The Press. — London, England, 1854-02-11 00:00:00

FEBRUARY 11, 1854. Tie Nese Reform Bill. An Abstract of the Leading Clauses of the Measure, itc. With a Prefatory Notice by the Hun. W. F. Campbell. London : Ridgway. Ms. CAMPBELL, a Whig in politics, late M.P. for Cambridge, and son of the Chief Justice, has done g ood service to the Conservative cause by this pamphlet. He comments truly and sharply on the inconsistency exhibited by Lord John Russell in surrendering at discretion to the Radical party in 1851, ater an oppo:ition of eighteen years' standing, and without any visible external cause for the change. Equally pointed and just are his remarks on the recklessness of the Minister who thus drew in ad . ' lan ce on public credit:— " The late minister, in February, Ism , before he was defeated by Mr. Locke King, had adopted a course at variance with the principles of statesmanlike reserve. Unasked, and unprovoked, he had engaged himself definitively to reopen the Reform Act in 18.12. To reflecting men it was apparent that he had done this with• out authority from others. The resignation which imme diately succeeded might serve to vindicate his colleagues. But he continued to remain before the. world engaged to legislate at large upon a given subject, at a given time, the expediency of touching which, at the period he thus assigned to its disturbance, no human foresight could establish. Whether war hung upon our coasts and famine desolated Ireland ; or peace and plenty were secured to us ; whether parties were inclined to discord or to anion; whether trade was prosperous or sluggish; whether riots hidto be suppressed, or order was remarkable ; whether Consols were below 50, or above par ; the Prime Minister bad pawned his freedom and discretion on the topic upon which it was most essential to retain it. He had also, unwarily perhaps, by this fatal step revived the agitation daring which he had before proclaimed the inexpediency of touching the Reform Act. " it happened that events brought out the rashness of his pledge in so clear a light that history seemed to be re solved to shape her movements for its punishment. When the time came for framing an amendment of the system upon which our laws and liberties are founded, the country was alarmed by a catastrophe in which Europe was involved. The sense and energy of Englishmen were concentrated on defence. The press awakened the com munity. Security was bought by apprehension. It be came the duty of a Government to cherish patriotism, while the Government was pledged to rouse internal animosities. It became the duty of a Government to watch a potentate without, while the Government was pledged to fill the House of Commons with distraction and acerbity. The public spirit of the minister required him to guard the Channel and the coast ; his private dignity impelled him to fling confusion into every town and every county in the island. No man supposed that had he counted on the coup d'etat and its result he would have pledged himself to rip up the constitution in 1852. He had the signal disadvantage of being felt to act from a sense of what was useful to himself, instead of from a sense of what was due to the society he governed." For this imprudence—if, indeed, it were no worse— n speedy retribution arrived. The statesman so eagerly grasping at popularity sacrificed—none knew why—his most pliulax colleague ; and within six weeks his own fall ensued " There still remained among his colleagues a man of infinite resources, ingenious mind, and competent expe rience. He had never been an echo to the parliamentary ventriloquism by which the minister transferred his voice through Mr. Fox Maule to the ranks of his opponents. He had untied knots and baffled combinations. He bfd risen in the school of Mr. Canning, and of Europe. Be had studied modern constitutions, as well as being among the men who moulded the Reform Act. His tact, lustre and authority might serve to extricate the State from the emergency to which a course of errors had reduced it. Whatever scheme he could have offered, its use and power were defeated. The minister destroyed his succour when his distress began to overflow." Mr. Campbell might have added that the game thus played by the Whig leader in '5l was only an exact repetition of that policy which ten years before drew from Sir James Graham—then a Conservative Oppositionist—one of the most stinging invectives recorded in parliamentary annals. Of that memorable speech the most offensive passages were those in which Lord John was accused of bidding for an agitation in the hope of propping up 'a falling Cabinet. Sir James spoke of pirates setting fire to the vessel which they could no longer defend—of maniacs whom it was needful for the public safety to coerce, when they carried in their hands the means of doing mischief. Sir James has reconsidered his views, and Mr. Campbell might appropriately have reminded him of them. The writer, though sub. joining an analysis of the Reform Bill, does not comment on its details. Like Lord Grey, he rests his case on the impolicy of internal change at a moment of foreign embarrassment. The Laws of War, Commerce, and Shipping. By 11. Byerley Thomson, B.A. London : Smith, Elder, and Co. WHEN the French Plenipotentiary, trea tin g for p eace with Lord Chatham, demanded indemnification for the ships which had been seized before war had been technically declared, the great Minister re plied, < 6 The cannon has settled that point; and, in THE PRESS " the absence of a tribunal to 'hick we can appeal, "80 it must remain." Mr. Hallam also, if we re member correctly, says something similar in his concise review of the authorities on international law—that, whatever be the theory, virtually armed power decides in these affairs. But this remark applies only to questions of magnitude : in individual cases of wrong the law is clear and distinct, and in these Mr. Byerley Thomson's pamphlet may be use ful; but it " is intended rather as a series of hints " than as a guide to those engaged in mercantile and " shipping undertakings." The History of Jack and the Beanstalk. With Six Etchings by George Cruikshank. London: Bogue. IF possible, even better than " The Seven-league Boots," the land of the giants appearing titanic, and the giants themselves overgrown caitiffs in the dete riorating condition which precedes the extinction of a race or their submission to mortal conquerors. The chase—the tying up of the giant in the bean stalk, and his presentation to the king as a seedy, dilapidated captive—are admirable proofs of what George Cruikshank can do when he trusts chiefly to his imaginative faculty. Notes at Paris, particularly on the State and Prospects of Religion. London: Rivingtons. THE author, having made a short visit to Paris in the autumn of 1853, spent most of his time either in hurried investigations into the authenticity of an cient MSS. at the Bibliotheque Imperiale, or in con versations on kindred subjects, and their results are embodied in these notes, which are perhaps more suited to the ecclesiastical scholar than to the gene ral reader. Incidentally, however, the writer con veys intimations to the disparagement of the qualifi cations of the French clergy, and gives valuable evidence as to the spread of Protestantism in France. Facts from Gweedore. Compiled from Notes. By Lord George Hill, M.R.I.A. London : Hatchard and Sons. THIS is the third edition of an excellent work, and we do not think it will be the last. If, when the face of Ireland is entirely altered, it would be inter esting to posterity to know what it once was, and how it was changed from a howling wilderness to a scene of cultivated happiness, no where could that knowledge be more pleasantly acquired than in these pages. An introductory chapter, well worthy of observation, is added to the present edition. The Year Book of Facts in Science and Art. By John Tin.bs. London : Bogue. Tins closely-printed volume is divided into seven sections, each containing numerous short and appro• priate extracts from various sources. Such a work, even if it contain mistakes, cannot mislead, for, as the authorities for the statements are always given, the reader can estimate their value for himself ; there fore the work will be useful. Prefixed to the work is a portrait of Arago, and at the close an obituary list. The Poetical Works of Goldsmith, Collins, and Warton. With Lives, Critical Dissertations, and Explanatory Notes. By the Rev. George Gilfillan. London: Nisbet and Co. Tuts is the last volume of the first year's issue of the Library Edition of the British Poets. The whole comprises six large volumes of standard works well printed. Contrast seems to be the principle followed in conjoining the authors selected. For instance, we are told that the works of Blair, Beattie, &c., will immediately be followed by those of Dryden, Pope, Burns, &c. PERIODICAL LITERATURE. NEW PERIODICALS. THIS is the first part of the Home Companion, a new cheap magazine, partly didactic, but principally amusing. Its articles are lighter and more popular than those of Chambers, but they are not so instructive. On the other hand, it is cleverly Illustrated, and is a good substitute (its price being tevenpence per monthly part) for the old Penny liagazine. We need not say that all such serials lave formidable competitors; but It is " a wide-wide sorld," and there are hosts of persons who will gladly velcome the cheap and pleasantly attractive pages of tie Home Companion. IhE Monthly Journal of Industrial Progress (No. II.) isa creditable undertaking. Its editor is a chemist ofrec , gnised reputation, and the journal is under the pttronage of the leading men of science connected with the Queen's Colleges in Ireland. The contents an generally addressed to the industrial classes of tilt empire. Its "Notices of New Improvements" are particularly valuable, and constitute its principal feature. Some of the ot*.er articles are rather stale. 139 "Flax " and "Art-Unions" are subjects about which enough has been written. Retrospective sketches of the mercantile life of Ireland would popularise the periodical for Irish readers, and coax them into the perusal of its more solid articles. We wish well to the undertaking, and we look forward with interest to its future monthly numbers. THE conductors of the Irish Church Journal state in their prospectus, "We propose to open our pages to writers of all shades of opinion," a system which we do not think suited for literary publications. The specimen of the first number does not make us sanguine about its success. ADDRESSED to "all classes," Our Friend, whose se cond number is now before us, appears designed chiefly for the operative or industrial population. Its articles are remarkable for brevity and variety. In the present specimen there are nineteen papers, occupying about fifty pages. A useful epitome of current events, brought down to the 10th ult., is ap pended to the magazine. THE Law Magazine (Quarterly Review) contains a good selection of ten articles besides the other usual matter. We look forward with pleasure to an elabo rate essay on the late Lord Plunket in the next num ber, for in this we observe that the space allotted to the distinguished orator and Lord .Chancellor of Ireland is only about a fourth of that which is de voted to a comparatively obscure Scotch judge, and even in this short notice there is a ludicrous misprint. It will surprise Lord Campbell to learn that " he will " ever be remembered for the parf he took during " the debates on the Union, and for the attacks made "on the Treasury bench." Lord Plunket will not be measured in the history of Ireland, or amongst the orators, bj the space this careless notice occupies. THE New Monthly Magazine for February is one of the best numbers that has appeared for some limo. The opening article is on "Leasing," and the con. eluding one is a critical notice of Mr. Bell's edition of Dryden. Interspersed are a comic tale of " Mick Cassidy's Boots," by Dudley Costello; a biographi cal notice of the American Prescott, recollections of foreign travel, and a seasonable paper called "Anna bel Annesley's First Valentine. The notice of " Moore's Diary " is below the mark, but the average merit of the other contributions is fully up to what we should expect in this old popular favourite. THE Art• Journal for February contains its usual complement of designs—the " Val St. Nichols.," by J. 1). Harding, being the best of its copper en gravings, and the woodcut of Schnorrs' " Return of the Prodigal " an admirable example of the German school. WE have heretofore had occasion to speak of the talent which the Church of Scotland Magazine and Review displays, and of the general interest which many of its articles possess. The present number exhibits no falling off in either characteristic. Among its contents is an able paper on the " History of Gold," wherein we find a curious hypothels started touching the auriferous strata in Scotland. Quartz rock, according to the writer, is almost in variably rich in gold ; and, as there are eight hundred square miles of this material, averaging one thousand feet in thickness, to be found in North Britain, there are probabilities of incredible treasures to be extracted when Berdan's or some other scientific crushing-machine is duly applied. Tait opens his February number with an anti-Mal thusian article, entitled "The True Law of I'opula tion," in which almost every paragraph contains a fallacy, and every calculation a blunder. The re maining papers in this number of Tait show a much better quality, and some of them are highly inte resting. THE name of " William Newton " inscribed as the editor of the Englishman will sufficiently denote its purpose. It is designed to advocate the rights of labour against capital, and the interests of work men against employers, upon principles of which Mr. Newton has already become the exponent through other channels of publicity. The Englishman com• menced at the opening year as a weekly journal, and the present number presents the first four numbers in a collected form. [We see no occasion to remark on Ainsworth's Ma gazine for February—Paul Peabody (No. IV.)— Ditainy the Jockey (No.''.) —Household Medicine and Surgery—M•Phail'a Edinburgh Ecclesiastical Jour nal—The People's Magazine—The Family Friend — The True Briton— and Orr's Circle of the Sciences.]