The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1836-09-06 00:00:00

LITERARY NOTICE&

BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE.
The best written paper in Blackwood for this month is
that on the "Experience of Democracy," of which we
subjoin an extract. Among the other papers, the most
spirited are, " Alcibicks, the Young Man ;"—the " Me-
taphysician ;"—the cow inued story of " Isaac Cheek, or
the Man of Wax ;"—" Poor Will Newbery ;" and the
concluding paper on "Shakspeare in Germany," which
is devoted to a learned and critical analysis of the Mer-
chant of Venice. These are characterised by various
degrees of excellence ; but in several of them there is
so much freshness and originality, that the most invete-
rate reader of fiction will find ample gratification.
We subjoin the following from the first article:—
" Many and grievous were the evils (almost all the conse-
quence of the change the whigs had forced upon government)
which in 1830 weighed upon the country. The prodigious change
of prices consequent on the whig measure of changing the cur-
rency, the fearful heart-bernings consequent on Roman catholic
emancipation, the pernicious influence of delusive liberal doc-
trines predominant for so many years in the public press; the
indolence on the part of the conservatives arising from long-
established sway and unprecedented triumphs, all contributed
to produce that general discontent, "that chaos of unanimity,"
which, by combining different classes formerly at variance with
each other in a desire for change, overturned the old English
constitution. It was expected- that the legislature would be
thoroughly purged of all its impurities by this vast change ; that
the sway of patronage would be at an end ; elections would
thenceforward cost nothing; electors disdain to take either a
bribe .r solicit a promise; talent unprecedented find its way.
into the legislature; harmony unparalleled be established be-
tween the government and the people. How have these ex-
pectations been realised in the four years of almost uninterrupted
liberal government which have since ensued ? Has the expense
of political contests been so very much reduced as to supersede
altogether the expenditure of private fortunes or costly subscrip-
tions on both sides for their maintenance ? Have bribery and
corruption, intimidation and violence, so completely disappeared
at elections as to give the c nnmittees of parliament no occupa-
tion, and reduce the barristers who profit by such abuses to a
state of starvation? Has the House of Commons risen so
highly in public estimation--are its manners so courtly, its elo-
quence so persuasive, its arguments so profound, its abstinence
from personality so commendable, its decorum so conspicuous,
its disinterestedness so exalted, its tenderness of public liberty
so striking, its regard of the poor so praiseworthy, its pursuit of
practical amelioration so unremitting as to have entirely satisfied
the public mind, and superseded all attention to the hereditary
branch of the legislature? Alas! the very reverse of all these-
things has notoriously taken place. The House of Commons,
it may be safely affirmed, never received so rude a shock in pub-
lic estimation as from the Reform Bill; but for the members
who retained their seats under the old system, and were not
affected by the change, it would have been irrevocably destroyed.
Much talent it still possesses—illustrious virtue it still contains
—heart-stirring speeches are still occasionally to be heard within
its walls; but they are all there, not in consequence of the
change, but in spite of it. All the power, ail the talent, all the
learning, all the eloquence which it exhibits were there prior to
reform. Maxima Charta has not added a jot to any one of them.
The leaders on the liberal side, Lord J. Russell, Mr. O'Connell,
Mr. Hume, Mr. Spring Rice, were all in the House If Commons
before the change; those who adorn the conservative—Sir R.
Peel, Lord Stanley, Sir James Graham, Sir H. Vyvyan—were
well known in the chapel of St. Stephen's long prior to the ac-
cession of Earl Grey to office. The Molesworths, the Waklevs,

the Roebucks, et id genus omne, who have been floated into the
legislature on the waves of reform, will never be heard of nine
days after they are in their graves. If we contrast these addi-
tions to the legislative talent and wisdom with those which it
has displaced, with the vast learning and acute intellect of Sug-
den, the experienced capacity and stirring eloquence of Sir
George Murray, or the caustic talent of Croker, we have no
reason to congratulate, putting party considerations altogether
aside, with the addition which the revolution of 1832 has made
to the legislative resources of the empire."