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WORKS OF LOUIS NAPOLEON, The Political a...
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BOOKS ON OUR TABLE. Memoirs and Correspo...
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We should do our utmost to encourage the...
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MAGNETIC EVENINGS AT HOME. Letteb IV.—To...
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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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Citeasy's Invasions Of England. The Inva...
The . eiKP ^ tiQn •' ' P ^• ' Ho ¦ c ^ l € > ^ .. aga ^ t ¦ ^; ¦! fi : elmd ^ . alid .. Napoleon ' s camp of Bo ^ og n ^ aire ^ ttf ^ our own . tinr ? . The volume concludes with some general reflections on our navy , our laiid defences , the disasters of an invasion , its probabilities , and bur resources . [ Mr / Creasy , with abundance of patriotism , has no braggadocio . . r " " And should their flat bottoms in peace us , come o ' ,. They still will find Britons to . receive them on shore !" Very likely ; but Mr * Creasy would prefer the Britons receiving the enemy with something more deadly than contempt . Without tarnishing the lustre of our national greatness , or doubting for a moment the courage and spirit of the race—without even relying with any deep sense of security on that Providence which has protected and will protect us so long as we remain " a God-fearing people , " but relying rather on the " powder kept dry , " Mr . Creasy bids us face the present peril with open eyes : —
" But the triumphs of those days must be read with caution , when we think of the contests that possibly bur country may soon have to encounter j nor must we , like the descendants of the heroes of antiquity , mistake memories for hopes . Above all it is necessary , when we mark the exploits which our navy then used to achieve against superior numbers , and under apparent disadvantages , that we should bear in mind the peculiar circumstances of the time ; and not be unreasonably sanguine in the expectations which we form of what our navy might do at present . " Not that our officers and sailors are not now as brave , as skilful , as loyal , as deserving of honour , as they Were ever ; but the foes , whom they would have to encounter , would be very different in fact , though nominally the same , to those acainst whom their predecessors used to advance with such unhesitating and
suecessful audacity . At the beginning of the great revolutionary war , we found the French navy almost wholly destitute of trained and experienced officers . The old officers had emigrated , or * had been deposed , or had been guillotined j and before new ones could be trained up , we had almost crushed their navy by a series of decisive conflicts . Our admirals did not act like the pedantic and procrastinating generals of Austria and Prussia ; who , by trifling' with opportunities and forbearing to press advantages , gave the Carmagnoles of the French armies time to add discipline and organization to their natural valour . The French navy was promptly
assailed while yet in the disorder which the Revolution had caused , and it never af terwards , during the war , was allowed to recover from the effects of the blows that were then promptly dealt . Now , there is no such enormous difference between the relative efficiency of the two navies : each has for thirty-seven years had opportunities for advancement and perfection of discipline ; and , however sincerely we may rely on our modern seamen not having degenerated , we have no right to expect to see British vessels capture those far superior in size , weight of metal , and number of crew or to see scanty and imperfectly manned squadrons blockade and defeat large and amply equipped fleets of the enemy- " On the whole , this is a veiy readable and . timely book ; an historical pamphlet , "it may ^ called , worthy the attention of a threatened nation .
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Works Of Louis Napoleon, The Political A...
WORKS OF LOUIS NAPOLEON , The Political and Historical Works of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte , President of the French Republic . Now first collected ; with an Original Memoir of his Life , brought down to the Constitution of 1852 . In . 2 vols . Office of Illustrated Library . The writings of Louis Napoleon , like everything else relating to his base and despicable life , never attracted more than a passing curiosity due to the name he bears , until the unhappy concourse of events brought him into a position where he was enabled to show how terrible for evil an insignificant man may become . But since his election to the presidency , and above all , since the 2 nd December , the name which had hitherto been written only on the soiled annals of a r oue gambler-life , and on two pages ' of historic buffoonery , now has its place—its dark and shameful place—in European history . His writings , therefore , are clothed with a new inte-
rest ; they have a significance which they wanted before . To collect , translate , and publish them , was an obvious thought . The proprietors of the Illustrated Neivs have not only done this , but have done it well . The work is no catchpenny affair . It has been done deliberately and liberally . The Memoir of JNapoleon which precedes the work has been carefully compiled , and is brought down to the coup-d'Stat , with the addition of tho new Constitution . When we state that the Memoir occupies upwards of one hundred and fifty large octavo pages , it will be seen that sufficient space has been given to it ; and we may add , that the tone is liberal without violence . The papers relating to the cottp-d'Stat would have been better placed after the Memoir than at tho close of the second volume ; they consist of Granier de Cassagnac's History of the Events of Decomber , 1851 ; the Last Sitting of the Legislative Assembly ; tho Confiscation of tho Orleans Property ; and the Now Electoral Law .
The works contained in these two handsome volumes are , Political Reveries—his first scheme of a Constitution in 1832 , with which may fitly be contrasted his last scheme in 1852 ; the Political and Military Qonsiderations on Switzerland ; the famous Ideas of Napoleonism , published hero while ho was among us—ideas in which he undertakes to expound to the world " the thought which presided over tho high conceptions" of his undo ; some Historical Fragments , of no value ; the Analysis of the Sugar Question , tho treatise which duped tho Socialists into tho belief that ho was of thorn and for them , bocauso lie wrote of the Extinction of
Pauperism—a treatise which , with that on Napoleonism , may bo considered , as best worth reading ; together with several miscellaneous papors , including a translation , in French prose , of Schiller ' s poem , " Ideal . " - It was commonly said that Louis Napoleon was stupid ; his manner is certainly not prepossessing , but if any one , after 1850 T 52 , still thinks him a fool , those works will certainly dissipate that error , Indeed , the roaction is likely to bo extreme . Some of those who called him a fool , now think him a man of groat ability ; noithor judgment is acceptable . . Ho is not a thinker , he is not oven a good writer ; but it is hardly possible to road these works , and refuse to their author an intelligence aboyo tho average . ' The translation is somewhat / literal , and by its adhoronco to ¦ Fr ench , idioms and phrases , deprives tho writing of its duo effect .
Books On Our Table. Memoirs And Correspo...
BOOKS ON OUR TABLE . Memoirs and Correspondence ff ^ Du Pan , Illustrative of the History fl ^ g ^ g ^^ The ^^ a ^^^ aTwo ^ Louis Napoleon Bonaparte , *™^^^ L % ^* ry Life in ' scmaaij and the Neighbouring Out-Stations . With Illustrations . Richard ^ ntley . 2 % e Farce of life . A Novel , By Lord B— -. 3 vols . . .,. __ W Essays and Opinions . By Alfred Bate Kiehards . Second Series . Vol . III . _^ ° ** w £ ? ° f 1 !* Verdicts . - „ t Effingham Wilson .. Mow to See the British Museum in Four Visits . By W ; Blanchard Jerrold . *^ a ™ , ;„ ¦ Bradbury ana Jkvans * Meliora-, or , Better Times to Come . Edited by Viscount Ingrestre . John W- Parker and Son . Letter to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty . By W . Penny . Chapman and Mali . Is Everybody Responsible for his Conduct . By John Moni ^ , Esq . tv A School Atlas of Physical Geography , Illustrating , in a Series of Original Designs , the Elementary Facts of Geology , Hydrology , $ c . By Alexander Keith Johnston , F . E . S . E ., & c . William Blackwood and Sons . A School Atlas of General and Descriptive Geography , Exhibiting the Actual and Comparative Extent of all the Countries in the World . ^ By Alexander Keith Johnston . William Blackwood and Sons . A System of English Grammar , Founded on the Philosophy of Language , and the Practice of the best Authors . By C . W . Connon , M . A . Second Edition . Oliver and Boyd . Researches in Cerebral Developments . By James Straton . Bailliere . The Portrait Gallery of distinguished Poets , Philosophers , Statesmen , Divines , Painters , Sfc . Part I . On an <^ C ° * The British Soldier : a Journal devoted to the Interests of the "United Services . No . VI . Kent and Co . Notes of Interviews with the Ministers and principal Statesmen of France , in reference to the Policy of Louis Napoleon . By P . O'Brien , Esq . Colburn and Co .
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We Should Do Our Utmost To Encourage The...
We should do our utmost to encourage the Beautiful , for the Useful encourages itself . —Goethe .
Magnetic Evenings At Home. Letteb Iv.—To...
MAGNETIC EVENINGS AT HOME . Letteb IV . —To G . H . Lewes . When I entered the house of Count P—— , on the evening appointed for our experiment m clairvoyance , one of the first objects which attracted my attention in the drawing-room , was a piece of wood that lay on the table , shaped like a hand-mirror . On taking it up , I observed a highly-polished oval piece of coal attached to one side of the wood , instead of the ordinary looking-glass , which I had expected to find there . The history of this strange mirror was as follows : —
An old friend of the fount ' s preserved , ^ among his other curiosities , the celebrated " wisbins-stone , " foiW *^ possessed by Dr . Dee . Convinced that the old Doctor ' s evil reputation among his contemporaries as a sorcerer had been solely derived from his knowledge and practice of animal magnetism , in days when new sciences of all kinds were fathered upon the devil , as a matter of course , our host conceived the idea of procuring as good an imitation of this " wishing-stone" as could be obtained , and of
rivalling the magic achievements of Dr . Dee , by applying to it the magnetic process necessary to produce the phenomenon of clairvoyance . A piece of " Cannel coal" was procured , as the nearest available approach to the mysterious " wishing-stone : " it was polished and fixed to the wood by an ordinary artisan . Placed in the hands of V , when she was magnetized , it proved quite as fertile a source of marvels as the Doctor ' s original instrument of sorcery , —in other words , it was found to be a very useful aid to
experiments in clairvoyance . This coal-mirror was now placed on the table , in case we wished it to be used as a matter of curiosity . The experiment on which we were about to enter could he carried on just as easily without it . V would see the perfect stranger to herself whom we might wish her to see , if a vacant chair were placed before her , on which she might behold the absent person ; or if that person ' s visiting-card were put into her hand . But if , as a matter of antiquarian amusement , we desired that the vision should appear to her in the " wishing-stone , " there it was , ready for use , just as Dr . Dee might have used it in the olden time .
We chose the " wishing-stone" by general acclamation . It was already magnetized j so that V would be thrown into the sleep by merely taking it in her hand , and looking at it . She was placed , by her own desire , with her back to the table , and with the candles put behind her . By this arrangement , the coal-mirror was thrown into complete shadow , when she took it up , and held it before her . As soon as she was comfortably seated , I was asked to indicate the person whom I wished her to see . I wrote on a sheet of paper ( keeping well behind her , at the further end of * i . ~ *« v . i ~\ t ( ™ v ^ fiinr . " lrnnwmo- him to he then in London , some the table ) brother" knowing him to be then in i ^ onaon , some
, " ; hundred and thirty miles away from us , and to be perfectly unknown to V , the Count , and , indeed , to everybody present except one gentleman , a mere spectator like myself , and quite as determined as I was that the proceedings of the evening should ho subjected to the severest possible test . The Count looked at the two words I had written down , ( they were never , from first to last , even whispered by any of us , ) and simply said to y ( i j ; desire that you will see and describe the person whom that gentleman has indicated to me . " She nodded her head as a sign of acquiescence , and , in about ten minutes after , her ¦ eye ' s were fast closed in
the magnetic sleep . , She held the mirror before her , at tho distance from her face tliat sue would have held a book—keeping it in the same position ( heavy as it was ) for the whole two hours during which she was in . the magnetic state . Tho first thing she did wos to take out her handkerchief , and wipe the surface of the coal , over and over again , very carefully , and with a very anxious , searching expression of countenance . Then she changed her position in the chair several times , shifting tho mirror from side to side , and occasion-
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 28, 1852, page 19, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_28021852/page/19/
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