The Sun.
London, England, 1841-07-14 00:00:00

I ITERA URE.

4,4 • 7 ,
FOREIGN OuARTERL J? L /IQ. LI V
ifiqcle, London 1841..
The character of INlebernet Ali—the present
Flier of Jr3gypt--as a conqueror mid a legislator,
a:e incidentally cliscussPd bun: in a lengthened
notice or " Clot Gen(!ral Observations en
Egypt." The,portrait of this (hiring-and clever
Albanian adventurer is impartially enough drawn,
with this single exception—painely, that the Re-
viewer attempts to find exctWes Ibr his treacherous
and heartleSS conduct towards' the unsuspecting
Mamelukes. " Can it be justly said," he asks,
" that.the Viceroy of Egypt is entitled to less vin-
dication than the Sultan, at a subsequent period,
fir the wholesale destruction of the Janissaries
at Constantinople? To us they appear parallel
eases." The Reviewer is here widely in error.
The cases arc anything but parallel. The slaup,;ll-
- ea s,
mtlantTegrl
nift. eiliiiii?cnitzteht:ebse
tdaet;
necessity: Thiii,)-s had come to that pass in Tur-
key, that. the Surtan must have either destroyed
his body-guard, or haVe postponed to the Greek
Kalends all-Chance of reforming the institutions
of his dominions. More than this, lie must either
have•extingUished‘ the Janissaries, or they would
have dethroned and killed him. There was no
middle course left for him to choose. Far dif-
ferent was it with Mehemet Ali. The real
strength of the Mamelukes had been exhausted
long before his time--for they never recovered
the crushing defeat they sustained at the battle
of the Pyramids; and what few resources, they
possessed Were entirely at his disposal. Besides,
the small remnant of their chiefs had entered in-
to
and a
istrict s andat t
solemnif
iesti
festival.
held
oftreaty
nal rini(iaoNufri of
this
treaty, that he treacherously-CauSed' all to
o• t
be massacred ! The moiiStiOnSTßerficlY
wanton act is not to be justified.. It is wholly
w ithß o
artn
icle, Y
tlt ?
tab:
, atOitfi..eeian psdteart it
substance 2
s. a
c i
ofwhich Most readers of history are already fami-
liar. " Education in Italy" is a fruitful topic,
dexterously handled. The Reviewer justly re-
marks, •that . education in that country should
have an essentially agricultural tendency, for
that the general negligence of agriculture among
the Italians, " tends to keep, the peasant in a
state of absolute isolation." The following ob-
servation, however—the Reviewer is cursorily
alluding to the character of the Englishman—is
assuredly anything but correct :—" His rights,.
his inalienable franchises, are his country; and
wherever there_be liberty, he can feel equally at
home." Not so. The genuine Englishman feels
nowhere at home but in his own native land.
Though he is a constant traveller, yet he never
travels but to grumble, and to boast of the supe-
rior advantages of a residence in England. The
very fogs are dearer to him than the sunniest
skies that the south can show. In a word, John
Bull is at heart essentially a domestic, fireside
animal, and his love of locomotion is but a su-
perficial feeling which he can abandon or indulge
in at will. " State of the Jews in Poland" is an
exceedingly interesting paper. The Reviewer
tells us' that proficiency in Talmudic learning
constitutes a kind of aristocracy among the Jews,
and that by its means a humble pedlar may ob-
tain the hand of the daughter of some rich
Jewish banker. He adds that, in general, aris-
tocracy of birth is disregarded, except in the case
of a descendant of Aaron. Walter Scott, it may
be mentioned, has turned this fact to excellent
account in his "Ivanhoe." We conclude with a
spirited sketch of the personal appearance and
dwelling of a modern Polish Jew :
" Crossing the frontiers of Poland on the side of Ger-
many, we are struck by the Opt of a minus race, dis-
tinct in: every respect 'from the rest of the population,
The flowing beards and long robes with hanging sleeves
of the men, and their sharply marked features ; the raven
black locks end eyes of the women, their towering head-
dresses and strange necklaces and arm-bands, present to
us apicture which, like a solitary monument of Gothic
architecture in seine modern city, carries our memory
many, very many ceataries back, These tire the world.
famed Polish Jews, They are the best-preserved main-
mies of the remotest time, The dirty appearance of the
'quarters which they inhabit, and the eagerness with
which they are seen flocking wherever an occasion of
gain without labour presents itself, if associated with the
late disasters of Poland, will add another dark feature to
her gloomy aspect.. The Polish JeWs may be likened to•
a Wad: yell hung all over the country, if we forego. the
loit.47brTlehoaoi stdheexorfteirtihni 4e:lF:colounsilittir4rayiSi.;:-=1 1 ier aqithe
inn
tenanted by a Polish Jew, which now, happily, is be-
coming scarce. The house consists of a large iron
des.OPP,a for t_ll9 Pf 5410100 one Pl.-
prlatrialo to@ riti-Oy. -The tatter is usually crowded to
excess ; piles of feather-beds are the most conspicuous
objects there, but they present so uninviting an aspect,
that a traveller, however weary, will feel but, little in-
clination to rest upon them, The ilesin
aS to 4444 anti •to tierckeli riches untie!' the
cover of apparent wretchedness. Usually several fluni •
::es crows into this little: hovel, which is divided into as
many compartments, not by partitions, but simply tlx
lines drawn with chalk err the floor 'the is keno-
rally illOteitig'a by the Fi:ogiituiriir a calf resting cjost,
the fire-place, and of geese cackliag in 1%.---:lets under
ibdnendc,oefs,cianiv
ther:ri produced•l
piest:. tt! bs of sodas and (hairy, 'l'ha.
these sin°##l#ti" illtosica, in
unison with the crying
women, lisle( Sot del44'°ibret.iii;jibtitfr i!,t)itinog,cl(•)!
look those rough cupboards, loaded with silver plate,
rich female ornaments, glittering with pearls and jewels,
and above all with bonds for large sums of Money iela at
the most usuri9l.4l inti,srot,"

THE RAILWAYS OF GREAT BRI"
TAIN AND IRELAND.

By Francis 117hishaw. Civil Engineer.
Simphin, Marshall. and
This work gives a detailed and judicious ac-
count of all the Railways in the United King-
dom, and is accompanied by numerous excellent
plates. It commences with the Arbroath and
Forfar Railway, and ends with the York and
North Midland, comprising altogether an ac-
count of the most magnificent roads made since
man knew the use .ot wheels, and the vast ad-
vantage derived from
.speedy communication.
When we read the work, and judge of the vast
outlay when we consider the rapidity and ease
of travelling, and the speedy communication
which is ail'orded by this modern invention be-
tween the most distant parts of the empire, all the
great roads of the Romans sink into insignificance.
Putting the art of printing out of the question,
perhaps no other instance could be given of the
great superiority of the present age over that of
our ancestors, including, of course, Romans,
Saxons, Danes, and Normans. While they tra-
velled ten miles per hour, we now travel thirty ;
and we have not the advantage only in the speed,
but in the number of passengers and the goods
conveyed by the countless trainB that, night and
day, are LOW traversing the kingdom. Mr.
Whishaw places all these great improvements in
a clear point of view, points out the sums ex-
pended on these great undertakings, the speed
of the trains of each railway, the fares, the
number of passengers, and gives many other
particulars, which are to be found in no other
work. The following short introductory account
of the London and Birmingham Railway, will
afford a fair specimen of the book :
Robert Stephenson is the name of the distinguished
engineer under whose direction the vast anti difficult
works of the London and Birmingham Railway have
beet► so successfully brought to completion. This grand
national undertakk; is now in full .operation, and . the
average receipts per week amount to no less a suni than
sixteen thousand pounds !
A new impulse was given to the railway system so
soon as the important advantages developed by the great
Liverpool experiment were made known to the enter•
prising capitalists .of the kingdom. Hitherto, a line of
little more than thirty miles in length was the only one
on sshich the new syStena of locomotion had been fairly
tried ; no sooner, however, was the experiment found to
be successful, than the grand trunk-line between the two
largest sea-ports in the kingdom wasiset on foot. The
capital was speedily subscribed ; .fit , Acts of Parliament
were obtained, although in the case of the 'London and
Birmingham Railway,,not without considerable opposi-
tion, and the loss of one.year ; and now, . after only six
years, London and Lancaster are united by railway on
the one side of the island, and London and Darlington
on the other.

The important considerations of safety, expedition, and
economy, have indeed been Very sufficiently proved as re-
gards the London and Birmingham Railway, both to the
satisfaction of the public and of the British Government.
The daily improvements making in the locomotive en-
gine may fairly lead us to expect even a greater average
Teed than is at present attained; but, we must also anti-
cipate a considerable change for the better in regard to
the regularity of trains in their arrival at intermediate
stopping-places.
Of the details we cannot give any speeinien at
present, but possibly we shall recur, to,the work,
in order to show the vast labour bestowed o 1
these great undertakings, which form the most
remarkable features of the present age.

• ELECTIONEERING AT CIICIRCIL—The con
gregation at one of the churches on the other side of the
river were not a little astonished, last Sunday morning,
to see it gentleman, who is equally well known on both
sides of the Mersey, marching up the aisle with th:red
and blue election colours of Egerton
';oneumehe
flaming on the front of his coat ; and they were still
more astonished when, at thz•Closbbf the'sermon (which
Was in behait'of the National School), the some Ontle-
man went about from pewto ew, " with all his blush-
ing honours thick upon him," to solicit contributions,
both from Whigs and Tories, in behalf of the tebool.
We hoPe that the collection was a liberal (-ne, and that
none of the congregation punished
,the h,ad taste of the
collector by withholding their cc.z4ributions. We hake
heard-only one opinion this extraordinary exhibition
of party spirit.—Liverpool Timcs.