The Press.
London, England, 1858-10-16 00:00:00

Our ingenious speculator then proceeds :

The great political error of Cromwell is acknowledged
by all parties to have been the adoption of the French
interest in preference to the Spanish ; a strict alliance
with Spain }.ad preserved the balance of Europe, enriched
the commercial industry of England, and, above all, had
checked the overgrowing power of the French Government.
Before Cromwell had contributed to the predominance of
the French power, the French Huguenots were of conse•
queuce enough to bemire an indulgent treatment. The
Parliament, as Elizabeth herself lied formerly done, con-
sidered so powerful a party in France as useful allies;
and anxious to extend the principles of the Reformation,
and to further the suppression of Popery, the Parliament
had once listened to, and had even commenced a treaty
with, deputies from Bordeaux, the purport of which was
the assistance of the French Hnguenots in their scheme of
forming themselves into a republic, or independent state ;
but Cromwell, on his usurpation, not only overthrew the
design, but is believed to have betrayed it to Mazarin.
What a change in the affairs of Europe had Cromwell
adopted the Spanish interest, and assisted the French
Huguenots in becpming au independent state! The re-
vocation of the Edict of Nantes, and the increase of the
French dominion, which so long afterwards disturbed the
peace of Europe, were the consequence of this fatal error
of -Cromwell's. The independent state of the French
Huguenots, and the reduction of ambitious France, per-
haps to a secondary European power, had saved Europe
from the scourge of the French Revolution !
This line of reasoning could not stand before
criticism; and the conjecture that the French
Revolution would have been prevented is utterly
fantastic. If Cromwell had adopted the Spanish
interest, his Protectorate would have had to bear
the full brunt of French hostility, he could
not have struck so terrible a blow at the naval
supremacy of Holland, and our commercial de-
velopment would have been kept hack. By
taking the course he actually pursued in his
foreign policy, Cromwell had his hands free to
strike at Holland, and the national wisdom of his
course can be easily understood by a reference to
Adam Smith on the origin of the Navigation Act.
It is entirely erroneous of Isaac Disraeli to assert
that " before Cromwell interfered the French
" Huguenots were of consequence sufficient to
" have secured an indulgent treatment." Their
" consequence" did not save them from persecu-
tion, and when Cromwell was gone, and another
basis of policy acted on between France and Eng-
land, the Edict of Nantes was revoked. If Crom-
well had taken up the Spanish interest, he might
have contributed to the prosperity of that bigoted
and retrograde Power, and saved that Monarchy
from its downward tendency. Englishmen have
seen the gradual fall of Spain without regret. It
has long ceased to be a substantive power, and it
is well for the interest of European society that
Spain is not potential in the affairs of the world.
Besides, Spain had far more resources than
France for keeping up a navy in the seventeenth
century; and if Cromwell had taken the policy
suggested by Isaac Disraeli, England would have
been really assisting a naval rival of a formidable
kind.
Passages like these, which rest on no fanciful
ground (and they are not few), give some edge
to the assertions of Mr. Disraeli's detractors :
Books he brought forth with most prolific vent,
On true research his mind being rarely bent ;
He sought the laurels of a deep read sage,
And yet his b►ys have scarce surviv'd his age.

1009

But his satirical detractor has omitted to record
the exquisite zest which Disraeli imparted
to his charming exercitations in literature. He
sparkled over a subject with the vivacity of a
Horace Walpole ; under his ductile pen difficult
subjects became easily understood ; he could play
with some questions, and be profound upon
others. On religion and ethics, indeed, we could
have wished that his views were more firm and
resolved. His thinking is too often like a dis-
ciple of Bayle, and some of his speculations tend
to mere Pyrrhonism. We like least in his works
those portions in which he disserts upon religion,
and we miss in them the gravity and peculiar
turn of thought to be expected in an English
writer. He too often makes us think of the
lines—

In Tory times, when Whigs were weak and few,
And Parliament was nearly all True Blue—
When George, Prince Regent, still WAS on the town,
As " First of Gentlemen in Europe " known
Before of flesh a mountain he had grown—
When Hurry Brougham was a rising man,
And at the heels of Burdett myriads ran—
In Blootnsh, -
.ce, just close to number six,
Y- north the

ion corner cut by spot will fix,
There lived an author whom the cliques well knew,
In creed a Deist, and by race a Jew.
The imputation in the last line of Deism ;s too
harsh, and is not supportable. Isaac Disraeli was
a Latitudinarian, not a Deist. Ile was not a
scoffer ; he was not irreverent; and his writings
are free from immorality, although some of his
anecdotes were often too free. Of these last we
are glad to see several removed from the present
edition. We might particularise those illus-
trative of the times of Queen Elizabeth, &c. &c.

The notes now added to this edition are not
particularly good, and we cannot discover in
them the brilliant pen of the Chancellor of the
Exchequer. To the interesting article on
" Diaries " there is this flimsy note appended :
The Diary of William Raikes, Esq., has only recently
been putdished: it relates to the first half of the present
century, and prcveb that the race of diarists are not extinct
among ourselves.

This is no flowing note, and it would have been
better to have cited the Christian name of Mr.
Raikes correctly. It was Thomas, not William.
The following note is on the article on the
" Songs of Trades "

The late Rowland Hill constantly sang at the Surrey
Chapel a hymn to the tune of " Rule Britannia," altered
to " Rule Emmanuel." There was published in Dublin,
in 1833, a series of " Hymns written to favourite tones."
They were the innocent work of one who wished to do
good by a mode sufficiently startling to those who see
impropriety in the conjunction of the sacred and the
profane. Thus, one " pious chanson " is written to
" Gramachree," or " The Harp that once through Tara's
Halls," of Moore. Another, describing the death of a
believer, is set to "The Groves of Blarney."

We may indulge a critical doubt as to whether
the Chancellor of the Exchequer is responsible
for this note.

Taking this edition, however, as it stands, we
can praise it strongly. It is cheap and portable,
and it has excellent typography. It is a valuable
presentment of a work which is already classic,
and we are glad to see it published in a shape
that happily suits the requirements of elegance
for library shelves, and of lightness of appearance
for general circulation.

A Handbook for Travellers in Sinai and Pales-
tine, 6-c. In Two Parts. London : Murray.
To praise Mr. Murray's Handbooks has become
almost a work of supererogation. They are all
so thoroughly well done that if we were simply
to say of a new one that it is as good as the rest,
it would be equivalent to predicating of it an
excellence superior to that of all other guide-
books previously published. That the art in
general of compiling or composing these useful
manuals has in some slight degree emerged from
chaos and taken a cosmical form, must be set
down to the influence of Mr. Murray's example;
though the standard he has set up is so very high
a one, that, even in fields still unappropriated,
that example has not been so readily followed as
one would have anticipated. The Enk,,lish com-
mercial mind, especially in literature, is so timid
on the one hand, and so imitative on the other,
that the red covers, their success being once
established, might have been expected•to meet
with a host of rivals identical in method, and
possibly more accessible in price, sun-eying man-
kind from China to Peru at the bidding of enter-
prizing publishers. But those beings have for