The Sun.
London, England, 1839-03-04 00:00:00

METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE.

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" A Journey Southward from Damascus" is from the
pen of Mr. Addison, to whom the public is already in-
debted for some intelligent volumes of travels in the
East, to which the present article—or rather series of
articles, for we see it is to be continued--may be con-
sidered as a sort of supplement or appendix. Mr. Ad-
dison describes vividly, but is apt to be too exuberant in
his descriptions. The subjoined sketch of an Eastern
city is excellent of its sort :
" What a contrast do the stillness, silence, and repose
hanging about an Oriental city, present to the noise, bustle,
and uneasy excitement of our towns in England ? Here
we era no longer disturbed by the din of carriage wheels,
and the clanging of the iron shod hoof over the stony
pavement ; the long string of dromedaries, and the
moving cavalcades, pass with noiseless tread over the
sandy, dusty roads. The bright dazzling sun, the calm
atmosphere, the motionless trees, and the slow, stately
march of the Orientals, as they pass lonely and silently
onwards—all impress the mind with the idea of quiet and
repose, which is here greatly heightened by the constant
murmuring sound of the different rivulets watering the
gardens. The groups of men and cattle lazily sleeping
tinder the shade of the trees, the humming of insects, and
the solitary Arab lying on the ground, smoking his pipe,
":!I Present a tbeirlaq, sleepy state of existence."
Pirate' is a4oalpr 9f those sea romances
which have of ;;;.t!, years been so poiditr: One or two
of the incidents are vigorously pourtrayed; but Cos :7-
whole, it is too much wire-drawn. It is " to be conti-
nued," we perceive. This 6 41NaYs an objection to a
Magazine tale, and. deters' many frm perusing it.
" Habits and Opinions_ of the Poets? glY.es Gt higW7

characteristic account of the last moments of poor
Burns. He died, it appears, while in the act of damn-
ing an attorney—for which anathema no one who has
ever had anything to do with solicitors, can possibly
blame him. " The Courtier of the Reign of Charles
the Second," is spiritless and common-place this month.
" The Widower's Bride" is gracefully versified by Mrs.
Abdy. " Delaval O'Dorney" promises well ; but we
must see more of it before we venture on prononncing
a decided opinion. The present chapter is merely in-
troductory.

THE NEW MONTHLY.
We are glad to see the " Phantom Ship," continued
in this number. If we except Peter Simple, it is un-
doubtedly the author's cleverest work—and the only
one likely to survive the day. Captain Marryat handles
the supernatural in a truly imaginative style ; and has
made his phantom pilot Schrifter, as mysterious and
awe-inspiring a being, as Schiller made his Armenian
ghost-seer. The vision of the Flying Dutchman, in the
present chapters is • depicted with considerable graphic
skill. " Civil 'War," is a tale of the rebellion of 1745 ;
but, we regret to see the " butcher Cumberland," spoken
of in such laudatory terms. This is the principal draw-
back, as if the author had undertaken to make Judge
Jeffries the hero of a sentimental romance. " Personal
Narrative of Tristam Dumps" is lively, but rather too
much in the narrative form. A little poignant dialogue
would have relieved it, especially as the subject is one
that easily admits of dramatic effect. A " Summer in
Bavaria," contains some brief, but clever scenic
sketches. " A tale of Mystery," is by Poole. It is in
his archest and most felicitous style. We have no space
for extracts.

freshness to the common-place staple of Magazine
Literature. 'We rose from their perusal neither wiser
nor merrier than when we sat down. The " Chapter
of Accidents" is a lively narrative of hair-breath 'stapes
in that land of perilous adventure, Eastern India. Of
course there is " a lady in the case," the marvel here
being that in a land rejoicing in the multiplied delights
of polygamy our hero found his hands encumbered, and
his heart interested with but one sable beauty. " Con-
fucius and the Child," translated from the Chinese,
serves to convey a sorry impression of the wisdom of
that celebrated philosopher and statesman. It is,
however, interesting as the fragment of a literature too
little known to Western Europe. The Review of Mr.
Montgomery Martin's History of Eastern India is
highly favourable, but not more so than the work de-
serves. Mr. Martin's industry is as astonishing as the
fruits of it are generally useful. The mass of Asiatic
intelligence, with which the Number concludes, is well '
and carefully selected and arranged.

THE QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF
AGRICULTURE.
Blackwood.
There is more variety in the subjects of the
articles of the Farmer's " Quarterly" for March
than it usually exhibits. This is a good fea-
ture. Nothing is more apt to tire than a dull
uniformity in periodicals, which to be useful, must circu-
late widely. Besides, farmers are rarely book-worms,
and therefore instruction intended for them should be
clothed in a garb as inviting as possible. Many who may
care very little about the agricultural state of the
county of Kilkenny, will be likely to read with pleasure an
essay on the Chillingham and Hamilton breeds of wild
oxen ; and others, again, who may take no interest in
the mysteries of agricultural chemistry, may pore with
deep attention over an article designed to examine
into the causes of the increase of pauperism in Scotland
THE

N ATV STATISTICAL ACCOUNT OF
SCOTLAND. Part XXI.
Blackwood.
The part of this Work now published contains the
statistical history of the county of Wigton, with that of
a few parishes in the counties of Ross and Cromarty.
It reflects the highest credit upon its truly enlightened
authors—the parochial clergy of the Church of Scotland.

THE CHRISTIAN REFORMER.
Sherwood and Co.
The first article in the present Number furnishes
some interesting particulars respecting the Dissenters
in 1775. From it we also learn incidentally that there
arc some MS. collections relating to noncomforniity in
Dr. Williams's Library, Redcross-street, which seem
not to have been hitherto turned to any account,
though from their titles we should think them well
worth a careful examination. The excellent " Notes
on Passages of Scripture" are continued. " Letters
from Italy" are very entertaining. " Liverpool Uni-
tarian Controversy" contains the very curious preli-
minary correspondence which has taken place between
three ministers of the Church of England and thr,•e of
the Unitarian faith, on the subject of a public contro-
versy to be held by these parties, with a view to deter-
mine the merits of their respective systems of belief
After much shuffling on the part of the Churchmen,
who declined the offer made by the Unitarian ministers,
to make the newspaper press the vehicle of the contro-
versy, and who tried hard to have an oral discussion
before a public assembly, prejudiced of course in their
favour, it was finally determined that the discussion
should be carried on by means of lectures delivered at
one of the churches and chapels respectively, and simul-
taneously through the press. The subjects of the dif-
ferent lectures are given in the Magazine before
us, to which we must refer • our readers. We
cannot, however, dismiss the subject without no-
ticing the acrimonious and unchristian spirit dis-
played in this correspondence by the champions of
orthodoxy towards their brother ministers of the Gospel.
Is it not disgraceful to these Rev. Gentleraen that they
could not even settle the terms of their controversy
without letting the world sea of their uncharitable-
ness ? It is due, however, to one of them—the Rev.
Thomas Byrth—to state that he disapproved of the
conduct of his coadjutors, and while he gave the Uni:-
tarian ministers credit for their " calmness and cour-
tesy," he entered a " public disclaimer of any desire to
substitute irritating language for sound argument."
Happy had it been for the promotion of truth, as well
as for the peace of society, had all controversialists been
actuated by the sentiments here expressed. The only
other papers which we have space to notice are " Eccle-
siastical Forgeries," and " Dr. Bowring's Sketches of
the Mahometan and other Oriental Religions." In the
one we find a complete exposure of the falsehoods told
by Josephus about the reception given to Jaddus, the
Higb Priest of the Jews, by Alexander the Great, and
the conversation between Darius Hystaspes and Zerub-
babel, touching the rebuilding of the Temple ; and in
the other a great deal of new and useful information.

THE CHURCH MAGAZINE.
This Magazine opens with an article on the " holy
season of Lent," quite as Popish in its spirit as if it
was from the pen of Dr. Wiseman h maelf. To counter-
balance this the " Errors of Romanism" are, in the second
article, most violently denounced. An article in support
of Ecclesiastical Traditions follows ; and here again we
discover the Jesuit in every sentence. There is hardly
a syllable in it which a Censor of the Propaganda
would put into the index. The number is illustrated
with a tolerably well-engraved portrait of the Right
Rev. Father-in-God, the Lord Archbishop of York.
Verily, a Church, whose Chief Priests delight in such
meek and lowly denominations, must need the aid of
traditions far removed in spirit from the precepts
taught in the New Testament.

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY, MARCH 4, 1539

part of the accounts of the Church-rate Abolition
Society, and when submitted in the ledger was
found to be confused through interlineations, arising
from the transfer of advertisement charges from
another book. The auditors very properly refused
to pass the account till they had a fair copy of it.
There was, subsequently, no question in dispute
about the items.
Fifthly—That the meetings of the Committee
were entirely governed by the pleasure of the
Secretary. The facts are these :—Up to the ap-
pointment of the Select Committee of the House of
Commons, the Committee of the Church-rate
Abolition Society met once and sometimes twice a-
week. After that appointment it was deemed
not improper to suspend' for a season active
proceedings, involving of necessity considerable
expenditure, and the meetings of the Committee
were only occasional.
Mr. Besley was acquainted with these arrange-
ments, for he attended nearly all the meetings of
the Committee, and had it in his power to cause
the Committee to be summoned, if he thought there
was occasion for it. He continued a member of
the Committee up to November last, without having
hinted at any of the charges or grounds of dissatis-
faction which he has now made public. As one of
the auditors of the accounts he now impugns, and
the more active of the two, he individually examined
every page of the Treasurer's book, and affixed
his initials opposite the aggregate sum, upon
each page, not fewer than 39 times. Upon the
last page he wrote the following words :
" Examined and audited this day, Oct. 29,
'3B. ROBERT BESLEY." He subsequently
assisted in preparing an abstract of the accounts
so audited, to which also he affixed :his signature,
which was presented to the Committee with his
sanction as an accurate and just account. If the
audit was a delusion, it was a delusion passed upon
the Committee to which Mr. Besley was a party.
Mr. Besley is in possession of no information that
he did not then possess ; and if he believed the ac-
counts to be o*ctionable, not only did he fail in
the discharge of his duty to the Committee and to
the public as an auditor, but it is wholly inexpli-
cable that in his published letter on resigning his
office as a member of the Committee, he should
never have hinted at any such reason for his seces-
sion. If he then thought, as he now affects to do,
that " there ought to be no longer any mistake
about this Society," and that "it must be taken
out of the present hands, and put into the hands
of a real, ostensible, active Committee," or that
" there had been gross mismanagement and mis-
application of the funds of the Society," it is
exceedingly strange that he should have concluded
his letter of resignation to the Treasurer with these
words, " I remain, Dear Sir, with great personal
respect to yourself, as well as to every member of
the Committee, your's, obediently, R. Besley." It
is sufficiently plain that Mr. Besley has permitted
his feelings to be warped by some undisclosed pre-
judices, which have led him to forget alike the
obligations of truth arid of common courtesy.
After taking an active part in the proceedings of a
Committee, whose confidence he implicitly shared
and for every member of which he professes to en

tertain great personal respect, he has come forward
to impeach their management of an important So-
ciety, not by private remonstrance, but by
ungenerous and unjust aspersions, of which they
obtain the first intimation from the columns
of a public journal. Upon the elegant figures
employed by Mr. Besley, and the flippancy
of his language, we shall not deign to
bestow any remark ; but we cannot suppress our
conviction, that his dislike to be made a " mere
utensil," has not prevented his being used as such
in his attempt to injure the Society, by representing
it as unworthy of public confidence. In this un-
worthy design, prompted by whatever motive, the
Committee are well assured that lie has disgrace-
fully failed ; and his conduct is, in the judgment of
the Committee, of a nature to justify their resolu-
tion to take no notice of any further publication he
may be advised to make.—l am, Sir,

On the behalf the Committee of the Church
Rate Abolition Society,
Your faithful servant,
JOHN H. TREDGOLD, Chairman.
Office of the Church-Rate Abolition Society.
Feb. 26, 1839.