The Press.
London, England, 1855-06-09 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

into the evident necessity of a close compact between two
empires, which should divide the continental preponde-
rance between them. As to one of the parties in this
domination there could be no doubt, the other would be
either Austria or Russia, but which would depend upon
how it was intended to follow up the treaty of Vienna—
" for that peace itself," wound up the adroit and audacious
diplomatist, " is a danger, unless it be the beginning of a
more intimate, of a domestic alliance." This daring hint
was not thrown away. The next morning the speaker was
sent for by the Emperor Francis, and showed in the inter-
view no less address, no less audacity than the evening
before, playing off admirably the supposed chances of an-
intimate alliance " in another quarter—chances rendered
probable," he said, " by the personal inclination of Alex
ander, and by ( here we feel him touching our interests—
ours, of this generation—for the first time) an ambition
more excited than satisfied by the easy acquisition of Fin•
land." The dexterous diplomatist lost no time in trans.
miffing advice of so unlooked-for a fact as that of the offer,
for offer was made by Father Francis, of the hand of an
archduchess for the French Emperor.
Speaking of the motives which induced Napoleon to
enter upon the Russian campaign, we learn for the
first time that, ever since the appearance of Souva-
roff in Italy in 179 i), Napoleon's mind was constantly
turned upon those vast nomad tribes who inhabit the
tAleland of Upper Asia, and that it was a prevision
of a barbarian inundation of Europe which prompted
him to drive back the Tartar races from the limits of
Europe :
The comparison of climate'and that natural tendency of
conquest were still the same, he argued, whatever advances
in civilisation might have been made by those same Tartar
tribes. Such advances only doubled the impulsion, by
placing the perfected arts of war, and the instruments of
victory created by science, at the service of brute force and
the cravings of a sorry clime. "We must make haste,
then. before the education of the invaders be complete."—
Memorable exhortation, which haply not many generations
after his own may have the opportunity to profit by ! . .
" Call to mind," he said, at the close of a vivid outburst to
his favoured aide-de-camp, to whom he allowed the full
tide of his thoughts to overflow, " Call to mind Souvaroff
and his Tartars in Italy ; the proper answer to that is to
hurl them back beyond Moscow; and when could Europe
do it if not now and by me?" . . . . "We will throw
back for two hundred years the fatality that brings down
the invasions of the North."
The restoration of Poland, which at this moment is
a phrase, and perhaps something more, in mens'
mouths, was not congenial to Napoleon's feelings.
His clear sense must have shown him that it was the
only safe basis for his aggressive war; but in after
life, when he had touched the purple, he hated the
very name of " insurrection." The Austrian policy
of 1813 so well fits in with this of 1855 we cannot re-
train from transcribing the sketch :

It is interesting to observe the conduct of Austria at
that critical period, for the spirit of Viennese counsels may
haply not even yet be radically changed. The calculating
inaction of the Austrian auxiliary corps supplied to the
grand army, " the temporisation natural to the Cabinet of
Vienna," the continuation of its armaments, the waiting
for Ltitzen, and, after that brief return of fortune to the
French arms, the renewed temporisation and the continued
arming ; and then the apparent inclination for a general
peace, all the while prolonging negotiations that came to
nothing—en résumé, the alliance active, alliance stationary,
neutrality, armed mediation, hostility—it is well that these
things should be recalled to the notice of those that place
their faith unreservedly in aught that emanates from Haps-
burg. We may add that, in the following just observations
of the author, stating the reason of the policy of the two
great German Courts at that (lay, is given the key to their
policy for long years afterwards, policy adroitly practised
upon by the Muscovite, and of which the influences have
certainly not yet disappeared.
Of the peculiar dread which Napoleon seems to have
had of a Russian invasion no expression is more re-
markable than that which he used when parting
from General Merfeld, after Leipsic :—" Adieu,
" General," said he, "you will reflect upon my pro-
" posals—Austria, France, and even Prussia together
" are none too many to arrest upon the Vistula the
" overflowing of ahalf-nomad people, whose immense
" empire stretches from us to China." Among other
articles we notice " The Poor Man's Market in Lon-
don," which, in a sketch of the food obtained by the
poor in London, makes some curious revelations.

The Church of Scotland Magazine and Review for
June presents a good table of contents. " The
Poetry of Chaucer," " The War and our Military
System," Calvin's Life," &c., are all written with care
and ability, and well sustain the character of this ex-
cellent journal.
The Biographical Magazine for this month con•
tains a very good biography of Etty the artist,
and another of Lalor Sheil, as welt as one upon
Vinet, the eminent French divine. An elaborate
obituary for the halt-year, with carefully written
notices appended to each name, will also be found in
this number.

The Quarterly Journal of Pure and Applied Ma-
thematics, a new scientific journal, devoted to pure
mathematics and the physical applications of ana-
lysis, is intended to supply the place of the Cambridge
and Dublin Mathematical Journal, lately deceased,
after a long and successful life of more than fifteen
years. The admission of reviews of scientific books,
and the insertion of problems for solution in its

SAfitAIDAT,

pages will, it is expected, produce a wider circulation
than that attained by its predecessor, devoted almost
entirely to the publication of scientific papers and
memoirs. The fist number contains, among many
valuableand interesting contributions, papers by Mr.
Sylvester, Professor 1)e Morgan, Mr. Arthur Cayley,
and Professor William Thomson.

THE AUTHORSHIP OF " MOREDUN."
TO THE EDITOR OF " THE PRESS."
Societe des Archivistes de France.
Sir,—Tho hostile notices of " Moredun" which have
appeared in your and in some other journals are so
similar in phraseology, and so identical in spirit, that
one answer will serve for all. That reply I shall give
in the Introduction to the new edition of "Moredun"
now preparing for the press.—l am, sir, your obedient
servant, E. DE SAINT. Msuarcir CABANY,
Le Directeur General.

---
Paris, May 29, 1855.
[As we have seen but one of the " hostile notices"
of "Moredun" to which the writer refers—that which
appeared in the Examiner—we are unable to say whe-
ther the description given of them be correct. That
they are identical in spirit is likely enough, but it is
less probable that they are similar in phraseology.
Assuming that they bear a general resemblance,
to what can the similarity be ascribed ? Not assuredly
to any concert among the critics ; they write in per-
fect independence of each other. Each one exercises
his own judgment on the works submitted to him,
and expresses merely his own opinions. Sometimes
those opinions will differ widely, as great latitude
must be allowed for difference of tastes, principles,
and even of degrees of knowledge. But when those
opinions agree it supplies a strong presumption that
they are founded in truth; and the closer the
agreement is, the stronger does that presumption be-
come. One critic may form an erroneous judgment
on the style of an author anti the literary merits of a
book, but it is improbable that half a dozen critics
all writing without the slightest knowledge of each
other's sentiments upon a certain book would
coma to a substantially similar decision conaerning
it, if that decision were not really founded on truth
and reason. In spite of the maxim, De gustibus,
principles of taste are to be settled with a consider-
able degree of certainty. The man who should insist
that vinegar has for him the taste of sugar, or that the
meadows were scarlet in colour, would not give surer
evidence of disordered sense than one who should de-
cide that" Moredun" was by the author of " Waverley."
It would be strange indeed if men whose lives are
passed in the study of styles should not be competent
to pronounce an opinion on them with some degree of
authority. What other jury can be impanelled to
try the merit or authenticity of a book than a body
of critics whose express profession and duty it is to
silt the thoughts and language of writers, and deter-
mine their station ? Their agreement in the case of
" Moredun " is fatal to the pretensions set up for it.
We sincerely hope that the answer promised by M.
Cabany will be of a nature to relieve him from the
ambiguous position in which he stands at present.
Ile may have been the victim of deception, or he may
have been tempted to carry literary artifice beyond its
legitimate limit. In either case frank explanation
will be his best policy. By this time he must be
aware that persistence in the literal truth of the
story he has set forth will be discredited, and expose
his name to painful reproach. We have no other
interest in the question than to arrive at a right con-
clusion and to uphold the good faith of the literati
character, and we should be extremely sorry to find
that character damaged by the conduct of any man
of letters holding a respectable position in Prance.]

PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.
BOOiCS.

Theism. Rev. John Tulloch,
Idyls and Rhymes. Mortimer Collins.
Gibbon's Roman Empire. Vol. VIII. Edited by Dr. W.
Smith. Murray.
The Wabash ; or, Adventures of an English Gentleman's
Family in the Interior of America. J. Richard Beate, Esq.
Hurst and Blackett.

Blackwood..
Orr.

The Calechises Manual. S. Hinds, P.l).
J. W. Parker and Son.
Private Life of an Eastern King. Hope and Co.
Practical Illustrations of the Principles of School Archi-
tecture. Henry Barnard. Triibner.
Aspen Court ; A Story of our Own Times. Shirley Brooks.
Ileutley.

The Signs of the Times.

Oakey.

Partridge and
The Etidow-ed Charity. Longnians.
The Royal Artillery. Clowes.
the Reorganisation of the Civil Service. By a Subordinate
Therein. Smith and Elder.

Notes on Some of the Pictures Exhibited in the Rooms of the
Royal Academy. By the Author of " Modern Painters."
Ditto.
Cave and Sever.

The Malay of Capetown,

PERIODICALS.

The Royal Gallery of Atl.iditedll S. C. Hall, F.S.A.
Colnagbi.
Evangelical Christendom. Partridge and Oakey.
Royal Hotel Guide. Smith and Son.
The Chemist. Edited by C. Watt. A. Watt.

JUNE 9, 1855.

USit.