decent, respectable gentlemen some of these dispossessed sovereigns may have been; very probably, like our own Charles I., amiable husbands and affectionate fathers; perhaps, had they lived in England, and been able to conform themselves to our notions of law, they might have made very fair chairmen of Quarter Sessions; but their anomalous and absurd position as rulers, under circumstances which precluded the very possibility of their doing anything noble or great, made their governments at once a burden and a mockery. Prussia will at all events have the means of pursuing a different kind of policy, and at present at least is not without the ambition to take that prominent part in European politics which her now great resources entitle her to assume. But in order to be strong abroad, she must be free and united at home, and Count Bismarck must be sadly lacking in that sagacity which is ascribed to him, if he does not clearly perceive this. He at least is too wise to suppose that the crushing defeat and humiliation of a mighty empire like that of Austria is to be ascribed solely to the destructive powers of the needle-gun, or to the superiority of Prussian military administration. He must be able to appreciate the mighty force resident in strong popular enthusiasm, and must know that that enthusiasm can only be called forth on behalf of a government which lays deep the foundations of its power in its sympathy with popular aspirations, and its recognition of popular rights. His own appeals to well-known German hopes and desires, prove that he is not insensible to the power which may thus be wielded, and his own experience of Austrian weakness must have shown him the hollowness of power resting solely upon bayonets, to the neglect of the deepest instincts and most earnest feelings of a people. However little, therefore, he may love liberty, and however indisposed to extend constitutional rights he may be, the very necessities of his position will compel him to pay some deference to the popular will.

Besides, these Germans are a strong-headed, strong-willed, freedom-loving people; long suffering indeed, and not easily provoked to popular insurrection; a little too fond we fancy them of magniloquent declamation, and a little too sluggish in reducing their grand ideas to practice, but not to be easily cajoled or permanently held in bondage. For a time, perhaps, the members of the different parts of the kingdom will not easily understand each other's aims and purposes, or at once associate themselves for the assertion of their common rights, but difficulties of this character will be gradually removed by mutual intercourse; they will learn that they have a common end to seek, and a common foe to oppose, and when once thoroughly united, their force must be irresistible. It must be

remembered too, that the feelings of personal loyalty which have induced the Prussians to bear with the absurd freaks of their monarchs, whose childish talk about the divine right of kings, their constant attempts to stretch their own prerogatives in defiance of law, precedent, national right, and their frequent violations of the very constitutions they themselves had granted will have no place in the hearts of the population now brought under their sceptre. Count Bismarck will be a wise man if, recognizing this, he seeks to conciliate general support by a free and popular administration; but if his evil genius should betray him into another course, there will be sufficient force in the strong national sentiment, which is sure to be aroused, to beat down the man who does not understand, that even for his victory over Austria, he is indebted as much to intense love of the Fatherland as to the skill of his tactics, the perfection of his military discipline, or the destructive powers of his needle-guns.

Some calculations have been made as to the increased power which Protestantism must reap in consequence of the aggrandizement of the great Protestant power of Germany. In such statistics we place but little confidence. Protestantism and liberty alike are pretty sure ultimately to gain by the downfall of a power which has always used its influence on behalf of reaction of every kind, which was resolutely opposed to all freedom of thought, and whose bayonets were always at the command of priestism, bigotry, and superstition. If, however, the result were to be only the extension of the State-Churchism of Prussia, we should not find any great reason to congratulate ourselves. It is, after all, only a degree better than Popery itself-hardly less benumbing to the conscience, or less hostile to true religious liberty. But, again, our hope is in the people rather than in the Government. They are, at all events, opposed to priestly tyranny, and it may be expected that the opportunities for the diffusion of truth will be more abundant, and that the great influence of a united Germany will be thrown into the scale in favour of progression and liberty. Liberty, indeed, is all that we desire. We have no wish, even on behalf of truth, to oppose force to force; our reliance is not on the fiats of Kings, or the decrees of Parliament, but on the inherent strength of the principles we hold, and on the gradual enlightenment of the people to whom they are addressed; and in the extension of free institutions, therefore, we find a prospect of the spread of Evangelical truth in Germany. The position of Louis Napoleon is hardly less of a surprise to Europe than that of his Austrian rival. His career has hitherto been so successful-he has so cleverly contrived to secure his own ends, either by diplomacy or war-he was so generally regarded as the arbiter in European affairs-that the succession

of disappointments through which he has recently passed must have been as mortifying to himself as they have been an astonishment to spectators. The triumph of Prussia was at first expected to be the signal for decisive action on the part of France. "Within a month Louis Napoleon will be on the Rhine"-"We are on the eve of a new and more bloody war"-"Bismarck will have to follow Cavour's example, and pay a royalty on his acquisitions." These were the predictions which were heard on every side immediately after the battle of Sadowa, and they were accompanied by rumours that the French fleet had been despatched to the Mediterranean, that orders had been given for the mobilization of the army, and the like. When the news came that some demand had been made upon Prussia for compensation, all felt that it was the beginning of the end; the Consols gave the usual signs of extreme sensitiveness, and every telegram was anxiously looked for, with the apprehension that it might be the precursor of war. And when, on the contrary, tidings were brought that Prussia had refused any concession, and that the Emperor had quietly submitted to the inevitable necessity of the hour, they were first received with a laugh of incredulity, and when disbelief was no longer possible, with a knowing nod, which implied that there was more below the surface than appeared-that Louis Napoleon was only biding his time, and that, sooner or later, the price must be paid. It would now seem, however, that improbable as it might be thought, Bismarck has crowned his other achievements by this great diplomatic victory over France, that the Emperor has been compelled to submit to a decided snub in the sight of all Europe, and that, making a virtue of necessity, he is disposed quietly to accept the new order of things. Whether it is to be ascribed to the failing state of his health, to his unwillingness to face a struggle with the people of Germany, in which, if defeated, he must peril the fortunes of his dynasty, to any consciousness of deficiency in his military preparations, or to some more recondite cause, it is not for us to enquire, but simply to note the fact, and to rejoice that Europe is, for the present at least, spared the bloody horrors of another war. The removal of M. Drouyn de Lhuys, and still more the remarkable circular addressed by M. de Lavallette, would seem to indicate the commencement of a new and more pacific policy, of which all nations, and ourselves among the number, may reap the benefit in reduced armaments, and the concentration of their energies upon the pursuits of commerce. There is now little doubt that the terms of agreement with Italy will be honourably carried out, that the French troops will be withdrawn from Rome before the close of the year, and the Papacy left to its fate. It is to be hoped that Italy will then quietly bide her time, that, content with the

great results she has realized, she will not by impatience frustrate or delay the accomplishment of her full hopes, that she will desist from the extravagant and wasteful military expenditure on which she has lavished resources greatly needed for internal improvement, and that her future career will be all that her most sanguine friends can desire. If so, even with the Eastern difficulty, there may be hopes of an era of peace. We do not, and dare not, predict-we can only express the hope which the signs of the hour seem to warrant.

As to the course which England should take amid all these complications, that seems sufficiently clear, and, happily, most classes of politicians are agreed upon it. We have had quite enough of needless jealousies, entangling complications, gratuitous interferences with matters in which we had no real interest. We are, therefore, perfectly easy under the bitter reproaches which Mr. Ruskin addresses to us for our neutrality in the Danish war; we are not moved by the earnest exhortations which Mr. Pope Hennessy addresses on behalf of his friend the Emperor; we are not greatly troubled by the assertions about our waning influence on the Continent. In the face of the wreck of all that we accomplished, at such terrible cost, in 1815, the unsettling of everything we thought we had most firmly established, and the renewal of the decisions to which we attached so much importance, we may well hesitate before we are induced to commit ourselves to a similar policy. We have learned very slowly, but we hope we have learned, that our strength lies in the development of our great manufacturing and commercial power, in the elevation of our people, and in the cultivation of the most friendly relations with all other nations. Of course, we have our own opinions as to the righteousness of certain kinds of policy, or the expediency of particular territorial arrangements, but the days, we hope, are past for ever when a regard to our own dignity was supposed to entail on us the necessity of enforcing our own views upon the adoption of other people. The most distressing and disheartening feature in connection with recent events has been the extent to which mere ambition has been the guiding principle of national action, and the old maxim that "Might is right" has been accepted. But we shall most successfully contend against this, not by the employment of physical force ourselves, but rather by the adoption of a wise, moderate, equitable policy which shall command respect by its justice, and which, in the result, shall prove that they are really the greatest nations who abjure everything like wrong, and are content with the distinction to be earned in the bloodless fields of literature, science, commerce, and religion, in preference to that which is only to be won at the cost of bloodshed and misery.

644

CORRESPONDENCE.

"NOTES ON INSPIRATION."

MR. EDITOR,-As you do not claim for yourself and your literary staff the infallibility which you deny to the inspired writers, you will not object to a few words of friendly criticism on your article headed as above.

The writer has failed to distinguish between the alleged infallibility of the inspired writings and the infallibility of the men who wrote them. The distinction is an important one, and must not be overlooked in judging of the doctrine of plenary inspiration. The full and infallible inspiration for which we contend had respect to the writings only, and not to the character and conduct of the inspired penmen. Inspiration neither presupposed nor produced perfect holiness and freedom from fault in those who were inspired. Some, who were at times the subjects of it, were wholly destitute of spiritual excellence, as Balaam and Caiaphas. And the "holy Prophets" and Apostles were fallible as men, and fell into sin; but their errors and faults, as in the case of Peter, who was chided by Paul, had respect to their conduct as fallible and peccable men, and not to their teaching and writing as divinely inspired Prophets and Apostles. It is not affirmed that they were secured against all possible deviations from duty and made perfectly holy in their private capacity for it was no part of the aim of inspiration to make its subjects perfect, but that officially, as the organs of divine communication, and while in the exercise of their supernatural functions, they were under infallible guidance. To prove the fallibility of the men does not disprove the infallibility of what they wrote under divine direction; and their faults and failings, which were freely acknowledged and reprehended, cannot in fairness be adduced in contradiction of the plenary inspiration of their writings.

Again, the writer charges the advocates of plenary inspiration with holding "that every word in the Bible is true whoever speaks it; that all the Scriptures stand on the same level, &c." And he would persuade his readers that this is involved in the "orthodox" view. For myself, I don't at all believe that this is "a very popular and wide-spread conception." On the contrary, it is held by those only who have never thought on the subject. Every thoughtful reader of the Bible must surely see that there is much in it which is merely human, and much also