Russia in 1839 -Empire of the Czar: A Journey Through Eternal Russia

something more than a woman,) and said to her, " What a sweet babe you have in your arms!" " Take it," replied the parent, who understood her by one word and glance; " you can return it to me at the foot of the steps."

The electricity of maternal feeling had thrilled through these two hearts. It communicated itself also to the crowd. My mother took the child, pressed it to her bosom, and held it as an ægis in her arms.

Man, as the child of nature, resumed lùs superiority over man brutalised under the influence of social evils. The "civilised" barbarians were vanquished by two mothers. She, who was mine, descended, thus rescued, into the court of the Palais de Justice, un-saluted by even an abusive word. She returned the infant to her who had lent it: they parted without interchanging a syllable : the place was not favourable to thanks or explanations, and they never saw each other afterwards; but assuredly the souls of these mothers will meet in another world.

The young woman thus miraculously saved, could not save her father. He died, and to crown the glory of his life, the veteran soldier had the courage to die a Christian. A letter to his son attests this humble sacrifice, the most difficult of all, in an age of practical crimes and philosophical virtues. In proceeding to the scaffold he embraced the crucifix. This religious courage ennobled his death, as much as his military courage ennobled his life; but it gave great offence to the Brutus's of Paris.

During the trial of General Custine, my father had published a sober but manly defence of the former's political and military conduct. This defence, which