The Sun.
London, England, 1846-08-03 00:00:00

THE MAGAZINES.
BLACK WOOD.
Honour to old /4,laga ! Honour to Christopher North!
Notwithstanding all the wit, wisdom, drollery, senti-
ment, "peptic precepts, and dietetic instruction
lavished upon their readers during three hundred and
sixty-nine numbers of the former, under the supervision
of the latter, the wit is not less piquant, the wisdom less
mellow, the drollery more resistible, the peptic precepts
less digestible, or the dietetic instruction less palatable,
as the pages of the old Edinburgh magazine accumulate
in bulk. Blackwood for August, 1846, is scarcely in-

ferior in intrinsic merit or extrinsic attraction to any
preceding number. We are not, unquestionably, treated
with a revival of the " Noctes Ambrosiana•"--as glorious
Nights as the famous One Thousand and One. We miss
the crutchet-stick of Christopher, the familiar pawls of
O'Doherty, and the interjectional pithiness of Tickler.
" Ten Thousand a Year". tells us no longer of the
machinations of Oily Gammon, or of the gentle and
beautiful Kate Aubrey. Jerrold no longer presents us
with the "Peregrinations of the Man of Wax," or of any
other specimen of the genus konio. Sir Frizzle Pumpkin
hath no more Adventures, and the lyre of B. Simmons
is silent. Yet despite all these deficiencies of our old
favourites, Blackwood is Blackwood still ; and from
the perusal of this present number, we cannot think
any one can rise without having derived both
information and amusement. What we welcome so
heartily in this number for August is the purpose which
is traceable in almost every individual article. Generous
principles are inculcated—principles both moral and utili-
tarian, and we are the more rejoiced at this circum-
stance because of the frivolity which has been latterly
the most striking characteristic of so many periodicals.
Maga is not, this month, without his political article ;
and, bearing in mind the extraordinary measures of
commercial reform which have so recently been
carried through Parliament, the singular vicissi •
tudes which have in consequence befallen the dif-
ferent legislative parties, and more especially the
" strong party" of Conservatism, advisedly so called,
we turned with peculiar interest to the lucubrations of
old Ebony. Our curiosity was excited by the mere
heading of the essay, a suggestive one under present
circumstances—" The Late and the Present Ministry."
That we can have but little sympathy with the views
entertained by Blackwood with reference to the most
advisable movements of the legislature, we presume, our
readers will readily comprehend, and fancy that Chris-
topher himself, could nut scruple to admit. Our opinion
upon this point cannot therefore be tinged with any-
thing approaching to partiality. Yet we are so eminently
satisfied with the pervading tone of the political article
before us that we commend it most seriously to the atten-
tion of all sticklers for protection. Although the writer
thinks infinitely wrong, to our mind, as to the probability
of the Russell administration, and mistakes the prudent
and circumspect phrases of the Premier for hesitation and
premeditated obscurity, we admire the spirit of the
strictures upon the illustrious statesman who so re-
cently and so gloriously retired from the office of
First Lord of the Treasury. There is none of that
vulgar acerbity in Blackwood which has lately been in-
dulged in so lavishly ; there is no gratuitous abuse or
supplementary sarcasm—yet Blackwood is not one jot
less devoted to the cause of protection than my Lord
George Bentinck himself. When we find so much earnest-
ness and so much gentlemanly toleration linked together,
we are compelled to attribute the leaning towards
the protective system to a conscientious conviction.
Though, at the same time, be it observed, we are at a
loss to comprehend the adherence of such talents to
such an exploded system. Thus speaketh Blackwood:—
" We cannot join with the more violent of the protec-
tionists in their virulent denunciations of Sir Robert
Peel." Again: "as the financial reformer of the whole
national system, he (Sir Robert) may, though at heavy
risk, become a public benefactor." Again, say we, ho-
nour to Maga ! Such language is most graceful after
the coarse and revengeful epithets cast by others upon
that same extraordinary statesman. Time, we feel sa
tisfied, will alter the writer's preconceptions as to the
intended policy of the new cabinet ; and lie possesses so
much fairness that he will not then shrink from con-
fessing his misapprehensions of Lord John Russell.
" The Army," is a courageous and stirring appeal in be-
half of a very noble and a very neglected class—the
soldiery. Recent occurrences have tended to display the
lamentable state of mismanagement into which the cor-
respondents of the Horse Guards have fallen, or rather
in what a degraded condition they are allowed to con-
tinue. We have ourselves represented the brutality,
and indecency, and immorality, and impolicy of that ex-
ecrable system of military flogging which only a few
days ago deprived a fellow creature of life at Hounslow,
and deprived him of life moreover, through superfluous
cruelty, hurrying him to a premature death in the most
excruciating agony. A system that permits such exhi-
bitions of barbarity is one which calls very loudly
for reform ; and calls for a reform, moreover,
of the most comprehensive character. Black-
wood recommends the substitution of rewards .for
punishments ; rewards" to lure to good conduct, not
punishments to awe into subordination ; ribbons to ex-
cite a wholesome spirit of emulation, not scourges to
goad into drunkenness and to debase. The writer re-
commends likewise a material alteration in the plan of
enlistment ; condemning on very adequate grounds the
enlistment for life, and proposing in its place an enlist-
ment for a limited period ; namely—for seven or five
years. He observes, "Let the lash, at once and totally
disappear ; replace torture by instruction, hold out ju-
dicious rewards instead of disgraceful punishment • ap-
peal to the sense of honour of the man, instead of the
sense of pain of the brute." We cordially coincide in
these very admirable views ; we would gladly know our
soldiery to be properly educated, properly stimulated to
exertion by medals or other recompenses, properly
allowed an opportunity of rising in their profession, and
that not merely to the post of non-commissioned officers,
but to the highest and noblest ranks. Surely there
would be no degradation to the service in such an ar-
rangement, premising that the privates of each regiment
were prepared by tuition. Surely, Ney, Massena, and
Murat, and Junot, were no discredit to the Gallic
legions I Surely the father of Lady Peel was no dis-
grace to the mess-rooms of the British army I Were
such a system as this introduced our soldiers would be
morally and socially elevated ; they would be enabled,
like the veterans of Napoleon, to beautify their native
country during the continuance of peace, as well as to
defend it during the period of war ; their leisure hours
would not, as now, be irksome an wearisome ; they
would no longer be the drones of the national hive, but
would tend to the improvement as well as to the glory
of the empire. Blackwood has come forward nobly
for the vindication of these enlightened principles ;
and if its fellow labourers of the press join
in the like spirit of independence and benevolence, the
boon will be achieved, and our army will be most ma-
terially benefited. Well may the writer repeat that
excellent old adage, " Fag est ab hoste doceri !" The
military system pursued on the continent is not wholly
unworthy of imitation. Another admirable article is
intitled, " Mesmeric Mountebanks." It is a delicious
bit of irony : overwhelming the followers of Mesmer
by an adroit and capital satire. " Moriatner pro Rege
Nostro," is likewise a delightful and enthralling story.
It reminds one of the best fictions which have appeared
in this magazine. The characters are cleverly grouped,
the incidents vividly coloured, and the plot ingeniously
constructed. Although we are by no means inclined to
agree with the writer of the paper on the " Romantic
Drama," in his admiration for the old unities, we must
nevertheless confess that his arguments in favour of a
revival of those unities, as a means of reviving a love for
dramatic entertainments, are singularly striking, and
deserve a trial. "My College Friends," is the fourth
continuation of an agreeable series, and one which
promises an unlimited source of entertainment. The
article suggested by Dr. Tschudi's " Peru," and the re-
view of M. Soyer's " Gastronomic Regenerator," are
conceived in admirable spirit. They revive our re-
membrance of the pungent criticisms indulged in of yore
by Maga, while they improve both our taste for litera-
ture and dietetics. With an assortment of papers thus
varied, sparkling, and serious, Blackwood cannot fail to
ncrease its popularity, and to perpetuate its supremacy,