to them; then let that man think it no fall, but rather a noble rise, to shun the barren glacier ranges of pure art, for the fertile gardens of practical and popular song, and write for the many, and with the many, in words such as they can understand, remembering that that which is simplest is always deepest, that the many contain in themselves the few, and that when he speaks to the wanderer and the drudge he speaks to the elemental and primeval man, and in him speaks to all who have risen out of him. Let him try, undiscouraged by inevitable failures; and if at last he succeeds in giving vent to one song which will cheer hardworn hearts at the loom and the forge, or wake one pauper's heart with the hope that his children are destined not to die as he died, or recall, amid Canadian forests or Australian sheep-walks, one thrill of love for the old country, and her liberties, and her laws, and her religion, to the settler's heart;—let that man know that he has earned a higher place among the spirits of the wise and good, by doing, in spite of the unpleasantness of self-denial, the duty which lay nearest him, than if he had outrivalled Goethe on his own classic ground, and made all the cultivated and the comfortable of the earth desert, for the exquisite creations of his fancy, Faust, and Tasso, and Iphigenie. OF THE PUBLIC DEBTS AND STANDING ARMIES THE EUROPEAN STATES.-The paper money now in actual circulation in Europe represents a value of 1,261,428,520 dollars. The total of the public debt is by far larger it amounts to 11,397,090,000 dollars. Great Britain (without the Colonies) bears nearly one-half of this gigantic burden, viz., 5,000,000,000 dollars. The British army numbers 129,000 men; the fleet is composed of 678 vessels, with 18,000 guns. The detail of the debts and armies of the other European States is as follows :— Spain.-Debt, 1,300,000,000 dollars; army, 160,000 men; fleet, 50 vessels, with 721 guns. Austria. -Debt, 1,100,000,000 dollars; fleet, 156 vessels, (including gunboats,) with 600 guns. Russia and Poland-Debt, 733,000,000 dollars; army, 700,000 men; fleet, 175 vessels and 440 gun-boats, with 7,000 guns. The Netherlands.-Debt, 731,000,000 dollars; army, 50,000 men; fleet, 125 vessels, with 2,500 guns. Prussia.-Debt, 180,000,000 dollars; army, 121,000 men, (war footing, 492,000 men;) fleet, 47 vessels and gunboats, with 114 guns. France.Debt, 1,380,000,000 dollars; army, 265.463 men; fleet, 328 vessels, with 8,000 guns. Belgium.Debt, 165,000,000 dollars; army, 90,000 men; fleet, 5 vessels, with 36 guns. Portugal.-Debt, 160,(00,000 dollars; army, 38,000 men; fleet, 36 vessels, with 700 guns. Papal States.-Debt, 120,000,000 dollars: army, 19,000 men; fleet, 5 vesssels, with 24 guns. Tur Sardinia.-Debt, 120,000,000 dollars; army, 38,000 men; fleet, 60 vessels, with 900 guns. Naples-Debt, 100,000,000 dollars; army, 48,000 men; fleet, 15 vessels, with 484 guns. Bavaria.Debt, 82,000,000 dollars; army, 57,000 men. Denmark.-Debt, 80,000,000 dollars; army, 20,000 men; fleet, 33 vessels, with 1,120 guns. Saxony. Debt, 43,500,000 dollars; army, 25,000 men. key.-Debt, 40,000,000 dollars; army, 220,000 men; fleet, 66 vessels, with 800 guns. City of Hamburg. -Debt, 34,000,000 dollars; army, 1,800 men. Grand Duchy of Baden.-Debt, 33,000,000 dollars; army, 18,000 men. Hanover.-Debt, 30,368,000 dollars; army, 21,000 men. Wurtemburg.-Debt, 28,000,000 dollars; army, 19,000 men. Greece.Debt, 25,000,000 dollars; army, 8,900 men; fleet, 34 vessels, with 131 guns. Grand Duchy of Mecklen burg-Schwerin.-Debt, 10,000,000 dollars; army, 10,000,000 dollars; army, 12,000 men; fleet, 10 4,700 men. Grand Duchy of Tuscany.-Debt, vessels, with 15 guns. City of Frankfort.-Debt, 7,000,000 dollars; army, 1,300 men. Duchy of Brunswick.-Debt, 6,800,000 dollars; army, 3,000 men. Grand Duchy of Hesse Darmstadt.-Debt, 6,200,000 dollars; army, 42,000 men. Electoral Hesse.-Debt, 6,000,000 dollars; army, 11,000 men. City of Lubec.-Debt, 6,000,000 dollars; army, 490 men. Duchy of Saxe Weimar.-Debt, 4,000,000 dollars; army, 2,000 men. Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein.-Debt, 4,000,000 dollars; no army; no navy. Duchy of Anhalt Dessau and Koethen.Debt, 3,500,000 dollars; army, 700 men. City of Bremen.-Debt, 3,000,000 dollars; army, 500 men. Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.-Debt, 2,556,000 dollars; army, 1,200 men. Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen.-Debt, 2,500,000 dollars; army, 2,400 men. Duchy of Nassau.-Debt, 2,000,000 dollars; army, 3,500 men, Duchy of Parma.--Debt, 1,800,000 dollars; army, 5,000 men. Duchy of Anhalt Bernburg.-Debt, 1,500,000 dollars; army, 300 men. Duchy of Saxe-Altenburg.-Debt, 1,500,000 dollars; army, 1,000 men. Norway.-Debt, 1,500,000 dollars; army, 23,000 men; fleet, 160 vessels, with 560 guns. Grand Duchy of Oldenburg.-Debt, 1,200,000 dollars; army, 600 men. Langravate of Hesse Homburg.-Debt, 860,000 dollars; army, 350 men. Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt.Debt, 252,000 dollars; army, 540 men. Principality of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen.-Debt 60,000 dollars; army, 450 men. Danubian Principalities. No debt; annual tribute to Turkey, 3,000,000 piasters; army, 6,800 men. Servia.-No debt; tribute, 2,000,000 piasters; army, 3,000 men. Sweden.-No debt; army, 34,000 men; fleet, 340 vessels, with 2,400 guns. Duchy of Modena.-No debt; army, 3,500 men. Principality of LippeDetmold.-No debt; army, 820 men. Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.-No debt; army, 800 men. Principality of Reuss.-No debt; army, 745 men. Principality of Lippe-Schaumburg. -No debt army, 430 men. Principality of Waldek.-No debt; army, 520 men. Principality of Lichtenstein. -No debt; army, 60 men. Switzerland.-No debt; army, 69,500 men, a small number of whom only is in actual service. Republic of San Marino.-No I debt, and no army.-Kolnische Zeitung. From Chambers's Edinburgh Journal. FLINT JACKSON. RECOLLECTIONS OF A POLICE OFFICER. FARNHAM hops are world-famous, or at least famous in that huge portion of the world where English ale is drunk, and whereon, I have a thousand times heard and read, the sun never sets. The name, therefore, of the pleasant Surrey village, in and about which the events I am about to relate occurred, is, I may fairly presume, known to many of my readers. I was ordered to Farnham, to investigate a case of burglary, committed in the house of a gentleman of the name of Hursley, during the temporary absence of the family, which had completely nonplussed the unpractised Dogberrys of the place, albeit it was not a riddle at all difficult to read. The premises, it was quickly plain to me, had been broken, not into, but out of; and a watch being set upon the motions of the very specious and clever person left in charge of the house and property, it was speedily discovered that the robbery had been effected by herself and a confederate of the name of Dawkins, her brother-in-law. Some of the stolen goods were found secreted at his lodgings; but the most valuable portion, consisting of plate, and a small quantity of jewelry, had disappeared; it had unquestionably been converted into money, as considerable sums, in sovereigns, were found upon both Dawkins and the woman, Sarah Purday. Now, as it had been clearly ascertained that neither of the prisoners had left Farnham since the burglary, it was manifest there was a receiver near at hand who had purchased the missing articles. Dawkins and Purday were, however, dumb as stones upon the subject; and nothing occurred to point suspicion till oarly in the evening previous to the second examination of the prisoners before the magistrate, when Sarah Purday asked for pen, ink, and paper for the purpose of writing to one Mr. Jackson, in whose service she had formerly lived. I happened to be at the prison, and of course took the liberty of carefully unsealing her note and reading it. It revealed nothing; and save by its extremely cautious wording, and abrupt peremptory tone, coming from a servant to her former master, suggested nothing. I had carefully reckoned the number of sheets of paper sent into the cell, and now on recounting them found that three were missing. The turnkey returned immediately, and asked for the two other letters she had written. The woman denied having written any other, and for proof pointed to the torn fragments of the missing sheets lying on the floor. These were gathered up and brought to me, but I could make nothing out of them, every word having been carefully run through with the pen, and converted into an unintelligible blot. The request contained in the actually-written letter was one simple enough in itself, merely, "that Mr. Jackson would not on any account fail to provide her, in consideration of past services, with legal assistance on the morrow." The first nine words were strongly underlined; and I made out after a good deal of trouble that the word "pretence" had been partially effaced, and "account" substituted for it. She need not have wasted three sheets of paper upon such a nonsensical request as that," observed the turnkey. "Old Jackson wouldn't shell out sixpence to save her or anybody else from the gallows." "I am of a different opinion; but tell me. what sort of a person is this former master of hers?" "All I know about him is that he's a cross-grained old curmudgeon, living about a mile out of Farnham, who scrapes money together by lending small sums upon notesof-hand at short dates, and at a thundering interest. Flint Jackson, folk about here call him." At all events, forward the letter at once. and to-morrow we shall see what we shall see, Good evening." It turned out as I anticipated. A few minutes after the prisoners were brought into the justice-room, à Guilford solicitor of much local celebrity arrived and announced that he appeared for both the inculpated parties. He was allowed a private conference with them, at the close of which he stated that his clients would reserve defence. They were at once committed for trial, and I overheard the solicitor assure the woman that the ablest counsel on the circuit would be retained in their behalf. I was lodging-we will call him Mr. Morgan ; he was a Welshman-tapped me suddenly on the shoulder, and looking sharply round, I perceived he had something he deemed of importance to communicate. 66 What is it?" I said quickly. "The oddest thing in the world. There's Flint Jackson, his deaf old woman, and the young people lodging with him, all drinking and boozing away at yon alehouse." Show them to me, if you please." A few minutes brought us to the place of boisterous entertainment, the lower room of which was suffocatingly full of tipplers and tobacco-smoke. We nevertheless contrived to edge ourselves in, and my companion stealthily pointed out the group, who were seated together near the farther window, and then left me to myself. I had no longer a doubt that it was my duty to know something further of this suddenly-generous Flint Jackson, though how to set about it was a matter of considerable difficulty. There was no legal pretence for a search-warrant, and I doubted the prudence of proceeding upon my own responsibility with so astute an old fox as Jackson was re- The appearance of Jackson entirely anpresented to be; for, supposing him to be a swered to the popular prefix of Flint attached confederate with the burglars, he bad by this to his name. He was a wiry, gnarled, heavytime in all probability sent the stolen proper-browed, iron-jawed fellow of about sixty, ty away-to London in all likelihood; and should I find nothing, the consequences of ransacking his house merely because he had provided a former servant with legal assistance would be serious. Under these circumstances I wrote to head-quarters for instruc tions, and by return of post received orders to prosecute the inquiry thoroughly, but cautiously, and to consider time as nothing so long as there appeared a chance of fixing Jackson with the guilt of receiving the plunder. Another suspicious circumstance that I have omitted to notice in its place was that the Guilford solicitor tendered bail for the prisoners to any reasonable amount, and named Enoch Jackson as one of the securities. Bail was, however, refused. There was no need for over-hurrying the business, as the prisoners were committed to the Surrey Spring Assizes, and it was now the season of the hop-harvest--a delightful and hilarious period about Farnham when the weather is fine and the yield abundant. I, however, lost no time in making diligent and minute inquiry as to the character and habits of Jackson, and the result was a full conviction that nothing but the fear of being denounced as an accomplice could have induced such a miserly, iron-hearted rogue to put himself to charges in defence of the imprisoned burglars. One afternoon, whilst pondering the matter, and at the same time enjoying the prettiest and cheerfulest of rural sights, that of hop-picking, the apothecary at whose house with deep-set eyes aglow with sinister and greedy instincts. His wife, older than he, and as deaf apparently as the door of a dungeon, wore a simpering, imbecile look of wonderment, it seemed to me, at the presence of such unusual and abundant cheer. The young people, who lodged with Jackson, were really a very frank, honest, good-looking couple, though not then appearing to advantage-the countenance of Henry Rogers being flushed and inflamed with drink, and that of his wife clouded with frowns, at the situation in which she found herself, and the riotous conduct of her husband. Their brief history was this:-They had both been servants in a family living not far distant from Farnham-Sir Thomas Lethbridge's, I understood-when about three or four months previous to the present time Flint Jackson, who had once been in an attorney's office, discovered that Henry Rogers in consequence of the death of a distant relative in London, was entitled to property worth something like £1500. There were, however, some law-difficulties in the way, which Jackson offered, if the business was placed in his hands, to overcome for a consideration, and in the meantime to supply board and lodging and such necessary sums of money as Henry Rogers might require. With this brilliant prospect in view service became at once utterly distasteful. The fortunate legatec had for some time courted Mary Elkins, one of the ladies' maids, a pretty, bright-eyed brunette; and they were united in the bonds of holy matrimony on the very day | son, with a confidential wink at the persons the " warnings" they had given expired. near him. Since then they had lived at Jackson's house in daily expectation of their "fortune," with which they proposed to start in the public line. Finding myself unrecognized, I called boldly for a pot and a pipe, and after some manceuvring contrived to seat myself within ear-shot of Jackson and his party. They presented a strange study. Henry Rogers was boisterously excited, and not only drinking freely himself, but treating a dozen fellows round him, the cost of which he from time to time called upon "Old Flint," as he courteously styled his ancient friend, to discharge. "Come, fork out, Old Flint!" he cried again and again. "It'll be all right, you know, in a day or two, and a few halfpence over. Shell out, old fellow! What signifies, so you're happy ?" Jackson complied with an affectation of acquiescent gayety ludicrous to behold. It was evident that each successive pull at his purse was like wrenching a tooth out of his head; and yet while the dismalest of smiles wrinkled his wolfish mouth, he kept exclaiming: "A fine lad-a fine lad! generous as a prince! Good Lord, another round! He minds money no more than as if gold was as plentiful as gravel! But a fine generous lad for all that!" Jackson, I perceived, drank considerably, as if incited thereto by compressed savageness. The pretty young wife would not taste a drop, but tears frequently filled her eyes, and bitterness pointed her words as she vainly implored her husband to leave the place and go home with her. To all her remonstrances the maudlin drunkard replied only by foolery, varied occasionally by an attempt at a line or two of the song of "The Thorn." "But you will plant thorns, Henry," rejoined the provoked wife in a louder and angrier tone than she ought perhaps to have used, "not only in my bosom, but your own, if you go on in this sottish, disgraceful way. "Always quarrelling, always quarrelling!" remarked Jackson, pointedly towards the bystanders always quarrelling!" "Who is always quarrelling?" demanded the young wife sharply. "Do you mean me and Henry ?" "I was only saying, my dear, that you don't like your husband to be so generous and free-hearted—that's aH," replied Jack "Free-hearted and generous! Fool-hearted and crazy, you mean!" rejoined the wife, who was much excited. "And you ought to be ashamed of yourself to give him money for such brutish purposes." "Always quarrelling, always quarrelling!" iterated Jackson, but this time unheard by Mrs. Rogers-" always, perpetually quarreling!" I could not quite comprehend this. If so large a sum as £1500 was really coming to the young man, why should Jackson wince as he did at disbursing small amounts which he could repay himself with abundant interest? If otherwise-and it was probable he should not be repaid-what meant his eternal “fine generous lad!" "spirited young man !" and so on? What, above all, meant that look of diabolical hate which shot out from his cavernous eyes towards Henry Rogers when he thought himself unobserved, just after satisfying a fresh claim on his purse? Much practice in reading the faces and deportment of such men made it pretty clear to me that Jackson's course of action respecting the young man and his money was not yet decided upon in his own mind, and that he was still perplexed and irresolute; and hence the apparent contradiction in his words and acts. Henry Rogers at length dropped asleep with his head upon one of the settle tables; Jackson sank into sullen silence; the noisy room grew quiet; and I came away. I was impressed with the belief that Jackson entertained some sinister design against his youthful and inexperienced lodgers, and I determined to acquaint them with my suspicions. For this purpose Mr. Morgan, who had a patient living near Jackson's house, undertook to invite them to tea on some early evening, on the pretence that he had heard of a tavern that might suit them when they should receive their fortune. Let me confess, too, that I had another design besides putting the young people on their guard against Jackson. I thought it very probable that it would not be difficult to glean from them some interesting and suggestive particulars concerning the ways, means, practices, outgoings and incomings, of their worthy landlord's household. Four more days passed unprofitably away, and I was becoming weary of the business, when about five o'clock in the afternoon the apothecary galloped up to his door on a borrowed horse, jumped off with surprising celerity, and with a face as white as his own The promised "all" was this: Morgan was passing slowly by Jackson's house, in the hope of seeing either Mr. or Mrs. Rogers, when the servant woman, Jane Riddet, ran out and begged him to come in, as their lodger had been taken suddenly ill. 1 indeed! The surface of his body was cold as death, and the apothecary quickly discovered that he had been poisoned with sulphuric acid (oil of vitriol), a quantity of which he, Morgan, had sold a few days previously to Mrs. Rogers, who, when purchasing it, said Mr. Jackson wanted it to apply to some warts that annoyed him. Morgan fortunately knew the proper remedy, and desired Jackson, who was in the room, and seemingly very anxious and flurried, to bring some soap instantly, a solution of which he proposed to give immediately to the seemingly dying man. The woman-servant was gone to find Mrs. Rogers, who had left about ten minutes before, having first made the tea in which the poison had been taken. Jackson hurried out of the apartment, but was gone so long that Morgan, becoming impatient, scraped a quantity of plaster off the wall, and administered it with the best effect. At last Jackson came back, and said there was unfortunately not a particle of soap in the house. A few minutes afterwards the young wife, alarmed at the woman-servant's tidings, flew into the room in an agony of alarm and grief. Simulated alarm, crocodile grief, Mr. Morgan said; for there could, in his opinion, be no doubt that she had attempted to destroy her husband. Mr. Jackson, on being questioned, peremptorily denied that he had ever desired Mrs. Rogers to procure sulphuric acid for him, or had received any from her-a statement which so confounded the young woman that she instantly fainted. The upshot was that Mrs. Rogers was taken into custody and lodged in prison. This terrible news flew through Farnham like wildfire. In a few minutes it was upon everybody's tongue; the hints of the quarrelsome life the young couple led, artfully spread by Jackson, were recalled, and no doubt seemed to be entertained of the truth of the dreadful charge. I had no doubt either, but my conviction was not that of the Farnham folk. This, then, was the solution of the struggle I had seen going on in Jackson's mind; this the realization of the dark thought which I had imperfectly read in the sinister glances of his restless eyes. He had intended to destroy both the husband and wife-the one by poison, the other by the law! Doubtless, then, the £1500 had been obtained, and this was the wretched man's infernal device for retaining it. I went over with Morgan early the next morning to see the patient, and found that, thanks to the prompt antidote administered, and Dr. Edwards' subsequent active treatment, he was rapidly recovering. The still-suffering young man, I was glad to find, would not believe for a moment in his wife's guilt. I watched the looks and movements of Jackson attentively--a scrutiny which he, now aware of my vocation, by no means appeared to relish. "Pray," said I, suddenly addressing Riddet, the woman-servant-"pray, how did it happen that you had no soap in such a house as this yesterday evening?" "No soap!" echoed the woman with a stare of surprise. "Why" "No-no soap," hastily broke in her master with loud and menacing emphasis. "There was not a morsel in the house. I bought some afterwards in Farnham." The cowed and bewildered woman slunk away. I was more than satisfied; and judging by Jackson's countenance, which changed beneath my look to the color of the lime-washed wall against which he stood, he surmised that I was. My conviction, however, was not evidence, and I felt that I should need even more than my wonted good fortune to bring the black crime home to the real perpetrator. For the present, at all events, I must keep silencea resolve I found hard to persist in at the examination of the accused wife, an hour or two afterwards, before the county magistrates. Jackson had hardened himself to iron, and gave his lying evidence with ruthless self-possession. He had not desired Mrs. Rogers to purchase sulphuric acid; had not received any from her. In addition also to his testimony that she and her husband were always quarrelling, it was proved by a respectable person that high words had passed between them on the evening previous to the day the criminal offence was committed, and that foolish, passionate expressions had escaped her about wishing to be rid of such a drunken wretch. This evidence, |