The Emperor Nicholas, And The Russian Empire

The Empcror is now 47 ycnra old, and for the lost 20 yenrs, his life has been orte of con 3ont cnlcrprise and loil. The nflairs of his overgrówn Empire, ofwhichhe claims tho tille of 'Fathe.-." are all to be kept under his immediate superintendence. If a courier arrivés from Siberia, or Warsaw. or iïoin the Caspia n. he musí not overlcok the despat ch; if his grenadiers are to parade, hc must be present; even it' a íírc breaks out in his capital, there he is puííing, sweatinjrand shouting with the best of tlicm. Those who havo seen his Majesty describe his appenrance as imposing in the extreme. Pie is i [5 feet 2 inches in height, finely formeel, with ! grent breadth of frhouldar and chest, great length and symmetry of limb. with a large, blue, piercing eye, Grecian nose - and every part of iiis frame is in the same colossal proportion. - At the roval levee he is distinguished amid all : the jeweüed and snbled princes, by his plain drets and commanding figure, and he towera above them all, like Ihejfirst Kirig of Israel, nmong the shcplierd warriors that surround him. He is the gigantic hcad of tho most gigantic empire on carth. Russia is certainly a most wonderful country. Stretching around thrce quarters of the globe, it already numbers 70.000,000 of inhabitants, and in a century more niay number 100 millions! - It embraces every vuriety of soil. product and occupation, from the stuntcd pincs ol Archangel to the blooming gardens of tho Crinici, from the hunters of bears on the ice hills oiKamschatka, to the diggers of sak in the mines of Cracow. The rich wheat fields on the shores of the Black Sea pour their anr,ual produce into the granarles of the Odessa, tho shepherd oi the interior pastures his immense herds on the central steppes, and at each remming (air, drives the iirstlings of his flock to the bazars of Moscow: while from the frozen north, vvhere lile well nigh 'goes out,' the hardy forester ilonts down, during the short-lived sunnner, the furs which hc bas taken beneath the light of the Aurora during the long wintry nigln. All this varied population are divided into two classes. First come the hcreditary nobles- hage sons of Anak, purse proud, high spirited, and (or the most part ignorant; rolling in splendor and filth, with diamonds and verinin - a set of princely r'esperadoes, ready t any time lor a revel ora musU3r, a masquerade or a cumpaign.. r'rom these riotous nabobs, two or three of whom could bay up the whole of Iowa at Grovcrnment prices,' there is hut one step to tb'S Skrfs in comparison with whoni our soutlu rn slaves are freemen indeed. Ilerds of them throng all the plantations of the nobility, workir.tr without pny, living on rye meal and chopped i jtraw until thèy ca live no longcr. and then die, leaving a wretchcd inheri'ancc of bonda' 0 to their children. This iinniense empire, wii'.h its great territory and its great diversity of ra t- is controllod by a standing army of .r)()0,0' jq infantry- 100.000 horsc, nnd 50,000 ariiller ymen; nnd thie army iscontrollod by 'the Aut jcrat of all tho Hussias.' Of this army, iiio infant iy aro ndmirubly drilled. wcll-intormcc!, lii;hly Apert in the use of thelyonet. nnd the haHicst soldicrs in Europe. - i he cavnlry are good, and the anillcrymen nre t od, butthegreat strength in defensive t res lies in the Cosack horsemkn. Who t ■ad without admiration and terror of these wild ivaliers of the desert - ot their intense attachicnt lo their country - ofthcir tiger-like cunning , i laying in wnit ior their prey, and their ferocj' in destroying it - and of their astonishing pow rs of endurance, sleeping on their horses and ïking their meat under the sadüle. To see one f these troops of marauders in their green is, red brecches, and jockey caps, with a ma'.ch ' ck slung over their shoulders, and a t wel ve ] )0t pike in their hands, rise up suddcnly from ' ie horizen like a cloud of sand, and come ' ïgover the plnins with "'whoop and hnlloo,' must ' 0 a frightful apparition to an invading nrmy. - ' Jonapartes' Frenchmcn saw it often to their sorow, and feil before it like the Simoon. Hut wbat will the ambitious despot Nicholas, vith ambitious, conqucst-loving people liko the linsians, do next? Tt is very easy to Bec what ie could do, if it were not for the flccts of Engand. Tiirkey would soon go into that cnpacious naw which has already swallowed Poland, and great part of Persia, without appcaring to bc ny nearer full than was the Slough of Depnir ftcr all the contributions ofstode and rubbish rom the Destruction. The Empress Catharine ong since saw that the possession ol the Architelago, was the key of the whole East. and thereóre she eiected a column on the frontiers of the levoted country with this inscription: "Tliis is he way to Conslantinople." That column is he guidepost of Russian politics: and should an)ther general war break out, an army of Russia night soon be marching by it, intriumph, bearng the spoils of the oldest capital in Europe to 1 city which 150 years ago was a frozen marsh.