The Press.
London, England, 1856-05-24 00:00:00

498

but the loss of his friends, the shedding of so much blood
precious to England, had stricken him to the heart.
He returned to his bivouac pensive and absorbed. The
next day he visited General Bosquet in his tent. The
night that had passed had not calmed his bitter regrets,
and his voice had a profoundly painful expression.
So many cruel emotions, which do honour to the heart
of the Prince, by showing how deep and sincere was his
attachment for his brethren in arms, reacted on his brain ;
and his health became so visibly changed that it was
urgent for him to leave the Crimea. And he sailed on
board the Britannia for Constantinople, from whence he
immediately proceeded to London.

So much for the fearful but for ever glorious
battle of Inkermann. In another article we
shall show what the author has to say of sub-
sequent events.

The Chinese and their Rebellions. By Thomas
Taylor Meadows. London: Smith and Elder.

CHINA is a large and important empire, and the
people are the most singular in the world. Yet, for
some reason not easily explained, books on China
are usually deplorably dull. The people in all their
relations, s)cial and political, repel us by their for-
mality. They seem to want that native impulse and
original vigour of character which characterise Euro-
pean nations. They are " slow" in everything. If
they could but get up " fashions " we should have
hope for them. Have not the ladies had pettitoes
long enough? Why rot try the other extreme, and
encourage the growth of feet as large as an Indian
snow-shoe ? Any change would be an improvement.
Why do not the men shave the tails from their
crown, and attach them to the bottom of their back?
Why do not they take a less'n from our architects,
and build in the conglomerate style? As for their
revolution, how can we be expected to take an inte-
rest in that when we know that for a certainty we
shall never live to see the end of it, and that it must
be reserved for an historian living in the year 2000
and odd to relate its fortunes. The author, Mr.
Meadows, has resided in China for the last thirteen
or fourteen years as one of the interpreters of the
civil service. He seems to have made good use of
his time and opportunities to gain an adequate know-
ledge of Chinese politics and manners, and he has
produced 656 pages of solid instructive reading. As
a piece de resistance, it is in travel what " The Daisy
Chain " is in fiction. It is a cut-and-come again
book, with such an immense number of Leang a-fabs
and Hung sew-tseueus in it, that we have no doubt
the clever author of " Mary Powell" would, after a
three days' cram, be able to produce with facility a
pretty novel on the loves and labours of Fuh-he, who
is supposed to have flourished " B.C. 3327." Mr.
Meadows seems on the whole to have formed a fa-
vorable opinion of Chinese institutions, and he par-
ticularly lauds the system of "competitive examina
tion," as tending to introduce into the Government
service the higl eat ability of the empire. He details
the severe examinations which candidates have to go
through, and quotes an observation, that " the exist-
" ence of these examinations is alone enough to make
" good the claim of China to a place among civilised
" and literary nations." He writes for himself, else
where:—

In every case the institution of public service examina-
tions which have long been strictly competitive) is the
cause of the continued duration of the Chinese nation. . .
By it all the ability of the country is enlisted on the side
of that Government which takes care to preserve it in purity
But the question is whether such stagnation is worth
preserving—whether China would not be all the
better for some such storm as now and then sweeps
over the Western nations. Think of England being
brought, by means of Mr. Meadows' favorite " com-
petitive examination," into some such state as China!
Would it oe desirable that we should have all the
sharpest intellects in the country employed to watch
that we duly shaved cur heads after an orthodox
decree, and wore tails of the prescribed dimension ?
or do we really want to officer our army with such
competitive-examination heroes as Mr. Meadows de-
slribes, who, after having taken up a safe position a
long way from the enemy, bawled out, "Ta mun lae
" chay le wo ta, puh lae wo pith ta," which means,
reader, " If you come here I'll fight ; but if you don't,
"no blows for me"? The volume of Mr. Meadows
appears to contain a great quantity of information,
but his style is pedantic, and we have not, from
a cursory perusal of his hook, formed a very high
opinion of his literary intelligence.

Letters on Turkey. Translated from the IFrench of
M. A. Übicini by Lady Easthope. Two Vols.
London : Murray.

WE may briefly say that M. Übicini's work differs
from all the books we have recently had on Turkey,
in giving an elaborate exposition of the Government
and national institutions of the Ottoman empire.
Every Government is a machine of greater or less
complexity, and that of Turkey from its peculiarity
can only be understood by attentive examination. M.
Übicini boa devoted a long time and diligence

THE PRESS.

to the investigation of his subject, and in these
letters he takes the whole machine to pieces. He
shows us all its component parts, the ends it is
designed to fulfil, and Cie principles on which it is
constructed. Then he handles every portion of it,
explaining its use; he shows us the latest improve-
ments that have been effected in it., and what may be
expected from its iuture working. The religion,
executive, laws, finances, instruction, literature,
industry, population, and sects of Turkey are all
brought under review, and separately and distinctly
explained. The " condition. of-woman question "
seems to have been satisfactorily solved in Turkey :
The property of a married woman continues under her
own control ; her husband cannot touch it, nor is it liable
for his debts. Whatever property she may have possessed
previous to her marriage, or which may have fallen to her
since, remains her own.

M. Übicini thinks that, as regards crime, Turkey
presents a favorable contrast to other countries pre-
tending to higher civilisation:-
1f statistical tables of crime could be actually drawn up
for Constantinople, the third most populous city in Europe,
and compared with similar returns from London and Paris,
the results would be astounding and almost incredible in
the small proportion of offences they would show as
regarded the Turkish population. in Turkish villages,
whose inhabitants are nnmingled with other races, trickery,
deceit, and theft are scarcely known. Highway robberies,
murders, rapes, housebreaking, even pilfering, are almost
unheard of in the lower ranks of Turks ; and the people in
general must clearly be under some restraint more effectual
than fear of discovery and punishment, since the country
is so extensive, and the roads so open from one extremity
of the country to another, that they might commit crimes
and escape with impunity.
It may be imagined that the author takes a favor-
able view of Turkish character, and of the adminis-
trative system of the country. His work makes no
pretence to eloquence, but is full of solid facts, and is
constructed on a scientific plan. It was time that it
was put before us in an English dress, as it seems
that all its materials were gradually being taken from
it, to be worked up into other shapes, and it is always
better for us to be presented with really original in-
vestigation at first than at second band. From its
technical nature, the book must have been somewhat
difficult to translate. Lady Easthope seems to have
executed her task satisfactorily, but we are somewhat
diffident übout expressing an opinion on such points
since the Hayward- Croker fracas, as it is of course
out of the question for a reviewer to pretend to con-
sult, for the purpose of detecti )g flaws, the originals
of all the translated works that come before him.

Perversion ; or, Causes and Consequences of Infi-
delity. A Tale for the Times. Three Vols. Lon-

don: Smith and Elder.
Tins is a novel of a peculiar kind. In reading it
we hardly knew whether most to applaud or to con-
demn. It is written with a good motive, but we
doubt if the result be good. It raises startling ques-
tions apparently with a view to their solution, but
which finally it does not solve. It makes U 9 inquire
very earnestly to what goal society is tending, and
such answer as it returns to us is not encourag-
ing. It discloses great iniquity, much folly, an in-
definite deal of worldliness, and some real, genuine,
practical piety ; but the latter in such infinitesimal
proportion to the weakness and wickedness that
the reader is more depressed than elevated. In fine,
the book exposes with merciless severity, and with
the unsparing hand of a hardened moral anatomist,
the total uselessness of mere formal or credal re-
ligion to influence the heart, and to exercise a salu-
tary control over conduct. The judgment passed
on it will depend very much on the opinion formed
whether such a lesson be needed by this actual
living world in which our own breathing-time is
passed.
" Perversion " is in fine a theological and an
ecclesiastical novel. It concerns belief and it con-
cerns Church pasties. If we rightly apprehend its
motive, it would refer the growth of infidelity in
modern day to the want of vital religion among us
—vital religion being understood not as belief in any
p)sitive dogmas which are commonly the refuge of
a weak intellect, nor as the possession of any sect of
peculiar views, but as the penetrating principle of
Gospel light which open the understanding while it
enlarges the heart, which makes men wiser while it
makes them bitter, which gives freedom to the in-
tellect while chaining the passions and impo.ing
restraints on the will, which fills the heart with sweet,
holy, and charitable dispositions, bringing it into com-
munion with God, and making it very tolerant while
very stedfast. It is, we apprehend, to the want of
this kind of religion that the author of " Perversion"
refers the progress of infidelity. It is evident enough
that he belongs to the Broad Church party, and that be
has recourse to fiction to spread the religious teach-
ing of Dr. Arnold. There is a passage from the ser-
mons of that eminent man (vol. iii. p. 304.), which
should be inserted in every commonplace book
throughout the land.

SATURDAY,

The book opens at a public school, and the evils
of the fagging system are powerfully set forth.
Then we are gradually introduced to that larger
school, the world, where

day by day
We something learn till we arc called away.
Charles Bampton, the hero of the story, is repre-
sented as driven into unbelief by the bigotry of the
clerical teachers set over him. He finds a kindred
spirit in his sister Clara. At Oxford he falls in with
infidel society; Clara is sacrificed to a brutal sceptic;
and Charles passes through great and varied calamity
before his eyes are opened to the truth. The story
is connected with the Mormons and their settlement
in America, and the reader is compelled to reflect on
the startling fact that a community avowedly infidel
is making rapid progress on the American continent.
But it is for the sketches of clerical character and
parties that the book is most remsrkable. High
Church and Low Church are alike delineated with
that satirical power which caricatures only to render
the likeness more striking. It is evident that the
author has drawn many of his personages from life.
He is as fearless as he is skilful. He thinks that,
the religious world needs a flagellator, and he deals
his strokes right and left with a light but most dex-
trous and damaging hand. The grace of a rector
who occupies himself mainly with farming his glebe
and fly-fishing, is amusing :

He was in the middle of a story about some piscatory
feat which he had performed in the capture of a salmon
when the cloth was removed, and he went on thus :—" My
line was almost run, and by Jove, sir—For what we hare
received, hum, hum, hum—he got under the bank, and I
had hard work to save my tackle from breaking." Not a
moment's pause separated the Christian thanksgiving
from the appeal to Jupiter. I could not helpthinking of
Pope's universal prayer.
Schools come, of course, under the satirical
review of the author. " What is the difference," said
a questioner to a class, " between you and an irra-
" Lionel animal? " There was no answer. "For in-
" stance," said the querist to an intelligent little girl,
" what is the difference between you and a cow ?"
The child, with a curtsey, replied, " Petticoats, please
" sir." We have heard less sensible answers in our
time. After the lesson for the day, describing our
Lord being met by ten lepers, had been read and ex-
plained to a class, the question was put, " Who mrt
" our Lord as he entered Jerusalem?" There was
no answer until the question bad been repeated with
a leading hint, when one sharp boy triumphantly ex-
claimed, "The Philistines." Joseph's coat of many
colours VMS thought a likely thing to fix the atten-
tion of a class, and the Scripture narrative of that
part of Joseph's history was read and expounded.
Then the question was put, " What kind of a coat
" did Jacob give to his skla Joseph ?" A long pause
was broken at last by the reply, "A black coat."
Full as the book is of shrewd remark and satirical
portraiture (many of the portraits being taken from
life), we might fill columns with amusing extracts.
But, after all, the best key we can give as to its
character is to state the name of its author. It is
reported to be from the pen of Mr. Conybeare, whose
article on "Church Parties" in the Edinburgh
Review some two or three years ago excited so much
noise in society. The novel of " Perversion"is dis-
tinguished by the same kind of ability. It is equally
as able, as salt, and as fearless. It is a book to ex-
cite not only curiosity but reflection, and more re-
sembles such works as the " Eclipse of Faith" than
a regular novel. As a work of art it has manliest
defects ; as a criticism on Church parties it is open
to attack ; but there can be no doubt of its originality
and its earnestness, and as little of the perfect Justice
of great part of its satire.

Signs of the Times. By Christian Charles Josias
Bunsen. Translated from the German by
Susanna Winkworth. London : Smith and
Elder.

WITHOUT any disparagement to the Chevalier Bun-
sen's ability, we must say that special teaching Is
required for the comprehension of his works. His
present volume, though it has met with an extensive
sale in Germany, is so occupied with the religious
politics of that country as to defy analysis in the
moderate space we have at our disposal. M. Bun-
sen's main object appears to be to assert the pr►n-
ciple of perfect religious liberty, which he thinks is
in some danger of being crushed through the pre-
tensions of the Lutheran Churcli on one side, and of
the Roman Catholic Church on the other. One of
his most emphatic sentences occurs towards the con-
clusion of his volume(
Whoever promotes oppression of conscience and Intntal
slavery—yea, whoever does not with all sincerity and
energy labour in faith for the freedom of the human eon-
science and intellect, is working for Jesuitism, and, as much
as in him lies, for the destruction of his own Church and
nation. But if he be a Protestant, he deserves a double
measure of our abhorrence or compassion.
Elsewhere he contends that " the banner of perfect
religious liberty is the sign in which the fxlll9

an? uuuva 3LUULL omuclatiVt3 rAtlllllllll.llUll. 111. tiIICIUIII UV inNerteu In every commonplace book rAnieWIICLC tic WEI LCIIU3 Lutit,
Übicini has devoted a long time and great diligence throughout the land. "religious liberty is the sign in which the trWI
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