The Sun.
London, England, 1855-07-02 00:00:00

THE. MAGAZINES.

Blackwood.L—Au ingenious comparison is made
in a review of " The Imperial Policy of Russia "
between the recent demand of that Power to keep
up an undiminished force in the Black Sea and the
application of an "eminent housebreaker" to have
his professional tools given up to him on his release
from prison. Had a peace been arranged, says the
writer, Russia iuight.be said to lave completed he
term of her imprisonment ; her ships of sear and
stores at Sebastopol being her prqfessional
tools, the cannon and-. mortars the skele-
ton keys with which she ." would pick
the lock of the Ottoman Porte—one difference
being, however, that the magistrates in question
had possession of the tools of their adventurer. It
is justly remarked that by refusing to give up these
offensive possessions, or even to abstain from increas-
ing them, Russia at once admits her intentions
with regard to Constantinople, as " what else can
she want syith a great fleet in the Black Sea or
with the fortifications of Sebastopol ?" An inva-
sion, it is remarked, would never be commenced
there, nor would any nation build a first-class for-
tification to protect a little district of summer resi-
dence and 'seabathi ng, the name of which was hardly
ever mentioned before, and of which it is observed.
the better informed probably knew enough to say
it was a place somewhere in Southern Russia. A
retrospect of the history of the empire traces its
encroaching and aggressive policy from the days of
Peter the Great, one of whose lines of policy it was
to form the connection which so strongly links the
interests of Germany with the destinies of Russia.
" Zaidee," a romance, is continued, and this in-
stalment gives us several incidents. One of these
is the discovery by the heroine of an old volume
belonging to her grandfather, in which he has left
a record of his repentance, and desire for atone-
ment. A serious fit of illness follows, but the
whimsical family are all much attached to her, and
she is well cared for and finally recovers.
Another incident is the discovery of the
first trace of Zaidee by the now diminished
family at the Grange, but their search proves un-
availing. The " Notes on Canada arid the North
West of America" is continued.- In these regions
the value of land is frequently doubled in a year,
or even sometimes in a few months. Wisconsin
was only admitted into the Union as a state in
1848. In 1838 the population was only 18,130,
in 1850 the census return was 305,391. The
Governor of the State asserted in 1854 that there
were upwards of 500,000 inhabitants; who had all
emigrated there within the last fifteen years. The
second letter to Eusebius on "Once upon a Time"
is on this occasion devoted to the consideration of
the book itself, of which it draws such an attractive
picture, that if any further inducement to read it.
was wanted beyond the name of the author, the
anecdotes and literary histor'y here quoted would'
surely furnish it. " The Story of the Campaign"
relates, among other incidents, the assault of the
Mamelon and Quarries. It is followed by one of
the most remarkable articles in the number, a vigor-
ous, unflinching, and indignantdenunciation of the
Aberdeen Cabinet, which traces the whole course
of their duplicity, vacillation, and Russian policy.
Individually and collectively they are held up to
unmitigated and well-merited censure. After at-
tacking Mr. Gladstone for his sympathy for the
Russian losses, the writer exclaims :—" Good in-
tentions ! it is well ; but that does not suffice for
men who have to act for an empire. We do not
imagine that the Aberdeen Cabinet preferred the
interests of the Czar to those of their country—we
do not conceive that they wilfully compromised the
safety, though they knowingly compromised the
honour, of England. Yet they actually did all these
things. They invited the Cossacks into Europe.
They have involved civilisation in a dilemma, and
liberty in a death struggle.; At the same time they
have kept England unarmed, uuwarned, and with
no allies save such as forced themselves upon us in
our Government's despite. And to all this they
have added a career of duplicity towards the nation,
which deepens their folly and mismanagement into
a criminality which we care not to define." Well
may the writer at last exclaim :—" Away with
them ! Never more let them touch helm or sail of
the State. They have brought England to the edge
of the reefs, and they have shaken the good ship to
its keel. Let us have no more such pilots. A.
good name is now degraded, and Peelism is Rus-
sianism." The number concludes with a paper on
" Administrative Reform."

The Dublin University.—" The Dramatic Wxiters
of Ireland" has for its memoir Richard Brinsley
Sheridan. As may be supposed, an interesting
subject is thus given, and an explicit, while neces-
sarily curtailed, account is presented of the life and
actions of this remarkable character. It is said
that already many have been occupied with record-
ing " the varied abilities, systematic profusion,
convivial intemperance, brilliant conversational
wit, unrivalled eloquence, dazzlinff meridian, and
most melancholy decline, of this gifted but ill-regu-
lated son of genius." It is a curious circumstance
that Mrs. Sheridan consigned the subject'of this
sketch, with' his brother, to a schoolmaster, with
the remark that they were the two dullest boys she
had ever met with. Sheridan early displayed the
want of judgment and caution that characterised
his life. He ran away •with the beautiful Miss
Linley when he was twenty-two and she eighteen.
He was without profession or income. The first at-
tempt of Sheridan was the comedy of " The
Rivals," which, successful and meritorious as
it has since proved to be, was badly received
the first night. Very different was the re-
ception given to " The School for Scandal."
" The drop had not fallen on the first act before
the whole house felt they were sitting in judgment
on a master-piece—one of those rare productions
which appear once in a century, an inspiration of
real genius and an exhibition of truthful character,
drawn from nature, without reference to age,
society, local manners, or ephemeral fashions."
The critic here states that perhaps this play may
be placed at the head of all recent comedies, not
only in the English, but in any European language.
A passenger walking near Drury-lane was startled
by a noise that resembled rolling thunder and an
earthquake. He learned on inquiry that it was
the applause of the audience at the new comedy.
When twenty-eight Sheridan relinquised the drama
for a new sphere of celebrity ; although unsuccess-
ful in the outset of his Parliamentary career ha
persevered. It is said that his celebrated speech
on the charge against Warren Hastings for the spo-
liation of the Begams produced an effect never
equalled before or since in the walls of any legis-
lative assembly. Burke, Fox, and Pitt outvied
each other' in their praises, and Byron in his
monody has thus recorded it :
" When the loud cry of trampled Hindostan
•
Arose to Heaven in her appeal to man,
His was the thunder, his the avenging rod,
The wrath, the delegated voice of God,
Which shook the nations through his lips, and blazed,

Till vanquish'd senates trembled as they praised."
The concluding portion of this sketch is sad and
gloomy ; it records how ha "whose passionate and
creative genius had stirred the hearts of nations by
its inspired sympathy, and governed senates by its
burning eloquence," was left to die unnoticed and
alone. On Sunday a sheriff's officer arrested the
expiring sufferer. On the following Saturday all
that was mortal was conveyed to the grave in West-
minAter Abbey in the presence of royalty—
" And bailiffs may seize his last blanket to-day,
Whose pall shall be held tip by nobles to-morrow."
By the grave of Sheridan are three similar, which
are those of John Henderson, David Garrick, and
Samuel Johnson: It is observed that "it would
be difficult to select four mcre remarkable men
lying together in the peaceful communion of the
grave throughout the vast extent of that thickly
peopled and time-honoured necropolis." " Al-
berico Porro," a tale of the Milanese Revolution of
1848, is an exciting story; but, as may be premised
from the title, its details are of a painful nature.
The cruel and unjust policy pursued by the Aus-
trians towards the unfortunate Italians is vividly
narrated, and the state of the country in its indig-
nant, and yet depressed, spirit ably described.
The hero is a young nobleman, whom his friends
are urging on to rise up against the invaders, but
who hesitates at first till roused by a scene of
cruelty committed against some poor tenants of his
by the soldiers of the oppressors, he is left
ing over in his mind the chances of success against
tyrants. "Papers on Poetry" has for its
sub-
jects the ballads of Spain, their ago and origin.
We are informed that their number surpasses that.
of all the European nations combined. Many
_have
may be called the
P
weight-
attempted arranging them in a chronologiealelassi.
wishtolerhica is
and criti-
cal affixed a
fication, but the task has been best performed
Augustinercy o fD Spainu Duran,. n ,
Twhheow,oirtkis h
he
said,h a
s arranged
dnearlysco discourse
rst we o
of
thousandgreat
cal character. The various styles are here alluded
to, traditional, literary, and poetic. The ballad
was in its greatest glory when "Lope and Gongora
utilbitaylia of an nto
historical
took it into their own possession ; then' indeed it
clothed itself in all the splendour of poesy, diffusing
among the people an intense feeling of poetic en-
joyment, which found its fullest fruition in the
drama, to which it contributed materials that even
yet are nnexhauSted." " The Government, the
Departments, and the War" contains some forcible
arguments against the present state of things. In
speaking of Administrative Reforin, it is observed
that the Conservatives first recognised its necessity
—that their Cabinet was formed of "ability before
rank." After some remarks made on. the motion of
Lord Ellenborough in the Lords the writer thus
proceeds

What Lord Ellenborough attempted in the Lords

Mr. Disraeli has repeated in the Common?, with the
same result. The observations we have applied to the
first debate on adnainietrative reform fit the others. The
Derby Chancellor of the Exchequer by his defeated
motion secured the important triumph for his party of
placing them before the country as not only the
favourers, but the originators, of a comprehensive
scheme of improved adwmistration. The very phrase
which has now beceme the Motto of a great association
sprang from him. In' his speech of December, 1852,
he first gave Ministaial embodiment to the growing.
but then not formidable, movement for government by
merit,_ and the proper exerciso of patronage. Others
Carried out his views in part, but sufficient yet remains
of his plan unadopted to form a distinctive feature of
Conservative policy ; and knowing this to be the case
Mr. Disraeli, in his oration during the Layard debate,
party of which he is% brilliant member, to a
pledgedthorough the
departmental reformation. To that extent the
Whigs will not, cannot go. They are bound by toe
many ties. Their political existence. is too abnormal.
A aro composed of heterogeneous mate-
rasls a ,
p b
h coe
v cohering bad/3-. - But the Conservatives are a com-
pact and if eae—
i dye
r
i they
they be in a minority in the present
Pirliament, are rendered so bycoalitions without principle
or any elements of continuance. In adhering rat.onally
and practically to administrative reform we give a really
valuable pledge which should satisfy the nation at large,
sealdd as it is by the efforts about being put forth when
a disgraceful faction expelled Lord Derby from office.
Mr. Disraeli, with singular wisdom, enunciated broadly
on the Occasion to which we referihniiews of his party,
and their determination, should they occupy the Tree.
sury benches bofere the so-much desiderated changes are
effected.. What could be more pointed, vigorous, or
definite' than the fo!lowing deelaration :
" lam of opinion that the entrance into that service
Should not be by mere favotiritisce.: I think it should
be the subject of a substantial and real test of fitness,
and .I think the idea of a substantial and real test of fit-
ness is nut illusory, but essentially practical. I think,
in the second place,' that the rewards of our public civil
servants should be on a higher scale. I think that the
result of the change will be public economy, and not in-
creased expenditure. I think that' the reward of the
public servants should not be merely of a fixed nature,
but that they should be trained to look upon other and
more spiritual rewards which animate and ennoble the
conduct of men. I am also of opinion that the civil
service of the country ought to be made and must be
made, strictly and completely professional, and the great
offices of the State should be reserved for public servants
who have been trained and educated in the permanent
civil service. These are what I think sound and judicious
changes. They aro changes of administrative reform .
They are changes which I think every Government ought
to adopt and carry out, and nothing short of this ought
to satisfy the house."

Bentley's Miscellany.—The comprehensive ques-
tion of " Hovr We are all Getting On," is the title
of the opening paper in this magazine, which takes
a brief view of affairs, without arriving at any very
novel or striking conclusion. The article which
follows is on the present Czar, Alexander 11., of
whom, considering his position, comparatively little
is known. It is, of course, difficult to foretell
his future career from his antecedents, or divine
what effect power and position will have on his
character. The present sketch of him is founded
on a work by M. 1.460nz0n Leduc, entitled " Per-
sonal Reminiscences of the Emperor Alexander II.,"
recently published at Paris. -"Neapolitan Expe-
riences" relates a romance of Italian life, a love
story, with all sorts of misfortunes, and a
happy -----co-nclusion: Indian warfare is be-
coming quite a forgotten subject, but the
author of an article on the annexation of Nag-
pore thinks it right to call the attention of the
public to the principle of our policy in Hiudostan.
For a country which consoles itself in all the pri-
vation and suffering occasioned by the present cam-
paign by the consideration of the justice of its cause,
he considers the system of aggression and appro-
priation displayed in our Indian dominions to be
somewhat inconsistent. A paper on " Sebastopol,
Kertch, and the Sea of Azoff" relates the recent
events of the campaign, and takes a general sum-
mary of the present state of affairs in the Crimea.
" Ad Statuas" is a description of a visit to the
Vatican by night,. lighted only by wax tapers.
The effect of this is described as most im-
pressive. " The Mormons in Utah" gives an
account of that extraordinary sect, whose in-
crease and prosperity since their settlement in
Utah has been something surprising. In 1852 the
heads of the community sent messengers through
all the branch colonies to discover how many Mor-
mons would enter a poorhouse they proposed to
establish. Out of more than thirty thousand per-
sons, most of whom hal joined the colony ex-
tremely poor, only two preferred a °Ulm for relief !
Among the most remarkable papers is "An
Essay on Leigh Hunt " by Monkshood.

Colburn's United Service.—The usual narrative
of the naval and military operations of the month
is accompanied by a useful sketch-map of the ope-
rations in the sea of Azoff. The Governor of her
Majesty's settlements in Gambia contributes some
useful information respecting western Africa in a
bluff soldierly fashion. " Errors on the Subject of
the present State of the Army" starts with a mis-
take. No outcry has ever been raised against
peninsular experience ; the complaint has been
that experience has been preferred to active com-
mand after it has been reduced to go on crutches.
A misstatment like this will hardly prepare the
lay reader to believe in the writer's flattering ac-
count of the general or purely military organisation
and regulation of the army, which hi represents as
incapable of improvement, though in another ar-
ticle it is frankly admitted that the chance of rising
from the ranks is so infinitesimally small as to be
inoperative for good. Among the remaining
papers are a lucid account of " The War of Libe-
ration in the Peloponnesus in 1820," and a continu-
ation of two valuable articles on " Central Ame-
rica" and "Military Education," the Editor with
his "Portfolio" . bringing up the rear as energeti-
cally, and with as much good sense, mingled with
professional prejudice, as ever. In his defence of
Lord Raglan—which, to our thinking, bears the
marks of warm personal friendship—the talents
and services of that noble and lamented com-
mander are lauded as we would be happy to be-
lieve they deserve. The editorial remarks on the
massacre at Hauge, and other Russian barbarities,
will find an echo in every British heart ' • and it is
to be hoped the recommendation to British officers
to hold.no intercourse for the future with Russian
officers will be followed.