The Sun.
London, England, 1829-06-24 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

A

IS

EDINBURGH REVIEW.—No. XCVII.
Notwithstanding the very prevalent report
has now been some months rife about town, that
Mr. Jeffrey has resigned the conduct of this
Review, we see few or. no symptoms in the Tulin-
ber before us, of such resignation. It is as.full
as ever of variety and information, but if-it
really be the case that he has quitted the field,
then we have only to congratulate the public 011
the very effective hands into which his Journal
has fallen. Few men have ever accomplished for
any length of time that difficult task, the editor-
ship of a leading periodical, with more enviable
and triumphant success than Mr. Jeffrey.
He possessed every qualification requisite for
such a duty. To great vivacity he joined a severe
and cautious judgment : his wit was tempered
by discretion, and though full, never overflowed
the landmarks of good sense; and his tact- in
rightly appreciating what would best, hit the
taste of the town, has been confessedly tin'
rivalled. The loss of such a man to such $
periodical as the Edinburgh Review cannot but
be great ; we can only hope, therefore, though
.
scarcely venture to expect, that it will not be felt
by the public. We have hinted that the present
number is a good one—it is so in every respect.
The first article, entitled " Census of the Popu-
lation," is of an elaborate and practical nature)
full of detail, and glancing briefly and pertifienq
at the " Mortuary Registers of the Romans.‘
Speaking of the preponderance of male over
female births, the Reviewer puts forth the follow'
ing interesting observations :
" In attempting to trace the circumstances which de-
termine the condition of man in society, the proportion
which the sexes bear to each.other, becomes an object of
research not less curious than instructive. If the num-
bers of the sexes varied considerably,- or if the proportion
a riwasa t
onoo, not
thatconstant
'circumstanceor nearly
awoh, icbho
tt theysusceptible
o eoafchg
roetaltievr
would exert a material influence on the habits of societys
which would certainly change with the- changes in the
numerical relations of the sexes. Here, however, there in
no fluctuation ; nothing is left to chance. The.propor-
tion between the sexes seems to be determined by a gene
•
ral law of nature ; • and the balance to be preserved at th!it
precise point which is most favourable for human happi-
ness. It has been established by observations made 111
countries placed under the most different circumstance;
in Russia, for example, and Naples, France, and the Unimd
States, England and Sweden, and in every country, 1%
deed, in which there are registers which can be depended
upon, that the number of males born invariably even;
the number of females. This excess is, however, confine
within very narrow limits; the male births being moat cots"
monly found to be to the female births somewhere bet Wes
the ratio of 15 to 14, and of 25 to 24. Aecordingto
censuses taken in thirty department/ of France in Ilr"
1800, 1801, and 1802, the average nunther•Of male WO
amounted to 110,312, and of females to 105,287, o,l',
gives the proportion of males to- females as 2e :to 21'
But, according to later observations Made with- grate(
care, the present proportion of male to [etude birth/ IS
France is as 16 to 15. In England and. Walei, during
the ten years ending with 1820, there were register.-
1,664,557 male, and 1,590,510 female births, being-. W.
each other very nearly in the ratio of 16 to 15, • or in'tm
same proportion as in France. At Tin/ vela 1824, the,
male births were to the female births to the ,i-atio‘of2l
to 20. In the kingdom of the Netherlands in 1827) the
proportion of male to female births was *sit* ttr 94.1,
or as 20 to 19 very nearly. In Prussia in 1817, the rale
births were to the female births as 28.3.t0 :`in Swe-
den, at an average of.the.twenty years ending with 170,
the male births were to the female births in the proPijr-
tion of 21 to 20. And in the city of Neptes 'in .1806 i
the births- of boys were to those of girls as 7514) 74."
".The Recent, State of France" is pleasant
analysis of a work publiehr.4,,time.sitice 0°
that subject, at Brussels, by Paul Louis Courier.
The article plays rather than grapples with its
subject—which, if seriously dealt with, would
afford scope rather for a volume than a pamphlet--'
and lightly skims the surface with a Carnilla-like
elasticity of touch. In speaking incidentally of
the priesthood, the Reviewer remarks, that
though crimes—and crimes of the grossest,, thu
blackest, the most unnatural character—are not
uncommon even now among them, yet that they
have, generally speaking, materially improved
since the Revolution. Government too 100 k/
with a more severe and censorious eye into their
conduct, than it used to do under the 01d

regime.
" The Game Laws," to which we some time
since had occasion to revert, is a remarkably
spirited article, pointing out with amazing energy'
and force of colouring, the evils attending the
present system of these odious laws; tracing their
origin, their progress, their effects on society
and showing where, when, and how, they might
be judiciously amended. Considering the nu"
ture of the subject, which is far from affording
general entertainment, we have met with fevi
articles more pleasantly intelligent in their read'
ing than this. It has, moreover, the additional
recommendation of stripping the Game Laws °I
their intricacies, and placing them. before. the
reader in all their naked absurditt.'''''" Steuartls
Planter's Guide" is an animated essay, en 39
entertaining subject, which is discussed, not it'
the cold formal manner of a mere connoisseurf
but gracefully and easily, as befits a man
knowledge and of genius. " Interior °
Africa" gives a close and comprehensive di'
gest of Captain Clapperton's late discoveries
in that strange quarter of the globe. It
remarkable for the very condensed character 0
its materials, which though abundant, litive beep'
squeezed, like a modern lady's waist, into the
smallest possible compass. "Utilitarian
and Politics," is a smart and somewhat trucule
diatribe against the principles of the West',
tninster Review and its satellites. It turns
the most triumphant scorn their callous all'
vulgar derision of all that constitutes fancy' °
imagination, or that contributes to the elegee
and grace of life ; and rates at its fitting 01°
their favourite dogma of utility—that C3l),
phrase by which a few shrewd but half-educareb
men of science, would fasten themselves on 1,
intellect of the age, and reduce it to their o°,
homely level. " The Last of the Catholic (Pe:
tion" is really a splendid paper. In fertility
1t
illustration, ready and apposite imagerywe-
of language, information always within CA,
always accessible, we know not among 100'
?,13
periodical essays, where to look for its. ctl
It gives a lucid and enlarged, view °
growth of the Question which has beel' ,
length so happily settled, and in doing
s;
glance 3 at the Ultras who opposed it, irii.3ll
that must make " the galled jades wince•
following allusions to the Duke of Welli°git
and Mr. Peel, for their conduct in settling

great national question, are .so complimentary,
Yet at the same time so just, and so perfectly
free, from adulation, that though somewhat too
inn for limits,
g .
- our we cannot forbear to extract
thee,
" Just in the degree that we trembled at the crisis, from
which we are now escaping, may be estimated our sense
°f gratitude to him, who, having ' lurched all swords of
t!'e garland,' has achieved this great civic victory of jus-
tice, mercy, and peace. Whilst the clergy seem groping
about lit in the dark in all directions, we ftel pretty much
a* we suppose Ulysses did, when he was eluding the
clutches of the bewildered Polyphente, (who at best had
nut one eye, and that now extinguished), under the guid-
!trine of the Leader of the flock. The Duke has broken
If upon their magic forest—the Mona defended with such
Druidical fury; and notwithstanding the mist and the
',nattering., the unholy words and spectral forms, arrayed
against his entrance, lie has pressed resolutely on to free
'his spell-bound subject, and break the enchanter's wand.
'-nlonel Napier learned in Spain how the tenth legion
;lame to worship Cwsrr ; and a greater than Caesar is
who has not destroyed in peace the country he
had saved by his sword. Untrammelled and uncommitted,
"t More protected by his splendid expatriations, than
averse by nature from the paltering which had gangrened
has
vital question through its whole domestic bearings, he
°as avnply repaid the universal respect with which all eyes
5° anxiously watched him whilst yet wrapped in his itn-
Pelletrahle cloak. Although lie came new to a question
encornpassel by contention and complicated by finesse, he
saw that his- choice upon it was indeed the choice in what
class of statesmen he should hereafter stand. Having car-
rieq-air the plate in military glory, he has refused,- in his
net' career, to- put himself into cart•horse harness.-:-to
leave the company of the Turennes and Marlboroughs of
the Cabinet, and herd in the rear rank of our secondary
among the Poloniuses and Ostics of the Court
Denmark:
The question certainly is not new to Mr. Peel ; his
Present merit respecting it stands therefore on entirely dis-
tinct grounds, and yet is great. The reputation that he
sequired whilst serving under his former colours, and his
actual declaration that he has left them with reluctance,
:ave. enabled himlo confer-it last an important benefit on
ra--eountry, by'avaistingHto heal, the wounds he had so
"g kept open. A confession so announced must satisfy
1111 who can be satisfied, that it has became, in any view
(4 it, the least of two evils.- We gladly pay him high
'''terest for the 'aid -Which he is now giving to overthrow
4° Opposition, which he himself had mainly raised, con-
j4idated,and upheld. In such a case, when the last able
!slalom who could be found to advocate the obsolete pre-
Judicet of a powerful party, is bowled out by the strong
llviction of necessity, lie must be prepared to undergo
!!'e obloquy of the mob of followers who had made him
the representative of their opinions, and had put, as poll-
lietana, their whole moral and intellectual existence into
114 hands. Bat this privilege of scandal, within certain
limits excusable enough, has been abused in a manner dis-
graeful to the Tory press, and to the party whom he pro-
vided with sense and speeches much longer than they de-
served. The imps whom he conjured up and fed as cam-
Pinions and attendants, whilst lie continued the practice
:4 the s black art,' are now flying at him because he has
lurnt his pernicious"books, and resolved to trust to the
despised faculty of human reason. Like Acton, his own
hounds are ready to devour hirn:—and for the same offence
. -
Opening his eyes. Nothing can show more forcibly that
!r• 's understanding has got at length into its ►
right
Piane, than the different figure he is making this Session
him
the last; when, though none of the Tory pecking at
°,1,11 had begun, and whilst the Whigs were extending to
a most generous forbearance, a feather seemed drop-
Ping off almost every night. Allowing for the dispropor-
tionate consequence he attaches to the turn of the scale in
4 Parliamentary division, over the weightier matters of
the question,, he has shown at the last equal judgment,
ability, and temper. Not only has Mr. eel dealt use-
flly by the public, in undertaking tbe official superin-
tendence of the present measures; amidst great personal
difficulties, we feel convinced he has also chosen that
jilich, being the most fair and manly, ought to be the
east painful and least unsatisfactory for himself. The
choice could be to him only one of evils. He was in the
°ld British dilemma,,the sea befoie him, the barbarians
behind..
We know not. who may be the author of this
article • but whoever he is, whether young, old, or
Middle.aged---,whether, Scotch,
.Enghsh, or. Irish
(he certainly is t-I norish); he is a writer of first-
rate 'powers. His' style is worthy of the best days
of English Literature, and 'his matter is as fault-
less as his style. In several preceding numbers
of this 'Review we •fancy -that we have traced
articles by the same"hand—in the apologetic one
On Machiavelli, for instance ; as also in an able
and elaborate analysis 01 Hallam's History of
England. With'such a contributor, so eloquent,
80 well-inforMed;• the Edinburgh Review can
neverbe other' than a first-rate miscellany.