The Sun.
London, England, 1830-01-01 00:00:00

NEW MONTHLY AND LONDON MAGAZINE.

This Magazine begins the year well, with

vigour, with intelligence, with variety. '• Re-
__ ...

marks on the Present Administration" are dis-

tinguished by their temper and good sense, of
_ _

both which qualities the following is a favourable

specimen :

" Tbere are yet other reasons for hope. When people
once know a man's character, they are able to give a value
to his words as well as his Rations ; and when we look

through the whole history of the last session, and find in
almost every motion on which the Prime Minister spoke
an avowed tendency towards the removal of abuses—ra_
thsr than, as in old times, an absolute assertion, either that
abuses did not exist, or were desirable necessaries—and
when we remember that this allowance comes from one

plain in speech and decisive in conduct, we confess that
we do not attribute it to an idle flourish of words, nor con-
ceive that it will be unsecoaded by actions.
" We have said that it would be well could we secure in
an Administration safer and more valuable pledges than we

have hitherto received. We believe that we have ob-
tained these from the Duke of Wellington, and we be-
lieve that they exceed all which could be bestowed by any
other individual. The one is the recent memory of a
great and salutary measure, not talked about, but carried ;
the other is the pledge of a name which no one who bore
could be mad enough to sully by any species of falsehood,

or truckling, or ecfuieocatio;,. We do not wish t. dwell
upon the Duke of Wellington's fame, because a word is
sufficient to recall it, and because we think it has, on both
sides, been the subject of much wearisome and superfluous
declamation. We do not agree with one politician, that
great captains must necessarily be bad statesmen ; but we
dissent with a greater repugnance from the doctrine of
another, that soldiers are the persons best fitted for the
administration of public affairs. All we would say upon
the high name of the Duke of Wellington is this : it must
be acknowledged that the temptations which assail most
powerfully other men in office, are to him but nugatory
decoys. Place and emolument, and patronage, weighed
by a worldly wisdom, may be worth the forfeit of
honesty, and an honest name to the ordinary herd of po-
liticians ; but what are these to one whose name, if it be
brighter than the names of all living men, is therefore
far more easily sullied; to whom negative praise would
almost be reproach, and on whom even common circumspec-
tion, and the decent and customary regard for character, im-
pose, of necessity, the desire of benefiting the State
beyond all other possible considerations. The Duke of
Wellington is exactly in that condition in which we should
realise the ideal of government, could we place all men ;
when to be dishonest is to he foolish, and to disregard
the interests of the community is to be a traitor to
one's own.
" There is yet another reason why we support the Duke
of Wellington, and to the earnest consideration of this rea-
son we invite all whose ears the soft hope of office for them-
selves has not lulled into unheeding languor. Grant that
you oppose him—that you break up his Administration--
that he resigns—who is to succeed him ? Allowed, that
you differ from him in some points—that one of you dis-
sented from him on the Catholic Question—that another
would have carried the measure on different grounds, and
in a different shape—that one of you, pleased with a
rattle,' would rather be robbed under the nocturnal
guardianship of ancient men, than protected by young
men with a piece of silver lace on their collars; that an-
other (we are of this sort) look with distaste or the irn-
policy that would defend a character by prosecutions, which
could find at once a more eloquent counsel, and a more
triumphant verdict in public opinion ;—Granted all this :
wise men do not quarrel with isolated imperfections till
they have found what is perfect."
" Recollections of a Gottingen Student" is a
readable paper ; and the poem, entitled " News
of the New Year," abounds in point, whim,
sarcasm, and even elegance. The diction is
particularly happy. " The LastgDays of Men-
zikoff," which remind us not a little of the last
days of Wolsey, cannot be perused without emo-
tion. It is deeply affecting, and Is simply and
naturally told, without parade or attempt at display.
" Childhood" evinces some tenderness and a

habit of just and natural reflection, though the
author dwells rather too mawkishly, we conceive,
on the recollections and happiness of childhood.
Doubtless this age is agreeable, so far as it is
divested of responsibility, but if its cares are
few and feeble, so also are its enjoyments. The
pleasure of childhood is nearly, if not wholly,
animal, it has no intellect, and unconnected and
unsanctioned by this, there can be no true fe-
licity. Gibbon, in his posthumous memoirs.
remarks very happily on this subject ; though
perhaps, after all, it is a mere matter of feeling,
and reducible to no standard of argument ; the
historian of Rome was a sickly and squeamish
child, his recollections therefore savoured of
physic, the nursery, and the hebdomadal
visits of the village apothecary ; whereas
others whose boyhood has been passed in the
open air, beside hills, lakes, and mountains,
inhaling pleasure with the pure air they breathe,
necessarily, when in after years they are " ca-
bined, cribbed, confined," for hours together,
within that pestilential Pandemonium, a hot,
smoky, city counting-house, look back on such
past enjoyments with a sigh. " Characteristics
of Rossini's Compositions," is elaborate, and

shows much knowledge of its subject. NS':; mai
say of it what Horne Tooke said of Altittlit
that " materiem superat opus." " Opinions
1830," is a diverting, and " Sketches and IL
collections" a strikingly descriptive article.