the French, and with a
good share of vanity, of sympathy, and of sentiment, are probably
deterred from throwing away life by those religious convictions and
sentiments which the French once held in an equal degree, but from which
they are now passing over into another state.

A single act of suicide is often indicative, negatively or positively,
of a state of prevalent sentiment. A single instance of the Suttee
testifies to the power of Brahmins, and the condition of Hindoo
worshippers, in a way which cannot be mistaken. An American child of
six years old accidentally witnessed in India such a spectacle. On
returning home, she told her mother she had seen hell, and was whipped
for saying so,--not knowing why, for she spoke in all earnestness, and,
as it seems to us, with eloquent truth.--The somewhat recent
self-destruction of an estimable English officer, on the eve of a
court-martial, might fully instruct a stranger on the subject of
military honour in this country. This officer fell in the collision of
universal and professional principles. His justice and humanity had led
him to offer a kindly bearing towards an irresolute mob of rioters, in
the absence of authority to act otherwise than as he did, and of all
co-operation from the civil power; his military honour was placed in
jeopardy, and the innocent man preferred self-destruction to meeting the
risk; thus testifying that numbers here sustain an idea of honour which
is at variance with that which they expect to prevail elsewhere and
hereafter.--Every act of self-devotion for others, extending to death,
testifies to the existence of philanthropy, and to its being regarded as
an honour and a good. Every voluntary martyrdom tells a national tale as
plain as that written in blood and spirit by Arnold Von Winkelried, in
1386. When the Swiss met their oppressors at the battle of Sempach, it
appeared impossible for the Swiss to charge with effect, so thick was
the hedge of Austrian lances. Arnold Von Winkelried cried, "I will make
a lane for you! Dear companions, remember my family!" He clasped an
armful of the enemy's lances, and made a sheaf of them in his body. His
comrades entered the breach, and won the battle. They remembered his
family, and their descendants commemorate the sacrifice to this day;
thus bearing testimony to the act being a trait of the national spirit.

By observations such as these, may the religious sentiment of a people
be ascertained. While ma