interlacings would be effected. Probably, I have not now made it very clear to you, dear reader. Well, you must go and see for yourself.

In this way the varieties of form, the proportions of size and space, together with manual dexterity, neatness, skilfulness, exactitude, and perseverance, are taught; and the organs of sight are exercised, and the perception of form, figure, beauty, and colour developed.

I did not see all the illustrations of this new educational method, as my visit was not paid on the public day. I did not see the children cut, prick, or paint paper patterns; but I saw some beautiful specimens which had been done by them. Nor did I see any modelling in clay with a blunt knife, nor their amusing games with balls, rollers, cubes and cones; but I saw quite enough to convince me that children thus trained will always possess within themselves a source of enjoyment to which others are strangers; they will be more easily governed, having acquired the power of self-control; and they will in after life, be more easily taught different arts and sciences, a foundation for their acquisition having been thus early laid.

This system differs from that usually pursued in infant schools in this respect, that its chief aim is to cultivate the creative powers of the mind. The ordinary infant system teaches the children to observe; the Kinder Garten teaches that also, but it adds another and highly important lesson, to make.

I am quite sure that you will be delighted by a visit to this Garden in Tavistock Street. The amiable and accomplished Bertha, and her highly intelligent husband, whose name awakened feelings of lively interest in my mind, will answer all your inquiries, and furnish you with every illustration of the system, which they are anxious to make popular in this country. You will see how the whole physical, mental, and moral being can be harmoniously developed; how habits of industry, order, and self reliance can be formed; how

refined taste, gracefulness of manner, and cheerfulness of disposition, may be cultivated; and how concentration of mind, activity of body, and a desire to be useful, by these clever and entertaining methods, are constantly secured.

W. M. W.

EVENINGS WITH THE EDITOR.

EVENING THE TWENTY-FIRST.

Aug. I AM almost tired of reading about Russia and Turkey. So many people are anxious to turn an honest penny by catering to the popular appetite, that I fear the Czar and the Sultan will be dished up too often.

Ed. Before you are quite tired, let me advise you to read RUSSIA AND ITS PEOPLE.*

Aug. A dry history?

Ed. Not a history: it may rather be called a social and political delineation of the Russians, done by an intelligent Pole -Count Gurowski-and done exceedingly well. It is written in a very earnest manner, breathing a thoroughly revolutionary spirit, yet without rhodomontade.

Auy. Not by a lover of Russia, then?

Ed. Yes, the Count has both love and reverence for the Russian people, but he abhors the political system, and what he calls Czarism. You may infer his sentiments from the fact, that in the beginning of the Polish insurrection of 1830, he was one of its leaders.

Emm. What is Czarism?

Ed. That which makes the Czar everything and the people nothing. Let me read Gurowski's description of his character : -"He is a good husband, an excellent father, but these qualities do not always indicate a true generosity of soul. Few, if any, have seen a warm tear moisten his eye at a great general, and not his own personal, misfortune. From the beginning of his reign one can say that he has been generous in his own way, and even lavish, principally for ostentation when

*London: Nelson & Sons.

in foreign lands, as well as to those who surround him, and whom he believes to be wholly devoted to his person. But such men need kindness less than others who work hard in the service in lower positions, and to whom he is rather parsimonious. But in whatever manner he bestows a favour, he never does it in a simple, natural way, but always with a pompous ostentation, sometimes painful for the receiver. This leads one to presume that he lacks real benevolence of heart, in which respect he is far below his brother Alexander, or even Constantine.

"These principal features of his mind and character have been his companions, the lights and shadows in the exercise of power, in his progress to its climax. Having reached it he could not withstand its intoxications. No mortal can; Christ alone, in his Divine nature, resisted temptation. But the tempter, the spirit of lies, darkness, and treachery, this father of absolutism, gets control of others. He subdues them all. Thus he ruined Napoleon. On that unnatural height the head of Nicholas soon became giddy. Those regions are frozen, and all generous aspirations die out in that atmosphere. The basest incense and adulation became alone palatable to him. Then struck the hour of his moral downfall, invisible from without, but felt deeply by Russia.

Czarism, or rather the Czar himself, pushed on by unavoidable fatality, has sown mighty germs of disorder in the nation. He was the first to raise the spy system to the supreme honours of the Court, and to introduce it into the Imperial Councils. Since the time of Basil the Bloody no such institution had been directed by the sovereign himself. This was left for Nicholas. He believes that the secret police and the spy system are the principal securities, the main props of his reign. That he has rendered the police an elevated branch of his administration. Its chief is the most intimate favourite and the inseparable companion of the Czar. So was Count Benkendorff, a German by birth, and the original founder of this infamous system; and it may be observed here, that Germans and Jews are its principal agents and directors, and that very few true-born Russians seek for that distinction. Unhappily, the present chief, Count Orloff, is one of these. Even Napoleon did not make out of Fouché, a Savary, or a Regnault de St. Jean d'Angely, the first men of the empire, or his nearest confidants. Nothing of the sort-not even the shadow thereof-darkened the lofty and pure mind of Peter, to whose footsteps Nicholas believes he adapts his imperial feet.

"Once the Czar believed that there was a nation for whose welfare God had sent him to work and to care. Now he seeks

to establish and raise to a creed the idea that Czarism is the generator of the nation-that Czarism was first made, and the nation afterward. In relation to Europe, Nicholas firmly and absolutely believes that he is predestined to maintain the ancient tottering order, to shelter and restore legitimacy, to combat and conquer progress, light, and the emancipatory revolution. Once he recognised the idea of the supremacy of the law. This was something. It was a recognition of the persona juris in his subjects. But now the law is himself, his will, his wish. Thus he is the only persona in the empire-others are, in reality, merely things-and persons, so far as his will allows them to be such. Intellectual life-even physical life-can be allowed to exist only so far as they assimilate themselves and support the control exercised by Czarism."

Aug. Is Czarism really popular?

Ed. Our author asserts that "Nicholas has stretched the reins to such a rigidity that everybody is hurt and wounded, from the magnate down to the serf. Every class feels the debasement-feels that by him all vitality, all individuality, except his own, are absorbed or annihilated. Nearly seventy millions of human beings are, after all, mere chattels, living only for him, and through his imperial concessions."

Aug. Will this last?

Ed. "Last it cannot. This tension will break the reins, if not in his own hands, in those of his successor. Those who pronounce his name with a curse are numerous, and belong to all social classes-and more numerous are they who are choked by the words 'Czar,' and 'Nicholas,' and never stain their lips with them. The traditions of the ancient national life are not yet extinguished."

Aug. How is the government organized?

Ed. Anciently the Grand Duke, or Czar, was surrounded by a council, called the Duma. He personally presided. It was formed exclusively of the principal nobility. The highest official dignity was "Boyard of the Duma." The provinces were governed by Boyards, having very extensive powers. Their title then became Woïewoda, or War-leader. All supreme

governmental, administrative, judicial, and legislative powers, have for centuries resided solely in the Autocrat. The ancient Duma had no independent attributes. Peter abolished this council and formed a new one, called the Senate. Under the reign of the Empress Anna, a Council of the Empire was established, and the personal contact of the sovereign with the senate annulled. The emperor is now surrounded by this council; he forms it as he pleases. Its decisions are by vote, but depend upon the emperor's will to become law. The various

state departments form in all eighteen branches; under the direction of the sovereign. To these must be added the administrations of Poland, Finland, Caucasus, and Georgia, whose chiefs depend directly upon the emperor. The secretaries for

these administrations, and the ministers of state, report personally to the Autocrat, and at least once a week. The special matters are brought elaborated and ready for decision.

Aug. Plenty of work for the emperor!

Ed. More than he can rightly get through. His decisions concerning insignificant and personal matters, as well as others of great weight and influence over the destiny of millions, can rarely be thoroughly matured. Everything comes before him; even the drawings and plans of the most insignificant public buildings. Civil and military rewards and punishments are settled by him. He ought to hear of every public accident. Questions from all parts of the empire reach him for his decision. Whatever may be the magnitude and strength of the autocratic grasp, it is clear that to encircle everything becomes more and more impossible. Thus the decisions of the sovereign naturally depend almost exclusively upon the way in which the subject is laid before him. In most cases he either yields, or wholly submits to the opinion of the reporting minister.

Aug. The real power then, is in the hands of these ministers. Ed. And they are his mere creatures, ready to do any injustice so as to secure his favour and enrich themselves.

Aug. Has the senate no power?

Ed. It only submissively and humbly records the royal decisions. The ukases reach the senate ready made; it simply publishes and brings them into execution.

Aug. So the Czar is a complete despot.

Ed. He fancies he is; but I should call him a bureaucratic puppet.

Aug. A puppet so pulled as to do great mischief.

Ed. The people may some day cut the strings.

Aug. What hopes of that?

says,

Ed. Not many, so far as intelligence is concerned, for everything is done to prevent the education of the people; yet Gurowski "The ways and means of the genius of liberty and emancipation are numberless. The army, looked on to-day as the most powerful engine of Czarism, will sooner or later burst its bands, and turn against it, and against the pillars by which it is supported. Hope is not only not lost for Russia; but on the contrary, it is rising."

Aug. Is the clerical influence on the side of the Czar ?

Ed. No; the social position of the clergy identifies them more with the lower orders than with the aristocracy. "Neither