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2L0 The Leader and Saturday Analyst, jMl...
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M. LOUIS BLANC'S REVELATIONS.* FTHE part...
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i f * Jidvdtationa ttifiloriqxiev on ReS...
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IlECENT IIISTQltlES.* A GOOD book is ti ...
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* Scotland in tho Middle Ages t WecMios ...
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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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Uoter0ur1u3nts Overlooked.* Rpheub Aro T...
worship . We do not doubt ifc . Has our author any idea that not a Sunday passes but what some policeman commences a joroebs verbalr— -verbal indeed— -against some ' unfortunate tavern-keeper who allows beer to he drawn one minute , before one or after eleven p . m .. on Sundsiys P If , as our author'states , and we do . ' not doubt it , . "tradesman retires on Sunday to 'is 'ouse hat'Ackney , or'Amstead , 'Oxton or 'Ammersinith , "to follow dear Mr . Silvertongue to chapel , and to hear 'itn preach a most beautiful sermon , so as to be sent ' ome to his bit o' roast pork in a ' appy state of mind ; " surely even he will allow that the Parisian ti-adesman hopes also to enjoy his ruts in iM * be in the Bois de Boulogne , or at Passy , or elsewhere . He , also , if he be not an infidel , has his mild religious excitement under the Rev . Pere Langue-d ' argent also . Cockneys are cockneys
all over the world , and hard-working' citizens no doubt live in glass houses . It is cruel—it is more than that , it is wicked- —to take , as this author has done , one set of statistics—those of crime- —and to seek to prove by them that his own country is by far the worst in the world . The English , with all their vices , have not that of excessive self-praise . We are the best abused people in the world ; not by others only , but chiefly by ourselves . We are continually grumbling and finding fault with , and , thank God , mending our ways ; but to make us mend them . we-must , have truth at the bottom of the complaint . Our vices , like our virtues , are very apparent . . We trumpet them in the newspapers ; . ' we make political capital out of them ; we' multiply statistics to show what thieves , what poor , what misery , what crime we have ; but we do itnot with but remedin stateThis author
the purpose of . parading , yg our . . does so in a manner as false and stupid as it is cruel , and Is obliged to contradict in one page what he sets down in a former one . He has advertised a political and semi-relig ious treatise under a false name ; he has poisoned his arrow , and drawn it to the head with the purpose of giving a deep wound to Protestantism . But he has missed his ' mark . If he sketches , as he does , one infidel lecturer that we have , he is . obliged to own that the lecture does not pay , and that the audience are ignorant and few . If he quotes an advertisement of a prize JBght , he must own that that amusement decreases ; if he talks about brutalityj he must Impw that . it is less frequent , and only dragged into sight by vigilant societies and police . He does not mention that Papistical countries boast also their infidels ,
tbat-they have ever been most fertile of them ; that they have their bull fights and other brutalities ; that their prostitution is more wide ; " their charity less general . He is , afraid to go into tlie open day to quote the broad distinctions between Protestantism and Papacy . He knows tliat . even his own book could not he issued under Papal rule without an imprimatur , or the . free scissors of the censor . He knows , also , that progress a free press , a constitutional government , a reverence for property , for law , a love . of order , peace s general security— -live here and in Protestant countries . He knows , also , sueli things do not exist in favoured Rome ( where " the Pope has built model lodging houses" ) nor in France , where they lately closed a Protestant church ... He ; knows all this well enough ; but he chooses to look at the small stains which abouiid
in our social system , and which have abounded , and will abound in every social system in the world , past , present , and to come . At a time when the Papacy is on its trial before the world , when its head is in great tribulation , its governments are weighed and found wanting ; its princes the only disturbers of peace ; its bishops the loudept demagogues and greatest traitors ; its people g-enorally debased and ignorant , the sordid and blind only content , the good longing for a change—this writer has chosen to assault his own country , to decry her civilization and to deny her Christianity . But <• Oh , " crieis old Burton , —" oh , that Peter and Paul had been alive to hear this !'' The failure is lamentable . Few men could have . written '
so stupid a book . The author hiis squirted liLs garden engine Jit the sun , but he has not yet put ib out . He will only deceive tlie race of novel readers by his * title , that is all . Mr . Thackeray , in one of his early illustrations in " Punch , " pictures the disappointment of two Lisbon longshoremen who had picked up a floating 1 bottle , in which one of our societies , debarred i ' rom other entrance , had packed a tract . At a distance he cries , " Brandy , I hope ; " nearer , it is ' SJherry , I ftJar ; " when , uncorked , he shouts > vith disgust , " Tracts , by Jingo I" So pur beguiled readors will hope for something delectable , and find , after all , that they have only certain papistical " Undercurrents , " the bearing of . which will be perceived simply fortho book to bo" overlooked 1 " *
2l0 The Leader And Saturday Analyst, Jml...
2 L 0 The Leader and Saturday Analyst , jMlrch 3 , 1660 .
M. Louis Blanc's Revelations.* Fthe Part...
M . LOUIS BLANC'S REVELATIONS . * FTHE part which has been taken in regard to the oauso of Italian - *•• liberty by the head of the great houso of Phippw , however much it may have been criticised , cainnot . be deemed surprising by those who remember the prejudice and misatateinents which Lord tNornianby lavished npon the French Revolution of 184 i 8 , and the lending actors in that grout national drama . Consistent hia lordslijp nt least is , in his views of good government and patriotism , mid therefore Ricasoli and Farini must not expect to stand higher
in the niarquta ' a estimation than M . Louia Blanc and hia fellowrepublicans . Every one is doomed to crosses in this . world however , and Lord Nonnanby is not without his mortifications in the sliapo of flwt contradictions to his accounts of foreign events ; indeed , only a Tow'daya have elapsed since wo . rend the sturdy Italian bificev ' s refutation of the marquis ' s vevaion of recent transactions in Tnscany . The two volumes before us are a French translation of
M . Louis Blanc's work , published in London , and in our own language , two years ago ; and , so far as Lord Normanby is co ncerned ; do not contain any additions of importance to the signal castigation bestowed upon the noble peer in the English work . The author has , nevertheless , greatly increased and enriched the work by amplifying his account of the eventful period during which he took a prominent part in public affairs , and by much valuable anil eloquent matter U p OU the present state of French politics The most conspicuous and ¦ ¦ important statement in this new issue is that unveiling the intrigues of the Bonapartists during the fearful insurrection of June , 18 . 43 ; and documents are given which show the determination of Louis Napoleon , at that time , to lay the foundation of his power by corrupting the chiefs of the
army . ' The story of the " Insurrection de la Faiin is now written at much greater length , and is full of tragic interest ; apart from its political importance the descriptive vigour and the nervous eloquence of the author render it difficult to lay aside the book till we come to the end of the terrible narrative . Strong in his own integrity , and feeling intensely the justice of his cause , M . Louis Blnnc pours a torrent of sarcasm and invective against the ruler whose iron despotism , in his opinion , is repressing the energy and crushing the hopes of his native country ; and , though Louis Napoleon has succeeded in crenting a more favourable impression upon the opinion of most Englishmen than lie has . upon that of our
author , fe > v readers will beable to resist the brilliancy of his eloquence or the charms of his clear and elegant style ; Allusions are frequently found in his pages to'the ' noble position which free England holds among the nations , and we congratulate ourselves upon having * amongst us a Frenchman capable of understanding and of judgingwithout prejudice our national character and our peculiar institutions . M . Louis Blanc , indeed , has lived so ., long with us as to become ball' naturalised as . a citizen of our free community ; his logic bears an almost British stump , and his sentiments are marked by English heartiness ; he has acquired no . inconsiderable portion of the solidity of our nation , Avbile sacrificing no particle of the csprt i which , belongs par excellence to his own .
I F * Jidvdtationa Ttifiloriqxiev On Res...
i f * Jidvdtationa ttifiloriqxiev on ReSjponao au XAvro do XJord Normanbi / p intitnU "A Year of Revolution , in Paris ? ' Par Itouis Bjuano . Bru * cHea ; Mylino ,, Chub ot Conipiignlo ,
Ilecent Iiistqltles.* A Good Book Is Ti ...
IlECENT IIISTQltlES . * A GOOD book is ti living thing . There is a pulse of vitality in each sentence , eaeli member of a sentence . There are motion and warmth in the very words . There is also , underlying the whole literal expression , " a prevailing idea—a pervading principle , which associates with itself , and with one another , an aggregate of facts , aiid makes them illustrative of a law . Professor limes , of Edinburgh , has given to the world a portly volume , ostensibly on Scottish history , but truly on . the ' growth . of order and authority . in Europe , commencing with Charlemagne , which the serious historical student will find anything but dry reading . There is indeed much of the manner of lively discourse about it . Perhaps this may be the result of the sketches that compose the work huvin > been originally prepared for lectures to a class in the university to which the Professor is attached ; At any rate , here we have a charming , and , in spirit , an original book . .
Professor Innes deals with general history , before ( to use a Scotch phrase ) he condescends to the special history which it serves to introduce . We have much about Charlemagne , and the consequences of his avatar to Europe . It is owing , Mr . Innes tell sus , to his wisdom and vigour , and to the success of the party of ^ which he was the leader and type , not only that the Germanic race is lord of the ascendant in Europe , but , porhaps , that Europe has set up the standard of mind against brute force—has identified its existence with Christianity , instead of the wor-hip of the groves and . of Odin , or the doctrine of the prophet of Islam . Charlemagne , however , like Mohammed , converted with the sword . The rude freemen ot Saxony long resisted " the soft persuasion of the sabre , " tSprno
yielded to other teaching , but n . ot without difficulty . Take a talo told of JUadbod , a fierce eliief of the Frisians , who had withstood the arms of Pepiu Heristal , bift was at length almost gained over to Christianity , by the persevering intreaties and preaching of Wullraiun and otl ^ er missionaries . This chieftain was brought to the suered font . " He hud already one foot in the water , when ho suddenly stopped , turned to WuUVamn , and askedj whether thorp were more Fmwlandora in heaven or in hell . The missionary could not hesitate , und told him that all his ancestors , being unbaptizeel , wevo certainly in' the latter place . The prince immediately drew back his foot I ' rom the font . ' 1 cannot , ' he suid , ' give up the company of my ancestors , even for the joys of heaven . ' And Duko Ktvdbod , " says tlie chronioler , " died unbaptized . "
Christianity has suffered mdre frojn -its interpreters than from any other cause . But ' wherever Chri « tianity has been introduced , our author tells us , it has brought in its train three remarkable offoets ; a tendency to unite , an inclination for kingly governments , and a preference for hereditary institutions . Ana this proposition lie illustrates by reference to the spread of Christianity among the Anglo-Saxons .. On the character of King Alfred he dwells with peculiar complacency . . At length we come to Scotland , beginning with Macbeth , whoso ohnraotei * does not merit the description of it by out national poet . The reign of Muobuth' was prosperous and longr— of
* Scotland In Tho Middle Ages T Wecmios ...
* Scotland in tho Middle Ages t WecMios <{ f M < My Scotch History and Sooial JPr ( f (/ ros 8 . Ky Cosmo Iwnbs , Professor of History in tho Umvoraity of Edinburgh . EdmQnaton and Douglas . History ( if the Rotc / H of Jtonry XV ., King of JPranoo awl Navarre . ( Part j ) jfloni \ v XV . ami tho Xeaffue . JJy MAnTiu WAWtnR IPuwbm , Two vole . Hurst and Bliwlcett .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), March 3, 1860, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_03031860/page/14/
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