The Sun.
London, England, 1845-05-01 00:00:00

AIIVSTVORTIPS MAGAZINE.

" Revelations of London " continues as full of
mystery as ever. Mr. Ainsworth must have a de-
cided taste for the horrible and marvellous ; he seems
animated by the.same feeling as Crebillon, when he
exclaimed, "Corneille s'est empare du: ciel, et Mo-
liere de la terre, rien ne nietait laisse que les Eiders
et je m'y suis jete." Whether imposed by necessity
or choice, he fulfils his task with vigour, and has
doubtless many admirers amon, the lovers of ro-
mance. " A Bit of Still Life" is an amusing
adventure at an illicit still among the hills of
Connemara. Mr. W. F. Ainsworth's "Travels
in the East " are as interesting as ever;
the present Number, entitled " The Habor, Re-
hoboth, and Saladin's Castle," is full of information.
We subjoin a description of the last memorial of the
mighty Soldan :
It is remarkable that this chieftain, who became the
bulwark of Muhammadanism, at a time when it was
seriously threatened by the enthusiasm of the Christian
nations, who was the greatest terror of the crusaders,
and whose name, indeed, belongs as much to poetry and
romance as to history, has left few monuments behind to
commemorate his power and prosperity. It was a part
of that character, which he assumed, when his talents
and energy had established him as defender of the faith,
and in winch he was throughout as consistent as he was
in that humanity and chivalrous moderation which has
earned to him the applause of history, that he never
allowed himself to be dazzled by his great elevation and
successes : his garments were of coarse, woollen, his
drink, water, and he uniformly discountenanced all pomp
and vanity. Hence his works were consecrated to public
use. Cairo was fortified with a wall and a citadel, and
masques, colleges, and hospitals, were endowed in every
city of Arabia and Syria ; but for himself he never built
either a palace or a castle. At the presnt day a hall, '
with noble monolith columns of red granite, some rude
granaries, and a solitary well, still preserve his name in
Misr al Kahira ; a fort on the confines of the desert, ce-
lebrated in the annals of French occupation, a suburb of
Damascus, and the ruins now first resuscitated from
darkness and oblivion, are among the few existing remi-
niscences of the noble Saracen.
" The ruins now before us formed, indeed, in their
utter desolation the most fitting monument to that self-
denying warrior, who commanded at his death that no
solemnities should be observed, but that his shirt should
be made fast to the point of a lance,• and carried before
his dead body, as an ensign, while the public crier an-
nounced to the people that Saladin, Conqueror of the
East, of all the greatness and riches he had in his life,
carrieth not with him after his death anything more
than his shirt.' A sight,' says an old historian,
Worthie so great a king, which wanted nothing to his
eternall commendation more than the true knowledge of
his salvation in Christ Jesus.' "
The following account of the combustible pro-
perties of asphalte is worthy of attention, with regard
to the facilities it may afford in the navigation of the
great rivers :
" We obtained at this place—the inhabitants of which
were very friendly and well•disposed—large quantities
of asphalte, or solid bitumen, and the Colonel determined
upon remaining the next day, to experiment upon its
qualities as a fuel. The experiments were made on
board the Tigris, and it was not found to answer well,
alone, being so fusible as to cake and extinguish itself
for want of air. The great quantity of combustible mat-
ter also caused so much smoke, or of carburetted pro-
duct, to be given off before complete combustion had
taken place, as to choke the vents, and add to the impedi-
ments already existing to a free supply of air. These
inconveniences were, to a certain extent, obviated, by
mixing it with other substances ; but we had only earth
and stones and dry dung to experiment with. It natu-
rally answered best with the last, which is the ordinary
fuel of the Arabs. It would answer still better mixed
with cinders, and a fuel has been lately patented in this
country, which is made of the refuse cinders, used in
brickfields, and earth, cemented with oil of tar, which is
a fluid bitumen, or petroleum.
I have been the more explicit upon this subject, be-
cause so highly combustible a substance exists in con-
siderable quantities in various places on the Euphrates,
Tigris, and Persian Gulf, and it may become of high im-
portance in any future steam navigation of the rivers ;
also because the result of the experiments was made the
subject of special reports to Government, not all of a fa-
vourable character ; while it is quite evident that it
would require the exercise of but trifling ingenuity to
overcome obstacles which positively take their origin
from the excess of combustible matter presented to us."
The " Forger" is a translation from Alexandre
Dumas, written in that abrupt and vigorous style for
which all his productions are remarkable. The fol-
lowing simple tribute to- the lamented Laman Blan-
chard must be admired by all, for all must feel its
truth :
Vir probus et justus, jacet hic ; qui vixit honeste ;
In medic vitae, sors inopina fuit.
Supra alios homines, scribendi doctus in arte ;
Quod scripsit, pulchrum est ; utile, et inocuum.
The adventures of " Hereward, the Saxon," which
is commenced in this Number, promises to be inte-
resting ; it is an account of the Norman Conquest and
another Harold the Pauntless. " The Haunte
d
House in Yorkshire" o,:e of those terrible ghost
stories which must not be belibYed, yet cannot be re-
futed. On the whole Ainsworth Oust this month be
very welcome to the lovers of light literature; it is
full of variety, and pursues its course with unabated
irit.

TAIT'S MAGAZINE.
The historical sketch of the disturbance in Svviilzer-
land contains a great deal of information and
writer
sound reflections in a small compass. The
justly remarks that nothing can afford a more strik-
ing example of the manifold evils attending a Federal
Government than the presentposition of thatcountry.
Distrust, jealousy, nay, even feelings of the most
hostile nature exist between the German, French,
and Italian Cantons. Their political, commercial,
and religious interests are in many instances op-
posed to each other, and the whole union is threatened
with a civil war, because one canton chooses to adopt
a certain system of education. But, besides, there
is a radical defect in the original construction of the
Union. There is no controlling power sufficiently
strong to neutralize or curb the rebellious disposition
of on
of discontented States, and Switzerland exhibits
it-
self among monarchical governments only as abeacon
to warn them against democratic institutions. But
Switzerland is not the only republic where this exhi.
bition has taken place. The United States led the
way, and the two together have certainly lowered
veryite pumbluiech aninuegNeenrenrinaleenstt.imAatn the whole
fiotergivingasystem
of
summary
of late events at Lucerne and Zurich, the writer thus
concludes :

" But whatever may be their professions, it is quite
certain that 'Switzerland is no longer the feat of those
disinterested sentiments, and noble feelings, which once
illuminated its history. On the contrary, the chief cha•
racteristic of its rulers and of its society is littleness !
the littleness of small towns. Ambition is little, poli-
tical views aro narrow, and intrigaes arc for paltry ob-
jects. Great talents find no exercise worthy of their
powers ; ar.d it is not wonderful that where they do
exist, their possessors desire to see a capital in their
own couatry, and a means afforded by a central govern-
ment farilie development of a larger system both of
commerce and of politics. Though great advances have
been mat e. in education, much yet remains to be done as
regards moral culture. The Protestant clergy are t
tun-
fortunately reprded with little respeallot,shvrodutogbaueuvil
esuitou of juicysizes many Of them ,

to be made the tools of party ; their churches are thinly
attended, whilst drinking houses, dancing rooms, and
the theatre, are crowded every Sunday to excess. There
is no country in the world where there exists in propor-
tion such an enormous number of public houses, and
those Of the worst character, or where they are so con-
tinually frequented, alike by young students, the pea-
santry, and the townsmen. The universal laxity of
morals is almost incredible.

" Whilst, however, the views of the Liberals are more
enlarged, and better calculated to enable their country
to keep pace with the progress of the age, than those of
their opponents, it is to be regretted that they have af-
forded them, in various ways, just grounds for reproach.
Many of the leaders of the party make no secret of their
want of respect for the established religion ; and on se-
veral occasions they have shown a great want of political
prudence in provoking the enmity of the clergy of their
own persuasion, and by precipitating measures which,
without effecting any good, have excited the malevolence
of their opponents, and the distrust of their more pru-
dent friends."

This Number contains the conclusion of " The
Goldsmith's Daughter," by Mrs. Johnson ; a review
of Thiers' History; and an article on Poor-laws for
Scotland, in which the writer says, " He demurred
not at what Mr. Wakley thought the perfection of a
poor-law—the supply of a butcher-meat dinner and
two pints of porter per day, but we wish to put an
end to the cruel and selfish hallucination in this
country, that a human being can be efficiently sup-
ported on a shilling a week." There is also a pithy
disquisition on the Maynooth question, which tells
some striking truths, from which several of the Libe-
ral party might profit. We give the following as a
specimen :
That this measure is, in many grave respects, a
highly disagreeable one to us, it must be needless to as-
sure our readers. State endowment of a particular form
of religious belief, a new ecclesiastical impost, taxation
of the public in favour of the creed of a sect, the salary-
ing of theologians out of the Censolidated Fund—no-
thing can possibly be worse, except that state of things
of which this scheme is a slight corrective. But we can-
not overlook the "circumstances" which turn this wrong
into a sort of right. Tbat gigantic iniquity, the Church
of England in Ireland, is a circumstance which, in our
apprehension, cempletely forbids, so long as it continues
to exist, the application of the principle on which we
would otherwise deal with the matter. We confess we
have no heart to introduce the " voluntary principle"
into this business. It is not a case for the voluntary
principle. If voluntaryism is to be the rule of our eccle-
siastical legislation, make it the rule—lrish Catholics
have no sort of objection. But voluntaryism is not the
rule. Do what we will, we cannot yet get it made the
rule. Not voluntaryism, but state endowment is the rule
of the ecclesiastical polity of Great Britain ; and this
being so, it is hard that the case of the poorest, and
most oppressed and insulted body of religionists in the
empire should be made an exception. Do-the-boys
Hall is scarcely the fittest field for a first experiment in
ecclesiastical economy and laissez-faire. We must begin
somewhere else the war against state endowment of
theological creeds. We should be indeed delighted, if
we could stop this Maynooth grant, in the pure, unaided
strength of the voluntary principle : for, were the prin-
ciple strong enough for that, it would be strong enough
for some other things of considerably more practical
momenta But we cannot. Voluntaryism has, really and
practically, no voice in the matter. The protestations
of voluntaryism are drowned and lost in the clamours of
'No Popery' and Protestant Ascendency.' The
strength of the agitation is not in the voluntary princi-
ple, but in the no popery and ascendency passion. Vo-
luntaryism is perfectly powerless in the matter, except
as a subordinate ally of no-popery and ascendency. As it
is powerless, we think it should be neutral. One thing
at least is clear—if the advocates of the voluntary prin-
ciple feel themselves bound actively to oppose this Bill,
they are most especially bound to oppose the opposition
—the most illiberal, bigoted, and fanatical opposition—
with which it is assailed by men whose principles are as
contrary to theirs as darkness to light."

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.
HOUSE OF COMMONS, April 30.
The SPEAKER took the Chair at the usual hour.
RAILWAYS.
Mr. FOX MAULE presented a petition, numerously
signed, in favor of the Scottish Central Railway.
Mr. BUSFEILD presented a petition in favour of the
Leeds and Dewsbury Ita'lway Bill.
The Epsom and Dorking Railway Bill, and the Eye-
wash Valley Railway Bill, were read a second time.
Mr. COLLETT presented a petition from the borough of
Athlone in favour of the Mullingar, Athlone, and Langford
Railway.
On the motion of Mr. PLUMPTRF., the South• Eastern
Raile ay Extensions Bills were read a seco-,d time.
Mr. THORNELY presented a petition praying to be heard
by counsel against the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway.
Mr. DARBY wished to draw the attention of the House to
a petition of his Grace the Archbishop of York against the
Direst Northern Line, a project in Group X ; also petitions
against projects in groups before Committees on Railways, and
also the right of parties to prs sent petitions to be referred to
Committees on groups of railways in ca'e projects may after-
wards come before them in the shape of Bills.
After a short discussion, the matter dropped.
GRANT TO MAYNOOTH.
Mr. JAMES prefetited several petitions from Hull against
(as we understood) any further grant to Maynooth.
Mr. LOCKHART presented petitions from Lanarkshire to
the same effect.
Mr. :UND presented a similar petition.
Mr. FOX NIAI3LE presented petitions against railway
travelling on Sundays.
mr. B. DF.N ISON presented four petitions against any
further grant to Maynoeth.
Lord EMLYN presented petitions praying the House to
take some steps to improve the state of harbours of refuge.
Mr. BRIGHT pi esented a petition from Liverpool against
the practice of flogging in the army, and one from Edinburgh
against the game laws. He also presented sixteen petitions
against the grant to the College of Maynooth, and
others against the sale of intoxicating liquors on the
Sabbath day, and also a petition from certain proprietors
of railway property for the establishment of some rule by which
railway directors should not dispose of their property without
their consent.
Sir J. Y. Buller, Mr. Greenhough, Mr. Greene, Mr. Ha-
milton, Sir G. Strickland, and other Hon. Members, pre-
sented petitions against the Maynooth grant.
Mr. HAMILTON presented twelve petitions against the
national system of education in Ireland.
Mr. Sergeant MURPHY presented a petition from an indi-
vidual signing himself Mackenzie, in favour of the grant to
Maynooth.
Mr. M. GIBSON presented a petition from the Presby-
terians of Manchester, approving of the ;rant to the college of
Maynooth ; but praying the House not to take the fund for its
support out of the taxes of the country, but from the revenues
of the Irish Church.
Mr. P. BORTHWICK presented a petition from the agri-
culturists of Worcestershire, praying that an inquiry be made
into the operation of the income-tax, as it respected the small-
class farmers, who, in consequence of the depreciation in the
prices of their produce, were unable to pay it.
MAYNOOTH.

Mr. T. S. DUNCOMBE gave notice that, in the event of
the Maynooth College Bill being read a third time, he would
more that it its provisions be limited to three years.
Mr. SHARMAN CRAWFORD wished to give notice that
when Lord John Russell moved his resolutions he would move
an amendment to the first resolution, that after the :word
opportunity" in the second line, the e words should be in-
serted—" give immediate attention to the claims so repeatedly
urged for extending the Parliamentary suffrage."—( A laugh.)
Mr. WYSE postponed his motion regarding the University
of Dublin.