The Press. — London, England, 1858-01-30 00:00:00

When it sinks into the powerlessness of a simple bishopric, it will still imitate the lofty style of the African potentate, who is graciously pleased, atter he has gorged himself on baked hippopotamus, to announce by a herald at the door of his tent, that the other monarchs of the earth may dine. In speaking of the bribe offered by the Vene tians to Maximilian the Penniless after the league of Cambray, ho says " they had made " no similar proposition to the French King, " nor to Ferdinand, nor even of a ten pound " note (!) to the Mantuan Marquis or the Mag. " nifico of Ferrara." Froissart (p. 336) is called "the Paul Pry of the period." And Mr. White is very fond of employing the word " peoples" in a sense neither necessary in it self nor adopted by any good writer. Passing from the brilliant spectacle of the Augustan age, with its poets, wits, and cour tiers, Mr. White places before us in rapid succession the long line of emperors under whom the great Roman power slowly but sorely verged to its inevitable fall—the long gallery of portraits exhibiting every phase of despotism, as if to warn mankind against that form of government for ever. In the second century the centralised power of bad heredi tary rulers is succeeded by the beneficence and wisdom of such men as Trojan and the Antonines ; cruelty gives place to protection, and civil progress hardly gains more when citizens are treated as children than it did when they were treated like brutes and slaves. At the period of Rome's greatest apparent power and grandeur the author pauses to compare her resources with those of modern nations, and the following statement appears to us both new and interesting Viewed in comparison with some of the monarchies of the present day, neither its extent of territory, nor amount of population, nor number of soldiers is very surprising- The Queen of England reigns over more subjects, and commands far mightier fleets and armies, than any of the Roman emperors. The Empire of Russia is more exten sive, and yet the historians of a few generations ago are lost in admiration of the power of Rome. The whole military force of the empire amounted to four hundred and fifty thousand men. The total number of vessels did not exceed a thousand. But see what were the advantages Rome possessed in the compactness of its territory and the unity of its government. The great Mediterranean Sea, peopled and crltivated on both its shorts, was but a peace ful lake, on which the Roman galley had no enemy to fear, and the merchant ship dreaded nothing but the winds and waves. There were no fortresses to be garrisoned on what are now the boundaries of jealous or hostile kingdoms. If the great circuit of the Roman State could be protected from barbarous inroads, the internal defence of all that vast incloaure could be left to the cif it power. If the Black Sea and the Sea of Azoff could be kept clear of piratical adventurers, the broad highway of the Mediterranean was safe. A squadron near Gibraltar, a squadron at the Dar danelles, and the tribes which might possibly venture in from the ocean—the tribes which, slipping down from the Don or the Dnieper, might thread their way through the Hellespont and emerge into the Egean—were caught at their first appearance ; and when the wisdom of the Romans had guarded the mouths of the Danube from the descent, in canoe or coracle, of the wild settlers on its upper banks, the peace and commerce of the whole empire were secured. With modern Europe the case is very dif ferent. There are boundaries to be guarded which occupy more soldiers than the territories are worth. Lines are arbitrarily fixed across the centre of a plain, or along the summit of a mountain, which it is a case of war to pass. Belgium defends her flats with a hundred thousand men, and the marshes of Holland are secured by sixty thousand Dutch. The State of Dessau, in Germany, threatens its neighbours with fifteen hundred soldiers, while Reuss guards its dignity and independence with three hundred tntantry and fifty horse. But the great powers, as they are called, take away from the peaceable and remunerative employments of trade or agriculture an amount of labour which would be an incalculable increase to the riches and happiness of the world. The aggregate soldiery of Europe is upwards of four millions of men—just nine times the largest calculation of the Roman Legions. The ships of Europe—to the smaller of which the greatest galleys of the ancient world would scarcely serve as tenders—amount to 2,113. The number of guns they carry, against which there is nothing we can take as a measure of value in ancient warfare, but which are now the greatest and surest criterions of military power, amounts to 45,387. But this does not give so clear a view of the alteration in relative power as is yielded by an inspection of some of the sepa rate items. Gaul, included within the Rhine, was kept in order by six or seven legions. The French Empire has on foot an army of six hundred and fifty thousand men, and a fleet of four hundred sail. Britain, which was garrisoned by thirty thousand men, had, in 1855, an army at home and abroad of six hundred and sixty thousand men, and a fleet of five hundred and ninety-one ships of war, with an armament of seventeen thousand guns. The disjointed States which now constitute the Empire of Austria, and which occupied eight legions in their defence, are now in possession of an army of six hundred thousand men ; and Prussia, whose army exceeds half a million of soldiers, was unheard of except in the dieous -1110111 of geographers, :- . -,. i '' THE PRESS, JANUARY 30, 1858. The third century is characterised by its want of order and central unity—by its numerous competitors for power, anti by the absence of settled government or security for property. These evils were increased in the fourth through the additional elements of dis cord introduced by the settlement of the Goths ; but mitigated in some degree by the establish- ment of Christianity. Of the succeeding period one great feature is the growth of eccle siastical authority ; to which, however, the sixth century presents a formidable antago nist in the person of Mahommed, the conquests of whose successors bring us to the close of the next, and are in the eighth diverted from Christendom by the conquest of Charles Martel. During the same time, the monar chical principle is being restored in the State by Charlemagne, and introduced in the Church by the exaltation of the Bishop of Rome to sovereign power. Want of space obliges us to omit his characterisations of the remaining centuries. Mr. White is generally accurate, or we should not have ventured, in spite of his good writing, to recommend him; but we think that in one or two instances his views are not borne out by the support of other historians. At p. 394 he says, speaking of Charles V., " Sel " fish as Henry, dissolute as Francis, obstinate "as Martin [Luther], his career was now " drawing to a close." Without feeling any enthusiasm for Charles V., it must surely be admitted that the author here does him great injustice. Selfish and obstinate he un doubtedly was, but dissolute, in the sense in which the term is applied to the French king, he was not. No one, of course, could assert him to have been a man of immaculate mo rality : he had, in fact, one or more natural children. But this is very different from the shameless excesses which disgraced his rival to almost the last hour of his existence, and which,unlike the Emperor's quiet gormandising at Yuste, were blazoned in the face of the whole world. Again, Mr. White's view of the tenets of the Albigenses is different from that which is usually entertained. He benevolently sup poses them to have been calumniated in being charged withManicheism,but Hallam,Michelet, Henri Martin,and Dean Milman support the op posite view, and, unless he has had access to fresh evidence, we do not see how that which has been brought forward by these writers is to be overthrown. The question of the real guilt of the Templars (on the occasion of their aboli tion in 1314) is more obscure : Mr. White appears disposed to take their side, and re marks, truly enough, that if they had con tinued strong no accusations would ever have been heard of. But we should like to have known what he thinks of the testimony which Von Hanmer-Purgstall professes to have de rived from an examination of their monu ments, and which has inclined even the im partial Hallam, according to his latest views, to favour their condemnation. We must also notice one strange oversight. No account is eiven of the taking of Constantinople by the Turks ! This book, on the whole, appears to be exactly suited for that large class of persons who, without being ignorant of modern his tory, have vague ideas both of particular epochs and of its general progress and connec tion. It presupposes some knowledge, and would be useless to a mere beginner; so that the reproach which has been cast upon it of being " likely to promote the conceit and " superficiality of the lower portion of the " middle classes" will thus fall to the ground. No one, we think, who reads it will fail to find it stimulate his curiosity and lead him to fol• low the author about among his authorities; and we could imagine no more improving occu pation for a slightly-advanced historical stu dent than to go through it and supply it by his own research with all its appropriate refe rences to larger works. Neither such students nor even the more cursory reader will, we are persuaded, find their time thrown away in its perusal. We hope to meet Mr. White again, and will venture to suggest that the Land marks of Ecclesiastical History" would form a good subject for his pen. 115 The Timely Retreat ; or, a Year in Bengal Before the Mutinies. By Two Sisters. Lon don : Bentley. Ix speaks well for the application of science to the purposes of transport and for the general facilities of travel, when we find two young sisters—we feel confident of their youth —Nora and Maud, instead of contenting them selves with Florence or the South of France for the winter, quietly packing thei r boxes and taking return tickets for Calcutta and back. And there is a more serious consideration in volved in this fact. Young women appear to be upon the verge of discovering that men are in the way as travelling companions, and that " unprotecteds " obtain attention in the exact ratio of their utter helplessness, by exciting a rivalry in the hearts of every two men thoy meet. To say the least of it, this must be more pleasant than being tied to a fellow who has no sympathy for any ill the travelling flesh is heir too, no heart for the frailty of a bandbox, and who, if he every morning pay the hotel bill and look after the luggage, assumes a right to be disagreeable for the rest of the day. If we wish to preserve our rights of protection over our sisters, we must reform our evil ways, be cheerful over their luggage, and amusing upon the items of their hotel bills. But let us leave this abstract question, and hasten to the case in point. The two young sisters who present us with their reminiscences of a tour in India, one day in November, 1855, in a wild fit for adven ture, resolved upon making a dash on their brother at Meerut. London was empty, and Paris was dull, and the " brilliant idea" crossed their minds that they might " just run out " alone overland to India, take a peep at Keith " and the country, and be back in next to no " The more they thought of it the more " delightful " the plan appeared, for besides the complete novelty, and the dash of independence and adventure that seasoned the plan, an unusual opportunity of collecting an outfit " of unparalleled elegance," presented by the close of the French Exhibition, more fully decided them. " Mamma" saw ob jection to the scheme—fiftythree dresses a-piece were purchased, besides " an immense variety " of nondescript articles, including, we presume, some of the loveliest Paris bunnets and boots; the boxes were packed, the tickets were taken, and off our fair young travellers started for Southampton and Calcutta. Leave-taking is always unpleasant, and our two Sisters enjoyed all that luxury of wretchednes leaving home inflicts upon im pressible natures. Your prospects never look promising at that particular moment : Never can I forget the dreary desolation of that after noon : utterly rejecting all the steward's offers of consola tion in the shape of dinner or tea, we spent our time in wondering bow we could have been such fools as to under take the journey at all, and reiterating to each other our unalterable determination to return within the twelve month—while, to complete our miseries, that dreadful band struck up in the saloon, and we were almost driven frantic by being compelled to listen to all the waltzes and gallops of last season, bringing up such vivid pictures of bygone days, when we never dreamt that steamboats and India were so soon to be our lot.. The route from Southampton to Suez is tolerably well known, and our Sisters met with the usual adventures they saw the Sphinx and " did" the Pyramids, and we are bound to say bore that test of temper, crossing the Desert, with commendable patience. At Suez, however, Miss Nora discovered that she had sustained a fearful loss at the hands of the Arabs. One of her bags was stolen, and it was the bag which contained " a complete " set of hair-cushions rollers, anti two lovely " plaits of hair," with which Miss Nora with wise precaution had stocked herself, to guard against the possible ravages of fever. At Suez you awake for the first timo to a full consciousness of one feature of Oriental life —your cabin is usually full of cockroaches : The Bengal was swarming with cockroachesof enormous size, and in a rampant state of hunger and liveliness, apparently ready to attack anything. Hundreds were slaughtered in the energetic chase that immediately com menced, but the more you killed the more numerous their companions became, till at length, despairing and fatigued we sat down to contemplate cur position. Mrs. de Vim stood for two hours outside her cabin, deaf to the expostu lations of her husband and the stewardess, positively re.