The Sun.
London, England, 1846-08-27 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

POEMS. By Camilla Toulmin.
Among our magazine writers, there are some-
where about a dozen who have acquired for their
names a certain prestige —insomuch that their mere
signatures have become at last a passport to popular
favour. In this group of periodical favourites the
authoress of this unpretending volume roust be classed
—among those welcome autographs, the name of
Camilla Toulmin is conspicuous. The abilities and the
fine feelings of our fair writer have already acquired
for her a considerable share of popularity ; and, see-
ing that her compositions are generally unaffected,
and animated by a generous motive, that popularity
has not been undeserved. There is, unhappily, so
much of the dandyism of letters, so much of spurious
deletanteism, among our scribes, that:any one who can
think and speak honestly, without any mincing efforts
at sentimentalism, or any fastidious tarryings after
epithets, is most agreeable to us, and welcome. There
are persons struggling after literary popularity who
assume a virtuous indignation at the oppressions of the
poor, or what not ; and who are in short the most
melodramatic and unnatural of all book-reformers.
It is pleasant, therefore, to encounter a writer like
Camilla Toulmin, who speaks from the fullness of
her heart. 'Whenever she pleads in behalf of the
contemned and tyrannised, it is not simply to propa-
gate an erroneous admiration, but simply because she
was "mad for the sight of her eyes that she did see 1"
And it is because of so much sincerity being
linked with so much kindness of feeling, delicacy
of thought, and picturesqueness of imagination, that
Camilla Toulmin has become such an acceptable con-
tributor in our periodicals. The present volume,
consisting of some fifty-three fugitive pieces of verse,
is divested of every ambitious characteristic. The
subjects are devoid of extravagance, and are some-
times homely—witness the lines upon " The Railway
Whistle" and "The Best Chamber." The language
is simple and gracaful : the ideas are never decorated
by an undue splendour of diction ; the sentiments are
conveyed in a simple guise. Nor can this be re-
gretted when we remember the truth of that principle
in nature that the melodies of the nightingale are not
one whit the less enchanting because of the russet hue
of her plumage. Occasionally there is a pensiveness
in the strong and earnest simplicity of Miss Toul-
min which is singularly touching. Is not that a
noble and solemn ideal to pledge in the wine-cup—
"To the Brave Hearts?" "Not," says the song-
stress, "to the brave hearts of warriors or sena-
tors. No—

" Drink to the hearts which do not break,
But suffer, and are true!
Not of a radiant beauty speak,
But cheeks of pallid hue.
To mortal eyes their crowns are dim;
But fill the goblet to the brim!

" To Genius, doomed with drooping wing,
To toil a sad life through,
Yet keeps itself a holy thing,
With holy work to do.
To them who ne'er such birthright sold—
Abuscd God's gift—for tempting gold!"

In several essential particulars there is an affinity
of sentiment between these little poems and the
" Voices from the Crowd," recently published by
Dr. Mackay. As an example of Miss Toulmin's
reverence for justice, we will transcribe a few of the
verses addressed by her to the soldiers of the Sixty-
second Regiment, who were maligned as the cowards,
but who were in reality the heroes and martyrs of
Ferozes.hah. Camilla Toulmin thus vindicates them ;
and we conjecture her words of homage to real gal-
lantry would meet with a ready response from Sir
Howard Douglas.

" Fling back the scorn in the Scorner's to etb,
Ye remnant brave but stricken;
For ye have looked i' the face of Death,
And seen his terrors thicken.

" Fling back the scorn—but do not stoop
To humble exculpation,
Nor ask compassion for the troop
Who merit admiration !

" Yet 'tis enough: ye see a band—
Eight hundred fellow-men—
All exiles from the native land
How few shall see again!

" Foot-sore with weary, weary march,
Athirst! No water nigh ;
No food; and light—yet Heaven's arch
Their only canopy!
" Yet faint, exhausted, on they lead,
To meet the iron shower,'
Nor quailed till half their numbers dead
Beneath its murderous power.

" Not till their captains fell like reeds
Sway'd by the tempest's breath—
More wise to live for future deeds
Than rush on certain death!

" God! what a scene for angels' eyes
A field of battle is !
God! what a scene for star-lit skies
Was horror like to this!

" Rivers of blood the arid sand
Suck'd in like crimson rain;
While quivering flesh on either hand
Bestrew'd the accursed plain:

" Fling back the scorn! again I say,
Ye w ere the bravest brave ;
And sad misfortune's sombre ray
Should hallow every grave.

" Fling back the scorn! survivors few,
Yours is the martyr's crown,
Seen by the sunlight of the true,
In glory all your own."

It is however impossible to convey any adequate
notion of an offering so delicately devised as the
present, by merely such piecemeal extracts as our
columns will permit. Those who will themselves
refer to the collection will find it composed of the
fruits of thought and the music of rhythm—bells and
pomegranates more truly than the latest lucubrations
of Robert Browning.

ALGERIA IN 1845. By Count St. Marie.
More adventures were never told of the aboriginri
Mexicans immediately after the famous conquest by
Hernan Cortez, than have been, and are still being,
narrated of the Arab tribes, since the invasion of
Algeria by the French legions. The disguised pere-
grinations of llalroun Alraschid have not excited
more romancing than the supple and yet chivalrous
policy of the renowned Emir, Abd-el Kader. The
doings of Colonel Pelissier at the caves of Dahra
have not aroused less horror and loathing than
the cannibal accomplishments of Sawney Bean. The
narrative of Mr. Gulliver, of Rotherhithe, contained
no more astonishing fables than the dispatches of
Monsieur le Marischal Bugeaud. These facts have
received the accordance of so many thousands, that
travellers in the northern provinces of Africa have
discovered it to be no unprofitable speculation to
recount their wanderings in those quarters. Possibly,
from the circumstance of the prevalence and long
continuance of peace throughout the European
nations, a remarkable curiosity has been testified, in
regard to the military tactics of the Gallic warriors
in Algeria. The Kaffirs, the New Zealanders, the
Mexicans, and the followers of Abd-el-Kader are
about the only people now-a-days afflicted with the
epidemic of wholesale pugnacity. The Chinese, the
Poles, the Sikhs, and the Circassians have just
recovered from the contagion ; and their unfor-
tunate successors in that national malady are now
the principal objects of attention. Although a
tolerable library has been already written upon
Algeria we cannot regard the present volume as
superfluous : Count St. Marie is too lively a nar-
rator to be spared, he is too shrewd an observer to
be discarded, and too sensible a commentator not to
command a perusal when the opening chapters have
been once fairly entered upon. His visit to the
French possessions in Africa have caused one ex-
cellent circumstance, namely, the publication of these
two hundred and eighty-four lively and clever pages.
We cannot but consider Count St. Marie as amongst
the most successful literary travellers in Algeria.
llis book is not unworthy of its frontispiece—a
characteristic portrait of the handsome and heroic
physiognomy of Abd-el-Kader.

COMPARATIVE POWER OF THE CHIEF NATIONS OF
EcnorE.—By grouping the statement contained in a statisti-
cal work, drawn up at the instance of Government, at Mi-
lan, we obtain the following general comparative tables
of the powers of the five principal nations of Europe. The
various figures are all compiled from the best and most
recent authorities and documents in each country :—ln
England, the number of inhabitants is 28,000,000, on
90,950 square miles, or 308 per square mile; in France, the
population is 34,700,000, on 154,000 square miles, or 225
per square mile; in Austria there are 37,500,000 in-
habitants, on 204,000 square miles, or 184 per square
mile; in Prussia the population is 15,500,000, on 80,450
square miles, or 181 per square mile; In Russia, in Europe,
the population is 50,500,000, scattered on the enormous
quantity of •2,000,000 of square miles, being but 21 persons
to each square mile. Thus the British soil contains on one
square mile one hundred and twenty times as many per-
sons as Russia, nearly one-third more than France, and
about double die proportion of Austria and Prussia. At
nearly the sane poriod the public debt and revenue of each
of these powers were as follows :—England—revenue
53,400,0001. ; debt, 813,800,000/ ; France revenue,
38,480,000/. ; debt, 156,000,000/. ; Austria revenue,
20,880,000/. ; debt, 68,000,000/. ; Prussia revenue,
8,320,000/. ; debt, 25,800,C03. ; Russia revenue,
17,360,000/. ; debt, 61,500,0001. Thus England is
indebted to the extent of thirteen times its revenue, while
France and Russia owe but four times their respective
revenue; Austria and Prussia little more than thrice. The
relative number of troops kept up in time of peace by each
nation holds about the same proportion, the number of
soldiers in the whole British empire, being 410,000 ; in
France, 363,000; in Austria, 424,000; in Prussia, 131,000;
and in Russia, 1,000,000. These forces can, however, be in-
creased in war time by two-thirds. A large part of the
public revenue in each country is absorbed by these two
millions of soldiers, who consume the sums appointed to
their support in the most unproductive manner. A great
benefit would undoubtedly accrue, if the five powers is ques-
tion would mutually agree upon Dcwie LUCIUS Of dimiuijug
their large etautlin