—for he is alive now, and I could find him.
As it is, I have learned to suffer, and to be
resigned; but I can leave him to his own
conscience, which will pursue him, and to the
justice of an avenging God, which will overtake
him yet!"

She now saw her husband's agitation. "Ah,
forgive me,'' she said, eagerly. "I should have
thought of all this. I remember that day at St.
Alans when you left the table. I know that
such things shock you. There," she said, standing
up, and smoothing her golden hair, "there,
we have done with the past. It is off my mind
now. It was right that you should know every
corner of my life; but after this night, dear
husband, I shall never come back to it."

TOUCHING ENGLISHMEN'S LIVES.

OF all ancient nations the Romans appear to
have been the greatest sanitarians; and to the
strictness with which they dealt with the sanitary
conditions of their cities and their homes may
be attributed much of that national success of
which they were so proud. To the care which
they bestowed on the physical education of
their youth, to the care with which they
constructed their aqueducts, cloacæ, public baths,
and other works, they owed the preservation of
their national health and vigour. By taking
measures to preserve the strength of each individual,
their little nation grew in size and in power; it
conquered other and feebler nations—not feebler
in numbers, but in physical courage—and became
at last the mistress of the world.

Comparisons have often been drawn between
the Roman and the British empires, and the
question asked: Will Britain lose its strength
and fade away, as Rome faded? That it is
natural that every nation should have its
periods of youth, of maturity, and of decay,
the records of ancient nations would lead us
to infer. It would seem, too, that foremost
amongst the great causes of national destruction
and decay have ever been over-conquest—by
which the strength of a nation, in men and
treasure, is withdrawn from its boundaries, and
uselessly spent abroad; and over-crowding—by
which its vitality becomes lessened, because its
men decay at home. In the first case it is left
unprotected, and a prey to other nations; in the
second, it becomes enervated, diseased, and
festers into discontent, rebellion, and anarchy;
so that while in the one instance it is destroyed
by others, in the other it becomes its own
destroyer.

Rome and Britain scarcely admit of comparison,
since they owe their greatness to different
causes. Rome won hers by conquest, whilst
Britain owes hers more to the pursuit of peaceful
arts and to colonisation. But how will she
fade? Through the attacks of enemies from
without, or through disease and decay from
within? No man can say; yet it is not flit:
to point out some probable sources of danger
from the latter cause.

In countries which depend on commerce for
their existence, it is natural that men should
congregate together. The chief ports and towns
grow rapidly; and in the towns are manufactured
machines and fabrics which are exchanged with
other countries for grain and other materials of
life. But this dwelling together of people in
large numbers leads to certain results, against
which the legislature of the nation at large must
provide. In such a country as China, where,
until lately, communication with foreign nations
was prohibited, and where no outlet by colonisation
was recognised, it leads to the undervaluing
of human life, and to the destruction of many of
the people, because in such a country the
increase of population, instead of being a source
of wealth, becomes a source of impoverishment.
This is the practical reason why life is held so
cheap in that country, and why—as travellers tell
us—the sacrifice of children is considered rather
a commendable proceeding than otherwise. But
in a country like our own, which seeks customers
and barterers in all parts of the world, and
compels indolent nations, such as China, to become
customers willy-nilly—the conditions are altered,
and increase of population means increase of
power, increase of wealth, and should mean
increase of happiness.

It is of the highest importance to a nation
such as ours, to economise human life, and so to
protect the health of its members that no
unnaturally untoward circumstances shall shorten
any man's days. It may be that the increase
of population in such a country will be excessive
to the area of the country; but this, so far from
becoming a source of embarrassment, becomes
in our case the means of strengthening the
country, and of increasing its resources. In
England there is an invincible desire on the part
of many of its inhabitants to explore all parts of
the world; no country is too distant, no mountain
is too high, for this phase of the national spirit .
Many such travellers settle in the countries
they visit, and are quickly followed by others of
their countrymen. How greatly this colonisation
goes on at present, this fact, spoken to
by the Registrar-General, will tell—"if there
had been no efflux of the population of England
and Wales during the three years, 1860, 1861,
and 1862, its natural growth within that period,
derived from the excess of births over deaths,
would have added to its numerical strength a
population equal to those of the towns of Liverpool
and Birmingham united." Now, although
so many of our countrymen have left our shores,
and still more are following in their track, there
is no valid reason why a largely increased number
should not follow. Through colonisation
our superabundant population is utilised, and
our country benefits in two ways. Labour
becomes of more value, and being of more value,
greater ingenuity is exercised in the construction
of machinery to compensate for manual
labour. Secondly, trade, is stimulated. Our
colonists are our best customers. It is natural
that, speaking the same language, and having
the same habits and tastes as ourselves, they