The Press. — London, England, 1857-06-06 00:00:00

JUNE 6, 1857. While engaged in making his collection of tea-seeds, Mr. Fortune did not neglect the op portunity of " picking up" an occasional piece of valuable china or lacquer ware, and acquired some useful information upon the horticultural curiosities of the country,—the varnish tree (Rhus sp.), the wax-insect tree (FraxintlB Bp.), the soap-bean tree (Cesalpinia sp.), and, above all, the green-indigo dye, which has attracted so much attention in Europe. With respect to the manufacture of the latter, he states that the bark of two kinds of one tree, the green shrub— the white, a wild tree, and the yellow, a culti vated tree—are used to obtain this valuable dye, which does not fade in washing. Both trees are abundant in the neighbourhood of Ningpo and Tsahlou-pang, where the dye is manufactured. In the course of his remarks upon the tea districts Mr. Fortune lets us into many of the secrets of the tea trade, and it is a satisfaction to find so sound an authority assuring us that genuine tea continues to be exported from China. The idea, he observes, that because the East India Company had now no control over the China trade the Chinese would adulterate their teas, is " simply ab- Surd" : - They have plenty of true tea in the country to supply all demands, were they twice as great as they are. And while it may be perfectly true that some unprincipled adven turers encourage the production of lie teas " by buying them up, the great bulk of the teas exported are unadul terated with other articles. 1 f sloeleaves and beech-leaves, and other articles of that kind, are found in the teapot by the consumer, they are much more likely to have been manufactured in England than in China. The foreign merchants in China as a class are upright and honourable men, and quite incapable of lending them selves to frauds of this description. Besides, every house of any standing has a " tea-taster " who has a perfect knowledge of his business, and who can not only tell true tea from false, but, in most instances, can tell the identical district in which the sample presented to him has been produced. We have all heard of the " orange pekoe," and this brings us to the process of scent ing teas, which is simple and beautiful. Aware of the vast powers of absorption of the dried tea-leaf, fresh moist flowers are mixed by the Chinese in certain proportions, from 40 lbs. per cent. to 50 and 100 per cent., with the dried tea-leaves, and the two are per mitted to lie together for twenty-four hours. At ; the end of this time the flowers are sifted out of the tea, which ever after retains the delicious fragrance of the orange or jessamine, or the rose, or the plum-flower, or the aglaia odorata, and the gardenia jlorida, all of which are used in certain proportions. It is worth noting that the Chinese estimate highly these fragrant teas, for that while they only sell their coloured, they largely consume their vot teil teas. Mr. Forture in his travels met with many adventures, which he details with much gusto. lie' is evidently possessed of infinite tact in the management of crowds, and of a thorough knowledge of the Chinese character. After concluding and settling his affairs in the tea districts, Mr. Fortune visited the famous silk districts in the north, and some details of interest are to be found in these chapters of his diary, which we must postpone for the present. The Press, the Pulpit, and the Platform ; or, the Future of the French Empire. London : Newby. THE author of this work has apparently satu rated his mind with the writings of Michelet, Whose manner he occasionally imitates, even to exaggeration. He takes his motto from Emerson, "Things are in the saddle, and ride " mankind "—a sentence which can be inter preted in more ways than one. There is some good matter in parts of the volume, but it is spoiled by the exceeding grossness of portions of the composition. Its pages teem with im putations, and its style reeks with scurrility. We are, certainly, no great friends to some of the notorieties vilified and satirised by the author, but even in administering literary punishment to adversaries we disapprove of the use of weapons which seholars and gentle men ought to disdain Impudence is not irony ; scurrility is not sarcasm; abuse is not argument. No two things in literature ditl'er more from each other that witty satire from savage truculence; and an author who wishes THE PRESS. that his pen should gall an eminent opponent, should never dip it in the kennel. It is possible that this writer (who is entirely unknown to us) wants experience, and that much of his erroneous taste is attributable to ignorance of literary conventions. It is diffi cult, we admit, to treat of repulsive subjects in a manner that will not offend ; and, from what wo are inclined to believe, we have no doubt that some of the literary emissaries employed in the intriguing journalism attached to the Church of Rome are deserving of moral repro bation. But experience makes us cautious in accepting wholesale invectives against literary men whose habitual duties may have raised enemies against them. It is one of the penalties paid by a journalist that he must become more or less obnoxious to his adversaries. The gene rous in every party will know how to honour the genius, and respect the abilities, mar shalled against them in open array; but there are also the ungenerous, the virulent, and the vindictive, who after the fight is over, seek for• an opportunity of disparaging the prowess before which they have reeled in the combat. We cannot, therefore, approve of a secret writer who thus assails a Romish journalist for whom we entertain not the least sympathy, and whose political purposes we believe to be most mischievous. The author writes (we suppress names) : Monsieur —, leader of the army of invasion, must not pass without notice, nor without a glance at his origin, character, and life. This part of our duty I would rather avoid, but escape is impossible. The whole character of the movement against which we may, shortly, be called upon to do battle can only be understood by an acquaintance with the writings, the actions, and reputation of its leaders. does the dirty work. Calumny, falsehood, foul criticism, unscrupulous assertion, and irritating compariaons are his favourite weapons. Nor can we deny the man a certain amount of talent, a ready and cutting pen, with consider. able amount of satire, and that he is also determined to fulfil the behests of his very doubtful calling. He has hard taskmasters, no doubt ; and, straw or no straw, the tale of bricks must be found. occupies a most unenviable position in literature. As a man of talent and cbservation, as one who knows the world, more than he really admires the Church, he brings down upon him self and the cause he represents both the pity and the •contempt of his equals and superiors—that is to say, of by far the greater portion of literary men. He makes money by his trade, and this is the only consolation he receives. So do the brigands who surround Rome. He is, however, trusted by his party, and to men who always like to tind themselves at the head of a forlorn hope, the editorship of the " - --" is pro. bably a congenial though servile occupation. And elsewhere he vilifies the same French journalist in the following fashion:— Begotten of a wine•barrel tinker, he received his primary ideas in a petite gargule, or " cheap and nasty " cookshop, set up by his maternal parent in the Rue de Bourgogne, in the faubourga of Paris. His early educa tional advantages were slight and irregular; and whatever position he may have been able to assume in French' journalism, he is chiefly indebted for it to his own early ambition and laudable desire to breathe an air of greater purity than the fumes of his mother's &Nil it la mode, or his father's logwood mysteries for improving the colour and flavour of grape juice. Let the fire and faggot chanipion of the Inquisition enjoy the credit which unaided industry deserves. Let him, on the other hand, receive the reproach which is. as justly, his due. He has not chosen to cleanse himself from the stains and dirt of wine lees. He has not chosen to forget the foul slang of the gargole and the faubourg, but has introduced both the one and the other into those walks of literature to which he has the privilege to belong. —, late of the gargete, but now of the "cheap and nasty" eighth clerk of that unclassed animal, a Paris huissier ; , the rampant duellist, whose very countenance looks as if hailstoned with swan•shot, is not so famous as a scholar, so chivalrous a hair trigger, or so reputed as a gentleman, as he is despised for the vulgar epithets, the gross insinuations, the miserable lies, and insulting threats, which he bestows upon those who disclaim rather than condescend to contradict or to oppose him. He is a fair type of the order he represents, and it is probable that the I nquisitionists could find no other tool who should, in himself, include all the vicious and coarse quali ties, and at the same time possess a vivid intellect, a lively style, and, above all, that boll ferocity so necessary for one who holds the degraded office this man has condescended to assume. Many parts of this volume, like those gross passages, exemplify the identical faults against which this anonymous author declaims. Apart from its style, the matter of the work is unequal and unreliable. The author be lieves that the Church of Rome is at the present time making determined efforts to spread it elf in England, which no news to us. He be lieves, also, that there is a Bourbonist con sjdracy against the present Emperor, mid that 561 the Henri-Cinquist3 are working in aid with the Jesuits. On this latter subject we should like to see full proofs, for such a movement would result in most serious consequences. Its promoters would aim at something more permanent, and more anti-Protestant, than a mere change of dynasty. His conclusions the author states thus : I.—That the Legitimists and Jesuit(' are making large and secret preparations for another French revolution, which will not burst forth in barricadoes, but may, Minerva like, issue from the ballot urn. ll.—That the " credit mobilier " is rather a political than a mercantile speculation, and that the profits hoped to be realised are State emoluments, and the idle run of a kingdom, rather than the social duties and obligations due from subjects of an empire. ll.—That the race is between Bourbonistn and priest• craft striving for the ascendancy, and Italian freedom striving for justice and international equality. IV.—That the colleges of cardinals, with their affiliated societies, secret and avowed, are at length fully con vinced that should an Italian explosion happily occur without foreign intervention, and should tyranny be de throned, the Pope's temporal power will be for ever at an end. We shall not follow him further into somo wild prophecies, but, confining ourselves to his more positive opinions, we shall quote part of his assertions on the secret schemes of the Papal propagandists : VI 11,--That the aggressionists intend to renew the dis cussion of a diplomatic service between our Queen of many nations, and the Pope of decaying Rome. That high popery men, convinced that Italy will soon cease to be their peculiar "school of design," make unceasing efforts to carry out the papal aggression in England, as their only harbour cf refuge. IX.—That the resource of " religious houses " in Eng land is one of their strongest points, and that during the war with Russia, whilst public attention has been otherwise occuuied, immense progress has been made. . . . . - X.—That as auxiliary to this movement it is intended to produce a series of brilliant out-door displays of Romish pomp in the shape of music, man-millinery, miracles, and other mummery, with a view to a proseiytism by wholesale. Xl.—lt is intended to endow each papal diocese carved out of British territory, under the Wiseman scheme, with a cathedral ; each cathedral to be surrounded by a Roman Catholic cemetery of an expensive and tasteful character. The existing laws against popish processions will thus be complied with, rather than evaded. All out-door perfor mances will be carried on within the private domain of a religious sect tolerated by the State, namely, the Roman Catholic dissenters from the Church of England; the toleration acts will, in fact, be their protection. It is expected that prosebtes will be gained in large numbers, and this is probable, although the expense will be enormous ; but the coffers at Rome and elsewhere destined for this speculation, although not yet full, are by no means empty. Another " goddess." well placarded and handsomely introduced, would realise all that is wanting. The cathedrals, the mausoleums of the wealthy, and the landscape gardening will form a grand county attraction. And there is much more to the same effect. Judging by the style of this writer, we should infer that he was an Irishman, with a semi clerical education, and it is possible that lie may have been educated at Maynooth. We infer it from the following passage : Laymen who quit the fair open fields of Protestantism for the Roman cloister are more to be trusted than they who have officiated as respectable clergymen of the Eng lish Church ; and as a friend to good order and the family compact, I rather advise the \Visemen of the Pope's coun cil to be cautions. I advise " Rome.jogging" clergymen of our own creed to be very careful. " Man traps are set upon these premises "—that is, on the premises of the confessional. Shrewd men of the world, men who study animal nature, as well as mental, who regard the physical as well as the intellectual, and to whom matter is more familiar than spirit, incline to think that the whole affair will ultimately break down, and thus work out its own cure. It is feared that our Oxford divines, who are but flesh and blood, and doubtless think with St. Paul that " it is better to marry than to burn," will drop under the " double and fiery ordeal of celibacy and the con fessional." It is thought that if over the " Father's " side of the box " lead me not into temptation " may be written as a strophe ; the prie-dieu of the " daughter " may be em broidered as with an anti-strophe, thus : " deliver me from evil." The holy men themselves have no conception of the trial they will be called upon to undergo. This warning is given in all kindness by one who has both sat and knelt behind the mysterious green curtain. There is a spice of Irish humour in the asser tion, " The holy men themselves hare no " conception of the trial they will be called upon "to undergo." Their fates will, it is to be supposed, be like that of St. Kevin, assailed by Tom Moore's Kathleen with Eyes of most unholy blue. They will be made, possibly, to think or Mr. Canning's - description of General Fitz patricl,t's speech on the Catholic question