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832 THE LEADE R [Saturday,
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A RUSSIAN PAMPHLET.* [.We repeat the cau...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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A Ba.Toh Qe Books.* Tjie Shady Side Is A...
" A woollen-factory and cotton-mill stand on the twin streams at their nearest point of aroximity , while beyond them , on either side , rise the massive foundry and tlie paper-mill . the bogs , drained and filled with gravel from the hills , assume the form of respectable terra tirma , across which one street only deserves the name of ' straight , '—the other two conforming somewhat to the sinuosities of the stream . In the centre of the village , erected before building-lots were at a premium , -with comfortable elbow-room , stands the oldest church , its taS spire struggling up between the hills , in vain effort to see or be seen at a distance . Two other Christian temples , of later date , are wedged in by a row of shops and warehouses . A few spacious dwellings , and many smaller ones , of all sorts and sizes , hurriedly erected , fill up the picture . " What though the ground is low , and never sees the sun at its rise or setting ? what if the frost-king make here his earliest visits , and his last ? what though the air is humid , and unhealthy vapours after night-fall chill the blood?—here throbs the restless , busy heart of a manufacturing village . It is a stirring , thriving place . All kinds of people are ¦ wa nted here , and it has attractions for all . " The business of the place was mainly in the hands of three principal proprietors—man
whose policy nicely harmonised , and who monopolised the village trade at their respective establishments , all giving their operatives ' store pay , ' at high prices . If there were any villagers who were not producers , or whose interests were not in some way involved with the factories , disposed to myrmur at the price of merchandise , there was no remedy but a journey of some distance to a town where competition made prices equitable . " The three moneyed men aforesaid held a nominal connexion with the Christian church ; but so absorbed were they in -worldly schemes , that it was sometimes difficult to tell whether they served God or nuinmon . They had too much conscience , ay , and too much regard to their business interests , not to support the institutions of the Gospel ; but there was about their own example little savour of practical . godliness . They were shrewd , cool , worldly-wise men . They wanted a haindsoinelyvfurnished church , and a talented minister ^ and were willing to offer a nominally generous salary- This cbne , they felt at liberty to put Am under the scfew as they would any other operative in their pay ; tkatvrnsall in the way of business ^
* 'Mr . Smith , their first pastor , began the enterprise of building up a congregation . He wasindefatigable , and worked hard , and was quite successful ; but they soon outgrew him , and he must needs give place to a more popular man . They were ¦ « a growing ; peop le ^ ' and they made large calculations . * They sbould spp ^ have a railways—add they meant to have a bank ; and in half a : dozen years they would become a boioagh ; and , spme ten years thereafter they might be a city . . Other sects were towering up among theni ; itwas really important to get a smart rnan as Mr . Sditth ' s successor . ' -So they ran to arid fro , and sent forth many a tieologue ; but hone who came at their call hacl j in their estimation , sufficient ' pile of forehead' to match their diadem . At length they borrowed a new city notion , and despatched adelegation to hear , oneandanotherunsuspecting minister . : . ' J'The yeportfroni Salepi was soglowing ^ that a resolution was at once passed authoring the-corinmittee to a statement to Mr . Vgrnon , arid invite him to preach a Sabbath in Jlillville . This was met by a 4 ^ strengthen desire on the part of the applicants . -They kept their eye oh the Salem minister ,
and , when oircumstancesseeriied more favourable , renewed the request . He came , as we lave seen , arid the waves of popular approval ran high ; and definite proposals for settlement were inade with speed ; The chairman of the committee , Mr . Moulton , was a shrewd , plausible' rnan ; Hetalked largely and fluently of the prosperoiis condition of Millville ; He pointed : to the extensive business of thta place , to his foundry In particular—the largest establishment of the kind in Hew England . He pointed to their'handsome church and . parsonagej asserting that in : the last two years they had . built the latter and furnished the former , ill addition to the purchase of a fiiie bell ; He spoke of : their liberal appropriation for sacred nuisic the previous winter . Arid as to the salary—tkist / knew what it cost to live - —they wanted their minister to livejianaspmely-rrthey would ; give seven hundred dollars now , arid dbiibtednbt they % ould be ah > le to increase the sum after another year or two , as theywere ' agrowing" people . ' - To be sure , house-rent was rather high ; they should "be obliged to ask ahundred fcj : thieparsori ^ ge ; but they got up splendid donation parties here , which would tiearly counterbalance this deduction .
" Theseflattering items , which wereyeceived as sober verity , we will bear in mind , as , we shall have occasion to refer to them hereafter . The prospect looked bright to the young minister ; thepleasing ekterior catight his fancy ; he accepted ' the . call . '" Had he known that it was the mere outside . of the parish he had seen , and that the most imposing—had he been told that he had riot caught the first truthful glimpse of its interior life in its relations to the pastorate , he would have hesitated long toleave an intelligent , reliable , aud confiding people ; for the ostentatious , slippery , fickle parish of Millville . " The Earnest Student is a biography , consisting chiefly of a diary and correspondence of John Mackintosh . JIVEr . Mackintosh was bom in 1822 , and died in 1851 . He appears to have been a successful pupil at the New Academy , in Edinburgh , lie then passed some time at Glasgow , where he resolved to become a minister in the establishment . In 1841 he is at Cambridge , where he studies with extraordinary zeal , but doe 3 not graduate . Finally he Joins the Free Church movettxent , but is prevented by ill health from taking orders . The latter portion of his life was spent on the Continent , and it ia of this period that his biostranher chief ! v treats . The book ia of
little interest except as a record of spiritual experiences , and to the personal friends of John Mackintosh . And still the continental letters are always instructive and . sometimes amusing . At all events , they are written by a gentleman and a scholar . Sir William ^ A ! Beckett , Chief Justice of Victoria , gives us the result of a summer ' s holiday on the Continent . Disgusted with the so-called summer of England during the months of June and July , 1853 , he left London about the middle of August , determined to enjoy himself in a throe months' ramble , whithersoever hia fancy might take him , keeping always briskly on the move . Sir William took no notes , and writes from memory . Out of Harness ia a lively , sketchy , little book of travels : the author does not aim at doing more than convoying an idea of his own impressions and feelings . Jfc ig certainly a great satisfaction to gallop through a great part of the Continent , _ in a hundred pages , without being bored to death with historical and antiquarian discussions ; In a word , if a man 13 worth listening to we are glad to loam what he saw and learnt , —if wo want to read history , wo can consult the proper authorities . As a specimen of the author's style , we c ^ uote a pioce of practical advico , with which the book concludes . •—
I 1 mvg a warning to give , however , which is not found in Murray—don't inoludo in your bargain with a voiturior , you * expenses of living on tlio road , ft suvoa you money , cortainly , but your acoommodation aad faro are so different from what they are whon you , and not the voiturior , are the paymaster , that few who have tried it onoa would ropoat the experiment ,. I speak particularly of Italy ; such Hgrcomonts indeed aro seldom made in Switzerland . At Oiaternn , our first day a journey from Rome , on tlio Naples road , our dinner was so meagre , nnd the attention bo reluctant , that I sent lor tlio innkoopor , and naked him to tell mo candidly if wo ivoro being treated in this way boonuao ho was paid by the vpitmicr . Ho admitted that it was so , excusing himself on the ground of the low price paid him , of which ho told us the amount , bogging , however , wo would my nothing on tho subject to tho voiturior . Wo found that it wna Unrdly one-third of the sum wo had paid to tho latter , and cortajnly was not enough for justice to the triivollor and profit to tho innkeeper . I muut say , however , that wo had at Oistorna the disadvantage of a o « rdin « land the passengers of ft dilioenco dining at tho same tlmo ; but still tho picldnga of even iv cardinal a repast aro not altogether pleasant , and upon this oconsion did not uppoarto bo very choice , for we hnd a atrong suspicion that ono of tho dishes wns buffalo , n suspicion that became confirmed , when the next day wo passed lurgo herds of thoao unlimls in the Pontiho nwBhoa . To make auco of a decent meal in future , we mado a private arrangoment -with ww JiQtelkuQper , independently of tho sum paid him by the VQiturier .
" To those who may be contemplating a similar tour to that which has been described in these pages , it may not be uninteresting to know , without going , into detail , something of the expensi ' . Our party consisted of five adults , and from the period of our leaving London , on the 18 th oF August , until our return on the 15 th of November , our expenses , including every item—sight-seeing , carriages , theatres , guides , & c . & c . —did not average more than 15 s . per head per diem . Had we made a longer stay at the places where we stopped , the average would have been materially less ; but when it is considered that we were not more than one month out of th ? three stationary , and that we travelled during the other two , a distance altogether , on gr > ing and returning , of nearly four thousand miles , it cannot be said that travelling on the continent is very costly . A similar excursion could nut have been made in England for double the sum . "
Mac Dermott ' s History of Rome is intended for the use of the more advanced classes in schools , and for such teachers as have not had opportunity to examine the researches of modern writers on Roman History . It embraces the whole period from the earliest times to the death of Vespasian , and sums up very concisely the results of the original investigations of Niebur and the other writers who may be said to have created the history of the Roman Republic . The rise and fall of Rome is the most striking episode in . the history of humanity . The early legends will never lose their attraction , and Englishmen can never fail to study with filial interest the laws which they have to a great extent inherited . Always , therefore , we give a hearty welcome to any one who attempts to popularise tbe subject .
To all who wish to learn how Rome advanced to universal empire , and yet are unable to master the more elaborate works of Niefour and Arnold , Mr . Mac DermottV book will be a valuable acquisition . The other books on . our table are chiefly republications . Prom Mr . Hodgson , we have two sea novels by Fenbnore Cooper , which needno recommendation . In addition to The Shady Side , published at Is ., Messrs . Constable are re-issuing Dr . Clialmer's works > From Longmans ^ we have another .. number of Jriacaiday ' s Essays , and the well-known article On Aformonism , / reprinted from the last JUdbiburgh . Three new poets have also appeared , but thesey together-with a new edition of Pope , by JDr . Crolyy we must reserve for future criticism .
832 The Leade R [Saturday,
832 THE LEADE R [ Saturday ,
A Russian Pamphlet.* [.We Repeat The Cau...
A RUSSIAN PAMPHLET . * [ . We repeat the cautionthat throughout these Articles it is the " Inhabitant of Continental Europe" whosjpeaks . We dobufc report ; 3 , Tp explain , if not to justify , the personal policy of the Emperor of the ; Frenchj considerations are alleged which we think * quite beneath his character . We have heard , it is true , of a war between Sweden aad Poland , occasioned by the omission of ' a third etc . to the royal titles , but liistory explains how this question of etiquette wa 3 put foryyard to mask certain interests of a less avowable nature at issue between the two States . Are
wei to credit the supposition , aceredited in some circles in France , and elsewhere , that this EasternQuestion has been taken up so warmly for the sake of provoking an European crisis , to result in the completion of * he Empire by the restoration of its ' * natural frontiers ? " Are the treaties of 1815 to have their Second of December ? After » W > the idea would not be new * It was announced in the Chamber'in 1840 . The talk then was of re-conquering the Rhine , Belgium , and Piedmont , revolutionising Italy , & c . The talk now ia of counterbalancing the Colossus that menaces Europe ivith an irruption of barbarians- —a milder pretext for aggression . We hear whispers of offering Poland to Prussia , in exchange for her Rhenish provinces : to the Grermamc Confederation , Schieswig Holstein made into a kingdom for the family of King Leopold ; to Denmark , . Norway ; to Sweden , Finland ;
to the King of Sardinia , Italy ; to Austria , the whole course of the Danube , England having nothing to give up on the continent , would receive in consideration of her self-denying assistance , Egypt , and a rock or two in the Black Sea and the Baltic to complete her commercial system for the benefit of the human race . We have every reason to think she would be satisfied with this compensation . The Sultan , to whom is the honour of having provoked the conflict , would not be lost sight of in the distribution : in exchange ibr Egypt and the Danube , he would take the Crimea and the coasts of the Black Sea . and the sea . of Azof , which formerly belonged to the Porte , and which the last half-century has increased in value a hundredfold * Georgia , and the Caucasus too , would bo restored to the Sultan , to satisfy the necessities we have already mentioned .
_ No doubt it was the thought of this combination that mado a British minister say , that " the position of Russia was desperate "—a corollary of the bacchanalian inspirations of certain banquets , and of the engagements contracted by Admiral Napier , which that admiral afterwards hastened to correct , out of pure modesty . When wo compare modern English statesmen with Pitt and Chatham , and modern admirals with Nelson an , d Hotham , wo peroeive a great moral decadence under the proud material prosperity ot Old England . Yet wo believe these statesmen better than their opeech . es . Their oratorical weakness only proves tho total absence of convictions : real eloquence is impossible without sincerity . Let us , therefore , consider the bravado of the Ministerial speeches in Parliament and after dinner as a forcible appeal to the—taxpayers . But will the Ministers who have provoked this war live to see its issue , or to bo called to account for the miriclod and rashness of their larutiona ?
perfiuy ^ dep "Why , not oven Napoleon himself , with all the prestige of his victories , and when the earth trembled under the tramp of his legions , ever fulminated such throats . Russia , not yet conquered , is condemned , forsooth , to renounce all her conquests cemented by a oentury and a half of civilisation—condemned too to indemnify the costs of tho war . What are tho exploits , wo would nsk , of British arma , which give tho Ministers of tho Crown authority to decide in this summary fashion the destinies of » groat empire . Forty years have elapsed since Watorloo , the apogee of British prowess . Nor lot it bo forgotton , that that victory , the climax of incalculable efforts , and of sacrificea wliich will long weigh on England , was not duo to England alone . Did not Wellington himself toll Bluchor on tho field of battle that the victory was his ? And the Dutch and Belgian blood shod in streams upon that plain—is that forgotten P Does England arrogate to herself alone the glory of having reduced tho giant of his epoch to his last groat stake t Sinoo that * J' » Quorro d'Oriont . So » Ouusoa ot sea Conatfuuonooa . Vox Un Habitant da I' & uropo UondtKiMalo . BruxoUoo . 1854 .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 2, 1854, page 16, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_02091854/page/16/
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