can never come back unless some new turn of the wheel of fortune shall cause such a general reaction, as, having once happened within the present generation, may by possibility happen again. With this qualification, we may set down the three principalities just named as lost to Austrian control, and to their hereditary princes. Will they too be annexed to Sardinia? This may well be doubted. A Sardinian Commissioner appeared at Florence and took possession of the abdicated government of Tuscany; but the cousin of the Emperor has followed upon his heels with a French army, and is installed in the Crocetta.-This may be nothing but a measure of precaution to hold Tuscany for the Allies, or it may be a measure of preparation for the establishment of the cousin of Louis Napoleon, with his Sardinian bride, in a new kingdom of Etruria.

With these stirring events in Northern and Central Italy, tending however not to any "Unity of Government," but to the aggrandizement of Sardinia and the establishment of a prince of the Napoleonic dynasty in the heart of the Peninsula, will Naples and the Ecclesiastical State remain unshaken? In Naples the elements of disaffection are widely diffused. An odious Sovereign has gone to his account; that his mountain-load of unpopularity is buried in his grave is not so clear. If the new king as is reported, should wisely turn from his brother's evil ways,-throw open the prisons, lighten the burden of taxation, and reform the traditionary abuses of the State, he may maintain himself on his precarious throne.But if it should enter into the Imperial plan to realize the Idées Napoleoniennes, in Southern Italy; and if the new King shall pursue the line of his government which earned for his father the hatred and contempt of his people and of Europe, the chosen instrument of redress is at hand in the person of Prince Murat.

These are the territorial changes most likely to be made, and to which, arguing from the present premonitions, the

minds of men involuntarily turn. They may possibly be made by popular choice. Some great changes must be made, to meet the expulsion of the Austrians from Italy, and these now indicated seem to be more probable than that Sardinia will be allowed to monopolize the harvest of the war, which is the alternative possibility. But in these changes, it is scarcely necessary to say, there is no near approach to a "Unity of Government," none to an Independent Italian Nationality, comprehending the entire Peninsula.

But though these events constitute no near approach to such a Unity, they seem to be a first step in the right direc tion. It is much to throw off the foreign yoke from the fairest portions of Northern and Central Italy. Sardinia by extension in that quarter will have been built up into a very considerable Power; and in the lapse of time, by the same process by which the present Monarchy of Spain was consolidated by Ferdinand and Isabella, and the Kingdom of France grew by the successive annexation of Burgundy, Navarre, and the other feudal dependencies, and Prussia has been elevated in a century and a half from a feeble electorate into one of the leading powers of Europe, the Sardinian Monarchy may gradually draw to itself the other Italian States and form at last one powerful Italian Government. This will hardly be the work of one generation.

In the mean time, the state of Italy and the march of events are replete with instruction for us. The history of this beautiful country for ages and its present condition teach us, that the strongest inducements to "Unity of Government,” -geographical position, ties of common origin, language, and religion, capacity to do each other unbounded good or evil,strength if they hold together,weakness and subjection to foreign powers if the body politic is broken into fragments; —are all of no avail, without some deeper principle of Union. It would be idle at this time;-for the last thousand years it would have been idle ;-to say to the Italians, broken up into

ten or twelve governments, "it is folly and madness for you to continue thus disunited." Men as individuals and as communities will often do foolish and mad things, and the example of Italy shows that they will persist in doing them through long ages of subjection and suffering.

Again, if before the disintegration of the Roman power in Italy commenced, men had said to themselves "this fine country will never be so unwise as to allow itself to be broken up ;-this intelligent people will surely hold together forever; Nature has thrown the circling seas around their coasts, has piled up this great Alpine wall on the frontier, has poured out a noble river through her Northern valley to bind together the States which line its banks; and, in the diver sity of natural products, has made each section essential to the prosperity of every other, while internal dissension will be the ruin of all;-they never can, they never will break up," if he had said this, he would have uttered words of wisdom, but alas, as the event has proved, not words of prophecy.

The example then of Italy teaches us, in characters written in tears and in blood, that it is not natural advantages, nor capacities for mutual good and harm ;-not the material benefits of Union, not the certain woes of separation,—which create and preserve a Unity of Government, though they add strength to the tie when it exists; but it is a generous sentiment pervading the population, a comprehensive patriotism, a reciprocal respect for local interests and feelings, fusing natural elements, however dissimilar and remote, into a wellcompacted whole. It is by these alone that a people can be formed, and an independent Nationality asserted.

NUMBER THIRTY-FOUR.

THE LIGHT-HOUSE.

The greatest dangers of the sea are in nearing the land-To obviate some of these light-houses have been erected-The Colossus of Rhodes-The Pharos of Alexandria-Great improvements in modern times-Fresnel-Feelings in contemplating a light-house-The Fitzmaurice light-Number of light-houses in England, France, and the United States-Dangers sometimes of their multiplication-Anecdote of a narrow escape-Minot's Ledge described-Destruction of the iron screw-pile light-house in April, 1851-The violence of the gale described-A new light-house of solid masonry in progress of erection under Capt. AlexanderProgress of the work-An eclipsing light a beautiful object-Via Crucis, via Lucis.

Most persons who navigate the ocean have found out that the greatest dangers of the sea are near the land. In midocean, in a good staunch ship, the skilful sailor feels comparatively safe. There are of course perils even with full searoom. There are dangers even there, from lightning, and hurricanes which no strength of timbers can resist, icebergs, collision with other vessels, and fire; but all these may be equally encountered on nearing land, with the additional perils of a lee shore. These last are always great, however well aware the navigator may be of his precise situation. He may be driven by a force of winds and currents, which no human skill can withstand, upon frightful rocks or treach erous sands, well knowing beforehand that he is speeding to certain destruction. But it happens not seldom on nearing land after a long voyage, especially in the night, and still more in weather so thick as to prevent taking the sun, that the wretched vessel, ignorant of her position, goes without warning to her doom,

To obviate this danger, as far as it can be done by human art, it has been the practice of the civilized nations to mark the approach to their sea-ports, and the position of dangerous points on the shore, and of sunken ledges and shoals, with light-houses. This practice began in antiquity. Some persons have supposed that the Colossus of Rhodes was a lighthouse; but the Pharos of Alexandria, which, in the French language, has given its name to structures of this kind, and which was built by one of the Ptolemies in the fourth century before our Saviour, is the oldest of which we have any authentic accounts.

It would be out of place, in a paper of this kind, to attempt a minute description of the great improvements which have been made in light-houses in modern times. As far as their illumination goes, the most important of these improvements may be traced to the elder Fresnel in France, whose system has been adopted in our own, and most, if not all, other countries. It has earned for him the distinction of being "classed with the greatest of those inventive minds, which extend the boundaries of human knowledge, and he will thus at the same time receive a place among those benefactors of the species, who have consecrated their genius to the common good of mankind, and wherever maritime intercourse prevails, the solid advantages which his labors have procured will be felt and acknowledged."

I confess I never behold one of these noble buildings without emotion, I had almost said without reverence, especially when guided by it in safety along an iron-bound coast or between sunken ledges, to the desired haven. Piloted by its trusty beams, streaming over the midnight waters, the skilful navigator shoots boldly along within a hundred rods of some grey promontory, on which the storms of fifty centuries have roared and burst. He has not perhaps for a week had an observation of the sun, but that friendly light in making land more than supplies its place. Unlike most other works of