The Press. — London, England, 1857-08-08 00:00:00

We repeat it, in order that in the middle classes men and P wonien may meet with satisfaction and happiness in the general intercourse of social life, it is necessary that both have some direct acquaintance with practical life, that both in some degree undergo the influence of industrial occupation. It is only thus that, in the ranks in question, one sex can understand the other; that the cast of their minds can sufficiently approximate. The barrier that now divides the sexes thus once broken down, there would be much to interest them in common, much that at social meetings would afford material for the interchange of views and sAitiments, much that would afford objects toward the attainment of which both might give their exertion. We do not mean the topics, or aims of business merely, but rather those general interests of society or of individuals, to the understanding or the furtherance of which an acquaintance with the business world is a requisite ; for, as we explained at so much length in our introductory chapter, the whole civilisation of the middle ranks is based on industry—not less in its material aspects than in its intellectual, moral, and social aspects. Sociality, therefore, in the middle classes, must be the flower of industrial activity The conditions of harmony, and mutual understanding, once secured, social intercourse would no longer be a squeezing out of drops of critical remark about the weather, or about passing events equally trivial ; artificialities such as these would be replaced by easy sociality, and by the hearty interchange of sentiment on much commanding mutual understanding, and mutual sympathy—on much possess ing a common interest and a real worth. We often wonder how women of the mid dle class fill up their time until they are married. But, on the other hand, we are doubtful of the efficacy of tile author's receipt for arousing them from this apathetic con dition. They might, indeed, if engaged in some kind of industry, take more serious and responsible views of life. But whereas they now talk twaddle, they would then talk " shop." The author does not seem disposed to admit, as we should do, that there are many excep tions to the character we have just described His sketch of the women of the middle ranks is in sepia, and all shadow. The sympathy between the sexes which he desiderates is no doubt a most delightful thing, but where it occurs is probably the result of subtle con genialities of character, and could not be pro duced by any mere similarity of occupation. And it is so exceedingly uncommon even under the circumstances apparently most calculated to engender it, that a sensible man %will refrain from indulging in the Utopian visions it suggests to him, and will content himself with such happiness as may be vouch- Bated him by other means:— Willi should we faint and fear to live alone Since Heaven has will'd that all alone we die, Nov even the tenderest heart and near our own Knows half the reasons why we smile or sigh? • • • For if one heart with perfect sympathy Beat wish anothe.-, answering love for love, Weak mortals, here entranc'd, on earth would lie, Nor listen fur those heavenly strains above. The Comet of 1550. By J. Russell Hind. London : • J. W. Parker and Son. Tins is an extremely interesting treatise upon the questions which have so severely agitated the elderly feminine mind, as to when the coming comet will appear, and what will be the effect of his appearance upon the earth. Mr. Hind has set himself eight popular questions to answer upon this point, and we are bound to say that his answers are given with more perspicuity than great scientific attainments generally confer. His replies are general and popular, scientific without being too crowded with technical detail, and to readers of all classes certain to prove most entertaining and instructive. In the certainty of the comet of 1550 reappearing about this epoch Mr. Hind does not venture to attach his faith, but he is inclined to believe that there exists a considerable probability that the comet of 1201 and of 1550, allowing for alterations in its rate of movement from the effect of the attraction of the various planets, will complete its circuit round the sun somewhere between the years 1857 and 1801. " An attentive consideration of the various points," observes Mr. Hind, " leads us to infer that the " comet of 1556 will return between the years 1857 " and 1801 (always supposing it to be the same as " that of 1264), but that it is impracticable to deter " mine the exact epoch with the imperfect data in " our possession. There are one or two reasons why " a preference might be claimed for the year 1858 ; " not, however, of sufficient importance to outweigh " the evidence in favour of a later period." To the great question whether danger is to be ap prehended from the near approach of the comet to the earth, or from its collision with the globe, the first point clearly to consider is whether such a col lision is probable. Mr. Hind tells us that it is an event which can happen, but that a vast array of THE PRESS, AUGUST 8, 1857. chances exist against such an exact combination of circumstances as should produce that result. Arago computes them at 280,000,000 to 1. Upon the effect of such a collision, Mr. Hind writes : As regards the chance of meclisnical danger, so to speak, consequent on the actual shock, if filch it can be termed, of a comet, even though it were moving in an opposite direction to that of the earth iu her otbit (or with a possible velocity of some forty miles per second ), we may rest assured there are few, if any, of these bodies coasti tilted of materials of sufficient density or solidity to pro. duce very unpleasant effects in the event of a collision. Popular apprehension, when coiuet•panics have arisen, has been almost exclusively confined to this view of the kind of danger involved in an encounter with a comet— the blew of a large mass capable of producing by the mere force of concussion the most disastrous conse• quences to mankind. Such an occurrence, however, is by no means consistent with our present knowledge of the nature of comets. At the worst, a direct collision would perhaps be comparable only as regard... , the mechanical effect upon the earth to a meeting with a huge cushion. . . Neither is there any reason for apprehension of the effect of a ccmet's attraction upon the waters of our globe, occasionally hinted at in astronomical works, chiefly in those of the last century. It may be mathematically demonstrated, that, even allowing a comet to be of nearly equal mass with the earth, it could notremain long enough in a position to operate upon the ucean in such a manner as to overwhelm the continents, and thus lead to calami tous consequences. Those who may be curious on this subject, a ill find ample information in a work published many years since by Du Sejour, a well-known French geometer, entitled" Essai stir les Cometes." Dismissing, then, the idea of any mechanical danger from actual collision, we have to notice the possible effects of a sudden commingling of the nebulosity of a comet with the earth's atmosphere, an occurrence invo?ving considera tions of quite a different nature from the preceding. With our actual knowledge (imperfect though it may be) of the existence and probable origin of those tremendous forces so conspicuously visible in their effects in the comets of 111t40, 1M33, etc., and which, as we have seen, there is every reason to suppose analagous to electricity and magnetism in their most powerful states of development, it is hardly tol much to say that our immersion in the head of such a comet might be attended with serious con sequences. Whether we should escape with the tempo rary derangement of our comnasses, the disorganisation of our telegraphs, with electrical storms of unprecedented ex tent and violence, and startling exhibitions of aurora;, etc., or whether the electrical equilibrium of the atmosphere would be so completely overthrown as to occasion events of a disastrous character. and more easily imagined than described, must necessarily be open to speculation. Upon many other points of interest—the velocity and appearance of comets, on their duration of visi bility and distance from the earth, upon the effect of the attractions of the planets, and upon the part of the heavens the coming comet will first b visible— we must refer the reader to this intelligent little treatise, which is certain to achieve decided popu larity. PERIODICAL LITERATURE. THE New Quarterly contains some clever political writing. The article upon Sir Robert Peel is certain to attract attention, from the great knowledge it, displays of persons and events which cannot lose their interest with the public for many years to come. The following sketch of the Reform Ministry is an excellent specimen of the writer's powers : From the first day that the Reform Bill was launched before Parliament, the feelings of the Movement party rose violently. Then, indeed, was witnessed one of the most formidable coalitions that ever ruled England. The King's Ministers, and the masses of the population, were all on the same side. The Cabinet itselt was variously composed. Some of its chief members (it is must im portant to recollect) were ex-Tory statesmen, who had been outraged by the unparliamentary mode in which the Catholic claims were carried by the Duke of Wellington. In that Ministry were found the estimable Duke of Rich• mond—frank, gallant, and intelligent—a choice specimen of the aristocracy of England. By his side was the Earl of Ripon, bred in the system of Lord Liverpool. The Secretaryship of the Home Department was given to Viscount Melbourne, whose mind was essentially Tory, and who wanted that sanguine confidence in mankind, or that callous indifference to consequences, which ought to mark a patrician Radical. Viscount Palmerston, the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, had held office under " the bloody Perceval and Castlereagh." He was then a bud ding Whig of forty-seven, just as old as William l'itt when he died, in 1800. IVith these statesmen were found the consistent reformer, Earl 3rey, an aristocratic Whig, graceful in his bearing and eloquence, and almost a great man, along with the universally honoured Marquis of Lansdowne—statesman without spot, and scholar with out pedantry—a public man without a foe. Lord Brougham—tierce, versatile, and overwhelming, a prodigy of power, a leviathan of Liberalism, who soon stranded himself, and whose fury was mocked at by those who once feared and admired his surging career—gave pas sionate energy to the action of the Cabinet. Lord Durham, a millionnair•e and a leveller, though a decided aristocrat in his prejudices, Lord Holland, and others of the old Whig party, were in that singular combination. The character of Sir R inert Peel himself is drawn with some severity—perhaps even more than is his due—yet there is truth and wisdom in the concluding remarks of the reviewer : 779 We believe, sincerely, that the " Peel Papers," taken in connection with other evidence, establishes clearly this truth :—That, however able in affairs, in persuasion, in debate, Sir Robert Peel had not that peculiar kind of political genius which could form, after the examples of Walpole, Chatham, Pitt, or Fox, a great parliamentary school. He was not a creative spirit. He was not a man suited for symbolising political ideas ; and Peel, therefore, is not the representative type which should be selected by aspiring politicians, with considerable originality and many patriotic aspirations, with brilliant eloquence and high personal and parliamentary qualities, that impart unborrowed lustre to their names. Their genius and individuality shoull not be compromised by subservience to past controversies. The article on " The Whigs and Parliamentary Re form" is very full of matter, of which, perhaps, the most has scarcely been made; out it is a very damaging broadside. The fact is the Whig party in England, ever since the modern questions of Reform arose, have been in a false position. They originally ac quired the reputation of lovers of liberty by curtail ing the power of the Crown ; they have been obliged to maintain it by pretending to curtail their own. Close boroughs and exclusive manners were quite compatible with resistance to a king, bat they have proved somewhat embarrassing to the preachers of the sovereignty of the people. The consequence is that the Whigs have been driven to adopt subterfuge after subterfuge, and to ally themselves with the strangest associates in order to conceal the anomaly of their situation. This is the general truth of which the article before us is an illustration in detail. We have said that it contains a great deal of curious informs...ion ; the following conversation, now for the first time made public, is a specimen : In 1835, a severe contest took place in a western county, for which a Minister was candidate. The Minister lost his election. A large Reform dinner Rai given immedi ately atter the polling, and at which dinner Sir William Molesivoith was seated by the side of the defeated can- didate. Another Minister was also present. The member for Cornwall made a powerful speech in favour of the Ballot, and on other liberal topics not germane to the Whigs. He sat down, and while Mr. Charles Buller was speaking in a similar strain, the following coin ersation occurred between the Minister and Sir William Moles worth : MINISTER: You must be fully aware, Sir William, that it is impossible for any Ministry to propose, and still less to carry, measures so extreme as those you have justaenunciated. It is a waste of time to dwell on them. Sir WILLIAK: And yet, had the Ballot been in operation, you would now be member for the county. All nitwits : That may be: but, remember, the Reform Bill is a final act of legislation. You and your friends allow that the measure far exceeded your expectation—and it was given large and generous proportions, in order that the subject should be set at rest for ever. We are pledged in honour to the country, to Parliament, and to the Crown. that the bill be final. Our public characters are at stake on that point; and, were no other reason to be adduced, you yourself must acknowledge, that • further advance of power to the people, which upon a parity of action might riot be final, would endanger the House of Peers, and, more than that, shake the foundation of the Throne itself. Sir WILLIAM: It might have been better if the chatigt. under the bill had been made gradual. As it is, the people only ,hunanil that the Reform Bill should not be a mockery. Undue influences are as rife as ever, of which your defeat is a proof; for the people are with you. I appeal for corroboration to my friend on my right, who has been indefatigable and close in b:s canvass throughout the western portion of the county. You have been beaten by the clergy, who should be deprived of the power of spiritual abuses. the constant apposition also of the bishops in the House of Peers to popular reforms, warrant the demand that they should be confined to the duties of their dioceses. MINISTER: Such propositions would be nothing less than the reform of a reform Just passed, and involve doctrines which we shall always oppose. It can never be. Sir WiLt.imit: In that case you must not count upon the sup- port of those with whom I act. MtsisrEit : I cannot help it; if the Radicals desert., the Tories will support us, and to our liberal measures you cannot, upon principle, help giving us your assistance. You and your friends are playing the Tory game, and, it you succeed in turn ing us out, you will bring them in without doing yourselves any good. Some further revelations concerning Sir Wm. Moles worth and the Cornwall elections are exceedingly dis graceful to the Whig party. The papers upon " Land Tenure in India," and upon " The Times and the French Elections," are able and opportune. In literature we have au excellent review of the "Letters of Horace Walple,".by Mr. I'. Cunning. ham, thoughtful, and at the same time smart and pointed in style ; and a very sensible and discrimi nating review of " New Novels," in which Mr. Dickens is very accurately criticised. The article on Mure's "Literature of Ancient Greece" we clo not like quite so well. We think the distinction drawn between the old and the new way of personages unsound. In Middleton' _ . Cicero,"and in Bolingbroke's comparison Demosthenes, we find quite as " hump of treatment as anything in Mitre or good articles are those upon " Chine 'Napier," and " Tourists and Travellers. PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED-Ai BOOKS. Quinland; or, Varieties in American Lif Memorials and Correspondence of Charles Edited by Lord John Russell. Vol. Lives of the Lord Chancellors and Keepers of England. Jam Lord Campbell, Vol. VIII. r treating classical leton's " Life of arison of him with uman " a method or Grote. Other ina," "Sir Charles tilers." )--At:Gusr 6. fe. Two Vols. Bentley 7harles James Fax. IV. Bentley )err of the Great Seal 11, LLD., F.R.S.E. Murray