The Press. — London, England, 1855-03-24 00:00:00

tbatcrt 14, 1855. English Constitution is to "learned" amateur instructors of youth. It was about the year 1840 that Mr. Raikes, having to deliver three lectures to a mechanics institution at Chester, selected the British Con stitution for his theme, and it is to this cir cumstance that we are indebted for the bulky volumes before us. For, notwithstanding the labours of De Lolpae, Blackstone, Hallam, Lord Mahon, Lord John Russell, and Macau lay, whose works he freely criticises, Mr. Raikes considered it " a remarkable defect in " our educational literature that there is lite " rally no book that we can put into the hands " of a young mau or intelligent boy for the " purpose of conveying an idea of the growth " and present state of the Constitution ; ' and to supply this " palpable deficiency " the three lectures were worked up into two volumes, intended to be " learned enough to be worth "reading, but yet popular enough to be read." We would speak of Mr. Raikes kindly : he died shortly after the second volume of his work issued from the press, but he admitted that he possessed " little fitness for a work of this " moment," and it is evidently a mistake to think of extending a " Popular Sketch" of our Constitution to a thousand octavo pages. The plan pursued by the author is to narrate events and to comment on them as he pro (seeds. He claims the merit of " viewing all " public acts and questions by the light of " moral truth, and referring all men and man " ners to the stern and immutable principles " of right and wrong, apart from any national "or sectarian predilections " In this frame of mind it is not wonderful that Mr. Raikes should find no heroes, and little to praise in the proud drama and moving incidents of English story. The characters pass in pro cession before him ; to each he applies the one unbending measure, and as none come up to the mark, all—Trojan and Tyrian—Charles and Cromwell—Strafford and Hampden—are dismissed with equal censure, each to his bloody or desecrated grave Weighed in the balances of eternal truth, all that is usually accounted virtuous and great would doubtless be found wanting, but a modern historian is not an inspired prophet sent to " cry against " Nineveh, and, if he were, he might re member that Jonah was asked, " Doest thou " well to be angry ?" In human affairs there remains, apart from those questions on which all are agreed, a general balance of virtue or vice, wisdom or folly, which may be struck in every age. On isolated points—on episodes in the main and onward action — opinions of persons of the same general way of thinking may well differ, but in the effect of the broad whole there will be a concurrence of sentiment; the result may be considered good or evil, and those who brought it about may merit our censure or our praise. But it is not as a whole that Mr. Raikes views our constitutional progress. He examines each act in each stage of it separately, and, as he finds some evil in everything, he can nowhere see good. This may be religious truth, but it is not historical truth, and it is not the way in which history should be written . The fame of great men is a great national inheritance. We should tread lightly and speak lowly and reverently when we approach their graves, and be not prompt to refer to the decalogue and say this man has violated the seventh commandment and that the sixth. In the history of David why dwell exclusively ou the episode of Uriah? In their limited mental scope, what can Smith and Jones know of " those who do the tasks of peril in this " world of life ? " what of their fiercer pas sions—their stronger temptations ? It jars upon the ear to hear a respectable gentleman, sitting in his easy-chair, sipping his port, complacently pass sentence on the mighty amongst men, according to a little Rhadaman than code of his own. If Hallam chills and repels by a somewhat ostentatious assump tion of judicial impartiality, he yet brings to his exposition of constitutional develop ment vast learning, a style which, if cold, is always clear, and which occasionally rises into noble eloquence. Mr. Raikes, without any of Mr. Hallam's merits, possesses his refrigera tive qualities in tenfold intensity, together with many others which are peculiarly his own; and the result is, that he has failed-in PtnE PRESS. his design, for, even if his book were " learned enough to be worth reeding," it would never become sufficiently popular to be read. It is characteristic of the narrow views of the author that he makes the case of that un fortunate woman Mary Jones, who, being driven to desperation by want, stole some article from a shop, the text for fierce denun ciation of our ancient criminal law. Ab stractedly, it may be cruel to hang for any crime except murder, but many good and wise people thought otherwise, both long before Mary Jones was born and long after she was "justified." About the period of Mrs. Jones's untimely end, Boswell came to breakfast with Johnson, having first sharpened his appetite by attending the execution of fifteen critni nals, chiefly horse-stealers and highwaymen ; yet neither the lord of Auchinleck nor the philosopher of Fleet-street expressed horror on the occasion ; and many years afterwar is Miss Edgeworth—a good woman in her way—warmly praises the " wholesome severity of the ex " ecutive in never relaxing the rigour of the law "in favour of forgers." Mr. Raikes should remember that humanity, like all other human developments, is progressive, and that the sentiments of men in general are formed by the age in which they live. Sir Walter Scott said that he never con versed with any one from whom he did not learn something ; and a thousand octavo pages should reward the patience of the reader by teaching much. But there is only one chapter in the whole work before us from which ordinary readers would derive instruc tion, and that is the last—on our system of jurisprudence. There is in it much sterling stuff. In treating of uses and trusts a de lightful dilemma is stated for the discussion of dilettanti litterateui a. Feoffees to uses, he it known, are, in less technical English, simply trustees; but before the Ist Richard 111., c. 1, there was no power to compel the feoffee to execute his trust. In the eye of the law the property was his own, and he might have appropriated it to his own use : Yet it must be observed, to the credit of our national character, that very few instances are recorded of any faithless and dishonourable use of an advantage recognised and enforced by three out of the four superior courts; and of the extensive temptation to which some idea may be formed from the fact, that at the accession of Richard 111. the greater part of England was enfeoffei to him to uses. And from this dry and forensic point of view some curious and novel glimpses may be caught of the last and most doubtful act in the great drama of the civil wars of the Roses. It might reasonably be asked, on one side, how it came that a prince equally odious for private vices and political depravity u Richard 111. is represented, should have re ceived the marked because voluntary trusteeship of nenrly half the landed property of England. While on the other side it might he urged with almost equal force, that such a hold u his trusteeship must have given him on the pro perty of the country would have in no small degree con tributed to his usurpation of the crown. Either of these hypotheses, based on stubborn facts that have not admitted of poetic colouring nor party misstatement, but which have received the solemn recognition of an act of the Legisla• tore, would be a fitter medium through which to view the stormy reign and doubtful character of Richard 111., than the eloquence of Shakapeare, or the scepticism of Walpole. What Mr. Raikes means by " either of these " hypotheses based on stubborn facts" it is not easy to say ; but perhaps he intended to express that both those alio denounce and those who defend that king might deduce strong arguments in support of their respec tive opinions from the facts he mentions. He was a good man, or he would not have been so trusted; and a bad man, or he would not have employed the influence he had acquired to usurp the crown. The explanation seems to us perfectly clear. Richard became trustee, not simply from his private character, but his position. Ono so near the throne had too great a stoke in the country to play the rogue on a small scale; and before the Manchester school had arisen, it would have been a dan gerous experiment for any one to attempt to abuse confidence reposed in him by the pro prietors of more than half the soil of England. When it was accomplished at a later day, cir cumstances had materially changed. Of this chapter on jurisprudence we think highly, and published separately as a pamphlet it would be useful. We may notice one other interesting state ment. It is, " that sonic American loyalists, in despair of maintaining the connection " with the British tudnarchy, as personified 265 " by Lord North's administration, seriously " opened communication with the second Pre " tender, the Charles Edward of 1745, offering " him the independent crown of transatlantic "Rritain." For this assertion Mr. Raikes gives no authority, yet it is curious to reflect how different a character might have been given, not only to American progress, but to modern history, had this idea been carried into effect. As one of the accidents illus trating the destiny of the world, it deserves more notice than most of those which Voltaire collected, the spilling a cup of tea over the dress of Queen Anne's favourite included. The faults of this work and we are sorry to say that they are numerous and heavy—may be referred to the haste with which it was written. Of the second volume Mr. Raikes boasted " that it was not " till the end of April, Mt, that ho was able " to write a line " of it It is not by a pen that goes off at score and never stops to revise, that a work of this nature can be satisfactorily written. No works demand more conscientious care than educational works, and in spite of the evident wish Mr. Raikes had to be useful, the book, as a whole, can only remain (as long as it may remain) a monument of ill-directed labour, and of that busy unprofitable dili gence which builds card houses and traces characters in the sand. Jerusalem Revisited. By W. H. Bartlett. With Illustrations. London : Arthur Hall. Sucu of our readers as have not yet seen this attractive volume will, we believe, thank us for bringing it under their notice. The author died while on his way home to England, after preparing this work for the press, and " found " a sepulchte in the waters of the Mediterra " neap, whose shores he had so often and so " successfully illustrated." The literary merit of this book is higher, we think, than that of any of the writer's previous productions : the present aspect of the Holy City is elaborately described, and a history is given of the pro gress of the English Church and bishopric from their foundation to the date of the author's visit. The social results of the mis sion are stated to be highly satisfactory : Whatever may be thought of the principle, in a religious point of view, of this miseion, one thing is certain, it haa un deniably promoted the cause of European civilisation in Jeetnialem. Wherever the English establish themselves, they never fail to introduce a higher standard of comfort, improved sanitary regulations, to give a stimulus to in duNtry and agriculture. The neighbouring peasantry find their account in this new state of things, and are Mei eas ingly sensible that their interests are interwmen with those of the Franks. They get not only a better market, but better prices also. liut this increase of animal comforts is the lowest result that has followed the settlement of the English. A feeling of rivalry on the part of other sects has led them to emulate the educational measures of the mission, and a general activity has succeeded to the stag- nant torpor of ignorance and sloth that has so long settled over the Eastern churches. The society of the place has been enlarged and improved. The consulates of the priu- Meal foreign powers are no longer filled up by Syrians, but by educated and often distinguished natives of the different countries represented, who form an intellectual and refined circle ; so that in winter, when the city is visited by numerous travellers, as niaity as fifty or silty in vitations have been issued fur an evening party at the con sulate. The Franks in the city are now every way in the ascendant; their numbers and influence are continually on the increase, while in both respects the Turks are as steadily losing ground. In another place we read : While other cities in the Turkish empire are falling to ruin and decay, being depopulated and barbarieell, Jeru salem is rapidly springing up into new life. European manners and European wants are bringing its civilisation and enterprising industry. Good hotels sre found to ac commodate moat travellers better than the Casa N nova, so long the only shelter for the Frank pilgrim of whatever nation or religion. There are shops, where all kinds of European goods find a ready sale for their commodities ; carpenters, watchmakers, blacksmiths, glaziers, dyers, laundresses, shoemakers, ex , exercise their various callings. There are three flourishing European tailors. The daily markets are supplied abundantly with good mutton ; and poultry and eggs are cheap. Many hundred goats are kept for the sole purpose of supidying Fruit the and . city with milk ; and of late, cow's intik is to be had. vegetables are abundant ; and good bread is made by several bakers. Much sympathy has recently been excited by the distress of the Jewish inhabitants of the Holy City. They number about 11,000, and they are continually increasing from the desire of the poorer brethren in all parts of the world to visit the city of David, and trom the belief among them, also, that the 1 WI