Armenians, and Bulgarians. The Albanians, Guegues, Bosniacs, Croats, and Sclavonians, do not possess these institutions, but have ever been subject to odjacks, knezes, and beys, or military chiefs.

"Amongst these races, men, instead of coalescing, seem to fly each other; no villages are to be seen huddled together, but insulated soïs, or clans, have perched their little towers of defence among the rocks, and scattered them over the mountains. The Mirdites alone enjoy a species of autonomy; they also retain their creed. In fact, through all the modifications of climate, position, and race, the original creed co-exists with the autonomic institutions; and in the absence of these, Islamism is found. The descendants of the warriors of Scanderbeg and the defenders of Scodra are now Mussulmans; the next to impregnable fortresses of Colonias, Dibre, &c., where military chiefs held their ground, have readily admitted the supremacy of the crescent; the plains of Thrace, devoured by locusts of function. aries, trodden down by the unceasing passage of fanatic hordes, but where distinctions among the tributaries were swept away, still cling to the cross."-Id. p. 43.

In studying the history of municipal bodies in western Europe, we ought to distinguish between the urban municipalities or chartered corporations of the middle ages, and the rural municipalities, or rather commonalties. The former arose in the towns or burghs out of the chaos of feudality, and were unconnected with the surrounding country. They represented imperfectly the ancient Roman municipia, from which they took their name. They enjoyed privileges and monopolies rather than liberties, and this was at the expense of the country around. Such were the imperial towns; and

such several of the Swiss republics, Zurich, Bern, Basle, Freyburg, remained till very lately. In Italy, France, Spain, and other monarchies, the urban municipalities lost their privileges; the crown, having once conquered the nobles, attacked the immunities of the towns, and assumed the right of nominating the municipal authorities. But the rural districts were left in most of these countries undisturbed in the enjoyment of their popular administration, and this was no small boon to them. In France, strange as it may sound, all municipal and communal independence was destroyed by the republican constitution of 1795. It was sacrificed for the system of centralizing all administrative power in the capital, which has remained in vigour ever since, and was introduced by the French into the countries which they invaded. The attentive observer and investigator of all these and similar facts will easily account for the apparent anomalies in the conduct of the peasantry in several parts of Europe during the political vicissitudes of the last forty years.

The religion and religious practices of a people are matters of too serious importance, they exert too great an influence over its intellectual and moral habits, to be passed over slightly by any wise man. In themselves they cannot be fit objects either of blame or ridicule, for in most cases they are above the choice or control of the individuals who profess them. To the political geographer they are essential facts, which he must take into account, together with their ascertained consequences, in his estimate of the condition and capabilities of a nation. Not only the religious belief, but the manner in which that belief is promulgated and enforced, and the influence which it has upon the civil and social state,

upon the domestic and economical habits of its disciples, ought to be noticed. The perpetual celibacy enforced upon whole classes of men, the abstinence from certain articles of food, the number of holidays, the moral censorship exercised in certain countries by the parish clergy, the religious regulations of marriage and divorce; the offerings, the dues, the sacrifices exacted by various forms of worship, the spirit of proselytism of some, and the intolerance of others, the fatalism of the Mohammedans, all these are facts which influence the condition of millions. The shallow-minded scoff at them; the attentive observer acknowledges their power, discriminates between their evil and their good effects, for there is hardly a form of religion that has not some good points about it; and if he be a right-hearted man, he will pity the aberrations of the conscientious votary, while he will expose the hypocrisy of the wilful impostor. Connected with the subject of religion, although distinct from it, is the establishment for its worship. The number of the clergy, their mode of education and ordination, their various ranks and gradations, their relations with the other classes of society, their means and mode of living, the distinction between those who have the charge of churches, parishes, or districts, and those who are without any fixed duties; between those who live in communities, such as monks, friars, dervishes, &c., and those who live alone, either single or with their families; the amount of their income, collective and relative; the establishments appropriated to their instruction-all these are subjects of inquiry for the political description of a country, as well as the division of that country into parishes and dioceses, the number of churches and temples, and the mode of religious and moral instruction

afforded to the people. Statements concerning these matters should be made upon authentic authorities, when these can be obtained, and not vaguely exaggerated or distorted after the manner of an absurd estimate which found its way not long since into several periodicals and newspapers concerning the clergy of Spain, in which the number of Spanish archbishops and bishops was stated to be above 700; the parishes 127,000; the convents and monasteries 181,000; and the monks, nuns, and secular clergy, in round numbers, about 1,000,000, that is to say, about nine times as many as the reality. A single glance at the map of Spain might have shown the impossibility of the thing. The mere knowledge of the gross amount of the population of the peninsula would have shown the fallacy; every third grown-up man, according to this statement, must have been a priest or monk. The mistake has arisen from having confounded the statistics of the whole Spanish monarchy, with its immense foreign possessions, in the time of Philip II., with those of Spain in the nineteenth century.

The importance of education, elementary and scientific, school and collegiate, its immense influence over the moral, domestic, and economical habits of the people, and their social and political condition, cannot be doubted by any person of common sense. In a geographical inquiry, due attention should be paid to the difference between the establishment for popular and elementary education, of which all are susceptible, and which all ought to have in a well-regulated country, and those appropriated to scientific instruction, which, in the actual state of society, can only be administered to comparatively few, the manner in which those various

establishments are administered, the funds by which they are supported, &c.

And lastly, political geography should consider the population of a country with regard to its descent or race, and its language. Without entering into the question of the origin of races, it can be safely asserted that various nations have each peculiar features of character and disposition. Some of these appear to proceed from the climate and nature of the country, while others are retained even after emigration. Some races are lively, others sober and calm, some rash and impetuous, others thoughtful and cautious; some are impassioned and amorous, others phlegmatic and cold. These are facts which, when generally ascertained, ought to be stated, as they may exert considerable influence on the political condition of a people. Language is another important element of geographical classification. It generally, but not always, accompanies the distinction of races, and also frequently determines their political boundaries. Populations speaking different languages, or at least languages of different origin, will seldom voluntarily amalgamate. Language is the reflexion of thought, it is the mirror of the feelings and sympathies of a people. Ignorance or carelessness of these distinctions in a reasoner on general politics produces an unpleasant discord to the ears of the better informed, and spoils the effect of his otherwise plausible arguments. We will quote one instance out of many. In the late contest between the Sultan and Mehemet Ali, Pasha of Egypt, Ibrahim, Mehemet's son-in-law and general, while besieging the fortress of Acre, being asked how far, after the taking of that place, he meant to advance, is reported to have answered, "As far as I