Current:

Leader (1850-1860), 13th March 1852, Edition Country of 2, Page 19

Page 19
Page 19
19 of 24

On this page

  • Text (3)
  • Transcript

    • 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.

      Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

      " While The World Of Mankind Is Accompli...

      iff sent afterwards Lord Clares—a man of talents , yet not free from ' bombast and , ? w ^ i ^ es /—were' among the associates . After a few days' deliberation , he brought ? a l , ill \ vhich permitted American iron , in its rudest forms , to be imported , dutv free ; but now that the nailers in the colonies could afford spikes and large ails cheaper than the English , it forbade the smiths of America to erect any mill for slitting or rolling iron , or any plating forge to work with a tilt-hammer , or any furnace for making steel . " ' The restriction / said Penn , ' is of most dangerous consed ' aene ' e to prevent our making what we want for our own use . . , . . .. It is an attack pn the rights of tlie "King ' s subjects in America . ' William Bollan / the ao-ent of Massachusetts , pleaded its inconsistency with the natural rights of the

      ^^ J _ ^^^^ t - " % _ ¦ III | T ¦ ^ M ^ m . _« ^ k ^ . I *^ «» * J «^ ** M ^ 1 a ^^ ha dw 4 ta ^ L _ ¦ '«»» J __ ^ h **_ — J __ _^ fc _^ - ' . k "^ _ «— ^^_ —<~ a ^ S * « ^ f ^ '^^ ^ # colonists . But while England applauded the restriction , its owners of iron mines grudged to America a share of the market for the rough material ; the tanners , from the threatened inaction of the English furnaces , feared a diminished supply of bai'k the clergy and gentry foreboded injtiry to the price of woodlands . The importation of bar iron from the colonies was therefore limited to the port of London , which already had its supply . from abroad . The ironmongers and smiths of Birming ham thought well of importing bars of iron free , but , from ' compassion ' to the ' many thousand families in the kingdom' who otherwise ' must be ruined , ' they prayed that ' the American people' might be subject not to the proposed restrictions only , but to such others ' as may secure for ever the trade to this

      The narrative is of unflagging interest . The mighty issues which great principles were working in the history of the race—the Taried scenes and strange characters traversing those scenes—all give to this history a peculiar charm . Not the least attractive are those pages where the Indian races and their vast lands are marshalled before us ; and we will conclude this notice with a glimpse at an Indian couneil . " On the 21 st day of Eebruary , after a distribution of presents , articles of peace and alliance were drawn up between the English of Pennsylvania on the one side , and the Weas and Piankeshaws on the other ; were signed and sealed in duplicate , and delivered on both sides . All the friendly tribes of the west were also to meet the next summer at Logstown , for a general treat y , with Virginia . " The indentures had just been exchanged , when four Ottawas drew near , with a present from the Governor of Canada , were admitted at once to the council , and desired a renewal of friendship with their fathers , the French . The king of the

      Piankeshaws , setting up the English colours in the council , as well as the French , rose and replied : ' The path to the French is bloody , and was made so by them . We have cleared a road for our brothers , the English , and your fathers have made it foul , and have taken some of our brothers prisoners . ' They had taken three at the Huron village ^ near Detroit , and one on the Wabash . ' This , ' added the king , * we look upon as done to us ; ' and turning suddenly . from them , he strode out of the council . At this , the representative of the French / an Ottawa , wept and howled , predicting sorrow for the Miamis . "To the English the Weas and Piankeshaws , af ter deliberation , sent a speech by the great orator ofthe Weas . ' You have taken us by the hand , ' were hi s words , ' into the great chain of friendship . Therefore -we present you with these two bundles of skins , to make shoes for your people , and this pipe to smoke in , to assure you our hearts are good towards you , our brothers . ' " In the presence of the Ottawa ambassadors , the great war-chief of Picqua stood up , and , summoning in imagination the French to be present , he spoke : —

      " ' Fathers ! you have desired we should go home to you , but I tell you it is not our home ; for we have made a path to the sun-rising , and have been taken by the hand by our brothers , the English , the Six Nations , the Delawares , the Shawnees , and the Wyandots ; and we assure you , in that road we will go . And as you threaten us with war in the spring , we tell you , if you are angry , we are ready to receive you , and resolve to die here , before we will go to you . That you may know this is our mind , we send you this string of black wampum . " ' Brothers , the Ottawas , you hear what I say ; tell that to your fathers the French ; for that is our mind , and we speak it from our hearts . '

      " The French colours are taken down ; the Ottawas are dismissed to the French fort at Sandusky . The Long House , late the senate-chamber of the united Miamis , rings with the music and the riotous motions ofthe feather-dance . Now a war-chief strikes a post : the music and the dancers , on the instant , are hushed to silent listeners ; the brave recounts his deeds in war , and proves the greatness of his mind by throwing presents lavishly to the musicians and the dancers . Then once more the turmoil of joy is renewed , till another warrior rises to boast his prowess , and scatter gifts in his turn . "

      March 13,1852.] The Leader. 255 ¦ . _ '¦...

      March 13 , 1852 . ] THE LEADER . 255 ¦ . _ '¦¦'• ' ' ¦¦¦¦¦ ' ¦ ¦ ' _ L ^^ _^^ —^ , —— — . _____^—^_ J ^_ _ M ^^__ . ^^^^^ M ^^^ MMMtM | M ^ ^ ^^ atM ^ ^ ^ ^^ , ^ , ^ ^^ MtwM ^|^^ M «^^^^ i——fc ^»^^^—¦—i ^*

      Mervyn Clithekoe. The Life And Adventure...

      MERVYN CLITHEKOE . The Life and Adventures ofMervj / n Clitheroe . By W . Harrison Ainsworth . Chapman and Hall . Fotjb or five months ago , the readers of advertisements learned , with some surprise , that Mr . Ainsworth was about to risk the perilous ordeal of competition with Dickons and Thackeray , by publishing his twenty numbers of " Life and Adventures , " the intense interest of which Hablot Browne indicated prospectively in his usual mysterious stylo in an agitated and incomprehensible frontispiece , Mr . Ainsworth has readers ; he has more—he has admirers . Where they exist , wo do not pretend to say , having encountered but three ; but that thoy do exist , the sale of his works attests . It became an-experiment of some interest to him to learn whether the public of Dickens and Thackowould

      ray accept him . The experiment , wo fear , has not proved successful . With the fourth number Mr . Ainsworth quits the field . " Unlorcseon circumstances aro likely to compel him to suspend for awhilo his pleasant task . " Wo are not in Mr . Ainsworfch's confidence , and thorciore know not what those " circumstances" aro , but if failure is one of thom , wo marvel at tho opithot " unforeseen . " It surely required but the smallest sagacity to foresee that nothing but failuro could , follow such waclcniod and uninteresting incidents told in such a stylo ; and it wpuld nave been morofranlc and manly'had tho failuro been avowed . For lot JJio real case bo understood . Mr . Ainsworth has undoubtedly somo of wio qualities nocessnry to a romance writer . Wo have the poorest posmnio opinion of his works , most of which wo have tried in vain to road ; mil against our opinion there is the sot-off of success . Whatever may bo thought of those works , their warmest admirers will novor think of claiming tor thom any literary merit , any faithful observation of life , any originality of ohamotor ; stylo , thought , observation , and dramatic

      penetration of character , are scarcely aimed at , certainly not reached . Yet , although the absence of these qualities may not be greatly missed by careless readers hurrying through the story , and moved only by " startling incidents "— in the small compass of the two sheets issued monthly readers look for some such qualities , and not finding them , regard their shilling as grievously ill-spent . Hence , from the first we regarded this venture as a mistake . We remembered- the abrupt termination of his f Mysteries of London , " and thought of the exigent public ! To point out the defects of Mervyn Clitheroe wovld demand more space than we are disposed to give ; but a few sentences will suffice to characterize the style in which it is written , and our readers may fudge from that style what the higher qualities are likely to be . We will not fastidiously dwell on fault 3 of grammar , but confine ourselves to the abiding

      commonplace of diction which renders the writing intolerable . Penny-aliners are terrible fellows for vulgarizing a language by their incessant repetition of common phrases , and their pertinacity in clinging to bad metaphors ; and it is because they have worn away almost all trace of the image from the current coin that we throw down in weariness a book which , like Mervyn Clitheroe , will not simply tell us that men were asleep , but ' must- , say they were " locked in slumber , " which tells us that a man was " fond of antiquarian researches , and no mean poet " - —which , disdaining simplicity , and seeking for the delicate effects of style , cannot call a fish-pond by any less lofty title than " piscine preserve ; " and only knows the liabits ofbirds as " the pursuits ofthe feathered creation . " These writers never eat a dinner ; they " partake of a repast , " which is so much more elegant ; they think with .

      Eoileau" Quoi que vous ecfiviez , evitez la bassesse : Le style le moins noble a pourtant sa noblesse ;" and to avoid the undignified , according to them , it is only necessary not to call things by their proper names . Dip where you will in Mr . Ainsworth's pages , your eye is certain to alight upon elegancies of expression , such as " when that time expired , he enjoined further delay ; " or on playful remarks such as" Mrs . Mervyn was very hospitable , but her invitations were chiefly confined to clergymen * and a day seldom passed that one or two reverend gentlemen did not dine with her ; and as these excellent members of society are not supposed to despise the good things of the world , and the dinners at the Anchorite ' s were unexceptional , a refusal was seldom experienced . "

      Or on some novelty such as " His was the suaviter in modo rather than the fortiter in re , *' 'a remark we have met with before . Lest it should seem invidioxis thus to detach single sentences ( although no man of taste could suffer such sentences to escape him ) , we will quote a passage which appears to have been written with some elaboration . Headand judge . ¦ ' " : " I longed for the tune when I should bo Ship , to throw a fly and take the speckled trout in some mountain stream . My conversation turned wholly upon fishing ; and I was thrown into ecstasies by hearing of any piscine preserves , and treasured the places in my memory . I have since learnt to dislike the angler ' s art , and , so far from thinking it a ' gentle' sport , am of opinion that it is a very cruel pastime : but I had no such scruples of sensibility then . If I gained nothing else by the pursuit , at all events I acquired a love of Nature . I beheld her beauties under many a varied aspect—at morn and eve , amid showers as well as sunshine . I noted the pursuits of the feathered creation with interest , and listened attentively to their different songs and cries . "

      The peculiarity in all these expressions we have noted , is the permanent position they occupy in bad writers . One copies them from another in unhesitating good faith . There seems a certain fascination exercised by inaccurate expressions upon inaccurate minds ; and hence the " damnable iteration" of " individual , " " party , " and words of similar abomination . And as with expressions , so with jokes ; their antique badness is the passport to certain minds . By way of example , read this which Mr . Ainsworth with dauntless courage has deliberately written : — " -The great boar had lost his curly tail , and the appendage being unaccountably found in my pocket , it proved a great lore to me . "

      Do you observe how this joke , the subtlety of which is about equal to its novelty , is flavoured by that curiosa felicitas of expression , " the appendage . We are content to rest our verdict on the single count of that one joke , and confidently ask the reader whether an author who could print such a passage was at all in a condition to command readers for a work in twenty shilling parts P

      Palmerston's Opinions. Opinions And Poli...

      PALMERSTON'S OPINIONS . Opinions and Policy of Lord Palmerston , as Minister , Diplomatist , and Statesman , during moro than Forty Years of Public Life . With a Memoir . By Qcorgo Honvy Francis , Esq . Colburn . Suon is tho title-page of a Volume , which , issued opportunely , has , no doubt , found ready purchasers in an excitable public . A moro attractive title could not have been invented—a moro judicious moment for publication could not have boon chosen ; but it is ono thing to invent a good title , another to improvise a good book ; and , in this instance , although tho author has admirably succeeded in tho former , in tho latter ho has

      quite failod . " Excerpts from tho SpoecHos of Lord Palmers ton , with fancy headings , thrown togothor with as liUlo want of arrangemont as possible . By , " & c . & c , would have leas inappropriately described tho volume . Under tho plea of impartiality , Mr . Francis abstains . from giving us tho smallest , scrap of information upon tho course of public affairs during " moro than forty , years , " other than that contained in those dotachod passages from Lord 'Palmorston ' s spooches , printed as his " opinions and policy . * ' What might'ho nol ; have done by a few judicious and moro . matter-of-fact marginal notes , to fulfil his intentions , and " assist the public mind in forming a just opinion" of Lord Palmerston ' a " character and career ! " But ho has dono nothing of tho kind . Beginning with tho year 1808 , when Palmers ton makes his first appearance , wo aro oarriod on from yoar to year , in regular succession , through a sot of distinct , discursivo passages upon various topics , jumbled chronologically togothor , until wo tiro landed in 1851 . Datoe alono have supplied

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), March 13, 1852, page 19, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_13031852/page/19/