the taxes paid in Great Britain, and was to continue so. The debates on the union in the Irish House of Commons were vehement. The measure was opposed there, and by the opposition in England, but was carried by considerable majorities; many, no doubt, being actuated by rewards and promises, chiefly through the instrumentality of lord Castlereagh, who conducted the proceedings in behalf of the government. The act was passed, by which the union was to come into operation on January 1st, 1801, with a similar law in the English parliament. The scarcity still prevailed, being aggravated by injudicious interference with the natural course of trade. All attempts to regulate consumption by laws, or to force down the prices by forbidding dealing, can only have the effect that then resulted of keeping grain from market, and increasing existing difficulties. In several parts of the country there were riotous attacks on the corn-dealers. In May, George III. had two narrow escapes on the same day. In the morning, while reviewing the guards, a ball was fired in one of the volleys of blank cartridges, which severely wounded a person standing near the king; but whether fired by mistake or design, or by whose hand, could not be traced. In the evening, a maniac fired a pistol at the king, on entering his box at the theatre, which nearly struck him. On both occasions his majesty behaved with his usual cool intrepidity. From the moment Buonaparte obtained the supreme authority, he prepared for a new career of conquest. He himself stated, that his expression of a desire for peace was not in the least sincere. One early act of his government was to give up all care for the French prisoners in England, then exceeding 25,000. As this number was far beyond that of English prisoners in France, and the cost of maintenance there was less, he cared not for the English government declining their allowance, in return, when he refused to continue what had hitherto been paid for the French prisoners in England, and thus abandoned them. A large number of recruits was raised by the conscription, and the army against Germany was reinforced. Buonaparte himself resolved to act in Italy, and collected a large force in the vicinity of Geneva. His plan was to cross the Alps by St. Bernard, and thus to come behind the Austrian army, then chiefly before Genoa. That city, after enduring the horrors of famine to the utmost, was surrendered by the French, on June 5ththree weeks after Buonaparte had descended into Italy. The passage of St. Bernard presented considerable difficulties, so far as related to the cavalry and the artillery. The latter were taken to pieces, the carriages put on the backs of mules, and the dismounted cannon were placed in the hollowed trunks of trees, and drawn by soldiers. The march over the upper portion of the route was of course difficult; but it was the middle of May, and every means was employed that could give assistance. The exaggerated French accounts must be entirely dismissed. Buonaparte followed in the rear of the army, quietly riding a mule, conducted by a skilful guide. On entering Italy, he pushed forward to Milan, and then he advanced against the Austrian general Milas, who had turned back from Genoa to meet him. After some rencounters, a great battle was fought at Marengo. The Austrians prevailed at first, and their general, considering the battle was gained, relaxed his efforts. At the critical moment, Dessaix came up with a large reinforcement, that renewed the battle; this was followed by a charge of cavalry under Kellermann, who was enabled to act by the bad management of the Austrian general. This decided the event in favour of Buonaparte; and instead of being driven back to the Alps as a fugitive, he was at once master of Italy, and, very unfairly, appropriated to himself the credit of this success. Dessaix fell in the action, and Kellermann was discountenanced, instead of being rewarded. The farther results of this success was establishing the power of Buonaparte, and compelling the emperor of Austria to agree to the armistice. That no farther effort should have been made by the Austrians, who were still superior in force, is not accounted for. All Piedmont and Genoa were at once given up, and the victor returned to Paris, leaving those districts to be plundered in the usual manner, on condition of his allowing the Austrian army to continue their retreat. On the Rhine Moreau had also been successful, and he occupied Bavaria. The emperor of Russia, also, was evidently disposed to favour the first consul. Buonaparte required that Great Britain should consent to an armistice by sea, thinking thereby to relieve Malta, and to get his army from Egypt. This was refused, and hostilities were recommenced. Moreau gained a battle at Hohenlinden, early in December, which opened the way to Vienna, upon which city Macdonald also advanced from Italy, across the Sphigen. This was indeed a fearful march, and far more difficult than Buonaparte's passage of St. Bernard. It was in December; the road was blocked by snow, and avalanches fell repeatedly, choking the route, and destroying many of the soldiers. Thus threatened, the emperor sought for a separate treaty, which was signed at Luneville, early in February, 1801, on terms disadvantageous to Austria. The king of Naples was also permitted to make peace. An attempt was made on the life of Buonaparte in December, by exploding a machine, just as his carriage passed. He escaped, but others were killed and wounded. It was a plot of some royalists. Among those individuals worthy of remembrance, who died this year, was the poet Cowper; and it may be observed, as a strong testimony to the power of religious truth, that his poetry has continued to be read for half a century since his death, and has been, and is even now, increasing in popularity; while the productions of later and more gifted bards, of a contrary tendency, are already diminishing in circulation. Earl Howe, and Bacon the sculptor, died some months before him. Burke died in 1798. The disasters abroad, and scarcity at home, supplied topics for parliamentary discussion, in the midst of which the union with Ireland came into effect; and on January 22nd, 1801, was the first sitting of the Imperial parliament, as it now was called. Some other alterations in style took place the king's title now being, George the Third, by the grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith. The title of King of France was wisely dropped, and the lilies of France no longer appeared in the armorial bearings, which were merely those of England, Scotland, and Ireland, with those of Hanover on a shield in the line, at the accession of Queen Victoria. Malta, after a blockade of two years, surrendered to the British, and a few small foreign settlements were also taken. But an expedition against Brittany was too late to be of any service, another centre. The latter have disappeared insurrection in those parts having been since England was relieved of that costly put down, and the leaders conciliated by and burdensome appendage, on the deBuonaparte. The expedition then pro-parture of the succession from the male ceeded to Ferrol, on the coast of Spain, where nothing was done. An attack upon Cadiz was planned, but relinquished, partly because the plague raged there at the time. The troops were then carried to Malta, and at the end of the year it was resolved that they should be sent against Egypt; but the loss of time and waste of strength, during so many months of uncertainty, was very evident. Early in the year, the Turkish commander and sir Sidney Smith had agreed with the French general to a convention, by which his army was to evacuate Egypt, and be conveyed to France; but orders had previously been sent, not to allow of any terms which would excuse the French from being prisoners of war; and lord Keith signified that his orders would not allow them to pass. The refusal to ratify terms agreed upon was considered objectionable, and, on being applied to, the English government agreed to sanction the convention. Before this decision was known, hostilities had been renewed, and the Turks had been defeated by the French. Affairs in the north of Europe had assumed a threatening aspect. Paul, the emperor of Russia, who was decidedly insane, had by this time taken a dislike to England, and, under the influence of Buonaparte, favoured a sort of armed neutrality, like that attempted twenty years before. Buonaparte had had a narrow escape from assassination by some of the royalists. He now began to manifest that inveterate hatred to England which eventually caused his downfal. One of his determinations was, to exclude all British trade from the continent, thinking thereby to ruin that commercial greatness on which he considered that her prosperity was built. The destruction of the opposing navies also had given Britain the command of the seas, while France and her allies were wholly dependent on the neutral powers for their trade. Under this state of things, England enforced the regulations established by the law of nations, against supplies of warlike stores being carried to their enemies. At the close of 1800, the Rus sian autocrat declared his intention of enforcing the principle of free ships making free goods, and he also required the possession of Malta, claiming it as grand master of its order, though no legal election had taken place; and he could not fill that office, not being a Romanist, nor bound by the laws of celibacy, two indispensable points required by the laws of the order. He laid an embargo on all British ships, without any previous notice, seizing the crews as prisoners, ill-treating them, and marching them into the interior. These proceedings were very unpopular. There had been disputes for some time with Denmark, arising from the search and seizure of Danish vessels, acting contrary to the principles of neutrality. That power, and Sweden, had so great an interest in acting as carriers at sea, in the present state of affairs, that both willingly joined Russia. Thus British commerce was excluded from every port around the coast of Europe, from Archangel to Venice. These proceedings were met by the British government with more than usual promptitude. An expedition was fitted out, which sailed in March, under Nelson, as second in command to sir Hyde Parker; it consisted of eighteen sail of the line, with a number of smaller vessels-it being known that the three northern powers had forty sail of the line. Nelson urged a prompt attack on Copenhagen, and persuaded Parker to agree. This took place on April 2nd, when, after a most severe conflict, the Danish ships forming the line of defence were captured and destroyed, by the bravery and conduct of Nelson and his squadron, under many disadvantages. By his energy the Danes were induced to agree to an armistice of fourteen weeks. Parker then sailed up the Baltic. Sweden was soon brought to consent to the armistice. The Russian fleet had been frozen up at Revel, in which position it might have been attacked with great advantage to the assailants; but now Parker was met by intelligence of the death of the emperor Paul. His violent proceedings had excited discontent among the leading nobles, who learned that he contemplated sending many of them into exile. His insanity was clearly proved by many of his actions. Among other projects, he called upon the sovereigns of Europe to settle their disputes by single combat, supported by their prime ministers-a aware measure which, if it could be carried into effect, would certainly do much to prevent war. A conspiracy was formed to make the emperor abdicate. The leaders entered his chamber for that purpose, on the night of March 24th, but he refused. This led to a struggle, in which Paul was strangled by some of the conspirators; but it was pretended that he had died of apoplexy. His son Alexander, who succeeded, was of the necessity for deposing and securing his insane father, but was deeply affected when he found the attempt ended in his murder, for which he did not dare to punish the conspiring nobles. Parker believed that the new emperor would pursue a different course from his father, and returned down the Baltic, to wait events, much against the will of Nelson, who had joined him. Early in May, Parker was recalled, when Nelson, being chief in command, immediately proceeded towards Russia, determined to have satisfaction for the losses and injuries inflicted on the British subjects. The fleet of Russia was by this time extricated from the position in which it might have been destroyed, but for Parker's delay; so that Nelson had to negotiate. He besought the emperor to consent to the liberation of the British seamen and their ships, and to express amicable intentions; and then, being unwell, returned to England. SARAH MARTIN, THE PRISON-VISITOR. No. III. IN the winter of 1842 the health of Sarah Martin began to fail, and it was with pain and difficulty that she continued, day by day, up to the 17th April, 1843, to visit the jail, "the home," she says, "of my first interest and pleasure." From that day she was confined to her apartments by a painful disease, accompanied by extreme bodily weakness. But nothing could restrain the energy of her mind. In the seclusion of a solitary chamber, "apart from all that could disturb," and in a "universe of calm repose and peace and love," when, speaking of herself and her condition, she remarked, in words of singular beauty : * at such a time, she resumed the exercise | writes, 'He entirely learned to read and of a talent for the writing of sacred write in prison, and immediately after his poetry, which had been early developed, discharge left off smuggling. He wrote and had even been occasionally exercised to me afterwards, and expressed the comin the midst of the occupations of her fort he found in being able to write. busy life. The fact that Sarah Martin * I have heard from him many wrote such poetry is important in her times. He sails in a small vessel from biography. It is deeply interesting to Dunkirk to London, to sell butter and know, that after some of the most exciting eggs.' incidents of her life-the establishment of a fund for the relief of prisoners after liberation-the death of her grandmother, and that of the father of a lad whom she had reclaimed-an opposition or a success which she met with in the jail-she could retire to her chamber and pour out her heart in strains of Christian praise and gratitude. It is, above all things, interesting to be told that this brave woman could cheer the sacred loneliness of her entrance into the dark valley of the shadow of death with songs of victory and triumph. The compositions here published not only prove all this, but they evidence the existence in the mind of their author of an unquestionable vein of real poetry. They exhibit some specimens of true poetic ore, and contain separate lines, and occasionally whole stanzas, which evidently came fresh from the mint of a strong mind and fervid heart. But her compositions have those defects which mark the imitative and unpractised artist. They are the poems of of one whose time was devoted to the acting of poetry rather than to the writing of it. Sarah Martin struggled against disease for many months, suffering intense agony, which was partially relieved by opiates. A few minutes before her death, she begged for more of the opiate, to still the racking torture. The nurse told her that she believed the time of her departure had arrived. She, clapping her hands together, exclaimed, "Thank God! thank God!" and never spake more. This was on the 15th of Oct, 1843. She was buried at Caister, by the side of her grandmother; and a tombstone in the churchyard bears a simple inscription, written by herself, which commemorates her death and age, but says not a word of her many virtues. There can be no doubt that Sarah Martin's labours were followed by most happy results. We will give a few cases: "B. B., age about twenty-three. Could neither read nor write. Offence, smuggling. After the lapse of twelve years from his imprisonment, Sarah Martin "R., E., C., and four others. Offence, smuggling. Had been in prison before for the same offence. Were supported in Yarmouth jail by a band or club of smugglers. After the lapse of four years, this is Sarah Martin's report :-'E. C. had a wife and six children in Harwich, where they now live. The profits of smuggling were tempting, but he afterwards told me he found it impossible, as he then viewed the thing, to engage in the traffic again, and abandoned it. Since his discharge, Í have received four letters; two written by him, one by his wife, and another written partly by him and partly by his wife. Also, I have seen him twice, when the schooner to which he belongs sailed through Yarmouth Roads. By him I was informed, in August last, that the five who were in prison with him had all left off smuggling. He gave me a satisfactory account of each. These men, when I took leave of them, seemed reluctant in promising to give up a profession of fraud, involving habitual lying, etc., etc., yet allowed me to believe that, ceasing to reconcile them to its principles, they wished, and would not be unwilling, to do it.' She writes subsequently : : February 5, 1840.-This morning, R., the former master of the smuggling vessel *** called upon me, being the first time he has been in Yarmouth since his discharge. He is now master of the St. Leonard, a respectable merchant ship. His gratitude for what he thought his obligation to me, led him to bring from France a present of a vase covered with shells, and a curious glass box. He was fourteen months without a vessel after his discharge, with a wife and family to support, and desiring to get free from the traffic of smuggling.' "S. B., aged thirty-nine, charged with felony. Could neither read nor write. Accounted a disorderly person and a thief, and had been in prison before. After three and a half years: 'Perfectly reclaimed. She has never been guilty of any immoral practice since, and seems to have been the means of reclaiming her husband, whose former character was bad. I see her every month or two. She has suffered much from poverty and illness, without complaint.' : "T. B., aged eighteen; offence, felony. Five months in Yarmouth jail, and afterwards in the Penitentiary at Milbank. After nine and a half years: 'After his return from the Penitentiary he immediately called upon me. His parents were poor, living in a row, and keeping a small vegetable shop. With no character, he seemed destitute. His next step was this he went to his father's, and took a small box, which he had left locked up, containing 1021. and some shillings, and carried it to his master, from whom it had been stolen. Mr. D. entreated him to take 57. of the sum returned, but could not prevail; all he accepted was the odd 27. and shillings, saying, 'Sir, I robbed you of more than that.' The circumstance became public. Mr. B., tailor and salesman, took him for two years to learn his trade. He conducted himself better, Mr. B. informed me, than former any apprentice. Since then, he has been married to a young woman who was taught by me in a Sunday school, and by honourable and successful industry supports himself, by keeping a respectable little shop as a tailor and salesman in the Such cases, which are as instructive as they are interesting, might be multiplied manyfold out of the papers of Sarah Martin. If they exhibit the results of careful, kindly prison-instruction, every one would wish that such instruction could be rendered universal. With such cases before us, who shall doubt that many of the ignorant and the weak, those who have failed in their duty to their neighbour, because they have been permitted to go forth into the world unarmed against its temptations, and uninstructed in their duties, are still within reach of the reclaiming efforts of active benevolence? But such cases give no encouragement to any cold philanthropy, if any such can be; nor to any kind but weak enthusiasm, which seeks for proofs of amendment of life in the mere raptures of excited feeling; nor to that proud and condescending bounty, which chills even whilst it overpowers with a multiplicity of obligations. Sarah Martin governed these people and reformed them, as their cases testify, not merely by instructing them in useful arts, and inculcating in their minds right principles of duty and action, and informing their understandings as to their real interests, but more especially by opening her own heart to them, by entering with warm and genuine sympathy into their real feelings and condition, and by aiding them in devising and carrying out measures of true practical amelioration suited to their circumstances, and their habits of thought and feeling. She did not shower down bounties as from a heaven above, but, placing herself upon a par with them in every thing but their guilt, was ever ready to drop a tear over their misery, and to join with them, heart and soul, to procure relief. They who would obtain Sarah Martin's success must feel her sympathy, and acquire her true practical wisdom. 'The high desire that others may be blest, Savours of heaven.' was The words are her own, and her life "Her a comment upon them. simple, unostentatious, yet energetic devotion to the interests of the outcast and the destitute," remarks Captain Williams, one of the inspectors of prisons, who had many opportunities of judging of her labours, and whose experience gives great value to his testimony-" her gentle disposition, her temper never irritated by disappointment, nor her charity straitened by ingratitude, present a combination of qualities which imagination sometimes portrays as the ideal of what is pure and beautiful, but which are rarely found embodied with humanity. * * * She was no titular Sister of Charity, but was silently felt and acknowledged to be one, by the many outcast and destitute persons who received encouragement from her lips, and relief from her hands, and by the few who were witnesses of her good works." It is the business of literature to make such a life stand out from the masses of ordinary existences, with something of the distinctness with which a lofty building uprears itself in the confusion of a It should be made to distant view. attract all eyes, to excite the hearts of all persons who think the welfare of their fellow-mortals an object of interest or duty; it should be included in collections of biography, and chronicled in the high places of history; men should be taught to estimate it as that of one whose philanthropy has entitled her to renown, and children to associate the name of Sarah Martin with those of Howard, Buxton, Fry-the most benevolent of mankind.-From the Edinburgh Review. |