the voice of a wounded doe, floated from the bush behind us. Forth into the moonshine, which lay in a flood of silvery light upon the meadow, glided a splendid stag, so silently and so stealthily that we could have imagined him a spectre. He stood for a few moments gazing around; another low 'bell' and out from the gloom of the thicket one by one emerged the whole herd of deer. was too spirit-stirring to allow us to pause to count them, but there could not have been less than twenty. Silently they glided like phantoms through the centre of the meadowso silently, that we could scarcely hear their feet fall on the grass. The moment "B'yr Lady! a goodly herd; some of them at all events will never leave that sward alive!" And as we slowly brought up our rifle to the level, not a nerve or a fibre shook, our hand was as steady and our nerves as cool as if we were shooting snipes on the Bog of Allen. Slowly and steadily we covered the monarch of the waste just below the root of his antlers. We saw his head so distinctly in the clear moonlight, that we could almost distinguish the sparkle of his eye. On he came; he was not thirty yards from where we stood; in another minute "the blue pill" will be in his brain, when, just as our forefinger touched the trigger, crack went a rifle about twenty paces to our left, down went the leader of the troop upon his knees. From our very lips was the goblet snatched; "Whose carbine rang, Whose bullet through the night air sang." but by what hand was it more fitting that the royal animal should meet his fate?-for the "king of the wilderness" had fallen by the rifle of the prince. Off flew the startled herd in every direction ; and crack-flash-crack from every side rang the rifles of the sportsmen; 66 anon a careless herd, full of the pasture, jumped along by us"hurrah! he has it!-he's down!-no mistake this time !-Herr Bauerfiend's "kugel" is in his vitals. A flash from the bush behind us-crack, crack! -and another rolled on the ground, floored by the double-barrel of the steady old forst-meister, Such blaz ing we had never seen before. But the result was not so fatal as we had expected, for upon mustering to count the slain, only four deer, including the stag, lay upon the ground. By the time we had reached the courtyard of the castle, we found that, by some mysterious process, the game had arrived before us; and it was truly a goodly sight to behold the spoils of that day's chase: two splendid stags, four deer, twelve brace of black game, two roebuck, partridge innumerable, and twenty-four hares-the "capercalzie" had judiciously been suppressed-were the produce of our day's work. The evening banquet, which we enjoyed with that keen relish which sportsmen alone can know, being over, and the markgraf having retired "Now," said the forst-meister, "Bring das grosses glass." And a servant placed a large goblet, big enough to contain three bottles of wine, upon the table. While we adglass, ornamented with crimson and mired its beauty, for it was of amber gold painting, we were lost in astonishment at its capacious size. "Herr Irlander," said the forstmeister, "it is the custom of this castle for every one who, for the first time, has shot a stag in these forests to drain that cup.' "Gott bewahr!" said we, piously; es ist unmöglich.' "Nonsense," replied the forstmeister delberg, who is also an Irlander, in; "der Herr James von Heisisted upon his right, because he shot at a stag, although he missed him, and drained it at a draught. But," added he, "I suppose we must let goblet of chased silver, of curious you off with the small one;" and a sideboard. workmanship, was brought from the inquired. Nur ein flaschen," replied the forst-meister. "What wine would you like?" "Burgundy," we replied, in despe ration. The cup was filled, and for the crelips-and set it down empty. dit of Old Ireland, we raised it to our The effect was not instantaneous, for we have some hazy sort of recollection of making an attempt to sing, which was not successful; but of the events of that evening we remember nothing more distinctly; we have not the smallest recollection how we got to bed; but of this there is no doubt, that upon the following morning we found ourselves there, with our boots on, and with a splitting headache into the bargain. That day there was no "jagd," and on the following one we took our departure by the steamer, having received the most cordial invitation to repeat our visit. We had evidently won the forst-meister's heart by our shooting. "Herr Irlander," said he, as he bade us adieu, "you have a hard head and a steady hand; come back soon, and you shall shoot another hirsch."" With a graceful farewell, the blueeyed fräulein presented us with a rose"Don't forget," she said, "to tell them in Ireland that you shot a hirsch." The sun shone gloriously, the river sparkled, the forest wore its darkest green, as we stepped on the deck of the little steamer. No scene ever looked more beautiful, and we parted from our hospitable friends with extreme regret. As we passed beneath the castle from an open window in the old grey tower a white handkerchief fluttered in the breeze, and a fair hand waved an adieu; a sudden turn in the river, and the whole was out of sight. Well, thought we, after all it would be more agreeable living in that old castle than trudging about the Hall of the Four Courts. We wonder would the forstmeister take us for a son-in-law. Reader! it is possible in your many journeyings over land and sea, some chance may lead your wandering steps to that romantic glade, where, beetling high above the silver Neckar, frowns from the hoar oak forest the royal Schloss of Swingenberg, pause and visit it, and we pledge ourselves that your time shall not have been spent in vain ; for unequalled are the rare beauties of that sylvan scene. You will find the old forst-meister right "freundlich." The snow fall of time may have made his hair a little whiter, and age may have bent the firmness of Herr his tread since we saw him last, but he had twenty good years in him then; and we cannot bear to realize to ourselves the idea that we shall not have another shake of his hand yet. Tell him the Irlander, who shot the "hirsch" in the glen below the Riesensäule, and drained the silver goblet afterwards, sent you, and, we stake our existence, you will be welcome; if he is not glad to see you, it is possible the blue-eyed fräulein may. At all events, you will be glad to have it to say you have seen her. Go over the old castle, for it is one of the sights of Germany; visit the markgraf's chamber; see the horns of the elk, and the various trophies of the chase, which adorn its walls; but while your attention is attracted by the quaint old tapestry, and the gorgeous hangings of velvet and satin-while you marvel at the rich oak carving, and are lost in wonder at the ponderous swords, and guns, and bows, once borne by knights and princes, and which no men in these degenerate days could wield—while gazing curiously upon the old suits of chain mail, and the bright steel armour inlaid with gold-forget not, we pray you, as you go through the noble feudal hall, to pause opposite that old stone lion, who, "though fashioned by long-forgotten hands," stands there in his stern and hoary grandeur still; and above him, over against the wall, you will see a goodly pair of antlers once worn by a stag of ten; and on the black escutcheon which hangs beneath, if you can read what is there inscribed, you will see that it records the story of his death, and of our fame "Am Donnerstag dem 14tem Octobre wurde dieser Hirsch geschossen, in dem Odenwald von Herr -, advocat von Irland, hoch wohlgeborn und hochgelehrt;"—and then, perchance, if you are a solitary wanderer in that distant country, you will remember how your spirit was stirred within you-how the bright eyes which we doubt not are beaming around you now, grew brighter, as upon some quiet evening in "the leafy month of June," when the toils of the busy day were over, you read from the pages of our glorious Maga to the delighted household this our history. Upon the 14th of October, 1840, this stag was shot in the Odenwald, by a most learned advocate from Ireland." RUSSIA UNDER THE AUTOCRAT.* DESPOTISM is a formidable thing;whether the despotism of an autocrat, or the despotism of a mob. It would be no easy matter to determine which of the two should be more carefully eschewed by the lovers of constitutional liberty. The one may be modified considerably, whether for good or for evil, by the personal character of the occupant of the throne. The tyranny of a Justinian, or a Marcus Aurelius, may partake of a paternal character, and be only felt in their administration of affairs, by the wisdom and the beneficence by which they are distinguished. Even in the case of a Tiberius, prudence and policy may do much to moderate or mitigate the excesses of a disposition naturally cold and cruel ;nor is it to be supposed that any human being can be so utterly depraved and abandoned, as not to be guided, in some instances, by the dictates of conscience. In the other case, that of mob tyranny, the evil arises from the possession of supreme power without the consciousness of responsibility. If this power be wisely and temperately exercised, it may be attended by very beneficial results; while, on the other hand, the most deplorable consequences may follow, when the possessors of it are under the influence of prejudice, or actuated by folly or infatuation. Then there is no restraint of conscience. The predominant is an absorbing influence by which all others are swallowed up; and the acts of miscreancy which are perpetrated by excited multitudes, are shared amongst such a number, that, although each will appropriate the credit of them as long as they are popular, all will, individually, disclaim the imputation of them, as soon as they become odious. A tyrant, in the sense in which Nero or Caligula earned for themselves that appellation, is a monster not at the present day to be apprehended in the civilized world. He may exist in the deserts of Africa, where the type of the ruler is the beast of blood; or in Bokhara, which is but emerging slowly into the twilight of civilization. Even in Constantinople, where the epithet "manslayer," is one of the distinctive appellations of the Sultan, the tyrannical propensity, when it exists, is coerced by a force of public opinion, which could not, without danger to the sovereign who gave a loose to it, be wantonly or flagitiously disregarded. The despot who sports with human life, but exposes his own to the more imminent hazard; and prudence alone is necessary to inspire him with the wholesome caution, which would lead him to act with forbearance towards others, if he would consult wisely for himself. In Nor is this prudential restraint the only check to capricious tyranny. There is a gradual progress towards the reduction of absolute, and the development of popular powers. every country blessed with the light of knowledge, and where arts and manufactures are gradually drawing out the industrial resources of the people, despotic thus becomes transmuted into constitutional government, -and happy is the country which, in this state of transition, does not overpass the limits which should be observed by a wise and provident regard for the permament, as well as the progressive well-being of the people. On the other hand, when the tyranny is that of the licentious multitude, a contrary tendency is apparent; and men will frequently be prompted to fly to the single despot, as the only available refuge from the despotism of the many-headed monster, whose enormities are so much more alarming. Thus, in Roman history, the oppression of the kings led to the freedom of the commonwealth; which again, degenerating into faction and anarchy, by a natural and necessary Russia under the Autocrat, Nicholas the First. By Ivan Golovine, a Russian Subject. In Two Volumes. London: Henry Colburn. 1846. reaction, led to the tyranny of the Decemvirs, and the despotism of the Cæsars. But it is especially worthy of note, that the excesses of regal tyranny partake of a chronic, those of the democratic, of an acute character, or type. The former is the fixed disease, of which the latter may be said to be the premonitory symptoms. And while ages are often necessary to reduce despotism to wisely balanced constitutional government, years ordinarily suffice to give, to the shifting characteristics of popular tyranny, some fixity, either under an autocrat, whom all must obey, or more rarely, under some happily constituted popular regimen which may better provide for public liberty. Looking to America, on the one side, and Russia on the other, the contemplative observer of human affairs may much more clearly discern the deranging and disorganizing influence of the democratic spirit, in the former, leading to a disintegration of the states, and preparing the way for their subjection to a single ruler, than in the latter, any tendencies to constitutional rule, which would afford any hopeful prospects of national improve ments. In Russia, the whole cast and character of society must be altered, before the people could become fitted for the beneficial enjoyment of constitutional liberty. The iron despotism which has so long prevailed, has crushed both their bodies and their souls. The Emperor rules supreme over his extended realms, as barren almost of intelligence as of vegetation; and the serf must change his character, and the rights of humanity be vindicated, before even a basis can be laid for civil or social regeneration. Tyrant after tyrant may be removed by violence, but their places will only be supplied by others, by whom the same stern despotism will be maintained, exasperated, in all probability, and rendered more suspicious, by a jealousy of popular encroachment. We do not affirm that there is not going on, all this time, a silent process, under which this despotism must gradually crumble. In proportion as intelligence prevails, and as commercial and manufacturing activities are developed, institutions and conventionalities will VOL. XXVII.-No. 162. take their origin, by which some counter-check will be provided against the supreme will of a single ruler; and the process is obvious by which absolutism, like an iceberg, may be melted down into constitutional government. This may be either aided or retarded by external events which would encourage a liberal policy, or by premature and abortive efforts for independence, which could only result in the destruction of their authors. But it may be safely affirmed, that in the long run it must prevail, and that nothing which does not arrest the progress of the human mind, can stay the advance of constitutional freedom. In America, the people constitute the sovereign, and the rule to which they are subject is the popular will. Nor is this tyranny less stern or less exacting because thus diffused and diluted. In the slave states, more than three-fourths of the population are regarded as chattel property; not as men, but as things; and any attempt to enlighten the minds of the Negroes, or to awaken in them any aspirations for advancement in the social scale, would be resented by the slave holders as an atrocity by which the rights of property were invaded; and summary vengeance would be visited upon the philanthropist, who was even suspected of being so regardless of republican rights as to contemplate in thought their emancipation. Between these and the anti-slavery states, the union must be precarious; while in the slave population, they are feeding in their own bosom, a volcano, which, sooner or later must burst forth for their destruction. Nor are the rights of nations held more sacred than the principles which would guarantee to their fellow-man, of whatever colour, an equality of civil or social advantages. Witness the annexation of Texas, and the cool assumption of an exclusive right to the whole of the Oregon territory (in manifest contempt of the repeatedly admitted claim of Great Britain to a portion of that country), by which they would seem wantonly to provoke an appeal to the sword. Here we have the imperious popular will overruling the suggestions of reason and prudence, and clearly indicating such an utter disregard of the rights and interests of other states, as no single 3 c despot dare venture upon, without periling his sceptre in a general war. We venture to say, that if Russia or Austria dared thus to appropriate any of the rightful possessions of the British crown, an instantaneous declaration of hostilities would be the consequence on our part, which would be prosecuted with so much vigour, that the foul wrong and the fouler contumely must be speedily avenged. But the autocrat of all the Russias is a modest and a moderate personage, compared to the President of the model Republic, who overtops him, as the giant does the dwarf, in the magnitude and the extravagance of his insolent pretensions. Only let us suppose Nicholas claiming the territory from latitude 53 to 49, as President Polk does from 49 to 53, and we will have a case in point. Imagine that by his ambassador, he informs Great Britain, that he asserts his undoubted right to that portion of the American continent a right which he will not consent to submit to any arbitration, and how long should we remain at peace with him? Not an hour. His imperial character, the absolute power centered in his single person, would give an immense significancy to his usurpation, which would enkindle a general indignation; while the republican plainness of the American President, and the delegated nature of the authority which he exercises, blinds the lovers of constitutional liberty to the astounding audacity of his pretensions. It is, however, quite impossible that this, or any similar acts of aggression, against the rights of unoffending nations, should be endured by any who possess the power and the spirit to resist them. And we allude to the subject only for the purpose of showing, how the despotism of democracy sometimes exceeds the despotism of a single ruler ; and that what the latter would never contemplate, being restrained, if not by a sense of justice or of shame, at least by a prudent regard for his own interest, the former would rush upon, from a blind impulse of national vanity or national cupidity, which will see nothing but confirmations of its claims, in the very statements and reasonings by which they may be most effectually disproved.* The book which has suggested these * That there are those amongst the Americans themselves who already begin seriously to contemplate the breaking up of the republic, and the absorption of the several states into one vast monarchy, the following extract, from "The Life and Times of Henry Clay," will make manifest, a work of which our readers will find a notice in our March number. The writer is alluding to the arbitrary veto pronounced by General Jackson against measures which had received the sanction of the other branches of the legislature: "It will be said, with triumph, by British monarchists, that the British sovereign cannot, and dare not, veto the democratic branches of the government." "As has been seen in this work, General Jackson, in 1833, seized the purse of the nation, and took it into his own keeping." "That such a transaction should be tolerated in a professedly democratic state, is a just subject of concern among all the friends of true democracy." "The impunity with which the regal power in this and other forms has been exerted in the United States, will astonish mankind, inasmuch as it is generally supposed, and with truth, that the government of the United States was set up for the very purpose of escaping from it. It will also be said that a monarchy, regulated by the constitution, is better than a mere nominal republic, the head of which transcends the constitution at his will, and thus, in fact, becomes an absolute monarch. It will be adduced as evidence that monarchies are necessary, and that the doctrine of republics is an impracticable theory. Absolutism is the dread of mankind in every settled state of society, and if it cannot be avoided in a republic, men will fly to a monarchy. They cannot always be deceived by a name. Freedom and reform are the two great objects of the masses; and when they discover that both are wanting where both were promised, they will begin to look and strive to better their condition." "That the people of the United States will be disappointed when they come to reflect upon the operation of their government, in the recent stages of its history, is extremely probable, if not certain. They have hitherto supposed they were living under a democracy; but the simple and naked facts, that the policy and leading measures of the country, for the best part of an age, have been controlled by the will of one man, for the time being, and that the democratic power of the constitu |