The Sun.
London, England, 1845-06-02 00:00:00

TAIT'S MAGAZINE.

The review of Lord Brougham's " Lives of Men
of Letters and Science," is done in the best spirit,
and reflects great credit on the impartial principles
on which this magazine is conducted. Though the
Whigs, and many of the Liberals have taken every
opportunity, following in the wake of men that belong
to no party, of reviling and calumniating the ex-
chancellor—Tait, more staunch to liberal principles
than most of them, still can do justice to the tran-
scendent merits, and the great abilities of Henry
Brougham. He has rendered essential services to his
country, which neither jealousy nor hatred, nor the
baneful tooth of bigotry, can efface from a nation's re-
membrance, and it is therefore gratifying to find an
honest journalist, though differing from his lordship
in many respects, doing him as ample and hearty
justice as he would render to one of his own creed.
We take a paragraph from the review at random,
which is a fair specimen of the whole.
"Apart from that remarkable union of qualifica-
tions, the possession of which will, we imagine,
be frankly and even liberally acknowledged, Lord
Brougham. in this his greatest, if it be not also his
most beneficial work, is distinguished, in an eminent
degree, by one quality for which he has not always ob-
tained the credit which we think it deserves. Some of
those who remember him only by the sallies or effer-
vescence of a warm debate, or in the temporary ebullition
of that party speech in types a hasty political pamphlet,
will be slow to admit the air of calm dignity and judge-
like impartiality which pervades every portion of this
volume. As is right and fitting, justice is administered
with mercy and indulgence, without which justice cannot
deserve the name. The sole exception to this principle,
as far as we have noted, is found in Dr. Samuel John-
son ; who, arraigned at the tribunal of Lord Brougham,
is not allowed to plead prescriptive impunity for the
rudeness which, in a man less privileged, would have
been pronounced brutality ; or for the hard dogmatism
which, without any great straining, might be set down as
furious bigotry and imbecile fanaticism. In the -strong
nature of the English sage, by prescriptive right, there un •
doubtedly was a large intermixture of the animal as well
as of the bigot ; yet it somehow jars one's feelings to
hear this said, though by the voice of truth and authority;
and one is content on this, as on much more important
points in morals and manners, to acknowledge that Lord
Brougham has shot far a-head of some of the darling
prejudices of his age."
The remarks of the writer, with extracts, extend to
nineteen pages, yet the reader will regret that they
do not extend to twice that number. We have also
some interesting letters from the historian Niebuhr,
relative to Nelson's attack on Copenhagen, at which
he was present, and a good article on the Bill of Mr.
Rutherford, for abolishing academical tests in the
Scottish universities. "An act," says the writer, "of
some moral courage unquestionably ; for the General
Assembly of the Established Church still protests that
the phantom of obsolete bigotry is no shadow, but
real flesh and blood, and the ghosts which Churchmen
raise are stronger than stone-walls and granite moun-
tains, :in the estimation of many, and not to be
blasphemed with impunity." The political article
refers to Sir R. Peel's Irish policy, which is written
in the best spirit. We have only room for an extract
relative to the Maynooth affair :
" Whatever faults this measure may be chargeable
with, in principle or detail, it has at least one great
practicable merit : it forcibly rouses the attention of the
British people to the necessity of doing justice to Ireland.
Interpreted by the language of its proposers and more
prominent supporters, this Maynooth Endowment Bill
may be regarded as a formal disclaimer, made on the
highest authority—that of the united deliberate judg-
ment of our leading public men of all parties—of the old
maxims and methods of Anglo-Irish policy. It is a de-
claration that the old ascendancy system, always false
and immoral, is henceforth impossible ; that the great
mass of the people of Ireland—the " lower Irish nation,"
as they have been called—can no longer be held in con-
strained subjection to the upper Irish nation," or to
Great Britain, but must he governed in the .spirit of
equality ; that we must have an united kingdom, and
can only hope to have it by conciliation ; and that all
sectional antipathies and bigotries, whatever name or
form they may take, must give way to this high imperial
necessity. We need not remark how much additional
emphasis this declaration receives from the painful and
humbling retractations which it necessitated on the side
of one party, and the politics! risks and sacrifices which
it has cost all parties. That must indeed be a conviction
of overpowering force which induces the leaders of op-
posite Parliamentary parties to make common cause
against large numbers of their supporters and followers.
That Sir Robert Peel has voluntarily subjected himself
a second time to the reproach of treachery and apostasy ;
that Lord John Russell has zealously seconded the
policy of his rival, at the expense of much of his own
popularity ; that both these statesmen have united to
carry a measure which seriously damages the political
position and prospects of each, may be taken as indis-
putable evidence of the strength of the convictions that
have actuated them. All the lesser interests which
usually govern the political conduct of Parliamentary
leaders have given way to the primary interest that every
statesman has in the integrity. and greatness of the
empire whose Government he is, or may be called to
administer."

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EIVENING, JUNE 2, 1845.