The Sun.
London, England, 1858-07-15 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

Memoirs to Illustrate the history of My Time. By
F. Guizot. Volume 1. Bentley.
The memoirs of one who has filled a conspicuous
position, both in the warfare of political parties
and in the republic of letters, must always com-
mand the attention of the thoughtful and studious
reader. If such a record is remarkable when it is
written by another, at soma subsequent epoch, it is
doubly interesting when the politietan and littera-
teur is himself the biographer ; when at the close
of a long eventful life he looks back from the still-
ness and retirement of age and exile, on the tur-
moils and manoeuvres of courts and cabinets, on
the agitation produced by those great political
questions which seemed then as though they would
influence the fate of nations, but which are now
scarcely remembered save by the historian or the
biographer. The early yeats of M. Guizet's career
were full of startling events and social disturbances.
They form a fitting subject for consideration and
recollection, and the politicians of a less stormy
time, and happier social circumstances, may find
much to suggest and to teach in the struggles of a
greet people for that freedom of constitutional
government which, like childhood's glittering
bubbles, seems always to vanish in their grasp.
Whatever may be the rank among statesmen
accorded to M. Guizot, there is no question that he
filled an eminent post for a long series of years ;
that he mingled in the busy strife of European
politics for the greatest portion of a long life. He
eaw the rise and fall of successive dynasties ;
be watched the signs that indica'ed the fall of the
great conqueror ; he: shared in the premature
triumph of the Restoration ; he witeessed the
sudden revulsion of popular feeling that welcomed
the hero of the Hundred Days ; he anticipated the
sudden extinction of the Imperial power ; he joined
with heart and soul the government of the succeed-
ing dynasty ; he mingled in the discussions and
dissensions that agitated the Chamber of Deputies ;
under a change of Government he took a vigorous
part in the Opposition, and he was one of the official
deputation which presented to Charles the Tenth
the "Address of the Two Hundred and Twenty-
one." At this epoch he closes this first volume
of his memoirs, leaving for the opening of the
second, the fall of Charles the Tenth, and the acces-
sion of Louis Philippe. All these events, these
discussions--chronicled by one who mingled in
them, and who, confEluently, if prejudiced by
party feeling, is impressed with their vitality, and
imbued with their prevailing spirit—are full of in-
terest, and not with Out historic importance to the
reader of the present day. The work is rightly
named—it is more an illustration of the history of
the time than a history itself. It presupposes a
knowledge of the plot of the drama, and an ac-
quaintance with the parts played by the great
actors, but it tekes us behind the curtain and shows
us the petty details, the animating feelings, the
rivalries and animosities which are not allowed to
display themselves on the public stage. M.
Guizot himself will be more prominent in
the subsequent portion, whets his career is better
known to the English public. On the accession of
Louis Philippe he assumed the office of Minister of
the Interior, which he held fora very brief period.
Subsequently, under Marshal &mit, he was Minister
of Public Instruction, and at a later period he filled
the London Embassy. His name is more families-
among us, though less favourably known, in his
more respensible podtien when holding the port-
folio of Foreign Affairs. All these busy years
and important offices will give ample opportunity
to M. Guiz it t ) display his literary abilities. He
may point the moral with the revolution of
February and the record of his own and his master's
downfall. But wbfo ever the vicissitudes of his
career, or the want of elevation in his principles,
he has filled a remarkable place in the political
arena. He has combined the sircluons duties of an
author and a statesman ; he has attained in both
spheres of distinction an emine=nt rank. As such
lie is entitled to the vetentioa of a succeeding geue-
ration, and his work assumes ari important; place
among the biographies of the thy. As a literary
work it is full of interest and talent, and shows
the practised ability of one who,e pen has for so
many years been the exponent and defender of
his opinions. The following pass ige centaine much
truth :
" But in those social shocks there are deeper ques-
tions involved than the actors are aware of. The
Hundred D..ys inflicted on France a much heavier evil
than the waste of blood and treasure it had cost her ;
they lit up again the old quarrel which the Empire had
stifled and the Charter was intended to extinguish,
the quarrel between old and new France, between the
emigrants and the revolutionists. It was not alone
between two political parties, but between two rival
claims, that the struggle recimmenced in 1815, as it
originally exploded in 1789
"Au unfavourable position for founding a Govern-
ment, and, above all, a free Government. A certain
degree of txeiternent and emulation invariably exists
between the people and the political parties, which
constitutes the very life of the social body, and en-
conrag s its energetic and wholesome development. But
if this agitation is not confined to questions of legisla
Unit and the conduct of public aflairs.—if it attacks
society in its very ba is,—if instead of emulation be-
tween parties, there arises hostility amongst classes, the
movement ceases to be healthy, and changes to a de-
stroying malady, which leads ou to the most !amenable
disorders, and may end in the dissolution of the State.
Tue undue ascendancy of one class over another, whether
of the aristocracy or the people, becomes tyranny. The
bitter and continued struggle of either to obtain the
upper hand, is in fact revolution, imminently impending,
or absolutely declared. The weal has witnessed, in
two great examples, the diametrically opposite results
to which this formidable fact may lead. The contest
between the Patricians and Plebeians held Rome
for ages between the cruel alternations of despotism
and anarchy, which had no variety but war. As long as
either party retained public virtue, the republic found
grandeur, if not social peace, in their quarrel ; but when
Patricians and Plebeians became corrupted by dissen-
sion, without agreeing on any fixed principle of liberty,
Rome could only escape from ruin by fsling under the
despotism and lingering decline of the Empire. England
presents to modern Europe a different spectacle. In Eng-
land, also, the opposing parties of nobles and democrats
longb
icnountti eo Int d ed
of tfoorr t
ut hnee saunpdr emw
iascny botn; ,
tent , e
ybynaa hapcompya
mutual compromise, and united in the common exercise
of newer : and England has found, in this amicable
understanding between the different classes, in this com-
munion of their righ a and mutual influence, internal
peace with greatness, and stability with freedom."
cog,
ifzhraetiLlei:aga
uui
disgust
religion
uennadddt omhwnuoidttnhhaterr
everything.acw world rr de daT Itmhhto
The following extract gives a portrait of the author
of " Lees Martyrs" :
"Launched
te
whole from
infancy,nge o
sins.
attempted every career, aspired to every renown, tx-
' capital defect,' said he himself, has been
b austed Some, anti approached others ; nothing satisfied
perpetual doubt.'
mdo.udbet.'A
strange temperament in a man d -voted to the restoration
Cha-
teaubriand had been a constant and a perpetual combat
between his enterprises and his inclinations, his situa-
tion and his nature. He was ambitious, as the leader of
th eli
a party, and independent, as a volunteer of the forlorn
hope • captivated by everything great, and sensitive even
to suffering in the most trifling matters, careless beyond
measure of the eon-non interests of life, but passionately
absorbed, ou the stage of the world, in his own person
and reputation, and more annoyed by the slightest check
than gratified by the most brilliant triumph ; in public
life, more jealous of suceass than power, capable in a
particular emergency, ache had just proved, of conceiv-
ing and carrying out a great design, but unable to pur-
lsue in government, with energy and patience, a well-
ceuaented and strongly-organised line of policy. He
possessed a sympathetic understanding of the moral ins-
pressiore of his age and country ; more able, however,
and more inclined, to win their favour by compliance
than to direst them to importaut and lasting advantages ;
a noble arid expanded mind, which, whether in literature
or potato,
• ' touched all the exalted chords of the human
soul, but more calculated to strike and charm the imagi-
nation than to govern nien ; greedy, to an excess, of
praise
•• and fame, to satisfy his pride, and of emotion and
novelty as resources from constitutional weariness."
'I here are few in this country who will be prepared
to dispute the truth of the following remarks OH
the punishment of political offences ;
" I have lived in an age of political plots and out-
rages., directed alternately against the authorities to
WllOllll was in opposition anti those 1 supported with
ardour. I have seen conspiracies occasionally un-
punished, and at other times visited by the utmost
rigour of the law. I feelthoroughly convinced that in
the existing state of feeangs, minds, and manners, the
punishment of death in such cases is an injurious weapon
which heavily wounds the power that uses it fit safety.
It is not that this penalty is without denunciatory and
preventive efficacy ; it terrifies and holds back from con-
spiracies many who would otherwise be tempted to en-
gage in them. But by the side of this salutary conse-
quence, it engenders others which are most injurious!.
Drawing Ito line of distinction between the motives and
dispositions which have Incited men to the acts it
punishes, it ktfles ill the sante manner the reprobate
and the dreamer, the otineical mid the enthusiast, the
wildlyambitious and the devotedly fanatical. By this
• gross indifference it effsuds wore than it satisfies
mural feeling, irritates more than it restrains,
moves indifferent rpectators to p.ty, and appears
to those who are intirested an act ( f war falsely invested
with the forms of a decree of jestice. The intimidation
which it conveys et first, siiiiibishes front day to day
while the hatred and thirst of vengeance it inspires be-
Ouse henry mere ieteese and t sear NlVe ; and at last
the time arrives when the power which fanci.s iteelt
saved is exp_.sed to the attacks of enemies infinitely
more numerous and formidable than tht4e who have
been previously disposed of.
"A day will also come, I coufldeetly feel, when, for
offences exclusively political, the penalties of banishment
and transportatiere carefully graduated and applied, will
be eubetituted In justice as well as in fact for the punish-
meet of death. Mean wliile I reckon, amongst the most
agreeable reminiscences of my life, the fact of my having
I strenuously directed tree justice and good policy to this
subject, at a moiaeut when both were seriously cone-

promised by party passions and the dangers to which
power was exposed.
The work is written without undue bitterness or
party spirit, and fills a vacancy in historical litera-
ture. The historic documents at the conclusion
are valuable and important, and will be referrei to
with interest. To all who look beyond the fleeting
changes of the hour, who seek to read the problems
of the present in the past, and to watch the ad-
vancement of civilisation and enlightenment over
all the obstacles that prejudice and tyranny throw
before them, to learn where a great people have
erred in their progress whore wise and conscien-
tious rulers have failed, to all who wish to gain a
thorough knowledge of the events of their own time
—such works as this are full of interest. It will no
doubt take its place, not among the ephemeral pro-
ductions of the day, but among the standard re-
cords in which able and eminent men have mule
their confessions to posterity, have sought, with
that eager desire for an honourable memory which
has so much power over those who are raised above
their fellows, to show how they have laboured i❑
the public service, how they have had to contend
with opponents, with difficultif.s, and dangers, and
to prove that, whatever their shortcomings, their
errors, or their passions, they have left their im-
press on the history of their time.

Tke Crisis in the .Punjab. By Frederic Cooper,
C.S., Deputy-Commissioner of Umritsur. Smith
and Eider.
This work gives us a succinct narrative of the
occarrencee in the Punjab during the revolt, from
the 10th of May until the fell of Delhi. It traces
the struggle from its earliest symptoms, and dwells
especially upon the prompt and vigorous measuies
which were taken by the authoi ities. Sir H. M.
Lawrence, who has added fi o-h glory to an hon-
ourable name, is spoken of with the admiration and
respect duo to the great qualities he displayed in
a time of unprecedented trial. The author justly
observes that had Hindustan been tranquil the
events in the Punjab would have marked an era ' •
but " in the presence of Ilindostan convulsed, and
anarchy raging, the calamitiesof the Punjab, though
individually terrible, its trials, though almost pre-
terhuman, seem absolutely dwaried.." The gene-
ral position of affairs at the outbreak of the reb.-1-
lion are thus vividly described :
Oa the morning of the 11th of May, the first intelligence
of the revolt at Meerut and the massacre at Delhi was
flashed to the seat of the Punjab Government at the
ancient capital of Lahore. Notwithstanding the vague
foreshadowings of disaster with which the events at Ber-
hainpore and at Barrackpore, the successive fires at various
military stations, and other rapid and unmistakeable symp-
toms of wide-spread disaffection had clouded the public
mind, there can be no doubt that the seizure of Delhi and
its concomitant tragedies burst upon Anglo-Indian Society
like a thunder clap.
Under the full force of the first shock of so stupendous a
crisis, something akin to a panic was produced. The least
reflecting required no Daniel to interpret the dread
symbols. The hot weather had set in. Territorial expan-
sion and aggrandizement had reached its extreme limits,
while the force of European troop: had dwindled to its ex-
treme minimum. India was weaker by two cavalry and
four infantry European regiments. Cholera bad decimated
European troops last year, and their vacancies had not
been filled up. In Bombay, the European force was not
nearly up to the ordinary peace establishment. The first
layer of civilization had hardly been spread over Oude ; in
the capital of which was but one single European regi-
ment. The Bombay army was half composed of Poor-
bcahs. The Persian treaty had scarcely boon ratified,
while the inflammatory proclamation of the Shah, calling
on all the faithful to oust the treacherous tribe of the
British, was fresh in the memory of every Mahomedan in
India. De icate negotiations were still pending with Dost
Mahomed at Kabul ; and the lives of the gallant Lumsden
and his party seemed hanging upon a straw. From Delhi
to Calcutta lay a clear field fur mutiny and insurrection.
The sepoy army.had been intoxicatea with their sense of
power. Every heart prayed, though few dared hope, for
the Christians scattered over that boundless area. Every
one anticipated the enormities that might occur. The
silence which followed from the abrupt stoppage of elec-
tric telegraph communication, was oven more oppressive
than the after budgets of dismal tidings, and added to the
gloomy forebodings. The vagueness, the immensity, the
closeness of the peril, exaggerated alarm. Such were the
feelings at Labors.
The tidings from Delhi occupy a prominent pl ;co,
and the difficulties of the besiegers are represented
as formidable. The treachery of the natives
employed is shown to have been a source of
great perplex ty and disappointment. The bra-
liant exploits of the British army, and the cheerful
courage displayed by officers and men under all
disheartening delays and privations, are spcken of
merrily. The promptitude and decision of the
measures adopted by the authorities in the Pun-
jab are shown to have been, under Providence,
the means of preventing a long cat dogue of crimes
and misfortunes, such as wer e too fr equent where
weak or fearful har.ds held the reins of gove.n-
merit. The work professes to be nothing more
than a fai-hlul description of the troubles of the
time in one particular loc dity, and to show hove
they were dealt with. It was written, we aro told,
in the spare half-hours of leisure snatched from the
pressure of official duties, and the various facts
which have been placed at the disposal of the
writer constitute its chief merit. From the cir-
cumstances of its composition, and from the plaits
and straightforward manner in which it was writ-
ten, it will prove a valuable assistant to all who are
desirous of acqiriring an authentic knowledge of
the recent events in India.

The Ballads of Scotland. Edited by William Ed-
mon4..ne Aytoun,-D.C.L., author of " Lays of
the Scottish. Cavaliers." 2 vols. Blackwood,

Edinburgh and London.
If anything could enhance the delight with which
lovers of their country's minstrelsy will regard the
work before us, it would assuredly ba the fact of
its introduction to the public under the auspices of
so able and efficient an editor. Professor Aytoun
could scarcely have chosen a subject more congenial
to his tastes, or more consonant with his literary
tatquirements. In the introduction to these
volumes, a clear and comprehensive account is
given of the design of the editor, and of the man-
, ner in which he has put that design into execu-
tion. He explains fully and f,.irly the progress
made by previous collectors in the task he here
undertakes ; he renders a willing t►ibute of acknow-
ledgment to those who " have lent him their aid,
or supplied him with information during the pro.
gress of this work ;" and therefore the most ceu-
simioug can hardly find cause it,) cavil at the result
of his labours. This will prose a valuable addi-
tion, in the form of a standard vr,rk, to the com-
pilation of any library.

New Friends. A. Tale for Children. By the author
of " Julian and his Playfellows." Parker.
This is a most desirable li tle book tor young
persons, who meet with a ple.ising tale to amuse
them, while the moral it conveys cannot fail to be
beneficial. It is written in a simple style, and at
the same time an interesting manner, aid the
author does not commit the mistake which is pre-
valent in this class of stories, of rept esenting one
child a 3 a piece of perfec ion, and another had in
everything. George Lewis, with all his faults, pos-
sessed some estimable qualities, which, under fos-
tering influence, might at last lead to tin forma-
tion of a fine character. Fiederica is &so well
drawn as an over confident and self-sufficient child,
who thought herself batter than the rest of her
playmates. It is a satisfaction to meet with so
attractive a production dedicated to the service of
the young, on whom to bestow a word in s.ason
can never be labour thrown away.

THE PERSIA AND TILE QUARANTINE

LAWS IN A STERICA.

The attention of the British House of Commons
has been called to the proceedings had in this city
some weeks ago against Captain Judkins, of the
steam-ship Persia, arising out of his strict obser-
vance of the quarantine laws of this State, and out
of the offended pride of a petty custom-house offi-
cial. One of the representatives of the British
Government iu Parliament has promised that the
attention of her Majesty's Ministers shall be given
to the subject, and the English papers have taken
up and discussed it, so that in all probability the
affair will nct be allowed to rest where it is. The cir-
cumstances of the case are so recent, and were so
fully detailed at the time, that it is perhaps unne-
cessary to recite them at length. They are briefly
these :—The steam-ship Persia, of the Cunard line,
which came into this port on Tuesday night, had
been, on her last preceding arrival here, boarded
at quarantine and placed for a time under the
direction of the quarantine officials. NVlliie iu
that condition one of the boarding officers of
the Custom House, named Deny se, visited
the ship, and after making his inspection was
about to return to his boat as usual, when be
was informed by Captain Judkies that, the vessel
being under the operation of the quarantine laws,
he could not leave witboat the permission of the
health officer. The federal official, who was pro-
bably as ignorant of his duties, and as unfit
fir his position as the large mass of such officials
usually are, was quite indignant at the idea of his
freedom of action being interfered with, although
Captain Judkins directed his attention to t: .e
fact that he himself and every person on beard
his vessel were fore d to bow to the rules and
restrictie ns imposed by the quarantine laws,
and that those laws superseded for the time being
all others. The inspector haviogbe:n thus detained
on b and for a few hours, unlit the Pet sla was dis-
charged from quarantine, smarting under the sense
of imaginary indignity etre, ed to his person and
position, longed a complaint against Capt. Judkins
had him arrested aed brought before a police ma-
gistrate, and forced him to give bail to answer the
charge of false imprisonment. An official corres-
pondence between Mr. Cunard and General Cass
followed. Capt. Judkilis te4u,nedwith his vessel