The Press. — London, England, 1855-02-03 00:00:00

FEBRUARY 3, 1855. similar grain are the articles on "Provident Insti sutions," on "The Open Fireplace," and to some ex tent that on " Clerical Economics." A scientific trea tise on atomic chemistry includes a biographical notice of Dr. Dalton, to whom the honour of dis covering and explaining the theory is given. Sir B. Brodie's little volume, " Psychological Inquiries," is reviewed chiefly in connection with the physiology of the brain—not, we venture to think, the most satisfactory way of treating the subject. A short article on the history of Corsica comes between two papers on the war. There is scarcely an article in the number of a purely literary character, as the cri tique on Mr. Gregoroirus'a " Corsica" merely glances at the history of that island; and the short article attributed to Mr. Thackeray deals gracefully with Leech's "Pictures of Life and Character." There is one sentence in this paper which has excited so much remark that Mr. Thackeray (if he be the author of this paper) is bound to give some explanation concerning it. Alluding to the retire went of Mr. Doyle from Punch, through the squibs against the Boorish hierarchy at the time of the Papal aggression excitement, it is said here:— " Another member of Mr. Punch's Cabinet, the bio. " grapher of Jeames, the author of the " Snob" papers, " resigned his functions on account of Mr. Punch's " assaults upon the present Emperor of the French " nation, whose anger Jeames thought it was un " patriotic to arouse." The announcement is not a little curious. We fancy that the Emperor Napoleon has too much good sense to be very seriously affected by anything which may appear in Punch, though the publication may naturally enough have excited the notice of the French police; and surely it is attach ing a great deal too much importance to Mr. Punch's jokes to suppose that they could arouse the anger of his Majesty to such an extent as to excite the fear of patriots like Mr. Thackeray for the consequences to this nation. In contradiction to this passage it is stated that Jeames has only retired from Punch within the last two months, while the squibs against the Emperor date from the coup d'itat of December, 1852. Moreover, it is asserted that the real reason of Jeames's retirement, as conveyed in a letter from himself to Mr. Punch, was that Jeames could, or thought he could, or said he could, carry his literary wares to a better market, and obtain a higher rate for them line by line, which of course is the only consideration that a writer of Jeames's pretension could think of attending to. There is such a direct contradiction between these two versions of the cause of Jeames's retiment from Mr. Punch's Cabinet, that however indifferent the public might have been to the fact of the retirement itself, they are now a little curious to know the truth of the matter. Jeames, as all the world knows, has an inveterate habit of play ing the part of Mr. Puff under his various disguises, but one would think he might now very well afford to abandon that style of burlesque invention which first gained him a not very enviable notoriety in literary circles. Mr. Layard's paper is not the only one on the war. The closing article reviews the proceedings of the Ministry in a judicial spirit, and pronounces an emphatic condemnation on the whole War Administration. The nomination of Lord Ellenbormigh as War Minister, it is properly stated, would be the most judicious and popular appointment which could be made. In the North British Review will be found a most interesting paper upon "The Continent in 1854," giving in the first part a brief summer/ of the state of parties and opinions in Paris, and in the second relating some details as to the state of Germany and Italy at the present moment. After analysing.the four political parties which at present exist in France, and discussing their respective chances, the writer comes to that great fact Louis Napoleon, and that still greater tact the Anglo French alliance, and de clares his conviction that the best chance of its permanence is the duration of the Imperial Govern. meat, because each other party has its own especial dislike of us : The Legitimists hate us because they are governed by their traditions, and hatred of England is one of them ; and because our ready acknowledgment of Louis Philippe showed how lightly we valued their friendship. The orleanists hate us because they choose to say, and try to think, that we made the revolution of 1M48; and the Fusionists are the bitterest of all : they hate us so far as they are Legitimists, they hate us so far as they are Orleanists, and they hate us as the allies of Louis Napoleon. They are justly indignant at the excuses with which our newspapers palliate the coup (regal. They resent being told that a despotism is all that they are fit for, that they do not kdow how to value liberty, or how to use it, and that the millions of votes for its surrender expressed the real wish of France to exchange the hierarchy of a constitutional monarchy for Asiatic equality—for one master and every thing flat below him. They are disgusted by the praise, sometimes extravagant, and sometimes ill-applied, which we lavish indiscriminately on all his policy,—a policy which, with equal indiscrimination, and far more injustice, they universally reprobate. Above all, they hate us for the moral support which we give to his throne. Some o; them are sanguine enough to imagine that but for us they might by this time have effected a restoration ; and all must feel that the ally of Queen Victoria stands in a posi- THE PRESS. Lion very different from that of the provisional dictator, whom three years ago we refused to congratulate. The educated Republicans have more patriotism and more honesty than any of the monarchical factions ; their sympathies are with civilisation against barbarism, with progress against reaction, with freedom against despotism, with England against Russia; but they are swamped by universal suffrage, and no one can even conjecture what will be the foreign policy of seven millions of peasants and two millions of artisans. We believe, therefore, that our alliance would be dissolved if France were in the hands of a Bourbon, and would be endangered if she were in those of a democracy; and, therefore, that the best chance for its permanence is the duration of the Imperial Government. The foreign policy of Louis Napoleon is roviewed very impartially, and justice is done him at the hands of the reviewer. With the exception of the expedi tion to Rome, which was forced on him by the Assembly, and the attempt to revive the pretensions of the Latins in Jerusalem, which demand was honorably withdrawn by the French Emperor, his management of the foreign relations of France, says the writer, has been faultless : To England he has been honest and confiding, to Russia conciliatory but firm, to Austria kind and forbearing, and he has treined Prussia with perhaps more consideration than that semi•Russiau Cou►t and childishly-false and cunning king deserved. He has been assailed by every form of temptation, through his hopes and through his . .. . fears, and has remained faithful and disinterested. Such conduct deserves the admiration with which England has repaid it. The MSS. memoranda which are quoted from in this article contain curious details upon the armies of the different European States ; but the opinions of Polish officers on such matters must b. received cum gran°. An able review of Finlay's " Byzantine Empire" does full justice to the great experience and extensive research of this historian, though at the same time the writer does not omit telling Mr. Finlay, with some justice, that his works are so abstruse and so learned in detail as to appeal only to the tastes of the select few, not to the sympathies of the general reader. "University Reform," as applied to Oxford, receives attention in the present number. The writer considers that tutorism is the one thing needful to be reformed. The act has made tutorism dominant at Oxford : Tutorism—that is, the monopoly of the public instruc tion of dr: students by the fellows of each college sepa rately—has swallowed up the University, annihilated the faculties, destroyed all demand, all room for learning, driven away the ablest men into other professions, extin guished the vigorousandindepandentpurimit of knowledge, and made Oxford a mere aggregate of whoolinasters. To exterminate these evils is to reconstruct tutorism ' • and will a tutorial government be capable of such an e ffort? We fear rather that the evils will continue ; and then, when the disappointed nation perceives that a solid reform has not been gained, the struggle will be renewed. • • • • The bill has not attacked the malady which afflicts the University. It has opened no career for learning, fur. wished no incitements to the independent pursuit of know. ledge, provided no great authorities to command the re• verence of students in a single department of human thought. It has done nothing to avert the flight from the University of every man of superior talent and learning. It has left Oxford dependent for her theology, her philo• sophy, her history, and her scholarship, on London, Paris, and Germany. It has not accomplished the grand object of University Reform. That reform is still to come. " The Census," " Old English Songs," Dr. Doran's " Habits and Men," "The History of the Electric Telegraph," and an article upon "Drunkenness," make up, with the papers we have noticed, the table of contents of this number. The latter article, which is full of suggestive matter, is ably and dis passionately written, and offers many suggestions, the principal of which is "early closing." Blackwood for February opens with a political in quiry upon the "Whence have come our Dangers ?" and replies that they have come solely from that inexplicable system of economy which has been pressed upon all Governments for the last twenty years, and which has reduced our forces and im. paired the efficiency of every branch of the military service : An army (remarks the writer) is not made in a day. It takes two years to make a horse•soldier; fifteen months to make a thorough footesoldier. If hurried into the ranks before thus instructed and trained, they may indeed be. come chair au canon, or encumber hospitals, but it is in vain to expect from them the efficiency of real soldiers. They may tight bravely in the field, but they will melt away under the severity of military duty : the dripping bi• vouac, the stinted rations, the service in the trenches, will prove fatal to their inexperienced strength. This has been sufficiently proved in tbe . siege of Sebastopol. Tho troops which suffered most from fatigue and bickness there were the new regiments and the young soldiers. The idea so common with civilians, therefore, that it is time enough to raise soldiers when they are required, and folly to maintain a costly peace establishment for the eventualities of war, is an error of the most dangerous kind. If the army is not raised and trained in peace, it cannot act with effect in the first years of war. Early disaster is inevitable ; and this, accordingly, has been invariably experienced in England for a hundred and fifty years. 115 Decris, the first Napoleon's Minister of Marine, said to the Emperor, who was complaining about the state of the fleet: " Sire, I cannot make a sailor as your " Majesty does a soldier. It takes a lifetime to make " a sailor, but you can turn out a soldier in six months." " Taisez-vous," replied Napoleon, "such ideas are " enough to destroy an empi re . t takes six years to " make a soldier." And the opinion of such a man upon the point is worth attention. To return : we cannot agree with the writer that no blame is to be attached to the late Ministry in the management of the present war. We should like very much to know who is to bear the responsibility if the Government is not? Was it Lola Raglan who ought to have called out the militia, formed a reserve at Malta or Corfu, supplied the army with r e i n f orcemen t s , blockaded Odessa and the Sea of Azuti; and found winter clothing, stores, hospitals, waggons, and means of transport fur his army ? Happily, indeed, for the country there is no longer much doubt upon the question now. The third part of " Zaidee" is con cluded, and forms some charming and prettily. romantic sketches of life. A review of the Getman works upon the Caucasus gives much information upon that singular hero Schamyl. A notice of the life of that arch-impostor Barnum treats him as lie deserves, but the writer admits that something may be learned from the book : " Advertise !" says Barnum; and, in the main, he is perfectly right. The power of the press is prodigious; but, like all other powers, it may be fearfully misapplied. Of course so long as advertisements are, in their own chsr meter, unobjectionable, they must be inserted. if a man chooses to aver that he vends the best wine, moat, bread, tea, sugar, breeches, or boots in the community, he is en• titled to say so, taking the responsibility of " making his vaunting good." These things do not derange trade : the serious evil commences when journalists pledge their re putation for the excellence of things which they know to be truly unworthy, or for the authenticity of deceptions. In American would appear, judging from liarntinee reve• lations, that the press is generally venal. He takes every opportunity to insinuate that he had it at his command, and does not attempt to disguise that the preliminary Mermaid puffs were written by himself. How then came they to be inserted? We would advise the American editors, if possible, " to wash this filthy witness from their hands," otherwise it will be difficult to acquit them of direct complicity with Hamm. And such, indeed, is the deduction which every one must make from reading Barnum's book ; but, as we observed in a notice some weeks back, we really see no reason for considering this autobiography in any other light than that of another successful imposture. A review of the works of Bulwer is• well written. " The Cartons," "My Novel," and " Pelham," par ticularly the first, the writer considers have decided the reputation of Sir Edward : There is, in our apprehension, no pinnacle so high as that on which we hang our wreath to Itolwer—like the Itoman emperor, a prince among his equals, the first of his craft. " The Story of the Campaign " is continued and brought down to the close of the year. The detail of the battle of Inkermann is highly effective, and, even at this distance of time, and after the masterly descrip tion of Mr. Layard in the current Quarter/y, will be read and re-rend witl► interest. [We must defer our notice of other magazines until next week.] The Art of Travel; or, Shifts and Contrivances Available in Wild Countries. By Francis Galton. London : Murray. Mn. GALTON'S book is really an invaluable wade mecum for rough travellers. It is full of hints and wrinkles upon most subjects, and there is scarcely • want, or incident or accident likely to occur in bush travelling that has not one or more remedies here provided. It is a collection, we should think, of many experiences, well arranged and very perfect in detail. We would suggest, however, that a few hints upon the care and management of the horse would ba acceptable in a book of this sort. PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. ROOM Mostaiains and Molehills. F2sl;rryatt. Longman and Co. Pabiola. Burns and l!ambert. The Step Mother. G. P. R. James. Hodgson. The Law of Kindness. Rev. (.i. \V. Montgomery. Waahbonrne and Co. The Land of the Saracens. R. Taylor. Sampson and Low. Curiosities of London. J Titnbs, F.S.A. Bogue. Annotated Edition of the English Poets. " Thomsor , " Vol. I. J. W. Parker and Ron. Latin Vocabulary. liitto. Greek Exercises. A. H. Wratialaw. Ditto. II Aitelocke's Embassy to Sweden. Longman and Co. Gibbon's Roman Em.oire, Vol. VII. Mut ray. The Family Fead. Routledge. Rath Hall. Ditto,, Songs Jor a Winter ,Isr:ght. E. F. Fitzwilliaro. HAlnutine. Hardwiike. Our Country. \, 7 V 1