84 Notes of the Month on [JAN 



It is the business of Russia to make war ; for war is the business of all 

 semi-barbarous nations. It is the policy of Russia to plunge Western 

 Europe into war, that she may make prize of Constantinople ; and it is 

 the personal interest of the Czar to keep his bearded heroes at war some- 

 where or other ; for idleness is in Russia the mother of revolutions. And 

 as every man's own throat has a right to figure extensively in his general 

 calculations, the Czar may naturally prefer having the Grand Turk at 

 his feet, to having the head taken off his own shoulders. 



But the grand temptation to war is, the possession of power, as the 

 next temptation is the knowledge of security. Russia has both, beyond 

 any empire ever known. Her empire is almost boundless, and who can 

 follow her into the deserts that spread over half a world ? 



In one of the foreign scientific journals there is a calculation, accord- 

 ing to which the Russian empire exceeds the terra firma in the moon by 

 123,885 square leagues. The diameter of the moon is 893 leagues, con- 

 sequently the surface 2,505,261 square leagues. If in the moon, as in 

 our earth, the fluid part, which we call sea, covers two-thirds of the 

 surface, only 835,087 square miles remain for the terra firma. Now, 

 according to the calculations made in the year 1818, the Russian empire 

 extends over a surface of 958,972 square leagues, the possessions in 

 America included, consequently the excess remains as above stated. 

 According to another calculation, the Russian empire extends over 174 Q 

 of longitude, and 36^ Q of latitude. It contains about 2-19th parts of 

 the terra firma, the 14th part of our hemisphere, and the 28th part of our 

 earth. Its population is about 45,271,469 souls ; one million of savages, 

 and 340,000 noblemen, not included. 



Pope says, " Your true no meaning puzzles more than wit." But he 

 would have expressed a more intelligible, and a more important truth, if 

 he had said, that your well-meaning fools do much more mischief than 

 could be expected from the merest malice. All those people are reli- 

 gionists, that is twaddlers, who make religion their chief twaddle, who 

 drink their tea to a text, and play the habitual fooleries of their foolish 

 lives with visages worthy of a martyr, and phrases fit for nothing but a 

 mad disciple of Joanna Southcote, or Robert Brothers. Idiots, must 

 they not be conscious that they are throwing disgrace on scripture, and 

 teaching men to burlesque religion. Of what calibre must be the Clap- 

 hamite author and distributors of such stuff as the following? 



" RADICAL REFORM. 



" The corruption which so generally prevails in this country loudly 

 proclaims the necessity of an entire and radical reform ; and it is 

 certainly the duty of every man to promote it to the utmost of his 

 power. 



" An old writer has said, ' That if every man would sweep before 

 his own door, the city would soon be swept :' and if every radical 

 reformer will commence the work at home, a national reformation of the 

 best kind must follow. 



" And, perhaps, there is room for a reform in your own conduct, 

 my reader ! You hate slavery, and are you the slave of sin ? You 

 complain of taxes, and do you, to gratify your lusts, tax your time, 

 money, health, and character ? You detest tyranny, and do you act 

 the part of a tyrant to your wife and children ? No wonder, then, you 

 call for a radical reform there is one needed. < For the wrath of 



