The Press.
London, England, 1855-12-22 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

. .
facts. Even the genial, warmhearted Robert Cooke could not smile
that day. After dinner lie drank to the advent of another Layard, and
the discovery of another Nineveh The successors of Colburn, as they
looked on their loaded shelves, thought of tempting the author to try
his hand at that more orthodox style of romance connected in their
minds with three slim volumes—an exciting love story, and a hero free
from asthma. The publishers of Dr. Cumming wrote oft to him that
if he hoped his next volume to float he must fix a near day for the
end of the world he had so long been predicting. The house of "Little
Dorrit" found little comfort as they looked in their sale-book. A
number of respectable firms agreed to issue no new work for nine days,
conceiving that all competition with the literary wonder would for that
long period be impossible.
The enmity of a more dangerous class had to be met. All Grub-
street was in commotion. What would become of their trade if books
continued to be published without a flaw ? The novelty must be put
down. Scurrility must be made to supply the place of wit, and libel of
truth. The elements of conspiracy were ready. The will was not
wanting, but the means failed. Grub-street had of late years been
shorn of its strength. Lockhart had died in a mean lodging at Pad-
dington. Croker had slunk into an almshouse in some obscure
village. Christopher North, too poor to buy a crutch, had perished
miserably bedridden. Thackeray had fled his country. Phillips had
died in a sponging-house. Of the critics who remained—the easy
Reeve was friendly, the feeble Elwyn was timid. At the moment of
its greatest need Grub-street looked in vain for its natural leaders.
What was to be done ? Some of its most wretched hacks sent abusive
critiques to the papers. They were returned with an intimation that
only panegyric would suit. The miserable creatures felt • that they
were powerless. For once they earned their wages honestly, and their
prostituted pens celebrated the success of learning and genius.
There was no longer thought of opposition. The triumph of the
author was complete. The enthusiasm of the metropolis spread to
the provinces. The boy at the plough-tail real, as he plodded
through the fallow, how the great Lewis had been conquered by the
greater William. Book societies and lending-libraries were in full
activity. Mudie boasted that he took a thousand copies. The pro-
digious sale set an enormous amount of coin in circulation, to the
great advantage of the whole kingdom. Booksellers throve. Authors
hoped. Publishers recovered from their panic. The whole land rang
with congratulation, and hailed the great w.)rk as the dawn of a more
than Augustan age in British literature.

PEACE OR WAR.
Well, will it be Peace, or not be Peace?
Is the horrid clamour of War to cease?
Ministerial papers cackle like geese,
While Belgian journals, and those of Greece,
And of Pumpernickel (whose Duchess is niece
To the Czar of Russia—Czar kre, not fits),
Declare the terms offered to Drouyn de Lhuys
And Lord John, and rejected from sheer caprice,
Are the only terms for insuring Peace.
But what says the Times, our own great* Times,
Which circulates in all lands and dimes,
And knows everything—but is wrong sometimes—
And pronounces on politics, war, and rhymes,
And anticipates juries' verdicts on crimes,
And twists and turns, and crawls and climbs,
And aye with the tone of the populace chimes—
Oh, what says the Times, the wonderful Times ?
Well, the Times is puzzled and in a fright,
And really don't know what on earth to write :
The Times, in short, is bamboozled quite,
And is ready to foam and burst with spite,
• Great—large, big, bulky.—Johneon'a Dictionary.

TEEMS OF 8'

little weight. They must be settled by a comparison of
powers, in which the stronger demand all they can, and
the weaker yield as little as they can help.
This is a doctrine little likely ever to find
favour in this country. As applied to the
present contest, it means that, though we
engaged in war for the sake of justice, we are
to forget justice the instant that hostilities
commenced. There might have been a right
or a wrong before the quarrel broke out ; but
there is no right or wrong now, except as one
party is stronger than the other. Common
sense will repudiate this doctrine as absurd,
and right feeling will denounce it as diabolical
Fortunately there are clearer perceptions of
right and wrong in the world; and hence it
happens that there is commonly in the end a
preponderance of guropean strength enlisted
on the side of justice, though that side might
be the weaker before its claims received re-
cognition and support. In fact, it is only by
keeping justice in view that we can hope to
bring wars to a close; and it is by the repudia-
tion of the odious'doctrine quoted above that
the States of the modern present so great a
contrast to the States of the ancient world, and
that the smaller nations of the European cora-
tuon*ealth preserve their independence.
1.: •