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-