The Sun.
London, England, 1863-01-01 00:00:00

Fraser's Magazzne.

" Fraser" does not begin- the year in holiday
guise, for the number is somewhat heavy. It
opens with an article of formidable dimensions on
the sale of waste lands and redemption of the land
tax in India. Without entering at length into the
merits of this weighty question, we may remark
that while the writer is no doubt correct in depre-
cating hasty and conclusive legislation on a matter
of such vital importance, he does not, we think,
attach due value to the immense advantage
India herself will derive from improved cultivation
and enlarged commerce, nor does he sufficiently
consider that the ignorant and prejudiced natives
may not be the best judges of their own interests.
An article from the pen of Miss Carpenter on any
subject connected with the reformation of the fallen
cannot fail to have weight and interest. The topic
she selects is the present system of treating our
female convicts, and the conclusion at which she
arrives is very similar to the public opinion respect-
the male convict prisons, namely, that there is need
of a sterner discipline. Many of the statistics which
she gives are startling in their evidence that the
prison system which taxes us so heavily is, at the
the best, a dead letter, so far as reformation of the
offender is concerned. If such a reflection is pain-
ful and alarming, when the offenders are men,
what must it be, when they are females, whose in-
fluence over their families is so dic astrously power-
ful. Miss Carpenter says emphatically, and none
can question her experience, that among the lower
classes a family may be brought up well by a good
mother, even if the father is worthless, but that she
has never heard of any instance of children grow-
ing up well under a bad mother, however excellent
may have been the influence of the father. She
cites two instances. In one of them a widow was left
with three sons and three daughters. The career
of these unhappy children, as briefly stated by Miss
Carpenter, affords forcible evidence of the interest
which society has in the reformation of its female
criminals. On one occasion the three girls were seen
in gaol together—it being their eighth conviction, and
the youngest of them being only fifteen. They had
lived together in London by picking pockets, in
which respectable profession they were adepts.
They were once got into a refuge, but the mother
soon removed them. The sons ran a similar race
of crime, and the eldest is now under sentence of
fourteen years' penal servitude. " How much,"
says the writer justly, " that one woman has cost
to the Government and to society through her chil-
dren." The other case is even more painful, from
the repeated frustration of benevolent efforts to re-
claim the girls by the evil influence of their wicked
mother. This woman had not only brought her
children up to theft, but, as she herself proudly
stated, she had trained fifty young girls to the same
trade. The reverse of the picture we have most of
us seen in the influence of a good mother, under
whatever disadvantages she may be placed, but it
is for the reprobates that society has to answer, and
through them it has to suffer, should the proposed
system of punishment and reformation prove to be
merely a suspension of opportunity and a
transformation of the weak and inexpe-
rienced, dupe into the hardened and shame-
less offender. Following this article is one
of the most interesting papers in the number,
a brief sketch of the career of Maurice de Guerin,
one of those highly gifted and sensitive beings
to whom, as to our own Keats and Chatterton, For-
tune and Nature have alike denied the full develop-
ment of their rare faculties. He was a French-
man, who died at the early age of 28, without
having published any work. Yet that there was
material enough in him to have raised him to a
high position in the literature of his country, no
one who reads the fragments ably translated by Mr.
Matthew Arnold can hesitate to believe. He was
a worshipper of Nature, one of those to whom the
great mother possesses a charm and a fascination
nothing else can supply. He possessed in a rare
degree that sympathy with her spirit which puts
us in harmony with the outer world. Of this
quality Mr. Arnold says:—
The interpretations of science do not give us this inti-
mate sense of objects as the interpretations of poetry give
it ; they appeal to a limited faculty, and not to the whole
man. It Is not Linnaeus, or Cavendish, or Cuvier who
gives us the true sense of animals, or water, or plants, who
seizes their secret for us, who makes us participate in their
life; it is Shakapeare, with his

Daffodils
That come before the swallow dares, and take
Tho winds of March of beauty;
it is Wordsworth, with his
voice . . . heard
In spring-time from the cuckoo-bird,
Breaking the silence of the seas
Among the farthest Hebrides ;
it is Keats, With his
moving waters at their priestiike task
Of cold ablution round Earth's human shores;
it is Chateaubriand, with his " eime indeterminie des
forets ;" it is Senancour, with his mountain birch-tree.
Guerin's career was brief and comparatively un-
eventful. The most remarkable event of his life
was his sojourn at the retreat of La Chenaie, among
the followers of the Abbe Lamennais. In that
circle he met congenial spirits, and in the woods of
Brittany the child of sunny Languedoc found new
phases of the nature which was his idol. His life,
after leaving this retreat, was less congenial. He
passed a few happy months with a friend, and
then he entered the whirl of Paris life. A literary
career was open to him, but though his first at-
tempts met ready encouragement, his temperament
was too fastidious, too uncertain, to accept such a
profession, He took refuge in teaching, and for
four years the worshipper of nature, gifted with
rare powers of expression, passed his time in labo-
rious and unprofitable duties, In the autumn of
1838 he married a lady of some fortune, and the
necessity for drudgery was over, but too late. He
died of consumption the following summer. Promi-
nent among the remaining articles are a sketch of
Edward Irving and a paper on Naval Architecture.
We have also instalments of two tales, and several
poetical contributions, none of which are above
mediocrity.

Bentley's Miscellany.
First and foremost in the attractions of Bentley
comes the continuation of Cardinal Pole, from the
facile pen of its able editor. The scene 'lies, of
course,
in the days of Philip and Mary, and this
instalment describes the arrival of the haughty
Spaniard at Southampton. After an interesting
account of the town as it was in 1654, we follow the
fortunes of the Prince, who takes a ramble With
one'solitary attendant incognito in his new king-
dom. His introduction to it is by no means
Pleasant, according to Mr. Ainsworth, for he first
overhears many discourteous remarks about his
own unpopular self; nest some disparaging com-
ments on his Royal bride; and, lastly, becomes
involved in a serious affray, and narrowly escapes
with his life. The particulars of this last adven-
ture we will give in the author's own words :
Scarcely were the words uttered, when the clashing of
steel was heard without, accompanied by other sounds,
proving that a desperate conflict was going on.
" I must leave you, Constance, and fly to his assistance,"
cried the Prince, plucking his rapier from its sheath.
" No," she rejoined, holding him. " Your life is too
precious to be thus sacrificed—too precious to the Queen."
" I will strike down these assassins in her name," re-
joined Philip. " I am proof against their blades. The
son of Charles Y. is not destined to perish thus obscurely."
" 'Twere far better you sought an asylum here; but, if
go you will, may heaven and all good saints guard youl "
And as she relinquished her hold of him, and sought to
enter the hospital, she found tkti door was fastened.
Perceiving this, old Dorcas knocked against it, calling
out lustily " Within I I say, within I" But there being
no answer to the summons, she added despairingly, "Deaf
old Absalom, the porter must have gone to bed. What will
become of us 1"

Meanwhile, the Prince had quickly divested himself of
his cloak, and, wrapping part of it round his left arm,
leaving the other half hanging down, he flew to the passage,
rapier in hand. On reaching it, he found it occupied by
Osbert and his assailants. The young man was defending
himself like a lion against his opponents, one of whom he
had already disabled, but ho was compelled to retreat; his
position being such, that for the moment the Prince could
render him no assistance. But the foremost of the assis-
sin band caught sight of Philip, and shouting out to his
comrades,
" There stands the accursed Spanish Prince who would
enslave us I We have him now—we have him I" Where.
upon, incited by the words, they attacked Osbert so furi-
ously that they drove him down the passage.
" Ah I why do I find your Highness here ?" cried young
Clinton, despairingly, as the Prince joined him, and
helped
him to keep off his assailants.

" You hear what he slys, comrades," cried the leader of
the band, a formidable •looking ruffian in a buff jerkin and
and steel cap, who looked like a disbanded soldier. " I was
not mistaken, you see. 'Tis the Prince in person. 'Tis
the bloodthirsty tyrant who would rob us of our liberties,
and place us under a foreign yoko ; who would force us by
fagot and fire and other severities, conceived in hell, to re-
turn to the newish idolatries we have abjured. But he has
been delivered into our hands ere the wicked devices of his
heart can be accomplished. It is Heaven's will that he
should die, and in putting him to death we shall earn the
gratitude of our country.'
" Besides the hundred rose-nobles each that we are to
have for the deed," cries one of his comrades.
6, I would do the deed for nothing," shouted another of
the baud, " for it will redound to our credit. So have at
him I"
llarkye young sir," cried the leader of the band, ad-
dressing Osbert, " We do not desire your life—nay, we
would willingly spare you. Our sole object is to crush this
spawn of hell. Retire, and leave him to our justice."
" Think you I will stand tamely by and see you execute
your ruthless purposd villain ?" cried young Clinton. "No,
I will defend the Prince to the last gasp."
" Your blood be upon your own head, then," rejoined
the ruffian. " Upon them, comrades I Strike, and spare
not."

" Thou, at least, will never be my executioner," cried
the Prince. _ _

4244 as the 114144 made a desperate loungettt him, he

dexterously, caught his sword in the hanging part of
cloak, and returning with a full thrust, transfixed his anta-
gonist with his rapier.
" This comes of Spanish practices," groaned the wretch,
as he fell to the ground. "Had he fought like an Eng-
lishman, without the cloak, I had killed him. Revenge me,
comrades," he added, with his last breath.
"t have done thee too much honour in killing thee, vile
caitiff," cried Philip, spurning the body with his foot.
The death of their leader caused a momentary pause in
the assault. But determined to make sure of their prey,
three of the ruffians now attacked the Prince, leaving the
fourth engaged with Osbert. But for his activity and ad-
dress it might now have fared ill with Philip. His cloak
saved him from many a deadly thrust aimed at his breast,
and distracted his assailants. Strange to say, he was en-
tirely untouched, though all three of his opponents had felt
the point of his weapon. He tried to separate them, but
without success. They were too wary to be caught by the
stratagem.
In this way he was driven back towards the door of the
hospital, before which stood Constance and old Dorcas; un-
able to gain admittance, and filling the court with cries for
help. Precisely at this juncture, and as if to afford him a
means of retreat, the door of the hospital was thrown open
by old Absalom, the porter, who held a lamp in his hand,
and was shaking with terror, While stepping nimbly back-
wards in the hope of stepping through the doorway, Philip.
encountered some obstacle, and fell, thus lying at the mercy
of his opponents.
In another moment all had been over with him, if Con-
stance had not heroically thrown herself before him, and
' the ruffians, having some touch of manhood in their breasts,
forbore to strike. With terrible oaths, however, they
ordered her to stand aside, but, with unshaken resolution,
she maintained her place, and they were preparing to exe-
cute their fell purpose in spite of her, when a loud clatter
in the passage leading to the street warned them that suc-
cour was at hand, and made them pause. The next mo-
ment, Rodomont Bittern and his friends, shouting and
flourishing their swords, and accompanied by two or three
torch-bearers, rushed into the court.
The continuation of a " Summer in America" de-
scribes a Canadian settler's home and the way he
became possessed of it, fighting through all the
difficulties of uncleared land. A traveller in Rus-
sia gives us his impressions of the empire of the
Czar pleasantly enough, while the narrative of
two Dutchmen describing a visit to Paris in the
days of the Grand Monarque is full of quaint and
entertaining comment on the events of those days.
An imaginary colloquy between John Dryden and
Samuel Pepys certainly goes far to confirm the as-
sertion that the conversation of wits is seldom
witty. A full account of horses and studs in
' France will interest the sportsman.

United Service Magazine.
Notwithstanding that America takes precedence
as far as space is concerned, there is room left for
one or two other subjects; and the first that meets
the eye in this number is a paper on the applica-
bility of iron plates to the defence of forts. We
are sorry that the writer, having evidently taken
much pains with his subject, started upon such
false bases. To a military or naval reader his re-
marks about guns will be taken for their worth,
but to the general reader it is not fair to describe
one class of gun, and endeavour to persuade credu-
lous mortals that all guns are made alike. There
is a want of good faith throughout the article
which carries its own condemnation. " The United
States, Canada, and England," contains an elabo-
rate dissertation on the respective positions of Ca-
nada and the United States. The writer, notwith-
standing that he upholds the American Republic,
sees that the annexation of Canada is about as re-
mote as the reconstruction of the Union, from the
antipathy which Canadians entertain for Yankees
and all their institutions. It is not likely that the
heavy taxes which Mr. Bright's vaunted re-
public has imposed upon itself will induce free
colonists to give up constitutional rights for demo-
cratic despotism ; and whatever her aspirations once
might have been, the annexation of Canada is more
impossible to the United States than the conquest of
the South. Under the head of "Arms and Armies,"
a clever sketch of the armies of Europe is given,
but the article speaks for itself :

The French army of to-day is the creation of the First
Napoleon. The saying of that Great Captain, that, " every
French soldier carries hie marshal's staff in his knapsack,"
has never been forgotten. Every soldier knows the history
of the men who entered the army in blouses, and died in a,
marshal's uniform. They do not doubt that there are Murats
and Neys now carrying a musket, and that they only want a
great war to develope these characters.
The character of the British army has been earned in,
battle and attested by victory. Whenever it has been even
tolerably led, it has been victorious, nor is there any army
in the world which Las sustained so few serious reverses.
They are the only troops in the world who look with
indifference on cold points, and who are constantly im-
pelled by a powerful instinct to close with their enemies.
Their fire is close, steady, and destructive, and their charge
irresistible.

Fault has been found with the English soldiers for not;
having the same intelligence as the Frenoh, that they do
not understand the principles of war. The French soldiers
at Quatre-Bras blamed our men for not knowing when
they were beaten. Lone may they continue in this state
of ignorance.

We give the above as samples of the author's
analysis of European soldiers. His criticisms of
other nations are equally to the point, but not al-
ways so flattering. "The Royal and Indian Me-
dical Services" contains little of interest to
others than those who are professionally
interested, but the baneful influence of red
tape in the proper organisation of medical staffs
is well pourtrayed. "Greenwich Characters" is
an amusing sketch of old salts, and what they say
of the good old days of Howe, Jervis, and Nelson.
A paper on " The United States and British Co-
lumbia'' requires no comment. The pro-American
feeling being strong, although the statistics are
carefully collected, the inferences are wrong, and
the conclusions incorrect.

Cornhill Magazine.
" The Small House at Allington " is now be-
coming more exciting as it proceeds. Lily Dale
evinces great spirit and determination, but the
reader regrets that she should be engaged to so
cold and selfish a man as Adolphus Crosbie. The
proceedings at Burton-crescent are ludicrous
enough, and Johnny Eames is getting into an
awful difficulty with Miss Roper. This writer
possesses, in a great degree, the talent of descrip-
tion as regards men and manners, and his efforts
have the happiest results, inasmuch as they are
not laboured, but his style is flowing, and his
conversations easy and natural. A paper sure to
attract considerable notice is that entitled, " The
Science of Garotting and Housebreaking." Here
we find a full account of the whole nefarious
system of crime which has so appalled the com-
munity, and stalked abroad in our streets as the
pestilence that destroyeth at noonday. The writer
prefaces his remarks by observing that it is wise
to be informed fully of such doings, since "To
fear the plague is to be half dead of it, and by
the .time a gang of desperadoes have intimidated
a whole city, they have become to other rogues
so glorious that they are sure to be imitated, and
imitated by bungling ruffians, more dangerous
' even than the original practitioners." He goes on
to explain that, at first, " garotting " was not so
fatal, but ignorant wretches rushed in to emulate
the success, and share the spoils of their friends, and
hence the loss of life, and the other aggravated
evils that have so rapidly ensued. Further on
minute details are given of the system, which are
really useful to know, and all who acknowledge
that " forewarned is forearmed" will do well care-
fully to peruse these pages. Also about house-
breaking, the reader may improve this opportunii7
of instruction, and while we read of the adroit cun-
ning and skilled mancouvres of the thieves, we can-
not but regret that the emissaries of the law should
be so far behind them. For instance, the practice
of a policeman taking regular rounds is not calcu-
lated to detect burglaries, since the thieves, know-
ing exactly the time of his arrival at various places,
act accordingly. To confront such sharpers care
and caution are most needful, and it is earneotly to
be hoped that all in authority, from the highest to
the lowest, will make strenuous exertions to grapple
with this difficulty, which is not only a great social
danger, but a slur on their foresight and means of
resistance. A very interesting paper on "Indian
Cossacks" is written by one who is evidently master
of his subject, and to whom the wild Mooltanees
and their daring exploits are familiar. He begins
by remarking that the commonly received opinion
among us is, that the Indian irregular horseman is
a sort of mounted bandit, ready to serve us if it be
made worth his while, so long as he is permitted to
do so in his own way. This impression he shows
to be altogether unfounded, and pourtrays them as
brave, devoted soldiers, whose daring carries all
before them, and whose fidelity to their chief is un-
surpassed. The corps which he selects for example
is Cureton's regiment of Mooltanee cavalry. Of
this tribe he gives an especially high character.
The Mooltanee, he says, is remarkable for gallantry,
truthfulness, love of home, and a chivalrous sense
of honour—qualities that we have certainly not
been accustomed to associate with Asiatics.
Splendid swordsmen, horsemen whom no exertion
can weary, soldiers whom no odds can appal, sub-
jects whom no temptation can withdraw from their
allegiance ; unsurpassed either in the charge, the
pursuit, or the scouting party, and hating the
Sikhs most intensely—the value of the Mooltanees
to the Punj iub government is great. Unfortunately
the tribe is a small one, numbering no more than
2,500 fighting men." During the Sikh rebellion
they formed part of the forco under the command
of Major.Edwardes. In the year of the Indian
mutiny their former chief, then Lieut. Colonel
Edwardes, was commissioner of Peshawur, and in a
critical position. Remembering the courage and
fidelity
of his Mooltanee allies, he sent to invoke
their aid. The appeal was promptly answered, and.
the station was saved. When no longer needed on
the northern frontier they asked permission to form
a regiment for service in Hindoostan. The request
was granted, the appointment of commandant be-
stowed on Captain Cureton, an irregular officer of
considerable experience, and the results were such
gs to surprise the most eAnguine. Their leader',