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HERR BAUER, the son of a citizen of Berlin or Charlottenburg, commenced life, as the majority of those among the young Prussians commence it who are educated for the learned professions. This, in Prussia, means as much as being trained for the service of the state; for, with the exception of a few writers and journalists whose existence the State purposely ignores all those who have learned to conjugate Latin and Greek verbs, and to whom Euclid is not quite a sealed book, have obtained their knowledge for the special service of the political system in which they live, move, and have their being. The Kings of Prussia are the greatest corporals and schoolmasters known to history, past and present, but they abhor valour if it be deficient in the goose-step, and independent learning is to them the the worst of crimes. A system based on such principles must needs be antagonistic to the feelings of those whom it is meant to "break in "the wild horse of the Pampas has good and sufficient reason to detest the lasso. The students are at all times disaffected until their training is fairly over, when their necks bend to the yoke, they fall into the ways of the Bureaucracy of which they are henceforth to form part, and in course of time they actually rise to be the accomplished oppressors of their younger fellow-citizens. Tough and obstreperous natures-for such there will be found under the most perfect system of crushing-secede from the beginning, or in the first few years of their official career. The State has no place for them, but it watches their movements with a jealousy which, in many instances, is nearly akin to abject fear. Thus excluded from every career by which man can achieve fame and fortune, and their very existence denied by the domineering party, these unfortunate men are led to respond to intolerance with intolerance, and to renounce the State which renounces them. Herr Bruno Bauer belongs to this class of victims of a vicious system; from the very commencement of his career as a writer and lecturer he has laboured, and with a certain degree of success too, to subvert the religion, the morals, and the constitution of the country which, to his own misfortune, gave him birth.

The views of such a man on a question long neglected, but whcih now fortunately fills

all minds, must needs be of importance. Herr Bauer does not stand alone. Objectionable as his opinions may be, they are shared by a large number of his countrymen, though few of them ever express them with so much force. His present work on the position of Germany to the Oriential question is therefore a valuable contribution to the expressions of public opinion in Germany, which are, as everybody knows, not to be found in the German newspapers.

Herr Bauer, then, believes that the world is now witnessing the latter days of Germanism; that even the last remnants of the kingdom shall be taken from Germany and given to that Eastern power which has already usurped the dictatorship over the Continent, and whose further development will determine the future of Europe. The decline of Germany commenced with her history; Herr Bauer now predicts her fall, though not indeed in the spirit of a Tacitus. The coming events do not fill him with despair: on the contrary, he has hopes of the annihilation of old Europe; for, according to him, a new and fairer world must rise from the utter destruction of the past.

"The last and most difficult purpose," says Herr Bauer," which still remains to be conceived is the repudiation of all that has existed and does exist, and this repudiation, if fully carried out, will give mankind an unlimited dominion and lordship over the world. Do I alone take so gloomy a view? and do I alone foresee throughout Europe, but in Western Europe especially, nothing but dissolution, decay, ruins, and catastrophes? Or am I influenced by that popular Pessimism which delights in the height of confusion in the official world and in the affairs of every-day life, and which would still worse confound confusion in order to make its profits thereby? Nothing of the kind. Not gloomy is that view which discovers the germs of life even in the festering of corruption; nor is it Pessimism to believe, as I do, that no amount of management could have redeemed the course of events, because that course is the natural conclusion of a historical phase, and the necessary transition to a new organization."

As far as we can understand this, it means that the German Nihilists, whose spokesman Herr Bauer is, have some hopes of some kind,

and that their hopes are centered in Russia. These unfortunate and interesting persons have a strong resemblance to the fish who, maddened with the intolerable heat of the frying-pan, long for a retreat among the merry crackling flames and the pleasant red-hot coals under it.

Herr Bauer gives a short and impressive sketch of the enormous progress in territory and power which Russia has made since the days of Catherine II.; of the increase of authority which she obtained in the course of the revolutions of 1848; of that truly Roman earnestness which guides the Russian politics; and he adverts to the fate which is impending over Europe. For, according to Herr Bauer, the question of the rise of Russia and the downfall of Europe is not a question of policy or management; the weakness of princes and the follies of nations have nothing whatever to do with it. It is written that Russia shall triumph, and triumph she must; and the only question is, Is the Germanic world likely to survive the destruction of its ancient civilization

(as to the certainty of that destruction Herr Bauer thinks there cannot be two opinions), or will the Russian nation alone be called upon to create a new civilization? Is the coming period likely to be a Russian period, or will the Macaulays of 2853 describe it as a Russogermanic period?

To answer this very ticklish question, Herr Bauer engages in a discussion on the excellent qualities of the Russian mind. No nation known to history raised so gigantic a foundation for its future dominion; the Russians, of all other peoples, are more fit to conquer and to colonise; they are indissolubly united with their country, their nation, their race; and their political society is fashioned after the image of "the family," which is the grand prototype of all Russian institutions. The Russians-we still follow Herr Bauer's exposition are as independent, active, and progressive as the Anglo-Saxons of North America. On the day that the Russian took his place in history, he sought to compass enormous dimensions: from the Vistula to Kiachta he conquered a gigantic and compact empire, which affords ample room for the exercise of his restless activity; and throughout this vast empire he ranges with the instincts of a nomade, the boldness of a speculator, and the quiet self-possession of a man who feels that he is a member of a large family. In the Russian character perseverance is admirably blended. with gentleness and an amount of energy which laughs the word "impossible" to scorn. He prefers the results of labour to labour itself, but he shrinks not from dangers and from exertion. To the Czar he yields a blind, unconditional obedience. In fine, the Russians are the true

descendants of the Hellenic tribes, and, as such, Herr Bauer, as a classical scholar, is bound to adore them. The only difference is, that these modern Greeks have the strength of character and the singleness of purpose which distinguished the Romans, and made them masters of the world.

What chances has Western Europe against such a nation? Germany is divided, and France demoralised; and as for England, we must record our disgrace in Herr Bruno Bauer's own words :— !

England has lost the monopoly (?) of its insular position, and also the monopoly of arbitration. The last ministerial changes prove that England can no longer escape the fate of the Continent, and that it cannot for the future oppose the monopoly of its maritime position to the interests which guide public opinion on the Continent. The aristocracy of England has lost its lordly power; and royalty will soon be face to face with democracy: it will be compelled to have recourse to the very means which royalty on the Continent employed in order to maintain its position.

The wish, we apprehend, is father to the thought. But let our readers read on and

tremble:

The militia bill has been passed, not to protect the country against a French invasion, but to protect royalty against the awful encroachments of democracy. That bill will place England on a level with the continental states. The Cabinet are all but at bay: they make vain endeavours to avoid the conflict between the people and the Crown.

Revolutions, republics, usurpations, street fights, courts martial, cellular vans, public and private executions, are here showered down upon us in delightful profusion, and why? "Because England has made herself responsible for the fate of constitutionalism: hence she must share its fate, and that fate becomes her own."

We do not understand this reason, either as a whole or in its parts; but no matter. We venture to affirm that it is very clear to those who can see its meaning; and since Herr Bauer has said it, the wisest plan will be that we all make our wills, and prepare for the worst. For England, which "must share the fate of constitutionalism," cannot stop the progress of Russia, and old Europe will be destroyed and trodden under foot, and a new civilization will be begotten from barbarism, and the world will be perfect, and Herr Bauer happy. But whether the coming state of things will be Russian throughout, or Russo-German, is a question which we are free to confess has eluded our apprehension in Herr Bauer's pages. And, indeed, what does it matter to us, since we must needs "share the fate of constitutionalism," which phrase in its widest sense must mean that the Cossacks will stable their horses in St. Paul's, and that Admiral Kornileff will establish a Board of Admiralty in Westminster

Abbey; that our soap manufacturers and tallow chandlers will be ruined by the voracity of the Russian infantry; that turbaned Circassians will smoke strong Cavendish in the drawing-rooms of Chesham Place; and Prince Menschikoff, dressed in the roughest of great coats, and flourishing a huge knout, will promenade Regent Street, and flog the aristocracy,

the gentry, and the public generally. Sufficient for a nation is the evil which befals it; and since such is to be our fate, little need we care what becomes of the Germans, and at what Russian university Herr Bauer is going to lecture on the causes of the Decline and Fall of old Europe.

Ruhe ist die erste Bürgerpflicht oder Vor Fünfzig Jahren. Vaterländischer Roman.
Von W. ALEXIS. 4 Vols. Berlin: Barthol.

HERR Häring, better known by the name of
Herr Willbald Alexis, is an old-established
novel-writer; one who has been a favourite
with the German public these many years
past; who has witnessed and experienced a
variety of changes in the national taste; and one
who throughout has succeeded in keeping pace
with the public requirements. In the romantic
In the romantic
days of "Almanacks" and "Taschenbücher
für Liebe und Freundschaft," or "Vergissmein-
nichts" and "Vielliebchens," Herr Alexis de-
lighted the sentimental fair of Germany with
charming novellettes of the fine "Taschen-
büch" calibre. When the Poles came in fashion
à propos of the Warsaw revolution, he wrote a
historical novel, of which those frogged-coated
gentry were the heroes; and now that Ger-
many herself has passed through the furnace
of a revolution, and since she has been tried-
no matter that she was found wanting-Herr
Alexis comes forward with a political novel,
an overgrown pamphlet, describing the con-
dition of Prussia at the commencement of this
century, when
the Court under Frederic
William III. did exactly what the Prussian
Court of 1850 did under Frederic William IV.
The tendency of the pamphlet seems to be, that
the author's country was weak, despised, and

Geschichte der Deutschen National litteratur SCHMIDT. Vol. I. We know not of a more meritorious undertaking than the writing a work of modern history, of politics, or literature. Those periods which are long past and gone are generally the theme of a hundred laborious minds and able pens. Every student who wishes to obtain information on what can be known of the Etruscans, or of the manners and customs of the Celts in England, need but go to the British Museum, and if he be stout of heart, as a student ought to be, with no fear of rheumatism and no delicacy respecting vermin, he will, after passing through the ordeal of the catalogues, have no difficulty in satisfying his laudable curiosity. But let no one hope to obtain information at so

humiliated in 1806, because the King was pusil-
lanimous and his Ministers incapable; that, after
after all, the good cause triumphed; and that,
under the successor of that King, and under
the successors of those Ministers, the good
cause will triumph again. To demonstrate this
desirable axiom, all the great and little men of
"Prussia's greatest degradation" are brought
on the stage.
on the stage. We have Lombard and Haug-
witz, Hardenberg and Stein, Lord Harrowby,
Blücher, and York, Prince Louis, the King
of Prussia, and the Czar Alexander, a
distinguished chorus of officials, guardsmen,
and diplomatic agents, with a clever story, a
capital plot, and interminable conversations.
Indeed, what action there is, is completely
swamped by the torrent of words which literally
pour from the lips of each one of the dramatis
persona. This stunning verbosity is the chief
fault of a work which, in all other respects, may
be called a respectable production, especially
in the present period of German literary in-
capacity. Our chief reason for not venturing
upon a single extract is, that every part and
portion of the book, every scene and conversa-
tion, is too long for the pages of an English
periodical.

im Neunzehnten Jahrhundert. Von JULIAN Leipzig: Herbig.

small a price of time and patience if the subject of his inquiry belongs to very recent times. In that case he must read up files of newspapers and sigh over Parliamentary blue-books, and interminable returns. This is so true, that every man with any pretence to education would blush if he were found tripping in the history of ancient Rome, while every one thinks himself fully justified in being ignorant-say of the history of Italy during the last thirty years. An historical event is lost to all the world, except to the few who, at the time, took an interest in it, until it has been taken up by, and preserved in, the pages of an able historian. It is, therefore, with feelings of extreme satisfaction

that we notice every attempt to record the events of contemporaneous history. But the codification-if we may use the term-of the events of modern literature is a task for the execution of which still greater gratitude is due; since in the history of literature we want even that imperfect and clumsy machinery, which in political history facilitates individual research. The want of some handbook of modern German literature has been long and painfully felt, and the appearance of the present "History of the German National Literature in the Nineteenth Century," by Dr. Julian Schmidt, the most eminent critic among the few that still survive German intolerance and impatience of blame, is an event to which we gladly direct the attention of our readers. The volume before us commences with the death of Schiller, and characterizes the German writers and their books up to the dissolution of the romantic school by Immermann, Platen, and Rückert, and Mörike. The second volume, therefore, must comprise the newest of the new, and it is for the appearance of that volume we reserve a more detailed criticism of the book.

For the present we have only to remark on a question of privilege. The author reserves for himself the right "of translating his work in England and France." What the state of international law as to literary property may be between Germany and France we know not, nor pretend to know; but with regard to England, neither the author nor the publisher of a Ger

man work can reserve for himself the right of translation. A treaty establishing such right has indeed been approved of by the British Cabinet, and submitted to the Court of Berlin for ratification. That Court has sent it to the German "Bundestag" at Frankfort, and there it remains unratified, and probably will remain for many years to come, especially if German authors, instead of agitating for its ratification, flatter themselves with a vain belief that they are actually in possession of rights which would be as valuable to them as, no doubt, they would be advantageous to literature. Because we would see a treaty of international copyright established between England and Germany, especially for the protection of translations, we beg to inform our German friends and readers that no such treaty exists at present; and that Dr. Schmidt's work, for instance, might be published by every firm in London, without his having any claim to compensation or redress. This is not a very desirable state of things, but, in our opinion, to ignore it is to perpetuate it. Let it be thoroughly understood, that translations may be pirated; that an authorised translation of a German work enjoys legal protection in England, as little as authorised translations of works by Dickens, Bulwer, and Thakeray would enjoy in Germany; and then there will be some hope that the present lawless and injurious state of things may be brought to a speedy termination.

Geschichte der französischen Revolution vom Jahre 1848 bis zur Wiederherstellung des Kaiserthums. Von DR. FREIHERRN von Preuschen.

THE author of this work is known to the German public as a writer on legal matters, and this, as far as we know, is his first attempt at history. It is a clever, well-written book, clear in style, and comprehensive in its views;

and though our own literature contains many similar attempts to this, we have no doubt that the work will be of interest, even to English readers.

Patmakhanda. Leben und Characterbilder aus Indien und Persien. Von ERICH, Von Schönberg. 2 vols.

THE Sanscrit name of the title, if translated into English, means a place where the lotus abounds ; and the work is a well-written account of India and Persia, with a special regard to the history and the peculiarities of the native tribes. It is descriptive throughout, and not rationative, a rare merit in a book from the pen of a German writer. Herr Von Schönberg has evidently travelled with his eyes and ears

Leipzig.

wide open: he has not, as most Germans do, gone about also with a library of volumes on the countries in which he travelled; and he has not, as most Germans do, criticised his predecessors instead of writing a narrative and description of the objects which came under his own observation. The result is, a work which will be valuable even to readers in this country, voluminous as our literature on India already is.

NEW QUARTERLY LIST

OF THE

PRINCIPAL PUBLICATIONS OF THE PAST QUARTER.

[THE WORKS MARKED WITH AN ASTERISK WERE NOT RECEIVED IN TIME TO BE NOTICED IN THE PRESENT NUMBER.]

HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.
The Grenville Papers. Edited by William

James Smith, Esq. Vols. III. IV.
Memorials and Correspondence of Charles
James Fox. Edited by Lord J. Russell.
Vols. I. II. 17. 8s.

Diary and Correspondence of Thomas Moore.
Edited by Lord J. Russell. Vols. III.
IV.

The Castlereagh Papers. Edited by the Mar-
quis of Londonderry.

History of Greece. By George Grote.
XI. 16s.

History of the Reformation.

Vol.

Vol. V. The
By J. H.

Reformation in England.
Merle D'Aubigné. 12s.
Memoir of Charles Mordaunt, Earl of Peter-
borough and Monmouth. By the Author
of "Hochelaga." Two vols. 18s.
Autobiography of a Missionary. By Rev. J.
P. Fletcher. Two vols. 17. 1s.
Peace, War, and Adventure; an Autobiogra-

phical Memoir of George Laval Ches

terton. Two vols. 16s.

The English Humourists of the Eighteenth
Century. By W. M. Thackeray. 10s. 6d.
A History of the Sikhs, from the Origin of
the Nation to the Battles of the Sutlej.
By Joseph Davey Cunningham, late
Captain of Engineers in the Indian Army.
Second Edition. With the Author's last
corrections and additions. London:
Murray. 1853.

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Kaffraria and its Inhabitants. By Rev. F.
Fleming. 78. 6d.

Travels in Southern Russia and the Crimea,
through Hungary, Wallachia, and Mol-
davia, in 1837. Two vols., Imp. 8vo.
21. 2s.

An Art Student in Munich. By Anna Mary

Howitt. Two vols. 14s.

Eight Weeks' Journal in Norway, &c., in 1852.
By Sir C. Anderson. 6s.

A Visit to Mexico, by the West Indies, Yuca-
tan, and the United States. By Parish
Robertson. Two vols. 188.
Cruise among the Islands of the Western Pa-

cific. By Captain J. E. Erskine, R.N. 16s. Eighteen Years on the Gold Coast of Africa.

By Brodie Cruickshank. Two vols. 17. 1s. Chamois Hunting in the Mountains of Bavaria. By Charles Boner. 18s.

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Vicissitudes of a Life. By G. P. R. James.

Three vols. 11. 11s. 6d.

Wilful Ward, by the Author of "The Young
Doctor."
Three vols. 11. 11s. 6d.
Lorenzo Benoni; or, Passages in the Life of
an Italian. 10s. 6d.

Sir Frederick Derwent, by the Author of
"Fabian's Tower." Three vols. 17.
11s 6d.

Family Romance. By J. Bernard Burke.

Two vols. 17. 1s.

Hypatia; or, New Foes with an Old Face.
By Charles Kingsley, Jun. Two vols.
18s.

Ada Gresham, an Autobiography. By Mary
Ann Lupton. Three vols. 11. 11s. 6d.
Scattered Leaves; or, Twilight Trifles. By
Mrs. Jones of Pantglas. 9s.
Frank Merryweather. By H. G. A. Young.
Two vols. 17. 1s.

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