The Liverpool Standard, and General Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-07-11 00:00:00

c, of evidence

gitimate objects,
by which biograpi

and what the
iy and history

ed, and to what purposes they
If it is insisted that
And fact shall bear a well-
properly-adjusted relation to the
then we fear the genius of M. de Lamartine
considerable degree unfitted for
the production of a vivid pano-

to be made subservient

but if

rama, in which the leailing, events of a life, or the
striking phenomena of an epoch, are to be brought
into prominent notice, and serve the purposes of
history and biography, then is he eminently quali-
fied. Possessed of a fertile imagination and a

aims at

producing an nn

Dression

iblishing: a position, and is more
Imbitious of swaying the minds of his readers than
)f convincing their judgment. Historical facts
with him rarely assume the severe form of abstract

ihan at est,

truth, but are generally presented in a fanciful,
albeit a graceful setting. In the hands of our
author, Clio is generally, to some extent, arrayed
in the garments of Calliope, and ornamented, how-
ever slightly, from the casket of Polhymnia ; for

him a rhetorical figure has more numerous
allurements than any number of hard facts, and
his drafts upon the imagination are more readily
honoured than his calls upon the treasury of
the judgment. Notwithstanding all this, how-
ever, he is deservedly a popular author. Theim-
_

pressions he conveys, although not always strictly
iccurate, nor invariably symmetrical, are, neverthe-
less, powerful, and his generalizations lead mostly
in the right direction. A. fair illustration of these
remarks may be found in the introductory obser-
vations by which he prefaces his memoir of Nelson ;
it is a cleverly sketched comparison between

NAVAL AND MILITARY HEROISM,

Amongst the illustrious men who have filled the fi

al contests, we have always felt most
sted and dazzled by heroes of the sea. The immen-

s in nat

power, the motion

; terrible attributes of the
seem to elevate them above

;h they combat

the standard of humanity. This is not a vain, imaginative
delusion, but a just estimate of their glory. The variety
and extent of natural or acquired faculties which must of
cessity be united in the same individual, to constitute a
t naval leader, astonish the mind, and raise the perfect
r beyond all comparison above ordinary warriors.
latter only require the single firmness which faces fire
e former must be endowed with the double
equally braves death and the fury of the
. .

unmoved; th

aments. But which suffices on shore
ill hardly be found efficient on the ocean. All the re-
tirees of intelligence must be combined with courage in

the chief who directs the manoeuvre or the broadside from
the quarter deck of an admiral's vessel, or any other man-
of-war. He must be endowed with science, to steer his
course by the heavenly bodies ; unweared vigilance, to
preserve his ship from storms and quicksands; skill in
handling the sails, which regulate the immense machine
like a master-key ; prompt daring, to rush into fire
through tempest, to seek one death through another; self-
possession, which dictates when to strike, or how to parry,
the decisive blow ; devotedness, which rises under the
certainty of destruction, and sacrifices a ship to save the
fleet ; the ascendancy of a master-mind, which forces all to
look for safety in a single voice; decision, which acts with
the infallibility of inspiration ; obedience, which yields up
strong conviction to superior authority ; discipline, which
bows to the equality of established laws ; a calm aspect,
with a beating heart, to inspire confidence in inferiors ;
manly grace and dignity of demeanour, to preserve in the
close intercourse of a crowded ship the prestige which
generals on shore maintain by seclusion and reserve, and
which naval commanders must keep up in hourly and
close communion ; a prudent boldness in assuming the
risk of responsibility in sudden emergencies, when a

nights which scatter the squadron, storms which swallow
up the vessels, fires which consume them, currents which
run them aground, calms which neutralise them, rocks
which dash them in pieces :—to foresee, provide for, and
endure all these contingencies, with the stoicism of a mind
that fights hand to hand with destiny ; a narrow deck,
with few witnesses, for the field of battle ; a thankless
glory, always ready to disappear, which is last in a moment,
and frequently never reaches the ears of your country ; a
death far distant from all you love, a coffin shrouded in
the depths of ocean, or cast overboard as a fragment of
shipwreck ! This is an epitome of the sailor ! a hundred
dangers for a single ray of glory,—ten heroes concentrated
in a single man ! Such were the great naval warriors of
France, of Spain, of England. Such was Nelson, the first
and last of these Titans of the sea.
The early career of Nelson is dashed off in a
style of glowini, fervour, and the great deeds of
the hero are descanted on in enthusiastic terms,
flavoured, no doubt, cum grano salis, which to M.
Lamartine, as a Frenchman, is indispensable in
seasoning the pottage, and as the son of an empire
whose beams of glory were shorn and obscured by
the more brilliant effulgence of Nelson's maritime
achievements.
The plan of the work under consideration will
be in some degree understood, when it is stated
that the memoirs of which it is composed are
intended to be typical. In Nelson we have the
type of energetic heroism ; Heloise shadows forth