On this page

• Text (2)

  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.

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    Untitled Article

• 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.

    Untitled Article

    T « it nothing to have shown the thousands of obscure and struggling men hoi well and nobly an obscure life may be lived-how successful coutaopous perseverance and self-mastery may become—how self-respect Itfmrs with it the respect of others P Is it nothing even to have brought £ pf * nre the world actions of such generous delicacy as that of Sir Irancis BurdettP In our eyes that passage alone would justify the volumes . We ¦ will ffive it . ' ~ . . Lord Langdale , when Mr . Bickersteth , an obscure young man keeping terms became acquainted with Sir Francis ; the acquaintance deepened into friendship . Bickersteth was poor—so poor that he had to sell his Shakspeare and the Italian Poets , to buy law books—and many a young lawyer will understand what it must have been to receive such a letter a £ this : —

    " Deae BiCKebSteth , —^ 1 have five hundred times been upon the point of speaking to you upon a subject I very much wished to do , but have been fearful of offending you;—yet I know not why , since you are sure to take a thing as it is intended . Without any more preface , I am very desirous , if I could tell how , to serve you ; and after revolving a variety of things this has occurred to me . I know that it is often of the greatest importance to a man in the commencement of any career , to have the command , in cases of emergency , of a sum of moneydon't be alarmed . Now , if you would allow me to be your banker to a certain

    extent , say five hundred pounds , the whole of which , or any part , you might draw for whenever occasion made it desirable , and replace it at your own convenience , I have thought this might , in the beginning of an arduous profession , be of great service to you and no detriment whatever to me , and therefore I have flattered myself that the offer , proceeding as it does from a just esteem of your character , would not be by you rejected : if it should not , as I have set my heart upon it it will not , pray write two words , —and mind , two words only—or rather , three—I accept it—and never further mention made of it between us . Now the murder is out I hope I have not done wrong . I am , however , confident you will take it as

    intended , " And believe me , with great esteem , your 3 very sincerely , " F . Buedett . « 26 th , 1813 . " . - ' Many men would have lent the money—for an extensive acquaintance with private historv discovers a far greater amount of generosity among men than is usually believed in—but only a delicate and exquisite moral nature could have done it so charmingly . There is a generosity of manner , greater even than a generosity of act—a way of giving that enhances

    the gift . It is for touches such as this , and for the lesson taught by the whole life , that we value the Memoirs qf Lord Langdale . As a man , he was not peculiarly interesting ; as a story , his life has only a moral interest . The friend of Bentham , Grote , James and John Mill , Burdett and the Hadical party , there were considerable hopes entertained of him , which he failed to justify ; but as the story of a plodding life succeeding in its aims , these volumes are suggestive . He was made Master of the Holls by Melbourne ; and respecting this we may make an extract of correspondence , to let a little light upon official perplexities : —

    " ' I waited upon Lord Melbourne / so writes Mr . Bickersteth , on the 11 th ; * he began by asking whether my views had in any respect altered . I said they had ; that on consideration , though my personal objections to the peerage had in no respect diminished , yet my difficulties might perhaps give way , if I could be v persuaded that by means of it I should be able to render any useful assistance towards Law Reform , and if I could be entirely free in politics . —Lord Melbourne . What do you mean ?—Bhaberdeth . Tins is a subject on which there should be no ambiguity . There is nothing more hateful or more mischievous than a political judge , influenced by pftrty feeling . In my opinion , ho should be wholly free from

    all party bias ; and if I , being a judge , am also to be in Parliament , it can only be on the clearest understanding that I sun to be wholly free from any political •« tid party tio ; to put it strongly , as free under yo ur Administration as if I had received my judicial appointment from your opponents . —To this , after silence for a few minutes , Lord Melbourne said gravely and with dignity— « I understand you ; I fully appreciate your motives , and I think you are perfectly right / Ho soon afterwards said , thut the subject must be considered further ; from which I understood that it was necessary to consult his colleagues . Late in the evening of tho same day , I received the following note from Lord Melbourne : — ' Downing-strcet , Jan . 11 th , 1830 .

    * My x > EA » Sin , —Wo should lament Campbell ' s resignation , and consider it n great loss ; but we cannot now draw back ; we are therefore determined , at all hazards , to proceed with our arrangement , and if you are ready to undertake the llolls , wo are ready to give it , upon the understanding which you so clearly oxpressed to ino this morning . Wo can hardly dispense with your assistance in the House of Lords , but you must not consider yourself bound to givo support politically . Yours fuithfnlly , ' MeiojouhNE . ' ' if . BickerstoUi , lim { : . * ' To this Mr . Bickersteth sent tho following answer : — ' 12 th January , 1830 .

    ' My « EAn LoitD , —I beg leavo to thank you most Binccroly for tho early iniort autioa which you have been kind enough to give mo . If the peerago can be dispensed with , or even postponed , I shall feel great additional gratitude ; but if required , and notwithstanding tho reluctance and misgiving which I cannot satisfaotorily overcome , I consent to accept it on tho terms of perfect political independence , which your lordship ho liberally ( and if I may presume to Hay it ) so properly Nanctioua and approves . I now await your orderB , only wishing to add , that if tho arrangemen t ia nettled , I ought , without any delay , to relieve myself from profes-Hioiml engagements , which cannot be continued without future inconvenience , and that I can take no steps for that purpose till I am released from the obligation of Heoreey by which I consider myself bound . I remain , my dear Lord , your faithful and obli ged servant , ' II . BlCKEUSTETH . ' ' 0 , Craven Hill , liayBwntor . '

    Apropos of Lord Melbourne , there is an amusing anecdote , which we transfer to our columns : — " Lord Langdalo oiton spoke of Lord Melbourne ' s art of saying things in an onsy oil-hand way , which would give great offence from any one else . He uKed to w much amuHeU at tho way in which Lord Melbourne got rid of ¦¦ — » , who

    wanted to be placed upon one of the government commissions , and who had been urging his claims on Government . * What you say is perfectly true , ' said Lord Melbourne ; ' and I agree with every word you say , but you know that if I were to appoint you commissioner , the fellows would not sit with you , d n them ! ' "

    Untitled Article

    AMERICAN TRAVELS . Two Years oh the Farm of Uncle Sam , with Sketches of his Location , Nephews , and Prospects . By Charles Casey . . .. Bentley . So much unhappy ill-feeling has been created by the inconsiderate and ungenerous reports of travellers in America , that we are glad to see any new traveller adopting a more rational tone . Let Americans satirize themselves ,- our task should rather be to note in what respects the Anglo-Saxon race has made for itself a freer sphere wherein to live a larger life , than is facile amid our dead and half-alive traditions . That we may learn much from America we must study its essentials , and not allow a volatile mind to be attracted by collateral details . Thus we may learn , b y ^ example , how perfectly comfortable society may be without several of those ' institutions , ' fondly believed to be essential to our well-being—we can even learn that Justice may exist without Horse-hair ! and that a State Church ( although so inestimable a blessing ) may be dispensed with , and society not fall to pieces !

    Mr . Casey has looked at America with admiring , if not with profoundly discriminating eyes . Brother Jonathan thus presents himself to Mr . Casey's view : — " Next come the people , let us see them ; one feels so anxious afc the " monarchs " at home , —the far-famed Jonathan—he of reform—the rifle—and republic , —the cool , shrewd , vigorous , large-souled , indomitable citizen ! He that is so criticised , admh ' ed , and feared by all classes in Europe ; well , here they are , the real living Yankees at home . And business , —and , as to houses of business , let me say , that he who walks along Broadway ; may see one of the finest trading establishments in the world , a literal marble palace , devoted to commerce ; and if he turns into the lower part of the city , where the wholesale merchants ' most do congregate , ' he will conclude that London has a rival , and will , within a century , have a superior ; and one looking on this great city and people , is prompted to pause and

    analyze the peculiarities of mind that compose the American . Vieing with the Parisian in dress—the Englishman in energy—cautious as a Dutchman—impulsive as an Irishman—patriotic as Tell—brave as Wallace—cool as Wellington—and royal as Alexander ; there he goes—the American citizen ! In answering your questions , or speaking commonly , his style is that of the ancient Spartan ; but put him on a stump , with an audience of whigs , democrats , or barn-burners , and he becomes a compound of Tom Cribb and Demosthenes , a fountain of eloquence , passion , sentiment , sarcasm , logic , and drollery , altogether different from anything known or imagined in the Old World states . Say anything of anybody ( as public men ) untied with conventional phraseology , he swings his rhetorical mace with a vigorous arm , crushing the antagonistic principle or person , into a most villanous compound . See him-at dinner , he despatches his meal with a speed which leads you to suppose him a ruminating animal , yet enjoying his cigarro for an hour afterwards , with the gusto and ennui of a Spaniard .

    " Walking right on , as if it were life against time , witb the glass at fever-heat , yet taking it cool in the most serious and pressing matter , a compound of the Red Man , Brummel , and Franklin , —statesman and labourer , on he goes , —divided and sub-divided in politics and religion , —professionally opposed with a keenness of competition in vain looked for even in England ; yet , let but the national [ rights or liberty be threatened , and that vast nation stands a pyramid of resolve , united as one man , with heart , head , hand , and purse , burning with a ltoman zeal to defend inviolate the cause of the commonwealth .

    " To him who has lived among the Americans , and looked largely at the theory and practice of their government and its executive , there remains no possible doubt that the greatest amount of personal security and freedom has been produced from the least amount of cost of any nation in the world . Culling its principles Jind wisdom from the history of all empires , it stands the nearest of all earthly systems to perfection , because it i . s built on , and embodies tlio . se 2 > rinciplos which God hath proclaimed in his attributes . And the prayer of all men . should be , that the day may never come when those immutable maxims will be tainted by vanity or corrupted by wealth . " American vanity and American grandiloquence — of which there i . s doubtless an abundance- — meet with , an ingenious explanation in this volume , and one to us quite new : —¦ " Oho of the peculiar differences that strike the traveller ' s eye- in the New World is the vastuess with which nature displays herself , — there is a gigantic grandeur in all that meets the vision , which fact has , I doubt not , contributed much to hnbuo tho American mind with those comprehensive ideas and words at which Islanders cavil as egotism or bombast—but we cannot lose sight of the fact that our physical nature i « considerably acted on by the locality of our birth and residence ; nor is our mind free from the influences of climate and association , for let

    twins be raised , one on the mountains of Switzerland , tho other on the plains of . ' Holland , and tho men will differ world wide in mind and body : hence it is not to be expected that a man dwelling in a densely populated inland , such as Britain , could expand his mind to tho capacity of recognising as natural the large spoken American , because tho mind of such n mari , from the first exercise- of its powers , judged of and looked at all things with the contracted circumscribed vision of an insular judgment , and has conscientiously nettled down into tho conviction that any circle of thought , speech , or action , larger than its own , is bombast or speculation , proving that the Gulliver * of Jonathan Swift was not a pasquinade on liis own times alone , but fits tho phlegmatic and conservative . John Hull as happily now o-s in tho eighteenth century .

    " The rivers , mountains , hikes , forests , and prairies of America , all bear tho stamp of vastness ; and this largeness is reflected in the minds of her citizens ; hence by the senator of tho States—to the merchant—the landowner and arlimm ¦—projects arc propounded and carried out which would in England bo hooted down in the proposal as Utopian . Tho ventures Vvould be railed ruinous speculations—modes of operation that would be termed fantastic , and manners ami habits that would bo coerced as subversive of law and order , are hen ; severally but tho spontaneous workings of a larger mind more favourably located , and tutting harmoniousl y for the general good . " Of Mr . Casey ' s volume \ vo cun brieily eay , thut it is agreeable though

    Untitled Article

    August 21 , 1852 . ] THE LEADER . 807

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 21, 1852, page 807, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1948/page/19/