men fell before the tremendous fire with which they were received. The others were attacked by a body of Russians, and the English officer was about to be bayoneted, when he chanced to catch the hand of a Russian officer, and had presence of mind enough to give him a masonic grip. The Russian in a moment struck up the bayonet of the soldier, led his newly-found brother to the rear, and treated him with all the kindness of a Mason."

THE ART OF PUBLIC SPEAKING.

The late Marquess of Lansdowne one day remarked to Thomas Moore, that he hardly ever spoke in the House of Lords without feeling the approaches of some loss of selfpossession, and found that the only way to surmount it was to talk on at all hazards. He added, what appears highly probable, that those commonplaces which most men accustomed to public speaking have ready cut and dry, to bring in on all occasions, were, he thought, in general used by them as a mode of getting out of those blank intervals, when they do not know what to say next, but, in the meantime, must say something.

Scarcely any person has ever become a great debater without long practice and many failures. It was by slow degrees, as Burke said, that Fox became the most brilliant and powerful debater that ever lived. Fox himself attributed his own success to the resolution which he formed when very young, of speaking, well or ill, at least once every night. "During five whole sessions," he used to say, "I spoke every night but one; and I regret only that I did not speak that night too."

A MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS FOR FIVE MINUTES.

During the great French revolution, a person named Alexandre, who had been originally an Exchange porter, was the Foreign Minister of France for the space of five minutes! It happened thus: Citizen Alexandre was the friend and understrapper of the influential terrorist, Santerre, and had shown himself a ready and sanguinary Jacobin agent on many infamous occasions. He was therefore known to Robespierre; and on the 22d of June, 1793, just after the Girondins were destroyed, the Committee of Public Safety wanted, on a sudden vacancy, a Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Robespierre, in the hurry, named Alexandre, and the name. was instantly transmitted to the Convention. The obsequious president of that assembly at once ratified the nomination and sent the appointment to the Moniteur, where it appeared. Scarcely however had he done so, when such a man as Alexandre appeared so utterly ridiculous for such a place. that some members of the Convention present, despite even their fear of Robespierre, carried an amendment, that the appointment should be suspended, and a list to choose from should be made out of persons suited for the office. This effectively cut short Alexandre's official career, and he relapsed into such obscurity that his name never appeared publicly again in the annals of the Revolution.

PREVISION OF WILLIAM IV.

When, in 1789, the Duke of Clarence went to live at Richmond, he became so popular that had the place been a borough, and he not reached his title, but still retained his idea of standing candidate, he would certainly have been elected there. He paid his bills regularly himself, locked up his doors at night that his servants might not stay out late, and never drank but a few glasses of wine. "Though the value of crowns," writes Walpole, "is mightily fallen of late in the market, it looks as if his Royal Highness thought they were still worth waiting for; nay, it is said that he tells his brothers that he shall be King before either. This is fair at least." [Slender as his chance was in 1789, Clarence came to the Crown in 1830, on the death of his elder brother, at this time (1789) the Prince of Wales.-Cunningham.]

GEORGE THE FOURTH.

The Right Hon. George Rose, in his Diary, published in 1860, tells us that George the Third could not bear that any of his family should want courage. To which Mr. Rose replied, he hoped his Majesty would excuse him if he said he thought a proper attention to prevent the ill effects of an accident, that had happened, was no symptom of a want of courage. The King then said, with some warmth, "Perhaps it may be so; but I thank God there is but one of my children who wants courage, and I will not name HIM, because he is to succeed me."

NEWSPAPER CORRESPONDENTS.

There is a curious fact in the history of Newspapers worth remembering, viz., that the celebrated Cardinal Richelieu was a frequent Correspondent of the Mercurie Français; and that the King himself, Louis XIII., often contributed to its columns. D'Israeli the elder, who gives us this information, adds, "Many articles in the Royal handwriting, and corrected by the Royal hand, are still in preservation."-Dr. Rimbault.

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848.

On the evening of the 24th of February, 1848, whilst the House of Commons was in session, a murmur of conversation suddenly arose at the door, and spread throughout the house, when was witnessed-what never occurred before or since, in the writer's experience-a suspension for a few minutes of all attention to the business of the house, whilst every member was engaged in close and earnest conversation with his neighbour. The intelligence had arrived of the abdication and flight of Louis Philippe, and of the proclamation of the Republic. The monarch and his ministers, whose ambitious projects had furnished the pretexts for our warlike armaments, and the gallant prince, whose pamphlet had sounded like a tocsin in our ears, were now on their way to claim the hospitality of England.

Mr. Cobden, who thus relates the eventful news, adds that he was sitting by the side of Mr. Joseph Hume when the tidings reached their bench. Sir Robert Peel was on the opposite front seat, alone, his powerful party having been broken and scattered by his great measure of Corn Law Repeal. "I'll go and tell Sir Robert the news," exclaimed Mr. Hume; and stepping across the floor, he seated himself by his side, and communicated the startling intelligence. On returning to his place, he repeated, in the following words, the commentary of the ex-minister :-"This comes of trying to carry on a government by means of a mere majority of a chamber, without regard to the opinion out of doors. It is what these people (pointing with his thumb over his shoulder to the protectionists behind him) wished me to do, but I refused."

A "PRIVATE CORRESPONDENT."

During the Peninsular Campaign there appeared in the Morning Chronicle certain letters, which criticised severely, and often unjustly, the military movements of Lord Wellington. His lordship's attention being drawn to these comments, he at once perceived, from the information which they contained, that they must have been written by an officer holding a high command under him. Lord Wellington soon discovered the author of the letters to be no other than Sir Charles Stewart, the late Marquis of Londonderry. As soon as Lord Wellington had made himself master of this fact, he summoned Sir Charles Stewart to head-quarters at Torres Vedras, and without the least preface, thus addressed him:

"Charles Stewart, I have ascertained with deep regret that you are the author of the letters which appeared in the Morning Chronicle, abusing me, and finding fault with my military plans."

Lord Wellington here paused for a moment, and then continued:

"Now, Stewart, you know your brother Castlereagh is my best friend, to whom I owe everything; nevertheless, if you continue to write letters to the Chronicle, or any other newspaper, by God, I will send you home."

Sir Charles Stewart was so affected at this rebuke, that he shed tears, and expressed himself deeply penitent for the breach of confidence, and want of respect for the Articles of War. They immediately shook hands, and parted friends.Captain Gronow's Reminiscences.

THE WILBERFORCE OAK.

The spot whereon Wilberforce resolved to set about his great work, the Abolition of the Slave Trade, may almost be regarded as "holy ground." This truly Christian resolution was made beneath a venerable oak in the grounds of Mr. Pitt's retreat at Holwood, in the parish of Keston, five miles south from Bromley. In Wilberforce's own words-"I got together, at my house, from time to time, persons who knew anything about the matter.... When I had acquired so much information I began to talk the matter over with Pitt and Grenville.

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ANECDOTES OF POLITICAL LIFE.

Pitt recommended me to undertake its conduct, as a subject suited to my character and talents." Earl Stanhope has recently commemorated this meeting, with excellent taste, by causing to be erected upon the spot a seat, the oval portion of the back of which bears the following inscription:

FROM MR. WILBERFORCE'S DIARY, 1788.

"At length, I well remember, after a conversation with Mr. Pitt, in the open air, at the root of an old tree at Holwood, just above the steep descent into the vale of Keston, I resolved to give notice on a fit occasion, in the House of Commons, of my intention to bring forward the Abolition of the Slave Trade."

ERECTED BY EARL STANHOPE, 1862.

After quoting the above passage in his Life of Pitt, Lord Stanhope notes: "I may add that this very tree, conspicuous for its gnarled and projecting root, on which the two friends had sat, is still pointed out at Holwood, and is known by the name of 'Wilberforce's Oak.'"-Vol. i. p. 318. The carrying out of this wisdom-tempered resolve was, through illness, postponed by Mr. Wilberforce till the following year (1789), when, on May 12, he brought the question before the House of Commons, as Burke said, "in a manner the most masterly, impressive, and eloquent. . . . The principles were so well laid down, and supported with so much force and order, that it equalled anything he had heard in modern times, and was not, perhaps, to be surpassed in the remains of Grecian eloquence." The Wilberforce Oak is almost the only memorial of interest now remaining at Holwood. The estate was disposed of by Pitt in 1802. To part with his favourite retreat must have been to him a bitter pang; yet Lord Stanhope has not found a word of complaint upon the subject in any of his letters or conversations that is recorded. But he once said to his friend Lord Bathurst. "When I was a boy, I used to go bird's-nesting in the woods of Holwood, and it was always my wish to call it my own."