axiom, that the two countries are, and must ever remain, natural enemies.

Another point of view worthy of remark in this Despatch is the anti-social spirit displayed by the Russian Ambassador with regard to the affairs of the Spanish Peninsula. If Russian diplomacy had never fanned the flames of antagonistic principles, what meaning could attach to the assertion, that the withdrawal of the British and French troops from Portugal and Spain would be the signal for intestine dissension in those countries?

Does not the very expression imply a knowledge of the elements of those dissensions, and consequently the power of Russia to foment them, whenever it may suit her purpose to make a diversion in the West, in order to veil her projects in the East?

[We sincerely trust that the difference between France and Switzerland may not blind both parties to their own national interests, immediately endangered as they are by the political interests of the Prussian League.]—ED.

ON THE RELATION OF SWITZERLAND

TO THE GERMAN COMMERCIAL LEAGUE.

(Extracted from the Work of Dr. Nebenius on the Customs' Union.)

Switzerland already enjoys, for the introduction of many articles of manufacture into the territory of the Union, advantages proportioned to the quantity of her imports. We can only hope that the relations with this neighbour-country may take a form, which may be favourable to the animation of mutual intercourse. The nature of its exports and its wants makes it, perhaps, more than any other country dependent on the Union. With regard to the transit trade and commission trade, many important interests exist in common, which, however, are not cultivated with as much care by the Cantons as on the German territory.

The disadvantageous consequences weigh heavier on the transit trade of Switzerland, since there is an active competition between the southern seaports, in the same manner as between the northern ports; and every thing which burdens or facilitates the carriage on the roads leading from the one seaport, favours or renders difficult, under otherwise similar circumstances, the competition proceeding from another seaport. If much has been done of late to facilitate communications, we still remain far behind other states. We particularly allude to those facilities which are not obstructed by any kind of hindrances, namely, duties of different kinds, which increase the cost of transport.

A glance at the proportion of the freights for the transmission of goods from the harbours of the Adriatic through the Tyrol, from Marseilles through France, and from Genoa through Switzerland, to Kehl or Strasburg, shows the peculiar advantage to Switzerland of a diminution of the cost of carriage on the latter route. We find the usual freight on the road from Genoa to Strasburg, and from Strasburg to Genoa, for fifty kilograms, including the transit duties and road-tolls, 8 fl. to 8 fl. 30 kr.; on the road from Trieste to Strasburg, and thence to Trieste, 6 fl., 6 fl. 30 kr. to 7 fl. The freight on the former, therefore, is from 1 fl. 30 kr. to 2 fl. higher. *

The ordinary freight by land from Marseilles to Strasburg is from 4 fl. 12 kr. to 5 fl. 19 kr.; from Strasburg to Marseilles it is only 3 fl. 41 kr. A difference, therefore, exists of 3 fl. 20 kr. to 5 fl. 19 kr., for 50 kilograms; whilst the transmission from Genoa to Marseilles (without the insurance, which, late in the year, rises from 2 to 3 per cent., but is lower in summer) costs only 1 fl. 10 kr. to 1 f. 17 kr.† These proportions of freight are of great importance at certain periods for Switzerland in her commerce with southern fruits and Levant goods, as well as for the goods which form the commission trade as for the transit trade, which is connected with it, since the smallest saving of cost decides on the route to the market where the goods are to be disposed of.

The freight for 50 kilograms for the transmission by the steam-boat from Marseilles to Genoa is given in the price lists themselves at only 1 franc 60 cents, or about 44 kr.

REPLY OF A POLE TO A "MANCHESTER

MANUFACTURER."

The author of a pamphlet, under the title of "Russia," by a Manchester Manufacturer, has undertaken to prove, not only that the mistrust and apprehension entertained in England against Russia are exaggerated and unjustifiable, but that even the eventual acquisitions of Russia, including the occupation of Constantinople, could not sufficiently af fect the interests of England to engage her to oppose them by the force of arms. This ultra-utilitarian author appears unwilling to admit that, under any circumstance, the moral interests of an individual or of a people can be allowed any weight whatever, in comparison with its material interests. The preservation of the latter absorbs his exclusive attention, and one can easily conceive that, with such views, the Polish cause could find no favour in his sight. But to plead the non-intervention of Great Britain in the affairs of that unhappy country, and at the same time to inveigh against its present and past condition, are two very different things. The author is not contented with maintaining that England has too little direct interest in the fate of Poland, to sacrifice to it her useful relations with Russia; he even pretends that Poland has fully deserved to be effaced from the list of the independent nations of Europe, and sneeringly adds, that she is at the present moment happier than ever. Let us examine more closely the value of these sweeping assertions.

The author begins by informing his readers that he cannot sufficiently condemn, with them, the perfidy and violence by means of which Ancient Poland was dismembered. But immediately after this oratorical precaution, he sets to work,

on the authority of some passages from the Manual of Modern History, by Professor Heeren, of Gottingen, to describe Ancient Poland as an anarchical, depraved, disorganized, ignorant, and irreligious society," in which the nobility was incessantly at war with the neighbouring states," and in which "the people enjoyed no power over property of any kind, and possessed less security of life and limb than has been lately extended to the cattle of this island by Mr. Martin's Bill;" in which, in fine, the country "groaned and bled, with scarcely the slightest intermission, from 1572 until the period of the first partition." "At the present day," continues the author, "what a difference: read the Encyclopædia of Doctor Lardner, and the report of Mr. Jacob; you will there see that the peasants in Poland enjoy personal freedom and may acquire every kind of property; that agricultural and manufacturing industry have made an astonishing progress in that country; and that the nobility alone has lost its ancient privileges and its political preponderance; it is therefore only to regain these privileges that this nobility plunged Poland, in 1831, into all the miseries of an unequal and bloody contest."

"The peasants joined, to a considerable extent, the standard of revolt; but this was to be expected, (we continue to quote from our author) in consequence of the influence 'necessarily exercised over them by the superior classes, and because patriotism or nationality is an instinctive virtue, that sometimes burns the brightest in the rudest and least reasoning minds; and its manifestation bears no proportion to the value of the possessions defended, or the object to be gained."

The fall of ancient Poland, therefore, according to the "Manchester Manufacturer," was only "the triumph of Justice;" and the present fate of Poland appears to him to be "infinitely more happy" than it would have been if the