writers have given of the south of Persia are most erroneous, although the authors of those descriptions cannot be charged with wilful deception, for they do describe things that exist, only they colour them so as to render it impossible to recognize them.

"Isles of palms, and banks of pearls, vine arbours, and groves of pomegranates, all these appear brilliant, fresh, and balmy, in the recital, but how different the reality! The groves of palms are stunted, straggling plantations, the pale and faded green of which is hardly distinguishable from the tints of the naked rocks which surround them; the pomegranates are covered with white dust; the pearl banks are heaps of oyster shells exhaling an infectious odour; the crystal springs are brackish water; the breezes are suffocating; and the vases containing melted rubies are nothing more than bottles of Shiraz wine, which tastes like bad port mixed with beer, with a piece of dirty rag for a stopper. Such are the attractions of the shores of the true Persian gulf-shores desolate and barren, under an atmosphere which withers every thing."

One consequence of these exaggerated descriptions is that travellers, on visiting the spot to which they refer, and finding themselves disappointed in their expectations, often run into the opposite extreme, and pronounce every thing detestable, the sky, the climate, the country, and the people. And persons who have not travelled, hearing such discordant accounts, become doubtful of truth altogether, and assume a sort of sarcastic and contemptuous scepticism concerning every thing connected with foreign countries, which they mistake for wisdom.

If we pass from the natural to the moral causes that

affect the condition of a people, we find the difficulty of ascertaining truth greatly increased, for here even personal observation is not sufficient, as every observer sees through his own peculiar medium. The mora elements of a state may be reduced to three heads: political, civil, and religious institutions.

The political institutions of a country include its legislative and executive powers, its political divisions and their administration, its financial system and mode of taxation, its military and naval establishments, &c. The civil institutions are, the judicial, correctional, and police systems, the establishments for education, both elementary and superior, and the municipal or communal administration. All these departments and their ramifications are too often jumbled together under that most vague, unsatisfactory denomination, "government." Civil and political institutions are confounded together; no distinction is made between the administrative, the judiciary, and the municipal powers; we are told that, in one country, the monarch, in another the representatives of the nation, make the laws; but frequently we are not told to whom the administration of these laws is intrusted; and yet it is a fact that it is less on the laws themselves than on the manner in which they are administered that the welfare or misery of the people depends. No particular form of government is sufficient of itself to ensure the security and prosperity of a nation. All forms of government can be abused; an ignorant or corrupt majority may render a democracy insufferable to all honest men; and monarchy, in the hands of weak, ignorant, or wicked rulers, may bring ruin upon a nation. It is now generally understood that Prussia, although in its form an absolute

monarchy, is one of the best administered countries, and its people one of the best informed in Europe, owing to its universal system of popular education. Such is its present condition; it ought to be observed, however, that, under an absolute form of government, there can be no guarantee for the future continuance of an upright and enlightened administration. This is the great drawback; but at the same time, where the people are generally educated and moral, flagrant abuses can hardly occur; and if they should occur, they cannot be of long duration, for they would, in fact, bring about a change in the form of government.

"In Prussia," observes M. de Chambray, in his 'Notes' on that country in 1833, "the king, although called absolute, is in reality less so than the king and the ministry of France. He is not obliged to procure the approbation of the chambers, because there are no chambers; but he is obliged to obtain the tacit approbation of the nation, and of all the civil and military functionaries who owe their offices either to their merit as displayed in rigorous examinations, or to the suffrages of their fellow-citizens. The king could not engage in a war reprobated by the nation; he could not bestow the first employments in the administration on a mere favourite; and he could not make unjust promotions in his army."

When to these considerations we add the institution of the landwehr, or national militia, and the existence of the provincial assemblies, who give their advice on matters affecting their respective provinces, we find that we cannot class Prussia among despotic governments, although we think we can perceive too much of a military spirit in its organization. Dr. Hassel, in his

'Statistics of the European States,' draws a distinction between autocratic, or absolute, and despotic states. "A despotism," he says, "in the proper sense of the word, could not exist in Christian Europe in the present state of civilization. Even the most unlimited monarch is bound in some degree by the old laws and customs of the country, and still more by the feelings of his subjects, and by public opinion." Pure despotism is only to be found now in Asia. The Shah of Persia is more despotic than even the Turkish Sultan.

The judicial system forms a most important element of the condition of a people. In order to judge of it, we ought to know something of the written law of the country, of the formation of the courts, of the qualifications and authority of the judges, and by whom they are appointed and paid; also of the practice of the courts, the forms of trial, the modes of punishment, the regulations of the prisons, &c. Few geographical and descriptive works give us any idea of all these matters; and yet the security, the personal liberty, the property of every individual, are dependent on them much more than on the political form of the government. The Swiss republics, which have enjoyed political freedom and independence for five hundred years, have had all this time a most wretched judicial system. The judiciary power was often confounded with the executive. The punishments were barbarous; the pillory, branding, and flogging, were in use; torture was frequently employed, imprisonment and banishment arbitrarily enforced, suggestive interrogatories and other modes of extorting confession were in use,-in short, all the iron code of the Gothic ages was in vigour. It is only within a few years that some of these barbarous practices have been

abolished. The same vices existed in the Italian republics of the middle ages, and in those of Venice and Genoa till our own time; Tuscany, on the contrary, under the absolute rule of Leopold, obtained an excellent code of laws. But it is not enough that the laws be good; they ought to be justly administered. The best laws are of no value if those who administer them are corrupt; and this shows the importance which ought to be attached to the choice, qualifications, and independence of judges and magistrates. Again, the civil, criminal, and commercial laws ought to be examined separately, as well as the mode of proceeding before the various courts, or what the French style code de procédure. There are many people who talk of and extol the Code Napoleon, who probably are not aware that there are five distinct codes included under that name, two of which, the civil and the commercial code, really deserve praise. The penal code is vicious in many respects, and bears the mark of the arbitrary spirit of the ruler under whom it was compiled. Penalties are disproportionate to offences, and many enactments, especially those concerning the conscription and offences against the state, are tyrannical. The sentence of confiscation, which accompanied that of death in several cases, was abolished only under Louis XVIII. The penalties against associations, or assemblies, literary, religious, or political, consisting of more than twenty persons, remain in force. The punishments of vagrants and mendicants are harsh beyond reason and justice. The code of "criminal instruction" or proceedings does not always ensure a fair trial; we can only refer the reader to the collection of modern "Causes

Célèbres" for an illustration of this. The discipline