The Press. — London, England, 1856-09-20 00:00:00

SEPT. 20, 1856. sufficient ground for their conquest, enslave ment, or extermination, while the remoteness of their territories, and the savage character of their forests and mountains, ettsily gave rise to the most monstrous rumours concern ing their manners and religion. Owing to these various circumstances, all mankind out• side his own little world seemed to an inhabi tant of the classical States of antiquity to be formed almost of different materials from him self, and to be properly amenable to art entirely different code of international law. These remarks apply more particularly to the military proceedings of the Romans; but if we turn to the wars waged among the Grecian republics,und contemplate the ferocity with which they were pursued, we shall see that there were also special causes at work, .over and above the absence of a more merciful and charitable faith. The fact is, that these States were constituted on so very small a scale. that the loss of any great number of their fighting men was sufficient to turn the balance, not of a single campaign, but almost of the whole war. When the Lacedremonians lost the flower of their army at Sphacteria, had the Athenians known bow to act with common prudence and moderation, the Peloponnesian war was finished. When the Athenians were cut to pieces at Chseronea, no fur ther resistance to Philip of Macedon was pos sible. For this reason, it was, of course, a .great object with belligerents to inflict this kind of injury on their opponents; and, though we do not mean to say that this jasti ties the cruelty which they too often exer cised, it must nevertheless be admitted as an element in our calculation of their guilt. The various channels through which Chris tianity made its influence felt upon the heathen world are little more than just touched upon in the essay before us, the writer of which seems more anxious to make at display of his reading than of his thought; and certainly if in a multitude of references there were truth, we should have no reason to complain. He does not seem to us to have grasped the " marrow of the matter " with sufficaeat tenacity, nor among a variety of minor ageraeiee to have sufficiently distinguished the leading feature of the new faith which pro .duced its peculiarly healing influence on the intercourse of nations. This was, in our opinion, the great doctrine of the original and Absolute equality of all mankind, a principle which secured the gradations of rank in this world by disclosing more clearly the founda tions on which they rest, and gradually intro duced more equitable relations between high and low, by showing that the difference be tween them existed but for a special purpose, and implied no real inferiority of nature. It is difficult, perhaps, fully to appreciate this doctrine on the world without having lived in a period when it was unknown. if we can •imiipose Englishmen, regarding all the rest of the human race in the same light as some few of the South American planters still regard the Africans, and then that their eyes were suddenly opened to the truth, we .shall perhaps approximate to something like a due sense of the enormous benefit which was thus wrought by Christianity. If, however, we regard the conditions of European warfare at the present day, it is not - so easy to trace their improvement to the direct operation of Christianity. Wars of extermination are no longer waged There is no longer any necessary hatred between the actual combatants. The reason of this is, that Europe is now divided into several great kingdoms of nearly equal strength, and that consequently, no one nation standing in perpe tual dread of another, there is no longer any ground for the old national hatreds. At least they are now the exception and not the rule. All this is easy enough to understand; but when we come to explain it by the effect of any particular religion, our task is by no means so simple. Of this difficulty Mr. ,Kennedy ha s not even a t tem pt e d a so lution. The authority of the Popes in the earlier part of the mediaeval period was doubtless often exercised to prevent the oppression or de struction of minor States; yet, it we put this down to the credit aide of Christianity, we must not in common fairnes s omit to set against it the bloody and desolating wars of THE PRESS. religious persecution which ensued with the sanction of the same authority at a later era. As an instance of Mr. Kennedy's cursory and unsatisfactory way of treating important topics, we subjoin the following : As regards the international rights of neutrals. In treating of these there are few points where the direct in fluence of Christianity can be expected to have operated. These rights in their present form became gradually recognised in Western Europe, as greater regularity began to be observed in the international transactions of that part of the world, and are principally deduced from con siderations of natural justice. The right of search is the most important belligerent right as regards neutrals, the object of which is to prevent the supplying of articles contraband of war to the enemy of the State enforcing that right, or to prevent the evading a blockade. And this constitutes a species of international maritime jurisdic tion peculiar to times of war. A neutral State is bound to take care that in this respect especially its just freedom of action essential to the maintenance of the character it assumes is not intetfeted with by either of the belligerent powers ; neutrals must of course take equal care that they conduct themselves as really such, acting with perfect impartiality. and affording succours to neither party, ex cepting so far as they may be bound by treaties concluded before the commencement of any particular war. The English rule of the " war of 1746 " ie generally acquiesced in, which declares that neutrals cannot lawfully avail themselves during a war of any branch of commerce which was not in like manner open to them during the preceding time of peace. Geographical position may occasion any particular country to profit by an extension of commerce with another country, during a war in which either of them may be engaged; but this does not come under the former category, and is not a breach of neutrality. . _ The 1 extent of the influences of Christianity in regard to these rights, is the basis it afforded for their observance by the spread of the Christian religion, and its consequent influence on civilisation ; by means of the advancement of which and the extension of international commercial relations they have attained their present form. What is there in all this? The whole book is written in the same style. With regard to engines of destruction, which Mr Kennedy says are forbidden by Chris tianity, we can only make the very obvious remark, that whatever tends to shorten the duration of war is good to that extent. The Nfinie rifle may cause more destruction of life in a sitsgle battle, but it will prevent so many battles being fought. THE NEW BIBLE VERSION. Crimmrso is again in the field upon the question of a new version of the Bible, and this time with a number of authorities upon the excellence of the present version. Dr. White, Arabic Professor in Oxford, states : The authorised version contained nothing but what was pure in its representation of scriptural doctrines. General fidelity to its original is hardly more its characteristic than sublimity in itself ; and, upon the whole, the national churches of Europe will have abundant reason to be satis fied when their versions of Scripture shall approach in point of accuracy, purity, and sublimity to the acknow ledged excellence of our English translation. Whittaker, that:— It may be compared with any translation in the world without fear of inferiority ; it bas not shrunk from the most rigorous examination, it challenges investigation, and, in spite of numerous attempts to supersede it, it has hitherto remained unrivalled in the affections of the country. Dr. Doddridge - - • On a diligent comparison of our translation with the original we find that of the New Testament, and I may also add that of the Old Testament, in the main faithful and judicious. Dr. Taylor, of Norwich, an Arian, and therefore a witness less likely to be charged with Trinitarian bias, says : Our English translation is in itself by far the most ex• cellent book in our language ; so it is a pure and plentiful fountain of Divine knowledge, giving a true, clear, and full account of the Divine dispensations and of the gospel of our salvation, insomuch that whoever studies the English Bible is sure of gaining that knowledge of faith which, if duly applied to the heart and conversation, will infallibly guide him to eternal life. Professor Stuart, of Andover, Dr. Cumming ob serves, gives a judgment not so complimentary to the scholars of the nineteenth century as that of some who affect to recognise in its learning an un precedented greatness : The divines of that day were very different Hebrew scholars from what most of their successors have been in England and Scotland. With the exception of Bishop Lowth's classic work upon Isaiah, no other effort at trans lating among the English divines will compare, either in respect to taste, judgment, or sound understanding of the Hebrew, with the authorised version. PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.--Sm. 18. On Truth aid Error. John Ambition of St. Ermine. Cambridge : Macmillan and Co Oar Mieeellany. Edited by Yates and Bruugh. Routledge The Ancestry of her Milieu, Quern Vicunas sad of H.R.H. Prince Albert. G. R. French. Pickering Tricsige4 Dreams. John Hantleigh. !launders and Otley stt prams. LYCEUM THEATRE. 907 THE return of the Lyceum, after playing truant to the Wizard of the North and the baton of M. Costa, to the legitimate drama and burlesque is satisfac tory. Mr. Charles Dillon has opened the house with Belphegor and a travestie of The Winter's Tate. In his representation of Belphegor Mr. Dillon fully sustains the high character he won this spring at Sadler's Wells. His performance is marked by great power. The first scene at the masquerade is an exquisite piece of pathetic acting (if slightly curtailed it wool i be more effective), and in his struggle with Lavarette, and throughout the whole piece, he displays energy without exaggeration, and a pathos which touches by its reality. He has met with a hearty reception, and his success is so far certain. Mrs. Dillon, as 11Iade'sine, has less of nature and more of stage couventionality. The traditional heroine is a very uninteresting character. The travestie of The Winter's Tale is tolerably witty, and contains some good points, but its strength lies in the capital mimicry of Mr. Charles Kean by Mr. Calliaem. It is by no means exaggerated, every point tells; and the audience are kept thoroughly amused by the graphic delineation given of Mr. Kean's tragic points. Florizel is sustained by Mrs. A. Mellon (Miss Woolgar), whose reappear ance on the stage was welcomed with enthusiastic applause by a crowded house. Her acting was full of her usual grace and liveliness, and distin gnished by those finer touches of nature which cha• racterise her style. There are some clever duets and snatches of songs; and a good corps de ballet and dancing by Miss Rosins Wright help the piece off exceedingly well. We must not torget Mr. Toole as Autolyclus; he is full of fun, and sings a capital song, which is regularly encored. He bids fair to achieve for himself no interior repu tation as a comic actor. The scenery and dresses exhibit great taste and beauty, and successfully imitate the glories of the late classic representation of the play. 4mustments, fi e. POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTION.—A series of novelties have lately been produced by the indefatigable manager. The most important is a lecture on Bessemer's new process of manufacturing iron and steel. Mr. Pepper, under whose management the affairs of the Polytechnic Institution are conducted, details with much minuteness the ordinary mode of melting and refining iron and steel, showing that atter the operation a certain amount of impurity is necessarily to be found in the pig iron; and one important feature in Mr. Bessemer's invention is, that it tends to remove that impurity, and to convert each component part of the metal to a service able purpose. Mr. Pepper then explains that, ac• cording to the old method, one step in the process called " puddling," an operation which usually occu pies two hours and a half, is disposed of by Mr. Bessemer's plan, by which refined iron is produced in twenty minutes, and with much more profitable resnits, and at the same time with a considerable saving of money. The several interesting points of the lecture are illustrated by scientificaly drswn sec tions of furnaces and other appara us, exhibited on the large medium of the lecture-ro. m as dissolving views, which rendered the descriptions perfectly clear and satisfactory. One curious fact was stated by Mr. Pepper, tbst the principle on which the late improvement in the manufacture of iron and steel has been founded and brought into practical use by Mr. Bessemer, has been frequently exhibited and ex plained at the Royal Pobtechnic Institution for six teen years past; but no one until now bad bad the wit to adapt it to useful purposes. Another new entertainment has been added to the amusements here, entitled "Life in the West; or, Every day Life in the Log Hut and the City "—explained by Mr. Leicester Buckingham, and illustrated by a series of dissolving views. A collection of upwards of 100 figures, illustrating with great exactness savage and civilised life in Mexico, modelled by Signor .Monta mui, and in which the costumes are imitated with characteristic truth, is worth attention. These, with the re-engagement of Mr. Fairburn and the Misses Bennett, for their Scottish musical entertainment, afford the visitors as much instruction as amusement. THE CRYSTAL PALACE to-day is to open to the public on payment of one shilling, instead of the higher sum usually charged on Saturdays, on account of a fête held by the Early Closing Association. The association has laboured actively and successfully for several years in promoting its original object; and it has lately been the means of shortening the hours of labour on Saturday afternoons in a very large number of mercantile establishments and law offices in the metropolis. The committee art now seeking to promote still further the Saturday half-holiday movement, and especially to effect the opening of the