ment. The nobility is entirely a nobility of office, and their power to do good or evil is solely derived from the authority of the sovereign. The municipal government, as in China, is vested in two classes of mandarins, or chiefs, the one civil and the other military. These mandarins are divided into ten orders, of which the two first compose the king's council." Romanism was introduced into Anam in about the year 1624. Including the descendants of Portuguese, there are said to be about half a million of Romanists in the country. A Franciscan missionary-the Bishop of Adran-became intimate with the reigning monarch, who, indeed, owed to him his restoration to the throne. The bishop visited France, with the eldest son of the king, to enter into an alliance with Louis XVI., and the treaty was soon concluded, but the results were very insignificant. A few French officers returned with the bishop; but the breaking out of the French revolution, in the very year of the treaty, and other events, overturned the plan. With a few Europeans, who never exceeded fourteen or fifteen, it is said the King of Anam was most successful in his wars. The sight of half-a-dozen white officers would put a fleet or an army to flight. Some of these adventurers are said to have been Irish and some English. Some of the French officers, says the writer to whom we are indebted for our information about Anam, most in the confidence of the king "Often ventured to recommend to him the encouragement of industry within his own dominions: his constant reply was, that he did not want rich subjects, as poor ones were more obedient. They urged that in Europe disorders and insurrections were most frequent among the poor and needy classes. To this his only answer was, that the matter was different in his country. Towards the princes and chiefs who had disputed his authority he was merciless. He caused the bodies of such as were dead to be disinterred, decapitated, and otherwise brutally insulted. Their entire families were put to death by being trod upon by elephants, and then their unsightly members were exposed in chains and scattered over the country." It was the son of this king who went to France, but he died twenty years before his father. An envoy was sent from India to Anam, in the year 1778, to establish commercial relations. A horrible civil war was then raging, and the people were driven to feed on sea-weeds. So great was the famine, that human flesh was exposed for sale in the market of Hue. Our envoy was threatened with assassination, and he fled to his vessel. After a contest of more than twenty hours with some batteries on the shore, a happy slant of fair wind enabled him to escape. His little bark was within the bar of the Hue river, at the height of the north-east monsoon, which made it very difficult to get away. In 1804 another attempt was made, but it was treated with contempt and insolence. No Protestant missionary, we believe, has ever resided in Anam, and until it has been invigorated by the diffusion of Christianity through its diseased political and social system, we have no hope that it will materially improve. And so far as the human eye can dimly look into the future, very many years may elapse before this diffusion takes place. Humanly speaking, it is a gigantic work, and one that requires long and strenuous effort, to raise a nation. But happily for South-Eastern Asia, two powerful Christian communities are springing up near its coasts. Australia and New Zealand are destined, we trust, to do great things for this portion of our globe. But we must not leave the work to them, for every Christian is called upon to aid in that sublime and arousing object -the Christianization of the world. In this glorious warfare all Christians are soldiers, and the fault and loss are their own if they are not on active duty. In this war all receive prize-money, for no one ever yet served God without an abundant recompense. May He infuse into the hearts of all Christians a holy ambition to spread the Gospel over the whole earth, and a spirit of unity and love to aid them in effecting this glorious purpose! SILENCE. WHERE dwelleth Silence ?-In the cloister'd cell? Its tones are mighty-'tis the voice of GOD! FIELD FORTIFICATION AND SIEGE-WORK. THE position of our army before Sebastopol has forced upon the attention of those even who were most peaceably disposed details of military operations to which we have long been strangers. With many of the terms employed most well-informed persons are familiar; but there are others purely technical, which belong to war considered as an art or a science. With these the non-professional reader cannot be supposed to be well acquainted. We propose, therefore, to give a brief sketch, first, of the operations which it is probable that an army would perform when establishing itself in an entrenched position; and, secondly, of the plan ordinarily pursued in besieging a fortified place. We will suppose, then, that a well-appointed army finds itself unexpectedly in the presence of a vastly superior force; or that, for some other reason, its commander feels disposed neither to give battle nor to retreat. We will suppose, also, that he has the power of selecting his own ground; and that he has in his rear facilities for retiring, should necessity for such a movement present itself. A rising ground, with a precipice, river, or morass on either flank, or on both, and not commanded by any ground of superior or even equal elevation, would afford an eligible site for an entrenched position, which would be rendered yet more advantageous by a river, marsh, or other such natural obstruction in front. Such a position, indeed, might be said to be well defended by nature. A careful and skilful general, however, would not rest satisfied with these natural defences, but would avail himself of the appliances afforded by the science of Fortification, which may be defined, "the art of putting a place in a state to resist the attack of an enemy." Officers of the engineers first measure the ground on which it is proposed to erect a field-work (this being the name given to fortifications not intended for permanent use), and wooden stakes, called pickets, are driven in as a guide to the workmen who are about to be employed. Labourers from the neighbouring villages are sometimes hired to assist in this operation; but it is frequently performed exclusively by fatigue-parties of the soldiers themselves, who have stated duties assigned to them, and are relieved at regular intervals. They commence by excavating a ditch or trench to the depth of about twelve feet, more or less, according to circumstances. The soil thus removed, called the déblai, is thrown up on the side which the defenders intend to occupy, and ought to furnish sufficient remblai to form a parapet of a thickness proportioned to the weight of metal that the enemy are likely to bring to bear upon the position. The face of the trench next the defenders is termed the escarp, that next the enemy is the counterscarp; the front of the parapet is allowed to take the natural slope of the earth thrown up, which varies according to the tenacity of the soil. It is prevented from falling back into the trench by leaving between its base and the edge of the escarp a narrow ridge called the berm. As it is, of course, intended that the defenders should stand within the work, the parapet is made of a convenient height for a man of ordinary stature to fire over it. The inside, or rear of the parapet, is not, like the front, allowed to take the natural slope of the earth, but is made to approach much nearer the perpendicular. This is effected either by building it up with sods reserved for that purpose, by fascines, bundles of rods tied together, if wood be easily attainable, by bags of earth, or by gabions, cylindrical baskets of wicker-wood. This process is called reveting, and the work itself thus constructed, a revetment; which method is adopted must depend in a great measure on the nature of the soil, the facilities within reach, &c. The defenders are frequently elevated on an earthen platform, which runs round the parapet, and is called the banquette, that part on which they actually stand being called the tread. The banquette is ascended by a sloping earthwork called the ramp. At certain parts of the work, where it is considered that artillery can be used with effect, platforms are constructed with the most solid material that can be obtained, and batteries of cannon are planted, their fire being directed through openings cut in the parapet, and called embrasures. Besides these internal defences, other measures are adopted to strengthen the work and check the approach of an enemy, so as to keep him as long as possible exposed to the fire of the defenders. For instance, the ground is raised at the crest of the counterscarp and made to slope towards the enemy; not, as might be supposed, for the sake of deepening the trench, but to shelter the parapet from the fire of the enemy's field-pieces: this is called the glacis. Care is also taken to cut down any woods and to destroy any houses which might afford him cover. The trees felled have all their leaves and smaller branches cut off, and with their larger branches sharpened are placed in a row on the ground, securely fastened together, with their points turned in the direction from which the assault is expected. This defence is termed an abattis. Chevaux de frise are long beams through which are inserted sharp stakes at right angles to each other, so that, even if turned over, one row of spikes always projects towards the assailants. The extremities of the beam are sometimes fixed to a frame, in such a way that the engine itself revolves on a pivot when pressed against. Where cavalry can manœuvre with advantage, the ground is strewed with crow's feet, or caltrops, which are spikes fastened together by their heads in such a way that when thrown on the ground, one spike at least always points upwards. Trous de loups (wolf's holes) are pits sloping to a point in which a sharp stake is fixed. Palisades are rows of stout stakes fastened together by transverse bars. They are sometimes placed horizontally on the parapets, when they are termed fraises. In spite of these and other such-like obstructions, a determined enemy will sometimes approach so near that the parapet becomes a protection to both parties; but for this emergency the defenders will have prepared themselves by flanking works. The work at either extremity has been constructed so as to take a sudden turn outwards these projections are termed flanks; and are of such a nature that fire from their parapets commands the trenches and the glacis; consequently the enemy, should he succeed in reaching the counterscarp, finds himself exposed to a fire from the right and left, as well as from the front. The flanking defences have various names, such as bastions, demi-bastions, &c., and the work which connects two such flanking works is called the curtain. We read in the account of the siege of Sebastopol that certain batteries were liable to be "enfiladed" by the enemy's fire. By this is meant that the enemy had planted guns to the right or left of . the enfiladed battery, in a position where they could not be touched themselves, but from whence they were enabled to do much mischief by firing in a direction nearly parallel to the parapet. This enfilade fire is very dangerous, as the enemy, by employing a small charge of powder, is enabled to practise with advantage ricochet firing; that is, making the shot bound along the battery, dismounting the guns, and sweeping the parapet of its |