The Sun.
London, England, 1866-02-01 00:00:00

MAGAZINE-DAY.

- -
BLACKWOOD.—" What will the Government do ?"
is the title of the first article met with, and it enters
fully into the difficulties of the situation in which
the Government find themselves. Indeed the review
of affairs is anything but encouraging. It is truly
said of Lord Palmerston that, notwithstanding the
excellence of his judgment on many points, more than once
there came between him and real greatness that live of
power, that fear of breaking up a ricketty Administration
which more or less kept him in leading-strings throughout
the whole period of his Premiership. The "Jamaica Im-
broglio," as it is aptly termed, is last referred to, and the
question is spoken of in a fitting manner. It is stated em-
phatically that Parliament must call the Ministers to ac-
count for their extraordinary and inconsistent conduct.
Why, for instance, did Mr. Cardwell and Lord de Grey ex-
press themselves in terms of general approval to Governor
Eyre concerning the measures for the suppression of negro
rebellion, and then turn round upon him after the fashion
they did. The Anti-slavery Association and the Dissent-
ing philanthropists of Exeter-hall bearded Earl Russell and
Mr. Cardwell ; and instead of meeting them, as they
ought, the Premier "truckled" to them. How far better
would it have been, as is here suggested, for them
to have replied that they " were responsible to
Parliament for their actions, and not to knots of
individuals." A very proper line of conduct is here
traced out for the Government as the one they
should have pursued, and well would it have been for
them had they done so. In the first place, they should
have sent to Governor Eyre to say that they would send
fit persons to collect evidence, and had the result been
favourable to have bestowed marks of the Queen's appro-
bation upon all whom the Governor recommended as well
as upon himself. Had it been adverse it would then have
been time enough to have suspended Mr. Eyre. As it is,
how can there be two opinions among unprejudiced and
competent persons, it is asked, "of the gross injustice of
first condemning Governor Eyre by suspending him and
then calling for evidence to justify his condemnation ?"
The injury thus inflicted upon Mr. Eyre is ably commented
upon, and also the contemptible conduct of those in office,
who, " with a view to obtain a little worthless popularity,
cover him with disgrace, and positively hound on his
enemies to demand his life." We cordially agree also with
all that is here said concerning the incalculable injury
which this act of "political baseness" will inflict upon all
men who fill, or may fill, offices under the Crown like that
from which Mr. Eyre is now removed. How can we look
for the display of that promptness or the exhibition of that
decision which have saved Jamaica from a disastrous re-
bellion, now that the colonial authorities will learn
that they are liable to persecution from the very
men they are trying to save. We can easily imagine the
loss of property-, the sacrifice of life, and the subversion of
authority that will ensue before the mandates of the
Colonial and War Offices have authorised governors of
colonies and commanding officers of troops to act with
vigour. The difference of conduct displayed by Lord
Palmerston is appropriately alluded to hero. On one occa-
sion, in particular, when allusion was made to the course
pursued by Sir John Bowring in China, the noble lord
declared that " it is not enough to support the Minister of
the Crown, when we are satisfied that he is right. Even if
we believe that he took an unwise course, we will not
desert him so long as we are satisfied that he acted honestly
and with a conscientious desire to do his duty to his coun-
try. The moment your policy takes a different direction
you cease to deserve the confidence of honourable men.
You may get people to serve you, and you doubtless will,
but they will not be high-minded English gentlemen, such
as it is necessary to have had at the head of affairs in the
great colonies and dependencies of this country." This
excellent article deserves to be studied, more especially as
relates to its concluding passages on Jamaica, in which it
has shown the foolishness of the Ministers, and will in all
probability shortly prove a stumbling-block to arrest their
future course of official life altogether. "Sir Brooke
Fosbrooke " is continued at some length, and we find
that Trafford pays the penalty of his yielding to Colonel
Senell's proposal by meeting with a severe accident.
Young Tom Lendrick is ill with fever in Sardinia, and
poor, Lucy is altogether in great straits. "Memoirs of
the Confederate War for Independence" are continued in
the same strain of interesting summary. "A Visit to the
Big Trees" is a very entertaining little sketch, and it in-
creases our ideas of the wonders of nature to read of these
mighty and magnificent productions of nature. It is dis-
appointing to find that the two finest trees found in
the forest have been wantonly destroyed for mere
curiosity. "Relig,io-Spenseri" is a very interesting paper
on the works of that poet, as compared with Ariosto, and
can be recommended to all lovers of literature. The close
of Spenser's unfinished poem is a very appropriate end to
it, and it is here said that who would not hope that his
Maker had reserved it for Himself to put the last Amen
by calling him to that rest for which he so desired, when
he wrote, "Oh ! that great Sabbah ! God grant me tha
Sabbath sight!" "Miss Marjoribanks" this month meets
with serious trouble. Her father dies suddenly, and it is
discovered that she is nearly penniless, so that we may ex-
pect her to appear before us in a new style shortly. There

is an amusing satirical sketch in verso on Stuart Mill's
examination of Hamilton, in which the writer declares
that by his logic
" I'll prove there's no such thing as Mill
If Mill disproves both mind and matter."

LONDON SOCIETY.—This is one of the most at-

tractive of the numerous periodicals that now throng
our libraries and book-stalls, and it well maintains
its position this month. St. Valentine is the pre-
siding spirit that rules its table of contents, and
many lively readers will be amused and interested
at the varied forms in which its appearance is made in
legend and tale, and song and story. "Bradbury's Sister"
is a tale with a moral for " flinty-headed fathers," which
undesirable specimen of humanity abounds in the present
day, according to the author's notion. "The Two Valen-

tines" is a pretty sketch of the adventures of two young
girls who were reduced to great straits, until an unex-
pected turn of the wheel of fortune made them wives of
millionaires instead of vendors of valentines. A pretty
conceit of a valentine connects these two distinct portions
of their existence. "A String from St. Valentine's Lyre"
is a reminiscence of old forms and ceremonies respecting
this season of the year, where it is said the traditions and
observances were without " persiflage and ridicule." "A
Valentine in the Breezes" is the title of some flowing
verses, while "A Valentine of the Elizabethan Age" in an
old album is quaint and peculiar. "Faces in the Fire" is
a very interesting illustration, that reproduces the eventful
scenes of past days, their joys and sorrows, in striking
semblance, recalling those beautiful lines of Longfellow
which tell of the footsteps of angels. " A Remembered
Spring" alludes to the blighted hope of a life through the
cupidity of the fair lady, who could never have figured as
the heroine of "Janet's Choice." "The Claret Song" is a
spirited sketch of the glories and wonders of the " gentle-
men of wines," as it is here designated. The style is pleas-
ing and the metre flowing, as will be seen from the follow-
ing verses :

In each light purple bubble
A thousand visions throng,
I see the vineyards redden,
I hear the vintage throng.
The skies of France are o'er me,
The blue Garonne below, 0
For fancy finds no friend like
A glass of good—Bordeaux.
And from that sunny south-land
Its thoughts the bright wine brings
Of days when Gascon vineyards
Were ruled by English kings,
Of knights who fought and conquered
Five hundred years ago,
And quaffed with sable Edward
A glass of good Bordeaux.

"Proposals" is an article that is entertaining, and most
profuse in illustrative anecdote. " Women's Vocation"
contains some really important hints and directions to
those who bring up young girls to a butterfly existence,
and send them into the world unfit to meet its trials, and
unprepared to cope with its cares. " The Best Man" is a
lively and yet lugubrious chronicle of the difficulties that
attend that awkward office. " The Operations of Laurence
Keene" are continued, and in this instalment he reaches
the culminating point of success, and begins the downward
road with "black care standing behind his chair and wait-
ing upon him sedulously." " Camp Life of a Magistrate
in India" is a very interesting article, and te]ls of the mul-
tifarious duties which these gentlemen have to perform.
" The Book of Perfumes" is an account of the attractive
little volume recently published by Rimmel, and discloses
some strange secrets connected with this odoriferous
subject. Referring to the shrivelled relics of those
who "walked in Thebes' streets three thou-
sand years ago," it is stated that the reason why
the Egyptians took such care in embalming their dead was
that they believe in the transmigration of souls, and wished
that their friends, after concluding their long journey,
"might find their original envelopes in a tolerable state of
preservation." Those who seek to become attractive by
artificial means may with great advantage dwell upon the
advice here tendered to them, that " cold water, fresh air,
and exercise are the best receipts for health and beauty.
A second chapter on "Historical Notes on our National
Card-game" furnishes us with many useful hints about
whist. A most interesting article is that which is entitled
the "Merchant Princes of England." It relates to the
Peels of Manchester, and contains some entertaining
sketches of the rise of that city into mark and affluence. It
is well said in Coningsby that " instead of the city of the
violet grove a Lancashire village has expanded into a vast
region of factories and warehouses; but,lrightly considered,
Manchester is as great a human exploit as Athens." A
hundred years ago Manchester was a small town. In
1759 there were in it and Salford hardly 20,000 inhabitants,
one-twenty-fourth of the present population. The trade
consisted of the manufaoture of coarse woollen articles,
and the leading merchants were pedlars and small trades-
men "compared with the cotton lords of our time. The
Peels were very instrumental in conducing to the
prosperity of the place with which their names
are inseparably associated. The first calico manu-
facturers of Lancashire were Robert Peel and
his brother-in-law, the former being the great grand-

father of the present baronet. Many curious incidents and
strange contrasts present themselves to notice as we dwell
upon the doings here chronicled. Thus we compare the
birth-place of old Robert Peel at Blackburn, with its
thatched roof, with the elegant illustration of Drayton
Manor, and consider how astonished the contemporaries
of the first baronet would have been if they had seen
through the vista of time that the great grandchild of him
who doubted if he could afford to pay nine shillings a
week for his board would have for sponsor the Sovereign
of England. Such an incident affords practical proof of
the advantages afforded by the English Constitution,
however much it may suit- Mr. Bright and his friends to
sneer at it, and to declaim against its principles. For
thirty years this Robert Peel held his seat in seven suc-
cessive Houses, and died one of the richest men in Eng-
land. He was, in truth, a fine specimen of the merchant
princes of England, who may perchance live in obscurity,
and persevere through toil and difficulty, but who often
live to attain great honour and celebrity, and leave behind
them a name famous in their own generation, and remora-•
bered through generations to come as the founders of
families who mingle with the highest and aro associated
with the most distinguished in the land, and may well be
proud to trace their origin to the nobility of labour and the
long pedigree of toil.
THE ARGOSY.--Charles Reade's animated story
of " Griffith Gaunt " proceeds with unabated inte-
rest. The close of the last chapter left Mistress
Kate full gallop towards the spot where her rival
lovers were settling their disputes by the logic a
pistol and bullet. She arrives in this number, as
the illustration very forcibly shows us, in the very nick of
time when the weapons are raised for the second time
with unmistakeable meaning. In addition to the excite-
ment attending this adventure, we have the crisis of read-
ing Mr. Charlton's will. When the result proves Cathe-
rine herself to be the heiress the general astonishment is
unbounded, and the disappointment of the hero, who be-
lieves he has lost both his estate and his love, is corre-
spondingly great. What course he will adopt at this
juncture remains to be seen. " A Sculptor's Life in the last
Century" gives us an account of the career of Roubiliael
who, like many other men of genius, obtained less
worldly fortune than reputation by his efforts. It Was
of Roubiliac that Lord Chesterfield said, " he was the only
statuary of the day ; all other artists were mere stone-
cutters." His chief error was a want of simplicity and
naturalness in his designs, of which some of the alleg°-
rical monuments in Westminster Abbey are not unfavour-
able examples. His tastes and habits are described as simple.
He was content, we are told, to lead the easy, pleasant,
tavern life favoured by the artists and men of letters of the
eighteenth century, to which Johnson and Boswell have
introduced us. " A bottle of claret and a game of wlnst
solaced his leisure hours, and these were not numerous.
He was constantly to be found in his studio, late at night,
hard at work, long after his assistants had retired ; a viva-
cious, honest, warm-hearted ma; much and justly es-
teemed by his friends and contemporaries." "On Forminge
Opinions of Books," byMatthew Brown, is a chapter out a,
the experience of a real book-lover, and a plea for the
author against the reader's possible lack of comprehension
Miss Rayner Parkes contributes
or sympathy. a lively
paper on the " Land of Gossip," and the disagreeable,
un-
real " doubles" of ourselves which exist there. Miss Amelia
B. Edwards gives us a pleasant story of a young artist's
struggles, sufferings, and triumphs, and "A Peep at Mad-
rid" will be read with interest, especially now that Seamand Spanish affairs are awakening
unusual attention.
Two poetesses, Isa Craig and Christina Rossetti, contribute
specimens of their skill, but, to confess the truth, the
reader, unless he be very indulgent,will be disappointed is
both.

THE BRITISH ARMY AND NAVY REviEvir.----Thhi
review opens with a short sketch of a nobleman
brave as ever drew a sword or carried the orders of
its chief through the stormy tide of battle. Where all
was chivalryand daring, there was the Earl of March
careering in his pride of place on the memorable day of
Waterloo. The notice is prefaced by an excellent portrait
of the late Duke of Richmond, which is a fine specimen. °I
the picture gallery of illustrious men who are to adorn this
magazine. Mr. Hamilton Hume resumes his memoir of
Edward John Eyre by giving an account of the hardshiP°
he encountered and overcame in his famous explorations
Australia some twenty-five years ago, which will be read
with an interest heightened by his late government of
Jamaica. But before giving this description Mr. ger°
produces a singular testimony in corroboration of Gordon 'S
complicity in the rebellion—a circumstance hitherto un-
known. Referring to the outcry made in England that
Gordon had been convicted and executed without a parti-
cle of evidence to show that he was implicated in the rebel-
lion, a gentleman, late a member of the Legislative Council
in Jamaica, who knew Gordon well, stated thatprior to the
outbreak Gordon had been trying not only to purchase
arms and ammunition, but actually a vessel of war used by
the Confederates as a blockade runner. A letter, contain-
ing the names and dates of the parties concerned, was given
so accurately that the gentleman " was startled that such
damning proofs of guilt had not been given to the public
by the Government in order to allay the fears of those who
regard Gordon as a martyr." The account of Mr. Eyee'S
unparalleled journey, in which he "he did what no matt
had ever done before, and no man will ever do again," will
be resumed in the next number of the magazine. " Under
Two Flags," by Ouida, is continued with unabated spirit'
The incidents are narrated in language as glowing and rich
in its sparkling variety as almost to startle and amaze the
reader with its copiousness of exquisite description.
Our
Naval Training System" enters thoroughly into the merit°
of what the navy promises to be as compared to its fornier
condition, with respect to men, discipline, and the unit"-
mity introduced on board the various training ships at the
several ports. Another article referring to "Military Ecin;
cation in Army Schools" is penned in a similar spirit, and
does equal justice to the subject. "Notes on the Battle of
Waterloo," by General Sir James Shaw Kennedy, is Grill;
cal and interesting, showing the "mistakes" committedteu
both by Wellington and Napoleon. "An Old Indian
carries us to the deeds of other days in t"°
land of the East—the military school of England from the
days of Lord Clive to those of Lord Clyde—a happy
teration of bravery and battle not likely to occur again for
a century to come.
THE SHILLING MAGAZINE. The story Of
" Phemie Keller," clever and powerful in design and
execution, proceeds with unabated interest. The
incidents which meet us in this instalment form the
crisis of Pheinie's life, but out of it she emerges 8,
wiser and better, if a sadder, woman, though very different
from the fair young girl whom we first met in Tordsie
Church, or the wealthy courted mistress of Marshlands'
whom piosperity had somewhat spoiled. Basil StoudoA
proves himself, as was before indicated, utterly unworthy
of her love, and now, a childless widow, she is to begin °
new and lonely career in a strange home. For politician°
Mr. Bonamy Price contributes an article on Reform, in
which the troubled question is fully and temperately
cussed. " Royal Authors," an essay by S. F. Williaingt
gives us a brief glimpse at the long catalogue of crown"
wearers who have not been content with their material
diadems, but have sougkt to add to them the more shadowy
yet more durable wreaths of literary distinction. "A Word,„
about Wine" enumerates the advantages which the will"-
drinfkreorms o
thisf
different
country
parts nowoft possesshe
Continent. in t the e slufpplylieesareeonti
believe American writers the New World has wines which
will bear comparison with most of their European riVa',
8,
and it is to be hoped if so that some enterprisin importer
g
will introduce them amongst us. The continuation of
Robert Schumann's characteristic "Notes on Music and
Musicians" will gratify the reader. It is always interest"
ing to hear the first impressions produced by the great
chef d'Geuvres with which wo are familiar, and this is
especially the case when the critic is himself an artist of
no mean capacity. It is worth notice, as an instance o!
Schumann's discernment, that on hearing the "St. Paul,
composed by Mendelssohn when a youth, he foretold that
in his manhood the composer would create a yet nobler
oratorio—a prophecy amply fulfilled in the immortal
"Elijah." "An Incident in the Year 1809" is a painful
story, founded, unfortunately, on fact, and it fully verifies
the old adage of truth being stranger than fiction. The
story of " The Wild Flower of Ravensworth" is continuednot very pleasantly, and there are also papers on "ill°
Staff College," and " A Song in the Princess."
THE MONTH.—Several topics of interest meet 120
in this number, the first being a brie.,
me-
moir of Catherine M'Aulay, the foundre:S
of the admirable Institute of the Sis-
ters of Mercy. Her career was a singular„
one, from the great obstacles that the circumstances of
life placed in the way of her inclinations, and it was
until she had reached middle life that she even began an
openly religious life. It is remarked that it often hapro
that gt 0
reat works are not undertaken until their author
are of mature age. " The late flowering plants are not s
least beautiful or the least robust. Lard Macaulay 'la_
remarked somewhere on the number of great literal"' P,rt%
ductions which have not been begun till after the eieno_
lustre. Some of our most successful statesmen and ge lot
rals have been comparatively unknown till they were
their prime. In great spiritual works it is the .0i tho
"Early Days of an Artist" is an interesting account °f to
career of Turner from the barber's shop in Maiden" of
Pae.„
the height of his honour and success. The lova_ste itis,h a
er
his life was, as is so often the case with men °f ge
sad one, and it is here briefly told. Among the n "
ot
papers of merit we may mention one on " Grote's Plato,

and on "A Highland i'astoral." ys'
THE BOYS' OWN MAGAZINE.—
MONTHLY MAGAZINE. Beeton. These excej
o,
little serials are as pleasant and popular tiful•
and the illustrations of the former are good and plou are
The zoological sketches, both by pen and peacii,
among the best things in the contents.

____ _ —___
A GENEROUS OEFER.—The Schieswiger Nadi:
ridden states that the house of Augustenburg has resolved
that, in case the Duke obtains the succession in Schleswig-
Holstein, he will renounce it in favour of his younger
brother, Christian, the betrothed of Princess Ilelents.