The Press.
London, England, 1857-02-21 00:00:00

THE CHINESE WAR.

UP to the 30th of December affairs remained muc:•.
in state quo. Since the burning of the factories, cn
the 14th of the same month, Admiral Seymour
occasionally bombarded the town from the Dutch
Folly Foit ; but, on the whole, he seemed disposed to
remain on the defensive u 'tit the arrival of troops
from India. One European regiment, one regiment
of native infantry, and the Ceylon Rifles, were under
orders at Calcutta for Hong Kong.
The burring of the factories was admitted to be
the result of a well planned schome of the Chinese,
who showed more energy than usual in at-
tempting to cut cut or burn and blow up stray
vessels. On the night of the 28th an attempt was
made to blow up the Hornet, while at anchor, by a
powder-boat, but fortunately the powder did not ex-
plode, while a Mr. Cuwper, of Whampoa, had been
seized and captured by the Chinese, and carried off
into Canton.

The river also swarmed with war junks. One
of the small postal stean•ers was attacked
between Canton and the Bogue on the night of the
22nd Dec. by a large fleet of mandarin junks, and
had a narrow escape from capture. The pilot and
one of the crew were killed, and two others
wounded. A lorcha, which she was towing, had to
be cast off, and was captured, proving a rich prize,
as she was laden with goods and valuables, re-
moved from the Canton warehouses at much risk
and expense. Before being cast off her crew were
taken on board the steamer. The junks then re-
tired up the shallow creeks with which the country
is intersected, and where the draught of water is too
small tor our men-of-war. Gunboats were very much
required.
The Friend of China, in its issue of Dec. 30, sums
up the latest news from Canton :

183

There is little of any moment to report, excepting some
tiring into the city from the Dutch Folly. Admiral Sey-
mour, for the present, reclines on his arms, as good policy ,
perhaps, as more active measures; for, as every day's
ina'Ality to go about their customary avocations must cause
serious distress to the Celestial " Obstinates," it cannot be
doubted but in course of time they will come to their
senses. Reports hum the north run that /eh had been
superseded, and that the incoming High Imperial Com-
missioner has full liberty to admit us within the city.
This report is not likely to be true—Yelt, perhaps, would be
glad if it was. Our news from Canton comes up to yester-
day noon. At that. time her Majesty's steamship Coro-
mandel, Lientenant Douglas commanding, left for this port,
having on hoard Mr. Consul Parkes, Captain Busb, of her
Majesty's SJtlt Regiment, and Dr. Anderson, of the
Calcutta, in charge of sick seamen. Since) the hot-shot
firing of Saturday night, there has been no more hostile
demonstration. It is now pretty certain that Mr. Cowper,
Ben., is alive within the town of Whampoa, and one of the
elders has been released on parole, to institute measures
for his release.

The Americans have done nothing more, but the
following circular letter from the United States'
commissioner explains their present position and
attitude. It clearly points to ulterior coercive mea-
sures:—

TO THE MERCHANTS AND OTHER CITIZENS Cob' THE
UNITED STATES.

Legation of the United States, Macao,
Dec. 27, 1856.
His Excellency, Peter Parker, Commissioner of the
United States of America to China, &c., referring to the
notice of the 9th inst.. hereby makes known that the reply
of the Imperial Commissioner to his Excellency's despatch
of that date was received last evening, and that, with the
semblance of a desire to maintain friendly relations between
the two countries, the same disposition to evade obligation,
misrepresent facts, and erroneously interpret treaty stipu.
lations which for years has characterised the correspond-
ences of Imperial Commissioners still obtains with his
Excellency Yeh ; the resumption of trade to any extent at.
the port of Canton during the existence of the local hosti-
lities is not encouraged by the tenor of the communica-
tion now received, and means more ample than those now
at command wile. be required to meet the emergency of the
public interests of the United States in China, and the
satisfactory and proper adjustment of the relation of the
Five Ports is an event yet future.—By order,
S. WELLS WILLIAMS. Secretary of the United
States' American Legation.

The Spaniards appear, by some accounts in the
Spanish papers, to have been dragged into the quarrel.
The Espana says :

Letters from Manilla state that the Chinese attempted to
burn one of the Spanish steamers which was undergoing
repair at Hong Kong, and that the crew had been forced.
to seek refuge on board a merchant vessel. In consequence
of this, it is said that the brig El Eseipion has been sent
from Manilla to demand satisfaction, and to protect the
Spanish subjects there.

Intelligence from Hong Kong up to the 31st of
December states that FO much excitement existed.
among the Chinese inhabitants that great precau-
tions were taken to secure the factories, private
houses, and property of the foreign residents. The
French Admiral Guerin had landed a strong force
of seamen and marines from his frigate the
Virginie.
In connection with the dispute we may observe
that a correspondence revecting the registratii.n of
colonial vessels has recently been published, from
which it appears that, on the 3rd of March, 1855,
the Legislative Council of Hong Kong passed a
colonial ordinance, establishing "a system of regis-
tration for colonial vessels." Of this ordinance the
important clauses are the second and the sixth. The
second section provides that there shall be t%ia
classes of registers granted in the colony—lmperial
registers, as prescribed by the Imperial acts, for
long-voyage ships; colonial registers, as prescribed
in the ordinance, ror China trading ships. The six h
section provides that Chinese residents within tl e
colony, it registered lessees of Crown lauds, may, n
giving due securities for compliance with the requii e-
ments of the ordinance, ohiam colonial registc-s.
The Board of Trade doubted whether this deparu re
from the Merchant Shipping Act (17th and lb h
Viet., c. 104), according to which British owners!' p
was an essential condition of British registry, cou'd
be sanctioned. Ultimately, on the 2thh of Mry,
1850, a further ordinance, under the provisions a
the 547th section of the Merchant Shipping Act
passed the Legislative Council of Hang Kong, settirg
for h in its preamble that it was intended to amer.d
the Merchant Shipping Act of 1854 and the Chinese
Passengers Act or 1855, in their application to the
colony of Hong Kong; and in pursuance of such in-
tention, as far as the former of those two acts was
concerned, enacting by its first clause that " the
British flag may lawfully be used by any Chinese
resident within the meaning of the ordinance of
March 3, 1855."
This ordinance reached home in the course of the
year, was approved by her Majesty, and on the 27th
of August Mr. Labouchere wrote to Sir John
Bowring directing its proclamation in the colony,
before which it could not take effect.

r--

184

eraturt.

1. rIU3 Days of My Life. An Autobiography.
By the Author of " Mrs. Margaret
Maitland." Three Vols. London : Hurst
and Blackett.

2. Lucy Aylmer. By the Author of "The
Curate of Overton." Three Vols. Lon-
don : Bentley.

THE instances aro not few in which the nages
of fiction have soothed the painful hours and
enlivened the declining years of the most
eminent men of their time. One striking
example has recently come to our knowledge.
A peer of Parliament, eminently distinguished
by legal depth and subtlety, by extraordinary
critical acuteness and refined taste, and now
in his eighty-fifth year, took up the novel of
" Wildflower," noticed in our columns some
weeks since. Fascinated by the singular
opening, he read on, and, we believe, did not
rest till he had finished the story. His excla-
mation then was, that ho had rarely read a
novel which had more agreeably engaged his
mind. The anecdote is worth preserving, if
only a s a rebuke to those unimaginative persons
who fancy that only trifling minds can take
pleasure in fiction. It is often the highest
minds which feel most need of relaxation.
" Cito rumpes arcum, semper si tensum
habueris."

\Vithout detracting from the merit of
" Wildflower," we must assign a much higher
rank to the new novel of "The Days of My
Life." Happily the gifted authoress is quite
young. Her great talent has only just begun
to blossom, but she exhibits in a marked
manner the first requisites of an eminent
novelist—fertile invention, picturesque power,
poetic feeling, and considerable constructive
skill. We are struck, too, with the breadth of
her manner. The conception of this story is
both large and simple, and it has the merit of
perfect originality.
The design is to relate the story of a life, by
describing certain days of it which were dis-
tinguished by the occurrence of important
events. The reader will at once see that to
work out this design effectively required great
artistic skill, as the " days " in the narrative
bear some resemblance to the scenes in a
drama. As they are marked with a white or
black stone, they influence the future life of
the Hester South:...ote who relates her story.
The sentiment, or key-note, of the book is
not unlike that which is to be found in Mrs.
Browning's " Aurora Leigh." But the story,
'while not less essentially poetical, is far more
pleasing and probable.
The first day shows the heroine treading
with a firm step one of the bare flats of her
native county, Cambridgeshire. She is the
only child of the lord of the manor, an heiress,
full of perfect health and girlish courage. We
quote the opening passage, as showing to
advantage the authoress's powers of de-
scription :

I was going home from the village, and it was an autumn
evening, just after sunset, when every crop was cut and
housed in our level country, and when the fields of stubble
and browned grass bad nothing on them except here and
there a tree. They say our bare flats in Cambridgeshire
are neither picturesque nor beautiful. I cannot say for
that; but I know no landscape has ever caught my eye
like the long line of wiry sunburnt grass, and the great
wide arch above with all its shades of beautiful colour.
There were no hedgerows to skirt the path on which I was,
and I saw nothing between me and the sky, save a soli-
tary figure stalking along the highway, and in the other
direction the clump of trees which surrounded Cottiswoode ;
the sky, in the west, was still full of the colours of the
sunset, and from the horizon it ruse upward in a multi-
tude of tints awl shades, the orange and red melting into
a rosy flush, which contrasted far a while, and then fell
into the sweet, calm, peaceful tone of the full blue. In
the time of the year, and the look of the night, there was
alike that indescribable composure and satisfaction which
are in the sunny evenings after harvest. The work was
done, the day was fading, everything was going home ;
the rooks sailed over the sky, and the labourer trudged
across the moor. Labour was over and provision made,
and the evening and the night, peace and refreshment,
and rest were coming for every man. Ido not suppose I
noticed this at the time, but I have the strongest impres-
sion of it all in my remembrance now
1 was going home—when there suddenly appeared two
figures before me, advancing in my way. I say two figures,
because in our country everything stands out so clear upon
the great universal background of sky, and I could not so
truly say it was man and boy, as two dark outlines—clearly
marked and separated from the low broad level of the

THE PRESS.

country and the arch of heaven—which now approached
upon me. I cannot help an unconscious estimate of cha.
racter from the tracks of gesture and carnage, which
perhaps could not have been so visible anywhere else as
here, upon this fiat unbroken road. One of these figures
was a stooping and pliant one, with a sort of sinuous
twisting motion, noiseless and sidelong, as if his habit was
to twist and glide through ways too narrow to admit the
passage of a man; the other form was that of a boy, a
slight figure, which, to my perfect health and girlish
courage, looked timid and hesitating ; the brightness of
the sky behind cast the faces of the strangers into shadow,
but my eye was caught by the unfamiliar outlines; they
were strangers, that was sure.
- - - -

The reader will notice how exquisitely this
picture is sketched and coloured. It intro-
duces us to important matters. The boy is
her cousin, Edgar Southcote, whose existence
was previously unknown. He is the son of
au elder brother of Hester's father. He is
brought to claim his inheritance. His title
is clear, and Hester and her father retire to
live on a small independence in the town of
Cambridge. But on the first day that Hester
had met her cousin, a kind feeling had
grown up between them. The boy entreats
her to remain with her father. He wants
" pity, compassion, and love." She replies
bitterly in a phrase that was often on her
father's lips, "Pity is a cheat !" and so they
part.
Hester's father is a reserved man. His
hopes of domestic happiness wero blasted
early in life. We have not space to describe his
story. It is enough to say that he believed
his wife had married him from pity, and that
he thought he had only her compassion when
he had her tenderest love. This belief
saddens his life ; it makes him a melancholy,
disappointed man, and hence his frequent
exclamation, " Pity is a cheat !" The senti
went is thus sown and nourished in Hester's
breast.
Some years pass away. The highspirited
girl becomes a graceful woman. At Cambridge
she accidentally meets a student, Mr. Edgar;
they are mutually attracted, and some beauti-

ful passages describe their betrothal. She is
a proud and happy bride, as she steps with
him into the carriage which is to convey her to
his home in Cambridgeshire. On their jour-
ney she is troubled to observe his dejection.
What can be the matter with him? The cause
conies on like lightning, which, opening the
black cloud, scathes the gazer seeking to
penetrate its gloom :

And so we drove on ; the gliding silent motion of the
carriage seemed very subdued and gentle after the rush of
the railway—on through dark, silent, hedgeless roads,
over the wide level country, which stretched around us
one vast dull plain under the shadow of the night. It
was my own country I saw—and I put out my hand from
the carriage window to feel the fresh wind, which came
over miles and miles of these broad fiats, unbroken by any
obstacle. Not a hedgerow, scarcely a tree, and neither
passenger upon the way nor human habitation, was to be
seen in the darkness—nothing but the dark soil, the wide,
wide indescribable distance, the fresh breeze and the dim
sky. The very road we were on was a level straightforward
line, which seemed to have no turnings, but to go blindly
forward, uninterrupted, as if it went to the end of the
world. All the charm which I used to feel in my native
lccality returned upon me; space, and breadth, and free-
dom almost infinite, was in this land which people called
monotonous and dreary. My spirit rose, my heart beat
high. I felt my breast expand to the fresh wind—but
when I turned to Harry—Harry seemed quite unmoved by
it Lhe was still buried in his own dark thoughts.

The carriage was a private one, luxuriously fitted up,
and I thought the servants recognised him as servants
recognise their master ; but I had never been told that he
was rich enough for this, and it joined with the greater
mystery to puzzle me. When I looked out again, I began
to think the way quite familiar to my eyes: that was not
unlikely, being in Cambridgeshire—but now it grew
strangely familiar, even in the darkness. Could the
house Harry had taken be near Cottiswoode 9—my heart
beat still louder at the thought. I scarcely knew whether
it pleased or vexed me; yet I thought I should have plea-
sure in showing Edgar Southcote how independent of
jealousy or any mean feeling Harry's wife could be.
looked out eagerly, recognising now a tree and now •
cottage—we were surely near the hamlet. Harry, too,
stirred in his corner; I thought he watched me, but I was
full of old thoughts, and did not speak to him. Yea!
there were the old elm trees—the old avenue. Then I
drew back in my seat with tears in my eyes ; eager as I
was, I could not look out, when we were passing so near
my own old home.
The shadows of great trees were over us; but I had
leaned back in my corner, and did not cote them. Yes!
I remembered that the public road crossed the very end of
that stately grand old avenue—how slowly we were
passing it ! how long the over-arching branches shadowed
the carriage 1 and the air grew closer, as if something in-
terrupted it, very near. I did not look up, a strange
fascination overpowered me—a moment more, and the
carriage wheeled round into an open space and stopped.
Almost bane they drew up, Harry leaped from my side.

SATURDAY,.

Then he came round, threw the door open, held out his
arms to me to lift me out—how his arms trembled !—how
hot his breath came upon my cheek !—1 could scarcely
recognise his hurried, trembling, agitated voice," Hester—
welcome home ! "

Home !—the great hall door stood open—the moon
came out from behind a cloud to throw a momentary
gleam upon the house. Home ! I thrust him away, and
sprang to the ground without his aid. He stood where I
had left him, drawing back, following me with his eyes,
and pale as marble. I stood alone gazing up at the
sculptured emblems upon the door. In a moment, in a
flood of despair and bitterness, the truth rushed upon me.
I had been trapped and betrayed—deceived lik a fool—
and every one had known the snare but I. I saw it all at
a glance—l was his wife—his wife ! and he had brought
me home.

Her pride supports her. She suppresses all
evidence of surprise and emotion till he speaks
to her :
I did not take off my bonnet—l stood in the glow of the
firelight, turning my face to him as he came eagerly up to
me. I stopped him as he began to speak. " There
is no need—no need !" said I ; " I see your mystery--
pray do not speak to me—do not drive me mad to•
night."
He turned away clasping his hands with a passionate
exclamation—then he came back : " I deserve your
reproaches. Hester, do not spare them ! but think what
you said to me not half an hour ago—you are my wife."
" Your wife—your wife—yes ! there is the sting," I
said, with a wild outburst ; " his wife, and it is for ever !"
He went away blindly from me to the other end of the
room, and threw himself down in a chair. I saw his
suffering, but it did not move me. I thought of nothing
but my own wrong—a hard, cold, desperate indifference to
every one else seemed to come upon me. I saw myself
tricked, cheated, despised. Mr. Osborne, Alice, my
father—strange and impossible though the conjunction
was—l almost thought I saw them altogether, smiling at
me. 1 could have gnashed my teeth when I thought how
conscious every one else was--how miserably blind was I.
I could have thrown myself on the floor and dashed my
hot brow against the hearth—his hearth—his home—his
household sanctuary. But I rejected and hated it—it was
not mine.

I cannot tell how long I stood thus, he sitting far apart
from me saying nothing—it might have been hours—it
might have been only moments—l cannot tell. I think it
was the falling of some ashes from the fire upon the
hearth which roused me; the trivial common sound
brought a strange awakening to my misery. I went and
rang the bell ; as I did so, he looked up at me wistfully.
" It is only for some one to show me my room," I said.
" May not I do that, Hester? " he asked. I think, per-
haps, though it is a strange, ungenerous thing to say so,
that had he been less overpowered, less dejected, bad ho
boldly entered upon the subject then, and compelled me to
go over it, step by step, J would not have been so bitter
against him ; but he was disarmed and broken down, less
by my reproaches than by his own feeling of guilt.
" Thank you, I shall prefer a servant," said 1, and when
the woman came, I followed her upstairs. She led me to
my own old room, the last room I had let when we went
away from Cottiswoode. My first glance at it showed me
that it was furnished with the greatest care and elegance,
and the door of a little room adjoining, which had been a
lumber-room in our time, was open, and from it came a
glimpse of firelight; in the bedchamber, too, there was a
fire, and everything in it looked so bright, so pure and
cheerful, that I could not glance anywhere without an
aggravation of bitterness—to place me here, was like
placing a revolted and defying spirit in some peaceful
bower of heaven.
We do not propose to trace the story further.
It is ably wrought to the end. We doubt
whether the episode of the ring might not
have been omitted, as it seems unsuited to
the character of reality which pervades the
story.
Like Mrs. Browning's Aurora, Hester is
deprived of her inheritance by her cousin—
and, like Aurora, she refuses with haughty
pride the love which she believes to proceed
from pity. But Hester is snared, and there
is reason for her indignation, though we be-
lieve most of our fair made' s will think that
she carries it too far, and suffers her pride to
hurry her to the verge of all but unpardonable
passion.
The story is most eloquently written, and
is extremely attractive and skilful. It glows
with the genius of romance—the romance of
social circumstances and affections. We cor-
dially congratulate the gifted young authoress
on the success she has achieved.

" Lucy Aylmer " (2) is to some extent a
polemical novel. Its purpose is to expose the
evil tendencies of Romish predilections ; and,
considering its design, it is singular that the
tale should be written with so much easy
grace, fine fancy, and sweet description, and
should obtain such firm hold on the reader's
attention. It is not, however, until the story
is far advanced that the polemical purpose
peeps out. The action is natural, and the cna-
ractcrs of the personages drawn with great
distinctness. It is one merit of the book that
the characters develop themselves as the

FEBRUARY 21, 1857.

story advances. They grow, as it were, without
any effort on the part of the author. About
the literary merit of the work there can be no
dispute, but we fear its polemical character
will tend to impair its popularity.

Early Ballads, Illustrative of History, Tradi•
Lions, and Customs. Edited by Robert, Bell.

London : J. W. Parker and Son.
Tura is one of the best volumes of the "Anno-
tated Edition" of the English poets that has
yet appeared. We are glad to see that Mr.
Bell keeps up his energy, because this edition
has many claims to be considered as a national
one. It is critically select in its choice of
authors, and it has abundance of literary
illustration. Mr. Bell steers judiciously be-
tween too much and too little of comment.
We have continuously examined nearly all
the volumes of this " annotated edition," and
we think it well deserving of scholarly appro-
bation and public support. We make this
remark more freely as we have closely criti-
cised it in detail, and expressed our dissent at
certain points from Mr. Bell.
There are forty-one ballads in this volume,
including such as the " Nut-Brown Maid,"
" Robin Hood and Allen-a-Dale," " Chevy
Chase," " Thomas the Rhymer," " Spanish
Lady's Love," " Mary Ambree," and several
others of that class. Some are taken from
" Percy's Reliques," and others from Ritson's
collection, and a few from Scotch and Border
minstrelsy. We think that Mr. Bell might
have entered at more length into a dissena-
tion on the merits of our ballad poetry. We
observe that Mr. Hallam places the Scotch far
higher than the English ballads. Ho says,—
"There can be no question, I conceive, as to
" the superiority of Scotland in her ballads "
The Border ballads he rates as manifestly in-
ferior to the Scotch, and he continues—" Those
" which belong to the south, and have no
" trace either of the rude manners or the wild
" superstitions which the bards of Ettrick and
" Cheviot display, fall generally into a creep-
" lag style, which exposed the common ballad
"to contempt." That opinion is harsh, but it
is based upon truth.
Our English ballads are too long, and they
were composed when the words of our tongue
were not so various, or its idioms so harmo
nixed, as in later periods. We take it that
one of the great reasons why the Spanish
ballads have such effect is the altisonant
character of the language of Spain. A mere
map of the Peninsula, with the names of its
towns and provinces, will show the richness
of effect of that noble tongue Upon the
contrast between English and Scotch ballads
it might be remarked that the imitators of
the old Scotch succeed better than the versi-
fiers who copy the English ballads. " Lord
Ullin's Daughter," by Campbell, is a capital
specimen of a modern ballad. It is brief in
statement, yet full in matter. The ballads of
Wordsworth are too long, and want dramatic
variety. Mr. Macaulay and Professor Aytoun
have written some noble ballads ; but we must
keep to the question of the " Early Ballads "
here before us.

;‘.
1