in Sweden the trial by jury, that bulwark of nothern liberty, which continued in its full vigour so lately as the middle of the last century, is now fallen into disuse; and that there, though the regal power is in no country so closely limited, yet the liberties of the commons are extinguished, and the government is degenerated into a mere aristocracy. It is, therefore, upon the whole, a duty which every man owes to his country, his friends, his posterity, and himself, to maintain to the utmost of his power this valuable institution in all its rights, to restore it to its ancient dignity, if at all impaired by the different value of property, or otherwise deviated from its first institution; to amend it, wherever it is defective: and, above all, to guard with the most jealous circumspection against the introduction of new and arbitrary methods of trial, which, under a variety of plausible pretences, may in time imperceptibly undermine this best preservative of English liberty. THE BURNING OF MOSCOW. (From Sir Walter SCOTT's Life of Napoleon.) E-vac ́u-ate, v. (L. e, vacātum, see Ex-plo'sion, n. (L. ex, plausum, see plaudo), a sudden bursting of Me-trop'o-lis, n. (Gr. mētēr, polis), ON THE 14th September, 1812, while the rear-guard of the Russians were in the act of evacuating Moscow, Napoleon reached the hill called the Mount of Salvation, because it is there where the natives kneel and cross themselves at first sight of the Holy city. Moscow seemed lordly and striking as ever, with the steeples of its thirty churches, and its copper domes glittering in the sun; its palaces of Eastern architecture mingled with trees, and surrounded with gardens; and its Kremlin, a huge triangular mass of towers, something between a palace and a castle, which rose like a citadel out of the general mass of groves and buildings. But not a chimney sent up smoke, not a man appeared on the battlements, or at the gates. Napoleon gazed every moment, expecting to see a train of bearded boyards arriving to fling themselves at his feet, and place their wealth at his disposal. His first exclamation was, "Behold at last that celebrated city!"-His next, "It was full time." His army, less regardful of the past or the future, fixed their eyes on the goal of their wishes, and a shout of "Moscow !-Moscow!"-passed from rank to rank. When he entered the gates of Moscow, Buonaparte, as if unwilling to encounter the sight of the empty streets, stopt immediately on entering the first suburb. His troops were quartered in the desolate city. During the first few hours after their arrival, an obscure rumour, which could not be traced, but one of those which are sometimes found to get abroad before the approach of some awful certainty, announced that the city would be endangered by fire in the course of the night. The report seemed to arise from those evident circumstances which rendered the event probable, but no one took any notice of it, until at midnight, when the soldiers were startled from their quarters by the report that the town was in flames. The memorable conflagration began amongst the coachmakers' warehouses and workshops in the Bazaar, or general market, which was the most rich district of the city. It was imputed to accident, and the progress of the flames was subdued by the exertions of the French soldiers. Napoleon, who had been roused by the tumult, hurried to the spot, and when the alarm seemed at an end, he retired, not to his former quarters in the suburbs, but to the Kremlin, the hereditary palace of the only sovereign whom he had ever treated as an equal, and over whom his successful arms had now attained such an apparently immense superiority. Yet he did not suffer himself to be dazzled by the advantage he had obtained, but availed himself of the light of the blazing Bazaar, to write to the Emperor proposals of peace with his own hand. They were dispatched by a Russian officer of rank, who had been disabled by indisposition from following the army. But no answer was ever returned. Next day the flames had disappeared, and the French officers luxuriously employed themselves in selecting out of the deserted palaces of Moscow, that which best pleased the fancy of each for his residence. At night the flames again arose in the north and west quarters of the city. As the greater part of the houses were built of wood, the conflagration spread with the most dreadful rapidity. This was at first imputed to the blazing brands and sparkles which were carried by the wind; but at length it was observed, that, as often as the wind changed, and it changed three times in that terrible night, new flames broke always forth in that direction, where the existing gale was calculated to direct them on the Kremlin. These horrors were increased by the chance of explosion. There was, though as yet unknown to the French, a magazine of powder in the Kremlin; besides that a park of artillery, with its ammunition, was drawn up under the Emperor's window. Morning came, and with it a dreadful scene. During the whole night the metropolis had glared with an untimely and unnatural light. It was now covered with a thick and suffocating atmosphere, of almost palpable smoke. The flames defied the efforts of the French soldiery; and it is said that the fountains of the city had been rendered inaccessible, the water-pipes cut, and the fire-engines destroyed or carried off. Then came the reports of fire-balls having been found burning in deserted houses; of men and women, that like demons, had been seen openly spreading the flames, and who were said to be furnished with combustibles for rendering their dreadful work more secure. Several wretches against whom such acts had been charged, were seized upon, and, probably without much inquiry, were shot on the spot. While it was almost impossible to keep the roof of the Kremlin clear of the burning brands which showered down with the wind, Napoleon watched from the windows the course of the fire which devoured his fair conquest, and the exclamation burst from him, "These are indeed Scythians!" The equinoctial gales rose higher and higher upon the third night, and extended the flames, with which there was no longer any human power of contending. At the dead hour of midnight, the Kremlin itself was found to be on fire. A soldier of the Russian police, charged with being the incendiary, was turned over to the summary vengeance of the Imperial Guard. Buonaparte, was then, at length, persuaded, by the entreaties of all around him, to relinquish his quarters in the Kremlin, to which, as the visible mark of his conquest, he had seemed to cling with the tenacity of a lion holding a fragment of his prey. He encountered both difficulty and danger in retiring from the palace, and before he could gain the city-gate he had to traverse with his suite streets arched with fire, and in which the very air they breathed was suffocating. At length, he gained the open country, and took up his abode in a palace of the Czar's called Petrowsky, about a French league from the city. As he looked back on the fire, which, under the influence of the autumnal wind, swelled and surged round the Kremlin, like an infernal ocean around a sable Pandemonium, he could not suppress the ominous expression, "This bodes us great misfortune." "" 1 The fire continued to triumph unopposed, and consumed in a few days what it had cost centuries to raise. "Palaces and temples," says a Russian author, "monuments of art, and miracles of luxury, the remains of ages which had past away, and those which had been the creation of yesterday; the tombs of ancestors, and the nursery-cradles of the present generation, were indiscriminately destroyed. Nothing was left of Moscow save the remembrance of the city, and the deep resolution to avenge its fall." The fire raged till the 19th with unabated violence, and then began to slacken for want of fuel. It is said four-fifths of this great city were laid in ruins. 1. When did the French enter Moscow? | 2. Describe the city as seen from the Mount of Salvation. 3. What was Napoleon's exclamation on entering it? 4. In what quarter of the city did the fire begin? 5. What did Buonaparte write by the light of the blazing Bazaar? 6. On the wind changing where were the flames seen to break forth? 7. What was the probable intention of directing the fire on the Kremlin? 8. What did the Emperor say, when watching the fire at the palace window? 9. What became of the great army which was led into Russia? 10. What think you of war, and of the man who causes it? 11 Repeat the words of Matthew, 5th chap. and 9th verse. BATTLE OF WATERLOO. (From Alison's Abridgment of the History of Europe.) ON learning the defeat of the Prussians, Wellington fell back on the morning of the 17th through Gemappe to Waterloo, 1 Napoleon entered Russia June 24th, 1812, with an immense host, numbering halfa-million of men. Of this great army it has been calculated that 125,000 perished in battle, 132,000 died of fatigue, hunger, and cold, during their retreat after the burning of Moscow, and 193,000 were taken prisoners, including 48 generals and 3000 inferior officers. undisturbed except by a body of French cuirassiers, who overthrew a British light regiment (the 7th Hussars), but were in turn broken and defeated by a brilliant charge of the 1st Life Guards, led by Lord Uxbridge. Napoleon, meanwhile, having detached 31,000 men under Grouchy to observe the Prussians, followed the British with 80,000 men, and drew up his army on both sides of the road from Charleroi to Brussels, with his headquarters at La Belle Alliance. The following night was one of unceasing rain; but no feeling of despondency entered the breasts of the soldiers on either side, as they lay drenched in their cheerless bivouacs. Every one knew that a general battle would be fought on the morrow; and the two great commanders, who had severally overthrown every antagonist, would at last measure swords with each other. The field on which the immortal strife was to be decided, extends about two miles from the old house and walled gardens of Chateau-Goumont (Hougoumont) on the right, to the hedge of La Haye on the left; while the great road from Brussels to Charleroi runs through the centre of the position, which is about three quarters of a mile south of the village of Waterloo, and three hundred yards in front of the farm-house of Mont St. Jean. The British army occupied the crest of a range of gentle eminences, crossing the high-road at right angles; while the French occupied a corresponding line of ridges on the opposite side of the valley-the intermediate space being open and unenclosed. Hill, with 7000 men, had been stationed six miles on the right, to cover the road from Mons to Brussels; and the partisans of Napoleon in the latter city were in joyful expectation of his entry on the following day. In the morning the British army was still seen on its ground, drawn up in squares in steady array along the ridge; and Napoleon, who had feared that they would retreat during the night, exclaimed with exultation, “At last I have them, those English!" The total number of the Allied army was 72,000 of the French 80,000; and the superiority of the latter was still greater in artillery, of which they had 252 pieces to oppose to 186, and in the uniform high quality of their troops, when compared to the Belgian levies who formed part of the opposing ranks. The first gun was fired from the French centre as the clock of Nivelles struck eleven; and immediately a column of 6000 men moved against the wood of Hougoumont, and, |