The Press.
London, England, 1856-04-19 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

than Pindar—a phrase with about as much
meaning in it as if an attempt were made to
describe a colour by saying that it is snore
akin to white than black. The novels of Hak-
lander recal " the striking qualies of Dickens
" and Bulwer." The fables of Andersen have
not the " deep insightinto human nature of those
" of La Fontaine, nor the amusing prattling of
" Gay;" and the compositions of Jean Paul
Richter " have neither the deep thought of
" Bacon, nor the admit able wit of Cervantes,
" nor the sagacious insight into the heart of
" Scott or Bulwer." Matter of this kind is
quite out of place in historical composition.
Some narration of the progress of literature
and art in Germany, with precise dates, and
notices of the effect produced by particular
works, would have been useful, as furnishing
materials to enable us to trace the growth and
changes of the German mind. But the wordy
criticism of the author is too questionable in
point of taste, and too destitute of precision, to
be in an) degree useful.
When Sir A. Alison deals with facts we
follow him with much more pleasure. Of all
countries of Europe, Germany has perhaps
profited the most by the forty years of peace
which resulted from the pacification of 1815.
" Never." says the historian, " has the land
" known so long a period of unbroken rest."
Its progress in material prosperity has been
amazing. The population of Prussia in 1815
was barely ten millions ; in 1855 it had risen
to 18,283,000. The total population of the
Getman Confederacy in 1815. was thirty
millions, and in 1848 it had risen to up-
wards of forty-one millions. In all other
elements of material prosperity its progress
has been equally marked ; and if political
liberty has not advanced with equal strides,
the cause must be found in the revolutionary
movements which have invariably resulted in
giving increased strength to the authority
they were designed to overthrow. The
assassination of Kotzebue in 1819 alarmed
the continental Governments, and induced
them to adopt a repressive policy ; the French
revolution of 1830 renewed their fears,
and, by the jealousy it awakened of French
propagandism, strengthened their hands ; con-
stitutional ideas were making real and solid
progress previous to 18.18, but were dissipated
by that convulsion, and again the principle of
arbitrary government was strengthened by its
trials and ultimate triumph. With the mate
rial progress of Germany, however, the genuine
freedom of the people must inevitably advance.
Social power and political power are not to be
separated; as a people become more wealthy
and more intelligent they must become more
free, and the danger which threatens their
advance is not the repressive action of their
government, which must in some way or other
mould itself to their progress in all the real
elements of power, but a wild and ungovern-
able inflation of the spirit of liberty, which by
breaking away from order may resolve society
into its first elements, and lead to a harsh
despotism, or to a brilliant but brief and anar-
chical period of revolutionary rule. The best
hope for the political future of Germany is to
be sought in the industrial and intellectual
progress of the people.
The history of France from the suppression
of the hereditary peerage by Louis Philippe
to the establishment of his throne by the
elections of 1834. is narrated by the author
with precision and fairness. The first effects
of the revolution were disastrous in the ex-
treme. The State expenditure rose at once
from less than 40,000,0001. sterling to upwards
of 44,000,0001.; while the wages of workmen,
owing to the extreme scarcity of employment,
sunk in some cases from 3s. to 4s. a day down
to Bd. The social insurrection in Lyons in
Nov., 1831, caused by the distress and dis-
content of the operatives, was followed by the
desperate rising in Paris on occasion of General
Lainarque's funeral early in the following year.
Nor were the hopes of the Republicans crushed
by their bloody defeats. Desperate insurrec-
tiGns again broke out in Lyons and Paris in
April, 1834, and extended to other parts of
France. They were repressed with severity.
In Paris, during the attack on the barricade in
the Rue Transnonian, the orders of the officers
were to force open and search every house
from whence shots issued:—

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