was obliged to look; and an examination of the reasons he gave for Austria adopting a course which it caused him sincere pain to own that she was obliged to adopt throws great light not only on the temporary question why Austria did not take the field against Prussia, but on the general policy of Austria since the war of 1870. The primary reason that induced Austria to remain neutral was the fear of Russia. Count Beust had ascertained beyond the possibility of doubt that, if Austria took the side of France, Russia would at once, without hesitation, take the side of Prussia. What good would an Austrian alliance do to France in such a case? Austria would have been immediately threatened in Galicia and on the Pruth and the Lower Danube. She would have had to fight for her own life, and would have been utterly unable to assist France. It must always be borne in mind that it was the close alliance of Russia and Germany that enabled Germany to improve her first victories, and to pursue her career of conquest unchecked by outsiders. As a recompense for the assistance thus rendered, Russia got, at the expense of the honour, if not the interests, of England, the coveted prize of the free use of the Black Sea. When the French war was over, Prince Bismarck set to work to use the Russian alliance to a new purpose. He so managed matters that he was able to offer a Russian alliance to Austria, with Germany as the mediator between them, and the friend of both. Austria, after due consideration, accepted the offer, and the consequence has been the introduction of a completely new phase of European politics. Formerly, Austria was the secret or scarcely concealed enemy of Prussia and Russia, dreading both, but trying to hold her own against each in turn by every device that patience and courage could suggest. She had to fight Prussia in 1866 and was severely beaten; and subsequently by constant intrigues with her discontented subjects Russia did much to annoy and embarrass her. Still, when the French war broke out, Count Beust could write that the cause of France was the cause of Austria, and that it was only fear of the consequences that restrained Austria from challenging Russia to take part in the war. Now Austria has seen reason to adopt a totally different policy. She makes her calculations on the basis that Russia will be sincerely friendly, and not only has much of the factitious discontent in her outlying provinces died away with the cessation of the stimulus given by Russian agitation, but she has ventured on letting Turkey know, especially in the Bosnian affair, that she will insist on having proper respect shown her, and the Porte has been obliged to reply_in very civil and conciliatory language. But this might have happened if for any reason Austria and Russia had seen fit to make friends and give each other the benefit of a temporary alliance. What is new is that the present alliance is under the guarantee and guardianship of Germany, to whom its existence is in fact due. Austria leans upon Germany as a protector able and willing to see that no unjust advantage is taken of her, while Russia in its turn is satisfied that Germany will take care that the eternal Eastern question is not permitted to take any new and awkward shape at a moment when Russia may prefer rest or needs her energies for the prosecution of her aims in Asia. But there was another reason which weighed with Count Beust, and that was that Austria could not really count on her own subjects. The Germans belonging to Austria could not be trusted to fight against Germany; and the Hungarians, although perfectly ready to defend themselves against Russia, were by no means to be relied on if they thought that Austria was calling on them to fight in order that Austria might gain strength in Germany, and thus upset the balance of internal power on which the new system of dual government reposed. Nor was it really a hesitation as to what Austrian Germans and Hungarians would do that alone filled Count Beust with disquietude. The Austrian army, in consequence of the change in the whole system of Government introduced after the war with Prussia, and also in consequence of the experience which that war had furnished, was totally reorganized in 1868, and it was agreed between Austria and Hungary that the system then introduced should be tried for a fixed period of ten years. In 1870 the Austrian army, crippled by the difficulties attendant on every new scheme of army reorganization, was not at all fit to take the field. A large part of the troops was mobilized in order that Austria, if attacked, might not be taken utterly unprepared, and it was soon seen that the new system was only in its infancy, and that a campaign would proba bly be attended with immense disasters. By prudently keeping out of the way of danger Austria gained time so as to let her new military system come into full operation. It is even now reported to be far from what it was intended to be, and here again the advantage of a fresh period of repose which Germany offered her through the Triple Alliance was obvious. Unfortunately Austria cannot afford, or can only afford with the utmost difficulty, the army she desires. She wants to have 800,000 men when the army is on the war footing, and to have these men thoroughly trained by a compulsory service of three years. It was calculated until lately that Austria by economy and very good management might get an army such as she desired for about seven millions sterling. But latterly it has been seen that this, under present circumstances, is impossi-ism, and so to outstrip Germany, and ble. The officers are starved, the cavalry is weak, the artillery is insufficient, the fortresses are not secure under the new conditions of modern warfare. A million and a half more is therefore wanted this year beyond the seven millions which it used to be thought was enough. But a million and a half sterling is a very large sum for a State always so near bankruptcy as Austria has been for years; and if the money is to be found, it can only be found by complete reliance being placed on the pacific intentions of Austria. In one respect Austria is better off than she used to be, for she is on cordial terms with Italy, and has no longer an enemy to fear on that side. But then her alliance with Italy and with Germany, and the progress of the ideas on which that alliance is based, are exposing her to a new source of internal trouble. Count Beust in his despatch speaks of the task which Austria had been requested by France to undertake at Florence, and of the hopes which the French Court entertained that a useful alliance between France and Italy might thus be established. Count Beust promises to do his best; but urges that, if anything is to be done in this way, the Italians must be allowed to occupy Rome. Count Beust implores the Government of the Emperor Napoleon to perform this act of Liberal prevent it being thought that the Italians owed Rome to the spread and triumph of Teutonic ideas which might, as Count Beust pointed out, easily prove contagious in Austria. Here we have the beginning of that separation of the Austrian Government from the Ultramontanes which has lately assumed such considerable dimensions, and which cannot fail to lead to the most important results, as it raises in a peculiar form the great question of the relations of the Church and the State which is now agitating almost every European country. WHAT ARE THE ADULTERATIONS OF TEA? | catechu being added in some cases to restore This subject, which all-whether chemists the astringency. The article known as the or notare interested in, has been very ex- "maloo mixture" consists essentially of exhaustively dealt with in a paper read before hausted tea-leaves. In searching for the the Chemical Society of London, at a recent presence of other leaves than those of the teameeting, by Mr. J. Bell, of the Laboratory at plant the best method is to heat a small Somerset House. He says that tea is adul-quantity of the suspected tea with water until terated to a very large extent, not only with leaves of various kinds, including exhausted tea-leaves, but also with inorganic substances, such as quartz, sand, and magnetic oxide of iron; these latter substances are rolled up inside the leaf, and one sample of green tea examined was found to contain no less than 20 per cent. of quartz and 86 of the magnetic oxide. The latter may readily be separated by grinding up the tea, and removing the magnetic oxide with a magnet. The facing employed for green tea usually consists of French chalk and Prussian blue. In the preparation of exhausted tea-leaves, they are rolled up with gum-water, and then dried, the leaves are sufficiently softened to admit of being unfolded. They should then be spread out on a piece of glass, and carefully examined as to the nature of the serratures and the character of the venation, also the form of the cells of the epidermis and the stomata, and the peculiarities of the hairs as shown by the microscope. The essential differences which the tea-leaf presents when compared with other leaves were minutely described. The chemical composition of tea was next discussed, the amount of lignin and of tannin being very important. Popular Science Review. For EIGHT DOLLARS, remitted directly to the Publishers, the LIVING AGE will be punctually forwarded for a year, free of postage. But we do not prepay postage on less than a year, nor when we have to pay commission for forwarding the money; nor when we club the LIVING Age with another periodical. An extra copy of THE LIVING AGE is sent gratis to any one getting up a club of Five New Subscribers. Remittances should be made by bank draft or check, or by post-office money-order, if possible. If neither of these can be procured, the money should be sent in a registered letter. All postmasters are obliged to register letters when requested to do so. Drafts, checks and money-orders should be made payable to the order of LITTELL & GAY. COULEUR DE ROSE. WHEN Dawn first opens her sleepy eyes, And looks drowsily over the world below, Where the Alps tower proudly towards the skies, A beautiful blush rests with rosy glow On their topmost summits; the ruddy snow Gleams rich and warm, as the shadows fade And soften in sunshine, smiling low 'Neath the dull cold glacier, whose icy shade Not even the noon-light may dare to invade. In an eastern sea, where the wavelets curl Softly and lovingly over the strand, 'Neath the self-same billow which hides the pearl, Lies a lovely shell, such as Northern land Ne'er chanced to imagine, nor mortal hand Could venture to paint; for the wondrous hue Of that tender carmine, the fairy wand Of our mother Nature, so old, so new, Has tinted alone 'neath the salt sea-blue. Where the bulrush bows lowly his turbaned head, And the fern droops soft by the streamlet's Where the shallow glides lazily over its bed, While her mate, swift skimming above the Dips his azure winglets and russet breast, Oh! full and warm is the fairy glow Which the shell's rich colour brings out of the sea; And pure and soft is the roseate snow, As it glimmers on high when the shadows flee; And the kingfisher's egg, pink as pink can be, Is fair to behold; but a lovelier sight Have I seen this eve, when, beneath the tree, She gave me a rosebud, and, blushing bright With a rosier red, whispered: "Love! goodnight!" PARTING. Chambers' Journal. Have farewell words been spoken, while the smart Of parting pangs drew closer heart to heart. Brave for each other's sake, our partings wear Our silent anguish as the moments fly. Of health and wealth and mortal happiness. Prayer is no child of fleeting hopes and fears, That with dim, passionate striving all its years, But of the inmost heart's eternity, And there's one prayer no scorn can ever move, Yearns after God and cries for light to see. The endless prayer of a long life of love. Spectator. E. G. A. HOLMES. GRADUAL SPRING. DREAM footsteps wand'ring past us in our sleep; A restless presence stirring with the light; The cry of waters where the snow was white; A violet's whisper where dead leaves lie deep; Promise is ended, we must turn and reap From The New Quarterly Review. BY FRANCES POWER COBBE. nor THERE is a fine irony in the use we make of the terms "brutal" and "beastly," "manly" and "humane." As no brute ever kicks its mate to death, any beast makes itself drunk, it is a happy use of language by which our Police Reports invariably qualify the first class of outrage as "brutal," and the condition of a tipsy man wallowing in the gutter as "beastly." On the other hand, it is by a pretty, if not well-deserved, compliment to ourselves, that we describe the courage transcendently displayed by a hen on behalf of her chickens as pre-eminently "manly ;" and when we have occasion to speak of compassionateness, complacently call the quality "Humanity," as if the race from which have sprung all the Herods, Neros, Alvas, and Majendies, of ancient and modern times, were quite incapable of cruelty. In one of Æsop's fables, charmingly rendered by La Fontaine, a lion is shown a picture wherein a man stands triumphant over one of the animal's own kind which he has just vanquished. The fourfooted critic in the fable simply remarks: Avec plus de raison nous aurions le dessus Si mes confrères savaient peindre.* We may readily imagine the transposition of terms of praise and blame which would follow were the promised experiment of teaching poor Joe (the Chimpanzee in the Zoological Gardens) the language of the Deaf and Dumb to prove successful, and an age of talking animals to be inaugurated. How the eminently sensible Goose, and the calm-judging Ass would recalcitrate against the use of their names as synonyms of stupidity and folly! How those affectionate and faithful comrades- Rats would repudiate the use of the term "Ratting," as signifying treachery! How those quarrel B. III. Fable x. †M. Houzeau, in his "Etudes sur les Facultés Mentales des Animaux." (Paris, 1873), Vol. 2, expressly 451 might justly describe as Les Bêtes Incom- sus and when we have discovered that the old human heroes were poltroons, and the old martyrs "scoundrels," we are bound similarly to expose the mean-mindedness of the Lion, and candidly avow our picions of the conjugal fidelity of the Turtle. It is true, unfortunately, that the same slight inconvenience will attend the dispelling of antique delusions in the cases of both men and animals. Modern criticism has deprived the preacher of every example wherewith he was formerly wont to point a moral, and no man can now hold up a saint for imitation, or a sinner as a warning, without laying himself open to be checked by the nearest school-boy with the volunteered information that this saint is universally recognized now-a-days as a truculent impostor, and his sinner as one of the noblest of mankind, born, unhappily, a little too soon for the recognition of the age in which he lived. Of course, our language will be deprived of a whole catalogue of terms of honour or contempt if the hitherto glorified beasts and birds are ever to suffer similar detraction, or the long-slandered ones to be rehabilitated. Just as for the future to "out-Herod Herod" will be an expression for extreme mildness; 66 King Cambyses' vein " maintains that the idea of teaching the Quadrumana to will indicate bashful modesty; and the speak, reposes on probabilities." 66 family name of De Mérode, instead of |