d a large portion of the globe.
It inhabits deserts whose extent is so vast that it expands at its ease;
there is no jostling there, as there is in Europe, and civilization is
impossible without the constant friction of minds and interests. The
Ukraine, Russia, the plains by the Danube, in short, the Slav nations,
are a connecting link between Europe and Asia, between civilization and
barbarism. Thus the Pole, the wealthiest member of the Slav family, has
in his character all the childishness and inconsistency of a
beardless race. He has courage, spirit, and strength; but, cursed with
instability, that courage, strength, and energy have neither method nor
guidance; for the Pole displays a variability resembling that of the
winds which blow across that vast plain broken with swamps; and though
he has the impetuosity of the snow squalls that wrench and sweep away
buildings, like those aerial avalanches he is lost in the first pool and
melts into water. Man always assimilates something from the surroundings
in which he lives. Perpetually at strife with the Turk, the Pole has
imbibed a taste for Oriental splendor; he often sacrifices what is
needful for the sake of display. The men dress themselves out like
women, yet the climate has given them the tough constitution of Arabs.

The Pole, sublime in suffering, has tired his oppressors' arms by sheer
endurance of beating; and, in the nineteenth century, has reproduced the
spectacle presented by the early Christians. Infuse only ten per cent
of English cautiousness into the frank and open Polish nature, and
the magnanimous white eagle would at this day be supreme wherever
the two-headed eagle has sneaked in. A little Machiavelism would have
hindered Poland from helping to save Austria, who has taken a share of
it; from borrowing from Prussia, the usurer who had undermined it; and
from breaking up as soon as a division was first made.

At the christening of Poland, no doubt, the Fairy Carabosse, overlooked
by the genii who endowed that attractive people with the most brilliant
gifts, came in to say:

"Keep all the gifts that my sisters have bestowed on you; but you shall
never know what you wish for!"

If, in its heroic duel with Russia, Poland had won the day, the Poles
would now be fighting among themselves, as they formerly fought in their
Diets to hinder each other from being chosen King. When that nation,
composed entirely of hot-headed dare-devils, has good sense enoug