The Press. — London, England, 1855-04-28 00:00:00

APRIL 28, 1855. practice to exist for a single day, is really as much a matter of reproach as it is of wonder; but so it was. And the great Government of England most disgracefully pur- chased the exemption of its merchant vessels from liability to such atrocious treatment, by paying an annual subsidy to these lawless Moorish robbers. Yet how could the practice be put down, ex cept by an exercise of the force which, ac cording to Mr. Buckingham's principles, ought never to be employed? The bombardment of Algiers—an Exmouth •would be worth some thing now—is one of the most desperate conflicts on record. How shall we reconcile condemnation of that engagement with unsparing censure of the Government which submitted to the practice it for ever abolished? Mr. Buckingham is often illogical in this way, when facts or necessities come in conflict with his prejudices. He was much troubled in conscience after his slaughter of the pirates, but found some comfort in the reflection that., even if willing to sacrifice his own life (about the lawfulness of which he had reasonably some doubt), he was at all events bound to do his utmost to protect the lives of his crew, and his wife and child, and to protect the pro perty of his employers. His autobiography is best described in his own words, as the " Story of His Life." It might, from the specimen of these two volumes, have been vastly compressed with advantage, but for the incidents alone it will reward perusal. The worst feature of the narrative so far, is the vanity which leads Mr. Buckingham to print scraps of verse which a schoolboy might be ashamed of, and generally to obtrude himself in propriti persona on the reader. Egotism to be sure is natural to autobio graphy, and a thorough egotist may be a most delightful companion ; but then the egotism must be intellectual, as Byron's was, or so thoroughly characteristic and unconscious (as in the case of Pepys) as to present us with a perfect portrait. The egotism of Mr. Buck ingham is the mere display of a vain man— too rational to amuse, and too dull to excite, the reader. The first verse of his song to the tune of "The anchor's weighed" will be enough for a specimen of his poetical powers : The ship's unmoored, fresh breezes fill The sails, to waft me, love, away; And hark ! the boatswain's whistle shrill, Pipes to the bustling crew—" Belay !" But oh ! wliile mirth their laughing temples crown, As in the sparkling bowl their cares they drown, l pensive sit, and sing in sighs to thee, — The anchor's weighed!—Farewell! Remember me. The " laughing-temples " and " sparkling bowl " style of verse is not likely to gain much favour in the present day, and it is a pity that the author should have introduced these songs into his narrative. The one he com posed in a fit of unconsciousness—(see i., p. 228)—is, perhaps naturally, the best of his efforts in this way. But we turn to the more pleasing task of giving some account of his adventures. - ----- --- He was born in 1786 in a village near Falmouth, and early contracted a love for the sea. He lost his father while he was a child, and seems, perhaps from the absence of parental control, to have been a remarkably precocious child. When he was eight years old he fell desperately in love with a little girl : It happened that the young lady was taken ill, and when the intelligence was communicated to me I was anxious to be permitted to visit her; but this being forbidden by the medical attendant, as likely to produce an excitement which might aggravate the fever under which she suffered, I became distracted, locked myself up in my bedroom, overcome with the most profound grief, refused all suste nance, was deprived of all sleep, and in a few days was re duced to the brink of danger myself. - - - When her death was announced to him he became comforted from the conviction that " her spirit had passed into the regions of " bliss as an angel of light." He attended the funeral, and being subsequently missed, was found in a state of torpor amounting almost to in- sensibility, stretched along upon the grave of the departed, and clinging to the earth of her new made grave, as if to realise the scriptural expression, " they were lovely and pleasant in their lives; and in their deaths they were not divided." This episode of his childhood is headed " Early Victim of Love—Romantic Display of the Passion;" and he relates that, The earliest developed of all my tendencies were the enterprising, the devotional, the sympathising, and the amatory. THE PRESS. He gives instances to show the correctness of his description ; but as a child he was less singular than he appears to think in poring over New Testament pictures, and iu being able to recite " The Babes in the Wood " and " The Beggar's Petition." When nine years old he insisted on going to sea, and he tells that a relative of his family in whose ship he sailed had orders to disgust him with the sea by " the severest exactions of duty at all times " and seasons, by extra watching, frequent " mast-headings," &c. A fund mother would scarcely have given such instructions for the treatment of her boy. Like most of the crew, he took with him some goods for sale : My own adventure on this first voyage was a very humble one, not exceeding in value NI. sterling ; for in this, as in everything else, it VIM decided that the experi ment on my sea-going propensity should be made as dis agreeable and as little profitable as possible. The wonder is that a boy of nine years old should be trusted with so much. Elsewhere he says that his " nautical instruments were well packed and in beautiful order, and that a small supply of books was furnished him for the voyage"—circumstances not well according with the instructions to make him as uncom fortable as possible, especially as a little later he says : My stock of wearing apparel, books, nautical instru• meats, &c., with which 1 had been liberally supplied by my dear mother and sisters, could not have coat less than 1001. sterling. The passages are only worth noting as raising a suspicion that Mr. Buckingham is always disposed to strongly exaggerate what ever concerns himself, and that he is there fore in such matters not a very trustworthy witness. In one of his voyages to the Penin sula he was taken prisoner and marched into Spain, where he met with another love ad venture : The governor or superintendent of the prison had a handsome and dark-eyed young daughter about my own age—a little past ten years old—but in Spain girls at ten are as mature as English girls at sixteen. She occa sionally attended the prisoners with their food, and con ceived, as she afterwards confessed, a violent passion for me, which she found it impossible to control. I may ob serve that even in England I was considered to be a very handsome boy, and the charm of a clear complexion, rosy cheeks, light blue eyes, and light brown curly hair, so unusual in Spain, made me appear, it would seem, a per fect Adonis in her love-seeing eyes. She, therefore, re vealed to me her inmost thoughts in her own impassioned language, which I had learnt during my voyages to Lisbon in conjunction with the Portuguese, and which I now sufficiently understood to comprehend every one of her burning ph.rases, impressed as they often were by kisses of the most thrilling intensity. OD his return to England his mother per suaded him to abandon the sea, and he was placed with a bookseller at Plymouth, where he much frequented the theatre, and wrote a five•act drama, which he presented to the manager, who returned it to him with the highest commendations of its excellence, but with the observation that to put such a drama pro. perly on the stage would require an outlay of from 3uol. to 0001. to do justice to its scenery, costume, and decorations ; and that only a first-rate London company could furnish the requisite amount and variety of talent to perform it well. Immediately after this he received some re ligious impressions, and he relates : I became a confirmed Calvinist of the most rigid school, as firmly believing myself to be one of thQ elect as any of the teachers of unconditional predestination. Then he " relapsed into worldliness; " volun teered to a man-of-war ; was disgusted with the severity of the discipline and escaped ; entered a lawyer's office; quitted it after a few months' experience ; and for two years afterwards re mained happily idle. The death of his mother at eighteen rendered him completely his own master. She was possessed of considerable property, which she left in the hands of trustees, who allowed the children an income for their support, A year later our hero fell in love at " first sight," married at nineteen, and, after fifty years' experience of the married state, is now able to write Our mutual attachment has never for a single moment been even clouded with doubt or indifference, but we have loved on to the end with the same fervour as we began ; and at the approaching close of our lives find our constant presence more essential to each other's happiness than at any previous period of our existence. A charming picture, but scarcely recon cileable with what is related in illustration of his amatory tendencies, which he says— found vent in the admiration of every beautiful female face, and such susceptibility to the influence of female 407 fascination, especially when combined with song or music, as to bind me continually in fetters, till these were loosed by some new charm, and then reimposed and riveted afresh. The pleasing prospects of the newly-married pair were soon blighted. The trustee who gained possession of the author's property employed it for speculative purposes, tailed, and the whole fund was lust. The most pleasing feature in Mr. Bucking ham's career is the capacity he possessed for labour, and the success which generally at tended his enterprises. He notes the loss of his property as the first instance of misfor tune he met with distinct from . any fault of his own. Left destitute, he started for Lon don with but a small sum in his pocket, walked from Dover to the metropolis, and took a garret for 2s. dd. a week. He chanced to visit a debating society, where he heard Ciale Jones. He was interested iu the discussion : got up, spoke for an hour, and was so much applauded that he was pressed to become a member of the society and share iu its profits, a proposal he prudently declined, as such clubs were illegal when they engaged in poli tical discussion. The incident must have tended to give Mr. Buckingham confidence in the fluency of his speech. Waiting employment in the ship of a rela tive, he got engaged in a printing-office, and subsequeHtly worked at the Clarendon press iu OxtOrd, then set out as mate of a \Vest Indiainau, and at twenty-one found himself captain of a tine vessel. Subsequently he commanded a Levant trader, took out with him his wife and child, made many friends, was admitted into excellent society, and at twenty-seven had become sufficiently wealthy to think of establishing himself as a shipowner and merchant at Malta. This led to what he marks as the second misfortune of his life without fault of his own. His agent failed, all his property was lust, and he had once more to begin the world anew. He next resolved to break new ground in Egypt, was introduced to Mohammed Ali, pro jected many enterprises, journeyed to Bombay, and was there appointed to the command of a vessel; but as he had no license to stay in India he was compelled to depart notwith standing his remonstrances, and thus con ceived that objection to the monopoly of the Company which afterwards he strenuously exerted himself to abolish. His labours in con nection with this subject constitute, we in cline to think, his best title to credit and re embrance. On his return to Egypt, Moham med Ali appointed him his Envoy to India ; and the narrative ends for the present with some re flections on the privileges he suddenly became invested with as regarded residence in India, by losing his character as an Englishman, and being clothed with a Turkish commission. Ac cording to Mr. Buckingham, it was owing to his advice that the Pacha adopted those measures for the improvement of Egypt which most favorably distinguished his rule. Scattered through the volumes are notices of some remarkable people of the time, and many passages of travel are striking in themselves, and effectively related. The narrative ceases when the author was in his twenty-ninth year; and whatever opinion may be formed of his " story," it is certain that few persons at that age have travelled so much, had such wide experience of life, or displayed so much cleverness in various capacities. PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. ➢ool'B. Stories in Verse. Leigh Hunt. Routledge. The Story of The Legion of Honour, W. Blanchard. Jerrold. Ditto. What J Know of the Late Emperor Nicholas and his Family. E. Tracy Turuerelli. Churton. A Few Months in America. James Robertson. Lowman,. Records of the Chase. Cecil. Ditto. The Serrn•Mile Cabinet. Nemo. John F. Shaw. 7'he Library of Biblical Literature. Vol. 11. Freeman. Scenes from the Life, Labour, and Travels of Paul, the Apostle. Ditto. History of the Corps of Royal Sappers and 3finers. --- 1. W. J. Connolly. Lungmans. The Quarterly Journal of Pure and .4pplied Mallomatice. J. W. Parket. Parisian Etiquette. Shaw. Small Farms. Routledgs. Israel Potter. Ditto. Memoirs of the Court and Cabinets of George 111. Vols. 111. and IV. Duke of Buckingham. Hunt and Blaokatt .