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has fallen. Italy is by one step—but what a step !—nearer to independence, and in her case independence means freedom.

Turkey is not free, but independent—because of her very weakness. The mutual jealousies of the nations which are covetous of the Sultan's inheritance, for all practical purposes, act as well as though he were at the head of numerous and well-appointed fleets and armies. At the present moment the French are in military occupation of Syria. They are there to do the Sultan's work—to maintain his authority, to prevent his subjects from tearing each other to pieces. The French Emperor has been permitted to play the Sultan's game, but as soon as he endeavours to move the pieces on the Eastern chess-board on his own account, Europe is in arms. There is to be a conference at Paris with France and Russia on one side—England and Austria on the other, and the end will certainly be just what the end of all such attempts has been during the last half-century. The Power which has endeavoured to speculate upon the weakness of the Sultan will be compelled to retire. Turkey is independent, and there is a great calm at Constantinople, just as there is a calm in the centre of a circular storm.

Russia again is independent, but not free. Woe to that power which shall attempt to wage offensive war against the stubborn genius of Frost! The great historical failure of the First Napoleon is there to warn all conquerors of the consequences of a campaign against Nature. It is not in vain that a million of warriors were frozen to death. Other nations may endeavour to draw down the forces of the Russian empire to a frontier point, and to confront them there, as was done in the Crimea, but such a campaign as that of 1812 will never again be taken in hand. In Russia, the power which undertakes the marching is doomed to destruction. But is Russia free? Send for a Russian newspaper, and procure some friend who can act as interpreter to explain to you its contents, and you will soon find the measure of freedom as the term is understood at St. Petersburgh!

In France again we find independence without freedom, if by freedom is meant self-government. The best expedient which has been yet devised in France to reconcile the theory of freedom with its opposite in practice, is the election of a despot by universal suffrage. It is the will of all that one should rule. The minority are bound by the voice of the majority, and the decision of the majority is, that to Louis Napoleon shall be entrusted an entire control over the liberties and resources of France. Under such circumstances a nation is powerful abroad, because a nation is an army; but it sacrifices the advantages if it escapes the inconveniences of freedom.

Of our own country let nothing be said. We leave it to others to judge us as we judge them. The time is happily gone by, when a few platitudes about the majesty and matchless wisdom of all English arrangements could command the sympathies and cheers of an assembly of well-educated Englishmen. The days of post-prandial eloquence and of unctuous cheering are at an end. Well nigh half a century has been spent in unravelling the blunders of our forefathers. The work of one generation—and nobly has this work been done !—in the main has consisted of the repeal of statutes. From 1815 to 1829 there was the collapse, and then the collection of strength for a series of efforts. From 1829 to 1846 disabilities of all kinds—religious, political, and commercial— were removed by our reformers, until, substantially, reform has become a matter of detail. The battle of principles is over, in the British Islands at least.

But now Gaëta has fallen, and unless some very untoward event—such as would disappoint all expectation—should occur, we may shortly look forward to a time when Italy will again be called upon to play such a part in the comity of nations as she has not played since there was a schism between the western and eastern branches of the Roman Empire. We can afford to maintain the argument now that Italy stands once more upon the threshold of independence. Genoa and Venice had their days of magnificence and glory. Time was when high state was kept at Milan. Florence could boast not only of its splendour in the arts, but of its struggles for freedom, which, through their very excesses, terminated under the Medici, pretty much as such struggles upon a far grander scale have terminated in France under the Bonapartes in our own days and in the days of our fathers. There was a period in history when the Kings of Naples counted for something in the counsels of Europe—although upon that burning soil, whilst a grain of independence existed, the rivalry of dynasties killed the nation's strength. No doubt there was also a period when Roman priests ruled in Europe; but such rule as this— necessarily dependant upon opinion, and not reposing upon its own absolute strength—from its nature fluctuated according to the vicissitudes of opinion, and now seems to stand at its lowest ebb. From the days of Pagan Rome until those of Victor Emmanuel, Italy has never been a Power, as Spain, France, and England have been r and now it becomes a question of the highest importance, what course will be taken by Italian statesmen as soon as they have contrived to purge their country of thraldom to the foreigner, and of domestic superstition.

Italy, however, is not independent yet. All that we can say with safety is, that by the fall of Gaëta Italian matters are placed in such a condition that the French Emperor can scarcely attempt to check the course of events by further acts of authoritative interference. The order to detain the French fleet before Gaëta has already cost him dearly, not only in the opinion of Europe, but in the minds of Frenchmen themselves. It may have been a last clumsy endeavour to carry out the policy announced in the famous pamphlet which was published under his authority before the Italian campaign. As such it has signally failed. It has led to the destruction of the regiments which still remained faithful to the cause of the young Bourbon, and which certainly might have been used to better purpose than to be destroyed in and about Gaëta without a result. If Louis