The Sun.
London, England, 1863-05-25 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

The Quarterly I?erzete, .No. 226.
The current number of the Quarterly is more
than usually interesting, from the very varied na-
ture of its contents. It supplies material for the
political economist, for the statesman, fur the theo-
logical and historical student, for the novel reader,
the litterateur, and the epicure. It opens with a
paper on the •' Indwitrial Resources of British
India," which contains a considerable amount of
carefully compiled information respecting the corn-
' rnercial prospects of our vast Indian Empire. Leav-
ing entirely on one side all questions as to the
policy to be pursued, or the errors of govern-
ment which have hitherto hindered the develop-
ment of the internal resources of the coun-
try, the article before us examines into the
capacities of the different districts, the fertility of
the soil, the degree of cultivation, the drainage and
irrigation, with the character of the population, and
the means of transit and communication. Follow-
ing this statistical article comes it summary of the
events of the American civil war, which contrasts
the opinion held in this country at the beginning
of the struggle, with that now generally enter-
tained, and comments on the mistaken notion which
was formed at the outset of the resources of the
South. Among the advantages on the side of the
Confederates is reckoned their superior aptitude for
the military profession and their greater military
spirit.
rTocatrheeeryoonethaoefd theper mercantile
feNworth tbtna
attrac-
tions :and, when the crisis came, the cower of

the United States officers were consequently
almost invariably of Southern extraction, and
naturally hastened to proffer allegiance to their
respective States. The high degree of military
training generally acquired by the educated classes
in the military schools in early life also stood them
in good stead when they were suddenly called to
exchange the office or the desk for active service in
the field.

" As with her generals, so also with her statesmen, the
irresistible force of national character gave the advantage to
the South. The military genius of Lee and Johnstone,
and Jackson and Beauregard, does not more conspicuously
transcend that of M'Clellan and Burnside, and M'Dowell
and Pope, than does the administrative talent of President
Davis and the Southern Cab net the pettifogging incapacity
of President Lincoln and the attorney Ministers of the
North. The Southern leaders were not the mere mediocre
tools and puppets of trading politicians ; they were men
selected for those very qualities of talent and command most
dreaded and disliked by the wirepullers' of the North.
And when the crisis came the difference was felt, It was
felt
inaninnencizrm nfisdeedsirgcns ,uarnedes
actionand energiesexertedwhiche
rt the
yo
element lem e full;n t
of power was made to tell with multiplied force ;
anl lastly, in estimating the situation of the South, we
must nut forget the paramount advantage of her position
of self-defence. In the intimate knowledge of every road
by which an army could move, and every field in which a
battle could be fought; in the increased facility of inter-
communication inseparable from operations on an interior
line;
in the far lighter strain upon an improvised commis-
sariat and an unpractised staff; in the general eagerness to
assist the defender, and to mislead and impede the foe ; in
the very nature and extent of her vast and difficult territory;
and worst of all, as we have already seen, in the spirit that
stirs in the most sluggish heart when fighting for its own
honour and it 3 own home; she possessed resources against
which it would indeed require a heavy disparity of mere
brute numbers to contend."

In conclusion the writer observes that a change is
coining over the scene.
" But the termination of the present contest will neces-
sarily involve the return of peace. The South, indeed, has
fairly conquered her freedom, and may fairly look to a
period of rest. The struggle has been long and arduous,
and the final victbry is, perhaps, one of the least valuable of
its fruits. It is in such a war as this that the character of
a nation is formed. The South, fighting with its own
hands, and pouring out its own blood for liberty and honour,
is strengthened and united by the struggle. The North,
intent only on its own sordid ends, seeking its own profit in
the sufferings and the subjugation of others, and making of
war only a more violent and unscrupulous pursuit of trade,
has but hastened the dissolution to which mere selfish
interests must alwa,)s tend. Already the partition of
the Northern Confederacy has begun. The West is fast
growing weary of a war of which the chief
burden has been hers, the chief profit to the
States of the North-East. New England, whose selfish-
ness mainly caused, and whose violence and fanaticism
have ultimately gained almost the entire guidance of the
war, is more than ever bent on turning it to ends altogether
abhorrent to her sister States. With every day the breach
grows wider and more irreparable. It needs indeed but

little discernment to see that the tide of revolution is roll-
ing rapidly northward, and that the remnant of the Union
will soon be tossing on its stormy waves. What the end
may be nono can yet foretell. Three Confederacies, at least,
of Eastern, Western, and Middle States, seem at present
the most probable result."

The History of CycloF mclias"is an interesting essay,
tracing back those useful sentinels of our book-
shelves to their first appearance ; which in Eng-
land was in the form of Ephraim Chambers' " Cyclo-
pmlia or Universal Dictionary of the Arts and
Sciences," published in 1828 ! Followed in
France by the celebrated " Encyclopedie,' of
Diderot and D'Alembert some twenty years later.
A modern encyclopedia, as the writer of this article
justly observes, is a whole library in epitome, with
almost the single exception of the literature of the
imagination. The " Penny Cyclopwlia," one of
the most remarkable works of the kind, is thus de-
scribed

" The literary expenditure on this publication was
upwards of £10,000; but the trivial circumstance that it
was first issued in weekly penny numbers led to its receiv-
ing a title that refers to cheapness only, and this seems at
first sight to imply the confession that it is of an inferior
class, while in reality it has long taken rank with the
proudest cyclopmdias of any age or country. It counted
among its contributors not only such English names as
Airy, the Astronomer Royal ; Professor Key, the philolo-
gist; Professor De Morgan, the mathematician; Broderip,
the enterprising naturalist ; Ford, the unrivalled traveller
in Spain; Sir Charles Eastlake, the President of the
Royal Academy ; Sir Edmund Head, the acute art critic
and Governor of Canada; Sir George Cornewall Lewis,
the classical scholar and War Minister ; the late Dr.
Donaldson, one of our very best scholars ; with a host of
others, our country's honour—but many foreign names of
equal rank, such as Rosen, the Sanscrit scholar ; Gayongos,
the Spanish Orientalist; and Carl Ritter, the first geo-
grapher of Germany. To Ritter, who had devoted years
to the study of the geography of Asia, the Cyclopwdia was
indebted for an article on Asia in which was embodied in a
few paAes the essence of all his labours. In many other
for
a a peculiar felicity was displayed in securing
a particular subject the very few that belonged to it."
The crisis in Poland has given rise to an essaaryceol
Poland is something new iu
try. The Sensation School
of
the history of that unfortunate State, which
its eh
The attempted defence of the partitionh
Novelistscastigation,
the
receivesjostles
thisand
sccocoon-
try. sufferingon
people.
renders justice to the long endurance
dap o f
a severe but well desery
of which is sufficiently evidenced by the passages
ed
quoted. Among the remaining articles is a criti-
cism on Mr. Kinglake's " Crimea," to which we
hcaavreefaullreinagdyuiraylluindteod
Dinr.acnooltehnetsro
jiBll7eCe and a
e

The Volunteer Force of the 'United Kingdom now
numbers 159,000 men.

THE COUNTESS GUICCIOLI (Boron's old flame),
it is said, is writing the poet's life.
Mr. Mapleson is ',reported to have invited Made.
Viardot to come over to this country for some performances
of 'Orfeo,' the greatest masterpiece of Art, according to one
critic, which the stage has seen since the days of Madame
Pasta.

Sir Roderick Murchison, President of the Royal
Geographical Society, has issued cards for two Evening
Receptions atHs's Roams. The first gathering will
take place on Thursday evening, next week.

S m
r Pi
oNrGn
iDISASTER
,
nesdayi
its
'l'yne, height,off a very' serious
,atso 'clock
at
Sadler's Point. A large, old •fashioned Dutch
shipping W
disasterh en
t h
e occurred tide
w on
the s
East lndianian, the Anna Elise, do Roecur. master, of
Amsterdam, with 40 keels of coals aboard, and drawing 20ft.
lin. water, was towed out of the Northumberland dock, in
charge of a pilot named Purvis. She gassed out of the
dock in safety, but unfortunately had not been towed 300
yards from the dock gates when she struck upon a "couch,"
and, notwithstanding every cff,rt was made to do so, could
not be got off that tide. Three keels of coals were taken.
out of her during the day, and it was hoped she would float
in the afternoon tide, but, instead of doing so, she filled
with water, and her stores had to be removed with all
baste. On Thursday seamen were employed stripping her,
and her cargo will be discharged with all despatch : hut it
is feared that the ship's back is broken, and that she will
become a complete wreck. Blame seems to be attached to
the pilot, for the ship is lying her own length from the
middle of the channel, in which there was 221 t. 4-
":"
°f
water. It is stated that more steam power should
employed, as for want of it the ship would have;
been
helm. The s'ip was bound to Batavia,not answer her
ves.el belonging to the Amsterdam , and was the oldest
company.