rence through the invitation of its rulers; and with this view he wrote not only to particular persons in office, but to the people; and among other things he wrote a long epistle commencing, "Popule mi quid feci tibi?”' At such a moment, or at others in his life when the like impulse prevailed, 315 it is not difficult to believe that he may have given utterance to his yearnings under the disguise of love. Let us point out a few passages which seem to favour this view. In the course of a very plaintive canzone, descanting on the miseries inflicted by love, he has this passage:— Thus hast thou served me, Love, amid the Alps, And in the valley of the flood, Along whose shore thy strength I ever feel. And he dismisses the canzone thus : My little mountain song, thou go'st thy way, Or to cite the whole of the 'Envoi' in beautiful Italian words themselves: O montanina mia canzon, tu vai, Is not this Envoi the key to the whole of the canzone? and cannot we imagine the poet composing this 'mountain song' as he gazed down on the plains of the Arno from those Umbrian heights where the monks of Santa Croce dwelt under the shade of Catria, or where the Castle of Count Bosone com- O Patria degna di trionfal fama, glorifying her pristine virtues and : My song depart, be confident and bold, 'Cui doglio e piango,' as the more lover-like expression of the original has it. In another canzone (Lyell, 333), he sings the praises of his mistress under the name of Fioretta: now the connexion between the name of VOL. LXIII. NO, CCCLXXV. whose state I mourn. Florence and words derived from S'io sarò là dove sia Y Is it not the anguish of the exile, again, that prompts the following complaint? (Lyell, 215): Severe shall be my speech, as are the deeds Still harder, and of nature more unkind. Yet as the Flower crowns the leafy stalk, And again (Canzone vii., Lyell, 203), This lady's image still a seat retains Exalted in my mind, On which love placed her when he was her guide. Rather seems lovelier far than ever now, We might quote many more passages bearing on the same point, but these perhaps will be held sufficient to justify our idea that the tender passion expressed in some at least of Dante's canzoni, was a sort of nostalgia disguised; and we will merely quote in addition, the poet's words in his treatise de Vulgari Eloquio :-'I feel compassion for misery of every sort; but I have the greatest pity for those who, involved in the sorrows of exile, never behold their country again, save in dreams.' The Florentine's love for his native country at this period of her existence was a peculiar feeling, which it requires some knowledge of the people and times to appreciate. Florence had acquired her independent political existence at a later date than the communes of the north of Italy. She had grown to maturity only during the fifty years that preceded Dante's birth. When the energy and activity of her citizens had raised her to rank with the foremost States around her, then awoke that self-consciousness which is the reflex of outward action: then art and literature were evoked to gratify the patriot's pride in his country. Thus the historian, Giovanni Villani, tells us that going to Rome on occasion of the Jubilee of 1300, the memo ries of the glorious city and the writings of her annalists fired his ambition to compose on his return a history of his own Florence, 'the daughter and creature of Rome.' Now flourished the earliest of her painters, Giotto and Cimabue. Now also, in May, 1294, was founded the noble cathedral of Florence, and soon after the Palazzo de' Priori and the Palazzo Vecchio, and other architectural glories of the city. And Villani says of her, that she was 'in a greater and happier condition than she had ever been, as well in the greatness of her power as in the number of her inhabitants and every year, on the kalends of May, there were parties throughout the whole city, and companies of men and women, revels and balls.' We can understand with what pain of heart Dante uttered the words, poichè fu piacere de' cittadini della bellissima e famossissima figlia di Roma, Fiorenza di gittarmi fuori del suo dolce seno!" But Dante's thoughts were fixed on his heavenly country, not his earthly country, when he died. His last works were translations of the Penitential Psalms, the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and some other portions of sacred doctrine. Amid such thoughts as these death overtook, but can hardly be said to have surprised, him. Thirteen cantos, the last of his great poem, were nowhere to be found when his sons came to collect the documents of their father's fame. At last, so goes the story, Jacopo Alighieri dreamt a dream. In the watches of the night his father appeared to him, clad in shining garments and with an unwonted brightness on his countenance, and guided him to a secret place behind the wall, where the manuscript lay concealed. True or false the story of the dream, it is at least clear that Boccaccio, the poet's earliest biographer who relates it, believed the Commedia not to have been published during its author's lifetime. And indeed, considering the unsparing manner in which Dante Scourges the personal and family vices or political errors of those around him—of many whose favour he could ill dispense with, or whose wrath might endanger his life,—it does not seem probable he would willingly have encountered the dangers of publication till he was himself beyond the reach of the world's malice. A few words more, and we have done. Modern Italian patriots look upon Dante as their hero and inspirer, yet Dante's political ideal was by no means of the same shape and hue as theirs. Dante longed for a united Italy: but the head of the union was to be the German Emperor, the Hapsburgh or Luxemburg of the day-Alberto Tedesco,' or 'l'alto Arrigo.' And as he loved Imperialism, so he detested France and French influence. Io fu radice della mala pianta, Che la terra Cristiana tutta aduggia, Sì che buon frutto rado se ne schianta; are the words he puts into the mouth of Hugh Capet (Purg. xx. 44); and, with the sole exception of his personal friend, Carlo Martello, the elder son of Charles of Valois, a most amiable prince, who died young (Par. viii. 49), he pursues with one consistent hatred all the princes of French race who mingled in the affairs of Italy. It was the memory of the Roman Empire that furnished the grand ideal of political theorists at that 317 time. Rome had been the mistress of the world, Italy the first of the nations. The German Emperor was the successor of the Caesars. Rome was the true fountain-head, the sanctuary of his power. The Emperor was crowned at Rome; Dante wished he could have lived and ruled at Rome Vieni a veder la tua Roma che piagne, Vedova, sola, e dè e notte chiama Césare mio, perchè non m'accompagne ? Order against disorder, law against self-will, harmony and subordination against anarchy, these were Dante's principles. The Justinian Code had been newly studied, and had reawakened the ancient love of law and system which the tempest of barbarian invasion had broken up; but Che val perchè ti racconciasse 'l freno What use is the text, without the authority that could enforce the text? Papalism and Republican autonomy, which was but a step to Papal or feudal tyranny, were the antagonist influences to these principles-so Dante thought, with others who espoused the high Imperial doctrines in those days. Literary activity and freedom of opinion were certainly on the antiPapal side. Yet while all modern commentators admit Dante's Imperialism, or Ghibellinism, to a certain extent, all are not agreed as to the length to which he carried his opposition to Papal pretensions. There are some who, like Foscolo, Rossetti, and their followers, maintain he was not only politically, but doctrinally, an Papist; that he hated the Church of Rome as well as its chief pastors with a perfect hatred, and was only withheld by caution from proclaiming himself as stiff a heretic as Wickliffe or John Huss. There is another school, of which Ozanam and Count Balbo are distinguished lights, who maintain his strict orthodoxy and dutiful attachment to the institution of the Papacy. Very deep and complex are the questions which arise when we try to pene anti trate the mystery. On the one hand we ask, could he have allowed the papal veil which Rossetti believes him to have frequently thrown over his real meaning, to have led him to such gross hypocrisies as such a supposition would entail? On the other, must not the fierce concentrated purpose which at times reveals itself with such burning vividness, have flamed through his whole nature, and gifted him with an intensity of feeling which could allow of no compromise in heart, however it might in outward show! Ahi quanto a dir qual era, è cosa dura Questa selva selvaggia, ed aspra e forte. With which reflections, leaving it to others to plunge afresh into that forest-wilderness and contribute their day's labour towards clearing the tangled pathway, we bring this brief notice of Dante's works and wanderings to an end. ANOTHER CHAPTER ON THE AMOOR. And with thy sword I'll open it. It comhinese authorities are is a common error to suppose averse to foreign trade, and systematically oppose its extension. The reverse is the natural state of things, and if they have learnt to regard it in an unfavourable light the fault rests with Europe. It was not to Chinese jealousy that Europe owed the exclusion of her merchants and travellers from Pekin, but to the drunken brawls of Russian and Dutch traders. And a marauding English captain bombarded the Bogue forts and forced his way to Canton more than a century ago.* Again, the expulsion of the missionaries was the result of discreditable quarrels between the Jesuits and the Dominicans, who represented each other to the Chinese Government as mischievous and seditious intriguers. In later days the hindrances to trade have also been of European origin-for instance, the heavy duties imposed by us on tea and silk, the former of which even now, under our reduced tariff, pays eight times as much to the British as to the Chinese Exchequer,† and the repeated and unjust quarrels which we have forced upon the Chinese. Presuming upon the superiority of our implements of war, we have outraged their feelings, violated their customs, and treated them with discourtesy and injustice. From the moment that the Foreign Office obtained full control over the government of India and our relations with China, events in those countries have taken a totally different turn. In the former a system of robbery under the name of 'annexation,' superseded our ancient character for good faith, and converted an abounding surplus into an appalling deficiency, while in both peace has been exchanged for war and disaster. In 1838 the Foreign Office forced upon India its first measure of unjust aggression, the invasion of Afghanistan, which speedily brought upon us the massacre of Caubul. The same system has more lately resulted in the Indian mutiny, and must, if persevered in, cost us our Indian empire. Between 1834 and 1840 the same system, directed by the same hand, and apparent in the instructions and despatches which induced Lord Napier to involve himself in the wretched and causeless squabble about the superscription PIN,' and in the proceedings of Captain Elliot, had ripened matters for the opium war. The * Captain Waddell. The Chinese duty is from 2d. to 3d., while the English duty is still la. 3ď. per pound. Lorcha war proceeded from the same source, and differed from the former only in being far more costly and far more injurious to our commerce, and even to our character, than its predecessor. In attributing these wars to system, and that system to the Foreign Office, we are only quoting Lord Palmerston's reply to Mr. Disraeli on the 3rd February, 1857 : MR. DISRAELI.-I cannot resist the conviction that what has taken place in China has not been in consequence of the alleged pretext, but is, in fact, in consequence of instructions received from home, some considerable time ago. If that be the case, I think the time has arrived when this House would not be doing its duty unless it earnestly considered whether it has any means of controlling a system which, if pursued, will be ever, in my mind, fatal to the interests of this country. LORD PALMERSTON.-The right honourable gentleman (Mr. Disraeli) says the course of events appeared to be the result of some system predetermined by the Undoubtedly it Government at home. was.+ That the system is unchanged may be inferred from the late annexation of territory to the Bombay Presidency, from the present expedition of Lord Elgin to Japan, and from the continuance of Mr. Bruce as our envoy in China. And that the nation is still capable of supporting the Minister in another unjust war, in China or elsewhere, may, we fear, be concluded from the universal satisfaction expressed at the plunder and destruction of the Summer Palace. All the present misfortunes of 319 the Chinese empire are directly traceable to the opium war. By the treaty of Nankin, which terminated that war in 1842, we stipulated for an indemnity of £3,000,000 in addition to £1,250,000 previously received for the opium destroyed. This sum was duly paid, but the Chinese Government, possessing no power by which it could lawfully raise this amount from the people, resorted to illegal measures in order to keep faith with us, and broke through the admirable system of entrusting power only to the most worthy, irrespective of birth or wealth or faction, by which the Empire had been preserved through so many ages. Had it not been for the discontent and ill government caused by the sale of offices, the Tai-ping rebellion would never have extended as it did; and that rebellion would have been crushed long ago but for the distraction caused by foreign wars. The most disastrous result of the opium war was the necessity under which it placed the Court of Pekin of drawing its northern armies to the coast, since in consequence of the unprotected state of the Siberian frontier, Russia was enabled again to plant her foot on the Amoor, from which her invading forces had been expelled a hundred and fifty years before. After the conclusion of the peace of Nankin, the Government had not only to deal with the Tai-pings, but also to send a Tartar army to the lofty regions of Tibet, to rescue the Grand Lama from the Nepaulese army which Russian intrigue had induced Jung Bahadur to send across the Himaleh mountains in The effect of the opium war on British commerce may be inferred from the fact that in the last year of that war Russia received 120,000 chests of tea at Kiakhta, and in the following year only 30,000. See McGregor's Commercial Tariffs. The Lorcha war reduced the consumption of our manufactures in China more than one half. In 1840 Mr. Gladstone had made the same assertion respecting the opium war in his most impressive manner; but he was not favoured with a similar admission of its truth. Be the trade or be the war what it may, I will never flinch from the assertion which I have already made, that the noble lord (Lord Palmerston) is chargeable for the results of both. On that head and on that of his colleagues the responsibility must conclusively rest.' See also Miss Martineau on the recal of Sir G. Robinson, Thirty Years of Peace, vol. ii. pp. 284-285. See Fraser's Magazine for January, 1855. the Amoor.' The Latest Acquisition of Russia, |