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several years in his post of Chief Procurator to the Synod, during which he encountered great difficulties from the most bigoted part of their priests, he received, in 1753, the appointment of Commissary General to the Army, which office he continued to hold till the Empress, in the last year of her life, promoted him to the post of Procurator General, and Privy Conference Minister. In this important post, then considered as the head of the home department, he again met with powerful enemies, and, among the rest, the then Grand Duke, afterwards Peter the Third, who, on ascending the throne, immediately dismissed him from all his offices, on which the Prince retired to his estates near MosCOW. His short disgrace was, however, soon ended, by the accession of Catharine, who lost no time in inviting him back to Petersburgh, where he again found himself a member of the Senate. From that time forth, he principally devoted his attention to the clerical and scholastic establishments, till, in the year 1766, he retired from all public employment, with the highest testimonies of favour and honour, and thus ended a political life, that, for frequent fluctuations, has few parallels.

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Being on the subject of Russian Literature, and having mentioned Mr Bowring's Russian Anthology as the medium by which it has been introduced to the British public, I think it but justice to subjoin the following objections lately made to it, in a very eminent critical journal, as a sort of rider to a former article on his work, in which the poetical merits of the author were amply acknowledged. I can easily imagine that some of the errors here mentioned are mere mistakes, to which any author would be subject, nothing being more easy than to mistake Russian names; but some of them are more serious, and Mr Bowring possessing talents of the highest order, which he has now engaged to exercise for a London periodical work, in the department of Spanish Romance, it is desirable that he should thus have an opportunity afforded him of refuting so much of this statement as may be unfounded, or of correcting, in a future edition,

what had previously escaped his observation, and thus establish his claim to full credit, in his future literary attempts, abroad and at home. The article is as follows:

"Whoever has read this work, need not be told how beautiful and harmonious the author's verses are ; as a translator,

however, he has often given something very different to what stood in the origi nal, and this, it would appear, for want of being sufficiently versed in the language. The judgments pronounced, in the introduction, often display superficiality. Sumarokoff, for instance, he says, first broke the way for fables. True! but only as a translator and imitator of Gellert's; (a celebrated German fabulist ;) no mention, however, is made of his having been the first to make an essay in writing original Russian tragedies. Van Wisin, of Dutch extraction, was no imitator of Moliere's, but resembled him in this respect, that as, in the latter's works, French, so, in the former's, Russian characters are faithfully copied from nature, and the follies that surrounded him castigated. The accounts of Cheraskoff are quite erroneous, since he never shone as a lyric poet, nor is his Bachoriana a collection of his poems, but, on the contrary, a romantic-epic poem, in Ariosto's style. His great epic poem of

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Vladimir' is overlooked altogether. The

Rossiade is not so much indebted to its

intrinsic worth for its publicity, as to the excellent critical treatise on it written by Professor Merslaekoff, in a Journal called the Amphion. Bogdannowitsch is here called the Anacreon of the Russians, unanimously designated by that name; though Nieledensky has hitherto been the former, properly speaking, having never tried the genuine Anacreontic style. The Chersonide, by Bobroff, is rather a descriptive than an epic poem, The ac

counts of Kostroff are most erroneous. He finished a translation of Ossian, but from Homer he only translated the first

nine books of the Iliad in alexandrines. After his death, Gnieditch commenced a version of it in the same measure, but soon changed his plan, and is now engaged in a metrical translation of all Homer's works. Shukowsky is a phenomenon as a translator, and resembles Bürger much less than he does Schiller. The

latter's Maid of Orleans' he has translated in a manner so admirably faithful and beautiful, that it in no respect yields to the original, which is saying much. Mr Bowring says, that he (Shukowsky) has generally retained the original measure. This, however, is the case only in

The Eolian Harp,' (the most successful of all his translations,) The National Songs,' and a few other pieces. Even the names of the authors are not always correctly stated. In the introduction, for instance, Dershavin's name stands under a verse of Dimitrief's: Stonet sivi golubochik, &c.; and the poem of The Lord and the Judge,' is not by Lomonossoff, but by Dershavin. In regard to Mr Bowring's selection we may add, that, of many poets, he has given, not their own original productions, but translations and imitations; Shukowsky's romance, for instance,

is Schiller's Maid's Complaint; Dimitrief's During a thunder storm' is a translation from Goethe; The Czar und the two Shepherds' is altered from Florian, and Love and Friendship' is by Milleroye. Of the national songs, the first is by Merslackoff, the two others are old, and erroneously understood. In regard to the biographical notices we have hopes of something more detailed soon making its appearance, since the writer of this article has been informed that a history of Russian literature, for Germany, is now seriously in hand." N.

DUNCAN'S TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

THERE is no subject in which so many interesting considerations are combined as the United States. All the communities of Europe, however admirable in their constitution and policy, are old and stationary. Year after year we thus see the same things; little change comparatively, and little advancement. The great stream of human affairs has worn out a channel for itself, in which it quietly runs; and however beautiful the spectacle, it wants variety, to be the subject of deep or permanent interest. But, in the United States, every thing is rapidly changing. Those States are only in progress. They contain within themselves the germ of almost indefinite increase. They are, as it were, the seeds of population scattered from Europe, on a wide and unoccupied country, springing up and producing an hundred fold. They are branches planted in a kindred soil, which are now spreading out into the most luxuriant foliage, and rivalling in beauty the parent stock. The American communities, unlike the present States of Europe, who grew, by slow degrees, from barbarism to improvement, were suddenly flung on the American ground, thoroughly initiated in the industry, the arts, and the improvements of Europe. They were no tyros in the art of civilization, but were thoroughly furnished out with all the necessary knowledge for creating, in the wide waste, an improved Society. There could not be a more beautiful or interesting experiment, than thus to see the arts of the old world suddenly let loose upon the desert; and the result has been most

brilliant. We have seen, and still see, a nation growing up under our eye. We see the elastic power of population illustrated in a remarkable degree. And in the economy, quiet, and good order, with which a great and growing people are ruled, we have also illustrated the equally valuable principle of self-government; so that, to the politician and to the philosopher, the spectacle of the American community, marching with such an irresistible and gigantic pace to the dominion of the New World, is replete with instruction. Both may draw lessons from the great moral experiment which is now, and has long been, in full operation on the other side of the Atlantic. Of late years, accordingly, the American States have been looked upon with great interest from this country. All the details which have been published by travellers, regarding their manners, institutions, and government, have been eagerly sought after; controversies have been excited on the subject, some eagerly proclaiming their partiality, by magnifying every thing American, and others, with a less commendable spirit, running to the other extreme, and reviling every thing belonging to this country, with absurd and illiberal abuse. A better temper seems, however, since the last peace, to have grown up between the two countries; we mean between that class, in both, most apt to be infected with national prejudices; and we have little doubt, if the present good understanding continues, of which there is every prospect, that the mean envy which was felt in this country, of the rising

greatness of America, will be gradually refined into a generous rivalship, and that the narrations of British travellers who shall visit her shores, in place of ill-natured remarks, will contain a store of information, and an unbiassed and dispassionate view of the manners, policy, and institutions, of this great and rising people.

The present work is an illustration of this improving spirit, that has grown up in regard to America. The author seems to have a strong tinge of national prejudice, and of truly British partiality, to every thing in his own country. He has nothing philosophical about him; yet he touches on all that is American with a great degree of temper and of just feeling, which goes far to redeem many defects. The great fault of his work is, that he sets down too much-he gives us the whole contents of his common-place book, without considering, that many petty details, personal to the traveller, are of no interest whatever to the public. He is, it must be admitted, at times, somewhat tedious; and if, in place of two volumes, he had only published one, his work would have been all the better for this purgation. What interest, for example, can the reader have, in the ordinary details of a voyage across the Atlantic? There is also, throughout, too much of detail about religion; not that we consider the state of religious instruction, in the United States, of little moment. Any general sketch on this subject we should consider highly interesting. But then it ought to be general. A portrait of some of the most noted religious teachers, sketched with life and brevity, might even be given with advantage, as an index to the general taste of the people on these matters. But circumstantial accounts of obscure individual preachers,-of the texts on which they spoke,-and even, occasionally, quotations from their sermons, must be tiresome, and barren of instruction. His account of colleges is also too much in detail; too great attention is given to what is purely of a local interest; while, in the account of the principal towns, we have a great deal which may be found in any ordinary Gazetteer. A

traveller, who gocs through the United States, should recollect that he is travelling in a beaten track, and that he can only collect gleanings of what other travellers have left. To repeat what is before the public is tiresome. Of what use, for example, is it, at this time of day, to tell us particularly of the local situation of Philadelphia or New York? No man need to cross the Atlantic to bring home information of this sort. The best part of the work is the account of the author's journey to Canada and Quebec. He travelled down the St. Lawrence, and the narrative of his perilous navigation of the rapids, and of the state of the country, and manners of its inhabitants, is really interesting. He should have confined himself, in this manner, to what had something of novelty in it, and not have spun out into two volumes what he was anticipated in by former travellers.

Mr Duncan, the author of the present work, landed at New York, in which city he seems to have collected nothing worth recording, except an account of the famous steam-frigate, with which, if the war had continued, the Americans were preparing to overwhelm our navy. It was well provided with powerful batteries, and its timbers were strong, that it was supposed they would afford a defence against can

non.

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The conclusion of peace prevented this new instrument of war from being ever tried; and the vessel now lies, and it is to be hoped will long lie, useless.

In Boston, the chief objects worthy of attention seem to be the state of literature and of religion, and the great penitentiary established to further the ends of criminal justice. With regard to the University, we have, as usual, a variety of details, some of them of no great interest; and the account he gives of religion consists chiefly of the particular texts which various obscure preachers chose for the edification of their hearers. The success of the interesting experiment of the great penitentiary established at Boston is a subject of greater importance; and the information given respecting it is highly interesting. The great object of this institution is to combine the reforma

tion of the criminal with his punishment. With this view, in place of being allowed to languish in idleness within his prison walls, the criminal is set to work at whatever craft he has been accustomed to. He is thus trained to industry, and recovered, if possible, from those habits of idleness, the necessary incentives to crime. Accordingly, the prison is provided with the requisite implements of a work-shop, of which it has also the cheerful appearance.

Going out into the court-yard, (says Mr Duncan,) we found in it a great number employed in hewing blocks of granite into graduated sizes and shapes for building. This is a staple commodity in the prison, and a stock of building stone is kept constantly on sale. In the work-shops we saw the prisoners variously engaged, as bakers, weavers, shoemakers, tailors, carpenters, turners, brush-makers, nailers, wool-combers, spinners, &c. &c. All seemed to be as busy and as attentive to their work as if it had been their chosen and voluntary employment; and the workmanship which they produced seemed not only good, so far as I could judge, but some of it even of a superior finish and appearance.

The prisoners are not allowed to utter a word in the presence of strangers, and the greatest decorum and propriety of behaviour is enforced. "The female delinquents are confined," it is added, “ in a separate part of the prison, and are employed in cooking, washing, and sewing, for the establishment, as well as in other branches of female industry." There are suitable rewards and distinctions for decency of behaviour; as there are for disorderly conduct, the penalty of solitary imprisonment, and the disgrace and inconvenience of being obliged to move about with a log of wood chained to the foot. No corporal punishment is allowed. We pass over all the necessary contrivances for accommodation and security, which are much the same in this as in other prisons. It must be admitted, that if this system were found effectual for its great ends, it would need no other recommendation to every friend of humanity. It would be the greatest possible improvement, if we could, in any manner, supersede that system of criminal justice which consigns its

unhappy victims to the dungeon, without any further attention to them except to prevent their escape -whose efficacy is founded solely on its terrors, and which has multiplied its sanguinary punishments, until they are too revolting to be executed. The importance of this grand experiment going on before his eyes, in favour of guilt and wretchedness, does not appear to be at all appreciated as it ought to be by this writer. His notions on the subject seem to be exceedingly commonplace; and his remarks are not borne out by the facts which he himself states. He observes:

Of the efficacy of the penitentiary system, as at present administered, the keeper appears to be very doubtful; and it is unquestionable, that an opinion prevails, in the larger cities, that for the purpose of either deterring from crime or reforming the criminal, the penitentiaries are at present in a great measure ineffi. cient.

The prisoners are in many respects too comfortable to feel their confinement as a severe punishment, for although the deprivation of personal liberty is in itself a great hardship, it may to very many be compensated for by a degree of comfort in clothing and habitation, to which they are elsewhere unaccustomed. It cannot be doubted, that, in America, they have now gone to the extreme of leniency, in their criminal code, as we have to the extreme of severity; theirs is undoubtedly the side on which all humane persons would wish to err, but too much mercy to rogues is cruelty to society at large, and is therefore to be avoided, if we would wish to attain to a perfect criminal system. Much may be

done, however, to improve the prison discipline of the American penitentiaries,

without, properly speaking, increasing the

severity of the treatment.

That this prison is too comfortable to operate as a punishment to those who are confined in it, is refuted by the necessity of so many precautions to prevent their escape; and those who throw out such crude and illconsidered notions, do not reflect, that punishment consists, not so much in the physical sufferings of the body, as in the humiliation and sense of guilt which is felt in the mind. Criminals may, no doubt, be so degraded, as to be in a great degree callous to this feeling; but the object of such institutions as the pene

tentiary of Boston is to revive this dormant feeling of honour, and thus to render the criminal accessible to moral correctives. And, in this case, no comforts of clothing or food will be considered a compensation for the degradation of punishment. Personal restraint is, besides, a necessary part of imprisonment; and this must be found a punishment, unless, indeed, we are to consider, that there can be no punishment without the infliction of bodily pain. The perfection of the penal codes would be to do away all corporeal inflictions, which are in themselves degrading, as well as revolting to humanity; and, for this purpose, the mind must be dealt with some plan of moral training must be adopted, to quicken the moral feelings which may have been blunted for a time, and thus reach the criminal through the medium of his feelings. There is, indeed, a deadness and an apathy in guilt, from which the mind can scarcely be roused; and, in this case, physical restraint must be imposed on the hardened victim of hopeless depravity. But on all that class of criminals who may not have sunk down to this state of degradation, moral discipline may be used with effect; in which case it is not necessary to impose physical hardships on the prisoner-it is not necessary to lacerate his body by whipping, or any other species of torture. This harsh and degrading discipline would rather impede than promote the effect of that higher and more refined process of training to which he is subjected; while mercy, and even a certain system of regulated kindness, may be no way inconsistent with this species of punishment. "Too much mercy to rogues," observes this traveller," is cruelty to society at large." If there be any truth in this unmeaning remark, then society would be best protected by cruelty to criminals.

But experience shews that this affords no security against crimes. On the contrary, though, in this country, forgery is invariably punished with death, to gratify the vulgar prejudices of our merchants, the crime has increased tenfold, and is more frequent in this than in any other country, where the offence is not capital. The true antidote to crime is to be found

in an enlightented system of moral correction, and it is folly to suppose that this will ever prevent crimes. The seeds of misery and vice are sown deep in the very constitution of human society. These, we may rest assured, under the wisest political contrivances, will spring up, and produce their natural harvest of crime. All that we can do is to palliate the evil. We cannot root it out; and it is the extreme of folly to look for such effects from any institutions, however enlightened and pure.

The lavish profusion with which pardons are granted is stated, by the traveller, as one obstacle to the success of the system; and he adds, that want of accommodation renders this necessary. If there is a want of accommodation for the prisoners, and if they are discharged, not on a principle of mercy, but merely because there is no room to hold them, this is not giving the system fair play. A plan of this nature, pursued without any fixed principle, never can succeed. But if pardons are granted on any consideration of the merits of the prisoners, we do not see that their profusion is to be complained of. This fact would rather mark the efficacy of the system. It is stated by the author, that, in the New York state-prison, there were, in 1814, 709 prisoners, of which number 176 were pardoned. "It is obvious (he adds) that this system must be ruinous in its consequences, and that there must be some capital defect in the criminal discipline of the community where such a practice prevails. It sometimes happens, that the same individual is imprisoned and pardoned several times over for crimes which, in Britain, would at once send him either to Botany Bay or to the gallows, and thus rid society of him altogether." The mere fact of these discharges, or pardons, is not of itself any evidence against the system, unless it can be shewn that they were rashly given; and as to the allusion to the harsher practice of Britain, what is inferred from this? Are there, it may be asked, fewer crimes committed in Britain than in the United States? and in what, then, consists the superiority of the British system,

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