where he cannot be followed by defensive armies upon the shore. This will be most easily achieved by England; indeed, the invention points to this country before all others, from its inexhaustible resources in material. The arm by which it will be accomplished is more especially our own. It will be that of other nations only as they proportionally advance in the arts of civilisation. Just in that proportion, too, they will become arbiters of adverse national destinies. Those only who are thoroughly acquainted with the prodigious magnitude of the late operations can appreciate the extent and energy put forth by England on the ocean upon that occasion. Whatever blunders were committed in the expedition, few or none were attributable to the arm in which England most exhibits her power, and the mighty development of the resources attaching to her insular position. The more overwhelming similar means of warfare become, under wellregulated governments, the less frequently will the calamity of war afflict mankind. Combined inseparably with the date of the development of this power to an extent never before even imagined, the administration of Lord Palmerston will pass in connexion with the history of a war entered upon for the common cause of humanity.

The country having answered the appeal of the minister, it will only remain that he justifies the further confidence of the people by following public opinion as he has already done. As yet he cannot know the materials with which he has to deal in parliament, but a little time will explain all. It is no longer the "Church in danger!" the cry of "No Popery!" or "Down with the Corn-laws and Free-trade !" those foolish cries have had their day, and Lord Derby and Mr. Disraeli are bereft of these resources, once so inestimable. They can no more claim their help; the cry falls dead on the public ear. The old false cry of "The wolf is coming!" is now a theme for laughter. The secret treaty and Mandarin Yeh will in like manner no more avail them. They must look out for a new war-cry. In the declared state of the public mind their ingenuity will be taxed to discover something effective to serve the purpose. They must find a standard for their recruits whatever new cry they may set up. The old sermons for the simple cannot be preached over again. Having in vain stretched their india-rubber consciences to abandon protection, they will hardly succeed in getting their friends to bark for annual parliaments and universal suffrage. Mr. Disraeli may be well inclined to raise the war-whoop even for them, if they would lead to the gratification of their hopes, having once already shouted "Revolution and Frost the Chartist." It is passing hard he has been baffled after he has wasted so much mischief in vain, but with his latitudinarianism he need not despair if he find himself again among brain-sick politicians of a defeated colour.

We shall very quickly see, on the meeting of the House, how far the electors have been true to their duties, and how far the honest prevailed over those who have been the main cause of preventing rational reforms, by showing that the extension of parliamentary reform, without electoral reformation, would do little good to the country. There can be no pure representatives where the electors' hands are not clean. Let us hope that the returns to the present parliament have in this respect stood as distinguished as every lover of his country must desire.

A SUMMER IN SCHLESWIG.

WE can all remember the stirring events which took place in the German duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, and the unhappy result produced by English interference. The armistice of Malmö saddled on the inhabitants the maintenance of a large force, and at the same time sadly diminished their patriotism. But the pacification on which the Austrian and Prussian diplomatists plumed themselves so much was a decided failure; and the king laughed in a most contemptuous manner at the representations of that fine old institution, the august Germanic Diet. The old system of dragooning was introduced, and the government of the duchies soon displayed all those evils to remove which the inhabitants had taken up arms in 1848. At the present moment an astounding interchange of notes is taking place; but the King of Denmark is obstinate, and insists on governing his territory in the way he thinks proper, without asking or accepting the advice of his neighbours. The quarrel has become slightly acerbated of late, and some threats have been heard of the last resource; but we doubt much whether either of the two great German powers is disposed, or in a condition, to take up arms. At any rate, one thing is certain: the Schleswig-Holsteiners will remain tranquil on this occasion; for only a choice of evils is presented them, and they probably prefer the old bloodsuckers, under the impression that they are by this time tolerably gorged. It has occurred to us, however, that our readers may like some slight sketch of a country whose name is once more assuming prominence in our foreign intelligence, and we have therefore selected a recently published German work, which will enable us to give some description of the inhabitants of one of the duchies at least. The writer of this little book is a doctor in the Danish army, and in that capacity assisted at the Schleswig-Holstein campaign. As soon as peace was restored, he revisited the scenes of past bloodshed, in order to regard them from their more peaceful aspect, and has brought together a series of sketches very amusing, and in all probability very truthful.

One of the most interesting portions of Schleswig is the province of Angeln, although it may afford no special attraction to the romantic tourist. There are but few relics of picturesque antiquity to be found: time has dealt mercilessly with them, and has left scarce a trace of ruins above the earth. The fields extend in wide plains, and produce abundant harvests, which the peasants set a proper value on; while the only symbols of past ages are found in the heather, with its useless flowers, which peep out here and there to remind the inhabitants that their now so fertile home was once a heath and a desert. No wonder that their ancestors quitted it to found a new empire in Britain. But, as some compensation, the middle ages have left behind them the most complicated system of law, which the inhabitants guard with that care which would be devoted to the preservation of some family relic. There are no less than forty different jurisdictions in this little country, to the great delight of the lawyers and the vagabonds, who escape criminal persecu

• Ein Sommer in Schleswig. Lorck's Eisenbahnbücher. Leipzig.

tion by passing from one territory to the next. Fortunately for the security of the inhabitants, the gendarmes are no respecters of the rights divine of noble estates, and are wont to seize the persons they want wherever they can lay hands on them-to the great indignation of the vagabonds, who are great respecters of vested interests where their own are so closely concerned.

The farms in Angeln are large, and the dwelling-houses sufficiently comfortable. The latter consists of a long building, in the centre of which is the entry, and generally a wing is added, forming a right angle with the main building. You are sure to find a stork's-nest on the straw roof, and above the entrance the initials of the proprietor and his wife. The farm-buildings are scattered about, and behind a row of carefully cropped linden-trees stands a small cottage, to which the parents retire when they give up the farm to the eldest son or to the married daughter. On entering the house, you pass through the kitchen into the keepingroom, or dörnsk, round which are the sleeping-places of the whole family. Behind this room is the "pesel," or best room, and on the other side the bridal chamber, where the linen and woollen stuffs of the house are kept in immense chests, whose number generally furnishes an accurate idea of the prosperity of the farmer. The best rooms are only opened on solemn occasions; and the Angles have their great festivals, like other Christian nations, though they are not Easter, Whitsun, and Christmas, but marriage, christening, and burial. On these occasions the peasant shows of what sort he is, and the family and neighbours are provided with a topic of conversation lasting till another great event comes off. The Angles have become more German than the Germans, but they cannot belie the truth of the old chronicle that Dan and Angul were brothers: in their features and their language they retain the old Danish type. The only change is that they have become suspicious and unfriendly, and boast of their wealth to inordinate excess. On the other hand, they possess a high degree of intelligence, and though they worship the golden calf, they do not neglect the Church. The reason for their wishing to be German will be best found from the following remark made by a peasant to the author: "If we were Danes, we could not talk with the cattle-dealers from down south, and the folk that come from the north don't pay such good prices-and so we are Germans once for all."

Among these people, all the peculiar institutions of the most fashionable circles prevail. Matrimony is not the result of affection, but exclusively of policy-so many cattle are wedded to so many, and a wife forms part of the bargain, or a species of makeweight. "Sixpences ring best when along with sixpences," is a proverb of the country most highly esteemed. And the rich peasants do their courting by proxy. A special race of men exists, who go about the country striking up matches, and to them the peasantry turn when they think their farm would support a few dozen more kine. When a gentleman of this description receives a commission, he pays his addresses to the papa, stating that so-and-so wishes to marry, and that he has selected for him the daughter of the house. If his proposals are acceptable, he makes an appointment for the young man to call on the ensuing Sunday, when he comes attended by all his relatives. The male portion examine the stalls, &c., while the ladies rummage the linen chests, and if the old

ones do not fall out about a few hundred dollars one way or the other, the marriage is a fait accompli. After these preliminaries, the guests sit down to a plentiful repast of meat, and potatoes swimming in butter, washed down by any quantity of coffee. The conversation usually turns on the state of the farm, and the requisite repairs to be effected. Sometimes this produces a violent dispute, and the bargain is on the point of being broken off, when the coupler interferes, and settles the affair to the mutual satisfaction by mutual concessions. How the ceremony concludes, we will describe in our author's words:

At last an agreement was made: John Lauesen said, dryly, "Now it's all right. What sayst thou, Mariechen?" And Marie, who was engaged in clearing the table, stopped for a second on the threshold, turned half round, and said, "Ja-a!" and so the business terminated. The indefatigable Tram had hardly drawn up a formal contract, which was signed by all the parties concerned, ere the happy lover drew out his watch, and said, "It is time for us to be making for home;" and the guests drove off without the bride and bridegroom having interchanged a word of love, or even shaken hands; but it is not proper to behave so affectionately in the presence of other people.... Three weeks later the village was all astir-the marriage came off. On visiting my old landlord soon after, I found him sitting on a bench outside the Altensitz, with a pipe in his mouth, and looking after his son-in-law, who had now taken his place in the management of the farm. I found Marie in the kitchen; she was making butter; her husband had brought six new cows on to the farm, and she could make plenty of butter now. She could not help being a happy wife, in a country where domestic felicity is founded on the sold basis of wealth.

The great festival of Angeln is the fair of Brarup. At that period, every house in the town is converted into an inn, and every inn into a dancing-room. Folk dance in the Dörnsk and in the "Pesel," in the kitchen-garden and the orchard, and the festivities last three days and nights. The parish common is covered with booths, among which the happy visitors lounge up and down. One whole street of tents consists of eating-houses; the next is occupied by pedlars and chapmen, shouting at the top of their lungs to attract customers. The confusion is unbounded, and the noise stunning. After passing through a display of the most heterogeneous domestic and agricultural implements, we reach the cattle-market. The poor brutes have hardly come to Brarup fair for their amusement. A cattle-dealer rushes into the dense mob of animals and seizes his booty: in a second he has cut the ear of one sheep off, and given another a cross-cut between the eyes, and leaves the scene of his brave exploits, accompanied by the timid bleating of the flock. The pigs lie in the mud and gasp for breath; and a cow, who has grown tired of the incessant punching and handling, breaks loose and performs a war-dance, to the intense alarm of the owners of crockery, who hasten to secure their fragile property.

The other peculiarities of the fair remind us strongly of the same amusements in merry England, when Easter and Greenwich were indissolubly connected in the mind of the Cockneys; now, alas! all that remains is the shadow of the name. There are the same roundabouts, lotteries, nut-shooting, and so on; but we find no mention of that delectable instrument which used to be sold among us, and secured us the whole fun of the fair, for the absurdly small sum of one penny. For the benefit of future archæologists, we may state that this consisted of a

serrated wheel inserted in a handle, and working on a headless pin. The point of the joke consisted in a young lady of affable manners dragging this instrument rapidly down your coat, which induced rustics to imagine that that article of dress was slit up. It was a capital jest, wasn't it? and yet our magistrates have gone and put a stop to it. Who'd spend a shilling in going to the Crystal Palace, when so much more fun could be enjoyed for a penny? In other respects, however, the Schleswig fair was a good imitation of our popular amusements; there was the same amount of intoxication and insane yelling, but there the wives wisely accompanied their husbands to see them safely home, and hence the police-courts reaped no rich harvest of five-shilling fines. But our author met with one adventure: on the road home, his coachman would stop to see the play performing in one of the villages, and lost his straw waggon; it was found the next morning in a clover-field, where the horses had eaten their fill of the luscious food; but as the owner of the field was probably sleeping off his debauch he did not see it, so the coachman got off at a cheap rate, and wished it was Brarup fair every day in the year.

The scenery on the west coast of Schleswig, with its open prospect of the restless sea, is far more worthy of a visit than the country of the Angles. About five miles from the coast is the island of Föhr, once connected with the mainland, and a great resource of German tourists at present. The chief fishing town is Wyck. The inhabitants of the island are born sailors, and are brought up at school for that honourable profession. At an early age they leave home to tempt fortune on the sea, and go long voyages. Many a proud argosy is now commanded by men who were once poor peasant lads. But their only ambition is to save enough money to return home to their beloved island, and set up as farmers. While the men are away on their vocation, the wives manage the household and farming affairs. The latter rarely quit the island of their birth, and carefully keep up the peculiar manners and costume. They wear a gown of some dark stuff with a blue edging, a dark, tightfitting jacket with long sleeves, fastened up the front and at the cuffs with buttons of silver filigree work, and a gay apron, fastened behind by a massive silver hook. Round their neck they twine several black woollen shawls, and the head is bound up in another cloth of the same description, affecting the shape of a turban, with the two ends hanging down on either side. In the upper portion of this turban the married women wear a piece of red embroidered cloth, which covers the scalp; the unmarried women cover it with thick plaits of hair. On holidays they wear heavy silver chains, twined among the buttons on the jacket, and from them depends a medallion, frequently the portrait of the husband or the parents, or at times quaint old pictures, bearing close affinity to Catholic saints. The richer classes wear also a large quantity of gold ornaments. There is something very oriental in the style of dress, which is the more evident when the ladies appear in the streets. There, they drag the shawls up to their necks, and arrange the headcovering in such wise that it quite covers the forehead, and only leaves a small opening for the eyes. In winter they wear a cloak called a " Bulfanger," which bears great resemblance to the African Burnous. But while the head is so carefully protected both day and night, or in and