account of the loss of any one leader. Her national unity is capable of being extended safely from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and the Powers of western Europe will not be able to arrest even her southward march by underrating her strength and resources, nor by sneers at her barbarism, her fanaticism, or her despotism. Her barbarism is found. strangely connected with the very highest military science, her fanaticism appears very much like an enthusiasm for religion and country, and her despotism has not driven the people from an ardent support of the throne.

CHAPTER XXII.

THE NATIONAL SENTIMENT OF RUSSIA AS AFFECTING NATIONAL POLICY AND DESTINY.

One of the most suggestive facts taught by history is, that very often individuals who have reached positions of commanding influence have early felt a consciousness of their powers, and have apprehended the general features of their allotted task; a fact which, perhaps, gave rise to the remark of a distinguished English writer, that, in general, a man's aspirations may be taken as the measure of his capabilities. The remark has doubtless truth for its foundation, though it must be received only with important qualifications. The same thing is true of some nations which have held a sovereign's place among the kingdoms. of the world. It appears that in some manner, none, perhaps, can tell how, a national sentiment has arisen pointing to some specific ultimate destiny. Its beginnings and its progress seem removed from all ordinary causes, till a welldefined public opinion pervades all classes-becomes, as it were, the national soul, and shapes the national policy. And, whatever extravagance human pride may attach to such popular convictions, there is often a most remarkable general resemblance between such national anticipations and the results actually reached. When once such a sentiment has been established, and become inwoven with the

national faith-when it has been handed down as a tradi tional belief from the fathers-it is readily seen that its power is almost resistless. It shapes all national action, because the national mind is ever reaching out for the accomplishment of destiny. It prompts ever to effort, at the same time that it gives to power a definite direction. It sustains the courage of a nation under the severest reverses, because it believes that a superior power has already determined its ultimate success. It is national faith which, as in the individual, prompts to effort, and goes far to make achievement sure.

The doctrine of "manifest destiny" may not be dismissed with a sneer. Faith in her destiny has given a specific direction to the national energies of Great Britain, and has made her so long mistress both of the seas and of the commerce of the world. Faith in destiny rolled the fiery, bloody deluge of Mohammedanism into Europe. Faith in manifest destiny established the Western Empire, under Charlemagne; it had made Rome before; and it has upheld the Anglo-Saxon race in all its wondrous career. The American mind expands with a vast idea-its "manifest destiny." Thousands condemn, and thousands ridicule, and yet the conception has its origin in the circumstances of national position, and in national character; it has shaped itself to existing wants, and even existing probabilities, and its very existence is the herald and guaranty of future accomplishment.

The fact that such an idea may possess the mind of a nation, and may become a reality in the course of its progress, does by no means determine its moral character, or prove that the steps are justifiable in themselves by which a great national end is finally reached. God causes the wrath of man to praise him, and national sins will no less be punished because committed in working out a previously appointed destiny. Connected with this subject another fact should be remembered. No nation, probably, has been conscious of the hour when it passed its culminating point, and when its mission was accomplished, but, on the con

trary, retains in the decay and infirmity of old age the brightest anticipations of its youth, and all the pride of its day of vigor and of power. It refuses to perceive that the scepter has passed into other hands, and still pompously commands the obedience of the world. It is not generally difficult to determine whether such a national sentiment is connected with a youthful and expanding life, or whether it belongs to the empty and powerless vanity of old age.

If now, with these facts in view we turn to Russia, we find all travelers testifying to the existence of two national opinions, which may be said to be universal with the fifty millions of the Russian race. One opinion is, that they are to possess Constantinople, and the other, that they are destined to become the most powerful nation of the world, and to control all Europe, at least, if not the world. Upon fifty millions of minds the impression seems to have been made, whether true or false, whether pointing to a reality in the future or not, that Russia is entrusted with a great mission in the social regeneration of the world. Whence this impression has arisen who shall pretend to say; that it will find no corresponding reality in the future who will venture with confidence to declare? That the national, or it may also be called the traditional, policy of the empire is founded upon these ideas, is now known probably to all. That fact alone is worthy of attentive consideration, because it shows that the course of Russia is the result of a national impulse, and that no change of rulers can essentially alter the policy to which the nation has committed itself, and may admonish the Powers of western Europe that it is no easy matter, even by severe reverses, completely to annihilate the pride and the hopes of fifty millions of people, subvert an allpervading national sentiment, and compel a great empire to a new line of policy.

In estimating the influence of these sentiments as elements of power in a national movement, it must not be forgotten that they are found not alone in the breasts of the Emperor and the nobles, or a few restless and ambitious men, but they are cherished and firmly believed in by the lowest of

the peasantry, and made the basis of a truly national anticipation-they are but the expression of a national thought, and the determination of a whole people; and when to this is added the fact that this hope stands inseparably connected with the spread of their national religion, it becomes evident that this idea of "manifest destiny" is the source of a power whose importance can scarcely be overrated. It renders Russia most mighty for the accomplishment either of good or evil. The following is an extract from a late American writer, who regards everything Russian with a somewhat unfavorable eye, and presents his opinion of the character of that race upon whom the national sentiment alluded to is working with greatest power.

"The great Russian lives to an extreme old age, longer, upon an average, than the man of another country. His generative power is remarkable. In central Russia the increase of the population is beyond all former precedent in Europe; while the natives of the conquered provinces are diminishing with fearful rapidity, the population of the whole empire, refreshed from this exhaustless source, counts every year another million among its multitudes. Thousands and tens of thousands, in a perpetual stream, flow from this fountain head into the vast regions of the north, south, east, and west. In every country, and among every people beneath the scepter of the Czar, the Weliki Russian will be found, asserting the supremacy of his race, and showing his skill and cunning. All the tribes with whom he comes in contact yield to his activity, and dwindle in significance before the progress of his encroachments. He even penetrates beyond the frontiers of the empire. While he profits as a merchant, he is often the secret agent of the government. His advance precedes the march of armies, and his aggression pave the way to conquest.'

When the idea of a definite national mission or destiny has taken full possession of such a race, it is very likely to produce important results. The portrait drawn by this