The Sun.
London, England, 1846-10-01 00:00:00

MAGAZINE DAY,
BLACK WOOD.
For a very eccentric and really valuable paper
descriptive of a " Visit to the Vladika of Monte-
negro,'' we are grateful to Blackwood. Before
perusal the title itself was an attraction, after perusal
the contents formed a delightful compensation. The
Vladika of Montenegro ! We can fancy nineteen out
of twenty readers puzzling over the words—
bewildered both as to the nature of the former, and
the locality of the latter. Thousands, indeed, are
ignorant of the character, and occasionally of the very
existence, of certain secluded portions of this globe,
and those portions not merely secluded by remoteness,
as Sabrina Land or Patrocino, but secluded in central
parts of Europe, and in the very nucleus of civilisa-
tion. Of the little principality of Montenegro,
situated in European Turkey, bounded on the north
by Herzegovina, on the south-east by Albania, and
on the west by Dalmatia and the Adriatic, scarcely
anything is known, excepting that its inhabitants are
warlike barbarians, governed by an ecclesiastical
prince. Traffic is maintained in all the surround-
ing countries ; vessels from all quarters of the
globe float in the Venetian gulf; Zante and Corfu
are separately the centres of mercantile transactions ;
from the Levant to Lesbos, from Byzantium to the
Danube, and thence to Carlstadt, the tide of inter-
course is constantly flowing, and yet, amidst the
whirl of land-carriage and steam-ship, trader and
traveller, the mountainous frontiers of Montenegro
still remain uncrossed, and its people are left behind in
the onward march of civilisation. There is something
affecting in this moral and geographical isolation. A
deep interest is aroused by the knowledge of the
absence of all regenerative prospects to a section of
the European population. Hence it is that the nar-
rative contained in the October number of Blackwood,
being a description of the interior of this principality
by a recent visitor, has exercised over ourselves such
a peculiar fascination. Leaving the Austrian gar-
rison town of Cattaro, the writer, as one of a large and
miscellaneous party, entered the territories of the Greek
bishop, or Vladika of Montenegro, and was hospitably
received by that potentate in his capital city of Zet-
tinie. The description of the country and its com-
munity, given in the narrative of this interesting ex-
pedition, is most agreeable from its naturalness and
vivacity. According to the eye-witness himself, the
frontiers of Montenegro are so peculiarly precipitous
and rugged, as to be rendered by nature absolutely
impregnable ; the soil is scantily scattered over solid
rocks, and is so singularly barren as to require the
utmost industry to extort from it a meagre crop of
grain ; the Montenegrini are a hardy and gigantic race,
averaging upwards of six feet in height, armed
to the teeth even in moments of temporary tran-
quillity. The women are subjected to the most un-
mannerly customs, being compelled to engage in agri-
cultural and manufacturing pursuits, as well as in
household duties, while their husbands and brothers
are occupied in a ceaseless and predatory warfare,
now in one direction, now in another. The
character given by our narrator of the reigning
Vladika is singularly prepossessing. Of enormous
proportions, measuring indeed considerably more than
seven feet in his stockings, this warlike bishop attests
even in his personal appearance the dignity of his
position ; though surrounded by rude and illiterate
subjects, he betrays remarkable intelligence, and
through the instrumentality of the " übiquitous
Galignani " preserves an intimate knowledge of all
the occurrences which are transpiring beyond the
precincts of his dominions. Invested with despotic
power even from his eighteenth year, the Vladika is
nevertheless characterised by a marked amenity in
his deportment and a winning affability in conversa-
tion. Upon the parapets of the tower overlooking
Zettinie the writer observed a striking testimony of
the lack of refinement among the Montenegrini,
namely, a multitude of human heads impaled on
staves, the heads of those followers of Islamism slain
in battle, and against which people the semi-bar-
barous, semi-religious subjects of the Vladika wage
an eternal and relentless warfare, bearing before them
in their bloody expeditions their national banner—the
peaceful cross of Christianity ! The contemplation
of these facts inspires us with the hope that some
endeavours may be ultimately made to modify the
condition of a people so valorous and zealous as the
Montenegrini—a hope that some external or internal
force may, in the end, conduce to the political and
social re-organsation of these mountaineers, that peace
and domestic happiness may replace the bloodshed
and uncivilised habits to which they have
been hitherto accustomed. Far opening to
their contemplation a region so unnoticed as
this principality of Montenegro, the readers of
Maga will be indebted to its contributor. The trans.
lation of Schiller's fantastic and glorious "Dance,"
though elegant and new, is not worthy of a moment's
comparison with the masterly translation given in
this same magazine some years back from the pen of
Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton.
"Around thee in vain the word its harmonies utters,
If thy heart be not swept on in the stream of the strain,"
is a golden version of a golden original. There are
seven delicious poems from the portfolio of Miss
Barrett in this number. One of them "A Man's
Requirements," is an exquisite adjuration—spoiled by
no forced conceits, but welling up with music and
eloquence from the fountains of the heart. What a
world of trysting memories are stored in that simple
verse:—

"Love me with thine hand stretched out
Freely—open-minded !
• Love me with thy late, ing foot--
Hearing one behind it."
What strange but exceeding beauty there is in
those lines upon "A Dead Rose :"
" The sun that used to light thee,
And mix his glory in thy gorgeous urn,
Till beam appeared to bloom, and flower to burn—
If shining now—with not a hue would dight thee.
" The dew that used to wet thee,
And, white first, grow incarnardined, because
It lay upon thee where the crimson was—
If dropping now—would darken where it met thee.
" The fly that lit upon thee,
To stretch the tendrils of its tiny feet
Along the leaf's pure edges after heat—
If lighting now—would coldly overrun thee.
" The bee that once did suck thee,
And build thy perfumed ambers up his hive,
And swoon in thee for joy till scarce alive—
If passing now—would blindly overlook thee."
" Maude's Spinning" is a plaintive tale, told with
the most simple, and hence the most touching, pathos,
in seven brief verses. Miss Barrett has an intense
love for nature—who can doubt it after her exulting
allusion to those young clays—
" When the sun and I together
Went a-rushing out of doors!"
Sbe regards the veriest leaf as a jewel, she invests
the grass and the flower-stalks with a glory more
lasting than their own, and " the green blood dancing
in their veins" finds a sympathy flowing in her bosom.
Hence it is that she can apostrophise them with such
a tender reminiscence :
" Oh, the birds, the trees, the ruddy
And white blossoms, sleek with rain!
Oh, my garden, rich with pansies!
Oh, my childhood's bright romances!
All revive, like Hector's body,
And I see them stir again!"
"Elinor Travis" is concluded, and that with some
vigorous writing. A capital bit of pleasantry is,
"A New Sentimental Journey," and would have tickled
the ribs of that pensive hypocrite, Lawrence Sterne
himself. " The Conde's Daughter" is anotherzead-
able tit-bit,—one of those bits of literary comfits and
barley-sugar Christopher North has such an insinuating
wayof placing on the public palate. "Wild Sports and
Natural History of the Highlands" is a contribution
which will be devoured with more relish, possibly,
than any other at this particular season, when Egg
and Manton have" marched forth upon the heather.
To " Letters and Impressions from Paris " we can
moreover refer every one with a confidence of its
wiling away the next wearisome half-hour. It is a
trip to the French metropolis without the perils of
rail and steam-boat. In this admirable number of
Blackwood, however, commend us to the " Vladika
of Montenegro."

F.RA SE R.
The opening article of Fraser on the " Commercial
Relations of the Indian 'Archipelago," is one which
our enterprising merchants and manufacturers will
read with great interest. There can be little doubt
but that our new settlement at Labuan will become
a second Singapore, opening up to us the commerce
of the vast Indian Archipelago, containing, in the
opinion of the Orientals, upwards of 12,000 islands,
which, stretching eastward from the Straits of Malacca
to beyond the longitude of Torres Straits, constitutes
one of the richest and most extraordinary divisions of
Asia, inhabited by a race fond of commercial pur-
suits, anxious to exchange the rich products of the
islands (camphor, spices, gold, and jewels) for British
manufactures, and who, in consequence of the
destructiolg of the piratical establishments of the Sul-
tan of Borneo by the British fleets, will be enabled
to pursue their vocations in comparative peace. The
writer expresses a hope that the establishment at La-
buan may influence even the piratical subjects of the
Sultan of Borneo and the savage inhabitants of the
interior to substitute industry for the practices of
barbarism, when they shall find commerce more per-
manently profitable than piracy and war. That such
will at no distant period be the case, is rendered ex-
ceedingly probable by what we know has taken place
in Mr. Brooke's territory, at Sarawak :

" Already in Mr. Brooke's territory of Sarawak we
behold the Dyaks actuated by a strong desire to accumu-
late wealth ; and though they have not yet relinquished
their savage propensity to destroy the member of a
neighbouring tribe in order to possess his cranium, it is
quite clear that they are yielding to the softening in.
kluences of civilisation, and adopting gentler and more
amiable manners.

" As yet, perhaps, it may be somewhat too early to
attempt their conversion on a grand scale, and, in fact,
we agree with Afx,,Brooko, thnt moral and political in-,

NG, OCTOBER 1, 1846

fluences should rather be employed to prepare converts
for the Gospel, which is the reverse of the practice hi-
therto observed throughout the world, than that the
Gospel, which was never intended to perfiirm any such
service, should be converted into the mere pioneer of the
state. No doubt when men, whether savage or civilised,
have received into their minds the truths of religion,
and endeavoured to bring their conduct into harmony
with its dictates, they become better citizens, because
necessarily more averse to the practice of injustice, whe-
ther in themselves or others. But truth addresses itself
to the understanding, and cannot profitably be accepted
by men blindly, and on the same grounds as a fable.
They must know what they believe and why they be-
lieve it, otherwise, not being able to give a reason for
the faith that is in them, they are no better than idola-
ters, though their opinions should, peradventure, be
orthodox. We would by all means convert the heathen
everywhere throughout the world, but we would ap-
proach their minds through the avenues, apparently con-
structed for that purpose by Providence, and having
conducted them up to the high platform of truth, would
compel them to come in by that sweet and gentle com-
pulsion to which honest and ingenuous men most readily
submit."

This theory of Mr. Brooke that the merchant
should be the pioneer of the missionary is certainly
novel, but it is worthy of serious consideration, and
the reasons which he urges in its favour are certainly
very cogent. The writer is of opinion that at the
close of the Chinese war a mission should have been
sent to Japan, to endeavour to establish commercial
relations with that empire; and he thinks that the
establishment of our colony at Labuan is a still more
favourable opportuniy of doing so, which ought not
to be neglected :
" The Japanese will distinctly perceive that commerce,
not conquest, is our object, since, instead of appropri-
ating to ourselves, as we might, whole provinces on the
mainland, which, by right of treaty, are ours, we con-
tent ourselves with the possession of a diminutive island,
barely large enough to hold our warehouses and our
public edifices, and to supply exercising ground for our
military and naval officers.
"So unequivocal a proof of moderation cannot pos-
sibly be thrown away upon them. 'While its effects are
fresh, therefore, we should send a commercial mission
to Jedo, conceived on a statesmanlike plan, and carried
out with consummate prudence and caution. It would
be desirable to inspire the Japanese Government with
deep respect for our maritime power, without insinuating
at the same time the least desire to overawe them by its
display. Though doing things on a grand scale, we
should be thought to do nothing extraordinary, but only,
to be unostentatiously exhibiting the grandeur charac-
teristic of our manner of acting. For this purpose we
would have a first-rate line-of-battle ship, the noblest in
the navy, sent on the service, accompanied by a frigate
and steamers of the greatest possible rapidity and beauty.
They could not be better employed. For what is it that
we purpose to effect with them ? Nothing less than the
throwing open to our commerce of a new market, less
rich and vast, indeed, than that of the Indian Archi-

pelago, but still in itself most extensive and opulent,
and at present enjoyed by none, since Holland, with its
paltry establishment at Nangasaky, cannot properly be
said to trade with Japan at all."

At all events the experiment is worth trying, and
by perseverance we doubt not that we should be
enabled to enter into such commercial relations with
the Japanese as cannot but be infinitely advantageous
to both parties. The article entitled Ham House
in the Days of the Cabal" contains some pleasant
reminiscences of the days of Charles 11., when
Clifford, Arlington, Buckingham, Ashley, and
Lauderlade (the notorious Cabal), were v‘ont to as•
semble at Ham House, near Richmond (late the resi-
dence of the Countess of Dysart), and plot the ruin
of their country. Our old Friend Colonel
Mitchell makes a furious onslaught against
the critics, who having ventured to exprcss a
doubt whether, after all, Napoleon was not a greater
man than Colonel Mitchell, are, according to the
colonel's idea, as ignorant of the art of criticism as
the Emperor was of the art of war. The choler of
the colonel is particularly excite,' against a writer in
"a respectable Whig journal," for accusing him of
"scientifically trying to prove that Napoleon ought
to have been (tweeted.", The colonel declares in

reply, that " he has never paid so much homage to
modern science as to appeal to any of its maxims, 'and
indignantly repels the charge of being scientific as a
gross calumny. For once we agree with the colonel.
" Retrospective Gleanings" are a series of piquant
sketches of some of the celebrities who were assem-

bled in the French capital in 1817. Those of Talley-
rand, Suchet, Cuvier, the Chevalier Langles are
dashed off with a free pencil, while poor Colton, the
author of "Lacon "—a man more sinned against
than sinning, who during his lifetime was never pro-
perly appreciated—is drawn at full length. The
Bobadil German Baron, and the intriguing Portu-
guese Secretary are also admirable portraits. We
hope the author has not yet exhausted his gallery.
Mr. Wakley and Dr. Bowring are the contemporary
orators. Full justice is done to the thoroughly
English qualities, the shrewd mother-wit,
the admirable tact, the strong common sense, and
the immovable sincerity of purpose of the former,
while upon the latter the author has been somewhat
too severe. " What is thought of our Commercial
Policy on the Continent ?" is the title of the political
article of this number. The author admits that the
thinking men of the Continent all admire the free-
trade policy adopted by this country, and that the
people are all prepared to follow it. To the adoption
of that policy he attributes the cessation of the war.

cry among the people of France ; but he considers
that, as the Continental Governments dread being
forced by their people to adopt free-trade measures,
they will be more inclined than they have been
to go to war with England, in order to stop the
spread of free-trade opinions. " The Memoirs of the
Shetlanders" are continued ; and we have, besides,
a mashing critique on " Morell's History of Modern
Philosophy," a spirited account of a boar hunt in
Brittany; and the commencement of a novel entitled
" the Rector's Daughter."