The Sun.
London, England, 1863-02-02 00:00:00

MAGAZINE DAY

Blackwood.

The first article is o❑ " Progress in China,', and
continues the subject commenced before. In intro-
ducing the question the writer remarks that, "it
would have required many cycles of Cathay to bring
to the councils of the Court of Pekin the enlighen-
merit we have alluded to in our last number, if the
population over which it ruled had not threatened
to outstrip the Government in the adoption of
European ideas." Then follows a detailed account
of proceedings, and an interesting commentary on
various plans that have been adopted, making on
the whole a highly instructive paper. The spirit
which animates the writer is certainly that of pro-
gress, and hence it is peculiarly adapted to its subject,
concerning, as it does, one of the most adventurous
feats of Englishmen in pursuing their course of
conquest and extending their wide-spread com-
merce: As it has been said—

In the days of Queen Victoria see they have borne her

sway,
From the far Atlantio islands to the Island of Cathay.
The conclusion of this article is worthy of notice,
and thus forcibly sums up its several arguments
"England for years has spent wealth, energy, and pre-
cious lives in opening China to Western influence and civi-
lisation. To-day, her success is certain. The Govern-
ment and people of China both ask us to aid them in their
hour of trouble, and in return they will assuredly grant us
that access and commercial freedom for which we have so
long laboured and so often fought. The portals of ignorance
and heathenism are opening. Shall we, who are in the van-
guard of nations, hesitate? No—assuredly not I Our motto
must ever be ' Forward ;' and will not all enlightened
i.hristendom join us in wishing ' God s?eed' to those about
to put forth in this fresh enterprise to the land of Cathay ? "
The most brilliant essay in this periodical is un-
questionably that on " Henri Lacrdaire." It is a
criticism on the life and works of one who would
have been celebrated in any age or country, and
whose career has been worthily set forth in the
writings of his friend and colleague Montalembert.
The arti.3l• b.foro ua t.dx.a up this theme in the
right spirit, allowing for the partialities, perhaps
for the prejudices of sect, in the true Christian
idea of tolerance, and recognising the splendid
gifts of intellect and imagination with
that comprehensive recognition which makes
thewhole world kin, and rejoices to find in its
brother men a superior donation of heaven, un-
trammelled by the fetters of dogmas and the divi-
sions of creed. It is truly observed that "there are
few of the leaders or servants of the public who
interest the general mind so profoundly as the great
preacher whose fame reaches the humblest as well
as the most exalted, and within the reach of whose
influence, more or less, an entire generation passes."
This immense power, so often neglected, sometimes
abused, is yet ever and anon, illumed acid immor-
talised by some master spirit, who rightly appre-
ciates his heavenly mission on a sinful earth, and
strives to the utmost to bring nearer to their God the
erring children of the Fall. Throughout the whole
of this memoir here eloquently epitomised, the in-
terest never flags, but carries the reader on to
wonder, to admire, and to regret the fitful career so
earnestly maintained in its unity of seal, of sacrifice,
andof devotion. Strange as it may appear Lacordaire
was in early life an infidel, led away by the sophis-
tries of his infidel age he stumbled on the threshold
of existence, but soon regained his footing and trod
thenceforth undeviatingly the way of life everlast-
ing." He woke up out of his classic convictions into 1
Christian life, and as soon as he believed, with
characteristic promptitude devoted himself to the
service of religion." An interesting point here met
with is the account of the trials in which he became
involved in revolutionary Paris. Out of all these
conflicts the young aspirant came out victorious.
On one occasion when an " avocat du roi" called him
and his fellows the agents of a foreign power,
Lacordaire cried "We are the ministers of One who
is nowhere a stranger; of God." This impressed
all who heard him, and when before the tribunal
he again astonished his auditory by his combined
simplicity and dignity. One passage is worthy of
mention from its freedom and fearlessness:—
"' I rise,' he says "with a recollection that will not
leave me. When the priest in former days rose amid the
people, something which excited a profound love rose at the
same time with him. Now, accused as 1 am, I know that
my name of priest is mute for my defence, and I am re-
signed to it. The people deprived the priest of that ancient
love which they bore him, when the priest deprived himself
of an august part of his character—when the man of God
ceased to be the man of freedom. I never knew freedom
better,' he continues, with a burst of professional enthu-
siasm, ' than the day when I received, with the sacred unc-
tion, the right of speaking of God. The universe opened
before me, and I learned that there was in man something
inalienable, divine, eternally free —speech I The message
of the priest was confided to me, and I was told to bear it
to the ends of the world without any one having the right
to seal my lips a single day of my life. I went out of the
temple with these grand doctrines, and I met upon the
threshold law and bondage I ' "

It is a strange thing that the first time Lacordaire
appeared as a preacher he failed, and some one went
so far as to say that he was a man of talent, but
could never be a preacher. Some years after the
walls of Notre Dame re-echoed to his eloquence, and
the archbishop saluted him as the new prophet.
The succeeding descriptions of this eventful lite art,

worthily set forth, and bring us to the crowning

point of his success, " the great victory which shalt
immortalise his name," according to Montalembert,
when he made " his monkish frock splendid with
the eloquence of a voice worthy of the old renow❑
of the French pulpit," and finally gained his point
and carried the day for his country and his religion.
After the coup d'etat his work was over; he had to
endure silence and inaction for speech and earnest
effort. The bright faith of such a lite was pre-
eminently manifest in the time of death. His end
is thus touchingly described by his friend :
" It was from Soraye he came, in his dominican frock,
to receive from the French Academy ' the noblest recotu
'Anse which can, in our days, crown a glorious and inde-
pendent life.' He sat one day only in that illustrious as-
sembly, where he appeared, as he himself said, as 'the
symbol of freedom accepted and fortified by religion.' This
last honour was the last public event which occurred in his
life. He went tack laureated for his dying, and ended his
life in Soraye, after a painful illness—so far as we are fib's
to make out, for M. de Montalembert is indistinct in the
matter of dates —in the winter of 1861. It is the first time
that my body has resisted my will,' he said, with a half-
playful melancholy, in the midst of his sufferings, and died
exclaiming, 'My God, open to me, open to me l' with a
sublime simplicity. God opened t him, and his agitations
were over. Whether on the other side of that wonderful
gateway he m ght discover that his monkish frock was less
worth fighing for than it appeared, who can inquire? He
lived a lite lull of worthy labour and service, and doubtless
found his reward."
At the conclusion of this article some comparison
is instituted between Lacordaire and Irving. It is

stated that no two men could be more unlike, but
both agreed in this, that something had to be done

our of the common to rouse the sluggish heart of the
time. Let us, exclaims the writer, "build the sepul-
chres of those prophets, whom our fathers, by their
apathy and indifference drove into such a noble
desperation. We too, doubtless, will do our share
of the same work. Yet it is a kind of penitence
of humanity for its ever-recurring mistakes, and
misconceptions which prompts one generation to
decorate the tombs ioto which the sins of a former:ge-
neration have urged and driven the not perfect, vet
I,oble dead." " Lady Morgan's Memoirs" furnishes
a pleasing paper for perusal, and " A Sketch from
Babylon" brings to a triumphant conclusion that
complicated and contused story. Some of the vices
and follies of these latter days are ably exposed in
the author's satirical vein, and a striking tale is
compiled out of the wrecks and ruins of society and
its erring members. " Caxtoniana " continues its
thoughtful routine, and again considers " Motiv.
Pow r." 'nem are some very entertaining and
4:tidying discourses and discussions met with in his
!i,taluant. The last article
.is called 64 Politics a,
Home and Abroad." It, of course, enters upon ear
sorts of topics past, present, and to come. The most
delightful prospects appear before the writer in the
vista of the picture, be slates • that "the gains and
losses at the elections, since the last change of
Ministry, show a net balance of ten seats in favour
of the Conservative party," and from thence augurs
the most propitious auspices "that the Conservative
party may find its last difficulties vanquished before
t quits its present position on the Opposition,
nenches, and enters upon the pleasurable responsi-
lilities of office which so soon await it, and of which
.. promises to have a long term." Certainly, this
seems hopeful enough, for those who desire a change

OM tillulstrrs, and time (July C4D prove Whether um no
them) bright prophecies will meet with luifilment,
or be overtaken with failure.

The Dublin Unzversity.
" The House by the Churchyard," which has long
formed an attraction of this magazine, and interested
by its exciting paged so many of its readers, is com-
pleted this month. It ends in 1. satisfactory man-
nery, only too well, it is
,to be feared, for real life,

in which delinqueuts do not Bo readily meet the
deserved doom of their iniquity. There are a great
many charactersintroduced into this story, and some

of them are very ably depicted. They are of all
shades, too, so that any reader can choose his own
style of favourite easily enough. For a specimen of
old Irish life, full of stir, and replete with excite-
ment, this tale may long be referred to. There are

some " Verses on the R9V. E. Coleridge," by Mrs.
Norton, which refer to her sons. They are in no
way remarkable for merit, but seem the natural
expression of deep feeling, and express the sad
state of one whose " task and hope are gone," as she
mournfully exclaims. " Voltaire in London, Circy,
Potsdam, Ferney—Death," concludes the career of
this wonderful man. Great pains have been taken
by the writer with his subject, and the result is
satisfactory in affording us an insight into the life
of one who is well worthy of notice and study.
The accounts of his last hours are very im-
pressive, and there seems great force in the
remark that the details of his last hours, as sketched
in the Life of Condorcet, were not altogether authen-
tic, as they came from a prejudiced source. It is a
strange thing that Voltaire died just one year be-
fore the great French Revolution, after which period
ho would, of course, have received a majestic inter-
ment. However, this ovation was only delayed.
His last words were addressed to his valet, " Adieu,
mon cher Morand, je me meure." Thus rested at
last the old poet-philosopher, " fatigued with glory,"
to use the words of Miguet. It is hardly necessary
to add that he was refused burial in Paris, or that
his body wee clandestinely conveyed at night by his
nephew, the Abbe Mignot, for sepulture in the
monastery over which he presided, where it re-
mained until July, 1791 ; when it was conveyed to
the Pantheon, "The St. Denis of the Kings of
Thought," accompanied by the greatest cosmopo-
litan assemblage that ever fo lowed the bier of a
•
great man, since Caesar was borne to the pyre in the
Campus Martins of old Rome. "Little Flaggs,
the Almshouse Foundling," is continued, and there
is more incident met ,with in this instalment. It is
evident that the unfortunate heroine is doomed to
serious trouble in her future life, as there is some
dark mystery going on in the interior of the " Halt-
ing Place." This story will most probably partake
of the sensation style now so very prevalent. " The
Life, Eccentricities, and t iterature of George
Sand" is an article that contains some reasonable
remarks on the character and conduit of that
strange and gifted individual. After criticising
some of her chief works, the following observations
are made on her style :—'' It is profoundly to be re-
gretted that the finest productions of an author
exhibiting her imaginative and eloquent powers in
their perfection, were devoted to the upholding of
unholy love, and to determined assaults on the
bulwarks of social order and family happiness."
Also it states that whenever this authoress consults
the dictates of her better feelings and judgment she
is sure to produce the happiest effects, " and all
touched with such charms of a sweet and rich and
glowing style as we rarely see from the pen of any
other novelist." On the other hand, whenever she
fixes her thoughts on any wrongs sustained by her-
self or any other gifted woman from talented and
capricious men, " adieu to anything edifying, or
consoling, or commonly moral in her next publica-
tion. Probably she has no ill intention, but her
own or her friend's wrongs make her unscrupu-
lous, and she enters into details, and uses language
which, coming from the mouth of a refined lady in
a mixed company, would astonish many of her
hearers." Tnis essay certainly maintains tie "juste
milieu ;" and while it awards due praise to the
merits, it justly censures the errors of one who so
often has perverted her great powers to an unworthy
end. " The Actual Posture of Irish Interests," is a
suggestive paper which will afford lo,d for rake-
tion to those immediately concerned. At the con-
clueion we meet with-ke on the earl-
duct of the Government, who, " influenced
by private considerations and a powerful
clique, are standing in the way of advancement, by
denying so small a boon es the Galway Subsidy."
After discussing the question a litt.e further it adds
justly enough that because one Government made
the arrangement, another declines to confirm it,
" though the Irish members of the legislature al-
most to a man of every party appealed to the Pre-
mier on the subject, and received a conditionally
favourable reply ; bi,t the Post office authorities,
the bankrupt experimentalists, the Chancellor of
the Exchequer, and the Radical retrenchment men
have confederated themselves, and have been able
up to this moment to withhold from the country its
rights and arrest the most hopeful scheme ever
devised for its commercial nd social welfare. All

unprtjudided persons agree with us as to the justice
of the claim, and the importance of the undertaking."
['here is a paper on " Modern Preaching as an art
and an ialuence," which presents us with some
suggestions of improvement that are worth consi-
dering, and it would be well if some high in autho-

city in ecclesiastical dignity would consider them
in the spirit in which they are offered.

Fraser's Magazine.

Fraser opens with an account of " Wanderings
in West Africa," which seems of late to have be-
come a fashionable locality for tourists and essay
writers. Lady Morgan's autobiography receives a
somewhat severe though not unjust criticism, in
which comfortable anachromisms and solecisms
are ruthlessly exposed in a manner little flattering
to the lively old lady who liked to be admired
even at eight 3 -five. Tee " White Republican,"
whose views on the great American struggle are
pretty well known, gives us a paper on " Negroes
and Slavery in the United States," in which of
course the " domestic institution" appears in very
favourable colours. We must coufe a our views as
to the principle of " involuntary servitude" are un-
changed by his fascinating pictures, however true may
be his assertion of the inability of the negro to take
care of himself. It is undoubtedly a difficult ques-
tion, and one little likely to be soived by PLesident
Lincoln's proclamation, butit is much to be regretted
that the Southerners and their adherents chow 0°
inclination to admit the desirability of change or
the least intention to contemplate the most gradual
emancipation. Our old acquaintance A. K. H. I 3•
takes up the cause of injured authors, and attacks
with due severity the impertinent interference of
editors and collectors with our good ola English
poets. It is certainly very tantalising to take up
some modern volume of selections, and find our
old friends whose every line is treasured as " house-
hold words," touched up by the hand of some pre-
sumptuous modern, whose taste is to be thought
fat better than that of the grand old masters—

" Whose distant footsteps echo
Through the corridors of time."
That enterprising traveller, Mbiti Frances Cobboo
gives us a narrative of a day spent ou the gloomy
shores of the Dead Sea; and the thoughtful and
cultivated writer who adopt; the pseudonym of
Shirley, pays homage to the abilities of Robert
Browning. Though the reader may probably cLif"
ter from his estimate of the poet (and more especially
demur to the place assigned him above the
Liureate), the criticism afforos some pleasant rota'
mg. A retired garotter sets torth a detente of the
noble art, or science, 4hould we call it, ? He declare 6
the rights of the strung to help themselves to Ole
super 1%0118 property of the weak to be incontestable'
and we appzehend that a good many who, lat:
Himself, hold a respectable position iu society, are
very much of his mind.

Bentley's Miscellany. i
The editor's brilliant romance is the cmh
e
feature in this serial, but as we have already
extracted some passages, we may pass on to the re,.-8
of tile contents, in which, as usual, light literdtu
predominates. Monkshood discourses on the c11:4,
racteristics of Jack Lofty, Goldsmith's good-00°10
man, in an agreeable and entertaining paper.
finds many followers of the Lofty School, eve"

JL ❑O

neat,