The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-12-25 00:00:00

skating art, and an enthusit, as the event, proved, fell
through the ice, and was immersed up to the neck. After
some little exertion he was dragged out of the hole and placed
upon the ice. Immediately on this being effected, he, with
the most perfect nonchalance, handed his watch to a friend
and quietly resumed skating, while the crowd by which he
was surrounded lustily shouted " Bravo, the Hero of Inker-
man," he meanwhile dashing about

On sounding skates, a thousand different ways,
In circling poise, swift as the winds along.

Having pursued this amusement for some little time, he took off
his skates and ran homewards as fast as he was able, followed
by the shouts of the amused multitude.
' The memorial from the colonels of the different regiments
of the Guards to the QUEEN, praying to be put on the same
footing as to promotion for service with the officers of the line,
continues the subject of diligent rather than pleasing conver-
sation, particularly in military circles. The memorial and its
prayer are still felt to be invidious, and the subject has fur-
nished material for some severe hits at the PRINCE CONSORT.
In particular, Punch drives hard against the illustrious Field-
Marshal in lampoon and by caricature. The incident alto-
gether is one which it is to be regretted his Royal Highness
had anything to do with. It has already brought his name
into unpleasant connexion with various matters which the
profane do not hesitate to denominate "military jobbery," and
within the last few months " the system" has had so much
and such deserved obloquy heaped upon it, that to push such
things further was, to say the least of it, indiscreet. Many
a veteran officer repeats with a feeling as much akin to anger
as jocosity that the system must indeed be bad which can
extort a pathetic complaint from Prince ALBERT and the Duke
of CsisinntnGE relative to the slowness of promotion !
From the contemplation of hardships so seriously and justly
complained of, and so modestly put forth by the two royal
soldiers referred to, the transition is as gratifying as it is
almost novel, to turn in contemplation to the handsome meed
of public regard bestowed on two literary campaigners of ac-
knowledged skill and merit. Ch A.RLES DICKENS has made a
vigorous sortie from his literary ambush, and successfully
lodged 35,000 of his skirmishing corps within the defensive
lines of a grateful public in the shape of the first number of
his "Little Dorrit ;" and, more marvellous still, Mr. IVIACA.ULAY
has been equally fortunate in planting a doubly numerous
brigade of his heavy troops upon an indulgent world in the
form of two volumes of his " History of England." Book-
sellers ' circulars and publishers' notices make au admiring
public familiar with the fact that 35,000 copies or 70,000 of
these volumes have found ready purchasers in the British pub-
lic. More than this, the ready-reckoners of literary dealers
have brought within easy knowledge of the same public the
numerous tons and hundred weights—the many cubical yards
of solid content comprised in the mighty cube of such a his-
torical issue, and the public has accordingly stared with due
amazement at the figure of the statists; the figures of the histo-
rian many of them have prudently left forfurther consideration.
To attempt criticism upon an author whose labours are trans-
ferred by tons, or to question that popularity which is piled in

pyramidal acres, would be as unwise as fruitless. Even at the

I risk of being charged with rashness, it may not be altogether
an act of temerity to glance at a few of the illustrations of
this really pictorial, if not also fanciful, History of England.
The first fact which strikes a general reader is the operose
verbosity and over-crowding of the panorama. The scenes
already painted stretch over a period of twelve years, are
represented iu four ponderous volumes, and have taken the
artist seven years in their elaboration. At the same rate of
progress, the remaining hundred and fifty-eight years will
occupy a period of time which will land Mr. MACAULAY in an
epoch of his life entitling him to rank among the patriarchs.
The volumes now issued sustain their author's claim to being
an artist of gigantic effort, while they at the same time lead
to a suspicion that his nude philosopher from New Zealand,
whose anticipated advent has given such dire offence to the
patriotism of Lord JOHN RUSSELL, will have completed his
meditation upon the ruined arches of London Bridge, before
the historic scenery has been brought to a close. The key of
this grand historic pageant, so far as it has yet been proceeded
with, is Whiggery. During the eight years treated of, in the
last portion of this history, there is but one grand figure and
many subservient ones exhibited. WILLIAM 111. is not dis-
played as a giant among giants ; the surrounding actors in
the great state pageant are purposely dwarfed to enhance the
magnitude of his proportions. Of the vigour of his fancy
sketches few can doubt, although many will be prepared to
dispute their accuracy, and still more numerous will be those
who condemn their spirit. His hatred of the Duke of MARL-
BOROUGH leads him to disparage that hero in the most shame.
ful manner. The portrait painted by MA.CA.ULAY of that
most distinguished Englishman of his age is discoloured
throughout. He is represented by this new historian as a
hypocrite, a cheat, a murderer, and a traitor. "Avarice,"
says Mr. M.a.cAuL.ty. "is rarely the vice of a young man: it
is rarely the vice of a great man; but MARLBOROUGH was
one of the few who have, in the bloom of youth, loved lucre
more than wine or women, and who have at the height of
greatness loved lucre more than power or fame." His genius
as a statesman is huddled over; his success and skill as a sol-
dier even, find no favour in the eyes of this historico-romantic
limner, although both serve as a means to provoke enmity
and stir malignity. "At twenty he made money of his beauty
and vigour. At sixty he made money of his genius and his glory.
The applauses which were justly due to his conduct at Wal-
court could not altogether drown the voices of those who mut-
tered that, wherever a broad piece was to be saved or got,
this Hero was a mere Euclio, a mere Harpagon ; that, though
he drew a large allowance under pretence of keeping a public
table, he never asked an officer to dinner; that Isis muster
rolls were fraudulently made up : that he pocketed pay in the

names of men who had long been dead, of men who had been
killed in his own sight four years before at Sedgemoor; that
there were twenty such names in one troop ; that there were
thirty-six in another."

Not content with displaying him as a sordid pilferer, he next
undertakes to represent him as a traitor. " MAnLponouon
had never ceased (if we are to credit Mr. MAcAuLAY) to as-
sure the court of Saint-Germains that the great crime which
he had committed was constantly present to his thoughts, and
that he lived only for the purpose of repentance and repara-
tion. Not only had he been himself converted : he had also
converted the Princess ANNE. In 1688, the CuuneulLLs
had, with little difficulty, induced her to fly from her father's
palace. In 1691, they, with as little difficulty, induced her to
copy out and sign a letter expressing her deep concern for his
misfortunes and her earnest wish to atone for her breach of
duty. At the same time MARLBOROUGH held out hopes that
it might be in his power to effect the restoration of his old
master in the best possible way, without the help of a single
foreign soldier or sailor, by the votes of the English Lords-
and Commons, and by the support of the English army,"
After a long and elaborately filled-in picture of the alleged.
political and traitorous iniquities of MARLBOROUGH, a very
large portion indeed of which is in truth a fancy sketch. by
MACAULAY, more vigorous in execution than amiable in.
design, the author of this truthful history gives the story
the annexed peroration. He has been describing the unfor-
tunate expedition of TALmAsn; the return of his armament
to Portsmouth; and the death of the leader of that expedition..
" TALmAan died, exclaiming with his last breath that he had.
been lured into a snare by treachery. The public grief and.
indignation were loudly expressed. The nation remembered.
the services of the unfortunate general, forgave his rashness,
pitied his sufferings, and execrated the unknown traitors
whose machinations had been fatal to him. There were many
conjectures and many rumours. Some sturdy Englishmen,
misled by national prejudice, swore that, none of our. plans
would ever be kept a secret from the enemy while French. re-
fugees were in high military command. Some zealous Whigs,
misled by party spirit, muttered that the Court of Saint-
Germains would never want good intelligence while a single
Tory remained in the Cabinet Council. The real criminal was
not named; nor, till the archives of the House of Stuart were
explored, was it known to the world that TALMA.STI had perished
by the basest of all the hundred villanies of MA.RLBOROVGH.
Yet never had MARLBOROUGH been less a Jacobite than. at the
moment when le rendered this wicked and shameful service to
the Jacobite cause. It may be confidently affirmed. that to serve
the banishedfamily was not his. object, and that to ingratiate
himself withtlie banished family was only his secondary object.
His primary object was to force himself into the service of the
existing Government, and to regain possession of those im-
portant and, lucrative places. from which he had been dismissed
more than two years before. He knew that the country and
the Parlament would not patiently bear to see the English
army commanded by foreign generals. Two Englishmen
only had shown themselves fit for high military posts,
himself and TALMASIL. If TALMASH were defeated and dis-
graced, WILLIAM would scarcely have a choice. In fact, as
soon as it was known that the expedition had failed, and that
TA.LMA.SII was no more, the general cry was that the King
ought to receive into his favour the accomplished Captain
who had done such good service at Walcourt, at Cork, and at
Kinsale. Nor can we blame the multitude for raising this
cry. For everybody knew that MARLBonouou was an
eminently brave, skilful, and successful officer : but very few
persons knew that he had, while commanding WILLIAM'S
troops, while sitting in WILLIAM'S bedchamber, formed a
most artful and dangerous plot for the subversion of
WILLIAm's throne ; and still fewer suspected the real
author of the recent calamity, of the slaughter in the Bay of
Camaret, of the melancholy fate of TALmAsn. The effect
therefore of the foulest of all treasons was to raise the traitor
in public estimation."

The preceding are a few of those historical pictures which a
discerning British public is pleased to laud and to admire—to
pile in ponderous masses—and to purchase by the ton !