The Sun.
London, England, 1861-02-04 00:00:00

Blackwood.

There are some very good articles in this number;
the one on "The Foreign Secretary," in particular,
may be cited as an instance of powerful writing,
able argument, and effective satire. Of course,
there will be diverse opinons regarding the truth
or falsity of the strictures here deduced against the
noble lord, but impartial observers will agree that
many of the reproaches are just, and in no case
more especially and emphatically than in his con-
duct on the Reform Bill two years ago. If, as has
been hinted in some quarters, no decided movement
is made this session to introduce another, the country
in general and the ardent wishes for Reform in
particular will have its vaunted champion to thank
for that vexed question not having been settled
before. He, however, preferred to divide the House
on the merits of the measure of his opponents
before it was fairly before it in all
its bearings. The prejudices' must be great or the
judgment very faulty that would induce any one
to call such conduct becoming the dignity of a
statesman, or the justness of a legislator. This
episode in the home policy of the Foreign Secretary
is thus commented upon :

" The Derby GONernment had a Reform Bill which Lord
Palmerston was, but which Lord John was not, willing to
let pass. He would not let Lord Palmerston turn out the
Government, but he would do it himself, in the expectation
that it would fall to the conqueror to divide the spoil. He
laid a cunning trap, which caught all the Liberals, includ-
ing Palmerston; and on the strength of his success he was
able to treat with his rival on something like equal terms
for a division of the spoil. We shall not now vex our rea-
ders with a history of the intrigue by which the Reform
Bill of Lord Derby's Government was rejected without
even being discussed. We may be content to characterise
it in the plain and unparliamentary language of Sir Hugh
Cairns, who told Lord John Russell some severe truths.
" There is one subject," he said, " upon which the people
of this country are entirely agreed. They do not like any-
thing which bears the least appearance of or approach to
at tifice, or—l must use a homely phrase—a dodge. They
do not like it in business, they do not like it in politics,
but least of all will they admire it in a man who,
at a time when the best interests of his country at home and
our most peaceful hopes abroad demand all the patriotism,
all the candour, and all the forbearance of a statesman,
approaches the consideration of a great national question
like this, not fairly to criticise, not boldly to reject, but
with a crafty and catching device to confuse, and, if it may
be, to dislocate parties, and on that confusion and disloca-
tion to secure his own political aggrandisementand private
advantage."

In the remarks on the foreign affairs of last year
the mistaken notion entertained by Lord John of
the policy of the French Emperor furnishes another
vantage-ground of attack, and those who re-
member how emphatically the noble lord denied
the possibility of such an occurrence as
the seizure of Savoy taking place, and de-
clared before the assembled House of Commons,
that he had studied the character of that great
man, the Emperor, and he was convinced that he
contemplated no such annexation will agree that
the critic here has cause to question his perspicacity
and doubt his prophecies. In allusion to this
blunder and to the mistaken manner in which the
Treaty was conducted, the following passage
appears :--
For the manner in which this country was " supremely
diddled" in the affairs of the Commercial Treaty and
the annexation of Savoy, the colleagues of Lord
- 41.. blame.
But not on that account is Lord John hims if to escape
condemnation. Upon him, indeed, must the greater share
of the blame lie. He was in constant communication with
the French Court. It was his business to follow every
indication, to penetrate every design, and, by a bold face, to
shame the adversary. He had warning enough. Again
and again hewas told of the Emperor's designs upon Savoy.
In the simplicity of his heart, he could not believe it. He
was as blind as the bats that cling to the crevices of the
Foreign Offce. He saw nothing till the deed was finally
determined an.
If Lord John Russell had from the first shown a firm
front, and exhibited a disposition not to be mislead by the
Commercia Treaty and by asseverations that, in the pre-
sence of gnat armaments, really meant nothing, he might
have prevented the annexation of Savoy. He was gulled
into believiig that he had influence where he had none,
and he hadthe mortification of being obliged to rise in the
House of .;ionamons and eat his own words. Having
vouched here for the character of the French
Emperor, and the certainty of the French alliance, he had
to get up and calmly announce that the former was no
longer 'to be trusted, and that the latter was at an end.
Never him), Foreign Secretary in this country had to con-
fess so inilorious a defeat.
We comnend this spirited article to the notice of
all who vould peruse a first•rate commentary on
publ afairs, and for those who wlil not subscribe
to th) extreme views here taken, there will yet
be tie satisfaction of viewing the opinions of an
eloqoet opponent expressed in clear, concise,
and comprehensive words. There is an enter-
tainig paper on " Biographica Dramatica," which
will .epay the reader for glancing at it. It
denostrates in an impressive style the great
chanv that has taken place in regard to theatri-
cal clebrities. It says that " the morbid curiosity
aim the denizens of the stage has completely
died)nt," and hence the state of things has mate-
Half altered from the last generation, when "it
seerpd as if an unlucky person, whether an am
bithls Hamlet, or an unlucky Ophelia set forth
upo' the boards, they were forced in all fu ure
timito dance a torch-dance down the great hal l 04
life ike a set of princes and potentates at a Prussian
wecing, and found repose and shadow never mote

(g
.I\/rm-an Sinclair" in this instalment presents us
wit some important information in regard to the
my,erions railway forgeries. There is a paper on
MrDavis's .recent work on " Carthage," and its

Remains, which enters into an elaborate detail of
its plan, but speaks somewhat slightingly of its
merits, but at last it allows that " his name will be
quoted for ages to come in every discussion of the
antiquities of Carthage," in consequence of the
valuable stores he has added to the museum.
" School and College Life," its Romance and
Reality, is a very amusing notice of some work
that have lately appeared on this subject. Most
of the opinions here expressed are correct, and
above all the ridicule that is cast on those over-
drawn and exaggarated statements that appear in
some stories• In the tale of " Ernest Brace-
bridge's School-days," we find that thislintellectual
youth informed the doctor that he and his father
could talk " Latin and Greek together, just as
easily as we do French and German, and Italian."
It is wisely said that " what such a prodigy
should have been sent to school for at all, except
to puzzle the masters, is the mysterious part of
this history."

Dublin University Magazine.

A new story is begun in this number, called
"An Only Son." It promises well for a first
instalment, and presents us with some very natural
specimens of boys. Philip and Ned are likely
enough associates to be met with any day in our
wanderings on the high road of life; and Mrs.
Burkitt seems likely to prove a shrewd woman of
the world. A domestic tale like this has always
attractions for many. The literary criticisms in
this magazine are generally very good. There are
two articles on the subject, one, entitled " Tenny-
son's Philosophy.—ln Memoriam ;" and another,
" Recent Popular Novels." In the observations on
the philosophy of the Poet Laureate it is said that
the "' In Memoriam' is not a theological poem."
Its charm is that it describes the experience of
sorrow and doubt which a cultivated mind has
passed through on his way to a higher faith, and
a contented submission to the ills of life." Further
on, in dwelling on the views expressed concerning
faith, it is said, " We should wish a more cheerful
acknowledgment of the light which we have. The
poet dwells on the mystery of the possession of evil,
but does not admit, as he ought, that these are the
eyelids of the morning, the skirts of the mantle of
Him who decks himself with light as with a gar-
ment." '1 he novels criticised are "The Mill on the
Floss," " The Woman in White," and " Lavinia,"
all of which appeared last season, and were, in their
peculiar styles and distinctive characteristics, among
the most striking and successful. In the observa-
tions on the' Mill on the Floss" it is truly said,
that it is a mistaken notion which prompts female
writers of celebrity to assume a masculine disguise.
" Only a woman's hook" is a phrase which no just
or generous critic would think of using against
writers of the stamp of " Currer Bell," George
Sand, and theauthor of "Adam Bede." Such women
would have lost none of their present fame
had they always avowed their sex as openly as
Mrs. Hemans, Mrs. Somerville, and Mrs. Brown-
ing have done; their place in modern literature
will be determined not by their genders, but by
their books—by the beautiful things they have
written, rather than the beautiful things they
may have seemed in the flesh to masculine
eyes." Of the "Woman in White" no very great
opinion is entertained, but of " Lavinia" the writer
speaks highly, and those who have read the book
will agree that the praise is deserved. "We
heartily thank the author of ' Lavinia"for hav-
ing given us so clear a proof that the art of
writing a classic novel has not wholly died out
even in an age of groping realism and frantic
straining after new effects." There is a brief
memoir of the able physician, " Sir Henry Marsh,"
which is interesting to peruse. Also an article
on " Ships in Armour," and an engraving is given
of La Gloire. The discussion of the subject is
appropriate at the present time. It is mentioned
that " the two primary elements involved in
the construction and use of an iron-cased fleet,
namely, expense and skill, are in their develop-
ments in favour of England over any other
country." There are other papers of interest and
importance to complete the contents of this num-
ber as " The Maori War," and " Prospective
Politics."

Fraser's Magazine
A paper on our political relations with foreign
Powers opens this number. It analyses the con-
duct of our recent Cabinets, and attacks with con-
siderable severity the line of policy they have pur-
sued. With a good deal of truth and just severity
there is likewise some amount of prejudice,
inasmuch as a sweeping condemnation of every
successive English Government, and an approval of
the foreign policy of the French Emperor, are, to
say the least, somewhat inconsistent. The remarks
on the favour too often shown by our statesmen to
Austria are sound and well merited ; undoubt-
edly, a straightforward and manly course, with-
out regard to the interests or interference of
that treacherous Power, would solve many of
their perplexities. But, while admiring the
pertinence and directness of his attacks on our
Austrian sympathies, we cannot but wonder that
the same writer who so vehemently denounces
" the monstrous inconsistenciess" of Lord John
Russell, is so ready with plausible excuses, and
even indignant defences, of the conduct of the
foreign policy of another power, which, to ordinary
mortals, seemed still more uncertain and startling
in its changes. "A Strange Story of Titahua
shows us the miseries and dangers of compulsory
veracity. Like the visitors to Madame de Geniis's
famous Palace of Truth, the inhabitants of this
singular island expressed their real thoughts with-
out intention, and the result was generally very
unsatisfactory. The continuation of Mr. Whyte
Melville's story of " All Down Hill" gives us the an-
tecedents of the fair songstress who was introduced
to us last month, and who bids fair to be the
heroine of the story. The third paper on "France
and Paris forty, thirty, and twenty years ago,"
continues its discursive recollections, and, among
other interesting details, gives us some particulars
of the state of the French bar at those periods.
The writer's opinion of our neighbours forensic
ability in the decade from 1820 to' 1830 is highly
flattering. The romantic history of Ida Conway's
love affairs is continued, but the fair heroine,
though more truthfully drawn than many charming
damsels of romance, does not win on the reader's
sympathies. A. K. H. B. gives us another of his
pleasant essays, taking for his subject " Solitary
Days." Of course so genial and kindly a writer,
while admitting the advantages of occasional still-
ness and seclusion to the student, denounces con=
tinued loneliness as deteriorating to the nature and
depressing to both mind and body. Among its
dangers he mentions one to which the more highly-
organised are especially liable :—" There is an
influence," he says, "which is felt in a solitary
life which ought never to be permitted to gain the
upper hand. I mean the influence of our own
mental moods. It is not fit that a man should
watch his mental moods as he marks the weather,
and be always chronicling that on such a day he
was in high or low spirits, kindly disposed or
snappish, as the case may be. The more stirring
influence of intercourse with others renders men
comparatively heedless of the ups and downs of
their own feelings ; change of scenes and faces,
conversation, business engagements, may make the
day a lively or a depressed one, though they rose
at morning with a tendency to just the oppo-
site thing. But the solitary man is apt to
look too much inward, and to attach undue
importance to the fancies and emotions which arise
spontaneously within his own breast, many of them
in great measure the result of material causes."
After admitting that many kinds of mental work,
and more especially the labour of composition, can
only be adequately performed in stillness and soli-
tude, he goes on to comment on the dangers of
complete isolation from our kind :
The highest excellence, indeed, in some one department
of human exertion is not consistent with decent goodness
in all; you dwarf the remaining faculties:when you develop
one to abnormal size and strength. Thus men have been
great preachers, but uncommonly neglectful parents. Thus
have men been great statesmen, but omitted to pay their
tradesmen's bills. Thus men have been great moral and
social reformers, whose own lives stood much in need of
moral and social reformation. I should judge from a
portrait I have seen of Mr. Thomas Sayers, the champion
of England, that this eminent individual has attended to
his physical to the neglect of his intellectual development.
His face appeared deficient in intelligence, though his body
seemed abundant in muscle. And possibly it is better to
seek to develop the entire nature—intellectual, moral, and
physical—than to push one part of it into a prominence
that stunts and kills the rest. It is better to be a complete
man than to be essentially a poet, a statesman, a prise-
fighter. It is better that a tree should be fairly grown all
round, than that it should send out one tremendous
branch to the south, and have only rotten twigs in every
other direction ; better, even though that tremendous
branch should be the very biggest that ever was seen.
Such an inordinate growth in a single direction is truly
morbid. It reminds one of the geese whose livers go to
form that regal dainty, the pate de foie Bras. By sub-
mscaunnrerdevelopment ; but you
of life, you dwarf its
jleegctsinwginaggso, oasnedtogea innceerratlamu
la
make its liver grow as large as itself. I have known
human beings who practised on their mental powers a pre-
cisely analogous discipline. The power of calculating in
figures, of writing poetry, of chess_
playing„ of preachin g
sermons, was tremendous; but all their other faculties
were like thi legs and wings of the fattening goose.
Let us try to be entire human beings, round and com-
plete ; and if we wish to be so, it is best not to live too
much alone. The best that it in man's nature taken as a
whole is brought out by the society of his kind. In one
,r two respects he may be better in solitude, but not as the
complete man.

An account of the life and times of Hafiz, the cele-
brated Persian poet, will interest the reader. It is
Somewhat amusing, however, to find the author
..eferring to his former paper on the subject pub-
lished in Fraser, September, 1854. We fear,
amid the excitements and changes of the inter-
vening years, few of its readers will retain a distinct