BLAKE

I dare not blame it. How much greater faults
Have I committed when thy years were mine!
Yet they were all forgiven, else the Lord
Would not have raised me from my low estate
To gain his battles, with true men like thee.
Ah surely I am haler than I was,

And much of fever hath abated in me,
For I feel moisture on my hand and cheek.

What! groanest thou at this? Wouldst wish me dead
Because in battle 'twas not mine to die?

There are tears that brave men shed
And brave men only; thine have done me good;
Squander no more of them; reserve the rest
For better.. men I would have said, but men

Is not the word. . for woman . . spouse and widow.
Where are we now?

Hush, thou babbler! without more

As bold, as self-devoted. . . Am I proud?

I, who should now grow humbler .. without those
Nothing were done for England's Commonwealth :

Long, long as ye deserve it, may it last!

Edward! I think no better word, if any,

Will follow. Lower my head. Thanks; thanks; goodbye.

Thus sank the wisest of the godly-brave,

And England's own high heart sank too.. how deep!
She saw his bones, yet moist with their own clay,
Amid the giggles of the fouly fair

And smirks of prelates in like lawn arraid,
A drunken king dig from the grave and spurn.
Britain! take up thy spear; the morn is fresh;
A brood of the same beasts is prowling round
In packs prick onward; let not one escape,
Growler or whiner: thou hast limbs as strong
As those who fought with Blake and died for thee.
WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR.

AUSTRIA AND THE GERMAN CONFEDERATION.

THE Austrian Empire embraces a territory of 12,166 German square miles (about 303,150 English square miles), containing 781 cities, 1,810 markettowns, and 71,353 villages, with somewhat more than 35,000,000 inhabitants. It is bounded by Saxony, Prussia, Cracow, Russia, Moldavia and Wallachia, Servia, Turkey, the Adriatic Sea, the Papal States, Modena, Parma, Piedmont, Switzerland, and Bavaria, and is composed of the following countries :

1st, the Archduchy of Austria, 712 sq. miles, with 2,100,000 inhabitants; 2d, the Duchy of Styria, 409 sq. miles, with 1,000,000 inhabitants; 3d, Tyrol and Voralberg, 518 sq. miles, with 900,000 inhabitants; 4th, the Kingdom of Bohemia, 956 sq. miles, with 4,000,000 inhabitants; 5th, the Margravinate of Moravia 490 sq. miles, with 2,140,000 inhabitants; 6th, the Kingdom of Gallicia and Ludomeria, 1,577 sq. miles, with 5,200,000 inhabitants; 7th, the Kingdom of Illyria, 516 sq. miles, with 1,200,000 inhabitants; 8th, the Kingdom of Lombardy and Venice, 827 sq. miles, with 4,600,000 inhabitants; 9th, the Kingdom of Hungary, with Croatia, the Banat, and Slavonia, 4,808 sq. miles, with 12,100,000 inhabitants; 10th, the Grand Duchy of Transylvania, 1,114 sq. miles, with 2,140,000 inhabitants; and 11th, the Kingdom of Dalmatia, 239 sq. miles, with 360,000 inhabitants.

Out of the above numbers: 1st, 2,100,000 individuals, inhabiting the Archduchy of Austria, are Germans; 2d, among the inhabitants of Styria about 600,000 only are Germans, the rest Slavonians (Vendes); 3d, among those of the Tyrol and Voralberg 200,000 are Italians, the rest Germans; 4th, the inhabitants of the Kingdom of Bohemia are Slavonians (Tchekhs); 5th, the inhabitants of Moravia are mostly Slavonians (Moraves), and only a small part Germans; 6th, the inhabitants of Gallicia and Ludomeria are Slavonians (Poles); 7th, the inhabitants of Illyria are also Slavonians (Illyrians), and a certain number are Italians; 8th, Lombardy and Venice are inhabited by Italians exclusively; 9th, Hungary's population consists of one-third of Magyars (a nation of Tartar origin) and two-thirds of Slavonians (Slovacks and Croatians); 10th, Transylvania's population consists of thirteen various nations, of which the Hungarians and Szeklers form the greatest part-there are, besides, about 150,000 Germans, and the others are Wallachs, Armenians, Greeks, Poles, Russniacks, Serbes, Moraves, Jews, Gypsies, &c.; 11th, the inhabitants of Dalmatia are Slavonians too (Illyrians, Serbes, and Morlacks). So that, out of the whole population of the Austrian Empire, there are—

Therefore, if all which is pure German ought to belong in future to the German Confederation, Austria will furnish it only with 2,100,000 of individuals inhabiting the Archduchy of Austria, and with 700,000 living in the Tyrol and Voralberg, in all 2,800,000: because the remaining German population, amounting to about 3,700,000, lives in Slavonian countries.

Let us now see what will be the territorial extent and the population of the future German Nation, which ought to be composed only of countries being really German. Here is the present composition of the Confederation, as it was founded by the Act of June 18th, 1815, at the Congress of Vienna.

Deduct the portions of Austria and Prussia which are not German : Austria will only then furnish the German Nation with about 1,042 square miles, and 2,800,000 inhabitants; Prussia, about 4,226 square miles, and 10,750,000 inhabitants; total, 5,268 square miles, and 13,550,000 inhabitants. And thus the whole German Nation will only occupy an area amounting to about 9,767 square miles, with 30,608,100 inhabitants, instead of 21,728 13-20ths square miles, with 65,848,100 inhabitants, as it does now.

The point of union of the Confederation is the Diet sitting at Frankfort-onthe-Maine, opened on November 5th, 1816. This Diet is of a double form: First, as a General Assembly, called the Full Council or Plenum, in which every State has at least one vote, whilst the larger ones have several, namely: Austria and the five kingdoms each 4 votes (24); Baden, Hesse, HesseDarmstadt, Holstein, and Luxemburg, each 3 votes (= 15); Brunswick, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, and and Nassau, each 2 votes (= 6): so that, with the remaining 25 (the three remaining lines of the House of Saxony holding the vote of the extinguished House of Saxe-Gotha) the Plenum counts 70 votes. Secondly, as a Reduced Council, called the Government of the Union, in which the votes of the thirty-eight members of the Confederation are reduced

to seventeen. Austria, Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, Hanover, Wurtemberg, Baden, Hesse, Hesse-Darmstadt with Hesse-Homburg, Holstein, and Luxemburg, have each 1 vote (= 11): the others are united votes-that is to say, the twelvth vote is given by the House of Saxony of the Ernestian line: the thirteenth vote by Brunswick and Nassau; the fourteenth by Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz; the fifteenth by Oldenburg, the three Anhaltian and the two Schwarzenburgian houses; the sixteenth by Hohenzollern-Hechingen, Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, Lichtenstein, Lippe, and Waldeck; and the seventeenth by the four Free Towns.

The Full Council assembles only when new principles concerning the union are to be established or existing ones altered, and when decisions are to be carried relative to the whole Confederation.

The Reduced Council has the initiative and the preparation of projects which are to be brought before the Plenum (as the latter never discusses, but merely decides by ayes and noes), and the fulfilment of the decrees of the Diet, and the care of all the affairs of the union in general. Their decisions are always to be taken by an absolute majority. Austria has in both councils the presidency, and in case of equality of votes she decides. The deputies possess the quality of international representatives, and are only responsible to their respective Governments. The sittings of the Diet are partly confidential (the carrying out of previous understandings, of which no protocol is made), and partly formal. Since 1824 very few of the protocols have been made known. A military contingent is permanently kept ready to march, which, beside the reserve, amounts to 292,082 men, infantry, cavalry, and artillery, and is divided into ten corps, of which Austria furnishes the three first, amcunting to 94,822 men, with 192 pieces of ordnance, and Prussia the three subsequent ones, amounting to 79,234 men, with 160 guns. Bavaria furnishes the seventh; Wurtemberg, Baden, and Hesse-Darmstadt the eighth; Saxony, Hesse, and Nassau the ninth; and Hanover, Holstein, both the Mecklenburgs, Oldenburg, Brunswick, and the three Hanseatic towns, the tenth corps. As the eleventh corps comes the foot-division of reserve, amounting to 11,366 men, furnished by the four Grand Ducal houses of Saxony, and the three houses of Anhalt, both the Schwarzenburgs, Lichtenstein, Waldeck, both the Reuss, both the Lippe, Hesse-Homburg, and Frankfort-on-theMaine; and, as the twelfth corps, the reserve of 2,556 men furnished by Luxemburg, destined to form the garrison of the fortress of Luxemburgh.

When the two revolutionary movements at Berlin and Vienna of 1848 took place, this monarchical Diet ceased to exist, and was replaced by a German Parliament, which assembled at Frankfort-on-the-Maine to constitute the unity of a German Nation. The representatives sent to this Parliament were chosen by the people en masse, and for this purpose all Germany was divided into electing circles of 60,000 souls each, each circle electing one deputy. But, the reaction having triumphed, the old Dict was restored two years afterward.

K. S.