Chillon

LaüSAX.NK iáWTTZERLANB. Jauuary, 2üth, 1864. ' $ Whut a power has the imagination oí man ! I( brpatbes a cbrtrm over places otherwise uuattractive; it peopies them with charaaters nho have never lived ; it raakea history out of ideal events; it does for nature and things what nature and things have not done for thcmnelves. When I roamed amid the Higlilands ot Suotland; yhen I oroesed ih'e :nirrored waters of Locha Katrine, and Lomond; when I entered the wild TroBsaobs, or gazed upon llie dark, lofty forra oí Bou Leo;do, I saw, true enough. glorious prints from Na ture's presa. Eut was it Katrine, whioh " In al] her lerfgth far-winding lay, With proiaontory, creek, and hay, With islands that.empurpiea bright, Floated amid tlio lovelicr light." was it the Trnsachs, " Wlmre rocky summits, split and rent, Formeel turret, dome, or battlement, So wondrems wild. the whole mighi ..eiu The scenery of a fairy dreatn " was it the mountains, " that like gianta stand, To sentinel enohanting land." which alone filled my soul and gratified rny sense ? Was it not ratber that here the genius of Scott had shovvn ttself, and oovered the hills and the valleys with romance ? Was it Dot that the skifï of the Lady of the Lake had eut the waters of Loch mpririe, and itsisland had been the home of Doug las ? Was it not that Coilantogle Ford had beard the wordsoi Rhoderick Dhu when he cried to Fiig James : " Now man to man, and steel to steel, A diieïuin's vengeanee thou shalt feel." Was it not that the Trosachs had seeu Scotland's king, alone and undefended, dare the mountain army that rose frotn ambush, and phoat aloud : " Come one, come all ! this rock shall fly From its firffl base as soou as 1 1" Ah, yes, it is the imagination of Scotland's poet ihut haa made the rocks and tho hills speak a Stirring language. Again, I should never have visited with suc.h pleasiire Ayr, and have hastened so eagerly lo the side of the river Doon, or stand with suoh delight beiore the oïd Kirk ot Aüoway, nv havecrossed with siich ieelings the two bridges that span the Ayr; had not Burns immortalii'ed these places with hls poetio fancy, The "bonnie Doon " is not now an ordinary stream ; the i'auld Kirk," where Tam O'Shanler " saw an unco BÍght," is sDnicthing more than roofless walls ; the " twa brigs of Ayr " are brigs indeed - since Burns has breathsd them into eong. And t'i-düy why have I so rej-iiced to boai'd the little steamer that wal ka Lake Leman, and baaome ü pilgritn to the old walls of UhiHoo ? Becauso Byron's irnaginatiqn haa made it the theme of glorioua song. I left tho Bteamer at Clurens. This is classical ground. Rosseau in his novel Heloisa has painted well íhe scanery and thrown a eentiineDtai interest about it ; and Byroo ha re-echoed the description and inereased the romanee. " Clarens ! sweet Clarens, birth-place of neep Jjove! Thine air is the young breath of passionate thought ; Tliy trees take root in Love " A batf-hour's walk aloag the border of the lake brought me to the old Qastle of Chillón. It could oever boasl of drawing a pilgrim by its ovvn beauty or its own unembelliwhed history. What is there in the atory of Bonnivard to excite particular interest ? Attempting to free the Genérese frora the Suvoyard yoke, the cruel düke of Suvoy in lü!jü seiïed htm gecretly and cast him into Chillion's dungeon, where he dwclt six long years, uutil the Genevese triurnphed in their canse, took the eastje, and liberated its priaoners. Is it not a repfetitioD of a thousand suoh histories which marked the era of the dark ages? The record was but a dry hiatorical fact, and tho name Bonnivard ha(J been unknown, had not Byron errbellished the fact and spread a halo about the name. " Cliillion ! tliy prison is a holy place, And thy sad Boor i: altar; for 'twastrod Until hip very Stpps have Icft a trace Woni, as if' the culd paTerpenl was a sod, By Bpuaivard ! muy none tliose inarks efface I For tiiey áppeal fronj Lyraimy to God." I entered the caftle. A guide conduoted me to the prison When I Stond within its damp, co!d walle ; when I saw its floor and óne side formed by the living rock; when I noted the " seven pillars of gothic raould," and the ring which olioga to each ; when I raarked tho sf.ot - i,ho. ?ery spot - worn by the tread of Bonnlvard; when I saw the aceuracy witb which Byron had painted all, did I not feel a glow of interest which I never could have realizad but for the poet ! Then I looked out upon the slet a milo away, and roealled the prisoners words : " And thcre was a little isle, Which in my very face did bmilc, The oiily one in view ; ■ A sumí] green isle, it seemed no moro, Scarce broade than my dungeon floov." How true to nature ie the poet! It gives his pocm one of its highest oh ar ma, Leaving tho dungeon, the guide oonducted me about the castle. I eavv the ch amber of torture, where oft has puffered the viotitn of tyranny ; I enteied the hall of Justice (the Justice of In qnisition !); 1 saw tho oubliettf, whoge triiD-doof entrance, and three stairs, ani dcep, dark, yawning abyss benuath, whioh has wallowed many a mortal, speaks so well of " man's inhuinanity to man." But in none of these did I fiod the interest whiah the dungcon gave me - for the poet hae not touched these wilh poetie romance. Perbapa some iuture Byrpn will tune hls harp and sing a song to Chülion's Torture Chambers. riovv the vvalls of Chillón speak of eruelty ! Huw the very air seenas to breath ol tyranny I One alraost expects to hear the cry of agony burst iorth from the potente, or the mblktte. I can oever leave such a place without thanking heuven tlat I live ia an age of hutnanity and a country of law. F. W. B. ■ Lausanke, Suisse, Feb. 3, 18G4. Popular sovereignty is the result of Swiss liberty. As in Atneripa, every man above 21 years of age, whöthor rich or poor, whether high or low, has the right to raise his voice in political affairs and placo in the ballot-box his testimony on men and principies. But when think you the eluction is held? Ou Sundays. And where thiuk you is the ballot box? In a uhurch, Truly, you will say, this lookslike debasing holy things to the evel of politics, or else Iike raising politics to the level of sacred things. . All hail to Switzerland that the laitsr is true of her, and her elcc'ions are'well nigh as nacred as her religión ! Last Üa'übath I witnessed one of these popular demonstrations. It was to elect a meiaber of the Grand Council - our Housb of Rypresentatives. I had expeoted to see he Sabbath broken, to hear drunkcn votors destroy the peace of the sacred day, tq see sundry combata and a display of bull-dog ferocity, tind to witness about the pills a motley throng of intosioated Swísq, Kut what vlas my surprise upon anvinji at one of the ohurohes at the appointed time, to find no crowd, no confusión, no pólice, 7herp i.s tho crowd ? where is the exeitement ? where is the elec tion ? thóught I. The door of the ehurch stood open and I entered. - Within were a few Swias in Sunday attire. Ah, thia was the crowd, here was t.he excitetnent, tuis was the election. - ivich man was prepariog Lis vote. - Goingto a tftble here sat an inspector, the voter prespnted to him a ticket whicb he had procured the day btfore from the Registrj office, certifying that he was a voter. The inspector theu gives him a ahett of paper, which he takea to auotiicr tuble, and with his qwn hand writes down the candidates of his choice. Tickets of the different eau d ii j ate were scattered around but were only u-ed for refi-rer.ee. From the ticket the Swiss voter seleoted the man who he thought would best ad minister Swiss affairs. Having writtcu his bullot, he wenl once more to the inspector, n iid handed it U. him or his assistants, who placed it in the ballot bos. There was no noie, uo j sion, no intemperante. Eaoh man aoted as if he were performing a moral no less than a civil duty, and wlien his ballot was depositad he retired from the church. The electjqjieoriog whiah prevail.s q America is not ougtómary here to ny knowli'dge. Why! at aa election lately held, a candidate was acoused by au oppösitïon paper of stiuaulating his adherents by a glass of wioe a piece ; but in the next issue of the journal he made an indignaot denial, aud denounced the charge as unworthy of men ! Thus moves here the great machine of popular sovereignty. I could not but contrast it with what I had often seeu in America. When election day is turned iuto a day for drunken caruivale, when men will eell their 'jc, as a mess of pottage, vyhen the ballot box becomes the voice of politicians and not of a great people speaking their heart bom cunviciions, what does popular aovereignty BÍgnií'y? No wonder tbat tha foreiga travellcia, takiog a quiuk glance at our popular elections, comes home and prrmounces them humbugs. No wonder tbat English lords oull American voiers " a rabble and a mob." Is there not cause for it? - Have we not in America misused the liberty which God has given us ? Ilaa not our political system grown into a great fradulent institution ? Have we not lost sight of true popular sovereignty, and deütroyed tfee eimpi.cily and morality'of elections? When the politician will blush to move men except by tbo ctrong shafts of his logic and of principies, havÍDg a hearl bent alone upon serving bis country ; whett the voter will depoeit his ballot feoling tbat thereby he is perl'orming a duty for vvhich he is respoosible bfifore hiw country and high Heaven ; wben he would seorn to ta'ke a briba ;ia he would scorn to bccrine a traitor ; when he guards as a pearl of great pi ice his houor, and depösits big vote as the result of deep and heart feit sentimenïs, ton will popular sovereignly io America assum'e once more its true position, and the ballot-box eome the loud sounding voics of a people solinonly speaking its corectness. When I look ubout me and see the great muss of Europe htiving np voi3 in the government which rules them ; when I see them made the agents for war and despotio aggrandizement without being able to say whether they consont to that war, or like that despotism, I say happy is the Ameiieau freeman. in the privileges he enjoys. But whon I tee him misusing that privilege, und ullowing himself to be pulled hither and tin tb. er by crufty'and dosiirning. poüticians. I cannot butaay, Q, voter, your condition is lower than the foreign slave, íor Le is a slave by foroe but you are one by oonaent Oh, that I had a voice of thunder, and that voice could speak to the five millioa vtera of America! I vrould say, guard individual l,ot(r, muke the ballot-box as sacred as religión, and approach it as you would a holy thing - ?.'ith honor, with purity of inleation, and f. longing for tbe right ! But jny voiee is ieeble and cannot be faeard. - Men vviil still continuo o ioisi)sfl their liberty; they vvill still continue to permit their political opinión to be moulded by political chicauery ; they wil] still offer themsolves as shtves to politica] mastere. But, thank Heaven, this is not universal in the great Eepublio There are American citizens who are worthy of the name. May thoy be the leaven to leaven the whole lump, and to take away the fear that America may some day bocome a corrupted Roman empire, sold to the highest bidder !