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hardly say that the " heavy politicals , " under present eirctimstaiices , have attracted us more than all we have yet mentioned ; and to these , therefore , we shall be excused for directing our reader ' s especial attention . ¦ ., ¦ In an able article in the Edinburg h of October last , an account from a strictly Edinburgh point of view was given of the negotiations which , in June 1812 , led to the selection of Lord Liverpool as the successor of Mr . Perceval . The same writer now traces the career of the Tory administration
from that period to the death of Lord Castiereagh , in 1822 . Their prosecution of the struggle with Wapoleoni and the determined support of the Prince of Wales , it seems , were their political capital . The Whigs of the period had been lowered in public esteem by their resistance to a war ¦ which the people had at heart , and we may note by the ¦ way that the Aberdeen party of 1854 suffered for the same cause . Lord Liverpool prosperedwhile his war majorities lasted ; but the difficulties of domestic policy being too much for his party , their ¦ career as an administration became a stormy one
soon after Waterloo . In 1816 , when Napoleon was well in hold at St . Helena , the public demanded the abandonment of the war impost ; but the best terms Mr . Vansittart was disposed to offer were its reduction by onehalf , namely to a shilling in the pound . Ministers were beaten by 238 to 201 , and Lord Dudley , writing to the Bishop of Llandaff , makes the following curious comment . Well pleased that the Ministers were beaten , because he thought they wanted beating upon something , he observes : "Their prodigious success which , without at all meaning to deny their merits and abilities , must be allowed by all reasonable
men to have been vastly beyond their merits and be . yond their abilities , had made their underlings insolent , and the House too obedient ; and a blow of that sort was necessary to remind the servants of the country that they were not its masters , arid to give back to the constitution that spirit and activity which it was beginning to lose . " This seems something like a tale of our own times . The spring , however , recoiled . Trade was restricted ; a prohibitory corn-law was passed in 1 S 15 . Reform of Parliament , though supported by all the energy of Grey , Lansdowne , Althorpe , and Tierney , was as
bitterly opposed by the Wellesleys and Castlereagh . These defended press-gagging and espial , and scorned pressure from below . The Habeas Corpus Act was suspended , by way of soothing public discontent . After an undignified war against pamphleteers and libellers , the Manchester massacre -was followed by the " Six Acts . " In 1 S 19 the Duke of Wellington joined the Ministry . In 1820 , after the old King ' s death , its Toryism , despite its unpopularity , seemed to intensify . It gathered strength from the Crown in return for its pliant support of the new monarch ' s master-projects with reference to his unhappy wife . In 1821 , after the death of that poor woman , and Mr . Canning ' s who in
secession , Mr . Feel , then an extreme Tory , 1817 had been termed by Mackintosh " the ? spokesman to the intolerant faction" upon the Catholic question , became Home Secretary . In IS 22 , when Castlereagh committed suicide , and Canning was called from his dreams of Indian power and fortune to the 3 ? oreign-office and the lead of the House of Commons , the Tories had , with short intervals , been in possession of the reins for nearly fifty years . Since the peace , to quote Lord Dudley , the party had been " abundantly dragged through the dirt , and had fallen into a state oT discredit and insignificance—had been a Ministry , not a Government . " Bu , t hero the reviewer leaves Lord Liverpool still at the holm , promising to resume his digest in a future article .
It ia no less interesting to observe , in the article on the " History and Prospects of Parliamentary Reform , " the chamcleoncsquo property , of party opinion . This paper professes to furnish Parliament mon of Liberal opinions with the standards by which they should try the forthcoming ministerial measure of Reform beforo certifying its adequacy to those conditions which a Rciorm Bill of 1859 ought to fulfil . With this view the writer
digests the history of Parliamentary Reform from the time of Lord Chatham , whom ho points to as tno father of the movement . Then we have a pica for the finality of tho measure of 1832 as having placed " a definitive boundary against tho encroach-Jnonta of aristooratio power , and placed tho real ropreapnfcation of tho people on an immovable ? basis . " xiavinjo ; th . ua narrowed tho cirolo of admissible « awigeto « popular progress" and " future
extension of popular franchise , " he lays before us . a fascinating resume of the last twenty-five years' legislative progress in proof that the reformed House of Commons has reflected with fidelity the predominant opinions of the great body of the community / He v hints slyly that a reactionary Reform Bill may be brought in which may try , by perverted statistics , to add to the power of landowners , and thus disturb the existing balance of interests ; and contends that , in fact , there is far less reason for extensive and systematic innovation at present than there was in 1831 .
Still , he considers the numerical basis of the representation may be enlarged with advantage , but avoids suggestions or criticisms , lest , perhaps , they might hereafter be found to coincide with the Government bill . To the moneyed classes he would give a larger share of representation than they enjoy , adding to the roll of large boroughs ; but he would look with jealousy upon the extinction of borough seats . He quotes the proposed purifying schedules of Lord J . Russell ' s Bill of 1854 . Ingeniously he discards the House of Lords from his calculation of the comparative bearing of landed and moneyed influence on the representation , and feigning a desire to balance the overwhelming influence of land and money , urges his readers to do
battle in defence of sixty-two seats , such as Calne , Harwich , and Maldon , which that bill would have suppressed . With , respect to the principle of representing " Intelligence" he considers that a minor involved in the mctjor of property , but he would entertain the claims of inns of court and certain universities . "Locality , " he thinks , should enter into any sound system , of course ; and the benefit of it he would give to certain outlying communities , without reference to numbers , property 3 > or intelligence , but as a compensation , for the inordinate moral force of large ones , which should be content
to accept their " Moral power" in part payment of their claims to large representation . This manifesto is amusing , interesting , and perhaps important . It is important it the Edinburgh is in truth any longer a party organ . Tor have not the arguments above a singular ancient smell of poor old dead Toryism ? May we look for the resurrection of that venerable party in a coat of blue and yellow ? There seems , indeed ^ a chan ce of it . The Edinburgh and its merry men have watched with but little complacency the leek-eating of Lord Derby ^ Administration . They have seen the Jew
Bill go down . They have seen property qualification abolished . They have seen Lord Canning praised , and reformers out of number provided for . But when men whom this vegetable diet has not disagreed with proceed to bolt the Reform camel , our motley Liberal watchman can endure it no longer . " By the Heavens , you shall eat no more ! " he cries , "if I have to turn Tory myself ! " It is certainly a hard tiling ^ at the Edinburgh ' s time of life—a very hard things—to turn " right about face / ' but as no other step seems very likeiy to regain the Paradise of Downing-street for the fallen Peris of Reform , it has been decided
we presume , at head-quarters , to take it . This is an admission of Lord Derby ' s strength , and is very noteworthy . In conclusion , if the article we have just noticed be the pattern of a set , we may soon expect to see our dear old Edinburgh shorn of its Liberal yellow back , and decked * in a full suit of old-fashioned Tory true-blue .
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THE VERNEYS . The Verneys ; or , Chaos Dispelled . A Tnlo of Genius and Religion . By Miaa Caroline Mary Smith . Hall , Virtue , and Co , " Sincis ' chaos convoys an idea of incongruity of confusion or of obscurity , as the case may be , and there is appended with it tho * word 'dispelled , ' forming in total i \ problem promising verbose solution , it is best to set forth on the threshold that there is in tho following story , simply a . purpose in its structure of the component parts—first , tjio natural talent and ability , which
are an inheritance from tho birth ; secondly , the fair morality , which of itself enhances the earlier gifts of Opd ; thirdly , tho religious element , -which perfects those earlier elements in the character of Gabriel Vorney . " This extract from tho preface will put tho reader into possession of the author ' s " purpose" in writing this tale . "Wo honestly confess , without the light afforded to us by tho ' extract , " wo should never have divined the lady ' s " purpose" from tho pages of the Work . Wo are afraid that tho author pitched her flight rather too high ^ -sho took wing boldly , but ooon afterwards failed to sustain nor elevation . If wo at oncq discard tho pretensions of the preface and look at tlio talo simply as a work of imagination , wo
feel we shall have a better opportunity of doing justice to the unquestionable ability of the writer . The commencement of the story is good , and promises novelty . Gabriel Verney ' s early life , his desire for learning , his devotion to Father Paul , and his introduction to the Dulce and Duchess de Montreulle are matters very well told , full of freshness and full of promise of something out of the beaten track—¦ something-, in fact , that will help to carry out the promises ' of the preface . But from this point the tale diverges from originality and interest , sinks to the level of ordinary novel incidents , and disappoints expectations which the commencement gave birth
to . Then , again , the rate of mortality among the actors in the various situations is something alarming . There are no less than eight deaths recorded from malignant fever , from suicide , and from prosaic causes , that are to be found in the Registrar ' s weekly official statement . A few more such novels would very soon require a cemetery to themselves . There is some good writing in the tale , sufficiently good to satisfy us that Miss Smith can do better . But with reference to the " genius" and its developments , there is little to say in praise ; and with reference to the " religion , "we are afraid there will be found still less .
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JEAN PAUL RICHTER . Sketches of arid from Jean Paul Richter . A . W . Bennett . To those who are already acquainted with the life and writings of Ricliter , this little volume will teach nothing new ; but it may serve to give the many English readers to whom he is at present a stranger some idea of .. that great and eccentric genius . It is , in fact , an abridgment of the larger biographies , interspersed -with selections from the works , and , considering the peculiar difficulties of style which everywhere encumber the original , the translations appear to us to be correct . We find among them specimens
of Riehter ' s various styles , the sublimity of jus powerful imagination , the pathos of his deep , childlike heart . We confess to missing the rich , genial humour , which was as characteristic , of him as any of his other qualities , and which entitle . him to rank as the Sterne or Cervjantes of Germany . On the whole , however , this nicely got up little book , may be used with advantage as an'introduction to a more extensive knowledge of his works ; and that knowledge would certainly lead in this-country to a high appreciation of a writer who , more than all his illus ^ trious contemporaries , retained in the midst of a sceptical and artificial age the better instincts of humanity and an unshaken faith in God .
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THE PHILOSOPHY OP VOICE AND SPEECH . A Manual of the Philosophy of Voice and Speech . By James Hunt , Ph . D ., M . K . S . L . Longman and Go . Mr * Hcnt ' s work ranges over a very wide field . The " philosophy of the voice and speech" is made to include subjects that , at first sight , appear only collaterally connected with the vocal organs . We find the greatest part of the volume , which is of no mean thickness , devoted to such questions as respiration ; the organs of hearing ; language in general ; the origin of language ; primitive and cognate languages ; origin and development of the English language ; origin and progress of writing ; English
orthography ; pasllogy and pasigraphy . The chapters which relate to the management and perfection of the voice , and the use and perfect application of speech , are few , and somewhat meagre , consisting not so much of Mr . Hunt ' s own experiences as of the experiences and observations of others . A good deal of curious miscellaneous matter has been brought together , and though it does not strike us that much illustration is thrown on the " philosophy" of either voice or speech , there is yet a groat deal that will be found of a suggestive and interesting character . Some of the passages which have reference to public speaking ana public singing may bo studied with advantage by orators and vocalists .
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A GUIDE TO TYPOGRAPHY . A Guide to Typography , Literary and Practical . By Henry Beadnoll . I'V Bowering . This unpretending manual is evidently tho production of an earnest and industrious student of the English tongue- It embraces tho subjects of English orthography , literary miscellanies , tho formation of derivative , inflected , and compound words , and syllabication . Although , in tho early part of his book , Mr . Beadnell seems to advance little that is
now , yot , as the work goes on , it becomes evident that what appoared to be somewhat trite , is necessary to his design , and forms tho groundwork of much that follows . On the subjects of tho proper formation of derivative and compound words , which frequently puzalo even well-informed , compositors , much light is thrown , and tho matter placed upon a rational basis . Altogether the work increases ia interest as it proceeds , and cannot fail to bo highly useful to tho class for whom it ia rapre especially designed , if they will but digest its contents
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yo , 46 V ^ THE XBA-PEB , 109
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 22, 1859, page 109, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2278/page/13/
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