be devised. Schamyl was no longer the insignificant chief of a few rebellious, disunited hordes. He had become the sovereign of an entire nation. In spite of the obstacles which he encountered, arising from the quarrels of separate tribes and the absence of a common language, he had extended his control until all in Eastern Circassia acknowledged him as their father in religion and their leader in war. The trifling advantages which the Czar had gained in preceding years, by forts which were constantly in a state of siege and standing armies which were decimated by fevers every spring, were quite swept away by the energy of Schamyl. The Czar had been unfortunate in his choice of officers to conduct the war. They had all proved wholly inefficient. Yermoloff and Paskiewitsch, it is true, had been prematurely recalled, before they had put their designs into execution; but Rosen never was on confidential terms with the Emperor, Golowin lost his military reputation in one unsuccessful attack, and Neidhardt was recalled in disgrace, and died of a broken heart.

Count Woronzoff was an officer whose talents had been tried as governor of the Crimea. He had done good service in the expulsion of Napoleon, and he possessed so large estates and such personal popularity as it was thought might have caused the Czar even to be jealous of him. He was educated in England, and had imbibed ideas of government which would have probably been treasonable in one of less authority. After his capture of Dargo, Nicholas honored him with the title of Prince, and bestowed upon him the viceroyalty of the Caucasian provinces, with powers almost as extensive and irresponsible as those of the Czar himself. At the conference of Tiflis the aged general expressed his conviction that the subjugation of the Caucasus was not to be accomplished in a single campaign, but must be the result of policy and time. He recommended a reform in the army, and a plan of action which should be offensive or defensive as circumstances might require, but especially one which could be carried out to a thorough trial.

Woronzoff conducted the war with eminent success. His perfect justice and conciliatory temper had their influence over many races whom the sword had failed to subdue. But

he did not lay aside the sword. He won victories upon the Laba. Twenty thousand Abhasians, on the Black Sea, and the Shapsaks, most bitter enemies of Russia, on the Kuban, gave in their submission to him. To those who would not submit, as the Ubiehs and Tchigetes, he still allowed uninterrupted intercourse, for trade, with the border Cossacks. The restriction once laid upon the commerce in female slaves with Sinope and Samsoun was removed. His design was to separate the races as perfectly as possible, to raise lines of fortification between them, such as would render their union for warlike purposes impossible, and to confine Schamyl within narrow limits. This cordon of forts encircles the mountains with a belt of iron, and we cannot conceive how the Circassians, even under the inspiration of Schamyl, could have remained free for many years longer, had not the Eastern War given a new direction to the arms of Russia on the Black Sea.

Sixteen years ago, when the Circassians were driven to the extremity of despair by the dogged perseverance of the Russians, when, their crops having failed, famine on the one hand, or surrender on the other, seemed to be the only alternative left, they sent to England a most touching petition, for aid, in the name of humanity, against their encroaching foes. This was after the capture, by the Russians, of the Vixen, an English vessel, while trading on the coast of Circassia, as the Russians alleged, in contravention of their laws. For many years after this event, the Tcherkessians were made to indulge the vain hope that England would come to their relief. Mr. Bell, who passed two years in their country, seems to have held out to them much encouragement of English sympathy and aid, but with very little reason. The most intelligent of the mountain leaders longed to have some of the great nations of Europe reach out to them a helping hand. They wanted to have their independence recognized by the English government. They recalled the noble interference of England and the other powers of Europe in behalf of Greece, and compared their longer struggle and equally just cause with hers. "The Russians cannot conquer this country!" exclaimed one of them. "They may,

by means of their ships and cannon, possess themselves of some more points on our coast; but, granting they could gain the whole of it, that shall make no difference in our determination to resist to the last; for, if they gain these hills, we will retire to yon snowy mountains and fight them!"

But England had not learned, at that time, to regard Russian progress in the East with the sensitiveness which she has shown more recently; and Circassia got no answer to her prayer. When the storm-cloud, which has been gathering in Europe ever since the army of Napoleon sank under the snows of Moscow, took the shape of the present war, it was discovered that the Circassians might render important service to the Allies; and now, for the first time, they have received some aid from their Western friends. Louis Napoleon sent presents of muskets to them last September. English officers were also despatched to them; and they have co-operated successfully with the allied armies.

We have given a succinct and unvarnished statement of the condition of affairs in Circassia. Making every allowance for exaggeration in the wonderful stories which have been told of Schamyl and his army by English papers, we still believe that the contest between Russia and Circassia is one of deep significance in every point of view. We cannot but await with renewed interest the accounts of the battles in the Crimea, knowing that the future of Circassia and her brave defenders is to be decided there. The liberty for which they have been so long striving depends upon the result of the present war; not upon that of the fighting merely, but upon the diplomatic results which must be the terms of its conclusion. How many equally and more momentous issues are hanging on the same event!

35*

ART. VI.-1. Die Kirche Christi und ihre Zeugen oder die Kirchengeschichte in Biographieen. Durch FRIEDRICH BÖHRINGER. Ersten Bandes dritte Abtheilung. Zurich. 1855. pp. xii., 774. (The Church of Christ and its Witnesses, or Church History in Biographies.)

2. Thesaurus Hymnologicus sive Hymnorum Canticorum sequentiarum circa Annum MD. Usitatarum Collectio Amplissima. HERM. ADALBERT DANIEL, Ph. Dr. Halis. In III. Tomis.

1841-1846.

3. Die heilige Psalmodie oder der psalmodirende König David und die singende Urkirche mit Rücksicht auf den Ambrosianischen und Gregorianischen Gesang. Von FRIEDRICH ARMKNECHT. Göttingen. 1855. (Sacred Psalmody, or the Psalmist King David and the Song of the Primitive Church, with especial Reference to the Ambrosian and Gregorian Chant.)

A GREAT name asks our attention in this article; and asks it too with a peculiar claim. It stands in honor chief among the four doctors of that Latin Church through which our own Christian birthright comes; it speaks to us in hymns which belong to the heart of Christendom, and which we have heard from our childhood. Let us then address ourselves with a somewhat fraternal feeling to a brief sketch of Ambrose of Milan, earnest to appreciate the sterling Christian humanity that beat beneath the priestly stole of this sternest and bravest of Western bishops in that early age, and to note the elements of power which he has infused into our modern civilization.

He came very abruptly upon the ecclesiastical stage, and our introduction of him may be equally abrupt. Turn to Milan in the year 374. That city, then the residence of the Western Emperors and the capital of Upper Italy, was rent into hostile factions by the election of a bishop in place of the Arian Bishop Auxentius, recently deceased, after an administration of nearly twenty years. Christian people then, as now, had not quite rid themselves of the old Adam in their nature, and the flock that met for the choice of a shepherd

acted so much like wolves, that the governor of the province, who heard of the rising affray, deemed it his duty to interpose. Poor man! he little thought into what difficulty he was plunging himself by going into that church upon his errand of peace-making. He was a personage well trained to public speaking in the schools of rhetoric and the courts of law, undoubtedly very firm in spirit, very mild in address. He had practised for years at the Roman tribunals, and probably had gained many cases, although in all likelihood he had never before gained more than he argued for. No sooner had he spoken, than a child, one of those little unaccountables who know so much either for good or evil, and who very likely had an intuitive sense of the governor's real worth, cried out, "Ambrose, Bishop." The idea took at once with the entire assembly, and Catholics and Arians shouted with one voice, "Yes, Ambrose must be bishop." The whole company saw directly that the choice of a new man, uncommitted to the old feuds, would rid them of many perplexities, and perhaps took a little mischievous pleasure in disappointing the ambitious heads not very meekly waiting for the expected mitre, and in placing it upon a head whose good sense and inherent dignity spoke for themselves. The governor, who was no other than Ambrose, was apparently more disappointed by his sudden election than the regular candidates could have been by their strange defeat. What should he do? He was indeed a Christian in his convictions, and one of his family, the sainted Sotheria, had died for the faith under Diocletian. But he was only a catechumen of the Church, and had not yet been baptized. His position in the state was one of great dignity and usefulness, and he had been regularly trained for its duties. The bishop's chair at that stormy period, and in Milan especially, was to a worldling a very dangerous honor, and to a conscientious man a stupendous responsibility. How should the statesman decline the threatened mitre? His course proved that a large leaven of the stern old Roman still lingered in the breast of the bishop elect. In order to appear too harsh for the office, he had some criminals put to the torture, not without clear proofs, it is to be hoped, of signal guilt. But in vain the ex