the monarch, the power of legislation experiment, always a hazardous one, -there is not a word to be found may be in some measure divested of within the Act, which countenances its dangers. such a supposition. The term Estates was one which already bore a clear and recognised meaning in Germany: the Landstaende had, in fact, formerly existed as an integral part of every German government; and reason and common sense dictate, that the term, when used in the Act of the Congress of Vienna, is to be interpreted in its former sense, unless distinctly shewn to have a different meaning. That the King of Prussia agreed, nay, volunteered to re-establish that degree of popular representation which had formerly existed, we believe to be true, and he has kept his word. But this much we must be allowed to add, that even if a representative constitution on the modern plan had been promised, the course of events latterly in those neighbouring countries, where a similar form of government had been established, has been such as to afford the most sufficient grounds for delaying the fulfilment of that intention, if not to justify its ultimate abandonment. We have already said that with so strong an infusion of the democratic element existing in all the lower departments of her political system, we do not believe that a government like Prussia could long maintain her existence, were a direct power of legislation conferred on the people, and the choice of their representatives placed on the same footing with the choice of their magistrates and local officers. The authority of the Crown, as it stands, and the check of a censorship, (which is, de facto, administered with singular discretion and mildness,) we believe to be absolutely necessary for maintaining the balance in the state. One thing at all events is clear, whatever may be the extent to which an addition may be made to the political privileges of the people, that by diffusing intelligence and morality among her subjects, and by pursuing a preliminary course of rational improvement in every department of government, before attempting any change on the great features of the constitution, Prussia has adopted the wisest, we may say the only, course by which such an The constitution proposed to be given to Prussia is nearly a renewal of that which formerly prevailed, not only in Prussia, but in most of the other Germanic states. Its nature and objects were defined by the law of 22d May, 1815. By § 1. It is decreed, that there shall be a representation of the people. By § 2. That for this purpose, the provincial Estates (Provenzialstände), where they already exist, shall be re-established, and arranged according to the wants of the time; and that where they do not already exist, they shall be organized. 3. That out of the provincial Estates a general representative body shall be elected, which shall assemble at Berlin. § 4. That the Representative body shall have a deliberative voice (Berathung) on all subjects of legislation which concern the personal rights and property of the subject. The right of advice and remonstrance they possess in the amplest manner; they are even understood, like the ancient Staende, to have certain powers of direct control in the case of the imposition of new taxes, but they have not the right of withholding the established supplies; a power which the example of those constitutional states, to which we have alluded, shews to be, in modern times, the instrument of which popular demagogues infallibly avail themselves in order to produce a crisis, and either force the Government into concessions, or into some violent stretch of the existing laws. As yet the experiment, we believe, has only been actually carried into effect in the Saxon Provinces, which return an assembly of sixty-six members, twenty-nine elected by the landed aristocracy, twenty-four by the cities, and thirteen by the rural communes. How far the business of the state is found to be better managed, either for the governed or the government, by the addition of this representative machinery, we have scarcely seen sufficient evidence to determine. Probably the inhabitants of Saxony may begin to find, after a few years' trial, like the honest burghers of Weimar, after the present made to them by the late Duke, of a constitution, "that matters went on quite as well and more cheaply without them." * If, on the whole, the true criterion by which the merits of any Government are to be tried, consist in its wise and successful efforts to better the condition of society, and the general confidence and attachment of its subjects, none has a better claim to honourable distinction than that of Prussia. In the course of the last twenty-four years, instead of deluding her subjects with the cheapest and the most worthless of all gifts the boon of political power-fatal in general to the wearer as the robe of Nessus she has been incessantly occupied in elevating the mental and moral character of her subjects; in promoting their material comforts and happiness; in securing to them the possession of those advantages, by wise and equal laws; and the result is, that her Government is at this moment feared abroad, and loved and respected at home, her national character for honour, fidelity, morality, intelligence, and learning, among the highest in Europe,-her industry and trade prospering,-the general standard of comfort and respectability among her inhabitants constantly on the rise-and her political horizon, instead of being darkened by those storms of lowering discontent which are visibly gathering in the sky of England, or those tempestuous whirlwinds which have long been raging in the social atmosphere of France, is illuminated by the mild sunshine of present content, and exhibits those tranquil and settled appearances in the sky, which, to the eye of hope, "give token of a goodly day to-morrow." TOM CRINGLE'S LOG. CHAPTER XXII. THE THIRD CRUISE OF THE WAVE. "Roll on, thou deep and dark blue ocean-roll! Ten thousand fleets sweep over thee in vain : Man marks the earth with ruin-his control Stops with the shore,-upon the watery plain The wrecks are all thy deed, nor doth remain A shadow of man's ravage, save his own, When for a moment, like a drop of rain, He sinks into thy depths with bubbling groan, Without a grave, unknell'd, uncoffin'd, and unknown." I HAD been invited to breakfast on board the corvette, on the morning after this; and Captain NMr Bang, and myself, were comfortably seated at our meal on the quarterdeck, under the awning, screened off by flags from the view of the men. The ship was riding to a small weeterly breeze, that was rippling up the Bight. The ports on each quarter, as well as the two in the stern, were open, through which we had an extensive view of Port-auPrince, and the surrounding country. Now, N, " said our amigo Massa Aaron, "I am quite persuaded that the town astern of us there Childe Harold. must always have been, and is now, exceedingly unhealthy. Only reflect on its situation; it fronts the west, with the hot sickening afternoon's sun blazing on it every evening, along the glowing mirror of the calm Bight, under whose influence the fat black mud that composes the beach must send up most pestilent effluvia; while in the forenoon it is shut out from the influence of the regular easterly sea-breeze, or trade-wind, by the high land behind. However, as I don't mean to stay here longer than I can help, it is not my affair; and as Mr Swill be waiting for us, pray order your carriage, my dear fellow, and let us go on shore." *Russell, vol. ii. p. 76, old shutters, and window hinges, and pieces of china, are strewn all about; the only tenant now being an old miserable negro who has sheltered himself in a coarsely thatched hut, in a corner of what had once been a gay and well-furnished saloon. The carriage our friend spoke of, was the captain's gig, by this time alongside, ready manned,-each of the six seamen who composed her crew, with his oar resting between his knees, the blade pointed up wards towards the sky. We all got in-" Shove off"-dip fell the oars into the water-" Give way, men"the good ash staves groaned, and cheeped, and the water buzzed, and away we shot towards the wharf. We landed, and having proceeded to Mr S's, we found horses ready for us, to take our promised ride into the beautiful plain of the Cul de Sac, lying to the northward and eastward of the town; the cavalcade being led by Massa Aaron and myself, while Mr S rode beside Captain NAforetime, from the estates situated on this most magnificent plain, (which extends about fifteen miles into the interior, while its width varies from ten to five miles, being surrounded by hills on all sides,) there used to be producedno less than thirty thousand hogsheads of sugar. This was during the ancient régime; whereas now, I believe, the only articles it yields beyond plantains, yams, and pot herbs for the supply of the town, are a few gallons of syrup, and a few puncheons of tafia, a very inferior kind of rum. The whole extent of the sea-like plain, for there is throughout scarcely any inequality higher than my staff, was once covered with well-cultivated fields and happy homes; but now, alas! with brushwood from six to ten feet high, -in truth, by one sea of jungle, through which you have to thread your difficult way along narrow, hot, sandy bridle-paths, (with the sand flies and musquitoes flaying you alive,) which every now and then lead you to some old ruinous court-yard, with the ground strewed with broken boilers and mill rollers, and decaying hardwood timbers, and crumbling bricks; while, a little further on, you shall find the blackened roofless walls of what was most probably an unfortunate planter's once happy house, where the midnight brigand came and found peace and comfort, and all the elegancies of life, and left blood and ashes; with the wild flowers growing on the window sills, and the prickly pear on the tops of the walls, while marble steps, and After having extended our ride, under a hot broiling sun, until two o'clock in the forenoon, we hove about, and returned towards the town. We had not ridden on our homeward journey above three miles, when we overtook a tall good-looking negro, dressed in white Osna burg trowsers, rolled up to his knees, and a check shirt. He wore neither shoes nor stockings, but his head was bound round with the usual handkerchief, over which he wore a large glazed cocked hat, with a most conspicuous Haytian blue-and-red, cockade. He was goading on a jackass before him, loaded with a goodly, burden apparently; but what it was we could not tell, as the whole, was covered with a large sheepskin, with the wool outermost. I was pricking past the man, when Mr S sung out to me to shorten sail, and the next moment he startled me by addressing the pedestrian as Colonel Gabaroche. The colonel returned the salute, and seemed in no way put out from being detected in this rather unmilitary predicament. He was going up to Port-au-Prince to take his turn of duty with his regiment. Presently up came another halfnaked black fellow, with the same kind of glazed hat and handkerchief under it; but he was mounted, and his nag was not a bad one by any means. It was Colonel Gabaroche's Captain of Grenadiers, Papotiere by name. He was introduced to us, and we all rode jabbering along. At the time I write of, the military force of the Haytian Republic was com posed of one-third of the whole male population capable of bearing arms, which third was obliged to be on permanent duty for four months every year; but the individuals of the quota were allowed to follow their callings as merchants, planters, or agriculturists, during the remaining eight months; they were, I be lieve, fed by Government during their four months of permanent duty The weather, by the time we had ridden a couple of miles farther, began to lower, and presently, large heavy drops of rain fell, and preserving their globular shape, rolled like peas, or rather like bullets, amidst the small finely pulverized dust of the sandy path. "Um "I have a great mind to ride with Tom-what say you ?” me Why, Aaron, you are using ill; that shaver is seducing you altogether; but come, you'v you won't be a week away, way, and if you want to go, I see no objection." It was fixed accordingly; and on the morrow Mr Bang and I completed our arrangements, hired horses and a guide, and all being in order, clothes packed, and every thing else made ready for the cruise, we rode out along with Mr S- (we were to dine and sleep at his house,) to view the fortifications on the hill above the town, and the site of Christophe's operations when he besieged the place; and pretty hot work they must have had of it, for in two different places the trenches of the besiegers had been pushed on to the very crest of the glacis, and in one the counterscarp had been fairly blown into the ditch, disclosing the gallery of the mine behind, as if it had been a cavern, the crest of the glacis having remained entire. We walked into it, and Mr S pointed out where the President's troops, in Fort Republicain, had countermined, and absolutely entered the other chamber from beneath, after the explosion, and, sword in hand, cut off the storming party, (which had by this time descended into the ditch,) and drove them up through the breach into the fort, where they were made prisoners. brelia" was the word-but this was a luxury unknown to our military friends. However, the colonel immediately unfurled a blanket from beneath the sheepskin, and sticking his head through a hole in the centre of it, there he was like a herald in his tabard, with the blanket hanging down before and behind him. As for the captain, he dismounted,desincumbered himself of his trowsers, which he crammed under the mat that served him for a saddle, and taking off his shirt, he stowed it away in the capacious crown of his cocked hat, while he once more bestrid his Bucephalus in puris naturalibus, but conversing with all the ease in the world, and the most perfect sang froid, while the thunder shower came down in bucketsful. In about half an hour, we arrived at the skirt of the brushwood or jungle, and found on our left hand some rice fields, which in appearance we could not have distinguished from young wheat; but on a nearer approach, we perceived that the soil, if soil it could be called on which there was no walking, was a soft mud, the only passages through the fields, and along the ridges, being by planks, on which several of the labourers were standing as we passed, one of whom turning to look at us, slipped off, and instantly sunk amidst the rotten slime up to his waist. The neighbourhood of these rice swamps is generally extremely unhealthy. At length we got on board the Firebrand, drenched to the skin, to a late dinner, after which it was determined by Captain N-of which intention, by the by, with all his familiarity, I had not the smallest previous notice, that I should cross the island to Jacmel, in order to communicate with the merchant-ships loading there; and by the time I returned, it was supposed the Firebrand would be ready for sea, when I was to be detached in the Wave, to whip in the craft at the different outports, after which we were all to sail in a fleet to Port Royal. “I say, skipper,” quoth Mr Bang, The assault had been given three times in one night, and he trembled for the town; however, Petion's courage and indomitable resolution saved them all. For by making a sally from the south gate at grey dawn, even when the firing on the hill was hottest, and turning the enemy's flank, he poured into the trenches, routed the covering party, stormed the batteries, spiked the guns, and that evening's sun glanced on the bayonets of King Henry's troops, as they raised the siege, and fell back in great confusion on their lines, leaving the whole of their battering train, and a great quantity of ammunition behind them. Next morning we were called at daylight, and having accoutred ourselves for the journey, we descended and found two stout ponies, the biggest not fourteen hands high, ready saddled with old-fashioned demipiques, and large holsters at each of the saddlebows. A very stout mule was furnished for Monsieur Pegtop; and our black guide, who had contracted for our transit across the island, was also in attendance, mounted on a very active well-actioned horse. We had coffee, and started. By the time we reached Leogane, the sun was high and fierce. Here we breakfasted in a low one-story building, our host being no smaller man than Major L- of the Fourth Regiment of the line. We got our chocolate, and eggs, and fricasseed fowl, and roasted yam, and in fact made, even according to friend Aaron's conception of matters, an exceedingly comfortable breakfast. Mr Bang here insisted on being paymaster, and tendered a sum that the black major thought so extravagantly great, considering the entertainment we had received, that he declined taking more than one-half. However, Mr Bang, after several unavailing attempts to press the money on the man, who, by the by, was simply a good-looking blackamoor, dressed in a check shirt, coarse but clean white duck trowsers, with the omnipresent handkerchief bound round his head, and finding that he could not persist without giving offence, was about pocketing the same, when Pegtop audibly whispered him, Massa, you ever shee black niger refuse money before? but don't take it heart, Massa; me Pegtop will pocket him, if dat foolis black person won't." "Thank you for nothing, Master Pegtop," said Aaron. ་་ We proceeded, and rode across the beautiful plain, gradually sloping up from the mangrove-covered beach, until it swelled into the first range of hills, that formed the pedestal of the high precipitous ridge that intersected the southern prong of the island, winding our way through the ruins of sugar plantations, with fragments of the machinery and implements employed in the manufacture scattered about, and half sunk into the soil of the fields, which were fast becoming impervious jungle, and interrupting our progress along the narrow bridlepaths. At length we began to ascend, and the comparative coolness of the climate soon evinced that we were rapidly leaving the hot plains, as the air became purer, and thinner, and cooler at every turn. After a long hot hot ride, we reached the top of the ridge, and turning back had a most magnificent view of the whole Bight of Leogane, and of the Horse Shoe, and Aaron's Frog; even the tops of the mountains above the Mole, which looked like islands, and could not have been nearer than seventy miles, were visible, floating like blue clouds in the misty distance. Aaron took off his hat, reined up, and turning the head of his Bucephalus towards the placid waters we had left, stretched forth his hand"Ethereal air, and ye swift-winged winds, Ye rivers springing from fresh founts, ye "Nearly got a stroke of the sun, Tom-what Whiffle would call a cul de sac-by taking off my chapeau in my poetical frenzy-so shove on." We continued our journey through most magnificent defiles, and under long avenues of the most superb trees, until, deeply embosomed in the very heart of the eternal forest, we came to a shady clump of bamboos, overhanging with their ostrich-featherlike plumes a round pool of water, mantled or creamed over with a bright green coating, as if it had been a vegetable velvet, but nothing akin to the noisome scum that ferments on a stagnant pool in England. It was about the time we had promised ourselves dinner, and in fact our black guide and Pegtop had dismounted, to make their preparations. "Why, we surely cannot dine here? you don't mean to drink of that stagnant pool, my dear sir?" "Siste paulisper, my boy," said Mr Bang, as he stooped down, and skimmed off the green covering with his stick, disclosing the water below, pure and limpid as a crystal-clear fountain. We dined on the brink, and discussed a bottle of vin de grave a-piece, and then had a small pull at brandy and water; but we ate very little, not that I was not very hungry, |