The Sun.
London, England, 1845-01-21 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

FOREIGN QUARTERLY REVIE W.—No. 68.
Citapman, and Ralivtondon, 1846.
There is Wine talent tis Numbet; and the In-
formation it colitaihk is by fio ifleaiia 8i ail ofdinitry
tharietifa btit, as a whole, it is heavy, and wants the
relief afforded by apt choice and variety of subject.
We have too much, for instance, about China and
India, though the articles on these themes—which, of
late, have been expatiated on Usque ad nauseam—are
skilfully reasoned, and evinces no slight amount of
research. Had they appeared a year or two since,
when public attention was keenly and anxiously fixed
on the East, they would have been much more ac-
ceptable to the general reader; but, just now, they
possess no more flavour or piquancy than fish or game
out of season. The first article in the Number is
devoted to a consideration of the Baron itormayes
"Reminiscences of the Wars in Germany"—a work
not less conspicuous by its boldness, than the justness
of its portraits of the numerous eminent politicians
and soldiers who took part in these wars. Referring
incidentally to the herculean efforts made by the
Germans to emancipate themselves from the thraldom
of Napoleon, the reviewer truly states that the
merit of these patriotic efforts belongs rather to the
Prussians than the Austrians, whose rulers were in-
variably sluggish and obstinate, and constantly
damped by their perverse, changeable, and timid
policy, the enthusiasm of the people. Had the Arch-
duke Charles been left to follow out his own views,
he would have been a far more formidable opponent
to the French Emperor than he was; but the crooked
and halting policy of the Aulic Council, by whom
his plans were perpetually circumvented, deprived
him of all freedom of action, and rendered him little
better than a mere cypher. Here is a specimen of an
Austrian Minister, Baron Thugut, who retired from
office somewhere about the year 1801. God help the
people subjected to the sway of such a man I—
" Force was in Thugut's eyes the only infallible,
eternal, divine thing; inexorable and irreconciliable,
he possessed in the highest degree the patience of
hatred. His goal lay always as plain betore, as his
means and his instruments were secret and crooked.
His policy knew neither virtue nor vice, but only
means to an end. He desired neither to convince nor to
seduce, but was content when he could compel. In
him dwelt a sovereign contempt for human nature.
His great weapon was fear. " Oderint dum metuant,"
he muttered frequently between his teeth, and expa-
tiated with a smile, on the Emperor Nero, who, he
said, was a charming man, only the Romans did not
understand him. Independence of character, freedom
of opinion, generosity and pure virtue, he positively
abhorred." If this portrait be not overcharged, it
represents as heartless, unprincipled, and tyrannical
a statesman, as ever cursed a country, and degraded
human nature. No wonder that Napolean should so
speedily and easily have humbled the pride of Austria,
in his first brilliant Italian campaigns, when such a
politician as Thugut held the foremost rank in her
Cabinet 1 " Bettina Brentano" is a notice of the
most recently published correspondence of this en-
thusiastic young German authoress, who when only
sixteen years of age, fell desperately in love with
Gobthe, then upwards of sixty, attracted by his poetic
celebrity, and the beauty of a portrait which
she had seen of him in his youth. For
this strange infatuation Bettina was much censured
by her friends ; but the attachment on both sides
seems to have been purely a platonic one, and some
few years afterwards the fair enthusiast married, and
is now, we understand, quietly settled down into a
staid, homely, common-place wife, with lots of
children about her who, in conjunction with a plain,
matter-of-fact husband, have served to dispel all the
romance of her early life. In the observations on the
" Projected ship canal across the great American
Isthmus" this magnificent undertaking is' warmly re-
commended, the reviewer remarking, " assuming
that it should even cost four millions, there can be

little doubt that an ample return might be realized by
a moderate toll, even should we found our calcula-
tions on the existing state of commerce and naviga-
tion, and leave wholly out of consideration the vast
increase they would infallibly receive so soon as the
barrier of the Isthmus was broken down. The new
route would then be taken by all vessels from Europe
destined for those points which are now reached by
doubling Cape Horn ; that is to say, the whole
western coast of North and South America, and the
islands of the South sea." From a discriminating
criticism on " Freiligrath's Poems," we quote a
spirited lyric entitled " Freedom and Right; which
—together with a German translation of Burn'a noble
song, " A Man's a ➢Tan for a' that"—was, it seems,
prohibited by the pedantic and tyrannical Austrian
Government— _

O say not, believe not, the gloom of the grave
For ever has closed upon Freedom's glad light,
For that sealed are the lips of the honest and brave,
And the scorners of baseness are robbed of their right.
Though the true to their oaths into exile are driven,
Or, weary of wrong, with their own hands have given
Their blood to their jailers, their spirits to heaven—
Yet immortal is Freedom, immortal is Right.
Freedom and Right I
Let us not be by partial defeats disconcerted ;
They will make the grand triumph more signal' and
bright ;
now whetted, cur zeal will be doubly exerted.
Atisk awes"' be raised louder of Freedom and Right
Fortbeseitwo are one, and they mock all endeavour
Of deSpots their holy alliance to sever,
Where there's Right. be ye sure there are freemen, and
ever

Where freemen are found, will God prosper the Right.
Freedom and Right I
And let this thought, too, chest us—more proudly defiant
The twins never bore them in fight after fight,
Never hreathed forth a spirit more joyous and buoyant,
Making heroes of Bastards' in nature's despite.
Round the wide earth they're marching ; their message
they've spoken,
And nations leap up at the heart-thrilling token ;
For the serf and the slave they have battled, and broken
The fetters that hung upon black limbs and white.
Freedom and Right I
And battle they still, where the voice of earth's sorrow
avenge,of oppressions to smite ;
Fear ye not, in the end they will conquer outright.
Oh ! to see the bright wreath round their victor brows
And Tells o
conquerors f wrongta htios day, or conquered to-morrow,
shining,
All the leaves that are dear to the nations combining,
Erir.'s shamrock, the olive of Hellas entwining
With the oak-leaf, proud emblem of,Germany's might !
Freedom and Right 3
There are sore aching bosoms and dim eyes of weepers
Will be gathered to rest ere that day see the light ;
But ye two will hallow the graves of the sleepers,
0 ye blest ones, we owe to them, Freedom and Right
Fill yottr glasses meanwhile :—To the hearts that were
true, boys,
To the range that they loved when the storm fiercest
blew, boys,
[o had wrong for their portion, but won right for you,
boys,
Drink to them, to the Right, and to Freedom thxough
Right I

Freedom through Right

Chapman and Hall, London;
FOREIGN LIBRARY.
1845.
The present Number of this comprehensive Mis-
cellany contains the first part of a " History of
France;' translated by Mr. Walter Kelly from the
French of Michelet. The history commences from
the earliest authentic period—that is to say, with a
sketch of the manners, customs, &c., of the Gauls in
the days of the Romans ; and the present Part closes
with an account of the dissolution of the Carlovingian
Empire. The author possesses many of the best
qualities of an historian ; he is thoughtful, learned,
patient of research, and shows in every page how
completely his heart is in his subject; moreover, he
is singularly dispassionate and impartial in his
opinions; takes common sense as his guide, and
does not allow himself to be led astray
records his
o f extensive
past ages.
as is the case with more than one of the modern
French historians—by vague, novel, and showy
theories. M. Michelet has much of the sobriety of the
English character about him, and even our own
Gibbon has scarcely surpassed him in the untiring
researchesassuidui ty
amongwith
the whichmouldering
The liveliest and most picturesque chanter in the
present portion of his history is that which he entitles
°'A Picture of France," in which we meet with much
spirited, and even graphic scene-painting, especially
ohuel d haseringpushed
as regards Britanny, and the exhausted volcanic
mountains of Auvergne.