The Sun.
London, England, 1866-10-25 00:00:00

r ,~"

more than merely eloquently, more than im
sively—remarks most affectingly—as follows :
Criticism has said its last word upon the subject, and Ho
impression, brought to the proof, turns out to be un-
founded. Tho more exact the research the more remark-

able the contrast between the riches of Christ, His precious
doctrine and character, and the sheer bareness, littleness'

narrowness of the Juthean culture out of which He came•

Moreover, the true human nature of Christ was somewhat
lost sight of in the Church. Gazing up into heaven upon
the risen Lord, with the glory of eternity and of the Divine

presence about His head, we have a little forgotten that

our Master was ono who walked through this pilgrimage
of life as we are walking, with feet sore with
ravel, with a heart oppressed by misapprehen-
And when truth wanes moral activity de-
clines. We have boen forced, by rude shocks
o doubt, to look at His true human side again:

They say that M. Renan's book has caused a great demand
for copies of the Gospels in a country where these were not

so accessible as they are to us.

We may do well to return

4. our Gospels, and know in Christ the true human friend

and guide, leader, pattern. We should hear his discourses
us new teaching, wo should watch Him tried with all kinds
of hate and stupid misunderstanding; we should stand very
near the cross. If suffering is human, if love and pity are
human, then His sacred history is intensely human.
Nevertheless, when we turn the last page, and let our
honest conviction speak, we shall find the human has re-
vealed to us the divine, "Truly this man was the Son of
God."

Having said thus much upon the seven preceding
papers, it remains for us now only to comment upon
the closing article in this new number of the Quarterly
—the Political—and yet more than simply political—
the eminently Patriotic article in which, if ro dis-
tinct or definite policy is defined, the nobler ambi-

ion inspiring the breasts of the leaders of the Great

Conservative Party is far too clearly indicated alto-
gether to escape the popular apprehension. A will-
ingness, if it should prove necessary, or evert if it

should prove merely advisable, to consider the vexed
Question of Parliamentary Reform, with a view to
its satisfactory settlement upon some rational basis
—an eagerness to set on foot a whole system of
social reforms very sorely needed especially down
in the lower strata of the population—a strenu-
ous determination to secure once more to

this country other allies besides the one solitary
ally (France) now alone left to us among the nations
of Christendom, thanks to the allienating influence
of our late Whig administrators, under the super -
cilious but irritating direction of their Foreign

Policy by Earl Russell—above all, an ardent resolve
to do everything towards consolidating rather than
towards loosening the grand political structure of
" England and her Institutions"—such are theprin-
cipal designs, such are the leading resolutions, such,
in plain terms, are among the broad outlines of the
policy set forth here, evidently by a master-hand, as
now held in view by the Conservative Party, and ae

now quickening in the councils of the Conservative
Government. Scattered abundantly among the run-
ning ripples of the argument put forth in this well'
compacted, yet comprehensive, treatise upon the
_ _

political situation, are opinions, sentences, occasion-
ally mere phrases, that are eminently worthy Of
remembrance—radiant sometimes with wit, mostly
with wisdom. Thus, par exeinple, when scouting
the notion suggested of late by some would-be re-
organisers of our military power, to graft upon
England the Prussian system, the reviewer
says, simply enough, but crushingly, " Eng-
land can best guard herself by remaining Eng-
lish." Emphatically summing up the whole of
the magnanimous policy of the French Emperor
towards this country the critic remarks in a single
sentence—" Never has Sovereign or people had a
more frank aad loyal ally than France, under the
empire of Napoleon 111., has proved to the Crown
and people of England." Again, take the follow-
ing pregnant sentences as indicative of the artistic
force and practical suggestiveness of the writer's
thoroughly well-thought-out argument. Ile is
speaking of what is really and in truth just now
the most urgently required at the hands of our ad-
ministrators, be they who they may, and he says

thereupon :
France has not left herself without other friendships than
that of England—England should not leave herself
out other friendships than that of France. It is her more
immediate object to remove all differences between herself
and the United States of America ; to heal the sores which
yet rankle in the mind of the Germanic peoples; and while
quietly engaged in this task, so to mature and consolidate
her own maritime power, that, while she invites friend-
ship, she does not supplicate for assistance. Our strength,
defensivo or aggressive, is in our navy. No pains and no cost
are too great to render that navy perfect. If England ever be
conquered, it must be at sea. Misfortune enough l°
our commerce and our honour if conquered there. As t°
invasion of our soil, we do not think M. Espuiros takes too
flattering a view of our security when he sums up the re-
view of our warlike defences to this effect, Any Conti-
nental nation, no matter which, that wished to come lilt°
collision with Great Britain, ought to think twice of it.
. . . She will find before her the ships that hay°
hitherto covered the coast with an impenetrable bulwark
behind the ships the soldiers ; behind the soldiers a coal"
try in arms."
It is not to be denied that the incapacity of recent ad-
ministrations has left much for their suocessors to do. 111'e
most pressing of all reforms is that of the Board of .Achlu"
rally, with all its collateral departments.
Referring to the late Government's abortive Re'
form Bill, the Quarterly Reviewer says quite truly
that the objection was " not as against its mogul"
tude, but as against its unfairness." Nothing could
well be happier, again, as an apt quotation Iron
Mignet in reference to the wilder vagaries recently
indulged in by Messrs. Beales and Bright, than the
echoing here of the French historian's words
" There are times when the most unpopular of all
parties is the party that calls itself popular I"
obviously undeniable, moreover, if we only abstract
Mr. Bright's name from the roll of the Refer°.
League, is the accuracy of the writer's assertion
in respect to the present doings of that Lennie
where he says that—" No agitation equally claul°l
rous was ever before so significantly divest'
of aid from men of social position and 13(31,i: I
tical renowa." Drawing the whole difficulty '
a point, he puts before us thus epigrammatically
this most agreeable alternative—" It has become
question," he says, " whether we are to exchange the
genius of this ancient monarchy for a miserable cell
of democratic America." No where have we seen
more terse or a more forcible declaration of the
efficiency of Lord Derby and his colleagues during
their last brief tenure of office, eight years ago, than
is conveyed by the subjoined epitome of their Wst
conspicuous achievements :
Short-lived as was the last Government of Lord Derqii
and occupied as it was with the framing of a Reform $31,,..
on which its existence was staked, Liberals the most ads
vanced admitted the new life and energy it infused
the several departments. Then was adopted and consul
le
dated into' practical form the defensive system of the
Volunteer force—then was commenced the reconstructio±
of our naval power —then was abolished the liceo,.c°o
by which the Hudson Bay Company retained 1)
d,
wilderness of a hunting-ground, the finest Pr
vinces of British America—and then were add,iie
to the empire the only two colonies, British Co
lti`f
bia and Queensland, which, not only paying their own
pauses, have within a half dozen years enriched the trauto
of the mother country to an amount rapidly swelling jt._
millions. Nor did we ever meet a Radical member of 12:';
liatuent who did not contrast the ready fullness of iii`°-;
Illation on any departmental subject, the courteous aceesdo
and promptitude of decision which characterised the 11°„h,,
of departments in that short-lived Government, With of
scanty and begrudged replies, the supercilious arroga°c-ttio
manner, and the slothful procrastination, which Werei,ss
general characteristics of predecessors who had even
eii
respect for their followers, than they showed to t
opponents.
ever,
As a crowning and concluding excerpt, hew- I,er
from this political article in the current Oacto
number of the Quarterly, let us content oursoilea
with the following delightful sarcasm, dire
against one--by whom, unfortunately, it is buyi
jog
well deserved—meaning the once philosophic,but cecl
demagogic, M.P. for Westminster. " Did we 13.,0r
proof," says the Quarterly Writer, " of the tyra'tb,
with which democratic constituencies reduce el
minds of their own representatives to their owl', that
of thought, we might find that illustration nuagio.
proof in the present political position of Mr' c 1 to
The electors of Westminster, no doubt, returu.ver.
Parliament a very illustrious and original thlu'aoa
Once returned to Parliament, the illustrious., to
original thinker vanishes ; and on gazing °licf
member for Westminster, we are startled to qeeaotetl
like he .has grown to Mr. Beales." Having q ill to
which, we close the Quarterly —leaving Mr" ,1 rof°
the inextinguishable laughter of all except 111%
infatuated admirers—the majority of whol,l_f,
suspect, have never read one whole chapter u jot,.
one of his books, or, if they have, have been
pable of understanding it.