The Press.
London, England, 1855-06-02 00:00:00

PERIODICAL LITERATURE.

A BETTER number of Blackwood than the current
one has not come before us this year. There are
eight articles upon different subjects, and all of them
well worth the reading. The first is a discriminating
review of Mr. Kingsley and his works. " Aland and
the Baltic in 1854 " is a clear description of the
Aland Isles, and the story of the capture and de-
struction of Bomarsund last year is told by a clever
and observant eye-witness. The seventh part of
the romance of " Zaidee" fulfils the promise which
the earlier parts gave of a pleasing and affecting tale.
"Once upon a Time" is a gossiping antiquarian
letter to Eusebius, suggested by Mr. Charles Knight's
recent work ; and "Notes Upon Canada" a continua
tion of the same subject in the last number, contain-
ing a vast amount of practical information on our
Canadian possessions. Our old friend Vedette is,
we are glad to see, the contributor of a letter from
Madrid, containing a full account of the whole of
the circumstances connected with Lord Howden's

late disagreement with the Spanish Goverment; and
giving, moreover, the letter which his lordship
addressed to the Clamor Publico. From Vedette's
account it appears that Lord Howden, in the first
instance, acted upon secondary information without
applying to the Rev. Mr. Frith for a confirmation of
the statement which had been received at the em-
bassy ; and, as might be expected in such a case, the
information, though proving to be substantially cor-
rect, was yet exaggerated in detail. In deciding
upon the question our Government have neither
approved nor disapproved of Lord Howden's proceed-
ing, and it appears to be yet a doubtful question
whether his lordship will resign his post or retain it.
The concluding article is upon the " Palmerston
Administration." Speaking of the singular decline of
Lord Palmerston in public favour between February
and May, the writer observes that--

For this singular change many reasons may be assigned.
In the first place, Lord Palmerston showed very little dis-
cretion in the construction of his Cabinet. The tendency
of the Whigs, from the commencement, has been to
govern by means of a small junta or restricted clique of
aristocratic families; in short, to job the Government of
Great Britain whenever they could get it into their hands.
So pertinacious are they in their adherence to this arrange-
ment, that no instances of incapacity, however notorious,
are considered by them sufficient to exclude a Minister,
once admitted, from the family circle. All they do is to
shift him to another office when the public clamour rises
to a certain height. Thus, for example, we have known
Sir Charles Wood as Chancellor of the Exchequer, Presi-
dent of the Board of Control, and, finally, First Lord of the
Admiralty—that accomplished individual being equally
eminent for his knowledge of finance, Indian, and naval
matters. Very possibly, as we write from memory, we may
not be doing full justice to the extent of the right hon.
baronet's capabilities. Lord John Russell has been Presi-
dent of the Council, Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Secre-
tary for the Home Department, Secretary for the Colonies,
First Lord of the Treasury, and Premier—these at least,
for it is not worth while to mention such trifles as Pay-
masterahips and the like. Lord Palmerston himself has
been Secretary-at-War, Foreign Secretary, Home Secretary,
First Lord of the Treasury, and Premier. Whig states-
men, it must he confessed, have a butterfly existence--
they flit from flower to flower, and revel in a variety of
nectar.

Tho whole tenor of Lord Palmerston's policy is
then reviewed, or rather the tenor of his life, for we
will defy any one to abstract an intelligible policy
from the acts of his official career ; and nis gross
neglect as Home Minister is remarked :
Both as Secretary of State and as Premier (con-
tinues the writer) he has utterly disregarded the
readiest means for increasing the regular army. In
our number for 'April last in drew des &e motion

SATURDAY,

of our readers to the state of the militia, and pointed
out how necessary it was that more attention should be
paid to this branch of the service. We showed how it
might be made a nursery for soldiers, and we urged upon
the Government the propriety of taking immediate steps
for making up the numbers of the milli* to their full
complement. It was Lord Palmerston's duty to have done
this at an early period; and in case the number of volun-
teers for the militia fell short, to have asked Parliament
for authority to raise them by the ballot.
• • • • • •

The English Militia Bill was passed in 18452 by Lord
Derby's Government, but it was subsequently altered for
the worse by Lord Aberdeen's Government in 1854 ; and
the consequence, as we all know, has been the withdrawal
of great numbers of the militiamen. Through the incon-
ceivable negligence, of Lord Palmerston the Scottish and
Irish Bills were not passed till the very close of the session
in August, 1854, whereas they ought to have been carried
through in February of that year. Therefore, during last
year, the militia forces of Scotland and Ireland were un-
available as a resource from which to supply the army.
We observe from a parliamentary return that only VAS men
from the militia of these two countries entered the regular
force ; and these, being absolutely without training, were
simply raw recruits.
• • • • • •

In this neglect Lord Palmerston is principally and
directly responsible; and we have no hesitation in saying
that we hold him liable to the charge of a gross dereliction
of duty. No attention whatever has been bestowed on the
militia; and to some of the regiments, though embodied,
arms have not yet been issued. Such is the attention
which the present Government, and Lord Palmerston,
while Secretary of State for the Home Department, have
paid to the organisation of the great constitutional force,
from which the army can be most readily recruited !
Had the present Premier done his duty last year the
whole of our militia force would have been ready at
this moment to relieve the home garrisons, and to
give an effective force of at least 40,000 well-trained
men to our army before Sebastopol. But Lord
Palmerston's motto for business is, we should think,
taken from that Nestor of diplomacy, Talleyrand,
who used to say, " Never do today what you can put
" off till to•morrow." The " Story of the Campaign"
is well sustained, and is brought down to the date of
Omer Pacha's reconnaissance beyond Kamara.

Fraser this month opens with the " Civil Service
Reform Movement." A competitive examination is
the test which Fraser would wish to see established;
but because A translates a passage of Virgil into
better English than B, is it certain that he, there-
fore, will prove to be the right man in the right
place to the exclusion of B ? After all, the only test
of capacity for business lies in the experience of a
man's superiors. The character which a man
obtains in his office and at his desk is the only safe
one, and in all first appointments we can know next
to nothing of the applicant. The article is clearly
written, though we think in a tone far too "highly
expectant" of the good results which the adminis-
trative reformers are about to educe. "The Memoirs
of Sir Robert Strange," and Sir James Tennent's
book upon " Wine, its Use, and Taxation," are fairly
reviewed, and a memoir of the late Sir H. De La
Beebe will be read with pleasure. " Recent French
Literature " reviews the memoirs cf M. Dupin, Dr.
Veron, Mr. Villemain and M. De Berryer. "The
Political Crisis" is a précis of the present state of
affairs, repeating the cry for the right man in the
right place, with broad hints that the present
Premier does not at all answer to the description.
The New Monthly has a valuable article upon the
Austrian army, in which the whole details, discipline,
and organisation of that heterogeneous force are ex-
plained. Its effective strength is estimated at 539,708
men, and 59,004 horses, with reserves of from 100,000
to 120,000 men. Ensign Pepper's letters from the
Crimea are tuo obviously made up, we should
imagine, to suit the taste of any reader. Sir
Nathaniel's " Literary Sketch of Thomson," makes
up a pleasant page or two; and the continued
"Diary of a First Winter in Rome" is well written
and pleasing.
The Dublin, among other papers, has a good
article upon the "Arabs in Spain," in which their
history, literature, and arts are fairly sketched, and
a memoir of Colonel Butler, the instigator of the
murder of Wallenstein, contains details of some in-
terest; while the articles upon the American consti-
tution, and on geology, religion, and politics, supply
sound and instructive reading.

The Philosophy of the Fall, and its Remedy. By
Rev. E. C. Topham, M.A. London : Bosworth.
Tins is a sincere and elaborate book of that class
about the utility of which the soundest believers will
differ in opinion. The sublime mystery of the fall
of man, as it is one of the earliest, is one of the most
important bases of the belief of Christians. It is
questionable how far it was intended that it should
be explained by physical causes, since by the analogy
of such causes it is impossible to approach the con-
sideration of its divine remedy. The following pas-
sage we select as a fair specimen of ➢ir. Topham's
mode of discussion :

From what has been already stated, it is scarcely neces•
sari to remark) that tha change made in man's gatim at