her opinion, as she is better acquainted than perhaps
any person in Russia with the course to be pursued if the attempt were to
be hazarded. Perhaps at the same time you will enquire of her as to what
has become of my translation into Russ of the second and third Homilies
which I left with her, and whether license to print has been obtained.
If not, I should wish that energetic steps be taken to that effect, and
as you are an energetic person, and she may possibly have too many
important affairs upon her hands, I pray you to take the matter up, but
at all events to follow her advice; pray remember me to her likewise.
The translation was corrected by that unfortunate man Nicanoff, who,
though he lived and died a drunkard, was an excellent Russian scholar;
therefore I think that no objection can reasonably be made in respect to
style, though indeed the original is very plain and homely, being adapted
to the most common understanding. I offer no apology for giving you all
this trouble, as I am fully aware that you are at all times eagerly ready
to perform anything which I may consider as a service rendered to myself.

Spain at present, I am sorry to say, is in a more distracted and
convulsed situation than at any former period, and the prospect is gloomy
in the extreme. The Queen's troops have sustained of late grievous
defeats in the Basque provinces and Valencia, and a Carlist expedition of
18,000 men, whose object is to ravage Castile and to carry the war to the
gates of Madrid, is shortly expected to pass the Ebro. From what I have
seen and heard of the demoralised state of the Cristinos forces, I
believe they will meet with no effectual resistance, and that Cristina
and her daughter will be compelled to flee from the capital to Cadiz, or
to some strong frontier town. Nevertheless, such is the nature of the
Spanish people, that it is impossible to say whether the liberal cause
(as it is called) be desperate or not, as neither one party nor the other
knows how to improve an advantage. Twice might Don Carlos have marched
to Madrid and seized the crown; and more than once his army has been at
the mercy of the Cristinos; yet still is the affair undecided, and will
perhaps continue so for years. The country is, as you may well conceive,
in a most distracted state; robbery and murder are practised with
impunity, and the roads are in such an insecure state that almost all
communication has ceased between one town and an