Impressions of Central and Southern Europe

BERG. BANKS OF THE NECKAR. -AGRICULTURE OF WIRTEMBERG. FRUIT TREES. STUTTGARD.

POLITICAL EDUCATION OF THE GERMANS.

REVOLUTIONISTS.

"Men

THIS is emphatically the age of locomotion. run to and fro over the earth," exploring the desert plains of Africa, the inhospitable interior of Australia, the passes of the Himalayas, and the sources of those mighty rivers which flow from the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic. The spirit of modern adventure has opened up every country which the three great oceans lave; even artisans in England now read of the manners and customs of nations of which their fathers knew nothing; whilst European ships anchor as fearlessly in the deep bays of New Zealand, or on the storm-beaten shores of Patagonia, as did the galleys of Venice in the Ægean Sea. The British merchant and the British mis

sionary may be found civilising cannibals in the Antipodes. The centre of the African continent alone remains a real "terra incognita." At our own fire-sides, when frosts and snow render the open air uninviting, we can travel in any part of the world to which our fancy leads us, and enjoy with adventurous men the wild sports of Maories or Chippeways. Wonderfully does the printingpress conduce to the mental happiness of man ! Allied to the ship and the Bible, it becomes one of the most powerful instruments provided by God for the civilisation of the human race. That its influence be exerted for wise and virtuous ends, should be the anxious desire of every one who loves his fellow-creatures, and wishes to promote good-will on earth.

In these days of "excursion trains," "congresses," and "pleasure trips," the continental tourist attracts a very small share of public attention; the mass of readers preferring works relating to territories more distant, comparatively unexplored, and as yet beyond the pale of civilisation. When one can read of Polynesia, Oregon, California, Chinese Tartary, or the Celebes, he cares little for books upon "Central and Southern Europe."

But there are others deeply interested in the social and political movements of this stirring time, to whom even "impressions" of those countries now so unsettled and disquieted may not be unacceptable. Their whole mind dwells with eagerness

TRAVELLING ON THE CONTINENT.

on the present state of Europe, anxious to investigate the causes of revolutions, of national prosperity, adversity, and demoralisation, and of religious ardour or decline. Few studies can be more profitable than that of the people of Christendom in the nineteenth century. Our newspapers publish column upon column of "foreign intelligence;" correspondents send them daily communications from all parts of the Continent; throughout the British Islands the words "Hungary," "Rome," "France," "Prussia," "Germany," "Switzerland,” and "Denmark," are on men's lips; and therefore do we hope our remarks may not be reckoned redundant, or unsuitable to a travelling and bookmaking age.

Of mere journals the British public have enough. Every circulating library teems with volumes. narrating the towns and countries passed through by tourists during a few weeks' residence on the Continent; indeed, Rhenish Prussia, and France, may now be considered as well known as English counties, and much better known than the splendid highland scenery of Ross-shire, or the noble bays on the Atlantic coast of the Sister Isle. The political economist, likewise, has published his views of matters abroad, affording valuable information to the thinking philosophical mind, although unsuitable to the reading multitude. In the succeeding chapters we have endeavoured to record observations likely to be interesting to both parties. That

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Impressions of Central and Southern Europe: Being Notes of Successive ...