STOCQUELER'S PILGRIMAGE.

THIS is the journal or narrative of an " overland journey" from India, performed by an unusual track,—or rather, by Europeans an untrodden tract, in part, as regards a portion of Asia, and a much longer route as regards Europe, than that usually pursued' by Anglo-Indians anxious to regain their native shore.

We are not informed of Mr. STOCQUELER'S age, or his profes- sion, or his motives for visiting or returning from India. He is young—the indications of youth are not to be mistaken ; but he is also not ill-informed, and is well-meaning. The effect of his nar- rative is spoiled by a fear of being tedious : thus, he relates no- thing in a natural way, lest he should weary his reader; he is pert, lest he should be long; and, at the expense of interest and effect, he is brief. He professes to have had an opportunity, in the course of " peculiar literary pursuits," of perusing without digesting the multifarious literary productions of the day. Signs we see of superficial reading, and of that conscious and nervous manner got by a too constant attention to reviews and criticisms ; but we are at a loss to understand what " peculiar literary pursuits " of four years' duration can have left him unqualified to make a better book out of materials so ample. A Frenchman, FONTANIER, lately passed over a part—a very small part—of Mr. STOCQUELER'S route, and that too which he considers absolutely common,—the parts of Turkey and Persia bordering on the Black Sea ; and yet wrote one of the most intelligent and pleasing books of travels in the library : but then, he was a scientific person; he had been educated in the Ecole Normale, and had not lost four years' occupation in " peculiar literary pursuits ;" where he had ample opportunity to read the multifarious productions of modern times. Mr. STOCQUELER, indeed, ought to have harvested more than he has done, in spite of the peculiarity of his literary pur- suits; which we cannot help thinking means, keeping a book- seller's shop, or perhaps dealing out novels and romances in a fa- shionable library. Can he have been a reviewer P—It is possible. The gulf which now divides the journeyman librarian or the book- seller's apprentice from the bench of criticism, is not higher or wider than a shop counter, and is easily skipped over by light- heeled impudence.

Let us, however, not be harsh : Mr. STOCQUELER may have been neither librarian nor critic, nor yet strolling player, in spite of a most injudicious sprinkling of dramatic fragments. He is now, at least, a traveller; and has crossed the Buctiari Mountains, where; he says, never European trod before,—and we cannot con- tradict him : he has been robbed and bound hand and foot, cheated, rebuffed, insulted, and half-starved, after the manner in which the Easterns love to receive the waywura traveller. After escaping the plague, and losing all his chattels, and after being baffled in some half-a-dozen routes, he got at length to the frontiers of Rus- sia, where be was all but driven back across the dreary Black Sea. It seems, that amiable autocrat the Emperor of Russia has been censured in certain "overland journies " from India ; and, instead of reforming the abuses which gave rise to the remarks, he has found it easier to give orders that no Englishman coming from

India shall enter his territosies. Count Paans:sr, after repeated intercession on the parts of the Consul and the traveller, ventured to transgress his supposed instructions, and Mr. STOCQUELER was permitted to spend a fortnight in the lazaretto of Odessa. He thence made his way, by the most horrible roads in the world, through Podolia into Gallicia, and the territories of Austria. At Lintz, he had the good fortune, while waiting for passports, to

spend several days with SKYRZNECKI, the unfortunate Polish General, who was at that time dwelling incog. under Austrian pro-

tection. The account of SKYRZNECKI is of the most enthusiastic description. The narrative of his escape from Warsaw is also in- teresting. The notes and memoranda taken from the patriot's own monan respecting the origin and conduct of the Polish rebel- lion, Mr. STOCQUELER has destroyed, at the instance of the General himself. He has, however, since found the narrative

in Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopedia, exactly coincident with all

the facts and views of this upright but unfortunate com- mander. This is a work which, it will be remembered, at the time was upheld by us against the abuse of several critical publications of the day, who would tolerate only rhetorical declamation against tyranny, and in favour of liberty on the subject of the unhappy Poles, and who railed at the narrative in question, as a servile eulogy of Russia, because it tcok an impartial view of events and their causes.

Leaving Lintz, and spending some time in Vienna, Mr. STOC- QUELER resided in Berlin and Hanover; where he seems to have been liked and well treated.

Although Mr. STOCQUELER has made comparatively' little of his opportunities, his book is far from being destitute of enter-

tainment and instruction. The chapter on the trade of Trebizond contains muchcurious information; and theviewsit opens deserve the attention of every merchant who wishes to attempt a new, extensive, and profitable market for English productions. The geographical information is necessarily important, from the author's having pursued a route, the names of the places on which occur in none of the maps of Persia. The interest of the narrative itself is, we have said, greatly diminished by the • traveller's imperfect information, and from a kind of pert modesty, Which leads him to decline all description—in a book of travels, forsooth !

We make room for one extract—a favourable specimen of the writer's manner. • • •

Beautiful as is the scenery of Gallicia Silesia, and Moravia, I can imagine few roads more picturesque than that between Vienna and Braunau. It lies for a considerable distance along the right bank of the Danube, and is covered with forests of firs interspersed with cleanly hamlets ; while on the opposite side the eye of the traveller can rest, and be gladdened with the perpetual prospect of bill and dale, castle, convent, chapel, valley, and plantation. It was in the depth of winter that I passed through this enchanting part of Austria ; and can imagine, from the view it then presented, what a paradise it must be in the summer season. Plenty, tranquillity, and security, marked the internal condi- tion of the country, and religion seemed to occupy as much of the attention of the people as the calls on their manual exertions. Politicians abuse the govern- ment of Austria : its restraints on the press, its hostility to public freedom in any shape, its severe taxation of the necessaries of life, form so many grounds of cavil, and unfavourable comparisons with the government of freer nations. But surely this is superfluous censure. The true end of government is said to be the " greatest happiness of the greatest number," and where is thia principle reduced to finer practice than in Austria? Where is poverty rarer, employment more general, the comforts of life more abundant ? Where is there a people more'attached to. their rulers, or less inclined to murmur at their own condi- tion ? It is not that the Austrian is in a state of intellectual degradation, or the mere slave of sensual gratification, for Germany holds a high place amongst the enlightened nations of the earth. It is, I should say, the happy result of a felicitous combination of mild sway and economical expenditure on the part of the governing—a rational philosophy and a cheerful temperament on the side of the governed.

We left Vienna for Munich in the common eil-wagen, and reached Braunan on the 6th of January: Here we learnt, to our consternation, that there was a quarantine on the Bavarian frontier of twenty days, and that we must wait fifteen for our turn of admission to the temporary lazaretto. . I had had enough of quarantine detention, and now resolved to alter my intended route rather than to submit to any more. A few minutes' consideration determined the matter, and we agreed to proceed to Saxony, thence to Berlin, Hamburg, grc. We therefore took our places in the return wagcn, and beat a retreat to Linz.

Arrived at the post-house at Linz, in Austria, my first care was to ascertain whether the authorities at the police-office would render our passports available for Berlin, without the necessity of sending them on to Vienna for the counter- signature of the Prussian minister. But it appeared that no arrangement of the kind could be accomplished. We were, therefore constrained to snake up our minds to remain at Linz until the return of the passports from Vienna ; whither they were accordingly sent without delay. As soon as this business had been despatched, we removed from the Post Haus to the hotel Goldenen _Lateen (Golden Lion); where, as a fellow-traveller from Braunau had apprized us, the celebrated Polish chief Skyrzneeki was residing ineog. Not many minutes after we had been installed in our new domicile, my companion proposed that we should send up our names to the General, and solicit permission to pay our respects,—a proposition so consonant to my own wishes that I did not hesitate a moment to acquiesce. The garcon warned us that there was little chance of our suit being granted, inasmuch as Skyrznecki had been for two months and a halta tenant of his apartment, and invariably declined all visits; but we enter- tamed a presentiment, pardonable enough if the acknowledged influence of the English name on the Colitinent be considered, that our application would not be rejected. The garcon left us, and shortly afterwards returned with a look of surprise and good humour, saying, that the General would be most happy to receive "the two Englishmen.' Our emotions may easily be conceived. My venerable companion had resided for many years in Russia : he had been a wit- ness to the odious system of government prevalent in that empire ; he had formed many valuable friendships amongst the Poles; and, though deprived by the rigidity of Russian regulations of those means of becoming acquainted with the course of public events which are available in freer countries, lie had never- theless contrived to learn as much of the progress of the affairs of Poland as sufficed to identify Skyrznecki in his mind with every thing that was brave, honourable, patriotic, and skilful. For my own part, shut out as I had been from almost all intercourse with civilized society for the Previous eight months, and necessarily unacquainted as I was with all but the unhappy results of the Polish revolution, I did not anticipate a higher degree of bliss than that of seeing and conversing with a soldier and a patriot of good repute. But even this was something to a man writhing, under the Mortifying reflection, that he could not now visit the' lands that gave birth to a Hefei- and a Tell, or the scenes of their daring deeds in behalf of political independence.

The hour fixed upon by the General for our visit arrived. 'We went up to his room, knocked at the door, and were instantly admitted. Had we been utter strangers to the name and character of our new acquaintance, our demeanour might probably have been more assured ; but it is quite impossible that we could have felt the less respect for the individual who now rose to receive us. There was an air of majesty in his port, blended with the most perfect grace, that irresistibly attracted the homage of meaner mortals. Had I met him in

• the street, I should involuntarily have taken off my hat, or at least have turned to contemplate his" noble presence." In stature, he might have been about six feet high—perhaps snore; in carriage he was erect, without possessing a shadow of the ordinary stiffness of the militaires of the Continent ; his counte- nance was pale and somewhat wan, evidently the result of confinement, inac- tivity, and distress of Mind. But his eye!—and his forehead! His keen grey eye, which at one glance uttered a thousand sentiments—that at once spoke a consciousness of rectitude, a capacity to command, a sense of its owner's adverse condition, a feeling of goodwill to all men, and a welcome to his immediate visi- tors—his vast expanse of forehead, that encased the purest and noblest of minds ! .--these features could only belong to one of gentle blood, accustomed to a "space in the world's thought," and "dominion over his fellow-men." He was plainly attired in an olive frock and black trousers, and had apparently been reading ; for, on rising, he laid down a book. We apologized for the liberty, &c.; but were speedily reassured, and in a few minutes had gone over various interesting subjects of discussion. On taking leave of the General, we were invited to drink tea with him that evening a in mode Anglaise,—an invitation which we gladly accepted ; and we returned to our apartments in excellent humour with the ac- cident that had thus brought us acquainted with one of the best and greatest men of the age. My worthy fellow-traveller did not understand a syllable of French (the language in which we conversed) • but so animated and expressive were Skyrzneclu'a gesticulations, that he declared himself almost as much de- lighted with the interview as if he had interchanged sentiments with the hero, or had cdtnprehended every Word he uttered. In the evening, we were, ad may be supposed, true to our appointment. The catrivelsation, naturally euough, referred to the affairs of Poland; and such progress had we made in one anti, ther's confidence in the course of an hour, that on my in the my ignorance of many of the most importatit and interesting features n the history of the re- cent revolution, Skyrznecki volunteered an account of the whole business from its commencement down to the capture of Warsaw. I endeavoured, on retiring to my chamber, to commit to paper all that I had thus heard, with a view to its subsequent publication ; but on submitting the manuscript to my illustrious friend, he seemed to think that the dignity of the theme demanded something beyond a mere narrative—that it was of consequence enough of itself to form the subject of an entire volume : upon which I destroyed my memoranda, lest might be tempted hereafter to make use of the meagre materials, at the expense of a serious and important cause. I the less regret the step, because No. XX. of the admirable Cabinet Cycloptedia of Dr. Lardner contains a history of the insurrection, which in spint and in phrase corresponds, as far as my memory serves me, almost entirely with the description given me by the General.