premature recognition in the patient's present precarious condition.

On pretence of procuring the necessary cordials for the invalid, she sought her friend, and told her briefly on what her vague hopes were founded, advising her to accompany Sour Cecile at once to the hospital. To do so, however, in her own character, being both unpleasant for herself, and hazardous to the patient's tranquillity, it was not difficult to persuade the benevolent nun to lend for a charitable purpose her own venerable habit to Madame Montorin, who undertook, with a beating heart and trembling limbs, to act as her substitute in administering the long-forgotten comforts provided by the eager friendship of Madame de L

On being ushered into the vast ward, all whose pallets except one were now vacant by the death or recovery of their occupants, Madame de Montorin's heart died within her, and she had scarcely strength to approach that on which reposed in feverish and unquiet slumber the object of so many months of anxiety and doubly maternal solicitude. No eye, save one familiarized by long intercourse, and sharpened by intense anxiety, could have recognized in the pale, emaciated figure stretched on that obscure pallet, the gay, the elegant, the accomplished Adhémar !—But it was he! And Madame de Montorin's prophetic heart whispered, that the painful exterior change was more than compensated by the bright metamorphosis within! She gazed on him in fearful silence, till in apparent pain he softly uttered the name of Cecile, and awoke. On opening his eyes, and perceiving in lieu of his benevolent nurse a stranger, though habited in the same philanthropic garb, he sunk back at first, in evident disappointment; then in a sweet voice, as if to atone for his ungraciousness, thanked her for her kind attendance, and anxiously inquired "if his dear Cecile was in her usual health."

-

This question, addressed to a mother under such circumstances, proved a powerful trial of Madame de Montorin's fortitude. It was, however, sufficient to enable her to answer with tolerable composure, in a feigned voice, whose tones seemed, however, to strike the patient's ear as familiar, and to open the way for a whole train of ideas VOL. XIX.

and recollections, which disease and suffering had weakened and confused without obliterating.

"My good sister!" exclaimed Adhémar, raising himself hastily on his pillow, "I have lingered here too long! I must set off for F immediately. I have not received Cecile's pardon, and if I die here without imploring it, she will never know that for her sake I fought and conquered, and bled and suffered, and spurned wealth and refused liberty; that I died defending my country, and that she may weep without disgrace over my grave!"

Exhausted by this unusual effort, Adhemar sunk back on his pillow; and Madame de Montorin, judging that even the excitement of a discovery, cautiously conducted, would be less pernicious than the reveries of a disordered imagination, after administering to him some of the cordials, which she informed him were the gift of a benevolent lady, sat down with averted face at the head of his bed, and inquired whether he had any friends in L likely to have discovered or suspected his condition, and contributed thus to his comfort?

"No, ma bonne !" said Adhémar sorrowfully: "when I was young and gay, I had flatterers and boon companions, but no friends, and then I did not miss them; but now, that I need, and perhaps deserve them, all those I had made are buried in the snows of Russia, or dead of broken hearts at home!"

"Your present benefactress," said the pretended sister, (seeming not to notice this affecting reply,) is Madame de L-, who resides in the Grande Place, and at her house I saw a Madame de Montorin, who since the invasion . . . . . .

It was as impossible for her to proceed in this tone of dissembled coldness and indifference, as for the parched lips of Adhémar to utter the name of Cecile! The mute eloquence of his beseeching eye was irresistible, and Madame de Montorin answered it by exclaiming "My son, my son !" and receiving in her arms the insensible victim of joy. She hung over him in speechless agony, till her efforts had recalled suspended animation; and thanked Heaven fervently for the opportune relief, when his half-opening eye closed again in the slumber of exhaustion, without resting on an

4 Y

object too deeply agitating for his enfeebled frame.

He slept long and placidly; the name of Cecile hovered more than once on his lips, but with it there played a soft smile over his features; and his regular breathing and tranquil pulse gave indications of a salutary crisis. He awoke another creature, and stretching out his hand to Madame de Montorin, seemed as if some beatific vision had gradually unfolded to him his blissful prospects, and rendered explanation superfluous-" Cecile will come to-morrow, will she not, mother?" whispered he in a calm subdued tone. "I can lay my hand on my heart, and say as she bade me, that for two years that heart has not reproached me; and then you know she promised, whenever and wherever I should do so, to be my own Cecile. I have it under her hand, dear mother, and near my heart, where it has lain through fire and blood and carnage, like a blessed talisman, working miracles." So saying, he drew from his bosom a small case containing the precious, though half-obliterated billet of Cecile. Her mother's eyes glistened on beholding this proof of the magic of virtue; but what was her surprise on observing that the same receptacle contained a golden ringlet, very different from the dark auburn hair which now adorned the head of her daughter! She recollected, however, that Victor, in the insolence of his assumed indifference towards his amiable betrothed, had denied having preserved any memorials of their juvenile attachment, when his own forfeited pledges were reluctantly returned, and the truth flashed on her mind. She shook her head reproachfully. "Yes, mother!" said Adhémar, answering her gesture, "the last act of human selfishness which I indulged in, was extorting at the sword's point from the cowardice of guilt, a treasure, which I suspected its polluted recesses might yet contain. Letters, ringlets, all were made over to me with the sullenness of disappointed malice. I read the letters, (Cecile

must pardon me if I found the temptation irresistible,) till I had imprinted them for ever on my memory; then with the awful reverence of a fire-worshipper, I shielded them in the flames from the eyes of the profane-It is from those ashes that my new character and other self has sprung! The soul, perhaps, is now more worthy of Cecile, but," added he, playfully smiling," will she accept the body, shattered with wounds, worn with fatigue and anxiety, perhaps disabled for ever from activity and usefulness ?"-" Such as you are," answered Madame de Montorin, "I will answer for Cecile's marrying you to-morrow, if she survives the discovery, which I would to Heaven were well over!"

So saying, she tore herself from her interesting patient, and flew to encounter another scene, little less critical and affecting. The details may easily be left to the imagination, even more apt than words to picture the transition from despair to rapture. It only remained to settle the ceremonial of these hard-earned nuptials; and the reformed tenets which Adhémar ever since his acquaintance with Cecile had inclined to, and had now on principle adopted, not rendering imperative their solemnization in a place of worship, it was in the very hospital where, by a long course of patient suffering, Adhémar had perhaps best proved his claims to the hand of Cecile, that he was permitted to call it his own, in the face of God and man.

In an honourable retreat on her maternal estate, their years have since flowed peacefully and happily; and the latter days of Adhemar have proved that penitence may, even here helow, be crowned with heartfelt bliss. Victor, whom levity and want of principle first induced to desert his falling leader for the rising star of the Bourbons, and whom political fluetuations engaged in a fresh course of treachery to them, expiated his perfidy on the scaffold.

THE death of the Emperor Alexander has let loose the military propensities of the Russian government, and keen and angry negotiations have been, for some time, carried on with the Turks. It is now confidently stated, that the Duke of Wellington's mission was strongly connected with these negotiations, and that it is the determination of England to give her authority to the Russian demands. The Russian demands apply, in the first and principal instance, to the cession of the Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia. It may be interesting to our readers, to receive from sources which we believe perfectly authentic, a sketch of these provinces, which are so likely to be the seat of a most forinidable and eventful war.

The present governors are Greeks of the Fannar, or quarter of Constantinople inhabited almost exclusively by the principal Greek interpreters, and others who look to public and diplomatic employment.

The Greeks of Constantinople had, from the fall of their empire, continued in the usual humiliation of the slaves of the Turks, until the rise of the celebrated Mavrocordato, a name since rendered more honourably conspicuous in the history of Greek independence.

Alexander Mavrocordato had been a merchant, carrying on an obscure trade in Scio; in the course of his voyages to Constantinople, he came in contact with some of the Divan. His sagacity and knowledge of languages were found useful; and, after some minor employments, he was sent as Turkish ambassador to the Congress of Carlowitz.

Mavrocordato there sustained his reputation; and, on his return, obtained so much influence with the Porte, that he was enabled to fix his son Nicholas in the governments of Wallachia and Moldavia.

The immediate contiguity of those provinces to the dominions of Austria and Russia, the two terrors of the Porte, and the obvious certainty, that in all attacks on the Ottoman empire, they must be the first to bear the collision, assisted Mavrocordato's patriotism; for, ambitious and selfish as he was, the Greek spirit in him di

rected his views to raising the fallen name of his countrymen. The neces sity of placing at the head of those outworks of the empire, men of European intelligence and activity, compelled the Porte to choose their governors among the Greeks; and by Mavrocordato's influence, a rule was made in the Divan, that no man should be appointed who had not previously served as state interpreter at Constantinople.

This produced an immediate and remarkable result upon the habits of the Greeks in the capital. European languages and foreign knowledge became the study of a large class. Diplomacy assumed the rank of a peculiar profession, conferring permanent public distinction on all who had been employed, and even on all who had adopted its study. The " diplomatic Greeks" established for themselves a species of Nobility, fully acknowledged by their countrymen. Embassies and similar employments were considered as their exclusive rights; and feeble as their attainments may have been, and fickle and vain as their national spirit, in the Greeks of the Fannariot were to be found the chief remnant of the Greek civilization ; and, as we have since seen, the first promise and power of national independence. But this administration had unfortunate effects on the Principalities. Their government once placed within the reach of the Greeks, became a perpetual source of intrigue at Constantinople. Among the officers of the Porte, bribery seems to be the natural way to every object. The Fannar was crowded with candidates bidding over each other. The Turks, who throve at once by the plunder of a deposed Hospodar, and by the bribe of the candidate for his succession, took good care that the depositions and successions should be frequent; and thus there were no fewer than forty new sovereigns of Moldavia alone, during a space of about ninety years, down to the year 1800, without including the thirteen years of three forcible occupations by the Austrians and Prussians. Moldavia had thus a new sovereign on an average of every two years; and every sovereign, a purchaser of this capricious throne, and

making up his purchase-money by the indiscriminate robbery of the people.

Russia, whether through feelings of humanity, rare in the bosom of great warlike powers, or through the more probable motives of ambition, in the year 1792, at the peace of Jassy, took up the cause of those harassed provinces, and demanded, by her right of interference, established by the treaty of Kainargik, that the sovereigns of Wallachia and Moldavia should be retained in their governments during seven years.

As this treaty of Kainargik is the great diplomatic instrument on which all the subsequent negotiations have been founded, and to which Russia now appeals. The articles relative to these provinces are here given :

"July 10, 1775.

"The court of Russia restores to the Sublime Porte the whole provinces of Bessarabia, with its fortified places, viz. Akkerman, Killia, Ismail, Bender, and the other towns and villages within that province, as well as the principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia, with the fortresses, capitals, towns, and villages belonging to them.

"The Sublime Porte in taking possession of them, solemnly engages to observe the following conditions, without the least deviation:

1st. "To acknowledge and maintain the two Principalities, the established customs, rank, dignities, property, and churches, of the two nations, without any exception whatever. To give them total amnesty and pardon, conformably to the first article of the general treaty; to leave unmolested all such persons as have not remained "faithful to the Ottoman interest; to admit them to their former ranks, and to restore to them any property and possessions they had previous to the

war.

2d. " To oppose no sort of difficulty to the free exercise of the Christian religion in the said Principalities, nor to the repair and construction of churches and other buildings.

3d. "To restore to the monasteries in the neighbourhood of Ismail, Hotim, and Bender, all the property belonging to them, and which had, contrary to justice, been taken from them. 4th. "To acknowledge and bear due regard to the Ecclesiastical order.

5th. "To permit those families and

individuals who have any desire of returning to Russia, or elsewhere, to depart freely with their moveable property, and to allow them a year's time previously to such departure, that they may settle their affairs in the country.

6th. "To recommence entirely the payment of old accounts, for whatever relates to former contributions.

7th. "To claim no tribute from the inhabitants of the said Provinces and Principalities, for the space of time that they have been occupied by the Russians; and in consideration of the losses and sufferings sustained by them on account of the war, to claim no sort of tribute from them for two years after the date of the treaty.

8th. "The Porte engages to show every regard and humanity to the inhabitants of the said countries, at and after the expiration of the term men. tioned in the 7th Article, relative to the tribute and taxes which they shall then be called on to pay, and will nei❤ ther suffer nor permit the Basha, or any other person, to oppress or molest them after the payment of the ordinary tribute.

"And also, to allow them the free and entire exercise of the privileges which they enjoyed during the reign of Sultan Mahomet the Fourth, father of the present Sultan.

"And the Porte shall permit the Hospodars of Wallachia and of Moldavia to have one or more public agents to reside at Constantinople, Greeks by nation or religion, to transact the affairs of the provinces, and not only consents to acknowledge and treat with them, but also promises to observe in them the privileges due to persons who have public rights and interests, and are not under the control of power.

"The Sublime Porte also acknowledges and admits, that the Russian Ministers residing at Constantinople, shall have the right of interfering in behalf of the affairs of the two Principalities above-mentioned, and engages to pay every regard to their representations."

By the treaty of Jassy, in 1792, the Porte bound itself to consult the Russian Ambassador in the choice of the Hospodars, and to appoint none but such as were approved of by the embassy.

The stipulation of the seven years' residence of the Hospodars, entered into by the same treaty, was soon ne

gligently observed; it was then openly violated, and the violation became the subject of much diplomatic interference on the part of the Russian Go

vernment.

At length the dispute seemed brought to a close by the appointment of Prince Ypsilanti to Wallachia, and Prince Alexander Mourousi to Molda via, in 1802, with the declaration, that neither of them should be removed previously to the expiration of the seven years, unless the Russian Ambassador should admit that they were guilty of an offence worthy of deposition.

But Napoleon, in 1805, at war with England, and already determining to attack Russia, now began to draw Turkey into his views. The results of this intrigue were rapidly developed in the increased jealousy of the Porte, and in its higher tone with Russia and England. A defensive treaty with the former had been scarcely ratified, when the Porte declared its intention of suppressing all" letters of protection," or permissions to individual Turks to put themselves under the protection of foreign courts, in their trade and residence within the Turkish territory. This measure, harsh and unexpected in itself, was rendered additionally offensive by the mode of its execution, by forcibly and publicly compelling the surrender of all the Russian letters of protection, in contempt of the public representations of the Russian embas

sy.

A still more decisive act brought this dispute to a crisis. The Hospodars, Ypsilanti and Mourousi, were suddenly recalled, without consideration of the Russian Ministry; and Charles Callimachi was made Hospodar of Moldavia. Wallachia was given to Alexander Sutzo, a notorious partisan of Napoleon, and an equally notorious hater of Russia.

This measure had been foreseen. A Russian army was immediately marched over the frontier, and the fortresses of Hotimen and Bender were taken into possession. The Porte retorted by a declaration, or fetvaa, of the Mufti, proclaiming that it was now legal for all good Mussulmen to repel this violent aggression by force.

England now took an active part in hostilities with this blind and half-savage cabinet. Mr Arbuthnot had been sent out in 1805, as Ambassador. On his arrival, the Porte, whether to gain

time, or in a sincere wish for the amity of England, had proposed to renew the treaty of 1799, the triple alliance of England, Russia, and Turkey, which was but for eight years, and which was, of course, now near its termination.

The British Ambassador had not been furnished with powers for the purpose; and on their arrival from England on his representation, the influence of Napoleon had become irresistible. Napoleon stood at the head of the Continent, and the Porte was tempted by the hope of seeing its great enemy extinguished. A direct refusal was given to the applications of the British Ambassador.

Mr Arbuthnot, in conjunction with the Russian embassy, demanded the reinstatement of the Hospodars. A divan was held, in which the Turkish ministry declared themselves for a decided resistance to this demand. But the Sultan's voice was against his council. He allowed that the demand was humiliating, but insisted that war should not be made on England. Sebastiani, the French envoy, had been indefatigable in exciting this discussion. He was now in despair. But the news that the Russians were in Moldavia arrived; the Divan was instantly in a ferment, the Sultan, either alarmed at the popular irritation, or indignant at the insult to his territory, declared for immediate war, and the Vizier was ordered to take the field.

The Fox Administration were then masters of the English Cabinet, and they probably longed for the honours of a war of their own. A fleet was sent against the reluctant Turks, and, to the astonishment of the Sultan, and the terror and confusion of all Constantinople, the English entered the Dardanelles. The Sultan was once more master of his council, and while the city expected every hour to see the British squadron anchor before the Seraglio, and bombard the Sovereign in his palace, he sent an agent to negotiate with Mr Arbuthnot, who was now on board the flag-ship.

It is not yet ascertained to what cause must be imputed the singular tardiness of a diplomacy which ought to have been expedited without the loss of a moment. But time was strangely lost. On the other hand, Sebastiani, the French Envoy, with the characteristie activity of his nation