The Press.
London, England, 1857-03-21 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

From the affairs of France the historian
passes to those of England. He narrates the
short Ministry of Sir R. Peel, in 1835 ; the re-
turn of the Whigs co power ; the death of King
William, and accession of Queen Victoria ;
and what he terms the final fall of the Whigs
in 1841. In his opinion the IVhigs then lost
the principles which had heretofore charac•
tensed them, and became merged in the new
Liberal party. In these chapters are many
striking passages, and among them must be
particularly noted Lord Durham's mission to
Canala. Sir A. Alison considers that his
heart was broken by the unworthy usage he
received from his party :
lt is painful to be obliged to add that the statesman
to whose wisdom and firmness, more than that of any
other single iudivi.lual in existence, this marvellous pro-
gress is to be ascribed. and whose suggestions were all em-
bodied in the constitution' and union of the provinces
which have finally given peace to Canada, fell a victim to
the efforts he had made on behalf of his country. To re-
markable talents, which his report on Canada unequivo-
cally demonstrates, Lord Durham united the magnanimity
and io'ty spirit which form an essential part in the heroic
character. Unfortunately he possessed also the love of
approbation and sensitiveness to blame which are the
predominant features in the female disposition. He was
impatient of contrailictjon, and irritable when thwarted ;
and those failings, which in ordinary life would scarcely
have been observed, proved fatal to him on the stormy
eminence on which he was ultimately placed. His morti-
fication at the disallowance of his ordinances was extreme,
and it preyed upon a constitution naturally weak, to such
a degree as to bring him to an untimely grave. He was
busily engaged with his official duties to the very last,
and the night before his departure he drew up an impor-
tant proclamation relative to squatters on the crown-lands.
Thousands accompanied him to the quay when he em-
barked, and every eye strained after the vessel—the Incon-
stant—as it made its way down the river in the gloom of a
Canadian snow-storm. He landed at Plymouth, on
December Ist, without any honours, by the special orders
of Government, who sent down a special messenger to
prohibit them; bat he was amply indemnified by the
respect paid to him by the people, and the tokens of
respect and confi.leuce given him during his journey to
London. Lady Durham, Earl Grey's daughter, immedi-
ately resigned her situation in the Queen's household; but
the ingratitude of his party made no difference in the
political sentiments and conduct of her husband, who was
consistent to the last. But his race was run—his heart
was broken ; and he died on 28th July, 1840, the victim of
ingratitude from a party on whim he had conferred the
most essential serviees.—Ann. Beg. 1840; Chron. 173.
MiarriNEAu, ii. 390, 391.

The last chapter of the volume contains the
history of British India, from 1826 to 1842,
and includes the terrible episode of the
Atl'ghan war. The historian believes that our
advance in the East is inevitable, but he ad-
mits that the extension of our empire is pur-
chased at a hazardous cost. Twenty years ago
our revenue was 20,800,0001., and our ex-
penditure 18,750,000/., leaving a surplus o f
2,000,0001. Now our revenue is 26,000,0001.,
and our expenditure 28.000,0001., showing a
deficiency of 2,000,0001. While with the great
increase of our territory our revenue has ad-
vanced but 6,000.0001, our expenditure has
been augmented by 10,000,0001 This portion
of the volume tills upwards of 200 pages, and
for narrative power and clear picturesque de•
tail must take rank with the finest composi-
tion that has proceeded from Sir Archibald
Alison's pen.

Friends of Bohemia; or, Phases of London
Life. By E. M. Whitty. London : Smith
and Elder.
Ix these days, when few novels are either
written or read for mere amusement, but are
made vehicles for propounding the last new
theory on social, political, or religious sub-
jects, it is clear that excellence of plot and the
subtle portraiture of character subside into
second-rate importance. Thus, although novels
abound which contain striking scenes and
strange sentiments, it is rare to find one to
which the familiar term " interesting" is
truly applicable. We have readable disserta-
tions and entertaining dialogues, but rarely a
well constructed tale.
Mr. Whitty's novel is no exception to this
general practice. " Story ! God bless you, I
" have none to tell, sir," ought to have been
his motto, not forgetting to add, however,
" only last night a-drinking at the Dragon,"
which would have formed a very appropriate
key to the whole production. If, however,
Mr. Whitty fails to interest us in the fate of
any one of his characters, it is not for want
of startling events and richly-decorated

SATURDAY,

scenery. The book opens with bigamy and
ends with murder; and between the two v.e
have a racy succession of incidents flavoured
with forgery, seduction, intoxication, and irre-
ligion—such being the pursuits to which, in
the eye of the Bohemian, the whole world is
more or less devoted. The lady rolling by in
her carriage is going to an assignation ; that
portly and respectable gentleman descending
the steps of his club has got bills out in the
City which may any day bring him to the
dock ; the bishop who makes that touching
appeal to the charity of a polite audience is
suffering from the effects of yesterday's reple-
tion ; the decorous looking youths who escort
their sisters to the chapel were drunk till five
this morning, and one of the young ladies vas
seduced by a jeweller who detected her in
stealing a bracelet. So wags the world, says
Mr. Whitty ; and none but Bohemians can
reform it. Morality is a bond of straw—
religion is an imposture—politics are rotten.
Let us then admit as much, and all will be
well. Sin would be less hurtful if the sinner
gloried in it, and virtue more powerful if
released from the homage of vice.
That this view of mankind has its solitary
element of truth we do not deny. It is true
that respectability is a cloak for much illicit
indulgence, and that the kind of compromise
effected between purity and wickedness, by
which, if the one is not obtrusive, the other
will not be exacting, is injurious to real
nobility of character. But in the state of
civilisation which we have now reached the
compromise is inevitable, and it is dangerous
to interfere with it, for we should thereby
drive men to despair. It is well that the
world should occasionally be reminded of the
truth—that it should not be allowed to stag-
nate in self-complacency. But such satire as
Mr. Whitty's, like all exaggeration, defeats its
own end. The world feels that it can justly
repudiate such a picture as is here drawn.
We do not wound a man's vanity by calling
him a Centaur ; and we do not stir his con-
science by likening him to Heliogobalus.
We have felt bound to say thus much in
condemnation of Mr Whitty's philosophy ;
but we readily acknowledge the force of his
intellect, and the strange charm of his rum-
bling, careless style. There is also, we should
think, great honesty in his delineation of life :
he draws it as it really appears to him. But no
Bohemian can see it fairly, and cannot be
accepted as an authority.
Perhaps all this time some of our readers
may le asking, and what is a Bohemian?
Bohemians, then, are that numerous class
who find it pleasanter to do without what is
called society than with it ; and their occupa-
tion fur the most part enables them to dispense
with that regularity and formal mode of life
which constitutes the respectable. Artists,
authors, and journalists—gentlemen or not,
as the case may be—edacated or not, as the
case may be, compose the rank and file of
this ragged regiment,—men who hate domes-
ticity, hate all restraints, and as they stand
aside from our social system, of course are not
subject to its conventions. In " Friends of
Bohemia," then, we should naturally have
, expected some minute description of this race.
This, however, we do not get. We get their
talk and their views, but the men themselves
are not produced on the stage. Perhaps Mr.
Whitty thinks they are not presentable ; but
then they must be very had indeed. To make
up for their absence we are introduced to a
class of quasi Bohemians—lords and ladies
masquerading in gipsy costume—and their
conversation runs in this wise. Roper, a
marquis, loquitur

But what T want is truth—for fellows to stand on their
chiracters, whatever they are. When men had real down-
right natures (which was before my time) they stood upon
them, and didn't keep them out of sight; good or bad, out
the real man and the real woman came. Do you think the
hypocrisy isn't seen in the long run? Of course it is.
And the world is getting a taste for reality again ; and, by
.Tove. I'd like to set the fashion of confessing yourself a
seamp! We are facing facts; and I say if we are to go,
we nobles, don't let ns go out as humdrum', but defying
middle class moraFties and democratic whines, brilliantly
and bravely—as a superior class, beyond the ken and above
the laws of the her.l—resolved to keep the mass slaves,
for the slaves' good, as long as we can. Lecturing at
mechanics' institutes be hanged!—it's not done well
enough—we haven't got the talent for that—its not in dia
nature of the class to have that talent : and we do ourselvei

MARCH 21, 1857.

no good by trying books—sure to be bad, like Manners'
and Nlahon's. Let the littera/purr alone, and let us govern
in the State and in society, leading—and fighting when
necessary.

Again, Lady Beaming, a baronet's young
widow, discourses upon the ballet:—
Lady Beaming had a theory about that. " It's all cus•
tom. It does nct follow that they are immodest because
they show their legs. Fine ladies show more of their
shoulders and bosoms; and, as a custom, without immo•
desty. In the East, the women do not show their faces ;
in Europe, the legs are hidden off the stage. The ballet-
girl may be pure as the icicle that hangs on Dian's temple ;
tor the stage has its own rules too. I knew a beautiful
girl at Rome who sat as a model to artists, for hours and
hours, nude; she had been brought up to it; saw no
wrong—telt no shame—and inspired all with respect."

Mr. Whitty sometimes displays a grim, and
perhaps rather coarse humour—as for in.
stance :

Once detained at a Rue de Rivoli hotel in Paris--costly,
comfortablybedded Windsor—l was reduced to a daily
analysis of the coffee room.
There also breakfasted and dined there, with equal
regularity, a young couple—newly married. The) were
Americans. He was of that young planter•from•the•South
complexion which you see often at the Trafalgar, Green•
wich, eating whitebait, and paying for it out of the product
of black men ; a low forehead, a classic nose, shining olive
cheeks, cocoanut teeth, and round Greek chin. She was a
tiny thing of flush fifteen, olive and ripe, with brown gl.a
tening ringlets on a delicious girly head. They fe 1 there
—the hungry, timid birds—because they dreaded, no
doubt, the hum and stare of the cafes. This coffee•room
was solitary of all but myselt ; and I hid myself behind
one of those large yellow reprint novels that Paris appears
to be principally engaged in manufacturing. Me they
never thought of; they regarded the room as inhabited by
themselves and the waiter. The waiter was a stern
matter•of•fact man, rough with these tender, cooing
Yankees, to whom he was incessantly pointing out plats,
and from whom he was always taking incoherent orders
favourable to the establishment; and, in deference to his
middle-aged prejudices, they prattled low, whisperingly as
the south wind, over the usual thing. How beaming they
were! What dulcet endearing breath—what pretty caresses !
How I used to envy that man ! I hated him. He was so
rich, had such youth, had such an appetite, and such a
bride. Human felicity at last, I thought, to be noted
down. I would rather see it daily than in fact breakfast
at the Cardinal and dine at the Trois Freres; and I ate
toy bifstek, abominable, and drank my St Jullien, corked,
in sytnpathetic•peace for a fortnight in that coffee•room—
a room. but for them, simply odorous of the plentiful and
palpable British breakfasts of the morning. At last we
bowed to one another, smiled, good dayed. Finally, one
evening at dinner she rose and left the room without him,
after a prolonged and poetic repast. She curtsied prettily
in a flouncing, fluttering, brown dress that seemed a con•
tinuation of the veil of ringlets, and departed like a vision.
The youth, the Apollo, brave and bright, carried his chair
Over to me. He winked.

" Eaten too much to-day, she has," said he ; and now
I'd like to have a liquor and smoke with you, friend. I'd
like darnedly to go and sea an out-al:bout Gal in Paris.
Shall us?"

On that day I resolved never to marry. We are too
gross for the institution. The marriages that are made in
heaven are fulfilled there.

In one part of his work ?Jr. Whitty describes
the origination of a London weekly paper,
which he calls the Teaser. Some people are
ill-natured enough to say that it is intended
to be a sketch front life. With that we are
not concerned. The passage is sparkling and
severe, and certainly very entertaining. Other
admirable passages are, the description of a
madman's ball—London on the early Sunday
morning—a quarrel in a club—and a political
meeting at Plunder Priory, the seat of a great
Whig duke—the last sublimely impossible.

" Friends of Bohemia" is eccentric, extra-
vagant, and virulent. But when all deduc-
Gins ara made wtA have a residuum of real
original talent, which ought to be frankly and
warmly acknowledged.

Parliamentary Precedents. Being Decisions
of the Right Hon. Charles Shaw Lefevre,
Speaker of the House of Commons. By
the Hon. fl Bert Bourke, of the Inner
Temple. London: Sweet.

Tux rules which regulate " Order" in the
House of Commons are one of the most im-
portant codes of law in the world. They are
the result of the experience of an assembly
which for three hundred years has swayed the
destinies of a free people. Other °odes bear
the impress of particular minds. In our
equity precedeuts we trace the influences of
Hardwioke and Eldon ; in our commercial law
we are foreed to recollect the peculiar consti-
tution. of Lord dausfield's generalising intel-
lect; and that Coke commented upou Littleton
is a great fact familiarised to every English
lawyer Jut in the code which goverhe the

THE PRESS.

House of Commons we feel that practical
experience has been the great artificer of the
rules by which the functions of the House of
Commons are discharged. Without these
admirable rules the House of Commons
would be either an anarchical or a servile
assembly.
Bentham was an enemy to many of the
legal forms of our juridical system; but it is
most remarkable that when the first National
Assembly was convulsing France and affright-
ing Europe, Bentham thought that it would
be an act of high utility to get published in
France the rules of debate in the British
House of Commons. He mas right. It is
scarcely conceivable, except by those ac-
customed to committees and general meet-
ings, what mischief is done when a chairman
or a secretary is not versed in the laws of
order which should regulate all discussions.
The confusion produced by moving an
amendment upon an amendment, and the im-
possibility of ascertaining the sense of the
meeting under such circumstances, has been
witnessed by numbers in many places when
chairmen unused to the forms of public dis-
cussion have been selected.

In the annals of the Sptakership of the
House of Commons, the names of Onslow,
Abbot, Manners Sutton, and Shaw Lefevre
will always be famous. The first had longest
experience (thirty-three years), and had pro-
digious gravity ; the second did much to
improve the procedure of the public business,
and his address from the chair had classical
brevity and terseness of expression ; the
third was a capital specimen of a courtly
Speaker, with dignified manners, and suavely
attractive deportment ; the fourth has united
in himself many of the most favourable points
that m:u•ked Abbot and Manners Sutton.
After the emphatic tribute paid to Mr.
Speaker Lefevre by both sides of the House
of Commons, we feel that our words would be
superfluous in recording our high estimate of
the admirable qualities which marked the
discharge of his duties. The late Sir Robert
Inglis (who himself possessed no small
qualifications for filling the Parliamentary
Chair with dignity) thus a poke in 1852:

In the last year we had 242 division•, and Ithe Speaker
has sat not less than 13001 hours in the discharge of his
duties as Speaker, since first be was elected in the year 1839,
to that high post of dignity and duty. When I contrast the
laiiours of former Speakers, when I hear of only one Speaker
filling the chair during the whole reign of George the Second,
. . . . I must say that the Right Honourable Gentle-
man has compressed into the period of his services more
labour, more attention, and more suocessful energy, than
any one of his predecessors.
This tribute we find cited in the volume be-
fore us, and we could have wished that its
clever editor had also quoted the tribute paid
not long since by a distil:lL! nishr-d reviewer
and political essayist in the Quarterly Review.
The high character of the present Speaker
gives
.this volume its merit, and stamps it
with permanent value. Mr. Bourke has dis-
charged his duties as editor with modesty and
efficiency. We think him mistaken in sup
posing that members of Parliament only will
find it valuable. We recommend it to gentle-
men at large as a volume on constitutional
practice of the highest interest, and it should
appear on the chairman's desk in every de
bating society.

The mistake is often made "out of doors "
of moving -an amendment upon an amend-
ment." A little reflection will show that such
a course would puzzle voters as to what was
the question or which was the amendment on
which they were to say " Yea" or " Nay."
We quote a case from this work :
Wednesday, May 19th, 1632.(3 Hansard, cui. 761.)
An Amendment cannot be moved upon an Amendment.
Colonial Bishops Bill.
Adjourned debate on question (29 April) that the bill be
now read a second time.

Sir John Pakington moved." That the House proceed
to the other orders of the, day." _
_

Amendment proposed, to leave out from the words
" That the," to the end of the question, in order to add
the words, " other orders of the day be now read," instead
thereof.
Mr. Adderley moved the postponement of the debate to
that day fortnight.
Mr. Speaker.— ' Tt is out of order to move an amend•
meat upon an amendment."
- -

The rule once laid down must be inflexible.
Sometimes we could wish for elucidatory
notes to some of the precedents in this wall
volume. For example :

281

Monday, May 2Pth, 18-18.—(3 Hansard, xcix. 6.)
If on the question of an Address to the Crown a
Member is ()ace permitted to discuss an extra-
neous subject, other Members who follow him
are not prevented from doing so.
Lord John Russell moved an address to the Queen on the
death of the Princess Sophia.
Sir James Graham proceeded to discuss the question of
the conduct of the Attorney General in striking the jury in
Mr. Mitchel's trial, upon which Mr. Keogh had asked a
question.
Mr. firittlit was addressing the House.
Mr. Law.-1 rise to order, Sir; there is no question
before the House.

Mr. Speaker.—" There is the address of condolence "
Mr. Bright.—T say, Sir, while the Government have shown
the power of the law and their determination—
Mr. LAVI.-1 rise to order again, Sir. The Honourable
Gentleman is not speaking to the question—
Mr. Speaker.—" Members who have preceded the
Honourable Gentleman hue spoken upon the subject he
is referring to."
Mr. Bright proceeded.
Mr. E. B. Roche, Mr. Keogh, dm. followed.
Motion agreed to nem. con.
This rule clearly applies only to the case of
speaking on an address to the Crown, and the
exception should be marked, otherwise the
power of stopping an irregular discussion
would be taken out of the Speaker's hands
The general " Rules and Orders " of the
House of Commons are added to this volume
of precedents, and Mr. Bourke has supplied a
special index to them, as well as giving a
general index to the whole volume. Some of
those rules are of prodigious constitutional
importance. For example, rule 16 rues
thus :

No member may use her Majesty's name irreverently in
debate, nor for the purpose of influencing the House in its
deliberations.

If the Sovereign's name were allowed to be
used in debate, two great evils would be in-
curred. One class of members might be me-
naced with the displeasure of the Court, and
there would be serious danger of constant dis-
putes as to what were the real personal feel-
ings of the Crown on particular suijeets.
A volume ofcurious Parliamentary anecdotes
might be compiled, illustrating the application
of these rules. No 174 runs thus
By order, 22nd January, 103, to the end t hat all the
debates in this House should be grave and orderly, as
becomes so gre-a an assembly, and that all interruptions
should be prevented, no member of this House is to pre-
sume to make any noise or disturbance whilst any
member is orderly debating, or whilst any Lill, order, or
other matter is being read or opened ; and in case of such
noise or disturbance, Mr. Speaker is to call upon the
member, by name, making such disturbance ; and every
such person will incur the displeasure and censure of the
House.

The threat of calling by names has often been
used, but we do net recollect an instance of
its having been exercised. Speaker Onslow
was fond of employing it for the sake of warn-
ing, and was once asked " what would be the
" consequence, if names were called ? "
" Heaven only knows, sir," replied Mr.
Speaker, with his most imposing air.
The precedents quoted in extols() give this
volume considerable value. We shall be sur-
prised it' it does not soon meet with a new
edition, and we advise its clever editor to and
a few notes. From the fact of its publication
being sanctioned by Speaker Lefevre, it will
always be an interesting memorial of his dis-
tinguished rule in the chair of " the first, the
" most ancient, and the noblest temple of
" Freedom in the world."

Three Year. in California. By J. D. Borth-

wick. London : Blackwoods.
I, there never had been a book published on
California, and on the strange lite there, we
can readily imagine how much success would
have been accorded to this volume. If pub-
lished at a lucky moment it might have com-
manded vast success. Even now the work is
so picturesque and variously readable, that as
a light book on California it is worthy of
notice by those who read for pleasure. But it
wants novelty of subject, and, still more, it is
defective in weight of matter. Its descrip-
tions are animated, but its decisions carry no
authority; and the writer would hare done
better if he had collected more detailed
information. He takes us to a panorama, and
moves round a aeries of exciting pictures ; but
we have had them before, though we admit the
merit of the present exhibitor, who corrobo-
rates our previous opinions about the Cab•