The Press. — London, England, 1854-04-01 00:00:00

306 is greater than that observed in the British colonies. The climate of Canada is less severe than we in England are apt to think. The ther mometer indicates great changes of heat and cold ; but these are less felt in a dry and clear atmosphere than among the fogs and damps of this country. Mr. Brown does not mention a fact which is, we believe, beyond doubt—that the Canadian seasons are gradually growing milder,owing to the disappearance of the forests. These, in their uncleared state, acted as a vast natural icehouse, retaining the snow of winter until late in the year. Thus the harbour of Toronto is now rarely frozen over, whereas fifty years ago, as old residents have told us, ►t was never known to be open during the months of January and February. Wages and Labour. A Practical Treatise on the Condition of the Working Classes. By J. R. M'Culloch, Esq. London : Routledge. A USEFUL and opportune little treatise, not containing any novelty in economical doctrine, but repeating in plain language many sound truths which men are apt to forget. Mr. M'Culloch begins by exploding that popular fallacy which draws a line of demarcation be tween the so called " working class " and the presumed idleness of those above them in social position. " The rich," he says truly, " have little in common with the gods of " Epicurus." Work is common to all—neces sary to all ; and head work not always the most easy or the most pleasant. But the principal doctrine inculcated is that of self-dependence. The working man is warned that his fortune depends mainly, if not wholly, on himself ; that where law is ad ministered fairly, and order maintained with out needless restrictions on individual freedom, Government can do nothing more. " The " lazy, the unskilful, and the improvident " workman, whether in Australia or China, " England or Russia, will always be poor and " miserable They are the worst ene " mies of the poor who conceal or disguise " this great truth." Mr. M'Culloch briefly discusses emigration —remarks that those who go out are not usually of the poorest class, but of that imme diately above it—and thinks that paupers and those likely to become such might be helped out at the public expense. He argues in fa vour of high wages as tending to increase industry by rewarding it, and as the best se curity for property and law. He disserts on the theory of wages after Adam Smith, of whose chapter on that subject a large part is reproduced. Combinations are next dealt with, and just censure passed on the laws which for nearly five hundred years prohibited them. To these laws, though thirty years have now passed since their abolition, Mr. M'Culloch ascribes an injurious effect, as they have established a precedent for interference, which may be abused on the contrary side. He argues the question of strikes—contends that they are injurious to the workman rather than to the employer—and hints that they may occasionally be encouraged by employers in other parts of the country, who of course profit by a suspension of rivalry. But they are an evil which will cure itself, and which the Legislature cannot interpose to cure. He cites as a precedent the miners' strike of 1844, which was carried on by 40,000 hands, and started with a reserve fund of 24,0001., indo pendent of subscriptions received from trades' unions in all parts of the country. N otwith standing these resources it failed after five months' trial, in consequence of the importa tion of labourers from Scotland and Ireland. He invites attention to a feature of the ques• tion not much noticed hitherto—the encou ragement given to foreign rivalry by this do mestic dissension. It is stated on the authority of Messrs. Du Fay, of Manchester, that the demand for raw cotton in 1853 increased seven and a half per cent. in Germany, Holland, and Russia, while in Great Britain it fell off one and a half per cent. Some remarks on savings banks, education, and the state of the poor, conclude the volume. THE PRESS. NAVAL FICTION. Singleton Fontenoy. A Naval Novel. By James Hannay. London : Routledge and Co. This is, at the present moment, a most seasonable reprint; and, as we had no opportunity of noticing its first publication, we may here comment on its highly remarkable qualities. Since Marryat's day " Singleton Fontenoy " is decidedly the best nautical novel, and we are not surprised at the run upon it just now, as one of the characters of the tale is a hero of the hour, none other than " Old Charley" himself. But this last circumstance, though influencing many, would not sway us in judging the merits of a novel which has the permanent interest of an admirably graphic style, variegated with shrewd, worldly sense, and made palatable by a piquancy of sarcasm, in which keen raillery is blended with healthy, manly humour. "Singleton Fontenoy" is full of life, of characters, and incidents, preserved with singular fidelity upon its literary canvas. The hero's adven tures take us through a variety of scenes on board H.M.S. the Patagonian, when that vessel was with the expedition to Syria in 1840. If "Tom Cringle" had given us his Mediterranean " Log," ho could scarcely have excelled " Singleton Fontenoy," lin va riety of matter and freshness of style. The storming of Beyrout is described with remarkable vivacity, and we have a description of the plague on board a ship of war, in which the selfishness of human nature, the recklessness of the nautical profession, and the individual humours of some of the characters of the fiction are all touched on with much of human pa thos, and perhaps too much of Rabelaisian satire. Its style is, after all, the most remarkable feature in " Singleton Fontenoy," for, though the author in his sarcastic touches and manly English style recals to us both Thackeray and Cobbett (of whose " Rural Rides" we suspect him to be a great admirer), there is throughout the presence of original observation, unborrowed fancy, and an independence of utterance. Written without any definite regard to artistic form —like most nautical novels—it reads with the charm of the private diary of a witty " original," whom some caprice of fortune had placed in the midshipman's cockpit. In " Campbell's Lives of the Admirals" (for the portraits in which there is a tradition that Charles Lamb sate!) there is no such faithful likeness of a great naval character as we have here presented to us. The scene is the coast of Syria:— " Singleton, having copied the order, went on deck, and ordered his boat to be called alongside. While waiting for it, he saw a figure emerge from the cabin, under the poop. There was a sensation on deck, and my hero perceived at once that the figure was that of a great man. " He was dressed in a rather seedy uniform, and had an awkward stoop ; his face was eccentric, but expressed power. He crossed his hands behind his back, and began to pace the deck, with a gait that was as remarkable as everything else about him. It was Benbow, with a dash of Grimaldi ! " The Patagonian's cutter was just coming alongside for Fontenoy, when a small gig shot between her and the ship's side. A young man about twenty ran up, and came on deck ; he was in the uniform of a mate, but had a straw hat on, with the word Viper upon the black ribbon, in gold letters ; his face was most remarkable for its grave beauty, its serenity, and its power ; and Singleton felt an interest awakened by him such as he had not experienced for many a long day. His eye dwelt upon him anxiously as he ac costed the officer of the watch. Ho perceived that though what he said influenced that gentleman obviously, yet that some difficulty prevented their conversation from being satisfactory. " Who is he? What does he want ? ' asked the great man, stopping abruptly, and taking a pinch of snuff. " Officer from the brig Viper, sir, said the lieutenant of the watch, touching his hat, come to speak about the stores for the Alexandrian squadron. The great man fixed his eye on him, looked at him from top to toe in quiringly, and then said, in his peculiar accent : " Wall, sir ; what is it ? Speak oot.' " The young man bowed very formally and gracefully. " I have the honour, sir,' he said, to bear a message from my commander, Commander Tinsley, of the Viper ; he desires me most respectfully to submit that the size of the vessel makes it impossible for ns to carry the stores in question. We have not room, sir.' Here the young man bowed again, and Singleton thought he had never seen so much manly courtesy, or so fine a bearing. " The great man very deliberately pulled out his snuff box, supplied his nose, and powdered his coat as usual. Then he looked again at the speaker from top to toe in quiringly, and spoke as follows: " Wall, sir ; ye will go black to the Viper, and ye will see Commander Tinsley, and ye will tall him ye have seen me. And ye will tall him that I oerder him to take these stores on board ! And ye wull tall him that if he has no got room in the lower deck he must put them on the upper deck, and that if he has no got room on the upper deck he must fill his cabin with them. And he must stow them in bulk in the cot where he sleeps. For lam dammed' (this was said with a wonderful broad effect) ' if they shall not go!' " As he concluded the great man glanced to see the effect this speech had on some of his crew who were gathered near the main bitts ; for ho was not above courting popularity in various ways, this great man ! "The young officer of the Viper bowed as pleasantly as if he had bean bowing in a ballroom, in reply to this addrEss, and moved to the gangway to regain his boat. Singleton SATURDAY, was near there as he passed, and was again impressed by his face. It had so much serenity and power. " They were near each other for a moment. Perhaps it was the curiosity in Singleton's intellectual countenance that arrested the stranger's attention. He looked at him earnestly. Singleton felt impelled to speak to him. The man who has never experienced that impulse by which we seek the friendship of a stranger from some undefinable attraction—as inexplicable as the influence of flowers or stars, yet quite as certain—is himself a stranger to true friendship, and still ignorant of the alphabet of God." The writing of the above passage is a fair specimen of the spirit and graphic force of this most readable volume. Not only in quiet portraiture but in descrip tions of more stirring scenes does the author excel. The events impending over the Baltic give additional interest to passages like the following "Bertie stood in the stern of the launch, with his purple face glowing, and angry and savage as the prospect of fighting made him. Fontenoy went with him and stood alongside him. The heavy boat, with twenty long pon- derous oars keeping time, and its carronade raised in the bow and standing above the bulwarks, like some savage beast on the watch, moved heavily along. Silence, for and aft!' cried Bertie, looking round fiercely. The pin nace and barge kept line steadily, one on each side. The first cutter led the way in front. No sound was heard, ex cept the measured, monotonous jerk of the oars in the rowlocks. And so the little boat squadron advanced till they reached the Rorer and Viper. They drew up and laid on their oars here, for now began the work of the frigate and the brig. " How white in the sunlight gleamed the city's wall— the tints of grey that time had painted it with brightening in the rays ; in the centre a spot was marked for the Rorer and Viper to fire at, and break an opening in. The boats waited to see this done. " Like lightning from the cloud broke the fire from the fri gate's side. Like lightning from the cloud broke the fire from the brig. Down fell the shot on the wall in torrents. It dashed, it stormed, it poured. The grey wall withered and broke like thin ice. It peeled away like the bark of a dead tree. The white smoke from the vessels sailed slowly away over the surface of the water, and the eyes of every one in the boat were fixed on the doomed spot on the wall. Light broke through it suddenly and houses were seen! The path was opened! "Off went the boats, Patagonian's first cutter taking the lead at a gallop. It was a brilliant race—a great Derby of the sea ! The cutter made the running, followed by the barge and pinnace of Patagonian—boats of Rorer and Viper —heavy old launch of Patagonian thundering after them, with cm-remade frowning in the bow, and a match smoking beside it. Give way !' cried Bertie, grasping his cutlass. The men laboured like madmen, with hot sweat on their brows. Fontenoy grasped the ivory handle of hie dagger. ' Throw away that d—d thing,' said Bertie, giving him a cutlass. He grasped it in hi 3 hot hand, his blood was mad dened with excitement, and he longed to bound upon the beach. "The pace is tremendous. Three hundred yards more to run—and then the goal. Death is the goal for many of these brave riders. Patagonian's first cutter keeps the lead with a frightful stride, and reaches the beach. The lieu tenant in her waves his sword, and he and his men jump on shore. Fire gleams along the wall. The loopholes are spitting it. Two of the cutter's crew drop and roll on the shingle, never to move more. • • • • • " Such was the state of affairs when Singleton, jumping up to take a good aim, felt a blow ou the arm ; he started, and fell overboard—lie felt the water gurgling in his mouth —he struck and plunged—his head smote against some thing. For a moment a blue world of light and colour swam around him—he seemed to be dreaming—he tried to speak, like one struggling with nightmare ; light seemed rushing into his mouth, then a cloud eclipsed his soul, and he was conscious of no more." The force and vivacity of this writer indicate that he will not be easily exhausted, and we infer that his future publications will sustain, and possibly enhance, his reputation. An Account of the Progress of the Expedition to Cen tral Africa under Richardson, Barth, Overtveg, and Vogel, in 1850-1-2-3. By Augustus Petermann, F R.G.S., dr,c. &c. London : Stanford. Tiiis important work, which is published "by au " thority of her Majesty's Foreign-office," consists of maps and illustrations, with descriptive notes, "con " strutted and compiled from official and private " materials." The maps are on a large scale, but the superficial extent of the book will prevent it being more than a work of reference. We make this remark because, from the great and growing interest felt in African discovery, we believe that, in a small, cheap, and popular form, a work of this nature, bear ing Mr. Petermann's name, would have a considerable circulation. In its present shape, however, it will bo an indispensable addition to the geographical library. In submitting this work to the Royal Geographical Society of London Mr. Petermann has addressed to the President and Council a letter, commenting upon "an attack which has been made on this expedition" in a report of the proceedings of the society. The spirit pervading that report Mr. Petermann thus dc scribes : "One further point as to the animus of the said report. It says,— " In connection with Lake Chid and other African names, it may be observed that the Germans are adopting r