behalf of the

judges. In his reply the President used strong expressions concerning

the basis of his right to the office he holds. He said: "Since the

day on which the doctrine of the sovereignty of the people replaced

that of divine right, it may be affirmed with truth that no government

has been as legitimate as mine. In 1804, four millions of votes, in

proclaiming the power to be _hereditary in my family_, designated me as

heir to the empire. In 1848, nearly six millions called me to the head

of the Republic. In 1851 nearly eight millions maintained me there.

Consequently, in taking the oath to me, it is not merely to a man

that you swear to be faithful, but to a principle--to a cause--to the

national will itself." These expressions have been generally considered

as indicative of hereditary imperial pretensions, to be made good at

the earliest convenient opportunity. Public rumor, indeed, had assigned

the 5th of May, the occasion of a grand review of troops, as the day

when the Empire would be proclaimed. ---- A circular had been addressed

by the Minister of the Interior to the prefects of the departments,

concerning the organization of the new National Guard. Its chief

peculiarities are that the Government is to determine the exact number

of citizens which is to compose the service, and on what occasions they

are to be called out; and that they are to be selected (by a special

committee appointed by the Government in each district) from those

persons between the ages of 25 and 50, who are best known for their

devotedness to the cause of order, as understood by Louis Napoleon.

A decree has appeared reconstituting the University of France. In

accordance with its provisions MM. Michelet, Quinet, and Mickiewitz

are deprived of their professorships. Both MM. Michelet and Quinet had

been suspended by the Government of Louis Philippe, but it is only

since the decree of the 9th of March that the Government has the power

of depriving professors of their honorary rank. They are dismissed,

asserts the Government, for having abused their chairs to infuse

violent political sentiments into the minds of the rising youth, and

for having converted their lectures into violent Republican harangues.

---- The estates of Neuilly and Monceaux, formerly belonging to the

Orleans family, and confiscated to the state by the decree of January

22, have been taken possession of by the administration of the domain

of the state.

The Swiss question has received further elucidation. In our last

Record we gave the text of a French note dated January 24, and

demanding in peremptory terms the right of designating refugees in

Switzerland obnoxious to the French Government, and requiring their

immediate expulsion. The Paris _Debats_ publishes the reply of the

Swiss Government to this demand. It is dated the 9th of February, and

after declaring that the Swiss Government had hitherto exerted, and

would continue to exert all legal means at its disposal to suppress

or prevent all hostile movement among the refugees within its borders

against the peace of neighboring nations, it positively refuses to

accede to the demands of the French Minister to be allowed to point

out for instant expulsion from Switzerland such refugees as he in his

discretion might consider most dangerous to France. The honor and

independence of the Swiss Confederation permit no other answer to be

given to the French note. The law of nations sustains Switzerland in

the position taken, and from this position, declares the Council,

in conclusion, the threats of France will not avail to drive her.

The reply to this note has not been published; but it is generally

understood that the assurances which it contains of increased vigilance

against attempts among the refugees against the peace of other powers,

had been accepted as satisfactory.

EASTERN AND SOUTHERN EUROPE.

In AUSTRIA the sudden death of the Prime Minister, Prince

Schwarzenberg, which occurred from apoplexy on the 7th of April, is

the only event of interest during the month. The Prince was a man of

energy, ability, and political hardihood, and was the author of the

severe policy which Austria has lately pursued toward Hungary. He

is succeeded by Count Buol Schauenstein, who has been for some time

Austrian Minister in England. An official announcement has been made

by the Austrian Government that no change in policy will follow this

change of Ministry. ---- Count Batthyani's estates have been seized by

the High Court of Hungary.

In PRUSSIA public attention is largely absorbed in measures for relief

to the inhabitants of the eastern districts, who are suffering from

famine. The corn harvest and potato crop have almost entirely failed

in Eastern Prussia and Silesia. ---- The first Chamber has ratified

a resolution in favor of voting the supplies for the ordinary budget

of the State for a period of three years, instead of annually, as

at present. Another resolution enables the Chamber to discuss the

items of the budget, which now can only be accepted or rejected as a

whole. The Prince of Prussia congratulated a deputation from the first

Chamber upon their recent reactionary votes, and impressed on them the

necessity of increasing the army.

In SPAIN the summary dismissal of Gen. Concha as Captain-General

of Cuba, excites a good deal of interest. The Government has given

no reasons for the act. His brother declares that he had fallen a

victim to his desire to reform certain inveterate abuses in the

administration. General Caredo left Cadiz, March 20th, as his

successor. ---- Severe measures have been taken by the Government to

restrain the freedom of the press. Very heavy fines have been imposed

upon several journals for their strictures on the Government. ----

A squadron is to be fitted out to cruise in the Mediterranean as a

practical school for Spanish sailors.

In TURKEY Reshid Pascha has been reinstated as Prime Minister. His

dismissal was the result of a court intrigue, and did not indicate any

abandonment of the reform policy which he has established. ---- A new

tax has been decreed--not upon foreign imports, but upon the domestic

productions of the country. ---- Gen. Perczel, who distinguished

himself during the Hungarian war, and subsequently was detained in

Turkey, has left for the United States.

In GREECE a good deal of interest has been excited by the trial,

conviction, and banishment of Rev. Dr. King, who has been for several

years a zealous American Missionary at Athens. He was accused of

reproaching the established religion, tried by the Areopagus, and,

without being allowed to speak in his own defense, adjudged guilty. He

was allowed fourteen days to leave the country.

Editor's Table.

WHAT IS EDUCATION? On this question every man feels at home, and

we know not, therefore, why it may not be made the subject of

some brief remarks in our Editorial Table. The answers are almost

innumerable--education is useful knowledge--it is practical training

for all pursuits in life--it is culture--it is growth--it is

discipline--it is learning to think--it is learning to act--it is

_educing_ the statue from the block of marble--it is development--the

development of the mind--the development of the mind and body--the

development of the whole man, physically, mentally, morally--it is a

preparation for business, for success in life, for working out the

problem of humanity, &c., &c., &c. May we not find one term that will

embrace whatever of truth there is in these metaphors, and yet exclude

the error which may be regarded as attaching, more or less, to each one

of them. Perhaps the safest guide here to right thinking may be found

in following out that analogy which Providence has established between

our spiritual and our material organization. What is the highest good

of the body considered in itself, and without reference to any more

ultimate bearing upon the well-being of the soul. HEALTH, is at once

the answer. If man were all body (could such a case be conceivable),

that state or organization of it we call its _health_, would be the

highest end of human existence.

We need not stop to define this prime excellence or _well-being_ of

our corporeal organism. It is sufficient for our argument that there

is such a state, better than all others, and therefore most desirable.

The necessary assumption of the fact is enough to show the absurdity

of that view which would regard this state as a _means_ to bodily

utilities lower than itself, or to any thing else as an end which

is not the transcending good of the spirit. Why is bodily health

desirable? What is the measure of its value? Suppose the answer to

be--We want it, and we take care of it, as an excellent help to making

money, or to fit us for business, or in general, as a _means_ of

acquiring the _means_ for the gratification of those ends which are

not only lower than the good of health, but, in many cases, actually

destructive of it when attained. Would not the least reflecting mind be

struck with the absurdity. It is making that which is itself an _end_,

a _means_ to other things having all their value from their relation to

that very thing whose position is so irrationally reversed.

In how much higher a sense does the analogy hold good in respect to

our spiritual organization? Education, then, aims at the HEALTH OF

THE SOUL, the production of a _sound mind_. Without now going into

any analysis of that in which this health consists, it is enough for

us at present that there is such a state, most real as well as most

desirable. There is such a _sound mind_--a good thing in itself,

irrespective of any use to which it may be applied. The certainty of

its reality furnishes the true answer to our question, lifting it, at

once, above those views which would regard education solely as a means

to some other and lower thing than could be rationally included in this

essential idea of the spiritual hygieia.

Let us make clear our meaning by a well-known popular illustration.

The famous pugilists, Hyer and Sullivan, as we were told by the

Newspapers, went through a course of most careful training or

education of the body. Its appetites, its affections, its faculties

were all brought under proper regulation. They were made to practice

the strictest temperance, the nicest discrimination was employed in

respect to healthful and strengthening nourishment--in a word, the

utmost attention was paid to the development of their corporeal powers.

Now, had all this been for the promotion of the bodily health as an

end (even in itself considered), it would have commanded respect as a

noble, though not the noblest motive. But how are the reason and the

conscience both shocked at the thought, that all this seeming care of

the bodily well-being was intended only as a _means_ to the brutal

contests of the ring, and these a _means_ to the still more beastly

ends of the vile gamblers who had superintended this whole course of

corporeal education. Do we not feel, instinctively, that the lowest

intemperance is less degrading than such a use of the body and the

body's health? And why should not even a deeper condemnation be visited

on that kindred view which would regard the spiritual training in a

similar light--which would look upon the soul's education only, or

mainly, as subservient to what is called success in business, or the

ends of political ambition, oft-times as deeply defiled with the base

gambling spirit as any of the parties on the race course or the boxing

ground, or, in short, to any object which, though better than these has

no value in itself except as a means to that very thing which is so

degraded from its proper ultimate rank.

Let this then be our general answer to the question--What is education?

We would carry it through all departments, the nursery, the family,

the common school, the high school, the academy, the college, the

university. It is every where the _spirit's health_, as a good _per

se_, as something even higher, and better, and, therefore, more

desirable than happiness, or "pleasing sensations"--as, in fact, a

true end in itself, irrespective of any thing else to which it may

contribute any incidental aid or utility. Take away wholly this idea,

and its incidental benefits must ultimately perish. It will cease to be

useful, it will, in the end, cease to stimulate thought, or to call out

that enthusiasm which quickens invention, when it is degraded from the

high position that gives it all its truly useful power. Its intrinsic

beauty is the source of its utility, its dignity of its value, its

glory of its strength.

When we have settled what this health of the soul is, both

intellectually and morally, then whatever contributes to such an end is

education. Whatever tends to some other end is not education. It may be

very useful as a means of training to certain particular pursuits, but

it is not education. In any other use of the term we not only burst the

bounds of any practicable definition, but are estopped from denying the

claim of any other profession, trade, or business, to a like inclusion.

The true idea, then, of education is catholic, in distinction from

what is partial in human pursuit. It is that which pertains to man,

_as man_, in distinction from what belongs to him as a farmer, a

mechanic, a lawyer, an engineer, or a merchant. It embraces not the

trades, the businesses, but the _humanities_. Let the word be properly

qualified, and there is then no serious objection to applying it in

this partial and sectional way. We may thus have mercantile education,

mechanical education, professional education. To prevent confusion,

some other word would doubtless be better here, such as training, or

apprenticeship, but when we speak of education in general, and of

the schools in which it is to be obtained, the catholic idea must be

preserved, or all ideas are lost, and we are declaiming on a matter to

which there are no possible bounds except such as are imposed by each

man's arbitrary conception.

We may at some other time follow out this idea into some of its

particular modifications. At present, however, we would take it, in its

most general aspect, as the guiding thought in the exposition of some

of the more common fallacies. Tried by this test, all education is the

same in idea, the same in quality, and differing only in the quantity,

or the extent to which that idea is carried out. There is a unity

pervading all, from the common school to the university. The philology,

the mathematics, the belles-lettres, the philosophy of the one, are

the expansion of the grammar, the arithmetic, the reading lesson, the

catechism of the other. In the light of this thought we see at once the

hollowness of that declamation which would represent these departments

as opposed to each other--which would set forth the support of the one

as the peculiar duty of the State, while all aid given to the other is

denounced as aristocratic, impolitic, and unjust.

It is sometimes dangerous reasoning from a metaphor. It frequently

presents but one aspect of a truth, and the changing or inverting

that aspect may invert the whole argument built upon it. It is very

common, for example, to compare knowledge to heat. We lately read

what the speaker doubtless regarded as a very imposing argument,

grounded wholly upon such a simile. He was contending, with the

greatest moral courage, that our common schools should receive the most

liberal patronage of the State, while the colleges should be "left to

themselves." "Knowledge," says the undaunted advocate of this very

unpopular doctrine, "knowledge will no more descend than heat will

descend. If you wished to warm the lower stratum of air, would you heat

the upper stratum first? No, sir! Warm the lower stratum, and then you

can not keep the upper cold." We know not which to admire most here,

the science or the logic. A pretty good argument in favor of a higher

education for legislators might be deduced from it, but not in such

a way, perhaps, as the orator imagined. Knowledge then is heat. Heat

ascends. Ergo, the common schools are the foundation and, therefore,

keeping the stove well supplied below is certainly the best means of

warming the dummy above.

Admirably argued. But let us now change the metaphor. Knowledge is

_light_. This must strike most minds as being, to say the least, quite

as appropriate a simile as the other. Knowledge is light, and light

comes down. Its native seat is in the upper region. Where now is our

metaphorical argument? Turned upside down, and every inference pointed

like a battery against the very positions it was intended to support.

With the change of a very few terms all that follows becomes a parody

on the former meaning. "If you wish to _enlighten_ the lower stratum,

keep clear the atmosphere above, and thus will the colleges give the

common schools their clearest support. Take care of the former, and

they will take care of the latter," &c., &c. This is hardly better

than another argument, employed by the same reasoner in favor of what

he calls "practical knowledge." "Our five later Presidents," he says,

"were men who were never taught to chop logic _secundum artem_, nor to

play shuttlecock with abstractions in college halls." Now it is well

known that the four early Presidents who preceded them were not only

men of liberal education, but eminent for learning and the highest

mental culture. They _had_ learned to deal with abstractions, and to

reason _secundum artem_ in college halls. To which side of the scale

the real force of this argument inclines, we believe our intelligent

readers of all parties may well be trusted to decide.

If we must have a metaphor, the common school, we may say, is the

digging for the foundation, but not the foundation itself. It is the

gathering of some of the materials, but is neither the main, nor the

supporting part, of the great structure of national education. We have

no wish to underrate its importance--its very great importance--and

for this very reason do we attempt to expose those fallacies which, in

aiming at the depreciation of the higher, would infallibly injure the

lower and dependent interest. The best argument is simply an appeal

to facts. All this inane declamation flies at once before it. In what

States of our Union are common schools most flourishing? Precisely

those, we answer, in which the best support is given to the higher

institutions of learning. Who will venture to charge the Pilgrim

Fathers with anti-popular tendencies? and yet, in laying the foundation

of a system of national education, they began with the college. The

leading institution of the kind was founded before the birth of one

generation, and only eighteen years after they first broke the silence

of the wilderness. How much of that leaven of a _sound mind_ which has

characterized New England may be traced to this one source?

Again--let any thoughtful man look over the face of our own State

of New York. Millions and millions have been given for the cause of

popular education; and this is as it should be, as far as money is

concerned. But will such means alone secure the desired result? No

man at all acquainted with the facts can fail to see, that just in

proportion as there is to be found in any town or locality in our

State that higher intelligence which is the offspring of the higher

institutions of learning, there the common school has ever had its best

support, its best teachers, its most sound, and elevated, and healthful

system of instruction. From thence, too, have been sent forth in return

the best candidates for our colleges, or, to get up our metaphor again,

the best supplies for those distributing reservoirs, of whose light

and heat they had so liberally partaken. Wherever, on the other hand,

there has been no such leaven of a higher intelligence, the funds so

lavishly bestowed have left the common mind very much as they found it.

The stream has failed to rise above its fountain. Light has failed to

act contrary to its own law, in ascending out of darkness; and if there

has been any "_heat_," it has only been the fermentation of ignorance,

or of crude smatterings of knowledge, more mischievous, perhaps, than

ignorance itself. Any process, or public provision, by which our best

colleges (and by such we mean those which have the least lowered their

own standard in obedience to popular clamor) should be enabled to plant

each year one of its most intelligent graduates in every county in the

State, would do more to promote common school education than all the

money that has been thrown broadcast over the land for the past quarter

of a century.

Some seem to think that the only thing necessary is to distribute

money over a certain space, and the work is done. "The great object,"

says the authority we have quoted, "is to endow the masses with sound

minds and discriminating judgments." A most noble undertaking, truly!

But how is it to be done? Will the mere insertion of an item in the

supply-bill create this magical power? It is very plain to one who

thinks at all, that this "endowment of the masses with sound minds,

&c.," must be somehow under the management of those who already possess

"sound minds and discriminating intelligence," and this is something

far more than a knowledge barely on a level with the instruction

itself to be imparted within the walls of a district school. Something

higher, too, is required than Normal institutions, supplying candidates

more or less thoroughly instructed in the particular branches they

are to teach, and thus placing them just in advance of their future

pupils. No man is qualified to teach at all, unless his knowledge is

much beyond that range of science to which his actual teaching is

confined. There must be something higher than this--something more,

even, than an acquaintance with particular branches far transcending

that line. There must be an initiation, at least, into what we have

called the _science of sciences_--the knowledge of knowledges. All this

is necessary to make "_sound minds_ and discriminating judgments,"

capable of distinguishing in respect not only to the _quantity_

but the _quality_ of different kinds of knowledge--of determining

what truly enter into the idea of education, and what belong to the

partial, the sectional, or the ephemeral. Thus viewed as leavening

the community with minds of broad and liberal culture, the college

becomes not only the "foundation," but the elevator of the common

school. It is just such a class of minds as are now most, needed in

this country--a class of _thinkers_ in distinction from your men of

_action_, your noisy demagogues, your self-styled _practical men_,

of whom we have at present so great an overstock. We want a class of

minds who shall gradually create a philosophical and learned interest,

thus causing, if we may use here the language of political economy, a

steadily increasing demand for the article they represent--elevating

the profession of the teacher, and in this way the whole national mind,

to react again in a more liberal and fraternal support of all our

institutions, the highest as well as the lowest.

But our present editorial musings must be confined mainly to education

in connection with the common school. And here there is one application

of our leading thought on which we would briefly dwell. There are those

who might admit the general correctness of our principle, and yet

contend for some deviation from it in these primary departments. Here,

they would say, knowledge should be practical, predominantly physical,

mainly connected with the outer world, and those partial pursuits that

are afterward to occupy the active every-day life. The other view may

belong, more or less, to the college and the university; but this brief

period should not be wasted upon any thing except immediate practical

utilities. We can not think so. The question still remains--What is

the truest utility? and a proper settlement of this may lead to the

conclusion that education in the common school should be even more

catholic, in its idea, than that of the higher institutions. In some of

the later periods of the college course, there may be some propriety in

giving the studies a direction toward professional or partial pursuits.

In the earlier stages this can only be done at the expense of that

which is of far more value in itself, and which, if not then attained,

can never afterward be secured.

This thought is so practical that it is wonderful how it escapes the

notice of those who claim to be pre-eminently our practical men.

Professional knowledge, mechanical knowledge, almost any branch of

natural history, almost any modern language, may be obtained in after

life. One who has laid a good foundation may at any time stoop down

and pick them up when he has need of them. But there are other branches

(although we can not now stop to specify them) in respect to which

this is not the case. There is the knowledge, or the culture through

which all other knowledge is acquired. It is the knowledge which, to

a greater or less extent, is for all men, as men, for all ages, yea,

for all _worlds_ of rational beings. Each particular world in the

universe may be supposed to have its own botany, its own geology, its

own mineralogy, its own natural history; but a spiritual necessity,

a behest of the reason compels us to say, that in all worlds there

_must_ be the same logic, the same grammar or universal laws of

language, whether by sounds or signs, the same laws of thinking, the

same geometry, the same pure mathematics, the same ultimate rules of

taste, the same principles of art, the same elements of the beautiful,

the same æsthetic and moral philosophy. In other words, the good, the

beautiful, the true in themselves must be essentially the same for all

rational souls, and can not even be conceived of as having a diversity

for different parts of the universe.

Now, we contend that that is the most truly practical view of education

which makes this the pervading idea even for the common school. Any

youth of good ordinary intelligence may be made to understand its

practical application to what we have called the spirit's health;

and when once truly seen, this single idea may be of more practical

value in guiding and elevating all his after thinking, than all the

smattering of mineralogy, and zoology, and French, and agricultural

chemistry, and civil engineering, and phrenology, too, which are now

so much the rage. There are branches of natural science exceedingly

valuable, even in connection with that idea of education which we are

maintaining. We would underrate none of them when they can be pursued

as they ought to be. But this can only be in one of two ways. It must

be either _philosophically_, that is, in their seen connections with

every other department of thought--and here we have the ground on which

they would come into the general college course--or _scientifically_,

that is, as they are studied by those whose minds have been peculiarly

drawn to them, and from whom they exact the enthusiastic devotion of

a life. If neither can be done, it is the most really practical and

useful way to be content with giving, as empirical knowledge, those

_results_ which have been elaborated by the truly scientific, rather

than foolishly attempt to render each boy in our schools his own

chemist, his own botanist, and his own engineer, anymore than his own

clergyman, his own lawyer, or his own physician.

And here comes up a distinction proceeding directly from that wise

providential analogy of soul and body to which we first alluded. Our

bodily food maybe divided into two classes. One kind, besides pleasing

the palate, may be useful in giving a temporary refreshment, or a

temporary stimulus, which may be employed for various practical ends.

But this is all of it. It passes off, leaving the system as it was,

if not sometimes in a worse condition than it found it. Again, there

is other food which not only imparts vigor for a time, and for a

particular purpose, but actually enters into the physical system, and

becomes a part of it, constituting the elements of its growth, yea, of

its very life. So it is with knowledge. Some kinds lodge only in the

memory; they have their abode on the surface of the soul; they have

no inward hold. Hence they are easily effaced, and when their outward

scientific details are lost from the memory, they are lost entirely.

There are other kinds that not only become assimilated to, but enter

into the soul itself, into its very spiritual constitution. When the

outward facts are forgotten, they still remain. The soul has grown by

them, and out of them. In one sense it may be said to be made of them.

If there be good grounds for this, how important the distinction!

It is but little we can know at the utmost. It becomes, therefore,

even in the highest and widest education, a question of selection

and discrimination. How important, then, the choice in respect to

the shorter period of common school instruction. If this precious

season is so very brief, if so little can be learned, surely that

small _quantity_ should be of the choicest _quality_, and the highest

considerations connected with the soul, intellectual and moral health,

should be taken into the estimate of its nature and its value. In

making such estimate more regard should be had to what enters into the

future _thinking_, than to what will enter into the future _action_,

to the knowledge that assimilates itself to the very being of the soul

rather than to that which belongs to particular and ever-changing

circumstances. In other words, the preference should be given to that

instruction which forms the law of the thoughts, which refines the

taste, which elevates the affections, which gives a stock of ideas,

precious though small, and ever in demand as the spirit's daily food

amid the drudgery and worldliness of the coming life, rather than

to those outward facts of science which must be to a great extent

empirical for the brief primary school, and, in their best form for the

college or the university, have but little hold upon the inner life.

To make the practical application of this, let us suppose that two or

three years are all that can be given, in some places, to common-school

education. A part of this time is necessarily occupied with the very

elements of knowledge, reading, writing, and numbers. How shall we

best employ the residue? One plan is to give it up wholly to practical

knowledge, as it is called, or what is supposed to have an immediate

connection with the active business of life, although greatly

overrated even in this respect. Another would devote it to as good an

acquaintance as can be formed with the best things in the best English

classics--and this by a course of well-directed reading, or, as the

Greek boys were required to do in respect to their poets, by committing

largely to memory. It would be well if time could be given to both.

But this, we will suppose, can not be done, and we are to decide

between the rival claims. Can there be a doubt as to who is likely to

be the useful man, the healthy-souled man, the _sound_ man, in the

best sense of the terms? Can we doubt as to who will have the richest

store laid up for that future thinking and future feeling which is the

true life of the soul--the boy whose precious time has been given to

a little physiology, a little natural history, a little of that trash

which sometimes goes under the name of meteorology, all forgotten

as soon as learned, because never learned either philosophically or

scientifically--or he whose mind has been brought in as close communion

as possible with the richest, the most elevated, the most beautiful

thinking in English literature--with Milton, with Shakspeare, with

Young, with Addison, with Johnson, with Cowper, with Irving, with

Wordsworth, and, above all, that "well of English undefined," as well

as mine of thought unfathomable--The Holy Scriptures?

But we can not pursue this train of thought farther at present. At some

other period we may attempt to fill up these outline ideas with some

more particular and varied illustrations. We should like, especially,

to call attention to the subject of school-books for our primary

institutions. It may strike some as rather a humble theme, and yet

there are but few of higher practical importance.

Editor's Easy Chair.

If ever, in the chronicle of any year, the old Georgic averment of

"_semper imbres_" might be written truthfully, it certainly must belong

to that weeping April which made the middle of our slow-coming spring.

Forty days of rain were once reckoned a drowning punishment for a

sinning world; and if equal dampness is any test of our present

demerit, there was never a wickeder world than ours.

It is easy, in our office-chair, to talk humorsomely of the floods

which, since our last writing, have carried off the last white stains

of winter. But a bitterer truthfulness lies in the woes and losses that

the rains have showered upon thousands of the poor than we are wont to

take cognizance of.

It is a pretty thing to see--as we have seen--the mountain rivulets

growing white and angry, and swelling into great torrents that run

writhing around the heel of mossy rocks, and start the mouldering logs

that bridged them, into sharp-flung javelins that twist and dash along

the growing tide; and it is grand to see the lithe saplings that border

such maddened streamlet, dipping their sappy limbs, and struggling,

and torn away by the chafing waters; and it is like a poem--richer

than any tame pastoral--to listen to the rush and whirl bearing down

scathed tree-trunks, and mossy boulders, and loitering with a hissing

laziness in some spreading eddy at the foot of a mountain-slope: but it

is terrible, when the rush of a thousand such streams has doubled the

volume of a river, and drowned the sweet spring banks, and borne off

struggling flocks, and rose to the level of firesides--deluging gardens

and families--spreading through the streets of a town like a reeling

monster of a thousand heads, lifting its yellow ghastliness into

chambers, and rocking from their foundations rural homes, and swaying

the topmost limbs of fruit trees that shadow the roof.

All this, it has been our lot, once in our life to see;--when panic

seized the strongest-minded, and fathers crowded their crying

households into tottering skiffs that went rocking and doubtful over

the swift eddies among bent forest trees--bearing within them the poor

remnant of the husbandman's estate. And just such scenes, if report

speak true, have startled the men and women of Western Pennsylvania,

and have made this year of 1852 a sad epoch in their history.

But we turn from this gladly to the bursting summer, which, with

Minerva's suddenness, has leaped from the cleft skull of winter. In a

week the flower-trees have put on bloom, and the grass caught its cloak

of greenness. Why is it, that thus far we have no Virgil, or no prose

pastoral to tell of the wondrous things which adorn the American spring

and summer? If quick and gorgeous contrasts be any item in the sum of

what makes up the beauty of a country, we have no rivals in the world;

and we can show the gorgeous glassiness of ice, as wondrous in its

adornments as are the silvan graces of our prairie wood. The time will

come, by-and-by when the ocean-crossing shall be a matter counted by

hours instead of days, when the searchers after the wonderful will gaze

upon the ice-beauties of Niagara as they now feast on its summer.

Schaffhausen, and Handel, and Terni, and the Clyde never wear those

crystal robes and trimmings which deck, bridally, the bass-toned pipes

of our great organ of Erie. The gush and the flow of sparkling water

are all that lend grandeur or beauty to the great cataracts of Europe.

And if summertime do not steep them in warm mists that catch the

sunshine in "bounteous colors three," the autumn only hangs heavy and

cold--spitting catarrhal spray, and no winter is keen enough to set the

edge of the torrents in sharpened icicles, and to sheet the near-lying

wood with silver.

But Niagara--in such winter as has hung its lengthened pall upon our

hoping hearts--dresses itself bridally; the rocks, loosened from the

base, are sheathed in pearly casements, that rise with every morning's

light, and comb over right and left, and climb in the very eye of the

waters--breasting the spray, that clings ever, with new-added pearls,

and cumulates into a mounded miracle of beauty.

The near trees, too, catch the dampened air, day after day, and wear

it in fleecy vestments, that bow them down, till their limbs touch the

icy ground, and the visitor roams in fairy bowers of ice, and looks

upon the spanning bow from the interstices of a crystal forest. Far

away along shore the dripping boughs wear silvery coats, and glisten in

the January sun, like trees of glass. The eddies below whirl crashing

fragments, that come over the sounding precipice, like atoms playing

in the sunbeams; the foam plays round the ice-cakes, like whipt cream

around transparent jellies; and the blue of the unfathomed depths

gleams to the light, like a sky, relieving the sparkle of a starry

"milky way."

Beyond this, streaming from bank to bank, like the gossamer web,

which a dewy morning of June shows--stretching from grass-tip to

grass-tip--the wire bridge spans the fretted chasm, and shakes, as

summer webs shake, in the growing breath of a summer's day.

Nor is foliage wanting; for firs, green as those of Norway, lie black

against the carpeting snows, and black against the light clouds that

the spray drifts along the wintry sky. And from amid the iciness, and

the clearness, and the silvered woods the roar raises its organ-notes,

pealing through the ice-haunted boughs, and dying upon the stillness of

winter!

But we are forgetting ourselves and our season. The violets are up and

fragrant; the butter-cups are lying golden upon the hills, where we may

not go; and the sweet haze of summer is stretching toward us from the

country its alluring spell. Happy the man who can cast off the city

dust, and loiter by pleasant streams with books of old rhyme, or with

rod and angle! A murrain on those who laugh at such enjoyment as this;

and who cluster their withered comforts, from year's end to year's end,

within the close-pent alleys of our city!

And this mood of speech, into which the soft sun slanting upon our

window has decoyed us easily, tempts us to lift a pleading voice, once

more, for that park and wood, which seems to drift before our scheming

lawgivers like a good thing--never to be caught. If only, when this

Easy-Chair-writing were done, we could wear the hope of a stroll under

trees, where country silence reigned, and where wayside flowers lifted

their mild eyes, to wean us from the perplexities of toil, with what

richer relish would we not pursue our task; and with what heartier

prayer would we not thank God for our daily walk--as for our "daily

bread!"

Look to it, you scheming rulers of our city, that you do not worry

tender-heartedness into city hardness, and cramp, by your misplaced

economy, the better instincts of our nature, into that careless and

wiry spirit, which acts without love, and which works without feeling.

That charity which honors wealth can find no better play than in

spreading before the eyes, and the weakened feet of the poor, those

paths of greenness, which bless with Heaven's own refreshment.

* * * * *

Two arrivals of the spring are in people's mouths--Kossuth and Jenny

Lind Goldschmidt.

KOSSUTH comes pleading with his old eloquence, not a whit diminished

by the labors of his long journeyings, and even sharpened by the

approaching farewell into a more plaintive earnestness. Reformers of

every creed would do well to study, and emulate the sincerity and

fervor with which he presses his claims. The same devotion, and the

same tongue--tuned to such harmony as belongs to this extraordinary

Hungarian, would carry triumphantly to their issues a hundred halting

causes of philanthropy, and of Christian endeavor.

It is not our province to speak of the weight of the Hungarian claim,

or to rebuke or foster the spirit which his ardor must enkindle. Only

be it said--in our easy way--that whatever national action may be, as

a government, national sympathy will lie largely on the side of such

struggling nation; and the redemption of Hungary from Austrian bonds

would be welcomed with such heartfelt greeting, as no other nation

would bestow.

But, as we have hinted in our former careless _on dits_, sympathy

is but a flimsy weapon to parry bayonet thrusts; and the destiny of

suffering European nations lies more nearly (under Providence) in their

own resolve, and steadfastness, and manly growth, than in the pleas of

demagogues, or the contributed thousands of well-wishing Americans.

As for JENNY--(we write before her farewell song is sung)--she will

have a grouping at her bridal concert, that may well add to her bridal

joy. But we warn the fortunate bridegroom that he will meet critical

and captious gazers; and that the world which has so long cherished

his Jenny, as a bride of its own, will not give up its claim without

a sparkling of jealousy. Let him wear his honor modestly, or he will

kindle these sparkles into a blaze of burning rebuke.

Poor Jenny!--that she should have gone the way of all the world, is not

a little saddening! That her angel habit of song and charity should not

have lifted her forever into a sphere, above the weaknesses of human

attachments, may point the moral of a ditty! The issue only shows how

human are the best; and that life, however lorded over by triumphant

souls, yet drags us down to the bonds of that frail mortality, which

lives and thrives by propping on mortality as frail as we, and which in

its best estate is strong--not alone of ourselves--but through the aids

and sympathies of others!

* * * * *

As usual at this season, the talk of the town is running upon the

prospective enjoyments of the summer. And it is not a little curious

to note, how, as the means of communication multiply and extend, our

summer rambles take in a wider and wider circumference.

Years ago, and a sight of those mountain glories, which in grim

stateliness, and darkened shadows, frown upon the Hudson, was the

limit of a summer jaunt. But now, even a trip beyond the Alleghenies

is not a thing of moment; and there are families who plot a season's

festivity upon the upper Mississippi.

Indeed, if beauty of scenery is the attracting cause, we know of

no more glowing outline of shore and mountain than hems the summer

traveler, over the Alleghenies and along the rich wooded banks of the

Ohio. Western Pennsylvania, with its Juniata, and its heavy-forested

mountains, has no rival in the world of silvan beauty. The heights are

sharp, and bold; the torrents are foamy, and wreathed into combing

waterfalls, that drip, to the eye, through bowers of green. You see

below you tops of woods, and forests that seem bandlets of shrubbery,

and great rivers that are ribbons of silver. You see around you

climbing heights, in all the sullenness of undisturbed nature--rich

with every tree that grows, and echoing the shrill sounds of wild

birds, and catching, with four-fold echoes, the sharp whistle of your

groaning and puffing engine. You run along the edge of cliffs, with a

nearness and a speed that would shock you to fear, did not the amazing

grandeur sublime all sense of danger, and hand over your admiring sense

into the guardianship of that Providence which rears the mountains, and

plumbs the depths.

And when the mountains are past, there is no low-lying fat Bedford

level, to fatigue the eye; but the country is rounded into sweeping,

irregular hillocks of green, whose sides are hoary with old wood, or

verdant with the richest of springing grain crops. And in the bosoms of

such hills, where the flow of water finds outlet, bright brooks silver

the rounded mountains, and cover the earth into fragmentary lapses of

meadow that tax the mower with the luxuriance of their grasses.

If the reader has ever loitered among the green hill-slopes of Northern

Devonshire, he may form therefrom a just, though a miniature idea of

those green billows of land, which drop the Allegheny heights to the

borders of the Ohio.

And as for that far-western stream, which the French called, with a

fitness of calling which we rarely cherish, _la belle rivière_--its

banks are all a wonder, and its islands floating wonders. The time is

not far away when the loiterers of the civilized world who have not

drank in the beauties that hedge the Ohio banks, and mirror themselves

in the placid Ohio water, will be behind their profession.

The Rhine and the Hudson have each their beauties; and so has Lake

George, with its black mountain lying gaunt upon the water: but

the Ohio, with its bordering hills, fat and fertile to their very

summits--various in outline as are summer shadows--and with its rich

drooping foliage, touching the water, and its islands seeming to float

in the stillness--and its bordering towns of modest houses sprinkling

the banks and dotting the alluvial edge, and all mirrored, as clearly

as your face in your morning glass, upon the bright steel surface that

shines through a thousand miles of country--is worthy of as honorable

mention as any river that flows.

We see, in no very distant future, the time when Pittsburgh packets

will show companies of pleasure-seekers, who will luxuriate in the

picturesqueness of the Kentucky and Ohio shores, as they now luxuriate

along the Hudson or the Rhine.

The time is coming, too--gliding now upon our clairvoyant vision, as

we sit in our office solitude--when legends of early war, and Indian

chieftain, and poor Blennerhasset, and border settlements, shall spring

up under artist pen, and crown the graceful mountains, that swoop

right and left from the Ohio voyager, with charming historic beauty.

* * * * *

We have forgotten thus far that foreign chit-chat which has usually

fallen under our pen. Yet, with what spirit, can we speak of foreign

gayety when the scheming tyrant of the day is forcing even festivity

under the prick of his army bayonets, and winning willingness to his

power, by debauching thought, and making joy drunk with lewdness?

The honest American is no way bound to keep temper with such action

as assails the principles he holds most dear--least of all at the

hands of a man who gains his force by no poor right of prescription or

inheritance, but only by usurpation.

Belgium, they tell us, is full of runaways from the autocrat of the

army; and a poor exiled gayety makes glad the hearts of thousands of

refugees.

Among these, in this day of proscription, is the man of a hundred

romances--Alexandre Dumas. Busy, as in the old time, he now gleans from

the outcasts around him, the material for his versatile pen.

Madame Hugo, he tells us, has latterly contrived a scheme for the

relief of the neediest of suffering exiles, which does equal honor to

her heart and to her cleverness. It was nothing more than the sale of

valuable autographs, which were furnished at the mere cost of a few

pen-strokes by well-wishers to the scheme.

Dumas tells us that the collection was most rich, not consisting merely

of simple names, but such bits of thought added, as seemed to belong to

the occasion, and as gave value to the writing. It is, we believe, the

first instance on record where the barbarous hunt for autographs has

been turned to a profitable and charitable account.

We hope the hint will not be lost upon the benevolent intentioned of

our own city; and when next some Hague-street catastrophe shall call

for deeds of kindness, let those whose "handwriting" is worth a dime,

contribute their mite to the hospitable fund.

Who would not bid high for some kind and sympathetic expression in

the ink, and from the pen of Henry Clay? What up-town lady, spending

her eagles for Peyser's crewels, would not willingly transmute a few

of them for the purchase of some benevolent thought, set down in the

ink-lines of an Irving or a Bryant? At least, the hint is worthy of

consideration, and we dash it down for what it may count.

* * * * *

DUMAS always finds incident, let him go where he will; and it was to

record something of the sort, that he has introduced his mention of

Madame Hugo's autograph lottery. The assemblage, he says, was the

gayest possible; the distinguished men of Belgium, of France, and of

England, honored the occasion.

But, continues our romancer (and we only hope to catch an outline of

his story), I was compelled to leave the charming scene at an early

hour. The night was stormy, the streets wet, and the sky dismally

dark. I congratulated myself on having secured a cabriolet--a thing,

by-the-by, which I always do. Every cabman of Paris knows me; every

cabman of Brussels _will_ know me shortly. (By way of parenthesis, we

must interpolate the fear, that the cabmen may possibly know Dumas as

a bad paymaster.)