the language of their grand-aunts and grandmothers, but not for getting up a spurious Scotch, to affront these helpless champions in their tombs. On the contrary, we hold it the bounden duty of all who love that terse, reticent, and expressive tongue, to set their faces against the apparently prevailing notion, that to cut off the terminations of words generally, and to say a' instead of all, is enough to make a bit of English writing, prose or verse, do duty as Scotch. Perhaps the special characteristics of our mother-speech are ebbing back into the common sea of that broad composite tongue called English, which on both sides of the Tweed, and with all manner of contributions, solemn deposits of the antique Rome, waves of Norse and French, and chance torrents from the Celtic mountains, we have been labouring at for ages; but if it is and must be so, let us not make a calamity of that natural event by a mockery of independent language. Nothing can be more striking than the entirely spontaneous, natural, and unconstrained individuality of the Scotland which Dean Ramsay lights up once more to our sympathies and recollections. Nothing less than these great primitive qualities can suffice to identify, after such a fashion, the passing ages. Life and manners which are not spontaneous, which are modelled after something else, and shaped to a pattern, are of little good in this world. When such imitations prevail, the time of their ascendancy takes its place as a ghostly interval between the firmer and more noble chapters of history. This is the temptation of our own time, which, so far as ourselves can see, has everything but the one precious gift of individual character. How real, how living, are our old fathers and mothers in their old Scotland yonder, so much poorer a Scotland than it is in our days! We cannot imitate them; but the only way to preserve the distinct character of our country, as of every other, lies in the truth, reality, and spontaneous nature of individual life. DOMITIAN AND THE TURBOT. FROM THE FOURTH SATIRE OF JUVENAL. [Every scholar will at once see that these lines pretend neither to be a literal translation, nor an imitation of the original. The author has endeavoured to abridge the story, preserving only those points which seem to be of general interest.] WHEN the Flavian tiger the nations was rending, And the Romans before the "bald Nero" were bending, A wonderful size of a turbot one day In a fisherman's nets at Ancona there lay; And the owner, amazed at the bulk of the fish, To the Emperor's table devoted the dish. VOL. LXXXVII.—NO. DXXXVI. 3 B But it needs not; their efforts the fisherman spared; On his journey to Court, though 'twas winter, he fared' With such haste, you'd have thought that the weather was broiling. And the turbot in imminent danger of spoiling. The two row arrive at the wide palace-gates, The crowd stands admiring each scale and each fin: And do thou then thy part, for the banquet prepare ; Do you ask what the fisherman got for his booty? The proud satisfaction of doing his duty. But, alas! how shortsighted a creature is man!— They come with their visages lengthened and pale, The turbot itself on the table is set, And now round the board all the Council are met; Catullus the blind. That his words might be true, Veiento breaks in on their commonplace tattle, For matter of praise he had ransacked so well, But the spot of its birth, with the date of the same, "But enough now of praise; let the point be decided; For want of a dish, must the fish be divided?" And Montanus burst out with a vehement motion, For the blood of the senator boiled at the notion, "I'll ne'er see in silence, while I have a tongue, The Turbot enduring so flagrant a wrong; It matters not, Sire, what expense you may go to, Let the workmen get ready their wheel and their clay, And in case such another fish Fortune should send you, The thoughts and the words both were worthy the man, And the councillors voted nem. con, for the pan. When the point had been settled they rose to depart, UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE IN SAVOY AND NICE. "This is understood: Private injustice may be general good, But he who gains by base and armed wrong, Is stript from a convicted thief, and he Left in the nakedness of infamy.'-SHELLEY'S Fragments. THE annexation of the provinces of Savoy and Nice to France may now be regarded as a fait accompli. The only act still required to confirm it is the ratification of the Treaty of the 24th March by the Turin Parliament. This will in all probability be obtained as soon as possible after the meeting of the Chambers. For the moment, then, the Imperial policy has triumphed, and the select coterie at the Tuileries may rest for a while and complacently regard the effect produced upon Europe generally, prior to forming new combinations. The materials are perhaps not so promising as might have been expected -still the hand is not a bad one, and contains some trump cards. There is Russia indifferent but friendly, Italy enslaved and prostrate, Prussia sullen and suspicious, Austria outraged and impotent, England gulled and indignant. Then we have Switzerland and the Pope both very much in the same frame of mind, pugnacious and obstinate-Naples in revolt, while, farther east, Hungary simmering, and Turkey tottering, contribute their respective elements to the general dish of European politics. This being the present perturbed condition of the Continental mind, it is satisfactory to persons who might otherwise regard the future with some anxiety, to know that those who are intrusted with the destinies of this country do not share in this disquiet. They see no cause whatever of future trouble, no prospect of further complications. Men who are really well informed upon foreign politics, such as Mr Bright, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, and others, declare that France has nothing to gain by pursuing a turbulent policy, and that the only source of irritation is to be found in the language held by certain persons in the House of Commons, and in newspaper articles. According to these gentlemen, our ill-used ally is the victim of anti-Gallican prejudices, is innocent of aggressive tendencies on other Powers, and desirous only of casting oil upon the troubled waters of European politics. Inspired by a genuine good faith, and carrying out his views by means of a guileless diplomacy, we may consider ourselves fortunate in possessing a friend upon whom we may rely in the hour of need, and in whose sincerity we may feel the profoundest confidence. In the simplicity and frankness which characterise the despatches of Mons. de Thouvenel, in the unswerving regard for truth which has ever marked the statements of Mons. Walewski, in the pure and lofty standard of morality maintained by Mons. de Morny, as well as in the high tone of the French Court generally, we have guarantees, not merely of the respectability of our Imperial ally, but of his value as a true and faithful friend. In the measures employed by Louis Napoleon to secure his return by universal suffrage as President of the French Republic; in his repeated assurances that he aspired to no loftier position; in the coup d'état by which he tested the value of those assurances, and became Emperor; in the Peace with Russia, by which the honour of this country was imperilled; in the Treaty of Plombières, and in the recent annexation of Savoy and Nice, they detect only the natural development of an ingenuous single-minded policy, calculated to reflect credit upon him who conceived it, and to render his friendship a source of pride and gratification to any other sovereign who may be fortunate enough to possess it. Under these circumstances, it would be an invi dious and disagreeable task to endeavour to undermine an alliance at once so honourable and advantageous to this country; and it is not with this object that I will attempt to give some account, from personal observation, of the circumstances under which the recent annexations took place, but rather to illustrate the value of universal suffrage as practised under a despotic form of government, so that in the event of a further extension of the French frontier becoming necessary for the safety of the Empire, we may form beforehand some idea of the manner in which the wish of the populations to be acquired will probably be consulted. In the last Number I gave some account of the contests in northern Savoy for the election of deputies to the Parliament of Turin, and described the state of feeling in Faucigny and Chablais to be at that time decidedly in favour of annexation to Switzerland. All that was then known of the prospect of a vote by universal suffrage was, that it would not take place until it should be unanimous in favour of annexation to France. Considering that one deputy was actually returned as a supporter of Swiss annexation, that severe contests took place at all the other elections, and that nearly 13,000 signatures were obtained to a protest against French annexation, it did not then seem likely, to those unskilled in the working of universal suffrage, that in three weeks so complete a revolution would be effected in the sentiments of the population as to result in an almost unanimous vote in favour of France. Of the means employed to produce that change I had afterwards an opportunity of judging. In the mean time, there can be very little doubt that the result would have been very different had the neutralised territory been occupied by Swiss troops prior to the taking of the popular vote. There can be no question that, according to treaty, the Swiss Government would have been justified in adopting this course; and we must ever have deep cause to regret that the representatives of the British Government prevented them from taking a step which would have brought the matter to an issue. It must have led to one of two alternatives; either a popular vote in favour of Switzerland-for the people would then have voted freely, and in accordance with their sentiments-or the invasion of northern Savoy by the Imperial troops, in flagrant violation of all treaty engagements. The proceeding, on the part of the French, would have been in some respects analogous to, but less justifiable than, the crossing of the Pruth by the armies of Russia, when the feeble policy of our Government involved us in the Crimean war. Nobody doubts now that had the Emperor Nicholas been given clearly to understand beforehand that the invasion of the Principalities would be considered a casus belli, he would have indefinitely postponed that operation. So, had England decidedly announced her intention of supporting Switzerland in these provinces, they must at this moment have been Swiss instead of French. Those who have watched the Imperial policy must admit that a European war at this juncture would have been fatal to it. A war with England for the independence of Switzerland would have given an opportunity to Austria to regain Lombardy, and brought Prussia down on the Rhine: to have risked the objects gained by the late Italian campaign, and to have arrayed three of the great European Powers against France for the sake of northern Savoy, just at a time when the army was exhausted and the exchequer deficient, would have been preposterous. If, instead of telling all the world that we were not going to fight for Savoy, we had declared that we were, the question would have been settled, and the war which is now inevitable, though not immediate, might have been prevented. Statesmen should occasionally condescend to swagger a little; the great art of diplomacy is to know when it may be done safely. It is one of which our Government is entirely innocent. The election of the deputies for the Turin Chamber having been concluded, I proceeded to Turin, in company with Mons. Chenal, the only deputy who was returned from Savoy |