cure it for their children? Some are, but the general discharging the duty. Mr. Corrie is asked whether indifference is great. Dr. Phillips Kay, a Poor-law the rate-paying inhabitants of the West Bromwich Commissioner, whose experience on these subjects is district would not agree to a small rate of 3d. or 6d. in extensive, thinks that parents must be compelled to the pound for the purposes of education? and he regive their children the advantage of education, before plies, that "any addition to the rate would be submitted deriving any benefit from their labour; otherwise they to with great reluctance," and that "everybody pays as will put them into factories, and make them work little as he can." from morning to night without giving them the slightest opportunity of mental improvement. He says that the demand for education in Manchester "cannot be said to exceed the supply;" and that "among certain of the poorer classes the value of knowledge has not been ascertained, which is perhaps the most perfect proof of ignorance." To this ignorance Dr. Kay attributes the influence of such agitators as Oastler, Ste-not act effectually; and the committee of the House of phens, and Feargus O'Connor "I consider that the success of the agitators in operating upon the feelings and prejudices of the mass of the working population, is chiefly attributable to the want of information of their real interests, and particularly of the true basis of the relation between master and servant, in manufacturing communities.” Mr. John Riddall Wood, employed by the Statistical Society of Manchester to make inquiries into the state of education in large towns, says, that "a very great number who attended schools in Manchester, and have learned, perhaps, to read the New Testament, who are from fifteen to twenty years of age, now in many cases do not know their letters; and many of them cannot read, who were able to read fluently on leaving school." When asked if the parents would not pay a penny a week for the education of each of their children, he replies It appears, then, that the parents, ignorant themselves, grudge the hours taken from profitable labour for the education of their children; and that the wealthier classes-so called, but in point of fact needy would submit with great reluctance to an educationrate. The only resource would seem to be the interference of the Government; but the Government will Commons, rejecting the more enlarged proposition of their chairman, Mr. Slaney, for the establishment of a Board of Education and the extension of government assistance, came to the lame and impotent conclusion, expressed in their fourth resolution, that they could not recommend "any means for meeting the deficiency beyond the continuance and extension of the grants which are at present made by the Treasury for the promotion of education through the medium of the National and British and Foreign School Societies." This is the sum of the whole matter-that the great bulk of the labouring population not only lack instruction, but the leisure to receive it; that a portion of them are nevertheless ready to sacrifice the profitable labour of their children for the advantage of procuring something like education for them; that even for this small portion the Government and individuals together provide only means which are wretchedly inadequate; and that a committee of the House of Commons, in 1838, "I am quite satisfied they would gladly pay a penny a week; but it is not the penny a week that is the ques-can think of no better remedy for this monstrous evil tion with them about sending their children to school it is the expense of keeping them, when they can find profitable employment for them at six or seven years of age; and it is an expense to provide them with such decent clothing as they ought to have when they go to school. The only way in which general education can obtain must be by an advance in the wages of the adult population." Mr. Wood seems to have "hit the nail on the head." This is the point, after all. It is not because the poor are indifferent to the advantages of education, but because they live from hand to mouth, and must devote themselves to the business of getting food for their families, that they grudge the time taken from the factory and spent at school. This is the reason why they who have learned to read become ignorant of the alphabet-they work from morn to night, and go stupified to bed. The improvement of their physical condition is a necessary preliminary to mental enlightenment. The work to be done is immense; and, assuredly, voluntary exertion will go but a little way towards VOL. XXXIV.-NOVEMBER, 1838. 44 and serious danger, than a perseverance in the system proved to be a miserable failure! When such is the result of the parliamentary labours of their betters, who can blame the working classes for endeavouring to help themselves socially by political advancement? From the Spectator. MR. RAIKES'S VISIT TO ST. PETERSBURG.* In November 1829, Mr. Raikes started for Hamburg, in an illfavoured steamboat, with a vulgar and motley company, contrasting, he says, very strikingly with the "well-known resorts of convivial gayety" (Anglicè There seems to have been a change of title while the work was in the press. Though only one volume, it was delivered to us in three fasciculi, under the name of The City of the Czar:" with the last fasciculus comes the title-page, in the words that we have printed above, and with the alarming motto from Burns, "A chiel's amang you takin' notes, conceived by the Emperor on his journey. But the Emperor, who might obtain millions in this manner, was unable to raise a loan in his own dominions. With an immense revenue, and finances in the most prosperous state, his government is without credit; as the mercantile spirit of the Russians is too clear-sighted not be convinced that arbitrary power and public credit must always be incompatible. the clubs?) he had just quitted. From Hamburg he posted to Berlin,-which he found very dull; and travelled by the same mode of conveyance to St. Petersburg; the ground-a marvellous thing in that region at that season-being covered with snow, and the rivers almost frozen up. In the "City of the Czar" he resided four months, at an hotel; received the invitations to our own Ambassador's, which are custom-ment to throw down the gauntlet in Europe and comarily extended to persons of his status; and, scraping a few acquaintances, by their means got occasionally introduced to Russian set parties. He visited the curiosities usually seen by strangers; picked up some anecdotes, and some idle tales of great inen; collected reports of the internal workings of the Russian Government, touching serfs, municipalities, and public offices; and, mingling these with rational enough views of the power of Russia, he weekly sent off the omnium to a dear friend, though the letters were sometimes, as he candidly admits, hardly worth the postage. The reason assigned for the publication of such trifles is, "that not a single traveller has published even a sketch of the system and manners of a country which differs so essentially from all the civilized states of Europe." This, however, is scarcely the fact; for, besides incidental notices by other travellers, we have Mr. Ritchie's keen and shrewd, though of necessity, like Mr. Raikes's superficial observations. The real truth seems to be, that our author has collected his off-hand letters for the sake of flattering the Tories, abusing the present Ministry, and fostering the Russophobia. But as his own first impressions, derived from the reality, do not in any way forward this last object, he is compelled to affix a lengthy postscript in which he gathers together all sort of hearsays and conjectures on various subjects-about the increase of the Russian marine: as if seven years on the Black Sea could form a navy out of sailors formerly frozen up, according to his own account, more than half the year; as if the exploits of Russia in Circassia were any thing to boast of in the military way; as if the physical circumstances of the Tartar deserts, which he properly comments upon in his text, were altered since he wrote it; or as if Russia was any nearer to the possession of Constantinople than in 1830. Nor is Mr. Raikes always scrupulous in matters of fact; so far from having diminished the number of ships in commission, our present Government has increased them. Neither is he always attentive not to contradict himself. For example "Affection for the Sovereign, and a general approbation of his measures for the public good, may prompt the offer of a voluntary donation, as was the case lately at Nijni Novogorod, when the merchants came forward with a vote of a million and a half of roubles for the construction of quays on the Volga, according to a plan "If, then, it became an object of the present Governmence a war of aggression, funds would be required for the purpose; and those funds could only be raised by a previous consent to abrogate and limit that arbithere is no disposition on the part of the ruler to curtail. trary power which now evidently exists, and which The best security for peace is the want of means to make war." These rational remarks are from a note to his text: the following afterthought is from the postscript of Russia, and think that Messrs. Rothschild are the Some grave politicians, who undervalue the power arbiters of peace or war, significantly allude to, what they call, her vulnerable point; they talk of her financial embarrassments, and assert that the want of money will prevent a collision. "Perhaps these reasoners are not aware that, personally, the Emperor of Russia possesses, in territorial property alone, a revenue ten times more considerable than any civil list in Europe; that, speaking financially, Russia has nothing to lose and every thing to gain, her frontiers; besides, that her internal administration from the moment that the seat of war is carried beyond is less expensive than any other; that her levies of troops are collected with a surprising economy for the crown, and at the cost of the landed proprietors; that every military expedition once out of a country like Russia, is a speculation which can hardly fail to turn out profitable to the empire, as there is scarcely on record a treaty of peace signed between that power and her adversaries, by which she did not ultimately gain some augmentation to her own territory." Passing over these incongruities, and the slight nature of Mr. Raikes's matter, his volume may be recommended as lively, readable, and characteristic of the man of society. What he says is without depth or thought-often without justness; but he says it pleasantly albeit flippantly; while in the lighter matters of etiquette, or even of graceful sentiment, he rises to the height of his theme. Such are these quotations. IMPERIAL FETE. Yesterday was the Russian New Year's Day: it was celebrated by a fête which can be seen in no other country; it is a fete original, extraordinary, and characteristic of the nation. The sovereign and his family commence the new year by an assembly given to the people; not less than twenty-five thousand invitations are issued to this gigantic rout. At seven o'clock in the evening, the doors of the Winter Palace and of the Hermitage are thrown open to the multitude; the innumerable rooms are lighted up with myriads of wax candles; at convenient distances are placed sideboards with refreshments, adorned with pyramids of gold and silver plate; bands of military music resound in every corner to amuse the ear; picked men, of the highest stature, from the guards, are stationed in the ante-rooms to give effect to the scene; and liveried servants swarm in every direction more numerous than the troops. And for whom was this colossal entertainment prepared? For every rank and degree; from the highest noble to the lowest peasant, all were equally welcome without distinction to pay their respects at the foot of the throne: there are no exclusions; rich and poor, the field-marshal and the invalid, the princess and the washerwoman, the master of the horse and the dancing-master, the maid of honour and the maid of all-work, the prince and the mougik, the Queen of Georgia and the French milliner, may all hope for a smile or a courteous word from the fountain of honour. rence of police, military, or dictation of any sort: it is highly creditable to the mildness and civility of the national character, as the same exhibition on the same scale in Paris or in London would have produced scenes of endless confusion. AMBASSADORIAL BLUNDER. The bévue which, I am told, created at first some coolness in Russian society towards the Duc de Mortemart, that it is worth relating. A mistake of his secretary, the French Ambassador, was of so ludicrous a nature in sending out cards of invitation without prefixing the proper titles of the guests, gave in the first instance another entertainment more carefully announced in prosome offence, which was afterwards to be repaired by per form. The object proposed was a little French comedy, to be acted by the members of the AmbassaIn this immense crowd, slowly moving through the his hotel. The Russians are very partial to the French dor's family, on a theatre fitted up for the occasion in apartments, no instance of disorder or incivility ever stage; and a spectacle de société is always more interestoccurs; not even an attempt to steal the most triflinging than a public representation: the company, thereornament, which to some must be a great temptation: fore, assembled with great good-will, and harmony, to the Emperor is in the midst of his family, and the all appearance, was completely reestablished. By one children are on their good behaviour. * At seven o'clock, the different members of the diplo-to be foreseen, and which sometimes will furnish an of those unfortunate coincidences which are impossible matic corps are introduced into the great hall of St. unpleasant construction to the most innocent intentions, George; where they are received by the Emperor, the the comedy of L' Ours et le Pacha was selected by the Empress, the Grand Dukes, and Grand Dutchesses, actors for this occasion. It is a favourite little piece in attended by their numerous court. This interview lasts France, and must be in any country where bears are but a few minutes, during which the crowd flows in not indigenous, and where the climate does not oblige like an inundation of the sea. The Emperor then gives the lords and ladies of the land to borrow their costume the signal to move, by offering his hand to one of the whenever they venture out of their houses. Perhaps ambassadresses present; the whole court follows his the actual war which was then going on with Turkey example; and a grave polonaise is begun, which passes might have rendered the allusion to the Pacha still through all the different apartments to the sound of the military orchestras stationed in every direction. This more striking also. Be that as it may, the scene openprocession advances, without interruption, through the ed, and the principal dramatis persona proved to be surrounding masses of all ranks, headed by the tall, offence was not to be forgiven; and even to the day the two enormous bears: this was indeed past bearing; the commanding figure of the Emperor; at every instant he Ambassador, with all his known amabilité and highsalutes his subjects, by raising the two forefingers bred manners, has never been able to efface the impresto his hat; and though the anxiety to catch even asion of this unintentional affront. glimpse of his person is so great that the eager crowd seems to present an impenetrable barrier, it opens before him as if by magic; the waves of human bodies recede, and leave always a space of at least six feet in front to facilitate his progress. The men are all expected to appear in domino, which is only a short black mantle on the shoulder, without a mask; but the tradespeople and mougiks are exempted from this rule. Here was a collection of all those nations who are only known in Europe by their name-Armenians, Greeks, Tartars, Persians, Georgians, Imeretians, inhabitants of Caucasus and of the Don, wearing their appropriate dresses, and gazing with astonishment at a scene which must have appeared to them the work of a magician. In those rooms where the Emperor was expected, the throng was at times so excessive that parties were separated, shoes were lost, gowns torn, and respiration impeded; but no sooner had he passed than ease and tranquillity were restored. At last the polonaise is finished; and at eleven o'clock the Emperor with his party retired to the private theatre at the Hermitage, where supper was prepared. It is illuminated in the most splendid manner with crystal ornaments and silver fringe, representing cascades and fountains of water, which have a dazzling effect to the eye; twelve Negroes in the Turkish dress keep guard at the entrance of this fairy palace. This curious assembly was conducted with the greatest regularity, and without any interfe SERFDOM AND THE SERF'S FETE. At the national theatre of Moscow, after the curtain had dropped, an actor stepped forward to announce to the public that he had purchased his liberty, and was about to leave the stage. This circumstance, from its rarity, created much conversation at the moment; and the question was asked of a musician present, why he did not follow such a laudable example. "Ah," replied he with a sigh, "Serf God has made me, serf I have lived, and serf I shall die. While I continue punctually to pay my abrok to my master, he is under the obligation to lodge, to feed me, my wife, and my children, when in health, and to take care of us when sick. Would liberty then procure to us equivalent advantages, when reduced to the scanty salary of one hundred and fifty roubles, which is all I receive from the managers of this theatre? In my position as a slave, I am readily admitted to a secondary situation in the orchestra; but as a freedman, it would be a different thing; my talents would be questioned, and my pretensions viewed with jealousy. No, no! serf I was born, serf I have lived, and serf I will die." This sentiment is much more generally prevalent than the world imagines. A feeling of immediate personal interest stifles in this humbled race those aspirations for liberty which nature must have implanted in their breasts, in common with her other children; and, if any doubt could exist on that subject, it vanishes at once in the institution of an annual fête, when the natural bias is expressed in a very affecting manner. On that day the people hurry in crowds to the market-place, anxious to purchase all the birds that are on sale, and restore them to their native air, amidst the joyous cheers of the assembled multitude. There is something melancholy in this allegorical allusion to their own hapless position. A RUSSIAN ON THE INDIAN INVASION. There is one subject which, from time to time, is repeated in England, as an alarm-bell to rouse the nation against the power of Russia,-which is the apprehension of an attack from that quarter upon our Indian possessions: but I hear nothing from the most sanguine advocates of Russian aggrandizement which would make me think that sensible men have ever seriously entertained the idea of such an impracticable project. I have seen Russian officers who have lately travelled into the country which separates their furthest provinces from our Indian frontier, and all agree in their description of the dangers and difficulties attendant on such a journey, even for a private individual, much more for a numerous army. Some reasoners go further, and pretend to wish that we should even advance our Indian outposts towards their province of Kaboul; in order that we might meet amicably at that distant point, and cooperate mutually in promoting an overland communication from thence with Europe, which would insure to them the benefits of a carrying-trade through Russia, and would be of great advantage to those English who are established on that boundary of our Indian empire. From the Spectator. JOURNAL OF A TOUR BEYOND THE Journal of an Exploring Tour beyond the Rocky Moun- Customs of the Natives; with a Map of Oregon Territory. By the Rev. Samuel Parker, A. M. Wiley and Putnam. cific. This last district is one of the principal seats of the fur-trade; and is divided between the American and the Hudson's Bay Companies, which have both formed establishments in it, those of the Hudson's Bay being the most numerous and best-conducted. Throughout these extensive regions, various tribes of Indians still roam unsubdued, though diminished, and contaminated. To convert and civilize them, is an object of the American Board of Foreign Missions; and the Reverend Samuel Parker was employed to undertake a journey in order to ascertain the practicability of penetrating with safety to "any and every portion of the vast interior," and the disposition of the natives to receive missionary instruction. For this purpose, Mr. Parker joined the caravan of the American Fur Company, which annually journeys to the Rocky Mountains, to furnish the hunters with goods and supplies, and bring back the peltries they have collected. Reaching a spot called, from its uses, the Rendezvous, our missionary quitted the caravan, and accompanied a body of Indians, whom he had disposed to listen to the word, if not wholly to receive it, across the mountain-range to the Columbia river, which he descended to Fort Vancouver, the principal station of the Hudson's Bay Company. Here he sojourned a considerable period, making excursions to seaward as far as the Pacific, and inland in various directions, under the guidance of Indians and French half-breeds. Having at length fulfilled the subject of his mission, and resolved both his instructions in the affirmative, he took a passage in one of the Hudson Bay Company's vessels, to the Sandwich Islands; whence, after a long detention, he sailed for America. The Astoria and Adventures of Captain Bonneville, by Washington Irving, with the travels and novels of his the romance of life in the Prairies, and of adventure in nephews, have familiarized the English public with the Rocky Mountains and the houseless wastes on their western sides. Mr. Parker confines himself to its matter of fact; and his plain, unadorned narrative, certainly makes the gay, jaunty, half-sentimental, halfsavage account of prairie excitement and mountain privations look very much like a fiction. A man canFrom the last boundary line of American settlement not, indeed, ride three or four months on horseback and to the shores of the Pacific Ocean, is a distance of from sleep in tents without fatigue; or subsist, during that pe1,500 to 2,000 miles. The first part of this space is riod, on the provisions he carries or catches, with out ocan extensive plain, thickly interspersed with various casionally being hungry or apprehensive of hunger; and rivers feeding the Mississippi or the Northern Lakes, when vigilant Indians, who may prove foes, are lurkand sometimes clothed with forests, but more fre- ing around, there is always the prospect of a scrimquently forming the naked prairie; the second district mage to stimulate attention. But for these things Mr. is that of the Rocky Mountains, which form the back- Parker seems to have prepared himself, and he regards bone of North America, as the Andes do of the south- them somewhat as matters of course: the minute peern continent; the third is a descending country, inter- culiarities of costume and character, which give so sected, like the valley of the Mississippi, by many much charm to Irving's sketches, he did not see; the rivers, all of which, rising between the 42nd and 52nd excitement he did see had not its origin in the love of degrees of latitude, fall by the Columbia into the Pa-hunting or ambition of discovery, but in hunger or al cohol; and over the narrative of "hairbreadth 'scapes and battle dangerous" with wild beasts or wilder men, he casts considerable doubts. DOINGS AT FORT WILLIAM. came out at the wrist, and passed through the arm above the elbow. S.'s ball passed over the head of C.; and while he went for another pistol, Shunar begged that his life might be spared. Such scenes, sometimes There is, however, something more in the Journal from passion and sometimes for amusement, make the of a Tour beyond the Rocky Mountains, than a bald pastime of their wild and wandering life. They apcommonplace narration, which sometimes by direct pear to have sought for a place where, as they would allusion, but more frequently by straightforward un-say, human nature is not oppressed by the tyranny of religion, and pleasure is not awed by the frown of consciousness, dissipates some of the wonders of rovirtue. mance. Although incapable of seeing in nature, or relishing in art, the minute characteristics which the skill of a literary Gerard Dow has seized, and refined in realizing, Mr. Parker's pen, always clear, sometimes rises to eloquent effects when the stupendous wonders of creation require to be described. His religious object gave him a constant pursuit, and caused him occasionally to exhibit an unintentional exaggeration, as great, perhaps, as that of those who limit their ambition to secular triumphs. It was impossible, also, to sojourn at the stations of the two great companies who divide between them the whole fur-trade of the North American continent, without picking up some information respecting their modes of proceeding; or to mingle with the men in their employ without hearing of or seeing some strange scenes, or striking traits of character. Such are Here, some months ago, a man named Thornburgh was killed by another named Hubbard, both from the United States. A controversy arose between them about an Indian woman. Thornburgh was determined to take her from Hubbard, even at the risk of his own life. He entered H.'s cabin in the night, armed with a loaded rifle. H. saw him, and shot him through the breast, and pushed him out of the door. Thornburgh fell, and expired almost instantly. A self-created jury of inquest sat upon the body of Thornburgh, and brought in a verdict that he lost his life by the hand of Hubbard in self-defence. tiable appetite for ardent spirits. Mr. Townsend, the In Thornburgh there was an instance of a most insaornithologist, whom I have before mentioned, told me he was encamped out for several days, some miles from Fort William, attending to the business of his profession; and that in addition to collecting birds, he had collected rare specimens of reptiles, which he preserved in a keg of spirits. Several days after he was in this A day of indulgence was given to the men, in which encampment, he went to his keg to deposit another they drink as much as they please, and conduct them-reptile, and found the spirits gone. Mr. Townsend, selves as they may choose. It was found that ardent spirits excited so many evil spirits, that they may be THE PLEASURES OF THE PRAIRIES. called legion. A Mr. G. shot a man by the name of Van B., with the full intention to kill him. The ball entered the back and came out at the side. Van B. exclaimed, "I I am a dead man;” and after a little pause said, "No, am not hurt." G. on this seized a rifle to finish the work; but was prevented by some men standing by, who took it from him, and fired it into the air. The day of indulgence being past, a quiet day followed. The exhilaration was followed by consequent relaxation; and the tide of spirits which arose so high yesterday, ebbed to-day proportionably low. The men were seen lounging about in listless idleness, and could scarcely be roused to the business of making repairs and arrangements for the long journey yet before us. * * ** * * knowing that Thornburgh had been several times loitering about, charged him with having drank off the spirits. He confessed it, and pleaded his thirst as an apology. The White hunters employed by the American Company are mostly adventurers, (to use no stronger term,) whose wild spirits having exhausted their means and driven them from society, turn trappers, as an exciting pursuit and a last resource. In this vocation, hardship, exposure, and riot, with the casualties of brawls and Indians, soon finish them. According to Mr. Parker, three years in either service is about the average duration of life with the majority of these trappers. But of the general management of the Hudson's Bay Company, and the people in their em The gentlemen belonging to the Hudson Bay Comment of the Indians, by which they have obtained their pany are worthy of commendation for their good treatfriendship and confidence, and also for the efforts which A few days after our arrival at the place of rendez-ploy, he speaks in much higher terms than he does of vous, and when all the mountain-men had assembled, the American. another day of indulgence was granted to them, in which all restraint was laid aside. These days are the climax of the hunter's happiness. I will relate an occurrence which took place near evening, as a specimen of mountain life. A hunter, who goes technically by some few of them have made to instruct those about the name of the great bully of the mountains, mounted them in the first principles of our holy religion; espehis horse with a loaded rifle, and challenged any cially in regard to equity, humanity, and morality. Frenchman, American, Spaniard, or Dutchman, to fight This company is of long standing, have become rich in him in single combat. Kit Carson, an American, told the fur-trade, and they intend to perpetuate the busihim, if he wished to die, he would accept the challenge.ness; therefore they consult the prosperity of the InShunar defied him. C. mounted his horse, and with a dians, as intimately connected with their own. I have loaded pistol rushed into close contact, and both almost not heard as yet of a single instance of any Indians at the same instant fired. C.'s ball entered S.'s hand, being wantonly killed by any of the men belonging to |