The Press. — London, England, 1855-06-09 00:00:00

652 This number contains only one-half of the Doctor's great biography, and does not therefore afford us an opportunity of offering here an estimate of the work. In proof however of so much as we have said, we must give our readers a characteristic paragraph of Dr. M'Crie, where he approaches that sad story of the tumultuous destruction of the magnificent cathe drals and monasteries of Scotland—events that gave the Scottish Reformation more the aspect of a jacquerie than a struggle for the purification of religion. On the subject of the tradition of the Scottish peasantry that John Knox cried " Pu' doon " the nests, an' the rooks will flee awa'!"— a cry that has certainly done little for the civilisation communi cated by art, amongst the peasantry of Scotland— Dr. 111`Crie says : I will go farther, and say that I look upon the destruc tion of these monuments as a piece of good policy, which contributed materially to the overthrow of the Roman Catholic religion and the prevention of its re-establishment. It was chiefly by the magnificence of its temples, and the splendid apparatus of its worship, that the Popish Church fascinated the senses and imaginations of the people. A more successful method of attacking it, therefore, could not be adopted than the demolition of what contributed so much to uphold and extend its influence. There is more wisdom than many seem to perceive in the maxim which Knox is said to have inculcated." that the best way to keep the rooks from returning, was to pull down their nests." In demolishing, or rendering uninhabitable, all those buildings which had served for the maintenance of the ancient superstition (except what wete requisite for the Protestant worship), the Reformers only acted upon the principles of a prudent general, who dismantles or razes the fortifications which he is unable to keep, and which might afterwards be seized and employed against him by the enemy. 1-lad they been allowed to remain in their former splendour the popish clergy wonld not have ceased to indulge hopes, and to make efforts to be restored to them ; occasions would have been taken to tamper with the credu lous, and to inflame the minds of the superstitious ; and the Reformers might soon have found reason to repent their ill-judged forbearance. This op - iniO is appropriately confirmed by a note from Southey's " Madoc." Was nut Dr. M'Crie the fitting biographer of Knox ? Messrs. Blackwood have brought out this edition in a style, as regards elegance of typography and ex cellence of paper, which renders the price wonderful, and we have no doubt of the popularity of the series amongst the class to which it is addressed. LITERATURE. Bentley's opening article, upon " War, Politics, and Strategics," is concisely and carefully written. A brief passage conveys a correct idea of the operations of the siege : There is a grand bombardment, in which shot and shell are imbedded in earthen embankments as if in a flock bed ; there are grand sorties of Russians against advanced trenches of right and left attacks, repulsed after sangui nary engagements, in which the loss tells mostly against those who can less easily repair it; there are pits blown up only fit for rabbits, and connecting trenches that would barely cover a weasel, held by active French chasseurs within a stone's throw of the Russian outworks; there are incessant rushes made by the latter upon these frail ap proaches ; there are descents of columns of the line and guard to the succour ; there are desperate struggles, only terminated at the point of the bayonet; there are grand a►lvos of artillery to cover the retreat of the besieged, and at last an hour's truce to bury the dead comes to relieve the monotony of these sanguinary scenes. Rather than carry on the siege under such circum stances, the writer suggests that field operations should be immediately commenced, or that Kertch or Kaffis should be attacked, adding despondingly that probably "the fortifications of those places would be " quite as formidable "as Sebastopol. Certainly, if Russia deserves credit for anything in this war, it is for the admirable manner in which she hss so well inoculated us all with a wholesome dread of her bat teries and big guns. Of Administrative Reform the writer takes the view that there is more fault in the " men" at the head of affairs than in the " system' they are called on to administer. The other contents of the magazine comprise much light and amusing matter ; the story of the " Kaffir Commando" in par- ticular is exceedingly well told, and Monkshood's sketch of Macaulay is a liberal and just estimate of the powers of that popular essayist. Tait has much this month to recommend it. The first article, "The Count and the Emperor," a review partly of the "Souvenirs Contemporains," by M. Villemain, is acceptable at this moment. The Count de Narbonne, whose life is here recounted, was the fsvnurite aide-de-camp of the first Napoleon, and fully enjoyed the confidence of the Emperor, who deigned to impart to the count many of the most secret reasons of his policy. Among other things the count, it appears, was the originator of the Aus teen marriage, and from the account given by M. Villemain beats out, remarks the reviewer, the ex pression of Louis Napoleon that the house of Austria " brigadit Palliance d'un nouvel empire ": - - At a dinner e,t Iris petit comi.e with Mettnnich, the Prince de Ligne, and the Comte de Lamarsch, NI. de Nar bonne, with a sort, of impetimns frankness, which his bio grapher piquantly applauds as a first-rats method ih diplo macy owing to the rarity of its employment, launched out THE PRESS. into the evident necessity of a close compact between two empires, which should divide the continental preponde rance between them. As to one of the parties in this domination there could be no doubt, the other would be either Austria or Russia, but which would depend upon how it was intended to follow up the treaty of Vienna— " for that peace itself," wound up the adroit and audacious diplomatist, " is a danger, unless it be the beginning of a more intimate, of a domestic alliance." This daring hint was not thrown away. The next morning the speaker was sent for by the Emperor Francis, and showed in the inter view no less address, no less audacity than the evening before, playing off admirably the supposed chances of an intimate alliance " in another quarter—chances rendered probable," he said, " by the personal inclination of Alex ander, and by ( here we feel him touching our interests — ours, of this generation—for the first time) an ambition more excited than satisfied by the easy acquisition of Fin• land." The dexterous diplomatist lost no time in trans. miffing advice of so unlooked-for a fact as that of the offer, for offer was made by Father Francis, of the hand of an archduchess for the French Emperor. Speaking of the motives which induced Napoleon to enter upon the Russian campaign, we learn for the first time that, ever since the appearance of Souva roff in Italy in 179 i), Napoleon's mind was constantly turned upon those vast nomad tribes who inhabit the tAleland of Upper Asia, and that it was a prevision of a barbarian inundation of Europe which prompted him to drive back the Tartar races from the limits of Europe : The comparison of climate'and that natural tendency of conquest were still the same, he argued, whatever advances in civilisation might have been made by those same Tartar tribes. Such advances only doubled the impulsion, by placing the perfected arts of war, and the instruments of victory created by science, at the service of brute force and the cravings of a sorry clime. "We must make haste, then. before the education of the invaders be complete."— Memorable exhortation, which haply not many generations after his own may have the opportunity to profit by ! . . " Call to mind," he said, at the close of a vivid outburst to his favoured aide-de-camp, to whom he allowed the full tide of his thoughts to overflow, " Call to mind Souvaroff and his Tartars in Italy ; the proper answer to that is to hurl them back beyond Moscow; and when could Europe do it if not now and by me?" . . . . "We will throw back for two hundred years the fatality that brings down the invasions of the North." The restoration of Poland, which at this moment is a phrase, and perhaps something more, in mens' mouths, was not congenial to Napoleon's feelings. His clear sense must have shown him that it was the only safe basis for his aggressive war; but in after life, when he had touched the purple, he hated the very name of " insurrection." The Austrian policy of 1813 so well fits in with this of 1855 we cannot re train from transcribing the sketch : It is interesting to observe the conduct of Austria at that critical period, for the spirit of Viennese counsels may haply not even yet be radically changed. The calculating inaction of the Austrian auxiliary corps supplied to the grand army, " the temporisation natural to the Cabinet of Vienna," the continuation of its armaments, the waiting for Ltitzen, and, after that brief return of fortune to the French arms, the renewed temporisation and the continued arming ; and then the apparent inclination for a general peace, all the while prolonging negotiations that came to nothing—en résumé, the alliance active, alliance stationary, neutrality, armed mediation, hostility—it is well that these things should be recalled to the notice of those that place their faith unreservedly in aught that emanates from Haps burg. We may add that, in the following just observations of the author, stating the reason of the policy of the two great German Courts at that (lay, is given the key to their policy for long years afterwards, policy adroitly practised upon by the Muscovite, and of which the influences have certainly not yet disappeared. Of the peculiar dread which Napoleon seems to have had of a Russian invasion no expression is more re markable than that which he used when parting from General Merfeld, after Leipsic :—" Adieu, " General," said he, "you will reflect upon my pro " posals—Austria, France, and even Prussia together " are none too many to arrest upon the Vistula the " overflowing of ahalf-nomad people, whose immense " empire stretches from us to China." Among other articles we notice " The Poor Man's Market in Lon don," which, in a sketch of the food obtained by the poor in London, makes some curious revelations. The Church of Scotland Magazine and Review for June presents a good table of contents. " The Poetry of Chaucer," " The War and our Military System," Calvin's Life," &c., are all written with care and ability, and well sustain the character of this ex cellent journal. The Biographical Magazine for this month con• tains a very good biography of Etty the artist, and another of Lalor Sheil, as welt as one upon Vinet, the eminent French divine. An elaborate obituary for the halt-year, with carefully written notices appended to each name, will also be found in this number. The Quarterly Journal of Pure and Applied Ma thematics, a new scientific journal, devoted to pure mathematics and the physical applications of ana- lysis, is intended to supply the place of the Cambridge and Dublin Mathematical Journal, lately deceased, after a long and successful life of more than fifteen years. The admission of reviews of scientific books, and the insertion of problems for solution in its SAfitAIDAT, pages will, it is expected, produce a wider circulation than that attained by its predecessor, devoted almost entirely to the publication of scientific papers and memoirs. The fist number contains, among many valuableand interesting contributions, papers by Mr. Sylvester, Professor 1)e Morgan, Mr. Arthur Cayley, and Professor William Thomson. THE AUTHORSHIP OF " MOREDUN." TO THE EDITOR OF " THE PRESS." Societe des Archivistes de France. Sir,—Tho hostile notices of " Moredun" which have appeared in your and in some other journals are so similar in phraseology, and so identical in spirit, that one answer will serve for all. That reply I shall give in the Introduction to the new edition of "Moredun" now preparing for the press.—l am, sir, your obedient servant, E. DE SAINT. Msuarcir CABANY, Le Directeur General. --- Paris, May 29, 1855. [As we have seen but one of the " hostile notices" of "Moredun" to which the writer refers—that which appeared in the Examiner—we are unable to say whe ther the description given of them be correct. That they are identical in spirit is likely enough, but it is less probable that they are similar in phraseology. Assuming that they bear a general resemblance, to what can the similarity be ascribed ? Not assuredly to any concert among the critics ; they write in per fect independence of each other. Each one exercises his own judgment on the works submitted to him, and expresses merely his own opinions. Sometimes those opinions will differ widely, as great latitude must be allowed for difference of tastes, principles, and even of degrees of knowledge. But when those opinions ag ree it supplies a strong presumption that they are founded in truth; and the closer the agreement is, the stronger does that presumption be come. One critic may form an erroneous judgment on the style of an author anti the literary merits of a book, but it is improbable that half a dozen critics all writing without the slightest knowledge of each other's sentiments upon a certain book would coma to a substantially similar decision conaerning it, if that decision were not really founded on truth and reason. In spite of the maxim, De gustibus, principles of taste are to be settled with a consider able degree of certainty. The man who should insist that vinegar has for him the taste of sugar, or that the meadows were scarlet in colour, would not give surer evidence of disordered sense than one who should de cide that" Moredun" was by the author of " Waverley." It would be strange indeed if men whose lives are passed in the study of styles should not be competent to pronounce an opinion on them with some degree of authority. What other jury can be impanelled to try the merit or authenticity of a book than a body of critics whose express profession and duty it is to silt the thoughts and language of writers, and deter mine their station ? Their agreement in the case of " Moredun " is fatal to the pretensions set up for it. We sincerely hope that the answer promised by M. Cabany will be of a nature to relieve him from the ambiguous position in which he stands at present. Ile may have been the victim of deception, or he may have been tempted to carry literary artifice beyond its legitimate limit. In either case frank explanation will be his best policy. By this time he must be aware that persistence in the literal truth of the story he has set forth will be discredited, and expose his name to painful reproach. We have no other interest in the question than to arrive at a right con clusion and to uphold the good faith of the literati character, and we should be extremely sorry to find that character damaged by the conduct of any man of letters holding a respectable position in Prance.] PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. BOOiCS. Theism. Rev. John Tulloch, Idyls and Rhymes. Mortimer Collins. Gibbon's Roman Empire. Vol. VIII. Edited by Dr. W. Smith. Murray. The Wabash ; or, Adventures of an English Gentleman's Family in the Interior of America. J. Richard Beate, Esq. Hurst and Blackett. Blackwood.. Orr. The Calechises Manual. S. Hinds, P.l). J. W. Parker and Son. Private Life of an Eastern King. Hope and Co. Practical Illustrations of the Principles of School Archi tecture. Henry Barnard. Triibner. Aspen Court ; A Story of our Own Times. Shirley Brooks. Ileutley. The Signs of the Times. Oakey. Partridge and The Etidow - ed Charity. Longnians. The Royal Artillery. Clowes. the Reorganisation of the Civil Service. By a Subordinate Therein. Smith and Elder. Notes on Some of the Pictures Exhibited in the Rooms of the Royal Academy. By the Author of " Modern Painters." Ditto. Cave and Sever. The Malay of Capetown, PERIODICALS. The Royal Gallery of Atl.iditedll S. C. Hall, F.S.A. Colnagbi. Evangelical Christendom. Partridge and Oakey. Royal Hotel Guide. Smith and Son. The Chemist. Edited by C. Watt. A. Watt.