The Sun.
London, England, 1857-05-22 00:00:00

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A Y 22, 18574

LITERATURE.

The Comprehensive History of England. Part; I.
and IL Blackie and Son.
A magnificent serial appears to have been here
commenced. A national illustrated " History of
England," giving promise of turning out to be an
improvement upon the far-famed Pictorial ! And
surely that is saying much in commendation of the
Comprehensive! The work is published in shilling,
instalments from month to month ; and the pros-
pectus announces in plain terms that the number
of embellishments, when the Annals are acturdly
completed, will extend to nothing short of a thou-
sand. Woodcuts for the most part, but, in erspersed
with these woodcuts, steel engravings of gre it beauty
—if we may estimate the general merit of the latter
from the exquisite specimen prefixed to the initial
part ; an engraving by Prior, from Cope's groat
painting of " The Supremacy of the Law," a work
of art worthily commemorative of the famous inci-
dent associating together the names of Prince
Henry and the Lord Chief Justice Gascaigne. The
motto selected for the new History is a couplet
(if we recollect rightly) from The Pirate Chorus in
Lord Byron's "Corsair"—rather a strange source
for a motto for such a title-page :
"Far as the breezes blow, the billows foam,
Survey our empire and behold our home."
The History will have reference to England's Civil,
Military, Religions, Intellectual, ai.d Social Ad-
vancement. The Vignette on the cover is grace-
fully suggestive in its way—if we except the pump-
handle tail of the British Lion at the feet of true
Allegorical Figure of Britannia. Among the few
coins represented in a cluster round this central
group we cannot imagine why the lot should have
fallen for distinction upon mean bad kings like
John and George IV. The Protector's coin—the
coin of William and Mary—and the three medals
on the opposite side, being rather more comprehen-
sible. The last-mentioned cluster especially—the
three medals—first the medal of the Great Exhibit
tion, 1851—secondly, the medal of the First Rail-
way, opened 1830—thirdly, the medal of the incor-
p.-Taiion. in 1853 of the Submarine and Electric
Telegraph Company. We wish the enterprise o
Messrs. Blackie and Company success in its de.
velopment.

Good in Everything. A Tale. By Mrs. Foot.
2 vols. Hurst and Blackett.
This novel is written with energy, and a tone
of earnestness pervades its spirit, but it is to be
wished that the authoress could have chosen some
means less startling and painful to effect her pur-
pose. She evidently intended to illustrate the
various conditions of the human mind when tried
by torturing suspense and harassed by conflicting
claims. To do this it is not reasonable to expect
that the course of events could flow on smoothly
as in the mind of a calm existence. The beings
whose careers are here chronicled passed through
the thickest of life's fitful fever, not its cool seques-
tered vale. It is impossible not to sympathise
kith Helen Monmouth, whose trials never unnerve
her for her duties, and who seems to rise superior
to the numberless evils by which she is surrounded.
It is otherwise with Frederick Beresford, how-
ever, for sad as his life was, it was in
a great measure caused by his own fault. It could
never be excusable or justifiable under any cir-
cumstances to form the contract he did at his grand-
father's death-bed ; and it is only a mortil feeling
and a false sense of right that would palliate such
conduct. The results of his rash act are vividly
exemplified ; and his remorse at finding it impos-
sible to make himself appear consistent to Helen
might point a moral to thoze who place themselves
in false positions. Perhaps it would have been
better to have left the evil irremediable on earth,
instead of introducing death as an alleviator ; but
the torments Beresford endured must have been
felt long after the immediate cause was removed.
With regard to Mabel Beresford it will appear to
many that her part is overdrawn, and it is to be
hoped that few could be her prototype; nevertheless
it is not the possibility of such wickedness existing,
that is to be questioned, but the advantage of thus pre-
senting it in so black a form in the pages of romance.
The stern resolve she exhibited, and her power of
self-command are depicted in a forcible and impres-
sive manner; and it is a fitting close to an:acquaint-
ance with so evil a nature to find that she, whose
cunning and dexterity had averted the terrors of
earthly justice, bad been overtaken by the retribu-
tion of Heaven in the sharpest sting that can affect
humanity. It is a relief to the reader to turn from
such horrors to the numerous objects of interest that
are elsewhere to be found in the tale. The account of
the family of the Monmouths departing from Eng-
land is touching and truthful, and the many diffi-
culties they encounter in India awaken the interest
for those so painfully situated. Mrs. Truman, the
old housekeeper, is a faithful sketch of an old, at-
tached servant, and it is gratifying to meet with
one so genial and devoted in a sphere that had been
contaminated by the presence of a Mattel Beres-
ford. Putting aside the above-mentioned draw-
backs, much remains in the narrative that is note-
worthy and commendable. The skill that has con-
structed the plot before us, and the feeling dis-
played in many of its passages, might be exercised
to advantage in compositions more pleasing and
desirable.

MR, COBDEN ON OUR TRADE WITH

CHIN A.

Mr. Lindsay, M.P., at a public meeting held is
the Albion Assembly Rooms, North Shields, on
Tuesday evening, read a communication he bad re-
ceived from Mr. Cobden with regard to our trade
with China. Mr. Caird, M. P., had handed several
written questions to Mr. Lindsay, and he had sent
them on to Mr. Cobden, whose reply he had re-
ceived to the following effect :

"Mr. Caird asks--
"1. What are the objects of the war ?
"2. Is Lord Elgin to demand permission for
British subjects to reside in China ?
"3. Is Chusan to be seized and permanently occu-
pied as the best emporium for British trade ?
"4. Is the navigation of the China seas and
rivers free to all countries to be insisted upon ?
"5. Are preparations, on a scale of due magni-
tude, being made for enforcing such conditions ?
"6. Is Lord Elgin cautioned against making any
sudden or patched-up treaty, which may render the
past bloodshed and expense ineffective ?"
To these questions Mr. Cobden replies :
"1. I should say that the objects of the war are
to divert public attention from domestic politics,
and keep the present administration in office.
Wars have generally had similar objects and always
have succeeded.

"2. Such a demand would be very unreason-
able, unless the Chinese Government were allowed
to make its own conditions—a right insisted on in
other countries. For instance, the United States
will not allow a British subject, if he be not quite
white, to reside in some parts of the country. The
Russian Government will not permit a British sub-
ject, if he be a Jew (at least it was so when I was
there in 1849) to carry on business in St. Peters-
burg, and our dear ally the Turk prohibits on pain
of death the entrance of Englishmen into Mecca.
But practically what advantage would be gained
by having the right of residing in any part of
China conceded to us ? What Englishmen are found
living for the purposes of trade in the interior of
Turkey or Persia, or even of our own territory of
India ? Why, with the exception of half a score
of Indigo-planters, there is hardly an Englishman,
or even a Scot, to be found residing in British In-
dia, beyond the great sea ports. There are nearly
as many British houses of business in China as in
India. It is a chimera of the brain, this cry for ad-
mission into China.

"3. Why seize anything that does not honestly
belong to you ? If I were to seize some of your
Ayrshire cows, you would send me to Newgate or
Ilanwell. I am, however, by no means sure that
it would not be a wiser plan to give up Hong Kong,
and offer to withdraw from all the five ports to
which we are entitled to trade, on condition that
Chusan were made free, like Singapore, to the
trade of all the world, and declared neutral terri-
tory. My own opinion is, that the more contact
we have with the people of China on the mainland,
the greater the danger of collision ; that it will not
lead to any increase of our trade, whilst its viii occasion
a constant increase of our military and iiaval t sta-
blishments to protect British merchants and fili-
busters, and of course lead to frequent re currenceT
of war. On the other hand, if Chusan were a free
port, the Chinese would bring their silk and tea
there, and take your manufactures (as much ?a they
do now) in return ; and after a long experience of
the benefits of a peaceful trade with the barbririans,
the Chinese people might come to wish to be better
acquainted. Why not ? It is human nature:.
"4. The navigation of the China seas is free.
No nation allows foreigners a free navigation of its
rivers. Try it on the Loire, the. Guadalquive r, the
Po, the Dnieper. Surely you would not be so
all
un-
reasonable or unjust as to demand privileges for
the world' in China which the other nations will

not accord to us.
"5. It requires no great amount of force in the
present weakness of the Chinese Government to
dictate any terms by cutting off the supply of food
and other necessaries to Pekin, as befo'e. But the
question still remains, Cui bono ? Wh.o is to bene-
fit ? Look at the Queen's Speech of Ibe session of
1843. There we are congratulated ox i having dic-1
tated peace, our own terms of peace, to China, and
we were promised a great extension c )f our export
to that country. The Manchester pa. )ple threw up
their caps, and thought there was to be no end of
the demand for cotton goods for Cliiw 1. I was the