The Sun.
London, England, 1861-06-13 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

Lectures on Colonisation and Colonies. By Her-
man Merivaie, A. M. New edition. Longman.
These lectures were delivered by Professor Mere-
vale before the University of Oxford during the
veers 1839-40-41, at a time when little interest was
taken in the welfare or advancement of our colonial
possessions by the general public; and the Govern-
ment treated the subject with great indifference.
Our penal colonies were looked upon as
aconvenl-
conveni-
ence to rid the country of that portion of its crimi-
nal population who were not bad enough to hang,
bat far too depraved to keep at home, It was from
the conviction that great good would result to the
mother country, as well as to her dependencies, by
the development of our colonial resources, by stimu-
lating emigration that Professor Merivale under-
took the task of collecting the details of these
lectures. Since the date of their delivery
a sort of mania for emigration has taken
plane, owing to the great increase of the
population, the late famine in Ireland, and above
all the discovery of gold in Australia and other
places, so that what twenty years ago was new to
most people is to-day known to nearly all; thus Mr.
Merivale's lectures must have possessed far greater
interest when, from his prcfessor's chair,he described
the capabilities and resources of our various
colonies to the attentive students than they
can be expected to have for, those who
fancy that they know all about colonies, emigra-
tion, and the world in general. But it is not a.
superficial sketch of his subject that the author
has taken ; he has evidently devoted much time
in preparing these lectures, for not only does he
describe each of our own colonies and enters into
a history of their first occupation, and their forms of
government, but he also examines those of other
countries—in fact, he treats of colonies generally ;
of course, however, devoting most attention to
those of England. He describes at some length
the Spanish colonies in the "West Indies, and.
gives a statistical account of their condition in:
respect to wealth and commerce. 'The vast rictlee
of some of the early Spanish and Portuguese
settlers is almost beyond belief, and yet they
never acquired any fortune, their habits were
extravagant, their estates neglected, and although
they could always command large sums of money
the gambling-table and wild speculations en-
guiphed it all. Much attention has been paid to
the results gained by the emancipation of the
slaves in our West Indian possessions. It is main-
tained tl,,f when the slave trade was aloolisht4l, owing to th, gradual but steady decrease
of the negro population in the colonies,
the proprietors of plantations would have bees
unable to keep up the stock, and that a recourse to
free labour would have been unavoidable. The .
treatment of the aborigines by all nations seems to.
have been alike cruel and unjust; and although we
may cry out with indignation at the bPAbarities or
Cortez and Pizarro, if we look a little:into the early
history of Australia we shall find tliat the virtuous
Angle-Saxon was not far behind them. Thanks to
lead, poison, and alcohol, the old race has disap-
peared.
.before the white man, and in fact our boast-.
ed etvilisation is to the Australian aborigine proves a
literal extermination. Much valuable information,
both historical and statistical, is to be found in this
volume, and although the lectures were addressed.
to an audience some twenty years ago, they are no
lesswortz.y of careful perusal. Copious notes and
statistical tables aro appended to each chapter,
showing the increase of various populations in
succeeding years, together with
the advance or
retrogression of particular colonies in wealth and
produce; and although from the fact of the work.
being composed of a series of lectures, the various sub-
jects are not in as collected a form as one could wish,
to constitute a book of reference, the full informa-
tion given in the contents of each chapter in a great
measure overcomes this difficulty, while the same
diversity greatly increases the interest of each in-.
dividual lecture,

N P °LEON-SARRE] lii-CAVOUR !II

I Various hypothesis have been advanced—some
of them by correspondents in our own journal-..
with the view of accounting for Count Cavour's
death. The whole thing appears to us as plain as
anything can be. The doctors did not cause his
illness, but being ill, the doctors caused his death.
They did this by their bleedings on six different oc-
casions in the course of a few days. But then comes
the question, ‘. What caused the Count's illness ?"
The question should be, not what, but who caused
the illness of the late Prime Minister of Italy ?
We have no doubt whatever on the point. The
grave responsibility of an illness which terminated
in death, rests on the head of Louis Napoleon,
and on his head. alone. 'We do not say this on
light grounds. It comes to us from a variety of
quarters, entirely unconnected with each other,
and those quarters in which the most correct infor-
mation ought to exist. We feel that we are justified
in affirming that some time ago Louis Napoleon
had made it a sine qua non with Count Cavour,
acting as the responsible minister of Victor Em-
manuel, that in consideration of Imperialism doing
certain things_ the evacuation of Rome by the
French being among the number—the Island of
Sardinia should be ceded to France. And not only,
we are further assured, did Count Cavour, although. reluctantly, acquiesce in this, but he actually signed
and sealed an elaborately drawn-up agreement,
binding Victor Emmanuel to fulfil his engagements.
It is further most confidently affirmed that a few
weeks ago Louis Napoleon became most urgent for
the fulfilment of the bond into which Count Cavour
had entered, and that the knowledge of the storm
of public indignation, not only in Italy but through-
out Europe, which such a cession of Sardinia to
France would call forth, had such an effect on his
mind, as to bring on that illness which, in the hands
of his ignorant physician, so speedily ended in death.
The responsibility, therefore, of the death of Count
Cavour rests partly on Louis Napoleon, and partly
on the Turin physicians—on the former in the first
instance, and on the latter in the second.
We have said that we speak from what we re-
gard as positive information on this point. It will
be remembered, we have no doubt, by some of our
readers, that as far back as three months ago we
expressed, on more than one occasion, a strong
conviction that Louis Napoleon had made the
cession of the island of Sardinia, an indispensable
condition to the evacuation of Rome by the French
troops. The reluctance of Count Cavour to carry-
cut an agreement which he knew would bring
down on his head the indignation of all Europe,
would satisfactorily account for Louis Napoleon's
refusing, down till the present hour, to either with
draw his troops from Rome, or to recognise the
Italian kingdom. As a proof of the confidence
which we repose in the accuracy of our statement,
that a treaty was actually signed by the late Count
Cavour, ceding Sardinia to France, in return for
certain services rendered to Victor Emmanuel by
Louis Napoleon---we no less confidently affirm, that
our Government are perfectly aware of the facts of
the case, and that the matter will very speedily be.
brought before Parliament.—Morning Advertuer.