feet two inches in height, with a bust and person well filled out, without any approach to corpulency. His head is magnificently carved, he has a splendid breadth of shoulder and chest, great length and symmetry of limb, with finely formed hands and

feet.

His face is strictly Grecian, forehead and nose in one grand line; the eyes finely lined, large, open, and blue, with a calmness, a coldness, a self-possession, and dignity which can alike quell an insurrection, daunt an assassin, or paralyse a petitioner. His mouth is regular, his teeth fine, his chin prominent, with dark moustache and small whisker. His eyes have been accused of never smiling, though his mouth does so often. Whether the scenery of Chiswick, the more than princely hospitality of the Duke of Devonshire, the satisfaction the czar felt at holding a court in Great Britain, or the galaxy of beauty which surrounded him on the beauteous velvet lawns, made any difference in the ordinary smiles of the emperor, we know not; but this we know, that there, at least, both eyes and mouth smiled most frequently and most unhesitatingly during the entertainments.

In Russia the czar delights at being present at the parties and fêtes of his nobles and wealthier subjects. When one of the generals in closest attendance upon his person is directed to intercede for his presence, he never refuses, and joins in the amusements and the banquet with sincere satisfaction. The empress is nearly always his constant companion, but her health has greatly suffered from the continual round of royal dissipation, and she is exposed to illnesses of a nervous and distressing nature. Wherever the imperial family appear they are most affable, and evince a desire to please and be pleased, which tends in some measure to remove those apprehensions felt by all who approach them, lest by word or gesture they should offend" la loi vivante"-the emperor. So when the czar visited in England the houses of our nobles, he merely practised in this country the habits of his own; and when here he conversed with them on the merest trifles in the world, he indulged in the same description of conversation

as that which is most common, and, we may add, most approved in Russia. There, where politics are seldom mentioned, and where matters which may lead to any discussion are carefully avoided and shunned, the newest fashion, the last importation of foreign music, the state of the atmosphere, and the amusements at this or at that ball or banquet, are the sole topics of remark. The Russians, when the emperor visits them, will spend a small fortune at one festivity. No expense is spared: all that power, influence, and money, can obtain are got together to render the entertainment as splendid and even as regal as possible; and the host and hostess are far more than recompensed if the emperor smiles approval, and the The empress pays a compliment. emperor is exceedingly fond of his family. The héritier stands high in his father's opinion, and inherits the emperor's majestic person, but has a face fuller of sentiment; his lips are large, his eyelids pensive, and there is much of kindness in his expression. When at his majority he took the oath of allegiance to his father, and pronounced the words "until death shall take him from me," his eyes were suffused with tears, his lips trembled, and he was agitated and depressed. He loves, as well as honours, his father.

One of the passions of the emperor, that is, one of his passions for small matters and amusements, is for masked balls. On those occasions he, of course, is not masked, whilst all the world are; and then, throwing off all restraint, he allows his arm to be taken by all who present themselves for that honour. This is easily to be accounted for. On such occasions revelations are made to him often interesting to himself, his family, his Indidynasty, and his government. viduals who do not dare to approach his person in public or in private lest their names should be known and they should be somewhat compromised by the disclosures they make, at masked balls feel none of this reluctance, and confide to the imperial ear secrets of vast importance. Undoubtedly, these are of comparatively rare occurrence in an empire where the police are so active, zealous, and intelligent; but still they do take place, and the emperor avails him

self of such means of communication.

The emperor is averse to etiquette. In limited monarchies etiquette must be absolute; in absolute ones there is no necessity. In Russia, where the czar is "the constitution of the country" personated in himself, no etiquette can exist, or rather only such as he pleases for the time being. Whatever he does is right, because he is the rule of what is right in all such matters. He cannot demean himself, because no one is above him. His actions are not restrained by any law of ceremony, nor by any obligation of dignity, nor by any fear of public opinion. His rank takes care of itself, it wants no propping, it is in one morceau, like his own column of Alexander. His only restraint is his own responsibility; in no country is this so awful. He, according to his pleasure, or disposition, could either render moderation habitual, or extravagance meritorious, morality popular, or frivolity to be praised; he could qualify vices to foibles, or ennoble vanities to virtues. How awful the responsibility! Yet, to the honour and praise of the Emperor Nicholas be it recorded, his influence is always exercised for moderation, morality, virtue, and religion. But though the emperor is averse to that etiquette which those who frequent constitutional courts would consider indispensable, yet the presence of the stately figure of the emperor in the portal, notwithstanding all his condescension and graciousness, is an undoubted restraint upon all present. Not so with the héritier. When he is the sole representative of the imperial family, his fine person and gentle demeanour only lend an additional grace to the ball or to the banquet. The emperor has a great taste for music, and is an enthusiastic admirer of the dance. Hence in no capital in the world are artistes of the first order so sure of meeting with a brilliant reception as they are at St. Petersburg, and the emperor not only confers on them his imperial favour, but takes good care that his patronage of them shall be eminently beneficial to their pecuniary position. Taglioni is one of his most especial favourites. The music of Rossini he loves à la folie; and those who falsely accuse his majesty of being

incapable of feeling enthusiasm should see him under the influence of a splendid ballet and a brilliant concert, for they would be compelled to admit that he was the most enthusiastic of all present.

No one has so inveterate and highprincipled an abhorrence of bribery as the emperor. He knows that it is carried on to a fearful and paralysing extent, and he seeks by every means in his power to check it. When discovered, he punishes those who have been guilty of giving or receiving bribes with great severity. He is not less indignant at false denunciations. An act of injustice committed by him in consequence of denunciations being made against any subject, however poor or however wealthy, would be compensated for and repaired with promptitude and liberality. The emperor, like all his predecessors, adopts the custom of kissing as a token of reconciliation; and happy is the officer, who, having incurred the momentary displeasure of the czar, finds himself restored to favour and to honour by a kiss. The false denunciators are often known. They cannot always be punished. It would not be prudent that they should be. The emperor is never blamed for saving them, but should any political convulsion take place in Russia, this wretched class of beings would be the first to suffer and to become the subjects of popular vengeance. The throne would be safe, but the oppressors, in the shape of denunciators, would not be allowed to escape. By a providential adaptation which surpasses all speculation of legislative philosophy, the people of Russia venerate their sovereign because he is absolute. With them respect for the anointed sovereign is a religion, and to restrict him by human ordinances would be to strip him of his divine credentials. The Russians are firm believers in the divine right of kings, in passive obedience, and in non-resistance.

The palace of the emperor at St. Petersburg is simple in decoration, much more so than those of his nobles. But all is light, clean, orderly, beautiful. It is not the palace of a sulky, indolent, oppressive, and tyrannical task-master, as his majesty has been falsely represented by his foes, but it is the princely and gentle

manly residence of an enlightened, active, and energetic, though absolute monarch. For men may be judged by their residences as well as by their physiology and physiognomy, their craniology, and their hand-writing; and the genius, taste, and principles of a monarch may be well understood from his palaces. The emperor's own room, in point of writing-tables and bureaux, is that of a man of business. His military tastes may be discovered through all. Models of cavalry regiments, paintings of military manœuvres, and graphic sketches of every thing connected with the army, are there; for above and before all things the emperor is in heart a soldier. Is it not, then, greatly to his credit that, with such a taste, with unlimited power, and with prodigious resources to come up to all that he can will, that he has so greatly encouraged the arts of peace, and has contrived to keep the most warlike of his subjects from crying aloud for war? Is it not greatly to his credit that, tempted as he might have been by the position of France from 1830 to 1836 in one constant state of revolutionary insubordination, and appealed to as he was by the Legitimists and the Bourbons, as well as by the King of Holland and the Dutch, to interfere by armed force and put down the injustice and iniquities of the revolutions of 1830 both in Belgium and France, and still more urged as he was by his own nobles so to interfere, that he refrained from that desired intervention and maintained peace?

In Russia the Emperor Nicholas is a monarch justly surrounded with glory. The Russians are indebted to him for the penal code, a model of wisdom and justice. He has extended the Russian empire in Asia; he has humiliated the Crescent, and has advanced all that tends to civilisation in every portion of his dominions. Europe regards him as a powerful monarch who appears destined, like his predecessor, to be an active and noble agent in great events. By his talents, energy, and personal courage he is just the man to be a leader, and Europe, if he lives, is much more likely to become more monarchical than to become republican.

The deaths of the Grand Duke Constantine and of General Diebitsch

are two of the mournful events of the present reign. The veil of mystery and secrecy still envelopes these disasters, and some dark transactions to which the emperor is as entirely stranger as our young and charming queen are connected with these events. A similar observation will apply to the death of the last emperor, Alexander. These are gloomy circumstances connected with the state of Russian society. The jealousy, the fear, the apprehension, the revenge of numbers of the court classes, lead ever and anon to these terrible events, for which, indeed, there is no remedy and which we shall in vain deplore. The licentiousness and extravagance of many of the Russian landed aristocracy are also not foreign to these results. They feel humiliated by their condition and insignificant by their want of spirit and numbers; and whilst in some other countries they would head a revolution, in Russia they satiate their thirst for vengeance by assassination and palace treason. Forty millions of Muscovite peasants, however, look upon him as their god on earth, and when they pray to the divine being they adopt that very language in relation to the czar. The catechism of the peasants would be amusing were it not almost blasphemous, for the terms in which the living emperor is always spoken of is insulting to the divine majesty.

One of the finest sights in Russia is a review of the guards. Sixty thousand picked men are then assembled, and when the word of command is given by the emperor with his musical and manly voice, all eyes are fixed and all bosoms thrill. His knowledge of French, German, and English, as well, of course, as of the Russian language, is perfect, and he converses without embarrassment and with rather a pleasant accent in our own beautiful tongue. His habits are moderate, his personal expenses far from considerable, taking into consideration his exalted rank, his private character is distinguished for modesty and virtue, and his love of justice is proverbial. It is common to say in Russia of a just man "that he is as just as the emperor himself." The moral and physical courage of the emperor has been frequently displayed. At the period of the cholera,

when the ignorant and infatuated people were massacring the medical men because they could not stop the ravages of that fearful disease, the emperor in person appeared amongst them, shewed his nodding plumes, and commanded them to kneel with him on the earth and ask the pardon of heaven for such enormities.

He was obeyed; he offered up an extemporaneous and eloquent prayer, and from that moment the carnage ceased. His moral courage on all trying occasions has not been less marvellous, and although tried by great events and fearful complications he has ever held high his head, preserved a calm and dignified mind, and kept in abeyance all passions opposed to the triumph of reason. Nicholas writes decidedly the best hand of all the Russian emperors. It is calligraphically irreproachable, and as he begins with an arching stroke of the pen his name stands as beneath a roof. The emperor passes the greater part of his days in the open air, at reviews or in rapid journeys. Hence his late visit to England was by no means rapid in his eyes, nor wearisome to his frame. During summer the shade of his military hat draws across his forehead an oblique line, which marks the action of the sun upon the skin. The figure of the empress, when less oppressed by suffering, was very elegant. There was an indefinable grace about her whole person. Her mien, far from being haughty, was expressive of habitual resignation. One of her daughters, the Grand Duchess of Olga, is the most beautiful woman in

the whole empire-perhaps in the world. The imperial family is one of the happiest upon earth, for their views, tastes, occupations, desires, are all similar, and none are not in harmony with virtue and religion.

We have terminated our sketch. It has been drawn without prejudice and must not be regarded as too favourable. If Nicholas were the king of Great Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, Holland, Belgium, or even Prussia, he would be the most unsuitable man for his station which the world could produce. But he is neither of these. He is Emperor of Russia, he is the czar of the Russians. They neither desire, comprehend, nor love liberty or constitutional freedom. He is their superior in every respect, and they all know, feel, and acknowledge it. To his policy as regards Turkey and her ancient provinces, the Caucasus and Persia, we are opposed. His conduct to Poland we cannot blame. The Poles were the aggressors, and they suffer for their own temerity. We desire them a better fate, and we predict they will have it; but they must earn it by obedience and loyalty, and not forfeit it by mad and desperate rebellion. If we are asked "Is a still closer alliance with Russia desirable for Great Britain ?" we answer "Yes." Because Russia and the Emperor Nicholas are permanent and formidable barriers against the progress of that democracy which is every hour seeking to advance with giant strides in every portion of the world. Long live the emperor !

WE are exceedingly obliged to Captain Siborne for the labour which he has undergone for the purpose of bringing before us in a connected form the details of those great military operations which resulting in the battles of Ligny, Quatre-Bras, and Waterloo, gave the final blow to the power of Napoleon, and restored peace to Europe. That he has accomplished all of which the want has long been felt in this country we are not, indeed, prepared to say. Probably there is no Englishman living, the Duke himself excepted, who is capable of doing this; but to Captain Siborne belongs the merit of having taken infinite pains to make himself master of his subject, and of stating his views both of events and of their consequences in a straightforward, manly, and soldierlike manner. Doubtless, he is not vain enough to anticipate that posterity will refer to his volumes as authority on points that may be in dispute between rival nations. Neither his rank in the army, nor his political position, nor the facilities of inquiry that have been afforded him either at home or abroad, would justify any such expectation. But we are deceived if his work be not read with great interest by his countrymen and fellowsoldiers of the present day; and this is perhaps as much as, in his position, he either expects or desires. For ourselves, we can declare in all sincerity that we have perused his narrative of marches and onslaughts with infinite satisfaction. He tells his tale with singular clearness. He is at home in all the varied movements and changes of position in which corps, divisions, brigades, and even single battalions and squadrons bore a part, and his account of cavalry-charges, especially in the affair of Quatre-Bras, the advance of columns, of cannonading, and the desultory sports of skirmishers, sweep you onwards as if the scene described were actually passing under your eyes. Captain Siborne, though the first Englishman who has as yet undertaken to describe consecutively and

in order the campaign of 1815 (for we take no account either of Mr. Mudford's quarto or of Paul's Letters to his Kinsfolks, of both of which it is sufficient to observe that they deserve about as much of our confidence, in regard to the war in Flanders, as Southey's ponderous volumes do in reference to the war in the Peninsula), is but one out of a score at least of military authors who have chosen the battle of Waterloo, and the operations that preceded and led to it, as a fit subject on which to display their powers both of reasoning and of narrative. We have numerous histories of the crowning fight in almost every European language. French, Belgian, Dutch, and Prussian officers have all written about it. Concerning the first, from Napoleon himself down to the latest scribbler in the Journal des Debats, it is enough to say that they all take the same tone and reiterate the same assertions. Believe what they tell you, and it will be clear as the sun that from first to last the allies had the worst of the controversy. Both Wellington and Blucher were outgeneralled, surprised, out-manouvred, beaten-indeed, their escape from total annihilation is a mystery, and must so remain to the end of time. In like manner the Belgians, conceding to the French all the superiority in stratagetical skill to which our neighbours lay claim, arrogate to themselves the entire merit of having, through the indomitable courage of the soldiery, rendered the generalship of Napoleon of no avail. Take them at their own valuation, and you must offer a prodigious sum ere you may hope to reach the culminating point of their glory; for they, and not the English, won the battle of Waterloo. To be sure the Dutch dis

pute this point with them, and contend that it was the brigade of Bylandt which, by checking the advance of Ney at Quatre-Bras, saved the rest of the allied army from being cut to pieces. And there can be no doubt that the Dutch did good service in the earlier part Containing minute details

2 vols. Boone, London.

VOL. XXX. NO. CLXXV.

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