carriage, and detained the traveller for the night. In the course of conversation he inquires,

"Well, my young neighbour, what political colour will you assume?'

"None. I come here to arrange my own affairs, and not to govern the country.'

"That answer shows me that you know neither the country nor the age. Here, to avoid assuming a colour, is to let one be given you; and an odious one, that of indifferentism, of egotism.""

But, as we propose not to spare M. de Custine many pages, we cannot extract the whole of the liberalist Marquis's dissertation upon the miseries of political neutrality, or his explanation of how disagreeable M. d'Offlize's arrival will be to his ultra-royalist, lawyersteward, who having, as the representative of the Seigneurs d'Offlize, once Suzerains of the district, with the Marquises d'Etang for their vassals, long been the great man of the neighbourhood, and must accordingly dislike being supplanted by his principal, or in vulgar parlance, his master. Neither can we find room for the gradual offence taken by M. Lamazure, the said notaire-steward, at the simple manners of the man of real fashion, which appear to him supercilious, overbearing, and rude, because not formal. We will rather select, as giving the same feelings more condensed and more comically, a visit paid by M. le Comte d'Offlize to one of the notabilities of the market town (bourg) of Offlize, which its inhabitants will on no account endure to have called a village,

"The first house at which Edmond called, was that of M. Lecointel, tipstaff, and assistant to the mayor (huissier, et adjoint.)

*

"Madame Lecointel was in her kitchen, but not in wooden shoes (sabots), because she had just returned from mass. M. d'Offlize entered so abruptly that he caught her before she could rush into the parlour, shut the door behind her, and, unseen, put the room to rights, whilst she sent the servantgirl with a message of excuse, requesting M. le Comte d'Offlize to wait a moment. Being hindered from observing this rustic etiquette was a heavy offence to the good lady.

"M. d'Ofilize observing that, by way of doing him honour, she was about to lead him to an uninhabited part of the house, civilly objected, saying the kitchen would do quite as well for him as for Madame Lecointel. Her embarrassment now gave place to resentment. Pale with anger, she paused, said within herself: Does he think the kitchen good enough for me?" that I am not fit to have a parlour?' and then, speaking with an effort, added aloud: Ah, M. le Comte d'Offize, for a Parisian it's not very civil to want to stay in the kitchen.'

"I do not think of Paris now, Ma'am.'

"Do you then suppose that you are amongst savages?' rejoined the lady sharply. To be sure we poor folks do not know how to receive great lords, but at all events we don't let them sit down in the kitchen.' And, in her wrath, shaking the sugar-loaf shaped cap upon her head, she led him into the parlour.

"There she placed him opposite to that side of the room which was papered with views of Paris. When he was seated, when the window-shutters had, with some difficulty, been successively opened, when, after sundry whisperings with the servant-girl, the leg of mutton and the basket of eggs had been re

moved, the broken crokery swept away, the cat turned out, and a favourite hen shut up in a dark closet; when all these arrangements were completed, the lady, full of her new paper, asked her visiter, Do you recognize your own country?'

"M. d'Offlize, who was not thinking of the parlour paper, supposed she spoke of the valley of Offlize, and answered I had no recollection whatever of it.'

"Humph!' thought the lady, these Parisians are not quite so clever as we are taught to believe.'

"Edmond finding it heavy work to make Madame Lecointel chat, asked for M. Lecointel.

"He's out on horseback, Sir,' she replied.

"I am sorry for it, I wished to speak to him about M. Lamazure, who is leaving me.'

"No answer.

"You know that he is leaving me?

"Hush!' said his hostess at length, anxiously laying a finger on her lips. That is the paling of his garden.'

"And what of that?' asked Edmond.

"We might be overheard.'-The garden paling was a hundred yards distant from M. Lecointel's house.

"Edmond tried a new topic, which he thought might be congenial, and said, 'I find a great charm in country life. It is so unlike Paris-such complete repose.'

"I don't know, never having been there,' rejoined Madame Lecointel disdainfully.

"Oh, you have never visited Paris?'

"I spoke of the country, M. le Comte.'

"And Edmond recollected he had already been told that Offlize was a town.* M. Vatard, the sparkling, airy, elegant, M. Vatard (tax-collector of the Commune), now entered. To show his fashionable ease, he was scarce civil to M. d'Offlize, stretched his neck in greeting to his fair neighbour, flung himself noisily upon the nearest chair, and tossing back his head thus addressed M. d'Offlize.

"M. le Comte must have been pleased with the vicar's sermon. Ab, ha! He is something different from the curate. He knows the world,'

"Edmond was displeased by M. Vatard's self-sufficient tone and manner; but quietly answered: I cannot yet quite judge of your vicar's talent, but I did not think his subject well chosen.'

"How so, M. le Comte?' asked Madame Lecointel sharply.

"He preached against luxury and fashion,' rejoined Edmond; and I should have thought Offlize safe from such vanities.'

*

"What, M. le Comte, you think us unfit to profit by the lessons addressed to the inhabitants of great towns! Really that is holding us rather too cheap. What, can I have no luxury because I am but a poor bourgeoise? Do you deny us even vanity? What do you take us for?" But we are running into greater length than we had intended, and shall lay down the pen, satisfied that we have given a sufficient sketch of the Norman bourgs and of M. de Custine's talent.

ART. XV.-The Portfolio; or a Collection of State Papers, illustrative of the History of our Times. No. I. to No. V. London. Ridgway. We have taken occasion in one of our late Numbers to refer to this publication, respecting which it is but fair to admit that opinions are much divided. Agreeably, however, to our plan, announced in No. XXIX., of giving the opinions of eminent continental critics on English publications, we shall extract a few passages from a critical analysis of the Portfolio, by Dr. C. F. Wurm, the able editor of Die Zeitschrift, a periodical work, commenced with the year 1835, at Hamburg. appeared in the "Blätter für literarische Unterhaltung," printed at Leipzig, (Nos. 54-57, for 1836), and as illustrative of the state of public opinion in Germany on some of the important questions touched upon in The Portfolio, we conceive that this notice of it will not be uninteresting to our readers.

Referring to the despatches of Prince Lieven, Count Matuszewicz, and Count Pozzo di Borgo, in the years 1826 and 1829, published in the 4th and 5th Numbers of The Portfolio, the Reviewer thus remarks,—

"But have we occasion for these despatches to prove that in those years it was the interest of Russia to occupy France with the Peninsula, and that Russia has found means to keep one English administration after another (Tories and Whigs alike) inactive, whilst she was preparing in the East that which is now coming to maturity before our eyes? Even the councillor of state, Nebenius, must, it appears, be content to see his prediction quoted (No. IV. p. 169), that England, if she should soon take a fancy to stand forth again as mistress of the ocean, would find the Black Sea closed against her. The question concerning the Dardanelles is become a vital question for the naval power of England. ... A crisis is at hand-a serious, nay, an awful one-which threatens to reach the hearths and the homes of far distant nations, whose opinions are not even asked, unless the conciliatory policy of Prussia, unless the firm bearing, or-have we not witnessed much that was not to be foreseen?-an imposing resolve, of Austria, should succeed in laying the storm."

The Reviewer then proceeds to notice the Russian Memoir published in Nos. II. and III. of The Portfolio, in the following manner:

"There is a very remarkable article (II. 57-92; III. 114–155), which, under the title of a Russian Memoir or a Russian Note, has been mentioned in many German papers, and from which considerable extracts have been given in the Hamburgh Zeitschrift für Politik, Handel und Handelsrecht.' But this communication is founded only on such passages as had been published before the appearance of the Portfolio in the British and Foreign Review.

The only conceivable object of such a paper would be to excite in Germany hatred against Russia, and in Prussia, in particular, jealousy and suspicion of that power. But in this case there would be displayed, together with much cleverness of invention, too great clumsiness of arrangement; inasmuch as the document lacks all those marks which might contribute to deceive, and to cause it to be considered as a diplomatic communication emanating from the Russian government. It is far more probable that this paper has really been written— no matter by whom-to render the idea of a Russian protectorate agreeable to the second-rate German powers. How far it may contain the views of the cabinet of St. Petersburgh, how far the writer and his work may enjoy the patronage of that cabinet, is a matter on which the reviewer feels himself not called upon

to hazard any conjectures. But assuredly, it is the affair of every German to concern himself about the star of political salvation which is here announced, about the new guarantee of German freedom which is here presented."

"To say nothing of measures that are already designated as provisional, there arises from the peculiar tendency of this Memoir, a question, on which not a single word is bestowed:-if, namely, Russia is so much better qualified than Austria or Prussia for the Protector of the German Confederation, is it because Russia's principles of intellectual intercourse so far surpass in liberality those of the Austrian and Prussian governments? What the author thinks of the German nation, of the German states, of the German princes, may be collected from the following passage:

"The princes of the small constitutional German states, oppressed by their ambitious legislatures, as Louis XVI. was by his National Convention, in remembrance of this great warning example, have now themselves acknowledged that, on the further licentiousness of their chambers depend their existence or non-existence. They now offer a hand to Prussia, to curb the liberty of their chambers, whilst they willingly submit themselves to the general decrees of the Diet, and only give way, in one common spirit of conservation, to the necessities of the times.'

"Further, what is to become of the constitutions? Only the peculiar local and provincial interests need be drawn into the sphere of public discussion. (II. 79.) It may, perhaps, do the author a service, to remind him that Elizabeth of England warned her parliament against interfering in state affairs, and that at a time when in Germany not an inch of territory could be alienated, not a treaty concluded, not a sovereignty erected, not a war carried on, without the assent of the states. This may serve for a reply to the assertion that, in the constitutions of Bavaria, Würtemberg, Nassau, Baden, and Weimar, the constitutions of England and France are copied almost verbatim, without any regard to the ancient institutions of those countries of Germany (II. 80.) It is, certainly, edifying to see here, in the first place, how English and French institutions are thrown pell mell into one bag; and in the next, to find it in exulting simplicity affirmed, that the English constitution is described somewhere-(perhaps in the Statutes at Large,')-so compendiously, that one may copy it out word for word; and, lastly, that such a total ignorance prevails on the subject of the earliest, the most important, of all German rights, a right that existed before parchments-the right of granting or refusing taxes. After the author has persuaded himself that the German princes have learned to separate their interests from those of their people, he shows them how to separate their interests also from the Prussian, that is to say, as soon as the end which caused them to offer the hand to Prussia has been attained. This point is connected with the principles of material intercourse; and in the above-mentioned spirit, the dissolution of the Prussian custom-house system, calculated for political objects, is predicted."

"The last disquisition," proceeds Dr. Wurm," treats of the development of the German Confederation, under the equal or unequal influence of Austria and Prussia.' An equal influence is not conceivable. Immediately afterwards comes the startling proposition that sooner or later the influence of both powers may be paralyzed (III. 124.) Austria is thrown in every way into the background: but of Prussia, it is said, that she will have in time to expect a much stronger opposition from the Diet than from the cabinet of Vienna; that this circumstance may perhaps induce the cabinet of Berlin to attempt to reduce and to break the political power of the Diet; but, fortunately, Austria will, on the like grounds, strive to uphold its influence and stability.

"Hence it is, that the writer pretends to infer that the independence of the smaller German states cannot be guaranteed, either by Prussia or Austria, and

that the guarantee of some great foreign power must be welcome to the Diet. It is, however, difficult to persuade one's-self that this conclusion is actually drawn in this manner. In each of the two great German powers lies the guarantee against the subjugation of the weaker states by the other-therefore, the guarantee of a third foreign power is necessary! England, we are then told, from its insular position, and as a merely naval power, is not adapted for this purpose, consequently there is no other choice but between France and Russia.

Assuredly, as for England, she would decline the protectorate of Germany. The connection with Hanover has already given cause sufficient for discontent to the nation, and for vexation to the first, second, and third George. England's policy is purely national, or, if you please, selfish-and what policy is not? The German liberals would egregiously deceive themselves if they imagined that England would raise a finger for the preservation of their constitutions. England is no further interested in the matter than in so far as it could not be doubtful, in case of a war of principles, which party the people of the constitutional states would espouse. But even then, the policy of England consists in avoiding such a war. As to the independence of individual states of the Germanic Confederation, England is interested only in a limited degree-in regard, for instance, to the mouths of the Elbe and the Weser. Again, it is a general interest of England's that the German states should not fall under the supremacy, mediate or immediate, of any foreign power; that all Germany should be upheld, without caring much within what limits or in what number of separate states. But, in the interior, indeed in the greater part of Germany, there is no confidence, no cordiality towards England; and it will not be otherwise, friendly political relations will not take place between England and Germany, till England has purified her commercial system and made an arrangement with the German states founded on just principles of reciprocity. After long hesitation, such an arrangement on the part of England will appear, not as some heated declaimers in the states of the Union (Vereinstaaten) imagine-as the compulsory result of necessity, but as so completely grounded in the interest of England, that in Germany the proffered hand will be still eagerly grasped, though not with warmheartedness as that of a friend.

"As a matter of course, the Germans will not solicit a French guarantee of their Confederation any more than a Russian. The anonymous writer has certainly enumerated abundance of services rendered by Russia to German independence. Were we to admit them all without any question, the necessity of a Russian protectorate would by no means follow. It would be superfluous to waste further words on the subject, were not the Germans charged with ingratitude- the most despicable ingratitude.' This accusation demands a brief reply. The author goes back to the time of Catherine the Great and her 'guarantee of the peace of Westphalia.' Was the way in which she supported the Bavarian plan of exchange in the spirit of the peace of Westphalia? It is declared to have been an unprecedented, incomprehensible blindness in the German electors not to have thrown themselves at once, in 1790, into the arms of Russia, as one of them (the Elector of Treves) did in the following year. Do people, then, take the Germans for children, or for imbecile old men who have lost their memory, that they talk to them of such things in such a tone? Are, then, the works of those times annihilated? Are the documents and the facts swept away together? The truth is, that the peace of Westphalia was, as usual, renewed and confirmed at the peace of Teschen, in 1799. Russia guaranteed the peace of Teschen before the emperor and empire acceded to it, and without her guarantee being solicited. Upon this was founded the claim of the Russian cabinet to interfere thenceforward in the affairs of the empire. Was it any wonder if the Germans recoiled from such a foreign interference? But Russia guaranteed the Polish constitution just as well as the peace of Westphalia. Not Russia's ene