The Sun.
London, England, 1845-12-01 00:00:00

THY SUN,

MAGAZINE DAY.
BLACKWOOD'S.
The article on the corn-laws, which is headed the
"Scottish Harvest," is one of the roost rimusng for its
absurdity that has appeared in Blackwood for many
months. North is never in such al,towering passion
against Whigs, and Liberals, and Radicals as when some
rich prey that his party have wrongfully obtained, and
long enjoyed, is about to be snatched from them, and
justice done to the rest of the community. The repeal
of the Test and Corporation Acts, the Catholic Emanci-
pation Bill,'and the Reform Bill, were all horrible enor-
mities. Month after month were their mischievous ten-
dencies pointed out, the ruin of the country prognosti-
cated, and the downfall of England announced us an
event as certain as the rising of the sun. Yet still he
will not learn wisdom, and will go on prophecying,
though all his predictions have been falsified, and the
people of this country are more contented, and loyal, and
prosperous than at any former period, and their wealth
and gigantic undertakings surpass al that have gone
before them. The noise against abolishing the
corn-laws may, therefore, be considered a good
omen, and regarded as the forerunner of what this
seer of the north calls the greatest calamity, but
what most men consider as the greatest boon that could
be granted, not only to a hard-working and industrious
population, but to the very landlords and tenants them-
selves. It is curious to witness the beautiful visions
which his imagination draws of the present working of
the system, the incalculable benefits which it confers on
all classes ; and contrast these with the dismal, dark
clouds that, owing to the malevolent machinations of
Cobden and Bright, have been for some time lowering
on the horizon. "We cannot," says he, " conceive a
measure more wise in its operations, inasmuch as it ac-
commodates itself to the peculiar circumstances of the
times, than the present form of the corn-law." !But
how awful would be the change should the Parliament,
led astray by coin selfish traitors or some infatuated
statesmen, be so mad as to abolish protection, and de-
prive the country of the inestimable blessings of the
sliding-scale. Then the thaw-bacon would be driven to
the railroads. " The flail would be silent in the barn,
and the song of the reapers in the field. o,Devirs- dust—
Devil's-dust ! have we really declined so far that you
are to be the Sinon to bring us to this sorry pass." "It
may be so," he adds, " for a small shard-beetle can
upset a massive candlestick ; and it will be so
assuredly, if the protection principle is abandoned."
These are fair specimens of the entire article, and
on the whole are very consolatory, for they show that
the greatest anomaly in our system of lesgislation,
and the most ruinous and unjust law ever passed
by the aristocracy cannot be supported by better argu-
ments. It may be necessary to state, however, that the
communications in the same article respecting the state
of the crops in Scotland, made by Mr. Stephens, author
of " The Book of the Farm," are of a very different
character, and furnish apparently a very impartial de-
scription of the Scottish harvest. The light reading
in this number requires no particular notice, but there
are two historical reviews, ably written, and possessing
much interest. One on the reign of George 111., by
Horace Walpole; and the other a third notice of the
achievements of the great Duke of Marlborough. The
difficulties which he had to contend with both from op-
position at home, the miserable jealousy of the Dutch
generals, and the imperturbable obstinacy of the States,
were not at all inferior to those whiCh so long harassed
Wellington in the Peninsula, and totally defeated some
of his best laid plans. Like the iron Duke, however,
Marlborough rose superior to every obstruction, never
despaired of his country, and finally beat all the best
generals of France. In describing the movements of
the allied army some nine months previous to the battle
of Ramilies, the writer has furnished i.some:interesting
particulars of the relative position of the two armies on
that small tract of ground rendered classic one hundred
and ten years afterwards by the glories of Waterloo.
On that very battle field, Marlborough, on August 18,
1705, had made all the arrangements for a great battle
and a decisive victory, but the Dutch generals and
deputies refused to co-operate with him, and he was re-
luctantly compelled to retire from the field without
striking a blow. With heavy heart he remeasured his
steps to the banks of the Dyle, and on retiring, said
" I am at this moment ten years older than I was four
days ago." We subjoin the description to which we
refer:—

" Finding it impossible to prevail on the Dutch deputies,
who, in every sense, were so many viceroys over him, to
agree to any attempt to force the passage of the Dyle, he re-
solved to turn it. For this purpose the army was put in
motion on the 14th August; and, defiling to his left, he
directed it in three columns towards the sources of the Dyle.
The march was rapid, as the Duke had information that
strong reinforcements, detached from the army of Alsace,
would join Villeroi on the 18th. They soon came to ground
subsequently immortalized in English story. Oa the 16th
they reached Genappe, where, on 17th June, 1815, the Life
Guards, under Lord Anglesea, defeated the French Lancers;
on the day following the enemy retired into the forest of
Soignies, still covering Brussels, and the Allied head-
quarters were moved to Braine la Leude. On the 17th
August a skirmish took place on the plain in front of
Waterloo; and the alarm being given, the Duke hastened to
the spot, and rode over the field where Wellington and Napo-
leon contended a hundred and ten years afterwards. The
French upon this retired into the forest of Soignies, and
rested at Waterloo for the night. The slightest glance at the
map must be sufficient to show, that by this cross march to
Genappe and Waterloo, Marlborough had gained an immense
advantage over the enemy. He had interposed between
them and France. He had relinquished for the time, it is
true, his own base of operations, and was out of communica-
tion with his magazines; but he had provided for this by
taking six days' provisions for the army with him ; and he
could now force the French to fight or abandon Brussels, and
retire towards Antwerp—the allies being between them and
France. Still clinging to their fortified lines on the Dyle,
and desirous of covering Brussels, they bad only occupied
the wood of Soignies with their right wing, while the allies
occupied all the open country from Genappe to Frischermont
and Braine la Leude, with their advanced posts up to La
Haye Sainte and Mount St. John. The allies now occupied
the ground. afterwards covered by Napoleon's army: the
forest of Soignies and approaches to Brussels were guarded
by the French. Incalculable were the results of a victory
gained in such a position : it was by success gained over an
army of half the size, that Napoleon established his power
in so surprising a manner at Marengo. Impressed with such
ideas, Marlborough, on the 18th August, anxiously recon-
noitred the ground; and finding the front pi acticable for the
passage of troops, moved up his men in three columns to the
attack. The artillery was sent to Wavre ; the allied columns
traversed at right angles the line of march by which Blucher
advanced to the support of Wellington on the 18th June,
1815. Had Marlborough's orders been executed, it is pro-
bable he would have gained a victory, which, from the rela-
tive position of the two armies, could not have been but de-
cisive ; and possibly the 18th August, 1705, might have be-
come as celebrated in history as the 18th June, 1815."

FRASER'S MAGAZINE.

" Cambridge Studies " relates to old grievances often
brought before the public—the defective systems of edu-
cation pursued at the two Universities. But these
grievances cannot be too often exposed, and all who en-
deavour to abate the lamentable defects and put new life
into the consitution of those venerable seats of learning,
merit public approbation. These influence the character
and acquirements of statesmen and senators; they have a
still more powerful effect upon men destined for the
Church, and, indeed, all classes are more or less affected
by the manner in which the youth of the nation are in-
structed for the duties of life. The writer of this article,
who seems well acquainted with the working of the sys-
tem, says, his strongest objection to one feature of it is,
the compulsory infliction of mathematics upon the classi-
cal student, without binding the corresponding classical
yoke on the neck of the mathematician; and he asserts
that not one mathematical student in a hundred has the
the slightest pretension to even a rudimental acquain=
tance with the classics. This is a strong assertion, but
there is too much truth in it. The monks, who regulate
the course of study, are among the most ignorant of the
people, and know little or nothing of what is useful, nay,
absolutely necessary for the business of active life.
Students may leave college good mathematicians; they
may be announced to their admiring relatives as senior
optimes, or wranglers, but their studies are limited
almost entirely to the solution of mathematical and alge-
braical questions, the knowledge of which, except, per-
haps. for those destined to be schoolmasters, confer no
benefit on them whatever. The following extract may
be a little too severe, but, unfortunately, the facts are so
palpable that there is no possibility of denying them "
But we take up the second division, and go on to inquire
whether it be true that Cambridge mathematics have worked
so extensive and so wonderful results in mental development
and power. Do we recognise their undercurrent in our lite-
rature of the pulpit, the bar, or the closet? Have they
helped to form a prose style, like Dryden's, of whom the
only record in the Trinity Register is a confinement to gates
for a fortnight? Can you tell us of any senior wrangler
within the last ten years, who can write an essay, having the
lucid order or the connected sweetness of Addison ? We say
nothing of the imagination or the humour. If we must
speak plainly, we will say at once that all this supposed
advantage of geometrical analysis, with its attention, its
coherency, and its continuous argument, is simply and singly
—trash. Nothing more. Great mathematicians, as mathe-
maticians, are not only the most incorrect writers, but they
are also the most slovenly and inaccurate conversers of all
educated men. Newton, stammering out an explanation of
coining, and confusing his hearers in informing them, was a
type of the race. We knew one eminent mathematician,
whose obscurity and unconnectedness of talk it was impos•
sible to equal, except by his composition. When it has hap-
pened that able mathematicians have shown themselves to
be transparent and accomplished writers, it has been not only
because the vehement flame of natural genius cleared the
air, but because the vigour of their classical taste has enabled
them to repel the enervating and corrupting influences of the
infection. The poison has been mastered by the antidote.
This has been the case with some of the living judges • you
may trace it in the urbane facility of Shadwell, and the daring
superficialness of Alderson."
In another place he asks, "Under whose hands are the
noblest buildings rising upwards ? Who invented the
steam-engine ? Who defied the storm of waters with
the column of Eddystone ? Do you find them in the
calendar ? No—the real men of science are seldom
reared in Cambridge or Oxford air !" But this is not
putting the case in a fair position. It is true that nei-
ther Watt, nor Davy, nor Brunel were educated at these
seats of learning ; but it does not follow that they might
not have derived advantage from an early mathematical
education. It only proves that the learning of schools is
not absolutely necessary for the development of great
genius, and that minds cast in a superior mould over-
come all obstacles. But great men might be pointed
out who were alumni of Oxford or Cambridge; and one
rises towering above all the rest—the immortal Newton,
" in whom," says Hume, " this island may boast of
having produced the greatest and rarest t,enius that ever
rose for the ornament and instruction of the species."
The article altogether, however, merits attention, and we
hope some of the defects pointed out will attract the
attention of Dr. Whewell. The other papers in this
number are hardly equal to the usual werit of those
which appear in Fraser. There is another article on
the defensible state of the country, which contain 3 some
judicious recommendations, both as regards the fortifica-
tions of our harbours, and the embodiment of a military
force, solely for the defence of the United Kingdom ;
and those fond of light reading will find amusement in
• the " Pryor's AWE, ttliprn," ttiud " Old London Sipe."

Morgan Rattler tries his hand at railways, but that sub-
ject is Out of his line, a,nrr, he is obliged to till up the
article with scraps from newspapers and twice-told pre-
dictions. with which common rea4crs are quite familiar.
•