The Sun.
London, England, 1857-05-19 00:00:00

THE QUARTERLIES.

The Edinburgh; Review, No. CCXI fr.—The ex-
traordinary nature of the political article in the
Edinburgh we have already taken occasion to notify
in our leading columns. It cmstitutes, in literal
►ruth, a formal secession of the Oid Whig Quarterly.
from Whio,fism—seeing that the Review utterly re-
nounces L.rd John Russell, in a sudden and cer-
tainly a not very decorous preference for his most
conspicuous (and for the time being successful) rival,
Viscount Pamerston. Englishmen have no great
liking for what are called fair-weather friends—any
more than they regard with complacency the ad-
ministration of a kick to a man who is down. And.
here, in the current " Political" of the Edinburgh
are BOTer—the kick and the fair-weather friendship !
Tho former bestowed upon Lord John, the latter on
Lord Palmerston. Decidedly the best part of this
clever but flagitious paper is that which has particu-
larly reference to Mr. Gladstone. The whole con-
trihtation is entitled " The Past Session and the
New Parliament." Previously, the old thread-bare
subject of " British Relations with China" is worn
yet more threadbare than ever—trituratng to the
utmost possible tenuity—by another reviewer,
notwitkstanding that the whole gloss has so very
recently been taken off the Chinese by the debates
in Parliament and by contemporary discussions in
the newspapers. A generous tribute of admiration
is offered to the heroic memory of " Alexander the
Great" in the opening article of the number—and.
this principally, be it observed, in deprecation of
the depreciatory view recently taken by Mr. Grote
of the career and character of that renowned con-
queror., As to the sources of information upon the
subject preserved to the world from the old classic
times, the critic remarks :

" Of the life of Alexander we have five consecutive
narratives, besides numerous allusions and fragments
scattered up and down various Greek and Latin wri-
ters. Of these last, the greatest in number and the
most curious in detail are to be found in the strange
miscellany of Athenosus ; but perhaps the most really
valuable are due to the judicious and accurate Strabo.
Of our five chroniclers, Arrian and Quintus Curtins
have written separate hi.itories of the great conqueror.
The work of Arrian has come down to us entire, with
the exception of a single lacuna : Curtius has several
such gaps, and the whole of the two first books are
wanting. Plutarch has devoted to Alexander one of
his longest biographies ; Diodorus bestows on him a
whole book of his universal history ; Justin gives
more succinct narrative in his epitome of Trogus Porn-
peius. But we have again to regret a very consider-
able lacuna i❑ the narrative of Diodorus, which how-
ever is partially supplied by the headings of the chapters
being preserved.
‘, Here, it might be thought, are authorities enough,
bat unluckily, among all the five, there is not a lrt
gle contemporary chronicler. All five write at second-
hand, the earliest of them about three centuries after
Alexander's death. The value of all, it is clear, must
depend upon the faithfulness with which they repre-
sent the original documents, and upon the amount of
critical power which they may have brought to bear
upon their examination. Unluckily again, among all
the five, only one has any pretensions to the name of a
critic. Arrian alone appears to have combined the will
and power to exercise a discreet judgment upon the
statements of his predecessors."

Aided by these'five rather dubious lights, we are
left to form our own conclusion as to the career and
character of Alexander. The conclusion arrived at
by the reviewer being, for the most part, identical
with that formed some time back in his great history
by Bishop Thirlwall. lii the subsequent paper,
" The Last Census of France," namely, that of
1856, is analysed. From the third contribution
relating to The Atlantic Ocean, we take the follow-
ing extract—premising that it appears there merely
as a quotation. It is a brief but elegant description
by Lieutenant Maury, of—