The Press.
London, England, 1853-10-22 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

trial could scarcely ever be granted, except on a
question of fact alone. The ground on which new
trials are asked for is that human tribunals are
fallible. So they are; but multiply them ad iujinieunt,
and still the gist of the author's argument would re-
main us strong as ever. But being only human
beings, and therefore fallible, we legislate bearing
that circumstance in »rind, and are content with
reasorable securities against error.
There is this broad line of distinction between civil
and criminal cases—that in the former private rights
only are concerned ; in the latter public as well as
personal interests. Thus, a crime is committed;
society is outraged, and society demands justice for
the outrage. All that should delay that reparat.
is unwise, provided sufficient precaution has !peen
taken to present innocence starring. In criminal
cases the issue is always one of fact ; and all ac-
quainted with the criminal administration of justice
are aware that, if anything, too great a chance is
given to the prisoner of escaping deserved punish-
ment. Should a point of law be raised, a ease for
the Court of Criminal Appeal is granted, and the
questitth ilisellNNed and determintsl; but so simple is
the cr►minal law, that the proportion these questions
of doubt bear to the cases tried is trifling. Should
Carts Ito discovered after the trial, the Secretary of
State is not slow to investigate them. In England,
if there is a fault on either side, it is in favour of

the prisoner.
We need only add, that all the judges, save one, are
of opinion that new trials in criminal cases are inex-
pedient, so that it may seem presumptuous in us
even to say we agree with them.

The Chrixtianity of Cirilisation. By 6. T.
Abruliatii, Esq. London: Piper.
_ .

Mrt. Aug it with broad outline and glowing
colours, exhibits the grandeur of the great empires
of the ancient world—his design being to show that,
" apart from Christianity, the highest social refine-
" ment, instead of truly elevating human nature, will
" but lead to its deeper degradation." Under
Augustus, Roman refinement reached its height, yet
what a curious social state is disclosed by that allu-
sion of the poet to the folly of the man who should
order his slave to be crucified for licking gravy front
a dish ! The lecture is thoughtful and earnest, but
we should have liked it better hail the style been
pitched in a lower key. The concluNion, from a fair
survey of ancient civilisation, he takes to lie " that
the extension of secular education is of infinitely
" less moment than the religious training, which can
" alone make it a blessing to society."

The Cross and the Crescent ; or, Religious View of
the Eastern Question. London : Ilarrison,
Tins is a pamphlet of sixteen pages, in which the
writer attempts to prove, that if all which time Em-
peror of Russia demands from the Sultan were con-
ceded to him, he would not possess " a protectorate
" over ItI,N10,11111) Christians." To establish this
point he analyses the different sects in the
East, to set forth their numbers and opinions. Ile
further seems to think that the demands of Russia
are wry reas►mable, and cites Horace Walpole's
saying, " that half the mischief in the world arises
" from taking things for granted." Assuredly, then,
there is no danger of mischief arising from this
pamphlet from that, cause.

PERIODICAL LITERATURE.

The Quarterly Review. No. CLXXXVI. September,

-
1s5:1. London: John Murray.
Tun present is a good average number of the
Quarterly—solid, learned, and, upon two or three of
its topics, valuable. The review of " The Life of
llaydon" may fall somewhat flat after criticisms to a
similar effect in the newspapers; but the explanatory
theory of " Electrolliology and Mesmerism" is filled
with pertinent facts and amusing illustrations. The
papers on " Becket" and " Casanhon" are at least
carefully compiled ; that on "The Dauphin in the
Temple" restates the points in the narrative of M.A.
de Ileaueliesne ; but the most interesting articles to
our taste are those on " The Institute of France" and
" The Holy Places." In the former of these the late
M. Arago (who is stated in a note to have died after
the article was in type) is deservedly inculpated for
his importation of political feeling into the regions
of science. The obligations of the Institute to the
Lepublican party of the first revolution are thus
estimated:—

" The extreme Republican party hare often Appealed to
the man tttt of the institute as nn 'mid,
proof of
the Sfilicithile felt by the tioverninent of 1793 for the proe
is.ress of knowledge. To appreciate the justiee of the pre•
tension it is stitfieient to remark that it was not Ow Na.
*hlal Convention in the days of its dreadful poser and si.
111~l el' SPleiideiti'.—it Was not the National Conventhui .•f
Robespierre awl I)l%l'l.m—but the National 4'4,m...tin...1
sinking beneath the weight of its own unp..pularity, uud
impelled by a destli-hed repentanee--which fittualed the
luatituty. It would by difficult to believe that a political

SATURDAY,

assembly which listened to Mend and the butcher Le.
gendre. which admired the tulle of Pile Duelleshe and
sent Make Cheitier to the gniilotine, could take much in-
terest in literature ; or that bows of scieneeclhiw u
litter
shed the blood of avoisier after attempting to
him, have massacred Reilly, and forced Condorcet to com-
mit suicide. No tinge of scholarship could hare remained
among legislators who, not content with hating closed all
the educational establishments, burned or pillage' the
most valuable libraries and archives, and seriously asked
is r a collection of the Laws of Minos to assist them in
fr • g a constitution. The Republic of 1793, that Re-
public of which France is incessantly reminded by the
selfcalled pure Republican party, detested literature, leant.
ire:. and science, and, in founding the Institute on the last
lay of its vNistence, the Convention only yielded to the
outcry of tlw public, who reproached it with having Sigh
presstsl, by a barbarous decree, the academies which had
••• shed such lustre on France.''
The historical importance of the Latin and Cireek
controversy on the subject of " The Holy Places" is
indicated as follows :

"The dispute of the. Holy Places' is a result and an
epitome of that (Timid'. within the crusades which forms
so curious an epioaste in that eventful drama. We are
there reminded of what else we are apt to forget, that, the
chivalry of Europe were engaged, not only in the mighty
contliet with the followers of Mahomet, lint also ilk a con,
strut under-struggle with the emperors of the great city
they encountered in their midway progress. The capture
of Constant• pie by the Latins in the fOurth Unmade was
lint the same hard measure to the Byzantine empire
which on a smaller scale they had already dealt to the By-
zantine Church, then, as now, the national Church of Pa-
lestine, as it is generally of the East. The Crusaders, by
virtue of their Coluittest, occupied the Holy Places which
had previously been in the hands of the tireeks; and the
i;reeks in turn, when the Crusaders were ultimately ex-
pelled by the Turks, teak advantage of the influence of
wealth and neighbourhood to regain from the conquerors
that share in the sanctuaries of which the European
princes had deprived them. Copt and Syrian, fieorgian
and Armenian, have, it is true, their own claims to main-
tain, tOt disSelltere. front the main Byzantine establishment
front which they have successively separated. But the one
standing i-inflict has always been between the descendants
of the crusading invaders, aupported by France or Spain,
and the descendants of the original ("reek occupants, sup-
portediby the great northent poser which assumes to have
succeeded to the name and privileges of the Eastent Ctesars.
Neither party can ever forget that once the old sanctuary
was exclusively their'', and, although France and Russia
have doubtless interpomed on behalf of their respective na-
tional ereeds from political or con iiiii Tele' motivea, yet the
religious pretexts have arisen front the previous juxtaposi-
tit ii of two great and hostile Churches—here brought to-
getlwr within narrower bounds than any two sects else-
where in the world. Once only besides has their contra).
versy been waged in equal proximity ; namely, when the
Latin Chnrelt, headed by Augustine, found itself, in our
own island, brought into abntpt collision with the customs
and traditions of the tireeks, in the ancient British Chinch
founded by Eastern missionaries. What in the extreme
\Vest was deeioltst once for all lay a short and bloody struggle,
in Palt,istine has dragged on its weary length for many era-
tunes. And this long conflict has been further compli-
eated by the Tons treaties which, from the memontble
epoch when Francis I. startled Christendom by declaring
himself an ally of the Sultan, have been concluded between
France and the Porte for the protection of the Frank set-
tlers in Syria ; and yet again, by the vacillations of the
Turkish thovernment, partly from ignorance, and partly
f • weakness. as it has been pressed on one side or the
other by the claims of two powerful parties in a question
to the rights of which it is by its own position entirely in-
different."

The entire article on " The Holy Places" is of
permanent interest, though it does not affect to en-
tertain the question of the recent disputes, or the
grave consequences they portend to Europe.

Tutna►n'e Jlontl►ly Maga:ine of American Literature,
Science, a►►d Art. October, 1853. London :
Sampson Low and Co.
T►ns magazine contains seventeen articles, Judi-
ciously selected. The first is entitled " What Im-
pression do we and should we make Abroad'" and
contains so many plain truths and home thrusts
directed against the breast of the American eagle
that had they appeared in any European journal,
that lusty young fowl would have shrieked with in-
dignation. To heal the wounds his stabs lime made,
the writer sums up the latest glories of America, and
thus crowns them :

But no event, we suspect, Nut been of more efficiency
in awaking the OM World to a C4IIV.C. sues oC our exist-
enee than the prompt, decided, and glorious net of Cap-
tain Ingraham, when, in the tare of the Austrian fleet, he
threw the national agis over the prostrate form of a poor
Hungarian exile, and pointed to his guns."
The Austrian fleet consisted, we believe, of one
vessel, of force inferior to that commanded by the
redoubtable Ingraham ; but exaggeration is a ne-
cessary ingredient in the pabulum of Brother
Jonathan.

PUBLICATT()NS RE( 'EIVEP.
if rn men/ e' //HIM. tiir C.. 1. Nitpier. C. Westertom
owirs Cenrirteti Priamsers. Itev.
Wertheim Itlid
31ilitary Life. O. F. Cameron, c.ll.
(i. Cox ,

OCTOBER 22, 1853.

The Abusing of Chid (Itauttoott Lecture.). Iter. W.
Tluattiou, lAbtignasti,
I:ecideir de Deautterets, tr., utiles a cougaiter dam. Ceiv
.4efuelle. l'agiterry.
..iiiivery is the Island of Cuba. Itou Mariano Tot
11 t Itaillii•re.
6. Bell.

Letter to the Dale qf NetreaAtle. 1.. M. Hogg.
MUSIC.
The Runnymede 31nrek. 6. IL E. Hodge*. IrAlukaine and co.
The Sy.lealuiskltzes. Ditto.
I lure at breal of day to 11WIIN. NM%

irp puma.

I)ItURY-LANE THEATRE.
WE were amongst the crowds that thronged " Old
Drury " on Wednesday night. The multitude was
perfectly prodigious. The orchestra was removed,
and its place occupied by extemporised stalls, which,
like all the other seats iu the house, were filled loug
before the curtain rose. The fact that such at crowd
could nowadays be got together for auy dramatic
performance at Drury Lane is in itself very remark-
able. The audience, however, was far from being
brilliant or fashionable, and was in its elements
much below the average audience of a night either
at the Haymarket or the Olympic. The sight of a
vast mass of people has in itself much that is ex-
citing; and not a few, proliably, went to see the
crowd as much as the play.
The Macbeth of Mr. 6. V. Brooke, tried by his
own standard of acting, is one of his least successful
parts. Nearly all his special defects are glaringly
exhibited in it, while few of his par icular merits are
visible. The first two acts of his pertOrmance on
Wednesday night were the best, but he failed cons
pletely in the banquet scene; and it is enough to
say on this point that we even preterreil Mr. Forrest,
the American actor, in that portion of Macbeth.
Recollecting the Sir Giles Overreach and the Master
Walter of Mr. Brooke, we expected that he would
have made a better Macbeth.
There are a class of public speakers who fail in
the senate, though they are admirable platform ora-
tors ; and there are actors who bear the Sallie rela-
tions to true tragedians that popular declaimers have
to real orators. At present, we are inclined to class
Mr. Brooke amongst the declaiming actors, who
recite with effect, though they cannot realise with
art,—who always raise the cheers of the multitude,
but often shock the judgment of the experienced and
judicious. In fairness to Mr. Brooke, however, let
it be recollected that he has not the advantage
of
playing habitually to London audiences, and to in-
tercourse with those more educated patrons of the
drama whose opinion is so advantageous to an
actor.
Mr. E. T. Smith addressed the andienee at con-
siderable length after the perfiematice terminated.
He first praised Mr. Itrooke—" one of time noblest
men he ever knew "—then he praised the British
public—" his kind friends here"—and all his com-
pany; and, lastly, he praised himself. Ile also inti-
mated that, probably, Mr. Brooke would appear
again after Christmas ; and we think it not unlikely
that the actor will prefer the certain " nuggets " at
01.1 Drury to the " diggins" at Australia.
We ought to add, as a specimen of the taste of the
audience, that Mr. Lyon, who played the part
of
Macduff, was twice called for by the audience, and
made his bows to his noisy admirers. An amusing
incident occurred at the close of Mr. Smith's speech.
Apparently expecting that at bouquet would be dung
from the left-hand boxes, he looked in that direction,
but the flowers were cast after hint from the right•
hand side, so that he walked mitt without obtaining
them. Such tributes, if prepared, ought to he classed
with impromptus faits a laisir.