surmise that Diebitsch or Paskévitch could ere this have found means to attain more satisfactory results. From Armenia the more recent intelligence does not fully bear out the statements made at the time the body of this article was closed. That the Russians have received reinforcements appears to be true; but their extent remains uncertain, and it is difficult to believe that they can have been as large as at first stated, for in that case they would have assumed the offensive at once, while it now appears that it is the Turks who have attacked, and that unsuccessfully. We have already alluded to the difficulty of bringing up supplies in that region, and it may well be that this accounts for the delay of the Russians in attacking. It is impossible to criticise with justice the operations of a campaign, or to forecast its results, until in possession of certain definite data which are absolutely indispensable for the formation of a correct opinion; for example, it is necessary to know, not only the topography of the seat of war, but the actual strength of the forces of both belligerents, and their condition as to discipline, arms, and moral qualities, also the extent of their available supplies and means of transportation, together with information upon other points which will determine what is possible as well as what is best to be accomplished. Distant as we are from the seat of war, scanty and imperfect as is the information at our command, we are groping very much in the dark, and are obliged to base conjectures upon mere probabilities. So, also, in regard to accomplished facts, we have thus far to go upon the briefest possible official reports, and the statements of newspaper correspondents, who, although often very energetic and intelligent men, cannot possibly know the whole state of the case.

As the more important operations of the war develop themselves, the horizon will clear, and we shall be able not only to form a reasonably correct opinion as to the actual resources of the combatants, but, what is more important, of the capacity and peculiarities of the commanders, so that it will then be comparatively easy to forecast the future in the light of accomplished facts, and be able to divine what a particular commander will be apt to do with known resources and under given circumstances.

With the imperfect light as yet shed upon the subject, it would appear from the operation relating to the crossing of the Danube and the Balkans that the Russian commander is cautious in

preparation, but prompt to act when ready. The affair of Plevna shows that he underrated the strength and power of resistance of his enemy. The delay since that battle would indicate that, impressed by the lesson so rudely taught, he is again engaged in careful preparation, and that when he strikes again, the blow will be a hard one, and difficult to parry. The ex-Turkish commanderin-chief showed a lack of energy, foresight, and definite purpose.

Osman Pasha proved that he understood his work, and did it well. The new commanding general of the Turks has not yet given us the means of forming an opinion as to his capacity. After the delay that has occurred, we have no means of judging whether the first blow of the Russians will be delivered on his right or left flank; now that he has in front of Plevna a force intrenched and in sufficient strength to hold Osman Pasha in check, it may well be that the circumstances of the case will induce the Grand Duke to make his first attack in the direction of Shumla, when a decided victory would produce far more decisive results than in the vicinity of Plevna. He will make a mistake if he attacks on both flanks simultaneously, unless his superiority of force is so great as to leave no chance of failure; his proper policy would be to remain strictly on the defensive on the least important flank, while he concentrates every available battalion to insure complete success in his attack on the other, and then, the moment this is disposed of, turn rapidly upon the other, and crush it in turn.

The political aspect of the war remains essentially the same. There is no immediate probability that either Austria or Servia will take part in hostilities; Montenegro for a long time gave full employment to considerable masses of Turkish troops, and when these were withdrawn to meet more pressing demands near the Balkans, emerged from the contest rudely shaken indeed, but still uncrushed, and with the power of giving serious annoyance to the Turks. From Greece the indications are continually more warlike, and the chances are that the natural desire, on the part of the people, for an increase of territory sufficient to include the most purely Greek province adjacent to the little kingdom, so as to give it effective strength, will force the government to declare war, and take part in the contest.

This action may be deferred until an important battle is fought south of the Danube, and may be abandoned should the Russians

encounter disaster, but will almost certainly follow an important Russian victory.

The insurrections in the Caucasus appear to be virtually suppressed, and have produced no other effect of consequence than the temporary withdrawal of troops from the active army to suppress them.

The probability of a general European war appears to be materially diminished, for the present at least, and is likely to increase only in the event of such sweeping successes on the part of the Russians as to place Turkey completely at their mercy, and tempt them to retain permanent possession of Constantinople.

In that event the danger would become serious.

On the whole, the Russians have lost some valuable time, they have gained some brilliant successes, and met with some severe checks; but they have shown admirable fighting qualities, and the chances of ultimate success are still largely in their favor.

AUGUST 14.

WE cannot afford to miss any advantage. Never was any man too strong for his proper work. Art is long, and life short, and he must supply this disproportion by borrowing and applying to his task the energies of Nature. Reinforce his self-respect, show him his means, his arsenal of forces, physical, metaphysical, immortal :

"More servants wait on man
Than he'll take notice of.”

Show him the riches of the poor, show him what mighty allies and helpers he has. And though King David had no good from making his census out of vainglory, yet I find it wholesome and invigorating to enumerate the resources we can command, to look a little into this arsenal, and see how many rounds of ammunition, what muskets, and how many arms better than Springfield muskets we can bring to bear.

The hero in the fairy tales has a servant who can eat granite rocks, another who can hear the grass grow, and a third who can run a hundred leagues in half an hour; so man in nature is surrounded by a gang of friendly giants who can accept harder stints than these, and help him in every kind. Each by itself has a certain omnipotence, but all, like contending kings and emperors, in the presence of each other are antagonized and kept polite, and own the balance of power.

There is no porter like gravitation, who will bring down any weight you cannot carry, and if he wants aid, knows how to find his fellow-laborers. Water works in masses, sets his irresistible shoulder to your mill or to your ships, or transports vast boulders of rock neatly packed in his iceberg a thousand miles. But its far greater power depends on its talent of becoming little, and entering the smallest holes and pores. By this agency, carrying in solution elements needful to every point, the vegetable world exists.

Who are the farmer's servants? Who but geology, chemistry, the quarry of the air, the water of the brook, the lightning of the cloud, the plough of the frost? Before he was born into the field,

the sun of ages soaked it with light and heat, mellowed his land, decomposed the rocks, covered it with vegetable film, then with forests, and accumulated cubic acres of sphagnum whose decays make the peat of his meadow. The rocks crack like glass by inequality of contraction in heat and cold, and flakes fall constantly into the soil. The tree can draw on the whole air, the whole earth, on all the rolling main. The plant, the tree, is all suction-pipe, imbibing from the ground by its roots, from the air by its twigs with all its might. Take up a spadeful or a buck-load of loam; who can guess what it holds? But a gardener knows that it is full of peaches, full of oranges, and he drops in a few seeds by way of keys to unlock and combine its virtues, lets it lie in sun and rain, and by and by it has lifted into the air its full weight in golden fruit.

What agencies of electricity, gravity, light, affinity, combine to make every plant what it is, and in a manner so quiet that the presence of these tremendous powers is not ordinarily suspected. Faraday said that "a grain of water is known to have electric relations equivalent to a very powerful flash of lightning." The ripe fruit is dropped at last without violence, but the lightning fell and the storm raged, and strata were deposited and uptorn and bent back, and Chaos moved from beneath to create and flavor the fruit on your table to-day.

Go out of doors and get the air. Ah, if you knew what was in the air! See what your robust neighbor, who never feared to live in it, has got from it; strength, cheerfulness, power to convince, heartiness and equality to each event. As the sea is the receptacle of all rivers, so the air is the receptacle from which all things spring, and into which they all return; an immense distillery, a sharp solvent, drinking the oxygen from plants, carbon from animals, the essence and spirit of every solid on the globe; a menstruum which melts the mountains into it. All the earths are burnt metals. One half the avoirdupois of the rocks which compose the solid crust of the globe consists of oxygen. The adamant is always passing into smoke; Nature turns her capital day by day. All things are flowing, even those that seem immovable. The earth burns, the mountains burn, slower but as incessantly as wood in the fire. The marble column, the brazen statue, burn under the daylight, and would soon decompose, if their molec